World News Briefs For Sunday, 2 February 2020
Hello Australia!! - Trump rolls back progress, reviving a hated weapon most of the world rejects - Two new cases of Coronavirus are confirmed in SA - Why European drawers will be filled with less junk - And more in your CareerSpot Glogbal News Briefs:
There is outrage and disappointment after Donald Trump reversed the US position on landmines, ending the Obama administration policy of phasing them out everywhere in the world except for the Korean Peninsula Demilitarized Zone. The US Military will be allowed to deploy these weapons in any conflict it sees fit. 22 years after Princess Diana's walk through an African minefield began to galvanize world opinion against them, 80 percent of the world's nations have signed onto the Ottawa Treaty to ban landmines. But discarded and forgotten ones continue to kill and maim thousands of people in former war zones every year, often decades after hostilities ceased. The Pentagon claims future generations of landmines will be able to self-destruct, and limit civilian casualties.
Iraq finally has a new prime minister. Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi, a former communications minister, now has a month to form a government which will hold power until early elections are held. And although he immediately expressed support for the protests, the protesters did not return the favor. Chanting, "Mohammed Allawi, rejected!" in Baghdad's Tahrir Square, demonstrators dismissed him as part of the same "muhasasa" ruling elite that they have been steadily protesting against for the past four months, appointed "by the same criminal, corrupt class that brought us to where we are now". Still, Mr. Allawi insisted the protesters keep doing what they're doing.
It's a weekend of mass evacuations from Wuhan, China: Germany, Turkey, and others have flown their people out of the presumed birthplace of the 2019-nCoV coronavirus that has killed at least 259 people since emerging from a meat and seafood market a few weeks ago. All fatalities are in China and the worldwide infection total is 12,000. Australia is still working on getting our people out of there. "We are continuing the planning and the arrangements for the assisted departure of Australians from Wuhan," said Foreign Minister Marise Payne. "We expect that process to be finalised and finally agreed soon and we are are proceeding on that basis. We have approached this assisted departure operation very carefully with an absolute priority on the health and the safety of all Australians. Here at home and overseas."
Australia and the US are closing their borders to foreign visitors who had recently been in China because of the Coronavirus, joining Russia, Japan, Pakistan, and Italy enforcing similar restrictions. The UN World Health Organization says that is generally a bad idea, because "travel restrictions can cause more harm than good by hindering info-sharing, medical supply chains, and harming economies". Meanwhile, two new cases of Coronavirus have been confirmed in Australia: A couple from Wuhan visiting family is South Australia are patients #11 and #12. "They will both be in isolation at the RAH (Royal Adelaide Hospital) and are currently in a stable condition," said SA Health.
Using smartphones will be a little bit easier in Europe. The European Parliament has voted 582-40 in favor of a resolution urging lawmakers to set a standard for charging cables, meaning that Android and iPhone units will use the same USB-C plug. According to the resolution, "Continuing fragmentation of the market for chargers for mobile phones and other small and medium-sized electronic devices translates into an increase in e-waste and consumer frustration." In other words, all this is intended to cut down on electronic gadget waste, and that drawer full of useless accessories and peripherals when a consumer stops using one unit and moves on to the next big thing.