Muslim Issues

  Kim Sung-hwan, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Republic of Korea and President of the Security Council for the month of February, delivers a Council press statement strongly condemning the nuclear test conducted by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). Credit: UN Photo/Mark Garten UNITED NATIONS, Feb 12 2013 (IPS) – North Korea, which conducted its …

  Each time I hear the term 'Sinhala Buddhist' uttered in today's context I can't help but feel an uneasy sense of foreboding tingle up my back. To me it sounds like a time-bomb waiting to explode. As a Sinhalese and a Buddhist by faith, I have every right to ask, "What on earth is a Sinhala Buddhist anyway? Is …

The greatest challenge Sri Lanka will face in the next decade is the rise of communal and religious extremism, cautioned Professor Rohan Gunaratna. After 30 years of bloodletting, the idea of promoting narrow ethnic divisions ended in May 2009. If anyone wants to instill racial and religious prejudice, suspicion and hatred and be a future Prabhakaran, the Government should look …

Says French President Francois Hollande, joined by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi West Africa’s poverty stricken but mineral rich former French colony of Mali has been in the limelight since early last month. Political crisis in Mali was triggered since January 2012 when the people in the north, Tuaregs, staged an armed conflict and declared a separate state .It …

The RQ-7B Shadow 200 tactical UAV is wheeled off the runway after a reconnaissance mission in Iraq Aug. 11, 2008. Credit: U.S. military/public domain UNITED NATIONS, Feb 7 2013 (IPS) – The “drone”, one of the eminently controversial lethal weapons deployed by the United States in its war against terrorism, is obviously a dirty word in the U.N. lexicon. So …

Imperialism functions in two ways – as the government that draws foreign forces into the country as well as the savior of the crises created by the government. All masses and their broad fronts should be rallied to defeat their conspiracies and stop destruction of the count says the co-convener of Anti-imperialist People’s Movement Ven. Dhambara Amila Thera. Speaking at …