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258/2017 • 4, NOVEMBER 2017 WEEKEND ISSUE

DAILY NEWS IN ENGLISH

Arrest warrant expected for Carles Puigdemont Catalonia crisis:

A Spanish judge is planning to issue an arrest warrant for ousted Catalan leaderCarles Puigdemonton Friday, judicial sources have told several media outlets. Nine former members of Cataloniaʼs separatist government have already been detained. Puigdemontʼs lawyer in Belgium also said the arrest warrant had been prepared, but there has not yet been official confirmation from Spainʼs government. Prosecutors had asked Investigative Magistrate Carmen Lamela to order the immediate detention of Puigdemont and four of his ex-ministers, who ignored court summonses to appear for questioning on Thursday over their role in an independence referendum. The five fled to Brussels on Monday after unilaterally declaring the region of Catalonia independent from Spain. They are among 20 regional politiciansordered to face charges of rebellion, sedition and embezzlement — crimes that are punishable by up to 30 years in prison under Spanish law. In a press release issued on Wednesday, the selfproclaimed "legitimate government of Catalonia" said that Puigdemont and his four colleagues would remain in Belgium during the court proceedings in order to denounce "a political trial carried out according to the Spanish governmentʼs directive." What has happened so far:Spainʼs Catalonia region held an independence referendum on October 1 that was declared illegal by the central government in MadridCataloniaʼs leaders unilaterally declared independence from Spain on October 27Madrid exercised consti-

tutional powers allowing it to take over the running of CataloniaSpanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy dismissed the Catalan cabinet and dissolved the regional parliament Spanish prosecutors filed rebellion charges against Catalan leadersCarles Puigdemont traveled to Brussels with several ex-cabinet ministers, saying he was seeking "freedom and safety" Eight leaders jailed without bailEight Catalan leaders who did appear in court Thursday, including former Vice President Oriol Junqueras, were sent to prison without bail pending an investigation into the secessionist campaign and a potential trial. Former Business Minister Santi Vila, who stepped down from the cabinet before the independence declaration, was granted bail of 50,000 euros ($58,300). The judge said the defendants must be remanded in custody because they were a flight risk and might try to destroy evidence. Lawyers for the nine leaders said the ruling "lacked justification" and was "disproportionate," adding that they planned to appeal. Shortly after the decision, Puigdemont said on Twitter that the "legitimate government of Catalonia had been sent to jail for its ideas and for having been faithful to the mandate approved by the parliament of Catalonia." If an arrest warrant against Puigdemont is announced Friday, he could be detained by Belgian police and subsequently face extradition to Spain. It would also make his participation in a snap Catalonian regional election called by Madrid on December 21 unlikely.

CIA flunks canine recruit Lulu for lack of bomb enthusiasm

Wild boars terrorize northern German city of Heide

Czechs set to elect Tefloncoated billionaire Andrej Babis

The US intelligence agency has dropped a puppy from its K9 training program for failing to enjoy detecting explosives.

But the story has a happy ending. A dog named Lulu has been dropped as a CIA recruit after it became apparent that she was not sufficiently enthusiastic about sniffing out explosives, the US intelligence agency has said. "

Germanyʼs wild boars can be dangerous when they enter urban areas.

Residents from Heide, a small northern German town, found that out for themselves on Friday morning.

Four people were injured after squealing boars descended on the small city of Heide in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein on Friday morning.

Andrej Babis, a Czech billionaire compared to Donald Trump for his attacks on established political parties and the EU, looks likely to become the countryʼs next leader after elections. Tim Gosling reports from Prague.

Bankrolled by Andrej Babisʼ agrochemicals conglomerate Agrofert, the centrist and populist ANO party is on course to take around 30 percent of the vote in elections on October 20-21.

Spanish judicial sources have told reporters that a European arrest warrant for deposed Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont is imminent.

Nine other Catalan leaders have been jailed for their role in an independence push.

Somalis mourn bomb victims in Mogadishu Thousands returned to the site of the countryʼs worst terror attack six days later. The US has stepped up the number of drone strikes inside Somalia since the beginning of the year. Thousands of Somalis gathered for a prayer service Friday in the capital, Mogadishu, at the site of the countryʼs deadliest truck bombing.

