DAILY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Syria: ʼHuge explosionʼ rocks Damascus The Syrian capital was rocked by several major incidents on Sunday, with an explosion hitting near a military intelligence office and with Syrian state media saying forces repelled an Israeli aerial attack on Damascus International Airport. Israel has not commented on the reports it carried out an air raid, but said that it intercepted a rocket that was fired at Syriaʼs Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. What we know so far: The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that a "bomb blast" hit southern Damascus and that a "terrorist" has been arrested over the incident. The independent war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the "huge explosion" killed and wounded a number of people, although they couldnʼt immediately verify the death toll.The blast, which occured during rush hour on the first day of the working week, took place near a military intelligence office and "was not a random act," the Observatory reported.
Congoʼs Martin Fayulu declares himself president, top court sides with Felix Tshisekedi The Constitutional Court of the Democratic Republic of Congo rejecteda challengeto last monthʼs presidential election results. The high court said early Sunday that runner-up Martin Fayuluʼs challenge to Felix Tshisekediʼs win was "inadmissible." In the verdict, the court also rejected a request to carry out a recount and declared Tshisekedi "President of the Democratic Republic of Congo by simple majority." The ruling comes shortly after the African Union had asked Congo to delay announcing the final election results, casting "serious doubts" about the vote. On January 10, DR Congoʼs Electoral Commission said Tshisekedi had provisionally won with 38.57 percent of the vote against Fayuluʼs 34.8 percent.
17/2019 • 21 JANUARY, 2019
Greek police and protesters clash at rally over Macedonia name deal Greeceʼs parliament is due to vote this week on whether or not to ratify the deal
Tens of thousands of people flooded the streets of Athens to voice their disapproval of a name deal with neighboring Macedonia.
Facebook deletes hundreds of Russian troll pages The US technology giant has shut down more than 360 pages and accounts, with some tied to an infamous troll farm. Under immense pressure, Facebook has started to target online influence operations and hate speech. Facebook on Thursday said it removed hundreds of pages and dozens of accounts for "coordinated inauthentic behavior" linking back to a Russian network operating in parts of Europe and central Asia. From the US to Germany, the technology giant has
come under immense pressure to combat so-called fake news, disinformation campaigns and hate speech on its platforms. Read more: When social media inspires real life violence Details about the pages and accounts: At least 289 pages and 75 accounts were deleted on Facebook.The accounts and pages were "linked to employees of Sputnik," a state-owned news agency based in Moscow.They frequently posted about "topics like anti-NATO sentiment, protest movements and an
Uncovering forgotten female artists: French archive aims to rewrite art history Back in 2009, Camille Morineau, then a curator at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, felt it was time to stage an art exhibition devoted solely to women — a first for the modern art museum. But the show, titled "elles@centrepompidou," was anything but easy to put together. Morineau was hard-pressed to find information on the female artists whose works were owned by the museum — biographical information, details
about their works or even the art movements these women belonged to. Read more: Anni Albers retrospective celebrates Bauhaus pioneer A ʼscandalousʼ underestimation Preparing for the show, Morineau realized how much women have been underestimated by art historians. "There was a lot even I didnʼt know, although I am an expert in 20th century art," she told DW. "I thought to myself, that is scandalous."
Brexit: Theresa May seeks bilateral treaty with Ireland British Prime Minister Theresa May is to pursue a bilateral treaty with the Irish government in an attempt to push her Brexit deal through Parliament, a newspaper reported on Sunday. The Sunday Times said aides to May believe a deal with Dublin would remove the huge opposition to the countryʼs withdrawal agreement setting out its divorce from the European Union. The UK leaderlost a parliamentary vote on the deal last week, having failed to win the support of pro-Brexit rebel lawmakers in her Conservative Party, and Northern Irelandʼs Democratic Unionist Party, which props up her minority government.
Northern Ireland: Suspected car bomb explodes in Londonderry A suspected car bomb exploded in the Northern Irish city of Londonderry late on Saturday, police have said. "As far as we know no one injured," the police wrote on Facebook. A photo posted by the policeʼs Twitter account showed what appeared to be a car in flames outside of a courthouse near the city center. Officers said they were evacuating people from the location of a second suspected car bomb elsewhere in the city. "This pointless act of terror must be condemned in the strongest terms," said Arlene Foster, the head of Northern Irelandʼs Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and former first minister.
