Maids for sale in Singapore and a Japanese punk headed for space
Anger at plans to ban triple talaq divorce practice in India; fans of South Korean star trigger security concerns in Thailand; and give this airline a miss if you prefer not bleeding from your ears
Anger at move to end Muslim practice of triple talaq divorces in India
India moved to end a Muslim practice in which men can divorce their wives by saying so three times. The government on Wednesday approved an ordinance to implement a Supreme Court ruling that found “triple talaq” violated the rights of Muslim women. Most of the 170 million Muslims in India are Sunnis governed by the Muslim Personal Law for family matters and disputes, which includes allowing men to divorce by simply uttering the Arabic word talaq, or divorce, three times – not necessarily consecutively and by any medium. India’s Muslim Law Board opposed court intervention and asked that the matter be left to the community. Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said nearly 22 countries, including neighbouring Pakistan and Bangladesh, have banned triple talaq and called for opposition support.
What next? The government will have another six months to get parliament’s approval for the ordinance to become law. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government passed the bill in the lower house last December, but it remains stalled in the upper house where the opposition controls the majority.
Japanese billionaire in need of some company for SpaceX moon visit
Elon Musk’s space transport company SpaceX has chosen its first private passenger as Japanese businessman Yusaku Maezawa, founder and CEO of online fashion retailer Zozo. Maezawa, 42, will take a trip around the moon aboard the company’s forthcoming Big Falcon Rocket spaceship. He plans to invite six to eight artists, architects, designers and other creative people on the week-long journey. Maezawa, a former drummer in a punk band, said he wants his guests to be inspired to create once they return to Earth “to inspire the dreamer in all of us”. “I wish to create amazing works of art for humankind,” Maezawa said. “Just thinking about it now gets my heart racing.” Musk said the billionaire will pay “a lot of money” for the lunar orbit but declined to disclose the exact amount.
What next? While the Big Falcon Rocket has not been built yet, Musk wants it to be ready for an unpiloted trip to Mars by 2022, with a crewed flight in 2024. SpaceX, Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and entrepreneur Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic are battling to be the first to launch private-sector spacecraft.
Anger at Singapore ads offering Indonesian domestic helpers for sale
Online ads in Singapore selling Indonesian maids were slammed as “unjust and demeaning” in a rare flare-up of tensions between the neighbours over domestic helpers. The adverts surfaced on online marketplace Carousell under the username “maid.recruitment”. They reportedly offered the services of several helpers from Indonesia, while some ads indicated maids had been “sold”. The posts on the site, which operates in several Asian countries and describes itself as “a simple way to sell the clutter in your life”, were removed. Wahyu Susilo, executive director of Indonesian NGO Migrant Care, “strongly condemned” the adverts and called for those behind them to be brought to justice. “This is very unjust and demeaning to the migrant workers’ dignity,” he said.