DAILY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Kerala flood devastation worsened by environmental degradation Last weekʼs deluge in Indiaʼs southwestern state of Kerala dealt a severe blow to infrastructure, destroyed standing crops and will result in big losses for the tourism industry. At least 400 people have died in floods, with 106 deaths recorded only on August 16. Some 720,000 people have been displaced and are living in makeshift refugee camps. An initial government assessment has put the financial loss from the floods at 185 billion rupees (€2.2. billion), and authorities believe it will take at least five years to reconstruct the damaged parts of the scenic state. Read more: India floods death toll climbs, tens of thousands await rescue Officials in the state have called the rains the worst monsoon floods in a century. Kerala was hit by extreme rainfall in May and then again this month, starting August 8. The severe floods swelled rivers and triggered landslides.
Former SS camp guard Jakiv Palij deported to Germany from US The US government has finally been allowed to deport former Nazi concentration camp guard Jakiv Palij, thanks to a special German government dispensation. The 95-year-old Palij arrived in a military airplane at Düsseldorf Airport on Tuesday morning. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) newspaper reported that he was taken by ambulance to a nursing home in the Münsterland region. The move comes a day after German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas visited the former Auschwitz death camp in Poland. Maas said Palijʼs deportation "sends a clear signal of Germanyʼs moral responsibility," according to a Foreign Ministry statement sent to DW.
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Czechs boo prime minister at Soviet invasion memorial The populist leaderʼs own communist past has come under much criticism
Hundreds of spectators drowned out a speech by Czech PM Andrej Babis on the 50th anniversary of the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.
Turkey lodges complaint at WTO over new US tariffs In a move earlier flagged by officials in Ankara, Turkey has lodged a complaint at the World Trade Organization against new US duties on steel and aluminum. The move comes amid an intensifying political spat with the US. US President Donald Trump then in early August authorized a doubling of the duties, making them 50 percent and 20 percent respectively. Trumpʼs move was seen as a reply to Ankaraʼs detention ofa US pastorheld for two years on terror charges. "Turkey claims that the measures are inconsistent with a number of provisions of the WTOʼs Agreement on Safeguards and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
(GATT) 1994," said a statement on the WTOʼs website. The announcement of the new tariffs on August 10 caused the Turkish lira to crash 20 percent and, last Friday, two ratings agencies — Moodyʼs and Standard & Poorʼs — cut Turkeyʼs sovereign rating into junk territory. Turkey in reply hiked tariffs on imports of several US products such as rice, alcohol, leaf tobacco, cosmetics and cars. The US is the worldʼs biggest steel importer, while Turkey is the sixth-largest steel exporter to the US. Under WTO dispute consultations, both sides have 60 days to seek a solution, before the issue goes to the Dispute Settlement Body, where it can take years to resolve disputes.
Jailed Ukrainian director Oleg Sentsov ʼwill not die in silenceʼ The Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov was arrested in May 2014, charged by the Russian state of heading a terrorist group that plotted attacks in Crimea. Sentsov denies the accusations. He has been sentenced to 20 years in prison, following "an unfair trial on politically-motivated charges," writes Amnesty International. The European Film Academy (EFA) also calls for Sentsovʼs imme-
diate release. EFAʼs current chairwoman, Polish director and screenwriter Agnieszka Holland, has participated in many protest actions in support of her Ukrainian colleague. Agnieszka Holland: No, I donʼt. We had been hoping that maybe there would be some reaction coming after the meeting between Angela Merkel and Vladimir Putin. But we donʼt have any up-to-date news now...
India orders death sentence for rapists of 8-year-old
A court in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh has sentenced two men to death for raping an 8-year-old girl in the city of Mandsaur. The investigation and trial in the gruesome case that sparked angry protests was completed in less than two months, a welcome change in a country where court cases drag on for years. The sentence is one of the first ordered under a new law allowing for speedy investigations and trials in rape cases anddeath penalty for child rapists. The two convicts, aged 20 and 24, lured the class 2 student from outside her school as she waited for her father. They took her to a secluded spot and gang-raped her. The two slashed her neck and left her to die. The victim is still recovering in hospital.
Microsoft claims Russian hackers targeted US senate Microsoft claimed Tuesday that Russian government-linked hackers targeted US political groups and organizations ahead of midterm elections, drawing a swift denial from Moscow. The worldʼs largest software company said that a Kremlinlinked cyber group had created fake websites designed to mimic those of two conservative organizations, the DC-based International Republican Institute and Hudson Institute think tank.
weather today BUDAPEST
22 / 28 °C Precipitation: 0 mm
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Germany: Small arms exports down, light weapons up German authorities have approved €16.6 million ($19.1 million) in small arms exports in the first half of 2018, a significant drop when compared to last yearʼs figures,reported German public broadcastrer ARDon Tuesday. The data, provided to the Greens by the government in answer to a formal parliamentary inquiry from the opposition party, showed that small arms exports in 2017 amounted to €76.5 million. However, Katja Keul, Greens spokeswoman for disarmament policy, said she was skeptical of the figure. Keul noted that there were political developments during this period that could have contributed to the decrease, includingan interim government"which, according to its own admission, wanted to postpone important export decisions." She also pointed to the distinction between small arms and light weapons. According to Berlin, German companies exported nearly €56 million worth of light weapons during the first half of 2018, significantly more than in all of 2017.
