Union Home Minister Prakash Chand Sethi has elevated the art of governance to a fine degree of pettifoggery. Political interference in the bureaucracy is not unusual, but Sethi is exhibited a penchant for intervention in personnel promotions. In the process, he has heightened the siege mentality of the Central Secretariat Service (CSS), which is constantly…
“I have said that we will never take to nuclear weapons even if this country is going to be destroyed in the absence of (such weapons). I will not take to it, even if the whole world takes to it.” …
So much is being written about political prisoners in India these days, that the layman might succumb to the temptation of focusing more on the issue than on its human aspect. Jayaprakash Narayan’s Prison Diary, as well as that of Snehlata Reddy, for instance, have offered some glimmer of the goings—on behind India prison walls.…
The Right Honorable Enoch Powell, PC, MBE, has been a major catalyst in racialist ferment for a long time now. Powell, who celebrated his sixty-fourth birthday on June 16, has had an illustrious career. He received his M.A. degree from Trinity College, Cambridge. Between 1937-39, he taught Greek at the University of Sydney, New South…
Optimism is good, but let’s not be foolhardy. It is good that we are feeling bucked UP at the beginning OF 2018. Major economies expect growth in tandem for the first time since the global financial crisis of 2008. World trade is seen growing at a decent clip after two slow years. Commodity prices are firming…
6 January 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, Jan 6 – The options available in solving the global debt crisis had broadened dramatically with U.S. government backing of a Mexican plan to retire a large part of its foreign debt, Philippine Finance Secretary Vicente Jayme said. “I feel that the Mexican package…
7 January 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, Jan 7 – The Philippine government will issue treasury bills and notes totalling 29.8 billion pesos in 1988 and depend mainly on domestic resources to finance its projected budget deficit of 27.1 billion pesos, Finance Undersecretary Victor Macalincag said. The government planned to float…
17 January 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, Jan 17, Reuter – Monday’s local elections are billed as President Corazon Aquino’s last step in returning the Philippines to democracy, but bloody campaigning has left many here wondering if there has been genuine change. Analysts polled by Reuters said the elections would bring…
13 February 1998 Reuters News English (c) 1998 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, Feb 13 (Reuters) – The resemblance to Indira Gandhi is eerie—the sari draped over the head, the dark glasses, the high-pitched oratory, the imperious wave of the hand. Even her signature “Jai Hind!” (Victory to India) at the end of every campaign…
19 January 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, Jan 19, Reuter – The Philippines has emerged from a tumultuous year with democracy apparently firmly in place after Monday’s local elections, but there is no euphoria among analysts over the country’s economic prospects. The economy has turned in its best growth in seven…
14 February 1998 Reuters News English (c) 1998 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, Feb 14 (Reuters) – The leader of India’s main opposition party said on Saturday he was the target of a series of car bomb blasts that killed at least 31 people, wounded up to 100, and triggered rioting and arson in the…
20 January 1988 The Globe and Mail B24 English All material copyright Thomson Canada Limited or its licensors. All rights reserved. The Philippines has experienced its best growth in seven years, but it still faces a daunting array of problems. Analysts say President Corazon Aquino must now demonstrate that she can manage the economy. …
15 February 1998 The Washington Post A30 Copyright 1998, The Washington Post Co. All Rights Reserved The leader of India’s main opposition party said today he was the target of a series of car-bomb blasts that killed 32 people, wounded as many as 100 and triggered rioting and arson in the city of Coimbatore. The…
22 January 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, Jan 22, Reuter – The United States is committed to helping the Philippines achieve economic recovery by stepping up investments, keeping its doors open to imports, and maintaining the flow of aid, Ambassador Nicholas Platt said on Friday. He told a meeting of American…
16 February 1998 Reuters News English (c) 1998 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, Feb 16 (Reuters) – Indian voters queued up early on Monday to cast their votes as the world’s largest democracy launched the first phase of a mid-term election that is widely predicted to return another hung parliament. At least 250 million adults are…
