MUMBAI, India

Beverly Hills fashion designer Anand Jon Alexander has been found guilty of sexually assaulting seven girls and young women whom he lured with promises of modelling careers. The verdict came after a two-month trial that offered a sordid portrait of the fashion world. Prosecutors accused the Indian-born Alexander of using the promise of modelling jobs to lure young women and girls as young as 14 to an apartment where he acted out sadistic fantasies. Alexander could face life imprisonment.

MAHARASHTRA, India

The authorities in the western Indian state of Maharashtra have blocked the release of a Bollywood film, saying it could create law and order problems. Deshdrohi (Traitor) deals with migrant workers and the violence they face. There have been recent attacks on north Indian migrants in Maharashtra's capital Mumbai and elsewhere. At least five people have been killed in the attacks, which have been blamed on the right-wing Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) party. The unrest in Maharashtra has forced many migrants to leave their neighbourhoods.

KARACHI, Pakistan

A man who tried to kill his new bride for not answering the phone weeks after their wedding in Pakistan has been jailed for seven years at the High Court in Edinburgh. Muhammed Rashad, 29, strangled, battered and tried to suffocate his cousin, Zahida, at their home in Kings Park, Glasgow, last October. The court heard how Rashad attacked his wife after demanding to know where she was when he tried to phone her. She told him she had been in the house but had not heard the phone. She then hanged herself.

KATHMANDU, Nepal

Members of Nepal's former royal family, once considered to be above the law, should now be treated as common citizens and all existing laws that still uphold royal privileges should be scrapped, the apex court has told the government.

It was a case of things coming full circle for deposed King Gyanendra. In 2005, when the headstrong king grabbed power, he had freshly banned any criticism of himself and his family members.

GOA, India

An Indian court has dropped sexual assault charges against the boyfriend of murdered British teenager Scarlett Keeling, whose body was found on a beach in the resort state of Goa. The 15-year-old girl had been staying with Julio Lobo, 27, before her death in February this year. Her diary entries mentioning sex with Lobo led to him being charged with having unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor. But the Goa Children's Court dropped the charge, saying in a ruling that the diary was not admissible evidence.

Two local men are awaiting trial charged in connection with Keeling's death.

KATHMANDU, Nepal

Thousands of people flocked to a remote jungle in southeast Nepal to see a boy, some believe is a reincarnation of Lord Buddha, who reappeared after missing for more than a year,. Seventeen-year-old Ram Bahadur Bamjon spoke to devotees in the remote forest in Ratanpuri. Bamjon made international headlines in 2005 when tens of thousands of people turned up to see him sitting cross-legged under a tree in a dense forest for nearly 10 months reportedly without food and water. Buddha was born a prince in Lumbini, more than 2,600 years ago.