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DAILY NEWS IN ENGLISH

EU to start membership talks with Macedonia and Albania The European Union will start accession negotiations with Albania and Macedonia, pending progress towards reforms, EU countries decided on Tuesday. The deal was confirmed to German news agency DPA by diplomatic sources after talks on Tuesday among the blocʼs European affairs ministers. Some member states expressed concerns about corruption and the rule of law in the two EU hopefuls. Others have pushed to bring the six Western Balkan countries into the EU fold to bolster the bloc’s influence in the region. Germanyʼs European affairs minister, Michael Roth, said that Albania and Macedonia have made "remarkable progress in the area of rule of law and the independence of the judiciary."

Israel asks Cyprus to consider port for Gaza

The Cypriot government on Tuesday said Israel has requested it examine the possibility of building a port facility for Gazadestined goods to pass through.

Such a facility would provide a new way for goods to make it to the Gaza Strip, which is under a blockade by Israel and Egypt.

Streamlining deliveries Under the proposal, a special port would be constructed in Cyprus.The port would be used by cargo ships carrying Gazabound goods.

It would be checked with the help of an Israeli monitoring mechanism in order to prevent illegal goods from entering the enclave, including arms.

The goods would be transported directly to Gaza by a ferry. Currently, Gaza-bound goods are taken across two land crossings from Israel.

145/2018 • 28 JUNE, 2018

Al Gore warns Germany risks being left behind on climate change His solution would see Germany phase out coal as a major source of electricity production

"If I were a citizen of Germany, I would be concerned about Germany being left behind," the former US vice president has warned.

Facebook waters down ban on cryptocurrency ads Facebook has said itʼs easing its ban on ads for cryptocurrencies while not changing its rules with regard to initial coin offerings. The social media giant added it would "listen to feedback" after the policy change.

Online platform Facebook announced changes concerning its ban on ads for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. The move came just five months after the leading social network said it was banning all ads related to cryptocurrenciesin a bid to curb frequent scams. Easing its regulations, Facebook said that in order to place ads for such virtual cur-

rencies, companies would now need to be preapproved or offer documents showing they had licenses or were traded on a public exchange. "Given the restrictions, not everyone who wants to advertise will be able to do so," Facebook Product Management Director Rob Leathern said in a statement. "But weʼll listen to feedback, look at how well this policy works and continue to study this technologyso that, if necessary, we can revise it over time." No ICO ads Initial coin offerings — used by some startups to raise billions of dollars — still wonʼt be able to advertise on Facebook.

Everything you ever wanted to know about pineapple June 27 is both Day of the Dormouse, or in German, Siebenschläfertag. An old farmerʼs predication has that however the weather is on this day, so too will be the next seven weeks. From the looks of things here in Germany, thatʼs a fabulous prediction for a warm summer. And what tastes better on a hot summer day than a fresh tropical fruit: sweet, juicy, full of vita-

mins — like the pineapple, also celebrated on this day, International Pineapple Day. Thatʼs an ideal occasion to celebrate the fruit. Click through the picture gallery above to find out everything you need to know about pineapple. And if that doesnʼt make you hungry, pop on our Spotify playlist, with pineapple songs to put you in a summery good mood.

Colombia to fight increased cocaine production with herbicide-spraying drones Colombia will start spraying coca crops with herbicide from aerial drones in an effortto stem a recent uptick in cocaine production, President Juan Manuel Santos has announced. The South American country banned the practice of using aircraft to spray coca plants with herbicide glyphosate in 2015 after a constitutional court ruling raised concerns about its potential damage to peopleʼs health and the local environment. Read more: US and Colombia aim to halve cocaine production in five years But Santos said on Tuesday that drones flying at a lower altitude made the practice less risky.

"Itʼs similar to what we are already doing, with eradicators going with a tank on their shoulders spraying on the ground," he said. The drones, he added, would also spray a glyphosate concentration of less than 50 percent compared to that used previously.

Japanse Hayabusa 2 space probe examining origins of life arrives at asteroid A Japanese space probe seeking to learn about the origins of the solar system and life has arrived at an asteroid 300 million kilometers (186 million miles) from Earth, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said on Wednesday. The Hayabusa 2 blasted off in December 2014 on a 3.2-billion kilometer journey (equivalent to roughly 80,000 trips around Earthʼs circumference) to the asteroid Ryugu and is now orbiting 20 kilometers from object.

weather today BUDAPEST

22 / 24 °C Precipitation: 0 mm

145/2018 • 28 June, 2018

German police set up fake traffic accident to test how many will stop German police set up a fake road accident on national road safety day to test the response of passing traffic, they said on Wednesday. Police in Oberhavel, in the eastern German state of Brandenburg, teamed up with a local media agency to stage a fake car accident complete with two victims. They wanted to see how many people would stop to help the two young ladies who were still in the vehicle. The actresses and the car itself were smeared in blood to make it seem more realistic. Seven hidden cameras were trained on the scene as police hid further up the road and pulled over cars that didnʼt stop to help. Police did not inform duped drivers who had stopped that it was fake until they were well into the process of helping. One helper even ended up in tears, according to thepress release. One couple pulled over, called the 112 emergency number, and were comforting the young actresses, according to local newspaper Märkische Allgemeine.

