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DAILY NEWS IN ENGLISH

Singapore clamps down on fake news with new law The Singapore parliament voted to give government special powers tocombat fake newson Wednesday, despite complaints from activists and journalists. Under the new law, ministers would be able to give orders to platforms like Facebook and Twitter to put up warnings next to disputed posts. In extreme cases, the networks could be ordered to take the content down. The law also foresees fines of up to Sg$1 million ($734,000 €656,000) for companies that fail to comply. Individual offenders could face up to 10 years in prison. Reportersʼ associations and activist groups slammed the bill as an attempt at censorship. The law "gives the Singapore authorities unchecked powers to clamp down on online views of which it disapproves," said Nicholas Bequelin, Amnesty Internationalʼs regional director for East and Southeast Asia.

US Judiciary Committee votes to hold Attorney General in contempt of Congress The US House Judiciary Committee voted on Wednesday to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress for refusing to hand over the complete unredacted report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election prepared

by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. The majority Democratic committee voted 24-to-16 in favor of holding Barr in contempt, thus forcing a vote in the full House of Representatives, where the Democrats are also in the majority. Meanwhile, the White House on Wednesday invoked the legal principle of executive privilege to block the release of the report.

105/2019 • 9 MAY, 2019

Asia Bibi leaves Pakistan ʼfor Canadaʼ Bibi and her family had to stay in hiding even after she was released

Christian Asia Bibi who spent years on death row in Pakistan on a blasphemy charge, has moved to Canada to join her family, according to her lawyer.

Defiant China to soften blow of Trumpʼs Iran oil decision The Trump administration has said it would no longer grant waivers to some of the major importers of Iranian oil. DW takes a look at the impact of this decision on major stakeholders.

Oil prices surged to a nearly six-month high after the US government saidit would not extend sanctions exemptions to countries importing oil from Iranwhen they expire in early May. Eight governments — India, China, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan — had been given six months to wean themselves off Iranian oil.

Greece, Italy and Taiwan are believed

to have eliminated imports from Iran.

China and Turkey have objected to unilateral US sanctions on Iranian oil exports, warning that it could disturb regional stability. Defiant China The Trump administrationʼs move to stifle Iran of much-needed oil revenue is expected to hurt Chinese oil companies, which are among Iranʼs biggest companies. Iran is Chinaʼs seventh-largest crude oil supplier, accounting for nearly 6% of oil imports last year. Beijing has protested against the renewed sanctions, saying "will contribute to volatility in the Middle East and in the international energy market."

Tintin and Snowy turn 90 — havenʼt aged a day He has fought organized crime, solved mysteries and even helped to bring down despotic regimes. The famous Belgian cub-reporter Tintin, with his trademark shock of strawberry-blonde hair, blue sweater and plus-four trousers, has taken his fans with him on world adventures that have been translated into more than 100 languages and dialects. Tintin made his first appearance 90 years ago, in the Catholic conservative Belgian news-

paper Le Vingtième Siècleʼs youth supplement, Le Petit Vingtième. Tintin and Snowy headed deep into Soviet territory, with Stalinʼs secret police watching them from around every corner.

The story first appeared on January 10, 1929, running as a serial until May 1930; it was essentially anticommunist propaganda, neatly packaged for children. In 1930, the series was published in book form as Tintin in the Land of the Soviets.

Germans living in Europe prefer Austria, UK On Wednesday, Germanyʼs Federal Statistics Office released its annual report on the number of German citizensliving abroad within the EU. The study found that some 900,000 Germans lived in other EU countries in 2018, with most of them — 187,000 (5,000 more than in 2017) — choosing to relocate to neighboring Austria, where life is made easier by the fact that the countries share a common language.

Despite the neverendingthreat of Brexit, theUnited Kingdom was the second most popular destination for Germans living abroad inside the EU. Of the 156,000 Germans who relocated to the UK, 8,000 of them did so between 2017 and 2018, the largest single-year increase in the report.

World watches warily as Iran scales back nuclear deal Signatories to the Iran nuclear deal on Wednesday said they wished to preserve it after Tehran said it wouldno longer respect certain "voluntary commitments" that were made. Iran also warned that it would begin high leveluranium enrichmentwithin 60 days if signatory states did not protect it from US sanctions. France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China are all signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal from which the US withdraw last year. All have said they wish to keep the accord alive but renewed sanctions imposed by Washington have had a severe effect on Iranʼs economy.

