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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.

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.

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.

A fire-side chat yesterday with a score of Doha Development Agenda services negotiators failed to bring convergence on setting new time-lines for submitting revised offers as key members remain divided over how different elements within the services mandate ought to proceed at this juncture

Industrialized countries - led by the United States, the European Union, Canada and Japan - yesterday attacked China in the World Trade Organization for not complying with its accession commitments in the areas of financial services

More than 200,000 KCTU Members Participated in the full-fledged General Strike on November 22 Over 170,000 people in 13 cities gathered to protest against the KOR-US FTA on the same day