An 18-year-old Saudi woman who said she was abused by her family and feared for her life if deported back home has arrived in Canada after Justin Trudeau confirmed that the teenager would be granted asylum.
Thailand’s immigration police chief said that Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun had left Bangkok on a flight to South Korea with a final destination of Toronto on Friday.
Ms al-Qunun tweeted a video of her plane landing at the airport on Saturday, accompanied with the caption: “I’m in Canada everyone”.
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The teenager fled her family while visiting Kuwait and flew to Bangkok, where she barricaded herself in an airport hotel to avoid deportation.
She attracted global attention by mounting a social media campaign for asylum after Thai immigration police seized her passport and refused her entry to the country on 5 January.
Following Ms al-Qunun’s campaign, prime minister Trudeau announced that Ms al-Qunun would be granted asylum in Canada.
He said: “That is something that we are pleased to do because Canada is a country that understands how important it is to stand up for human rights and to stand up for woman’s rights around the world and I can confirm that we have accepted the UN’s request.”
“I can confirm that we have accepted the UN’s request.”
Several other countries, including Australia, had been in talks with the UN’s refugee agency to accept Ms al-Qunun, according to Thai immigration police chief Surachate Hakparn.
1/50 12 January 2019
Firefighters extinguish a fire after the explosion of a bakery on the corner of the streets Saint-Cecile and Rue de Trevise in central Paris
AFP/Getty
2/50 11 January 2019
Workers shovel snow out of a restaurant after an avalanche at Santis-Schwaegalp mountain resort, in Switzerland
Reuters
3/50 10 January 2019
Supporters of Felix Tshisekedi, leader of the Congolese main opposition party, the Union for Democracy and Social Progress who was announced as the winner of the presidential elections; celebrate along the streets of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
Reuters
4/50 9 January 2019
Philippine Coast Guards keep watch as Roman Catholic devotees cross the bridge in a raucous procession of the Black Nazarene to celebrate its feast day in Manila. Tens of thousands of mostly barefoot Filipino Catholics joined the annual procession of a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ to celebrate the Feast of the Black Nazarene which usually ends before dawn the next day
AP
5/50 8 January 2019
A car trapped in snowdrifts in southeastern Poland. Many cities in whole Poland have been affected by snowfall
EPA
6/50 7 January 2019
Actor Kevin Spacey pleaded non-guilty to sexual assault charge at Nantucket District Court in Massachusetts. The Oscar-winning actor is accused of groping the teenage son of a former Boston TV anchor in 2016 in a crowded bar at the Club Car in Nantucket
Reuters
7/50 6 January 2019
A gentoo penguin is seen during a promotional event during an annual ice festival in the northern city of Harbin, Heilongjiang province, China
Reuters
8/50 5 January 2019
Snow covers the statue of Alexander the Great at the seaside promenade of Thessaloniki, Greece
Reuters
9/50 4 January 2019
Firefighters try to extinguish a fire at a commercial market in Jalalabad, Afghanistan
Reuters
10/50 3 January 2019
AFP/Getty
11/50 2 January 2019
Two men walk past a damaged cargo train after an accident in Nyborg, Denmark. Several people were killed in the crash on a bridge connecting two islands in Denmark, police said
AFP/Getty
12/50 1 January 2019
Emergency officers transporting a baby survivor after a gas explosion rocked a residential building in Russia’s Urals city of Magnitogorsk. Russian rescuers have been forced to temporarily halt the search for dozens of missing people in the rubble of a collapsed high-rise apartment block as the building risked crumbling further, officials said, with the incident claiming at least seven lives. Part of the 10-storey building collapsed following a gas explosion on the morning of December 31, in the industrial city of Magnitogorsk, east of Moscow in the Ural mountains
Russian Emergency Situations Ministry/AFP/Getty
13/50 31 December 2018
Fireworks explode over the Sydney Harbour during New Year’s Eve celebrations in Sydney
AP
14/50 30 December 2018
Bangladeshi army personnel drive a military vehicle through a street adorned with election posters near a polling station in Dhaka. Bangladesh headed to the polls following a weeks-long campaign that was dominated by deadly violence and allegations of a crackdown on thousands of opposition activists.
AFP/Getty
15/50 29 December 2018
Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli speaks to journalists as he arrives at the hospital where Vietnamese victims of an attack on a tourist bus where taken, in Al-Haram district in the Egyptian capital Cairo’s western twin city of Giza. – Three Vietnamese holidaymakers and an Egyptian tour guide were killed on December 28 when a roadside bomb blast hit their bus as it travelled close to the Giza pyramids outside Cairo, officials said.
