DAILY NEWS IN ENGLISH
German bike helmet ads labeled stupid and sexist German politicians have criticized a Transport Ministry advertising campaign that features scantily clad women and men wearing bike safety helmets. The posters feature the slogan: "Looks like sh*t, but saves lives." The German Transport Ministryʼs provocative marketing campaign to boost the use of helmets while riding bikes has been denounced as sexist by several female politicians. "It is embarrassing, stupid and sexist for the transport minister to be selling his policies using naked skin," said Maria Noichl, the chairperson of the Working Group of Social Democratic Women (ASF), in an interview with the Bild am Sonntag newspaper. She said the posters "must come down." The campaign, which was unveiled on Friday, features young scantily clad women and men wearing bike helmets, along with the slogan "ʼLooks like sh*t [the helmet], but saves lives."
Norway cruise ship arrives in port after airlift drama The Viking Sky cruise ship that lost power off the coast of Norway arrived at a nearby port on Sunday after three of the vesselʼs four engines were restarted. Rescuers said two tug boats aided the vessel as it navigated toward the town of Molde, more than 24 hours after an evacuation order was issued when the ship lost engine power in stormy weather. The shipʼs owner reported that 479 of the shipʼs 1,373 passengers and crew had been airlifted to shore before the ship departed Hustadvika Bay. The shipʼs crew had sent anSOS message on Saturday after running into trouble in an area off the Norwegian coastline known for its rough, treacherous waters. Footage showed furniture and other fixtures sliding around the vessel, as parts of the ceiling came down.
69/2019 • 25 MARCH, 2019
Could Kazakhstan be a model for a power transfer in Russia? Will Vladimir Putin follow Nursultan Nazarbayevʼs lead? Juri Rescheto reports from Moscow
The resignation of Kazakhstanʼs president has given rise to speculation over the future transfer of power in Russia.
Coca-Cola, wine harvest cause bottleneck in Germany Coca-Cola and a good wine harvest are no doubt two completely different things. But in Germany, they merge when it comes to explaining an unparalleled shortage of glass for wine bottles. Oliver Schell owns a family winery in Germanyʼs Ahr region. He was ready to fill his first bottles with 2018 vintage wine as early as last week. Sadly, he found out that schlegelflaschen — the elegant long bottles made of white glass that he normally uses for his wine — are not available anymore. He had to settle for alternative, shorter bottles. But there isnʼt an alternative for everything. Bottling at the Schell Winery has
to be postponed. "We have the wine ready in the cellar, but we canʼt get it to our clients," says Schell. In the 10 years that he has been in the wine business, heʼs never faced that problem before. For many winemakers in Germany, now is the time to finally put the wine in bottles. But the glassmakers cannot produce enough bottles, says Andreas Köhl, spokesman of the Farmers and Winegrowersʼ Association in Rhineland-Palatinate. "Especially the green 1-liter bottles are in short supply as well as bottles for white wine and rose." In Rhineland-Palatinate alone there are 4,900 wineries that bottle wine.
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
newspaper 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.
ʼIslamic Stateʼ defeated in Syria: US-backed Syrian forces The US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Saturday declared victory against the "Islamic State" (IS), saying they hadflushed the jihadists from their last remaining strongholdin the eastern Syrian village of Baghouz. The announcement marks the end of the terror groupʼs self-proclaimed caliphate, which at its height in 2014 covered large swathes of Syria and Iraq. Read more: ʼIslamic Stateʼ loses significant camp in final holdout territory Baghouz Victory in Baghouz SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali announced the victory on Twitter: "Baghouz has been liberated. The military victory against Daesh has been accomplished," he said, referring to IS by its acronym in Arabic. The SDF declares "total elimination" of the so-called caliphate and "100 percent territorial defeat of ISIS." "On this unique day, we commemorate thousands of martyrs whose efforts made the victory possible."
