DAILY NEWS IN ENGLISH
German police raid suspected KKK membersʼ homes German police on Wednesday raided 12 apartments in eight different German states belonging to suspected members of an extreme-right group calling itself the National Socialist Knights of the Ku Klux Klan Deutschland. A total of 200 police officers searched properties in Baden-Württemberg, Bremen, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland Palatinate, Saxony Anhalt and Thuringia. More than 100 weapons — including air guns, swords, machetes and knives — were seized in the raids, prosecutors and regional police in the southwestern state of BadenWürttemberg said. Read more: ʼThe KKK is active here in Germanyʼ The raids targeted 17 people between the ages of 17 and 59, but there was no official word of any arrests. Authorities say around 40 people are under investigation.
Record traffic jams slow down German autobahns German roads experienced a record 745,000 traffic jams in 2018, a 3 percent increase over 2017, the ADAC, Germanyʼs largest automobile club, said Thursday. The ADAC said the traffic jams, which occurred at a rate of about 2,000 per day, caused a back-up of 1.5 million kilometers (932,000 miles) and forced motorists to sit in their cars for an extra 459,000 hours. The automobile club cited an increase in average distance traveled, which Germanyʼs Federal Highway Research Institute pegged at 0.4 percent, for the increase in traffic suggestion. It also said there were 3 percent more bottlenecks caused by construction sites.
15/2019 • 18 JANUARY, 2019
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras wins confidence vote The vote came after a key minister in the Greek government quit last week
The vote came after a key minister in the Greek government quit last week over the Macedonia name dispute. Prime Minister Tsipras said he would put the ratification of the Macedonia name-change agreement on the agenda.
Theresa May calls for ʼway forwardʼ on Brexit after winning no confidence vote The British prime minister called on politicians to "put self-interest aside" ahead of further Brexit negotiations. Mayʼs government survived a vote of no confidence a day after her draft Brexit deal was voted down. UK Prime Minister Theresa May won a confidence vote in Parliament on Wednesday and then appealed to lawmakers to reach a consensus on Brexit. "This evening the government has won the confidence of Parliament. This now gives us the opportunity to focus on finding a way forward on Brexit," May said outside 10 Downing Street in London. "Now
MPs have made clear what they donʼt want, we must all work constructively together to set out what parliament does want," she added. Lawmakers voted 325 to 306 that they had confidence in Mayʼs government just a day after voting down herwithdrawal agreementwith the European Union. May now has until Monday to present her plan on how the government should move forward. Read more: Brexit: What happens next? May said she believed Parliament had a duty "put self-interest aside" and deliver on the2016 Brexit referendumresult, in which UK citizens voted to withdraw from the EU.
Novel based on Jew ʼcatcherʼ Stella Kübler stirs controversy "We have a new literature debate," wrote Hannah Lühmann of the Die Welt newspaper when reflecting on the bombshell publication of Stella, a novel by journalist, author and war correspondent Takis Würger. Published by the prestigious Hanser Verlag on January 11, Stella fictionalizes the true story of Jewess Stella Kübler (née Goldschlag), who as a so-called "catcher" betrayed other Jews gone underground
to the Gestapo. Würgerʼs second novel was inspired by the award-winning journalistʼs fascination for the subject. But while itʼs too early to judge the success of this study of a character who is already a book subject — for example, Peter Wydenʼs Stella: One Womanʼs True Tale of Evil, Betrayal, and Survival in Hitlerʼs Germany — the vehement re-
sponse to the novel by German critics has been striking.
Germany: Arms exports approvals down a quarter The German government approved nearly 23 percent fewer arms exports in 2018 compared to the previous year. That is according to an Economy Ministry response to an inquiry from Green Party lawmaker Omid Nouripour published in local media on Thursday. Total arms exports approvals amounted to €4.82 billion ($5.47 billion) compared to €6.24 billion in 2017. A downward trend has been recorded every year since 2015, when Germany exported a recordbreaking €7.86 billion in arms. The report cited the governmentʼs decision in November tostop all arms exports to Saudi Arabiain response to the assassination of Saudi critic and journalist Jamal Khashoggi. However, the government was already considering a ban due toSaudiʼs involvement in the brutal war in Yemen.
Russian lawmakers to vote on Council of Europe boycott Russian lawmakers are expected to vote againstsending a delegation to the Council of Europe (CoE)following a Thursday morning session. "We have reached the conclusion that there is no basis for us to (…) return to the Council of Europe" Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin told journalists after a meeting with representatives of the parliamentary parties on Wednesday. "We also consider it justified not to pay the contributions into the Council of Europe this year, because our delegation does not have the possibility of full representations and of representing the interests of our citizens."
weather today BUDAPEST
1 / 9 °C Precipitation: 0 mm
15/2019 • 18 January, 2019
Luxembourg election presents tough challenge to PM Xavier Bettel The future of Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel hangs in the balance as some 256,000 voters head to the polls in the European landlocked Grand Duchy on Sunday. Any party or alliance needs to obtain 31 seats to form a government. Opinion polls suggest Bettel could lose the vote due to his unpopular economic policies and declining support within his Democratic Party and coalition partners. A high growth rate under the coalition has put pressure on housing and infrastructure. According to polls, a quarter of voters were undecided in who to vote for. Claude Wiseler, a former literature teacher and the prime minister candidate of the Christian Social Peopleʼs Party (CSV), is expected to pick up seats. Bettel became the countryʼs prime minister in 2013 after a spying scandal toppled the CSV government of Jean-Claude Juncker, who is now president of the European Commission.
