Category: South Asia

MUMBAI, June 29, 2009 (AFP) – India’s Mahindra Holidays and Resorts Monday said it hoped to raise almost 60 million dollars when it becomes the first firm to float on the country’s capital markets in more than a year. The firm, a subsidiary of the Mahindra group, said it will sell 9.26 million shares through […]

MUMBAI, June 28, 2009 (AFP) – When Ratan Tata, the head of India’s Tata Motors, said the company was planning to build the world’s cheapest car, he could have had in mind Maruti Jaywant Bhandare as his ideal client.The first stop after picking up the car from the dealership will be the nearest temple to […]

June 26, 2009 (LBO) – The Indian Ocean archipelago of Maldive Islands is planning a 150 million US dollar crude and bunker facility that can store six million cubic feet of oil, which will be leased to global fuel oil traders, a media report said. The Maldives National Oil Company (MNOC) is considering five possible […]

NEW DELHI, June 26, 2009 (AFP) – Indian soldiers will hurl hand grenades containing red chilli powder to dispel rioters instead of the potentially lethal explosives currently used, an official said Friday.Paramilitary forces have been known to break up protests and conduct counter-insurgency operations using explosives that can cause serious injury and even death. “The […]

June 20, 2009 (AFP) – The United Nations said on Sunday that two of its employees working among tens of thousands of war-displaced civilians had been arrested by Sri Lankan authorities.The two men, both ethnic Sri Lankan Tamils, were reported missing eight days ago and were subsequently discovered to have been taken into custody by […]

WASHINGTON, June 19, 2009 (AFP) – India on Thursday called on the United States, China and other powers to return to talks immediately to frame a world trade accord instead of waiting for recovery from the global economic crisis.“We live in times when the people are anxious.This economic challenge cannot be resolved by waiting and […]

NEW DELHI, June 18, 2009 (AFP) – French tyre giant Michelin, which has announced plans to shed nearly 1,100 jobs in France, may invest more than one billion euros (1.39 billion dollars) over 10 years in a factory in India, an Indian newspaper reported Thursday.The group declined to confirm the amount but recalled that it […]

LAHORE, June 17, 2009 (AFP) – Pakistani police said Wednesday they had arrested one of seven men from a shadowy Taliban-linked group accused of plotting the deadly attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore.Six policemen and two civilians were killed and seven Sri Lankan squad members were injured when militants launched a gun […]

NEW DELHI, June 18, 2009 (AFP) – India’s annual inflation rate slipped into negative territory, official data showed Thursday, with the country’s slowing economy cutting into demand.Inflation stood at minus 1.61 percent for the week ended June 6, down from 0.13 percent the previous week, according to the Wholesale Price Index, India’s most watched cost-of-living […]

WASHINGTON, June 17, 2009 (AFP) – US and Indian business leaders meet Wednesday in a bid to put a new focus on the South Asian power, whose warming US ties have ironically kept it off the new administration’s first priorities.Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to deliver an address charting out the administration’s path […]

MUMBAI, June 16, 2009 (AFP) – A Bollywood director said Tuesday he wants to make a film based on alleged racist attacks on Indian students in Australia, despite an unofficial boycott of the country by his movie colleagues. Megastar Amitabh Bachchan rejected an honorary degree from Brisbane University, telling the authorities that it would be […]

June 14, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops have unearthed the largest haul of weapons and ammunition discovered since the defeat of Tamil Tiger rebels last month, the government said on Sunday. Military officials said the discoveries made over the weekend formed the largest haul since the government’s recent victory over the Tiger rebels ended […]