IDN-InDepthNews

GLOBAL ISSUES2015-11-012023-07-10

Mega Church Scandal in Singapore Reveals Religion as Business Model

By Kalinga Seneviratne* | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

The guidance note on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering of Financing of Terrorism helps charities familiarize themselves with how they may protect themselves from potential abuse related to money laundering or terrorist activities.

SINGAPORE (IDN) – Over the centuries, all great religious leaders and philosophers, including Jesus Christ, have drawn attention to the evils of excessive greed and taught honesty and integrity to overcome it. The guilty verdict by a Singaporean court in October, convicting six leaders of a large Christian Evangelical Church in a 36 million U.S. dollar fraud case, has raised question marks on whether so-called Mega Churches with thousands of devout followers generously donating to their coffers are a business or a religion?

VIDEOS2015-11-012023-07-10

Lesotho’s Award-winning Chief Talks Climate Change, Supporting Small Farmers

{youtube}RSrJsOjlyhs{/youtube} In this interview with IFAD, Mosotho chef and entrepreneur Ska Moteane discusses the impact of climate change in Lesotho, cooking local and why she is so passionate about supporting smallholder farmers.

ARMAMENTS2015-10-302023-07-10

Nuclear-Weapons-Free Africa Keen To Harness Atomic Energy

By Jeffrey Moyo | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

HARARE (IDN) – Nuclear disarmament is a non-issue in Southern Africa. Because no African country possesses nuclear weapons. In fact the 38-nation African Nuclear Weapon Free Zone (ANWFZ) Treaty, also known as the Treaty of Pelindaba, signed in 1996, established a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone in Africa. The treaty came into effect on July 15, 2009.

Latin America & the Caribbean2015-10-302023-07-12

Uruguay Joins Prestigious OECD Development Centre

By Jaya Ramachandran | IDN-InDepthNews Report

BERLIN | PARIS (IDN) – Uruguay has become the 10th member country in Latin America and the Caribbean to join a group of 50 OECD and non-OECD countries that are already members of the Development Centre of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Explaining the accession, a press release said, Uruguay’s structural characteristics, development experience and challenges offer rich opportunities for knowledge sharing among the Centre’s member countries.

Since its banking and financial crisis in 2002, it added, Uruguay has made remarkable progress. Stable macroeconomic policies and a favourable external environment permitted brisk growth and the financing of social policies, yielding the longest period of economic growth in decades.

GLOBAL ISSUES2015-10-302023-07-10

Uncertainty Prods Europeans to Yearn for a Better Yesterday

By Roberto Savio | IDN-InDepthNews Viewpoint

ROME (IDN | Other News) – The recent elections in Switzerland and Poland are good indicators of what will happen elsewhere in Europe in the face of an irresistible growing wave of refugees. But let us first consider a few key elements.

First, the present system of international relations and national governance is not functioning any longer. We are in a period of transition, but nobody knows to where. The Left is without a manifesto, and the Right is just riding the status quo. There is no long-term political thinking.

Second, we are living in a “new economy,” based on the supremacy of finance over man’s production. Unelected officials, like governors of central banks and bankers, have increasingly more power than ever before. This “new economy” considers job insecurity and lay-offs as natural, social inequality as a legitimate reality, the market as the sole basis for societal development and the state as inefficient and a brake on the private sector.

GLOBAL ISSUES2015-10-292023-07-10

Kazakh President Urges One Percent of Arms Budget for Development Agenda

By Rodney Reynolds | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

NEW YORK (IDN) – The UN’s post-2015 development agenda, which includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), is desperately in need of funds for its successful implementation. The goals include an ambitious target: the elimination of hunger and poverty worldwide by 2030.

GLOBAL ISSUES2015-10-282023-07-10

Using Global Citizenship Education for Sustainable Development

By A.D. McKenzie | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

PARIS (IDN) – Since the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals in September, global citizenship education has been receiving increased attention for the role it can play in both sustainable development and in keeping youth from joining the ranks of “violent extremists”.

SYNDICATION, UNITED NATIONS2015-10-272023-07-12

UN Managed ‘to Save Humanity from Hell’

By Somar Wijayadasa* | IDN-InDepthNews Viewpoint

“Enlightened Universe”, a monumental art installation by Spanish artist Cristóbal Gabarrón was unveiled on October 24 in Central Park in New York City in celebration of the seventieth anniversary of the founding of the United Nations. UN Photo/Cia Pak

NEW YORK (IDN) – October 24 marked the 70th anniversary of the entry into force in 1945 of the Charter of the United Nations, an intergovernmental organisation, which was created to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, protect human rights, maintain international peace and security, and uphold international law.

Global Goals2015-10-272023-07-10

Japan: Expo 2015 – Neue Stiftung präsentiert sich als Entwicklungspartner

Von Robert Johnson

BERLIN/MAILAND (IDN*) – “Es geht darum, durch globales Handeln die Zukunft unseres Planeten und das Recht künftiger Generationen auf ein gesundes und erfülltes Leben überall auf der Welt zu sichern”, heißt es im Bericht über die Menschliche Entwicklung 2011, einer unabhängigen, von dem UN-Entwicklungsprogramm (UNDP) in Auftrag gegebenen Publikation. “Dies ist die große Herausforderung für die Entwicklung im 21. Jahrhundert.”

ARMAMENTS2015-10-262023-07-10

Australia Under Heavy Criticism For Nuclear Agreement with India

By Neena Bhandari | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

SYDNEY (IDN) – Though the Australian Parliament has not yet ratified the Australia-India Nuclear Cooperation Agreement signed in 2014, civil society, environment and disarmament advocates caution that sale of uranium to India would fuel a nuclear arms race in the region and undermine Australia’s strong credentials as an exponent of nuclear safeguards policies.