DAILY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Germany: Huge cocaine stash found in coffee shipment Some 200 kilograms (441 pounds) of cocaine packed in 210 parcels have been found hidden between sacks of imported coffee in the northern German city of Hamburg, customs authorities said on Monday. The quantity of the drug, which is usually bulked out with various additives to around three times its volume before sale, would have fetched more than €30 million ($34.2 million) on the black market, customs spokesman Stephan Meyns said. The coffee had been shipped from Brazil. The company it was intended for had discovered the cocaine last Thursday and alerted customs, Meyns said. Cocaine hidden in cargo shipments from Latin America areregularly intercepted in Germany.Last year, the customs in Hamburg alone confiscated some 4.5 tonnes of the drug.
Iran sanctions: US grants oil exemptions for several countries AsUS sanctions against Irancame back into effect on Monday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo revealed that several countries secured oil import exemptions, including:India,China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Turkey, Greece, and Italy. Iran has saidit will defy the reimposition of sanctions,which target the countryʼs oil exports and financial transactions. The US decided to reimpose the sanctions after US President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal earlier this year. Pompeo told reporters that the eight countries secured temporary waivers to continue importing oil from Iran.The exemptions were granted with the understanding that the countries will seek to reduce their imports to zero.Waivers were also issued to allow European firms to continue conversion work on two of Iranʼs nuclear facilities.Pompeo also warned Tehran that it can "either do a 180-degree-turn, or it can see its economy crumble."
252/2018 • 6 NOVEMBER, 2018
Chancellor Angela Merkel: German center is split The government must hold
Angela Merkelʼs immediate task is to organize the contest over who will be her successor as leader of the CDU. Whoever it turns out to be could well pull the party away from the political center — wherever that is.
British and Italian lenders struggle in EU banking stress test The European Banking Authority (EBA) has published results of a stress test it ran on major lenders from the EU and Norway, showing that a clutch of British banks and two lenders from Italy fared worst. The London-based European Banking Authority (EBA)scrutinized a total of 48 lenders on the continent between January and October, confronting them with a hypothetical scenario where gross domestic product in the EU would fall by 2.7 percent over the next two years. On top of that, the tests simulated unemployment rising by 3.3 percent to levels last seen in 2009, during the financial crisis. Moreover, economic risks linked to a
no-deal Brexit, falling trade and financial market disruption were built in, as were falling property prices, losses on holdings of sovereign debt and even potential fines over embezzlement by managers. The 2018 exercise showed among the worst performers British banks Barclays, Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland, along with Italyʼs Banco BPM and UBI, as well as Germanyʼs regional lender NordLB. Overall, however, the EBA said the stress-tests showed that Europeʼs banks were in much better shape as a result of clean-up measures imposed by national regulators and the European Central Bank (ECB) since the 2008 global financial crisis.
The First World War captured in film Early photographs and films documenting World War I were all in black-and-white, without any synchronized sound. Although initial simple color photography methods already existed during the war, they did not become widespread until the 1930s, and even later in film. Sound cinema was only invented a decade
after the end of the First World War. Now, advanced digital technology makes it possible to perfectly colorize old black-and-white footage and set it to sound. In this vein, a documentary film was recently premiered at the London Film Festival, which viewers saw as a sensation: They Shall Not Grow Old by Peter Jackson.
German lawmakers push for Syrian refugee deportations The rape of a young womanin the southwestern city of Freiburghas reignited the debate over deporting criminal asylum-seekers. At least seven Syrian men and one German man are suspected of raping an 18year-old student in mid-October. In response, a number of conservative politicians have demanded the government be able to deport Syrian refugees accused of severe crimes back to their native country. If the situation in war-torn Syria"continues to improve, even if only in parts of the country, deporting a limited circle of persons should no longer be barred across the board," Mathias Middelberg, a parliamentarian and domestic policy spokesperson for Chancellor Angela Merkelʼs conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), told Die Welt newspaper.
Interior Minister Seehofer forces ex-spy chief Maassen into retirement German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said on Monday that he was temporarily relievingformer domestic spy chief Hans-Georg Maassenof his duties after Maassen made "unacceptable remarks" in a farewell speech to representatives of international intelligence agencies. Seehofer, who has previously supported Maassen, said that a "cooperation based on mutual trust" was no longer possible in view of the remarks. Maassenʼs critical view of the governmentʼs policy on refugees, as further evinced in the comments he made in the speech on October 18, has highlighted and contributed to rifts within Germanyʼs coalition over the past few months.
