Asian Lite News Archive

Category: World News

  • British army begin training Ukrainian military

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     British military personnel have begun training members of the Ukrainian army fighting pro-Russian rebels, a media report said on Thursday. The decision to this effect was announced by Prime Minister David Cameron last month, BBC reported. Thirty-five trainers are working in the southern city of Mykolaiv and will spend about two months in the country.…

  • Obama regrets not closing Guantanamo

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      US President Barack Obama has said that he should have closed the Guantanamo Bay prison on his first day at the White House back in 2009 when there was consensus with Republicans on its shutting down, Efe news agency reported. Asked at an event in Cleveland, Ohio, what he would do if he could…

  • US blasts Bibi over campaign comments

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    The White House has slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his campaign comments about Arab-Israeli voters after his win in parliamentary elections. The US is “deeply concerned about rhetoric that seeks to marginalize Arab-Israeli citizens,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters on Wednesday, Xinhua reported. “It undermines the values and democratic ideals…

  • Etihad unveils ‘Fast & Furious’ luxury plane

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      Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, and Universal Pictures have unveiled a luxury Fast & Furious 777 airliner at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), in conjunction with the impending release of “Furious 7”. Actor-producer Vin Diesel was on hand as Etihad Airways Flight 171 arrived from Abu Dhabi to begin…

  • US Fed Reserve interest rate rise on cards

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    In a move that would likely impact both emerging markets like India and advanced economies, the US central bank  dropped an assurance to be “patienta” in raising interest rates and signaled the hike could come by mid year. But in a statement issued after a two-day meeting of its policy-making committee, the Federal Reserve also…

  • Tunisia museum attack kills 19

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    At least 19 people, including 17 tourists, were killed in an armed attack on a museum here, Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid said. Five “terrorists” carried out the attack on Bardo Museum, and two of them were killed by security forces, Essid said at a press conference, according to Xinhua news agency. A Tunisian citizen…

  • US indefinitely close embassy in Saudi Arabia

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    The US embassy in Saudi Arabia will remain closed until further noticed due to heightened security concerns at US diplomatic facilities, the embassy said on its website. The embassy first announced the US embassy and consulates have cancelled all consular services in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dhahran for Sunday on March 15 and 16. Telephone lines…

  • Obama will work with whoever leads Israel

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      Hours after the first exit polls showed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party set to retain the leadership, US President Barack Obama indicated he would work with any future Israeli premier. Obama “remains committed to working very closely with the winner of the ongoing elections to cement and further deepen the strong relationship between…

  • Moscow slams Kiev

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    Russia has slammed the Ukrainian leadership for diverting the Minsk peace agreements reached in February between Kiev and Donbass insurgents. The bill on the “special status” of Donbass territories under the control of insurgents, which was submitted to the parliament Monday by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, constitutes ” abrupt diversion from the Minsk agreements and…

  • Cyanide confirmed in envelope send to White House

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    An envelope sent to the White House mail facility tested positive for cyanide, a media report said . “An envelope containing an unknown milky substance in a container wrapped in a plastic bag, received at the White House Mail Screening Facility, tested positive for cyanide,” an internal law enforcement document said. According to the document,…

  • Netanyahu in the driving seat

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      The Israeli elections took a dramatic turn in the early morning hours on Wednesday as official tallies from nearly all precincts indicate that Likud has opened up a significant lead over Zionist Union, a far cry from the virtual dead heat that television exit polls had reported Tuesday evening. With nearly 90 percent of…

  • Microsoft develops collaborative cloud tool

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    Software giant Microsoft, led by its Indian-American CEO Satya Nadella, has developed yet another cloud tool that allows team members to share and collaborate on documents with one another. Part of Microsoft Office, the new tool called “Delve” surfaces the stuff one is interested in automatically. One doesn’t have to bookmark important documents or even…

  • US Fed to raise interest rates?