22 January 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, Jan 22 – Sugar industry officials said the Philippines might not be able to sell extra sugar to the U.S. because the U.S. Agriculture Department (USDA) was delaying the issue of guidelines for a re-export plan approved by the U.S. Congress. Sugar Regulatory Administration…
22 February 1998 Reuters News English (c) 1998 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, Feb 22 (Reuters) – “Watch this space.” The website of India’s 112-year-old Congress party promises to introduce the “most popular, most charismatic and most dynamic political figures” in India—but there are no names. “This section will be up soon,” the page says limply.…
25 January 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, Jan 25 – Developing nations are more likely to attract foreign investment by easing curbs on share ownership and employment of expatriates than through incentives such as tax holidays, said William Ryrie of the International Finance Corp, a soft-loan arm of the World Bank. …
1 March 1998 Reuters News English (c) 1998 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, March 1 (Reuters) – Indians waited uneasily on Sunday for official results from a drawn-out election that looks set to confirm their worst fears of more political instability in a hung parliament. State television Doordarshan forecast large gains for the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya…
27 January 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, Jan 27 – The yen’s rapid appreciation has led many Japanese companies to step up investments in the Asia-Pacific region, but the expansion has been tempered by a variety of obstacles in host countries and Japanese fears of an unchecked outflow of capital, a…
3 March 1998 Reuters News English (c) 1998 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, March 3 (Reuters) – India’s Bharatiya Janata Party appeared tantalisingly close on Tuesday to realising its dream of ruling this vast nation, but its leaders were not rapturous. With results in for 504 of the 545 seats in parliament’s lower house, the…
1 February 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, Feb 1, Reuter – The Philippines is exploring ways of reducing its massive foreign debt burden and the two U.S. military bases in the country could be a possible bargaining lever, Finance Secretary Vicente Jayme said on Monday. Jayme told Reuters in an interview…
10 March 1998 Reuters News English (c) 1998 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, March 10 (Reuters) – India was set on Tuesday for a new coalition government led by Hindu nationalist leader Atal Behari Vajpayee. Vajpayee, leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was invited by President K.R. Narayanan to form a new federal government, ending…
8 February 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, Feb 8 – U.S. Agriculture Secretary Richard Lyng is in a quandary over a sugar re-export plan passed by the U.S. Congress doubling the Philippines’ sugar exports to the United States this year, a senior U.S. official said. Philippine officials said at the weekend…
15 March 1998 Reuters News English (c) 1998 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, March 15 (Reuters) – Atal Behari Vajpayee received the green light on Sunday to form India’s next government, but his coalition is likely to be even more shaky than the one it replaced. Vajpayee’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will take power…
16 March 1998 Reuters News English (c) 1998 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, March 16 (Reuters) – The leader of India’s Hindu-dominated Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) embarks on Monday on the difficult task of cobbling together a cabinet coalition to head a shaky minority government. BJP supporters celebrated late into the night with sweets and fireworks…
10 February 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, Feb 10, Reuter – A sword poised over a Gordian knot is the official symbol of the Philippine body charged with selling about 6.8 billion dollars in bad debts accumulated by the country’s two major government banks. “That’s an appropriate symbol for the work…
16 February 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, Feb 16 – A stream of unsettling news from the Philippines has held back many potential small and medium-sized European investors, European Chamber of Commerce secretary-general Christian Roehr told Reuters. Roehr said several large European multi-nationals had long been in the Philippines and “are…
16 February 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, Feb 16, Reuter – West German Minister of Economics Martin Bangemann is expected to explore ways of expanding trade and investment ties with the Philippines in talks here this week, a West German diplomat said on Tuesday. Hans-Wilhelm Verbeek, First Secretary in the West…
