DAILY NEWS IN ENGLISH
German cyber defense body defends itself over massive breach Germanyʼs Federal Office for IT Safety (BSI) has said that it had only become aware of a massive data breach affecting hundreds of lawmakers on Friday, several weeks after a lawmaker had told BSI officials about suspicious activity on personal accounts. "Everybody assumed it was an isolated case," the BSI said. "Only by becoming aware of the release of the data sets via the Twitter account ʼG0dʼ on January 3, 2019, could the BSI in a further analysis on January 4, 2019 connect this case and four other cases that the BSI became aware of during 2018," it added. BSI head Arne Schönbohm said Friday that the agency had spoken with "some lawmakers" affected by the breach in early December. The statement prompted outrage among other hacking victims, who assumed BSI had known about the issue and failed to inform them.
Poland to shut down 13 escape rooms over safety flaws Poland will close 13 escape room entertainment sites due to safety flaws, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Sunday. The move came two days aftera fire killed five teenage girls locked in an escape room in the north of the country. Authorities carried out inspections at least 178 escape rooms across Poland over the weekend and found that 129 of them did not meet health or safety standards. Morawiecki ordered an evaluation of around 1,100 sites nationwide and urged people to report flaws to firefighters and police. "This was unprecedented," Morawiecki said. "Any sort of prevention is important." Escape rooms involve locking players into a room,where they then have to solve puzzles and find clues in order to obtain a keyto escape. Regarded as an intellectual challenge, the games have become increasingly popular among Polish teenagers in the past five years.
6/2019 • 8 JANUARY, 2019
Northern Irish DUP slams Theresa Mayʼs ʼtoxicʼ deal ahead of vote Brexit:
The deputy leader of Northern Irelandʼs DUP wants Theresa May to demand strong changes to a backstop provision in her Brexit deal. May faces an uphill battle in getting the deal passed without the DUPʼs support. British Prime Minister Theresa May should stand firm in demanding that the EU agree to changes to the Northern Irish backstop provision in a draft Brexit withdrawal deal, the deputy leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) said on Sunday. The DUP — the Northern Irish party that props up Mayʼs minority Conservative government — strongly rejects the so-called backstop, a plan to keep an open border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland if the EU and Britain fail to agree on a post-Brexit trade deal. "The EU has shown in the past that it will move but only if faced with a resolute red line on the part of the UK government," deputy DUP leader Nigel Doddssaid in a statement. "The coming days will show if this government is made of the right stuff." May has been struggling to convince the DUP and hard-line lawmakers in her own party to support the withdrawal deal amid fears that the backstop could threaten the integrity of the UK or force the country to accept EU rules indefinitely. The prime minister
has said she would work to get more EU "assurances" on the temporary nature of the backstop, but has repeatedly said that the current deal was final. May tried to sell her deal in a TV interview on the BBC on Sunday, roughly one week ahead of a crucial parliamentary vote on the agreement. "If the deal is not voted on [in parliament], then we are going to be in uncharted territory," she said. "The danger there is that we end up with no Brexit at all," May added, also dismissing calls from Brexit opponents to hold a second referendum. The prime minister also defended herself against critics by asking them to provide an alternative to the plan she had negotiated. "So far, nobody has put forward an alternative on all those issues," she said. May confirmed that debate would start next week on a "meaningful vote" to take place in the House of Commons around January 14 and 15. She had postponed a December voteafter it became clear she lacked the support with her own conservative party to get the agreement passed.
UN envoy in Yemen to push Hodeida truce The UN envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, was due to visit the port city of Hodeida on Sunday, as part of a trip to support a recent ceasefire in the war-torn nation. The Red Sea port in Hodeida is the entry point for the majority of imports to Yemen, where more than 22 million people now depend on humanitarian aid to survive. Griffiths arrived in the capital, Sanaa, on Saturday. He is scheduled to hold talks there with Houthi rebel leaders before heading to the Saudi capital, Riyadh, to meet with Yemeni government officials. In Sanaa, Griffiths will also meet retired Dutch general Patrick Cammaert, who has been appointed by the UN to head a truce monitoring team. Yemenʼs warring factions agreed to the ceasefire in Hodeida during UN-led talks in Sweden in December 2018.
