“India Starts Building 'World’s Tallest Statue”, “Popular Russian Singer Leps Blacklisted In U.S”, “Alleged torture victims describe Aliyev as enemy of freedom of expression”, "Samand in Kazakhstan Public Transportation”

rferl.org. “India Starts Building 'World’s Tallest Statue” - Indiais beginning construction on what is planned to be the world's tallest statue.  It will stand four times as tall as the Statue of Liberty in New York, which is 46 meters tall but sits on a pedestal of equal height.
The Statue of Unity should rise 182 meters from a rocky river island in western Gujarat state and will cost some $300 million.

“Popular Russian Singer Leps Blacklisted In U.S” - The U.S. Treasury Department has blacklisted a popular Russian singer over alleged links to an international criminal group. Grigory Lepsveridze, better known as Grigory Leps, is accused of links to the Brothers' Circle, which the Treasury describes as a Eurasian criminal organization chiefly based in countries of the former Soviet Union.

maltatoday.com.mt. “Alleged torture victims describe Aliyev as enemy of freedom of expression” - Former bodyguards say multimillionaire Kazakh exile violated them personally to extract false confession.

farsnews.com. "Samand in Kazakhstan Public Transportation”- Kazakhstan has started using the Iranian passenger car, Samand, in its transportation system, Iranian automaker Iran-Khodro Company (IKCO) said. "We have studied various cars of different brands for this purpose and came to this conclusion that IKCO Samand has a firm body and is the best choice for the weather condition and environment of Kazakhstan," President of Kazakhstan's taxi service organization Valarie Seliznov said.

financialexpress.com. “Faridabad girl Srishti Rana crowned Miss Asia Pacific World 2013” - India's Srishti Rana has been crowned Miss Asia Pacific World 2013 by last year's winner Himangini Singh Yadu at a glittering ceremony. This is India's second win in a row at the Miss Asia Pacific World pageant.