DAILY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Tightened security at French and German airports ahead of holidays German and French airports have tightened their security measures in the run-up to Christmas, authorities confirmed Thursday. At this time of year, airports across Europe receive tips from many other countries around the world, some of them highly credible. According to German public broadcaster ARD, some of these credible tips included information from Moroccan intelligence indicating that an attack was planned at an airport either in France or Germany. Two days after anattack on the Strasbourg Christmas market, police found the very men described by their Moroccan counterparts in a Germanlicensed vehicle at Parisʼ Charles De Gaulle Airport. Another credible tip involved a father and son from the German state of North RhineWestphalia that appeared to be casing some of the countryʼs airports. Police said they had made four arrests related to the possibility that extremists were surveilling German airports.
US charges Chinese nationals with computer hacking of Navy, NASA US prosecutors have accused two Chinese nationals of working with the Ministry of State Security in China. The FBI accused China of aiming to replace the US as the worldʼs superpower with "illegal methods." Zhu Hua and Zhang Jianguo worked in China to hack into computers and steal intellectual property, US prosecutors charged on Thursday. Their targets included the US Navy, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and a range of aviation, space and satellite-technology companies. US authorities said the two men worked in association with Chinaʼs Ministry of State Security.
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German lawmakers meet Julian Assange in London The WikiLeaks founder must be protected from extradition to the US
Two German parliamentarians have become Julian Assangeʼs first visitors in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London since March. The Left party members say the WikiLeaks founder must be protected from extradition to the US.
Washington sues Facebook over Cambridge Analytica scandal The US capital has sued Facebook for sharing usersʼ data with Cambridge Analytica. It is the first legal case against Facebook over the privacy scandal. The attorney general of Washington, DC, filed a suit against Facebook on Wednesday for allowing Cambridge Analytica to access the personal data of residents of the US capital. Facebook earlier this year admitted that a thirdparty personality quiz app collected the personal information of usersʼ friends, and the information was sold to the London-based political consulting firm
Cambridge Analytica. Some 87 million users worldwide were affected. In Washington, more than 340,000 residents were impacted but only 860 took the quiz, DC Attorney General Karl Racine said. The lawsuit alleges Facebook knew in 2014 that the app was collecting information on usersʼ friends but failed "to monitor or audit the app." "Weʼre seeking to hold Facebook accountable for jeopardizing and exposing the personal information of tens of millions of its users," Racine said. "We hope this lawsuit will ensure Facebook takes better care with its data."
Plastic pollution: Do beach clean-ups really make a difference? It could be paradise. On the Honduran island of Roatan in the Caribbean, sandy beaches lined with palm trees stretch as far as the eye can see. But the view is ruined by mounds of trash: Plastic bags and single-use water bottles, old clothes, unloved toys and even plastic chairs. Marine biologist Laura Leiva of the Alfred Wegener Institute grew up here in Honduras and has witnessed the rising
tide of plastic pollutionfirst-hand. "The last 10 years have seen more plastic [wash up] on the shores here," she told DW. "The only clean places are the tourist resorts because people actively clean them," she says. "Around them, [the beaches are] full of trash. Itʼs so sad." The trash originates from Roatan itself, neighboring islands and the Central American mainland.
Londonʼs Gatwick Airport closed due to drones over airfield One day on, Londonʼs Gatwick Airport remains closed, stranding tens of thousands due to drone activity in the area, bringing the military to the scene and causing airlines to cancel flights by the day. British carrier easyJet, for instance, canceled all remaining flights Thursday, saying, "At this stage, there is no indication of when the airport might reopen." More than 110,000 passengers affectedArmy deployed on site to assist policePerpetrator(s) remain at largeUKʼs second largest airport, processing 125,000 passengers daily Two drones flying over the airport caused officials to suspend and divert flights on Wednesday and Thursday. The airportʼs runway remains closed until further notice, following multiple drone sightings that began Wednesday evening. Although the runway was reopened at 3 a.m. (03:00 UTC) on Thursday, another drone sighting 45 minutes later caused it to be closed again.
DR Congo vote delayed by a week The Electoral Commisison (CENI) in the Democratic Republic of Congo said on Thursday that the countryʼs long-delayedpresidential election will likely be postponed again. Set to take place on Sunday, the run-up to the vote had been marred by escalating violence. Presidential candidates were told at a meeting called by CENI Kinshasa that sectarian violence, a warehouse fire that destroyed vote counting machines in Kinshasa, and the risk of spreading an Ebola outbreak in the eastern part of the country were the key reasons the vote had to be pushed back again.
