DAILY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Franceʼs Emmanuel Macron finds respite amid mass protests Just a few weeks ago, French President Emmanuel Macron invited some 70 heads of state and government to central Paris to commemorate the centenary of Armistice Day, which ended World War I. International leaders attended a magnificent ceremony, replete with musical performances and a speech by Macron at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Read more: France revolts against Emmanuel Macron and the ʼeliteʼ But now, all that splendor is gone. In recent days, central Paris — and the area surrounding the Arc de Triomphe in particular — has descended into violent protests the likes of which the French capital has not experienced since 1968. The French people have taken to the streets in opposition to Macronʼs proposed fuel tax rise.
Germany: Hundreds of neoNazis free despite arrest warrants The German government has admitted that 467 neo-Nazis are at large throughout the country despite active warrants for their arrest. The government acknowledged the figures in a response to a parliamentary request for information by the opposition Left Party. Of the 467 neo-Nazis, 32 are thought to have fled Germany to hide out abroad. An additional seven perpetrators of right-wing crimes in Germany are wanted by security authorities from other countries According to the response, the number of neo-Nazis wanted by German police has nearly doubled in the past four years. The government cited the massive influx of refugees as one reason for the spike. Right-wing attacks against asylum centers, it said, have increased significantly since 2015. Criminologist Christian Pfeiffer confirmed that trend.
275/2018 • 5 DECEMBER, 2018
EU finance ministers reach reform deal Eurozone:
Finance ministers from the European Unionʼs member states have agreed to measures to help the eurozone better fight against a financial crisis. The reforms stopped short of creating a separate eurozone budget.
Qatar exit exposes OPEC’s decreasing relevance As Qatar leaves OPEC, a Troika of Saudi Arabia and non-OPEC members Russia and the US are likely to press ahead with their own interests. So, are the days of OPEC dominance numbered? When the head of Qatarʼs OPEC delegation said his countryʼs decision to leave OPEC as of January was not political, oil traders the world over stifled a collective snigger. The fact that OPEC members, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, plus Bahrain
and Egypt, imposed a boycott on Qatar in June last year, accusing the tiny Gulf state of supporting terrorism, did not enter the equation. Read more: Qatarʼs OPEC exit rooted in Gulf regionʼs diplomatic unrest The decision, energy minister Saad al-Kaabi said, was driven by his countryʼs long-term plans to increase its liquefied natural gas (LNG) output to 110 million tons by 2024 from 77 million today, consolidating Qatarʼs position as the world biggest LNG exporter.
High Five: Artwork inspired by dogs Our first pet and best friend, dogs have inevitably become a key theme in human art throughout the ages. Even for todayʼs contemporary artists, dogs bring a variety of inspiration. Dogs have multiple responsibilities in the lives of their human companions: protector, helper in distress, hunter, cuddly toy, and sometimes muse. Throughout history, dogs have often been tormented,
and pampered. What we see in our dogs, and how we treat them, reveals a lot about ourselves. Itʼs no wonder that this original human pet has also inspired some great art. Dogs have been painted on canvases and immortalized in sculptures for centuries. To this day, artists never tire of working with their faithful four-legged friends, including art stars like Jeff Koons.
German artists launch doxing campaign against far-right Chemnitz protesters A group of political artists has called on the public to name right-wingers who took part in violent antiimmigrant protests in eastern Germany earlier this year. As part of its "Special Commission Chemnitz" campaign, artists at the Center for Political Beauty (ZPS) said they would offer a cash reward for anyone who tells them the identity of 7,000 protesters and their employers using pictures uploaded to the groupʼs website. "Denounce your work colleagues, neighbors or acquaintances today and collect instant cash," the group said. "Help us to remove these problem Germans from the economy and public office." Rewards currently range from around €30 to €120 ($34 - $136), though users have the opportunity to increase rewards by donating money.
Albert Einsteinʼs ʼGodʼ letter goes under the hammer at Christieʼs A letter written in German by Albert Einstein in 1954 is going under the gavel on Tuesday. Experts at Christieʼs auction house in New York estimate the so-called "God letter" could sell for up to $1.5 million (€1.3 million). "This remarkably candid, private letter was written a year before Einsteinʼs death and remains the most fully articulated expression of his religious and philosophical views," said Christieʼs in a statement.
