DAILY NEWS IN ENGLISH
UN urges Saudi Arabia to end blockade on Yemen Humanitarian flights have been refused access to Yemen, where millions of people face starvation. Saudi Arabia sealed all entry points to Yemen after Houthi rebels launched a missile attack on Riyadhʼs airport. The United Nations on Tuesday demanded that Saudi Arabia drop its newly tightened blockade on Yemenʼs borders. Saudi Arabia shut down Yemenʼs airports, land borders and sea ports on Monday following anattempted ballistic missile attack on an international airportservicing Saudi capital Riyadh. Saudi Arabia said the complete shutdown was a temporary measure but the blockade was slammed by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). "The situation is catastrophic in Yemen, it is the worst food crisis we are looking at today,seven million people are on the brink of famine,millions of people being kept alive by our humanitarian operations," a spokesman for the office, Jens Laerke, told reporters in Geneva.
Paradise Papers: Apple shifted billions offshore to avoid tax New relevations about Appleʼs tax avoidance strategy are making headlines as the Paradise Papers scandal unfolds further. EU finance ministers are due to discuss the issue during talks in Brussels on Tuesday. Apple has denied accusations inthe Paradise Papers investigationthat it moved its operations from Ireland to an offshore center to avoid tax. Documents cited by German newspaper Süd‐ deutsche Zeitung on Monday suggested that offshore law firm Appleby, which is based in multiple tax havens, helped the iPhone maker move billions of dollars in revenues collected in Ireland to the Channel Islands to head off increased European Union scrutiny of its tax affairs in Dublin.
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Trump reassures President Moon about North Korea fears South Korea:
Donald Trump has called on Russia and China to help crack down on North Korea. At the same time, he has reassured South Korea that everything will work out fine with North Korea "because it always works out."
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.
COP23: US absence felt on first day of UN climate summit As the 23rd annual UN climate conference kicks off in Bonn, people are already jostling to fill the climate power vacuum left by a retreating United States. The small city of Bonn, Germany, was inundated with thousands of delegates today for this yearʼs UN climate summit. Over the coming two weeks, negotiators will hammer out the rule book for the Paris climate agreement reached two years ago. The VIPs will not arrive until next week for the intensive final days of the summit. But already, the politicians are gearing up for a battle between people claiming to speak for the United States. Donald Trump announced earlier this year he will pull the United States out of the Paris Agreement. However, the withdrawal process takes three years, leaving the United States in as a signatory until then. President Trump is sending a small delegation to Bonn that will try to continue to shape the rules of the agreement.
Scottish parliament evacuated after suspicious package found The Scottish parliament building has been evacuated following the discovery of packages containing white powder. Parliament later announced that afternoon sessions would go ahead as planned. Scotlandʼs parliament building was evacuated on Tuesday after at least one package containing white powder was found. A package containing white powder was sent to a Conservative Party lawmaker, a source at the parliament told Reuters news agency.
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