Thursday, October 15

ENGLISH

Oxford college drops Suu Kyi from common room’s name
20Oct By Sumon AdminNo Comments
ENGLISH, United Kingdom

Oxford college drops Suu Kyi from common room’s name

    Undergraduates at the Oxford college where Aung San Suu Kyi studied have voted to remove the leader of Myanmar’s name from the title of their junior common room because of her response to the Rohingya humanitarian crisis. In a vote on Thursday evening, students at St Hugh’s college at the University of Oxford resolved to eliminate the name of the 1991 Nobel peace laureate from the Aung San Suu Kyi junior common room with immediate effect, reports The Guardian. The motion criticised the ‘silence and complicity’ in her apparent defence of the country’s treatment of its Rohingya Muslim minority, who have suffered ethnic cleansing and violent attacks by Myanmar’s military forces. The crisis has led to more than half a million Rohingya being driven out from northern Rakhine sta...
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North Korea targeted President Trump directly: another threat of nuclear annihilation against the US
20Oct By Sumon AdminNo Comments
Asia, ENGLISH

North Korea targeted President Trump directly: another threat of nuclear annihilation against the US

    North Korea issued another threat of nuclear annihilation against the U.S. on Thursday, vowing to unleash an unimaginable strike at an unimaginable time. The warning comes as American military forces conduct ongoing joint naval exercises with South Korea. The U.S. is running amok by introducing under our nose the targets we have set as primary ones, North Korean state news agency KCNA said in a statement. The U.S. should expect that it would face unimaginable strike at an unimaginable time. North Korea also targeted President Trump directly. The rabid man in the White House … will first face the immense volley of nuclear fire if he hopes to settle (this) confrontation with nukes, KCNA said. Trump has engaged in a heated war of words with the rogue nation since taking offic...
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Alarm in Russia as US Becomes the Unpredictable Superpower
19Oct By Sumon AdminNo Comments
America, ENGLISH

Alarm in Russia as US Becomes the Unpredictable Superpower

    Russia may have got what it wished for with the election of U.S. President Donald Trump, but almost a year later Moscow’s foreign policy community shows more signs of alarm than triumph. Alongside statements of neutrality toward the U.S. vote from officials and others at a Kremlin-sponsored gathering of foreign and domestic Russia-watchers this week, there’s deep concern that the role of an unpredictable, militarily adventurous superpower played by Russia since 2014 may be passing to the U.S. Russia’s ability to influence the debate in Washington, let alone reset a damaged relationship, has vanished, according to current and former policy makers at the annual Valdai Club conference in Sochi. With an official investigation under way into alleged Russian meddling in last yea...
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UK Weather Warnings Issued As Britain Set To Be Battered By Wind And Waves
19Oct By Sumon AdminNo Comments
ENGLISH, United Kingdom

UK Weather Warnings Issued As Britain Set To Be Battered By Wind And Waves

    Strong winds and big waves will batter Britain’s coast just days after Storm Ophelia wreaked destruction. Gusts of 50mph are expected widely across southern England and the west of Wales on Saturday, and winds could reach 70mph in exposed areas. The wild weather, caused by a low pressure system moving in from the Atlantic ocean, may cause coastal flooding and affect transport, the Met Office said. A yellow weather warning for wind has been issued in affected areas, valid from 4am to midnight on Saturday. Met Office forecaster Helen Roberts said: “We’ve got a spell of strong winds which is likely to bring some large waves as well. So there’s the potential for some coastal flooding in places and transport disruption. Northern Ireland, one of the areas worst-affected by Storm...
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Spain to trigger suspension of Catalan autonomy Saturday
19Oct By Sumon AdminNo Comments
ENGLISH, Europe

Spain to trigger suspension of Catalan autonomy Saturday

    Spain’s central government threatened on Thursday to suspend Catalonia’s autonomy after the region’s leader said it could go ahead with a formal declaration of independence if Madrid continued its ‘repression’. In an unprecedented move since Spain returned to democracy in the late 1970s, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said he would hold a special cabinet meeting on Saturday to impose direct rule in Catalonia. Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, ignoring a 10 a.m. deadline to drop his secession campaign, threatened Rajoy with a formal declaration of independence in the Catalan parliament. The two statements increased uncertainty over a one-month political crisis that has raised fears of social unrest, led the euro zone’s fourth-largest economy to cut its growth forecasts and...
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Justin Trudeau weeps in tribute to Canadian music icon
19Oct By Sumon AdminNo Comments
Canada, ENGLISH

