Asian Lite News Archive

Category: World News

  • NEWS N PICS: NEPAL TODAY

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    The toll across Nepal from the devastating April 25 earthquake has surged to 7,365, according to the latest update by the country’s home ministry. According to the update, the number of injured people has reached 14,355. The highest number of deaths has been recorded in the Sindhupalchowk district, which currently has soared to 2,838, while in…

  • Tabloidization of Indian News

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    Tabloidization is the death of good journalism. But I don’t blame our anchors or journalists for this tsunami of tabloid news. I also strongly disagree with the widely held hypothesis that blames the Indian viewer – Indians love tabloid sensationalism … Indians have base, tabloid tastes. So if our anchors are not to blame, and…

  • Waiting for Wassabi!

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    If the Boko Haram wants to kidnap little girls, the Taliban blow up a village and some mentally deranged idiot shoot up a Mall, that’s life. But to make Kanye West and Kim Kardashian wait 30 minutes for a sushi table in Calabasas, California is just not acceptable. The world is going to hell in a…

  • Australian police defend arrests that led to executions

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    Australian Federal Police (AFP) defended their role which led to the arrest of the two convicts who were ultimately executed. Information shared by AFP with Indonesian police led to the arrest of Andrew Chan, 31, and Myuran Sukumaran, 33, in 2005. They were executed at Besi prison in Nusa Kambangan Island on April 28. Australian…

  • Italy rescues 3,700 migrants

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    Italian authorities on the weekend rescued some 3,700 illegal migrants who were sailing from North Africa to Italy in more than a dozen boats, a communique from the Coast Guard said. Coast guard personnel said 3,690 migrants were rescued in 17 separate operations. Italy continues to receive waves of African immigrants due to its geographic…

  • Reduce sugary drink a day to cut diabetes risk

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    Replacing one serving of a sugary drink daily with either water or unsweetened tea or coffee can lower the risk of developing diabetes by up to 25 percent, says a research. It also found that for each five percent increase of a person’s total energy intake provided by sweet drinks including soft drinks, the risk…

  • SpaceX to test life-saving crew capsule

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    The Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX), a California-based space transportation firm, is set for first-ever “pad abort” test that will help NASA save lives in case of an emergency in a human spaceflight. The test of “Crew Dragon” spacecraft, scheduled for May 6, will help NASA abort from a launch or pad emergency and safely…

  • Everest to remain shut this season

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    The Nepalese government has decided to shut Mount Everest for this season as routes above the base camp which were hit by violent avalanches, were found impossible to be refixed, media reported. Special teams of Sherpas, known as Icefall Doctors assigned by Nepal’s Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC), said that numerous avalanches triggered by the…

  • Baltimore mayor lifts city-wide curfew

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    Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has lifted a city-wide curfew which had been in effect. “Effective immediately, I have rescinded my order instituting a city-wide curfew,” Rawlings-Blake announced via her twitter account on Sunday. Protests for the death of African-American man Freddie Gray, culminated in rioting and looting late on Monday as hundreds of rioters in…

  • NEWS N PICS – Paris in Bloom

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  • Islam snubs Tobacco campaigns

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      London researchers say tobacco companies have perceived that Islam as a threat to its attempts to sell more tobacco products in emerging markets in Asia …writes Kaliph Anaz for Asian Lite, UK’s No 1 newspaper for British Asians Researchers have found evidence of attempts by the tobacco industry to reinterpret Islamic teaching to make smoking…

  • Argentina plays Gandhi card on Falklands

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    Argentina invokes Gandhi over disputed islands with Britain…writes Hadra Ahmed for Asian Lite, UK’s No 1 newspaper for Brtiish Asians   With Argentina still going through sovereignty disputes to reclaim the Malvinas, South Georgias and South Sandwich Islands and the surrounding maritime areas with Britain, the South American country is applying the way of Mahatma Gandhi’s ‘ahimsa’ –…

  • India goofed up on Rafale deal

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    India’s military procurement process blamed for Rafale bungle… writes Anjali Ojha A cumbersome process for military procurements has been blamed by a parliamentary panel for India missing out on “the mother of all deals” for purchasing 126 combat jets, instead of which only 36 will be bought from the same French manufacturer. “It is observed that…

