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DAILY NEWS IN ENGLISH

Indiaʼs former Prime Minister Vajpayee dies Announcing Vajpayeeʼs passing in a New Delhi clinic Thursday, Indiaʼs current prime minister Narenda Modi said his predecessor had "set the foundations for a strong, prosperous and inclusive India in the 21st century." "Atal Jiʼs passing away is a personal and irreplaceable loss for me," Modi said, using a Hindi-language honorific for Vajpayyee. The former premier died at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi, where he was admitted nine weeks ago. He had suffered a stroke in 2009. "Unfortunately, his condition deteriorated over the last 36 hours and he was put on life support systems. Despite the best efforts, we have lost him today," AIIMS said in a statement.

German river levels fall in heat, drought as farmers seek help The water level on the Oder River at the key Frankfurt 1 measuring point had dropped to 93 centimeters (3 feet) on Wednesday. It was 110 centimeters at the end of July. The river level was the lowest since records began more than a century ago according to Sebastian Dosch, a spokesman for the Eberswalde Water and Shipping Authority in the eastern German state of Brandenburg. Without rain, the Oderʼs water level could be expected to fall a further 2 centimeters per day, Dosch said. The Oder River rises in the Czech Republic before forming 187 kilometers (116 miles) of the border between Poland and Germany as it flows northwards to the Baltic Sea. Germany has faced hot weather and drought conditionsfor weeks. Some thunderstorms and rain over the last weekhave done little to change the situation for the Oder and a number of other rivers.

188/2018 • 17 AUGUST, 2018

Aretha Franklin, ʼQueen of Soul,ʼ dies aged 76 She won 18 Grammys

German doctor stabbed to death at practice A doctor was stabbed to death in his own practice on Thursday in a seemingly unprovoked attack in the southwestern German city of Offenburg. A 26-year-old man allegedly entered the surgery without an appointment and attacked the doctor and an assistant. The assistant was injured during the early morning attack. He then fled the scene, prompting a manhunt involving more than 20 police cars, helicopters and a canine unit, and was soon caught. Police identified the suspect as a man from Somalia. They said he left the knife behind at the scene.

Fukushima: UN says clean-up workers in danger of ʼexploitationʼ After falling gravely ill earlier this month, Aretha Franklin has died. Franklin won 18 Grammys and had some 25 gold records during her long career.

Putting Portugal on the power grid The power lines connecting France and the Iberian Peninsula are set to be upgraded. But will more renewable electricity flow from Portugal to Central Europe, or more French nuclear power flow in the other direction? At first glance deliveries of ecofriendly solar and wind energy from Portugal to Central Europe look great because both can be produced in abundance at the western end of Europe at reasonable prices.

There is one problem though — a 3,000-meter-high obstacle called the Pyrenees Mountains, which cut off the Iberian Peninsula from France. But things are about to change now because Portugal, Spain and France decided at the end of last month to simply bypass the mountains. An investment of around €2 billion ($2.28 billion) will soon create a better connection between Spain and Portugal and the European energy market.

Russia refuses to pardon jailed Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov "The pardon procedure begins with the personal request of the convict," said a letter from the Kremlin to Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsovʼs mother. Published on the website Hromadske.ua on Wednesday, the letter to Lyudmila Sentsov rejected her request for a pardon for her son, who in August 2015 was sentenced to 20 years in a Russian jail north of the Arctic Circle. Sentsov was found guilty of having formed a ter-

rorist group, and planning attacks in the Russian-annexed Crimea region of Ukraine in the spring of 2014. Sentsov denies the accusations, whichhave been widely condemned internationally. His mother had written to Russian President Vladimir Putin at the end of June pleading for her sonʼs release but she was told that pardons can only be considered if made by the prisoner.

Tens of thousands of clean-up workers at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station risk exploitation, UN human rights experts said in a statement on Thursday. The three experts, who report to the UN Human Rights Council, warned that exposure to radiation remained a major risk for workers handling the cleanup of the plant. "Workers hired to decontaminate Fukushima reportedly include migrant workers, asylum seekers and people who are homeless," said the three: Baskut Tuncak, an expert on hazardous substances, Dainius Puras, an expert on health, and Urmila Bhoola, an expert on contemporary slavery. "We are deeply concerned about possible exploitation regarding the risks of exposure to radiation, possible coercion into accepting hazardous working conditions because of economic hardships, and the adequacy of training and protective measures," they said.

weather today BUDAPEST

22 / 28 °C Precipitation: 0 mm


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