Congo election results delayed as US deploys troops to Africa The first vote tallies from the December 30 presidential election in the Democratic Republic of the Congo will be delayed past Sundayʼs deadline, the head of the election commission has said. Electoral authorities announced that less than half of the ballots had been counted as of Saturday night. The election was stalled by delays and irregularities which triggered a violent political standoff that left dozens dead across the country. Both domestic and international observers appealed to the government to step up its efforts toward a peaceful electoral process.
weather today BUDAPEST
-10 / -1 °C Precipitation: 0 mm
6/2019 • 8 January, 2019
Amnesty accuses Turkey of ʼturning blind eyeʼ to abuses in Afrin Human rights organization Amnesty International accused Turkey on Thursday of allowing Syrian armed groups to commit a wide range of violations against civilians in Afrin. Turkish forces aided by allied rebelscaptured the northern Syrian townin March from the US-backed Kurdish Peopleʼs Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara considers a terrorist group.According to Amnestyʼs research, scores of displaced residents have since returned to their homes, only to be subjected to rights abuses. Read more:Turkeyʼs military offensive against Kurdish-held Afrin: What you need to know Amnesty interviewed 32 people, both current and former Afrin residents, between May and July 2018, who said: Residents in Afrin are enduring "arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, confiscation of property and looting."Most of the abuses were "at the hands of Syrian groups that have been equipped and armed by Turkey."Some of the rebel groups and Turkish armed forces had "taken over schools, disrupting the education for thousands of children."
Outcry in Uganda over compulsory HIV test 19-year-old Methia Nalukwago, a student at Makerere University in the capital Kampala, is excited by the proposal to have all students undergo compulsory HIV/AIDS testing. Some students, she says, have been living in denial. "Our friends, we study with them but you look at someone and you are like, ʼare you sure you are not sick or something like that?ʼ Of course you never come out to tell them but you feel it deep down inside you, this person must be sick because of the symptoms that show," Nalukwago told DW. "Compulsory testing for HIV will help us know our HIV status and where we stand." Studies conducted by the Ugandan AIDS Commission show lack of sufficient information among the youth is contributing to an increase of HIV. Jane Were, the head teacher of Forest Hill College in Mukono district located 21 kilometers (13 miles) east of Kampala, said they are grappling with HIV in schools. She said the situation has been made worse by parents who mislead their children on what they are actually suffering from. "We have situations where parents lie to students about these [anti-retroviral] drugs. There are parents who tell children they have other ailments other than HIV," 2
Louvre enters new year with record number of visitors More people than ever before visited the Louvre in Paris in 2018
To mark the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinciʼs death, the museum is showing a comprehensive exhibition this year. Were you at the Louvre in 2018? Then you helped the world-famous museum in Paris set a new visitor record. Last year, 10.2 million art enthusiasts flocked to the museum. Thatʼs an increase of 25 percent over 2017 and breaks the previous record set in 2012, when 9.7 million people came to the Louvre. Almost three quarters of the guests came from abroad, with Americans and Chinese at the top. At 2.5 million, the number of French visitors also
German politician targeted by haters over climate refugees A member of the Green Youths has received an onslaught of online hate, including rape and death threats, after she publicly put her support behind extending citizenship to asylum seekers fleeing disasters of climate change. Earlier this month, comments made by 24-yearold Ricarda Lang (above), a spokeswoman for the political organization, were published in a number of German regional newspapers and online outlets, including ZDF, and Die Welt. "The EU should offer the citizens of island states that are threatened by climate change European citizenship and enable them to migrate with dignity," Lang told German media. In the 24 hours that
increased significantly compared to the previous year. There seem to be several reasons for the increase in visitors. Thereʼs the retrospective on the painter Eugène Delacroix, which attracted around 540,000 art lovers in 2018 and, according to the museum, was "the most successful exhibition ever held at the Louvre." Delacroix was one of the most important French painters and is regarded as a pioneer of Impressionism. followed, Lang saidhate messagesflooded her Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Email. "People threatened my life and commented on my body, and said how they wanted to kill or rape me," she told DW. "The first day was really hard because I kind of felt like I was alone, standing in front of this huge wall of hate."