Manchester United: Is Jose Mourinhoʼs thirdseason syndrome a myth or about to unfold? Two Champions Leagues, eight domestic titles and 15 cup triumphs. Jose Mourinhoʼs sides know how to win - so why is it the Portuguese tends to bow out after three seasons at a club? Just once has Mourinho made it into a fourth campaign, only to leave Chelsea before Christmas during his first spell at Stamford Bridge.
French energy giant Total officially pulls out of Iran Franceʼs Total had signed up last year to a $4.8 billion Iranian gas field project. However, it was forced to backtrack after the US threatened to impose penalties on any business found still doing business with Iran. Total, Franceʼs largest energy company, announced on Monday it was pulling out of a $4.8 billion (€4.1 billion) Iranian gas field project, after admitting it was extremely vulnerable to the threat of US penalties against those doing business with Iran. The French group was one of three major energy companies set to help supply the state-of-the-art technology needed to tap into South Pars, the worldʼs
largest natural gas field shared by Iran and Qatar. However, after abandoning the 2015 Iran nuclear accord in May this year, the United States has said it willreimpose sanctions on Iranin two phases, in August and November. The second round of sanctions will target the countryʼs vital oil and gas sector. Any firm found doing business with Iran could riskfacing serious US penalties.
Cycling to work will improve your health in more ways than one Do you know just how healthy cycling to work is? Or that women get more migraines than men? And that coffee doesnʼt help weight loss? DW brings you this weekʼs health news, all in one handy guide! Research has consistently proven that physical inactivity can lead to serious health problems. It’s also now showing that people are exercising less and less. One of the main problems is that many modern day folk struggle to prioritize exercise, or even fit it into their routine at all. But one solution with an enthusiastic backing from health experts is to make exercise part of your daily com-
mute. And new research just published from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health shows that cycling in particular is the healthiest way to get to work every day. Thestudy found that people who cycled to work not only had improved physical health, but better mental health as well. Carried out in seven European cities - Antwerp, Barcelona, London, Örebro, Rome, Vienna and Zurich – the research assessed the effects of transport by car, motorbike, public transport, bicycle, electric bicycle and walking. Researchers asked around 8,800 people about their preferred mode of transport and their health and wellbeing.
Help the planet with a strawfree August in Budapest It’s the last straw for bars and cafés in Budapest. A planet-friendly campaign is launching this weekend, requesting guests to skip the plastic straws when ordering drinks. The event kicks off at 3pm on Sunday, August 5th with a straw-free toast on Liberty Bridge, closed to traffic for one of its weekend summer picnics. Then through August 21st and beyond, many city hangouts have committed to not offering plastic disposables, a commodity that’s sucking the life out of nature. See where to hang out to support the cause.
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Dams and sand mining threaten integrity of lower Mekong At more than 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles), the Mekong is Southeast Asiaʼs longest river. It runs through six countries, providing food and income for more than 70 million people. But the integrity of the river, and therefore of the livelihood of the people who depend on it, is under threat — particularly in the lower Mekong basin in Cambodia and Vietnam. Its banks are being dug up and sand taken away for use in construction projects, and its waters are increasingly being dammed for hydropower. "I believe that in just a few centuries, the whole delta is going disappear from the map," ecologist Nguyen Huu Thien, who has been researching the riverʼs ecology for more than 20 years, told DW. Sediment — the fine soil particles found at the bottom of the river — is carried by the current and deposited at the delta. This sediment provides fertile ground for plants and animals, including farming.
Workers in former East German states work more, for less German workers in the states that made up the former East Germany work longer hours for less pay than those in the rest of the country, according to new government statistics. According to federal and state statistical data provided to the socialist Left party, last year in the states of the former East Germany, workers chalked up on average 67 more hours than those in the rest of the country. When the capital city Berlin —which was divided between East and West Berlin from 1949-1990— is not included in the former East German count, the gap extends to 75 hours. Read more: Germanyʼs planned immigration law – what you need to know The working hour differential is turned on its head when it comes to salaries, however. According to the statistics, the average annual gross wage in the former East German states is €30,172 ($34,754), almost €5,000 less than the states that were in the former West Germany. According to the statistics, the German state that logged the most working hours in 2017 was Thuringia, followed by Saxony-Anhalt and MecklenburgWestern Pomerania — all three of which were in the former East. At the opposite end of the scale were North Rhine-Westphalia, Saarland and Rhineland-Palatinate, all from the former West Germany.