A Saudi woman held at Bangkok airport said she would be killed if she was repatriated by Thai immigration officials, who confirmed the 18-year-old was denied entry to the country Sunday.
Rahaf Mohammed M Alqunun told AFP she was stopped by Saudi and Kuwaiti officials when she arrived in Suvarnabhumi airport and her travel document was forcibly taken from her, a claim backed by Human Rights Watch.
"They took my passport," she told AFP, adding that her male guardian had reported her for travelling "without his permission".
Rahaf said she was trying to flee her family, who subjected her to physical and psychological abuse.
"My family is strict and locked me in a room for six months just for cutting my hair," she said, adding that she is certain she will be imprisoned if she is sent back.
"I'm sure 100 per cent they will kill me as soon as I get out of the Saudi jail," she said, adding that she was "scared" and "losing hope".
Rahaf was stopped from entering Thailand when she flew in from .

Saudi woman held at Bangkok airport says fears death if repatriated

PTI Automatic

A first round of talks between White House officials and congressional aides has made little progress toward ending the government shutdown, with each side accusing the other of giving no ground.
More discussions were planned for Sunday, while President Donald Trump, who did not attend the negotiating session, was scheduled to be at Camp David for a retreat with White House staff on border security and other topics.
With the talks stalled, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said House Democrats intend to start passing individual bills to reopen agencies. The first would be the Treasury Department, to ensure people receive their tax refunds.
"Not much headway made today," Trump tweeted on Saturday after receiving a briefing from the team led by Vice President Mike Pence.
Democrats said the White House did not budge on the president's key demand, USD 5.6 billion to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. The White House said money was not discussed in depth, but the administration ..

Each side accusing other of giving no ground on shutdown

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he would discuss Iranian ambitions in neighbouring Syria when he meets Sunday evening with US national security advisor John Bolton in Jerusalem.
Bolton arrived in Israel on Saturday night for talks on the future of Syria in the wake of President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw all US forces there.
The announcement has concerned Israel and other US allies in the region, and Trump has since spoken of "slowly" sending troops home "over a period of time".
"I will discuss with him efforts to stop Iranian aggression in our region, the situation in Syria, following President Trump's decision, and the continuation of the conversation I held with President Putin on Friday," Netanyahu said at the start of a cabinet meeting.
The phone call with Putin was the first between the leaders since Trump's surprise statement that he was pulling all 2,000 troops from Syria, declaring that the United States had achieved its objective as the Islamic ..

Netanyahu to talk post-US Syria with Trump advisor

Faf du Plessis said on Sunday that Test matches were cricket's most exciting format after his side clinched their series against Pakistan with a nine-wicket win on the fourth day at Newlands on Sunday.
The South African captain disagreed with Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur's criticism of the pitches for the first two Tests, both won by South Africa in less than four days.
South Africa needed just 48 minutes and 9.5 overs to score the 41 runs needed on Sunday to score a second successive win - and a seventh successive home series victory.
Du Plessis said lively surfaces and an attacking mindset, encouraged by Twenty20 cricket, had helped make Test cricket exciting.
"There are not a lot of Test matches that are going five days around the world any more," he said.
"The speed of play has gone up tremendously. Test cricket has evolved and it is great for the fans. They are getting fours, sixes, lots of wickets and pace bowlers bowling. Test cricket for me the last few years has been the most 

After victory, Du Plessis says he's a fan of Tests and lively pitches

Karolina Pliskova used all her big match experience as she came from a set down to overhaul Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko and win the Brisbane International on Sunday.
The unseeded Tsurenko looked headed for the biggest win of her career when serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set, only for Pliskova to come storming back to win 4-6,7-5, 6-2 and claim her second Brisbane title.
Pliskova, the tournament's Czech fifth seed, started slowly and paid the penalty against Tsurenko, who was serving superbly and winning the battle from the baseline.
"I just felt somehow tired from the beginning of the day," Pliskova said.
"I was missing my shots, just not feeling the timing perfectly. I was sleeping bad. So everything was somehow going the other way." Tsurenko took the first set in 38 minutes, firing 10 winners and making 81 percent of her first serves.
She took that form into the second set and broke Pliskova early.
However, serving for the match at 5-4, she tightened up and Pliskova won 13 

