Category: South Asia

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 […]

MALÉ, March 21, 2014 (AFP) – The Maldivian elections commission said Friday it planned to go ahead with this weekend’s parliamentary polls despite the islands’ new president expressing doubts over whether the vote can be conducted.President Abdulla Yameen told a public rally in the capital island Male on Thursday night that a depleted Elections Commission […]

NEW DELHI, March 19, 2014 (AFP) – Authorities in the Maldives were probing reports Wednesday that islanders saw a “low-flying jumbo jet” on the day the missing Malaysia Airlines plane vanished.While the islands’ National Defence Force said that no trace of Flight MH370 had been picked up on radar, police and the civil aviation authority […]

TOKYO, March 17, 2014 (AFP) – Toyota said Monday it has suspended production at its two Indian auto assembly plants in response to threats against management and “deliberate” assembly-line stoppages, as efforts to hammer out a labour deal failed.A Tokyo-based company spokesman said Toyota hoped to restart production quickly, but could not give a timeline […]

NEW DELHI, March 16, 2014 (AFP) – India on Sunday suspended its search for Malaysia Airlines flight 370 around the remote Andaman and Nicobar Islands and in the Bay of Bengal and is awaiting a new request from Malaysia, a defence official said.“The entire operation is on hold for now. We are awaiting fresh instructions […]

WASHINGTON, March 14, 2014 (AFP) – A US naval ship and surveillance plane are heading to the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal to search for a missing Malaysian airliner that vanished a week ago, officials said Friday.The hunt had initially focused on the South China Sea east of Malaysia — along the intended route […]

NEW DELHI, March 9, 2014 (AFP) – One Indian worker was killed in an accident during construction of a nuclear submarine, a defence statement said Sunday, the latest in a string of deadly mishaps to hit the navy.Two other workers were injured in the accident on Saturday at a ship building centre in the southeastern […]

AGRA, February 27, 2014 (AFP) – A pet parrot in India has been credited with helping catch the man who murdered its owner, a relative said Thursday. The owner, a 55-year-old woman, was stabbed to death and her jewellery stolen at her home in the northern city of Agra on February 20. The woman’s relatives […]

WASHINGTON, February 21, 2014 (AFP) – US regulators are not targeting India, despite a series of import restrictions on drugs from the major US trading partner, the Food and Drug Administration chief said Friday.India’s generics industry is a major supplier of lifesaving drugs, including antiretrovirals for HIV, to the United States and over 200 other […]

NEW DELHI, February 8, 2014 (AFP) – India’s Maruti Suzuki said Saturday it had halted production of its iconic first small car, the Maruti 800, which revolutionised road transport for millions of Indians.The boxy, four-seater hatchback — the first car ever owned by many Indian middle class families — first rolled off the production line […]