Asian Lite News Archive

Category: World News

  • Obama to sign Russia sanctions bill

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    US President Barack Obama intends to sign into law a bill that will ratchet up sanctions on Russia and provide additional assistance to Ukraine, the White House said. At a regular briefing, White House spokesperson Josh Earnest expressed the administration’s concerns about the legislation because “it includes some sanctions language that does not reflect the…

  • NASA detects organic matter on Mars

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    In a promising find, the NASA Curiosity rover has detected organic molecules – the building blocks of all known forms of terrestrial life – on Mars. The organic molecules, found by the team responsible for the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument suite on Curiosity, were in a drilled sample of the Sheepbed mudstone in…

  • India criticises UN Security Council

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    By Arul Louis India has criticised the decision-making process of the Security Council, saying it disregards the voices of non-members while acting on matters important to them. Speaking at the Council Tuesday on UN-African Union (AU) partnership in peacekeeping operations, India’s Acting Permanent Representative Bhagwant S. Bishnoi regretted that “it may be infructuous for us…

  • Toll reach 148 in Peshawar massacre

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    Children were the majority of the 148 people killed  in a Taliban attack on a school run by the Pakistani army in the northwestern city of Peshawar, near the border with Afghanistan. The fatalities included 132 students and nine school employees, the military’s director of public information, Gen. Asim Bajwa, told a press conference. Another…

  • Satyarthi and Malala condemns Peshawar attacks

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    Education campaigner and Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai  condemned the attack on school children in Pakistan as a “senseless and cold-blooded act of terror”. “I am heartbroken by this senseless and cold-blooded act of terror in Peshawar. I condemn these atrocious and cowardly acts, and stand united with the government and armed forces of Pakistan,” Malala…

  • The slaughter of innocents

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    In one of the worst acts of human savagery ever perpetrated, the Pakistani Taliban senselessly slaughtered 126 school children in a brazen terror attack launched by its heavily armed gunmen and suicide bombers on an army-run school in Pakistan’s Peshawar city in retaliation to Pakistan Army’s operation against extremists in North Waziristan. The horrifying attack…

  • Tony Abbott lays flowers at Sydney memorial

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    Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott laid flowers at a makeshift memorial here and mourned the death of the victims of the terror attack in which three people, including the gunman, were killed. Accompanied by his wife Margie, the prime minister laid flowers at Martin Place in this Australian city, Sydney Morning Herald reported. A gunman…

  • 20 killed by Taliban in a Pakistani school

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    20 children were killed, many seriously injured and 500 students were trapped  when a group of heavily armed terrorists carried out an audacious attack on the Army Public School in this Pakistani city of Peshawar. Over 500 students and teachers are said to be trapped in the school, ARY news reported. The media report said that two…

  • Sydney hostage crisis ends, Indians safe

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        A 16-hour hostage crisis — the first terror attack in Australia — ended early Tuesday after police stormed a cafe in the heart of Sydney where an Iran-born cleric took some 30 people hostage and made several demands, sending shockwaves across the country. As police stormed Lindt Chocolate Cafe using flash grenades and…

  • Gunman behind Sydney identified

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    The gunman who has taken over 30 people hostage, including an Indian, in a cafe in the heart of Sydney Monday has been identified, media reported. Man Haron Monis, the 50-year-old self-described cleric behind the siege at Sydney, is no stranger to the New South Wales police or the judiciary, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.…

  • Indian among hostages at Sydney cafe

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    An Indian employee of Infosys Technologies was among over 30 people held hostage  by an armed man who stormed a cafe in Sydney’s bustling business district, not far from the landmark Opera House. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the first world leaders to condemn the attack. His Australian counterpart Tony Abbott appealed for…

  • Sydney gunman claims planting bombs

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      A gunman, holding over 30 people hostage in a Sydney cafe , claimed that he has planted bombs in the cafe and at different locations in the city. Three men and two women, who escaped from the Lindt Chocolat Cafe, told media that the man had warned them that two bombs were set to…

  • Abbott calls for calm amid hostage situation

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      Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott called for calm after a gunman took up to 12 hostages in Sydney’s city center this morning. “New South Wales (NSW) Police and the Australian Federal Police are currently responding to a reported hostage taking incident in Martin Place in Sydney,” Xinhua quoted Abbott as saying. “I have spoken…

  • Cheney defends CIA interrogations

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      Former US vice president Dick Cheney  defended the controversial CIA interrogation techniques used on terrorism suspects after the 9-11 attacks, despite the fact that the Senate issued a report last week calling such techniques torture. “We were very careful to stop short of torture. The Senate has seen fit to label their report torture.…

  • Sydney Gunman seeks ISIS flag

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    An armed man, who Monday took over 30 people hostage inside a cafe in Sydney’s central business district, has demanded police provide an Islamic State (IS) flag to him and also said that he wanted to talk to Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott. The Lindt Chocolat Cafe hostage taker has requested for an IS flag,…

  • ? Siege in Sydney

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      A gunman took over 30 people hostage at a busy cafe located not far from the Indian consulate in this Australian city. The dramatic siege took place in Sydney’s bustling central business district, days ahead of Christmas. The hostages were seen standing with their hands up at the windows of the Lindt Chocolate Cafe…

  • Britain to train local Iraqi forces

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    Britain’s Defence Secretary Michael Fallon  said hundreds of British troops will be sent to Iraq next year to help train local forces to fight against Islamic State(IS). Fallon told in an interview with The Telegraph that “very low hundreds” of British troops will be deployed to Iraq to training Iraqi and Kurdish forces to fight…

  • Alibaba founder Jack Ma is richest Asian

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    Jack Ma, the founder of China’s biggest e-commerce company Alibaba, has been ranked as Asia’s richest person by a Bloomberg survey published Friday. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the 50-year-old Ma, with a net worth of $28.6 billion, surpassed Li Ka-shing, the Hong Kong property and ports tycoon, who has held the top spot…

  • 160,000 Christians flee Mosul in Iraq

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    At least 160,000 Iraqi Christians have been forced out of their homes in the city of Mosul after the Islamic State (IS) radical group terrorists seized Iraq’s second largest city in June, a Christian lawmaker says. “Christian families have been displaced from the city because of violence and death threats from this terrorist group,” Press…

  • British airports recover after technical glitch

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    Airports in Britain are returning to normal, except a few flight cancellations at Heathrow, a day after a technical failure in the country’s air traffic control centre. National Air Traffic Services (NATS) said a technical fault in the flight data system at its Swanwick centre in Hampshire had caused the problem Friday, BBC reported. Earlier,…

  • Putin visit upsets US, Obama visit still on

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    By Arun Kumar  The US is unhappy over India doing “business as usual” with Russia, but it will have no effect on President Barack Obama’s upcoming visit to India which remains an “important partner.” “No. India remains an important partner,” State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters Friday when asked whether deals reached during Russian…

  • CIA chief admits of brutal interrogations

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    Some officers of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) used brutal techniques on terrorist suspects and there was no proof of useful information yielded from the interrogation, the chief of the US spy agency has said. John Brennan, in a rare televised press conference held at the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, acknowledged “unauthorised” and “abhorrent”…

  • US Congress averts government shutdown

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    Beating a midnight deadline, the US Congress narrowly averted a government shutdown with the Senate agreeing to a two-day extension of current funding levels to consider a $1.1 trillion spending bill passed by the House. The Senate action came within 20 minutes of the House approving the spending bill that keeps the government open through…

  • NASA offers prizes for climate change app’s

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    NASA has offered $35,000 in prizes to create apps which use US climate data. The contest, called the Climate Resilience Data Challenge in partnership with the US Geological Survey (USGS), offers prizes to citizen scientists for ideas that will help the United States cope with climate change. It is open from Dec 15 till March…

  • UN adopts Modi’s proposal of Yoga Day

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      The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution, with a record number of 175 country co-sponsors, for observance of International Day of Yoga June 21 each year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had proposed holding an international yoga day in his UN General Assembly speech in Sep 27 this year, voiced his elation on twitter.…

