Row erupts over ex-UN rights commissioner meeting ‘missing’ Emirati princess as Saudi king effects consulate reshuffle in wake of Khashoggi’s murder.
Michelle Obama, the former US first lady, has won the title of America’s most admired woman, reported BBC.
The poll is conducted by Gallup Inc, an American management consulting company, which has been carrying out the exercise since 1946, with exception of 1976.
In this year annual Gallup poll, talk-show host and actress Oprah Winfrey was in second position and former first lady Hillary Clinton, who has topped the list for last 17 years, came in third.
The current first lady Melania Trump is fourth on the list.
In the case of men, former president Barack Obama continues to be at the top, for the 11th consecutive year, while his successor Donald Trump finished second for the fourth year in a row.
Mary Robinson, who recently met Emirati princess, faces backlash
The former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, is facing flak for allegedly toeing the Dubai narrative on the Emirati princess, reported the BBC.
Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed al-Maktoum, the daughter of the Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, was allegedly seized by armed men off the Indian coast and had been missing for months.
Earlier this week, the UAE foreign ministry released a press statement along with three photos of Sheikha Latifa with Robinson.
Robinson told the BBC that the princess was a “troubled young woman” and that she had regretted making a video of her complaining about the torture and confinement.
However, Radha Stirling, head of the rights group, Detained in Dubai, said that the meeting of human rights commissioner and Sheikha Latifa, cannot prove princess’s safety.
“Anyone familiar with Princess Latifa’s story who listened to the BBC Radio interview today with Mary Robinson will be astonished at the extent to which Robinson appeared to be reciting almost verbatim from Dubai’s script,” Stirling said. “This meeting in no way satisfies me that she (Sheikha Latifa) is free from the abuse that she told me she had suffered for years.”
Saudi King shuffles government in the wake of Khashoggi killing
The King of Saudi Arabia King Salman ordered a government reshuffle Thursday, a decision being as the fallout of the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, reports Al Jazeera.
King Salman is the father of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, or MBS, who is widely suspected to be the mastermind of the Khashoggi killing.
As part of the reshuffle, foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir was demoted to minister of state for foreign affairs, and replaced by a veteran former finance minister, Ibrahim Al-Assaf.
“We’ve been expecting al-Jubeir to be out for some time. Even before the Khashoggi affair,” Marwan Kabalan, head of policy analysis at the Arab Centre for Research and Policy Studies said in reference to the journalist’s killing.
King Salman further named Prince Abdullah Bin Bandar as the new head of the National Guard and also announced the hiring of several security intelligence officials.
Though Turkey and Western intelligence agencies have pointed out King Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as the mastermind behind the Saudi journalist’s murder, his position remain unchanged.
Chinese researchers expand Taishan research station in Antarctica
Chinese researchers have begun the construction of a support facility at the Taishan Station, the country’s fourth research station in the Antarctic, reports Global Times.
The research team consisting of 21 members, arrived in Taishan Station located between Kunlun and Zhongshan Tuesday. Their main task is to install an auxiliary system of Taishan station. The team will be installing systems for generating electricity, wastewater treatment, melting snow and controlling the unmanned power supply.
One of the leaders of the team said that the second phase will mainly focus on interior renovation and outside supply facilities.
The other three research stations by China include the Great Wall station, Zhongshan station and Kunlun station.