AFP/Getty
16/50 28 December 2018
Bright blue light is seen after a transformer explosion at an electric power station in the New York City borough of Queens
Reuters
17/50 27 December 2018
The Opal Tower at Sydney Olympic Park, Australia. Residents of the tower have been told to leave for a second time in four days to enable the company and investigators to conduct a ‘comprehensive investigation’ into a crack on the tenth floor of the building. Emergency services were called on the afternoon of the 24 December after residents of the building had heard cracking sounds throughout the morning
EPA
18/50 26 December 2018
A young man dressed in a Father Christmas suit distributes gifts to children in the old city of Mosul
AFP/Getty
19/50 25 December 2018
A participant in a Santa Claus costume jumps into the water during the 109th edition of the ‘Copa Nadal’ (Christmas Cup) swimming competition in Barcelona’s Port Vell. The traditional 200-meter Christmas swimming race gathered more than 300 participants on Barcelona’s old harbour
AFP/Getty
20/50 24 December 2018
US President Donald Trump speaks on the telephone as he answers calls from people calling into the NORAD Santa tracker phone line in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington
AFP/Getty
21/50 23 December 2018
An aerial photo shows damaged buildings in Carita after the area was hit by a tsunami on December 22 following an eruption of the Anak Krakatoa volcano. The volcano-triggered tsunami has left at least 222 people dead and hundreds more injured after slamming without warning into beaches around Indonesia’s Sunda Strait. Officials voiced fears that the toll was set to rise
AFP/Getty
22/50 22 December 2018
Protesters wearing a yellow vest (gilet jaune) stand next to a burning barricade as they demonstrate against rising costs of living they blame on high taxes at the A9 highway toll of Le Boulou, southern France. The “Yellow Vests” (Gilets Jaunes) movement in France originally started as a protest about planned fuel hikes but has morphed into a mass protest against President’s policies and top-down style of governing
AFP/Getty
23/50 21 December 2018
A Palestinian man wearing a Santa Claus outfit hands a flower to man in a wheelchair during a demonstration near the border between Israel and Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip
AFP/Getty
24/50 20 December 2018
Moroccan authorities investigate the scene of the grisly murder of two Scandinavian women at the foothills of the Atlas Mountains. The suspects in the killings have pledged alleigance to ISIS
AP
25/50 19 December 2018
Supporters of Democratic Republic of Congo opposition leader Martin Fayulu gesture number four (the candidate number on the electoral list) as they protest in Kinshasa after campaigning was called off by the authorities on security grounds
Getty
26/50 17 December 2018
Pyongyang residents prepare to lay flowers at the statues of late North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il during National Memorial Day on Mansu Hill. North Korea is marking the seventh anniversary of the death of Kim Jong II
AFP/Getty
27/50 16 December 2018
Firefighters work on site where a large explosion occurred at a restaurant in Sapporo. According to local media reports, an explosion that triggered a fire occurred at a restaurant in Sapporo in the evening of 16 December. At least 20 people have been reported injured and taken to hospitals.
EPA
28/50 15 December 2018
A supporter wears a cast on her broken wrist with ‘I (heart) Obamacare’ written on it . A federal judge in Texas ruled that the US health care law known as Obamacare is unconstitutional — a ruling that opposition Democrats vowed to appeal. US District Judge Reed O’Connor’s ruling came in a lawsuit filed by several Republican state attorneys general and a governor opposed to the federal government health plan, known officially as the Affordable Care Act
EPA
29/50 14 December 2018
A Palestinian carries a flaming tyre amid clashes with Israeli forces. Israel carried out raids in the West Bank today in search of a Palestinian who shot dead two soldiers yesterday
AFP/Getty
30/50 13 December 2018
Yemen’s foreign minister Khaled al-Yamani (L) and the head rebel negotiator Mohammed Abdelsalam shake hands during peace talks in Sweden that are being overseen by the UN
AFP
31/50 12 December 2018
Baby monkeys play on a wall of India’s parliament in New Delhi. Macaque monkeys have swarmed the parliament, destroying important documents, attacking government officials and generally menacing the state
Reuters
32/50 11 December 2018
German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomes British Prime Minister Theresa May at the chancellery in Berlin. May postponed the Brexit deal Meaningful Vote, on 11 December due to risk of rejection from Members of Parliament. She is currently on a whistle stop tour of Europe calling on the leaders of the Netherlands, Germany and EU in Brussels looking for new guide lines for her Northern Ireland backstop
EPA
33/50 10 December 2018
Police investigate after an empty school bus crashed in the North Point district of Hong Kong. Two people were killed when a school bus mounted a pavement in a crowded Hong Kong neighbourhood, trapping passers-by underneath and injuring 13, police said
AFP/Getty
34/50 9 December 2018
A Boca Juniors’ fan cheers at a viewing in Buenos Aires for the Copa Libertadores final against rivals River Plate. The match is being held in Madrid, a neutral ground, after it was twice delayed due to violence
AP
35/50 8 December 2018
Protestors wearing “yellow vests” (gilets jaunes) clash with riot police near the Champs Elysees avenue in Paris during a protest against rising costs of living they blame on high taxes. – Paris was on high alert with major security measures in place ahead of fresh “yellow vest” protests which authorities fear could turn violent for a second weekend in a row.
