DAILY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Fact check: As Brexit looms, how dependent is Ireland on British trade? A recent interview on BBC radio between Helen McEntee, the Irish minister for Europe, and John Humphrys, the veteran presenter, provided a stinging insight into why frustration over Brexit is gradually turning to anger in Dublin. After probing McEnteeon the Irish governmentʼs attitude to the question of the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, he moved on to the overall Irish-British relationship. "Britain is hugely important to your economy obviously," he said. "It accounts for 50 percent of exports from the Republic. "Therefore, there has to be an argument, doesnʼt there, that says, instead of Dublin telling this country that we have to stay within the single market, within the customs union, why doesnʼt the Republic of Ireland leave the European Union and throw their lot in with this country?"
World Cancer Day: German health minister defends setting ʼbig goalsʼ German Health Minister Jens Spahn has defended his comments that advances in cancer research mean thedisease can be wiped out in the next two decades. "We want to defeat cancer by controlling it. That will not be easy. But thatʼs why we have to try it, with courage and ambition," he told the Rhein Neckar Zeitung newspaperʼs February 4 World Cancer Day edition. "Itʼs important that we set ourselves big goals." The minister stressed that there had beensignificant advances in cancer diagnosis, therapy and research in recent years, drawing parallels with the fight against HIV/AIDS. "Who would have thought 30 years ago that life expectancy with a well-treated HIV infection would be as high as without an infection?"
31/2019 • 6 FEBRUARY, 2019
Is Indian PM Modi staging a ʼcoupʼ in West Bengal? The Saradha ʼchit fundʼ scam
West Bengalʼs chief minister Mamata Banerjee has alleged that Modi is interfering in the affairs of her state. Critics claim that the premier is using intelligence agencies to harass opponents ahead of general elections. Constitutionally, India is a "union of states" and follows a federal structure of government. This means that while some functions and institutions are subordinate to the government in New Delhi, many others are managed by local state governments. Recently however, the central government underPrime Minister Narendra Modihas been accused of overstating its authority and getting in the way of state governments. Read more: Opinion: A reality check for Indian PM Narendra Modi A particularly strong allegation has emerged from West Bengal, where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee (main picture) has alleged that Modi is trying to "stage a coup" and usurp power in her administrative area through indirect means. The minister is meanwhile on strike in Kolkata, the state capital, and has said that her agitation aims to "save democracy, the constitution and the country." "The highest levels of the BJP leadership are doing the worst kind of political vendetta," Banerjee said in a tweet, adding, "They are misusing power to take control of the police and destroy all institutions." The latest controversy was triggered after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which
investigates high-profile crimes involving finances, corruption and communal harmony, was charged with recovering documents from Kolkata related to a financial scam concerning the Saradha Group, which operated a consortium of 200 private companies and robbed nearly 2 million people of around $6 billion (€5.24 billion). The company used the so-called Ponzi scheme and later used money taken from investors to pay people who had invested early on in the project. Millions of people from Indiaʼs lowermiddle class paid small sums of money into the scheme. After the scandal was exposed, two officials of the group were arrested and the state government offered some financial relief to low-income investors. An official investigation was launched in 2013 and the case was handed out to the CBI in 2014. On February 3, the CBI said it wanted to question the chief of Kolkataʼs state police, Rajeev Kumar, about the progress in investigations concerning the scam. However, Kumarʼs guards prevented CBI officials from entering the building, causing scuffles that eventually lead to the arrest of the CBI investigators.
EU nations get behind Venezuelaʼs Juan Guaido as acting president What started as a trickle has turned into a flow of EU countries who have now officially declared Guaido as interim president. However, according to diplomatic sources in Brussels, Italy has blocked an EU-wide statement of the blocʼs support for Guaido due to conflicting interests within the Italian coalition government. The coordinated move to recognize Guaido by France, Spain, Germany, Britain, Portugal, Sweden, Denmark, Austria, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland and Luxembourg comes after the expiry of an eight-day ultimatum for Maduro to call a new election. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is on a twoday visit to Japan, said at a news conference that "we recognize Juan Guaido as interim president of Venezuela, tasked with starting the political transition and leading the country to free, transparent and credible elections." She added that she hoped Guaidowould initiate those electionsas "quickly as possible."
Venezuelaʼs foreign journalists hamstrung by visa problems Venezuelaʼs Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jorge Arreaza, was visibly angry. "It is outrageous and irresponsible that the [foreign] media send journalists without fulfilling the minimum conditions required by Venezuelan law, then construct a media scandal out of it," he said. "This is another aspect of the media campaign against our country," he tweeted on January 31.
weather today BUDAPEST
2 / 6 °C Precipitation: 0 mm