alison bennington, elected a lot of the greater belfast councils.ader of the alliance party were saying a short while ago was that she thinks that when you ta ke was that she thinks that when you take everything together, especially the results are alison bennington, there may have been a progressive turn in northern ireland politics at this election. voters knew that alison was an openly gay woman, that was no problem for them. she was elected. it may be a problem for some people within the dup, because they have their roots in conservative, evangelical religion, we have heard some veteran figures in the party who are clearly uncomfortable with alison bennington. they suggested that what it might mean is that the dup could be preparing to soft in its opposition to gay marriage. the dup would deny that, they say that they remain opposed to gay marriage. some people think they could just be testing the water on this policy. we will find out how this story and many others... and we'll find out how this story — and many others — are covered in tomorrow

. —— alison bennington. her candidacy was not without controversy. the dup has conservative roots.y will be very content that she has been elected. is not in terms of their views in terms of same sex marriages as well? one of the senior members concerns last night was that the election of alison bennington will result in the dup changing its party policy and coming round to support gay marriage. the party senate that is not going to happen, but that discussion was out in the open last night. —— the party say that is not going to happen. thank you for taking us do that. taking us through that. the time is eight 30 3am. —— 830 tm. ceremonies are getting under way in thailand, to mark the coronation of its new king. the rituals, taking place at the royal palace in bangkok, are intended to symbolise the transformation of the king into a divine being. it comes after two years of mourning for the previous king, who ruled for 70 years. north korea has test fired several short—range missiles overnight. it's the first major weapons test since the failed summit between donald trump and kimjo

the dup has also had its first openly gay counsellor in alison bennington.o is openly gay may change the party's policy on gay marriage. thank you very much. ceremonies are getting under way in thailand, to mark the coronation of its new king. the rituals, taking place at the royal palace in bangkok, are intended to symbolise the transformation of the king into a divine being. it comes after two years of mourning for the previous king, who ruled for 70 years. north korea has test fired several short—range missiles overnight. it's the first major weapons test since the failed summit between donald trump and kimjong—un in february. the united states says it's monitoring the situation. cyclone fani has hit india's eastern coastline, bringing torrential rain and winds of up to 125 mph eight people have reportedly been killed, and more than1 million have been evacuated from their homes. it's the most powerful storm to hit the region in years. rail passengers are being warned to expect disruption to theirjourneys this weekend, as bank holiday engineering work gets