By Kalinga Seneviratne BUKHARA, Uzbekistan (IDN) – The city of Bukhara was a major trading hub of the ancient Silk Routes that connected Asia to the Arab world and Europe. With the Uzbekistan government’s lifting of restrictions on foreign tourists in 2016 and global interests on the ancient Silk Routes gathering momentum, this 2000-year-old city […]
Congress Should Dump Gandhi Family, Reinvent itself for Survival
Viewpoint by Shastri Ramachandaran The Congress party has to reshape and sharpen itself for re-emerging as an instrument of public usefulness, writes in the Outlook Shastri Ramachandaran, a political and foreign affairs commentator, also for IDN-INPS. Views expressed are his own. NEW DELHI (IDN-INPS) – Congress president Rahul Gandhi and, perhaps, his sister and party’s […]
Pakistan Tests Nuclear-Capable Ballistic Missile, Affirms Willingness for Dialogue with India
By Ayaz Gul This article first appeared on Voice of America on May 23, 2019. ISLAMABAD (IDN-INPS) – Pakistan says it has successfully conducted a “training launch” of a ballistic missile capable of carrying both nuclear and conventional warheads up to 1,500 kilometers. The move came amid Pakistan’s heightened military tensions with neighboring rival India, […]
Uncertainty over U.S.-Russian Arms Control Talks
By Kingston Reif and Shervin Taheran While Kingston Reif is Director for Disarmament and Threat Reduction Policy, Shervin Taheran is Research Assistant at the Arms Control Association, which carried this report on May 24, 2019. WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN-INPS) – Following a May 14 meeting in Sochi, Russia, with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister […]
79-Nation Group’s Head Explains Vital Tasks Ahead Until ACP-EU Accord Expires
By Reinhard Jacobsen BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – As talks progress on future relations between 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States and the European Union in the aftermath of historic Cotonou Agreement due to expire in February 2020, Secretary-General Dr. Patrick Ignatius Gomes has spelt out vital tasks ahead. The significance of milestones marking […]
Child Hunger Threatens Africa’s Social and Economic Future
By Ronald Joshua ADDIS ABABA (IDN) – Africa’s future economic and social progress is under threat from alarmingly high levels of child hunger, and the severity and scale of the problem is such that it requires nothing short of a radical and transformative political and economic agenda, according to a new study released at the […]
ACP Provides Information on Development of Private Sector
By Reinhard Jacobsen BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – The Secretariat of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States, has launched a series of regional meetings aimed at boosting ACP private sector information, developing knowledge sharing and networking. As an integral activity of the Joint ACP-EU Private Sector Development Framework, these events are being organised with […]
Door to North Korea Remains Open Despite Missile Tests
By Alicia Sanders-Zakre and Kelsey Davenport While Alicia Sanders-Zakre is research assistant, Kelsey Davenport, is director for nonproliferation policy at the Arms Control Association, which carried this report on May 21, 2019. WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN-INPS) – The next steps for U.S. diplomacy with North Korea remain unclear after Pyongyang tested several short-range ballistic missiles in […]
Stop Tuvalu and the World from Sinking
By Sean Buchanan NEW YORK (IDN) – Like many of the world’s low-lying islands, Tuvalu, the South Pacific island whose highest point is less than five metres above the waves, faces the threat of being submerged under rising seas. “We must stop Tuvalu from sinking and the world from sinking with Tuvalu,” UN Secretary-General António […]
The Security Council Must Stop the U.S. Going to War with Iran
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Amnesty International reported on March 11 that an Iranian lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, has been sentenced to 38 years in jail and 148 lashes. She has dedicated her life to defending women accused of removing their hijabs in public. The persecution of human rights dissidents in Iran appears […]