IDN-InDepthNews

New Media2015-08-032023-07-10

Report Highlights Importance of Digital Economy

By Krishan Dutt | IDN-InDepthNews Report

PARIS (IDN) – The 34-nation Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) faults rich and emerging countries of the bloc for lack of a national strategy on protecting online privacy or funding research in this area. This, it says in a new report, tends to be viewed as a matter for law enforcement authorities to handle.

The report titled OECD Digital Economy Outlook 2015 however notes that Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are transforming the ways social interactions and personal relationships are conducted, with fixed, mobile and broadcast networks converging, and devices and objects increasingly connected to form the Internet of Things (IoT).

Middle East2015-07-262023-07-10

Iran: Moving Away From Hostile Confrontation at Home and Abroad

By Mohammad Mahdi Mojahedi* | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

TEHRAN (IDN | Iran Review) – The true importance of the recent nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries, more than being related to its text, should be seen in two other aspects of the deal. The first aspect is the process of the negotiations and the method that was “invented” through the negotiations, which led to this agreement. The second aspect is wanted or unwanted “outcomes” of the deal.

Invention of this useful negotiation process, along with the outcomes of the deal, will not only divide the history of international relations and Iran’s foreign policy into two parts – before and after the Vienna nuclear agreement – but is also a certain sign of the emergence of a new Middle East, which will come into being within the next couple of decades.

Due to clear geopolitical and geostrategic reasons, following the Constitutional Revolution in Iran, none of the policies of the world’s big powers in the Middle East could have been designed and pursued in the absence of due attention to Iran’s role. The Middle Eastern policy of big powers, especially during two world wars, in addition to all the developments that took place in the Cold War era, are good evidence to this fact.

ARMAMENTS2015-07-222023-07-10

Pacific Island Countries Want a World Without Nuclear Weapons

By Neena Bhandari | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

SYDNEY (IDN) – As political conflicts magnify in the Middle East and North Africa with the spectre of brutal violence from terrorist organisations like ISIS, and the Ukraine crisis reignites the Cold War between the United States, its NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organisation] allies and Russia; it is imperative that nuclear-armed and non-nuclear states together work for total elimination of nuclear weapons. The risk of use of nuclear weapons, by deliberation or accident, leading to total annihilation looms large more than ever before.

Asia-Pacific2015-07-142023-07-10

India Confronts Reality at Shanghai Summit

By Shastri Ramachandran* | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

CHENNAI, India (IDN) – The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is a regional forum where India may not be able to have its way against Pakistan. To the contrary, Pakistan – which also became a full member of the SCO along with India on July 10 in Ufa (Russia) – may be better placed in the six-member regional grouping dominated by China and Russia.

ARMAMENTS2015-06-302023-07-10

Perfecting Detection of the Bomb

By Ramesh Jaura | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis*

VIENNA (IDN | IPS) – An international conference has highlighted advances made in detecting nuclear explosions,tracking storms or clouds of volcanic ash, locating epicentres of earthquakes, monitoring the drift of huge icebergs, observing the movements of marine mammals, and detecting plane crashes.

GLOBAL ISSUES2015-06-202023-07-10

Japan-US Bonds of Peace and Friendship Bequeathed To Future Generations

By Katsuhiro Asagiri | IDN-InDepthNews Special Report

ISE | TOKYO (IDN) – When Noelle Mary Verhelst, the 67th United States Cherry Blossom Queen, paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo on June 4, she said in fluent Japanese: “During my trip to Ise City, I was impressed with the beauty of Japan, people’s warmhearted kindness and the legacy of Ozaki Yukio. Japan and the U.S. are good friends.”

GLOBAL ISSUES2015-06-092023-07-10

Unveiling the Mystery of Global Citizenship

By Jaya Ramachandran | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

BRUSSELS (IDN) – While mystery shrouds the concept of ‘global citizenship’ for wide sections of the general public, a growing number of civil society organisations, enlightened governments and the United Nations are undertaking concerted efforts to lift the veil of enigma.

GLOBAL ISSUES2015-06-092023-07-10

UN Commission Reports Severe Human Rights Violations in Eritrea

By Mirjam van Reisen* and Klara Smits | IDN-InDepthNews Report

BRUSSELS (IDN) – The UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea has released a damning report about the situation in the country in the Horn of Africa. “It is not law that rules in Eritrea – but fear,” states the report. Some of the violations described in the report may constitute crimes against humanity.

The report was made public on June 8. The “systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations” – for which the Eritrean government is responsible – are extensive and varied. “We seldom see human rights violations of the scope and scale we see in Eritrea today,” said Sheila B. Keetharuth from Mauritius, one of the three members of the Commission, in a press conference on June 8.

GLOBAL ISSUES2015-06-082023-07-10

Fostering Satellite Connectivity Through Public-Private Partnerships

By Klara Smits | IDN-InDepthNews Report

BRUSSELS (IDN) – Though not on top of the international agenda, the importance of connectivity for promoting development in Africa drew the focus at a discussion event during the June 2-3 European Development Days (EDD), designed as a flagship event of the European Year for Development (EYD).

ARMAMENTS2015-05-292023-07-10

Nuclear Weapons Free World No Lost Cause

By Jamshed Baruah | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

BERLIN | NEW YORK (IDN) – The forthcoming 70th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August is an appropriate occasion to start developing a legally binding instrument prohibiting nuclear weapons. This, according to experts, is the distinct message emerging from the four-week long United Nations conference, which ended without an outcome document on May 22.