News in English

8. April 2017, 21:58

Top UN leader attacks rising populism

The United Nations Human Rights Commissioner has accused the U.S. Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, and other populist politicians of encouraging racial and religious prejudice. Addressing a security conference in The Hague, Prince Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein warned that the rise of right-wing populism in the U.S. and in Europe could turn violent – and likened the methods used to those employed by the Islamic State group or Daesh: The propaganda of Daesh uses similar tactics to those of the populists. And both sides of the equation benefit from each other – indeed (they) would not expand in influence without each other’s influences.”

Obama cancels meeting with Philippines president

The ASEAN summit in Laos has started off with a diplomatic spat… with the US President Barack Obama cancelling a planned meeting with his Philippine counterpart over a personal insult. Rodrigo Duterte referred to Obama as – quote - a "son of a whore" after a journalist told him that the U.S. leader planned to raise the issue of drug-related extra-judicial killings in the Philippines at their meeting. Duterte has since apologized for the remark. Meanwhile Obama, who’s the first sitting U.S. president to visit Laos, says he wants to forge a partnership to make the two countries "whole again" after years of troubled relations dating back to the Vietnam war: “As Laos pursues economic and labour reforms, we’ll work to encourage more trade and investment our two countries – and between Laos and the rest of this region.”

Putin pays respects to late Uzbek leader

The Russian President Vladimir Putin has flown to Uzbekistan to pay his respects at the grave of President Islam Karimov, who died last week after suffering a stroke. Karimov, a former communist boss, ruled Uzbekistan with an iron fist for 27 years, employing the country's security forces to keep a tight lid on dissent. Upon his arrival today, Putin called Karimov's death a "great loss" for Uzbekistan and he voiced hope that the Central Asian country's new leadership would be able to preserve stability.

Possible pollution link to brain disease investigated

A new study by British scientists from Lancaster University raises the possibility that pollution could contribute to brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Professor Barbara Maher… who led the research team… says the discovery is shocking and raises a host of new questions about the health risks of air pollution. “We can identify that there are millions of these magnetic pollution particles in the brain. That’s a million opportunities for those particles to create damage to the cells in the brain.”

Alarm sounded over ocean warming

A report compiled by 80 scientists from 12 countries says the global impact of ocean warming has been severely underestimated. The study by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature suggests that climate change is pushing plankton, turtles and seabirds into waters previously too cold to support them. They say it is also disrupting rainfall patterns and spurring extreme weather events.

Mexico prepares for hurricane

Residents on the Pacific Coast of Mexico have been told to brace themselves as a hurricane approaches the resort of Los Cabos. Forecasters are warning that Hurricane Newton could bring torrential rains and possible flash flooding.

The weather

Occasional rain – which should gradually taper off. Some sunshine in western Austria. Top temperatures are ranging from only 11C to 19C – although the south could see a high of up to 20C.

Übersicht

• News In English