The major fire in a chemical plant in the northern French city of Rouen, which is considered to be particularly dangerous, has been extinguished. This was announced by the prefecture of Normandy on Friday. The fire broke out on Thursday night. No one was injured in the incident. The fire brigade was deployed with around 200 fire trucks.

Residents were asked not to leave their homes. Buildings within 500 meters were evacuated, schools and kindergartens were closed on Thursday. In the chemical plant on the banks of the Seine, additives for lubricants are produced. The factory is part of the Lubrizol company owned by US billionaire Warren Buffett and is subject to the so-called EU Seveso Directive, which prescribes particularly strict safety requirements.

Around 400 people work in the plant. The chemical plant had already made headlines in the past - for example, when in 2013 the gas escaped methanethiol and the environment smelled extensively of rotten eggs. In 2015, around 2,000 liters of mineral oil flowed into the city's sewage system following an industrial accident.

For two months, a woman from Washington searched for her missing dog - and quit her job. The seven-year-old Border Collie had escaped from the hotel room during a short vacation in Montana. There was no trace of the bitch for 57 days - but Carole King did not give up.

"""It was terrible. I felt sick,"" said Carole King to the Daily Inter Lake. She and her husband had left bitch Katie in the hotel room while going out to dinner. When they returned to the hotel, Katie was gone. They looked for the animal, but to no avail."

"Hoping Katie could still be somewhere in the hotel, Carole King went to the front desk. ""The clerk says,"" She left about four, four and a half hours ago, """" Carole King told Daily Inter Lake. When the automatic entrance door opened, Katie ran out immediately. A loud thunder had probably panicked the dog."

"With flyers and calls in Facebook groups, the Kings searched for their beloved dog. But days turned into weeks. ""I never gave up. I never lost hope,"" Carole King told Daily Inter Lake, who quit her job as a postal worker to continue her search for Katie."

"57 days after Katie's disappearance, Carole King got a call: a man answered and said that Katie was in his yard. By the time King got there, Katie was gone. She searched the neighborhood and suddenly her dog was standing under a tree. ""I just hugged her. I didn't want to let her go,"" King recalled, according to the Daily Inter Lake. ""The tears flowed. People stopped in their vehicles, got out and hugged us. I think the whole neighborhood knew we had found them."""

"The Bundeswehr has lost numerous weapons and tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition in recent years. Among them are three machine guns. The whereabouts are unclear in most cases. The opposition speaks of a ""scary"" extent."

Guns and ammunition keep disappearing from the Bundeswehr - many of them so far without a trace. Since the beginning of 2014, the troop has lost 39 weapons, 39 weapon parts and almost 20,000 rounds of ammunition. This emerges from a classified list of the Federal Ministry of Defense, about which the editorial network Germany reports.

According to the paper from Defense Secretary Peter Tauber's office from the CDU, two weapons, one weapon part and 3,474 rounds of ammunition have been released. The weapons and weapon parts that have still disappeared include six MG3 machine guns, eleven G3 rifles, four G36 rifles, six signal pistols and two P8 pistols. In addition, 30 gun barrels for machine guns of the MG3 type are missing.

"The extent of arms and ammunition losses in the Bundeswehr is ""scary,"" said the left Bundestag MP Martina Renner. This was all the more true since hardly anything was found in the course of the investigation. The left-wing politician spoke of a ""poor record"". Renner criticized that the list did not show whether the ammunition that had disappeared also contained the one that had been found in connection with the investigation against Franco A., a Bundeswehr officer suspected of being terrorist. ""Even though a supporter of Franco A. was recently convicted of having this ammunition,"" said Renner."

"More than two months after its determination by the Iranian authorities, the British oil tanker ""Stena Impero"" left the port of the city of Bandar Abbas on Friday. As Refinitiv's observation data showed, the tanker started to move and left the Iranian port. Port Rashid in the United Arab Emirates was specified as the destination port."

The tanker was actually released by the Iranian government on Monday, but initially remained in Iranian waters. The shipping company said that they wanted to wait for an official notification from Tehran.

"The ""Stena Impero"" was brought up on July 19 by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in the sea street of Hormuz on charges of violating safety regulations. However, it was suspected that Iran was reacting to the controversial, temporary fixing of an Iranian oil tanker in front of Gibraltar, which belongs to Great Britain."

The Strait of Hormuz is one of the most important sea routes in the world. It connects the Persian Gulf with the Indian Ocean. Much of the global oil export is shipped through the strait. Tensions in the region had intensified enormously in the past months. Merchant shipping was drawn into the conflict between the United States and Iran. There were several incidents involving tankers and drones.

Merkel appreciates the courage of the people in the Peaceful Revolution

"Chancellor Angela Merkel recognized the commitment of the people in the GDR who took to the streets 30 years ago during the Peaceful Revolution. In autumn 1989, courageous citizens shook the former GDR regime, Merkel said at a ceremony of the Thuringian CDU parliamentary group on the upcoming day of German unity in Erfurt. Among other things, the Chancellor recalled the occupation of the Stasi headquarters. ""State security was dismayed,"" she said."

Tesla's quarter may hold record. Despite the delivery boom, there have recently been losses at the electric car company.

"New York: Tesla boss Elon Musk has given his electric car company a boost on the stock market with the prospect of new record numbers. ""We have the chance to reach our first quarter with 100,000 deliveries,"" Musk wrote to Tesla employees in an email published by the industry blog ""Electrek""."

The demand was strong, so Tesla could book 110,000 orders, it said in Musk's circular. The challenge is to get the cars to customers quickly. To do this, Tesla had to provide as many resources as possible at the end of the quarter.

Investors liked this: Tesla's shares closed trading with a plus of over six percent. The course has not increased so much in almost four months. Tesla delivered a good 95,000 cars in the second quarter, achieving its best ever.

Musk needs records to achieve his high goals. In 2019, he plans to deliver a total of 360,000 to 400,000 vehicles. This requires six-digit numbers in the current and coming quarter. Above all, the cheapest Tesla Model 3 is in demand, but here the profit margins are small. Despite the boom, there have been losses recently.

A kind of brake in the cerebrum prevents people from tickling themselves. Scientists at the Humboldt University in Berlin found this out with the help of experiments on rats, as they announced on Thursday evening. Progress had also been made on the question of why children resist tickling so hard, only to ask for more then.

Finally, it had also been shown why just coming closer to a tickling hand triggers laughter before the touch. This is due to a deep-lying layer in the cerebrum, which already triggers the laugh when the tickling is expected.

"Previous research has shown that rats respond with ""laughter"" in the ultrasound range when tickled by humans. This ""laugh"" is mediated by the part of the cerebral cortex, which serves the central processing of haptic perception."

So far it has been assumed that the brain can distinguish between self-touch and touch by others - that is why people cannot tickle themselves. However, in the experiments on the rats, the Berlin researchers found that laughter and the activity of the relevant area of ​​the cerebral cortex are suppressed during self-contact. This is also the case when living beings clean themselves. The activity in the brain and the impulse to laugh were intensified during the external touch and tickling by the scientists.

But if the self-touch and the touch by others happen at the same time, the laughter should also be suppressed. This suggests that the rat's brain cannot distinguish between self-touch and touch by others. The new findings suggested that people cannot tickle themselves because self-touch activates a brake in the cerebrum.

The rats were also trained to tickle themselves. In doing so, they sometimes broke off this initiation in the experiment prematurely, showed escape behavior or stiffness. This ambivalence resembles the behavior of the children. The ambivalence of tickling is a behavioral reaction that is the same in rats and humans.

Disaster averted: major fire extinguished in French chemical plant

The major fire in a chemical plant in the northern French city of Rouen, which is considered to be particularly dangerous, has been extinguished. This was announced by the prefecture of Normandy to the AFP news agency on Friday. The fire had broken out on Thursday night.