Refugees in Italy get their hands dirty with own farm Every morning Dembo Cisse, a sturdily-built 21-year old from Guinea, waits for the car to pick him up. He and two others, who live in the same apartment that belongs to Italyʼs privatized migrant reception system, get in the vehicle. The old family car
Germanyʼs family reunification policy can leave young adults in limbo It sounds desperate, but Riham abo Staiti says she would rather die than turn 18. The 17-year-old only leaves her darkened accommodations when absolutely necessary. She lives here in a 30-square-meter (323-square-foot) portable housing unit with her father and three siblings in the Nahr alBared Refugee Camp in northern Lebanon. Yet, one important person is missing: "I just want to be with my mother," Riham says. She only speaks with her mother, who lives in a suburb of Karlsruhe, Germany, on her mobile phone. Her fear is constant when the two talk each day: "I am terrified of being left here on my own," says Riham. She has been waiting for the day she can join her mother for more than three years now. She is in a race against time, for she will likely be barred from family reunification as soon as she turns 18.
then heads from Oleggio, a small town in the northern Italian region of Piedmont, to an agricultural field nearby. But Dembo and his companions are not off to work in the food supply chain, dominated by large-scale distributors who require ever lower prices and therefore cheap labor — which many of their fellow Africans provide for lack of better options. Read more: Italy tells refugees: Donʼt risk the journey The carʼs driver is Raffaele DʼAcunto, known as Lello, the areaʼs first organic farmer, now retired, who decided to set up a small-scale agricultural company to make organic produce and sell it on the local market. Lello, Dembo and four others from Mali, Senegal and Nigeria — the youngest of whom is just 19 — are to become equal partners in the budding business they have aptly named Zappa Arcobaleno, Italian for Rainbow Hoe. The company is currently caught up in the bureaucratic process awaiting official registration.
6/2019 • 8 January, 2019
Tests show Swedish ʼEbolaʼ patient not infected with virus The patient had been isolated for treatment with a suspected case of the highly infectious Ebola disease. Medical tests have now cleared the patient of the virus. A patient isolated for treatment at Swedenʼs Uppsala University Hospital for suspected Ebola is not infected with the virus, local authorities said on Friday, citing medical tests. The patient was transferred to the hospital on Friday after showed classic symptoms of the deadly haemorrhagic disease. Medical director for Uppsala Region Mikael Kohler said before the test results that the patient arrived "throwing up blood and had bloody stools," which can be symptomatic of Ebola. The
Police identify source of deadly Novichok nerve agent in UK deaths British police announced Friday that they found a bottle containing the Novichok nerve agent in the home of one of the victims of a nerve agent poisoning in Wiltshire last month. "On Wednesday, 11 July, a small bottle was recovered during searches of Charlie Rowleyʼs house in Amesbury," police said in a statement. The statement said scientists from Porton Down defense laboratory confirmed the bottle contained the Novichok nerve agent, the same poison used against Sergei Skripal and his daughter earlier this year. "Further scientific tests will be carried out to try and establish whether it is from the same batch that contaminated Sergei and Yulia Skripal in March," the force said, adding that a link to the Skripals remained "a main line of enquiry for police." Dawn Sturgess died in a hospitalon Sunday after exposure to the nerve agent. Her partner, Rowley, isstill in critical condition, but has regained consciousness. The Foreign Office said on Friday it had invited independent technical experts from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons early next week "to independently confirm the identity of the nerve agent."
manʼs condition was "serious, but stable," Kohler added. The case was initially detected at a hospital in the town of Enkoping, where the emergency room was closed down. Staff and others who came into contact with the patient have been isolated and are receiving treatment. The patient arrived back in Sweden following a trip to Burundi three weeks ago and current symptoms began to appear Friday morning. He wasnʼt known to have visited an area affected by Ebola.
