Category: South Asia

NEW DELHI, July 13, 2014 (AFP) – The maiden budget from India’s new right-wing government has promised a return to high growth — but disappointed some who hoped premier Narendra Modi might use his thumping mandate to unleash radical change. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government opted for small steps in last week’s budget, in […]

MUMBAI, July 3, 2014 (AFP) – The Bombay Stock Exchange, India’s second-biggest financial market, shut down during morning trade Thursday owing to computer network problems, a spokesman said. “Due to a network outage being currently faced, BSE has decided to close all markets,” spokesman Yatin Padia said in a message to AFP, after trading stopped […]

NEW DELHI, June 30, 2014 (AFP) – France Monday became the first Western power to hold talks in India with the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius arrived to push defence deals and trade.The reform-minded Modi has been widely courted by Western governments since his election in May, with his […]

NEW DELHI, June 24, 2014 (AFP) – Annual losses in India’s dysfunctional power sector are forecast to rise to billion in 2017 unless the government enacts sweeping reforms in the face of rising demand, a World Bank study said Tuesday.India has one of the world’s lowest per capita electricity consumption rates, with the average person […]

NEW DELHI, June 16, 2014 (AFP) – India’s inflation accelerated to a five-month high in May, in a worrying sign for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new government which has made fighting price rises a priority.The Wholesale Price Index, the most closely watched cost of living monitor, rose to 6.01 percent in May — the highest […]

NEW DELHI, June 14, 2014 (AFP) – India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Saturday the country must be “self sufficient” in its defence capabilities at a ceremony inducting a Russian-built aircraft carrier into the navy.Modi said India should place “immense importance” on developing the latest technology as the navy looks to recover from a string […]

KARACHI, June 8, 2014 (AFP) – Heavily armed militants attacked Pakistan’s busiest airport in the southern city of Karachi Sunday night, killing at least six people as flights were suspended and the army was called in, officials said. Some six militants were also killed in the assault as gunfire, which continued overnight, and two huge […]

TOKYO, June 6, 2014 (AFP) – Japan could be the first foreign destination for new Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Japanese media reported Friday, suggesting the trip could happen as early as this month.Coming top of Modi’s travel itinerary would mark a diplomatic coup for Japan, whose Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is looking to boost […]

MUMBAI, June 3, 2014 (AFP) – India’s hawkish central bank kept key interest rates unchanged Tuesday at its first meeting to set monetary policy since new pro-growth Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office.After meeting in the financial capital Mumbai, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said the benchmark repo rate, at which it lends to […]

HYDERABAD, June 2, 2014 (AFP) – Celebrations erupted in southern India to mark the creation of the new state of Telangana on Monday at the culmination of a separatist campaign stretching back nearly six decades. Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao, who at one stage went on hunger strike as part of the push to create what is […]

NEW DELHI, May 26, 2014 (AFP) – India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi was expected to hold landmark talks with his Pakistani counterpart and announce his new cabinet Tuesday as he looked to hit the ground running on his first day in office. The morning after Modi and his slimmed-down team of ministers were sworn in, […]

GENEVA, April 29, 2014 (AFP) – The UN human rights office on Tuesday voiced concern over moves to revive the death penalty in the Maldives, including for minors, after a six-decade freeze on capital punishment in the Indian Ocean archipelago.“We are deeply concerned about a new regulation adopted in the Maldives on implementation of the […]