By Kalinga Seneviratne SYDNEY (IDN) — Marking the first visit by a US Secretary of State in 37 years to South Pacific’s major power Fiji, Antony Blinken during his 8-hour stay on February 13 insisted that the US is a Pacific nation and unveiled a raft of new strategies to better engage with the nations […]
Panguna Copper Mine Share Value Doubles Overnight After Landowners Opt to Reopen Mine
By Gorethy Kenneth The writer is a senior PNG Post-Courier journalist. This article was issued by Asia Pacific Report on 15 February and is being republished with permission. PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (IDN) — The dormant Bougainville Copper Limited share value has more than doubled overnight on the Australian Stock Exchange following a resolution […]
Will a Holy Land Confederation Help Resolve the Long Simmering Palestinian-Israeli Dispute?
Only a political solution will end the “senseless and costly cycles of violence” between Israelis and Palestinians, UN Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland said at a briefing to the Security Council in 2021. By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which dates back to 1948, is one of the longstanding disputes which has […]
Russia On the Warpath? Or Is Peace at Hand?
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power MOSCOW (IDN) — Just before former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev made his stunning criticism of the West that, since the fall of the Berlin Wall, it had engaged in “triumphalism”, I was in Moscow. Everyone I talked to say the West had set out to humiliate Russia (not to help rebuild […]
Ukraine: UN Chief Keen to Help Defuse Tensions Between Russia and the Western Countries of NATO
By J Nastranis NEW YORK (IDN) — UN Secretary-General António Guterres has made his “good offices” available for a peaceful solution to the looming “disastrous confrontation over Ukraine between Russia and Western countries of the NATO alliance”, pledging he “will remain fully engaged in the hours and days to come” and will “leave no stone […]
Civic Rights for Foreign Residents Sparks Backlash in Japan
By Yasuo Takao This article was issued by East Asia Forum on February 12. The writer is an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at the School of Media, Culture and Creative Arts, Curtin University, Perth, Australia. PERTH (IDN) — The number of foreign residents living in Japan has dramatically increased in the past decade, marking a […]
The Doubling of Joint UN Fund Will Boost Sustainable Development
By Radwan Jakeem NEW YORK (IDN) — In the race to 2030, the United Nations Joint SDG Fund has been doubled to $114 million as a result of an additional US $54.5 million in investments for projects in five countries, to try and get the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) back on track. Selected from a global […]
Famed Ugandan Novelist Claims Torture in Detention
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — A human rights watchdog group is calling on the government of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to investigate claims by internationally acclaimed writer, Kakwenza Rukirabashaija, that he was severely tortured while in detention for his social media postings. Human Rights Watch called the arrest of the […]
Combat Troops March in The DRC After Attempted Coup d’état
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — The Democratic Republic of Congo is the latest African nation to face an attempt to overthrow the government, allegedly by a government official. In the first official comment since reports of the failed coup plot emerged five days ago, a spokesman for President Felix Tshisekedi […]
Australia: Failed Anti-Religious Discrimination Bill Criticized for Promoting Discrimination
By Kalinga Seneviratne SYDNEY (IDN) — A controversial Anti-Religious Discrimination Bill that was strongly supported by conservative Christian groups, an important vote bank for Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s ruling coalition, failed to pass the lower house of parliament when five government backbenchers crossed the floor to vote against the government, by supporting an amendment to […]