Pliskova overhauls Tsurenko to win Brisbane title

Defending champions Australia made their worst ever start to an Asian Cup on Sunday when they lost 1-0 to Jordan in front of a partisan crowd in Al Ain.
Graham Arnold's youthful side had expected victory in their Group B opener but they were undone by Anas Bani-Yaseen's powerful first-half header from a corner.
It leaves the injury-hit Aussies with much to ponder ahead of Friday's game against Palestine, when they will need a win to get their title defence on track.
Australia started confidently but their Brighton 'keeper Mat Ryan  made the first save  when he kept out Yousef Rawashdeh at his near post after a mistake by Massimo Luongo.
Shortly afterwards, Australia's former South Sudanese refugee Awer Mabil, in his first competitive international, nearly opened the scoring but his close-range shot was blocked by Amir Shafi.
The youthful Socceroos had more than 70 percent of first-half possession but rarely threatened, while Jordan were intent on harassing in midfield and seeking ...

Aussie horror show as Jordan stun Asian Cup champs

Japanese star Kei Nishikori claimed his first title since 2016 when he downed Russia's Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 in the final of the Brisbane International on Sunday.
The Japanese star had not won a tournament since Memphis in 2016 and was hampered by a wrist injury the following year which forced a break from the 2018 tour.
He was runner-up in Brisbane in 2017 but went one better this year in a superb final.  Nishikori dominated his Russian rival throughout, despite a slight hiccup when one poor service game cost him the second set.
The second seed started slowly and went down 0-3 to the Russian.
But he recovered to break back and then seized the advantage at 3-3 when he broke Medvedev again, taking the first set in 42 minutes.
Nishikori was all over the Russian in the second set, his powerful and well-directed groundstrokes forcing Medvedev into errors.
Medvedev held on against Nishikori's multiple chances to break at 2-2 and 3-3 and took advantage of his opponent's poor service 

Brilliant Nishikori claims Brisbane title

Social exclusion has emerged as the leading factor in creating violent jihadists, according to a new international study.
A team of researchers, including from University College London (UCL), used medical science and neuroimaging techniques to map how the brains of radicalised individuals respond to being socially marginalised.
The findings, they claim, confirm that exclusion is a leading factor in creating violent jihadists, 'The Observer' reported.
The findings challenge the common belief among Western policymakers that other variables, such as poverty, religious conservatism and even psychosis, are dominant drivers of radicalisation.
"This finally dispels such wrongheaded ideas," said Nafees Hamid, the study's co-lead author of UCL.
"The first ever neuroimaging study on a radicalised population shows extreme pro-group behaviour seems to intensify after social exclusion," he said.
Using ethnographic fieldwork and psychological surveys, researchers identified 535 young Muslim men in 

Social exclusion leads to Islamist radicalisation, finds new study

An 18-year-old Saudi woman seeking asylum was denied entry to Thailand and held in Bangkok's airport, a Thai official said Sunday.
Rahaf Mohammed M Alqunun "ran away from her family to avoid marriage and she is concerned she may be in trouble returning to Saudi Arabia", Thailand's immigration chief Surachate Hakparn told AFP, adding that Thai authorities contacted the "Saudi Arabia embassy to coordinate".
Rahaf and Human Rights Watch told AFP she was stopped by Saudi and Kuwaiti officials when she arrived in Suvarnabhumi airport and her passport was forcibly taken from her.

Saudi asylum-seeker held at Bangkok airport: Thai immigration chief

Bangladesh on Sunday named a council of ministers with several new faces in the 47-member Cabinet of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina whose Awami League returned to power for a third consecutive term after its landslide victory in the December 30 election.
Several veterans were dropped from the council of ministers amid speculation about the inductions as major portfolios like defence were retained by Hasina herself.
Academic-turned-diplomat Abdul Momen, a new face in politics, was appointed the new foreign minister. He previously served as Bangladesh's permanent envoy at the UN.
Former planning minister and businessman A H M Mustafa Kamal became the finance minister in the Cabinet which has 24 full ministers with the rest being ministers of state.
Several influential Awami League figures including general secretary Obaidul Quader, Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, Anisul Huq and A K M Mozammel Haque retained their positions in the ministries of road transport and bridges, home, law, and liberation 

Bangladesh names ministers in Hasina's new Cabinet

Malaysia's king has abdicated, royal officials said Sunday, ending weeks of speculation about his future after he took a leave of absence and amid rumours he married a Russian former beauty queen.
Sultan Muhammad V's decision marks the first time a king has abdicated in the Muslim-majority country since it gained independence from Britain in 1957.
"The National Palace informs that his majesty has resigned as the 15th king effective January 6," said a statement from the palace.
It did not give any reason for the 49-year-old royal's move.
But there had been a question mark over the reign of the king, who ascended to the throne in December 2016, since he took a leave of absence for medical treatment in November.
Reports then circulated online that he had married a former Miss Moscow in Russia -- although royal officials in Malaysia have so far not commented on the rumours.  Speculation intensified about his future this week when the country's Islamic royals reportedly held a special ...

