DAILY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Carnival parades draw millions across Germany Millions of revelers have braved cold winter weather to attend traditional carnival parades in Germany. The processions often take on a highly satirical note. Germanyʼs carnival season reached its height on Monday, with colorful "Rose Monday" parades taking place in many cities, particularly the traditional strongholds of Cologne, Düsseldorf and Mainz in the west of the country. The parade in Cologne, which took the motto "We in Cologne march to a different tune" ("Mer Kölsche danze us der Reih" in the local dialect), featured some 11,000 participants, around 390 horses and 85 floats, many of which bore huge and often unflattering figures representing politicians. Among those singled out for satire this year were Chancellor Angela Merkel, US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Theresa May.
Investigators hunt for clues to deadly Russian jet crash Authorities are analyzing one of the flight data recorders to try and figure out what caused a deadly crash that killed 71 people. The Russian-made plane went down on Sunday shortly after takeoff. On Monday, more than 100 investigators combed through the wreckage ofa plane crash that killed all 71 people onboardshortly after takeoff from Moscowʼs Domodedovo airport. Heavy snowfall forced workers to search the crash site, about 70 kilometers (45 miles) southeast of Moscow, on foot and on snowmobiles as they looked for human remains and clues to what caused the incident. "We plan to carry out the main stage of the search operation in seven days because the plane debris is scattered over a very large area," Emergency Services Minister Vladimir Puchkov was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.
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South African President Jacob Zuma says efforts to oust him ʼunfairʼ President Zuma faces a deadline Wednesday to respond to a ruling ANC party order to leave office
With parliament bringing forward a no-confidence vote against Zuma to Thursday, he appears to have run out of road.
Prominent ivory trade investigator killed in Nairobi home World-renowned ivory investigator Esmond Bradley-Martin has been found dead in his home with a stab wound to the neck. Martin had spent decades tracing the trade of ivory and rhino horns from Africa to Asian markets. Kenyan police said on Monday that ivory trade investigator Esmond Bradley-Martin had been found dead in his home by a family member. The relative had gone to check on Martin at his home in the Nairobi suburb of Langat on Sunday afternoon after he did not respond to phone calls. "He was found dead in
his house and had stab wounds," said a police officer. "An investigation has been launched." The head of the United Nationʼs Environment Program, Erik Solheim, said he was shocked by Martinʼs murder and described the late investigator as a "global authority" on ivory and rhino horn trafficking. Martin, an American citizen who had lived in Kenya for decades, was a key figure in the global crackdown on illegal ivory supply chains. Much of his research quantified and analyzed the Asian ivory markets in China, Hong Kong,Vietnam and elsewhere.
German university hospital defends auto firmsʼ nitrogen dioxide test ethics No experiments on animals or humans can take place in Germany without a go from an authorized ethics committee. Dr. Thomas Kraus from Aachen University Hospital says this was the case in the most recent NO2 scandal. The European Research Group on Environment and Health in the Transport Sector (EUGT) "did not impinge in any way on the nitrogen dioxide (NO2) research it commissioned Aachen University Hospital to do," Professor Thomas Kraus from
the hospital told the German press agency DPA on Monday. The EUGT is a now defunct organization that was funded by German carmakers Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW plus partsmaker Bosch, thus raising questions of possible conflicts of interest. In 2013, 25 healthy volunteers were exposed to NO2 pollution for three hours, Kraus said. "None of them had any negative health effects," he went on, adding that the tests were meant to measure the impact of pollutants in the workplace.
Dutch minister admits to lying about ʼGreater Russiaʼ meeting with Vladimir Putin Halbe Ziljstra has landed in hot water over his own account of controversial remarks allegedly made by the Russian president. The controversy comes ahead of his trip to Moscow, where he will meet with Sergei Lavrov. The Netherlandsʼ foreign minister, Halbe Zijlstra, admitted on Monday ahead of a trip to Moscow that he had lied about attending a controversial meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin before he entered politics. Zijlstra, who became foreign minister in October, claimed to have met Putin at the presidentʼs dacha in 2006 while working for the oil company Shell. Putin supposedly told Zijlstra and others he considered Belarus, Ukraine and the Baltic states a part of "Greater Russia," adding: "Kazakhstan was nice to have."
