Asian Lite News Archive

Category: World News

  • US concerned over rising India Pak tension

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      The US  expressed concern over rising India-Pakistan tensions and the exchange of fire along the working boundary, which claimed four Pakistani civilian lives, Geo News reported . Washington encourages Islamabad and New Delhi to engage in a dialogue. “We certainly remain concerned and watch over tensions along the border. We encourage dialogue between the…

  • Prince Andrew in Sex scandal

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    The Duke of York has arrived back in the UK following claims that he had sex with an underage girl. Sky News reports Prince Andrew flew home on a private jet from a ski resort in Verbier, Switzerland, following allegations made in court papers in the US. Buckingham Palace has in recent days issued two denials…

  • Palestine to join Interpol

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    The Palestinian national unity government has decided to join the International Criminal Police Organisation, commonly known as Interpol, a senior official says. The Palestinian government will submit a request to join the organisation in 2015 ahead of Interpol’s annual meeting in November, Press TV reported citing Ahmad al-Rabie, a senior official in the Palestinian Authority’s…

  • North Korea slams US over sanctions

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    North Korea rebuked the US for imposing fresh sanctions on Pyongyang for its alleged hacking of Sony Pictures. The US Friday announced retaliatory sanctions on Pyongyang in response to the alleged cyber attack on Sony after it produced a comedy film “The Interview” about a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Yonhap News…

  • AirAsia crash recovery continues

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    Ten more bodies retrieved from the site where an AirAsia plane crashed in the Java Sea reached a hospital in Indonesia for identification. The total number of bodies sent to the Police Hospital Bhayangkara in Surabaya, the provincial capital of East Java, has risen to 18, with four of them successfully identified and handed to…

  • Underwater search for AirAsia to begin

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      The search for AirAsia plane that crashed into the Java Sea on its way from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore last Sunday is set to move underwater with the arrival of specialist equipment, a media report said . A French crash investigation team will use sensitive acoustic detection devices to try locate the flight…

  • Afghans take over reins of security from NATO

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      Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced that the country’s forces took over security responsibilities from the US-led coalition forces, which ended their 13-year-long combat mission in Afghanistan . President Ghani hailed the official transition of security responsibilities from the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)-led international forces to the Afghan troops, according to media reports Thursday.…

  • AirAsia plane landed safely on water before sinking?

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      The AirAsia flight QZ8501 that met with disaster over the Java Sea on its way from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore , may have made a safe landing on water before being consumed by high waves, amid a raging storm, experts say. The Daily Mirror reported , citing aviation experts, that the absence of…

  • India, Pakistan exchange list of nuclear installations

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      India and Pakistan  exchanged the list of their nuclear installations and facilities under an agreement that bars them from attacking each other’s atomic installations. “India and Pakistan today exchanged, through diplomatic channels simultaneously at New Delhi and Islamabad, the list of nuclear installations and facilities covered under the Agreement on the Prohibition of Attack…

  • AirAsia QZ8501 flight recovery begins

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      Indonesian officials said  sonar has detected wreckage from the missing AirAsia plane at the bottom of the Java sea and that three more bodies have been recovered, taking to six the number of bodies found. The officials were, however, unsure whether the aircraft, which went missing with 162 onboard Sunday morning enroute to Singapore…

  • Iraqi army recaptures town from ISIS

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    The Iraqi military, with the help of volunteer forces, has managed to fully liberate the town of Dhuluiya in Salahuddin Province from the Islamic State (IS) terrorists, media reported . “The Iraqi forces succeeded in taking full control of the Tigris river town, 70 km north of the capital Baghdad from the IS terrorists,” Press…

  • Iran tests torpedo, cruise missiles

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    The Iranian navy has successfully tested its latest torpedo and cruise missiles on the sixth day of massive military exercises code-named Muhammad Rasulullah (PBUH) in the southern part of the country. Iranian Navy’s anti-submarine SH-3D helicopter test-fired the latest domestically-made torpedo, Press TV reported Tuesday. The torpedo successfully hit its predetermined sub-surface target in the…

