BEIJING China will launch a “core module” for its first space station some time around 2018, a senior official told the state-run Xinhua news agency on Thursday, part of a plan to have a permanent manned space station in service around 2022. Advancing China’s ... More »
SYDNEY Australian scientists said on Wednesday that just seven percent of the Great Barrier Reef, which attracts around A$5 billion ($3.90 billion) in tourism every year, has been untouched by mass bleaching that is likely to destroy half the coral. Bleaching ... More »
MUMBAI Embattled Indian tycoon Vijay Mallya’s UB Group has denied allegations that it used 4.3 billion rupees ($65 million) of bank loans to now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines to buy property overseas. Mallya, a liquor baron and lawmaker, has been at an unknown l... More »
NEW DELHI India’s finance ministry is asking for regular progress reports from tax collectors and has set a date for an amnesty to pay off arrears on undeclared domestic assets, as the government intensifies efforts to meet its ambitious deficit target. A seri... More »
NEW DELHI India’s biggest cigarette maker ITC Ltd said it would resume production at its factories “consequent upon” a favorable court order, two weeks after it decided to shutter its plants over the government’s stringent new packaging rules. India ordered th... More »
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India Indian police have detained five people after a fireworks display at a Hindu temple set off explosions and fire killing 108 people, an officer said on Monday, in one of the worst accidents at a religious festival. Thousands of people ... More »
GOA, India U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter began a three-day visit to India on Sunday, seeking to advance a relatively new defense relationship with a country Washington sees as a counterweight to the growing power of China. In a sign of the importance Carte... More »
LONDON Britain said on Sunday that UK steel producers must be considered for infrastructure and other government contracts involving steel supplies, as part of plans to find a long-term solution to a crisis in the industry. The government is looking for ways t... More »
MUMBAI Reliance Retail Ltd, the retail business of India’s energy conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd, said on Saturday it planned a quick roll-out of its newly launched fashion and lifestyle e-commerce business. Reliance Retail, controlled by India’s richest... More »
NEW DELHI India’s top cigarette maker ITC Ltd, part-owned by British American Tobacco, said it was not ready to print bigger health warnings on its packs as mandated by the government and will keep its factories shut until clarity emerges on the new rules. ITC... More »
BEIJING Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama is “making a fool” of Tibetan Buddhism with suggestions he may not reincarnate, or reincarnate as something inappropriate, and the faithful are not buying it, a Chinese official wrote on Monday. China says... More »
LAHORE, Pakistan Pakistani authorities hunted on Monday for breakaway Taliban militants who once declared loyalty to Islamic State after the group claimed responsibility for an Easter suicide bomb targeting Christians, that killed at least 70 people. The attac... More »
MUMBAI/NEW DELHI Shares in the Indian units of U.S.-based drugmakers Pfizer (PFE.N) (PFIZ.NS) and Abbott Laboratories (ABT.N) (ABOT.NS) fell as much as 5 percent on Monday after authorities imposed a ban on their codeine-based cough syrups, saying they posed a... More »
NEW DELHI U.S.-pharmaceutical giant Abbott Laboratories’ India unit (ABT.N) (ABOT.NS) will comply with all legal requirements of a government order that bans more than 300 combination drugs in the country, a company spokesman said on Monday. India banned 344 d... More »
MUMBAI A powerful antibiotic combination that is marketed in India by U.S. pharmaceutical giant Abbott Laboratories is among 344 drug combinations that have been banned by the Indian health authorities. A Reuters investigation revealed in December that a unit ... More »
MUMBAI A year ago, Micromax vaulted past Samsung Electronics Co Ltd to become India’s leading smartphone brand. Today, its market share has nearly halved, several top executives have resigned, and the company is looking for growth outside India. In Micromax’s ... More »
ACAPULCO, Mexico BlackRock Inc Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink said on Friday that China may be the biggest hurdle to global financial markets and that central bankers are adding to risks with negative-interest rate policies. “China does represent maybe mor... More »
LONDON Iran has managed to sell only modest volumes of oil to Europe since the lifting of sanctions seven weeks ago and several former buyers are staying away, citing legal complications and Tehran’s reluctance to sweeten terms to win back customers. Tehran ha... More »
MUMBAI India has given private assurances that it will not grant licences allowing local firms to override patents and make cheap copies of drugs by big Western drugmakers, a U.S. business advocacy group said. The comments were revealed in a submission last mo... More »
