Asian Lite News Archive

Category: World News

  • Smartphone makes you stupid!

    —

    in , , ,

    Frequent smartphone use has turned us into lazy thinkers, researchers report, adding that the convenience at our fingertips is making it easy for us to avoid thinking for ourselves. Smartphone users who are intuitive thinkers – more prone to relying on gut feelings and instincts when making decisions – frequently use their device’s search engine…

  • Archer flays docu ban

    —

    in , , ,

    British author Jeffrey Archer said the ban on airing of the BBC documentary on the December 16, 2012 gang-rape was not good in a democratic country like India. “It is not a good thing in a democracy (to ban) and things have changed so much…,” Archer told IANS here in response to a question on…

  • Creators of own destiny

    —

    in , , ,

    The trouble was her family was in continuous denial of what was happening to her and would often suggest not to confuse “marital discord” with “domestic violence”. And her husband believed he had successfully caged his wife in his prison forever…writes Shilpa Raina   For six years, Anna Marie Lope lived in constant fear and depression. Exhausted…

  • Women entrepreneurs of India

    —

    in , , , ,

    Balancing personal, professional worlds with pride…writes Nivedita From managing their family and children, fulfilling their ‘duties’ as a daughter, wife, daughter-in-law and more, to also setting up and running their own business – women across India are fighting stereotypes and challenging themselves to create their own individuality in a patriarchal society. Whether it’s via a fashion…

  • Has civilisation really passed India by?

    —

    in , , ,

    In my experience it is mainly the women in our society who condition their daughters to be controlled firstly in their fathers household and then in their husbands household. We are married and the subservience continues…writes Narender Kaur After the harrowing reports of the rapes recently in India the question of the backward mind set…

  • WHO to begin Ebola vaccination trials

    —

    in , ,

     The World Health Organisation (WHO) announced that it will begin conducting Ebola vaccination trials in Guinea this week to test whether the vaccine is effective to prevent Ebola. The phase III trial in one of the world’s most affected countries by Ebola will start on March 7 to test the VSV-EBOV vaccine for efficacy and…

  • Ferguson family sue officer

    —

    in , ,

    The family of Michael Brown – the African-American youth killed by a white police officer in Ferguson in the US state of Missouri last year – has decided to sue the accused officer. The attorney for the family, Daryl Parks, made the announcement  at a press conference at a church near the town of Ferguson.…

  • Indian help to remove Turkish jet

    —

    in , , ,

    By Anil Giri   An Indian Air Force C-130J Super Hercules transport plane carrying an aircraft removal kit landed in Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) on Thursday to help remove a Turkish Airlines Airbus A-330 that skidded off the runway . Nepal request to India to send the special aircraft to remove the Turkish plane from…

  • Kerry, Zarif meet again

    —

    in ,

    US Secretary of State John Kerry met with the Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif for a third day in the Swiss lakeside resort town of Montreux for further nuclear talks before heading to Saudi Arabia. Later on  senior diplomats from Iran and the P5+1 group, namely the US, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany,…

  • BBC airs gang-rape documentary

    —

    in , , ,

    Brushing aside Indian protests, the BBC has telecast a documentary on a brutal gang-rape in Delhi that has been banned in India, “given the intense level of interest” in it. The hour-long documentary was then uploaded on YouTube by an individual, effectively making it available to a global audience. Shown on BBC Four, “India’s Daughter”…

  • NEWS IN PICS – Latest pics from world events

    —

    in , , , ,

    LATEST PICTURES FROM THE WORLD EVENTS

  • Obama, Bibi divide gets bigger

    —

    in , , ,

    By Arun Kumar US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took pot shots at each other as the latter warned against entering a “very bad” deal with Iran over its nuclear programme. “This is a bad deal – a very bad deal. We’re better off without it,” he said in a defiant…

  • Iran calls Bibi speech ‘show of deception’

    —

    in , , ,

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech in US Congress  on a potential agreement on Iran’s nuclear issue was a “show full of deception,” Iran’s foreign ministry said. Netanyahu’s speech was the sign of “weakness and isolation” of the radicals in Israel and their attempts to influence the international policies, ministry spokesperson Marzieh Afkham was quoted…