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105/2019 • 9 May, 2019

Hedgehogs Planned Siemens spin-off a well-timed threatened by loss move to avoid trouble second-quarter figures that of habitat and food The Siemens announced Wednesday rein Europe flected the German companyʼs re-

ITB Berlin tourism partner Malaysia claims it has ʼno gaysʼ

Hedgehogs, Europeʼs only spiny mammals, are under threat due to a loss of habitat and food. The result has been declining reproduction, landing the creature on a range of endangered species lists. The main drivers of the decline appear to be linked to the agricultural industry. Largescale farming has deprived hedgehogs of their natural habitat as farmers remove copses of hedges and trees in order to make way for ever-larger crops. Another problem is that of increasingpesticideuse, which kills off the hedgehogʼs natural diet ofinsectsand invertebrates such as worms and slugs. Other threats to hedgehogsinclude increases in road construction as well as walls and fences that limit their ability to migrate, harming their long-term survival by greatly hampering mating options.

Malaysia faces a potential backlash from lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) rights groups after claiming that the Muslim-majority country doesnʼt have gays. On Tuesday, Tourism Minister Datuk Mohammaddin bin Ketapi was asked by reporters ahead of the opening of the ITB Berlin tourism fair whether the country was safe for gay and Jewish visitors. After initially sidestepping the question, the minister was asked again whether gays were welcome and he replied: "I donʼt think we have anything like that in our country." Denial could hurt bookings Despite efforts by Malaysian officials to downplay the incident, Ketapiʼs comments could derail attempts to entice more tourists to visit Malaysia. The remarks came after he spoke for several minutes about the countryʼs natural beauty and welcoming culture. The country has set itself a target of receiving 30 million visitors in 2019.

Cristiano Ronaldo will play in Nations League finals, says Portugal manager Cristiano Ronaldo will play for hosts Portugal in Juneʼs Nations League finals, says manager Fernando Santos.

The Juventus forward, 34, missed six international games after the World Cup, including the Nations League qualifying campaign, before returning for Marchʼs Euro 2020 qualifiers.

Portugal play Switzerland in their semi-final on 5 June; the winners then face England or the Netherlands. "He has a constant appreciation and passion for his country," said Santos.

cent restructuring efforts. The firm logged a 5% decrease in net profit between January and March year on year, while analysts had penciled in a much bigger drop.

Revenues were up 2% at €20.9 billion ($23.4 billion), adjusted for currency effects. But more than the bare figures in the earnings report, experts were interested in further hints on the expected long-termimpact of the companyʼs decision to spin off its Gas & Power division next year— a measure that was announced on Tuesday. It cannot really be called a surprise

move as Siemens — just like many other German conglomerates such as Thyssenkrupp or Continental — has been slimming down in recent years by getting rid of businesses that no longer match corporate long-term strategies. Last year, Siemens spun off its medical technology business, Healthineers, now listed separately on the MDAX stock exchange.

Satirist Jan Böhmermann fires at Austriaʼs politics Austriaʼs public TV aired a provocative interview with German comedian Jan Böhmermann, but added that it "distances itself from his views."

In an allusion to a line in a work by Austrian playwright Thomas Bernhard about "a nation of 6.5 million idiots living in a country that is rotting away," German comedian Jan Böhmermann, who became internationally famous througha satirical poem insulting Turkish president Erdogan, said in a interview on Austrian public televi-

sion that there were meanwhile "eight million idiots loudly calling for authoritarian leadership," and that Austria was a political test lab, referring to countryʼs current government: a coalition between Chancellor Sebastian Kurzʼs conservative Austrian Peopleʼs Party (ÖVP) and the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ). The comedian also poked fun at the FPÖʼs plans to change the countryʼs financing system for the public broadcasters, asking if it would lead to less independence for the public TV channel ORF, joking that it would "be renamed FPÖ-TV."

Traditions and rituals of Ramadan Ramadan marks a special time of spiritual discipline and purification for millions of practicing Muslims across the globe. From local traditions to holy rituals, DW examines the religious month of fasting. Every year, millions of practicing Muslims across the world fast, pray and give alms in observance of Islamʼs holiest month, which begins in 2019 on May 5 and ends in the evening of June 4. From firing off cannon to lunar sightings, DW explores how Muslims mark the occasion and what it means to the faithful.

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Disaster-prone nations threatened by huge insurance gap New research from Lloydʼs and CEBR has shown that vast assets are underinsured, posing a huge threat to livelihoods particularly in poorer nations. Those most at risk are also those with the lowest insurance levels. Disasterprone developing nations are exposed to crippling losses when storms, floods or earthquakes strike, because they suffer from a dangerous lack of insurance, industry experts said Monday.

Globally, assets worth about $163 billion (€141 billion) are not insured against catastrophes, posing a significant threat to livelihoods and prosperity,London-based insurance market Lloydʼs said in a fresh report. The value of underinsured assets had shrunk by only 3 percent since 2012, it noted.

Many nations with the lowest levels of insurance were also among those most exposed to risks, including from climate change impacts, and were least able to fund recovery efforts, the study stressed.