  • Probe Palestinian minister’s death: Germany

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    The German government  called for a complete investigation into the death of Palestinian cabinet minister Ziad Abu Ein, who died Wednesday in an incident with Israeli security forces. “The tragic death of Ziad Abu Ein in the West Bank represents a new low in the weeks-long tensions between Israelis and Palestinians,” Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier…

  • NATO bombing kills schoolboys in Afghanistan

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    Five schoolboys were killed in a NATO airstrike in Parwan province in eastern Afghanistan, an Afghan police source told Efe news agency, but the incident could not be immediately confirmed by the international alliance. The victims, aged between 16 and 19, were playing volleyball in Seyagard district when the bombing took place Wednesday, according to…

  • Pakistan deplores CIA torture

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     Pakistan’s Foreign Office condemned the US Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) torture of detainees and said steps taken for countering terrorism must be transparent. “Pakistan deplores the Senate report on CIA torture of detainees,” spokeswoman Tasneem Aslam said. “It is a violation of international laws. Human rights laws must be respected,” Dawn online quoted Aslam as…

  • Worldwide Jihadi violence kill over 5000 in November: Study

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    More and more people continue to be sacrificed at the altar of jihadi violence across the world and a study has found that 5,000 people died worldwide in November as a result of such violence. This was revealed by a BBC study , which recorded a total of 664 terrorist attacks in 14 countries and…

  • We are united for rights: Malala

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      Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani activist espousing education for girls said  that she was glad she received the Nobel Peace Prize together with India’s Kailash Satyarti because it showed the world that an Indian and a Pakistani could work together for children’s rights. “I am also honoured to receive this award together with Kailash Satyarti, who…

  • Palestinians on hunger strike in Israeli jails

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    At least 70 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails have launched a hunger strike to protest against the solitary confinement punishment meted out to them, media reported Wednesday. The detainees began the hunger strike Tuesday after some of the Palestinians being held in solitary confinement started a protest against the policy, Press TV reported citing a…

  • Australia urged to stop forced return of Lankans

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    Australia should cease forced returns of Sri Lankan asylum seekers until they are provided fair, thorough and transparent processing of their protection claims, human rights groups said Wednesday. Amnesty International, the Human Rights Law Centre and the Human Rights Watch made the appeal in response to the Nov 29 decision of Australian authorities to turn…

  • Chinese train reaches Madrid

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      Madrid was the final destination for a train which has set the record for the longest train journey in history: 13,052 kms between the Chinese city of Yiwu and the Spanish capital. The train which arrived in Madrid at 11 a.m., departed from Yiwu Nov 18 with 40 wagons, carrying 1,400 tonnes of cargo,…

  • US Senate slams CIA for torture

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    By Arun Kumar  A scathing Senate report  slammed the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for its “brutal” interrogations of terrorist detainees during the Bush era, saying they delivered no “ticking time bomb” information that prevented an attack. The majority report issued by the Senate Intelligence Committee also accused the spy agency of routinely misleading the White…

  • Nobel Prize makes me feel powerful: Malala

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    Pakistani child education activist Malala Yousafzai said  that she was honoured to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, and it made her feel “more powerful and courageous”. “I’m really happy to be sharing this award with a person from India,” she said at a press conference here on the eve of the award ceremony, adding that…

  • 40% of the world’s population without health care:ILO

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    An ILO study shows that 80 per cent of the population across 44 countries are without any health protection and are therefore deprived of the right to health. These countries include Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Guinea and Sierra Leone. Globally, some 40 per cent of the population is excluded from social protection in health. The study says…

  • Palestine gets ICC observer status

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    Palestine has secured observer status at the International Criminal Court (ICC), paving the way for the Palestinians to sue senior Israeli officials for war crimes. The position was granted to Palestine at the summit meeting of the 122 ICC member states in New York Monday, Press TV reported Tuesday. Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to…

  • Countries urged to shelter Syrian refugees

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      The UN refugee agency and other international humanitarian organisations have launched a campaign urging countries around the world to accommodate around 180,000 Syrian refugees. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said Monday that there were more than 3.2 million Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries, and predicted the number could rise…

