Asian Lite News Archive

Category: World News

  • Legendary Diego Maradona turns 60

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    Argentina football legend Diego Maradona turned 60 on Friday. Widely rated as one of the greatest football players of all time, Maradona played in four FIFA World Cups and was captain of the Argentine team that won the 1986 tournament. In an interview with French weekly French Football, Maradona joked that that he dreams of…

  • Global FDI flows fall 49% in H1 2020

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    Global foreign direct investment (FDI) flows fell 49 per cent in the first half of 2020 compared to 2019, due to the economic fallout from COVID-19, according to a report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). UNCTAD’s latest Global Investment Trends Monitor released on Tuesday showed developed economies saw the biggest…

  • IOC Chief Thomas Bach Wins Seoul Peace Prize

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    International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach on Monday received the prestigious Seoul Peace Prize, the IOC said in a statement. Bach joined the ceremony virtually from Lausanne, with the award being collected on his behalf by the former UN Secretary-General, His Excellency Ban Ki-moon. The Seoul Peace Prize comes with a USD200,000 prize, which…

  • Guterres appeals for global solidarity on UN Day

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    Covid-19 is humanity’s common enemy in the world today and now is the time for a stepped-up push for peace to achieve a global ceasefire. Guterres said…reports Asian Lite News UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for global solidarity to tackle common challenges on the occasion of UN Day. “We face colossal challenges. With global…

  • Athletes from hotspots will be allowed: IOC Chief

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    International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach says he doesn’t expect countries to pull out of next year’s Tokyo Olympics due to Covid pandemic and that athletes too won’t be barred if they test negative. The Olympics are set to be held from July 23 to August 8 next year after being postponed from 2020…

  • Putin reiterates support for ‘stronger UN’

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    Russia actively supports the activities of the UN and defends the need for strict observance of the norms and principles of its charter…reports Asian Lite News As one of the founding countries of the United Nations, Russia consistently advocates strengthening the organisation’s central role in addressing global affairs, President Vladimir Putin said. Russia actively supports…

  • UNAOC decries beheading of French teacher

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    The UNAOC chief stressed that togetherness, peace and tolerance are rooted in religions across the faith spectrum…Reports Asian Lite News Miguel Moratinos, the high representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), condemned the beheading of a teacher in the northwestern suburbs of Paris on Friday. “The high representative for the United Nations Alliance…

  • NZ PM to form new govt before official results

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    According to the preliminary count results for the election held on Saturday, the Labour Party won 49 per cent of the vote, which transfers to 64 seats in the 120-member Parliament…Reports Asian Lite News New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Sunday said that she expected to form a new government within the next…

  • Jacinda wins second term in landslide victory

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    New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Saturday won a landslide victory in the country’s general elections held earlier in the day, securing her a second term in office. With most ballots tallied, Ardern’s ruling Labour Party has won 49 per cent of the vote and is projected to win 64 seats – enough for…

  • 40% World’s population lack access to handwashing facilities: UNICEF

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    Although handwashing with soap is vital in the fight against infectious diseases, including the novel coronavirus, 40 per cent of the world’s population, or 3 billion people, do not have access to it, according to new Unicef estimates. The estimates issued on Thursday revealed that the number is much higher in the least developed countries,…

  • Study: Lockdown Improved Air Quality

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    Researchers have found that lockdowns initiated to curb the spread of Covid-19 at the beginning of the pandemic improved air quality, averting tens of thousands of deaths in regions where air pollution has a significant impact on mortality. The study, published in the journal The Lancet Planetary Health, found that particulate matter concentrations in China…

  • Global spending on cloud set to cross $1 trillion: Report

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    Accelerated by Covid-19 disruption, the global spending on overall Cloud services will surpass $1 trillion in 2024, sustaining a double-digit compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.7 per cent, according to a new IDC report. The total worldwide spending includes the hardware and software components underpinning cloud services and the professional and managed services opportunities…

  • Aussie Health Minister calls for easing Covid curbs

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    The national death toll remained unchanged at 904…Reports Asian Lite News Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt has issued a renewed call for Covid-19 restrictions to be eased in the state of Victoria. As of Thursday afternoon there had been 27,362 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Australia, with 23 new cases detected in the last 24…

