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DAILY NEWS IN ENGLISH

At Irish border, Brexit evokes history of violence The light is declining on an October evening in Clogher, County Tyrone, six miles (10 kilometers) from the IrishNorthern Irish border on the northern side. From the dimly lit hallway of his elegant farmhouse, Jack Johnston points towards a hill across the valley. "There was a British Army camp up there. See, the big shed in the trees," he says, pointing to an innocuous-looking farm building. "There was one occasion when gunfire from the camp hit this house. The IRA [the Provisional Irish Republican Army, an outlawed paramilitary group] ambushed the camp from the corner of that field down there and set up rocket launchers at the wee corner of that lane. Then of course the soldiers and the regiment in the camp started firing back at them and a few stray bullets came all the way up and banged off our walls." Johnston, 73, has lived on this farm all his life. Hismemories of the "troubles,"the 1969-1998 conflict in the region which claimed more than 3,500 lives, are clear.

German GDP drops for first time since 2015 Germanyʼs gross domestic product (GDP) shrank 0.2 percent in the third quarter of 2018. It is the first time the German economy has seen a contraction in more than three years. The Federal Statistics Office in Wiesbaden announced the contraction on Wednesday. The drop was slightly bigger than the expectation of economists polled by Reuters, who had predicted a 0.1 percent drop. In the second quarter the GDP of Europeʼs biggest economy had grown 0.5 percent. "This is the first drop compared to the previous quarter to occur since the first trimester of 2015," said the Federal Statistics office. Just last week, Germanyʼs Council of Economic Experts lowered the growth forecast for 2018to 1.6 percent instead of the 2.3 percent predicted last March. However, economists believe these results are just a blip and they are not worried about the overall health of Germanyʼs economy.

260/2018 • 15 NOVEMBER, 2018

EU warns Romania over ʼreversedʼ progress in democratic reforms Romania has come under increased scrutiny as it will take over the EUʼs presidency in January

Gaza ceasefire holds after Israel-Hamas violence A fragile ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian factions held early Wednesday following aflare-up in violence that threatened to unleash war in Gaza. Gazaʼs rulers Hamas said they would abide by an Egyptian and UNbrokered ceasefire agreement so long as Israel did the same. "The Palestinian resistance has defended the Palestinian people against the Israeli aggression. Once again, the Palestinians have embraced the option of resistance with patience and pride," Hamas chief Ismail Hanyia said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended his decision to agree to a ceasefire after coming under pressure from right-wing members of his coalition. "In times of emergency, when making decisions crucial to security, the public canʼt always be privy to the considerations that must be hidden from the enemy," he said. "Our enemies begged for a ceasefire and they knew very well why."

Beijing advances ʼcode of conductʼ for South China Sea The EU criticized Romaniaʼs judicial reforms, saying that Bucharest isnʼt following through on its rule of law commitments. Romania is backsliding on commitments to fight corruption and uphold judicial independence, the European Commission said in a report published on Tuesday. "The developments over the last 12 months sadly have called into question and sometimes even reversed the progress made over the last 10 years," Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans told reporters in Strasbourg. Timmermans outlined eight new recommendations for "immediate follow-up," including undoing laws onmandatory retirement for judges,halting recentchanges to the countryʼs criminal codeand increasing media freedom. Lawmakers in the European Parliament also overwhelmingly passed a resolution on Tuesday that sharply criticized Romaniaʼs disputed judicial reform plans. EU lawmakers warned that the planned reforms threaten to "structurally undermine the independence of the judicial system ... as well as to weaken the rule of law." The EUʼs concerns stem from a series of legal

and personnel changes that the Social Democrats have pushed through since coming to power two years ago. Liviu Dragnea, head of the ruling Social Democrat party, rejected the Commissionʼs criticism, saying: "The real topics regarding Romania are beyond any report or monitoring mechanism." With Romania set to take over the EUʼs rotating presidency on January 1, concerns have been raised over whether the country is prepared to do so. Romaniaʼs centrist president,Klaus Iohannis, told reporters on Tuesday that his country is not ready assume the EU presidency. "The Commissionʼs report and the European Parliamentʼs resolution address the same things," he said. "They tell us Romania has gone back in time to before its 2007 EU accession." Since Romania joined the bloc in 2007, it has been subject to an annual review of its rule of law. The latest report jeopardizes Bucharestʼs bid to join Europeʼspassport-free Schengen zone,which can only be permitted if it adheres to EU standards.

Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang on Wednesday said Beijing and countries with stakes in the South China Sea are closer than ever before to a "code of conduct" for the strategic thoroughfare. Ahead of a meeting between China andthe 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN), Li said the recent adoption of a draft text for the pact was a major breakthrough. "The single draft negotiating text is not merely a technical term, but an indication that China and ASEAN have reached consensus on ensuring peace and stability, freedom of overflight and navigation in the South China Sea," Li said.

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