Friday, October 6, 2017

Six In The Morning Friday October 6

Anti-nuclear weapons group wins Nobel Prize


The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (Ican).
Berit Reiss-Andersen, the Nobel committee chair, said it was due to the group's "groundbreaking efforts to achieve a treaty prohibition" on nuclear weapons.
"We live in a world where the risk of nuclear weapons being used is greater than it has been for a long time," she continued.
She cited the North Korea issue.
Ms Reiss-Andersen called on nuclear-armed states to initiate negotiations to gradually eliminate the weapons.




Catalan police chief in Madrid court in 'sedition' probe


The Catalan chief of police, Josep Lluis Trapero, is appearing before a judge in Madrid on suspicion of sedition against the state.
His Mossos d'Esquadra force is accused of failing to protect Spanish national police from protesters ahead of the 1 October independence referendum.
Another Catalan police officer and two leading independence activists are also being questioned as suspects.
The Catalan vote last Sunday was declared illegal under Spanish law.
The hearing is taking place at the national criminal court in Madrid. The defendants are accused of failing to help Guardia Civil police tackle thousands of pro-independence protesters outside the Catalan Economy Department in Barcelona on 20 September.




'Calm before the storm': Donald Trump set to abandon Iran nuclear deal

US president says Tehran is breaking spirit of landmark Obama-era agreement and will reportedly refuse to certify it

Donald Trump has accused Iran of not living up to the “spirit of the agreement” of its nuclear deal amid reports that he plans to withhold endorsement of the landmark agreement with the international community.
At a meeting of military leaders, Trump warned cryptically that those present were witnessing “the calm before the storm”. When asked by reporters what he meant, the president, a former reality TV host, said: “You’ll find out.”
Several media outlets on Friday confirmed what has been suspected in Washington and foreign capitals for some time: that Trump will not certify the 2015 international nuclear deal with Iran, on the grounds it does not serve US security interests.



Catalonia crisis could spark ‘civil war’ in Europe, EU commissioner warns

'The situation is very, very disturbing'

The escalating crisis in Catalonia runs the risk of causing a “civil war” on European soil, the EU budget commissioner has warned.
“The situation is very, very disturbing,” Gunther Oettinger said. “A civil war in planned in the middle of Europe.
“One can only hope that a conversation will be made between Madrid and Barcelona soon.”
Mr Oettinger added the European Union would only intervene “if asked”, The Daily Telegraph reported.



Egypt launches aggressive campaign to stamp out hepatitis C


Egypt has the highest rate of hepatitis C in the world. Now the country has undertaken an aggressive campaign to stamp out the disease, both domestically and abroad.

The hepatitis C epidemic in Egypt dates back to the 1960s and 1970s, when the needles used during a mass immunisation programme were not properly sterilised. In the ensuing years the disease spread rampantly, largely because there was little awareness. The result was that Egypt developed the highest infection rate in the world; in 2008 an estimated 14 percent of the population carried the virus, according to an Egyptian survey carried out at the time.
The disease was a major drain on the Egyptian economy, accounting for 4 percent of all direct healthcare expenditures, according to a study conducted by the Center for Disease Analysis (CDA) in the US and the National Liver Institute in Egypt. When indirect expenditures are factored in, hepatitis C cost Egypt an estimated 1.4 percent of its gross national product (GNP), according to the study.
Stoking Islamophobia and secession in Texas -- from an office in Russia

Updated 0648 GMT (1448 HKT) October 6, 2017




On May 21 2016, a handful of people turned out to protest the opening of a library at an Islamic Center in Houston, Texas. Two held up a banner proclaiming #WhiteLivesMatter. A counter-protest began across the street; video shows a noisy but non-violent confrontation. 
The rally -- called "Stop Islamization of Texas" -- was called and promoted by a Facebook page called Heart of Texas, which had wrongly alleged that the Islamic library had received public funding. But the Heart of Texas page listed no contacts in the Lone Star state. In fact, it was operated by a "Troll Factory" called the Internet Research Agency thousands of miles away in St Petersburg Russia, CNN has learned.
One of the people who attended the rally later complained: "Heart of Texas promoted this event but we didn't see ONE of them."

Myanmar's Rohingya beg for help: 'People are starving'


Thousands of ethnic Rohingya remaining inside Myanmar live in fear, with many in desperate need of food and healthcare.


by




Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh - Rohingya trapped inside Myanmar say thousands are starving and in need of medical care in northern Rakhine State, where a half-million majority Muslim ethnic Rohingya have fled an army crackdown and communal violence.
Abdulla Mehman, who works for an aid agency in the Buthitaung Township, said more than 2,000 people in his village, Kwan Dine, had run out of food, with many others facing shortages.
"We are not allowed to move about freely, and people are struggling to survive," Mehman told Al Jazeera by telephone on Tuesday.
"Some people are starving."

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