NEW DELHI The government unveiled a budget for the poor on Monday, announcing new rural aid schemes and skimping on a bank bailout, in a strategy shift that seeks to boost Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party in coming state elections. Finance Minister ... More »
NEW DELHI/WASHINGTON India and the United States are closing in on an agreement to share military logistics after 12 years of talks, officials said, a sign of strengthening defense ties between the countries as China becomes increasingly assertive. The United ... More »
SHANGHAI Investors hoping for a grand plan from the world’s top financial officials to stabilize shaky markets are set for disappointment, insiders say, when finance ministers and central bankers gather this week in Shanghai to discuss the troubled global econ... More »
SINGAPORE/NEW DELHI Asia’s oil markets are being upended as India’s and China’s refiners overtake once-dominant buyers like Japan and challenge the United States as the world’s biggest consumer. The shifts are not only establishing new trade routes but are als... More »
The following timeline charts the origin and spread of the Zika virus from its discovery nearly 70 years ago: 1947 – Scientists researching yellow fever in Uganda’s Zika Forest identify the virus in a rhesus monkey 1948 – Virus recovered from Aedes africanus m... More »
BARCELONA Most consumers feel they lack control over personal information on their phones, are suspicious of attempts to use it for marketing appeals and many think the problem is getting worse, a survey in major countries of the world has found. The findings ... More »
A wild elephant went on a rampage in a village in West Bengal on Wednesday, damaging around 100 structures, villagers said. Video taken in the village of Ektiasal showed the beast wandering around and knocking over flimsy huts. The elephant strayed into the vi... More »
NEW DELHI A doctor at a hospital in India’s capital, New Delhi, was recently tracking a wall of monitors displaying the vital signs of intensive care patients admitted hundreds of miles away when red-and-yellow alerts rang out. The oxygen flow to a 67-year-old... More »
NEW DELHI India will release data on Monday showing it remains one of the fastest growing economies in the world, but economists are struggling to reconcile that rosy picture with ground realities like weak exports, investment, and flat corporate order books. ... More »
MUMBAI The rapidly-spreading Zika virus has an unlikely victim – Indian carmaker Tata Motors Ltd (TAMO.NS). The carmaker said on Tuesday it had decided to rename its soon-to-be-launched hatchback Zica, short for Zippy Car, after the mosquito-borne virus was de... More »
SYDNEY January updates on Asia’s mammoth factory sector released on Monday showed the new year began much as the old one ended – with too much capacity chasing too little demand. China was again the epicentre of disappointment as its official measure of manufa... More »
ISLAMABAD A Pakistani man has been arrested for hoisting the flag of arch rival India on his roof, an act police described as “anti-state” but which the accused says was a tribute to Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli, officials said on Wednesday. Umar Draz, f... More »
SAN FRANCISCO/MUMBAI As China sales show signs of cooling, Apple Inc(AAPL.O) is touting India’s appetite for iPhones, betting that rising wages and an expanding middle class will pull consumers away from the cheap alternatives that currently dominate the marke... More »
DAVOS, Switzerland Central banks still have more firepower they can use to counter a slowdown in global growth, which does not change the outlook for recovery in the euro zone, European Economics Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said on Wednesday. In an interview... More »
SINGAPORE Oil prices rebounded on Tuesday, supported by strong Chinese fuel consumption and at least interrupting a slide to 2003 levels earlier in the week after the return of Iran to markets added to an already huge supply overhang. Traders said prices were ... More »
HARARE A scorching drought in Southern Africa that led to widespread crop failure could nudge African nations to finally embrace genetically modified (GM) crops to improve harvests and reduce grain imports. The drought, which extends to South Africa, the conti... More »
Netflix Inc’s video-streaming service went live in more than 130 countries on Wednesday, covering almost the entire globe except China, in a huge global push by Chief Executive Reed Hastings to counter slowing growth in the United States. Shares of the company... More »
BENGALURU/NEW YORK The global economy finished last year on a fragile footing, with factory activity in China shrinking for the 10th month running in December, while euro zone manufacturing picked up but U.S. activity slowed. Coming on a day of volatility in A... More »
NEW DELHI India’s top court said on Monday it had no power to detain the youngest of the men convicted of the 2012 gang rape of a woman on a bus in New Delhi in a case that shocked the nation, a day after he was released after three years in custody. The attac... More »
MUMBAI Shares in India’s largest drugmaker, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, skidded more than 7 percent on Monday after U.S. regulators warned of standards violations at a key plant in the latest blow to India’s generic drug industry. The warning comes bare... More »
