Trade : WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement enters into force (PRIV)
(Kanaga Raja, Geneva)
The WTO's Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) has come into force, after it received four more ratifications on Wednesday, thus bringing it over the required threshold of 110 members for it to enter into force.

Trade : WTO secretariat pushing e-commerce and investment for G20 meet (PRIV)
(D. Ravi Kanth, Geneva)
The World Trade Organization Secretariat is aggressively promoting and lobbying for negotiations in "electronic commerce (e-commerce)" and "investment trade facilitation" at the G20 Berlin meeting later this year, despite massive opposition from developing and least-developed countries, according to discussion papers reviewed by SUNS.

United Nations : Humankind's ability to feed itself, now in jeopardy (PRIV)
(IPS, Rome)
Mankind's future ability to feed itself is in jeopardy due to intensifying pressures on natural resources, mounting inequality, and the fallout from a changing climate, warns a new United Nations report.

Nepal : Red tape snarls ambitious poverty alleviation plans (PRIV)
(IPS, Kathmandu)
Juna Bhujel of Sindupalchowk District, 85 kilometres northeast of Nepal's capital Kathmandu, lost her daughter-in-law in the April 25, 2015 earthquake.