More than 300 people were killedand hundreds injured Saturday when a bomb-laden truck detonated next to an oil tanker.

258/2017 • 4, November 2017 Weekend issue

Germany recovers from deadly Storm Herwart The second major storm to hit Germany in a month has flooded city streets and caused havoc for transport. Four people were killed when the brutal winds brought down trees in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Germany was still reeling from the aftermath ofStorm Herwarton Tuesday after days of train standstills, flooding and traffic chaos that destroyed historic buildings and caused Berlin to declare a state of emergency. In the Czech Republic and Poland, Herwart claimed the lives of four people who were struck by falling trees. On the North Sea island of Langeoog, a freight ship remained stranded on the beach after flood waters receded. The town has called in top salvage experts, who remained stumped two days after the worst of the storm. Over the weekend, the storm wrecked havoc on the nationʼs transport system.

The trains in much of northern Germany, including Hannover and Hamburg, came to a complete stop – forcing rail operator Deutsche Bahn (DB) to send thousands of passengers in cramped taxis, sometimes for hours, to destinations as far away as Berlin.

German police detain Syrian for ʼpreparingʼ explosives attack

A 19-year-old Syrian has been detained on suspicion of planning to carry out a terror attack in Germany.

The man was ready to carry out the attack using highly explosive materials, according to prosecutors.

A Syrian man suspected of planning a terror attack was detained in the northern German city of Schwerin, the Federal Prosecutorʼs Office said on Tuesday in a statement. The suspect, identified as 19-year-old Yamen A., was taken into police custody. Prosecutors said in a statement that the teen is "strongly suspected of having planned an Islamist-motivated attack" that involved "highly explosive" materials.

Authorities added that Yamen A. had already "concretely prepared" the attack. In July this year, the suspect made the decision to detonate an explosive device in Germany "in order to kill and injure as many people as possible," the statement read. Yamen A. then began to procure components to make an explosive device, including chemicals. It was not initially clear whether the suspect had selected a location to carry out the attack, prosecutors said. They added that there are no signs that Yamen A. was connected toany terrorist organizations.

German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said the suspectʼs arrest prevented a "serious terror attack in Germany."

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Is Central Asia a terrorism breeding ground?

New York attack:

The attack by an Uzbek man seems to indicate a growing terrorist threat from Central Asia. But Kyrgyzstan-based security expert Deirdre Tynan says the incident raises just as many questions for the US as for the region.

I think it is far too strong. Certainly, a significant number of Central Asians have left to join "Islamic State" (IS) or other groups in Syria and Iraq. But weʼre talking about somewhere between 2,000 and 4,000 people. Some genuinely want to fight. Others are spurred by a sense of religious zeal. Many are very disillusioned. Society here [in Central Asia] can be very authoritarian, and there is an extremely unequal distribution of wealth. Based on our field work in places like Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, we see that potential recruits often cite their financial status as one of their motivating reasons. "Is-

Donald Trump to new Fed boss: Youʼre hired!

US President Trump is turning the announcement of a new Federal Reserve head into a reality TV experience like his show The Apprentice. But is it just a distraction from other problems? Jens Korte reports from New York. US President Donald Trump is looking for a suitable candidate to take over the US Federal Reserve Bank, which is by many accounts the second most important position in America after the president. But the casting for the job is a throwback to his days on the reality TV show "The Apprentice" when he played himself, Donald Trump, the real estate mogul and businessman. In the show, he selected candidates from a group of

lamic State," with its very slick propaganda,is able to appeal to a wide variety of peoplefor very different reasons. In the course of our research beginning in 2014, weʼve seen people ranging from a highranking security official in Tajikistan to teenage girls be attracted to war and become supporters of the "Islamic State." Steps are being taken, but they are very embryonic. The emphasis is often on countering terrorism rather than preventing it. Governments tend to see this strictly as a security problem and are not willing or able to look at more political or socio-economic drivers of radicalization. applicants who were then allowed to work for him as an "apprentice." The process was long and accompanied by as much spectacle as possible. As president, Trump is now staging what the political website The Hill mockingly called "Central Bank Apprentice." For months, Trump has been tossing out names — such as Gary Cohn, formerly the number two at the investment bank Goldman Sachs, and who was seen as a favorite for the position for several months — only to drop them unceremoniously.

