An 18-year-old woman detained in Thailand after fleeing her family in Saudi Arabia and renouncing Islam will not be sent back to the Middle East against her wishes, Thai officials have said. Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun barricaded herself inside a transit zone hotel room in Bangkok airport to prevent immigration officials putting her on a flight to Kuwait. She was denied entry to Thailand while en route to Australia, where she has a three-month multiple-entry tourist visa and said she was intending to seek asylum.

Qunun says she would be killed if she was returned to Saudi Arabia and has vowed not to leave the hotel room until she can see representatives from the United Nations high commissioner for refugees.“I am Rahaf … I am in the hotel, I need a country to protect me as soon as possible. I am seeking asylum,” Qunun said in a video posted on social media.Samut Prakan, the head of Thailand’s immigration bureau, said: “If deporting her would result in her death, we definitely wouldn’t want to do that.” Qunun would speak to UNHCR representatives later on Monday, he added.(theguardian)…[+]

LONDON – Prime Minister Theresa May said yesterday that Britain would be in uncharted territory if her Brexit deal is rejected by parliament later this month, despite little sign that she has won over sceptical lawmakers.

Britain is due to leave the European Union on March 29 but May’s inability so far to get her deal for a managed exit through parliament has alarmed business leaders and investors who fear the country is heading for a damaging no-deal Brexit. May said the vote in parliament would be around Jan. 15, as expected, contrary to reports she could delay it.

May has already delayed the vote once, in December, when it became clear she would lose unless extra reassurances from the EU were agreed. Describing what would happen if she was defeated, May told the BBC: “We’re going to be in uncharted territory. I don’t think anybody can say exactly what will happen in terms of the reaction we’ll see in parliament.” Amid the uncertainty over Britain’s next steps – which range from leaving without a deal to not leaving at all – a poll showed more Britons want to remain a member of the EU than leave, and voters want to make the final decision themselves.(Reuters)…[+]

The Rent Restriction Act of 1983 makes it illegal for landlords to discriminate against potential tenants on the basis that they have children, but scores of landlords are banning the babies and getting away with it. Under Section 4A Subsection 1 of the Rent Restriction Act, “A person shall not, as a condition for the grant, renewal or continuance of a tenancy of any controlled premises consisting of a dwelling house, require that no children shall reside with the tenant in that dwelling house.”

This offence carries a fine not exceeding $1,000 for a first conviction or a term not exceeding 12 months imprisonment. But that has not saved 28-year-old Anna-Kay Williams, who told The Sunday Gleanerthat she been almost homeless since July 2018, as the owners of the properties she has been trying to rent are turning her down because she has four children ranging from age three to 15.According to Williams, in her last encounter she saw an advertisement in the paper which just said ‘Room for rent in Greater Portmore, St Catherine’, with the landlord asking for $25,000 per month plus a deposit.(Jamaica Gleaner)…[+]

A young man is being treated in isolation at Uppsala University hospital in Sweden after suspicion of Ebola contamination, the regional authority has said. Region Uppsala, which oversees several hospitals and medical clinics north of Stockholm, says a test had been carried out on the patient, who was not identified. A result is expected later on Friday.

The young man had been in Burundi for around three weeks, and was exhibiting classic symptoms of haemorrhagic fever, including vomiting blood, according to the hospital’s chief medical officer. The emergency clinic at Enköping hospital, where the patient was first admitted, has been closed and staff who were in contact with the patient are also being looked after. An outbreak of the virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo – which shares a border with Burundi – began in August 2018, and has resulted in 608 cases and 368 deaths. Efforts to contain the disease have been hampered by continued instability. On Thursday, director general of the World Health Organization, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned that the outbreak was occurring in “the most difficult context imaginable”. “To end it [the outbreak] the response needs to be supported and expanded, not further complicated. Ebola is unforgiving, and disruptions give the virus the advantage,” said Tedros.(theguardian)…[+]