Manila (Reuter) — The armed forces, the institution that has held the Philippines together over the past year, has emerged at war with itself after Thursday’s face-saving solution to an insurrection by 400 rebel soldiers, analysts said. Western diplomats and military experts said that Tuesday’s coup attempt and its compromise with a rump of 190…
Reuter Tokyo, Dec. 28 Satellite and cable television is approaching the status of rice as staple in the Asian diet but some governments feel threatened by foreign encroachment on their airwaves. Viewers across Asia are tuning in to a cornucopia of information and entertainment. Millions of Asians now know American newsmen Ted Koppel and Dan…
Manila (Reuter-Kyodo) “Who goes there friend or foe?” That traditional challenge has acquired new meaning here after the recent uprising by elite soldiers who helped President Corazon Aquino to power last year, analysts say. A senior army officer who did not wish to be identified said the coup bid had proved loyalty to an individual…
Chaitanya Kalbag, Reuters The Philippine economy is expected to continue to grow in 1987 after a modest upturn in 1986, but a major revival depends on an end to political uncertainty, bankers, economists, diplomats and businessmen said. Economic Planning Minister Solita Monsod has said the gross national product (GNP) grew 0.13% in 1986 after declining…
Reuter When Corazon Aquino pledged retribution Tuesday for the latest coup attempt against her, she also proclaimed the finality of her transformation from hesitant housewife to leader of a tumultuous nation. For a woman who said her family was her greatest pleasure and agonized over entering politics in the shadow of her slain husband, Benigno,…
MANILA: A government-appointed special prosecutor yesterday ordered the filing of corruption charges against Philippine Central Bank Governor Jose Fernandez, who said he would contest them. Ombudsman Raul Gonzalez said there was evidence to indicate that Mr. Fernandez had misused his office in ordering the closure of the private Pacific Bank in July, 1985. He said…
Can Modi balance populism and prudence as external risks mount? India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi likes taking big steps and does not shy away from wagering his political capital. But he squandered quite a bit of it with his November demonetization measures, which banned 500- and 1,000-rupee bank notes. Modi was widely expected to unveil…
Indian bank governance is in the spotlight amid the ballooning $2.1 billion fraudulent-loan scandal at Punjab National Bank. © Reuters NEW DELHI – The crisis in India’s state-owned banking sector is deepening, but the government may be preparing to give a key oversight body, set up two years ago to improve governance at bank boards,…
What drove Aziz Haidari to return to his native Afghanistan to witness the final agony of the Taliban regime in November 2001 was his unshakeable belief that reporting the news, accurately, faithfully, truthfully, can make all the difference. It was that same belief that made Aziz’s nine-year association with Reuters such a profound one, and…
Imphal — A minister in the northeast Indian state of Manipur was sacked this month because he went to a polo match. The minister was not dismissed for taking time off but because he went with only two bodyguards instead of his usual jeep-load of machine-gun carrying policemen. “We are fighting against insurgents in Manipur,”…
Chaitanya Kalbag, Reuters New Delhi -Ten months after the army stormed the Sikhs’ holiest shrine, Amritsar’s Golden Temple, Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi has run up against his toughest domestic challenge so far in Punjab state. Gandhi has pledged to give top priority to the Punjab problem. Eight leaders of the main Sikh party, the…
Bhopal: Hundreds of people stand outside the drab white bungalow, clutching yellow X-ray folders and medical prescriptions in a line stretching down the driveway and into nearby bushes. A chorus of dry coughs punctuates the slow progress of emaciated men, ragged children and ghost-like Muslim women covered head-to-toe in veils and black robes towards the…
US ‘interference’ charges spur soul-searching in Manila MANILA —The recall of a US military diplomat from the Philippines underlines the love-hate ties between the two countries but also points to a new direction in Manila foreign policy, analysts said Wednesday. The US Embassy’s announcement that assistant army attache Lt Col Victor Raphael would depart this…
The troops and the refugees are two knots in a tangle Indira Gandhi’s son and successor, Rajiv Gandhi, must unravel before peace returns to Punjab state. TWO streets from the Sikhs’ holiest shrine, the Golden Temple, a soldier in olive green uniform stands atop a t a tall building, his binoculars trained on the clusters…
The RBI governor refuses to be drawn into the game of popularity stakes Well, I think we’ve still to get to a place where we feel satisfied. We have this saying, ‘in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. We’re a little bit that way. We feel things are turning to the…
Philippine investigators recover millions by seizing funds of ex-leader’s ‘cronies’ MANILA Former President Ferdinand Marcos-and his associates still control vast amounts of funds circulating in the country’s economy, the head of a government panel tracking the ousted leader’s “hidden wealth” said Sunday Ramon Diaz, chairman of the Presidential Commission on Good Government, said in an…
