Category: South Asia

May 3, 2011 (AFP) – Anti-government protesters took to the streets of the Maldives for a fourth night on Tuesday, as police baton-charged demonstrators and arrested a senior opposition activist, eyewitnesses said. Police arrested opposition member Umar Naseer on Tuesday night as he led scores of people through the narrow cobbled streets of Male, demanding […]

May 3, 2011 (AFP) – Maldives police on Tuesday used tear gas and batons to break up an anti-establishment protest after a third night of clashes between government and opposition activists turned violent. Police spokesman Ahmed Shiyam said at least six people were arrested after activists started fires on Monday night along the cobbled streets, […]

MUMBAI, May 3, 2011 (AFP) – India’s central bank on Tuesday raised lending rates by a bigger-than-expected 50 basis points, its ninth hike in 15 months to curb inflation, and warned that the move could slow economic growth. The Reserve Bank of India raised its repo — the rate at which it lends to commercial […]

ABBOTTABAD, May 2, 2011 (AFP) – The killing of Osama bin Laden by US forces at a palatial villa near the capital raised fresh questions Monday over Pakistan’s loyalties in the war against Al-Qaeda. For years, Western officials believed that the world’s most wanted man, with a million price on his head, was hiding in […]

NEW DELHI, May 2, 2011 (AFP) – The killing of Al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden near Islamabad is further evidence that terrorists find “sanctuary” in Pakistan, Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram said Monday. “We take note with grave concern that part of the statement in which President Obama said that the firefight in which Osama […]

NEW DELHI, April 27, 2011 (AFP) – When British mobile phone giant Vodafone paid $11.1 billion to buy an Indian cellular operator four years ago, it had high hopes the purchase would offset saturated markets at home. “This kind of deal is what we all dreamed about when we were students,” former chief executive Arun […]

NEW DELHI, April 24, 2011 (AFP) – India’s dreams of attaining double-digit economic growth within the next few years are fading, undermined by high inflation, slow progress on reforms and an uncertain global outlook. While hundreds of millions of Indians are still mired in poverty, the step-change in growth has transformed living standards for many […]

SAKHRI NATE, April 24, 2011 (AFP) – In the busy Indian fishing village of Sakhri Nate, it’s obvious what the locals think of the plan to build the world’s biggest nuclear power plant just across the creek. “If the government does nothing, at least 5,000 fishermen and farmers will go to Delhi and protest,” he […]

MUMBAI, April 18, 2011 (AFP) – Indian housewife Sujata Budarapu was shocked when she was told that her two sons were on the verge of developing Type 2 diabetes. “It had never even occurred to me that this could happen. I had heard that outside India this happens to other people’s kids but I never […]

NEW DELHI, April 14, 2011 (AFP) – The attrition rate in India’s business process outsourcing sector jumped to 55 percent from a year earlier, dealing a potentially fatal blow to the flagship industry, a study said on Thursday. India recently lost its crown to the Philippines as the call centre capital of the world. But […]

LONDON, April 14, 2011 (AFP) – Reckitt Benckiser, the Anglo-Dutch household products and drugs group, on Thursday chose senior employee and Indian national Rakesh Kapoor to replace chief executive Bart Becht, who surprisingly retired. Reckitt’s share price slumped more than 7.0 percent in London on the unexpected announcements by the company whose major brands include […]

KATHMANDU, April 10, 2011 (AFP) – By the light of a single candle Shankar Prasad Bhandari strains his eyes as he tries to count out the correct change for a customer in his blacked out shop on the outskirts of Kathmandu. Rolling 14-hour power cuts, triggered by a growing energy crisis, mean that much of […]