German job agency seeks minimum wage worker to trawl child porn photos from home

Australia shutters Papua New Guinea detention center Around 600 asylum seekers have refused to leave the facility, citing fears of attacks from locals. Australian lawmakers have warned of a "humanitarian emergency" when authorities in Papua New Guinea shut off the water.

Private security staff at a controversial Australian detention center in Papua New Guinea left the facility for the first time in years on Tuesday ahead of its expected closure. The facility formed an integral part ofAustraliaʼs expensive offshore detention programknown as "Sovereign Borders." However, Papua New Guineaʼs Supreme Court ruled that the facility is unconstitutional and needed to be closed. Some 600 asylum seekers residing at the facility have refused to leave, saying the alternatives provided are less secure. Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said the campʼs closure would proceed, and that the asylum seekers have access to temporary residences nearby.

"All have been informed for a considerable period of time that there is safe and secure alternate accommodation where health and other services will be maintained," Dutton told Reuters news agency in an emailed statement.

A Bavarian job ad sounded enticing until potential employees were told what it actually involved. Investigators have questioned the practise of unskilled, minimum wage workers sifting child porn collections from home.

A German business that posted job ads seeking workers to sift through troves of child pornography images came under scrutiny this week for its questionable handling of child abuse images. A data analysis business in the Bavarian city of Augsburg offered potential employees the chance to work from home in exchange for €450 ($525) a month, as part of a so-calledtax-free Minijob.

The job advertisement called for a "forensic image analyzer," according to local news outlets. Applicants needed their own computer and some computer experience. They would be given four to five days of training after which they could work from home.

258/2017 • 4, November 2017 Weekend issue

Martin Day Wine Festival in Hotel Gellért - What show will Hotel Gellért put up for the magic 7th?

Tamás Széllwill introduce the mysteries of fine dining at the Martin Day Wine Festival of Danubius Hotel, accompanied by the golden trio of the chefs from Gerbeaud, Gundel and Gellért, with plenty of wine and foaming beer, posing a drinking challenge to everyone.

All that between Nov 9 and12.

The most exciting Martin Day program of Budapest grew 7 years old, following different thematic on each occasion and resulting in sold out event in the recent years. Interest shown is already huge, and there is guessing as to how Hotel Gellért makes unforgettable the day of eating and new wine, commemorating the legend of St. Gerardus hiding in a goose-pen. Looking at the assortment, it soon becomes evident that the hotel housing the not-to-be-missed wine festival transforms into a gigantic „stuffed goose” with the best foods and wines serving as filling, accompanied by star chefs and wineries attending and featuring cool concerts. In addition, the 7th festival will be focused around the magic number of 7. The wine festival will be launched with beer Nowhere else in the world is there a Martin Day Wine Festival where beer is also assigned a significant role. Gellért is also exceptional in this regard, as on Day 0 7 master beer makers – representing the best Hungarian breweries – introduce their more than 30 drinks, in the frame of unlimited beer tasting. Accompanying beer snacks will be presented by

Ádám Előházi – who despite his young age is the chef of the First Brewery of Balatonfüred boasting with a great professional carrier – and András Frideczky, creative chef of the recently renewed brasserie of Hotel Gellért. Wine after beer Gellért also consents to the saying: wine can follow beer. For Friday and Saturday more than 100 of the best Hungarian wine makers were invited, the first day features the selection of Wine and Market, while the other introduces the Winelovers selection. The very best Hungarian wineries will be represented, none should be picked individually but all tested as one can bear – obviously following the rules of responsible alcohol consumption though. The make the challenge even bigger, this year for the first time the free of charge Wine College also introduces Pop-up Schools at the Martin Day Wine Festival, one can sip on the wines offered by DiVino during the concerts of Balkán Fanatik and Mary PopKids, while the best pálinka houses will also be featured at the wine festival. The 7 wonders of gastronomy This is what Gellért offers in the field of culinary delights. The ho-

