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DAILY NEWS IN ENGLISH

EU sees results as Ukraine enacts changes advised by bloc n Brussels it is largely agreed that Ukraine has introduced more positive measures in the past four years than it had in the previous 20. EU officials are pleased, but they say the country, where some state structures date to the Soviet era, has a long way to go.

The European Union and Ukraine hold a summit once a year to check the countryʼs progress on measures called for by the bloc. This yearʼs meeting, the 20th, will take place in Brussels on Monday. Participants include European Council President Donald Tusk, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. The last two summits were the first and second to end without a final declaration. In 2016, the planned visa-free regime became a contentious issue. France did not want to discuss the issue before the French presidential elections. Ukrainian citizens have only been allowed to enter the EU without visassince June 2017.

Thailand cave rescue: First boys rescued from trapped soccer team Four members of a Thai soccer team have been brought out from a flooded cave where they have been for two weeks in the first phase of the rescue operation. Rescue teams are to begin the next phase in the coming hours. The first members ofa youth soccer team trapped with their coachin a flooded cave in northern Thailand have been rescued and are on their way to the hospital, local officials said on Sunday.

Four out of the 12 boys made it out of the Tham Luang Nang Non cave complex, Narongsak Osotthanakorn, the governor of Chiang Rai province and the head of the rescue mission, told reporters in the evening. Other Thai officials initially told reporters that six boys had been rescued.

154/2018 • 09 JULY, 2018

Germany must increase defense spending NATO chief:

Germany spends 1.24 percent of its GDP on defense and has promised to increase that figure to 1.5 percent by 2024. But Jens Stoltenberg, the head of the NATO alliance, says Berlin needs to spend much more than that.

Federal Reserve issues trade conflict warning The US Federal Reserve says US business owners are already scaling back investment plans on the back of concerns over the escalating trade conflict with China. Nonetheless, the US economy is in good shape, it says.

The minutes of the Federal Reserveʼs June meeting highlight rising concerns within US businessover the impact of the ongoing trade conflict between the USA and China. With Friday marking the start of the imposition of tariffs by the US government on more than 800 Chinese products, as well as counter-

tariffs from the Chinese on US products, the Fedʼs observations suggest that fears over the escalating conflict are already having a significant effect on the US business climate. According to the minutes, released on Thursday, some businesses in the US say they have "scaled back and postponed" plans for investment due to their concernsover US trade policy. In an extensive survey conducted by the US central bank, several companies voiced concerns over the impact an ongoing trade conflict will have on their future investment plans.

Elvis Costello cancels tour after cancer surgery Singer-songwriter Elvis Costello said that he needs more time to recover after undergoing surgery on a cancerous tumor. The 63-year-old musician said in a statement on Friday that he had initially thought "normal service had been resumed," but now realized he needed more rest. "Therefore, I must reluctantly cancel all the remaining engagements of this tour," he said, vowing to "return at the soonest opportunity." The musician, whose hits include "Alison" and "Oliverʼs Army," was due to give concerts in

Britain, Croatia, Austria, Norway and Sweden. He said it was better to disappoint fans by cancelling concerts rather than giving poor performances.

In his statement, he urged men to go to their doctors if they had symptoms they were worried about. He said his specialist had called him six weeks ago and told him, "You should begin playing the Lotto," as the doctor had "had rarely, if ever, seen such a small but very aggressive cancerous malignancy that could be defeated by a single surgery."

Transgender refugees in Greece reclaim their dignity A couple of months ago, Natasha (pictured above) was anxiously waiting for her court hearing to start.

Natashaʼs case was unique: Apart from the fact that she is a transgender woman, she is also a refugee from Pakistan who has received asylum in Greece. She is also the first transgender refugee woman who has applied for a gender identity correction in a Greek courtbased on a recent lawthat allows her to correct her gender and name from male to female in her legal documents. Gabi, from Tunisia, was sitting right next to Natasha, holding her hand, until the moment the judge ordered everyone to leave the room.

Gabi is also a transgender refugee woman who has been granted asylum in Greece. When Natasha decided to change her gender identity, Gabi was very skeptical, she was not sure if she wanted to do the same. Now she is certain she wants to follow suit.

Severe rainfall leaves dozens dead in Japan The death toll in western Japan continued to climb on Sunday, after days of unrelenting rain caused severe flooding and triggered landslide warnings. The city of Kurashiki and the Hiroshima prefecture are among the affected areas.