According to the authorities, no substances that are hazardous to health should have escaped. The samples taken give no cause for concern, as prefect Pierre-André Durand said at a press conference on Friday morning. No one was injured in the incident. The fire brigade was deployed with around 200 fire trucks.

Local residents were asked not to leave their homes. Buildings within 500 meters were evacuated, schools and kindergartens were closed on Thursday.

Factory belongs to the Lubrizol company owned by US billionaire Warren Buffett

In the chemical plant on the banks of the Seine, additives for lubricants are produced. The factory is part of the Lubrizol company owned by US billionaire Warren Buffett and is subject to the so-called EU Seveso Directive, which prescribes particularly strict safety requirements. Around 400 people work in the plant.

The chemical plant had already made headlines in the past - for example, when in 2013 the gas escaped methanethiol and the environment smelled extensively of rotten eggs. In 2015, around 2000 liters of mineral oil flowed into the city's sewage system following an industrial accident.

The Prime Minister's sister commented on Boris Johnson's speech at the first session in Parliament after the forced break was lifted on Wednesday evening. The prime minister threatens to lead the country without an EU agreement on October 31 if Brussels does not accept his calls for changes to the Brexit agreement. How he intends to achieve this, however, is unclear.

"The Prime Minister said of Cox, who had campaigned for Britain to remain in the European Union: ""The best way to honor Jo Cox's memory and reunite this country would be to leave the EU"". Cox was murdered by a right-wing extremist in 2016 during the referendum election campaign."

"More than eight years after the attacks in Oslo and Utöya with 77 deaths, a memorial to the victims is unveiled in Norway on Saturday. The monument ""Jernrosene"" (German: the iron roses) consists of around 1,000 iron replica roses. They commemorate the roses that thousands of people put down in front of the cathedral in Oslo in the days and weeks after the attacks."

The project by the artists Tobbe Malm and Tone Karlsrud is now to be unveiled at the same location - the roses were forged by people from all over the world, including survivors and relatives of the victims. Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit are expected at the opening.

Right-wing terrorist Anders Behring Breivik first detonated a car bomb in the government district of Oslo on July 22, 2011, and then shot dozens of participants in a holiday camp run by the social democratic workers' party on the island of Utöya. A total of 77 people were killed in the attacks.

"The UN general debate did not resolve the Iran conflict. But now there is one problem less. The British oil tanker ""Stena Impero"", held in Iran, was able to set sail again. It could be a piece of the puzzle in Iranian President Ruhani's peace plan."

"The British oil tanker ""Stena Impero"", held in the Strait of Hormuz in Iran since mid-July, is back in international waters. After approval by the Iranian authorities, the ship is on its way to Dubai, as the Stena Bulk shipping company said."

"The ""Stena Impero"" left the port of Bandar Abbas and the crew is now going to Dubai for medical examinations, among other things, explains shipping manager Erik Hånell. The ship left Iranian waters around noon. ""It's nice that it's over,"" he told SVT."

"The State Department in London described the ship's detention as illegal. ""This is part of a pattern of attempts to compromise the freedom of the sea. We are working with our international partners to maintain shipping and international law,"" said a statement on Friday."

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards had arrested the tanker on July 19 on charges of violating maritime law in the Persian Gulf. Seven of the 23 crew members had already been released in early September. The remaining 16 crew members are doing well according to the circumstances, said Hånell. Given the difficult and stressful situation, they would have behaved professionally in the past ten weeks. The shipping company is now working to bring them back together with their families as quickly as possible.

"The British government suspected that the ""Stena Impero"" had been fixed in response to a similar incident in Gibraltar, UK: a super tanker containing oil from Iran, which was said to be destined for Syria, was put on the chain in early July. According to the authorities, the delivery violated EU sanctions against the war country of Syria. The British had received the reference to the ship from the United States."

"Iran spoke of ""piracy"" and threatened the consequences. The ""Adrian Darya-1"" was finally released in mid-August. London vehemently rejected conjectures that it was an exchange to get the ""Stena Impero"" free."

The Strait of Hormuz is one of the most important sea routes in the world. It connects the Persian Gulf with the Indian Ocean. Much of the world's oil export is shipped through the strait. Tensions in the region had increased immensely in the past few months. Merchant shipping was drawn into the conflict between the United States and Iran. There were several incidents with tankers and drones.

The nuclear dispute between the two countries is behind the tensions between Tehran and Washington. The Americans accuse the Iranian leadership of wanting to build nuclear weapons. Iran rejects this. The United States single-handedly abandoned the international nuclear agreement in 2018, which was to prevent Iran from building an atomic bomb and at the same time to end its political and economic isolation. Since then, the US government has been pressuring the Tehran leadership with massive economic sanctions against the country to enforce a stricter and wider agreement. Iran has so far resisted the pressure.

"Due to the dispute over the ""Stena Impero"" and other incidents with tankers in the Persian Gulf and oil plants in Saudi Arabia, the United States is working on a coalition for the military protection of merchant ships in the region."

"Iranian President Hassan Ruhani presented a plan for security and peace in the Strait of Hormuz to the United Nations General Assembly in New York. With the ""Coalition of Hope"" initiative for the Persian Gulf, Iran wants to ensure the safety of shipping in the Persian Gulf together with the Arab Gulf States and without foreign powers."

India is building a better future with its protectionist economic policy.

"India would actually be predestined to be a ""war profiteer"". Given the punitive tariffs that American President Donald Trump imposed on Chinese manufacturers, foreign producers in the People's Republic are forced to reschedule. Chief financial officers from Asian companies considering moving their production from China to another country named India as one of the preferred alternatives in a UBS survey. Of course, this has more to do with the imponderables of the Sino-American trade war. With a huge pool of young workers and an internal market of 1.3 billion consumers, India seems to be made to play a more important role in the globally diverse production chain."

"But now India itself has become Trump's focus. Dismissed by the warhorse in the White House as the ""Kingdom of Customs"", America withdrew the trade benefits for 2,000 products from the emerging country at the beginning of June. The US accuses India of prohibitively high tariffs and demands better market access for agricultural goods, mobile phones, spirits, motorcycles and more."

On the world map of the trade wars, the friction with India is, of course, only a minor issue. America also looks at the world's largest democracy through security glasses. Delhi and Washington combine concerns about China's claims to power in the South Indian Ocean. Against this backdrop, a salvo of American punitive tariffs against India seems unlikely. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has just started a second five-year term, should therefore be safe.

However, the problem lies elsewhere: The empirically substantiated thesis that open markets accelerate economic development has a difficult time in the socialist Republic of India. Even under modes. His zeal for reform is mainly aimed at the bureaucratic madness that stifled all entrepreneurial spirit in the multinational state for too long. Companies can now get building permits faster. You benefit from better energy and transport infrastructure, and a more effective insolvency and bankruptcy law creates the conditions for swiftly liquidating seemingly dead companies with high debts.

The success of these efforts can be seen and measured in the relevant rankings. From an economic perspective, a lot has changed for the better in India in the first five years. But this does not apply to trade policy. Inspired by protecting internationally uncompetitive companies from foreign providers, the national conservative government even set new barriers.

"In the West, Modi adheres to the nimbus of the energetic reformer who radically renews his country economically. This impression is not least due to the fact that the charismatic prime minister knows only too well what vocabulary Western managers like. Basically, the ""India First"" advocate never moved away from a protectionist economic policy, which prevents Indian companies from being forced to get rid of anachronistic processes and thus become fit for global competition. Businessmen who survive by foreclosing their industries are regular voters of Modi's nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and applaud this short-sighted policy."

