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Image: New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern hugs friends and colleagues. Source: DAWN / AFP

What the Resignation of New Zealand's Inspirational Prime Minister Means

By David Robie*

AUCKLAND (IDN) — Aotearoa New Zealand has been shaken to the core by the sudden resignation of one of its most iconic and revered prime ministers amid a fierce controversy over misogyny and death threats stirred by the global coronavirus pandemic.

Jacinda Ardern, the world’s youngest female prime minister at 37 when she was elected in 2017 on a stardust wave of “Jacinda mania”, stepped on January 19 after emotional scenes at her last official function wrapped in a traditional Māori feathered cloak at the historic Ratana church.

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 30 January 2023

Image: Nuclear Power Plant in Cattenom. CC BY-SA 3.0

As Tensions Rise, WHO Updates its Radiological & Nuclear Emergencies

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — The rising nuclear threats over the Russian invasion of Ukraine—and the growing tensions in the Korean Peninsula triggered by a nuclear-armed North Korea—have prompted the Geneva-based World Health Organization (WHO) to update its list of medicines that should be stockpiled for radiological and nuclear emergencies along with policy advice for their appropriate management.

: Thalif Deen; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 29 January 2023

Image: Chief of the Croatian Criminal Police and Deputy Chief Director of the Croatian Police Antonio Gerovac. Credit: HINA/ Damir SENČAR

Beyond the 'Blue Curtain of Secrecy' in Croatia

Conversation with the Head of the Croatian Criminal Police

By Aurora Weiss

VIENNA (IDN) — The esprit de corps, the misunderstood sense of togetherness, means that the police officers cover for one another. In such a culture, valuing loyalty over integrity facilitates misconduct by keeping it concealed. That’s why The United Nations Convention against Corruption calls for independent bodies or persons specialized in combating corruption through law enforcement that can “carry out their functions effectively and without any undue influence”.

: Europe Editor; THE WORLD; EU & Europe; 28 January 2023

Image: The historic Ukrainian city of Odesa. Credit: Alexander Alabin

UNESCO Protects Odesa Amid Threats of Destruction from War

By Jaya Ramachandran

PARIS (IDN) — Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022, has denounced the decision of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to designate the historic centre of Odesa a World Heritage in Danger site.

Russia, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, criticised the designation, saying the only threat to Odesa came from the "nationalist regime in Ukraine".

: Jaya Ramachandran; UN INSIDER; 28 January 2023

2023] Photo: New Zealand Prime Minister visited grieving Muslim families, wearing hijab as a sign of respect, after the Christchurch Mosque attack in March 2019. Source: Twitter.com

A Unique Leader Quits Prime Minister's Chair in New Zealand

Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene

The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of LEADERSHIP newspaper based in Abuja, Nigeria.

ABUJA (IDN) — A leader like Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand doesn’t come in tens. Not even in twos. And so, it was such a bright day on October 26, 2017, when she took office as New Zealand’s Prime Minister.

She was 37 years old and also the youngest head of government at the time. What’s there not to love?

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 27 January 2023

Photo: Members of the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists in Princeton, New Jersey, on November 18, 1946, which included Albert Einstein and several of the physicists who had participated in developing the atomic bomb. Copyright 2014, Special Collections & Archives Research Center, Oregon State University Libraries and Press.

Nuclear Weapons and Nationalism: An Incendiary Mix

By Andrew Lichterman*

OAKLAND, California (IDN) — Seventy-seven years ago, the United Nations General Assembly passed its first resolution. The subject the governments represented there thought important enough to be first on their agenda was the establishment of a commission to develop proposals for the control of atomic energy and “for the elimination from national armaments of atomic weapons and of all other major weapons adaptable to mass destruction.”

: UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 26 January 2023

At the Global Top Table. Will 2023 Be India's Year?

Viewpoint by Herbert Wulf

This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished with their permission.

Three developments contribute to the fact that 2023 could indeed become India's global political year: India's chairmanship of the G20 countries, interestingly its role in the war in Ukraine, and the increasingly widespread critical view of China.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 26 January 2023

New UN Report Explores Criminal Exploitation of Human Beings

COVID and Other Crises Obstructing Victim Identification

By Aurora Weiss

VIENNA (IDN) — Though the COVID-19 pandemic and other crises are increasing the possibility of vulnerable human beings easily falling into the trap of criminal exploitation for the sole purpose of economic gain, a new UN report finds that fewer victims of this kind of modern slavery are being identified.

: Europe Editor; UN INSIDER; 25 January 2023

Photo: Outstanding achievements of Sri Lankan Americans are recognized at the Sri Lanka Foundation Award Ceremony held at the Baltimore Hotel in Los Angeles. Credit: Sri Lanka Foundation.

Sri Lankan Americans’ IMPACT ON Life in America

By Nandasiri Jasentuliyana

The writer is former Deputy Director-General of the United Nations.

LOS ANGELES (IDN) — The earliest Sri Lankans to enter the United States were classified as "other Asians." Immigration records show that between 1881 and 1890, 1,910 "other Asians" were admitted to the United States. It is unlikely that many of these were from Sri Lanka. In 1975, immigration records classified Sri Lankans as a separate category for the first time. That year, 432 Sri Lankans immigrated to the United States.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 25 January 2023

Image: "Dawn Reflections" Indigenous art projected on the Sydney Opera House, to kick off Australia Day, 26 January 2023. CC BY-SA 4.0

Heated Debate on Giving a Constitutional Voice to Indigenous Australians

By Kalinga Seneviratne

SYDNEY (IDN) — Each year on January 26, Australians celebrate “Australia Day”, a national holiday that marks the day Captain Arthur Phillip sailed into Sydney Cove in 1788, planted the Union Jack and proclaimed the continent for the British Crown.

Later it was enshrined in the Australian constitution that it was “terra nullius” (unoccupied land). But Australia’s Indigenous People claim otherwise, and they have protested in growing numbers in recent decades, calling it the “Invasion Day”.