19 February 1988 Reuters News (c) 1988 Reuters Limited English MANILA, Feb 19 – The Philippines plans to speed up its sluggish debt/equity swap program, Central Bank Governor Jose Fernandez said. “Our policy is to get rid of the large backlog,” he told a news conference. “We think the people who have applied deserve to…
19 February 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, Feb 19 – The Philippines’ 27.8 billion dollar foreign debt makes it a bit player in attempts to find solutions to the debt crisis and Manila prefers to let large debtors take the initiative, Central Bank Governor Jose Fernandez said. “I think anybody who…
8 March 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, March 8, Reuter – The Philippines will have a 1989 deficit of 28.5 billion pesos on a projected budget of 190 billion, Budget Secretary Guillermo Carague said. He told Reuters this compares with a projected deficit of 27.1 billion pesos for the 1988 budget…
19 March 1998 Reuters News English (c) 1998 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, March 19 (Reuters) – Hindu nationalist leader Atal Behari Vajpayee took office on Thursday as India’s new prime minister at the head of a minority coalition government. Vajpayee’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and over a dozen regional allies will have to face a…
3 May 1998 Reuters News English (c) 1998 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, May 3 (Reuters) – India’s defence minister said on Sunday China had built a sophisticated electronic surveillance base in Myanmar’s Coco Islands and was beefing up airfields in Tibet to take supersonic fighters. “China has installed sophisticated electronic surveillance equipment in the Coco…
11 May 1998 Reuters News English (c) 1998 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, May 11 (Reuters) – India’s three underground nuclear tests on Monday were heralded by plentiful portents and a steady rise in the political temperature on the subcontinent. One day before he took power in March, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee served notice…
9 March 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, March 9, Reuter – Fewer staff members taking fewer siestas may help the Philippines boost South-East Asia’s poorest tax-collection effort, Bureau of Internal Revenue Commissioner Bienvenido Tan said on Wednesday. Tan told Reuters the country’s tax revenues as a ratio of gross national product…
11 May 1998 Reuters News English (c) 1998 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, May 12 (Reuters) – India prepared on Tuesday to face the world’s shock and dismay over its three underground nuclear tests, and its faltering government appeared to have won sweeping domestic backing for its bold and defiant step. The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya…
12 May 1998 Reuters News English (c) 1998 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, May 12 (Reuters) – India was engulfed by waves of international anger and revulsion on Tuesday, but its leaders dug in their heels and appeared ready to pay the price for audaciously stepping over the nuclear threshold. Monday’s stunning trio of underground nuclear…
14 May 1998 Reuters News English (c) 1998 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, May 14 (Reuters) – India woke up on Thursday to the first full day of biting sanctions ordered by a furious United States after a series of underground nuclear tests provoked outrage from around the world. Global condemnation continued to rain down on…
17 May 1998 Reuters News English (c) 1998 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, May 17 (Reuters) – “If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst forth at once in the sky, that would be like the splendour of the Mighty One…I am become Death, the shatterer of worlds.” These words from the Hindu…
27 May 1998 Reuters News English (c) 1998 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, May 27 (Reuters) – India’s nuclear tests alone will not make the country a major power unless twinned with rapid economic development, Defence Minister George Fernandes said on Wednesday. “I believe that India has remained a very soft state, soft in every sense…
27 May 1998 Reuters News English (c) 1998 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, May 27 (Reuters) – In June 1976, after a year in hiding, George Fernandes was arrested on Charges of waging war against the state and paraded in manacles before the cameras. The firebrand chairman of India’s Socialist Party was accused of being a…
29 May 1998 Reuters News English (c) 1998 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, May 28 (Reuters) – The Indian government reacted calmly on Thursday to news of Pakistan’s tit-for-tat nuclear tests and said Islamabad had forced New Delhi to embark on the road to nuclear deterrence. “India is ready to meet any challenge,” Prime Minister Atal…
