By Jaya Ramachandran GENEVA (IDN) – Labour law experts have praised the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for launching an initiative to facilitate access to justice for foreign workers, and expressed the hope that this initiative would be replicated by the other five Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman. In […]
A New Book Shows Ways to ‘Decolonize’ the Minds of Asian Communicators
By Kannan Salazar Mindful Communication for Sustainable Development: Perspectives from AsiaEdited by: Kalinga Seneviratne – Lecturer, Faculty of Communication Arts, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok. February 2018 | 372 pages | SAGE Publications Pvt. Ltd. Electronic version: £38.00https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/mindful-communication-for-sustainable-development/book261649 BANGKOK (IDN) – The book tries to wean away the reader from the old paradigm of development communication, which […]
White Australians Debate Fast-Track Visas for Afrikaners Fleeing Land Reform
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – Australia’s national security minister has proposed fast-tracking immigrant visas for white South Africans facing “horrific circumstances” under Cyril Ramaphosa, the country’s President since February 15, 2018. He was elected head of the African National Congress in December 2017. Barely a month into his presidency, Ramaphosa […]
Asylum-Seeking Mother and 7-Year-Old Daughter Reunited
By Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – After an episode described as both cruel and horrific, an asylum-seeking mother and her daughter have been reunited in Chicago. The daughter, who just turned 7, had been held thousands of miles apart from her mother since November 2017. According to an American Civil Liberties Union attorney […]
Economic Cooperation in the Indian Ocean Region and the One Belt One Road Initiative: A Threat or an Opportunity?
Viewpoint by Dr Palitha Kohona The writer is former Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations and former Foreign Secretary. – The Editor COLOMBO (IDN) – The Indian Ocean region is experiencing a fondly anticipated luxury. Almost every one of the economies of the region is expanding at a rate that gives hope […]
Why Eye Care is Important – for Bangladesh and Other Countries
By Naimul Haq DHAKA (IDN) – John Bob Ranck, also known as Bob, Chief Executive Officer and President at Orbis International, recently visited Bangladesh on a special mission. He travelled to some of the hospitals where Orbis as a partner has been supporting Bangladesh’s efforts in addressing avoidable blindness. Bob, a retired United States Air […]
Sri Lankan Academics Abroad Condemn Violence Against Muslim Community
By Shanta Roy NEW YORK (IDN) – A group of Sri Lankan academics teaching in educational institutions abroad – and numbering about 50 – has written to condemn ongoing violence against Sri Lanka’s Muslim community, especially the “brutal attacks” perpetrated early March. In a letter published by ‘Groundviews‘, they say: “We are outraged that the […]
Sacked Tillerson Cuts Short Long-Awaited Africa Visit
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – An extended visit to Africa by the U.S. Secretary of State to mend fences after President’ Donald Trump’s crude description of African and the Caribbean countries was cut short March 13 by the dismissal of the embattled Secretary Rex Tillerson. President Trump had announced such […]
Infrastructural Boom Spreads Across Southern Africa
By Jeffrey Moyo HARARE (IDN) – Waving a red cloth tied to a stick while signalling vehicles to stop, 35-year old Denford Muzvidziwa who dons blue overalls and a white helmet, joyfully busies himself on the Harare-Mutare high way which is still being upgraded. For over a decade after he completed a degree in Social […]
Sri Lanka’s Extremists Find a New Enemy
Viewpoint by Dr Farah Mihlar* LONDON (IDN) – After fiercely quelling a three-decade armed conflict fought mainly on ethnic grounds, majoritarian politics in Sri Lanka has found a new enemy – the country’s nine percent Muslim community. In the worst outbreak of violence against Muslims in recent years, Sinhalese-Buddhist mobs were on the rampage earller […]