tel introduced and perfected the term Suite Restaurant, housed by the hotel’s suite having hosted the most well-known guests staying there, offering a magnificent view on river Danube. Both on Friday and Saturday participants will be charmed by the 7 course menu created by master chefs Szabina Szulló and Tamás Széll. They do not need to be introduced, their professional credentials are verified with a Michelin star, and Tamás Széll with his team was awarded the noble fourth position at the international Bocuse d’Or competition. Who needs more than that? Gerbeaud-GundelGellért wine dinner It is not over yet, as the golden trio of the GerbeaudGundel-Gellért chefs at an unprecedented gastro summit present a wine dinner unique in the history of Hungarian gastronomy, with the head sommeliers of Onyx and Gundel selecting wines matching the courses.

The list of stars: Ágnes Tóth and Gábor Merczi executive chefs, János Gervai sommelier and oenologist, as well as Mihály Fabók, three times Hungarian sommelier champion. Further information: borfesztivalgellert.hu

Muslims in the EU: Feeling at home despite discrimination

A new study shows that while Muslim immigrants integrate well in their countries of residence in the EU, they still experience a lot of discrimination. However, the numbers vary dramatically from country to country. The majority of Muslims in the European Union feel at home in the countries they live in, even though many have experienced discrimination. Thatʼs one of the key findings in astudy released by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights(FRA) on Thursday. The agency is an independent body that delivers fundamental rights assistance and expertise to the EU and its member states For the Muslim-focused edition of the "Second European Union Minorities and Discrimination Survey" researchers talked to 10,527 people last year in 15 EU countries includingGermany, Italy and Sweden. Some 76 percent of participants said they felt strongly attached to the country they live in. Many also report having a strong trust in institutions like the police and parliament. "I am encouraged by the confidence of Europeʼs Muslim communities in our public institutions and rule of law, despite the individual challenges of discrimination which they attest to," European Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans said.

35th Hungarian Press Photo Exhibition at Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center The previous year’s best Hungarian press photos were chosen for the thirty-fifth time - a celebration of photo reporters and photography across the country.

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258/2017 • 4, November 2017 Weekend issue

When cold viruses take over the office! tʼs a familiar sight, co-workers with noses running and tissues piled high on their desks

tʼs a familiar sight, co-workers with noses running and tissues piled high on their desks. But theyʼre just drawing it out for themselves and exposing others to the risk of infection.

Ideally, the thing to do with a cold is to stay home a few days and get plenty of rest. But nowadays, many sufferers bring their runny noses and coughs into work with them to prove they really are sick. Then, when the bug makes the rounds, everyone else does the same. Not only are they exposing their co-workers to infection but causing the company even bigger headaches when more and more employees call in sick. And the risk of infection is higher than many people think. Germs collect on door handles, keyboards, telephones and everything else people touch with their hands.

Itʼs hard to say exactly how long germs can live outside the body. The best strategy is to wash your hands persistently and regularly with soap

and water for at least 25 seconds each time. And when somebody sneezes?

They spray germs much farther than the two meters previously thought, so it wonʼt help much to duck and cover.

Thatʼs the finding from research conducted by John Bush and his fellow scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. They used highspeed cameras to show how a sneeze unleashes a fine shower of particles throughout the area. But entirely invisible is the spreading gas-like cloud of viruses carried in microscopic droplets. This path of infection is highly effective and very difficult to defend against. Keeping humidity in a room high can slightly lower the risk from flu viruses, as these remain infectious longer in dry air.

ESA launches new Sentinel-2B satellite to monitor Earth

White rhino killed by suspected poachers at French zoo

The European Space Agency (ESA) has launched the newest addition to its multi-billion-euro Copernicus program. The monitoring network aims to track pollution, deforestation, weather, and other changes on Earthʼs surface.

