Category: South Asia

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 […]

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, […]