Asia-Pacific

Photo: Bamboo becomes insect-resistant when soaked in a chemical solution for 12 -14 days. Credit: IOM/Abdullah Mashrif.

Providing New Bamboo Shelters in Bangladesh Refugee Camps

COX'S BAZAR (IDN-INPS) – Work has begun on one of the largest bamboo treatment plants ever installed in an emergency response, as IOM experts tackle a tiny insect that is devastating structures in the world’s biggest refugee settlement.

An infestation of "boring beetles" means the bamboo in almost every shelter in the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar – home to around 240,000 families – needs to be replaced. With just over four months to go until the beginning of the next monsoon season, the race is on to provide families living in the worst-affected shelters with new, more-durable bamboo.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 21 December 2018

Photo: DPRK state media has been quite transparent about DPRK missile intent | Credit: KCNA

Who’s Deceiving Whom? Open Source North Korea Under The Microscope

NYT Coverage of Think-Tank Report Risks Credibility of Open-Source Research on North Korea

Viewpoint by Joshua H. Pollack

The writer is a senior research associate at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey and editor of the Nonproliferation Review. This article first appeared on NKNews.Org on December 11, 2018.

NEW YORK | MONTEREY (IDN-INPS) – Along with the features of daily life that few of us could have anticipated a generation ago – smartphones, rent-a-scooters, Greek yogurt in every grocery store – something new has come to the world of think tanks and NGOs: the budding democratization of imagery intelligence.

: Ramesh Jaura; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 20 December 2018

Photo: Kim Jong Un visits with scientists at Kim Chaek University of Technology in Pyongyang. Source: Korean Central Television, September 29, 2018.

New Report Warns of the Perils of Scientific Collaborations with North Korea

Partner Countries Include China, USA, Australia and Germany

By Ramesh Jaura

NEW YORK (IDN) – Direct collaboration between North Korean and foreign scientists including those from China, Australia, the United States, Germany, and Romania, is playing "an expanding role" in the regime’s pursuit of technological advancement, a new study has found.

Published on December 19, this study comes two months after Foreign Policy (FP) carried an article by Colum Lynch on September 20, 2018 with the headline, North Korea Evades Sanctions – But a feud between Russia and the U.S. has kept the document from being published.

: Ramesh Jaura; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 20 December 2018

Photo: World’s first drone-delivered vaccine in Vanuatu. The vaccine delivery covered almost 40 kilometres of rugged mountainous terrain from Dillon’s Bay on the west side of the island to the east landing in remote Cook’s Bay. UNICEF/Pacific

One Short Drone Flight Is A 'Big Leap' For Global Health

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK | PORT VILA (IDN) – One month old Joy Nowai has become the world’s first child to be given a vaccine delivered commercially by drone in a remote island in the South Pacific country of Vanuatu, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported on December 18.

The vaccine delivery through the state-of-the-art craft covered almost 40 kilometres of rugged mountainous terrain from Dillon’s Bay on the west side of the island to the east landing in remote Cook’s Bay, where 13 children and five pregnant women were vaccinated by Miriam Nampil, a registered nurse.

: Santo D. Banerjee; UN INSIDER; 19 December 2018

Photo: Youth Forum in Tokyo. Credit: Yukie Asagiri | IDN-INPS

Japan Shines with a Youth Forum to Commemorate Universal Human Rights Declaration

By Katsuhiro Asagiri

TOKYO (IDN) – When the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in Paris on December 10, 1948, it came up with a milestone document in the history of human rights that took into account the horrendous experiences of the Second World War.

With the end of that war, and the creation of the United Nations, the international community vowed never again to allow atrocities like those of the Second World War happen again. It pledged, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected.

: Katsuhiro Asagiri; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 16 December 2018

'Ugly' Is the New Delicious in Singapore

By Nadia Amirah Binte Kamsani

SINGAPORE (IDN) – As Asian societies become affluent, their modern lifestyles are leading to much wastage in the food chain to satisfy the high standards of hygeine and freshness consumers demand. To combat the issue of higher food wastage in Singapore – one of the most affluent countries in the world – a student-led initiative ‘UglyFood’ has kicked its gears to raise awareness on such food wastage, by selling cold-pressed juices and ice creams made from “ugly-looking produce”.

Food wastage is a growing concern in this small Southeast Asian island state. According to the National Environmental Agency (NEA), the amount of food waste generated in Singapore has increased by about 40 per cent over the past 10 years. Last year, 676,800 tonnes of food waste was discarded, and up to 15 percent of that food is wasted due to cosmetic filtering; discarding produce because they “don’t look pretty” for the market.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 14 December 2018

Photo: A stone memorial “The rebels were dispersed here” stands on the Matale-Kandy road till this day. Credit: Matale Rebellion, Ceylon.

Sri Lanka's Heroic Freedom Struggles of 1818 and 1848 – Part 4

By Dr. Palitha Kohona

The author is former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, and former Foreign Secretary. The following is Part 3 of the text of his keynote address delivered at Sri Lanka's University of Peradeniya, Kandy, on 26 November 2018. – Click here for Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

Many reasons can be given for the failure of the uprising. First and foremost were the immense power and enormous resources of the rising British Empire at the time. A small nation, and its chiefs, though demonstrating exceptional valour and purpose, had little chance of defeating Britain which was also basking in the glow of having recently defeated Napoleon and the French empire and was exuding supreme confidence.

: Dr. Palitha Kohona; THE WORLD; History; 09 December 2018

Photo: The Royal Palace of Kandy. Wikimedia Commons.

Sri Lanka's Heroic Freedom Struggles of 1818 and 1848 – Part 3

By Dr. Palitha Kohona

COLOMBO (IDN-INPS) – As to whether Kandy could have managed to hold the British at bay for much longer or extract much more from the British in the negotiations at that point in history is highly debatable. My view is that for a leadership which was not much familiar with the momentous events shaping the future of the world and Britain emerging the undisputed super power of the world, the chiefs did remarkably well.

: Dr. Palitha Kohona; THE WORLD; History; 08 December 2018

Image: The Belt and Road Initiative includes one-third of world trade and GDP and over 60% of the world's population, says the World Bank.

Silk Road: A Debt 'Trap' or an Opportunity for the West Joining China to Assist Developing Countries?

By Dr. Palitha Kohona

The author is former Foreign Secretary and former Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations.

COLOMBO (IDN) – "Any conflict between the U.S. and China, including a trade war, would do irreparable damage to both, not to mention the rest of the world. However, the two giants have a unique opportunity in history to get away from traditional power based competition to cooperate for the common good of humanity, especially the developing countries whose primary interest is in progressing economically. Such cooperation may not happen any time soon but a golden opportunity exists."

: Dr. Palitha Kohona; OPINION; 07 December 2018

Photo source: The Island Daily, Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka's Heroic Freedom Struggles of 1818 and 1848 – Part 2

By Dr. Palitha Kohona

The author is former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, and former Foreign Secretary. The following is Part 2 of the text of his keynote address delivered at Sri Lanka's University of Peradeniya, Kandy, on 26 November 2018. – Click here for Part 1.

COLOMBO (IDN-INPS) – The first major British invasion of Kandy suffered the same fate as those of the Portuguese and the Dutch. The King commanded the loyalty of the chiefs, the people and the monks and the invaders were just massacred at Le Wella (Bloody Beach) but the world’s only superpower at the time did not take this defeat lying down.