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Free trade negotiations with the United States broke down on Wednesday after South Korean negotiators walked out of three committee meetings.

The World Health Organization's Intergovernmental Working Group on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property (IGWG) began its first session on Monday where procedural issues dominated much of the discussions.

The Negotiating Group on Non- Agricultural Market Access (NAMA) met on 1 December, for the first time

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,”

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.