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DAILY NEWS IN ENGLISH

EU to start membership talks with Macedonia and Albania The European Union will start accession negotiations with Albania and Macedonia, pending progress towards reforms, EU countries decided on Tuesday. The deal was confirmed to German news agency DPA by diplomatic sources after talks on Tuesday among the blocʼs European affairs ministers. Some member states expressed concerns about corruption and the rule of law in the two EU hopefuls. Others have pushed to bring the six Western Balkan countries into the EU fold to bolster the bloc’s influence in the region. Germanyʼs European affairs minister, Michael Roth, said that Albania and Macedonia have made "remarkable progress in the area of rule of law and the independence of the judiciary."

Israel asks Cyprus to consider port for Gaza The Cypriot government on Tuesday said Israel has requested it examine the possibility of building a port facility for Gazadestined goods to pass through. Such a facility would provide a new way for goods to make it to the Gaza Strip, which is under a blockade by Israel and Egypt. Streamlining deliveries Under the proposal, a special port would be constructed in Cyprus.The port would be used by cargo ships carrying Gazabound goods.It would be checked with the help of an Israeli monitoring mechanism in order to prevent illegal goods from entering the enclave, including arms.T he goods would be transported directly to Gaza by a ferry. Currently, Gaza-bound goods are taken across two land crossings from Israel.

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Al Gore warns Germany risks being left behind on climate change His solution would see Germany phase out coal as a major source of electricity production

"If I were a citizen of Germany, I would be concerned about Germany being left behind," the former US vice president has warned. Germany risks its position as a global leader in the fight against climate change if it fails to phase out coal-fired power plants, former US Vice President Al Gore has warned. "To remain a global & regional leader in the transition to a sustainable future Germany must meet its 2030 emissions targets," he wrote on Twitter on Tuesday. "Doing so requires phasing out coal & increased political pressure." Gore, who narrowly lost the 2000 presidential election and won an Oscar and a Nobel Peace Prize for his climate change documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," made the comments during a "Climate Reality" meeting of activists in Berlin on Tuesday. In an interview with Reuters news agency, Gore said the German government hadfailed to promote any significant reductions in German carbon dioxide emissions for four years. "If I were a citizen of Germany, I would be concerned about Germany being left behind," he said. "The leadership provided in

years past created a reality that now no longer exists," he added. "Other countries are moving much faster than Germany." Goreʼs warnings came as a governmentcommissioned committee of representatives from industry, unions and environmental groups met in Berlin to start discussions on how and when Germany could phase out coal-fired energy. Germanyʼs environmental effortshave stalled in recent years despite German Chancellor Angela Merkelʼs popular image as a leader in the fight against climate change. In June, Merkelʼs coalition governmentadmitted that the country would not meet its 2020 emission targets. Environmental activists and the Green Party partially blame the governmentʼs reticence to phase out coal from its energy mix as one reason for the countryʼs poor climate record. Coal-fired power plants account for more than a third of Germanyʼs electricity production andare a major employer in the regions where they are located.

Colombia to fight increased cocaine production with herbicide-spraying drones Colombia will start spraying coca crops with herbicide from aerial drones in an effortto stem a recent uptick in cocaine production, President Juan Manuel Santos has announced. The South American country banned the practice of using aircraft to spray coca plants with herbicide glyphosate in 2015 after a constitutional court ruling raised concerns about its potential damage to peopleʼs health and the local environment. Read more: US and Colombia aim to halve cocaine production in five years But Santos said on Tuesday that drones flying at a lower altitude made the practice less risky. "Itʼs similar to what we are already doing, with eradicators going with a tank on their shoulders spraying on the ground," he said. The drones, he added, would also spray a glyphosate concentration of less than 50 percent compared to that used previously.

Japanse Hayabusa 2 space probe examining origins of life arrives at asteroid A Japanese space probe seeking to learn about the origins of the solar system and life has arrived at an asteroid 300 million kilometers (186 million miles) from Earth, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said on Wednesday.

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