By Devinder Kumar NEW DELHI | BANGKOK (IDN) – United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana has welcomed the agreement reached between China and the United States on December 13, defusing tensions in a 19-month trade war. She expects it to […]
Grassroots Buddhism Flourishes in the Outskirts of Bangkok
By Kalinga Seneviratne This article is the 37th in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate. Click here for previous articles. BANGKOK (IDN) – On a Saturday morning a couple drives into the Santi Asoke community in the north-eastern outskirts of Bangkok, and walks into […]
Papal Visit to Japan Revives Debate About Death Penalty
By Katsuhiro Asagiri TOKYO (IDN) – An international conference “No Justice Without Life” has called on Japan to halt all executions next year, the year of the Olympic Games. Japan is one of the 56 nations which retains capital punishment, also known as the death penalty or death sentence for capital crimes. In fact, Japan, […]
Supreme Court Attempts to Destabilize the Pakistan Govt.
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali* FREMONT, California, USA (IDN) – The Supreme Court of Pakistan on November 28 limited the three years extension in the term of Army Chief of Staff General (COAS) Qamar Javed Bajwa to six month. A three-member court bench led by the Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, who retires in less […]
Rajapaksa Win Heralds A New Era for Sri Lanka
By Kalinga Seneviratne SINGAPORE (IDN) – The emphatic win by former Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the Presidential elections held in Sri Lanka on November 16 could herald in a new era for the strategically-placed South Asian island that could be modeled on the successful economic path of the Asian Tigers such as Singapore.
Chinese President Xi Urges an End to Violence in Hong Kong
By Global Times* BRASILIA (IDN-INPS) – Chinese President Xi Jinping on November 14 night urged an end to violence and chaos in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), which he said is the most pressing task for the city, in his latest remarks that have been seen as a strong support for tougher actions […]
Mega Development Project at Buddha’s Birthplace
Might Become Dalai Lama’s New Home By Kalinga Seneviratne This article is the 36th in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate. Click here for previous articles. LUMBINI, Nepal (IDN) – Tens of thousands of Buddhist pilgrims from Asian countries, especially Sri Lanka, Thailand and […]
Trump’s Absence at ASEAN Summit Shifts the Focus to Asian Giants
By Kalinga Seneviratne SINGAPORE (IDN) – Ever since the U.S. was invited to join the East Asia summit that is held in conjunction with the annual ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Summit, media and conference attention has been focused on what the President of the U.S. says. But this year, President Trump boycotting the […]
Far-Right European Parliamentarians Visit Kashmir
By Countercurrents Collective This article is the 9th in a series of joint productions of South Asian Outlook and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate. NEW DELHI (IDN) – The 27-member delegation of European Parliament members visited the troubled region of Jammu and Kashmir. It’s the first foreign delegation allowed to visit Kashmir after […]
Nobel Laureate Banerjee’s Prescription for Indian Economy
By Rohan Venkataramakrishnan, Scroll.in This article first appeared on Scroll.in on 14 October 2019. MUMBAI (IDN-INPS) – Abhijit Banerjee, the renowned economist who was one of three awarded the Nobel prize for economics on October 14, put together some prescriptions for what the Indian economy needs right now. The last item on the list? “Pray.” […]