TAWANG, India (Reuters) – It has all the appearance of an arms race on the roof of the world.

Asia’s two great powers are facing off here in the eastern Himalayan mountains. China has vastly improved roads and is building or extending airports on its side of the border in Tibet. It has placed nuclear-capable intermediate missiles in the area and deployed around 300,000 troops across the Tibetan plateau, according to a 2010 Pentagon report.

TAWANG, India, July 30 (Reuters) – It has all the appearance
of an arms race on the roof of the world.

Asia’s two great powers are facing off here in the eastern
Himalayan mountains. China has vastly improved roads and is
building or extending airports on its side of the border in
Tibet. It has placed nuclear-capable intermediate missiles in
the area and deployed around 300,000 troops across the Tibetan
plateau, according to a 2010 Pentagon report.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Indian lawmakers voted for a new president on Thursday, ending weeks of wrangling and opening a much-hyped political window billed as the best chance for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to launch a wave of reforms and reverse an economic slowdown.

India’s markets are anticipating quick action to relax investment rules and cut subsidies once the voting for the ceremonial post is out of the way. Stocks and the rupee outperformed other Asian markets this month after Singh suggested he will act after the election.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s industrial output growth flatlined in April, piling pressure on policymakers to cut rates and revive the economic fortunes of the BRIC nation that Standard & Poor’s warned could be downgraded to junk status because of political inaction.

The ratings agency said India’s leaders had strayed from the path of economic liberalisation and the country could become the first of the BRIC nations – Brazil, Russia, India and China – to lose its investment grade credit rating.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s industrial output growth flatlined in April, piling pressure on policymakers to cut rates and revive the economic fortunes of the BRIC nation that Standard & Poor’s warned could be downgraded to junk status because of political inaction.

The ratings agency said India’s leaders had strayed from the path of economic liberalization and the country could become the first of the so-called BRIC nations – Brazil, Russia, India and China – to lose its investment grade credit rating.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s economy grew at its slowest pace in nine years in the first three months of 2012, dragged by an extended euro zone crisis and policy paralysis at home, while the coalition government is under tremendous strain from scandals and rebellious coalition partners.

Some economists warn that unless the government acts to reverse the growth slump, India’s sovereign ratings may be jeopardised.

NEW DELHI, June 12 (Reuters) – India’s economy grew at its
slowest pace in nine years in the first three months of 2012,
dragged by an extended euro zone crisis and policy paralysis at
home, while the coalition government is under tremendous strain
from scandals and rebellious coalition partners.

Some economists warn that unless the government acts to
reverse the growth slump, India’s sovereign ratings may be
jeopardised.

NEW DELHI, June 4 (Reuters) – India’s economy grew at its
slowest pace in nine years in the first three months of 2012,
dragged down by an extended euro zone crisis and policy
paralysis at home, while the coalition government is under
tremendous strain from scandals and rebellious coalition
partners.

Some economists warn that unless the government acts to
reverse the growth slump, India’s sovereign ratings may be
jeopardised.

KOLKATA, India (Reuters) – Kolkata’s red-brick secretariat was built more than 200 years ago for Britain’s East India Company, which used trade in opium, cloth and tea to colonize the subcontinent. Distrust of foreign merchants lingers still.

For the past year, the sprawling building has been occupied by Mamata Banerjee, the diminutive chief minister of West Bengal state who is perhaps the largest obstacle to economic reforms that would allow 21st-century traders free access to India’s consumer markets.

KOLKATA, India (Reuters) – Kolkata’s red-brick secretariat was built more than 200 years ago for Britain’s East India Company, which used trade in opium, cloth and tea to colonise the subcontinent. Distrust of foreign merchants lingers still.

For the past year, the sprawling building has been occupied by Mamata Banerjee, the diminutive chief minister of West Bengal who is perhaps the largest obstacle to economic reforms that would allow 21st-century traders free access to India’s consumer markets.