Category: South Asia

MUMBAI, May 16, 2010 (AFP) – Vipul Modi is a busy high court lawyer in India’s financial capital Mumbai. Like many people, he uses the Internet to buy rail and airline tickets as well as pay his utility bills. Yet when it comes to buying other products online, the 44-year-old has misgivings, particularly about the […]

RAIPUR, May 14, 2010 (AFP) – When Samir Xalxo has a story to tell he makes a phone call and within hours people across one of India’s least developed and most violent states will be able to catch up on the news. The system, developed by Microsoft Research India, allows trained amateur journalists in Chhattisgarh […]

NEW DELHI, May 14, 2010 (AFP) – India aims to create an 11-billion-dollar fund to overhaul its creaking infrastructure, with 40 percent of the money sourced from abroad, a report said Friday. The government wants to raise 4.4 billion dollars from foreign pension, insurance and sovereign wealth funds and the rest from domestic institutions, the […]

NEW DELHI, May 11, 2010 (AFP) – The death from radiation poisoning of a scrapyard worker in New Delhi has highlighted the lax enforcement of waste disposal laws in India, leading to calls for urgent action. In early April, a machine from Delhi University containing cobalt-60, a radioactive metal used for radiotherapy in hospitals, ended […]

NEW DELHI, May 8, 2010 (AFP) – Bids for nationwide licences in India’s sale of spectrum for superfast 3G mobile services have hit 2. 65 billion dollars, a statement on a government website said Saturday. That price — 120.69 billion rupees (2.65 billion) — is nearly 3.5 times the 35 billion rupee reserve price set […]

NEW DELHI, May 5, 2010 (AFP) – The Indian media, a pillar of the country’s vibrant democracy, is riddled with corruption that sees journalists report stories for cash in a phenomenon known as “paid news,” a probe has revealed. The findings of an investigation for the Press Council of India, seen by AFP but yet […]

NEW DELHI, May 4, 2010 (AFP) – Chinese telecoms maker Huawei Technologies is planning to meet senior Indian officials to persuade them its equipment poses no security threat, a report said Tuesday. The move comes after New Delhi said last week it blocked sales between Indian mobile phone operators and Chinese equipment firms, which the […]

NEW DELHI, May 2, 2010 (AFP) – India’s government is weighing capital controls with the rupee on the rise amid fears of “hot money” flowing into the country as investors pile back into Indian assets. Unlike fellow emerging market giant China, India allows its currency to float freely and the central bank has warned of […]

NEW DELHI, April 30, 2010 (AFP) – India and Japan should be able to conclude a free trade pact to liberalise commerce this year, a minister said Friday. Once the free trade agreement comes into effect as many 9,000 products — ranging from steel and clothing to drugs and machinery — are expected to be […]

THIMPHU, April 29, 2010 (AFP) – South Asian leaders wound up a summit in Bhutan Thursday with an accord to tackle climate change and promises to pursue a new era of development for their under-performing region. The two-day summit of the eight-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was notable for the frank appraisal […]

MUMBAI, April 29, 2010 (AFP) – Bollywood’s leading couple, Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai, are teaming up for their first film together in two years, hoping to harness the power of the Internet to make it a box office hit. “Raavan,” with music by Oscar-winning “Slumdog Millionaire” composer A.R. Rahman, is a modern-day take on […]

DHAKA, April 29, 2010 (AFP) – Bangladeshi chest doctor Kazi Saifuddin Bennoor has seen many misleading cigarette advertisements, but the one that suggested smoking could make childbirth easier plumbed new depths. Advertisements telling smokers they are smarter, more energetic and better lovers than their non-smoking counterparts are a familiar sight across Bangladesh — something unimaginable […]