Former French President Jacques Chirac is reported to be buried in Paris next week. The former head of state will be buried in the Montparnasse cemetery in the south of the French capital on Monday, the AFP news agency said, citing the Chiracs family. The funeral will take place in a close family circle. A public funeral was scheduled for Sunday in the Invalides in Paris, the media reported.

Carried through to the competition: Dabo is the first secret hero of the World Athletics Championships

The top of the world was already at the finish line when heart-warming scenes took place in the cooled down Khalifa International Stadium. In the first heat of the men over 5000 meters, Jonathan Busby from Aruba started to sway dangerously. He was barely able to stay on his feet a good 300 meters before the finish, and he stooped unhealthily when Braima Suncar Dabo from the West African country of Guinea-Bissau suddenly hooked him in and dragged him to the finish line for the last half of the stadium. Both of them still had enough power to stop the wristwatch that was running after the finish. As if the scene wasn't strange enough.

"""I just wanted to help him. Anyone in this situation would have done the same thing,"" said Dabo after the mixed zone race when he caught the attention of the assembled journalists unexpectedly. He shyly evaded, didn't want to talk about his feat at all. After all, he wanted to set his personal best and when he realized that this would be difficult, he only wanted to help a fellow sufferer. And anyway, he would only be proud to represent his country, which was invited to the World Cup by the World Federation. Under normal circumstances, he shouldn't even have started. ""That's why I'm proud to run here for my country,"" he said."

He did so emphatically that evening - and much more intensely than he would have expected. Because this feat will be remembered. Especially since Dabo even let his competitor Busby go ahead at the finish line and voluntarily took the last place - a good five minutes after Ethiopian Selemon Barega, who won this preliminary run. In the end, it was of no use, because the Busby, which only came with a lot of help, was ultimately disqualified by the World Athletics Association.

"Dabo, who lives in Portugal and studies there in Lisbon, started to set a personal best at the World Cup in Doha. According to official data, this was achieved with 18: 10.87 minutes, but he was still disappointed: ""I wanted to run 17:55 minutes. I was under 18 minutes before"". However, only in training, when best times don't count."

Millions of dollars: Egyptians prepare for a wild day of protest

In Egypt, security measures have been intensified in the run-up to possible protests critical of the government. An increased police presence was observed in central Cairo on Friday. Several subway stations remained closed and streets around central Tahrir Square were closed.

In the past few days, the police had intensified their roadside checks and partially searched pedestrians' cell phones for news and photos related to the protests. Hundreds were arrested, according to two non-governmental organizations.

"Last weekend there were protests in Cairo, Alexandria, Suez and Mansura with hundreds of participants. They were directed against the government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, whom critics accuse of corruption and mismanagement. There had been no such open protest against the political leadership in Egypt in years. The Egyptian building contractor and actor Mohammed Ali, who lives in Spanish exile and started the demonstrations with video messages on Facebook, has called for a ""million march"" in central locations in the country for Friday. Ali calls for a ""people's revolution"". The man is not a ""good"" for most young Egyptians because he made millions as a subcontractor for the army, but his messages are well received."

The number of arrests related to the protests continued to increase, according to two groups of observers. The Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF) had more than 1,570 arrests as of Friday. The Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR) and the human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) spoke of more than 2,000 arrests. At first, these figures could not be independently confirmed. The government also did not confirm or comment on the numbers.

"Many people were ""arbitrarily arrested"" ""just because they were 'in the wrong place at the wrong time'"", HRW said, citing lawyers. According to her lawyers, the allegations against the detainees range from ""disseminating false information"" to membership in a ""terrorist organization"". In Cairo, Alexandria and other cities, security forces in uniform, but also in civilian clothes, were randomly interviewed and searched, according to HRW."

HRW also criticized the censorship in the North African country. The government in Cairo is blocking websites and online services to stop further protests against Sisi.

Online retailers: Mail order companies should be able to donate returns more easily

For online retailers, many returned packages are lost goods. Around 20 million returns end up in the trash. But there is an alternative.

The Treasury has shown online retailers like Amazon and Zalando a way to donate returned products instead of destroying them.

The ministry could not be exempt from VAT on donations in kind, the ministry said in response to a question from the Greens in the Bundestag, which the Funke media group reported on Friday. However, the retailers could set the market value of the unsaleable returns so low that they would have to pay little or no sales tax.

Scientists at the University of Bamberg had determined that Germans send back every sixth package when ordering online. Around four percent of the goods - around 20 million products - ended up in the garbage. According to the current legal situation, donating them would cost the company additional money, because the tax authorities rate in-kind donations like sales, which are then subject to sales tax.

Greens faction leader Katrin Göring-Eckardt asked Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD) to clarify with a decree that companies can evaluate non-salable products accordingly and donate to non-profit organizations free of charge. Companies should be able to rely on not being punished for donating. This applies not only to online trading, but also to other businesses from the fashion store to the hardware store.

Banksy art for auction: There has never been a better time to sell this painting

"The famous work by street art star Banksy, ""Devolved Parliament"", will soon be auctioned off."

"For Branczik, Banksy 's work emphasizes ""the regression of the oldest parliamentary democracy in the world into the basic attitude shaped by animals and tribes"". The painting is due to be exhibited at Sotheby's in the British capital from Saturday until it is due to be auctioned on October 3rd. It is estimated at 1.5 to two million euros."

"The work was first exhibited at the Bristol Museum in South West Britain in 2009, where Banksy lives. This year the artist exhibited the painting again - at the same time as the original Brexit date on March 29. On this occasion, the work, which was formerly called ""Question Time"", was renamed ""Devolved Parliament""."

Most recently, Prime Minister Boris Johnson had a tough exchange of blows with the opposition at the first session of the House of Commons on Wednesday after the Supreme Court lifted Johnson's forced break. Johnson wants to carry out the Brexit, which has already been postponed twice on October 31, if necessary without an agreement with the EU.

It is not the first time that Banksy, whose identity is still unknown, is interfering in the Brexit debate. In Dover, in the south-east of England, he painted a picture depicting a man breaking a European flag star with a chisel. The factory sees thousands of truck drivers and other visitors entering the UK every day.

"Prime Minister Boris Johnson's violent verbal attacks on Brexit opponents in Parliament, according to his top adviser, do not contribute to a climate of hatred. Compared to the election campaign before the Brexit referendum 2016, the current controversy is a ""walk in the park,"" said Dominic Cummings on Friday at a book launch. ""We enjoy it. We will leave (the EU) and we will win""."

"Johnson had attacked Brexit opponents in parliament in the past few days and accused them of ""betrayal"" of the people. He dismissed allegations that he might endanger the deputies because they could become the target of death threats as a ""humbug""."

Cummings said the only way to calm things down is when MPs finally respect the British decision to leave the EU. Not surprisingly, people were upset that Britain still hadn't left the EU three years after the referendum.

"In view of the charged atmosphere, even the bishops of the Anglican Church called for restraint on Friday. ""We should speak to each other with respect,"" said a statement. ""And we should also listen""."

Pakistan's Prime Minister Khan calls for UN intervention in Kashmir

With his emotional appeal, Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan once again called on the United Nations to intervene in the Kashmir conflict when he made his first appearance before the UN General Assembly.

"Otherwise, another war between the nuclear powers of Pakistan and India is likely, Khan said on Friday at the UN general debate in New York. ""If things go badly, you hope for the best, but be prepared for the worst."" The United Nations had a responsibility for cashmere. ""You should have prevented that."""

India and Pakistan have waged three wars since independence from British colonial rule in 1947, two of them over the divided Kashmir region. Both nuclear powers each control part of Kashmir, another part belongs to China. At the beginning of August, India withdrew the status of autonomy from the Indian Kashmir region, thereby suddenly increasing tensions in relation to Pakistan.

