Category: South Asia

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 […]

MALÉ, September 23, 2013 (AFP) – The travellers pouring off flight LV199 from Shanghai into the international airport of the Maldives, many dressed in designer labels, are an unmissable sign of China’s interest in the far-flung archipelago.His half-brother, long-time autocrat Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who ruled until 2008, was saved from a coup by late Indian […]

DHAKA, September 23, 2013 (AFP) – Angry Bangladeshi garment workers blocked roads, set factories alight and clashed with police for a third day on Monday as protests demanding a minimum monthly wage of $100 spread outside the capital. Thousands of workers also attacked a camp of a reserve police force 40 kilometres (25 miles) north […]

NEW DELHI, September 21, 2013 (AFP) – A new Indian airline planned by the giant Tata Group and Singapore Airlines reaffirms the nation’s longterm potential as an aviation market, despite the sector’s current financial turbulence, analysts say. Tata Sons, the holding company of tea-to-software conglomerate Tata Group, and SIA said this week they were setting […]

MUMBAI, September 20, 2013 (AFP) – India’s new central bank governor marked his first policy meeting Friday with a bold decision to hike interest rates, wrong-footing analysts and leading to sharp falls on the stock market.Reserve Bank of India (RBI) chief Raghuram Rajan, who had warned he was prepared to be unpopular, ordered a rise […]

MALÉ, September 8, 2013 (AFP) – The ex-leader of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, faced disappointment Sunday after failing to secure a majority in presidential polls he hoped would seal his return to power 18 months after he was toppled.Nasheed now faces a tricky run-off election on September 28 after he won the first round of […]

NEW DELHI, September 8, 2013 (AFP) – The euphoria which greeted new central bank governor Raghuram Rajan has been unprecedented in India’s normally sober financial world but the honeymoon may be shortlived.In fact, Rajan’s comments suggest he is likely to be “more hawkish”, said CLSA economist Rajeev Malik said. The former top finance ministry advisor […]