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DAILY NEWS IN ENGLISH

EU, Arab League forge connections at first desert summit There is a relaxed schedule for the two-day summit of the European Union and the Arab League. The broad agenda refers obliquely to discussions on "global and regional challenges." It is unlikely that any concrete decisions will be made on issues such asmigration policy. The motto for this first summit, which starts on Sunday, seems to be that everything is optional. According to an EU official in Brussels in charge of preparing the meeting at the Egyptian seaside resort of Sharm elSheikh, there is value in the fact that this "historic" summit is taking place at all. Read more: The world is a broken puzzle "We have different views in many policy areas, that is clear, but talking to each other, getting involved with each other, is the only way to forge connections," the EU diplomat said.

Japanese voters reject plans to move controversial US base Sundayʼs referendum on the Japanese island of Okinawa saw a majority of voters reject plans to relocate a controversial US military base on the island, exit polls suggested. With 42 percent of ballots counted, some 72 percent voted against the move with 19 percent in favor, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper said. On the proposal to move the US Marine Corps Air Station at Futenma to a new location on the same island, voters were asked whether they supported the relocation; opposed it; or neither. Public broadcaster NHK said the number of "No" votes needed to substantially exceed the one-quarter threshold had likely been reached. This would pressure the islandʼs governor to "respect" the outcome of the non-binding poll.

48/2019 • 26 FEBRUARY, 2019

Pope Francis vows to stop cover-ups of child sexual abuse Pope Francis has promised to stop cover-ups of child sexual abuse

Pope Francis has promised to stop cover-ups of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Chuch "as was usual in the past." Francis said clergymen who should have spiritually guided children instead became "tormentors."

Car-sharing usage up in Germany German car-sharing companies logged sharp growth in 2018, picking up an extra 350,000 registered customers. The sector has been slow to establish itself in Germany, but 20,200 car-sharing vehicles are now on the roads.

The number of people usingcarsharing services in Germanyincreased in 2018, with 2.46 million registered users — about 350,000 more than the year before — national car-sharing lobby Bundesverband Carsharing said on Wednesday. "More and more people want to play their own part in the transportation revolution," said managing director Gunnar Nehrke as his

organization released annual figures for the sector. "After a period of stagnation, the market has grown markedly again." More cars for hire, two principal systems Bundesverband Carsharingʼs 2018 data said that a total of 20,200 car-sharing vehicles were now on Germanyʼs roads, a year-on-year increase of 12 percent. The most popular type of service in Germany remained so-called "free-floating" carsharing programs, when a car is parked where the last customer left it and it can then be located by mobile phone by the next user who wishes to use it.

Usage of these services rose 14.9 percent on the year.

Peter Tork, Monkees bassist, dies, aged 77 Peter Tork, an accomplished musician best known as the comedic bass player and keyboarder for the 1960s US band the Monkees, died Thursday at the age of 77. Though the cause of his death was not made public, Tork was diagnosed with adenoid cystic carcinoma, a rare form of tongue cancer, in 2009.

Born Peter Halsten Thorkelson on February 13, 1942, in Washington DC, he began his career in New Yorkʼs Greenwich Village folk music scene.

He was an accomplished musician in his own right when he auditioned for a role in the Monkees, the band that would later bring him fame. Lovable goof in a wildly popular boy band The project was the brainchild of US television executives who were keen on launching an American version of the Beatles. The Monkees had a successful television show centered on the antics of a crazy young Los Angeles band looking to get famous.

Hijack attempt on Dubaibound plane in Bangladesh A Biman Bangladesh Airlines plane was forced to make an emergency landing in the southeastern Bangladeshi city of Chattogram on Sunday after a man allegedly tried to hijack the aircraft. The plane was en route to Dubai from Dhaka, with a stopover in Chittagong, when the incident took place on Sunday, Civil Aviation and Tourism Secretary Mohibul Haque said. The jetliner made an emergency landing at Shah Amanat International Airport in Chittagong at 5:15 p.m. (1315 UTC). Police said security forces stormed the plane and tried to arrest the lone suspect, a Bangladeshi man, aged around 25. SM Matiur Rahman, a major general in the Bangladesh Army, said the suspect acted aggressively toward officers on the plane, and in response, commandos opened fire on the man, who was injured and immediately detained.

Civilian deaths in Afghanistan reached 9-year peak in 2018 More civilians were killed in Afghanistan in 2018 than in any of the previous nine years of the protracted conflict, according to a United Nations report released on Sunday. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) blamed the spike in deaths on increased suicide bombings by militant groups and aerial attacks by US-led coalition forces.

The UNAMA annual report said that 10,993 civilians were killed or wounded last year, the highest number since the international organization started recording figures in 2009.

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2 / 11 °C Precipitation: 0 mm

48/2019 • 26 February, 2019

Reform Germanyʼs welfare state,

Dwindling biodiversity threatens food security, says UN

urges communal association

By choosing to eat the same meals again and again, people are putting the future of food supply at risk, a United Nations report has said.

Farming and fishing practices could be revamped and new crops introduced.

