Thursday, February 2, 2017

Six In The Morning Thursday February 2

Australia struggles to save refugee agreement after Trump's fury at 'dumb deal'

Malcolm Turnbull adamant that resettlement of up to 1,250 refugees detained by Australia will take place, but some officials say privately deal now ‘can’t survive’

Australia is scrambling to save its agreement to resettle refugees in the US after Donald Trump raged publicly at “a dumb deal” and told the country’s prime minister Malcolm Turnbull in private it was the “worst deal ever”.
The US president took to Twitter late night in Washington to condemn the refugee swap and brand the asylum seekers held in camps on Nauru and Manus Island“illegal immigrants”.
His intervention came after the Washington Post reported that Trump had despaired of the deal when talking to Turnbull on Sunday (Australian time), told him that the conversation was the worst of his phone calls with world leaders that day, and then abruptly brought the 25-minute call to a close.



Global fossil fuel demand set to fall from 2020, three centuries after the dawn of the Industrial Revolution

Solar panels and electric vehicles are becoming cheaper so quickly that demand for oil and coal will peak in just three years, report predicts

Demand for coal and oil will peak in 2020 as the renewable energy revolution gathers pace and undercuts fossil fuels on price, according to a new report.
It found that significant declines in the cost of solar panels and electric vehicles would reduce demand for fossil fuels, warning investors that relying on current industry projections might be a mistake that would leave their money “stranded” in worthless projects.
Cheaper electric vehicles, for example, could cut the market for oil by two million barrels a day by 2025 – “the same volume that cause the oil price collapse in 2014-15”, the report said.

Biggest anti-corruption protests held in Romania since fall of communist rule

At least 200,000 people have taken to the streets of Romania's capital and other towns to protest against the government for decriminalizing some official misconduct. It was the largest mobilisation since 1989.
The number of protesters in the capital Bucharest on Wednesday night was put at 130,000 to 150,000 outside the cabinet building while riot police estimated a further 100,000 to 150,000 had joined similar rallies in 55 other towns and cities across the east European country.

As they walked the protesters shouted "thieves, thieves!" and condemned the government's emergency ordinance decreed the previous night. It decriminalizes the theft of public funds when the amount involved is less than 200,000 lei ($47,800, 44,000 euros). 



Mongolian winter smog surge ‘hell’ for children


Several thousand people braved icy temperatures (-20°C or -4°F) in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, on Saturday, January 28, to join a protest demanding that the government take action against dangerous levels of air pollution. This city, whose residents rely heavily on charcoal burning to keep warm in the winter, is one of the most polluted cities on earth and locals are suffering from serious health problems because of it. 
The most recent protest was organised by the NGO "Moms & Dads Against Smog". This organisation, which is made up of concerned parents, was created in early January 2017, a few days after the first large protest about this issue, which was held on December 26. 

Ulaanbaatar is one of the coldest capital cities in the world. In the winter, temperatures can drop to -40°C (which is, weirdly enough, actually equivalent to -40°F). The city’s 1.3 million residents account for half of the Mongolian population. 

What you need to know about the Israeli settlements

Updated 2125 GMT (0525 HKT)


Four issues have dominated the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as the most difficult to solve and the most complex to handle: the status of Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees (and their right of return), borders, and settlements.
Recent announcements by the Israeli government of the expansion of West Bank settlements, made in the period since Donald Trump became US President, have put settlements back in the spotlight. The announcements come just weeks after the UN Security Council Resolution declared that settlements had "no legal validity."

Protests force UC Berkley to cancel Breitbart speaker


Violent protests force California university to cancel speaking appearance by Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos.


Violent protests erupted on Wednesday at the University of California at Berkeley over the scheduled appearance of a controversial editor of the conservative news website Breitbart.
Hundreds of students and other protesters chanting "shut him down" smashed windows at the campus, set wooden pallets on fire and threw fireworks and rocks as police in full riot gear responded with tear gas.
The university was placed on lockdown as the sold-out appearance by Milo Yiannopoulos, a conservative firebrand, was canceled in early evening.





No comments:

Translate