29 May 1998 Reuters News English (c) 1998 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, May 28 (Reuters) – India’s defence minister said on Thursday he did not think nuclear deterrence would help resolve the dispute over Kashmir and dismissed Pakistan’s nuclear tests as “ping-pong balls”. Asked if “equal deterrence” would pave the way for India and Pakistan…
18 March 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, March 18, Reuter – Volatile penny oil stocks have raised trading on Manila’s two exchanges to fever pitch this year, and analysts said the trend seemed likely to continue. “Rumours are the heart and soul of the (oils) market. It’s a casino,” Noel De…
22 March 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, March 22, Reuter – Falling sugar and coconut production is expected to lead to little or no overall growth in Philippine agriculture in 1988, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in its annual report on the Philippines. It forecast overall growth of 0.5 pct…
29 May 1998 Reuters News English (c) 1998 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, May 29 (Reuters) – India and Pakistan must now sit down and talk peace seriously, Indian analysts said on Friday, adding they saw little chance of a new Cold War on the volatile subcontinent after Pakistan’s nuclear tests. “Deterrence” and “nuclear arms race”…
2 June 1998 Reuters News English (c) 1998 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, June 2 (Reuters) – India’s Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha put up a spirited defence of his “investor-friendly” budget on Tuesday and said he was not unduly worried about inflation so long as the economy grew strongly. In an interview with Reuters Television a…
25 March 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, March 25, Reuter – Philippine banks have largely recovered from years of crisis, but high intermediation costs still constrain lending, bankers and analysts say. The industry’s total assets grew to 259.9 billion pesos at end-1987 from 236.4 billion a year earlier, according to a…
3 June 1998 Reuters News English (c) 1998 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, June 3 (Reuters) – India’s fiscal targets for the current year are not just a “hope and a prayer” even if there is a trade-off between growth and Inflation, the government’s chief economic adviser said on Wednesday. Shankar Acharya told Reuters he did…
3 April 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, April 3, Reuter – Coup leader Colonel Gregorio Honasan’s escape from captivity on Saturday has dramatically revived threats to Philippine President Corazon Aquino’s power, analysts said. “Honasan’s escape couldn’t have occurred at a less convenient moment for Aquino,” an Asian diplomat said. Aquino is…
4 April 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, April 4, Reuter – The Philippines’ gross national product (GNP) is expected to expand by 6.1 pct in 1988 after 5.1 pct growth in 1987, the Central Bank said in its annual report. Key sectors such as manufacturing, agriculture, mining, construction and services are…
18 April 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, April 18, Reuter – China is negotiating with the Manila-based Asian Development Bank for six loans this year, a Chinese official said on Monday. Li Dongqun, alternate executive director on the ADB board, told Reuters in an interview that Peking wanted to move slowly…
18 April 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, April 18, Reuter – Filipino and foreign businessmen have launched a sharp attack on the Philippines’ 20-month-old debt/equity swap program, charging it is too restrictive and arbitrary and actually deters investors. “Disillusioned investors are the worst possible advertisement for the Philippines,” said a statement…
20 April 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, April 20, Reuter – Japan’s attempt to use the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to recycle part of its 30 billion dollar private-sector surplus is not meeting with much success, banking officials and diplomats said. Japan, with 15 pct of the 47-member ADB’s 22.8…
20 April 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, April 20, Reuter – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is still awash with funds, with liquid assets of 4.5 billion dollars, 74.2 pct of its undisbursed loan balances, at the end of 1987, Treasurer Alan Gill said in an interview. This compares with liquid…
26 April 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, April 26, Reuter – The Philippines has received pledges of aid totalling 66 million dollars from the United States, the Netherlands and Italy to support its ambitious land reform program, Agrarian Reform Secretary Philip Juico told Reuters. The broad outline of the program was…
