Category: Asia-Pacific

By Kalinga Seneviratne SINGAPORE (IDN) – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cancelled a scheduled visit to Sri Lanka on June 27 as part of his ‘Indo-Pacific’ tour citing “unavoidable scheduling conflicts”, according to the United States Embassy in Colombo. But they might more precisely have said, the visit was dropped “due to unavoidable opposition to U.S. […]

By David Robie* This feature is moved in association with the Pacific Media Centre in New Zealand. BANGKOK (IDN) – Addressing the annual conference of Asian communication scholars, a leading cyber security expert has called on universities to play a more active role in implementing ethics and legal frameworks for communications smart technology to save […]

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network New York (IDN) – A shipload of desperate Bangladeshi migrants was told to turn the boat around and go home by Tunisian officials or be deprived of food, water and medicines. The migrants, trapped on a merchant ship off Tunisia for three weeks, were sent back to their home […]

By Kalinga Seneviratne This article is the 33rd in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate. Click here for previous series. SINGAPORE IDN) – Thousands of Indonesian Buddhists went on a 4 km procession from Mendut monastery to the historic Borobodur temple in Central Java […]

By Devinder Kumar NEW DELHI | BANGKOK (IDN) – The leaders and senior government officials, attending the 75th Session of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) from May 27 to 31 in Bangkok, have called for efforts to advance equality and empowerment for over four billion people across […]

Viewpoint by Shastri Ramachandaran The Congress party has to reshape and sharpen itself for re-emerging as an instrument of public usefulness, writes in the Outlook Shastri Ramachandaran, a political and foreign affairs commentator, also for IDN-INPS. Views expressed are his own. NEW DELHI (IDN-INPS) – Congress president Rahul Gandhi and, perhaps, his sister and party’s […]

By Ayaz Gul This article first appeared on Voice of America on May 23, 2019. ISLAMABAD (IDN-INPS) – Pakistan says it has successfully conducted a “training launch” of a ballistic missile capable of carrying both nuclear and conventional warheads up to 1,500 kilometers. The move came amid Pakistan’s heightened military tensions with neighboring rival India, […]

Viewpoint by Dr Palitha Kohona The writer was on an extended visit to Japan recently. He returned from a four week trip in April 2019. Some his observations might provide some clues for their phenomenal success despite being devastated by War. There might be useful lessons for other countries following the path to development. TOKYO […]

Viewpoint by James. M. Dorsey James M. Dorsey – a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, an adjunct senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Middle East Institute and co-director of the University of Wuerzburg’s Institute of Fan Culture – offered this viewpoint to IDN. SINGAPORE (IDN) […]

By Setiawan Liu This article is the 32nd in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate. Click here for previous series. BANGKOK (IDN) – An Indonesian tourist found the Buddhist dominated Thailand more comfortable than the Christian majority Netherlands where she had gone a few […]