Stop Brexit: Millions sign petition to British government A petition asking the British government to reverse its course on Brexit has received more than 4.5 million signatures in only three days. The official parliamentary petitionlaunched on Wednesday is calling for the government to revoke Article 50, the mechanism that governs Britainʼs departure from the European Union. "The government repeatedly claims exiting the EU is ʼthe will of the people.ʼ We need to put a stop to this claim by proving the strength of public support now, for remaining in the EU. A Peopleʼs Vote may not happen — so vote now," the petition states.
weather today BUDAPEST
8 / 13 °C Precipitation: 0 mm
69/2019 • 25 March, 2019
Chinese investments in EU in a downward spin Chinese investments in the European Union fell sharply for the second consecutive year in 2018, a report by the Berlin-based Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS) and US consulting firm Rhodium Group showed. Chinese companies completed FDI deals worth €17.3 billion ($19.6 billion) last year, down 40 percent from 2017 levels and way below the record €37.2 billion investment seen in 2016. The decline is part of a trend that has seen Chinese investments fall in most regions of the world over the past two years as Beijing continues to maintain a tight grip on outward investment by its residents amid slowing economic growth and atrade war with the United States. Chinese investors have also been forced to back away by "growing political and regulatory backlash against Chinese capital around the globe,"the authors of the report,Thilo Hanemann, Agatha Kratz and Mikko Huotari, wrote. "This shift in attitudes has been remarkably rapid in Europe," they said.
Paris SaintGermain fined €100,000 for racial profiling 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. According to research by the French investigative website Me‐ diapart, part of the European Investigative Collaborations (EIC) network processing documents from the so-called "Football Leaks" revelations, the clubʼs scouting department used forms which included a drop-down menu featuring the options: French, North African, black African and West Indian.
Kaliningrad gets Moscow energy boost as Baltic states pull plug
ITB Berlin tourism partner
Russia has launched a power plant to make its Kaliningrad exclave self-reliant when its EU neighbors unplug the power grid. Home to Russiaʼs Baltic Fleet, old East Prussia is still a prime piece of real estate.
Malaysia faces a potential backlash from lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) rights groups after claiming that the Muslim-majority country doesnʼt have gays. On Tuesday, Tourism Minister Datuk Mohammaddin bin Ketapi was asked by reporters ahead of the opening of the ITB Berlin tourism fair whether the country was safe for gay and Jewish visitors. After initially sidestepping the question, the minister was asked again whether gays were welcome and he replied: "I donʼt think we have anything like that in our country." Denial could hurt bookings Despite efforts by Malaysian officials to downplay the incident, Ketapiʼs comments could derail attempts to entice more tourists to visit Malaysia. The remarks came after he spoke for several minutes about the countryʼs natural beauty and welcoming culture. The country has set itself a target of receiving 30 million visitors in 2019.
The Russian state energy holding InterRAO recently announced the launch of the Pregolsky gas-powered station with a capacity of 455.2 megawatts (MW), the largest of four stations Moscow hopes will make Kaliningradʼs energy self-sufficient. The stations will have a combined capacity of about 1 gigawatt. In itself it is nothing terribly special. But, in the growing war of words between Russia and NATO, Kaliningrad is becoming a strategic and symbolic hot spot. Once the capital of Prussia and home to philosopherImmanuel Kant, the
area is still of great strategic importance to Moscow, home to the Russian Baltic Fleet at the port of Baltiysk, the countryʼs only ice-free European port. Russia recently deployed another regimental set of the S-400 Triumph air defense missiles in the exclave. The Mayakovskaya and Talakhovskaya plants, which are also gas-powered, have a combined capacity of 312 megawatts (MW). They started operations last March, while the fourth, coal-powered Primorsky, could be completed in 2020 and is designed to act as a backup.
Bringing Britainʼs endangered wildlife back from the brink The natterjack toad, petalworts and the sand lizard are some of Britainʼs most endangered species. Discussing the weather is a national pastime for the Brits, and the talk among a group of volunteers gathered at Sefton Dunes to save the natterjack toad is no exception. Itʼs a glorious winter day, and sunshine sparkles off the dunes, a short way from Liverpool on Englandʼs north-west coast — not a part of the world known for fine weather. Read more: Will Brexit be bad for biodiversity in Britain? The team is digging out ponds to create suitable
habitat for the rare toads. This time last year, the job would have meant shoveling through snow. Today, temperatures nudge north of 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit), on what has since been declared the UKʼs hottest winter day on record. There are even reports of wildfires on moorlands in nearby Lancashire, and while humans might be basking in the unseasonal sunshine, itʼs not great for the toads. "It couldnʼt be much worse really, it has been such a dry winter," says Andrew Hampson of Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (ARC), who is coordinating the 20-odd volunteers.
IX. Food Truck Show Kincsem Park rom 3 to 5 May, food trucks roll into the area adjacent to Kincsem Park racecourse. Offering many culinary treats and drinks, this event is ideal for the whole family. While munching on your pulled-pork sandwiches, you can also bet on horses and cheer from the grandstands.
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Malaysia claims it has ʼno gaysʼ
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.