Global Quickies: 05/10/13
Welcome to this week’s round-up of international news!
SAUDI ARABIA (From Michael)
In response to the call to defy the ban on women driving, a Saudi cleric asks women to “reason ahead of their hearts, emotions and passions” and accept the scientific fact that driving damages their ovaries, pushes their pelvis upwards, and causes them to have children with clinical problems.
AUSTRALIA
What’s the harm? A chiropractor broke a four-month-old baby’s neck. The baby fully recovered.
MALAYSIA
Despite sexist advertizing, a a female postgraduate student wins a spot on Axe’s competition to take “a brave man into space”. Unsurprisingly, she was targeted by online bullies harassing her for her gender.
SAUDI ARABIA
A rape victim had her sentence of 90 lashes increased to 200 and 6 months in jail because her lawyer drew international attention to her case. The lawyer had his license confiscated.
PAKISTAN
A woman was stoned to death by her relatives on order of a tribal court for having a cell phone. The article goes into the origins and current practice of stoning.
CHINA
Police raided an apartment where fake scholarly articles and counterfeit versions of medical journals were being made. Academic fraud is a big business.
IRELAND
Students in non-denominational schools will learn about atheism and secularism. Unfortunately, only 7% of Irish kids go to non-denominational schools.
IRAQ
Fake bomb detectors are still being used at checkpoints even after the supplier has been convicted of fraud. Meanwhile, people are being killed by explosive devices.
MOLDOVA
For the last 15 years, exorcisms (and overall religiosity) have been on the rise in this ex Soviet republic.
Featured image: Roshini Muniam, AXE’s space contest winner for Malaysia.