Trade: WTO Members question legal sanctity of drafts as MC14 collapses (PRIV)
(D. Ravi Kanth, Yaounde)
After the breakdown of the World Trade Organization's 14th ministerial conference (MC14) in Yaounde, Cameroon, on 30 March, the Director-General of the World Trade Organization appears to have expressed concerns about the treatment of the draft texts by members in Geneva due to their lack of a legal binding status, according to people familiar with the development.

UN: Strait of Hormuz crisis heightening risks for global food security (PRIV)
(Kanaga Raja, Penang)
The ongoing disruptions to the Strait of Hormuz - one of the world's most critical trade arteries - is unleashing one of the most severe shocks to global commodity flows in recent years, constraining energy and fertilizer shipments and driving up costs across supply chains, warned Maximo Torero, the Chief Economist of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

UN: Somalia's child hunger worsens amid war in the Middle East (PRIV)
(Kanaga Raja, Penang)
Rising fuel prices and supply chain disruptions triggered by the war in the Middle East are threatening to push Somalia's already fragile humanitarian situation into deeper crisis, with children facing the gravest risks, according to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF).