By Kalinga Seneviratne SYDNEY (IDN) — Samoa, a small island nation in the South Pacific, is currently having two governments both sworn in with one claiming that they have been appointed to govern by God and the other claiming they have got the peoples’ mandate. The political crisis is also embroiled in arguments over the […]
Australian Monk Takes On The Mammoth Task To Bring Buddha’s Discourses Into One Place
By Kalinga Seneviratne As Buddhists across the world celebrate the triple anniversary of Vesak on May 26 that marks the birth, enlightenment, and death of the Buddha, this IDN-Lotus News special feature by Kalinga Seneviratne—46th in a series—focuses on a landmark project in the dissemination of the Buddha’s teachings. Click here for previous reports.
Tahitian Community Keen To Save Endangered Sacred Mountain
By Asia Pacific Report News desk TAHITI (IDN) — A collective of community groups in Tahiti, trying to preserve a historical-cultural icon at Tautira, have condemned the Tahitian government for “deliberately trying to destroy our heritage”. The iconic Tahua-Reva is the community’s sacred mountain on the southeastern tip of Tahiti-Iti, the smaller section adjoining the […]
UN Experts Call on Myanmar Businesses ‘To Take a Stand’ Against Military Junta
By Caroline Mwanga NEW YORK (IDN | UN News) — Independent rights experts of the United Nations have urged businesses in Myanmar to fulfill their human rights responsibilities and pressure the military junta to halt grave human rights violations against its own people. According to UN News, some businesses have reiterated their public support for […]
New Commission to Govern Colombo Port City Soon
Sri Lanka Embarks on Ambitious Project to Create Another Asian Financial Hub By Sugeeswara Senadhira COLOMBO (IDN) — The Sri Lankan Supreme Court’s determination on the proposed Colombo Port City Economic Commission Bill will be placed before the parliament on May 18, paving way for the legal act to establish the Commission, with an amendment […]
Walking History Through Viet Nam’s Security Council Presidency
By Ramu Damodaran The writer is Chief, United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) hosted in the Department of Global Communications. This OpEd was first published in #WhyWeCare on April 15. NEW YORK (IDN | UNAI) — If, as Suzanne Nossel writes, “the United Nations remains the closest thing to a system of global governance that the […]
Two Years On: Geopolitics of The 2019 Easter Sunday Crime in Sri Lanka and Cover-Up
The Weaponization of Religion Amid Hybrid Cold War in The Indian Ocean Region Viewpoint by Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake The writer is a cultural and medical anthropologist with research expertise in international political economy, peace, and development studies in South and South-East Asia. Her research spans issues in gender and women’s empowerment, migration and multiculturalism, ethno-religious identity […]
‘Human Rights’ and Ecological Crisis in Sri Lanka
Viewpoint by Dr Asoka Bandarage The writer, a scholar and practitioner, has taught at Yale, Brandeis, Mount Holyoke (where she received tenure), Georgetown, American and other universities and colleges in the U.S. and abroad COLOMBO (IDN) — The recent UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution A/HRC/46/L.1/Rev.1 of March 16 has brought extensive charges against Sri […]
China’s Growing Network of Ultra-High Voltage Power Lines Has Hit Its Fair Share of Snags — Part Two
Please click here for Part One of this article. By Ye Ruolin and Yuan Ye * SHANGHAI (IDN | China Dialogue) — The Hunanese experience and other cases demonstrate how this vision may prove difficult to realise. The Baihetan dam, currently under construction on the Jinsha River straddling the border of Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, […]
China’s Growing Network of Ultra-High Voltage Power Lines Has Hit Its Fair Share of Snags — Part One
By Ye Ruolin and Yuan Ye * SHANGHAI (IDN | China Dialogue) — With few coal reserves to call its own and winter rains too erratic to rely on hydropower, central China’s Hunan province had long faced frequent electricity blackouts, an annoyance to residents and a hindrance to economic growth. So, when an ultra-high voltage […]