Trade : Singapore & Jamaica hold meet to promote DG's "third way" approach (PRIV)
(D. Ravi Kanth, Geneva)
In a rather unusual development concerning the likely response by the WTO to the Covid-19 pandemic, three separate meetings are being held on 6 July, with one of them being conducted by Singapore and Jamaica ostensibly to promote the WTO Director-General Ms Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala's "third way" approach, said people familiar with the development.

Asia-Pacific : Civil registration & vital statistics critical for COVID recovery (PRIV)
(IPS, Bangkok)
Bangkok, 28 Jun (IPS/Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, Kanni Wignaraja and Omar Abdi*) -- With health systems at a breaking point, hospitals at capacity and desperate family members searching for oxygen for loved ones, the devastating second wave of COVID-19 that has swept across South Asia has felt surreal.

Opinion : If "a nuclear war must never be fought," then ... (PRIV)
(IPS, Washington DC)
After more than a decade of rising tensions and growing nuclear competition between the two largest nuclear-weapon states, US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed at their June 16 summit to engage in a robust "strategic stability" dialogue to "lay the groundwork for future arms control and risk reduction measures."

Opinion : Water - a matter of survival in the world of pandemics (PRIV)
(IPS, Hamilton)
Hamilton, Canada, 1 Jul (IPS/Guillaume Baggio, Manzoor Qadir and Vladimir Smakhtin*) -- The COVID-19 pandemic has undeniably amplified the existing vulnerabilities of billions of people worldwide.