  • G30 calls for collective efforts to tackle debt crisis

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    The G30 urged the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to mobilize global liquidity on a larger scale than ever before, scale up its crisis lending in low-income countries, and use far more of its existing non-concessional resources to mitigate economic fallout from Covid-19….Reports Asian Lite News The G30 has said that rising debts have threatened funding…

  • Poorest countries need support : World Bank

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    Malpass highlighted the significance of the G20 debt relief program, saying that there’s been progress both in terms of fiscal benefits and also transparency benefits..Reports Asian Lite News The global economy is experiencing a K-shaped recovery, as advanced economies have been able to provide support while the poorest countries are facing an increasingly desperate recession,…

  • Facebook allocates £1mn to ‘birthplace of computer’

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    The wartime code-breaking centre in Milton Keynes ,considered as the “birthplace of the computer’ has been hit hard by a drop in visitors and revenue this year due to Covid-induced challenges…Reports Asian Lite News Facebook has announced a donation of 1 million pounds ($1.3 million) to Bletchley Park, a heritage attraction and museum that served…

  • UN mourns loss of late Amir of Kuwait

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    United Nations General Assembly President Volkan Bozkir praised the late Amir as a pioneer of preventive diplomacy, due to his commitment to peace and conflict resolution through dialogue…Reports Asian Lite Newsdesk Nations mourned the passing of the late Amir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, during a United Nations General Assembly special session on…

  • Staggering rise in climate disasters: UN report

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    Over the last 20 years, major recorded disaster events claimed 1.23 million lives, impacting 4.2 billion people, many on more than one occasion, resulting in approximately almost $3 trillion in global economic losses…Reports Asian Lite News A new UN report has revealed that the first 20 years of this century have seen a staggering rise…

  • UNGA Hall hosts Human Rights Council elections

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    These are the first elections of the 75th session (of the UNGA), and the first to be held in this manner by the General Assembly.said Brenden Varma, spokesman for the UNGA President…Reports Asian Lite News The elections for the UN Human Rights Council will be held in the UN General Assembly (UNGA) Hall on Tuesday,…

  • Russian, Turkish FMs discuss Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

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    Lavrov reaffirmed Moscow’s readiness to continue active mediation efforts aimed at achieving a settlement in the disputed region, taking into account the provisions of the Moscow statement…Reports Asian Lite News Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu held a telephone conversation during which they discussed the situation in the the conflict-ridden…

  • Election 2020: NZ PM reveals ‘vision 2030’

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    Ardern’s announcment came while she was addressing a ruling Labour Party rally ahead of the October 17 general elections, which will determine the membership of the country’s 53rd Parliament…Reports Asian Lite News New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Sunday unveiled her 2030 vision ahead of the upcoming general elections. she wants the state housing…

  • US sanctions: Maduro writes to ‘peoples of the world’

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    The President also said Venezuela is preparing to hold legislative elections on December 6, and that over 90 per cent of local political organizations have fielded over 14,000 candidates for 277 seats…Reports Asian Lite News Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has addressed a letter “to the peoples of the world” on his government’s response to Washington’s…

  • Portugal, Spain agree on new cross-border strategy

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    Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa told the media after the meeting that the strategy is presented as a set of measures and investments to “make life easier for people living on both sides of the border”…Reports Asian Lite News The Prime Ministers of Portugal and Spain have agreed on a common strategy for transboundary development.…

  • Trudeau announces more funding for food banks

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    Trudeau also announced an additional 100 million Canadian dollars (about $76 million) in federal funding for food banks across Canada to help them meet the surge in demand…Reports Asian Lite News Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday urged Canadians to stem the spread of the Covid-19 as “the country is at a tipping point…

  • ‘Humanity above the realm of politics’: Guterres hails WFP

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    Guterres said he is delighted by the decision of the Nobel Committee to award this year’s Prize for Peace to the WFP…Reports Asian Lite News UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ has hailed the World Food Programme’s Nobel Peace Prize Award, calling its Humanitarian-Driven Work ‘Above the Realm of Politics’ In a statement on the awarding of…

  • Asian Lite Daily Digital – The Wreckage Of Trump’s Presidency

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    The Wreckage Of Trump’s Presidency; WHO Estimates 10% of Global Population Infected With Virus; UK Outlines Plans For Post-Brexit Freeports; 39 Countries Rebuke China Over Human Rights Abuses; Pakistan Books PM of PoK For Sedition – all in Asian Lite daily Digital – please click here to read.

