Category: South Asia

WASHINGTON, May 19, 2011 (AFP) – The US Homeland Security secretary, Janet Napolitano, will make a four-day visit to India beginning May 24, her office announced Thursday. Napolitano and Indian Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram, the country’s domestic security chief, will launch the US-India Homeland Security dialogue, which the Department says will increase communication about terrorism […]

WASHINGTON, May 19, 2011 (AFP) – India’s IMF director on Thursday said the institution needs to revamp how it chooses it managing director, after decades of as “consensus” that let Europeans monopolize the top position. Hours after the resignation of International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of France to fight sexual assault charges in New […]

NEW DELHI, May 20, 2011 (AFP) – The 31-year-old king of Bhutan, an Oxford-educated bachelor crowned in the remote Himalayan country in 2008, set up another royal wedding on Friday by announcing his engagement. Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck revealed his intention at the opening session of parliament, a secretary from the ministry of information, Dasho […]

MUMBAI, May 18, 2011 (AFP) – Times have changed in Bollywood from the days when all that was required to promote a film was a giant, hand-painted poster, a television or cinema trailer and the pulling power of a star actor. Now, the popular Hindi-language film industry is harnessing the latest technology, hoping that the […]

NEW DELHI, May 17, 2011 (AFP) – In booming India, being rich is not enough. For the moneyed classes, it’s increasingly about flaunting their wealth in ways typical of the nouveaux riches in Russia, China or the Middle East. India’s well-heeled used to be more shy about displaying their wealth in the decades after independence […]

NEW DELHI, May 16, 2011 (AFP) – India’s notorious Tihar Jail in New Delhi is currently home to a clutch of VIP inmates suspected of corruption as police win rare permission to go after the “big fish” in recent cases. The forbidding complex, home to militants and murderers, offers little in terms of comfort for […]

NEW DELHI, May 14, 2011 (AFP) – India’s state-owned fuel firms on Saturday hiked petrol prices by nearly nine percent to help stem revenue losses from a rise crude prices, a record rise that will fuel stubbornly high inflation. The increase marked the eighth rise in petrol prices since India’s government last June deregulated petrol […]

SYDNEY, May 14, 2011 (AFP) – The latest boatload of suspected asylum seekers to arrive in Australia will be sent to another country for processing, the government said Saturday as it implements its controversial new policy. Immigration Minister Chris Bowen would not say where the 32 newest arrivals who landed in Australian waters late Friday […]

MUMBAI, May 13, 2011 (AFP) – India is opposed to extending a piracy “risk zone” to the edge of its territorial waters, the country’s maritime regulator said Friday, as pirates seek new targets beyond the Horn of Africa. The extension, brokered by the International Transport Workers Federation with ship owners and managers, came into effect […]

SYDNEY, May 12, 2011 (AFP) – Australia and India launched talks Thursday on establishing a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) aimed at greater economic integration between the two countries. Negotiations took place between Australian Trade Minister Craig Emerson and his Indian counterpart Anand Sharma with the focus on broadening the base of merchandise trade and removing […]

TAIPEI, May 10, 2011 (AFP) – India plans to recruit up to 10,000 teachers from Taiwan to meet growing demand for Chinese language classes, Taiwan’s education ministry said Tuesday. Kapil Sibal, India’s minister of human resources, made the proposal during a meeting with Taiwan’s education minister Wu Ching-ji in India last week, an education official […]

NEW DELHI, May 9, 2011 (AFP) – Indian car sales grew at the slowest pace in nearly two years in April, data showed Monday, as price hikes, rising fuel costs and more expensive loans kept buyers out of showrooms. Domestic passenger car sales in Asia’s third-largest economy rose by 13. 18 percent to 162,825 units […]