27 April 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, April 27, Reuter – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has found it difficult to identify suitable projects to assist in China because of Peking’s centrally planned economy, bank president Masao Fujioka told Reuters in an interview. China became the 47-member bank’s newest member in…
27 April 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, April 27, Reuter – Taipei has ended a two-year boycott of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) but its dispute over a name-change by the bank continues, Central Bank Governor Chang Chi-Cheng said on Wednesday. The boycott was triggered in 1986 when China was admitted…
27 April 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, April 27, Reuter – The Asian Development Bank annual meeting starting on Thursday is likely to be dominated by a power-struggle between Japan and the United States, officials said on Wednesday. ADB officials said the three-day meeting would also be marked by the presence…
28 April 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, April 28, Reuter – South Pacific island nations want to form a new regional development bank to increase their access to financial resources, a Western Samoan official said on Thursday. The idea was put to the management of the Asian Development Bank on the…
28 April 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, April 28, Reuter – The Asian Development Bank’s annual meeting opened with a call from Philippine President Corazon Aquino to keep the bank’s leadership Asian and to temper its policy prescriptions. “(The bank) must continue to view banking, especially development banking, as a relationship…
29 April 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, April 29, Reuter – The Soviet Union’s interest in joining the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is part of Moscow’s move to restructure its economy, a senior official said. “The ADB’s major field of cooperation with its members bears a relation to Soviet efforts to…
29 April 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, April 29, Reuter – The Asian Development Bank’s lending policies came under fire at its annual meeting and there were calls for a re-examination of its role. Indonesian Finance Minister J.B. Sumarlin said he was concerned that although loan approvals rose to a record…
7 August 1998 Reuters News English (c) 1998 Reuters Limited SRINAGAR, India, Aug 6 (Reuters) – A who’s who of Indian Kashmiris turned out in their finest on Thursday to cheer as the state’s leading politician urged the poor of this violence-scarred city to forget their woes and go see a movie. Eight years after…
29 April 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, April 29, Reuter – Taiwan delegates to the Asian Development Bank’s annual meeting continued to cover their badges saying “Taipei, China” on Friday, defying the Bank’s efforts to change the island’s name in deference to China. Such protests by the Taiwanese, who have also…
31 July 1998 Reuters News English (c) 1998 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, July 31 (Reuters) – The collapse of efforts to revive peace talks between India and Pakistan was inevitable, and the stalemate will endure but with a dangerous new dimension given the neighbours’ nuclear status, analysts said on Friday. “The stalemate will continue,” said…
30 April 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, April 30, Reuter – Afghanistan appealed on Saturday for the Asian Development Bank to help resettle refugees and repair its war- damaged economy. Afghan Finance Minister Mohamad Kabir urged the Manila-based bank to resume lending to Kabul, suspended after Soviet troops moved into Afghanistan…
1 May 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, May 1, Reuter – India is loosening controls on industry, investment and imports but liberalisation must take account of existing conditions, Finance Minister Narain Dutt Tiwari told Reuters in an interview. Tiwari, in Manila for the annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank, denied…
6 August 1998 Reuters News English (c) 1998 Reuters Limited SRINAGAR, India, Aug 6 (Reuters) – The general commanding Indian troops in the tinderbox Kashmir valley said on Thursday he did not think cross-border artillery duels with Pakistan would escalate into a nuclear exchange. “There is no linkage between the nuclear tests and the situation…
7 August 1998 Reuters News English (C) 1998 Reuters Limited SRINAGAR, India, Aug 7 (Reuters) – India and Pakistan could wage nuclear war over the disputed territory of Kashmir, the leader of the separatists in Indian-controlled Kashmir said. “The situation is going from bad to worse… Kashmir is the root cause of the tension between…
9 May 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, May 9, Reuter – The Philippine government said on Monday it was awaiting information about a reported U.S. move to unveil a Marshall Plan-like aid package for this cash-strapped country. The Washington Post reported on Sunday the multinational plan involved aid of up to…