The protesters in Cairo are calling for the overthrow of the Egyptian President al-Sisi.

The government is reacting hard to the current protests in Egypt. It shoots the population with live ammunition, more than 2,000 detainees join the 60,000 political prisoners who are already in prison. Protesting has never been safe in Egypt. But since General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's takeover in 2013, the state apparatus has been doing everything possible to avoid a scenario like the one in the days of the Arab Spring.

However, one of the triggers for the 2011 protests was the poor economic situation. Poverty, lack of prospects and the feeling of being suffocated by one's own government drove millions onto the streets. And that is a problem that the el-Sisi regime cannot get to grips with, no matter how hard it is against adversaries. The situation has even worsened.

Today, every third person in Egypt lives below the poverty line. The currency has lost more than half of its value since 2016, and the inflation rate is ten percent. If you want to buy a bottle of water in the supermarket, you have to decide who you finance: Nestlé, Coca-Cola or the military. The latter is not only responsible for oppression but also the largest economic player. The military builds streets, houses, football stadiums, produces food and much more. That was the case before el-Sisi. The Egyptian people have a lot of experience with authoritarian regimes, and the dilemma in the supermarket is also an old one. It always becomes critical when large sections of the population have difficulty getting a bottle of water at all.

"TÜV tests in the terminal: BER boss: No more ""show stoppers"" for the capital city airport"

It was checked for two months whether the complex system of BER fire protection systems worked together. The operators are satisfied with the progress. But the TÜV is not yet finished at BER.

After large-scale TÜV tests in the terminal of the future capital city airport, the operators confirmed the planned opening in October next year. This is certain, said supervisory board chief Rainer Bretschneider after a meeting of the control committee.

"Airport chief Engelbert Lütke Daldrup spoke of a successfully completed test, but also said that there were still shortcomings in the terminal. ""We have many detailed topics, but we don't have a real show stopper"". He assured that there were still buffers in the schedule before commissioning."

However, there are indications that the time reserve should no longer be too large. The construction completion notice is now due to be submitted to the building authority in the course of the first quarter of 2020, which was planned for this autumn.

"Hundreds of power cable defects still need to be remedied; the TÜV wants to check this until February. ""In order to create the prerequisites for the start of flight operations, intensive work must still be done to address the shortcomings,"" it said in a written communication."

Lütke Daldrup said that in many cases it is a question of missing evidence, less of new cables. There is also no approval for all dowels on which the cable routes hang. The airport chief expects this to be available by the end of the year.

In addition, the fire protection at the transition to the train station under the terminal is not yet working properly. The problems had led the project into another crisis three years ago. This time it's about smoke aprons that shut down like a canvas in a fire so the smoke doesn't spread. You are going down too far. 36 motors must therefore be replaced. Then there should be new experiments with hot gas smoke at the beginning of the year.

Fire protection problems and other construction defects as well as planning errors have been delaying the opening of the airport for years. It was originally scheduled to go into operation in 2011. Since the start of construction in 2006, costs have risen from two billion euros to an estimated 6.5 billion euros for opening next year.

Because the number of passengers in Berlin has risen significantly since then, those responsible are planning to expand the airport. That is what a special meeting of the supervisory board on October 18 should be about, as chairman Bretschneider announced.

The airport company is now looking for two new managing directors. CFO Heike Fölster will switch to Deutsche Bahn at the end of the year, HR chief Manfred Bobke-von Camen will retire next year, as Bretschneider said. He thanked Fölster. You have put the airport finances on firm feet.

He needed money for drugs - and blew up a lot of machines in the Chemnitz city area! Now the culprit is finally in custody!

In the past two years, the number of cigarette and parking ticket vending machines exploded in Chemnitz and the region. There was a million damage!

The police arrested a 33-year-old German after two detonations at the end of May on Bürgerstrasse and Further Strasse in Chemnitz.

"Police spokesman Andrzej Rydzik: ""In the course of the investigation into the occurrence of explosions in a crime involving a particularly serious case of theft, which were carried out by the Chemnitz criminal police, this suspicion against the 33-year-old was not only confirmed""."

Faced with the new evidence, the 33-year-old Chemnitz now confessed a total of eight acts.

"The police spokesman: ""With the booty, he apparently financed his dependence on narcotics"". Between August 20, 2018 and May 31, 2019, the bomber alone blew four parking ticket machines on Bürgerstrasse."

The automatic bomber is now in custody. The police investigation against him continues.

It is conceivable that he was also responsible for further automatic blasting operations in Chemnitz and neighboring counties.

"The Lufthansa Group is changing its strategy for Vienna Airport. In the midst of the price war with low-cost airlines such as Lauda, ​​Wizz Air, EasyJet and Level, the Lufthansa subsidiary AUA ""takes over the commercial management of all Eurowings flights from Vienna"", a press spokesman for Austrian Airlines confirmed to APA on Friday. ""AviationNetOnline"" had previously reported on this."

"The Vienna base of the Lufthansa low-cost airline Eurowings is thus de facto dissolved. Of the currently seven Eurowings aircraft, four remain in Vienna. From January 2020, the AUA will take over this in a ""wet lease"", including Eurowings personnel. In future, three Eurowings jets will be stationed in Salzburg, which are to fly from Salzburg and Innsbruck as charter planes to holiday destinations. Routes from Vienna to Germany are taken over by Eurowings Germany."

The Eurowings base in Vienna will be integrated into the AUA hub and network planning, the spokesman said. The flight times should be coordinated with connecting flights. The aim is on the one hand to strengthen the Vienna hub and on the other hand to expand decentralized traffic from the federal states.

"As AviationNetOnline writes, Eurowings in Vienna only serves as a ""Production Company"" for the group sister AUA. For example, Barcelona and Rome would be served with an AUA flight number, but primarily with a Eurowings device. The on-board product should be adapted to that of Austrian Airlines, but the pilots and flight attendants come from Eurowings. According to the report, the Eurowings flights starting with the AUA flight number are no longer handled in Terminal 1, but like the AUA in Terminal 3."

"A price war broke out at Vienna Airport after the Niki bankruptcy. The Ryanair subsidiary Laudamotion only announced on Thursday that it would add 16 aircraft to its fleet in Vienna next summer. The Irish low-cost airline sends four Ryanair planes and crews to Vienna for this, also in a so-called ""wet lease"", which the union criticized as a circumvention to the collective agreement."

"On Friday, Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary's declaration that Lauda would have overtaken the AUA in five years replied AUA board member Andreas Otto: ""We will remain number one at the site in five, six or ten years""."

Beatrice, Eugenie, William and Harry: As children, the cousins ​​were best friends. Now the last of the four is getting married. Beatrice is engaged!

Wonderful news from the British royals: Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi (34) is said to have asked for the hand of his girlfriend Princess Beatrice (31) during the Italian vacation earlier this month. The palace announced on Thursday.

"""We are extremely excited to announce our engagement. We are both so excited to start this adventure together and cannot wait to be married,"" said the couple, who has been together since October 2018, according to British media reports, in the official announcement with."

"And further: ""We share so many similar interests and values ​​and we know that this will help us a lot in the coming years full of love and happiness""."

Her sister, Princess Eugenie (29), took the official engagement photos - and also published them on her Instagram account.

The wedding is scheduled for 2020. The palace will announce further information about date, place and everything else in the coming months.

What is certain, however, is that the marriage of the number nine of the British heir to the throne and the real estate mogul will be as big a celebration as Eugenie's wedding on October 12, 2018 to Jack Brooksbank (33).

Smoking, obesity, unhealthy eating - there are risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. But what really triggers a heart failure or an infarction? Hamburg researchers now want to take a close look at the genome of 9,000 healthy and sick people.

