International - The Digital Indian

Feb152017 by Team - The Digital IndianNo Comments

Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2017 final in jeopardy after Lahore bomb blast

Pakistan, Sports

To decide on the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore as the venue for the Pakistan Super League 2017 final by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was nothing but a message to the various cricket nations across the world that Lahore still has the capability to host high-intensity matches, with the best safety and security. A major blow to those hopes was dealt after Monday night’s Lahore bomb blast, that left at least a reported 15 people, which included top police officers, dead and several injured. The bomb blast, which reportedly has been carried out by a suicide bomber from the Islamist terrorist group ‘Jamaat-ur-Ahrar’, took place outside the Punjab Assembly in Lahore. The shocking terror attack has sent shockwaves across the domestic and international cricketers participating in the ongoi...

Feb142017 by Team - The Digital IndianNo Comments

Flynn resigns as Trump’s national security advisor

USA

The White House announced today that Michael Flynn has resigned as President Donald Trump’s national security advisor, amid escalating controversy over his contacts with Moscow. In his formal resignation letter, Flynn acknowledged that in the period leading up to Trump’s inauguration: “I inadvertently briefed the vice president-elect and others with incomplete information regarding my phone calls with the Russian ambassador.” Trump has named retired lieutenant general Joseph Kellogg, who was serving as a director on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as acting national security advisor, the White House said.

Feb132017 by Team - The Digital IndianNo Comments

Rights group raps Pakistan for ‘forced’ repatriation of Afghans Refugees

Pakistan

In a scathing indictment of Pakistan’s treatment of Afghan refugees, a human rights group charged Monday that the country is forcing hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees back to their homeland, which is still beset by war and crushing poverty. It also said that a $400 stipend the United Nations refugee agency gives to refugees who return to Afghanistan is tantamount to a bribe to convince reluctant Afghans to leave Pakistan. “The exodus amounts to the world’s largest unlawful mass forced return of refugees in recent times,” the Human Rights Watch report says. Both the U.N. and Pakistan denied the allegations. In an interview, Indrika Ratwatte, Pakistan’s country representative for the U.N. refugee agency, said there was police harassment and arrests of Afghan refugees in mid-2016...

Feb132017 by Team - The Digital IndianNo Comments

North Korea claims New Nuclear-Capable Missile Test Successful

North Korea

North Korea said on Monday it had successfully test-fired a new type of medium- to long-range ballistic missile the previous day, claiming further advancement in a weapons programme it is pursuing in violation of United Nations resolutions. North Korea fired the ballistic missile on a high arc into the sea early on Sunday, the first test of US President Donald Trump’s vow to get tough on an isolated regime that tested nuclear devices and ballistic missiles last year at an unprecedented rate. The North’s state-run KCNA news agency said leader Kim Jong Un supervised the test of the Pukguksong-2, a new type of strategic weapon capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. The United States, Japan and South Korea requested urgent UN Security Council consultations on the test, with a meeting ...

Feb132017 by Team - The Digital IndianNo Comments

Hundreds of Pilot Whales Die After Beaching in New Zealand

New Zealand

Volunteers in New Zealand managed to refloat about 100 surviving pilot whales hoping they will swim back out to sea after more than 400 of them swam aground at a remote beach. New Zealand’s Department of Conservation Golden Bay Operations Manager Andrew Lamason said on Saturday that about 300 whales had died, but others were swimming in the bay near the beach and had joined up with a new pod of pilot whales.The 416 stranded whales were discovered on Farewell Spit at the tip of the South Island. Rescuers managed to refloat several dozen whales on Friday, but many beached themselves again overnight.

Feb132017 by Team - The Digital IndianNo Comments

Crumbling California Dam Prompts Urgent Evacuations for 188,000

USA

Water started flowing over an emergency spillway at the nation’s tallest dam, on Lake Oroville, for the first time on Saturday after erosion damaged the Northern California dam’s main spillway. Officials hoped to avoid using Oroville Dam’s emergency spillway, fearing it could cause trees to fall and leave debris cascading into water that rushes through the Feather River, into the Sacramento River and on to the San Francisco Bay. Crews prepared for several days, clearing trees and brush. Water began running over the emergency spillway around 8 am, according to California’s Department of Water Resources. It was the first time the emergency spillway has been used in the reservoir’s nearly 50-year history. Water was expected to continue flowing over the emergency spillway for 38 to 5...

Feb132017 by Team - The Digital IndianNo Comments

Thousands of Mexicans March for Dignity

Mexico

About 20,000 people staged a march through Mexico’s capital on Sunday demanding respect for their country and its migrants in the face of perceived hostility from the administration of US President Donald Trump. Many marchers carried Mexican flags and were dressed in white as a sign of unity and to signal the non-political nature of the march. The marchers protested Trump’s plans for a border wall and increased deportations of migrants. Trump has also pressured US corporations to provide jobs in the United States, not Mexico. Paulina Ortega carried a placard in English proclaiming: “We love Americans, we hate racism.” “This is a march for dignity,” she said. Mexicans have called for unity in facing the challenge posed by Trump’s policies, but the march featured almost as many bann...

Feb112017 by Team - The Digital IndianNo Comments

Donald Trump and PM Abe hail US-Japan alliance as “cornerstone” of peace

USA

In a joint White House press conference Friday afternoon, the US president also said his administration would work to strengthen US-Japanese ties and bring the two nations closer together. “The bond between our two nations and the friendship between our two peoples runs very, very deep,” Trump said. “This administration is committed to bringing those ties even closer.” The American president also expressed great personal warmth towards Abe, who was the first foreign leader to meet Trump as president-elect, and said the two of them “have a very, very good bond.” In further policy remarks, Trump thanked the Japanese Prime Minister for hosting American troops and reaffirmed America’s commitment to preserving freedom of navigation and maintaining Japan’s security, singling out defense...

Feb102017 by Team - The Digital IndianNo Comments

Shawna Pandya to become third Indian-origin woman to travel to space!

USA

As a child, she loved space and she loved the stars. Today, she’s become the third Indian-origin woman, after Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams, to go to space. 32-year-old Shawna Pandya, who is a neurologist by profession, is all set to be a part of an eight-member crew of an expedition in 2018. Pandya will be conducting experiments with bio-science and medical science, as well as studying the effects of micro gravity on health and physiology in space. She will also study climate change as a part of the Polar Suborbital Science in the Upper Mesosphere (PoSSUM) project. The Mumbai-born Canadian doctor is one of the two candidates shortlisted from 3,200 people in the Citizen Science Astronaut program. Apart from being a medical professional, the multi-talented woman is ...

Feb102017 by Team - The Digital IndianNo Comments

Not shortlisted for NASA, clarifies Shawna Pandya in Facebook Post

Canada

Shawna Pandya, an Indian-origin astronaut, has denied news reports that said she was shortlisted by NASA for its 2018 space mission under the Citizen Science Astronaut (CSA) programme. In a Facebook post, Pandya clarified that her work was separate from the work of the Canadian Space Agency and that of NASA. https://www.facebook.com/shawnapandya/posts/10101031795466615 “There has been no new announcement, flight assignment or selection of missions with respect to my work as a citizen-scientist astronaut with Project Possum or The PHEnOM Project. I am no more or less likely to fly than any other member of than these projects than I was 24 hours ago,” Pandya wrote on Facebook. She however remains a crew member in the work of both projects. She added that while the astronaut selectio...