Austria: Deadly train crash rips windows from passenger car At least one woman has died after a Germany-bound train collided with a regional train in the Austrian town of Niklasdorf. The side-swipe collision took out a row of windows on one of the trains, injuring 22 passengers. Two passenger trains collided on Monday in the southern Austrian state of Steiermark, causing one of the passenger cars to derail while others sustained heavy damage. At least one woman was killed in the crash, Austrian police said. Another 22 people were injured, including three children.
weather today BUDAPEST
0 / 3 °C Precipitation: 0 mm
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Germany to compensate Algerian Jewish Holocaust survivors Jews who lived in Algeria during the Vichy regime will receive compensation, said the Claims Conference. Algerian Jews were "one of the last" groups to be recognized by Germany, the organizationʼs vice president told DW. The Claims Conference Hardship Fund on Monday announced that a new group ofJewish Holocaust survivorswill be eligible forcompensation from the Germany government. The group consists of Jews who lived in Algeria between July 1940 and November 1942. Those eligible for compensation will receive a one-time payment of €2,556 ($3,180), which the German government will begin paying out in July. "Even at this late stage, itʼs very important both for the individuals, because it acknowledges what they went through, and in general, because it creates a historical record which will stand the test of time," Eric Schneider, who serves as executive vice president of the Claims Conference, told DW. "The further we get away from the events, I think thereʼs the greater possibility of Holocaust revisionism … When the German government takes responsibility and acknowledges the event, then it makes it a lot harder to refute it.
IOC concerned over possible design flaws of doping test bottles
George Soros ʼwonʼt butt outʼ on Brexit after UK press hounding The Hungarian-born financier has defended donations to a pro-EU group after being accused of trying to undermine Brexit. The controversy saw two sister newspapers at odds and a top broadsheet accused of anti-Semitism. The billionaire George Soros hit back on Sunday after a week during which the UKʼs Brexit-supporting press called him a foreign interloper mixed up in a "secret plot to thwart Brexit" for his funding of the Best for Britain campaign to keep the country in the European Union. "I WONʼT BUTT OUT" — the Mailon Sundayʼs page lead read, with a strapline explaining that Sorosʼ "love for Britain" would see him fight on to oppose the UKʼs exit from the European Union. It was a direct rebuttal of a front-page editorial headline in the Mail on Sundayʼs
weekday stablemate The Daily Mail on Friday: "Butt out, Mr Soros. You can keep your tainted money." In his piece, Soros declared himself a "confirmed Anglophile." With the help of false papers, the 87-year-old survived the Nazi occupation of Hungary in World War II before fleeing to Britain when his native country came under communist rule. "I am a proud supporter of Best For Britain, a group that wants Britain to remain a member of the European Union," Soros wrote. "I consider Brexit a tragic mistake."
Fast food causes ʼinfectionʼ in mice What we see after the first few days [is that] the mice get a little sick something they would get if they had an infection. So you can see that the blood cells start to grow in a certain direction, the bone marrow makes more monocytes and neutrophils - immune cells. And you see a lot of cytokines, these are mediators that immune cells make to alert other immune cells that thereʼs something going on. So it looked like an infection. We know from medical studies that diets can have an impact on inflammation in
other diseases - for example, rheumatoid arthritis patients. They know when theyʼve had a "sinful" diet, if I may say so, because they do worse the following day or the following week. What we found is that dietary changes to regular diets - with the mice itʼs called the "chow diet," which is a grain-based diet - led to changes. But it took a long time for the immune system to calm down. In fact, even four weeks after a dietary change, we could still see activated immune cells sitting in the body and all kinds of places, waiting for potential other triggers, like infections.
The International Olympic Committee says it is concerned about potential flaws in doping sample bottles. The organization wants assurances that the bottles cannot be tampered with ahead of the Winter Olympics. After potential issues with the security of the bottles were aired, the IOC has asked the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to ensure that antidoping tests at the forthcoming Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang "can be conducted credibly and reliably," an International Olympic Committee (IOC) spokesperson said Tuesday.
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German metalworkers finally secure wage agreement Following weeks of bitter fighting, a wage agreement for the German metal and electrical industries has finally been struck. Employees were able to secure higher wages and more flexible working hours. A wage agreement was reached in the early hours on Tuesday in Germanyʼs metal and electrical industries. The powerful IG Metall union announced the deal initially covering workers in the southern German state of BadenWürttemberg, but expected to be eventually implemented for a total of 3.9 million workers in the sector nationwide. According to the deal, employeesare to receive a pay hike of 4.3 percent from April this year. Additionally, monthly one-off payments of €100 ($124) were agreed for January through March. Employers and trade union representatives also agreed on the possibility of workers reducing their hours from 35 to 28 hours per week for two years, should they need to look after children or care for older relatives.
A record 28 French restaurants get Michelin threestar ratings Twenty-eight French restaurants have been honored with the gastronomic sectorʼs most coveted rating. Thatʼs a record number of three-star ratings for any single country in the Michelin Red Guide. A comeback by La Maison des Bois mastermind Marc Veyrat (pictured) and the emergence of Christophe Bacquieʼs Hotel du Castellet as another culinary force in southern France have given the country a record for most restaurants to hold a vaunted foodie guideʼs coveted three-star maximum. Set for official release on Friday, Michelin France has become the most prestigious of the publicationʼs 31 national editions and the domestic culinary bible. Michelin has faced criticism that its stars reward pomp and presentation rather than the food itself and for the guideʼs putting restaurateurs under unbearable scrutiny. The guide has made many a chefʼs name; others say it has nearly broken their wills.