The top ten mistakes that make life easy for cyber-criminals
f a cyber-spy wants to launch a successful attack and protrude deeply into a system he needs lots of information — the more, the better. The deeper he gets into a network, the more information he can gather. And that in turn will help him launch an even deeper attack. A good hacker has also gathered information about the chain of command and work processes at the company he plans to at-
tack and knows how to convince people to do what he wants. The greatest protection administrators and users can put up is being stingy with personal data and maintaining a healthy degree of secrecy. But in most offices and businesses, this is much easier said than done. Here are the most common mistakes users and administrators make that could open doors to hackers.
Opel reported to have manipulated diesel car exhaust emissions According to a media report, automaker Opel is being investigated for manipulating vehicle emissions on about 60,000 cars worldwide. It is the first time the company has been named since Dieselgate broke in 2015.
3
6/2019 • 8 January, 2019
Germany attempts ʼfacesavingʼ resolution to Saudi drugs boycott The human rightsrow between Saudi Arabia and Canada made international headlinesin recent weeks, when the Riyadh government suddenly suspended new trade and investment to the Great White North. The punitive measures were in response to a simple tweet by Canadaʼs foreign minster, calling for the release of two jailed Saudi activists. Receiving less attention has been the diplomatic spat between Europeʼs No. 1 economy and the oil-rich kingdom — also sparked by a ministerʼs comments; this time Sigmar Gabriel, Germanyʼs thenforeign minister. During the political crisis in Lebanon last November that saw Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri resign and later rescind his decision, Riyadh was widely accused of forcing his departure, which Gabriel alluded to as "adventurism." ʼShamefulʼ remarks hurt tiesRiyadh immediately recalled its ambassador to Berlin, telling the German government the comments were "shameful." In May, it went further and froze all new business with Germany. Over the subsequent months, several German pharmaceutical and medical technology firms, including Siemens Healthineers, Bayer and Boerhringer Ingelheim, have been excluded from public healthcare tenders in the kingdom. A pharmaceutical industry source told DW, on condition of anonymity, that Saudi authorities had not given any written explanation about the exclusion, and that there was no clear path for Germany to resolve the issue. Efforts by German diplomats to mediate with Saudi authorities were delayed, initially, by the Holy Month of Ramadan, and the summer break, as Gulf countries stop work in July and August due to the extreme heat.
T-Mobile reports cybersecurity incident T-Mobile US and its unit Metro PCS told customers that cybersecurity staff found and shut down unauthorized access to certain information on August 20 and immediately reported the matter to authorities. The company added that no financial data, social security numbers or passwords were compromised during the attackon its networks, admitting, though, that other personal information like names, email IDs, phone numbers as well as account numbers or account types (postpaid or prepaid) may have been exposed. T-Mobile said that about 3 percent of its 77 million customers could have been affected (roughly 2 million people potentially affected). 4
Amazon investigated for ʼabuseʼ by German antitrust authorities After logging "numerous" complaints from sellers on Amazonʼs marketplace, Germanyʼs competition watchdog is now taking aim at the e-commerce giant. Itʼs the latest blow to Amazon, which already faces a similar EU probe. Germanyʼs competition watchdog, the Bundeskartellamt, launched an investigation on Thursday into alleged "abuse" bye-commerce giant Amazon. Citing "numerous complaints" from third-party sellers on Amazonʼs German website, amazon.de, the Bundeskartellamt said it would be looking into whether the company was exploiting its market dominance to obstruct competition. "Its double role as the largest retailer and largest market-
No breakthrough in China-US trade talks Chinaʼs Ministry of Commerce said on Friday that it had held "constructive meetings" with US officialsafter talks resumed between the countries over their ongoing trade spat. Nonetheless, with no major breakthrough yet in sight, the resumption of talks did not prevent an additional $16 billion (€13.83 billion) of tariffs being levied by the US and China on each otherʼs goods, starting from Thursday. Read more: US-China trade spat: Clash of the titans, part 2 Talks took place on Wednesday and Thursday aimed at defusing the escalating conflict, which has now seen both countries slap $50 billion in tariffs on the otherʼs products, with more expected to follow. The Chinese news agency Xinhua reported that the officials on both sides have vowed to "keep in contact" in the future. High-tech will suffer, says ChinaMeanwhile, a prominent Chinese state planner said on Friday that US tariffs onhigh-tech Chinese technology would have an impact on the tech sectors in both countries.
