13th century Koran sells at record price at auction
A 13th century Koran has been sold for a world record price of USD 2,320,917, AFP reports from London, citing auction house Christie’s.
The Islamic holy book, was sold as part of an auction of art from the Islamic and Indian World that brought in a total of 5.9 million pounds.
Dated to 1203 and written entirely in gold, with marginal notes in silver, it is the earliest known complete, dated Koran, written in gold in the world, and broke the record for a Koran, and the record for any Islamic manuscript, sold at auction.
Also sold on Tuesday was a nearly complete 10th century Kufic Koran, which is thought to originate from North Africa or the Middle East, which fetched 916,500 pounds.
Philippine court bars transsexual’s bid to change identity
The Philippine Supreme Court has rejected a bid by a man who had a sex change operation to change his records to reflect the fact that he is now a woman, court officials said on Wednesday, reports AFP from Manila.
The court ruled there was no law to allow Rommel Jacinto Dantes Silverio to change his civil registry record.
Silverio underwent sex change surgery in Thailand in 2001 and sought to change his first name to “Mely” and to amend his gender to “female” so that he could marry his boyfriend.
“While the petitioner may have succeeded in altering his body and appearance through the intervention of modern surgery, no law authorises the change of entry as to sex in the civil registry for that reason,” read the Supreme Court ruling, released today.
“There is no special law in the country governing sex reassignment and its effect,” it added.
The court said it recognised that “there are people whose preferences and orientation do not fit neatly into the commonly recognised parameters of social convention and that, at least for them, life is indeed an ordeal.”
54 miners trapped by fire in Australian gold
A fire in an Australian gold mine left 54 miners trapped underground today, media reported.
Barrick Gold Corporation spokeswoman Selena Watt told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio there were no injuries and the mine’s rescue team should have all the miners back to the surface by late today.
“We expect that with the progress that we’re making today, that we’ll hopefully have everybody to the surface by the end of the day,” she told the ABC.
The miners are trapped in the Kanowna Belle mine near the mining town of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia state.
The fire broke out in a truck engine early today and was quickly extinguished, the ABC reported.
A mine official was not immediately available for comment.