9 August 1998 Reuters News English (c) 1998 Reuters Limited BARAMULLA, India, Aug 9 (Reuters) – Mahendra Kumar is a typical “sepoy”, the lowest rank in the Indian Army. After 14 years in uniform, the native of the impoverished northern state of Bihar is paid about 5,000 rupees ($117) a month. On paper, he gets…
9 May 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, May 9, Reuter – Thirsty Filipinos drank nearly a billion liters of San Miguel beer in 1987, boosting the food and beverage conglomerate’s profits to record levels and raising the stakes in long-running boardroom wrangles. San Miguel Corporation Executive Vice President Ramon del Rosario…
29 November 1998 Reuters News English (c) 1998 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, Nov 29 (Reuters) – India’s Congress party swept to electoral victory in three key states on Sunday, raising the prospect of a power struggle with the Hindu nationalist-led central government. Congress leader Sonia Gandhi said she was in no hurry to oust the…
29 November 1998 Reuters News English (c) 1998 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, Nov 29 (Reuters) – India’s wounded Bharatiya Janata Party should ram through an agenda of bold economic reform in the aftermath of its humbling in three key provincial elections, a senior official of the rival Congress party said on Sunday. Voters spoke with…
11 May 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, May 11, Reuter – The Philippine Senate has ended a six-month lull by taking some tough steps on the country’s debt. It has proposed limiting debt service limit and suspending payments on a 1.2 billion dollar nuclear plant loan. The Senate also unanimously passed…
1 December 1998 Reuters News English (c) 1998 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, Dec 1 (Reuters) – Mercedes-Benz India Ltd is bullish about the Indian car market despite the nation’s “feel bad” economy, managing director Till Becker de Freitas said. “There is a ‘feel bad” factor which is not reflected in reality. I know a lot…
20 April 1994 Reuters News English (c) 1994 Reuters Limited TOKYO, April 20 (Reuter) – “Blossoms in the air; unable to stay longer; and still escape time.” The haiku, or Japanese three-line verse, by the well-known poet Seishi Yamaguchi might have been written just for Japanese Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa as he strolled under the…
10 December 1998 Reuters News English (c) 1998 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, Dec 10 (Reuters) – BankAmerica Corp will sell its retail banking business in India but remains committed to its wholesale banking business in the country, a senior bank official said on Thursday. “The bank will continue its wholesale banking business in India,” Josephine…
29 March 1999 Reuters News English (c) 1999 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, March 29 (Reuters) – At least nine people died in two north Indian towns hit by a severe cluster of earthquakes early on Monday, police said, and more casualties were expected as news trickled in from the remote mountainous region. The first powerful…
25 April 1999 Reuters News English (c) 1999 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, April 25 (Reuters) – What do a former housewife who speaks Italian-accented Hindi, a former movie glamour girl now dubbed a “Revolutionary Leader”, and the world’s longest serving elected communist leader have in common? All three unlikely partners have struggled over the…
18 May 1999 Reuters News English (c) 1999 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, May 17 (Reuters) – Sonia Gandhi spent 16 years observing India’s most consummate political chess player – her mother-in-law – and on Monday showed she knew a gambit or two. Faced with a revolt by three veteran colleagues, the Italian-born Sonia handed…
26 May 1999 Reuters News English (c) 1999 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, May 25 (Reuters) – Afghan mercenaries, likely commanded by Pakistani army officers, have dug themselves into high positions on India’s side of a ceasefire line dividing Kashmir, a senior Indian defence official said on Tuesday. Three weeks of sharp skirmishing has raised temperatures…
12 May 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, May 12, Reuter – The Philippine Senate is apparently softening its stand on a tough anti-nuclear bill, with some legislators saying on Thursday, they back amendments that would tone down the measure. The “Freedom from Nuclear Weapons Bill” aims to ban port calls by…
17 May 1988 Reuters News (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, May 17, Reuter – Former Defence Minister Juan Ponce Enrile said on Tuesday that the Philippine military had a file of evidence on ambushes by communist rebels “financed by foreign journalists in exchange for media coverage”. Enrile, defence chief for 17 years until 1986 and…