  • Cartilage from stem cells created

    —

    in , , ,

    Providing a ray of hope for arthritis patients, scientists have succeeded in producing cartilage formed from embryonic stem cells. In future, this may be used to treat the painful joint condition osteoarthritis. Scientists have developed a protocol under strict lab conditions to grow and transform embryonic stem cells into cartilage cells (also known as chondrocytes).…

  • Himalayan glaciers fast disappearing

    —

    in , ,

    By Vishal Gulati  Glaciers in the upstream basin of the Brahmaputra, a 2,900-km-long river that originates from Tibet and flows into the Bay of Bengal, are likely to reduce alarmingly by the middle of the 21st century, according to an international body which also warned that the overall flow in the river was likely to…

  • Bibi slams Iran deal

    —

    in , ,

    By Arun Kumar   In a defiant speech before a joint session of Congress, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the deal the US and its allies are negotiating with Iran over its nuclear programme as “very bad”. “This is a bad deal “a very bad deal. We’re better off without it,” he said, directly challenging…

  • Is Ajit Jain to succeed Buffett?

    —

    in , , , ,

    By Arun Kumar  As Warren Buffett revealed that someone from the Berkshire Hathaway itself would succeed him as the company’s CEO, media speculated on two likely successors – India-born Ajit Jain and Greg Abel. “Both the board and I believe we now have the right person to succeed me as CEO, a successor ready to…

  • Iran, US wrap up round one n-talks

    —

    in , ,

      Negotiators from Iran and the US have wrapped up the first round of fresh talks over Tehran’s nuclear programme in the Swiss city of Montreux. The negotiations were held  in an attempt to narrow differences on the outstanding issues over Iran’s nuclear programme, Press TV reported. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Director of…

  • British girls lured by attractive jihadis

    —

    in , , ,

    Attractive jihadi fighters can be “eye candy” to lure British Muslim girls, a former female extremist has said. The former extremist said she was taught to see Britain as a “kuffar (non-Islam) nation” that had killed many Muslims and was “our enemy”, BBC reported on Tuesday. “As a teenager, I wanted to get my piece…

  • Obama slams Netanyahu

    —

    in , , ,

    By Arun Kumar   Ahead of Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to the US Congress, President Barack Obama slammed his approach on a nuclear deal with Iran even as the Israeli prime minister struck a conciliatory note. Pointing to the 2013 interim deal with Iran, Obama told Reuters news agency on Monday that Netanyahu, who has come to…

  • Iran blames west for ISIS crimes

    —

    in , ,

    Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has slammed the West for the crimes committed by Islamic State (IS) terrorist group in Europe and the Middle East. “Why quite a sizeable number of individuals and groups espousing extremist ideologies and engaged in acts of brutal terror and heinous violence, in Europe and on a much bigger…

  • Bill Gates world’s richest

    —

    in ,

    By Arun Kumar  Mukesh Ambani again tops 90 Indian billionaires, 28 of them newcomers, on Forbes’ annual ranking as Bill Gates emerged as the world’s richest person for the 16th time in the last 21 years. With a current net worth of $79.2 billion, up from $76 billion in 2014, Gates for the second consecutive…

  • Durban to host 2022 Commonwealth Games

    —

    in , , ,

    South African city Durban is set to be the host city of the 2022 Commonwealth Games (CWG) as the lone contender for the quadrennial, 71-member multisport event. The 600-page bid book will be handed to Commonwealth Games Federation officials during a brief mid-day ceremony on Monday at the official residence of the London Lord Mayor,…

  • British schoolgirls reach Syria to join ISIS

    —

    in , , ,

    British schoolgirls as young as 15-16 years are believed to have fled to Syria via Turkey to join the Islamic State (IS) jihadi group, media reported. CCTV images captured last month showed three Bethnal Green Academy girls — Shamima Begum and Amira Abase, both 15, and Kadiza Sultana, 16 — on the Turkish leg of…

  • ISIS release 19 abducted Christian Assyrians

    —

    in , ,

    The Islamic State  militants  released 19 Christian Assyrians they had kidnapped last month, a monitoring group reported. The 19 people are the first batch of 29 Assyrians the sharia court of the IS exonerated on Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, Xinhua reported. On February 23, the IS abducted 220 Christian Assyrians during…