Malaysia's king abdicates: palace statement

Egypt's president will inaugurate the country's biggest cathedral on Coptic Christmas Eve Sunday, a day after a deadly bomb blast near a church in a country where jihadists have repeatedly targeted Christians.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Saturday's explosion on the eastern edge of Cairo that killed a policeman who was trying to defuse the device and wounded two other officers.
Coptic Christians, who account for around 10 per cent of Egypt's population, have been hit by a string of attacks by the Islamic State group in recent years.
The bomb was hidden inside a bag that was placed on the rooftop of Al-Haq mosque near the Virgin Mary church in the Nasr City district of Cairo, religious officials and witnesses said.
The Grand Mufti of Egypt, Shawki Allam, denounced "the terrorist operation that targeted... the church in the Ezzbat al-Haggan neighbourhood of Nasr City", on his official Facebook page.
He said "extremists" had planted "an explosive device on the roof .

Egypt's Sisi to inaugurate Coptic cathedral after bomb blast

In a first, scientists have found evidence that the mysterious dark matter -- believed to make up most of the mass of the universe -- can be heated up and moved around, as a result of star formation in galaxies.
The findings, published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, provide the first observational evidence for the effect known as 'dark matter heating', and give new clues as to what makes up dark matter.
Scientists from the University of Surrey in the UK, Carnegie Mellon University in the US and ETH Zurich in Switzerland set out to hunt for evidence for dark matter at the centres of nearby dwarf galaxies.
Dwarf galaxies are small, faint galaxies that are typically found orbiting larger galaxies like our own Milky Way. They may hold clues that could help us to better understand the nature of dark matter.
Dark matter is thought to make up most of the mass of the universe. However since it does not interact with light in the same way as normal matter, it 

Scientists detect dark matter 'on the move'

Pope Francis on Sunday urged EU leaders to show "concrete solidarity" with 49 migrants stranded on NGO ships off the coast of Malta who have been refused permission to land.
"Forty nine migrants rescued in the Mediterranean by two NGO ships have been onboard for several days now, waiting to be able to disembark," Francis told thousands of people gathered in Saint Peter's square in Rome.
"I address a pressing appeal to European leaders that they show some concrete solidarity with respect to these people," he added.
Amid growing concern over the plight of the migrants, some of whom have been at sea for more than two weeks, the European Commission earlier this week called on EU member states to admit them.
The Netherlands and Germany have offered to take some but only if their EU partners do the same, highlighting again the European Union's long-running deadlock over sharing responsibility for migrants.
There are 17 people on board the German NGO Sea-Eye vessel, with another 32 on the ...

Pope urges EU leaders to show solidarity with migrants off Malta

An implantable device may help restore natural facial movement in patients with one-sided facial paralysis, scientists say.
According to a study published in the journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery,  experiments in animals show promising results with a "bionic face" approach to facial reanimation -- using  electrical signals from the uninjured side of the face to trigger muscle movement on the paralysed side.
Such an approach would represent a paradigm shift in management of hemifacial palsy, according Nate Jowett of Harvard Medical School in the US, who led the research.
Hemifacial palsy is a "devastating clinical condition" leading to functional, aesthetic, and communication problems.
While reconstructive surgery approaches such as nerve and muscle transfers can restore some facial movement, these techniques have important shortcomings. For example, while patients may regain some ability to smile, it requires a conscious effort to do so.
The development and "proof of ...

'Bionic face' may help treat facial paralysis

Congo's top electoral official says the announcement of the results of the presidential election has been postponed.
Corneille Nangaa told The Associated Press that the results of the December 30 election will not be made public Sunday as expected. He said the official electoral commission will confirm the delay later Sunday.
The postponement in announcing the results is expected to increase tensions in Congo.
The Catholic Church, an influential voice in the heavily Catholic nation, said that data reported by its 40,000 election observers deployed in polling stations show a clear winner. The church urged the electoral commission to announce accurate results.
The government has already cut internet access across the vast Central African country to prevent any speculation on social media about who might have won the election.