  • Flight search spots floating debris and bodies

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    An Indonesian Air Force pilot involved in search of the missing AirAsia flight QZ8501 said  that he saw dozens of floating bodies as well as bags and aircraft debris. The bodies and wreckage were sighted over waters near Pangkalan Bun at Central Kalimantan province in Borneo island, The Jakarta Post reported. The transport ministry earlier…

  • ‘Missing AirAsia plane maybe at the bottom of the sea’

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    The AirAsia plane which vanished Sunday with 162 people onboard on its way from Indonesia to Singapore is likely to be at the bottom of the sea, said Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency chief Bambang Soelistyo . “We assume the missing jet to be at the bottom of the sea based on the coordinates…

  • White House silent on North Korean rant

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    The US government remained silent about North Korea’s accusations against President Barack Obama, whom a spokesman of the North Korean National Defense Commission compared to a “monkey” and said he forced Sony to premiere the movie “The Interview” on Christmas Day. North Korea  blamed the US for the repeated hacking attacks currently affecting its principal…

  • AirAsia plane missing with 162 people

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    An AirAsia Airbus with 162 people on board disappeared  amid thunderstorms while flying from Indonesia to Singapore, prompting a major search operation. The Malaysian-owned aircraft had taken off at 5.20 a.m. (local time) from the Indonesian city Surabaya and was to land at Singapore’s Changi Airport at 8.30 a.m., media reports said. Indonesian officials said…

  • Ban Ki-moon urges Pakistan to end executions

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    United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on the Pakistan government to bring an end to the executions of convicts and restore a moratorium on the death penalty. On Dec 25, Ban spoke over the phone with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and reiterated his condolences to the people, government and communities affected by…

  • Netanyahu warns Hamas

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      Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected the charge of Israel being guilty of war crimes, media reported. “There are those in the international community who accuse you, Israel Defence Forces (IDF) pilots, of committing war crimes. You defend the country and the country will defend you,” he said while speaking at a graduation…

  • Peshawar school attack facilitator killed

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    A militant commander who facilitated the Peshawar school attack was killed by security forces in Khyber Agency late  night. The militant commander, Saddam, was also said to be the mastermind behind the 2013 attack on a polio team in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in which 11 security personnel were killed, Dawn online reported. A Khyber Agency official…

  • US concerned over Lakhvi bail

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      The US is concerned over the bail granted to Mumbai terror attack accused Zakiur Rahman Lakhvi, a Pakistani newspaper reported . The State Department also said that the resumption of hangings of terrorists sentenced to death in Pakistan was an internal matters for that country. State Department spokesperson Marie Harf said Washington was concerned…

  • Obama lauds decision to screen film

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    President Barack Obama has applauded Sony Pictures’ decision to authorise the screening of “The Interview” — a film satirising North Korean leader Kim Jong-un — in independent theatres, the White House said. “As the President made clear, we are a country that believes in free speech, and the right of artistic expression,” White House spokesman…

  • Abbas vows recognition for Palestine state

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    President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas has reiterated his resolve to bid at the UN for full recognition for Palestine. “Our state’s bid at the UN Security Council (UNSC) aims at claiming our independent state (based) on 1967 border with Jerusalem as capital,” Abbas told a conference held Tuesday at the Algerian foreign ministry,…

  • Hamas opposes Palestinian draft resolution

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      The Hamas movement announced that it opposes the Palestinian draft resolution presented to the UN Security Council which demands an end to Israeli occupation. Sami Abu Zuhri, Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said in an emailed press statement that the draft resolution presented by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) to the Security Council “doesn’t represent…

  • Pakistan’s new anti-terror plan in pipeline

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    A working group of parliamentary parties in Pakistan suggested measures ranging from formation of military courts to anti-terrorism council as part of the nation’s efforts to combat the scourge of terrorism which has devoured the lives of more than 50,000 people in the country. The working group came up with 21 recommendations, The News International…

  • Sony hacking: vandalism or terrorism?