Thermal Hotel Visegrád****superior 2025 Visegrád Lepence-völgy, hrsz.: 1213 Phone: +36 26 801 900 Fax: +36 26 801 918 info@thv.hu www.thv.hu
Kalashnikov unveils new electric car Kalashnikov,a company moreknown for its AK-47 machine gunsthan its electric vehicles, unveiled its new electric car on Thursday. The powder-blue prototype, dubbed the CV-1, was unveiled by the Russian arms maker at a defense expo outside of Moscow. Kalashnikov Concern told Russian media that the technology within its "electric supercar" will rival that of Elon Muskʼs Tesla. "This technology will allow us to stand in line with the worldʼs electric car manufacturers, like Tesla, and compete with them," a spokesperson told Sputnik. According to the company, the vehicle can travel 350 kilometers (217 miles) on a single charge. The carʼs retro look was inspired by a Soviet hatchback model developed in the 1970s, the "Izh-Kombi," Kalashnikov said in a statement on its website. The CV-1ʼs light blue color, large grill, retro door handles and boxy frame have received mixed reviews from Russians. On social media, some described the car as "cyberpunk" while others referred to it as the "Izh-Zombie."
Published by: Mega Media Kft. 1075 Budapest, Madách I. út 13-14. +36 1 398 0344 www.hotelujsag.hu
place has the potential to hinder other sellers on its platform," the authorityʼs president, Andreas Mundt, said in a statement. The list of complaints against the US giant is long — with the German watchdog saying it would look into complaints of delayed or withheld payments and blocked accounts. The probe will also look into the siteʼs product rating system as well as the companyʼs shipping conditions.
Swiss feel Brusselsʼ Brexit Bern
Switzerland is facing the prospect of losing recognition of its stock markets under EU rules. Some suggest the EU is playing it hard as Brexit talks reach their end-game. Romeo Lacher, chairman of SIX Swiss Exchange, Switzerlandʼs main stock exchange,says that Bern has a contingency plan to avoid Swiss bourses being shut out of EU stock markets as a Brussels deadline approaches. Lacherʼs plan entails redirecting share dealing back to Switzerland — one of the EUʼs so-called ʼthird nationsʼ — by prohibiting Swiss shares from being traded in the EU. But time is running out. Swiss stock exchanges have temporary equivalence status under the EUʼs MiFID II (the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive 2004 — an EU law that provides harmonized regulation for investment services across the 31 member states of the European Economic Area). These expire at the end of the year. Without access to EU bourses, Switzerland would likely retaliate with the same measures for EU traders on Swiss bourses, with potentially dire effects for the Swiss economy. Some 30 percent of trading in Swiss shares is in the EU, the rest in Switzerland and most activity in Swiss shares on SIX comes from traders in the EU.
6/2019 • 8 January, 2019
Germany: Renewables overtake coal as main power source Renewable energy booming in Germany
Germans broke new ground in 2018 by receiving more electricity from "green" energy sources than from coal power plants, a new study said. But experts warn that Berlin could still miss its energy goals for 2030. Renewable energy became Germanyʼs dominant source of electricity in 2018,beating coalfor the first time in history, experts from the Germany-based Fraunhofer Institute said on Thursday. "Green" energy sourcessuch as solar, wind, and hydropower accounted for 40.3 percent of German net electricity production last year, rising by 4.3 percent compared to 2017. Experts said coal-fired power plants supplied about 38 percent of electricity in 2018. Germany has setambitious en-
New Horizons scientists on Wednesdayreleased photos of the most distant objectever reached by a space probe, revealing it had the form of a snowman. Detailed images beamed back from the New Horizons spacecraft showed that Ultima Thule, which lies some 6.4 billion kilometers (4 billion miles) away from Earth, is composed of two spheres, or "lobes." New Horizons conducted itssuccessful flyby of Ultima Thule, which is classed as a minor planet, on Tuesday. Before that, scientists only had a blurry image of the body and thought it was composed of two more elongated parts — resembling something more like a peanut or bowling pin. The new images, taken at a distance as close as 27,000 kilometers (17,000 miles) told a different story. "That image is so 2018," said lead researcher Alan Stern. "The bowling pin is gone – itʼs a snowman if anything at all."
