By Kalinga Seneviratne*

BANGKOK (IDN) - 2015 is expected to become a watershed year for shaping the global development agenda with the post-2015 Millennium Development Goals, Sustainable Development models and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) frameworks, all coming up for review at major UN conferences during the year. [P] ARABIC | CHINESE TEXT VERSION PDF | GERMAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | KOREAN TEXT VERSION PDF

By Francesca Dziadek

BERLIN (IDN) - A leap of faith is on the agenda in Berlin where a visionary project for interfaith dialogue, launched as the House of One, hopes to bring Christians, Jews and Muslims to worship under one roof from 2018. [P] CHINESE TEXT VERSION  PDF |  JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | KOREAN TEXT VERSION PDF | NORWEGIAN

By Baher Kamal*

CAIRO (IDN) - One does need to think back half a century ago, to remember how much harmony and peaceful coexistence reigned in Arab countries between Muslims, Christians and Jewish. Nor does one need to recall how hundreds of Muslims gathered to protect Christians praying in their churches in Egypt during and after the 2011 popular upraising. Or how organised groups of Copts acted as a human shield to save Muslims praying in Cairo's Tahrir Square from extremists' attacks during the successive waves of popular protests. [P] PERSIAN (FARSI) | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF

By Michelle Tullo

UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - The future of religion in U.S. politics lies not with conservatives but rather with religious progressives, social scientists here are suggesting, with a faith-based movement potentially able to provide momentum to a new movement for social justice.

According to a new report from the Brookings Institute, a think tank here, the current religious social justice movement can be compared to the period of civil rights activism in the mid-20th century. [P] JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | SPANISH

UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - For peace to be embedded in culture and society, it starts with childhood education which leads to the creation of global citizens, according to a panel of experts.

Former Under-Secretary-General and High Representative of the U.N. Anwarul Chowdhury said fostering global citizens is important in achieving peace. [P] JAPANESE TEXT VERSION