  • Extra two minutes walking can add years to your life

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    Adding just two minutes of walking each hour to your routine can offset the health hazards of sitting for long periods of time, says a study led by an Indian-origin researcher. A “trade-off” of sitting for light intensity activities for two minutes each hour is associated with a 33 percent lower risk of dying, the…

  • How US transform image of yoga

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    With over 20 million people in the US practising yoga and spending $10.3 billion a year on yoga classes and products, it has become associated less with spirituality and more with medicine and fitness, says a study. The study by a California-based university argues that the shift in the meanings is due to the changes…

  • How to get a fair deal at a car exchange fair

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    Want to exchange your old car for a new one at a dealership? Chances are that you will end up paying more, warns a new study. New research from the University of Southern California, led by Sivaramakrishnan Siddarth, an associate professor of marketing, shows that a consumer with a trade-in actually shells out more money…

  • NEPAL: An unforgettable Saturday

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    Shweta Sharma files a report on Nepal – A week after – An unforgettable Saturday “It looked like the walls of the house were converging and I would get trapped between them,” recollects Sudha Upadhaya, a week after the devastating earthquake rocked Nepal on a balmy Saturday afternoon. Upadhyaya, 54, said she was watching television when the quake…

  • Attention linked with grades

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    Children who display higher levels of inattention at the age of seven are at risk of worse academic outcomes in their secondary examinations, research by an Indian-origin professor in Britain says. The findings have significant implications for parents, teachers and clinicians. Researchers at the Universities of Nottingham and Bristol studied more than 11,000 children as part…

  • London NRIs to build 1200 houses in Nepal

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    Mukesh Kumar Sehgal, managing director of Britain-based SISMO Company and  Prakash Lohia offer to build 1,200 houses in Nepal Two billionaire NRIs have offered to build 1,200 earthquake-resistant houses in quake-affected villages of Nepal immediately, Nepal’s embassy in London has said. Mukesh Kumar Sehgal, managing director of Britain-based SISMO Company that is well known for its…

  • NEPAL VOWS TO BACK ON TRACK

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    The Nepal govt sets up $2 billion reconstruction fund The Nepal government decided to set up a $2 billion fund to rebuild thousands of buildings that were either damaged or destroyed in the killer earthquake on April 25. A decision to this effect was taken at a cabinet meeting. The meeting also decided to provide…

  • New Equations at Arab World

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    Saudi Royalty which never conducted diplomacy above the sound of whispers are today in battle albeit from the air in Yemen. Syria was seen as Iran’s (and Russia’s) opening onto the Mediterranean, Yemen onto the Red Sea. They must block both. Atleast be seen to have checked Iran. Otherwise the GCC may bolt….writes Saeed Naqvi …

  • Its a baby girl!

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     The Duchess of Cambridge gave birth to a girl, Kensington Palace announced. The baby – who is fourth in line to the throne – was “safely delivered”, the palace said in a statement. The Duke of Cambridge was present during the birth of the baby, BBC reported. Both Catherine and her daughter are “doing well”,…

  • Antarctic ice sheet melting ever faste

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    Using gravitational satellite data, researchers have found that during the past decade, Antarctica’s massive ice sheet lost twice its mass in its western portion compared to what it accumulated in the east. The southern continent’s ice cap is melting ever faster, the researchers determined. The researchers “weighed” Antarctica’s ice sheet and found that from 2003…

  • Normalcy returning to Kathmandu

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    By Gaurav Sharma  Normalcy appeared to be returning here finally over a week after a devastating 7.9 magnitude earthquake rocked Nepal, leaving over 6,000 killed and more than 10,000 injured in this Himalayan nation. But aftershocks were still keeping many people outside their houses. It was a bright sunny day in Kathmandu on Friday, with…

  • India rejects US panel report on religious freedom

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    India has rejected a US government panel report that claims direct link between the 2014 general elections and the spike in attacks on religious minorities in the country. The report by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) says that since the 2014 elections, religious minority communities in India have been “subject to derogatory…

