By Sugeeswara Senadhira COLOMBO (IDN) — Many Sri Lankans seeking visas to Switzerland end up filling forms listing out all their personnel information including details about Police records, if any. A vast majority of Sinhalese end up with a curt denial of visas despite their clean records.
A Japan-US ‘Island Chain’ Threatens to Provoke Backlash from China and Russia
Viewpoint by M K Bhadrakumar * NEW DELHI (IDN) — A Kyodo News agency report on December 23 cited Japanese government sources to the effect that Tokyo and Washington have drawn up a draft joint operation plan that would enable the setup of an attack base along the Nansei island chain in Japan’s southwest in […]
Homage to the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Bishop Desmond Tutu
By Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury Former Under-Secretary-General and High Representative of the UN Following is the text of a brief homage on December 26 for the Culture of Peace global network. Dear co-activists! Today the world has lost a precious treasure of humanity with the demise of Desmond Mpilo Tutu, globally respected and loved as […]
What the Sialkot Lynching Means For South Asia?
Viewpoint by Chulanee Attanayake and Chirayu Thakkar This article was issued by Toda Peace Institute and is being republished with their permission. COLOMBO | SINGAPORE (IDN) — On December 3, 2021, the South Asian headlines were dominated by the unfortunate lynching of a Sri Lankan factory manager, Priyantha Kumara. An Export Manager working in Pakistan […]
The US Conceding Alone Would Lead to Successful Negotiations
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden (IDN) — The negotiations over Iran’s supposed nuclear bomb-building abilities seem to be stuck in a rut. On December 27, they re-started once again. Given the detailed undertakings by Iran made in the agreement negotiated by the administration of President Barack Obama before President Donald Trump sabotaged it, it […]
COVID-19 and the Structural Crises of Our Time – BOOK REVIEW by Chan Kok Peng*
By Lim Mah-Hui and Michael Heng Siam-Heng SINGAPORE (IDN) — This is clearly an ambitious book spanning over 200 pages and covering the history of economic and philosophical thought, pandemics, climate change, different economic and political systems and recent financial developments. The authors’ objective is to argue that these subject matters are not separate but […]
Urban Poverty Rates in Myanmar Set to Triple, Warns New UN Survey
By Caroline Mwanga NEW YORK | YANGON (IDN) — By early 2022, nearly half of Myanmar’s 55 million population—some 25 million people—will be living below the national poverty line, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). A survey leaves no doubt that the country’s poverty headcount is likely to return to levels not seen […]
Archbishop Desmond Tutu Was a “True Humanitarian and A Committed Advocate of Human Rights” — Dalai Lama
THEKCHEN CHÖLING, Dharamsala, India (IDN) — Immediately on being informed that his “respected elder spiritual brother and good friend” Archbishop Desmond Tutu had passed away, His Holiness the Dalai Lama composed a letter to the Archbishop’s daughter, Rev. Mpho Tutu. “Please accept my heartfelt condolences,” he wrote, “and convey the same to your mother and […]
New UN Report Hopeful of Recovery in Yemen by 2047 Once the War Ends
By Radwan Jakeem NEW YORK (IDN) — Yemen, currently among the poorest countries in the world, continues to be mired in a conflict underway since 2015, which in addition to the loss of life is tearing apart livelihoods, social fabric, causing Yemen to teeter on the brink of famine, and resulting in widespread reversals of […]
UN Underlines Need For ‘Solidarity with Migrants’
By J Nastranis NEW YORK (IDN) — Expressing solidarity with migrants on the move, “has never been more urgent”, said the United Nations Secretary-General in a message just ahead of International Migrants Day, celebrated on December 25. This year, International Migrants Day falls almost exactly 70 years since the historic Brussels conference that led to […]