The heavy rainfall stemmed from the remnants of a typhoon that hit southwestern Japan last week. Since Thursday, landslides and flooded rivers have trapped many people in their houses or on rooftops. 83 people have died since Thursday and 57 others are unaccounted for.In Kurashiki, 2,310 people have been rescued by authorities and the search still continues.Nearly 2 million people have been asked to evacuate the affected areas.

weather today BUDAPEST

22 / 27 °C Precipitation: 0 mm

154/2018 • 09 July, 2018

Recep Tayyip Erdogan: The sultan of 21st-century Turkey On July 9,President Recep Tayyip Erdoganwill take his oath of office in parliament. Turkey will thus officially move from a parliamentary system to a presidential system. Just 13 years have passed since Turkish officials started EU accession negotiations. At the time, it seemed that democracy, freedom of expression and social harmony were growing. Now, however, Turkey is preparing to endow its increasingly Islamist, nationalist and authoritarian president with an unprecedented amount of power. The abolition of parliamentary control gives Erdogan sole power over the executive branch of government.

And, through his power to appoint important judges, he will also control the judiciary. Ersin Kalaycioglu, a senior scholar at Sabanci Universityʼs Istanbul Policy Center, said the potential consequences remained unclear.

"So far, the new system has only been discussed with us in broad lines," Kalaycioglu said. "This means that neither the public nor political scientists know the exact details."

Mesut Özil under fire from DFB following Germanyʼs World Cup exit Reinhard Grindel took fire at Mesut Özil just days after DFB Manager, Oliver Bierhoff, claimed the playmaker should have beenleft at homefor Germanyʼs World Cup campaign.

Grindel publicly backed national coach Joachim Löwʼs decision to include Özil in his final 23-man squad for Russia when the announcement was made in June. He appears to have reversed his stance towards the player following the World Cup, however.

German telecoms regulator targets tech giants If Europe is the main region of the so-called ʼtechlash,ʼ then Germany is its capital. The countryʼs Federal Network Agency is currently locked in a legal battle with Google and according to its boss, it means business.

The head of Germanyʼs telecoms regulator has said in an interview that tech giants such as Google and Facebookneed to be regulated like ordinary telecommunications companies.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Jochen Homann, president of Germanyʼs Federal Network Agency (BNetzA), made it clear that the outcome of an ongoing legal case between the agency and Google would determine their policy in future towards other tech giants such as Facebook, Apple and Amazon. "What we are seeing is that the line between traditional

telecommunications services and web-based services like Gmail and WhatsApp has become very blurred.

Users often cannot see any difference at all," he said. Since 2014, the Federal Network Agency has been involved in legal proceedings against Google, after it ordered the US company to register its Gmail service as a telecommunications operator. Such a status would subject Google to a raft of regulatory requirements in areas such as data protection.The case is currently before the European Court of Justice.

French greeting makes headway in Germany While a handshake may be the preferred manner of business greeting in Germany, the two-cheek kiss is making inroads among younger generations. But figuring out just who to turn the other cheek for remains a mystery.

When I arrived in Germany 12 years ago, one of the first things to take me by surprise was the amount of handshaking that goes on here. An appointment with my banker opened

with a handshake. With the realtor, too. At work, I walked into office after office, meeting new colleagues, each of whom wanted to shake my hand. Even the yoga teacher at my first class put her hand out to introduce herself. Handshaking, I learned, was the formal means of greeting in Germany.

As Interior Minister Thomas de Maziere wrote in his 10 treatises towarda German Leitkulturpublished in April, in Germany "we put out our hand as a greeting."

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EU governments approve free trade deal with Japan EU governments on Friday threw their weight behind a free trade deal with Japan,paving the way for the agreement to be signed next week at a bilateral summit in Brussels. The deal will be the biggest free trade accord ever signed by the European Union.

The agreement will unite around 600 million people, representing about one-third of global trade. EU officials said the accord would lead to the removal of all but a handful of tariffs between the two sides and aimed to boost economic growth and job creation. Responding to earlier criticism from consumer protection groups, Brussels insisted the deal would not result in the deregulation and privatization of public services such as water management and waste water treatment. Bucking the trend? The deal, which comes at a time when US President Donald Trump is spearheading an "America first" agenda, "sends a very powerful signal against protectionism and for the rules-based international order," an EU official told the DPA news agency on condition of anonymity.

Ethiopian leader arrives in Eritrea for landmark summit The greeting between Ethiopiaʼs newly elected reformist Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and neighboring Eritreaʼs longtime President Isaias Afwerki in Eritreaʼs capital Asmara has been broadcast live in both countries. It is a scene that seemed improbable just a couple months ago. Abiyʼs chief of staff, Fitsum Arega, posted photos of the leadersʼ meeting at the airport and said Abiy was "very warmly received" by the 72-yearold Afwerki who has ruled Eritrea since it gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after a years-long rebel insurgency. Eritreaʼs Information Minister Yemane G. Meskel tweeted photos of the leaders and the cheering crowds as the leaders made their way through the capital, Asmara, in a motorcade. Meskel called the meeting a historic event. Many in the crowds wore t-shirts with photos of the two leaders; and the streets were bedecked with flags.