  • Americans divided over Netanyahu visit

    —

    in , , ,

      Nearly half of American voters think that US House Speaker John Boehner should not have invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address US Congress without having consulted the White House, according to a new poll released . A total of 48 percent of those surveyed believed Boehner’s decision to invite Netanyahu without first…

  • Khaleda Zia’s office gets search warrant

    —

    in , , ,

    A Bangladesh court has issued a search warrant against former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s Dhaka office after reports that she could be hiding fugitives and explosives there, media reported. Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate S.M. Masud Zaman issued the warrant on Sunday, bdnews 24 reported. Police have asked for the warrant in the explosive case filed against…

  • Putin promise to bring Nemstov’s killers to justice

    —

    in ,

    Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged to do everything to bring the killers of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov to justice. “We will do everything to ensure that the perpetrators of this foul and cynical crime and those who stand behind them are properly punished,” Putin said in a condolence message to Nemtsov’s mother, according to a…

  • Another temple attack in US

    —

    in , , ,

     A Sanatan Dharam temple was vandalised in Washington state with windows broken and the word “Fear” painted on it, less than a fortnight after another temple was attacked. Members of the the Sanatan Dharma Temple in Kent, about 30 km from Seattle, who came for worship Friday “were greeted by shards of broken glass after…

  • Yusuffali praises Modi’s 2015 budget

    —

    in , , , , , ,

    “Instead of offering soaps, the budget shows maturity of a growing nation which aims to become the next global super power,” Yusuffali, the winner of Prvasi Bharatiya Puraskar, told Anasudhin Azeez Prominent NRI businessman MA Yusuffali, the richest Indian in the Gulf, praised 2015 budget presented by Finance Minister Arun Jailtley and said the budget will…

  • NASA hints that life existed in Mars

    —

    in , ,

     After an exhaustive analysis of data obtained during 605 Martian days, NASA’s Curiosity rover has confirmed the presence of methane on Mars environment which may hint that life once existed on the Red Planet. The tunable laser spectrometer in the SAM (Sample Analysis at Mars) instrument of the Curiosity robot has unequivocally detected an episodic…

  • ‘Jihadi John’ had anger therapy at school

    —

    in , ,

      The Islamic State (ISIS) militant known as ‘Jihadi John’ received anger management therapy in his first year of secondary school after getting into fights, a former teacher has said. The militant, pictured in the videos of the beheadings of Western hostages, has been named as Mohammed Emwazi, a Kuwaiti-born Briton from west London. Emwazi…

  • US to reopen Cuba embassy by April

    —

    in , ,

      The US government is optimistic about the prospects of reaching an agreement with Cuba to reopen embassies before April’s Summit of the Americas in Panama, Washington’s chief negotiator in talks with Havana said. “I do think we can get this done in time for the Summit of the Americas,” Assistant Secretary of State Roberta…

  • PIA suspends services to Dhaka

    —

    in

    Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Friday decided to cancel all flights to Bangladesh till March 10 in response to the raid on the house of its country manager in Dhaka. Bangladeshi authorities had raided the house of Ali Abbas three days ago, Geo News reported. According to sources in PIA, a raid was also conducted on…

  • Bibi under pressure to cancel speech to US Congress

    —

    in , , ,

    Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog  called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cancel his planned speech to the US Congress March 3, saying it will cause “strategic damage” to Israel’s ties with the US, Xinhua news agency reported. Herzog, who is chairman of the Labor Party, started his attack against Netanyahu at a press…

  • Modi caricature row: Indian teacher forced to quit over

    —

    in

    A woman teacher in an Indian school in Qatar’s capital Doha has reportedly been forced to quit her job after she posted a caricature of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on her Facebook page, media reported Thursday. According to the report in The Peninsula daily, the incident took place last week triggering a big controversy…

  • ISIS kidnaps 220 Assyrian Christians

    —

    in , ,

    The number of Assyrian Christians kidnapped by the Islamic State (IS) Sunni radical group in northern Syria has risen to 220 over the past three days, a monitoring group reported . The ISIS kidnapped the Assyrians from 11 villages in the town of Tal Tamr, which is considered the capital of the Syrian Assyrians in…

