DAILY NEWS IN ENGLISH
North Korea launches short-range ʼprojectilesʼ North Korea launched several projectiles as a test on Saturday morning, Seoulʼs Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. The JCS are investigating the details of the launch. An unidentified projectile believed to be a short-range missile was fired at about 9:00 a.m. local time (12:00 a.m. UTC) from near the east coast city of Wonsan towards the Sea of Japan. It was followed by several others, which flew 70-200 kilometers (44-124 miles). If confirmed, it would mark the countryʼs first documented missile launch since it fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in November 2017. After that launch it declared its nuclear capabilities complete and restarted talks with the US and South Korea.
Boeing 737 slides into Florida river with no fatalities
A charter plane traveling from Cuba to the US state of Florida overshot a runway at a Jacksonville military base and skidded into a river, officials said. The Jacksonville sheriffʼs office tweeted that all 143 people on board were "alive and accounted for." Twenty-one people were injured and taken to hospital in a stable condition. The mayor of Jacksonville, Lenny Curry, said on Twitter that US President Donald Trump had called him to offer help. "No fatalities reported. We are all in this together," Curry said. The Boeing 737-800 ended up in shallow water in the St. Johnʼs River at Naval Air Station Jacksonville after attempting to land there during a thunder storm on Friday night.
102/2019 • 6 MAY, 2019
Time to replace EUʼs Lisbon Treaty to cope with migration, Brexit, debt Austriaʼs Sebastian Kurz:
The chancellor of Austria has said the 2007 Lisbon Treaty is no longer fit for its purpose and needs some rejigging. One of his demands will not go down well in France. Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said Friday that the national governments of the European Union should renegotiate the blocʼs foundational treaty to better deal with the challenges facing the continent. "A new treaty is needed with clearer sanctions for members who run up debts, punishments for countries that wave through illegal migrants without registering them, as well as tough consequences for breaches of the rule of law and liberal democracy," Kurz said in an interview with Austrian newspapers. "Much had changed" since the 2007 Lisbon Treaty, he said, citing the blocʼs "debt crisis, euro crisis, migration crisis, climate crisis" and "Brexit chaos." The chancellor said any reform, which would require all 28 national governmentsʼ approval, should include an end to the practice of holding European parliamentary sessions in both Brussels and the French city of Strasbourg. French President Emmanuel Macron,who presented his EU reform ideas earlier this year, opposes the parliamentʼs permanent move to Brussels. "He who demands reforms must also be prepared to make them where it hurts," Kurz said.
The Austrian leader also called for a greater emphasis on EU foreign policy and cutting down the size of the European Commission, with fewer senior Commission posts apportioned on a rotating basis. Each national government currently has the right to appoint its own commissioner. The Lisbon Treaty, signed in 2007, took six years to negotiate and nearly failed to go into force when an Irish referendum voted the agreement down. Only after the treaty passed a second poll could it go into effect in 2009. Negotiations for the EU deal consumed much of the blocʼs attention for half a decade and were accompanied by years of European navel-gazing. Looming vote The 32year-old head of the conservative Austrian Peopleʼs Party (ÖVP) has been in a coalition with the far-right FPÖ since 2017. His comments come weeks ahead of elections to the European Parliament. Polls predict gains for far-right, populist and anti-EU parties across the continent. "We donʼt want to hand over the EU to the extreme fringes on the left or right, instead we need a strong politics of the center," he said.
Thailand crowns King Maha Vajiralongkorn Thailandʼs King Maha Vajiralongkorn on Saturday began undergoing a series of centuries-old Hindu and Buddhist ceremonies to symbolically transform him into a living god, as the country held its first coronation since 1950. Events include a purification ritual with consecrated water, a crowning ceremony, a parade, and an appearance by the monarch on a balcony of the Grand Palace in the Thai capital, Bangkok. King Vajiralongkorn, 66 — takes on the name Rama X of the Chakri dynasty as one of his many official titles — ascended the throne in 2016upon the death of his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, in October of that year. The coronation comes following a period of mourning for the late king, who reigned in the Southeast Asian country for almost 70 years. In a traditional first royal command made after his crowning, the king said "I shall reign in righteousness for the benefits of the kingdom and the people forever."
Cyclone Fani leaves several dead on path through India Cyclone Fani, one of the most powerful stormsto come off the Bay of Bengal in the past decade, on Saturday moved over Indiaʼs West Bengal state toward Bangladesh after leaving several dead and devastating regions along the east coast. The death toll from the cyclone so far is uncertain, with local media reporting up to 12 fatalities in the state of Odisha, where the storm first struck, while officials have confirmed only three.
weather today BUDAPEST
8 / 15 °C Precipitation: 0 mm