GLOBAL ISSUES – Page 178 – IDN-InDepthNews

GLOBAL ISSUES2015-11-012023-07-10

Mega Church Scandal in Singapore Reveals Religion as Business Model

By Kalinga Seneviratne* | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

The guidance note on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering of Financing of Terrorism helps charities familiarize themselves with how they may protect themselves from potential abuse related to money laundering or terrorist activities.

SINGAPORE (IDN) – Over the centuries, all great religious leaders and philosophers, including Jesus Christ, have drawn attention to the evils of excessive greed and taught honesty and integrity to overcome it. The guilty verdict by a Singaporean court in October, convicting six leaders of a large Christian Evangelical Church in a 36 million U.S. dollar fraud case, has raised question marks on whether so-called Mega Churches with thousands of devout followers generously donating to their coffers are a business or a religion?

ARMAMENTS2015-10-302023-07-10

Nuclear-Weapons-Free Africa Keen To Harness Atomic Energy

By Jeffrey Moyo | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

HARARE (IDN) – Nuclear disarmament is a non-issue in Southern Africa. Because no African country possesses nuclear weapons. In fact the 38-nation African Nuclear Weapon Free Zone (ANWFZ) Treaty, also known as the Treaty of Pelindaba, signed in 1996, established a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone in Africa. The treaty came into effect on July 15, 2009.

Latin America & the Caribbean2015-10-302023-07-12

Uruguay Joins Prestigious OECD Development Centre

By Jaya Ramachandran | IDN-InDepthNews Report

BERLIN | PARIS (IDN) – Uruguay has become the 10th member country in Latin America and the Caribbean to join a group of 50 OECD and non-OECD countries that are already members of the Development Centre of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Explaining the accession, a press release said, Uruguay’s structural characteristics, development experience and challenges offer rich opportunities for knowledge sharing among the Centre’s member countries.

Since its banking and financial crisis in 2002, it added, Uruguay has made remarkable progress. Stable macroeconomic policies and a favourable external environment permitted brisk growth and the financing of social policies, yielding the longest period of economic growth in decades.

GLOBAL ISSUES2015-10-302023-07-10

Uncertainty Prods Europeans to Yearn for a Better Yesterday

By Roberto Savio | IDN-InDepthNews Viewpoint

ROME (IDN | Other News) – The recent elections in Switzerland and Poland are good indicators of what will happen elsewhere in Europe in the face of an irresistible growing wave of refugees. But let us first consider a few key elements.

First, the present system of international relations and national governance is not functioning any longer. We are in a period of transition, but nobody knows to where. The Left is without a manifesto, and the Right is just riding the status quo. There is no long-term political thinking.

Second, we are living in a “new economy,” based on the supremacy of finance over man’s production. Unelected officials, like governors of central banks and bankers, have increasingly more power than ever before. This “new economy” considers job insecurity and lay-offs as natural, social inequality as a legitimate reality, the market as the sole basis for societal development and the state as inefficient and a brake on the private sector.

GLOBAL ISSUES2015-10-292023-07-10

Kazakh President Urges One Percent of Arms Budget for Development Agenda

By Rodney Reynolds | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

NEW YORK (IDN) – The UN’s post-2015 development agenda, which includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), is desperately in need of funds for its successful implementation. The goals include an ambitious target: the elimination of hunger and poverty worldwide by 2030.

GLOBAL ISSUES2015-10-282023-07-10

Using Global Citizenship Education for Sustainable Development

By A.D. McKenzie | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

PARIS (IDN) – Since the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals in September, global citizenship education has been receiving increased attention for the role it can play in both sustainable development and in keeping youth from joining the ranks of “violent extremists”.

ARMAMENTS2015-10-262023-07-10

Australia Under Heavy Criticism For Nuclear Agreement with India

By Neena Bhandari | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

SYDNEY (IDN) – Though the Australian Parliament has not yet ratified the Australia-India Nuclear Cooperation Agreement signed in 2014, civil society, environment and disarmament advocates caution that sale of uranium to India would fuel a nuclear arms race in the region and undermine Australia’s strong credentials as an exponent of nuclear safeguards policies.

Migration2015-10-262023-07-10

Large-scale Migration is Ushering in an Era of ‘Migitalisation’

By Lisa Monique Söderlindh* | IDN-InDepthNews Viewpoint

STOCKHOLM (IDN) – Megatrends such as internationalisation, globalisation, urbanisation and digitalisation have been celebrated for decades; but the master narrative of humanity has yet to earn its fame. Now is the time for “migitalisation” to stage the scene.

ARMAMENTS2015-10-252023-07-10

Saudi Nuclear Blustering Remains Hollow – for Now

By Emad Mekay* | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

CAIRO (IDN) – When the U.S.-Iran nuclear deal was announced in July, the image in state-controlled Saudi media was of Western powers caving in to a new powerful neighboring foe. The usually reticent Saudi officials paid the usual diplomatic lip-service to the agreement but social media, academia and state-owned news outlet all portrayed a different picture; profound Saudi anxiety that included statements that the oil-rich country can use its wealth to go nuclear.

GLOBAL ISSUES2015-10-242023-07-10

UN Report Highlights Women’s Role in Countering Terrorism

By Fabíola Ortiz | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Two landmark studies are contributing to fostering global citizenship, by pleading not only for gender equality as such but also stressing the crucial role women can play and are playing in resolving conflict, overcoming violence, countering terrorism and bringing about peace and security.