New York, June 19 : A new media code proposed by the Sri Lankan government contains overbroad and vague language that could have a severe and chilling effect on free speech, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday.

On June 17, the mass media and information ministry officially proposed a Code of Media Ethics that would apply to print and electronic media, including the Internet.

The proposed code comes at a time when the government has taken various measures to clamp down on Sri Lanka's once vibrant media, including forcing some electronic media critical of the government to close down.

Washington, June 11 : A seasoned Pakistani journalist known for courageous muckraking reports and a reporter investigating corruption in Russia have won a prestigious journalism award.

The 2013 Knight International Journalism Award recognises excellent reporting that makes a difference in the lives of people around the world, the International Centre for Journalists (ICFJ) announced here.

Umar Cheema, an investigative reporter for Pakistan's largest English-language daily, The News, has set a new standard for courage and quality journalism in a country where reporters are routinely attacked and murdered, the centre said.

Washington, June 11 : A prestigious US institution proposes to open a network of 10 pilot hands-on invention activity spaces, called Spark! Labs, throughout India with the goal of jumpstarting an Indian-run network of up to 100 labs.

Over the next two years, the The Smithsonian Lemelson Centre for the Study of Invention and Innovation will work to establish the initial cohort of 10 labs in India, officials of the institution announced at an event at the Indian embassy here Monday.

Washington - Six people were killed in a shooting rampage at a college in the US state of California Friday, CNN reported.

The incident occurred in Santa Monica College, California, that ended Friday with the gunman clad in tactical gear dead in a college library and a "person of interest" in custody, authorities said.

"We are not convinced 100 per cent that the suspect who was killed operated in a solo or alone capacity," Santa Monica police chief Jacqueline Seabrooks told reporters.

Miami, June 6 : The winner of the largest lottery prize ever awarded to a single person in the US is a 84-year-old Florida woman, who showed up to cash in her Powerball ticket and collected some $370.8 million, before taxes.

Gloria C. Mackenzie's ticket was the only one sold that matched all six numbers in the May 18 Powerball lottery drawing, which at the time had accumulated over the previous two months a record jackpot worth $590.5 million.

Washington, May 24 : A number of vehicles and people fell into a river when a highway bridge collapsed in Washington state, officials said. But no death was reported.

The four-lane bridge links Seattle with the rest of the US Pacific Northwest and Canada, Xinhua reported Friday. The incident took place Thursday.

Three people were rescued and shifted to hospitals. It was not clear what caused the disaster.(IANS)

Washington, May 21 - At least 51 people, including seven children at an elementary school, were killed as a massive tornado slammed Oklahoma City in south central US leaving widespread destruction in its wake.

Emergency personnel were scouring the rubble at flattened Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Oklahoma, hours after the tornado struck Monday afternoon, a video from CNN affiliate KFOR showed.

As nightfall approached, determined searchers in hard hats dug in the debris for students possibly trapped, but officials cited by the news channel described the work as a recovery, not rescue, effort.

Washington, May 18 - At least 60 people were injured, five of them critically, in a head-on, rush-hour collision between two commuter trains Friday evening near New York City, officials said.

Metro-North Railroad described it as a "major derailment", just outside Bridgeport, the most populous city of Connecticut state in the US.

About 250 people were on the trains involved in the crash, BBC reported, adding no fatalities had been reported.

The accident occurred around 6.00 p. m. after a train which left New York City's Grand Central station en route to New Haven, Connecticut, derailed and then was hit by another train, said officials. (IANS)

Washington, May 16 - International migration is projected to surpass natural increase as the principal driver of US population growth by the middle of this century, the first time in two centuries, the US Census Bureau estimates.

According the three latest series of projections, the shift in what drives US population growth is projected to occur between 2027 and 2038, depending on the future level of international migration, reported Xinhua.

Washington, May 15 : Smithsonian, the world's largest museum and research complex here, is launching a major crowdfunding campaign May 29 to support what it calls the world's first exhibition on the visual history of

yoga.

"Yoga: The Art of Transformation" Opens Oct 19 at its Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Washington and would be on view through Jan 26, 2014. It will be supported by a crowdfunding campaign, "Together We're One" running from May
29 through July 1.

Washington, May 15 - The father of a four-year-old boy in New Jersey was arrested after his son fatally shot a six-year-old neighbour in the head, CNN reported.

Anthony Senatore, 33, was charged with six counts of endangering the welfare of children and a disorderly person's offence for enabling access by minors to a loaded firearm, said prosecutor Jim McClain from the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office.

Senatore's son was playing in the yard April 8 when he went inside and retrieved his father's loaded .22-calibre rifle from the bedroom.

When he came back out, he fired a single shot that struck six-year-old Brandon Holt in the head.

Washington, May 11 : Ami Bera, the lone Indian-American lawmaker, has joined the newly formed American Sikh Congressional Caucus, saying he was solely motivated by concerns about incidents of hate crimes against the community. Indian officials had pressed Bera and some other US lawmakers not to join the Sikh caucus because of the presence of some alleged pro-Khalistan activists among its supporters.

Washington, May 11 : Two Indian young entrepreneurs are among 20 Under 20 Thiel Fellows chosen to "pursue innovative scientific and technical projects, learn entrepreneurship from the ground up, and begin to build the innovative companies of tomorrow."

The Indian winners are New Delhi resident Ritesh Agarwal, 19 and Palo Alto, California resident Diwank Singh Tomer, 19, according to an announcement from the San Francisco based Thiel Foundation.

Ritesh is one of the youngest entrepreneurs from India to raise angel investments. He runs OYO Inns, a chain of affordable, tech-enabled inns, and Oravel, a rising popular alternative to hotels in India.

Washington, May 11 : Kolkata-born Ritankar Das, a bioengineering and chemical biology double major at the University of California at Berkeley, has become the youngest student to receive the University Medal in more than a century.

The medal is given to the year's top graduating senior. Das, who began his freshman term when he was 15, will be graduating with more than 200 credits and a GPA of 3.99, which includes eight A+ marks, in three years, according to the university news centre.

He will receive the medal and give a speech at Commencement Convocation on May 18.

Los Angeles, May 10 - Spain and the US are the two countries with the most downloads of the 3D blueprints for homemade plastic pistols that were posted on the Internet this week by the Defense Distributed company with the aim of facilitating access to firearms out from under control by the authorities.

According to what the firm said Thursday, Spain was the country from where the most download requests were received for the "Liberator" pistol during the first two days its blueprints were available online.