  • Protests continue in US over Garner’s death

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      Protests continued in the US over the death of several black men at the hands of the police and in New York preparations were being made for a huge demonstration next Saturday, media reported. Sunday was the fifth consecutive day of protests since last Wednesday, when a grand jury decided not to indict the…

  • Will not recognise Jewish state: Abbas

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      The president of the Palestinian national unity government says Palestinians cannot and will not recognize Israel as a “Jewish state”. Palestinians “cannot recognise a Jewish state”, Press TV quoted Mahmud Abbas as saying in an interview with the Egyptian daily Akhbar Al-Yawm. “We will stand against this enterprise, not out of obstinacy, but because…

  • Hamas rejects Israel’s probe offer

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      Hamas movement  rejected the Israeli decision to investigate the last large-scale military offensive waged on the Gaza Strip in July. Hamas’ spokesman in Gaza, Fawzi Barhoum said that forming an Israeli investigation committee to probe the last Israeli war on Gaza “aims at hiding the truth and the facts”, Xinhua reported. “Forming an Israeli…

  • ILO wage report troubles Osborne

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    Wage growth around the world slowed in 2013 to 2.0 per cent, compared to 2.2 per cent in 2012, and has yet to catch up to the pre-crisis rates of about 3.0 per cent, according to the ILO’s Global wage report 2014/15. Even this modest growth in global wages was driven almost entirely by emerging…

  • Obama condemns killing of US photojournalist

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      US President Barack Obama Saturday denounced the killing of an American hostage in a second failed rescue operation in Yemen, vowing to bring the killers to justice. “The US strongly condemns the barbaric murder of Luke Somers at the hands of Al Qaeda terrorists during a rescue operation conducted by US forces in Yemen in…

  • NASA’s Orion success boosts Mars mission

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    The US space agency marked a major milestone on its mission to Mars as the Orion spacecraft completed its first voyage to space Friday – travelling farther than any spacecraft designed for astronauts has been in more than 40 years. “Today’s flight test of Orion is a huge step for NASA and a really critical…

  • US journalist Luke Somers killed in rescue bid

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    US journalist Luke Somers and another man held by al-Qaeda in Yemen have been killed by militants during a rescue attempt by US special forces. US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said the hostages were “murdered by… terrorists during the mission” reported BBC. He said there were “compelling reasons” to believe that Mr Somers’s life was…

  • Ashton Carter named new US defense chief

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    By Arun Kumar   President Barack Obama  named Ashton Carter, a former Pentagon second-in command, who once described India as destined to be America’s security partner, as his new defense secretary in place of ousted Chuck Hagel. Announcing the nomination of the Rhodes Scholar, with a doctorate in theoretical physics from Oxford University and a degree…

  • Slavery a crime against humanity: Pope Francis

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    Pope Francis on characterized all forms of modern slavery, including prostitution and human trafficking, as crimes against humanity. The Pope was speaking during the signing ceremony of an ecumenical agreement between leaders belonging to different religions, who met with the aim of eradicating the scourge of slavery worldwide by 2020. The event was attended by…

  • Afghan reform agenda hailed

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      The international community welcomed Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s reform agenda for his country at a conference in London. Britain and Afghanistan co-hosted the London conference to discuss Afghanistan’s future and international support for it after the withdrawal of NATO-led coalition forces by the end of 2014, Xinhua reported. The conference was attended by Afghan…

  • 17 migrants killed trying to reach Italy

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    At least 17 migrants were killed Friday while trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea from Libya to reach Italy. According to officials, 16 bodies were found on board a crowded dinghy floating south of Lampedusa, while another person died shortly after the arrival of rescuers, The Local online reported. The majority are thought to have…

  • One year without Mandela

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    South Africans observed the first death anniversary of anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela. The former statesman died last year at the age of 95. Speaking at a formal ceremony in the capital Pretoria, Mandela’s widow Graca Machel said: “I was numb but now looking back I can imagine him tall and proud walking and all of…