By analyzing the genome of 9,000 people, Hamburg and Swiss scientists want to find out more about the causes of cardiovascular diseases.

The research project is the largest of its kind in German-speaking countries, said the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) on Friday. The Kuehne Foundation is funding the project with 12.5 million euros. From Switzerland, the Davos High Mountain Clinic, which belongs to the foundation, and the University Hospital Zurich are involved.

Overweight, smoking and an unhealthy diet are among the main influenceable risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. Genetic factors also determine the risk. The interplay between genes and external influences is insufficiently known, it said. Now the scientists want to compare the complete genetic makeup of 8000 healthy people with that of 1000 former patients of the University Heart and Vascular Center at the UKE.

Currently, more than 4000 of the approximately 20,000 relevant human genes are known to cause disease-causing changes in DNA - so-called mutations - according to the clinic. About 200 are added every year.

According to the initiators, the aim of the five-year project is to develop new options for the prevention, detection and treatment of cardiac arrhythmias, cardiac insufficiency and heart attacks. The data could also be used to research other common diseases, says Stefan Blankenberg, head of the University Heart and Vascular Center. New insights into the interaction between heart and brain, heart and kidney and cancer can be made.

The chairman of the Kuehne Foundation, Klaus-Michael Kuehne (82), also emphasized that there was a firm will to use the data to research other diseases. The clinic of the foundation in Davos has so far mainly treated allergies. Now a Center for Cardiovascular Precision Medicine should be created on the medical campus there and a professorship for bioinformatics should be created. To justify his commitment, the logistics entrepreneur, who lives in Switzerland, said that he had had an open heart surgery in Hamburg three years ago and was very grateful.

"The bio-samples of the healthy participants come from Hamburgers who also participate in the ""Hamburg City Health Study"". With 45,000 subjects, this is the largest local health study in the world, according to the clinic. When decoding the genome, strict attention is paid to the protection of anonymized data, the scientists assured. It is about a petabyte (1000 terabyte) of data, said Holger Moch from the University Hospital Zurich."

According to the UKE, a person's genome can now be deciphered within 24 hours. The pure material costs for this would be 1300 euros. The first gene sequencing worldwide, the results of which were published in 2001, cost several hundred million euros. The study is scheduled to begin on October 1, and all 9,000 samples should be analyzed by the end of 2020. The first results are expected the following year.

"In Nigeria, the police released more than 300 tortured and abused boys from a Koran school. According to information from local residents, security forces searched the school in the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna and discovered the partially underage victims, police spokesman Yakubu Sabo said. ""The victims were mistreated. Some of them said they were raped by their teachers,"" said Sabo."

"The boys were detained on the pretext of being taught and ""improved"" in the Koran. In fact, the proteges were detained by their teachers in ""most degrading and inhumane conditions,"" said Sabo. Around a hundred pupils, including children aged nine, were chained in a small room."

According to the information, the Koran school had existed for around ten years. Residents had warned the authorities of repeated irregularities in the facility. The parents were shocked to learn about the conditions in the Koran school, Sabo said. They had no idea of ​​their children's suffering. The operator and six employees were arrested, according to the police.

There are many private Koran schools in the predominantly Muslim north of Nigeria. They replace the often deficient state facilities. People in the region suffer from frequent attacks by armed gangs. According to the UN refugee agency, more than 40,000 people have fled across the border to neighboring Niger in the past ten months.

Chained and tortured: Nigeria's police release 400 children from school

"Police have freed nearly 400 students from horrific conditions in a school in northern Nigeria. ""Many of them were chained and some had visible injuries suggesting torture,"" said police spokesman Yakubu Sabo in Kaduna City."

"The children had been discovered there on Thursday after being advised of it in an Islamic school. The conditions there were ""inhumane"". The officials arrested the headmaster and six teachers after the liberation operation."

The children, all boys, were kept like slaves at their school and put on chains. Some were sexually abused. Television pictures showed emaciated and injured pupils in a noticeably poor state of health.

World football election: Further allegations after Messi and Klopp's freestyle

With a gala in Milan, the world football association Fifa honors the best player and coach of the year. For Lionel Messi it is the sixth honor and thus a record.

After Nicaragua's captain declared that he had never voted in the world football election, accusations came to FIFA from other countries. Egypt was not rated at all - with a strange reason.

Much of FIFA has proven to be disreputable in recent years: the World Cup awards, dubious plans by its President Gianni Infantino, the general behavior of various corrupt officials. So far, however, the Fifa world footballer election has not been suspected of being messy - apart from the fact that the national coaches and national team captains of the member associations who are entitled to vote often vote according to sympathy rather than objective judgment.

But after Nicaragua's captain had already complained that he hadn't voted at all, further inconsistencies are coming to light: Egypt complains that the votes of national coach Hossam El-Badry and captain Mohamed Salah were not taken into account. In fact, they do not appear in the official and publicly viewable voting overview.

"Fifa apologizes that ""the signatures on the election forms were in capital letters and were therefore not valid"". The Egyptian association had been contacted several times to clarify the situation - without an answer."

There is also an outcry from Sudan regarding the election. While the situation in the case of Egypt is understandable, the Sudanese association states that coach Zdravko Lugarisic did not vote as it was ultimately judged: with Lionel Messi in first place, Virgil van Dijk in two and Sadio Mané in three. According to Fifa, the vote was received in exactly the same way, with signatures and the official stamp of the Sudanese association.

"Nicaragua's captain Juan Barrera had also raised allegations: ""Did not vote for the # TheBest2019 Awards. All information about my vote is wrong, thanks,"" he wrote. In his case, it was suspected that the Nicaraguan Football Association simply voted in its name."

"From the association came the message on Friday: True, but of course it was not an intention. The completed election records were ""erroneously"" provided with the name and signature of Juan Barrera, the captain of the Nicaraguan selection, a statement from the association said. But the second captain Manuel Rosas actually chose. ""We take responsibility for the administrative error,"" it said in the message. Both Rosas and team coach Henry Duarte would have voted for Messi, ""just as it is on FIFA's official list."""

Fifa is now having the other cases examined in an investigation, but emphasizes that the voting process was overseen externally by the consultancy PriceWaterhouseCoopers. That's how long Lionel Messi will remain the undisputed winner of the world football choice - and Jürgen Klopp World Coach of the Year.

Ukraine affair: high-ranking Republicans advocate official investigation

"Two senior Republicans have spoken out openly for an official investigation against US President and party friend Donald Trump. ""I think the investigation is important,"" said Vermont Republican Governor Phil Scott. ""Where this leads from here is determined by the facts that are determined"". He wanted to know more about the whistleblower affair before taking any action. An impeachment procedure can lead to the presidential dismissal."

"Scott said he wasn't surprised by the revelations. These had shown that Trump had repeatedly called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj over the phone to investigate the activities of the Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden in Ukraine. According to Scott, Trump has been watching Biden ""for years""."

The Republicans have so far been reluctant to criticize Trump for the whistleblower affair, and only a few have shown unease about it. Scott's statements are now the first sign of this in Trump's party. The moderate governor of Virginia had repeatedly opposed Trump's policies, such as loosening environmental regulations and tightening immigration laws.

"Another senior Republican, Charlie Baker, Governor of Massachusetts, also advocated the investigation. ""It's a deeply disturbing situation,"" said Baker. ""The correct course of action and responsibility for Congress is now to investigate and get to the bottom of it."""

"As governor of the US, Scott and Baker have no formal say in the Trump case, which will be decided in Congress. Your statements are therefore primarily symbolically important. Nevertheless, the first Republican senators have also criticized the situation. Mitt Romney, for example, who represents the state of Utah in the second chamber of parliament, said the case was ""extremely disturbing, deeply disturbing"". US media also report that internal cracks are beginning to emerge among the Republicans."