Justin Trudeau weeps in tribute to Canadian music icon

    Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau cried, as he delivered a touching eulogy for one of the North American nation's most-loved musicians. Gordon Downie, the legendary frontman of iconic Canadian rock band Tragically Hip, passed away on Tuesday (local time), aged 53, after a two-year battle with brain cancer. The Ontario rocker was not particularly famous outside Canada, but was a hugely recognisable figure in his homeland, and was lauded for his thoughtful lyrics, patriotism and philanthropy. Speaking on behalf of himself, his wife and Canada, Mr Trudeau wept openly, as he remembered the man he described as a friend. Gord was my friend and was everyone's friend it's who he was, our buddy Gord, who loved this country with everything he had. And not just in a neb...
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The Big clean up is coming
19Oct By Sumon AdminNo Comments
ENGLISH, London

The Big clean up is coming

The first borough-wide Big Clean Up event is taking place next week, as Tower Hamlets Council encourages everyone to 'love their neighbourhood'. The council, its partners and volunteers will be hitting the streets from 23 – 27 October to pick up litter, tackle graffiti and help to keep areas clean. And residents are invited to submit their nominations for the public spaces and streets which might need an extra bit of TLC. Mayor John Biggs said: "We want everyone to be proud of and enjoy the areas where they live, which is why we launched our Love Your Neighbourhood campaign; so we can work with local people to improve their neighbourhoods. We know that clean streets are a priority for our residents, so we're adding to our usual cleaning activities next week and working with our partners in...
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Somali Week Festival
19Oct By Sumon AdminNo Comments
ENGLISH, London

Somali Week Festival

The council will collaborate with community groups and arts and cultural organisations to host an exciting and varied week-long programme of performances, talks, music and arts activities as part of the Somali Week Festival from October 20-29. Home and Displacement are the themes of this year's festival, taking place at community organisation Oxford House in Bethnal Green. Somali Week Festival follows the launch of Coming Here, Being Here: Archiving British Somali presence in the East End of London, a community arts project funded by the council's Somali Taskforce. Aimed at engaging with, archiving and sharing the stories of the Somali community in Tower Hamlets, the project runs until February next year. Arts workshops, history walks, film and photography will map the experiences and resi...
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Be a part of National Hate Crime Awareness Week 2017
19Oct By Sumon AdminNo Comments
ENGLISH, London

Be a part of National Hate Crime Awareness Week 2017

Tower Hamlets is celebrating National Hate Crime Awareness Week 2017, which runs from 14to 21 October, with a programme of events for staff and residents. The week aims to spread a message of H.O.P.E. across the UK. H.O.P.E stands for Hate crime awareness, Operational response to hate crime, Preventing hate crime and Empowering communities to report hate crime and access victim support services. The council, police, Tower Hamlets Homes, partners and hate crime champions who are trained to tackle hate crime are also working together to deliver an awareness raising roadshow across the borough. John Biggs, Mayor of Tower Hamlets, said: I am very pleased to support National Hate Crime Awareness Week. Tower Hamlets Council works very closely with police and partner agencies to tackle and preven...
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NHS provokes fury with indefinite surgery ban for smokers
18Oct By Sumon AdminNo Comments
ENGLISH, United Kingdom

NHS provokes fury with indefinite surgery ban for smokers

    The restrictions thought to be the most extreme yet to be introduced by health services immediately came under attack from the Royal College of Surgeons. Its vice president called for an urgent rethink of policies which he said were discriminatory and went against the fundamental principles of the NHS. In recent years, a number of areas have introduced delays for such patients with some told operations will be put back for months, during which time they are expected to try to lose weight or stop smoking. But the new rules, drawn up by clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in Hertfordshire, say that obese patients will not get non-urgent surgery until they reduce their weight at all, unless the circumstances are exceptional. The criteria also mean smokers will only be referr...
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