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WHO April 13, 2019 At a global forum on fair pricing and access to medicines, delegates from governments and civil society organizations called for greater transparency around the cost of research and development as well as production of medicines, to allow buyers to negotiate more affordable prices.  The forum, co-hosted by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Government of South Africa, aimed to provide a global platform for frank discussion among all stakeholders - including governments, civil society organizations and the pharmaceutical industry – in order to identify strategies to reduce medicine prices and expand access for all. The affordability of medicines has long been a concern for developing countries, but today it is also a global one. Each year, 100 million people fall into poverty because they have to pay for medicines out-of-pocket. High-income countries’ health authorities are increasingly having to ration medicines for cancer, hepatitis C an...

The QUINT April 15, 2019 In an effort to pacify the large Sikh diaspora in the country and bowing to pressure after several agitations, the Canadian government has removed a reference to Sikh and Khalistani extremism in its 2018 report on terrorist threats. The ‘2018 Public Report on the Terrorism Threat to Canada’ had been heavily criticised by the Sikh community in Canada, with several pressure groups threatening the government with dire consequences in its election year. According to The Tribune, “the Leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) and newly-elected MP Jagmeet Singh along with the NDP Public Safety Critic Matthew Dube had even shot off a letter to Canadian PM Justin Trudeau”. In the letter, Singh expressed concern over: “...the inappropriate labelling of the two communities without any sufficient evidence or basis by way or using terms such as “Shia”, “Sunni” and “Sikh” which, according to him, was relating these all communities to terrorism.” The Tribune  h...

Indian Express April 15, 2019 by Aakash Joshi Munir Akram, a former Pakistani ambassador to the UN, lays out in an article in Dawn on April 14 the many hurdles to peace in South Asia, of amity between Indian and Pakistan. He first says that the recent crisis in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack was a “baptism by fire” for the  Imran Khan  government and adds: “In the event, the Pakistani leader emerged as a responsible statesman while Modi exposed himself as a rash warmonger.” But Akram disagrees with the Pakistan PM’s assertion that if re-elected,  Narendra Modi  will be strong enough to engage meaningfully with Pakistan. The crux of his argument is that in the current global geopolitical scenario, with the US and China ranged against each other in a “new Cold War”, “peace is difficult”. He argues: “A new Cold War is underway between the US and China. The Washington ‘establishment’ views India as an essential ally in its global competition with China. Aft...