NEW DELHI,— Thurs. Indian security forces rounded. up nearly 300 Sikh extremist suspects today in a race against time to break the back of the extremist movement before elections in Punjab State. Security chiefs, on the defensive after the murder yesterday of Arjun Dass, a top political supporter of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Also announced…
By Chaitanya Kalbag of Reuters through NZPA Bhopal—The poison gas leak that. killed 2500 people last December in this central Indian city has left the future of tens of thousands of people in doubt. The biggest question mark hangs over the lives of about 125,000 people severely injured in the leak, which occurred at a…
New Delhi — The Soviet Union has tightened its grip on the Indian arms market by offering an array of sophisticated weapons to a government worried about growing U.S. military aid to Pakistan, defense analysts said here last week. Indian officials said that under an agreement reached during the visit of Soviet Defense Minister Dmitry…
Bhopal (Reuter) -Investigators probing the world’s worst industrial disaster have uncovered the steel tank from which poisonous gas leaked last December, killing 2.500 people, police said yesterday. Excavation work began last week and the tank has been freed of its casing of concrete, sand and charcoal, police in this central Indian city said. On December…
Dhaka, Aug. 11: Bangladesh’s state minister for local government and rural development Syed Abul Hossain has resigned after he used a second passport on a recent private visit to Singapore, officials at the Prime Minister’s office said on Monday. They said the minister tended his resignation letter on Sunday requesting Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed…
Hong Kong: A growing number of Americans are paying $3,000 to adopt Chinese orphan baby girls, a Hong Kong newspaper said on Sunday. The Sunday Morning Post said demand was so high that the United States consulate in the south China city of Guangzhou had set up an adoption unit staffed by a state department…
WASHINGTON, July 21.— The House of Representatives’ Merchant Marine Committee today approved a Bill to block petroleum shipments to any foreign country unless the Secretary of Commerce certified that such exports would not interfere with national defence or security. The Bill arose out a committee of inquiry into shipments of petroleum products to Russia,…
Websites and portals across Asia are latching on to a new Reuters editorial product put together in a new way. It’s barely seven months old but already the Asia Online Report is carving a niche for itself. The service could point the way for the Reuters editorial product of the future. What is an online…
China’s official media yesterday attacked a “small group” they accused of plotting to overthrow communist rule and said the group had help from the highest level of the party. The front-page article, printed in every major newspaper in the Chinese capital and read in full on state television and radio, also accused the plotters of…
New Delhi (Reuter)—Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s peace pact to end three years of sectarian turmoil in Punjab has won wide support but analysts say he still faces obstacles in curbing Sikh unrest. Gandhi, a former airline pilot with five years in politics and eight months in power, confounded critics Wednesday by defusing an explosive…
By Chaitanya Kalbag NEW DELHI (Reuter): India’s new Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, yet to win his spurs in government, has to quickly take a series of tough political decisions to consolidate his power. He must end squabbles inside his ruling Congress (I) Party, decide by the end of this month on holding general elections…
Leader’s slaying could trigger worst crisis since India gained independence By CHAITANYA KALBAG Reuters News Service NEW DELHI, India – Indira Gandhi’s assassination Wednesday threatened to plunge India into the worst crisis in its 37 years of independence. The prime minister fell riddled with bullets by her own Sikh bodyguards just two months before the…
New Delhi—For the grey-bearded Sikh sitting in a cosy academic study India’s Punjab crisis is no longer a series of grim newspaper headlines. Last week he had to abandon plans to drive through his home state because he feared attacks by angry crowds of Hindu militants roaming the highways. As communal violence continues in Punjab…
By CHAITANYA KALBAG Bhopal, Dec 18—Some of the 250,000 people who fled the central Indian city of Bhopal fearing a fresh leak of poison gas started returning to their homes today but over 12,000 remained in camps set up by the Government. Their return was apparently prompted by the successful neutralization of more of…
By CHAITANYA KALBAG New Delhi, Dec 11. India’s ruling Congress (I) Party, which celebrates its centenary next year, is fighting for political survival as much as a parliamentary majority in national elections in two weeks’ time. After years of unchallenged supremacy as India’s dominant political force, the party is being rocked by an internal debate…
