Thai band singer says sorry for Nazi blunder

BANGKOK • A member of Thailand's most popular all-girl band has apologised for wearing a shirt with a Nazi flag featuring a swastika, after her television appearance last Friday drew "shock and dismay" from the Israeli embassy.

The faux pas was committed by Pichayapa "Namsai" Natha, one of the singers of BNK48, when she wore the red-and-black top complete with a swastika during the group's rehearsal.

The deputy chief of mission of the Israeli Embassy in Bangkok took to Twitter the following day to express "shock and dismay" at the outfit, given that yesterday was International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Longer pre-Brexit sessions in UK House

LONDON • British MPs could sit longer hours and their February holiday may be scrapped as the government races to pass its Brexit legislation before UK leaves the EU on March 29, Downing Street said yesterday.

Prime Minister Theresa May's government is looking at making the House of Commons sit on more Fridays - which it does not normally do - and extend debating time well into the evening on some days.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Heavy rain batters north-east Australia

CAIRNS • Communities were cut off, farmers stranded and cows washed offshore as heavy rain pelted north-east Australia yesterday, with one major river breaking 118-year-old records.

The Bureau of Meteorology said Queensland's Daintree River rose to 12.6m - a level not seen in over a century.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE