Asian Lite News Archive

Category: World News

  • NRI awarded top US chemistry award

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    Purnendu Dasgupta, a Jenkins Garrett professor of chemistry at The University of Texas at Arlington, has been awarded the 2015 American Chemical Society Division of Analytical Chemistry J. Calvin Giddings Award for Excellence in Education. The national award recognises a scientist, who has enhanced the professional development of analytical chemistry students, developed and published innovative…

  • ‘The Ballot Is Stronger Than The Bullet’

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    Dr. Alon Ben-Meir, professor of international relations at the Center for Global Affairs at NYU, comments on the latest developments in the Middle East The Israeli general election, scheduled for March 17, can be fateful for the Israeli Arabs as their voting en masse could change the political map and potentially prevent Netanyahu from forming the…

  • ISIS militants burn over 40 people alive

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    The Iraqi security forces  launched a major offensive in the western province of Anbar to free a town from where the Islamic State (IS) militants abducted around 43 people and later burned them alive inside iron cages, a provincial security source said. Iraqi soldiers, police and allied Sunni tribesmen, backed by the US-led coalition and…

  • Nigeria flush out Boko Haram

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    The Nigerian security forces operating in northeastern part of the country said a large number of Boko Haram terrorists have drowned in the Lake Chad area of northeast Baga town. Terrorists met their fate as they fled the heavy bombardment by Nigerian Air force heralding the advance of troops on mission to flush them out…

  • Israeli FM calls for execution of Palestinian prisoners

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    A senior Palestinian official condemned Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman for calls to execute Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli jails. Issa Qaraqe, chief of the Palestinian corporation for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, told Xinhua that the statements of Lieberman “represent racism, incites for murder and express hatred and hostility.” He added that these statements “give…

  • Kerry slams Bangladesh on civilian attacks

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    US Secretary of State John Kerry has condemned the targeting of innocent civilians in the ongoing political violence in Bangladesh and called for an immediate end to such attacks. Kerry, following his meeting with Bangladesh Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali in Washington Thursday, stated that there could be “no tolerance” for tactics that target…

  • Massive push against ISIS in April

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    massive ground offensive involving 20,000 to 25,000 troops may be launched by the Iraqi forces as early as April to retake Iraq’s second largest city of Mosul from the Sunni radical group Islamic State (IS), a US military officer has said. The US Central Command (Centcom) officer said that the IS was on the defensive…

  • Correct distorted impression of Muslims: Obama

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    By Arun Kumar    Citing the good work by Muslims around the world including India, with one of the world’s largest Muslim populations, US President Barack Obama acknowledged that many in the US have a distorted impression of Muslims. A part of the challenge in fighting the scourge of terrorism, he said was to correct the…

  • RAF jets escort Russian bombers seen off Cornwall

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    RAF jets were scrambled on  after two Russian military aircraft were seen off the Cornwall coast, the Ministry of Defence says. The Russian Bear bombers were escorted from the UK area of interest, but did not enter sovereign airspace, it said. On the same day, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon warned that Russia’s President Putin posed…

  • Not at war with Islam: Obama

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    By Arun Kumar   Asserting that not religion but people are responsible for violence and terrorism, President Barack has declined to call the war against Islamic State terror group in Iraq and Syria as a war against a religion. “We are not at war with Islam, we are at war with those who have perverted Islam,”…

  • Nigerian army kills over 300 Boko Haram militants

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    Nigerian troops killed over 300 Boko Haram militants in the last two days of counter-terrorism operations in northeastern state of Borno, the country’s defence headquarters said Wednesday. Several militants, weapons and equipment were captured. Two soldiers lost their lives while 10 others were wounded in the operations, said defence spokesperson Major General Chris Olukolade in…

  • Temple attack condemned, ‘sad moment’ for America

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    As police investigated an attack on a Hindu temple in Washington State on the eve of the Maha Shivaratri festival, Indian-American groups condemned “the cowardly act” as a “very sad moment” for America. The vandals who spray-painted a red swastika and scrawled “Get Out” on a wall of the Hindu Temple Cultural Centre in Bothell,…

