Category: South Asia

NEW DELHI, February 9, 2010 (AFP) – India’s car sales rose more than 32 percent year on year in January as demand was boosted by cheap loans and an economic recovery, an industry group said Tuesday. Domestic passenger car sales rose to 145,905 units from 110,300 in the same month last year, according to the […]

MUMBAI, February 4, 2010 (AFP) – India’s twin obsessions of cricket and Bollywood are at the heart of a bitter row that has broken out between the country’s top film star and a radical right-wing party in the movie capital Mumbai. The dispute, which has seen the ultra Hindu-nationalist Shiv Sena party threatening to scupper […]

Jan 31, 2010 (LBO) – The Indian Ocean archipelago of Maldives will privatize its airport but could also sell down other state enterprises and bring private capital to a domestic bank, the International Monetary Fund has said. “A central plank will be the privatization of the airport, but stakes in the telecommunications company have already […]

Jan 31, 2010 (LBO) – Maldives has voluntarily pledged to slash carbon emissions 100 percent by 2020, which is the deepest cut promised by any country so far under an international accord, the Indian Ocean archipelago said. “Climate change threatens us all,” Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed said in a statement. “If we don’t act now, […]

KATHMANDU, January 24, 2010 (AFP) – Nepal will this year play host to a royal wedding with a difference when an openly gay Indian prince marries his partner at a Hindu temple in Kathmandu. The ceremony is the start of what Nepalese lawmaker Sunil Babu Pant hopes will become a lucrative business for his country, […]

PARIS, January 22, 2010 (AFP) – Babies born to child brides in India run a higher risk of malnourishment compared to those born to older mothers, says a paper appearing on Friday. Anita Raj, a professor at Boston University School of Public Health, led an investigation into 19,000 children born to 13,500 women who had […]

MUMBAI, January 12, 2010 (AFP) – India’s biggest mobile phone firm Bharti Airtel on Tuesday announced it will acquire a 70 percent stake in Bangladesh-based Warid Telecom, signalling the company’s strong global ambitions. The move into Bangladesh by Bharti comes after its plan to ally with South Africa’s MTN to create an emerging market telecom […]

NEW DELHI, January 3, 2010 (AFP) – Small will be big at an Indian auto show when the world’s leading manufacturers unveil a slew of compact cars designed for one of the world’s fastest growing markets. AutoExpo 2010, which begins on Tuesday and runs until January 11, is expected to be the biggest ever, featuring […]

WASHINGTON, December 29, 2009 (AFP) – The United States published an alert Tuesday for Americans traveling to India, saying Washington continues receiving reports that militant groups may be plotting attacks in that country.The US State Department on December 9 alerted travelers to possible violence in India’s strife-torn Andhra Pradesh region but did not mention, as […]

NEW DELHI, December 29, 2009 (AFP) – India’s long-awaited auction for third generation (3G) mobile telecom services has been delayed again and will miss a January 14 deadline, officials said Tuesday.“It will obviously not be on January 14. We will announce it (a new date for the auction) soon on our website,” an official in […]

NEW DELHI, December 28, 2009 (AFP) – India’s Twitter-loving junior foreign minister has used the microblogging site to criticise his government’s move to tighten rules for long-term tourist visas, his account showed Monday.Shashi Tharoor questioned the logic behind the tougher rules, saying the Islamist militants behind last year’s Mumbai attacks hijacked a boat and entered […]

NEW DELHI, December 23, 2009 (AFP) – India has tightened its rules for long-term tourist visas, officials said Wednesday, in a move that is causing confusion for travellers and will affect thousands of foreigners in the country.Under previous rules, tourists on five or 10-year visas were required to leave the country every 180 days.But many […]