International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), activist and Hiroshima survivor Setsuko Thurlow speaks in Oslo City Hall after the ICAN officially received the Nobel Peace Prize 2017, in Oslo, Norway. (Terje Bendiksby/ NTB scanpix via AP)
International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), activist and Hiroshima survivor Setsuko Thurlow speaks in Oslo City Hall after the ICAN officially received the Nobel Peace Prize 2017, in Oslo, Norway. (Terje Bendiksby/ NTB scanpix via AP) Credit: Terje Bendiksby

Peace Laureate Urges World to ‘See the Light’ and Ban Nukes

Moscow — A survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima compared her struggle to survive in 1945 to the objectives of the group awarded this year’s Nobel’s Peace Prize during a formal presentation Sunday. Setsuko Thurlow, who was 13 years old when the U.S. bomb devastated her Japanese city during the final weeks of World War II, spoke in Oslo, Norway as a leading activist with the Nobel-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

Thurlow said the Hiroshima blast left her buried under the rubble, but she was able to see light and crawl to safety. In the same way, the campaign she is part of now is a driving force behind an international treaty to ban nuclear weapons, she said after ICAN received the Nobel prize it won in October.

“Our light now is the ban treaty,” Thurlow said. “I repeat those words that I heard called to me in the ruins of Hiroshima: ‘Don’t give up. Keep pushing. See the light? Crawl toward it.’ ”

The treaty has been ratified by three countries. To become binding it requires ratification by 50 countries.

Lebanese Security Forces Clash With Protesters Near Us Embassy

Beirut — Lebanese security forces clashed Sunday with demonstrators near the U.S. Embassy in Beirut as hundreds protested President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital.

The Lebanese army fired water cannons and tear gas as youths hurled stones and burned effigies of Trump. Hundreds attended the Sunday morning protest on the edge of Beirut, many wrapped in Palestinian scarves and flags. Injured demonstrators were carried away from the front line of the clashes, which took place less than a mile from the highly secured embassy compound.

The Health Ministry later said eight people had been hospitalized and 43 people treated at the scene.

Brexit Secretary Says a No-Deal Now Less Likely

London — The likelihood of Britain leaving the European Union without a future trade deal has “dropped dramatically” now that the two sides have reached a preliminary agreement on their divorce terms, the country’s Brexit secretary said Sunday.

The deal hammered out by Prime Minister Theresa May last week means the negotiations on Britain’s March 2019 departure from the EU can move onto the next phase, Brexit Secretary David Davis told the BBC. The progress should give Britain enough time to negotiate a free-trade agreement for once it is outside the EU, making it unlikely the country will have to fall back on World Trade Organization rules that would impose tariffs, he said.

“The odds, as it were, against a WTO, or no-deal outcome, have dropped dramatically,” Davis said.

— Wire reports