  • Lankan Tamils distressed over UN probe report

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    Sri Lanka’s main Tamil political party  expressed distress at a decision taken by the Human Rights Council in Geneva to postpone the submission of a report based on war crimes. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) which has been pushing for the report to be submitted as scheduled next month said it will seek a meeting…

  • Taliban attack Afghan police headquarters

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    At least 24 people, including 20 policemen, were killed and nine wounded in Afghanistan’s Logar province after a group of Taliban militants attacked the police headquarters, media reports said. Four attackers armed with guns and wearing suicide vests arrived in a car at the eastern Afghan province’s police headquarters in the provincial capital of Pul-e-Alam,…

  • ?Dalai Lama undeterred by protests

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      By Vishal Gulati  Globetrotting elderly monk the Dalai Lama, who is revered as a spiritual leader in the Orient and the West, considers himself a citizen of the world. He loves to interact with the public, especially youth, despite encountering protests. Wearing his trademark maroon robes, the Nobel Peace Laureate explains that the protesters…

  • Danish gunman pledged allegiance to ISIS

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      The gunman suspected of killing two people in the Danish capital Copenhagen had sworn allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group on Facebook, CNN reported. The Facebook post pledges “allegiance to Abu Bakr (IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi) in full obedience in the good and bad things. And I won’t dispute with him…

  • Hindu temple vandalized in US

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     In the latest attack targeting Hindus places of worship, a temple in Washington State was vandalized on the eve of its planned celebration of Maha Shivaratri, according to media reports. When members of the Hindu Temple Cultural Center in Bothell, 36 km from Seattle, went there on Sunday they found a swastika painted on it…

  • Egyptian Church confirms executions by ISIS

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    The Egyptian Orthodox Church confirmed  that the 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians abducted by the Islamic State (IS) militant group in Libya have been executed by the militants, Xinhua reported, citing Egypt’s state-run MENA news agency. “We watched the painful video. We can confirm (that) the slain were our kidnapped sons in Libya,” spokesman for the…

  • Denmark shootings kills two

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      At least two people were killed and five police personnel were injured in separate shooting attacks in Denmark’s capital Copenhagen since Saturday evening, media reported . In the first attack Saturday evening, one person was killed and three police officers injured when gunmen opened fire at a meeting on blasphemy at a cultural centre,…

  • Pakistani Taliban attack kills 20

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      At least 20 people were killed and over 50 others injured when Pakistani Taliban militants attacked a Shia mosque in Peshawar city during Friday prayers, sparking protests across cities, police and hospital officials said. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack, Dawn reported citing an email sent by the group. Heavy firing…

  • Indian grandfather assaulted by US police

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    By Arun Kumar   The FBI is investigating an incident in which an Indian grandfather’s encounter with police in Alabama left the man partially paralysed, while one of the involved officers has been arrested. Sureshbhai Patel, 57, had recently come from India to help care for his grandson, who was born prematurely and was suffering from…

  • Obama’s video selfie goes viral

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    A new video of US President Barack Obama, in which he uses a selfie stick to sell his ambitious health insurance plan, has gone viral – generating over 15 million views in just eight hours of its release late Thursday. The two-minute video by the Los Angeles-based BuzzFeed Motion Pictures Group is made with a…

  • US continues anti-terror fight in Yemen

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    The US Department of Defense has announced that it will continue its anti-terrorist operations in Yemen “unilaterally” despite the fall of the US-backed government in Sanaa and its takeover by the Houthi rebels close to Iran. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby stressed that US military operations would continue despite the chaos created by the fall of…

  • Ukraine peace talks continue in Minsk

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    The leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France adjourned for dinner after more than four hours of talks here  in pursuit of a solution to the Ukrainian conflict that has claimed more than 5,000 lives. The pause followed reports from the Belarus foreign ministry about “advances” in the discussions among Ukraine’s Petro Poroshenko, Vladimir Putin…

  • Britain withdrawing diplomatic staff from Yemen

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    The embassies of the US, France and Britain announced  that they will withdraw their diplomatic staff from Yemen due to the security situation. The US embassy posted a statement of the State Department on its website saying that the US government has decided to suspend embassy operations in Sanaa and “will explore options for a…

