Asia

    At a cost of £59 MILLION, the Hindu wedding of Brahmani Reddy and her fiancé Rajeev Reddy is thought to have cost MORE than Kate and Wills', which is thought to have cost 'just' £20 million. Former politician-turned-mining mogul Gali Janardhan Reddy has picked up the tab for the five-day celebration that has welcomed a staggering 50,000 guests and employed some 3,000 security. A host of Bollywood stars are also expected to perform at the ceremony which began on 17th at the sprawling Bangalore Palace in southern India. Gold-plated invitations with LCD screens showing video of the soon-to-be happy couple were sent out to guests. According to reports in India, the short video showed the bride wearing a series of fancy dresses while the groom was flanked by five white horses. ...

    The Supreme Court of India on Monday said that seeking votes on the basis of caste, community, religion or language is illegal. A constitution bench headed by Chief Justice of India Justice T.S. Thakur by a 4:3 majority passed the order on the basis of Section 123 (3) of the Representation of People’s Act. The dissenting judgment was delivered by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice Uday Umesh Lalit. The relationship between man and god is an individual choice. The state is forbidden to have allegiance to such an activity, the bench said. Myanmar’s government on Monday pledged to investigate a video apparently showing police beating and kicking Rohingya civilians, a rare admission that authorities may have carried out abuses against the Muslim mi...

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi promoted digital payments at a special event in the Indian capital on Dec. 30, 2016. Addressing the nation on New Year's Eve, Prime Minister Narendra Modi defended the scrapping of high-value banknotes in November in a crackdown on untaxed wealth, corruption, and counterfeit currency, and said that a lack of cash causes difficulty but too much "is even more troublesome". A day after the expiry of the 50-day deadline to deposit the banned 500- ($7.35) and 1000-rupee denominations in banks, Modi used a televised speech on Saturday night to thank India's 1.25 billion people for their patience, discipline, and resolve. He said these "will play a critical role in shaping the future of the nation for years to come". Modi's unannounced demonetizat...

    The Kim Jong-un regime is determined to press ahead with the development of nuclear weapons and is unlikely to scale down any of its activities, said a North Korean diplomat who recently defected to South Korea. He said Kim will not stop the nuclear programme even if he is offered trillions of dollars in aid. In his first public address since he defected, the high-profile diplomat Thae Yong-ho said he would do everything in his capacity to work against the North Korean regime. Thae, formerly the No 2 at the North Korean diplomatic mission in the UK, had left for South Korea from the London embassy along with his family sending diplomatic shockwaves in July. As long as Kim Jong-un is (in power), North Korea will never give up its nuclear weapons... the North will not give t...

    Border Guard of Bangladesh (BGB) refused entry to 19 boats carrying Rohingya Muslims, attempted to flee the violence in Myanmar, from two border points of River Naf in Cox’s Bazar. The boats were refused entry from Friday evening until Saturday morning. BGB-2 Battalion Commanding Officer (CO) Lieutenant Colonel Abu Jar Al Jahid said the troopers pushed back 19 boats from zero point when the refugees tried to enter Bangladesh territory through the River Naf. The BGB CO said the vessels were carrying around 250 Rohingyas. At least 30,000 have been internally displaced in Rakhine and many have tried to reach Bangladesh over the last month despite heightened border patrols, and sought refuge amongst the Rohingya refugee population that already live on the Bangladesh side. Viol...

    A private jet which crashed, killing three members of Osama bin Laden's family, landed too far down the runway because it was travelling 40% faster than the recommended speed, accident investigators concluded. The Saudi-registered Phenom 300 jet smashed into an earth bank at the end of the runway at Blackbushe Airport, Surrey, on July 31 last year before becoming airborne and colliding with several parked cars. The occupants survived the impacts but died from the effects of a fire which began after the wing separated from the fuselage, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said. Sana bin LadenIts report found that the pilot's ability to adapt and take on new information as he was landing was impeded due to a "very high workload situation". They were his stepmother,...

    Women were asked to send naked photos of themselves (picture posed by a model)Hundreds of photos and videos of naked women used as collateral for loans on a Chinese online lending service have leaked onto the web, highlighting regulatory problems in the fast-growing peer-to-peer marketplace. A 10-gigabyte file posted on the internet exposed the personal details of more than 160 young women who were asked to provide the explicit material to secure money through online lending platform Jiedaibao. Launched by JD Capital in 2015, Jiedaibao allows lenders to operate anonymously but requires borrowers to reveal their real names when making transactions. Loan amounts and interest rates can be customised to meet the needs of users - often people who have a hard time accessing loan...

    Iconic singer Junaid Jamshed is feared dead following the crash of a Pakistan International Airlines flight. Local reports claim the pop star turned entrepreneur and preacher was travelling with his wife on the flight, which went missing on its route from Chitral to Islamabad on 7 December. It is reported that 47 people were on flight PK-661 when the aircraft lost contact with ground control. Jamshed's death is yet to be confirmed but local reporter Hamid Hir tweeted: Close friends of Junaid Jamshed are saying he along with his wife were travelling on PIA plane crashed coming from Chitral to Islamabad. Jamshed, 52, was best known as a recording artist and began his music career in 1983 after completing a degree in engineering from the University Of Engineering And Technolo...

    The National Legislative Assembly (NLA) president Pornpetch Wichitcholchai convened a special meeting on Tuesday and has now announced the acknowledgement of the Cabinet's resolution to invite HRH Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn to accede to the throne. "The NLA, which now functions as the Parliament. has received the Cabinet's resolution. The NLA president will now invite the Crown Prince to accede to the throne and become the next King of Thailand," Pornpetch said. The 5-minute meeting was attended by 243 lawmakers out of 250 NLA members. At the end of the session, Pornpetch asked the attending lawmakers to stand up in a show of respect to "the new King". The meeting was held under Section 2 of the interim constitution. under which the cabinet submits the heir's name fo...