Category: South Asia

VADODARA, May 16, 2014 (AFP) – Narendra Modi promised to work to “fulfil the dreams of 1.2 billion people” as he addressed cheering supporters for the first time Friday after a landslide Indian election victory for his Hindu nationalist party.A sea of well-wishers from across his constituency of Vadodara in Gujarat turned out to hear […]

VARANASI, May 12, 2014 (AFP) – Voters headed to the polls Monday in the climax of India’s marathon election, with frontrunner Narendra Modi seeking a crowning victory in the holy city of Varanasi for his right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party.“People are tired of false promises, corruption and the same old tape-recorded messages,” Modi said in a […]

NEW DELHI, May 3, 2014 (AFP) – Carrefour, the world’s second largest retailer, is working on a plan to exit India, media reports said Saturday, amid political uncertainty about the future of multi-brand retail in the South Asian giant.One of the few foreign retailers to commit to India recently is Britain’s Tesco, which has declared […]

CHENNAI, May 1, 2014 (AFP) – Twin bombs planted on a train killed at least one person and wounded nine others in the main southern Indian city of Chennai on Thursday, a railway official said.“At least two people have suffered grievous injuries and seven have minor injuries,” he told reporters in comments aired on Indian […]

NEW DELHI, April 27, 2014 (AFP) – India successfully test-fired a new anti-ballistic missile on Sunday in a step towards developing a missile defence system which only an elite club of countries has built.India, which shares borders with arch-rival Pakistan and giant China, both of whom are nuclear-armed, is developing the system that aims to […]

COLOMBO, April 25, 2014 (AFP) – Sri Lanka Cricket on Friday named former captain Marvan Atapattu as interim head coach, making him the island nation’s seventh coach in the last four years.Atapattu, 43, was appointed for the tour of England and Scotland starting next month and the subsequent home series against South Africa in July, […]

ISLAMABAD, April 23, 2014 (AFP) – The shooting of one of Pakistan’s most famous TV presenters has highlighted the climate of “extreme fear” facing the country’s media, journalists say, as hardliners of different stripes seek to silence dissenting voices. Hamid Mir, host of Capital Talk, a primetime current affairs show on the Geo channel, was […]

NEW DELHI, April 22, 2014 (AFP) – Indian election frontrunner Narendra Modi on Tuesday condemned virulent anti-Muslim remarks by a one-time associate as he sought to keep attention on his core message of development and corruption-free administration.The BJP, last in power from 1990 to 2004, is widely forecast to emerge as the biggest party in […]

NEW DELHI, April 19, 2014 (AFP) – Former Apple chief executive John Sculley, whose marketing skills helped bring the personal computer to desktops worldwide, says he plans to launch a mobile phone in India to exploit its still largely untapped smartphone market.Inflexionpoint, an information technology supply company co-founded by Sculley, will start selling the smartphones […]

NEW DELHI, April 15, 2014 (AFP) – A war of words erupted among the “first family” of Indian politics on Tuesday as a new poll pointed to a sweeping election win for the Hindu nationalist opposition.Priyanka Gandhi, sister of Rahul Gandhi who is leading the ruling Congress party’s campaign, called the bitterly fought election contest […]

NEW DELHI, April 15, 2014 (AFP) – India’s Hindu nationalist opposition party and its allies are on course to win an overall parliamentary majority in the world’s biggest election currently underway, according to a new poll.Another potential partner, a Tamil Nadu-based party led by former actress Jayalalithaa Jayaram, is slated to get 22 seats. The […]

NEW DELHI, April 13, 2014 (AFP) – Cricket stars Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly and leading Spanish club Atletico Madrid are among the owners of teams in a new India football league set to start this year, organisers said Sunday.The Indian Super League, featuring foreign and Indian talent in teams based in eight cities, is […]