Category: South Asia

NEW DELHI, July 25, 2011 (AFP) – The foreign ministers of India and Pakistan will hold peace talks in New Delhi on Wednesday overshadowed by triple bomb blasts in Mumbai and intense media interest in Islamabad’s new top diplomat. They will be the first foreign minister-level discussions between the nuclear-armed neighbours and arch-rivals for a […]

NEW DELHI, July 24, 2011 (AFP) – A US challenge to India to take a more assertive role on the global stage runs counter to a decades-old foreign policy that has nearly always valued diplomatic caution over strategic ambition. “We need to contest the orthodoxy that says, ‘do as little as possible’”. Since independence in […]

NEW DELHI, July 23, 2011 (AFP) – A top Indian government panel has approved a plan to allow foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country’s vast retail market in what would be one of the country’s biggest economic reforms. “Business confidence will grow. It will definitely benefit the farmers as well as consumers, besides attracting […]

MUMBAI, July 22, 2011 (AFP) – India’s largest private sector airline, Jet Airways, has swung to a quarterly net loss from a profit a year earlier, it reported Friday, as rising fuel costs offset a rise in passenger air traffic. India this week lowered its growth forecast for this financial year to 8.6 percent from […]

CHENNAI, July 20, 2011 (AFP) – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged India on Wednesday to be more assertive in Asia, reflecting US desire for New Delhi to emerge as a counter-weight to Chinese power. Speaking in the Indian city of Chennai — a southern trading port looking out towards east Asia — Clinton […]

NEW DELHI, July 19, 2011 (AFP) – A new mine in south India could contain the largest reserves of uranium in the world, a government official said in remarks reported Tuesday, signalling a major boost for the energy-hungry nation. The government has been seeking new supplies of uranium, which is refined into nuclear fuel, but […]

NEW DELHI, July 18, 2011 (AFP) – India was to sign a deal Monday to grant autonomy to an ethnic group in the Himalayan tea-growing area of Darjeeling in an effort to end decades of often-violent demands for a homeland. Bimal Gurung formed the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha pressure group in 2007 and rebelled against the […]

NEW DELHI, July 17, 2011 (AFP) – The Indian company that launched the world’s cheapest car has unveiled its latest product for the fast-growing nation: a flat-pack house that costs just 0 and can be built in a week. The Nano car drew worldwide attention when it was launched in 2009, but sales figures have […]

July 13, 2011 (AFP) – Visit the Maldives and there’s a high chance the fellow holidaymakers at your island retreat will be from China, according to new figures that show the Asian giant as the biggest source of visitors. “The Chinese don’t want the beach like the Europeans. They want activities, like visiting other islands, […]

NEW DELHI, July 15, 2011 (AFP) – Indian motorbike maker Bajaj has abandoned plans to develop an ultra-low-cost car with France’s Renault and its Japanese partner Nissan, according to a senior executive. The companies announced in 2009 that they hoped to bring a ,500 minicar to market in 2012, but there have been suggestions for […]

MUMBAI, July 14, 2011 (AFP) – Indian investigators Thursday probed triple bomb blasts that killed 21 people in Mumbai, the nation’s commercial capital which is still emerging from the shadows of the deadly 2008 militant attacks. The strongest of the coordinated explosions hit busy districts in the south of the city, the same area targeted […]

NEW DELHI, July 14, 2011 (AFP) – India’s annual inflation accelerated to 9.44 percent in June, official data showed on Thursday, increasing pressure on the central bank to hike interest rates further. Meanwhile, April’s inflation figure was revised higher to 9.74 percent from a provisional 8.66 percent estimate, according to the data. The rise in […]