The affair could lead to impeachment proceedings against Trump, the Democrats in the House of Representatives have announced an investigation. They accuse him of abuse of power for the purpose of foreign influence for his own political benefit.

There is no precise schedule for the impeachment process. With a majority in the House of Representatives, the Democrats could seek impeachment. The decision about an actual impeachment would be made in the Senate, where Trumps Republicans have the majority. The prospects for the success of such a procedure are therefore slim. So far, no US president has been removed through an office impeachment process.

Three men have been arrested in Sicily and are said to have raped and murdered in Libyan refugee camps.

"German captain Carola Rackete (31) was arrested in June after illegally heading for the port of Lampedusa with the rescue ship ""Sea Watch 3"" and 53 Libyan refugees on board. After violent protests and international criticism - including by Austrian President Alexander van der Bellen - her house arrest was lifted again after a few days by an Italian judge."

"Now there are new serious allegations against racquet. For example, three men accused of torture in Libyan refugee camps may have arrived in Italy on Sea-Watch 3. The suspects were caught in a reception center in Messina (Sicily) after migrants recognized their tormentors in Italy. ""We cannot rule this out, but we have no reliable information ourselves,"" said ""Sea Watch"" spokesman Ruben Neugebauer of the German Press Agency."

"The police said in mid-September that the suspects in the North African country had raped, tortured and even murdered. It was Mohammed C. (27) from Guinea, and the two Egyptians Hameda A. (26) and Mahmoud A (24). ""The migrants were systematically harassed and atrocities exposed - through repeated and constant physical violence,"" it said at the time."

"NGOs and aid organizations are now pointing out that they cannot know exactly who is coming on the ships. ""We cannot scan who the people are. They come without passports,"" said Neugebauer. Torture is one of the main reasons why people are fleeing Libya. It is therefore quite likely that there are also perpetrators on the ships. ""It is therefore very important that this is followed up""."

Italy's right-wing ex-interior minister Matteo Salvini promptly apologized to Rackete, who is still under investigation in Italy for aiding illegal immigration.

Tesla boss Elon Musk has given his electric car company a boost on the stock market with the prospect of new record numbers.

"""We have the chance to reach our first quarter with 100,000 deliveries,"" Musk wrote to Tesla employees in an email published by the industry blog ""Electrek""."

The demand was strong, so Tesla could book 110,000 orders, according to Musk's circular. The challenge is to get the cars to customers quickly. To do this, Tesla had to provide as many resources as possible at the end of the quarter.

Musk needs records to achieve his high goals. In 2019, he plans to deliver a total of 360,000 to 400,000 cars. This requires six-digit numbers in the current and coming quarter. Above all, the cheapest Tesla Model 3 is in demand, but here the profit margins are small. Despite the boom, there have been losses recently.

The new fiscal year will begin on October 1st in the United States without a proper budget. The Senate followed the House of Representatives on Thursday and decided on transitional funding until November 21.

Although the US Congress and President Donald Trump agreed to increase spending ceilings for 2020 and 2021 in August, the United States is once again without spending plans before the new fiscal year beginning October 1. The Senate followed the House of Representatives on Thursday and decided on continuing funding (CR) until November 21. Without such a decision, there would have been a shutdown on Monday at midnight, a partial closure of the federal administration. President Trump has yet to implement the decision.

For the time being, the federal administration will be financed at the level and in accordance with the priorities of the spending plans for the 2019 financial year, which will end on Monday. This is because the Congress was unable to agree on the 12 spending laws in time, which allocate the funds to the various departments and authorities. For the time being, the federal administration cannot therefore deduct from the 1.3 trillion for the new budget year. to 1.4 trillion. Benefit from $ expanded spending.

The Democrats have completed ten of the twelve laws in the House of Representatives, where they have the majority. But spending laws reflect Democratic priorities that have little chance in the Republican-dominated Senate. Conversely, the Senate also has more or less ready ten of the twelve spending plans, which are hardly capable of a majority.

Opinions differ mainly on the subject of resource allocation for the area of ​​domestic security and border security. Republicans in the Senate appear to be trying to force $ 12 billion to build the wall, one of President Trump's top priorities. The Democrats are bothered by the wall plans and their financing, which is actually intended for other military buildings and projects. The dispute over building the wall had already escalated in December 2018 and had resulted in a 35-day shutdown.

It is currently unclear how the parties intend to approach this issue. An extension of the transitional funding beyond November 21 is more likely than an agreement on all twelve spending laws in the next seven weeks. A shutdown is also not out of the question.

Against the backdrop of Congress's continued inability to agree on the twelve spending laws in good time and the associated risk of shutdown, ideas for automating the process are gaining popularity. Template p. 1877 to avoid shutdowns would automatically continue to finance the federal administration at the previous year's level, prevent parliamentarians from traveling and withhold their wages until the new annual spending plans were available.

In France, artificial insemination should in future also be available to women and lesbians living alone: ​​the Paris National Assembly voted by a large majority for a government bill that would allow all women to use in vitro fertilization. This should significantly increase the demand for anonymous sperm donations.

"The submission still requires the approval of the Senate. In the three-day emotional debate, critics in the right-wing camp had warned that numerous ""children without a father"" could grow up in the future. The French Bishops' Conference is also against the innovation."

"The new regulation is the core component of a bioethics law, which Health Minister Agnès Buzyn defended as an ""opportunity"" for society. It depicts the modern family, in which there are children with only one parent or with homosexual parents. According to her, the cost of artificial insemination for all women should be covered by social security."

"The National Assembly, on the other hand, narrowly rejected an amendment to give widows access to their dead husband's sperm for artificial insemination. In Belgium, Spain and Great Britain, artificial insemination is allowed ""post-mortem"". In the past, there have been cases in Germany in which women have unsuccessfully complained about the release of a deceased's sperm. The opponents of the Paris advance argued that a child thus conceived would have a ""particularly difficult fate""."

"In contrast, numerous MPs from the ruling party La République en Marche (The Republic on the Move, LREM) from President Emmanuel Macron and MPs from the opposition had spoken out in favor of artificial insemination with the sperm of the deceased partner. They emphasized that a ""double grief"" would be imposed on a widow if the death of her husband also left her wish to have children unfulfilled."

The initiators of the now unsuccessful amendment consider it unfair that a widow can in future be fertilized with the sperm of an unknown person, but not with that of her own partner.

So far, artificial insemination in France is only allowed for heterosexual couples who cannot father children. You must be married or live together for at least two years. Buzyn had already announced in the summer that surrogacy would continue to be prohibited.

In Germany, artificial insemination is theoretically open to all women - but it is often difficult for single people or lesbian couples.

Compensation payment for the climate: calls for flights to universities are getting louder

There is a lot of flying at the universities. That is why the country wants to have a climate tax paid there as well. The principals say they have no money for it. But now they are coming under pressure internally.

Universities should also limit themselves when flying. Photo: dpa / Julian Stratenschulte

"The discussion about a climate levy on flights from universities and colleges, which was postponed before the summer break, is picking up steam again. After the State Rectors' Conference had reacted skeptically to a corresponding push from the green-black coalition, the plans are now receiving support from the universities. In a joint statement, the doctoral students from six universities in Baden-Württemberg and one university of teacher education advocate compensation for business flights. As a first step, this was ""urgently necessary"", at the same time there had to be a broad debate about the avoidability of flights, she said in her opinion. The cabinet decision originally planned for July is still on hold because the CDU has still not approved the Greens."

According to the FSB secret service, the detainees are said to have fished illegally in Russian waters. Ten days earlier, 161 fishermen from North Korea had already been arrested. At that time there was an exchange of fire between the border guards and the boat crew. Three Russians and a North Korean were injured, the fisherman later succumbed to his serious injuries. This time there were no injuries, it said.