AFP/Getty
36/50 7 December 2018
Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer reacts after being elected to leader of the Christian Democratic Union, succeeding the 18 year reign of Angela Merkel
Getty
37/50 6 December 2018
Police use tear gas against protesters during a demonstration in Athens to commemorate the 10th anniversary of a fatal shooting of a teenager which sparked major riots in Greece in 2008
AFP/Getty
38/50 5 December 2018
The flag-draped casket of former US President George HW Bush is carried by military pallbearers past US President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, former President Barack Obama, former first lady Michelle Obama, former President Bill Clinton, former first lady Hillary Clinton, former President Jimmy Carter and former first lady Rosalynn Carter as it arrives at his state funeral at Washington National Cathedral
Reuters
39/50 4 December 2018
High school students burn a barricade in front of their high school during a demonstration against French government Education reforms
AFP/Getty
40/50 3 December 2018
Sully, the service dog of former US President George HW Bush in his final months, lays in front of Bush’s casket at the George H Lewis & Sons funeral home in Houston, Texas
Courtesy Office of George HW Bush/Reuters
41/50 2 December 2018
Demonstrators march in Brussels to ‘claim the climate’ as world leaders meet in Poland to discuss the Paris climate agreement targets
AP
42/50 1 December 2018
A protester moves to lob a tear gas canister during a protest in Paris today against rising fuel prices
Reuters
43/50 30 November 2018
US President Donald Trump, Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May, French President Emmanuel Macron and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wave hands in front of other leaders during a family photo at the G20 leaders summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina
Reuters
44/50 29 November 2018
Firefighters battle a blaze on Fingerfield road at the Deepwater National Park area of Queensland. Thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes in northeastern Australia as bushfires raged across the state amid a scorching heatwave
AFP/Getty
45/50 28 November 2018
A child waits to receive free bread by a local charity bakery amid a severe shortage of food in Sana’a, Yemen. According to reports, nearly 22 million people of Yemen’s 26-million population are in need of humanitarian assistance as a result of increased food insecurity. The impoverished Arab country is experiencing a humanitarian crisis due to an ongoing brutal conflict that has lasted more than three years that has driven millions to the brink of famine
EPA
46/50 27 November 2018
A petrol bomb was thrown towards the Ajax fans during their Champions League away match against AEK Athens in the Greek capital. Home supporters threw flares into the stands also
Reuters
47/50 26 November 2018
Ukrainian activists burn flares during their rally in front of the Russian Consulate in Kharkiv, Ukraine. The President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, at a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council, on 25 November, announced the decision to introduce martial law in Ukraine for a period of 60 days. Russia seized three Ukrainian vessels amid their leaving the Kerch Strait. The two small-sized ‘Berdiansk’ and ‘Nikopol’ armored artillery boats had come under enemy fire and are now dead in the water. The ‘Yany Kapu’ tugboat was forcibly stopped and captured by special forces of the Russian Federation
EPA
48/50 25 November 2018
Women’s rights activists gather to march through Taksim Square to protest against gender violence in Istanbul on the International Day for the elimination of violence against women
AFP/Getty
49/50 24 November 2018
River Plate’s fans clash with riot police after the second leg of the Copa Libertadores final match against rivals Boc Juniors was postponed
Reuters
50/50 23 November 2018