Congo delays announcing results of presidential election

Eugeniu Iordachescu, a Romanian civil engineer who devised an ingenious way to save 12 churches and many other historic buildings from being destroyed by the country's former Communist strongman, has died at 89.
He died Friday from a heart attack and his funeral was being held Sunday, his daughter-in-law, Ligia Iordachescu, told The Associated Press.
From 1982 to 1988, thousands of buildings were razed in the heart of Bucharest, the Romanian capital, to make way for a plan by then-Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu to build a giant House of the People and Soviet-style apartment buildings.
The urban redesign known as systemization, which occurred all over Romania, was inspired during Ceausescu's 1971 visit to North Korea.
Dubbed "the guardian angel" of churches, Iordachescu devised a radical system that placed whole buildings including churches, monasteries, banks and apartment buildings on the equivalent of railway tracks and rolled them hundreds of meters (yards) away to save them ...

Romanian engineer who saved churches from destruction dies

Bayern Munich will impose "a heavy fine" on Franck Ribery for his obscenity laced outburst on social media, the club's sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic said on Sunday.
The French striker put a string of angry posts on Twitter and Instagram on Saturday aimed at those who had criticised him for eating a gold-coated steak.
"I had a long talk with Franck and I let him know that we would impose a heavy fine on him and he accepted it," Salihamidzic told journalists in Qatar, where the club is on a training camp.
"He used words that we, FC Bayern, cannot accept and that Franck does not have the right to use, as a role-model and player of FC Bayern", added Salihamidzic.
On Thursday, the 35-year-old Bayern Munich player posted a video on social media showing him in a steak house owned by celebrity Turkish restauranteur Salt Bae and rubbing his hands before tucking into a huge chop coated in gold.
That ostentatious luxury, and the reported cost of the meal, drew ferocious criticism before ..

Bayern Munich hand Ribery "heavy fine" for Tweetstorm

Venezuela's opposition-controlled but toothless National Assembly declared Nicolas Maduro's presidency illegitimate on Saturday, calling on the military to support efforts to "restore democracy."
The United States, which has sanctioned Venezuelan officials and entities, hailed the legislature as "the only legitimate and last remaining democratically elected institution" in the country.
"We reaffirm the illegitimacy of Nicolas Maduro," the assembly's new president Juan Guaido said after being sworn in at the start of a new legislative session.
"As of January 10, he will be usurping the presidency and consequently this National Assembly is the only legitimate representative of the people."
Maduro, who has presided over a virtual collapse of the economy in the once-rich OPEC member state, is set to be sworn in on Thursday for a second six-year term after elections widely condemned by the international community.
The ballot, on May 20, was boycotted by most of the opposition.
On Friday, ..

Venezuela's assembly rejects legitimacy of Maduro second term

Pakistan's flag carrier PIA has asked some of its cabin crew with "excess weight" to shed some kilos within six months or risk being grounded, in a bid to make them "slim, smart and fit", a media report said.
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) also issued a suggested weight chart for differing heights and body types, The Express Tribune reported.
Those already "on weight check" need to report monthly to a "grooming cell" to receive clearance to fly, it said.
The carrier's general manager of flight services Aamir Bashir issued an order on the first day of 2019, saying official excess weight limits would be cut back by five pounds (2.26 kgs) a month, the report said.
In a memo distributed to approximately 1,800 cabin crew, PIA said they must trim down or face being grounded, the report said.
The airline said it is cracking down on what it terms the "excess weight" of some of its cabin crew.
Currently, flight attendants, who are 30 pounds (13.6 kgs) over are still eligible for flight .

Lose weight or face the axe: PIA tells 'obese' cabin crew

Pakistan's former envoy to the US Hussain Haqqani, who is wanted by the country's Supreme Court in connection with cases of treason and embezzlement of funds, has said that he did not receive any warrants about inquiries from the authorities, according to a media reports on Sunday.
Pakistan has initiated a process of seeking the extradition of Haqqani from the US through the foreign office on embezzlement charges after it failed to get it through Interpol.
The Supreme Court had issued warrants to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to produce Haqqani, a prominent critic of Pakistan's military and political leadership, before it in January last year, but the Interpol has refused to issue an arrest warrant against him.
Haqqani termed the new allegations against him as "manufactured".
"It seems to be another gimmick aimed to gullible Pakistani media. New allegations filed more than seven years after my forced resignation are obviously manufactured," the Dawn paper quoted Haqqani as ...

Page 3661 - PTI Stories National