Sting to return to Budapest for summer 2019
ergy targetsfor the upcoming decade, aiming to have renewable sources provide 65 percent of energy by 2030. The percentage had grown from 8.5 in 2003 to 16.2 in 2008 and 27.2 another five years later. Even with the 2018 landmark, the change is "not happening quickly enough," Fraunhofer Institute professor Bruno Burger told Germanyʼs Der Spiegel magazine. "If Germany continues at this rate, we are going to miss our 2030 targets," he said.
Looted colonial art: Is there the political will to return pilfered artifacts? While African nations have long demanded the restitution of poached cultural artifacts, in former colonial powers like France and Germany the debate has recently reached fever pitch as cultural and political figures make the case for repatriation. In November, a 108-page breakout report by French academics Bénédicte Savoy and Felwine Sarr on the "Restitution of African Cultural Heritage" proposed the return of thousands of colonial art objects to create a more balanced representation in African museums. Following the re-
NASA: Faraway mini-world Ultima Thule is ʼsnowmanʼ-shaped
port, French president Emmanuel Macron made the commitment toreturn such goods, most especially to Benin. But so far, Germany has been wavering. 2019 marks a century since Germany lost its colonial possessions following the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. The Humboldt Forum in the newly rebuilt Berlin Palace will open on September 14 with a permanent exhibition including a number of cultural artifacts appropriated during Germanyʼs sometimes genocidal colonial forays in Africa.
Weather
Wed
-7 / 2
Thu
Fri
-8 / 2
-7 / 2
Hungary Budapest: Debrecen: Eger: Hévíz:
-10/-1 -8/3 -7/1 -7/3
Athens: Berlin: Bratislava: Bucharest: London: Madrid:
3/6 5/9 -8/2 -1/6 0/3 2/7
Kecskemét: Keszthely: Siófok:
-8/3 -7/2 -7/5
Europe Moscow: Paris: Prague: Rome: Varsaw: Vienna:
-15/6 -3/4 -7/4 -5/3 -4/8 1/4
Culture
Renovated Museum of Fine Arts to Open on 31 October AFTER MORE THAN THREE YEARS OF RENOVATION, THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS BUDAPEST WILL OPEN ON 31 OCTOBER. NOW OPEN TO PUBLIC
Sting is head over heels for Budapest. After a successful free show with Shaggy a month ago on Heroes’ Square, the former Police frontman has just announced another Budapest concert for next summer. On 2 July, the Grammywinning singer brings his My Songs tour to the Papp László Aréna, where he will be taking the stage with his own band. From “Englishman In New York” to “Every Breath You Take”, the set should include Sting’s biggest hits. Tickets are on sale now.
Thanks to the largest-scale and most comprehensive reconstruction project in the museum’s history, the museum building has been renewed, and, returning to the collection’s first concept, the museum’s permanent exhibitions will also be rearranged. Besides the new permanent exhibitions, the revamped museum will welcome visitors with a chamber exhibition titled Leonardo & the Budapest Horse and Rider. The museum reconstruction, implemented within the framework of the Liget Budapest Project, included the restoration of the Romanesque Hall, which sustained severe damage in World War II and since then had been only partially renovated and used as a storage area, along with the modernisation of the building’s obsolete heating system, the installation of air conditioning in some of the exhibition halls, the renewal of a large part of the roof structure, as well as the addition of new exhibition spaces, visitor areas and modern storage facilities.