9 March 1997 Reuters News English (c) 1997 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, March 9 (Reuter) – Tibet’s spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on Sunday accused China of pursuing a Policy of “cultural genocide” and warned that isolated violence in his Himalayan homeland could spread. In a strongly-worded statement issued to mark the 38th anniversary of…
22 May 1997 Reuters News English (c) 1997 Reuters Limited KATHMANDU, May 22 (Reuter) – Nepal’s coalition government plans to grant the Himalayan kingdom’s central bank full independence, the finance minister said on Wednesday. The Nepal Rastra Bank is currently under the supervision of the finance ministry. “We are considering that the central bank should…
23 May 1997 Reuters News English (c) 1997 Reuters Limited KATHMANDU, May 23 (Reuter) – Nepal’s fragile coalition government is not in any danger despite the Communist partner’s strong showing in local polls, Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand said on Friday. “I don’t see any threat now but it is very difficult to predict when…
24 July 1997 Reuters News English (c) 1997 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, July 24 (Reuters) – Japan is keen on expanding investment in India but finds its bureaucracy extremely inflexible, a senior Japanese official said on Thursday. Nobuaki Tanaka, deputy director-general in Japan’s Foreign Ministry, said India accounts for a minuscule 0.25 percent of Japan’s…
28 July 1997 Reuters News English (c) 1997 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, July 28 (Reuters) – India’s Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral has caused anger and confusion in both his country and neighboring Pakistan with an apparent about-face on talks with Muslim militants in Kashmir. Gujral stunned friends and foes alike on Saturday by announcing during…
13 May 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, May 13, Reuter – The U.S. bases in the Philippines have sparked a superpower slanging match and stirred passionate debate about self-respect, alms-giving, sovereignty and subservience. Since April 5 when Manila-Washington talks on the future of the bases began, Philippine talk shows and newspaper…
17 May 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, May 17, Reuter – The Philippines needs a U.S.-sponsored multi-billion dollar aid plan immediately if it is to grow economically and reduce its heavy debt repayments, Economic Planning Secretary Solita Monsod said. The Washington Post said last week the U.S. will try to put…
18 May 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, May 18, Reuter – Philippine banks are missing opportunities by restricting foreign exchange trading to U.S. dollars and not dealing in stronger currencies like the yen, Central Bank Governor Jose Fernandez said. He told Reuters in an interview that technically, commercial banks could buy or…
18 May 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, May 18, Reuter – The Philippine economy is growing strongly in real terms but is in danger of overheating, Central Bank Governor Jose Fernandez said. “The growth is real,” he told Reuters in an interview. “The reason I talk about overheating is when you…
26 May 1999 Reuters News English (c) 1999 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, May 26 (Reuters) – India on Wednesday launched its first peacetime air strikes in Kashmir and warned Pakistan not to interfere as New Delhi used force to dislodge guerrillas. The raids marked the worst turn in ties with Pakistan since the neighbours tested…
24 May 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited LOS BANOS, Philippines, May 24, Reuter – Asia’s rice producers, reeling from the effects of the worst drought in decades, are grappling with depleted stockpiles and soaring world prices for the continent’s staple food. Experts at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) here said on…
25 May 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, May 25, Reuter – The Philippine economy is growing strongly well into the third year of President Corazon Aquino’s rule but growth is accompanied by painful adjustments to make up for years of depression, analysts say. Under Aquino more than 100 state-owned firms have…
27 May 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, May 27, Reuter – Philippine Airlines Inc’s loss in the 1987/88 fiscal year may delay government plans to privatise the state-owned carrier, industry analysts say. PAL posted a net loss of 67.98 million pesos in the year ended March 31, a sharp decline from…
27 May 1999 Reuters News English (c) 1999 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, May 27 (Reuters) – India was on a roll on Wednesday. It unleashed a stunning series of air strikes against Muslim guerrillas holed up in the hostile heights of Kashmir. It successfully test-fired a naval version of its short-range surface-to-air Trishul missile, joined…