  • New Facebook feature for suicide prevention

    —

    in , ,

    Now you can more easily help save the lives of friends who might appear distressed, through a new updated Facebook feature. If a Facebook friend posts something that indicates he might be thinking of harming himself, users can click on an arrow on the post to report it. Facebook will then offer options to contact…

  • NASA to study Earth’s magnetic field

    —

    in , , ,

      The US space agency is set for the launch of Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft March 12, the first space mission dedicated to the study of magnetic reconnection. This fundamental process occurs throughout the universe where magnetic fields connect and disconnect with an explosive release of energy, a NASA statement said. “Magnetic reconnection is one…

  • Victoria Cross for L/Cpl Josh Leakey

    —

    in , ,

    The paratrooper who showed “complete disregard” for his own safety during a Taliban attack in Afghanistan has been awarded the Victoria Cross – the highest British military honour. L/Cpl Joshua Leakey, 27, of the Parachute Regiment, was recognised for his valour during the 2013 attack. He is the third serviceman – and the first living servicemen…

  • Ties depends on US: Cuba

    —

    in , ,

      Restoring Cuba-US diplomatic ties in time for an upcoming summit in April solely depends on Washington’s willingness to create the right conditions. Deputy Director for US affairs at Cuba’s foreign ministry Gustavo Machin  indicated removing Cuba from a list of countries alleged to be “sponsors of terrorism” was one of the most important measures,…

  • Al-Jazeera journalists held over Paris drone

    —

    in ,

    Three Al-Jazeera journalists were arrested in Paris after flying a drone from a park on the edge of the city, a judicial source said. “The first was piloting the drone, the second was filming and the third was watching,” the source said. The arrests were made Wednesday after multiple drone sightings over the French capital…

  • Bibi condemned for opposing Iran’s n-talks

    —

    in , , ,

    US Secretary of State John Kerry has said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was wrong in opposing the ongoing nuclear talks between Iran and the world powers. Netanyahu intensified his criticism of the US-led nuclear talks with Iran, accusing the world powers of “giving up on their commitment” to stop Tehran from getting nuclear weapons,…

  • Amnesty against Veto culture

    —

    in , ,

    The five permanent of the U.N. Security Council have been urged by Amnesty International to give up their power of veto in cases where atrocities are being committed. In its annual report, the rights group said 2014 had been a catastrophic year for victims of conflict and violence. The report stated that richer countries took an…

  • Mysterious drones fly over Paris

    —

    in ,

    At least three small civilian drones flew over Paris’s iconic landmarks in the early hours of  for a second night, Xinhua news agency reported citing French media. Citing its own sources, the local broadcaster Europe1 said the drones were spotted over La Place de La Concorde. The report added witnesses and police had filmed the…

  • Radioactive water leak at Fukushima reported

    —

    in ,

      The operator of the tsunami-crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant has detected a new radioactive water leak through the drainage of one of its reactors that could have been spilling into the Pacific Ocean, Japanese media reported . The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) Tuesday announced having detected deposits of highly radioactive water…

  • American Sniper’s killer gets life

    —

    in , ,

    Former US Marine Eddie Routh has been sentenced to life in prison for the murders of Chris Kyle, who inspired Clint Eastwood’s box-office hit “American Sniper”, and Chad Littlefield two years ago. A jury of 10 women and two men Tuesday declared Routh to be guilty at the end of a trial that lasted two…

  • ISIS serious threat to Pakistan:FS

    —

    in , ,

        Shortly after Pakistan Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan denied the presence of the Islamic State (IS) in South Asia, particularly Pakistan, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry has said the militant group poses a serious threat to the country. “The government is on alert to the IS threat in the region,” Chaudhry said…

  • Palestine to pay $218 mn to victims in Israel

    —

    in , ,

    A federal jury in New York has ordered the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organisation to pay $218.5 million to victims of several attacks in Israel between 2002 and 2004, media reported. The court considered the two organisations responsible for the attacks and ruled in favour of a group of American victims seeking compensation…

  • ‘Birdman’ flies high at the Oscars

    —

    in , ,

     “Birdman”, a satirical tale of an ageing movie star attempting to reinvent himself via Broadway, clinched key honours Sunday night at the 87th Academy Awards, where India had a no show this time. “Birdman”, which was nominated in nine categories, picked up four honours – Best Picture, Best Director (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu), Best Writing (Original…