Category: South Asia

BHUBANESWAR, October 12, 2013 (AFP) – A cyclone left a trail of death and destruction Sunday after winds packing speeds of up to 200 kilometres an hour ripped through a vast swathe of India’s impoverished east coast.As emergency teams began assessing the damage from the country’s worst cyclone in 14 years, a massive relief effort […]

MALÉ, October 12, 2013 (AFP) – Maldivian President Mohamed Waheed has withdrawn his candidature for fresh elections which were ordered by the Supreme Court after a previous round of voting was annulled, an official said Saturday.However, a Commonwealth probe said the transfer of power was constitutional. A new president must be in office in the […]

NEW DELHI, October 11, 2013 (AFP) – A cyclone barrelling towards India’s east coast intensified overnight, leading weather forecasters to warn Friday of a “very severe” storm that could cause widespread damage and flooding.Cyclone Phailin was expected to hit the impoverished states of Orissa and Andhra Pradesh on Saturday evening, accompanied by a storm surge […]

NEW DELHI, October 11, 2013 (AFP) – Organisers of Miss Universe extended their “deepest apologies” to India over a photo shoot at the Taj Mahal that triggered a police case and accusations that she disrespected the famed monument to love. Reigning Miss Universe Olivia Culpo, a 21-year-old American from Rhode Island, visited the Islamic mausoleum […]

MUMBAI, October 9, 2013 (AFP) – Global retail giant Walmart and Indian firm Bharti said on Wednesday they were ending their partnership in the country’s retail sector and would now operate separate businesses.The companies said in a joint statement that they would “discontinue their franchise agreement in the retail business” in India and would “independently […]

MALÉ, October 8, 2013 (AFP) – The Maldives government on Tuesday urged all parties to support fresh elections after the Supreme Court annulled last month’s results, even though international observers had said those polls were free and fair. buy Hours before the ruling, six masked men set fire to a private television station that supports […]

MALÉ, October 7, 2013 (AFP) – The Maldives Supreme Court Monday annulled the results of last month’s presidential elections, in a move likely to deepen international concern amid high tensions on the troubled Indian Ocean archipelago.The court annulled the first round of voting, which was held on September 7 and won by former leader Mohamed […]

COLOMBO, October 7, 2013 (AFP) – Unidentified attackers set fire to the main pro-opposition television network in the Maldives on Monday ahead of a crucial court ruling on whether suspended presidential elections should go ahead, officials said.At least six men stormed the offices of the Raajje television network in a pre-dawn attack and set fire […]

COLOMBO, October 2, 2013 (AFP) – Outgoing Maldivian president Mohamed Waheed vowed on Wednesday to resist international pressure to hold swift elections after the Supreme Court suspended a presidential run-off due last weekend.Waheed, in an address to the nation of 350,000 Sunni Muslims, said the court’s decision had plunged the country into “chaos”, but said […]

COLOMBO, September 27, 2013 (AFP) – The Maldives’ Election Commission sparked confusion on Friday over whether elections originally scheduled for this weekend but suspended by the Supreme Court would go ahead on the troubled Indian Ocean archipelago. Nasheed, 46, won the first round comfortably with 45.45 percent of the vote and faced a run-off contest […]

MALÉ, September 27, 2013 (AFP) – Police in the Maldives said Friday they had arrested 14 protesters involved in hanging white underpants outside a courthouse as a constitutional crisis over stalled elections on the honeymoon islands deepened. Supporters of the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) been begun displaying white briefs in public to taunt Supreme […]