DAILY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Jewish student in Berlin bullied for months with anti-Semitic attacks at renowned high school A Jewish high school student at Berlinʼs prestigious John F. Kennedy School was bullied for months with anti-Semitic taunting, local media reported on Wednesday. "At the beginning of June, school management became aware of anti-Semitic bullying," read a statement from the school. "The incidents occurred in the ninth grade and were initially misunderstood in magnitude and seriousness." According to the Berliner Zeitung newspaper, which broke the story, the student was verbally harassed on his way to and from school. Classmates blew cigarette smoke in his face, and told him he should think of his ancestors who died in Nazi gas chambers. He was also reportedly teased about his weight.
German man suspected of killing 21 coworkers by poisoning their food German authorities launched a probe into a string of deaths at a metal fittings company after an employee was caught trying to poison a co-workers lunch. Police found quicksilver, lead, and cadmium in the manʼs home. The man was arrested for the incident in the town of Schloß Holte-Stukenbrock, northwest Germany. However, police now suspect he may be responsible for up to 21 deaths of people working for the same company. The police detained the 56-yearold suspect in May this year, after one of his coworkers noticed an unknown white powder on his food. The would-be victim alerted his superiors and asked them to review the recordings made by security cameras, which then showed the suspect adding the substance to the co-workerʼs lunch.
146/2018 • 29 JUNE, 2018
Donald Tusk warns EU leaders to prepare for the worst in EU-US relations Curbing migration and economics is all on the agenda
European Commission President Donald Tusk has warned EU leaders to "prepare for the worst" in EU-US relations ahead of the EU summit in Brussel this week. European Council President Donald Tusk warned European Union leaders that they should "prepare for the worst" in EU-US relations in a letterto EU leaders who will be gathering in Brussels for a summit on Thursday and Friday. He laid out the agenda for discussions at the important meeting, with migration topping the list. Transatlantic relations Writing on the issue of transatlantic relations, Tusk said the EU must be prepared for "worstcase scenarios" as US President Donald Trumpʼs policies have been increasingly at loggerheads with the blocʼs values. "It is my belief that, while hoping for the best, we must be ready to prepare our union for worst-case scenarios," Tusk wrote. "Despite our tireless efforts to keep the unity of the West, transatlantic relations are under immense pressure due to the policies of President Trump." Trump has decided to withdraw his country from the Paris climate deal and the Iran nuclear deal, despite repeated pleas by the EU to
stick with them. One EU official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told DPA news agency that such "negative" decisions were starting to "look like a pattern" where the US has "no friends, no enemies" and where preserving the international rules-based structure was not a focus. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will share his views on EU-NATO cooperation at the meeting. With Italy and Malta both reluctant to accept further refugees, his letter largely focused on figuring out how to curb the flow of migrants to the EU. He called for the European Council to endorse three key points: "Setting up regional disembarkation platforms outside Europe, if possible together with the UNHCR and IOM, in order to change the functioning of Search And Rescue Operations. Our objective should be to break the business model of the smugglers, as this is the most effective way to stop the flows and bring an end to the tragic loss of lives at sea."
Poland strips back controversial Holocaust law Polish lawmakers on Wednesday approved changes to adisputed Holocaust speech law, removing potential jail penalties for anyone who suggested the country was complicit in Nazi crimes against Jews. The speaker of parliament, Marek Kuchcinski, said the lower house had passed the amendments 388 to 25, with five abstentions.The new draft bill was presented to parliament by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and was followed by an emotional debate, with opposition members expressing outrage that the Law and Justice party had passed the law in the first place. Penalties under the original version of the law, passed in February this year, ranged from a fine to up to three years in jail for public statements ascribing Nazi crimes to Poland under the German occupation during World War II, including use of the term "Polish death camp" for German extermination camps like Auschwitz set up in occupied Polish territory.
OPCW members vote to grant it power to assign blame for chemical attacks The British-led proposal to add key new powers to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) passed on Wednesday, winning 82 votes from the memberstates. Just 24 countries were against the motion, easily giving it the necessary two-thirds majority. The OPCW will now be able to assign blame in its investigations of chemical attacks. Before the vote, the organization was only able to confirm whether or not the attack took place.
weather today BUDAPEST
22 / 24 °C Precipitation: 0 mm