Category: South Asia

NEW DELHI, September 29, 2009 (AFP) – India on Tuesday said it was dropping a graft case against an Italian involved in the arms scandal that ended Rajiv Gandhi’s premiership 20 years ago, the Press Trust of India reported. Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium told the supreme court the case against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi would […]

NEW DELHI, September 28, 2009 (AFP) – Debt-ridden Air India cancelled around 40 flights on Monday as management and striking pilots of the state-run carrier met to negotiate an end to three days of stoppages over a slash in bonuses.But senior pilots’ representative V.K. Bhalla told the Press Trust of India news agency that talks […]

NEW DELHI, September 26, 2009 (AFP) – State-owned Air India said several flights were disrupted Saturday after some senior pilots reported sick in protest at a decision by the airline to slash productivity bonuses.The protest by the non-unionised executive pilots, classified as airline management, comes as India’s biggest religious festival season of the year gets […]

DHAKA, September 23, 2009 (AFP) – US energy group Chevron has made the biggest gas discovery in at least a decade in energy-starved Bangladesh, almost doubling the size of a field it is drilling there, a government official said Wednesday.The US firm has told authorities its Bibiyana gas field in Sylhet, northeastern Bangladesh, contains 6.6 […]

NEW DELHI, September 22, 2009 (AFP) – India’s top mobile firm Bharti Airtel has offered a range of new concessions to South Africa’s MTN in order to seal a tie-up, a report said Tuesday.“Bharti Airtel is making a slew of last-minute concessions to sew up a deal with MTN as it awaits a political push […]

NEW DELHI, September 21, 2009 (AFP) – India’s top mobile firm Bharti Airtel and South African cellular flagship MTN are ready to sign a tie-up deal but regulatory issues could stymie a final agreement, reports said Monday. “The deal is all set, agreed and legally ready to be signed,” the Business Standard newspaper quoted an […]

PHNOM PENH, September 14, 2009 (AFP) – Cambodia has joined the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries in the hope of further developing the nation’s rubber industry, a government official said Monday.Ly Phalla, director-general of Cambodia’s directorate of rubber, said the ascension to the inter-governmental organisation will bring its burgeoning industry new technology and help […]

MUMBAI, September 13, 2009 (AFP) – Services on India’s second-largest private airline, Jet Airways, resumed on Sunday after a five-day walk-out by pilots ended, the company said.Jet officials, who sacked two other pilots for breach of disciplinary procedures, on Sunday told a news conference in Mumbai that no action would be taken against the pilots. […]

NEW DELHI, September 11, 2009 (AFP) – Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has backed down after his cabinet revolted against an austerity drive that would have forced ministers to fly in economy class, reports said Friday.Singh faced a barrage of complaints when he chaired his weekly meeting on Thursday over a series of cost-cutting steps […]

MUMBAI, September 11, 2009 (AFP) – India’s second-largest private airline, Jet Airways, on Friday cancelled 171 flights, including 16 on international routes, as a stand-off between pilots and management entered a fourth day.But the further grounding of planes came amid hopes of an end to the dispute, as pilots prepared to meet bosses and India’s […]

MATARAM, September 11, 2009 (AFP) – Indonesia has detained 56 Afghan migrants off the eastern island of Lombok who were attempting to travel by wooden boat to Australia, a navy official said Friday. The migrants’ boat was intercepted in the waters near Papakan island east of Lombok last night, local navy official Colonel Nanang Eko […]

NEW DELHI, September 10, 2009 (AFP) – India is set to host its inaugural men’s fashion week from Friday, which observers say is a long overdue nod to a growing and lucrative market often overshadowed by women’s clothes.The event in the capital New Delhi hopes to capture the interest of India’s millions of young males, […]