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    By Monish Gulati As South Asia was watching the terrible tragedy at Peshawar unfold another drama was coming to head in Hollywood. At the eye of the storm was ‘The Interview’, a comedy by Sony Pictures Entertainment that depicts a fictional assassination of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un. What began with the hacking of Sony…

  • Britain sends more troops to tackle Ebola

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     Britain sent its first batch of army reserves to Sierra Leone to help tackle the Ebola outbreak, Britain’s defence ministry said. The reserve and 100 regular personnel from Britain’s three services departed from Royal Air Force (RAF) Brize Norton base alongside members of the Canadian military, Xinhua reported. The personnel will operate a facility reserved…

  • Pope warns of ’15 Roman Curia diseases’

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    Pope Francis lambasted the Roman Curia, the administrative apparatus that enables him to govern the Roman Catholic church, in a speech  in which he accused it of “spiritual Alzheimer’s” and a list of other shortcomings. Also among the “15 diseases” that the pontiff claimed pose a threat to the Vatican’s administrative, executive and advisory body…

  • India warns of trans-border terror threats

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    By Arul Louis As the UN-mandated international combat mission in Afghanistan enters its final days after a democratic transfer of power in Kabul, a Security Council debate put the spotlight on the terrorist threats to the fragile nation with India warning of the support extremists get from “beyond borders” and tying together the this week’s…

  • Friction and division in New York

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    By Mario Villar   A day after two policemen were killed, New York is witnessing new friction between the police force and Mayor Bill de Blasio owing to the latter’s support for protests against police violence in recent weeks. The tragedy occurred  when two officers were shot dead execution style by a man who apparently wanted…

  • Kim Jong-un threatens to ‘blow up’ White House

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      North Korea has accused the US of conniving with the makers of the controversial film “The Interview” to “hurt the dignity” of the country’s supreme leadership and threatened to “blow up” the White House. North Korea threatened more attacks against the US government and other American institutions in the wake of the Nov 24…

  • Mumbai attack wasn’t foiled inspite intelligence: NYT

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    In one of the “most devastating near-misses in spycraft”, intelligence agencies of India, the US and Britain failed to foil the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack despite information from high-tech surveillance and other tools, The New York Times said . The daily said it had pieced together the story from classified documents, court files and dozens…

  • Pakistan court suspends execution

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    The Sindh High Court (SHC) Monday suspended the black warrants of two convicts observing that proper legal procedures were not followed. The suspension of the warrants came after the SHC heard appeals filed by the families of Muhammad Azam and Ataullah alias Abdullah, who were member of banned organisations, The News International reported. The appeals…

  • Isolating Moscow will not help

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    By Amit Dasgupta By all accounts, the Russian economy is in imminent danger of collapse. After a period of relative economic stability under President Vladimir Putin, the rouble is now in free-fall. The central bank has announced an increase in interest rates from 10.5 percent to 17 percent. It failed to stabilize the rouble. This…

  • Two NY police officers shot dead

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    Two New York police officers were shot dead in their patrol car  afternoon by a gunman who claimed that he was angered by two recent racially-charged controversies. Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were shot dead in their car while working overtime in the East Flatbush neighbourhood of Brooklyn, Xinhua quoted New York Police Commissioner William…

  • Pakistan executes four more terrorists

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    Four prisoners, convicted for attacking former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf, were executed  at a district jail in Faisalabad. Zubair Ahmed, Rasheed Qureshi, Ghulam Sarwar Bhatti and Russian citizen Akhlaque Ahmed were shifted from the central jail in Faisalabad to another district jail late Saturday to be hanged, Dawn online reported. Family members were allowed to…

  • Pakistan plans counselling for traumatised children

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      Pakistan’s National Health Services (NHS) has prepared counselling session programme on post-traumatic stress management for the children who survived the gruesome Peshawar school attack, media reported Sunday. According to an official statement, sessions will be held with students, their families and teachers that would help them recover from the shock, Dawn online reported. A…

  • Obama’s Cuban revolution begins

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    Cuba’s parliament  unanimously approved a government decision to restore diplomatic relations with the United States, which was a long-time foe. More than 600 deputies of the National Assembly of People’s Power voted for the bill, in sharp contrast with the backlash from conservative US legislators to such a decision by President Barack Obama, Xinhua reported.…