Elias Lopez, a three-year-old Honduran migrant, plays in between the shields of a line of Mexican riot police, when the group he was part of tried to cross the Chaparral border crossing in Tijuana, Mexico. Elias Lopez is part of a group of Central American migrants that marched peacefully to the border crossing to demand better conditions and push to enter the US
AP
1/50 12 January 2019
Firefighters extinguish a fire after the explosion of a bakery on the corner of the streets Saint-Cecile and Rue de Trevise in central Paris
AFP/Getty
2/50 11 January 2019
Workers shovel snow out of a restaurant after an avalanche at Santis-Schwaegalp mountain resort, in Switzerland
Reuters
3/50 10 January 2019
Supporters of Felix Tshisekedi, leader of the Congolese main opposition party, the Union for Democracy and Social Progress who was announced as the winner of the presidential elections; celebrate along the streets of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
Reuters
4/50 9 January 2019
Philippine Coast Guards keep watch as Roman Catholic devotees cross the bridge in a raucous procession of the Black Nazarene to celebrate its feast day in Manila. Tens of thousands of mostly barefoot Filipino Catholics joined the annual procession of a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ to celebrate the Feast of the Black Nazarene which usually ends before dawn the next day
AP
5/50 8 January 2019
A car trapped in snowdrifts in southeastern Poland. Many cities in whole Poland have been affected by snowfall
EPA
6/50 7 January 2019
Actor Kevin Spacey pleaded non-guilty to sexual assault charge at Nantucket District Court in Massachusetts. The Oscar-winning actor is accused of groping the teenage son of a former Boston TV anchor in 2016 in a crowded bar at the Club Car in Nantucket
Reuters
7/50 6 January 2019
A gentoo penguin is seen during a promotional event during an annual ice festival in the northern city of Harbin, Heilongjiang province, China
Reuters
8/50 5 January 2019
Snow covers the statue of Alexander the Great at the seaside promenade of Thessaloniki, Greece
Reuters
9/50 4 January 2019
Firefighters try to extinguish a fire at a commercial market in Jalalabad, Afghanistan
Reuters
10/50 3 January 2019
AFP/Getty
11/50 2 January 2019
Two men walk past a damaged cargo train after an accident in Nyborg, Denmark. Several people were killed in the crash on a bridge connecting two islands in Denmark, police said
AFP/Getty
12/50 1 January 2019
Emergency officers transporting a baby survivor after a gas explosion rocked a residential building in Russia’s Urals city of Magnitogorsk. Russian rescuers have been forced to temporarily halt the search for dozens of missing people in the rubble of a collapsed high-rise apartment block as the building risked crumbling further, officials said, with the incident claiming at least seven lives. Part of the 10-storey building collapsed following a gas explosion on the morning of December 31, in the industrial city of Magnitogorsk, east of Moscow in the Ural mountains
Russian Emergency Situations Ministry/AFP/Getty
13/50 31 December 2018
Fireworks explode over the Sydney Harbour during New Year’s Eve celebrations in Sydney
AP
14/50 30 December 2018
Bangladeshi army personnel drive a military vehicle through a street adorned with election posters near a polling station in Dhaka. Bangladesh headed to the polls following a weeks-long campaign that was dominated by deadly violence and allegations of a crackdown on thousands of opposition activists.
AFP/Getty
15/50 29 December 2018
Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli speaks to journalists as he arrives at the hospital where Vietnamese victims of an attack on a tourist bus where taken, in Al-Haram district in the Egyptian capital Cairo’s western twin city of Giza. – Three Vietnamese holidaymakers and an Egyptian tour guide were killed on December 28 when a roadside bomb blast hit their bus as it travelled close to the Giza pyramids outside Cairo, officials said.
