Trade: Congo calls for paradigm shift in debate on WTO reform (PRIV)
(D. Ravi Kanth, Geneva)
Congo, an African developing country, has fundamentally reshaped the ongoing debate on "WTO reform" at the World Trade Organization by formally submitting a draft General Council "decision" calling for the establishment of an "ad hoc Working Group on WTO reform."

Trade: The unravelling of the WTO's institutional sanctity? (PRIV)
(Kinda Mohamadieh, Geneva)
The Director-General (DG) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) accepted to serve as depositary for the non-WTO plurilateral e-commerce agreement. In doing so, the DG is committing her office and WTO human and financial resources to a non-WTO agreement, setting a problematic precedent that breaches her mandate and establishes a rupture with the practice since the establishment of the WTO.

Rights: Afghan girl disguises as boy to support family under Taliban rule (PRIV)
(IPS, Kabul)
Nooria is a young girl who, because of poverty and the absence of a man in her family, had to dress in boy's clothes so she could work and feed her family. It was not a choice, it was survival. But she was eventually caught by the Taliban.