DAILY NEWS IN ENGLISH
German prosecutors push jail time for Heckler & Kochʼs ex-staff over Mexico gun deal Prosecutors in the German city of Stuttgart recommended prison sentences on Thursday for three out of the five former Heckler & Koch employees standing trialfor unapproved weapons exports to Mexico. Heckler & Koch, Germanyʼs top gun-maker, should also pay a fine of €4.1 million ($4.6 million), prosecutors recommended. The amount is the approximate price of the weapons that were sold to Mexico in the deal between 2006 and 2009. What prosecutors are demanding: A former sales director, identified as Ingo S., should face a term of two years and nine months for being a member of an organized crime operation.Marianne B., a former clerical employee with the company who was said to be integral to carrying out the crime, should receive two years and six months in prison for acting as an accessory.
Berlin police raid illegal arms dealers Some 300 police officers, including several specialist SEK units, were acting on 20 search warrants and four arrest warrants, according to a statement released Thursday. Among those arrested were a 57year-old Russian suspected of importing weapons and a 56-year-old Turkish man suspected of trading in weapons. Four handguns were impounded during the raids, which were part of a long-term investigation into the illegal international weapons trade. In particular, police were tracing the practice of refitting prop guns and small-caliber weapons used for shooting practice to take larger caliber bullets. Police said they had reason to believe that at least 10 Glock handguns had been imported to Germany from Slovakia since 2017, refitted, and sold into the Berlin crime scene. Around 70 refitted guns have been confiscated during criminal investigations in Berlin in the past 18 months.
21/2019 • 25 JANUARY, 2019
Ukranian ex-president Viktor Yanukovych gets 13 years in absentia for treason Kyiv has sentenced the former president of Ukraine to more than a decade
A court in Kyiv has sentenced the former president of Ukraine to more than a decade for high treason. Yanukovych, thought to be living in exile in Russia, was tried in absentia in what his lawyers called a PR stunt.
Airbus threatens UK flight over Brexit ʼmadnessʼ Airbus could move investments out of the UK if there is a no-deal Brexit. Chief Executive Officer Tom Enders called the UKʼs position a "disgrace" as more firms pull the plug on a UK still stuck in political quagmire. Airbus CEO Tom Enders said on Thursday the European planemaker could move future investments out of the UK if there is ano-deal Brexit. "If there is a no-deal Brexit, we at Airbus will have to make potentially very harmful decisions for the UK," Enders said. "Please donʼt listen to the Brexiteersʼ madness which asserts that, because we have huge plants
here, we will not move and we will always be here. They are wrong." "Make no mistake, there are plenty of countries out there who would love to build the wings for Airbus aircraft," he went on. Enders said the global aviation market was growing 5 percent a year, but that Airbus was not dependent on the UK for its future. "It is a disgrace that more than two years after the result of the 2016 referendum, businesses are still unable to plan properly for the future," Enders said. "If you are really sure that Brexit is best for Britain, come together and deliver a pragmatic withdrawal agreement."
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 news-
paper 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.
Mafia brothers arrested over alleged plot to kidnap Bushidoʼs kids The younger brother of one of Berlinʼs most notorious mafia bosses has been arrested in Denmark on suspicion of plotting to kidnap the children of German-Tunisian rapper andformer business partner Bushido. A spokesman for the Berlin state prosecutor has confirmed earlier press reports that Yasser Abou-Chaker was taken into custody on Monday night, and that German authorities were seeking his extradition. His elder brother and clan boss Arafat AbouChaker is already in custody in the German capital, having been arrested last week at the end of an unrelated trial for assault, at which he received a 10-month suspended sentence for breaking a janitorʼs nose — it was Arafat Abou-Chakerʼs first-ever conviction in 33 court cases.
Venezuelaʼs Juan Guaido: Who is the interim president? One the most daring acts of the Venezuelan opposition in recent years has been led by Juan Guaido, a relatively unknown figure who on Wednesdaydeclared himself interim president of Venezuelain a move that represents a serious challenge to President Nicolas Maduro. People close to Guaido have described him as a political "centrist." The 35-year-old has been a member of the Voluntad Popular (VP), Popular Will, political opposition party since shortly after the organization was formed in 2009.
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21/2019 • 25 January, 2019
Invisible and dangerous: The Salafist scene in North RhineWestphalia 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. As part of their "LIES!" campaign (German for "Read"), key figures of Germanyʼs Salafist scene publicly preached their radical interpretation of Islam as converts were invited to join "Islam seminars" up and down the country.
Paris Saint-Germain fined €100,000 for racial profiling
Brexit: British pound optimism a bit premature? Brexit has been a humbling affair for many Brits; so too their beloved currency, the pound. Having fallen 15 percent against the euro since the June 2016 referendum, is it too soon for sterling to stage a comeback? The frenetic world of currency trading has little in common with the tranquil lifestyle savored by many British expatriate pensioners, seeing out their last years in the warm Spanish winter. The silver sun worshippers and dealers of the worldʼs mostswapped currencies do, however, share a common distraction; they both remain gripped by the ongoing parliamentary tussle over Brexit. The British pound — the worldʼs fourth most traded currency — has been in
the doldrums since Britain voted in June 2016 to renounce its membership of the European Union. Sterling, as it is also known, plummeted between 15 and 20 percent against the worldʼs other G10 currencies in the wake of the referendum result, causing living standards for many Britons to fall as a result of rising inflation from the higher price of imports. The pain was felt at a time when wages were still stagnant in the wake of the 2007/8 financial crisis.
Bye bye lignite: Understanding Germanyʼs coal phaseout Germanyʼs coal commission could make an announcement this week as to when Germany should give up coal for good. Here are the most important facts you need to know about Germanyʼs exit from brown coal. Since the beginning of industrialization, the Earthʼs temperature has increased by 1 degree Celsius. One of the main causes is carbon dioxide (CO2) which is produced by burning coal, oil and gas. It accumulates in the
Earthʼs atmosphere, causing the greenhouse effect, leading to global warming. If we continue to burn these fossil fuels, the Earthʼs temperature is projected to rise by around 4 degrees Celsius by the end of this century and by more than 7 degrees by the year 2200. Our civilization as we know it would probably not survive such a dramatic increase in temperature. The famous Paris Agreement aims to prevent this, stating that temperatures should not rise above 2 degrees — or better still, 1.5 degrees.
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 Grammywinning 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.