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NEW DELHI, DEC 3:

Police attack and repression on workers and farmers are intensified after the first 'Mass People's Resistance against KorUS FTA' on 22nd of November.

“The Tagum Agricultural Development Company, Inc.or Tadeco is definitely trying to hide something and seems to be doing earnest efforts to cover up the pesticide poisoning incident which downed at least 79 people,”

Amid indications that WTO talks could resume by January next year, India has said there was a possibility of reaching a global trade deal by March 2007.

The militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and the Asian Peasant Coalition (APC) lambasted the Tagum Agricultural Development Company, Inc. (Tadeco) in Mindano, Philippines for causing the pesticide poisoning of at least 79 people, mostly school children at that, from Tanglaw Elementary school in Braulio Dujali town in Davao del Norte.

At an UNCTAD expert meeting on universal access to services held last week, the diplomats of several developing countries voiced opposition to the inclusion of the 'necessity test' principle in disciplines being negotiated for domestic regulation in the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) of the WTO.

In the past week, several informal meetings have been taking place at the WTO which seem like a prelude to re-opening negotiations for the Doha Work Programme.

Developing countries face challenges and problems in providing universal access to services to their people, and these were brought up in an expert meeting on "Universal Access to Services" organised by UNCTAD last week.

Thousands of farmers and workers yesterday clashed with riot police across the country in the second massive demonstration in a week against a free trade deal with the United States.

There has been much lamentation in recent weeks that America could take a turn towards protectionism in the wake of the US mid-term elections.