DAILY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Taiwanese ruling party suffers local election defeats Taiwanʼs ruling party lost two mayoral elections to the Nationalist party on Saturday in polls seen as a popularity test of the countryʼs independence-leading president, Tsai Ing-wen, as China exerts ever-more economic and political pressure on the island. Tsaiʼs Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lost both in the southern port city of Kaohsiung, where it had held power for 20 years, and in the central city of Taichung. The president said after the defeats that she would step down as party leader. "As chairperson of the ruling party, I will take complete responsibility for the outcome of todayʼs local elections," she told reporters. She said she had rejected the resignation of her premier, William Lai, who had offered to quit earlier in the evening. Saturdayʼs defeats have dealt a major blow to Tsaiʼs prospects of re-election.
US climate report warns of worsening disasters Climate change will wreak havoc on the natural environment, economy and public health in the United States unless more is done to drastically reduce carbon emissions, a US government report has warned. "Without substantial and sustained global mitigation and regional adaptation efforts,climate change is expected to cause growing losses to American infrastructure and property and impede the rate of economic growth over this century," the Fourth National Climate Assessment said Friday. The report, mandated by Congress, includes assessments by 13 federal agencies. It details how rising temperatures threaten to lower agricultural yields, increase the likelihood of flooding and wildfires, impede energy production and increase the prevalence of tropical diseases across the country. Government action now could nevertheless mitigate the most extreme impacts, it said.
267/2018 • 26 NOVEMBER, 2018
Britainʼs Theresa May holds pre-summit talks Brexit:
British Prime Minister Theresa May has held talks with key EU leaders ahead of a summit to endorse her Brexit deal. A deal reached with Spain has cleared the way for EU approval.
Chinaʼs economy not opening up despite Beijingʼs assurances Threatened by a trade spat with the US, Beijing has once again promised to open up its economy. The reality, however, is that foreign firms are finding it harder than ever to compete against Chinaʼs state-owned giants. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang declared again this week that Beijing would allow more foreign participation in its $13.5 trillion (€11.86 trillion) state-led economy. He recited an often-made assurance that the country is opening up to international investment. But while the US loses patience over what it calls
an uneven playing field for multinationals operating in China, those remarks increasingly ring hollow. Washington has released an updated report detailing how Beijing deploys a number of illegal techniques to force American firms to transfer technology to its state-owned firms.Pressure from government officials, cyberattacks and espionage were cited by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), whose earlier report encouraged President Donald Trump to impose two rounds of tariffs on Chinese imports to the US over the summer.
The new Robin Hood turns the legendary outlaw into a video game superhero The arrows have never flown so fast, Robin of Loxley has never dodged his enemies so cleverly, and the Sherriff of Nottingham has never before been so awful or inhuman. The 2018 reboot of Robin Hood is shooting for a younger audience, one which may well be more accustomed to the gaming console than a cinema screen. In the lead role, Taron
Egerton makes even Kevin Costner look flat-footed, never mind his predecessors Douglas Fairbanks and Errol Flynn. For almost the entire 120 minutes, the action is unrelenting — interrupted only rarely by a brief melodramatic scene. The musical bombardment that serves as a soundtrack only ceases its fire as the final credits roll.
Russia wants to check truth of 1969 US moon landing A proposed Russian mission to the moon will include verifying whether US astronauts really landed there in 1969, the head of Russiaʼs Roscosmos space agency said in a video posted on Twitter on Saturday. "We have set this objective to fly and verify whether theyʼve been there or not," Dmitry Rogozin said in the video. However, Rogozin appeared to be joking in his answer to a corresponding question, although conspiracy theories about NASAʼs lunar missions are rife in Russia. Russia plans to send the first cosmonauts to the moon in the early 2030s. The Soviet Union dropped its lunar program in the mid-1970s after four experimental rockets exploded. The cosmonauts are to remain on the moon for 14 days.
Paris police fire tear gas at ʼyellow vestʼ protesters Police fired water cannons and tear gas at protesters in Paris early on Saturday, asthe "yellow vest" demonstratorscontinued a week of opposition to rising fuel costs and the economic policies of President Emmanuel Macron. After staging roadblocks on highways across France for days, hundreds of demonstrators converged on the Champs Elysees carrying signs that read "Macron, thief" and "Macron, resign."
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267/2018 • 26 November, 2018
Germany: Thousands evacuated over theme park bomb threat Police say a bomb threat that forced the evacuation of a theme park in western Germany was a false alarm. A Halloween-themed event attended by thousands of people was disrupted. An amusement park near the German city of Bottrop was evacuated on Friday evening due to an alleged bomb threat. Some 11,000 people had to leave the Movie Park Germany premises, located in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, following what turned out to be a false alarm.