Communist North Korea is suffering from a chronic food shortage. The North Korean fishermen were therefore in Russian territorial waters. There, the Russian Coast Guard says it patrols to protect its marine biological resources.

During the renewed inspections, 30,000 squid were discovered on the boats and confiscated. In addition, three fishermen and two motor boats were confiscated and brought to Nachodka and Posjet near Vladivostok.

Russia's fisheries agency has not issued fishing licenses to North Koreans this year, even after complaints from local entrepreneurs. According to the media, thousands of fishermen from North Korea have been arrested there temporarily this year.

The head of the Association of Russian Fishing Companies in the Far Eastern Region of Primorye, Georgi Martynow, has also recently complained of high ecological damage caused by North Korean fishermen. They fished with close-meshed synthetic nets that were forbidden in Russia. These would also be used to take small creatures out of the sea. In addition, the nets would simply be disposed of in the ocean, where they would take 200 years to be decomposed.

Only 18,000 in the future: USA will lower the upper limit for asylum

"The ""most generous nation in history"": Donald Trump, here at a meeting with elected police officers in the White House."

The richest country in the world seals itself off from those seeking protection: As the State Department in Washington confirms, the upper limit for the legal influx of refugees will be further lowered. In the future, especially believers and Iraqis who are at risk should receive asylum.

The US government wants to lower the already historically low limit for the admission of new refugees. In the 2020 fiscal year, which runs from October 2019 to September 2020 in the United States, a maximum of 18,000 people will be admitted to the country, as the U.S. State Department said. In the almost past business year, the limit is still 30,000 people.

The government of President Donald Trump has drastically reduced the willingness to accept refugees from around the world in recent years. Under Barack Obama's predecessor, admission limits were much higher.

"The targeted 18,000 refugee ceiling would be the lowest since the U.S. refugee program was introduced in 1980. The State Department still described the United States as ""the most merciful and generous nation in history,"" a phrase that is strongly reminiscent of the language used by the incumbent president ."

"""Responsible use"" of refugees aims to enable refugees to return to their home countries to help them rebuild there, Trump said. He gets a lot of support from his supporters for his tough course in migration policy, but there is also massive criticism."

A major issue is the border with Mexico, which Trump wants to seal off. In order to be able to finance the construction of a border wall, Trump had declared a national emergency. It is unclear whether there is a temporal connection between the current measure and current domestic political developments in the US capital. Trump is currently under pressure due to the Selensky affair and a possible impending impeachment process.

According to the State Department, the US government plans to focus on the admission of two groups of refugees in the future: people who are persecuted because of their beliefs - and Iraqis who have helped the US military in the country and who have put them at risk, such as is stated in the statement by the State Department. In contrast, a maximum of 1,500 refugees are to be admitted from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.

"The United States wants people from this ""northern triangle"" in Central America to apply for asylum in other countries. Against this background, the United States has only concluded migration agreements with Guatemala and now also with El Salvador and Honduras in order to curb immigration at the US southern border with Mexico."

"At the request of the Argentine judiciary, an orangutan female has been moved from the former Buenos Aires Zoo to a sanctuary for great apes in the United States. ""Sandra"", born in 1986 in Rostock Zoo, was granted the rights of a ""non-human person"", so her release was mandatory. The animal was brought to Dallas on Thursday evening by direct flight - not as a passenger, but in the cargo hold, as lawyer Andrés Gil Domínguez explained."

"Since the 53 kilogram human monkey is unable to adapt to life in the wild, she is said to live in the outdoor enclosure of the Center for Great Apes in Florida in the future. There are already 21 more orangutans and 31 chimpanzees, including ""Bubbles"", formerly the pet of pop star Michael Jackson. Before moving to Florida, however, ""Sandra"" has to go through a 40-day quarantine at the Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita, Kansas."

"After her birth, ""Sandra"" spent a few years in the former Ruhr Zoo in Gelsenkirchen in Rostock before she was relocated to Buenos Aires in 1995. The animal rights activists' lawsuit for ""Sandra's"" fundamental rights in 2014 helped to transform the Buenos Aires Zoo into an eco-park. By 2023, a research and educational facility to preserve biodiversity is to be built there."

Extreme mountaineer Dani Arnold has managed a new hussar ride on the almost 3000 meter high Großer Zinne in the Italian Alps.

The Swiss conquered the 550-meter-high north face of the Große Zinne in a new record time without a net, false floors or other aids.

Dressed in jeans, a T-shirt and only supported by absolute vertigo, Arnold needed 46 minutes and 30 seconds to climb. He undercut the old record by almost 19 minutes.

Arnold is now the record holder in Free Solo Speed ​​on four of the six most important European north faces.

"The US sporting goods manufacturer Nike posted a significant profit increase despite the trade conflict with China. Net income increased to $ 1.4 billion in the quarter just ended. That is 25 percent more than in the same period last year, as the group announced on Tuesday. The main reason for this is the new ""Nike Direct"" marketing strategy, which the Adidas competitor uses to address customers directly online."

Sales increased to $ 10.7 billion in the three-month period ending in August. Nike's strongest sales growth was 22 percent in China. The Beaverton, Oregon, group also benefited in the People's Republic from its approach of targeting consumers directly via the Internet or smartphone apps.

"CFO Andy Campion announced that Nike would use strategic investments to further the ""digital transformation"" of the sporting goods manufacturer, thereby expanding its competitive advantage. Investors were delighted with the quarterly figures - the sporting goods manufacturer's shares rose by more than five percent."

"Due to racist comments about football professional Juan Jesus from AS Roma, the club from the Italian capital has imposed a lifelong ban on the stadium against a fan. The Brazilian defender Jesus had been insulted by the fan on Instagram. Jesus then published the private messages and asked his club to take action. ""@officialasroma you already know what to do with such a fan. #NoToRacism. Proud to be who I am,"" wrote the 28-year-old, who has been with AS Roma since 2016."

The club responded late Thursday. He reported the fan's account to Instagram and the police. In addition, the Roma supporter should never attend a game of the club again, the club wrote on Twitter.

"Racism is a problem in Italian football. Italian fans regularly chant racist insults against black players of rival teams. ""We cannot have racism in society or in sports. The situation has not improved in Italy, and that is very serious. You have to identify those responsible and kick them out of the stadiums,"" said FIFA President Gianni Infantino last weekend. The reason for the statement was racist chants in the first division match between Atalanta Bergamo and AC Florenz last Sunday."

But there have also been discussions recently about the supporters of Juventus. The Italian authorities have now banned 38 rioting fans from record champions Juventus Turin. Four of them are not allowed to enter the stadium for a period of ten years, the police said. For the rest, bans of four to seven years apply.

The fans are connected to ongoing investigations into twelve leaders of ultra fan groups in the Juventus area. The twelve are accused of, among other things, severe extortion, money laundering and private violence. The club had launched the investigation with a complaint last year.

"According to Italian media reports, the ultra leaders are behind the black ticket trade. They had ""militarily controlled"" ticket trading for the fan curve and are said to have blackmailed Juventus employees in order to obtain cheaper tickets."

Millennials are narcissistic, Generation Z is political - entire classes are given catchy labels. If you take a closer look, the awards are full of contradictions. How well do these labels describe the lifestyle of young people?

"""The crabs are coming!"" With this reputation, crabbing officially started on Lake Gucheng in Gaochun on September 21, which also heralded the opening event of the 19th China Gaochun Gucheng Lake Crab Festival, as announced by the public relations department of the Nanjing-Gaochun District Committee."