  • Australia to reinitiate ‘trans-Tasman’ travel bubble plans

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    McCormack said that decision on when Australians may be able to visit New Zealand would be up to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern…Reports Asian Lite News New Zealanders will be allowed to enter Australia in the first opening of international borders by the two countries since travel restrictions were imposed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Deputy…

  • France opens new era in relationship with animals

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    “It is time that our ancestral fascination with these wild beings no longer means they end up in captivity.”said Pompili…Reports Asian Lite News France has said it will gradually ban the use of wild animals in travelling circuses as part of sweeping new animal welfare measures, On Tuesday, Ecology Minister Barbara Pompili said, “Our attitude…

  • Belgium swears in new PM after 493 days

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    De Croo is set to lead the country’s 7-party Vivaldi coalition of Flemish and Francophone socialists, liberals and greens…Reports Asian Lite News Flemish liberal leader Alexander De Croo will be Belgium’s new prime minister. It was announced on Wednesday ,16 months after an inconclusive election. De Croo is set to lead the country’s 7-party Vivaldi…

  • Venezuelan oil revenue drops 99% in six years

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    Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves, but its oil industry is hobbled by US sanctions which have thrown the country into its worst economic crisis in years…Reports Asian Lite News Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has said that US financial sanctions have caused Venezuela’s oil revenue to plunge 99 per cent over the last six…

  • 120mn Covid 19 rapid tests to be rolled out for poorer countries

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    The World Health Organization (WHO) will roll out at least 120 million affordable, high-quality rapid Covid-19 tests for low and middle-income countries, said in an announcement on Monday According to a statement , the organisations involved in agreement include the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,…

  • Covid 19 death toll passes ‘an agonising milestone’: Guterres

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    The global death toll from the coronavirus has passed one million.With over one million lives having succumbed to COVID-19 globally, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that while the “agonising milestone” is a “mind-numbing figure”, the world must never lose sight of each and every individual life. “They were fathers and mothers, wives and husbands, brothers…

  • Canada to secure 20mn more Covid 19 vaccine doses

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    Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced that the country has signed a deal to secure 20 million more Covid-19 vaccine doses. Addressing the media here, Trudeau said the agreement was signed with AstraZeneca for access to a vaccine prospect now being developed at Oxford University, CBC News reported. “We’ve been guided by science since…

  • Covid 19: Second wave could ‘overwhelm’ France

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    The second coronavirus wave in France could “overwhelm” the country amid exhaustion of the front line workers battling the pandemic, a senior health official has warned. “The second wave is arriving faster than we thought,” the Guardian reported on Sunday citing Patrick Bouet, head of the National Council of the Order of Doctors, as saying…

  • Media Impacts of Business Movement during Pandemic

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    Napoleon is normally associated as citing Britain as a nation of shopkeepers when in fact the phrase was first coined in the late 18th Century by Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac, the French revolutionary. Little did they both know that eventually, Britain would become a nation of Asian shopkeepers!  Point being that it is long accepted…

  • Covid 19: Spanish minister warns Madrid of serious risk

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    The Spanish government has urged authorities in Madrid to tighten coronavirus restrictions across the city, warning of a “serious risk” to residents if they do not. Madrid extended restrictions in Covid-19 hotspots on Friday but rejected calls for a city-wide lockdown, the BBC reported. On Saturday Spain’s Health Minister Salvador Illa said current restrictions did…

  • ‘Need to remove obstacles to partner relations ‘: Putin

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    Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday called for the removal of barriers to cooperation between countries in the field of medicine. “As to healthcare, just like in economy, we now need to remove, as many as possible, obstacles to partner relations,” Putin said at the general debate of the 75th session of the United Nations…