  • Obama opens door to combat operations against ISIS

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    US President Barack Obama sent Congress a draft legislation authorising the use of military force against the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, earlier known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). In a letter to Congress, Obama warned that if the extremist group was left unchecked, it would “pose a threat beyond…

  • WORLD CUP: A ONE HORSE RACE

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    The BCCI is intent on suing the West Indies Cricket Board for $42 million as reparations for the ‘walk out’ by its players during its tour of  India last year and ‘freezing’ all bilaterals till they cough up that sum…writes Bikram Vohra Now, I am all for hope springing eternal in various parts of the…

  • US think tank applaud India’s N-Deal

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    By Arun Kumar  Beyond the nuclear deal breakthrough, President Barack Obama’s trip to India showed that the new Indian government with a strategic global outlook was willing to fulfill its commitments, according to a US think tank. Questions have been raised over whether the workaround for civilian nuclear trade is the breakthrough both sides claim,…

  • Israel destroys tunnel linking Gaza, Israel

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    The Israeli army destroyed an underground tunnel connecting eastern Gaza city and Israel early, Xinhua news agency reported citing witnesses and the Israeli military. The witnesses said they saw unusual movement of Israeli army vehicles near the border between the eastern Gaza neighborhood of Sheja’eya and Israel. An Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesperson confirmed that…

  • Apple planning a Google?

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    There perhaps isn’t anything that a Google search cannot find, but all of us who have only been ‘googling’ for information and knowledge may soon be “appleing” for them. The Daily Mail, in a report Monday, referred to an Apple job advertisement posted earlier this month, calling for a professional to develop “a search platform…

  • Putin blames conflict on US

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    Russian President Vladimir Putin has blamed the US and its allies for causing the crisis in Ukraine with their attempts to “impose their will everywhere”. The Ukrainian crisis “is the result of attempts by the United States and its Western allies who consider themselves ‘winners’ of the Cold War, imposing their will everywhere”, Putin said…

  • British accent world’s most attractive: Poll

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      A poll conducted among 11,000 people across 24 cities says that the British accent is the most attractive in the world, a media report said. The Time Out Global Dating Survey found that more than a quarter of respondents preferred a British accent compared to people from Paris, New York and Sydney, The Independent reported.…

  • Beckham supports Unicef’s ‘7’

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    David Beckham and UNICEF are today launching a groundbreaking initiative, 7: The David Beckham UNICEF Fund, to protect millions of children around the world from danger. Marking Beckham’s 10th year as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, ‘7’ is David’s personal commitment over the next decade to helping the world’s most vulnerable children. Through ‘7’, David will…

  • Palestine slams Israel’s new housing plans

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    A senior Palestinian official  condemned Israeli plans to build new housing units in a settlement near east Jerusalem. “The ongoing Israeli settlement activities confirm our credible and true attitude to sue Israel (at) the International Criminal Court (ICC),” chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told Xinhua. Earlier, Israel approved the construction of 64 housing units in…

  • ‘Boyhood’ wins top honours at BAFTA

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    “Boyhood”, a coming-of-age story about growing up, won the top honours of Best Film and Best Director at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Awards, where “The Grand Budapest Hotel” walked away with five trophies. Directed by Richard Linklater, who was absent from the ceremony, “Boyhood” is a groundbreaking film about growing…

  • Britain pledges millions to Ebola fund

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    The British government has pledged nearly 33 million pounds (approx $50 million) to a new Ebola fund, BBC reported. The money will allow the three severely affected West African countries – Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone – to devote more spending to fight the outbreak. Chancellor George Osborne said Britain was the first country to…

  • US, Iran open nuclear talks in Munich

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    Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and US Secretary of State John Kerry held a fresh round of talks in Munich as a March deadline for a nuclear deal between Tehran and the P5+1 group approaches, a media report said Saturday. The two foreign ministers held their talks Friday on the sidelines of Munich Security…

  • US names its biggest threats

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    Russian aggression in Eastern Ukraine, terrorists and hackers are among threats cited in the new national security strategy document released by the White House. National Security Advisor Susan Rice fleshed out a 29-page report released Friday, in an appearance at the Brookings Institute, laying out the administration’s foreign policy priorities, CNN reported. In the wake…

