DAILY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Germanyʼs antitrust watchdog restricts Facebookʼs data collection via other sites The Federal Cartel Office, Germanyʼs antitrust watchdog, is severely restricting the collection of user data by Facebook after a ruling on Thursday that the social media giant abused its market. The company will only be able to use data from various nonFacebook programs and apps that it owns, such as WhatsApp and Instagram, with explicit user consent. Currently, Facebook bundles together much of the information it gleans from users across its various platforms. "In future, Facebook will no longer be allowed to force its users to agree to the practically unrestricted collection and assigning of nonFacebook data to their Facebook accounts," Andreas Mundt, president of the antitrust watchdog, said on Thursday in Bonn.
France recalls ambassador to Italy after di Maio meets ʼyellow vestʼ protesters France recalled Ambassador Christian Masset for consultations on Thursday after a series of "provocations" from Italian political leaders, Franceʼs Foreign Ministry said. "France has been, for several months, the target of repeated, baseless attacks and outrageous statements," the ministry said in a statement. "This is without precedent since the end of World War II." On Tuesday, Italian Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio had traveled to Paris to meet members of the"yellow vest" protest movement.
33/2019 • 8 FEBRUARY, 2019
Further EU-UK Brexit negotiations to take place More meetings are planned
At talks in Brussels, British premier Theresa May has raised ʼvarious optionsʼ for getting around the UKʼs difficulties with the Withdrawal Agreement.
Is Daimlerʼs Dieter Zetsche Germanyʼs business rock star? The Daimler chairman with the walrus mustache is one of the few German CEOs that is instantly recognizable. Set to retire after 13 years, he leaves behind a company struggling to be relevant in a digital world. Perhaps surprisingly, the 65-year-old Dieter Zetsche was born to German parents in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1953. His father was there working as a civil engineer and the family soon moved back to the Frankfurt area where Zetsche attended school before studying electrical engineering. A company
man through and through, Zetsche joined Daimler way back in 1976 and quickly worked his way up. At the same time he got his doctorate degree from the University of Paderborn in 1982. Later he would famously use this title in an ad campaign called "Ask Dr. Z." From mid-2000 to the end 2005 he was in Detroit and ran the "merged" DaimlerChrysler division, before being made chairman of the board of the whole conglomerate on January 1, 2006. Ironically, once at the top he was the driving force behind the 2007 demerger with Chrysler.
Tintin and Snowy turn 90 — havenʼt aged a day He has fought organized crime, solved mysteries and even helped to bring down despotic regimes. The famous Belgian cub-reporter Tintin, with his trademark shock of strawberry-blonde hair, blue sweater and plus-four trousers, has taken his fans with him on world adventures that have been translated into more than 100 languages and dialects. Tintin made his first appearance 90 years ago, in the Catholic conservative Belgian
newspaper Le Vingtième Siècleʼs youth supplement, Le Petit Vingtième. Tintin and Snowy headed deep into Soviet territory, with Stalinʼs secret police watching them from around every corner. The story first appeared on January 10, 1929, running as a serial until May 1930; it was essentially anticommunist propaganda, neatly packaged for children. In 1930, the series was published in book form as Tintin in the Land of the Soviets.
This is how the Visegrad Group works The Visegrad Group – V4 for short – is an alliance of four eastern and central European states: Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. They take their name from the Hungarian city of Visegrad, where kings once met for economic and political negotiations. In 1991, Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia – as it still was then – joined forces to work together more closely and prepare their planned EU accession. Today, the V4 countries exchange information and develop priority programs in order better to cooperate in an increasing number of areas. An important basic principle is that, within the EU, the V4 carry more weight as an alliance than they would as individual countries. Each year a different member of the group takes over the V4 presidency.
Paris fire suspect released from psychiatric care days earlier Prosecutors have revealed that the woman suspected of lightinga deadly apartment building fire in Paris on Tuesday recently spent 12 days in psychiatric care. The suspect, a resident of the building, had been released from her stay at Sainte-Anne psychiatric hospital on January 30. She had previously been hospitalized at least 13 times for mental health issues. She has denied being behind the fire. Prosecutor Remy Heitz also said the woman had no police record but had been involved in three judicial procedures before, including for setting fire to a clothes store.
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33/2019 • 8 February, 2019
Invisible and dangerous: The Salafist scene in North Rhine-Westphalia There are more Salafists in North Rhine-Westphalia than in any other German state. The scene has all but vanished from the public eye in its stronghold. But it is still very active, as DW is told by numerous sources. "Speak after me," the red-bearded German convert and Salafist preacher Pierre Vogel says as he publicly summons the young woman. Cheered on by an enthusiastic crowd in the pedestrian zone of the western city of Offenbach, she does exactly that, and repeats the words of the Islamic profession of faith. That was in 2010. The conversion was filmed and uploaded to YouTube — just one example of the many videos shared online from the heydays ofSalafist missionary work in Germany. Until 2016, the scene had a self-confident and sometimes aggressive public appearance. Bearded men in baggy pants and flowing white robes such as Pierre Vogel regularly distributed free German-language editions of the Koran in market squares and pedestrian zones.