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289/2018 • 21 December, 2018
GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer plan to Migrant caravan ʼcould demerge into two operations UK drugmaker Glaxo wants to split not be larger two businesses, after agreeing its US rival Pfizer to form a giftʼ for Donald inwith consumer health joint venture that Trump will become the worldʼs biggest "Remember the midterms", US President Donald Trump reminded his 55 million followers on Twitter on Tuesday in a sequence of tweets focused on the so-called migrant caravan that is making its way through Mexico towards the US border. If there was ever any doubt that Trump would forego the attention-grabbing visuals of thousands of Latin American migrants braving brutal conditions to trek tens of miles per day in hopes of reaching the US, a series of presidential tweets sent out in the past couple of days erased it. Using military jargon to describe the caravan and alleging — without offering evidence — that criminals and "unknown Middle Easterners" were part of the group, Trump faulted Democrats and US courts for standing in the way of a tougher immigration policy, and El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, the home countries of most of the migrants, for not preventing them from making the journey.
Adam Peaty criticism leads to Fina promising to ʼmoderniseʼ By Nick Hope
provider of non-prescription drugs.
UK drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)announced on Wednesday that it had agreed with its US rival Pfizer to combine the two companiesʼ consumer health businesses in a joint venture worth about $12.7 billion (€11.1 billion) in combined sales. GSK would lead the new entity with a 68-percent majority, the pharmaceutical firm said in a statement. The GSK business breakup is the plan of the companyʼs new CEO Emma Walmsley, who took over last year. In a conference call with journalists she said the deal would help support "our number-one priority,
which is strengthening the pharma business." "Ultimately, our goal is to create two exceptional, UK-based global companies, with appropriate capital structures, that are each well positioned to deliver improving returns to shareholders and significant benefits to patients and consumers," she said. The joint venture will create a consumer health giant with a market share of 7.3 percent — well ahead of its nearest rivals Johnson & Johnson, Bayer and Sanofi, which all have about equal market share of around 4 percent.
European stars who truly hate Christmas Some of them contributed to the romantic spirit of the Christmas season, like Hugh Grant in "Love Actually." Are you among the people who get excited days before Christmas, and plan in detail how you will celebrate with your loved ones? Or do you belong to the category of people who view the whole thing as humbug? If youʼre among the latter, youʼre not alone. A survey found out that 15 per cent of all Germans see Christmas as the most stressful time of the year. Every year, the same kitsch decora-
tions appear throughout the city, reminding people that they should get down to buying presents soon. On average, Germans spend €465 ($570) on gifts. And most of the time, the people receiving those presents do not really want or need any of those things. About 25 per cent of the people surveyed said that Christmas comes with too many expectations. Those who want to avoid the whole fuss might choose to keep working or take a holiday abroad — ideally somewhere warm. Many stars do the same thing. Check out our High Five gallery to find out which ones.
Swimmingʼs international governing body says it will look to "improve and modernise" following criticism from Olympic champion Adam Peaty. Briton Peaty is among a host of leading swimmers to have criticised Finaʼs governance over the past year. "It feels like weʼre still in 1970," Peaty, 23, told BBC Sport.
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Indiaʼs currency tumbles amid rising oil prices The rupee has dropped over 12 percent against the US dollar since the beginning of 2018, earning it the unfortunate distinction of Asiaʼs worst performing currency this year. Economists blame risingglobal crude prices for the slide. India imports 80 percent of its oil needs and soaring prices have blown a hole in the nationʼs finances. The country also imports huge quantities of items like gold and electronics, swelling its import bill further. Indiaʼs current account deficit (CAD) will also likely widen to 2.8 percent of GDP in financial year 2018 — up from 1.9 percent last year — according to consultancy Nomura Research Institute. CAD is a measure of the flow of goods, services and investments in and out of the country. Still, macroeconomic problems resulting from a higher CAD and depreciating rupee are not Prime Minister Narendra Modiʼs biggest concerns. His administration is more worried about growing public discontent due to the rise in petrol and diesel prices.
Vietnamʼs dog meat culture clashes with modern tastes Hoang has been eating dog meat since he was young. He canʼt imagine there will be a time that he wonʼt be eating it at least twice a month. However, Vietnamese officials announced in September that dog and cat meat should no longer be served in the inner districts of the capital city Hanoi because itʼs offensive to tourists and can spread diseases like rabies. Read more: Illegal dog meat trade raises moral questions Dog meat lovers and restaurant owners fear that the government will try to expand the ban and decide to officially forbid eating dog and cat meat entirely. "I donʼt see how they can ban it. The demand is just too high," Hoang said at a restaurant in Vietnamʼs largest metropolis, Ho Chi Minh City. In a small alley in Ho Chi Minh City, at least four restaurants serve dog meat, or Thịt chó. People gather around small tables to dine on the canine meat, complementing it with rice wine or beer. Hoang, who declined to give his full name, is sitting at a table with three good friends. "For us itʼs a tradition to eat dog meat. Itʼs just as normal as eating seafood or chicken," he told DW.