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Episode details

Radio 4,12 Jan 2019,28 mins

#SaveRahaf: Last night a retweet saved my life

From Our Own Correspondent

Available for over a year

The Saudi teenager Rahaf al-Qunun was spared deportation after details of her plight were spread on social media while she barricaded herself in a hotel room in Thailand. She feared being killed by her family if she was forced to return to Kuwait. She was saved not by her passport but by her phone, observes Jonathan Head. Kate Adie introduces this and other stories from correspondents around the world: Olivia Acland reflects on why the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo may have to wait a little longer than expected to celebrate their country’s first ever democratic transfer of power. Nick Sturdee examines the split between the Ukrainian and Russian branches of the Orthodox church and has a strange encounter involving a black-robed priest, alleged KGB stooges and a mysterious man in a white car. Jane Wakefield has a glimpse of what may turn out to be the future – drones delivering much-needed medicines and other supplies to remote African villages. And Rob Cameron uncovers a disturbing secret about Prague’s cobblestoned streets. Producers: Joe Kent. (Image: Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun. Credit: Image taken from a social media video - TWITTER/ @rahaf84427714 via Reuters)

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