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DAILY NEWS IN ENGLISH

Trump pulls United States out of UN migration pact The United States has announced it is withdrawing from the Global Compact on Migration. The non-binding UN migration pact was meant to boost international cooperation on migration issues. US President Donald Trumpʼs administration has withdrawn the United States from a United Nations pact to coordinate and improve international migration and refugee issues, the US mission to the global body said. "Today, the US Mission to the United Nations informed the UN Secretary-General that the United States is ending its participation in the Global Compact on Migration," the US mission to the UN said.

In September 2016, all 193 UN member states of the General Assembly adopted the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants. The nonbinding declaration includes a set of pledges to protect migrants, foster migrant integration, develop guidelines on the treatment of vulnerable migrants and strengthen global governance of migration, among other issues.

Yemen: Former President Ali Abdullah Saleh seeks dialogue amid escalating violence Former President Ali Abdullah Saleh has said he is ready for a "new page" in ties with the Saudiled coalition fighting in Yemen, in a bid to end nearly three years of war. His call was welcomed by the Saudi coalition. Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemenʼs former president, said Saturday he was willing to talk with Saudi leaders as his coalition with Iran-backed rebels appeared to be crumbling. Salehʼs overture came as his fighters battled Houthi rebels for a fourth day in the capital, Sanaa. "I call on our brothers in neighboring countries ... to stop their aggression and lift the blockade ... and we will turn the page," Saleh said in a televised speech.

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Pope Francis defends Rohingya silence after Asia trip Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have been forced from their homes, accused of being interlopers

The pope has insisted any public criticism of the plight of the Rohingya during his Myanmar trip would have backfired.

Uber hits legal roadblock in Israel The bad news continues for Uber.

Less than a week after the revelations about a massive data leak the firm tried to cover up, Israel has become the latest country to block some of the firm’s services.

An Israeli court has banned Uberʼs ridesharing services from operating in the country,following legal challenges from a taxi driversʼ union and a rival ride-sharing app. The beleaguered ridehailing service has been trying to develop its operations in the Israeli market in recent times, both through its traditional app-based taxi booking model

and also through two ride-sharing pilot schemes, UberNIGHT and UberDAY. Mondayʼs injunction targets those ridesharing pilots, which Uber confirmed would no longer operate following the ruling. Uber says its standard app service will continue to operate in the country. "While we are ending our UberNIGHT and UberDAY pilots, we will continue to offer UberTAXI in Israel," a spokeswoman said. "We are committed to working with the Israeli authorities to explore how technology can improve our cities with safe and affordable transportation alternatives."

Germany must allow third gender in registry of births, court rules An intersex person has won a court case to allow them to enter a third gender into the registry of births.

The case was appealed to the Federal Constitutional Court after failing at lower levels.

Germanyʼs Federal Constitutional Court on Wednesday called for a third gender option in the registry of births.

Intersex people, who are neither male nor female, should be able to register their sexual identity as such, the Karlsruhe court ruled. The court found that the general right to the protection of personality in Germanyʼs Basic Law meant the register had to be altered to al-

low a third gender. The court ruled seven to one that lawmakers must create new legislation by the end of 2018 to allow for a third sex, providing the examples of "intersex," "diverse" or another "positive designation of sex." Another possibility raised was to scrap gender entries altogether. "Assignment to a gender is of paramount importance for individual identity; it typically plays a key role both in the self-image of a person and in the way in which the person concerned is perceived by others.

The gender identity of those persons who are neither male nor female is protected,"the court ruled.

Honduras opposition demands rerun in disputed election Delayed election results and allegations of fraud have plunged Honduras into uncertainty. The opposition is now demanding a new election, and has called for a major demonstration against "dictatorship and fraud." The main opposition candidate in Hondurasʼ contested presidential election on Saturday called for a new vote as security forces sought to control deadly street protests and impose a curfew. Opposition alliance leader Salvador Nasralla told local media that the counting of ballots from last Sundayʼs election and government declaration of a state of emergency on Friday night amounted to a "coup." Incumbent President Juan Orlando Hernandez leads with 42.92 percent of the votes compared with Nasrallaʼs 41.42 percent, according to the last results posted by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) on Friday, with 94.35 percent of polling stations processed. Both Hernandez and Nasralla have claimed victory.

Prague bridge collapse leaves 4 injured A pedestrian bridge linked to an island in the Czech capital has failed in a spectacular fashion. Four people have been injured, two of them seriously. The cause of the collapse was not immediately clear. A pedestrian bridge collapse in Prague in the Czech Republic left four people injured on Saturday, rescuers said. The 250-meter (820-foot) bridge spanned the Vltava River, in the north of the Czech Republicʼs capital, before it collapsed almost entirely.

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US and Poland strike $10.5

Paris tightens regulations for Airbnb

billion missile defense deal

As of Friday, only officially registered apartments can be rented out to tourists for overnight stays in Paris. The French capitalʼs measures aim Airbnb and similar short-term rental sites.