Neymar ʼis playing outside his normal standardsʼ, says Brazil coach Tite

VW finds a use for Berlinʼs unfinished airport There is good news from Berlin.

The new airport is finally open, however only for Volkswagen since they want to park thousands of unsold cars there. At the same time, some employees wonʼt have to work as much.

Volkswagen knows its way around gigantic parking lots. In the US huge spaces are filled with thousands of cars parked in neat lines. These cars were either recalled or had to be taken back because of the massive diesel scandal (see picture). Read more: Does the world still love German cars?

Similar problems are now threatening Germany, though they are not directly related to the Dieselgate affair, they

are a knock-on effect of the emissions cheating. As of September 1, only vehicles that are certified according to the new registration standard WLTP can be sold. This new regulation, officially called the Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicle Test Procedure, was introduced Europe-wide as a result of the diesel scandal and is supposed to ensure that emissions tests are closer to real driving situations.

The world is losing vital forests quicker than ever Tropical forests in South America and Central Africa are disappearing at an alarming rate. Hereʼs why thatʼs bad news for everyone.

Forests provide us with shelter, food, fuel security, and water. Around 80 percent of the worldʼs land-based animal and plant species are found in forests.

Trees also play a critical role in cleaning the air we breathe, and function as the largest land-based storehouses of CO2.

Onlyoceans absorb more of the green-

house gasesthat are changing our climate. When forests disappear, so do entire ecosystems. And this has dire consequences for all of us. Yet, despite all this, we keep chopping down more trees than grow back, experts warn. In 2017, the world lost 29.4 million hectares (72.6 million acres) of tree cover — more than double the size of Germany.

This was only slightly down from the 2016 record of 29.7 million hectares (73.4 million acres), according to new data byGlobal Forest Watch.

Brazil coach Tite says the nation should not "place the whole responsibility" on Neymarʼs shoulders. The worldʼs most expensive player, 26, has recently returned from three months out with a foot injury. And the Paris St-Germain forward has been criticised for his performances in Brazilʼs first two World Cup games.

"He is a gifted player, but is outside his normal standards - or he wouldnʼt be playing like this," said Tite. "He is only in the recovery stage."

Purple paradise: check out this lavender field just outside Budapest Forget Provence. A sweeping perfumed purple lavender field awaits just outside of Budapest. Hues of indigo and mauve mingle in the rolling rows, where an afternoon stroll is a special experience. This splendid place is by the foot of Nagy-Kevély Hill at Pilisborosjenő, half-an-hour from the capital.

H-1056 Budapest, Só u. 6.

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Published by: Mega Media Kft. 1075 Budapest, Madách I. út 13-14. +36 1 398 0344 www.hotelujsag.hu

ʼYeah, nahʼ: Kiwi startup defies German giantʼs order to stop saying ʼhelloʼ New Zealand startup My Food Bag, which delivers fresh ready-to-cook ingredients, issued a tongue-in-cheek response to a cease-and-desist notice from Berlin-based Hello Fresh. Hello Fresh had taken issue with its Kiwi competitor using the phrase "Hello Fresh." The letter, published in the New Zealand Herald and other domestic media, is replete with Kiwi colloquialisms and phrases in the countryʼs indigenous Maori language. The response, from Aotearoa, the Maori name for New Zealand, begins with a Maori greeting, to HelloFresh executives Thomas Griesel and Dr. Christian Ries. "Kia ora" is translated as "hello." "Kia ora Herr Griesel and Herr Ries, Greetings from Aotearoa. We donʼt often get heavyweight German multina‐ tional corporations taking the time to write to us Kiwis."

Lifeline migrant rescue ship ʼnot allowedʼ to dock in Malta Earlier, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte had said the German vessel would be allowed to dock in Malta, although he did not specify when. "I just got off the phone with [Maltese] Prime Minister [Joseph] Muscat: The NGO ship Lifeline will dock in Malta. Italy will do its part and welcome some of the migrants who are on board the Lifeline," Conte had said.

Read more: Malta, Italy migrant spat leaves German rescue ship in limbo Diplomatic Effort Although the Maltese government did not confirm Conteʼs assertion, it said four EU member states have committed to taking some of the migrants. The willing countries are Italy, Malta, France and Portugal, a government source told Germanyʼs DPA news agency. In Germany, the Berlin State Senate said it was prepared to take in some of the more than 200 migrants, according to DPA, however it needs authorization from the federal government.