Russia misses WADA doping lab deadline The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) confirmed in a statement issued on Tuesday that Russia had not met the December 31 deadline to hand over data from its Moscow antidoping laboratory. This was one of two conditions WADA set out when it lifted the suspension it had imposed on the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) in 2015 as a result ofevidence of state-sponsored doping contained in the McLaren Report. "I am bitterly disappointed that data extraction from the former Moscow Laboratory has not been completed by the date agreed," WADA President Craig Reedie said in the statement, which was posted on the agencyʼs website.
Why Italy needs an ethical tomato sauce Cameroonian Yvan Sagnet is looking to tackle labor exploitation in agriculture with an ethical label thatʼs meant to challenge the local gangmaster system. Ylenia Gostoli reports from Apulia, Italy. The sight of the vast slums of the Apulia region of southern Italy, where agricultural workers live in corrugated iron and wood shacks, didnʼt fail to strike a young Yvan Sagnet when he first set foot there. That was back in 2011, when he was a 26-year-old student at the Polytechnic University of Turin, looking to make some money to pay his fees. "I went to Apulia following some hints from friends," Sagnet said. "They didnʼt tell me that behind it allthere was extreme exploitation.
Realities on the ground "I arrived and found that surreal context of slums and migrants camps — people were there because they had no choice, but for me, coming from a different background, that was unacceptable." It wasnʼt long before Sagnet and hundreds of other workers in Nardo began a strike against working conditions after laborers had been asked to do more work for the same, already meager pay — €3.50 ($4) for collecting a 300kilogram crate of tomatoes.
Few more days to go! 78th Vienna Philharmonic Ball Date: Thu, 24. January 22:00 Location: Vienna, Austria Musikverein, Golden Hall . Please find out more information under: https://www.wienerphilharmoniker.at/ball Ticket sales begin on January 14, 2019, at the Vienna Philharmonic Ticket Office, Kärntner Ring 12, 1010 Vienna, Mon. - Fri., 9:30 AM 3:30 PM. Before this date, tickets
can only be purchased in conjunction with a table reservation. Some tickets will also be available online beginning on January 14, 2019. Program : Johann Strauss Jr. Ouvertüre zur Operette "Der Zigeunerbaron (The Gypsy Baron)" , Richard Strauss Wiener Philharmoniker Fanfare, o.op. 109 , Gottfried Freiberg Ausseer Fanfare. CONDUCTOR Zubin Mehta ORCHESTRAWiener Philharmoniker
Brand new place on the Buda side! Spatula Cafe · Crêperie · Breakfast & Brunch Restaurant Address: 1111 Budapest Bartok Béla út 8 (only 100 metres from Hotel Gellért) Brand new place - just openeded end of November! With amazing coffee, breakfast, soups, sandwiches, tortillas, pancake, cookies, etc.
Hotel Azúr Prémium H-8600 Siófok, Erkel Ferenc u. 2/c. Telephone: 06 86 501 450 premium@hotelazur.hu http://www.hotelazur.hu/hu/premium
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Sri Lanka seeks investment, but China questions linger You donʼt need to be an expert on international trade routes to look at a map and understandthat Sri Lankaʼs location is one of potentially serious economic advantage. The island nation — population 22 million — sits at the southern tip of India, almost as close to the Middle East and the Horn of Africa as it is to South East Asia. The value of this location has not been lost on its northern neighbor China.Under Xi Jinpingʼs so-called ʼBelt and Road Initiative,ʼ the Chinese government has pumped billions into Sri Lanka in the form of both foreign investment and loans in recent years. This reliance on Chinese money is part of a long-standing Sri Lankan problem. With a major trade deficit, as well as crippling levels of debt, the country needs foreign money. China has rushed to fill the gap more enthusiastically than anyone else. The current Sri Lankan government came to power in 2015, when it replaced former President Mahinda Rajapaksaʼs administration. His government had been unabashedly eager to seek Chinese money, regardless of the costs, and it left the incoming government with a major web of deals — and debt — to untangle.
Nadia Murad and Denis Mukwege accept Nobel Peace Prize In theirNobel Peace Prize acceptance speeches on Monday,Denis MukwegeandNadia Murad called on the world to protect victims of wartime sexual violence. They also slammed global indifference to the plight of women and children in conflict. In her speech Murad implored the global community to help free hundreds of women and girls still held by jihadists. She also said that the world must protect her people and other vulnerable communities. Speaking at Osloʼs City Hall and seemingly overcome with emotion, Murad said: "It is my view that all victims deserve a safe haven until justice is done for them." Murad survived the horrors of captivity under the "Islamic State" (IS) group in Iraq and Syria where they targeted her Kurdishspeaking community.Older women and men faced summary execution during the IS assault, which the United Nations has described as a possible genocide. Murad was captured in 2014 and suffered beatings and gang-rape before she was able to escape.