Category: South Asia

NEW DELHI, May 17, 2009 (AFP) – India’s Congress Party began the task of forming a government Sunday after steering its ruling alliance to a second term in office with a resounding win over its Hindu nationalist rivals.Senior alliance leaders met to formulate strategy and to choose which parties it might approach about securing a […]

NEW DELHI, May 15, 2009 (AFP) – India’s top mobile phone company Bharti Airtel announced Friday it had crossed the 100-million subscriber mark and expected to double that number within the next three years. The New Delhi-based company announced a 26 percent jump in net profit for last year to 84.69 billion rupees (1.68 billion […]

NEW DELHI, May 16, 2009 (AFP) – India’s ruling Congress-led alliance was set to return to power after taking a clear and commanding lead Saturday in vote counting from the country’s marathon general elections.Congress spokeswoman Ambika Soni said party leaders and their allies would meet later in the day to discuss how they would go […]

NEW DELHI, May 12, 2009 (AFP) – Millions of voters cast their final ballots Wednesday in India’s marathon election, with analysts predicting the emergence of a shaky coalition government that will struggle to survive a full term.The fifth and final phase of voting in seven states wraps up the world’s largest democratic exercise that began […]

NEW DELHI, May 13, 2009 (AFP) – Voting in India’s marathon elections ended Wednesday, with exit polls giving the ruling Congress party and its allies a slight edge over the opposition bloc led by the Hindu nationalist BJP. Neither grouping was seen as getting close to the 272 seats required to secure a parliamentary majority. […]

May 11, 2009 (AFP) – The UN condemned on Monday the killing of civilians in Sri Lanka at the weekend as a “bloodbath” in which more than 100 children died, as the government and rebels traded blame for the attacks. Sri Lanka’s government believes its soldiers are on the verge of defeating the Liberation Tigers […]

SYDNEY, May 11, 2009 (AFP) – The latest in a steady stream of refugee boats was intercepted off Australia Monday, officials said, fuelling controversy over the government’s softer line on asylum seekers. It was the 12th suspected people-smuggling ship to be stopped in Australian waters or to have made landfall since January, which have brought […]

LONDON, May 9, 2009 (AFP) – British actress Joanna Lumley’s best-known role used to be as a boozy fashionista in hit comedy “Absolutely Fabulous”, but now she is dominating TV screens as a formidable campaigner for Gurkha soldiers.Lumley — leading a campaign for all Nepalese fighters in Britain’s army to be allowed to settle here […]

NEW DELHI, May 8, 2009 (AFP) – Japanese drugmaker Daiichi Sankyo is finding its acquisition of Ranbaxy difficult to digest after US regulatory setbacks and big losses reported by the Indian generics player.Daiichi Sankyo announced its 4.6-billion-dollar acquisition for a 64 percent stake in India’s biggest generic drugmaker by sales last June to gain entry […]

NEW DELHI, May 7, 2009 (AFP) – India kicked off the penultimate round of its marathon general election on Thursday, with the two main parties going head to head in a series of key races that could swing the final outcome. And with the finish line now in sight and no clear winner expected, attention […]

SINGAPORE, May 6, 2009 (AFP) – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday sharply slashed its growth outlook for Asia, predicting a “long and severe recession” for the region’s wealthier but export-reliant economies. The export-led model of economic growth “may not pay the same dividends as in the past” as households in advanced economies were […]

CHENNAI, May 6, 2009 (AFP) – The head of India’s ruling Congress party, Sonia Gandhi, cancelled two planned election rallies Wednesday in the country’s ethnic Tamil-dominated south, officials said. The state is scheduled to go to the polls next week in the fifth and final phase of India’s staggered month-long elections.Party officials, however, denied the […]