The case of the 18-year-old Saudi woman who made a desperate call for asylum from an airport in Thailand may be fast tracked as her renunciation of Islam could put her in danger should she be returned home, according to activists. Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun is now being evaluated by the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) to assess her need for international protection, a process that usually takes months. If you sent her back to Saudi Arabia after[renouncing Islam], forget about her…
Hindu nationalists cite legends and scriptures as ‘evidence’ of ancient India’s scientific advances
Isaac Newton did not understand gravity. Albert Einstein misled the world. And India pioneered the science behind test-tube babies thousands of years ago.
These were some of the wilder theories on offer at a major Indian science conference held at the weekend and inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. To open the Indian Science Congress, Modi spoke of India’s ambition to send three people to space by 2022. But the lecture that made the most headlines was an attempt to link ancient…
Teenage traveller Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, who says she fears death in Saudi Arabia, is now ‘under care of UN’, says Thailand
A Saudi teenager who made a desperate plea for asylum after landing at Bangkok airport has been placed “under the care” of the United Nations refugee agency, a Thai official said late Monday.
Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun said she ran away from her family while travelling in Kuwait because they subjected her to physical and psychological abuse. The 18-year-old said she had planned to seek asylum in Australia and feared she would be killed if repatriated by Thai immigration officials who…
Notification window opens for Brexit temporary permissions regime
Inbound passporting EEA financial services firms wishing to continue operating in the UK within the scope of their current permissions after Brexit, and fund managers wishing to continue to market passported funds in the UK after Brexit, can now do so by notifying the FCA of their wish to enter the temporary permissions regime.
Strong 6.6-magnitude quake hits off coast of Indonesia
A strong 6.6-magnitude earthquake struck off the Indonesian coast early Monday, sending residents running out of their homes, but no tsunami warning was issued.
The quake hit at a depth of 60km (40 miles) under the Maluku Sea, some 175km north northwest of the city of Ternate, according to the USGS.
There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties and Indonesia’s geophysics agency did not issue a tsunami alert.
“We felt the quake and some people got out of their house but…
Home court: in Singapore, state lawyers threaten uneasy truce between PM Lee Hsien Loong and siblings
The uneasy truce between Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his estranged younger siblings could soon be over, with public prosecutors now seeking to re-examine the circumstances surrounding their late father and former premier Lee Kuan Yew’s final will – the very issue that saw the trio bicker in public in 2016. The revelation of this development in a Facebook post late on Sunday by Lee Hsien Yang and Lee Wei Ling puts into focus the deep acrimony that remains…
Rakhine rebels kill 13 in Independence Day attack on Myanmar police posts
Rakhine insurgents killed 13 policemen and injured nine in attacks on four police posts in Myanmar’s Rakhine state on Friday as the country marked Independence Day, the official news agency said.
Fighting resurged in Rakhine state in early December between government forces and the rebel Arakan Army, which wants greater autonomy for Rakhine, where the mainly Buddhist Rakhine ethnic group makes up the majority. The Arakan Army does not cite religion as a factor in its insurgency.
It was…
Afghanistan’s school for street kids and the Singaporean doctor behind it
Every AFTERNOON, as the neighbourhood of Pul-e-Surkh in the Afghan capital of Kabul starts to come alive, 10-year-old Breshna takes her bag of socks and chewing gum and starts working the local cafes, shops and supermarkets. In scrappy clothes and with hands numb from the cold, she walks from business to business bearing her items for sale – as well as the heartache of losing her mother and father.
Breshna was six years old when her father died of cancer, thrusting her into a life of work…
Human scum? A short history of North Korea’s defections
North Korea’s top diplomat to Italy, who South Korea’s spy agency says has gone into hiding along with his wife, appears to be the latest member of the North’s elite to abandon the secretive totalitarian state.
Many of them have expressed frustration over what they described as an oppressive police state in Pyongyang or desires for their families to have new lives in South Korea or the West. The North, which touts itself as a socialist paradise, is extremely sensitive about…
UK executive pay disclosure rules come into force
New laws requiring large quoted UK public companies to be more open about their remuneration of boardroom executives have come into force.