The Sentinel-2B satellite entered orbit on Tuesday afterblasting off from ESAʼs launch site Kourouin French Guiana. Its twin, Sentinel-2A, was launched in 2015. Both of the satellites are a part of a fleet set up for ESAʼs Copernicus Earth Monitoring program, which is the worldʼs largest environmental monitoring project, according to the agency. The two orbiters are set to monitor the globe from the opposite sides of the planet and send outhigh-resolution color and infrared imagesof the surface. By doing so, the satellites will help scientists track changes in forest cover and water pollution.

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The break-in at the Thoiry wildlife park near Paris is suspected as poaching. Rhino horns fetch thousands on the black market.

Zookeepers at the Thoiry zoo and wildlife park made the grisly discovery on Tuesday after an overnight attack. "Staff left the rhino enclosure on Monday. When they returned on Tuesday, an animal had been killed and its two horns had been sawn off," a police spokeswoman told news agency AFP.

Mourning geckos donʼt need males Some animal species can do very well without male partners. Mourning geckos are just one of many examples. Their reproduction method — known as parthenogenesis — is our natural phenomenon of the week.

More or less once every two to four weeks over her five-year lifespan, the female mourning gecko goes through the same ritual: The reptile begins the search for a well-protected place to hide one or two of her eggs. Fifty to 75 days later, new geckos hatch from these eggs. Not very spectacular, right? But the nocturnal climbers look

exactly like their mother. And if they lay egg, once they reach maturity after eight months, their offspring will look exactly like them. Thatʼs because mourning geckos clone themselves — and all of them are female.

No males are required to reproduce.

That reptiles do not need males is not totally unusual in nature and various other species do the same. Some crabs, snails, and plants as well as komodo dragons and single-celled organisms — all of them come into the world alive and well without a male.

The process behind this is called parthenogenesis which means something like "virgin birth."

Smartphones - not so smart for the planet

Since then, nearly 7 billion smartphones have been sold around the globe - not without an impact on the planet.

Itʼs eight in the morning, the train is crowded with people heading to work - and it is hard to find anybody who is

not staring at their smartphone. Then, a Twitter message pops up. It comes from Greenpeace. "Think twice about the impact your beloved gadget is having", is the reminder. Since the first Apple iPhone appeared on the market in 2007, more than seven billion smartphones have been produced around the world - that more or less equals the number of people on the planet. Now it might sound very romantic if everyone kept one phone for life. But that is far from being the case. Greenpeace says an average phone in the United States is only used over two years. Most of the time, phones are not replaced because of some irreparable technical problem. It is rather just the desire to have the latest model, with some new innovative features - or because it is easier and less expensive to buy a new one.

258/2017 • 4, November 2017 Weekend issue

Large void discovered in Egyptʼs Great Pyramid of Giza Egypt poses an ancient riddle for researchers

Measuring at least 30 meters in length, the sensational uncovering of a cavity within the 4,500-year-old Cheops Pyramid in Giza, Egypt poses an ancient riddle for researchers.

Measuring at least 30 meters in length, the sensational uncovering of a cavity within the 4,500-year-old Cheops Pyramid in Giza, Egypt poses an ancient riddle for researchers. "We donʼt know what the cavity means," said Mehdi Tayoubi of the international team investigating the phenomenon. "So we donʼt want to call it a chamber." Nonetheless, the space is striking in its size.

In an article published on Thursday by the periodical "Nature," the researchers describe the discovery as a breakthrough in understand-

ing the internal structure of the largest of the pyramids at Giza in Egypt. Three teams of various institutes and universities from France and Japan have been studying the millennia-old Giza pyramid for two years by employing muon particles, a byproduct of the interaction of cosmic rays with matter. The particles function like x-rays but can penetrate stone hundreds of meters thick. “This is definitely the discovery of the century,” archaeologist and Egyptologist, Yukinori Kawae, told National Geographic magazine.

Self-driving bus starts first route in Germany German railway company Deutsche Bahn has introduced an autonomous bus to drive passengers along a pre-programmed route in Bavaria. In case of an emergency, a human driver can take control with a joystick.

