WTO: Competing proposals stall progress in agriculture talks ahead of MC14 (PRIV)
(D. Ravi Kanth, Geneva)
The chair of the Doha agriculture negotiations at the World Trade Organization is likely to face on 27 February several challenges to his ongoing efforts to push for consensus around a seemingly inconsequential Jamaican proposal that leaves the unfinished agriculture negotiations in proverbial cold storage, as the clock ticks down for the WTO's 14th ministerial conference (MC14), said people familiar with the development.

UN: Taliban enforcing institutionalized "gender apartheid" in Afghanistan (PRIV)
(Kanaga Raja, Penang)
The Taliban's rule has resulted in a sweeping, systematic assault on the rights of the people in Afghanistan - especially women and girls - who are subjected to an institutionalized system of gender-based discrimination, oppression and domination that restricts nearly every aspect of their lives, from education and work to movement, health care, justice, and participation in public life.

South Sudan: IOM sounds alarm as aid shortfalls threaten lives of displaced (PRIV)
(Kanaga Raja, Penang)
Critical funding shortfalls are endangering the lives of more than 1.9 million displaced people in South Sudan, which remains one of the world's most displacement-affected countries, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) warned on 25 February.