Category: South Asia

NEW DELHI, April 15, 2009 (AFP) – With a combined age of 157, the two men vying for the post of India’s prime minister are having a high old time lobbing ageist stones at each other from their respective glasshouses. Incumbent Manmohan Singh, 76, of the ruling Congress Party and 81-year-old L.K. Advani of the […]

NEW DELHI, April 15, 2009 (AFP) – India braced Wednesday for marathon elections expected to throw up an unstable coalition government at a time when the country needs strong leadership to pull through an economic downturn. Neither of the two main national parties — the incumbent Congress and the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) […]

BRUSSELS, April 14, 2009 (AFP) – The EU presidency on Tuesday welcomed the Sri Lankan government’s two-day pause in its offensive against Tamil rebels, but called for a longer halt amid grave concerns over civilian safety. The EU statement stressed that both sides of the conflict should respect human rights and international humanitarian law. The […]

DHAKA, April 13, 2009 (AFP) – Export growth for Bangladesh’s crucial garments sector has ground to a halt as a result of the global financial crisis, threatening to pull down the rest of the economy, experts said. Clothing manufacture underpins impoverished Bangladesh’s industrial activity, accounting for 80 percent of overseas sales and pulling in 11 […]

NEW DELHI, April 13, 2009 (AFP) – A professor dubbed “the love guru” is contesting India’s elections on an unusual platform — more freedom for lovers and standing up to vigilante groups who frown on public displays of affection. Matuk Nath Choudhary, who is standing in the Bihar state capital of Patna, is promising that, […]

PATTAYA, April 12, 2009 (AFP) – The dramatic cancellation of an Asian summit after rampaging Thai protesters stormed the venue has set back a regional effort to tackle the global economic crisis, analysts said.The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was to have hosted two days of talks with the leaders of China, Japan, South […]

April 07, 2009 (LBO) – Britain has renewed its call for a humanitarian ceasefire in Sri Lanka and urged Tamil Tiger rebels to release civilians being held as a human shield. Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, has commented on the situation in Sri Lanka following worrying reports of fighting in civilian concentrated areas within the country, […]

WASHINGTON, April 6, 2009 (AFP) – For the United States, much may be riding on an unlikely relationship between America’s highest ranking military officer and Pakistan’s powerful army chief.Over cups of tea and the occasional cigar, the avuncular American admiral and the reserved general talk about terrorist threats and sensitive military operations in a region […]

LONDON, April 2, 2009 (AFP) – Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Thursday the International Monetary Fund was partly to blame for the global financial crisis, highlighting a lack of regulation of developed economies. India did not need to ask the IMF for financial assistance, he said.“We have no intention of going to the IMF… […]

April 02, 2009 (LBO) – The US Agency for International Development (USAID) said it has donated 15 million dollars (1.7 billion rupees) worth of food aid for Sri Lanka to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP). USAID said its donation supports the WFP Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation (PRRO) titled Food for Peacebuilding and […]

LAHORE, March 31, 2009 (AFP) – Pakistan’s most wanted militant Tuesday claimed responsibility for a deadly police academy assault and threatened to attack the US capital in retaliation for a series of air strikes. Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, for whom the United States has posted a five-million-dollar reward, said there would be more attacks […]

NEW DELHI, March 18, 2009 (AFP) – Nineteen-year-old Souraj Thapa has never heard of the global financial crisis, but he’s finding that his job chances are drying up. “I’ve been to three companies but they’re not hiring,” said Thapa, a delivery courier in the Indian capital whose previous company went out of business and who […]