New Delhi, India | AFP | Prime Minister Theresa May said Britain would become the ultimate free trade champion as she laid the groundwork Monday for a potential post-Brexit deal with India, the world’s fastest growing major economy. In her first bilateral trip outside Europe since taking office in July, …
Read More »Party drugs haul worth $450 mn seized in India, Bollywood producer held
New Delhi, India | AFP | Millions of tablets of a recreational drug with an estimated street value of nearly $450 million have been seized and a Bollywood film producer has been arrested in western India, officials said Wednesday. More than 20 million tablets of the banned drug Mandrax were …
Read More »World leaders’ personal chefs meet in Delhi
New Delhi, India | AFP | The chefs who cook for the world’s leaders usually keep a low profile, leaving the limelight to their bosses. But once a year it is their turn to be wined and dined and treated as honoured guests in a foreign country. Billed as the …
Read More »Ratan Tata back in hot seat as Indian giant dumps Mistry
Mumbai, India | AFP | Industrialist Ratan Tata sensationally returned to the helm of India’s biggest conglomerate on Monday as Tata Sons dumped Cyrus Mistry as chairman in a shock announcement that stunned analysts. The 78-year-old takes interim charge of the sprawling $100 billion tea-to-steel group almost four years after …
Read More »Xi warns of globalisation backlash at BRICS summit
Benaulim, India | AFP | Chinese President Xi Jinping said Sunday a rising tide of protectionism and anti-globalisation was endangering the world economy’s still fragile recovery as BRICS leaders vowed to forge closer business and trade ties. At a summit in the Indian tourist hub of Goa, host Prime Minister …
Read More »TAX AMNESTY: Indians disclose $10 billion in hidden wealth
New Delhi, India | AFP | Indians have declared almost $10 billion in hidden wealth under a government amnesty on tax evasion, as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s moves to crack down on huge piles of black money. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the four-month scheme that closed …
Read More »French fighter jet deal: an Indian saga
New Delhi, India | AFP | The less-than-supersonic sale of French Rafale fighter jets to India has highlighted the obstacles facing foreign arms firms seeking to do business with the world’s biggest weapons importer. India has signed a series of key defence deals under Prime Minister Narendra Modi as …
Read More »India buys 36 Rafale fighter jets to counter China
New Delhi, India | AFP | India signed a deal Friday to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets for 7.9 billion euros ($8.8 billion), France’s biggest ever such sale, as it seeks to bolster its military against an increasingly assertive China. Defence experts say the aircraft, manufactured by France’s Dassault, will …
Read More »India’s poor fear ‘rent-a-womb’ industry shut down
Anand, India | AFP | At a hostel for dozens of pregnant women, impoverished widow Sharmila Mackwan weighs up her decision to carry twins for another couple — her only ticket out of poverty — as the government moves to close India’s multi-million dollar surrogacy industry. She has left her …
Read More »Mother Teresa elevated to sainthood
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Mother Teresa, the celebrated nun whose work with the poor of Kolkata made her an instantly recognisable global figure, will be proclaimed a saint on Sunday. Pope Francis will preside over a solemn canonisation mass in the presence of 100,000 pilgrims and with …
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