nd efficient tools are urgently needed to treat patients in endemic countries. MAIN FACTS: - The partners will facilitate publication of the results to ensure access to the wider community of researchers focusing on neglected tropical diseases. - The public sector will benefit from the drugs developed through this agreement under the best possible conditions to ease access for patients in all endemic countries, irrespective of their level of economic development. - DNDi is a not-for-profit product development partnership working to research and develop new treatments for negleat he asked for on his requested debt limit vote. Weary of Democrats accusing the House leadership of blocking a “clean” increase to the $14.3 trillion debt limit, the House GOP is serving up a bill that would provide the $2.4 trillion in borrowing necessitated by President Obama’s spending plan for 2012 and are offering it “clean” – that is to say without preconditions. While such a vote will demonstrate the unanimous opposition of the House Republicans, it will also draw minimal support among House Democrats. It would be surprising if even half of the House Democratic caucus went for the plan. The establishment press has been hammering away at the idea that Democrats and Republicans are at an impasse over the debt limit vote. The reality is that Democrats are in deep disagreement over how to proceed. That family feud in the Democratically controlled Senate has to be resolved before the Republican controlled House comes into play. There’s little doubt that the majority of votes for the final plan in the House will be Democrats with just enough Republicans – perhaps as few as 24 – coming over to help get the Obama-backed proposal through. The results of the Republican “clean” vote gambit were evident within the day. Vice President Biden emerged from talks with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl suddenly brimming with optimism and touting a deal for the first $1 trillion in cuts needed to win bipartisan approval for any debt hike. Cantor emerged with good words too, a change from his terse comments about the bipartisan talks so far. The Republicans laid the groundwork with Speaker John Boehner’s terms: every dollar of new borrowing power equals a dollar in real spending cuts in the next five years. Democrats, meanwhile, are still pushing for a “trigger” in which automatic spending cuts would kick in if deficit spending gets to high… unless a future Congress decides to block the cuts. The president needs at least $2 trillion in order to avoid a similar situation before the 2012 election, so one might charitably assume that the negotiations were halfway home. Not so. Biden and Cantor both made clear that the issue of taxes is unresolved. Democrats are determined to push through some kind of tax increase, since a cuts-alone debt deal enacted after President Obama already agreed to ditch his plan to hike taxes on upper income earners would be a gut punch for the liberal base. But there would be almost no Republican support for any kind of tax increase on anyone. There is considerable support for a plan that would close tax loopholes and deductions, which would allow lawmakers to reduce rates but obtain more revenue. But, as the sputtering Gang of Six negotiations show, such a large-scale compromise is unlikely to be obtained in the 9 weeks before the current debt impasse begins to force a government shutdown. Having learned their lesson from the fight over the Bush tax rates, though, the Senate leadership and the White House will need to show their core supporters that they went to the mat for a tax hike. While an early deal might save heartache in early August, it wouldn’t satisfy the donors and foot soldiers crucial to Obama’s re-election hopes. Pawlenty Runs Like a Guy With Nothing to Lose "We're here to look them in the eye, and look young people in the eye, and tell them what needs to be done. These are reasonable things that can be done, but we need to tell the truth about it." -- Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty in Coral Gables, Fla., talking about the need to raise the Social Security eligibility age and deny cost-of-living bump to wealthy seniors. In two consecutive days Tim Pawlenty has talked about cutting ethanol subsidies in Iowa and raising Social Security eligibility in Florida. Is this a presidential campaign or a suicide mission? The evident truth is that Pawlenty has decided that he needs to convince Republicans that he can deliver the blunt talk members of the party very much like. They don’t love Chris Christie because of his Springsteen tickets: they love him because he tells it like it is. They didn’t flirt with Donald Trump because of his “birther” blather but because he was willing to kick President Obama right in the rhetorical rump. Pawlenty has gotten the message and has embraced the straight-talking style Republicans are yearning for. There are many risks, as Newt Gingrich discovered in his attacks on conservative precepts as “radical,” but for Pawlenty, the benefits win out. Pawlenty is seen as too mild and too nice to be the guy who sticks it to Obama, whom Republicans believe has gotten away with so much because he has gone mostly unchallenged by the establishment press and establishment Republicans. For Pawlenty to risk business and agricultural Republican votes in Iowa by calling for a curtailment of the government subsidies that keep the corn-fired ethanol business running and lay himself open to Social Security scare tactics in senior-stacked Florida shows a campaign ready to make some big bets in order to stay relevant. What’s next? A Trip to New Hampshire to denounce the Red Sox? The straight talk could be the way Pawlenty convinces the conservative GOP base to stop waiting for Superman to arrive and trash Obama but to instead start closing ranks behind him as the best bet to defeat the more moderate Mitt Romney. Bibi at Tough Act to Follow for Barack "Netanyahu denied us all our rights. We must work to adopt an Arab and Palestinian strategy based on the right of resistance." -- Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for Palestinian terror group Hamas, talking to the Associated Press about Israeli Prime Minister. Congress went bananas for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to a joint session of the House and Senate. When Netanyahu talked about the impossibility of President Obama’s proposed peace plan at the White House, he got icy stares. When he did so on Capitol Hill, he got sustained, bipartisan standing ovations. While the speech was a triumph on Capitol Hill, it inflamed Israel’s detractors in the Middle East and Europe. That kind of tough talk is exactly why those at the U.N. and in the Arab League believe Israel is the impediment to peace with the Palestinians. But Netanyahu knows that short of Israel folding up shop, the momentum for international recognition of Palestinian statehood without preconditions is a foregone conclusion. The message to Obama is that the Israelis will not accept preconditions to negotiations when the Palestinians are guaranteed a big win this fall as the UN welcomes them to the brotherhood of nations. He is not interested in trying to earn the favor of Eurocrats and UN grandees who will never support his country anyway. Obama today is sure to touch on Israel as he makes an address to Parliament. Having seen his plan for Israel making concessions to demonstrate their worthiness for international consideration greeted with bipartisan disapproval back home, Obama will be hard pressed to sell it convincingly abroad. Opposition Grows to Libya War “Though officials from your Administration have committed that your Administration would consult with Congress on policy in Libya, and conduct milita