  • Pakistan is increasingly isolated

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      Pakistan is increasingly feeling isolated globally and in South Asia too, a commentary in a newspaper said, calling for a re-think on the country’s foreign policy. “Thanks to obstinately sticking to obsolete and self-serving paradigms, winds of change have largely eluded Islamabad,” Arif Nizami, editor of the Pakistan Today, wrote in the daily. “India…

  • NYT asks Modi to break his ‘dangerous silence’

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    By Arun Kumar  As President Barack Obama’s comments that religious intolerance in India would have shocked Mahatma Gandhi raised a storm in India, the New York Times asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to break his “deafening silence.” Mahatma Gandhi’s legacy is an inspiration for the US too, said the White House, while a bipartisan commission…

  • Julian Assange policing costs Britain $15 mn

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    Scotland Yard has spent about 10 million pounds ($15 million) providing a 24-hour guard at the Ecuadorean embassy in London since Wikileaks founder Julian Assange claimed asylum there, figures show. Between June 2012 and October 2014, direct policing costs were 7.3 million pounds with 1.8 million pounds spent on overtime, BBC cited the police as…

  • Tony Abbott to face leadership vote

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    Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott is scheduled to face a party vote on his leadership next week. Western Australian Member of Parliament (MP) Luke Simpkins called for a vote on Abbott’s leadership to be held during Tuesday’s party meet in Canberra, Xinhua news agency reported. The motion followed weeks of speculation regarding Abbott’s future amid…

  • Japan reject troops for Middle East

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      Despite recent slayings of two Japanese citizens by the Islamic State (IS), Tokyo does not intend to abandon its post-World War II pacifism and chooses instead to increase its non-military humanitarian assistance to the Middle East, Yasuhisa Kawamura, chief spokesman for Japan’s foreign ministry said here Thursday. “We will never give in to terrorism…

  • China warns Obama over Dalai Lama

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      China has warned that “positive trends” in its relations with the US will be reversed if President Barack Obama meets the Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama. A commentary in the People’s Daily, the official organ of the Communist Party of China, also said that “chumming with a secessionist” would amount to “playing with fire”.…

  • Obama meets Muslim leaders

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    US President Barack Obama has met his country’s Muslim leaders to discuss a range of national and foreign policy issues. Health reform, violence and discrimination against Muslims, the White House summit on extremism and the fight against the the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group were some of the matters discussed, the White House said in…

  • E-cigarettes compromise the immune system

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    E-cigarettes compromise the immune system in the lungs and generate some of the same potentially dangerous chemicals found in traditional nicotine cigarettes, says a team of researchers including an Indian-origin scientist. “Our findings suggest that e-cigarettes are not neutral in terms of the effects on the lungs,” said senior author Shyam Biswal, professor at the…

  • The Tragic Tear In US-Israel Relations

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    No leader with any self-respect would have dared to do what Netanyahu has brazenly done. Even if Netanyahu ends up canceling the visit, the damage to Israel has already been done, while inflicting extreme harm to the US’ strategic interests….writes Dr Alon Ben-Meir  There is no doubt that Prime Minister Netanyahu’s acceptance of House Speaker…

  • Don’t demonise BRICS: China

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      It is unwise to demonise BRICS grouping since these countries are pushing forward structural reforms to promote growth in the face of economic turbulence, China said . A commentary in Xinhua news agency said it is “unwise to demonise” the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) group. It said that since the…

  • Taiwan plane crash kills many

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    At least 13 people were killed after a TransAsia Airways plane clipped a bridge and crashed into a river near the Taiwanese capital. A total of 27 passengers were rescued and taken to nearby hospitals, Xinhua reported. Flight ATR-72, which was headed for Kinmen from Taipei, had 58 people onboard including 31 passengers from the…

  • No ties at the cost of China and Pakistan: US

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    By Arun Kumar Denying suggestions that the US-India partnership was intended as a counterweight to China, a senior US official said its sole intent was “to build India up” working on common core values. “I would fundamentally point to the fact that this is a US-India effort and it’s not necessarily to counterweight anyone,” Phil…