  • Trump boycotts 75th UNGA session

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    US President Donald Trump, who defied the UN and unilaterally reimposed sanctions on Iran, has boycotted the world body’s 75th anniversary commemoration. Trump was listed as the first national leader to speak at the General Assembly session honouring the 75th anniversary on Monday. The President was to have sent in a pre-recorded speech like all…

  • Global Corona Cases Cross 31 Million

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    The overall number of global coronavirus cases on Monday surpassed the 31 million mark, while the deaths have increased to more than 960,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University. The total number of cases stood at 31,044,033 and the fatalities rose to 960,826, the University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed in its…

  • UN urges member states to pay assessed contributions

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    The UN peacekeeping chief said that it was critical for member states to pay their assessed contributions in full and in due time. “We are going through pressures on the peacekeeping budget,” Jean-Pierre Lacroix, under-secretary-general for Peace Operations, said during a virtual news briefing on Thursday. “A certain degree of pressure is a healthy thing…

  • AL WEEKEND: Global COVID-19 Cases Cross 30 Million

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    Global COVID-19 Cases Cross 30 Million; ‘Show the real Britain to kids’ – Asian Lite WEEKEND Edition – Sep 18-20, 2020 Click here to read the full edition – https://bit.ly/35HLaYx

  • 75th General assembly underlines ‘Multilateralism during Pandemic’

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    The 75th session of the UN General Assembly was declared open by new General Assembly President Volkan Bozkir. In his opening remarks, Bozkir asked UN member states to uphold multilateralism. “The context in which we are working serves to remind us of the necessity of the multilateral system and inspires us all to make use…

  • Inequities need immediate redressal: UN

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    The Covid-19 and the resulting multifaceted crisis have unmasked the strong link between race, ethnicity, socio-economic status and health outcomes, and the pre-existing inequalities should be effectively addressed to build a better world, the UN human rights chief said. Speaking at the first day of the 45th regular session of UN Human Rights Council on…

  • Criticism repeats as Bahrain join hands with Israel

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      Middle Eastern countries have differed on the US-brokered normalization agreement between Israel and Bahrain, which came less than a month after the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel reached a similar deal. The same kind of criticisms which surfaced post the UAE-Israel agreement are being repeated by the Palestine Government and nations including Iran…

  • Russia Seeks India’s Help On Sputnik V

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    The Russian government has sought India’s help in manufacturing the Sputnik V vaccine and also to conduct Phase-3 trials or bridging studies in the country, a top official said on Tuesday. Sputnik V, an adenovirus vector-based vaccine, was developed by the Gamaleya Scientific Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, along with the Russian Direct Investment…

  • Guterres Calls Covid-19 ‘A Game Changer’

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    UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told world leaders that the COVID-19 pandemic has become a game-changer for international peace and security. The world has “entered a volatile and unstable new phase” in terms of the impact of COVID-19 on peace and security, the UN chief told a virtual meeting with world leaders on Wednesday, Xinhua news…

  • UAE, Israel deal to enhance ties in various sectors

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    Dr. Anwar bin Mohammed Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, and the Israeli National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat on Tuesday reviewed prospects for consolidating cooperation between both the countries. Ben-Shabbat is leading the Israeli delegation currently visiting the UAE. The discussion occurred during a meeting at the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs…

  • Glacier Retreat Drives 50% Lake Expansion

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    The volume of glacial lakes worldwide has increased by about 50 per cent since 1990 as glaciers melt and retreat due to climate change, show 30 years of NASA satellite data. Lake Imja, a glacier lake near Mount Everest in the Himalaya has grown to three times its length since 1990, the research showed. The…

  • ‘Black Panther’ star Chadwick Boseman dies at 43

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    US actor Chadwick Boseman, star of the superhero movie “Black Panther,” has died after a private four-year battle with colon cancer, his publicist told AFP Friday. According to reports, Boseman, 43, never publicly discussed his condition and continued to work on major Hollywood films during and between “countless” operations and chemotherapy, his family said in…

  • IOC lauds Abe’s role in Olympics’ preparedness

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    International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach said that former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was crucial in making the organising committee for the Tokyo Olympics “the best prepared ever.” Abe on Friday announced his resignation as the Japanese Head of Government for health reasons. “I would like to thank Prime Minister Abe for his…