Category: South Asia

NEW DELHI, October 9, 2011 (AFP) – Every lunchtime at a McDonald’s on the corner of one of central New Delhi’s biggest streets, queues of hungry young patrons, often four-wide and unruly, snake towards the counters. In another study published last month, the International Federation of the Red Cross focused on the “double-edged scandal” of […]

WASHINGTON, October 6, 2011 (AFP) – The United States said Thursday it has enlisted the World Trade Organization to obtain detailed information on subsidy programs in China and India. US Trade Representative Ron Kirk said that Washington had submitted information to the WTO identifying nearly 200 subsidy programs that China has failed to notify as […]

NEW DELHI, October 4, 2011 (AFP) – India is set Wednesday to launch its long-awaited low-cost computer, a tablet device designed to bring the information technology revolution to tens of millions of students. The touchscreen computer has a seven-inch (18-centimetre) screen, Wi-Fi Internet access, a media player and 180 minutes of battery power, according to […]

WASHINGTON, October 4, 2011 (AFP) – India, Bangladesh and the Philippines lead the world in the number of products made by child workers, a US government stock-taking of the global scale of underaged labor revealed Monday. Some 130 types of goods — from building bricks and soccer balls to pornography and rare ores used in […]

NEW DELHI, October 2, 2011 (AFP) – India’s rupee has slid nearly 10 percent in three months against the dollar, a consequence of global economic uncertainty that will stoke already high inflation in Asia’s third-biggest economy. The rupee’s tumble makes import prices of everything from oil, fertilizers to food staples such as pulses, fuelling near-double-digit […]

NEW DELHI, September 30, 2011 (AFP) – India’s workaholic Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has not taken a holiday since he took the top job in 2004, according to a new in-depth profile published this week. The 12,000-word study in current affairs journal The Caravan of 79-year-old Singh, under fire for a series of debilitating scandals […]

SEOUL, September 29, 2011 (AFP) – Japan’s March tsunami was a wake-up call for Indian Ocean nations still restoring their coastlines after a massive wave struck in December 2004, an expert said Thursday. “This year’s tsunami heightened awareness among all MFF countries that they are still vulnerable,” said Donald Macintosh, senior adviser to a group […]

BRUSSELS, September 27, 2011 (AFP) – European governments are threatening to break off negotiations with India on a free-trade deal the EU had hoped would be worth 175 billion euros a year, an EU report revealed on Tuesday. Four years after talks began with New Delhi, frustrated European Union trade ministers have taken the decision […]

BRUSSELS, September 26, 2011 (AFP) – European Union trade commissioner Karel De Gucht warned Monday that a long-planned free-trade agreement between Europe and India is in trouble failing more “flexibility” from both sides. “We remain fully engaged on these negotiations,” the Belgian said after talks in Brussels among the EU’s 27 trade ministers. “But I […]

WASHINGTON, September 23, 2011 (AFP) – The US military’s top officer bluntly accused Pakistan on Thursday of “exporting” violent extremism to Afghanistan through proxies and warned of possible action to protect American troops. In a scathing and unprecedented condemnation of Pakistan, Admiral Mike Mullen said the country’s main intelligence agency ISI was actively supporting Haqqani […]

NEW DELHI, September 21, 2011 (AFP) – India’s economic planning body has said any villager earning more than 50 cents a day is not poor and should not qualify for government welfare — a figure condemned by experts. Those with a daily income of 25 rupees (50 cents) in villages and 32 rupees (65 cents) […]

NEW DELHI, September 19, 2011 (AFP) – India’s top automaker Maruti Suzuki, already grappling with sliding sales, is in a test of nerves with its factory workers after production was hit by a dispute over alleged sabotage. Output at the Japanese-controlled firm’s Manesar plant in northern India has been thrown out of gear for three […]