SINGAPORE Stan Wawrinka showed his class in both singles and doubles to lead the Singapore Slammers to victory in the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) final in front of a delighted home crowd at the Indoor Stadium on Sunday. Matches in the Asia-based... More »
MUMBAI India’s largest drugmaker Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd has been warned by U.S. health regulators for violating manufacturing standards at its Halol plant in India, even as it has been working on fixing issues at the plant for over a year. The U.S. ... More »
WASHINGTON The U.S. Senate on Friday ratified reforms to boost the representation of emerging economies at the International Monetary Fund as part of a budget bill that will clear the way for new industrial powerhouses like China and India to have more clout a... More »
NEW DELHI Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj will hold talks with Pakistan on Wednesday, the first visit by India’s top diplomat to its rival in three years, part of efforts to restart a peace dialogue plagued by militant attacks and distrust.Swaraj will le... More »
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. A Colorado-based startup developing a satellite network to predict weather using radio signals will launch its first two spacecraft on an Indian rocket, the company said on Thursday. Privately owned PlanetiQ signed a contract with Antrix C... More »
LAHORE, Pakistan A Pakistani attorney said on Thursday he has filed a court petition seeking the return of the famed Koh-i-Noor diamond Britain forced India to hand over in colonial times. Once the largest known diamond in the world, the 105-carat Koh-i-Noor i... More »
WASHINGTON Scientists aiming to take the bite out of malaria have produced a strain of mosquitoes carrying genes that block its transmission, with the idea that they could breed with other members of their species in the wild and produce offspring that cannot ... More »
SHANGHAI Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, enjoys strong support in the United States, Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi told Chinese officials during a visit this week to the Himalayan region, while expressing concern about human rights there. Pel... More »
NEW DELHIIndian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet leaders of his party on Monday to discuss whether to overhaul policies and priorities in the wake of a humiliating defeat in elections in the eastern state of Bihar. Modi was due to huddle with a dozen sen... More »
SINGAPORE Countries should not bank on oil prices remaining low when formulating their energy policies, as supplies could tighten from mid-2016 due to a drop in investment and falling U.S. output, a senior industry official said on Monday. Global oil prices LC... More »
TOKYO Toshiba Corp is set to sell its image sensor business to Sony Corp for around 20 billion yen ($164.68 million) as part of a restructuring plan laid out earlier this year, sources with knowledge of the deal said on Saturday. Toshiba, whose businesses rang... More »
WASHINGTON It was a combination of calamities – an asteroid strike followed by vast volcanic eruptions half a world away – that doomed the dinosaurs and many other creatures 66 million years ago. That is the conclusion of scientists who said on Thursday they h... More »
NEW DELHI India launched its first space research observatory and several U.S. satellites on Monday, part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s drive to expand his country’s influence in the competitive, $300 billion global space industry. The observatory, named A... More »
MALE The president of the Maldives was unhurt but his wife and two aides were injured in an explosion on board their launch as it approached Male, capital of the Indian Ocean archipelago, a senior aide told Reuters. The cause of Monday’s blast, witnessed by jo... More »
MUMBAI The Reserve Bank of India is expected cut its key repo rate to a four-year low on Tuesday to help support the domestic economy at a time when consumer inflation is at a record low, but may express caution about easing further as price risks still loom. ... More »
SAN JOSE, California Lights flashed and chants of “Modi, Modi” filled the 18,000-seat sports arena in San Jose, California, on Sunday as the Indian premier took the stage for the final event of his Silicon Valley tour, marked by sporadic protests over his huma... More »
SHANGHAI/BEIJING China’s most popular ride-hailing app Didi Kuaidi said on Monday it has invested in Indian peer Ola, forging a new alliance within a network of companies challenging U.S. rival Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL]. Didi joins existing investors inc... More »
MENLO PARK, California Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi received a warm welcome at Facebook headquarters on Sunday for a town hall hosted by CEO Mark Zuckerberg that focused as much on the two men’s backgrounds as the business potential of the world’s secon... More »
NEW DELHI A stately New Delhi mansion, once home to India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and now a museum to his life, has emerged as a flashpoint in the growing ideological war between his heirs and the Hindu nationalist government.Since trouncing th... More »