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252/2018 • 6 November, 2018
German intelligence foiled 2016 Islamic State terror attack Three teams of "Islamic State" (IS) terrorists were to have traveled to Germany in 2016 to prepare for and carry out a devastating attack — with the target possibly a music festival. A man, Oguz G., and woman, Marcia M., who traveled to Syria in autumn 2015 to join IS were to have played a central role in the attack. From ISʼ then-de facto capital of Raqqa, Marcia M. — who was herself a convert to Islam — tried to recruit women in northern Germany to marry IS members so that they could be granted permission to enter Germany. However, one of the women who was contacted was an informant for Germanyʼsdomestic intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), who alerted authorities. Details of the case emerged after an investigation by the German broadcasters ARD and WDR, as well as the Süddeutsche Zeitung and Zeit newspapers. The case was confirmed by the German Federal Prosecutorʼs Office.
Sergio Perez: Force India keep Mexican driver for 2019 Formula 1 season The 28-year-old Mexican has been with the team since 2014 and is seventh in the driversʼ championship with seven points finishes in the past nine races. Perez has been credited with fending off a winding-up petition against the team bystarting administration proceedingsearlier this year, saving all 405 jobs at their Silverstone base. "Iʼm very happy to finally announce my future," said Perez. "Weʼve achieved so much success in the last five seasons but I think the best is yet to come."
Chinaʼs Xi Jinping vows lower tariffs, more imports at trade fair China is trying to highlight it is open to importing more at a time it is under pressure to open its markets further. Critics say it is more talk than action.
President Xi Jinping echoed previous pledges to open up Chinaʼs market and lower tariffs as he opened a weeklong trade expo in Shanghai on Monday. The first-ever China International Import Expo runs November 5-10, drawing more than 3,000 exhibitors from some 130 countries to Shanghai to show the import potential of the worldʼs second largest economy and its 1.3 billion people. In a keynote speech, Xi vowed to increase imports, lower tariffs, reduce non-tariff barriers to trade and protect foreign intellectual property. He also claimed that China would import $30 trillion (€26.3 tril-
lion) worth of goods and $10 trillion in services in the next 15 years. However, the comments were short on specifics. Critics say reforms to open up the Chinese market have been heavy on words but slow and far less wide-reaching than expected by foreign governments and businesses. US President Donald Trump has applied pressure on China to open its market, level the playing field, close a trade gap and protect US intellectual property. Thetrade showdownbetween Beijing and Washington has led each side to slap hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs on each othersʼ goods.
German professor ordered to pay thousands in late library fees The psychology professor lost her appeal against her universityʼs library after she kept books months past their due date. A German professorlost her appeal on Wednesdayand must pay the €2,250 ($2,545) she racked up in late fees to her universityʼs library. An administrative court in Dusseldorf rejected lecturer Gina Kästeleʼs arguments that the fines were disproportionately large and a hindrance to academic freedom. Kästeleʼs lawyer had also argued that as his client had been on holiday, she did not receive the late notices. But the presiding judge was unimpressed, saying that such fines
were needed to make sure books were returned on time and thus available to others who might need them. The 50 books in question were borrowed by Kästele, a psychology professor, during the summer semester of 2015 at the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences in the city of Krefeld. They were due to be returned in July of that year but did not make their way back to the library until September of the same year. The libraryʼs late fee policy stipulates €2 per book per day for the first few days, which then increases to €5 and eventually to €20 after 30 days. On top of the late fees, the library applied administrative fees of €25 per book for the long delay.
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eBay sues Amazon for allegedly poaching its sellers Online retailer eBay filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against its competitor Amazon, accusing the Seattle-based giant of using eBayʼs own messaging system to steal sellers. eBay described Amazonʼs scheme as an "orchestrated, coordinated, worldwide campaign" to "illegally lure eBay sellers." While both eBay and Amazonʼs revenue is boosted by independent sellers, the group has become a greater part of Amazonʼs recent growth. In 2017, more than half the items sold on Amazon came from third-party sellers. In eBayʼs lawsuit, Amazon representatives are accused of creating eBay accounts and then messaging sellers to persuade them to take their goods to Amazon.com instead. eBay argues that the move violated its user agreement. The plaintiff claimed that Amazonʼs "abuse" was systematic and had the sole purpose of harming eBay.
Hungaryʼs university ban on gender studies heats up culture war Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjen hinted at it during an interview in August: Hungarian universities would no longer offer gender studies as a discipline. According to Semjen, nobody wanted to employ "genderologists," so there was no need to train them. He also called the idea of gender as a social construct "absurd." The subject has now officially been abolished. Last weekend a government decree signed by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban came into force, removing gender studies from the list of masterʼs programmes. Degree courses in the discipline that have already begun can be completed. But after that, the subject will be banned at Hungarian universities. A master’s degree in gender studies is currently offered at two Hungarian universities: Budapestʼs state-funded Eotvos Lorand University (ELTE), Hungaryʼs oldest university, and theCentral European University (CEU), a private institution funded by Hungarian-American billionaireGeorge Sorosʼ Open Society Foundation. Around 20 students have taken part in the masters program at each university.