Indian tycoon Gautam Adani yesterday secured a majority stake in leading news broadcaster NDTV, finalising a hostile takeover that has sparked press freedom fears in the world’s biggest democracy.

Ousted Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced to another seven years in jail as her long series of trials ended yesterday, with the Nobel laureate now facing more than three decades behind bars.

The United Nations said Thursday it would not stop providing help to Afghanistan despite the Taliban ban on women working in the country's aid sector..“Let me make it very clear that the United Nations and humanitarian partners are very committed to the delivery of life-saving services to

<B>China has appointed Qin Gang, a trusted aide of President Xi Jinping, as its new foreign minister, state radio reported on Friday.</B>.Qin, 56, and currently China's ambassador to the United States, replaces Wang Yi, who has been foreign minister for the past decade. Wang, 69, was promo

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today condoled the death of Heeraben, mother of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Indian tycoon Gautam Adani on Friday secured a majority stake in leading news broadcaster NDTV, finalising a hostile takeover that has sparked press freedom fears in the world's biggest democracy. Adani, 60, is the world's third-richest person, with an estimated net worth of $130 billion and interests ranging from Australian coal mines to India's busiest ports. He is also seen as a close acolyte of Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi, often publicly supporting his policies. His business empire first began buying up NDTV shares in August, a move its founders Prannoy and Radhika Roy said had come without their involvement or consent. But after months of negotiations, the Roy family agreed to sell most of their remaining equity, and the Adani Group said in a Friday stock market disclosure that its subsidiary RRPR had bought a 27.26 percent stake in the company. The latest purchase gives Adani's conglomerate a 64.71 percent stake in NDTV, renowned for inviting government critics and its hard-hitting reporting in a TV news landscape dominated by pro-Modi coverage. Adani has pledged to guarantee the channel's editorial independence but also told the Financial Times last month that journalists should acknowledge when the government was performing well. "Independence means if government has done something wrong, you say it's wrong," Adani told the British broadsheet. "But at the same time, you should have courage when the government is doing the right thing every day. You have to also say that." Under Modi, India has slipped 10 places in the Reporters Without Borders global press freedom ranking and is now 150 out of 180 surveyed countries. Critical reporters often find themselves behind bars and hounded on social media by supporters of Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Adani this year overtook fellow Indian Mukesh Ambani to become Asia's richest man, behind France's luxury goods mogul Bernard Arnault and Tesla boss Elon Musk. But his group's growth into capital-intensive businesses has raised alarm, with analysts from Fitch Group's CreditSights warning in August that it was "deeply overleveraged".

Ousted Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced to another seven years in jail as her long series of trials ended on Friday, with the Nobel laureate now facing more than three decades behind bars.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mother Heeraben passed away at a hospital in Ahmedabad city today at the age of 99.

Four people died in the southern Philippines after being hit by a landslide, authorities said yesterday, taking the nationwide death toll from recent rains to at least 39.

At least 19 people were killed and up to 30 were missing after a huge fire tore through a casino-hotel complex in a Cambodian town on the Thai border, officials said yesterday.

G7 foreign ministers yesterday called on the Taliban to “urgently reverse” a ban on women working in Afghanistan’s aid sector.

G7 foreign ministers today called on the Taliban to "urgently reverse" a ban on women working in Afghanistan's aid sector.

At least seven people have died in a stampede at a rally in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday, police officials said.

The UN Security Council has called for the full, equal and meaningful participation of women and girls in Afghanistan, denouncing a ban by the

A Pakistan court freed a rapist after he married his victim in a settlement brokered by a council of elders in the northwest of the country, his lawyer said yesterday.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday said that any provocation by North Korea must be met with retaliation without hesitation despite its nuclear weapons, his office said, after an intrusion by North Korean drones.

India may see a surge in Covid-19 cases in January and the coming 40 days are going to be crucial, health ministry sources said yesterday citing the pattern of previous outbreaks.

Beijing’s sudden pivot away from containing Covid-19 has caused jitters around the world, with the United States saying it may restrict travel from China following its decision to end mandatory quarantine for overseas arrivals.

The death toll from floods in the Philippines has risen to 25, officials said yesterday, with storms expected to dump more rain over the hardest-hit southern and central regions.

A Pakistan court freed a rapist after he married his victim in a settlement brokered by a council of elders in the northwest of the country, his lawyer said Wednesday.