DAILY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Bulgarians unfazed by antiRoma hate speech from deputy prime minister Bulgariaʼs deputy prime minister, Valeri Simeonov, has been found guilty of hate speech against Roma — but has not been asked to step down. Prejudice against Roma is widespread in Bulgaria. This was a double first for Bulgaria: In the Black Sea town of Burgas, the district court found the countryʼs deputy prime minister, Valeri Simeonov, guilty of hate speech towards Bulgariaʼs Roma minority. First, the Bulgarian courts have always been very hesitant in their dealings with hate speech against Roma. Second, no deputy prime minister in Bulgaria has ever been found guilty of a crime, let alone one such as this. Yet there still has been no statement from the government, and Simeonov has kept his post despite protests from 11 Roma organizations. Simeonov has also announced that he will appeal the verdict. In addition to his role as deputy prime minister, Simeonov also chairs the National Council for Cooperation on Ethnic and Integration Issues.
Academics flee Turkey for Germany as Erdogan targets teachers Turkish professors who signed a call for peace are being charged with disseminating terrorist propaganda. Many are seeking refuge in Germany — but here too they face an uncertain future. Dilek Dizdar still hasnʼt received an indictment. A professor of intercultural German studies and translation at the University of Mainz, she was one of the 1,128 signatories of an appeal for peace — an initiative of Academics for Peace — in the form of an open letter written in January 2016 and addressed to the Turkish government. In it, the academics called on the state to halt military operations in Kurdish territories and seek a peaceful solution to the conflict.
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Bavariaʼs Seehofer defies CSU youth wing His partyʼs youth wing has disowned the 68-year-old and hailed his rival, Markus Söder
Bavariaʼs embattled premier Horst Seehofer has vowed to "fight like a lion" at Berlin talks to form Germany’s next government.
Lufthansa reaches for global skies Germanyʼs Lufthansa Group looks set to expand, even as some rival airlines cut back or fall into bankruptcy. It has set its sights on becoming a leading global player. But air travel markets remain fiercely competitive. The end of Air Berlin will continue to change the air transport marketin Germany and Europe. There have already been three failures this year on the Continent. In addition to Air Berlin, which not long ago was the No. 2 airline in Germany, Alitalia filed for insolvency in May, and is currently being kept afloat by means of cash infusions from the Italian state. And in early October, the British holiday airline Monarch Airlines went under. "There will be further consolidation in the coming years," Lufthansa CEO
Carsten Spohr has said. Thatʼs been his view for a long time. For Lufthansa, Spohr believes, this trend presents an opportunity. What the various insolvencies will mean for the German air travel market wonʼt be known in detail until next summer. Several milestones must be passed before the mists clear. First, the EU competition authorities must approveLufthansaʼs takeover of many of Air Berlinʼs routes. This involves the allocation of starting and landing rights at various airports. Further slots will be allocated at the regular conference of IATA, the International Air Travel Association; these will only enter into force with the upcoming summer schedule, after the end of March. Thereʼs always scope for additional changes before then, Spohr explained on Wednesday.
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 trans-
port 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.
China, South Korea pledge to mend ties, hold talks South Korea and China have agreed to speedup efforts to normalize their relations. Ties between the nations have been strained over the deployment of a controversial US missile defense system. South Koreaʼs foreign ministry announced Tuesday that both sides had agreed to talks and backed a plan to "expeditiously bring exchange and cooperation in all areas back on a normal development track." The installation of the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in South Korea resulted in a year-long standoff with damaging implications for trade and diplomacy between the two nations. An angry Beijing voiced fears THAADʼs powerful radar could be used to peer into Chinese territory, while Seoul maintained the system served solely to defend againstescalating nuclear threats from North Korea.
