By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | MOGADISHU (IDN) — A Book Fair is flowering in Mogadishu, bringing the world of literature and other areas of learning to a region challenged by the coronavirus pandemic and political tension linked to disagreements over the ongoing parliamentary elections in the country. The event had been […]
Kenya’s Nomads Hit by Longest Dry Spell in Memory
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | NAIROBI (IDN) — Kenya’s crucial rainy season came up short this year with only a few showers, wiping out livestock and putting millions of people at risk. Photographs from Wajir County, near the border with Somalia, show dying and dead cows in a desert dotted with […]
World’s Highest-Paid Rugby Player Delighted He Can Be Picked For Tonga
By Sri Krishnamurthi for Asia-Pacific Report WELLINGTON (IDN) — The world’s highest paid rugby player, Charles Piutau, is delighted he will be eligible to play for Tonga now that World Rugby has changed its eligibility rules. In one of his rare New Zealand interviews, he told Pacific Media Network’s Tongan programme with Tangata Pasifika’s John […]
New Laos-China Rail Link Opens Up Southeast Asia for Trade and Tourism
By Kalinga Seneviratne SINGAPORE (IDN) — A new 414 kilometres high-speed rail link between China and Laos has finally opened landlocked mountainous Laos to the region and made it possible for trade and tourism to expand across Southeast Asia. This link has technically facilitated rail travel from China to Singapore, and land-based trade that could […]
Korean Catholics Misrepresent Korea’s Buddhist Heritage
By Emi Hayakawa This article is the 48th in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship agency of the Non-profit International Press Syndicate. Click here for previous reports. Emi Hayakawa is Head of Global Operations, BTN (Buddhist Television Network) World, South Korea. SEOUL (IDN) — The celebrated “birthplace” of contemporary […]
New Caledonia Vote to Stay with France Is a Hollow Victory
It Will Only Ratchet Up Tensions Viewpoint by David Robie The writer Dr David Robie is editor of Asia Pacific Report, founding editor of Pacific Journalism Review and former director of the Pacific Media Centre. AUCKLAND (IDN) — “Loyalist” New Caledonians handed France the decisive victory in the third and final referendum on independence it […]
Will New Mobile Apps Give Deaf Children More Learning Paths?
By Pralhad Gairapipli and Simone Galimberti Pralhad Gairapipli works with Humanity & Inclusion as Regional Communications Officer, covering India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Simone Galimberti is the Co-Founder of ENGAGE, an NGO partnering with youths living with disabilities. Opinions expressed are personal. KATHMANDU (IDN) — Can a mobile app become the transformative tool that will […]
Truth Commission Concludes Inquiry Into ‘Reign of Terror’ Under Gambia’s Former Head of State
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — A Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) in the West African nation of The Gambia has wrapped up a sweeping three-year public inquiry into the rule of former president Yahya Jammeh, an ex-military man who held the nation in his grip with torture, killings and […]
Middle East Nuclear-Weapons-Free Zone, Long Elusive, is Making Progress, say Experts
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — A longstanding proposal for a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the politically and militarily volatile Middle East remains elusive. Since 1967, five nuclear-weapon-free zones (NWFZ) have been established worldwide—in Latin America and the Caribbean, South Pacific, Southeast Asia, Africa and Central Asia. Speaking at the second “UN Conference on the […]
Solomon Islands: Geo-Political Battles Engulf the Pacific as Australia Sends Troops to Honiara
By Kalinga Seneviratne SYDNEY (IDN) — The first batch of Australian Federal Police (AFP) arrived in the Solomon Islands capital Honiara on November 26 to help quell rioting, after the Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare requested Australia’s help under a security treaty the country signed with Canberra in 2017. Australian troops are back in the independent […]