By Darini Rajasingham Senanayake* COLOMBO, Sri Lanka | 17 March 2026 (IDN) —The bodies of eighty-four Iranian sailors who died in a US torpedo attack in the seas of Sri Lanka were repatriated yesterday, 13 March 2026. Describing the scene of the rescue of some of the sailors who survived the dastardly attack, the Sri […]
ASEAN, Calling for a Rules-Based Order, Seeks to Promote International Law
By Simone Galimberti* KATHMANDU, Nepal | 16 March 2026 (IDN) — It is still too early to fully understand the consequences of the American adventurism in foreign policy. Amid the ongoing geopolitical chaos surrounding the second Trump administration, it is easy to forget ASEAN and its claimed centrality. The wider Middle East region is experiencing […]
Asian Expertise Is Now Driving The SDGs In The Region
By Kalinga Seneviratne BANGKOK, Thailand | 16 March 2026 (IDN) — The US President Donald Trump may like to believe that it is the US with its powerful military that is driving the global order, but, the recently concluded 13th Asia Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD) reflected the newly evolving global order is driven […]
Future Proofing FDI in Asia and Pacific: Navigating Business not as Usual
By Heather Lynne Taylor-Strauss, Tom Becker & and Sarah Odelé-Gruau Molero* BANGKOK | 2 March 2026 (IDN) — Foreign direct investment is not just a measure of economic confidence; it is one of the most powerful tools the Asia-Pacific region has to finance sustainable development, build resilient infrastructure and create quality jobs. The region witnessed […]
Africa Is Not a Chessboard
Those who recognize this will help shape the future By Ramesh Jaura This article first appeared on rjaura.substack.com BERLIN | 24 February 2026 (IDN) — From a European vantage point, with transatlantic ties on shaky ground, the recent African Union Summit in Addis Ababa felt less like a formal gathering and more like a seismic […]
FIJI: As Sugar Industry Declines, Vanua Levu Is poised for Ecotourism-led Transformation
By Riya Bhagawan* MACUATA, Fiji | 23 February 2026 (IDN/Wansolwara) — Long seen as a quiet, small, and tranquil town nestled among lush mountains with a simple, peaceful lifestyle, Macuata is now rapidly evolving and positioning itself as a centre of attraction in Fiji’s second largest island of Vanua Levu with a population of 160,000. […]
Implications of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Parliamentary Supermajority
Resurrection of Bushidō into a tool for Japanese ultra-nationalism & military expansionism? By Purnaka L. de Silva* NEW YORK | 22 February 2026 (IDN) — Japan’s acquisition of a parliamentary supermajority under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s landslide election victory marks a qualitative shift in the country’s political trajectory with significant implications for regional security, historical reconciliation, […]
Elections in Thailand — More of the Same?
By Jan Servaes BANGKOK, Thailand | 11 February 2026 (IDN) — During early general elections on Sunday, February 8, 2026, Thai voters elected a new 500-seat House of Representatives and voted in a national referendum on drafting a new constitution to replace the military-backed 2017 constitution. Approximately 60 political parties participated in these elections. Four […]
As Myanmar’s Civil War Drives Global Scam Industry, Human Rights May Need Rethink
*By Kalinga Seneviratne BANGKOK. | 23 January 2026 (IDN) —With Myanmar’s three-stage elections hitting the home stretch later this week on Sunday, ending the country’s civil war may need to take center stage in the post-election period. It is fueling a global scam industry that is destabilizing not only the Southeast Asian region, but also […]
Diving Deep into Natural Disasters: Real or Fake?
By Fathima Kadhija Mohamed* TOKYO | 26 December 2025 (IDN) — The recent rise in natural disasters worldwide has inflicted serious damage on infrastructure and economies across several nations—from typhoons and floods devastating South Asia and Africa to wildfires in Iran, Hurricane Melissa in the Caribbean, and spontaneous earthquakes across Asia. Yet while these disasters […]