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275/2018 • 5 December, 2018
German customs agents release thousands of confiscated eels into the Rhine River German customs agents released some 5,000 confiscated baby eels into the Rhine River near Mainz on Tuesday. Authorities found the fish in a bag checked at Frankfurt Airport by a 47-year-old Malaysian woman en route to Vietnam in late November. Read more: Forty years of fighting for endangered species Customs agents say the eels, known as glass eels due to their transparent state, were packed in water-filled plastic bags inside Styrofoam boxes in the womanʼs suitcase. The woman will not face charges as the discovery was made after her flight had already taken off. with her bag impounded in Frankfurt. It is unclear where exactly the woman got the tiny fish but authorities suggest they may have come from estuaries in southwestern Europe. Glass eels are a protected species and cannot be exported without special permission.
IAAF upholds Russiaʼs doping suspension The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Council agreed at a meeting in Monaco on Tuesday to accept the recommendation of its Russia Taskforce not to reinstate the Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF). The head of the Taskforce, Rune Andersen, said that before RusAF could be brought back into the fold it must meet two conditions: First it needs to grant the Taskforce access to data from the testing of samples at a Moscow laboratory between 2011 and 2015; and second, it needs to pay the costs Taskforceʼs costs and those incurred in bringing or defending Russian cases at the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS).
EU finance reforms dampen Macronʼs ardor EU finance ministers have agreed reforms to combat a new financial crisis, but they fall well short of French President Emmanuel Macronʼs ambitions to deepen fiscal union in Europe. Here are five takeaways from the EU financial reform package: 1. German substance is stronger than French style When they made their joint "Meseberg declaration” in the summer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel seemed to be on the same page. But, as some skeptics whispered at the time, Macron may have won on symbols, Merkel won on substance. And as Tuesdayʼs long-awaited reform plans sink in, this may be the case. "These reforms fall clearly short of the hopes that surfaced after the election of Macron in France,” Jan
von Gerich, chief analyst at Nordea, told DW. Macron laid out a vision for eurozone reform last September when he spoke of "rebuilding Europe," with a common budget and a single minister: fiscal union to mirror and complement monetary union. 2. Reforms came at the wrong time The UK-less agreement between the EUʼs remaining 27 finance ministers has of course been hailed by its advocates as a way of giving the European Union the means to counter another major shock to the European economy after the financial crisis in 2008-09 and the bond crisis in 2013-14.
2017 broke records for extreme weather Puerto Rico, Honduras and Myanmar have topped a 173-nation ranking of countries most affected by climate disasters. Extreme weather caused record damage in 2017, and developing nations bear the brunt, authors say. Two Caribbean island nations and one South Asian country have topped the newest Climate Risk Index as worst-affected by extreme weather in 2017. Puerto Rico, Sri Lanka and Dominica ranked one to three in the in-
dex, followed by Nepal, Peru and Vietnam, based on their level of exposure and vulnerability to destructive weather events. According to the report by Germanwatch, 2017 was the worldʼs most devastating year for extreme weather on record. Poorer nations suffer Researchers point out that the countries least equipped to deal with such disasters, and which have typically contributed the least to human-induced climate change, are bearing the brunt of its consequences.
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Car rental company under fire after ad jokes about hitting cyclists The 2017 Palme dʼOr-winning Swedish satirical film The Squarehas a memorable sequence about the lengths advertising agencies will go to in order to grab attention for a product, however vacuous the campaign — or indeed the product — is. Needing to whip up interest in a patently ridiculous modern art exhibition called "The Square," the advertising men come up with a YouTube video portraying an impoverished child being killed in an explosion after entering the exhibition, supposedly a haven of peace. The clip draws widespread condemnation but also goes viral, stirring mass interest in something which hardly warrants it. As one of the worldʼs biggest car rental companies, you might think Sixt has no major need for such advertising gimmicks. Yet in recent years, the Munich-based company has tried to cultivate something of an image around its use of banter and humor in its advertising campaigns.
Airbnb cuts listings in Israeli West Bank settlements Home-rental platform Airbnb announced Monday it would no longer offer its service in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, drawing an angry response from Israel. Israel seized the West Bank in the 1967 Six-Day War, but most countries consider the Jewish settlements there to be illegal. The company said in a statement the decision would affect about 200 properties "in the occupied West Bank that are at the core of the dispute between Israelis and Palestinians." "Our hope is that someday sooner rather than later, a framework is put in place where the entire global community is aligned so there will be a resolution to this historic conflict and a clear path forward for everybody to follow," it added. Palestinian and human rights groups had long called on Airbnb to remove the settlement listings from its site. Waleed Assraf, head of a Palestinian anti-settlement group welcomed the development, saying if more companies followed it would "contribute to achieving peace." Israeli Tourism Minister Yariv Levin condemned the move as "the most wretched of wretched capitulations to the boycott efforts."