Category: South Asia

DHAKA, July 12, 2010 (AFP) – Bangladesh’s elite security forces said Monday they had made a major breakthrough in the fight against extortion with a raid on town where nearly every resident was involved in racketeering. A series of raids on Lundhi, 90 kilometres (60 miles) south of the capital Dhaka and home to 2,000 […]

SYDNEY, July 9, 2010 (AFP) – Australia’s new prime minister Julia Gillard appeared Friday to be backing away from a controversial proposal to process asylum seekers bound for its shores in impoverished East Timor. Gillard Tuesday launched her bid for a regional processing centre with assurances she had discussed the plan with East Timor’s President […]

FARIDPUR, July 7, 2010 (AFP) – Whenever Bangladeshi brothel owner Rokeya, 50, signs up a new sex worker she gives them a course of steroid drugs often used to fatten cattle. For older sex workers, tablets work well, said Rokeya, but for younger girls of 12 to 14 — who are normally sold to the […]

July 7, 2010 (AFP) – Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed on Wednesday reappointed his cabinet in a bid to end the power struggle between himself and parliament, an official said. Nasheed swore in his 13-member cabinet in the seafront capital of Male, giving ministers the same portfolio they had before they resigned last Tuesday, a senior […]

DHARAMSHALA, July 6, 2010 (AFP) – The Dalai Lama marks his 75th birthday on Tuesday, with thousands set to celebrate the occasion in his hometown-in-exile and events planned across the globe from Europe to Australia. The Nobel laureate will address a crowd of 5,000 fans and followers at his temple in McLeod Ganj, a hill […]

SYDNEY, July 4, 2010 (AFP) – Australia’s new Prime Minister Julia Gillard Sunday vowed not to let “political correctness” get in the way of tackling immigration, signalling a tough line on the issue. Gillard, who ruthlessly deposed former leader Kevin Rudd and solved the mining tax row that weakened him a week later, said people […]

July 1, 2010 (AFP) – A Maldivian court has ordered the house arrest of two key opposition lawmakers amid a power struggle between the country’s president and parliament, an official said Thursday. The Criminal Court of Male told police on Wednesday night to keep the two men under house arrest for three days, but the […]

KABUL, June 28, 2010 (AFP) – More than three billion dollars in cash has been flown out of Kabul in recent years amid fears that ill-gotten gains from corruption and narcotics are being stashed overseas, a report said Monday. The Wall Street Journal said the cash — more than the Afghan government collects in tax […]

ISLAMABAD, June 26, 2010 (AFP) – Pakistan and India announced Saturday they would fight terrorism together and cooperate on the 2008 Mumbai attacks as India urged Pakistan to put more suspects on trial for the atrocity. Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram and his Pakistani counterpart Rehman Malik have concluded two meetings in Islamabad with a […]

LUSAKA, June 24, 2010 (AFP) – India’s mobile phone company Bharti Airtel plans to invest 150 million dollars in Zain Zambia, chief executive officer Manoj Kohli said on Thursday. It has also acquired the operations of Zain Zambia’s parent company, Zain Africa in 15 African countries, including Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo Brazzaville and Democratic Republic […]

NEW DELHI, June 25, 2010 (AFP) – India’s government decided to deregulate petrol prices Friday in a bold economic reform that risks a popular backlash as the country struggles with double-digit inflation. The step, which will mean an increase in fuel prices, is part of efforts by the left-leaning Congress-led government to reduce a gaping […]

MADRID, June 21, 2010 (AFP) – The Indian economy, Asia’s largest after Japan and China, is accelerating and could reach double-digit growth by 2013, Indian Trade Minister Anand Sharma said Monday during a visit to Spain. “We hope to grow at a rate of between 8.5 percent to 9.0 percent this year and we are […]