Paris SaintGermain fined €100,000 for racial profiling
Renault reports ex-boss Ghosnʼs small but suspect deal to police The French car maker has said its former chief Carlos Ghosn personally benefited from a sponsorship deal. Ghosn, an auto-industry stalwart, is on trial in Japan over allegations of financial misconduct. French car maker Renault said on Thursday it had informed investigators that its former Chairman and Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn had benefited personally from a sponsorship deal. Renault said it had identified that Ghosn received a sum of €50,000 ($57,000) as part of a sponsorship deal with the Palace of Versailles outside Paris. "The elements gathered so far require additional checks to be carried out," thecompany
said in a statement."Groupe Renault has decided to bring these facts to the attention of the judicial authorities." The operators of the palace waived the usual 50,000-euro fee for a marriage reception at the 17th-century Grand Trianon complex as part of the sponsorship deal. Ghosn threw an extravagant Marie Antoinette-themed wedding party at Versailles to celebrate his second marriage in October 2016.
Israeli pop queen Netta says Eurovision about music, not politics The Eurovision Song Contest will be hosted for the third time in Israel this May. But as international artists call to boycott the event, 2018 contest winner Netta Barzilai says Eurovision is about participation. Almost a year afterwinningthe Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) in Lisbon, the 26-year-old Israeli singer Netta Barzilai has released her muchanticipated new single, "Bassa Sabada" — Arabic for "Bummer, thatʼs Awesome." After her inimitable, contest-winning performance
of the song "Toy" at the 2018 ESC bought her global attention, Nettaʼs latest electro pop anthem has already clocked near four million YouTube hits just days after release. But with Netta having earned Israel the right to host this yearʼs ESC in May, a political backlash has the potential to overwhelm her own artistic momentum. Although the finale will be hosted in Tel Aviv instead of the contested city of Jerusalem (where it took place in 1979 and 1999) — as was originally suggest by Israeli officials — that hasnʼt stopped calls to boycott the contest.
French champions Paris SaintGermain (PSG) have been fined €100,000 ($113,557 million) by the French Football League (LFP) after scouts were found to have racially profiled potential young recruits between 2013 and 2018.
Sting to return to Budapest for summer 2019 Sting is head over heels for Budapest. After a successful free show with Shaggy a month ago on Heroes’ Square, the former Police frontman has just announced another Budapest concert for next summer. On 2 July, the Grammy-winning singer brings his My Songs tour to the Papp László Aréna, where he will be taking the stage with his own band. From “Englishman In New York” to “Every Breath You Take”, the set should include Sting’s biggest hits. Tickets are on sale now.
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KiK: German court rejects Pakistani lawsuit over deadly fire A German regional court in Dortmund on Thursday ruled against four Pakistanis who had sued the German discount clothing retailer KiK for €30,000 ($34,500) each. The plaintiffs said the company should have provided them compensation for the pain they suffered and the death of their family members in a 2012 fire at a clothing factory in Karachi that killed more than 250 people. Saeeda Khatoon, a Pakistani mother, along with Muhammad Jabir and Abdul Aziz Khan, all lost their sons to the fire. Another plaintiff, Muhammad Hanif, is himself a survivor. "I am very sad that our voice was not heard by the court. We lost our children in the 2012 factory fire. It seems that nobody cares for the poor workers. It was a decision in favor of the companies. But I will not stop my fight for our rights," Khatoon told DW.
Disaster-prone nations threatened by huge insurance gap New research from Lloydʼs and CEBR has shown that vast assets are underinsured, posing a huge threat to livelihoods particularly in poorer nations. Those most at risk are also those with the lowest insurance levels. Disaster-prone developing nations are exposed to crippling losses when storms, floods or earthquakes strike, because they suffer from a dangerous lack of insurance, industry experts said Monday. Globally, assets worth about $163 billion (€141 billion) are not insured against catastrophes, posing a significant threat to livelihoods and prosperity,London-based insurance market Lloydʼs said in a fresh report. The value of underinsured assets had shrunk by only 3 percent since 2012, it noted. Many nations with the lowest levels of insurance were also among those most exposed to risks, including from climate change impacts, and were least able to fund recovery efforts, the study stressed. "If insurance is not available,catastrophes can have a much greater impact on economies and lives, Lloydʼs Chairman Bruce Carnegie-Brown said in a statement. Emerging and low-income nations accounted for almost the entire global insurance gap, the report noted.