The electric vehicle delivered its first passengers on Wednesday in Bad Birnach, Bavaria, starting on its eightminute route from the townʼs hot springs to the central area and the railway station. The EZ10 bus has six places to sit and can take in a further six standing passengers, and the ride is free of charge. Itʼs the first time a self-driving bus has been incorporated in Germanyʼs public transport system. Among the first group to ride the self-driving bus was Richard Lutz, the head of the German railway giant Deutsche Bahn (DB), the company behind the pilot project. "Weʼve just driven, completely autonomously, into a new era of transport," he said in a statement after the first trip. The bus was developed by the French start-up EasyMile. It is equipped with sensors which can detect obstacles and activate brakes.The vehicle moves along a pre-programmed route with its speed initially limited to 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) per hour on a road with a 30 kph speed limit. Also, the bus is not yet capable of avoiding obstacles on its own.

Night of the Dead in Gozsdu Udvar

Teachers for AI — can robots create more jobs than they retire?

While headway in the artificial intelligence (AI) industry has many worried about potential jobs losses, others see this as a perfect opportunity to nurture an economy that is completely human-based.

Workers can spend anywhere from 5 minutes to 40 hours a week going through simple tasks on a smartphone, making AI all over the world more intelligent and efficient. By building platforms and crowd sourcing a large supply of workers, the companies that train AI were smart to realize the data needed could be processed by anyone with steady access to the internet. From this developed companies like Clickwork, Neurala,

and Alegion Inc., which utilize "human taggers" to push AI education.

With over a million "clickworkers" signed up, thereʼs an estimated 100,000 people logged on at this very moment, sifting through droves of information and lending a human touch to robot training. "Staring at security cameras or an airport scanner, remote-controlling a robot, driving trucks up and down a mine did not exist as jobs until recently," says Massimiliano Versace, CEO of Neurala, "and will probably not exist as jobs occupying a full-time human as they are today. Humans were created to do much more complicated and elevated tasks than watching videos 24/7."

In Halloween night, terror and fright take over Gozsdu Udvar, where terrifying, undead creatures will scare passersby until midnight.

Between October 30 and November 5, an eerie atmosphere lingers the passages, with funeral music, coffins, blood-sucking bats and talking undead beings! During this one week, the restaurants, bars and cafés of Gozsdu Udvar will also awaits guests with festive decorations, spooky lights and other surprises.

Weather

Sun

8 / 18

Mon

Tue

8 / 19

7 / 13

Hungary Budapest: Debrecen: Eger: Hévíz:

5/16 6/17 5/16 9/18

Athens: Berlin: Bratislava: Bucharest: London: Madrid:

13/21 11/18 8/16 8/14 12/19 12/23

Kecskemét: Keszthely: Miskolc:

6/18 5/18 5/13

Europe Moscow: Paris: Prague: Rome: Varsaw: Vienna:

-4/2 10/21 8/17 4/23 6/18 12/16

Culture

New Hungarian film Aurora Borealis now screens in Budapest Becoming a mother is a miraculous time in a woman’s life. However, there are certain scenarios when the arrival of a newcomer is not entirely wonderful news. The new motion picture by eminent Hungarian director Márta Mészáros, Aurora Borealis, tells a touching tale, taking viewers back in time in Hungary and leaving them reaching for the Kleenex.

The story has two timelines. One transports viewers back to a western Hungarian village in 1953, where a descendant of an aristocratic family, Ákos, falls for a village girl, Mari. They try to escape to Austria together, but unfortunately with no success, and after being harassed by soldiers, Mari has to start a new life alone and pregnant in occupied Vienna. The other storyline is in the present, unfolding the events through the recollections of old Mari, now a pensioner living in her old village.

One day she gets a letter from Russia and falls into a coma. Her daughter Olga, a lawyer living alone in Vienna, comes back to care for her. Suspecting something about her mother’s past isn’t quite right, she starts investigating. This is only a fraction of the story, as anything else would be a major spoiler. However, even the trailer foretells that Olga’s dad might not be who she thinks after all.