Jack Grealishʼs goal against Birmingham City was his second of the season Aston Villa boss Dean Smith claims his side were well short of their best after watching them come from behind to beat Birmingham City in one of the great Second City derby games. After trailing to Lukas Jutkiewiczʼs volley, Smithʼs side turned it round with two goals in two minutes before the break from Jonathan Kodjia and Jack Grealish, followed by a Tammy Abraham penalty just after the restart. Kristian Pedersen jangled the nerves by pulling one back, before Alan Hutton settled the outcome with his stunning late run and neatly placed leftfoot finish. "It was a great result but not so good a performance," boyhood Villa fan Smith told BBC Sport as he reflected on a win in his first derby. "Itʼs a game I wasnʼt enjoying because, for 30 minutes, we didnʼt play very well.
German parliament approves record budget for 2019
Can Poland end its toxic relationship with coal?
The Bundestag has approved a national budget for 2019 that envisages around €13 billion more in expenditure than in 2018. At the same time, the government plans to do without net borrowing for a sixth year.
Polandʼs love affair with coal goes way back. For decades coal was the favorite for energy: mined locally, and cheap. In those days, the environment was pretty low on the agenda. But things are slowly changing. When the Iron Curtain fell in 1989, coal made up almost 100 percent of Polandʼs energy mix. Last year, the country turned to other sources for 20 percent of its power, and its wind power operators boast that Poland has more installed turbines than Denmark. The official plan is to reduce the share of coal in Polandʼs energy mix to 50 percent by 2050. For a country that has long relied on coal as the backbone of its economy, that entails a dranatic transformation. Yet, with coal reserves in existing mines running low and most power plants due to retire well before midcentury, environmentalists argue the target is actually a renewed vow of commitment to a relationship already turned sour.
Germanyʼs lower house of parliament on Friday gave the green light to a budget that raises planned spending for next year to €356.4 billion ($405.2 billion), an increase of €13 billion over 2018. After three days of heated debate, parliamentarians passed the budget by a vote of 366-284 with no abstentions. Owing to rising tax revenue, the coalition government of Chancellor Angela Merkel, compris-
ing her Christian Democratic Union, its Bavarian sister party the CSU, and the Social Democrats (SPD), plans to do without any new net borrowing for a sixth year running, a strategy known in Germany as the "schwarze Null" ("black zero"). The "black zero"has been criticized in some quarters as unnecessary austerity implemented at the cost of investment in education, housing and public infrastructure.
Could eco-friendly flying be on the horizon? Air travel is the fastest-growing source of carbon emissions. But could green tech and optimization mean that one day, weʼll be able to hop on a plane with a guilt-free conscience? A new hashtag from Sweden has captured a peculiarly 21st century angst:#flygskam— or flying shame. Thatʼs the gnawing awareness that youʼre consuming more than your fair share of the carbon budget. To keep within the 2 degrees of global warming, scientists have calculated that we each have a personal allowance of about 2 tons of CO2 per year. In Ger-
many, per capita emissions are about 4.5 times that; in the United States around eight. Which means hopping on a plane for a jolly does feel pretty shameful. Björn Ferry, a former Olympic athlete, Swedish sports commentator and now early advocate of the flygskam movement, set himself the goal of living completely fossilfuel free by 2025. That meant buying more secondhand, eating less meat and growing his own veggies. But perhaps the biggest change was how he travels. "I decided to stop flying almost two years ago now," he told DW. "Itʼs impossible to be fossil-free with flying at the moment."
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Ceasefire on Israel-Gaza border largely holds as UN warns sides are on ʼbrink of warʼ A ceasefire announced by Hamas largely held along the Israel-Gaza border on Sunday, a day after the most intense exchange of fire between Israel and the Palestinian group since the 2014 Gaza war. Israeli warplanes carried out dozens of airstrikes in the densely populated Gaza Strip on Saturday on what it said were Hamas military, training and supply targets, while Hamas and Islamic Jihad fired nearly 200 rockets and mortars at Israel. Read more: Israel and Gazaʼs militant groups agree to ceasefire The Israeli airstrikes wounded more than 20 people and killed two teenage boys, Palestinian health officials said, while a Hamas rocket injured four Israelis. Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007, and Islamic Jihad announced the Egyptian and UNbrokered ceasefire late Saturday. The Israeli military said its response would depend on the situation on the ground. After the ceasefire announcement, four mortars were fired into Israel early Sunday. In response, Israeli planes destroy at least one launch site. Israel also carried out three airstrikes later in the day on what it said were Hamas squads launching incendiary balloons and kites across the border.