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    By Arun Kumar    The US central bank kicked off a policy meeting that ends  amid speculation about when the Federal Reserve will raise US interest rates – a move that would impact both advanced and emerging markets like India. The Wall Street Journal suggested that the Fed “is about to inject uncertainty back into financial…

  • Netanyahu declares victory; Herzog says wait

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    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared victory after the first exit polls released following elections showed the Likud ahead of, or tied with, the Zionist Union. Netanyahu wrote on his Facebook page: “Against all odds, a great victory for the Likud, for the nationalist camp led by the Likud, and for the people of Israel,” Jpost…

  • 75 media persons killed in Syria since 2011

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     Journalists paid a heavy price for informing people about the sufferings in the Syrian conflict, with at least 75 media persons being killed in the war-torn country since March 2011, a report said. The findings of the study by the Swiss-based Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) were presented at the 28th session of the UN Human…

  • N-deal to benefit all parties:Rouhani

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    Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that a possible nuclear deal will be in the interest of all countries, including the Islamic republic and the regional states. “We announce this to all the parties involved that Iran was not drawn to the negotiating table by sanctions, and that if the talks come to fruition, they will…

  • Palestinians calls for peace conference

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    Palestinians will call for holding an international peace conference to resolve the conflict with Israel, no matter who wins in the Israeli parliamentary elections, a senior official said . Saleh Ra’fat, executive committee member in the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), told Xinhua news agency in an interview that the PLO would call for holding an…

  • Cuba-US hold talks

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    Cuba and the US held another round of talks in Havana as they moved towards re-establishing diplomatic ties. The talks were led by Roberta Jacobson, the US’s top diplomat for Latin America, and Josefina Vidal, director of US affairs at the Cuban foreign ministry. The talks follow a previous round held in Washington on February…

  • Voting begins in Israel

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      Polling started in Israel in what is expected to be a close contest between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s party and opposition leader Yitzhak Herzog. Other than Netanyahu and Herzog, who is member of the Knesset (parliament) and chairman of the Labor Party, the other main candidates are Tzipi Livni, former justice minister, and Moshe…

  • Toll in cyclone-hit Vanuatu reaches 24

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      At least 24 people were killed after a category 5 cyclone hit the South Pacific island of Vanuatu, authorities said. Cyclone Pam hit the island on March 13, causing massive destruction to life and property, Xinhua reported. According to a latest situation report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 24…

  • Prince Harry to join Australian Army

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      Prince Harry will join the Australian Army next month before quitting the military, the Australian Defence Force (ADF) announced . During his time in Australia, Harry will spend time at the army barracks in Darwin, Perth and Sydney, ABC reported. ADF chief Mark Binskin said joining the Australian Army would provide the prince with…

  • No Palestinian state if elected:Netanyahu

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    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has struck down hopes of a Palestinian state if he was re-elected in  national elections, according to media reports. Confirming that “there will be no Palestinian state”, Netanyahu said: “I think that anyone who moves to establish a Palestinian state and evacuate territory gives territory away to radical Islamist attacks…

  • British teens travelling to Syria held in Turkey

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    Three British teenagers suspected of travelling to Syria to join the Islamic State (IS) terror group were stopped by authorities in Turkey, British police said. According to the Scotland Yard, the youth included two boys aged 17 from northwest London and one man aged 19, Xinhua reported. They were reported missing on Friday and were…

  • Putin puts Russian navy units on alert

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      Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the Northern Fleet of the Russian navy and certain units of paratroopers and the Western Military District to be on full alert as part of snap checks, Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu said. The snap military exercises will involve 38,000 military, 3,360 units of military equipment, 41 warships,…

  • Mystery of ‘alien’ genes solved

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    A new study challenged the assumption that evolution relies solely on genes passed down as it finds that humans contain ‘alien’ genes not passed on from our ancestors. They say we acquired essential ‘foreign’ genes from the micro-organisms co-habiting their environment in ancient times. The research, published in the journal Genome Biology, focuses on the…

