Category: South Asia

MUMBAI, April 28, 2010 (AFP) – India’s top mobile phone company Bharti Airtel Wednesday blamed an 8. 2-percent fall in its fourth-quarter net profit on “hyper-competition” in its domestic market. Net profit for the three months to March 31 fell on a 12-month basis to 20. 55 billion rupees (46 million dollars) while revenues for […]

THIMPHU, April 28, 2010 (AFP) – South Asian leaders admitted Wednesday a common failure to overcome their differences and tackle the key challenges in their conflict-ridden region, including poverty, climate change and terrorism. Opening a summit of the eight-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in Bhutan, the host nation’s Prime Minister Jigme Thinley […]

THIMPHU, April 27, 2010 (AFP) – A visit by a top foreign dignitary is still a big event for the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. The combined presence of seven foreign heads of government is simply unheard of. Like a shy debutante taking her first steps in high society, the landlocked and still relatively reclusive […]

THIMPU, April 26, 2010 (AFP) – A familiar game of “will they-won’t they” centred on a possible meeting between the leaders of India and Pakistan looks set to overshadow a summit of South Asian nations in Bhutan this week. The summit is supposed to culminate in a joint declaration entitled “Towards a Green and Happy […]

Apr 22, 2010 (LBO) – President Mohamed Nasheed of Maldives, a low lying atoll nation in the Indian Ocean which fears inundation rising sea levels, has won a top environmental prize from the United Nations, his office said. He has been named a winner of the ‘Champions of the Earth’ award for policy leadership. Maldives […]

NEW DELHI, April 21, 2010 (AFP) – A pollution fine for Coca-Cola and an order for PepsiCo to cut water use at factories in India have highlighted an intensifying conflict between big business and farmers over natural resources. Last month, a report commissioned by the southern state of Kerala ordered Coca-Cola to pay 47 million […]

BEIJING, April 19, 2010 (AFP) – The World Bank said Monday that East Asia could stabilise its greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 while maintaining economic growth by investing in energy efficiency and low-carbon technologies. Achieving the target would require the region’s biggest energy guzzlers to invest an extra 80 billion dollars a year to make […]

BANGALORE, April 18, 2010 (AFP) – Police in the southern Indian city of Bangalore Sunday defused two crude bombs next to a cricket stadium, a senior officer said, a day after explosions outside the ground injured eight people, Both devices were found next to the 40,000-seater Chinnaswamy Stadium, where the blasts on Saturday sparked panic […]

NEW DELHI, April 15, 2010 (AFP) – India’s inflation rate crept closer to double digits, official data showed Thursday, as analysts forecast another hike in interest rates to contain prices in Asia’s third-largest economy. Year-on-year wholesale price inflation, India’s main cost-of-living measure, edged up to 9.9 percent in March from 9.89 percent the previous month, […]

NEW DELHI, April 14, 2010 (AFP) – India plans to hold an auction of ultra-high-speed fourth-generation (4G) mobile phone spectrum soon after completion of 3G access now underway, a report said Wednesday. It will also heat up the battle for customers in the world’s fastest-growing mobile market. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has […]

NEW YORK, April 12, 2010 (AFP) – US soft-drinks and snacks giant PepsiCo and India’s Tata Tea will explore the formation of a joint venture in “healthy” non-carbonated beverages, the companies said in a statement received Monday. “More details will only be available once the definitive agreements for the joint venture are finalized and executed, […]

NEW DELHI, April 12, 2010 (AFP) – India posted double-digit industrial growth for a sixth straight month in February, data showed Monday, adding to pressure on the central bank to further hike interest rates to tame inflation. Output by factories, mines and utilities grew 15.1 percent year-on-year in February, according to the government figures, lifted […]