DAILY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Italian Wikipedia shuts down in protest of proposed EU copyright law The Italian version of Wikipedia will be shut down for two days, a spokesman confirmed on Tuesday. The move came as a protest ofa planned new European Union copyright directivethat would implement new rules about licenses for content and, according to critics, places a heavy burden on IT companies to police what users upload. "Freedom of internet at risk," reads the message now posted on the site. Deputy prime minister and leader of the antiestablishment Five Star Movement (M5S), Luigi Di Maio, said he wholeheartedly supported the protest. "We welcomed the support of the government," Maurizio Codogno, a spokesman for Wikipedia Italia, was quoted by Italian news agency ANSA as saying. "We hope that the M5S members of the European Parliament are in line with Di Maio (when the directive is voted on in the European Parliament on July 5)."
Amid asylum row, EU looks to Hungaryʼs transit zones The transit zones that German Chancellor Angela Merkelʼs conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) sister partyagreed to after a heated debate over asylum policyalready exist in Hungary. Asylum-seekers there arenʼt allowed to enter the country directly, but are stopped at two crossing points along a border fence with Serbia. They are then sent into the transit zone, a closed-off container village. According to the Hungary Helsinki Committee (HHC) aid group, only one person per crossing point is allowed to enter the transit zone each day, a figure denied by a spokesperson for Hungaryʼs government.
150/2018 • 04 JULY, 2018
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz calls for stronger EU border after German migration deal The deal ended a bitter German government crisis
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has warned that Germanyʼs new migration deal could force the Alpine country to impose stronger border checks on Italy and Slovenia. Austriaʼs conservative chancellor on Tuesday said that Germanyʼs debate over how to tackle irregular migrationunderlined the importance of strengthening the European Unionʼs external border. "Securing the external border is the basis for securing internal mobility [in the EU]," Sebastian Kurz said in a speech to the European Parliament. Austria, he added, would work towards that goal as part of its six-month EU presidency, which began on Sunday.Read more: Austria holds border exercises in response to Germany Earlier, Kurz said thata migration deal that ended a bitter dispute between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her interior minister, Horst Seehofer,would force Austria to "protect" its southern border. "Should this agreement become the German governmentʼs position, we see that as prompting us to take action to prevent negative consequences for Austria and its population," he said in a joint statement with his far-right vice chancellor, Heinz-Christian Strache,
and interior minister, Herbert Kickl. "The [Austrian] government is therefore prepared in particular to take measures for the protection of our southern border," Kurz said without elaborating. Austria shares its southern border with Italy and Slovenia. Read more: Austria brings hard-line refugee policy to EU MerkelSeehofer deal Thousands of migrants seeking to enter Germany have passed through Austria in recent years, and many entered Austria through Slovenia and Italy. On Monday, Merkel agreed to her interior ministerʼs demand to set up transit centers on the Austrian border to ensure that asylum seekers already registered elsewhere in the EU are swiftly deported to that country. The agreement solved a government crisis that sawSeehofer, who leads Bavariaʼs Christian Social Union (CSU), threaten to resignif Merkel, who heads the sister-party Christian Democratic Union (CDU), did not accept his proposals to secure Germanyʼs border.
Hamas tried to hack Israeli soldiers with World Cup app, Israel says The Israeli army accused Islamist militant group Hamas on Tuesday of having attempted to hack into its soldiersʼ phones through the use of a World Cup-related app. Two dating apps were also involved, Israeli officials said. "No damage was done, as we stopped it in time," the military said of its counter efforts, codenamed "Operation Broken Heart." The alleged attack mimics the onereported by the Israeli militaryin January 2017, when the cellphones of dozens of soldiers were hacked by Hamas militants posing as attractive young women. The Gaza strip-based Palestinian militant group declined to comment on the allegations. The Israeli military did not disclose how it knew of Hamasʼ involvement.
Jordan launches aid drive for Syrian refugees trapped at its border The United Nations on Tuesday urged Jordan to open its borders to Syrians fleeing Daraa, where President Bashar Assadʼs government is currently in a fight against rebels to take back the city. "We call on the Jordanian government to keep its border open and for other countries in the region to step up and receive the fleeing civilians," UN human rights spokesperson Liz Throssel said. The Jordanian government at present has closed its border to Syria, leaving civilians attempting to escape the violence in Daraa stranded.
weather today BUDAPEST
/ °C Precipitation: mm