AFP/Getty
16/50 28 December 2018
Bright blue light is seen after a transformer explosion at an electric power station in the New York City borough of Queens
Reuters
17/50 27 December 2018
The Opal Tower at Sydney Olympic Park, Australia. Residents of the tower have been told to leave for a second time in four days to enable the company and investigators to conduct a ‘comprehensive investigation’ into a crack on the tenth floor of the building. Emergency services were called on the afternoon of the 24 December after residents of the building had heard cracking sounds throughout the morning
EPA
18/50 26 December 2018
A young man dressed in a Father Christmas suit distributes gifts to children in the old city of Mosul
AFP/Getty
19/50 25 December 2018
A participant in a Santa Claus costume jumps into the water during the 109th edition of the ‘Copa Nadal’ (Christmas Cup) swimming competition in Barcelona’s Port Vell. The traditional 200-meter Christmas swimming race gathered more than 300 participants on Barcelona’s old harbour
AFP/Getty
20/50 24 December 2018
US President Donald Trump speaks on the telephone as he answers calls from people calling into the NORAD Santa tracker phone line in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington
AFP/Getty
21/50 23 December 2018
An aerial photo shows damaged buildings in Carita after the area was hit by a tsunami on December 22 following an eruption of the Anak Krakatoa volcano. The volcano-triggered tsunami has left at least 222 people dead and hundreds more injured after slamming without warning into beaches around Indonesia’s Sunda Strait. Officials voiced fears that the toll was set to rise
AFP/Getty
22/50 22 December 2018
Protesters wearing a yellow vest (gilet jaune) stand next to a burning barricade as they demonstrate against rising costs of living they blame on high taxes at the A9 highway toll of Le Boulou, southern France. The “Yellow Vests” (Gilets Jaunes) movement in France originally started as a protest about planned fuel hikes but has morphed into a mass protest against President’s policies and top-down style of governing
AFP/Getty
23/50 21 December 2018
A Palestinian man wearing a Santa Claus outfit hands a flower to man in a wheelchair during a demonstration near the border between Israel and Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip
AFP/Getty
24/50 20 December 2018
Moroccan authorities investigate the scene of the grisly murder of two Scandinavian women at the foothills of the Atlas Mountains. The suspects in the killings have pledged alleigance to ISIS
AP
25/50 19 December 2018
Supporters of Democratic Republic of Congo opposition leader Martin Fayulu gesture number four (the candidate number on the electoral list) as they protest in Kinshasa after campaigning was called off by the authorities on security grounds
Getty
26/50 17 December 2018
Pyongyang residents prepare to lay flowers at the statues of late North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il during National Memorial Day on Mansu Hill. North Korea is marking the seventh anniversary of the death of Kim Jong II
AFP/Getty
27/50 16 December 2018
Firefighters work on site where a large explosion occurred at a restaurant in Sapporo. According to local media reports, an explosion that triggered a fire occurred at a restaurant in Sapporo in the evening of 16 December. At least 20 people have been reported injured and taken to hospitals.
EPA
28/50 15 December 2018
A supporter wears a cast on her broken wrist with ‘I (heart) Obamacare’ written on it . A federal judge in Texas ruled that the US health care law known as Obamacare is unconstitutional — a ruling that opposition Democrats vowed to appeal. US District Judge Reed O’Connor’s ruling came in a lawsuit filed by several Republican state attorneys general and a governor opposed to the federal government health plan, known officially as the Affordable Care Act
EPA
29/50 14 December 2018
A Palestinian carries a flaming tyre amid clashes with Israeli forces. Israel carried out raids in the West Bank today in search of a Palestinian who shot dead two soldiers yesterday
AFP/Getty
30/50 13 December 2018
Yemen’s foreign minister Khaled al-Yamani (L) and the head rebel negotiator Mohammed Abdelsalam shake hands during peace talks in Sweden that are being overseen by the UN
AFP
31/50 12 December 2018
Baby monkeys play on a wall of India’s parliament in New Delhi. Macaque monkeys have swarmed the parliament, destroying important documents, attacking government officials and generally menacing the state
Reuters
32/50 11 December 2018
German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomes British Prime Minister Theresa May at the chancellery in Berlin. May postponed the Brexit deal Meaningful Vote, on 11 December due to risk of rejection from Members of Parliament. She is currently on a whistle stop tour of Europe calling on the leaders of the Netherlands, Germany and EU in Brussels looking for new guide lines for her Northern Ireland backstop
EPA
33/50 10 December 2018
Police investigate after an empty school bus crashed in the North Point district of Hong Kong. Two people were killed when a school bus mounted a pavement in a crowded Hong Kong neighbourhood, trapping passers-by underneath and injuring 13, police said
AFP/Getty
34/50 9 December 2018
A Boca Juniors’ fan cheers at a viewing in Buenos Aires for the Copa Libertadores final against rivals River Plate. The match is being held in Madrid, a neutral ground, after it was twice delayed due to violence
AP
35/50 8 December 2018
Protestors wearing “yellow vests” (gilets jaunes) clash with riot police near the Champs Elysees avenue in Paris during a protest against rising costs of living they blame on high taxes. – Paris was on high alert with major security measures in place ahead of fresh “yellow vest” protests which authorities fear could turn violent for a second weekend in a row.
