DAILY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Germanyʼs VW to leave Iran, says US official Volkswagen will exit the Iranian market, according to a US media report. It suggests the Trump administration convinced VW of the move as part of US efforts to undo the Iran nuclear deal. VW has not confirmed the report. Just over one year since it reentered the Iranian market, Volkswagen agreed to cease nearly all of its business operations in Iran, US news agency Bloomberg reports. VW would maintain some business with Iran "under a humanitarian exception," according to the report. Although VWʼs Iran operations are small and contribute little to its turnover, the move would be a significant victory for the US administration as it is trying to convince companies to cease business with Iran, which it sees as a destabilizing force in the Middle East that needs to be reined in.
Germany approves Saudi arms sale despite Yemen war ban promise Germany has approved the delivery of weapons to Saudi Arabia despite a commitment not to export arms to countries fighting in the war in Yemen. Economy Minister Peter Altmaier greenlighted the shipment of four artillery positioning systems for armored vehicles, according to a letter he provided to a parliamentary committee. The mounted radars can locate the origin of enemy fire and enable precise counterstrikes. Chancellor Angela Merkelʼs conservatives and the Social Democrats agreed in their coalition deal early this year not to sell weapons to any side fighting in Yemenʼs civil war. The agreement excluded already approved exports, so long as they stay in the recipient country. The Federal Security Council, which includes several ministers alongside Merkel, also authorized the export of 48 warheads and 91 homing heads for ship-based air defense systems to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
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Theresa May urges EU to compromise Brexit deadlock:
The EU and the UK look no closer to a deal, as UK Prime Minister Theresa May has ruled out a second referendum and has urged the EU to "evolve its position." A Brexit summit will be held in November, leaders announced. European leaders gathered in the Austrian city of Salzburg on Thursday for the second day of an informal summit. One of the main issues are the deadlocked negotiations on Brexit, the final agreement on which was supposed to be inked in October. On Thursday, however, EU leaders announced a special Brexit summit is to be held in November. Immigration, a major policy point for Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, whose government holds the rotating EU presidency, and security in the bloc are the other major talking points. UK Prime Minister Theresa May told EU leaders on Wednesday that Britain has "put forward serious and workable proposals" and that it was now up to the EU to "respond in kind" and "evolve its position." Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl told DW that the EU member states disagreed on many things, there was "no friction when it comes to Brexit. There is a high degree of cohesion." Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar: Ireland is a country that obviously wants to avoid a no-deal scenario...[but] we are preparing for that, we are hiring extra staff and of-
ficials, putting in IT systems, weʼre ready for that eventuality should it occur." European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker: "It was interesting, it was polite, it was not aggressive. She [May] is doing her job." EU Council President Donald Tusk: Despite progress in some areas, on the two thorniest issues of the Irish border and postBrexit trade ties, "the UKʼs proposals will need to be reworked." He said a no-deal scenario was "still quite possible." French President Emmanuel Macron: "We [the EU] need to continue to act as a group, make sure we approach this as the EU-27. He stressed that a "solution needs to be found, but it shouldnʼt jeopardize the coherence and the four freedoms of the single market." A major summit planned for October 18 was being treated as the last chance for a concrete deal for Brexit, which is supposed to go into effect on April 1. The November summit announced on Thursday is now seen as the deadline to reach a deal, which have to be ratified both by the EU legislature, all member statesʼ Parliaments, and the UK Parliament.
Attacks on journalists in Germany on the rise The European Center for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) published a report on Thursday that found an increase in violence against journalists in Germany. In particular, the report showed a sharp rise in attacks on the press in 2018, when some 28 journalists suffered a total of 22 verified physical assaults so far. By contrast, there were only five registered attacks against the press in 2017. The year with the most violence against journalists was 2015, with a total of 43 verified attacks. The center acknowledged that its figures differed from those of the German Federal Criminal Police Office, especially in the eastern German state of Saxony, but the authors attributed the discrepancy to data collection methods.
German society not as polarized as youʼd think, study shows Much of the media — social media in particular — paint a black-andwhite picture of Germany. On the one hand, there are the supporters of Chancellor Angela Merkel. On the other hand, her opponents, including many voters and sympathizers of right-wing populists. Recent debates in the Bundestag, Germanyʼs parliament, have reinforced this impression. Thatʼs why astudypresented in Berlin at the beginning of the week initially seemed confusing. It stated that the climate between migrants and nonmigrants had not deteriorated significantly in the wake of the 2015/16 refugee crisis and was still positive. At first, critical-minded journalists shook their heads in doubt.
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