Asian Lite News Archive

Category: World News

  • PICS: Paris Hilton Show

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    Model, actress and singer Paris Hilton performs during her show “Paris Hilton DJ Set”, in the outskirts of Bogota, capital of Colombia, in the first hours of Sunday. During her second visit to Colombia, Paris Hilton took part in the event with social cause since a charitable contribution will be donated to the Global Art…

  • Afghanistan to get unity government

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    Afghan presidential candidates Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai and Abdullah Abdullah Saturday agreed to sign a deal on creation of national unity government, ending a weeks-long political deadlock. “Dr. Abdullah and Dr. Ghani agreed on formation of the national unity government during a meeting held in Presidential Palace,” Xinhua reported citing Tolo TV. The Afghan presidential election…

  • NASA spacecraft set to enter Mars orbit

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    NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft is set to enter the Mars orbit Sunday night, two days before India’s first interplanetary spacecraft Mangalyaan is due to slip into the martian orbit Tuesday. MAVEN – the MARS Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission – that has completed a 10-month journey spanning 442 million miles or 704 million km, will study…

  • UN Plea for Global Peace

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    The UN International Day of Peace celebrations heard an appeal from the International Mahavira Jain Mission for nonviolence towards all living beings as a way of promoting world peace. Neil Parikh, a 21-year-old student from New Jersey, representing the organization, said, “When people think about world peace it is all about humans. But we have…

  • Karzai optimistic about Afghan poll result

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      Afghan President Hamid Karzai  expressed optimism over the progress in talks between the presidential runners and promised the country would soon hear “good news” about the election result. “With the announcement of the outcome of the mid-June presidential runoff election, people’s suffering, pain and uncertainty would come to an end,” Pajhwok Afghan News quoted Karzai…

  • Vatican increase security over possible attack

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    Security around St Peter’s Square in Vatican City has been doubled due to concerns about possible terrorist attacks targeting Pope Francis or the Vatican. Additional Italian police personnel were deployed across the city, ANSA news agency reported. Last week, Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said Italy and Rome, as the cradle of Christianity, were not “non-secondary”…

  • Iran can help tackle IS: Kerry

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    US Secretary of State John Kerry has said Iran can play a role in confronting and destroying the Islamic State (IS) militants. Addressing the UN Security Council on Iraq Friday, Kerry said there was a role for every country in the world to defeat what he described as a “militant cult masquerading as a religious…

  • No Rouhani-Obama meeting: Iran

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    Iranian Deputy Minister for Legal and International Affairs Abbas Araqchi said Saturday that there are no plans for a meeting between President Hassan Rouhani and his American counterpart Barack Obama during the ongoing 69th UN General Assembly session in New York. Araqchi said that nuclear enrichment is a key issue in the ongoing talks with…

  • Egyptian pleads guilty in US embassy bombings

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    An Egyptian has pleaded guilty in a court here to charges of helping plan the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people, a media report said Saturday. Adel Abdul Bary, 54, Friday pleaded guilty to three counts, including threatening to kill, injure or destroy property by means of an…

  • France begins attacks on ISIS

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    France’s President Francois Hollande said Friday French jets have launched first airstrikes against the Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq where they seized major towns and threatened the region’s security. “This morning, at 9.40 a.m., our Rafale jets launched the first strike against a logistics depot of the terrorists,” Hollande said in a statement issued…

  • Google brings Pyramids home

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    If you are yet to experience the wonders of the ancient world still surviving in Egypt, you can now turn into a virtual visitor — thanks to Google Street View — and explore the pyramids from the comforts of your home. Google has unveiled navigable images of the ancient monument and other Egyptian attractions –…

  • World Heritage sites damaged in Syria

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      In war-torn Syria, five of six World Heritage sites now “exhibit significant damage” and some structures have been “reduced to rubble”, reveals new high-resolution satellite image analysis. The damaged Syria’s World Heritage sites are: the Ancient City of Bosra, the Ancient Site of Palmyra, the Ancient Villages of Northern Syria, and two castles –…

