Category: South Asia

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 […]

AHMEDABAD, April 10, 2014 (AFP) – Election frontrunner Narendra Modi has acknowledged for the first time that he is married, solving one of the biggest mysteries about the private life of the man tipped to be India’s next prime minister.The 63-year-old is routinely described as a bachelor and is thought to have lived alone in […]

NEW DELHI, April 8, 2014 (AFP) – For a politician running on a platform of clean government, having a key aide facing murder and extortion charges could be seen as a liability — but not by the man tipped to be India’s next prime minister.Narendra Modi, the hardline Hindu nationalist leading the opposition Bharatiya Janata […]

DIBRUGARH, April 7, 2014 (AFP) – Indians began voting in the world’s biggest election Monday which is set to sweep the Hindu nationalist opposition to power at a time of low growth, anger about corruption and warnings about religious unrest. India’s 814-million-strong electorate are forecast to inflict a heavy defeat on the ruling Congress party, […]

NEW DELHI, April 4, 2014 (AFP) – India’s marathon nine-phase election kicks off Monday and will end on May 12 when hundreds of millions will have cast their ballots.AFP explains how it works and what is at stake. Q. Why will it take so long? Almost 814 million adult Indians are eligible to vote, making […]

ISLAMABAD, April 3, 2014 (AFP) – Pakistan’s former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, who is on trial for treason, narrowly escaped an assassination attempt as a bomb went off shortly before his convoy was due to pass early Thursday, police said. The bomb was planted on his route from an army hospital where he has been […]

PONDICHERRY, April 2, 2014 (AFP) – The makeup of India’s next government could lie in the hands of a trio of women who command a massive following in their regional heartlands, including a populist former movie star known as “Mother” to supporters.“Definitely their image, their fighting spirit, their charisma, and their administrative skills to a […]

MALÉ, March 23, 2014 (AFP) – Maldives President Abdulla Yameen’s party is poised to win control of parliament with the support of a key ally, early projections in the Indian Ocean nation showed Sunday. President Yameen’s Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) was leading in 34 out of the 85 constituencies after Saturday’s polls while his […]