MUMBAI The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has revoked an approval issued in March to India’s Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company Ltd (SPARC) to launch a drug for seizures, citing manufacturing quality problems at its production site. The move comes as a se... More »
HONG KONG Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Monday he hopes the economy will grow faster this year than last, and expects that Asia’s third-largest economy will not see a big hit from China’s slowdown. Jaitley, who is on a road trip meeting foreign ... More »
PARIS British-Indian sculptor Anish Kapoor has decided to leave the anti-Semitic graffiti on his “Dirty Corner” installation at the Palace of Versailles near Paris, but will cover it up, palace authorities said on Friday. The 60-meter (197 feet) abstract steel... More »
LONDON/NEW YORK Global manufacturing and service sector activity expanded in August at the same pace as in July, with both the U.S. and euro zone doing better than Asia, according to purchasing manager surveys. “Scratching beneath the headline numbers, however... More »
JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. Central bankers from around the world are telling their American counterparts that they are ready for a U.S. interest rate hike and would prefer that the Federal Reserve make the move without further ado. In private and in public at last wee... More »
ISLAMABAD U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice warned Pakistani political and military leaders on Sunday that recent attacks in Afghanistan by militants based in Pakistan threaten regional security, an official said. Rice also delivered an invitation from... More »
WASHINGTON President Barack Obama has invited Pakistan’s prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, for a meeting at the White House on Oct. 22, the U.S. National Security Council said on Sunday. The invitation came during a visit to Islamabad on Saturday and Sunday by Nat... More »
LONDON British-Indian sculptor Anish Kapoor said on Wednesday he would take legal action based on copyright concerns after noting a close similarity between a huge stainless-steel, globe-like sculpture in China and his “Cloud Gate” sculpture in Chicago. The sc... More »
MUMBAI/ NEW DELHI The Indian government has filed a lawsuit against Swiss food firm Nestle’s Indian unit, seeking 6.4 billion rupees ($99 million) in damages on behalf of consumers after the country’s worst packaged food scare in a decade. Nestle, the first fo... More »
MUMBAI The Indian government has filed a class action suit for 6.4 billion rupees ($99 million) against Nestle’s Indian unit on behalf of the country’s consumers, citing unfair trade practices and the sale of defective goods. Nestle is the first foreign firm t... More »
SAN FRANCISCO/MUMBAI, August 12 Facebook is trying to lure skeptical advertisers in India with features such as free email support for questions about advertising and advice on increasing sales in a bid to boost revenue from its second biggest market. Facebook... More »
MUMBAI India will seek damages of 6.39 billion rupees ($99.3 million) from Swiss group Nestle after a food scare involving reports of excess lead in the firm’s popular Maggi noodles forced a nationwide recall, a government official said on Tuesday. Nestle, whi... More »
LONDON/SYDNEY Economic headwinds facing Chinese manufacturers intensified last month, with conditions deteriorating to their weakest level in two years, while euro zone factories largely shrugged off Greece’s brush with bankruptcy. July was a fraught month for... More »
SYDNEY Headwinds for the world’s second-biggest economy intensified at the start of the third quarter, with manufacturing conditions in China deteriorating to their worst in two years in July and triggering fresh slides in global commodity prices. Similar busi... More »
MUMBAI An Indian court has concluded hearing a case filed by Nestle India challenging a local regulator’s report that Maggi instant noodles contained excess lead, a lawyer for the company said. The Bombay High Court will give a judgment at a later date, Rajesh... More »
SHANGHAI Officials from the world’s largest emerging nations launched the New Development Bank (NDB) on Tuesday, the second of two new policy banks heavily backed by Beijing that are being pitched as alternatives to existing institutions such as the World Bank... More »
NEW DELHI General Motors Co (GM.N) will recall 155,000 vehicles in India, its largest such exercise to date in the country, in order to fix wiring problems linked to a remote keyless entry accessory. The recall, also one of India’s biggest, follows a move in 2... More »
TORONTO BlackBerry Ltd (BB.TO), which has been coy about its ambitions to make a mainstream Android smartphone, fueled more speculation about its plans this week when it scooped up two Android-related domain names. Several blog posts in the last two days have ... More »
CHICAGO Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) will start a business loan program for small sellers in the United Kingdom on Tuesday and is looking to launch it this year in seven more countries including China. Until now, the e-retailer has offered the service only in the U... More »
LONDON Scientists have identified a key gene used by poppies to make morphine, paving the way for better methods of producing the medically important drug, potentially without the need for cultivating poppy fields. The latest finding follows recent success in ... More »