  • 10 million Americans on $2 a day

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    Cristina Zabalaga says almost 10 mn people in the US live on less than $2 a day Almost ten million people in the US live on less than $2 a day and outside the money economy, surviving on food stamps, welfare and free meals provided by public schools and charities, Brookings Institution researcher Laurence Chandy…

  • Melinda lauds Indian health campaigns

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    Melinda Gates says new vaccines can change India’s health battles Introduction of four new vaccines in India’s national immunisation programme by the new government can bring immense change in the country’s major health battles and reduce the child mortality rate, Melinda Gates said. On a visit to the capital, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his…

  • 11 bn people by 2100: UN

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    The Earth is going to have 11 billion people by 2100, with the rising population exacerbating global problems such as climate change, spread of infectious diseases and poverty, says a significant joint study by the United Nations and the University of Washington. There is, however, a silver lining for the Indian subcontinent: Asia, now with…

  • No plans to punish West: Putin

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    Russia will not pressure the West with sanctions but will pursue its own interests, President Vladimir Putin said . “First of all, we are thinking about our own interests and development goals,” Putin said at a meeting of the State Council. The EU and the US imposed a new round of sanctions on Russia last…

  • Scotland decides to stay

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    Scotland Friday voted to stay in the United Kingdom after voters decisively rejected an independence referendum. With 31 of the country’s 32 council areas having declared results after Thursday’s vote, the “No” side has an unassailable lead of 1,877,252 votes to 1,512,688, BBC reported. The winning total needed was 1,852,828. Nationally, the margin of victory…

  • Currency Corner – Vatsal Srivastava on US Fed Reserve

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    Vatsal Srivastava says US Federal Reserve finally sounds hawkish; rate hike in March/June 2015  The path to US monetary policy normalization is becoming clearer. Comments by Fed reserve chief Janet Yellen Sep 17 were arguably the most hawkish in recent times. To begin with, a story written by Jon Hilsenrath of the Wall Street Journal…

  • Bill Gates: Be Optimistic

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    Microsoft founder Bill Gates said he was extremely optimistic and impatient in life and through his philanthropic work has been able to understand new things about immunisation. “I am very optimistic and very impatient about our work. I am getting to learn things and understand new frontiers. I am getting to know the immune system…

  • REVIEW: India’s tie up with Japan

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    FICCI President Sidharth Birla looks into Indo-Japan relations During their meeting on September 1, 2014, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Prime Minister Narendra Modi further strengthened relations between the two sides by signing the Tokyo Declaration for Japan-India Special Strategic and Global Partnership. The meeting has been termed as the ‘dawn of a new era in Japan-India…

  • Iran slams US policies against ISIS

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     The US has adopted double standards in its fight against the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, a senior Iranian official said Thursday. “The new US policy on the ground toward the IS is still ‘duplicitous’,” Press TV quoted Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, as saying. His remarks came after…

  • Over 100 killed in Iraq airstrikes

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    Over 100 people were killed and 79 others wounded in Iraq Thursday in US air strikes and clashes between the Iraqi security forces and insurgent militants, including those with the Islamic State(IS), officials and security sources said. In Iraq’s northern province of Nineveh, US airstrikes hit an IS training centre at the college of agriculture…

  • Call to release Alan Henning

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    Britain’s Muslim community stands united with Alan Henning’s family and reject terrorism and extremism.” Here is the copy of the letter in today’s Independent newspaper We, the undersigned British Muslim Imams, organisations and individuals, wish to express our horror and revulsion at the senseless murder of David Haines and the threat to the life of our…

  • Young British Muslims Rap ISIS

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    Young British Muslims, have come together to launch a social media campaign against ISIS using #notinmyname, to register their revulsion and rejection of the terrorist group’s actions which they claim are in the name of Islam. The campaign, which gives a voice to young Muslims united against the rhetoric of hate and extremism propagated by…

  • Europeans have three ancestries: Study

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     By comparing nine ancient genomes with those of modern humans, scientists have shown that modern Europeans descended from three groups of ancestors. “There are at least three major, highly differentiated populations that have contributed substantial amounts of ancestry to almost everybody that has European ancestry today,” explained David Reich, an investigator at the Howard Hughes…