A simplification of Germanyʼs welfare state is wanted by its Association of Towns and Municipalities (BStGB). Only then, it says, will communities be able to cope with demographic aging and future economic strains. Germanyʼs11,054 communal authoritieswere overburdened with complicated welfare delivery and needed "de-bureaucratization" to stay within budget in the future, asserted association chief executive Gerd Landsberg on Tuesday. "Every problem is met with the promise that there is more money and naturally more personnel," he said, adding that, longterm, Germanyʼs highly legislated welfare state would not function, given finite taxation revenues, populations withmore elderly, and regions facing loss of industry and jobs.

Landsberg told newspapers run by the Funke MedienGruppe (media group) – which is based in Essen in the once coal and steel-dominated Ruhr region – that the reform should start with the reexamination of welfare grants and tax relief for families.

Two Germans win second gold medals at Nordic World Ski Championships Germanyʼs Markus Eisenbichler on Sunday helped destroy the opposition to win gold in the large hill skijumping team event — his second world title at this yearʼs FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Seefeld, Austria. Eisenbichler and his compatriots Karl Geiger, Richard Freitag, and Stephan Leyhe led from start to finish on Innsbruckʼs Bergisel hill, winning 987.5 points overall, a massive 56.5 points — or 31 meters (101 feet) — ahead of hosts Austria, who took silver, and Japan (bronze).

People are becoming too dependent on an increasingly narrower number of species when it comes to food supply, the UNʼs Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Friday.

Thedestruction of biodiversityis leaving food production systems susceptible to shocks such as disease, droughts and pests, as well as extreme weather events linked to climate change. While some 6,000 plants species can be used for food, less than 200 varieties are widely eaten. Of

those, only nine make up most of the worldʼs crop production. "The loss of biodiversity for food and agriculture is seriously undermining our ability to feed and nourish an ever-growing global population," the FAOʼs head, Jose Graziano da Silva, said in a statement. "We need to use biodiversity in a sustainable way so that we can better respond to rising climate change challenges and produce food in a way that doesnʼt harm our environment," he added.

Icy facts about the most southern region in the world Antarctica is the largest desert in the world, covering an area of 13,829,430 square kilometres (533, 957 square miles) — about 1.3 times the size of Europe.

Antarctica is the largest desert in the world, covering an area of 13,829,430 square kilometres (533, 957 square miles) — about 1.3 times the size of Europe. Even in the Antarctic summer, from December to February, 99 percent of Antarctica is covered with ice, some of it up to 5000 meters thick. Antarctica is the coldest continent on Earth, with the lowest temperature measured reading -98.6 de-

grees Celsius (-145,48 degrees Fahrenheit). But thatʼs not all: as it never rains or snows, the continent is also the driest and windiest in the world, with wind speeds reaching in excess of 250 kmph (155 mph).

Antarctica comprises the continent and the southern polar sea. The Antarctic Polar Front forms the boundary, where the northern extension of the Southern Ocean separates the cold surface water in the south from the warmer water in the north.

Antarctica is located on all longitudes and extends over all time zones. Most research stations operate on the time in their home country.

No Red Bull Air Race for Budapest in 2019 Budapest Mayor István Tarlós has not authorised the organisation of the Red Bull Air Race in Budapest this summer – according to a statement just issued by the Mayor’s Office. Held annually in several major cities with notable landmarks for skyline backdrops, the Red Bull Air Race is Formula 1 in the air, presenting incredible stunt-flying spectacles performed by the world’s best pilots. Every year except one since 2003, Budapest has hosted the race, but now it seems that for 2019, the Red Bull Air Race will skip the Hungarian capital.

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Mann+Hummel: Hidden champion fights fine particles It only takes the weather to be unfavorable,and megacities across the world sink into wafts of mist. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), some 7 million people die every year partly as a result of inhaling polluted air over longer periods. Increasing traffic has no doubt contributed to creating "thick air." Many nations are in the middle of campaigns to reverse the trend by pushing e-mobility, arguing that electric vehicles donʼt have exhaust pipes as sources of poisonous nitrogen oxides and particulate matter.

But a closer look reveals that fine particulates cannot be reduced drastically through electric cars. "Irrespective of a carʼs transmission system, it will always produce a lot of particulate matter," says Jan-Eric Raschke, who heads the fine particulates/filtration division at the German company Mann+Hummel. He explains thatroughly 90 percent of all particulate emissions in cars stem from tire wear and the braking system.

Germanyʼs migrants: wooed and discriminated "We are Hamburg. Are you in?"

Thatʼs the slogan Hamburg is using to advertise municipal jobs to migrants. From police officers to teachers, doctors, bookkeepers and prison workers — the city is hoping to hire more employees with an migrant background.

And itʼs not just Hamburg making this push. All throughout Germany, the business and public sectors alike are focusing on the countryʼs newest residents. Rising education levels Thatʼs because the average education level of migrants in Germany is on the rise. In 2011, one-quarter of young migrants between the ages of 18 and 25 had completed their "Abitur," or high school certificate exam. By 2015, that figure had climbed to 33 percent.

During that same period, the percentage of youth without a migrant background who completed high school rose from 32 to 39 percent.