New Delhi: The Prime Minister, Mrs Gandhi, yesterday denied local press reports that she had accused a US espionage agency of fomenting Sikh secessionist activity. Mrs Gandhi told reporters in Himachal Pradesh state, in the foothills of the Himalayas, that she had merely quoted a Washington-datelined press report. She did not identify the report. Addressing…
Uneasy ties with neighbours By Chaitanya Kalbag NEW DELHI, (Reuter): Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s massive victory in the Indian general election has given him new freedom to tackle his country’s un-easy relations with its neighbours, especially Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Rajiv, armed with a huge parliamentary majority, declared immediately after the election that good relations…
Bitter squabbles divide party By CHAITANYA KALBAG New Delhi, Nov 4—India’s new Prime Minister, Mr. Rajiv Gandhi, yet to win his spurs in Government, has to quickly take a series of tough political decisions to consolidate his power. He must end squabbles inside his ruling Congress (I) Party, decide by the end of this…
By CHAITANYA KALBAG of Reuter THIMPHU, Bhutan. —”Do not give pens, sweets or medicine to villagers,” warns a Bhutanese government guidebook for tourists and mountaineers. For a country described in official brochures as “perhaps the last of the Shangrilas,” Bhutan is not in a hurry to modernize its tourist image. Called “Druk Yul” (Land of…
By CHAITANYA KALBAG of Reuters through NZPA Thimphu, Bhutan On many mountainsides in the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, Buddhist prayer wheels powered by streams tumbling through birch and pine trees spin in endless movement. The wheels turn on present-day gear shafts that speak of modern Bhutan, moving slowly towards development and yet rooted…
Reuter BEIJING-The government said Monday that it will begin a crackdown on compact disc piracy during the Chinese New Year festival that kicks off Jan. 31, addressing a concern of the United States that has threatened to unleash a trade war. A senior U.S. trade official said in Hong Kong that a new Chinese…
Reuter HONG KONG-North Korea said Monday that any plan to supply it with South Korean-style reactors could jeopardise its nuclear deal with the United States. According to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), monitored by the British Broadcasting Corp., a North Korean foreign ministry spokesman quoted “foreign news reports” saying the United States,…
Both the ruling party and the main opposition party are embroiled in leadership disputes that could lead to party splits. Reuter SEOUL-South Korea’s main opposition party, locked in intense factional strife, was on the verge of a split Monday with its leader threatening to quit and form a new political group. The battle in the…
Reuter BEIJING-Chinese President Jiang Zemin used Monday’s visit by former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to rebuke Washington for interfering in internal Chinese affairs concerning Taiwan and Tibet. But Jiang, who is also Communist Party leader, also praised unspecified “important and positive progress” in bilateral ties over the past year, the Xinhua news agency…
Reuter LONDON-It must be one of the biggest regrets of Prince Charles’ life. He lost his chance for happiness with one woman, married the wrong one and now has an uphill struggle to get the public to accept his one-time girlfriend, the only real love of his life. Fresh out of university in 1970, the…
by Chaitanya Kalbag, Reuter, in Bhopal Hundreds of people stand outside the drab white bungalow, clutching yellow X-ray folders and medical prescriptions in a line stretching down the driveway flanked by dry, leafless bushes. A chorus of dry coughs punctuates the slow progress of emaciated men, ragged children and ghost-like Muslim women covered head-to-toe in…
Thimphu, Bhutan (Reuter) — “Do not give pens, sweets or medicine to villagers,” warns a Bhutanese government guidebook for tourists. The writer has ventured to the secretive Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, where less than 2,000 visitors are permitted to visit each year, to report on the country, its people and its young bachelor king. For…
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…
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…
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. …
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…
18 May 2005 Reuters News English (c) 2005 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, May 18 (Reuters) – India is looking to become a major oil products exporter while it aggressively chases foreign petroleum assets and sharply boosts imports of gas, the “fuel of the 21st Century”, its oil minister said on Wednesday. Mani Shankar Aiyar also…
2 June 1987 Chaitanya Kalbag/ Reuters English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, June 2, Reuter – The World Bank’s policies prevent it lending money to the Philippines for the transfer of land from landowners to the poor, but it can help finance subsequent development costs, a bank official said today. “The World Bank by its…
16 December 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Dec 16 – Japanese Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita promised President Corazon Aquino he would speed up assistance to the Philippines and soften terms for bilateral aid, a Japanese government spokesman told reporters. Takeshita and Aquino signed an agreement on an 80.2 billion yen loan…