Kalyan Kumar

New Zealand is bracing to get a big slice of the global satellite launch market with its unique space programme getting ready to blast off by 2015. The National Herald reported that private initiative Rocket Lab has Peter Beck at its helm as the founder and CEO.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has announced ‘Britain First’ immigration policy and cut many perks for foreigners in the new immigration rules. Cameron announced his plans in an article contributed to The Telegraph.

A row is brewing over the wrong use of photo that carried news report of young sergeant Guy Boyland of Kiwi origin, killed in Gaza. According to reports in TVNZ, the young soldier died in a battle with Hamas gunmen in Gaza on Friday. But the flip flop by a news paper New Zealand Herald made the news more controversial.

Colorado’s legalisation of cannabis (marijuana) has led to an increase in the number of young people living on the streets, reported Telegraph. Colarado made history in January this year when it opened stores licensed to sell marijuana legally. The Passage of Amendment 66 legalised marijuana and created a bonanza for green entrepreneurs and tax collectors.

In a noble gesture, some families of the victims on board the missing flight MH370 has come forward to counsel the distraught relatives of those died on flight MH17 recently, reports the Guardian.

The north Toronto city on Saturday night had a UFO experience with the social media abuzz with speculations by people spotting strange, flashing lights over the city, reported Guardian LV. North York residents tweeted that they saw colourful lights moving in sky at Yonge Street and Sheppard Avenue. The Toronto Police also confirmed having got calls from the public informing of pink, green and white lights in a single diagonal line.

The New Zealand polls became more intense with Georgina Beyer, world’s first transgender MP joining the Mana Party, reports ODT. Beyer was a former MP with the Labour Party. Beyer made news in 1995 when she won the Carterton mayor election with a huge margin.

It is often said that arranged marriages are more durable than love marriages. But the UK is facing a big problem from thousands of "arranged marriages," which are nothing but a ruse to settle in the country.

The world has been shaken by a spate of air crashes in the past ten days that saw more than 500 casualties. The series of air crashes may have made many second-guess their future travel plans.

Death sentences in some US states by lethal injection has come under heavy criticism as a barbaric act and the clamour is up for its legal review by the apex court, reports Global Post. The latest trigger is the protests that followed after a convict struggled in agony for almost two hours to breathe his last after the botched execution.

New Zealand will be passing a new legislation shortly to make health and safety a top priority in workplaces, reported NZ Herald. According to leading a employment lawyer Shima Grice, New Zealanders have to study the implications of the new law and prepare themselves to operate within it.

The Labour Party in New Zealand will ensure higher funding to the adult and community education sector, reports NZ Herald. While taking out the education card the Labour party also accused the John Key government of stopping many innovative schemes in education. Certainly the Labour Party is trying to make all the right noises.

The Canadian Government has called for a UN investigation into the reported discoveries of weapons caches at the UN-run schools in the Gaza Strip, reported Global Post. According to Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird it was shocking that stockpiles of rockets were found in a school run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in Gaza.

Alarmed by reports of high contamination in chicken, leading supermarkets in UK have launched investigations into chicken supplies, reports Guardian. Recent media expose had blown the lid of low hygiene standards among the poultry processors.

The US administration has gone public with its classified intelligence to nail the claims of innocence aired by Russia about the downing of Malaysian airliner, reports Washington Post. The US officials in a briefing for reporter provided material information rebutting all claims made by Russia to the contrary. The Malaysia Flight tragedy killed 298 civilians

An incident involving airport security by Transport Minister Gerry Brownlee has put the John Key Government in New Zealand on the defensive, reports NZ Herald. The minister has offered to quit after being quizzed by the aviation security officials. But the issue has raised concerns on compromises in air security.

The UK Music magazine NME has paid a glowing tribute on the influential Dunedin Sound, reported NZ Herald. The four page spread named ‘Songs in the Kiwi of Life’ profiles the famed indie pop music of New Zealand and also refers to the arrival of a new music.

Despite the nationalist concerns by the UK political elite, support is welling up from many quarters asking the Scottish not to dither in making a choice for independence, reports the Guardian. A report in Guardian talks about the support offered by top leader of the Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru. In an interview its leader Leanne Wood said solidarity through divergence was a better way of showing people outside of Scotland what is possible

In the upcoming US mid -term elections, Hedge funds tycoon Tom Steyer will unleash a $100 million campaign spread in 7 states as an offensive against Republican party candidates, reports CNN. Backed by his environmental advocacy group the green billionaire is planning to go on an all out offensive to stop Republicans from controlling the Senate and key statehouses by November.

New Zealand and China will work towards strengthening defence ties, reported 3 News. This is conveyed in a joint statement issued after a high-level meeting held in Wellington between the two sides. The statement also mulls about enhanced cooperation in the South Pacific region.

New Zealand’s Opposition Labour Party is too keen to be back in power in the elections scheduled for Sept 20. However, the rank and file of the party seems to be a tad unhappy at the casual way the top leaders are handling the hard battle. According to a 3 News Report, a controversy is brewing over a media scoop which quoted an anonymous insider from Labour party, blasting the party’s PM candidate David Cunliffe for going on a holiday when the party workers were battling the heat of electi...

The Johns Hopkins Health System in the US will pay $190 million in compensation to more than 8,000 women whose bodies were videographed by a gynecologist using his pen-like camera during pelvic exams. According to a Global News report, the scandal accused Dr. Nikita Levy was fired in February 2013 after a co-worker alerted the hospital authorities about it. Later the doctor committed suicide. The investigators recovered some 1,200 videos and 140 images stored on the servers from the errant docto...

British Prime Minister David Cameron has called for a hard line approach against Russia if it is not mending its ways in patronising the Ukraine rebels. According to a report in the Guardian, Cameron wanted the EU to blacklist the coterie and oligarchs around the Russian President Vladimir Putin. The PM’s hard stand was in response to the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH 17 over eastern Ukraine.

The issue of paedophiles is under global debate. Amidst calls for harsh laws, fresh advocacy for humane approaches to the malady is in the air. Some such votaries say paedophiles can come out of their impulses if there is more empathy from the society, reports CBC Canada.

In the run up to the elections in New Zealand, regional development is becoming a serious poll issue, reports NZ Herald. Both the National and Labour parties seem to be drumming up support from regional development bodies by showcasing their approach to regional issues pertaining to development.

Paula Bennett, the Local Government minister in New Zealand has called for innovative steps to ensure public participation in undoing archaic rules and regulations, reports NZ Herald. The reformist minister hit out at the hard rules choking citizens even in silly matters like signage for cake stalls or position of shower curtains.

Google has ordered an immediate fix of a Chrome bug that reportedly drains the batteries of laptops running on Windows 7, reports Computer World. Google’s move came after Forbes' contributor Ian Morris flayed how Chrome on Windows had been setting system ticks at a hyper rate.

Adding to rumors around Apple's iWatch is a report that three variants of the iWatch will be out. BGR magazine quotes a Chinese daily that the possible variants of iWatch will be-1.6-inch display and two other 1.8-inch displays.

Samsung Electronics is rumored to be joining hands with American sportswear maker Under Armour to create a wearable fitness tracker. According to Korean source Yonhap News Agency, there is lot of interest and speculation in the market regarding the recent meeting between Samsung’s Lee Jay-yong and Under Armour CEO Kelvin Plank. It is understood that they have discussed strategies for a collaboration to bring out Samsung’s Health Tracker project.