Refugees in Germany waiting longer for asylum processing The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) has been struggling to process asylum applications. Could job losses at the office be the reason? German authorities have been taking far longer to process asylum requestscompared to the beginning of the year, according to German daily Nüremberger Nachrichten. Citing an internal document from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), the newspaper said on Tuesday that the number of cases processed per month fell from 50,000 in the first months of 2017 to between 15,000 and 18,000 in recent months.
weather today BUDAPEST
5 / 16 °C Precipitation: 0 mm
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Anti-Semitic Anne Frank football
Venezuela introduces 100,000 bolivar bill worth $2
stickers appear in Germany
The new note unveiled by President Nicolas Maduro is meant to curb out-of-control inflation that has left the country reeling. Just one year ago, a 100 bolivar bill was the largest amount of cash on the market.
Stickers displaying Anne Frank wearing football jerseys have appeared in Germany as an antiSemitic provocation by neo-Nazi fans. Dortmund and Leipzig ultra 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. The fake Panini-style stickers were first reported by local blog Ruhrbarone, which published a photo of them it said had been found on the Facebook profile of a neo-Nazi active in the local far-right scene. No one has taken responsibility for creating the image, but the fact that Anne Frank is pictured wearing the jersey of Schalke 04, biggest rival of football club Borussia Dortmund (BVB), seems to corroborate Ruhrbaroneʼs speculation that the neo-Nazis are BVB supporters.
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.
Venezuela announced plans to begin issuing 100,000-bolivar notes on Wednesday as the government struggles to control skyrocketing inflation. One year ago, the largest bill was only 100 bolivars – an amount that is now practically worthless. President Nicolas Madurounveiled the note at a cabinet meeting. It will be worth about €2 euros or $2.3 on black market exchanges. Caracas said the new bill is only a stop-gap measure amidst a more comprehensive financial over-
haul, one facet of which is to eventually rid the country of paper money entirely. "The use of the physical currency is being replaced," the president said. Maduro also announced a 30 percent increase in the countryʼs minimum wage and a rise in pension payouts for retired workers, though economists have warned this will only exacerbate inflation. He also took the opportunity to threaten any opposition politicians who boycott nationwide mayoral elections in December.
Europe remains a major bird killer Despite legal protection, birds are still illegally killed across migration routes – particularly in the Mediterranean. Bird migration is one of natureʼs most fascinating charms - but for birds to reach their destinations is becoming ever more difficult. And humans have a lot to do with that. Every year,about 25 million birds are killedacross migration routes in the Mediterranean whether shot, trapped or glued. In addition, up to 2 million birds are killed illegally in Northern and Central Eu-
rope together with the Caucasus region, anew study conducted by BirdLife Internationalhas shown. Surprisingly, most of the birds are slaughtered for "fun," lead author of the study Anne-Laure Brochet told DW. In order to further improve law enforcement and raise awareness, illegal bird killings will be on the spotlight at the 12th session of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS COP12) happening this week (October 22 to 28) in Manila, Phillippines.
Martin Day Wine Festival in Hotel Gellért Tamás Széll - the most well known gastro hero in Hungary, who proved to the world that Hungarian chefs are also artists of the “Culinarium” – will 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 November 9 and12.
H-1056 Budapest, Só u. 6. Telephone: +36 1 577 0700 Fax: +36 1 577 0710 bhzinfo@zeinahotels.com www.boutiquehotelbudapest.com
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Climate change: World way off track on Paris accord goals Existing national goals will only meet one-third of the Paris climate target, according to a UN report. The study comes less than a week before the world climate conference kicks off in Bonn. As the United Nations prepares to welcomedelegates from across the world to Bonnon Monday for the two-week COP23 climate summit, it released a stark warning today. The national pledges currently on the table by the signatory countries will only bring a third of the reduction in emissions required by 2030 to meet global climate targets. The biggest roadblock is not with national governments, says the United Nations Environment Program report. Rather, the private sector and regional governments arenʼt increasing their climate action at a rate that would help close this gap. The Paris goal is to limit global warming to at least under 2 degrees Celsius — and to 1.5 degrees if possible — in order to avoid catastrophic climate change.
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 Islamistmotivated 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.