India, Asia | featured news

India plans to launch a space probe that will orbit Mars, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh confirmed on Wednesday after press reports that the mission was scheduled to begin late next year. The project would mark another step in the country's ambitious space programme, which placed a probe on the moon three years ago and envisages its first manned mission in 2016.

A decade ago, Chandrakant's fishing village in India's financial capital Mumbai lived mostly by candlelight. What people did not have - electricity - they stole. A decade ago, Chandrakant's fishing village in India's financial capital Mumbai lived mostly by candlelight. What people did not have - electricity - they stole. It was easy enough to hook onto the two thin power lines that passed over the village and take a little for themselves.

Northern India's power grid crashed Monday, halting trains, forcing hospitals and airports onto backup power and providing a dark reminder of the nation's inability to feed a growing hunger for energy as it strives to become an economic power....

After years of shipping data-processing, accounting and other back-office work abroad, some healthcare companies are starting to shift clinical services and decision-making on medical care overseas, primarily to India and the Philippines. Some of the jobs being sent abroad include so-called pre-service nursing, where nurses at insurance firms, for example, help assess patient needs and determine treatment methods.

Coal may be dying in the United States, but it’s still the world’s preferred fuel for generating electricity — especially in China and India. And that’s why many energy experts think it’s so crucial to figure out how to capture carbon from all those coal plants and stash it deep underground.

Coca-Cola Co. says it will invest an additional $3 billion in India through 2020 as it looks to capitalize on the growing market. The world's biggest beverage maker, whose brands include Minute Maid, Dasani and Powerade, has seen some of its biggest gains come from emerging markets as growth at home has slowed.

The Indian government plans to take steps to boost exports and increase dollar inflows to give a much-need lift to the economy and arrest the slide in the Indian rupee, a senior official from the finance ministry said Saturday.

India's industrial output was flat in April, deepening worries of an economic slowdown in Asia's third-largest economy and upping the pressure on the central bank to cut interest rates next week.

The Defense Secretary Leon Panetta promised on Wednesday to let India buy America's best weapons technology and jointly produce and develop equipment in a bid to increase trade with the world's top arms importer.