DAILY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Polish PM condemns ʼxenophobicʼ attack on ambassador to Israel
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki described Tuesdayʼs attack on their ambassador to Israel as racially motivated. "I am very worried to hear of a racist attack. Poland strongly condemns this xenophobic act of aggression. Violence against diplomats or any other citizens should never be tolerated," Mowawiecki wrote on Twitter. Polish ambassador Marek Magierowski (pictured above) was sitting in his car on Tuesday when a man approached and "spat at him," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. The assault on Magierowski (pictured above), who was appointed to the role of ambassador in June 2018, comes amid rising tensions between the two countries concerning the Holocaust and Polandʼs World War II history.
Alabama moves to ban abortion, including for rape and incest cases The Republican-dominated Senate in the US state of Alabama passed a bill on Tuesday outlawing nearly all abortions, including in cases of rape and incest. The measure is set to be the strictest abortion law in the United States if approved by Republican Governor Kay Ivey, who has withheld comment on whether she will sign it. If signed into law, the bill would go into effect in six months. The legislation is certain to face legal challenges. Republican lawmakers and anti-abortion activists hope the legislation will lead to the Supreme Court overturning its landmark 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide.
111/2019 • 16 MAY, 2019
Eiffel Tower shines lights and offers snacks for 130th anniversary A visitor magnet
Parisʼ iconic Eiffel Tower welcomed 1,350 children ahead of a concert and a light show into the early hours to celebrate 130 years as the French capitalʼs tallest building.
Worldwide inventory to help protect biodiversity For the first time in 14 years, experts have compiled a global ecoinventory of the Earth. They now want to fine-tune the core statements with government representatives. It is already clear that many species have been lost in the recent past. And thecausesare also clear: intense agriculture, pollution, overfishing, poaching, the destruction of natural habitats and climate change. It is unclear, however,how dire the global biodiversity situation really isand whether conservation measures have achieved anything. Most recently, in 2005, theMillennium Ecosystem As-
sessment showed how massively ecosystems were polluted over the previous 50 years and how necessary a reversal is. Starting this Monday, government representatives and scientists will discuss a new report on biodiversity for a week. The report is based on the research results that 150 experts from 50 countries have compiled and analyzed over the past three years. The experts analyzed almost 15,000 sources for their report, and 250 other experts provided knowledge directly. For the first time, the findings and interests of indigenous peoples and other local knowledge were included.
Nets ʼnʼ Lasers: some of our best hopes for mitigating the threat of space debris Space debris is a bit like space itself: We know itʼs up there, but beyond that thereʼs so much we know we donʼt know. The statistics are fun, though, if a little misleading. Itʼs a bit of a safari crunching the numbers, but here goes. Since 1957, the year the Soviet Union sent Sputnik into space, there have been 4,900 space launches. So far so good. In that time we have put 6,600 satellites in orbit
and/or created "an on-orbit population of more than 18,000 tracked objects." Elsewhere, ESA cites "more than 17,000 orbital objects" being tracked and catalogued by the US Space Surveillance Network. And in a third document itʼs 22,000 objects. But you get the idea: Itʼs a lot. Of the 6,600 satellites, 3,600 remain in space, and less than a third (about 1,100) are operational.
UN arms expert imprisoned in Tunisia on ʼfabricatedʼ charges After Moncef Kartas, a wellrespected expert on illegal arms shipments into Libya, had cleared security at the international airport in Tunisia in late March, several plainclothes security officers were waiting for him in the arrivals hall, according to his defense team. Few people knew of Kartasʼ travel plans, which had changed last-minute. But the officers "were clearly expecting him," Kartasʼ lawyer, Sarah Zaafrani, who is also his cousin, told DW. Ever since, he has been imprisoned on charges of obtaining national defense secrets and passing them on to an unnamed "foreign state or its agents," according to the English translation of the official decision to open an investigation, which DW has obtained. Espionage is a charge that can carry the death penalty in Tunisia, although it has not been enforced for several years.
ʼChristchurch Callʼ launched in Paris as Facebook limits live streaming for extremists French President Emmanuel Macron and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern were in Paris on Wednesday to launch their ʼChristchurch Callʼ initiative aimed at curbing extremism online. Ardern announced the plan as the first stage of change as the two leaders appeared at the Elysee Palace. The initiative calls for limits on violent, hateful content and urges social media platforms to re-examine their algorithms.
weather today BUDAPEST
8 / 13 °C Precipitation: 0 mm