Trade : Hypocritical positions, double-standards mark proposed WTO fisheries deal (PRIV)
(D. Ravi Kanth, Geneva)
As the World Trade Organization's director-general strongly advocates for an agreement on fisheries subsidies on World Ocean Day on 8 June, the United States has brought the controversial issue of forced labour into the fisheries subsidies negotiations allegedly to target China at the eleventh hour, said people familiar with the negotiations.

Climate : South countries oppose EU proposal to sunset long-term finance talks (PRIV)
(Prerna Bomzan, Kathmandu)
At an in-session workshop on "long-term climate finance" held under the UNFCCC, developing countries expressed their firm opposition to a call by the European Union (EU) to sunset discussions on the matter under the Convention.

COVID-19 : Paltry support for spending needs sets South further back (PRIV)
(IPS, Sydney/Kuala Lumpur)
Sydney/Kuala Lumpur, 8 Jun (IPS/Anis Chowdhury and Jomo Kwame Sundaram*) -- With the pandemic setting back past, modest and uneven progress, huge disparities in containing COVID-19 and financing government efforts are widening the North-South gap and other inequalities once again.