DAILY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Germans and Americans ʼworlds apartʼ in view of relations A study published on Monday by the Pew Research Center found that Americans and Germans were "worlds apart" in how they viewed their countriesʼ relations with one another. While most Germans said current ties were at something of a low point, a comfortable majority of Americans viewed relations positively. In the US, only a quarter of people surveyed said they felt relations were bad, compared with 73 percent of Germans. That figure represents a sharp upturn in negative assessments of the situation compared with 2017, when 56 percent of Germans said relations were poor. However, despite their generally gloomy appraisal, only one in 10 Germans said the relations were "very bad." On the level of cooperation between the countries, Germans were also more circumspect. Seven in 10 Americans said they would like to see the countries collaborate more, while only 41 percent of Germans were keen to see closer cooperation.
UNEP: Still a chance to put out ʼclimate fireʼ — hereʼs what we need to do Detailing the gulf between where we are headed with CO2 emissions and where we need to be, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has released its annualEmissions Gap Report ahead of next weekʼsCOP24 climate summit in Poland. The report finds that current national Paris Agreement commitments fall short of what is needed to limit global temperature increases to a maximum of 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels. This hole between where we are on climate protection versus where we actually need to be is known as the emissions gap.
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Emannuel Macron: ʼYellow vestʼ protests wonʼt change fuel tax He also announced that France will delay capping nuclear power
Though he acknowledged the widespread anger over fuel taxes, the French president said he would not back down from his environmentally friendly policies. French President Emmanuel Macron stuck to his guns regarding Franceʼs fuel taxes on Tuesday, saying he wonʼt "change course" amid the country-wide "yellow vest" protests. In a highly anticipated speech in Paris on energy strategy, Macron acknowledged the widespread anger regarding fuel taxes over the past 10 days but said he will continue making environmentally friendly policies. "What Iʼve taken from these last few days is that we shouldnʼt change course because it is the right one and necessary," he said. "We need to change how we work because a number of our citizens feel this policy course is imposed on them from above." However, the French president said he understood that the increase in diesel tax, which kicked in just as prices were rising, inflicted more damage than anticipated. Macron said that fuel taxes would be adjusted to take account of sharp rises in world oil prices. "We need to change how we work because a number of our citizens feel this policy course is imposed on them from above," he said. Macron condemned the violence that has resulted from the protests,
which have involved hundreds of thousands of people donning yellow vests carried in all French vehicles for use in case of a traffic accident or vehicle break-down. "I understand the demands of these citizens, but I wonʼt give in to those who want destruction and disorder," he said. Two people have been killed and 606 people injured since the protests began, according to Franceʼs Interior Ministry. The "yellow vest" movement sprang up spontaneously last month in response to hikes in car fuel taxes. About 300,000 peopletook part in a nationwide protestearlier this month, many obstructing highway exits, gas stations and traffic circles. Last week, 100,000 people continued the protest,including hundreds who gathered on the Champs-Elyseesin Paris carrying signs that read "Macron, thief!" and "Macron, resign!" Regional leaders had called for Macron to put off gas tax increases, saying in a column in news magazine LʼOpinion the French president should have "the courage to take the time to rewrite" the ecological tax code "in a more socially acceptable, transparent and targeted way."
India should abandon plans to recover Americanʼs body, rights group says If Indian policecontinue in their pursuit to recover the body of an American missionaryallegedly killed by islanders on North Sentinel Island, the indigenous Sentinlese tribe could be "wiped out" if any outside diseases were introduced, Survival International said on Monday. "The risk of a deadly epidemic of flu, measles or other outside disease is very real, and increases with every such contact," the organization, which works to protect tribal people, said. John Allen Chau, 26,is believed to have been killedlast week after paying fishermen to smuggle him to the island, which is part of the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago in the Bay of Bengal. The Indian government has for years closed off the island to visitors to protect the tribe.
Germany offers to mediate between Russia and Ukraine Angela Merkel and various members of her Cabinet have appealed to both sides of the Ukraine-Russia conflict to deescalate amid Ukraineʼs calls for more military support from Germany and NATO. A major crisis in the four-year conflict was triggered on Sunday when Russia fired on and seized three Ukrainian navy ships entering the Sea of Azov through the Kerch Strait. Russia accused the crews of a border infraction, and the Russian intelligence agency FSB said the presence of intelligence officers on board, admitted by Ukraine, amounted to a "provocation."
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