  • Six Baltimore policemen charged

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    Six members of the Baltimore City Police Department will face charges for the death in custody of black man Freddie Gray, the prosecutor handling the case said . Maryland state prosecutor announced criminal charges against all officers involved in the death of the 25-year-old black man Gray, reports Efe. The state’s attorney for Baltimore City…

  • Facebook raised $10mn for Nepal in 2 days

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    Over seven million people in Nepal used Facebook to reach out to over 150 million friends and family members across the globe after last week’s devastating earthquake, a company official said in a statement on Friday. It also said that the social networking site raised over $10 million in just two days for the victims.…

  • 7.1-magnitude quake hits Papua New Guinea

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    A 7.1-magnitude quake jolted Papua New Guinea on Friday, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said. The epicentre at a depth of 61 km was initially determined to be at 5.2 degrees south latitude and 151.7 degrees east longitude, Xinhua news agency reported. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre hasn’t issued any warning yet. There has been…

  • Perishable items rot as vehicles idle at Nepal-India border

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    Fruit, bread and other perishable commodities have begun to go bad as vehicles carrying relief material to quake-hit Nepal wait at a clogged border crossing. The better known route to the Himalayan nation from Uttar Pradesh is the Sunauli border near Gorakhpur. The route is choked these days as hundreds of transport vehicles, light motor…

  • Online voting comes a step closer

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    Even as voters gear up to stand in queue for Britain’s upcoming general election this month, researchers, including one of Indian-origin, have developed a technique to allow people to vote online – even if their home computers are suspected of being infected with viruses. Taking inspiration from the security devices issued by some banks, Gurchetan…

  • Nigeria rescues 160 girls from Boko Haram

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    The Nigerian army has freed at least 160 girls and women from the hands of Boko Haram, as it continued its advance on the Sambisa natural reserve, the last major stronghold of the terrorist group, an official said. Nigerian armed forces spokesperson Col. Sani Usman was quoted by Efe news agency as saying that the…

  • Mercury mission comes to a crashing end

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    Running out of fuel, NASA’s Messenger spacecraft crashed into Mercury’s surface, thereby putting a historic end to its four years of orbital operations. The Messenger was the first ever to orbit the planet Mercury, and the spacecraft’s seven scientific instruments and radio science investigation are unravelling the history and evolution of the Solar System’s innermost…

  • Nepal quake toll cross 6000

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    The toll in the massive earthquake that devastated Nepal has risen to 6,166, the Nepalese home ministry said. According to Nepal Police, the total number of injured is over 10,000, Kantipur News reported. As many as 12,064 houses have been reported destroyed. “This is just the preliminary data. We are still in the process of…

  • Baltimore police submit report on Gray’s death

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    The Baltimore City Police Department delivered its report on the death of black resident Freddie Gray to prosecutors , a day earlier than promised. The report was submitted before 9 a.m, Efe quoted police commissioner Anthony Batts as saying in a press conference. Batts initially set a deadline of May 1 for the task force…

  • Unesco appoints Amanpour as goodwill ambassador

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    The Unesco  appointed renowned journalist Christiane Amanpour as the goodwill ambassador for freedom of expression and journalist safety. Unesco director-general Irina Bokova named the CNN international correspondent Amanpour “in recognition of her efforts to promote free, independent and pluralistic media, having the right to work free from the threat of violence, and contributing through this…

  • Malala’s attackers get life term

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    An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Pakistan sentenced ten men to 25 years’ imprisonment in the case related to the 2012 attack on child activist Malala Yousufzai. The ATC in Swat district of Khyber-Pakhtunkwha province awarded life imprisonment to the 10 men who attacked Malala, who was campaigning for the education of girls. Those sentenced were…

  • Clothing giants urged to help Rana Plaza victims

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    The European Parliament adopted a strongly worded resolution to mark the Second Anniversary of the Rana Plaza building collapse in Bangladesh, which caused the the death of over 1100 people and left some 2500 people injured. The Rana Plaza building collapse was Bangladesh’s worst-ever industrial disaster and the deadliest accidental structural failure in modern history. While 27…

