WTO : DG convenes TNC meeting, holds "tough"meeting with USTR (PRIV)
(D. Ravi Kanth, Yerevan)
The World Trade Organization's Director-General, Ms Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala, is convening a meeting of the Doha Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) on 7 May to have "exchanges" with members on the "current trade conjecture", amid the worsening trade war between the United States and China on account of the unilateral US "reciprocal" tariffs, said people familiar with the development.

Trade : WTO's enforcement function remains "partially decimated" (PRIV)
(D. Ravi Kanth, Yerevan)
For the 86th time, the United States blocked a proposal from Colombia on behalf of 130 countries for filling the seven vacancies at the World Trade Organization's Appellate Body, which has been made dysfunctional by Washington since December 2019, a development that has seemingly "partially decimated" the enforcement function of the global trade body, said people familiar with the development.

UN : Funding shortfalls threaten emergency response in Burundi, Colombia (PRIV)
(Kanaga Raja, Penang)
The humanitarian response in Burundi to the growing influx of refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is being pushed to its limits as the deepening funding crisis threatens critical aid and strains relations between refugees and the host community, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, warned on 25 April.