The US has approved the $10.5 billion sale of a Patriot anti-missile system to NATO ally Poland. Eastern European NATO states have been ramping up their military capabilities in the face of perceived Russian aggression.

In a move likely to irk Russia, the US and Poland agreed on Friday a major arms deal that could see the eastern European NATO member soon begin conducting air and missile defense operations. As part of the $10.5 billion (€8.9 billion) sale, Poland is expected to receive 208 Patriot Advanced Capabilty-3 (PAC-3) Missile Segment Enhancement missiles, 16 M903 launching stations, four AN/MPQ-65 radars, four control stations, spares, software and associated equipment. Made by US defense contractor Raytheon, the missiles are reportedly designed to detect, track and engage unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), cruise missiles and shortrange or tactical ballistic missiles. In a statement issued following the sale, the State Department said that: "A secure Europe capable of deterring air and missile threats and other forms of aggression promotes peace and stability within NATO and on the European continent."

Bird flu scare latest to rattle South Koreaʼs Winter Olympics

Hosts in the French capital have to apply for an official registration number from now on in order to rent out their private accommodations via Airbnb or other internet platforms such as Homelidays or Abritel. In addition, they are limited to renting out their places to a maximum of 120 days per year. Deputy Mayor Ian Brossat considers the transformation of private housing into accommodations for tourists or business travelers in the city as increasingly worrying.

Over the past five years, this has led

to an estimated 20,000 apartments being withdrawn from the already strained Parisian rental market. "We want to stop this bloodletting," Brossats said. Paris is one of the main markets for the US rental platform Airbnb worldwide. A total of about 65,000 accommodations are offered here. German cities such as Berlin and Munich are also fighting the misappropriation of housing properties.

Anyone renting out their apartment illegally to tourists in Munich must expect fines up to 500,000 euros.

Plants share information using natureʼs fungal internet Fungi have given us beer, penicillin and soy sauce to name but a few items. But did you know these fascinating organisms also allow plants to send each other nutrients and warnings through a kind of ʼsocial network?ʼ From microbes to millipedes to moles, the soil beneath our feet is teeming with largely unseen life. One more hidden treasure is the vast underground fungal network that allows plants to share nutrients and information. These threadlike systems of mycelium branch out under the forest

floor, connecting the roots of distant trees in what scientists have dubbed the "wood wide web" and"Earthʼs natural internet."(Fungus expert Paul Stamets is behind the latter term. He is allegedly the inspiration for the "Star Trek: Discovery" space fungus expert of the same name, as well as some of the science in the show.)

These fungi live in a symbiotic relationship with plants — the roots of which they colonize. The plants feed the fungi with carbohydrates and these underground helpers channel water and, nutrients such as nitrogen, up to their leafy hosts.

The Winter Olympic Games have been dogged by avian influenza, as well as the concern over the unpredictable regime in North Korea, poor ticket sales, a shortage of accommodation and rising prices. Local governments in South Korea have called on operators of farms close to venues that are to be used in Februaryʼs Winter Olympic Games to slaughter around 6,000 ducks and chickensafter avian influenza was discoveredon a duck farm in North Jeolla Province.

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China sales behind German carmakersʼ rosy third quarter Strong vehicle sales in the wordʼs most important car market have been essential in enabling German carmakers to end their third quarters on a positive note. Their dependence on China is expected to increase further.

Germanyʼs top carmakers would not have been able to present positive third-quarter results without a booming auto market in China, a study by consultancy EY showed Tuesday. It said China had long become the most important market for Volkswagen, BMW and Daimler, with one in three of their cars sold in the third quarter having gone to the Asian nation. To be more precise, the Chinese market accounted for 34 percent of Germanyʼs overall car sales between July and September, the highest ever rate logged so far. Back in 2010, only 23 percent of Germanyʼs quarterly car sales ended up in China.

Ousted Venezuelan opposition leader escapes house arrest, flees to Spain Ousted Caracas mayor Antonio Ledezma has likened his escape to a film. He plans to take the fight against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro abroad.

The ousted opposition mayor of Caracas arrived in Spain on Saturday after orchestrating a daring escape from house arrest in Venezuela. Antonio Ledezma landed in Madrid from Bogota, Colombia, where he arrived a day earlier after slipping across the border. He was greeted by his wife and two daughters who live in Spain. Ledezma said he planned to organize resistance from abroad to President Nicolas Maduro, under whose rule millions of Venezuelans have suffered from shortages of food and other basic supplies.

"I am going to travel the world to spread the hope of all Venezuelans to escape this regime, this dictatorship," Ledezma said. The 62year-old opposition figure was removed as mayor of Caracas and arrested in 2015 on allegations he sought to topple Maduro. He was later put under house arrest due to health issues.