5
6/2019 • 8 January, 2019
UK Championship 2018: Ronnie OʼSullivan survives scare to beat Ken Doherty
Defending champion Ronnie OʼSullivan survived a major scare by battling from behind to edge past Ken Doherty 6-5 and reach the UK Championship third round. OʼSullivan looked like heading out as Doherty surged into a 4-1 lead. But OʼSullivan responded in style with breaks of 75 and 76 on the way to claiming four in a row, but Doherty hit back to force a decider in York. Both players had chances in the final frame, but OʼSullivan held himself together to go through. Englishman OʼSullivan, who turns 43 on Wednesday, is aiming for a record seventh title in the event and is currently level with Stephen Hendry on 18 ʼTriple Crownʼ event victories of World Championship, UK Championship and Masters. Ten-man Rangers moved top of the Premiership for the first time under Steven Gerrard
Ten-man Rangers moved top of the Premiership for the first time under Steven Gerrard after a fiery comeback victory over Hearts at Tynecastle. Following Scott Arfieldʼs red card for a rash challenge on goalkeeper Zdenek Zlamal, the visitors held on for the final 20 minutes to move a point clear. Hearts were rewarded for a strong start by a Gareth McAuley own goal but Connor Goldson quickly levelled. Alfredo Morelos then added the decisive touch from an offside position. The strikerʼs goal, equalling the Premiership era record of scoring in seven successive games, was one of many contentious moments in a tempestuous game. It was a fourth league loss in a row for Hearts, who were top of the table in early November, leaving them in fourth place. 6
Aleksandar Kolarovʼs free kick stunner secures Serbia win over Costa Rica
Wayne Rooney arrested and fined in US for public intoxication and swearing
A brilliant second half free kick from captain Aleksandar Kolarov led Serbia to a deserved win over Costa Rica. Serbia were wasteful in front of goal but did enough to secure three vital points in Group E. Another World Cup day, another sublime freekick. If Cristiano Ronaldo’s ice-cold effort tosnatch a point against arch-rivals Spain on day two was the current goal of the tournament front-runner, the Portuguese may have just met his match. Aleksandar Kolarov, take a bow. A combination of poor finishing and sublime goalkeeping had kept the scores level until Serbia’s no.11 produced his moment of magic. Kolarov’s powerful left foot is no secret, but few inside the stadium would have expected such a thunderous strike when the Roma defender stood over a free kick midway through the second half. His shot was unstoppable; a side-footed missile which screamed into the top corner of the Costa Rica net. Kaylor Navas, who kept his team in the game with several crucial saves either side of half time, was nowhere near it.
Wayne Rooneyʼs arrest mugshot provided by Loudoun County Sheriffʼs Office
Wayne Rooney was arrested and fined in the United States last month for public intoxication and swearing. The former England and Manchester United captain, who now plays for Major League Soccerʼs DC United, was arrested on 16 December in Virginia. A spokesman for Loudoun County Sheriffʼs Office confirmed Rooney was taken into custody "on a charge of public intoxication stemming from an arrest by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police". The spokesman added: "He was later released on a personal recognizance bond." According to re-
ports, Rooney was arrested at Dulles International Airport, which is located in the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, after a returning from a trip to Saudi Arabia where he attended the opening race of the Formula E season near Riyadh. Court documents from Loudoun General District Court show that Rooney, 33, paid a $25 fine and $91 costs on 4 January. He was a charged with a ʼClass 4ʼ misdemeanour, which carries a maximum fine of $250.
ATP Finals: Zverev upsets Federer to book final debut Alexander Zverev clinched a straight sets win over Roger Federer to reach the final of the ATP Finals. Enjoying a career-best season, the 21-year-old could become the first German winner since Boris Becker. Third seed Zverev won 7-5, 7-6 (5), breaking late in the first set and exchanging breaks in the second before coming out on top in a back-and-forth tie break to become the first German player since Boris Becker - 22 years ago - to reach the final of tennisʼ
showpiece event. Federer, 37, was seeking a record-extending seventh title, but despite regular chants of "Letʼs Go Roger, Letʼs Go” from the partisan crowd, the 20-time Grand Slam winner was unable to cope with the pressure created by Zverevʼs power and precision at the O2 Arena. Leading the charge of the new generation against the old guard, the 21year-old has flattered to deceive on the gameʼs biggest stages but is now just one win away from the biggest title of his career.