  • Umar Mansoor warns of more attacks

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    The terrorist who supervised the Peshawar school massacre has threatened more attacks, if the military and the intelligence agencies do not stop anti-terror operations, media reported . In a video with English subtitles posted on Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan’s (TTP) website, Umar Mansoor said that Tuesday’s attack on the Army Public School which killed 148 people, including…

  • Modi greets Jews on Hanukkah

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      Prime Minister Narendra Modi  wished the Jewish community on the occasion of Hanukkah. “Wishing my Jewish friends a Happy Hanukkah! May this Festival of Lights and the festive season ring in peace, hope and well-being for all,” Modi said in a tweet. The prime minister also tweeted the wishes in Hebrew in another tweet.…

  • Pakistan begin terror executions

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    Two convicted Pakistani terrorists were executed , in the first capital punishment carried out in the country since Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif lifted the 2008 moratorium on the death penalty in wake of the Peshawar school attack. The executed terrorists were Usman, a former soldier of the Army Medical Corps who was sentenced to death…

  • Shattering Israel’s Image

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      By Alon Ben-Meir No Israeli government has shattered Israel’s international image more than the Netanyahu government has over the past six years. Not only have Netanyahu and his cohorts systematically been engaged in rancorous public narratives against the Palestinians, but they have taken action that could only attest to his unwavering commitment to expand…

  • Pakistan on high alert before executions

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    All prisons across Pakistan went on high alert, with officials preparing to start executing prisoners jailed for terrorist crimes from dawn Saturday. Six of the seven who will face the gallows in Faislabad and two jails in Lahore have been convicted for attempting to assassinate then president and army chief Pervez Musharraf, Geo TV reported…

  • Russia push for Palestine independence

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    Russia is interested in the earliest resolution of the issue concerning the state status of Palestine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said . The foreign minister said his country recognised the state of Palestine in the late 1980s. “Therefore, we have no questions whatsoever concerning the recognition of the Palestinian statehood as it was proposed…

  • Execution of six Pakistani terrorists cleared

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      Pakistan Army Chief General Raheel Sharif has approved the execution of six terrorists who were sentenced to death by military courts, a media report said Friday. “Chief of Army Staff today signed death warrants of six hardcore terrorists convicted by the Field General Court Martial in accordance with law,” Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director…

  • India closer to manned space missions

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    By Venkatachari Jagannathan  India moved a step closer to sending its own manned mission to space as well as heavy satellites when it successfully tested a next generation rocket and crew module. The country took forward its rocket technology with the successful flight testing of its heaviest next-generation rocket — the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-Mark…

  • 26/11 key accused Lakhvi gets bail in Pakistan

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      Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, commander of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and one of the main accused in the 26/11 Mumbai attack, was granted bail Thursday by Pakistan’s Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC). The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) prosecutor disagreed with the bail request. However advocate Rizwan Abbasi, representing Lakhvi, appeared before the court as the bail pleas was…

  • UN calls for international mobilisation against terror

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    By Arul Louis  UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called for “mobilising all resources and political will” to fight terrorism in the wake of the massacre of 132 school children in Pakistan and said he will consider measures to help that country combat extremism. Answering a reporter’s question at his year-end press conference here Wednesday…

  • Cuba announces restoration of relations with US

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      Cuba and the US have agreed to the “re-establishment of diplomatic relations,” which were broken in 1961, and they have made a commitment to “take mutual measures to improve the bilateral climate,” Cuban President Raul Castro said . Castro thanked the Vatican and Pope Francis for their support in the “improvement” of relations between…

  • European Parliament Votes to Recognise Palestinian State

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      The European Parliament took a historic vote today to urge member states to recognize the State of Palestine with a majority of 498 to 88 in favour.  The motion was led by the Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament (S&D), of which Labour MEPs are members. It comes in light of the…

  • Obama open doors to Cuba

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    US President Barack Obama  announced a historical, new policy toward Cuba, in a move to normalise relations and end more than five decades of estrangement between the two countries. “We will end an outdated approach that for decades has failed to advance our interests,” Obama said in an address at the White House. “Instead we…