By Sean Buchanan LONDON (IDN) – South-East Asia is expected to experience a future of many dry years and the hardest hit will be the poor, especially farming communities that rely on regular rainfall for their annual crops and have few resources to fall back on during periods of rain shortfall. This is the prospect […]
Ensuring the Future of Coconut, the ‘Tree of Life’
By Josephine Latu-Sanft For the eminent American actor and director Dustin Hoffman sunshine and coconut milk are “the two basic items necessary to sustain life”. The German playwright and poet Bertolt Brecht compared love to a coconut “which is good while it is fresh”. In the Pacific, coconut is king, writes Josephine Latu-Sanft. LONDON | […]
India Between Democracy and Religious Nationalism
By Milan Vaishnav The following are extensive excerpts from the Executive Summary of a study on ‘The BJP in Power: Indian Democracy and Religious Nationalism’ published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.The views represented herein are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees. The […]
Terrorism Comes Unannounced to Laid Back New Zealand
By Dr Palitha Kohona The writer, former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, and former Foreign Secretary, returned recently from a visit to New Zealand. COLOMBO (IDN) – White extremism and terrorism may appear to be uncoordinated and spontaneous. It certainly lacks the ‘viciousness incarnate’ tag conferred by the media […]
15 Pacific States Build Resilience to Climate Change
By Reinhard Jacobsen BRUSSELS | APIA, Samoa (ACP-IDN) – Leaders of the Pacific Island Forum, the region’s premier political and economic policy organisation, have repeatedly identified climate change as the single greatest threat to the livelihoods, security and well-being of the peoples of the Pacific. A three-day meeting, concluded on April 3 in Apia, Samoa, […]
Why a White Christian Isn’t Called a Terrorist
By Kalinga Seneviratne This article is the 31st in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate. Click here for previous series. SYDNEY (IDN) – After a White Australian of Christian background Brenton Tarrant gunned down 50 Muslims praying at a Christchurch mosque on a Friday, […]
Women’s Unpaid Work Needs Factoring In for Fairer ASEAN Economies
By Jose Ramon Albert This article is abridged from a version that appears in the latest issue of East Asia Forum Quarterly, ‘Investing in Women‘. Jose Ramon Albert is a Senior Research Fellow at the Philippine government think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS). MANILA (IDN-INPS) – The Philippines and other ASEAN economies are […]
Overdue Ban on a Faction of the Nepalese Communist Party
By Ajit Kumar Singh This article is the fifth in a series of joint productions of South Asian Outlook and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate. The writer is Research Fellow, Institute for Conflict Management. NEW DELHI (IDN) – The Nepal Cabinet during a meeting on March 12, 2019, decided to ban the Netra […]
UN Commends Beijing Air Quality as Model for Other Cities
By Santo D. Banerjee NEW YORK | NAIROBI (IDN) – More than two decades after China’s capital city Beijing began looking for ways to improve air quality in one of the largest and fastest growing cities in the developing world, its successful efforts provide a model for other cities to follow, according to a new report. […]
Sri Lanka and Cambodia Join Hands to Empower Buddhist Communities
By Janaka Perera This article is the 30th in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate. Click here for previous series. COLOMBO (IDN) – Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena was the Chief Guest at the ceremonial opening of the Buddha Shrine of the International Cambodian […]