  • Sharif condemn church bombings

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    Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has strongly condemned the bomb blasts at two churches in Lahore city that killed at least 15 people and injured over 70, a media report said . Two powerful explosions on Sunday rocked the Catholic Church and Christ Church in the city’s Youhanabad area, home to the country’s biggest Christian…

  • Pakistan church bombings kill 14

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    At least 14 people were killed in Pakistan’s Lahore city when two powerful explosions rocked two churches, triggering retaliatory violence, the Pakistani media said. Jamatul Ahrar, an offshoot of the Tehreek-e-Taliban, claimed responsibility for the deadly attack, news web sites said. Doctors where the dead and wounded were rushed to said 14 people were dead.…

  • India’s forex reserves down $286 million

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    India’s foreign exchange reserves decreased by $286.3 million to $337.79 billion for the week ended March 6, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data showed. The reserves had increased by $3.88 billion to $338.07 billion for the previous week ended Feb 27. In the week ended Feb 20 the reserves were up by $1.02 billion to…

  • Kidney ailments to affect more

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    Over 5 mn will undergo dialysis, kidney transplant by 2030: Study The number of people receiving treatment for advanced kidney failure – such as dialysis or kidney transplant – will double to over five million by 2030, mostly in developing regions such as Asia and Africa, a study said on Saturday. Renal replacement therapy (RRT),…

  • The Funny Side by Nury Vittachi

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    Be warned: We have entered the age of over-reacting A colleague accused me of having a tendency to over-react, so I have no choice but to burn down his house and curse his family for seven generations. Fair’s fair, right? I learned to respond strongly to things from a former boss who used to say…

  • Depressed dads spoil childhood

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    Depressed dads turn toddlers into troubled kids…study shows Not just mothers but new fathers who are depressed do not make as much eye contact or smile at their toddlers, leading them to develop troubling behaviour such as hitting, lying, anxiety and sadness as they grow, new research has found. The more disengaged parents are from…

  • US Congress can’t modify n-deal: Kerry

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      US Secretary of State John Kerry  refuted the claim by a group of Republican senators in a letter that an agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme not approved by the Congress would lapse. Kerry said that the Congress could not modify the terms of a potential nuclear agreement between the world powers and Iran, according…

  • Violence erupt in Ferguson,two officers shot

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    Two police officers were shot and seriously wounded outside the police department in Ferguson, Mo. amid protests that followed the resignation of the town’s police chief. St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar told a news conference just before 2 a.m. local time that a 41-year-old officer from St. Louis County was shot in the…

  • US researchers develop custom blood cells

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      In a first, researchers from the Johns Hopkins University have successfully engineered custom blood cells after correcting a genetic error in stem cells from patients with sickle cell disease. “It may be possible in the not-too-distant future to provide patients with sickle cell disease with an exciting new treatment option,” said Linzhao Cheng, member…

  • Police watched Avijit Roy’s killing

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      The policemen on the Dhaka University campus did not act to save Bangladesh-born blogger-writer Avijit Roy but simply looked on while he was being killed, his widow Rafida Ahmed Banna said . “While Avijit and I were being ruthlessly attacked, the local police stood close by but did not act,” Banna, who survived the…

  • Jindal jumps into letter war with Obama

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    By Arun Kumar   Louisiana’s Indian-American governor Bobby Jindal has jumped into a war of words between the White House and Senate Republicans over a letter to the government of Iran on a potential deal over its nuclear programme. Jindal, who is testing the waters for a 2016 presidential run, issued a call on Tuesday for…

  • Rushdie to join NYU journalism faculty

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      Indian author Salman Rushdie, who won the Booker Prize for his 1981 novel “Midnight’s Children”, will teach and advise journalism students at New York University as Distinguished Writer in Residence. Rushdie will serve on the faculty of the University’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute for five years, Suketu Mehta, associate professor of Journalism at…

  • Solar aircraft lands in Ahmedabad

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      The world’s first solar powered aircraft — Solar Impulse 2 (Si2) — on a global flight, landed here, officials said. The aircraft landed at the Ahmedabad airport around 11.45 p.m. The flight was received with loud cheers and clapping by a large group of people gathered at the airport to witness the historic landing.…

