122 countries adopt global treaty banning nuclear weapons

Agencies
July 8, 2017

United Nations, Jul 8: A global treaty banning nuclear weapons was adopted at the United Nations on Friday despite opposition from the United States, Britain, France and other nuclear powers that boycotted negotiations.

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The treaty was adopted by a vote of 122 in favor with one country -- NATO member The Netherlands voting against -- while Singapore abstained.

Loud applause and cheers broke out in the UN conference hall following the vote that capped three weeks of negotiations on the text providing for a total ban on developing, stockpiling or threatening to use nuclear weapons.

Nuclear-armed states have dismissed the ban as unrealistic, arguing it will have no impact on reducing the global stockpile of 15,000 atomic weapons.

"Is there anyone that believes that North Korea would agree to a ban on nuclear weapons?" asked US Ambassador Nikki Haley when negotiations began in March. "There is nothing I want more for my family than a world with no nuclear weapons, but we have to be realistic."

But supporters hailed a historic achievement.

"We have managed to sow the first seeds of a world free of nuclear weapons," said Costa Rica's ambassador, Elayne Whyte Gomez, the president of the UN conference that negotiated the treaty.

Led by Austria, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa and New Zealand, 141 countries joined in drafting the treaty that they hope will increase pressure on nuclear states to take disarmament more seriously.

None of the nine countries that possess nuclear weapons -- the United States, Russia, Britain, China, France, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel -- took part in the negotiations or the vote.

Even Japan -- the only country to have suffered atomic attacks, in 1945 -- boycotted the talks as did most NATO countries.

Nuclear powers argue their arsenals serve as a deterrent against a nuclear attack and say they remain committed to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The decades-old NPT seeks to prevent the spread of atomic weapons but also puts the onus on nuclear states to reduce their stockpiles.

Impatience however is growing among many non-nuclear states over the slow pace of disarmament as are worries that weapons of mass destruction will fall into the wrong hands.

Disarmament campaigners say the treaty will go a long way in increasing the stigma associated with nuclear weapons and will have an impact on public opinion.

"The key thing is that it changes the legal landscape," said Richard Moyes, director of the British-based organization Article 36.

"It stops states with nuclear weapons from being able to hide behind the idea that they are not illegal."

"We hope that today marks the beginning of the end of the nuclear age," said Beatrice Fihn, director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

"It is beyond question that nuclear weapons violate the laws of war and pose a clear danger to global security. "

Opponents believe the treaty will fail to advance nuclear disarmament.

"We are very critical of this movement because it will give false hopes" and create unreasonable expectations, said a diplomat from a country opposed to the ban.

The treaty will be open for signatures as of September 20 and will enter into force when 50 countries have ratified it.

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News Network
June 27,2020

Moscow, Jun 27: The number of people who have contracted the coronavirus infection in Russia has increased by 6,852 over the past day to a total of 627,646, the country's COVID-19 Response Center said in a daily update on Saturday.

"Over the past day, 6,852 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed in 85 regions of Russia, including 2,058, or 30 per cent, of asymptomatic cases," the response centre said.

Of the total 6,852 newly detected cases, 750 have been confirmed in Moscow, 366 in Moscow Region, and 280 in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area, according to the report.

The reported daily dynamics included 188 new fatalities, which brought the cumulative death toll to 8,969.

Total recoveries now count 393,352, an increase of 9,200 over the past day, including 1,852 in Moscow, 1,421 in Moscow Region and 716 in St. Petersburg.

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Agencies
July 7,2020

Washington, Jul 7: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday (local time) confirmed that the White House is "looking at" banning the Chinese social media apps including TikTok.

"With respect to Chinese apps on people's cell phones, I can assure you the United States will get this one right too. I don't want to get out in front of the President [Donald Trump], but it's something we're looking at," Pompeo was quoted by CNN during an interview with Fox News.

He said people should only download the app, "if you want your private information in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party."

Responding to his comments, a TikTok spokesperson said, "TikTok is led by an American CEO, with hundreds of employees and key leaders across safety, security, product and public policy here in the US."

"We have no higher priority than promoting a safe and secure app experience for our users.  We have never provided user data to the Chinese government, nor would we do so if asked," the spokesperson added.

The US politicians have repeatedly criticised TikTok, owned by Beijing-based startup ByteDance, of being a threat to national security because of its ties to China.

Recently, India banned 59 Chinese apps including TikTok following a violent standoff with Chinese troops. This move was lauded by the US officials.

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News Network
June 11,2020

Jun 11: The total death toll in the US from the novel coronavirus pandemic could hit the grim figure of 200,000 by September and expecting a dramatic decrease in COVID-19 cases in the country will be a "wishful thinking , an eminent Indian-American professor has warned.

Ashish Jha, the head of Harvard's Global Health Institute, told CNN on Wednesday that he is not trying to scare people to stay at home rather urged everyone to wear masks, adhere to the social distancing rules and called for ramping up testing and tracing infrastructure.

Anybody who's expecting a dramatic decrease in cases is almost surely engaging in wishful thinking. And if it (COVID numbers) stays just flat for the next three months, we're going to hit 200,000 deaths sometime in September and that is just awful, Jha said.

Jha said the 200,000 death toll is not just a guess . Currently 800-1000 people are dying daily in America from the virus and all data suggest that the situation is going to get worse.

We're gonna have increases, but even if we assume that it's going to be flat all summer, that nothing is going to get worse... even if we pick that low number of 800 a day, that is 25,000 (deaths) a month in three and a half months. We're going to add another 88,000 people and we will hit 200,000 sometime in September, Jha said.

The United States is by far the hardest-hit country in the global pandemic, in terms of both confirmed infections and deaths.

According to data by the Johns Hopkins University, the number of coronavirus cases in the US currently is nearly two million and about 112,900 people have died in the country, the most in the world.

When asked about an improvement in states like New York, which had been the epicenter of the COVID19 pandemic in the US, Jha said while coronavirus cases are declining in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts, the numbers are increasing in states such as Arizona, Florida, Texas, North and South Carolina while the country as a whole is pretty flat.

He said, people should take measures as that will help suppress the virus and ensure people could get back outside safely but he voiced concern that this was not the situation in reality.

We're not doing that and so we're going to unfortunately have another 25,000 deaths a month until September, and then it'll keep going. It's not going to magically disappear. We've got a turn around. This is not the future I want, he said.

Jha said he had expected the situation to improve in the summer months but on the contrary the numbers have continued to rise even in the warm weather.

Summer was supposed to be our better months - warmer weather, people outside, a little less transmission. This is not the time (summer) I was expecting a lot more cases. We're seeing a lot more cases, especially in states like Arizona where the numbers look really scary, he said.

Jha added that he was hopeful that maybe the summer months would give us more of a break. I think I may have been too optimistic on that.

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