News Media Archives - Page 2 of 2

News Media, SYNDICATION2016-01-092023-07-12

FORUM ASIA Celebrates 25th Anniversary

By Marte Hellema*

This year the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) celebrates its 25th anniversary: 25 years of promoting and protecting human rights. This is both a reason for celebration and reflection. To reflect on what we have done, what lessons we have learnt, and what we see as priorities for the future.

To commemorate this milestone FORUM-ASIA launched an anniversary campaign during an event on January 8, 2016 at the Pridi Banomyong Institute in Bangkok, Thailand. As part of the campaign a new publication was composed, ‘Our Struggle for Human Rights – 25 Years of FORUM-ASIA’. An online version of this publication can be found on http://25.forum-asia.org.

News Media, SYNDICATION2016-01-092023-07-12

North Korea’s Defiance Underlines the Urgency to Eradicate All Nuclear Weapons

NEW YORK (IDN) – North Korea defied world powers, on January 6, by announcing that it had successfully tested a miniaturized hydrogen nuclear device – in contravention of the international norm against nuclear testing.

The miniaturizing allows the device to be placed on a missile thereby significantly increasing its strike capabilities not only against Japan and South Korea but also against the United States.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: “This test, once again, violates numerous Security Council resolutions despite the united call by the international community to cease such activities.”

News Media, SYNDICATION2016-01-062023-07-12

North Korea’s Nuclear Test Escalates Military Tensions

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – As military tensions continue to rise between two of the world’s major nuclear powers – the United States and Russia – the United Nations remains strongly committed towards one of its longstanding goals: a world without nuclear weapons. READ IN JAPANESE

But North Korea’s announcement of its first hydrogen bomb – tested January 6 – is threatening to escalate the nuclear challenge even further.

News Media, SYNDICATION2016-01-052023-07-12

After Executing Regime Critic, Saudi Arabia Fires Up American PR Machine*

By Lee Fang and Zaid Jilani

Saudi Arabia’s well-funded public relations apparatus moved quickly after Saturday’s (January 2) explosive execution of Shiite political dissident Nimr al-Nimr to shape how the news is covered in the United States.

The execution led protestors in Shiite-run Iran to set fire to the Saudi Embassy in Tehran, precipitating a major diplomatic crisis between the two major powers already fighting proxy wars across the Middle East.

The Saudi side of the story is getting a particularly effective boost in the American media through pundits who are quoted justifying the execution, in many cases without mention of their funding or close affiliation with the Saudi Arabian government.

News Media, SYNDICATION2015-12-302023-07-12

Saudi Arabia’s ‘Anti-Terrorism Coalition’: An Iranian Perspective

By Hamid-Reza Azizi, Middle East Analyst*

The regional coalition led by Saudi Arabia in its onslaught on Yemen has not been able to achieve its goals after about nine months. However, Saudis have now taken a new step by forming an “anti-terrorism coalition.”Nonetheless, the makeup of this coalition and the time it has been proposed have raised serious questions about the goals and intentions of Saudi Arabia. In an analytic approach, a set of political and military considerations can be seen as underlying the formation of this coalition.

News Media, SYNDICATION2015-12-222023-07-12

Ecuador Parliament Endorses a Resolution to Ban Nuclear Weapons

QUITO – The National Assembly of the Republic of Ecuador approved on December 15, 2015 by a vote of 82 in favour, 1 against and 23 abstentions, a resolution that clearly underlines the urgency of driving forward an international treaty to ban nuclear weapons.

The Resolution, presented by the Assembly Member, Maria Augusta Calle, was prepared in collaboration with the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, World without Wars and Violence, and Pressenza the International News Agency for peace and non-violence.

News Media, SYNDICATION2015-12-212023-07-12

The Fuel Economy of Santa’s Sleigh

LONDON (IDN) – Every year around the world, hundreds of millions of children wait anxiously for Santa Claus to arrive and bring presents and good cheer. But what if Santa never came? What if this year the reindeer all fall ill, perhaps due to Crazy Reindeer disease (the analog to Mad Cow) and Santa is forced to cancel Christmas? The result would be devastating.

Fortunately, for any children reading, official word from the North Pole is that Santa’s sleigh has some new upgrades this year that allow it to run on good old fashioned jet fuel if the reindeer fail. And with the current glut of oil around the world, fuel prices are so affordable that even if the reindeer are feeling up to their usual task, Old Saint Nick might just give them the night off and choose to fly with fuel nonetheless.

So how much oil does Santa need for his rounds on the night of the 24th?