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258/2017 • 4, November 2017 Weekend issue

Anti-Semitic Anne Frank football stickers appear in Germany

Stickers displaying Anne Frank wearing football jerseys have appeared in Germany as an anti-Semitic provocation by neo-Nazi fans. Dortmund and Leipzig hooligan groups appear to be copying their Italian counterparts. An anti-Semitic campaign by far-right Italian football supporters appears to have spread to Germany, after stickers featuring murdered Jewish child diarist Anne Frank wearing a Schalke 04 football jersey have appeared in social media posts and stuck up around Düsseldorf, near the cities of Dortmund and Gelsenkirchen, where the club Schalke is based.

Werder Bremen dismiss coach Alexander Nouri

Bundesliga club Werder Bremen have sacked head coach Alexander Nouri.

The widely expected move comes with the team yet to have won a league match this season and follows a 3-0 defeat at home to Augsburg.

Werder Bremen announced the dismissal of head coach Alexander Nouri in a statement posted on their website on Monday. In the statement, sporting director Frank Baumann thanked Nouri for his work at the club. "Alex took on a very tough task last season and successfully accomplished it. We want to thank him for that," Baumann said.

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Athletics doping: IOC confident over Russia doping reform plans International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach believes Russia will resolve its doping issues and field athletes at next yearʼs Rio Games.

Russia was provisionally suspendedfrom world athletics after an independent World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) report alleged "state-sponsored doping". Bach met with his Russian Olympic Committee counterpart Alexander Zhukov to discuss the report. He said he was "confident" in the measures put forward by the ROC. Council members of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) on Friday voted 22-1 in favour of Russia being banned. As it stands, Russian athletes may not enter international competitions, including the World Athletic Series and Rio Olympics, which begin on 5 August next year.

Russia will also not be entitled to host the 2016 World Race Walking Cup in Cheboksary and the 2016 World Junior Championships in Kazan. "We are confident that the initiatives being proposed by the ROC, with the responsible international organisations - Wada and the IAAF - will ensure compliance as soon as possible in order to provide participation of the clean Russian athletes at the Olympic Games," said IOC president Bach.

Sebastian Vettel takes Mexican GP pole Lewis Hamilton third

Lewis Hamilton is on the brink of clinching the Formula One driversʼ championship. Sebastian Vettel wants to push him all the way though, earning pole position for Sundayʼs race.

Lewis Hamilton will have to chase his fourth Formula One season championship from behind after blistering laps by Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen left Hamilton in third on the grid. Vettel, who trails Hamilton by 66 points, edged Verstappen by 0.086 seconds on Saturday for pole position at the Mexican Grand Prix. It was the 50th pole in Formula One for the German. "I am so happy," said Vettel, who took top spot with a record lap of one minute

and 16.488 seconds. "We will attack all the way and see what we can do."

With a big lead over Vettel, Hamilton knows that he can win the title if he finishes fifth or better. He would be the first British four-time world champion if he seals victory. "Weʼre still on for the win and weʼll see what happens with Max. I hope to have a battle with at least one of them," said the Mercedes man.

Hamiltonʼs teammate Valtteri Bottas qualified fourth.

Golfer Tiger Woods pleads guilty to reckless driving, enters rehabilitation program

Under a plea bargain, Woods will not serve jail time for his driving offense unless he violates his probation. Woods was last in trouble with the courts when he plowed his SUV into a tree in 2009.

The winner of 14 major golf titles and still the 17th best-paid athlete in the world pleaded guilty in a Florida court on Friday toreckless driving. Woods is to spend one year on probation, pay a $250 (€215) fine, perform 50 hours of community service, and complete a course the dangers of drunk driving among other conditions, said Dave

Aronberg, the state attorney for Palm Beach County. The 41-year-old Woods spoke only briefly, answering the judgeʼs questions about his plea agreement. "This particular plea agreement has no jail time on it," Judge Sandra Bosso-Pardo told Woods. "However, if you violate your probation in any significant way, I could revoke your probation and then I could sentence you to jail for 90 days with a fine of up to $500, is that understood?" Woods nodded in response. He will also be required to undergo regular drug tests and is not allowed to drink alcohol.