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17/2019 • 21 January, 2019
Police identify source of deadly Novichok nerve agent in UK deaths British police announced Friday that they found a bottle containing the Novichok nerve agent in the home of one of the victims of a nerve agent poisoning in Wiltshire last month. "On Wednesday, 11 July, a small bottle was recovered during searches of Charlie Rowleyʼs house in Amesbury," police said in a statement. The statement said scientists from Porton Down defense laboratory confirmed the bottle contained the Novichok nerve agent, the same poison used against Sergei Skripal and his daughter earlier this year. "Further scientific tests will be carried out to try and establish whether it is from the same batch that contaminated Sergei and Yulia Skripal in March," the force said, adding that a link to the Skripals remained "a main line of enquiry for police." Dawn Sturgess died in a hospitalon Sunday after exposure to the nerve agent. Her partner, Rowley, isstill in critical condition, but has regained consciousness. The Foreign Office said on Friday it had invited independent technical experts from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons early next week "to independently confirm the identity of the nerve agent."
Bayern Munichʼs Ribery fined for foulmouthed online tirade
Tesla announces it will lay off 7 percent of its workforce CEO Elon Musk said that the electric car maker plans to cut roughly 3,000 jobs, prompting another sharp dip in share prices. Tesla is struggling in the US as the government rolls back a tax credit for buyers. Tesla told its employees on Friday that it must cut 7 percent of its workforce. Shares of Tesla were down just over 9 percent for the day. The company, which has struggled to hitits production and sales targets, also said it expects fourth-quarter profit to be lower than the previous quarter. Teslaʼsleast expensive model right now is the $44,000 Model 3, and it needs to
broaden its customer base to survive. "Looking ahead at our mission of accelerating the advent of sustainable transport and energy, which is important for all life on Earth, we face an extremely difficult challenge: making our cars, batteries and solar products cost-competitive with fossil fuels," CEO Elon Musk said in a letter to staff.
Americaʼs Plains Indians bring back bison to their lands Plains Indians and conservationists are reintroducing the iconic American buffalo to public lands and reservations, a century after the creatureʼs decline. The American bison is a mighty creature to behold. Covered in thick dark brown fur, the massive bovines can grow to be more than two meters tall and weigh over a ton. At one time, more than 60 million of them thundered across the grasslands of North America from Arctic Alaska all the way south to the Gulf of Mexico. It is hardly surprising the animals — also
commonly known as buffalo — were an essential part of these ecosystems and vital to the survival of many Native American peoples that lived alongside them. All that changed during the 1800s when European settlers systematically hunted and slaughtered the massive herds, almost annihilating the species. By 1889, only 541 bison were left. "We virtually wiped out the bison and much of it had to do with westward expansion and with atrocities committed against Native Americans," said Chamois Andersen, a spokesperson for the conservation organization Defenders of Wildlife.
Bayern Munich has handed French footballer Franck Ribery a "heavy fine" for his profanity-laced response after he was criticized for eating a golden-coated steak, club sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic said on Sunday. "He used words we cannot accept as Bayern Munich and which Franck as a role model and Bayern player must never use," Salihamidzic said at the clubʼs training camp in Doha, Qatar. The Bayern sporting director did not reveal how much the fine was. "I had a long chat with Franck yesterday and told him he has received a hefty fine. He has accepted the punishment."
Chinese New Year Street Food Festival 2019 at Millenáris Park n 25-27 January, the Millenáris Park cultural centre is hosting an early spring celebration, dedicated to China and promoting its diplomatic relations with Hungary.
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T-Mobile reports cybersecurity incident T-Mobile US and its unit Metro PCS told customers that cybersecurity staff found and shut down unauthorized access to certain information on August 20 and immediately reported the matter to authorities. The company added that no financial data, social security numbers or passwords were compromised during the attackon its networks, admitting, though, that other personal information like names, email IDs, phone numbers as well as account numbers or account types (postpaid or prepaid) may have been exposed. T-Mobile said that about 3 percent of its 77 million customers could have been affected (roughly 2 million people potentially affected).
Geely the car industryʼs rising ʼprofitability starʼ Ferdinand Dudenhöffer from the CAR Center Automotive Research at Germanyʼs Duisburg-Essen University called Chinese auto manufacturer Geely "the profitability star of the worldʼs car industry." A fresh study by the center points out that on average, a Geely car costs just €9,529 ($10,942), but the companysecures a 14.4 percent profit from revenues before tax and interest. Dudenhöffer says thatʼs a lot more than, say, the profit margins of foreign rivals BMW, Toyota or PSA-Opel. The worldʼs largest carmaker, Wolfsburg-based Volkswagen, logs a profit margin of only 8.2 percent, the survey says. Geely is part of the Zhejiang Geely Holding,which also owns Volvo Cars, London EV-Taxi and Lotus.The holding has also acquired a 10 percent stake in Daimler. According to the CAR researchers, Geelyʼs rapid rise is based on its successful compact car platform, which it developed together with Sweden-based Volvo. "What Ferdinand Piëch managed to implement at VW from 1993 with the help of his platform strategyis in a way being copied now by Geelyʼs main shareholder and founder, Li Shufu," said Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, adding that the Chinese were becoming major players in the global auto market.