  • Operation ‘Recapture Tikrit’ begins

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    Iraqi troops launched a military operation  in order to regain control of the city of Tikrit and liberate it from the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, Iraqi security sources told Efe news agency. Tikrit has been under the jihadi group’s control since June and is the capital of the strategic Salahuddin province, and so has…

  • Apple unveils smart watch

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    Arun Kumar   Apple on Monday unveiled its much awaited Apple Watch that lets one make calls, read emails, control music and keep up with one’s workout regimen all from one’s wrist. Unveiling the watch at an event in San Francisco, CEO Tim Cook talked about the watch’s time capabilities, choices of finish and watch faces…

  • Iraqi forces capture district outside Tikrit

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    Iraqi forces have captured another district and some oil wells outside Tikrit that were controlled by the Islamic State (IS) terror group, a media report said. Government troops, backed by the Iraqi air force and Shia volunteer fighters, have entered the district of al-Alam, said to be the last stop before Tikrit, Al Jazeera reported,…

  • US, Iran continue n-talks

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      US Secretary of State John Kerry is scheduled to have more nuclear talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif next week, aiming to reach a potential deal by the end of this month. Kerry’s meeting with Zarif, their third in three weeks, is slated for March 15 in the Swiss city of Lausanne, US…

  • Chechen confesses to Nemtsov’s murder

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      Zaur Dadayev, the Chechen detainee charged with the assassination of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, has confessed that he was the sole actor behind the crime. Dadayev said he plotted Nemtsov’s murder because of the liberal activist’s criticism of Islam and his support for the French satire newspaper Charlie Hebdo, Rosbalt news agency quoted…

  • Putin admits to ordering Crimea’s annexation

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    Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted that he ordered the annexation of Crimea hours after the ouster of Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, and a week before the regional authorities of the peninsula rebelled against the government in Kiev calling for an independence referendum, Efe news agency reported. State-owned Russia TV released late Sunday the trailer of…

  • Nigerians flee gunbattle to Cameroon

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      Thousands of northeast Nigerian residents took refuge in Cameroon’s Far North region to flee gunbattle between the Boko Haram Islamist group and the coalition of Chadian and Nigerian armies, a Cameroonian military source said . The source, declining to be named, told Xinhua news agency that more than 100 families, including a large number…

  • UN chief Ban Ki-moon outraged

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      UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said that he “is outraged by the continuing destruction of cultural heritage in Iraq” by the Islamic State (IS), and urgently called on the “international community to swiftly put a stop to such heinous terrorist activity”. The secretary-general is outraged by the continued destruction of cultural heritage in Iraq…

  • MH370 probe find sleeping ATC controller

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    A report of the probe into the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 that went missing last year revealed that the assigned air traffic controller (ATC) on the day of the incident was asleep when a call was made some four hours after the aircraft went missing. This information is in the nearly 600-page report…

  • Solar Impulse begins epic journey

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    A world record-breaking attempt to fly around the world in a solar-powered plane has got under way from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. The aircraft – called Solar Impulse-2 – took off from the capital of Emirate, heading east to Muscat in Oman. Over the next five months, it will skip from continent to…

  • ISIS destroy Iraq’s ancient Hatra city

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    The Iraqi government  said the Islamic State (IS) militants destroyed the ancient remains of Hatra city in the northern province of Nineveh. “The terrorist Daash (IS militant group) has stolen and destroyed the city of Hatra,” which dates back to 2,000 years and is located some 110 km southwest of Nineveh’s provincial capital city of…

  • Asian film fest opens at Dallas

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    First South Asian film festival in US draws big crowds…writes Arun Kumar   The inaugural Dallas-Fort Worth South Asian Film Festival (DFW SAFF), featuring 14 documentaries and films, exploring unique circumstances and stories based on South Asia, attracted over 1,000 cinephiles. The three-day festival from February 27 to March 1 at the Angelika Film Centre in Plano,…