DAILY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Syrian refugees in Germany required to renew passports at pro-Assad embassies Of thehundreds of thousands of displaced Syrianswho have come to Germany since 2014, many enjoy only "subsidiary protection" and not full refugee status. Among other things, this means that they are dependent on embassies loyal to the regime of President Bashar Assad. Under German law, people with various levels of political asylum or similar protection in Germany have to actively cooperate in procuring identity documentation, including passports. Andmore and more Syrians are being granted only subsidiaryrather than full refugee status. Whereas 99.7 percent of Syrians coming to Germany in 2015 were classed as full refugees, last year only 38.2 percent were — with 61 percent enjoying only subsidiary protection. The situation, say activists, is unacceptable. "Itʼs a scandal," Jens-Martin Rode of the Association of GermanSyrian Assistance Groups, told DW.
More journalists killed globally in 2018, report says A total of 80 journalists were killed in the first 11 months of 2018, while 348 were in prison and 60 more were being held hostage, according to figures from Reporters Without Borders (RSF).The RSF report, which was released on Tuesday, said 49 of those killed between January 1 and the start of December had been murdered or were deliberately targeted with violence. Read more: World Press Freedom Index 2018: Europe turning into crisis region for journalists The nongovernmental organization said the murders ofSaudi journalist Jamal KhashoggiandSlovak data journalist Jan Kuciak"highlighted the lengths to which press freedomʼs enemies are prepared to go." "Violence against journalists has reached unprecedented levels this year, and the situation is now critical," the organizationʼs head, Christophe Deloire, said in a statement which accompanied the reportʼs release.
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Xi Jinping says no one can ʼdictateʼ Chinaʼs economic path Though he vowed to further open up China, he offered no new specific measures to do so
Speaking on the 40th anniversary of Chinaʼs economic reforms, Xi made it clear that Beijing wonʼt take orders from other countries.
Malaysia files criminal charges against Goldman Sachs over 1MDB scandal Goldman subsidiaries and two of the bankʼs former employees were accused of misappropriating $2.7 billion from Malaysian fund 1MDB. The US bank has also been accused of benefiting from $600 million in inflated fees. Malaysia on Monday filed criminal charges against Goldman Sachs and four other individuals as part of an investigation into a multibillon-dollar scandal involving the 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) state investment fund. The US bank has been under scrutiny for its role in helping raise $6.5 billion (€5.7 billion) through three bond offerings for 1MDB, a fund launched in 2009 by former Malaysian Prime Minister Na-
jib Razak to promote economic development in the country. Attorney General Tommy Thomas said criminal charges were filed Monday against Goldman Sachs, ex-bankers Tim Leissner and Ng Chong Hwa (also known as Roger Ng), Malaysian financier Low Take Jho (also known as Jho Low) and former 1MDB employee Jasmine Loo. All are accused of making false statements in order to "dishonestly misappropriate $2.7 million" from the proceeds of the three bonds. Thomas said the four individuals are accused of conspiring to "bribe Malaysian public officials in order to procure the selection, involvement and participation of Goldman Sachs in the bond issuances."
Giant South American birds cause chaos in northern Germany Giant South American flightless birds are causing chaos in northern Germany after their population more than doubled, farming groups announced this week. The autumn census of Europeʼs only wild rhea population, at the border of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Schleswig-Holstein, found numbers had jumped from 205 birds in spring to 566, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. The population explosion of greater rheas came despite population control efforts in the Schaalsee Biosphere Re-
serve. Almost 300 of the counted birds were juveniles born this year, presumably due to the uncharacteristically warm and dry summer. Who let the fox out? If you suddenly come face-to-face with a fox after a night out clubbing in Berlin, donʼt worry youʼre not hallucinating. The entire city of Berlin has become a habitat for foxes, says conservationist and wild animal consultant Katrin Koch. In fact, studies show that there are now more fox dens in the city than in forests.
Dutch church holds neverending vigil to protect family from deportation On a quiet and peaceful residential street in The Hague, Netherlands, something extraordinary is happening on Tuesday. And it has been going on 24 hours a day, for the last seven weeks. Here at the Bethel Church, the church service never ends. This small red brick Protestant community center is using a loophole in Dutch law to protect the Tamrazyan family from beingdeported to Armenia. "We have more than 650 pastors from dozens of denominations, from all over the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany who have signed up to do the ʼshiftsʼ of services," a church spokeswoman tells me. "And weʼve had over 6,000 visitors, mostly from the Netherlands, but from all over the world, come to pray with us."
Russian cargo ship ʼfreedʼ from British coast off Cornwall British rescuers have refloated a Russian ship with 18 sailors trapped on board after it dragged its anchor and grounded off the southwest coast of England. A lifeboat has been standing by for the beached crew. A Russian cargo ship dragged its anchor in strong winds off the coast of the Falmouth, Cornwall on Tuesday, relocating the 180-meter vessel to within a few meters of the coast. Dramatic footage posted on social media showed a rescuer from the local coastguard rescue team being lowered onto the huge ship during the operation to re-float it.
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287/2018 • 19 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).
German Amazon workers take preChristmas strike action Verdi, one of Germanyʼs biggest trade unions, has been calling on Amazon to conduct collective bargaining for its 16,000 workers. The US giant says only 350 workers had joined the stoppage. Workers at the Amazon distribution centers at Leipzig in eastern Germany and Werne in the west, walked off the job in the early hours of Monday as part of alongrunning campaign for better pay and conditions. They are demanding collective bargaining on pay and conditions, a Verdi trade union spokesman said. The Leipzig workers are expected to strike until December 24, and the Werne workers until Tuesday evening. The actions are the latest
in a campaign of frequent strikes the union has organized since 2013. "We have repeatedly given Amazon more time to react to our demands," Verdiʼs Thomas Schneider said, adding it was a "provocation" that Amazon refused to negotiate. "We will see whether their promises to customers to deliver parcels punctually by Christmas Eve can be met." He warned that the action could extend to other Amazon centers in Germany.
Climate change threatens Germanyʼs Christmas trees Drought killed around a million trees in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia last summer, putting pressure on Christmas tree farmers. But new techniques could help detect crop death early. With the holiday season getting into swing, millions of people across Germany are picking out their Christmas trees. Winterʼs biting cold has set in, and theheatwave that scorched Europeseems a distant memory. But it has left its mark on Germanyʼs
Christmas tree plantations. In North Rhine-Westphalia, up to 30 percent of Christmas tree crops failed this year. An estimated one million-plus spruce trees — one of the most popular varieties for the Yuletide centerpiece — died. According to Bertram Leder at the North Rhine-Westphalia forest department, many more are at risk. "The reason the trees are dying is the complex effect of storms, heat and drought, lack of precipitation, and the spruce bark beetle," Leder explained.
Visit Budapest’s most charming Basilica Advent Fair The Advent Fair by St Stephen’s Basilica is one of the most atmospheric in Budapest. Centrepieced by a towering Christmas tree and a free ice-rink for kids, stalls offer delicious dishes and all things jolly, while special light shows projected onto the façade of the Basilica make every night special. See below for tips on what to eat, drink and buy – and find out what film star Antonio Banderas was up to here last year!
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
Published by: Mega Media Kft. 1075 Budapest, Madách I. út 13-14. +36 1 398 0344 www.hotelujsag.hu
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."