By Shastri Ramachandaran MELBOURNE (IDN) — The unprecedented benefits expected to flow both ways from the India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA), which came into force on December 30, are by now well-known in the two countries. Both India and Australia are upbeat about the ECTA, called the Unity Agreement, as a ground-breaking measure […]
Winter Stalemate of Russia-Ukraine Conflict ‘Not Sign of Peace’
Neither Side is Willing to Compromise By Global Times Staff Reporters BEIJING (IDN) — In the 10th month of the Russia-Ukraine conflict when military operations are scaling down in the freezing winter, observers see a slim chance of negotiations for peace in the near future as neither side is ready to compromise to figure out […]
New Report Warns of Pervasive Financial Fraud in the Caribbean
By J C Suresh TORONTO (IDN) — A new report has warned that fraud in the Caribbean region is widespread and generates hundreds of millions of dollars in criminal proceeds yearly. The report entitled Financial Fraud in the Caribbean draws on interviews with subject matter experts from law enforcement, financial intelligence units (FIUs), financial services […]
EU Cracks a Gentle Whip at Iran
By M.K. Bhadrakumar* This article was produced in partnership with Indian Punchline and Globetrotter. NEW DELHI (IDN) — The European Union has returned to the ritual of sanctioning Iran to leverage its foreign and security policies. The highlight of the EU Foreign Affairs Council ministerial meeting in Brussels on December 12 was the imposition of […]
How India’s Enormous Solar Park Left the Landless Stricken
By Gareth Bryant, Devleena Ghosh, Jake Morcom, and Priya P Pillai* This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. MELBOURNE, Australia (IDN) — India, like many other countries, is looking to renewables as an antidote to soaring fossil fuel prices and to tackle climate change. Prime Minister Narendra Modi sees renewables […]
Geopolitical Interests Dictate China’s Global Aid Exports
By Kiel Institute for the World Economy BERLIN | KIEL, Germany (IDN) — China has been exporting aid goods worth around USD 835 million annually since 2017. These material resources are distributed by China primarily according to geopolitical interests and increasingly to Asia and Africa. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 meant that […]
Biden Made It Harder for Democrats to Win
He’d Be an Albatross on the 2024 Ticket Viewpoint by Norman Solomon* SAN FRANCISCO (IDN) — No amount of post-election puffery about Joe Biden can change a key political reality: His approval ratings are far below the public’s positivity toward the Democratic Party. Overall, the Democrats who won the midterm elections did so despite Biden, […]
Shanghai Organization Could Unite Region’s Big Powers to Drive the Global Economy
By Kalinga Seneviratne NUR-SULTAN, Kazakhstan (IDN) — For the first time, the summit meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) attracted international and regional media attention because the Ukraine crisis has made the region’s powerhouses China, Russia and India major players in the global economy. The 22nd Meeting of the Council of Heads of State […]
An Inexorable Multipolar World Order
By Somar Wijayadasa* NEW YORK (IDN) — Despite the mayhem around the world—war in Ukraine, geopolitical confrontations, myriad of sanctions, energy crisis, hyperinflation, climate catastrophes, and unrelenting health issues—a few countries in the Eastern hemisphere held two noteworthy summits perhaps in an effort to bring some sense and stability to our deeply convoluted world.
“God” Needs to Make Way for Global Multi-religious Peace Alliances
By Kalinga Seneviratne This article is the 50th in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, the flagship agency of the Non-profit International Press Syndicate. Click here for previous reports. NUR-SULTAN, Kazakhstan (IDN/LCN) — There were over 250 religious leaders from across the world attending the 7th Congress of Leaders of […]