Category: South Asia

NEW DELHI, May 26, 2014 (AFP) – India’s premier-elect Narendra Modi plans to slash 26 government positions and name himself as defence minister under a cabinet revamp set to be unveiled later Monday, reports said.Modi’s cabinet will number 45 including him, down from 71 in outgoing prime minister Manmohan Singh’s scandal-tainted Congress-led coalition administration, the […]

COLOMBO, May 24, 2014 (AFP) – Five players and two officials of the Afghan national team were injured in a road accident in the Maldives Saturday after an AFC Challenge Cup match, a report said.Afghan skipper Haroon Fakhrudin was among those hurt when the team bus crashed into a motorcycle while returning to a hotel […]

MALÉ, May 22, 2014 (AFP) – A 16-year-old boy has been charged with murder over a fatal stabbing in the Maldives, becoming the first minor to be accused of a capital offence since the death penalty was reintroduced, officials said.The unnamed teenager is accused of stabbing a 21-year-old man to death in December in a […]

NEW DELHI, May 19, 2014 (AFP) – India’s Sonia and Rahul Gandhi offered to resign Monday after leading the once-dominant Congress party to its worst-ever election defeat last week, only for colleagues to insist the dynasty stay in place.Congress won just 44 seats in the parliamentary election for 543 seats as the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya […]

NEW DELHI, May 19, 2014 (AFP) – India’s prime minister-elect Narendra Modi has taken to Twitter to thank fellow leaders in Japan, Russia, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Australia for their support, but one man still waiting for a reply is US Secretary of State John Kerry.While Canadian Prime Minister Stephan Harper has had two mentions […]

NEW DELHI, May 18, 2014 (AFP) – Prime minister-elect Narendra Modi summoned senior figures from his Hindu nationalist party on Sunday for talks on forming a new government that is set to steer India sharply to the right. Top BJP leaders were also meeting in Delhi with the right-wing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Hindu […]

VARANASI , May 17, 2014 (AFP) – Indian prime minister-elect Narendra Modi offered prayers by the river Ganges Saturday in a religious ceremony beamed live on television that underlined his Hindu nationalist roots a day after his stunning electoral triumph. The 63-year-old leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept through the capital earlier Saturday, […]

NEW DELHI, May 16, 2014 (AFP) – India’s prime minister-elect Narendra Modi was to make a triumphant entrance to New Delhi Saturday after leading his Hindu nationalist party to an historic landslide victory in the world’s largest election. The former tea-boy, whose humble background is a world away from that of the prevailing Delhi elite, […]

NEW DELHI, May 16, 2014 (AFP) – To admirers he is a Thatcherite reformer set to jolt India from the economic doldrums, while his opponents liken him to Putin or even Hitler. Indian election frontrunner Narendra Modi divides opinion like few other politicians. The rise of one of India’s most polarising public figures even split […]

MUMBAI, May 16, 2014 (AFP) – India’s stock market jumped more than six percent to a record high of 25,000 points on Friday as business-friendly opposition leader Narendra Modi looked set for a landslide victory in national elections.The benchmark Bombay Stock Exchange index, known as the Sensex, rose 6.06 percent to 25,353.16 in morning trade […]

NEW DELHI, May 16, 2014 (AFP) – India’s triumphant Hindu nationalists declared “the start of a new era” in the world’s biggest democracy on Friday as the ruling Congress conceded defeat in elections that exposed anger about sickly economic growth and rampant corruption.Preliminary results and media projections at the climax of the marathon six-week election […]

NEW DELHI, May 16, 2014 (AFP) – The Bharatiya Janata Party’s landslide election victory will usher in a new government expected to steer India sharply to the right after 10 years of rule by the leftist Congress party.Incoming premier Narendra Modi has never been in government at national level after spending the last 13 years […]