Category: Asia-Pacific

By Neena Bhandari SYDNEY (IDN) – Australia must sign and ratify the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), says a new report released here by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), the Australian-founded initiative which won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize. The report comes amidst growing international tension with […]

Viewpoint by Gregory Kulacki The writer researches the cross-cultural aspects of nuclear arms control negotiations between the United States, China and Japan. He is China project manager and senior analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). The following was first published at UCS’s blog on July 24, 2019. CLAREMONT, CA, USA (IDN | UCS) […]

Dr. K. Mulaffer Chairman, Sri Lanka Land Reclamation and Development Corporation (1990-1992); Chairman, Building Materials Manufacturing Corporation (1992-1994) & Project Director & Coordinator, National Equipment & Machinery Organization (1994-1995) COLOMBO (IDN) – My American friends must understand that choosing tea is like choosing wine. And here is why? The natural flavors of teas are quintessentially different from […]

By Ronald Joshua ROME (IDN) – Forestry and agriculture provide livelihoods for nearly 80 percent of the population in the northern regions of Viet Nam. However, nearly half of all households own less than one hectare of land, which often prevents farmers from earning the income they need. To help smallholder farmers find ways to […]

By Kalinga Seneviratne MANILA (IDN) – With his approval ratings at an all-time high for a Filipino leader, President Rodrigo Duterte has thrown his weight behind a proposal by his former aide and newly-elected Senator Christopher “Bong’ Go to create a new government department for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) who are the major foreign exchange […]

Viewpoint by Dr. Ameer Ali A modern Muslim university is an absolute need of our time, and it will be a sound first step to reform even the madrasas eventually, writes Dr. Ameer Ali, a lecturer in economics at the School of Business and Governance, Murdoch University, Western Australia. The aborted university project in Punanai, […]

By OFMI* This article is the eighth in a series of joint productions of South Asian Outlook and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate. NAGPUR, India (IDN) — Controversy is raging after Germany’s Ambassador to India, Walter Lindner, visited the Nagpur, Maharashtra headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on July 17 despite the […]

By Sean Buchanan NEW YORK (IDN) – While there has been progress on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) over the past four years, some vulnerable small island developing states (SIDs), such as those in the Pacific, are losing momentum in the run-up to 2030. In 2015, the United Nations set out a vision for […]

By R. Maxwell Bone The writer is Vice President for Political Affairs, Democracy, and Governance at the International Institute for Peace, Democracy, and Development (IIPDD). He lives in Washington, DC. Follow him on Twitter @maxbone55.  WASHIGTON, DC (IDN) – A broad delegation of representatives from Afghan society partook in an Intra-Afghan dialogue session with the […]

Afghanistan On the Long Road to Trust and Reconciliation By Rita Joshi BERLIN (IDN) – As a friend to Afghanistan, Germany has supported efforts to achieve peace in the country for many years. After 40 years of almost constant violence, the main prerequisites for peace, according to the German Foreign Office, are “a willingness to […]