Category: South Asia

DHAKA, June 29, 2011 (AFP) – Bangladesh will allow billions of dollars of untaxed money to be invested in shares under a new tax amnesty designed to prop up the volatile Dhaka Stock Exchange, an official said Wednesday. The new legislation, which was approved by parliament late Tuesday, offers an amnesty on so-called “black money” […]

NEW DELHI, June 25, 2011 (AFP) – Indians will have to pay more for fuel from Saturday after the government announced a hike in the price of some petroleum products, increasing inflationary pressures in the fast-growing economy. Petroleum minister Jaipal Reddy late Friday raised the price of diesel by 3 rupees (7 cents) per litre, […]

WASHINGTON, June 24, 2011 (AFP) – India’s commerce minister called Thursday for more cooperation with the United States on nuclear energy and brushed aside talk of scrapping ambitious plans in the wake of Japan’s Fukushima crisis. On a visit to Washington, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said he has faced questions on whether India should rethink […]

PARIS, June 21, 2011 (AFP) – French auto group Renault announced on Tuesday the launch in India of its low-cost four-wheel drive “Duster” vehicle built by its Dacia subsidiary. Duster, a model first introduced in 2010, will be especially adapted for the Indian market, the statement said. Before the end of the year, Renault hopes […]

SLAMABAD, June 21, 2011 (AFP) – Pakistan on Tuesday announced the arrest of an army brigadier accused of having contacts with a banned militant group. The information was released seven weeks after US Navy SEALs found and killed Osama bin Laden in the military town of Abbottabad, reviving disturbing questions about ignorance or complicity within […]

GENEVA, June 18, 2011 (AFP) – Switzerland’s Pilatus Aircraft is about to sign a record deal to supply 75 of its successful PC-7 trainers to the Indian Air Force for 850 million francs ( billion), a press report said Saturday. The daily Le Temps, which described the contract as the biggest in the company’s history, […]

MUMBAI, June 16, 2011 (AFP) – India’s central bank on Thursday raised its key short-term interest rates by 25 basis points — its 10th hike in 16 months — in a bid to tame high inflation stuck at “uncomfortable levels.” The Reserve Bank of India raised its repo rate — at which it lends to […]

CHICAGO, June 8, 2011 (AFP) – A Pakistan-born Chicago businessman was part of the “inner circle” of terrorists who plotted the 2008 Mumbai attacks, US prosecutors said in closing arguments Tuesday. Tahawwur Rana’s trial was closely watched as it touched on Pakistani military intelligence collusion with terrorism — a hugely sensitive subject since the killing […]

DHAKA, June 5, 2011 (AFP) – Thousands of riot police and elite paramilitary forces were deployed in the Bangladeshi capital Sunday after violence ahead of a nationwide strike to protest changes to the country’s electoral system. At least 12 buses were set on fire overnight and 40 people were arrested, police said, just hours before […]

NEW DELHI, June 2, 2011 (AFP) – India, reeling from a telecom graft scandal that has forced the resignation of one minister, is conducting an investigation into the actions of his predecessor in the job, police said Thursday. India’s top federal police agency said it was conducting a “preliminary investigation” into the activities of former […]

CHENNAI, June 2, 2011 (AFP) – Science fiction film “Endhiran” was made in the south Indian language Tamil, but it pulled in huge profits from across the country and abroad — stoking global ambitions for “Kollywood”. Named after the Kodambakkam district of Chennai where many studios are based, the Tamil film industry aims to match […]

NEW DELHI, May 30, 2011 (AFP) – India is expected to post economic growth of more than eight percent when it reports data for the fiscal fourth-quarter on Tuesday, despite a series of rate hikes that have hit industrial output. Asia’s third-largest economy is estimated to have expanded 8.2 percent from a year earlier in […]