  • Visitors lending helping hand in Nepal

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    Foreigners who were in Nepal when a devastating earthquake struck the country are lending a helping hand. They are working alongwith thousands of Nepalese youth who are assisting the injured and the grief-stricken. Emmy, who hails from Canada, was visiting Nepal when the quake struck on Saturday. She was to go trekking, but dropped the…

  • Hillary dismisses Indian cash swayed her n-deal stance

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     Arun Kumar writes about the conspiracy theory claims against Hillary Clinton in the largest selling Asian newspaper in UK. Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign has dismissed as conspiracy theory claims made by a new book that cash donations from India swayed her stance as a senator on the landmark India-US nuclear deal. “Clinton Cash is attempting to…

  • Over 50,000 pregnant women affected in quake

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     Some 50,000 pregnant women were likely affected by the devastating earthquake in Nepal, a UN agency said on . Initial estimates by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) indicate that some 50,000 pregnant women and girls could be among the survivors in quake-affected Nepal where at least 4,347 lives were lost in the temblor. The…

  • NASA to find alien life

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     The US space agency has launched an ambitious project to hunt for signs of life beyond our solar system. The Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (NexSS) project will not only expand the network of researchers collaborating on exoplanets but also help NASA develop missions to hunt for exoplanets in the 2020s and beyond. It will…

  • Facebook launches free VOIP video calls

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     Facebook Messenger has launched free VOIP video calling over cellular and wi-fi connections on iOS and Android platforms. The services will be available in the US, Canada, England and 15 other countries, TechCrunch reported. With 600 million Messenger users and 1.44 billion on Facebook, the new VOIP video feature has a massive built-in audience. Messenger…

  • Hillary’s presidential campaign hits turbulence

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    By Arun Kumar   Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign is facing new questions with a report claiming the Clinton Foundation distributed useless drugs made by an Indian company to AIDS patients and another challenging the authenticity of her twitter followers. Conservative news site WorldNetDaily (WND) alleged her family philanthropy’s Clinton Health Aids Initiative (CHAI) worked closely with…

  • Nepal earthquake toll rises to 4,347

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      Rescuers, including foreigners, worked feverishly across Nepal as the country grappled with an acute water scarcity and the toll in the devastating earthquake shot up to 4,347, authorities said . People spent their third uncomfortable night out in the open, worried that an earthquake may strike again. They had to make do with whatever…

  • US town erupts into violence

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    By Arun Kumar  Baltimore City, just 64 km northeast of the American capital, erupted into chaos and violence as protesters mourning the death nine days ago of yet another black man in police custody clashed with police. Maryland Governor Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency  and activated the National Guard. The mayor of Baltimore…

  • CIA had flexible US drone policy in Pakistan

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    US President Barack Obama tightened rules for the US drone programme in 2013, but he secretly approved a waiver giving the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) more flexibility in Pakistan than anywhere else to strike suspected militants, according to current and former US officials. According to a report published in The Wall Street Journal, the US…

  • Relief materials blocking Kathmandu airport

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    After four aircraft of Indian Air Force carrying relief material were forced to return from Kathmandu, highly placed sources said it was partly due to piling up of relief material at the Tribhuvan International Airport. “A lot of relief material has reached the Kathmandu airport but it is not going out which has resulted in…

  • Virtual media drives rescue operations

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    Considering the popularity and reach of social networking sites in the modern world, the Indian government is pro-actively using Twitter and Facebook to reach out to those affected in quake-ravaged Nepal. From giving information about the missing ones to offering aid, the government and netizens have gone all out to utilise the power of social…

  • First malaria vaccine likely by October

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    The first malaria vaccine candidate to reach phase-3 of clinical testing was found to partially protect children against the disease up to four years after vaccination and may be available by as early as October this year, scientists reported. The results suggest that the vaccine candidate RTS,S/AS01 could prevent a substantial number of cases of…

  • World rushes aid to Nepal amid 2,300 deaths

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    By Anil Giri   Another tremblor measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale shook Nepal on Sunday causing fresh panic as rescuers pulled out bodies from debris, a day after a 7.9 magnitude earthquake left over 2,300 dead and forced tens of thousands to spend the night on the streets. As the world rushed emergency aid to…