  • Hubble discovers ‘supermassive’ black hole

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    Astronomers including an Indian-origin scientist have found an unlikely object in an improbable place – a monster black hole lurking inside one of the tiniest galaxies ever known. If you lived inside this dwarf galaxy, the night sky would dazzle with at least 1 million stars visible to the naked eye. Our nighttime sky as…

  • ISIS planning public beheading in Australia: Abbott

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    Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott Thursday said that suspected terrorists belonging to the Islamic State (IS) were planning a public beheading in the country. Abbott’s comments came after police detained 15 people in the biggest counter-terrorism raids across the country early Thursday, Xinhua reported. Abbott said that a senior member of the IS, who is…

  • Obama rules out ground troops

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    President Barack Obama Wednesday reiterated that the US will not use ground troops against Iraq to fight against the Islamic State (IS). “I will not commit you, and the rest of our Armed Forces, to fighting another ground war in Iraq,” Xinhua quoted Obama as saying during an appearance at MacDill Air Force Base in…

  • Peace selfies from MP Bob Blackman , Sri Sri

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    In the current situation the world is undergoing through with natural disasters, conflict, war, financial turmoil, health epidemics, and the list is endless .what is the rescue to the multitude?! “Make people experience Peace together” is the answer that echoes from various corners of the world. The Art of Living and the International Association for…

  • US Strategy toward the Islamic State

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    Jon B. Alterman says the new U.S. policy is more than merely a military strategy, it is much more military than it should be. Recalibrating the policy should be an immediate priority of the administration After trying hard to downplay policy in Syria and Iraq, the Obama White House has dived in. The recorded beheadings of…

  • Turkish president slams NY Times

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    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Wednesday slammed The New York Times for its report claiming that Turkey is one of the major sources of recruitment of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, saying that some foreign media outlets are trying to depict Turkey as a country that supports terrorism. “A newspaper in the US accuses…

  • UN chief welcomes Ebola fight

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    UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon welcomed the US support against the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and called for “bold and courageous” international efforts to fight the epidemic. “The secretary-general warmly welcomes today’s announcement by the United States government to provide a range of measures to assist in the global response to Ebola virus disease,”…

  • Iraqi troops retake villages

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    Iraqi security forces Tuesday recaptured several villages in heavy clashes with extremist insurgent groups, while US warplanes expanded their airstrikes and pounded Islamic State militants near Iraq’s capital Baghdad. A senior Iraqi security spokesman said the US air force carried out the first airstrike under a new anti-IS plan on positions of the IS militants…

  • US air strikes target ISIS in Iraq

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      A US airstrike was carried out near Iraqi capital Baghdad which marked a new phase in the fight against Islamic State (IS). US Central Command said in a statement that it was the first strike as part of “expanded efforts” to help Iraqi forces on the offensive against IS, CNN reported Tuesday. Monday’s airstrike…

  • Thousands evacuated in Philippines

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    Thousands of people living near the Philippines’ Mayon Volcano Tuesday were ordered to be evacuated after a warning was issued that “hazardous eruption is possible within weeks”. In its 24-hour observation, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) said that Mayon Volcano in Albay province, had generated 32 earthquakes and 72 rock fall events…

  • Paris meet pledges military aid to Iraq

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    Representatives of 29 countries, including the five member of the UN Security Council, agreed Monday to provide Iraqi authorities with “any means necessary including military assistance” to help in cracking down on the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, France’s foreign ministry said. “All participants underscored the urgent need to remove Daesh (or IS) from the…

  • French start reconnaissance flights

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      French warplanes early Monday began carrying out aerial reconnaissance for the fight against the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said, while ruling out sending French ground troops to the region. Raffale fighter planes started flying over Iraq at 9:30 a.m. in what was the first military action by Paris as…

