DAILY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Hirohito wartime memoir sells for $275,000 A memoir by Japan’s World War II Emperor Hirohito fetched $275,000 at auction – more than double the expected price. The monologue is thought to have been designed to exhonerate Hirohito of blame for the slide into war. The 173-page memoir was bought by a Japanese surgeon well-known for his right-wing views, who said he wished to restore it to the countryʼs royal family. "It should have been in Japan, but it ended up overseas," Dr. Katsuya Takasu told The Associated Press in Tokyo. "So it feels like itʼs finally coming back." The memoir sold at the Bonhams auction house in Manhattan for $275,000 (231,000 euros). Plastic surgeon Takasu, has been criticized by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights group, for using social media to praise Adolf Hitler and deny both the Holocaust and the 1937 Nanjing massacre.
Poland: Ex-military intel chief detained on charges of collaborating with Russia General Piotr Pytel has been accused of illegally striking a deal with Russian security services for the passage of Polish NATO troops back home from Afghanistan. Polandʼs opposition has decried the move as political. Polish military police on Wednesday detained a former military counterintelligence chief on charges of illegally collaborating withRussiaʼs FSB security services. The case relates back to a agreement struck by Poland andNATO with Russian military intelligencein 2010, which allowed for the safe passage of Polish troops back home from Afghanistan through Russia. General Piotr Pytel was accused by Polish authorities earlier this year, along with his predecessor Janusz Nosek, of overstepping his duties by signing the cooperation pact with Russia.
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North Korea says war with United States is ʼinevitableʼ North Koreaʼs Foreign Ministry condemned drills by the South Korean and US militaries
Pyongyang has said that the outbreak of war on the Korean peninsula was now a matter of "when," rather than "if."
Google spat with Amazon heats up In the online corporate jungle, the beasts donʼt come much bigger than Amazon and Google. Their latest feud is related to how they promote the other’s wares but industry experts predict that bigger battles lie ahead. Internet giants Amazon and Google have come to blows over the way in which they promote and acknowledge each other on their own platforms. Given the Silicon Valley rivalsʼ status as two of the biggest companies in the world by market capitalization, its little surprise that they already compete intensely across several areas,from online search to
the sale of voice-controlled products. On Tuesday, Google, which is owned by the conglomerate Alphabet Inc, announced it would block its video platform YouTube from being used as an app on two different Amazon devices. In a statement, it cited the fact that Amazon does not sell Google hardware on its various platforms. "Amazon doesnʼt carry Google products like Chromecast and Google Home, doesnʼt make Prime Video [an Amazon service] available for Google Cast users, and last month stopped selling some of Nestʼs [a sister company of Google] latest products," said Google.
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
allow 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.
Salvator Mundi: Da Vinci painting that sold for $450 million headed to Louvre Abu Dhabi A painting of Christ by da Vinci sold at auction for $450 million is headed to the newly opened Louvre Abu Dhabi, the museum has said. A US newspaper reported it has found the mystery buyer of the "Salvator Mundi." The Louvre Abu Dhabi announced via Twitter in English, French and Arabic on Wednesday that the famed Da Vinci painting "is coming to" the gallery. Christieʼs auction house, which sold the painting ina record-shattering auction that stunned the art worldin November, responded by congratulating the Louvre Abu Dhabi, tweeting that the work of art was going to "its new home." It was unclear if the painting was going to the Louvre Abu Dhabi on loan or if the museum purchased it outright or with other buyers. The museum did not immediately respond to DWʼs request for comment.
Australian parliament passes same-sex marriage bill After a multi-million-dollar postal survey and lengthy debate, Australia’s parliament has voted 146 to 4 in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage. The first weddings could take place early next year. In the Canberra parliamentʼs final session of the year on Thursday, lawmakers engaged in a lengthy debate as several amendments put forward by opponents of the bill to legalize same-sex marriage were voted down. The Australian parliament voted 146 to 4 in support of same-sex marriage.
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