AFP/Getty
36/50 7 December 2018
Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer reacts after being elected to leader of the Christian Democratic Union, succeeding the 18 year reign of Angela Merkel
Getty
37/50 6 December 2018
Police use tear gas against protesters during a demonstration in Athens to commemorate the 10th anniversary of a fatal shooting of a teenager which sparked major riots in Greece in 2008
AFP/Getty
38/50 5 December 2018
The flag-draped casket of former US President George HW Bush is carried by military pallbearers past US President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, former President Barack Obama, former first lady Michelle Obama, former President Bill Clinton, former first lady Hillary Clinton, former President Jimmy Carter and former first lady Rosalynn Carter as it arrives at his state funeral at Washington National Cathedral
Reuters
39/50 4 December 2018
High school students burn a barricade in front of their high school during a demonstration against French government Education reforms
AFP/Getty
40/50 3 December 2018
Sully, the service dog of former US President George HW Bush in his final months, lays in front of Bush’s casket at the George H Lewis & Sons funeral home in Houston, Texas
Courtesy Office of George HW Bush/Reuters
41/50 2 December 2018
Demonstrators march in Brussels to ‘claim the climate’ as world leaders meet in Poland to discuss the Paris climate agreement targets
AP
42/50 1 December 2018
A protester moves to lob a tear gas canister during a protest in Paris today against rising fuel prices
Reuters
43/50 30 November 2018
US President Donald Trump, Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May, French President Emmanuel Macron and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wave hands in front of other leaders during a family photo at the G20 leaders summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina
Reuters
44/50 29 November 2018
Firefighters battle a blaze on Fingerfield road at the Deepwater National Park area of Queensland. Thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes in northeastern Australia as bushfires raged across the state amid a scorching heatwave
AFP/Getty
45/50 28 November 2018
A child waits to receive free bread by a local charity bakery amid a severe shortage of food in Sana’a, Yemen. According to reports, nearly 22 million people of Yemen’s 26-million population are in need of humanitarian assistance as a result of increased food insecurity. The impoverished Arab country is experiencing a humanitarian crisis due to an ongoing brutal conflict that has lasted more than three years that has driven millions to the brink of famine
EPA
46/50 27 November 2018
A petrol bomb was thrown towards the Ajax fans during their Champions League away match against AEK Athens in the Greek capital. Home supporters threw flares into the stands also
Reuters
47/50 26 November 2018
Ukrainian activists burn flares during their rally in front of the Russian Consulate in Kharkiv, Ukraine. The President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, at a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council, on 25 November, announced the decision to introduce martial law in Ukraine for a period of 60 days. Russia seized three Ukrainian vessels amid their leaving the Kerch Strait. The two small-sized ‘Berdiansk’ and ‘Nikopol’ armored artillery boats had come under enemy fire and are now dead in the water. The ‘Yany Kapu’ tugboat was forcibly stopped and captured by special forces of the Russian Federation
EPA
48/50 25 November 2018
Women’s rights activists gather to march through Taksim Square to protest against gender violence in Istanbul on the International Day for the elimination of violence against women
AFP/Getty
49/50 24 November 2018
River Plate’s fans clash with riot police after the second leg of the Copa Libertadores final match against rivals Boc Juniors was postponed
Reuters
50/50 23 November 2018
Elias Lopez, a three-year-old Honduran migrant, plays in between the shields of a line of Mexican riot police, when the group he was part of tried to cross the Chaparral border crossing in Tijuana, Mexico. Elias Lopez is part of a group of Central American migrants that marched peacefully to the border crossing to demand better conditions and push to enter the US
AP
“She chose Canada. It’s her personal decision,” he said.
Mr Harpkan confirmed that Ms al-Qunun had left Bangkok on a flight to South Korea on Friday, with a final destination of Toronto.
This was also confirmed by Ms al-Qunun who tweeted an image of her on board a plane, accompanied with the caption “third country – I did it”.
The office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees welcomed Canada’s decision to grant asylum to Ms al-Qunun
In a statement, the agency said: “The quick actions over the past week of the government of Thailand in providing temporary refuge and facilitating refugee status determination by UNHCR, and of the government of Canada in offering emergency resettlement to Ms al-Qunun and arranging her travel were key to the successful resolution of this case.”
Ms al-Qunun’s father arrived in Bangkok on Tuesday, but his daughter refused to meet with him.
Immigration police chief Surachate Hakparn said the father denied physically abusing Ms al-Qunun or trying to force her into an arranged marriage, which were among the reasons she gave for her escape from her family.
The teenager’s plight has emerged at a time when Saudi Arabia is facing intense global scrutiny over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and the ongoing war in Yemen.
Canada’s decision to offer Ms al-Qunun asylum could further damage the country’s relations with Saudi Arabia after a spat following the Canadian Foreign Ministry tweeting support for women’s right activists arrested in the kingdom.
Additional reporting by AP