  • Australian troops reaching Middle East

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    Australian Special Forces will travel to the Middle East this week to join a US-led international coalition against the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Monday. Once in position, about 600 Australian troops will await orders to support Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga forces battling the militants, Xinhua reported. Abbott described IS’s…

  • 400 migrants feared dead near Malta

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    At least 400 migrants were feared dead after two boats carrying them capsized in the Mediterranean Sea near Malta, media reports said Sunday. Three migrants, who said they were Palestinians and came from Egypt, were rescued and airlifted to Malta Sunday afternoon after an alert was raised Friday by a merchant ship which sighted two…

  • World’s first selfie taken in 1850

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    It may not look that jazzy but a self-portrait which dates back to the 1850s holds the record for being the world’s first selfie. The selfie of Oscar Gustave Rejlander, a pioneering Swedish Victorian art photographer and an expert in photo-montage, was recently sold at an auction at Morphets in Harrogate, North Yorkshire for 70,000…

  • Netanyahu eyes big money for defence

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    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Sunday said he was supporting an increase in defence spending in the upcoming 2015 budget in opposition to the stance of the finance minister, which may lead to the collapse of his political coalition. “The billions we’ve invested in Israel’s defence in recent years saved the Israeli economy… Due to…

  • US citizen faces jail in Korea

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    North Korea has sentenced an American citizen to six years of hard labour for entering the country illegally and committing “hostile acts” against the secretive state. State media said Matthew Miller had been convicted after a brief court hearing on Sunday morning. The court refused him permission to appeal, according to a Guardian report. “Miller,…

  • Cameron vows to hunt down ISIS

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    Following the beheading of British hostage David Haines by Islamic State (IS) extremist group, Prime Minister David Cameron Sunday said his country will hunt down the killers of the aid worker, a media report said. “We will do everything in our power to hunt down these murderers and ensure they face justice, however long it…

  • Eurozone needs fund to fuel growth

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    More investments were the only way for the European Union (EU) to accelerate its too slow recovery, finance ministers agreed at the Ecofin meeting held in Italy’s Milan. Italian Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan, who chaired the meeting in the country of the rotating EU presidency, said discussions were focused on measures to stimulate investments,…

  • Kerry arrives in Paris for ISIS talks

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    US Secretary of State John Kerry Sunday arrived in Paris after a four-day tour of the Middle East trying to build a coalition to defeat the Islamic State (IS). Nearly 40 countries, including 10 Arab states, have signed up to a US-led plan to tackle the extremist group, the BBC reported. Kerry arrived at the…

  • Rebels advance in Syria

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    Armed militant groups, including Al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, advanced in Syria’s southern province of Qunaitera, as the Syrian troops stripped the rebels of key towns in the central province of Hama, activists said Saturday. The Nusra Fighters and like-minded groups were advancing in Qunaitera, at the border with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, the Syrian Observatory…

  • Cameron calls Haines killing ‘ evil murder’

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    The murder of David Haines was an “act of pure evil”, David Cameron has said after the release of a video appearing to show the UK hostage’s beheading. The 44-year-old aid worker was seized in Syria in 2013. He was being held by Islamic State militants who have already killed two US captives. The latest…

  • Kerry calls for global coalition against ISIS

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    US Secretary of State John Kerry Saturday said a global coalition was essential to defeat Sunni militant group Islamic State (IS). Kerry also stressed that a concerted effort must be made to choke off financing for the militant group and prevent foreign jihadis from joining its ranks in Iraq and Syria. “An international coalition is…

  • Heart drug could be Ebola cure

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      Researchers at the University of Liverpool have made a breakthrough that can lead to a cure for the deadly Ebola virus currently sweeping through West Africa, media reports said. The university has said the experts stumbled across an existing drug used in the treatment of severe heart disease, which could be adapted to fight…

  • GALLERY: Mount Slamet Erupts

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    Mount Slamet erupts as viewed from Dawuhan village, Brebes, Central Java, Indonesia, on Sept. 11, 2014. According to local media, volcanic activities of Mount Slamet continue to increase. Residents were advised to stay away at least 4 kilometres from the 3436 metres high volcano.