"Gaochun, which is the southern foothill of Nanjing in Jiangsu Province, is one of the national environmental zones. The city is the first international ""Slow City"" in China and is also the Chinese seat of the international ""Slow City"" movement. From an ecological point of view, the city has ideal conditions with a mixture of ""30 percent mountains, 20 percent water areas and 50 percent fields"". The great natural environment of Gaochun offers its residents all the conditions to get rich."

The people of Gaochun started breeding crabs in the early 1990s. Over time, the crab industry has become a formative industry that has generated high incomes and has become an important part of Gaochun's economic development. In recent years, Gaochun has been actively involved in large-scale, ecological and scientific development of crab breeding as well as technology-based crab breeding. And the city has taken care of promoting greater agricultural efficiency and farmers' incomes.

"In recent years, Gaochun has advanced a reform of ""distributing power, optimizing administration and government services"" and carefully maintaining the service network for ""permits under one roof, a law enforcement team, a network for services, a platform for lending "". With this, the city wants to comprehensively optimize the environment for permits, services and development."

"Gaochun takes full advantage of the local benefits by connecting to southern Jiangsu and southern Anhui and uses the development zone and its position as an international ""slow city"" as a figurehead for intelligent high-end production companies, companies for biomedical and medical technology , for energy storage and environmental protection, from the culture and health sector as well as companies for ecological agriculture, which are leaders in the ""3 + 2"" area, to settle here. At the same time, Gaochun has promoted the creation of a national tourist zone covering all areas and tourist resorts of national importance. This involved integrating the ecological and cultural resources of the Gaochun landscape, comprehensively improving the condition of the buildings for civic and public services, vigorously developing the ""Tourism +"" and ""+ Tourism"" areas, and promoting the development of cultural tourism at a high quality level. It is worth looking forward to the future of Gaochun."

Conflict between Iran and the USA: Ruhani speaks of the end of the sanctions - Trump disagrees

Iranian President Hassan Ruhani, after returning from the UN General Assembly, spoke of an alleged US offer to lift sanctions. In return for talks with the Tehran leadership, the United States has promised to end all sanctions, Ruhani said on his official website.

"However, US President Donald Trump contradicted his Iranian counterpart on Twitter: ""Iran wanted me to lift the sanctions imposed on it so that there could be a meeting. I said, of course, no."""

"Ruhani describes the situation as follows: Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron were present in New York and urged that a meeting be held. ""And America says I will lift the sanctions,"" added Ruhani. The type of punitive measures that should be ended was under debate. ""And they clearly said we would lift all sanctions."""

"However, Ruhani criticized this move in an unacceptable manner. Given the punitive measures in place and ""the poisoned atmosphere of maximum pressure"", no one can predict the outcome of negotiations."

Chancellor Angela Merkel met with Ruhani in New York earlier this week. The background was the hope of the Europeans to save the nuclear deal with Iran negotiated with Russia and China. This is to prevent the Islamic Republic from developing nuclear weapons. French President Emmanuel Macron, like Merkel, had expressed hope on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly that Ruhani would meet with US President Donald Trump.

After two earthquakes shook western Turkey in a very short time, the fear of disaster grows. 34 people were injured in the Tuesday earthquake. Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said on Friday that there had been almost 200 aftershocks since the previous day. This increases the fear of disaster.

14 schools in Istanbul were closed for security reasons. Hundreds of buildings were damaged. The 5.8 magnitude earthquake had shaken the Marmara region off Istanbul on Thursday and triggered panic in the metropolis. Now the government wants to set up a commission to prepare the country better for earthquakes in the future, announced Oktay.

In the past 20 years, Turkey has not been adequately prepared for earthquakes, said Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu. The latent danger is repeatedly ignored in the city itself. Badly built houses collapse every year - among other things, worn down by the many smaller earthquakes that regularly shake Istanbul.

City planners like the well-known architect Mücella Yapici have been warning for years that large open spaces that have been entered as refuge in the center have long been blocked. It wasn't until the 20th anniversary of the Gölcük quake in August that the Istanbul Chamber of Civil Engineers warned that an estimated one million buildings in Istanbul were not earthquake-proof.

The epicenter of the Thursday quake was in the Sea of ​​Marmara in front of the Silivri district and at a depth of around seven kilometers, as the civil protection agency Afad announced. A minor aftershock caused even greater panic on the streets a few minutes later.

Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu said on Twitter that no injuries or damage had initially been reported. The state broadcaster TRT showed people running out of houses in panic. Students were taken out of the buildings in the Silivri district for security reasons. Some of the students cried, as can be seen in the pictures.

Istanbul is considered to be particularly vulnerable to earthquakes. Under the Sea of ​​Marmara lies a section of the so-called North Anatolian fault, which marks the border between the Eurasian and the Anatolian earth plate. Turkey is repeatedly shaken by earthquakes. One of the deadliest was the 1999 earthquake near Istanbul. At that time, more than 17,000 people died.

Researchers fear that a 7.1 to 7.4 magnitude earthquake could threaten. However, it is unclear when the earthquake will occur. The Thursday earthquake hit the west of the country and Istanbul again.

Companies draw up emergency plans, private individuals have ready-made go-bags packed with everything they need, and schools teach children how to behave when the earth shakes. When the next big quake is coming is unclear.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said after his return from New York that eight people had been injured. Some buildings would have suffered minor damage. Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu followed developments from the Istanbul Disaster Coordination Center (Akom). According to him, two minarets of mosques in the Avcilar and Sariyer districts collapsed.

Many users report panic on social networks. Buildings shook. Schools and hospitals were evacuated. Telephone lines were broken. One user wrote that it was more violent than Tuesday's. The head of the Turkish Red Crescent, Kerem Klinik, warned of aftershocks via Twitter. He called on people to stay away from buildings that would have suffered visible damage.

According to official information, the time of the quake is given as 13:59 (local time). Just a few minutes after the first quake, CNN Turkey reported an aftershock that was rated 4.0 on the Richter scale.

Only on Tuesday had an earthquake of magnitude 4.6 shook the Turkish Marmara region - it was felt up to Istanbul. The disaster control agency Afad also announced on Tuesday that its epicenter was located in the Marmara Sea west of the metropolis of millions.

It wasn't the only earthquake that hit the headlines this Tuesday: Pakistan was also hit by a major earthquake.

Researchers believe that sooner or later a catastrophic earthquake could occur in Istanbul - the tension between the tectonic plates is extremely high. Scientists believe that it will eventually discharge - and cause massive damage.

"Earthquake researcher Sükrü Ersoy expects the earthquake to be a warning. It made it more likely, he said to CNN Türk. ""These could be signs of a major earthquake,"" Ersoy told the broadcaster. ""Sooner or later the big quake will come""."

There had been an incident just a few weeks ago - the quake also caused great concerns in Istanbul. In addition, only a few days ago there had been a violent earthquake in Albania - 68 people were injured. The earth had shaken at Lake Constance this year too.

"Two explosive documents provide new explosives in the Ukraine affair about possible abuse of power by US President Donald Trump. On the way to a possible impeachment process, the US Democrats are encouraged: The complaint about Trump and his controversial phone call with the Ukrainian president, submitted by an anonymous whistleblower, provides important clues for an investigation into the president. Trump sees himself once again as a victim of a ""witch hunt"". He also doubted the credibility of the whistleblower."

United States: United Airlines passenger locked in toilet - plane diverted

A flight was rerouted by United Airlines because a passenger was locked in the board toilet. The toilet door was blocked during flight 1554 from Washington to San Francisco, the airline said, according to US media.

In the event of an unscheduled stopover in Denver on Wednesday evening (local time), the woman was finally released from the narrow cabin. The US media wrote, citing other passengers, that she was locked in for about an hour. Passengers had to change planes to continue on to San Francisco.

"A video distributed on the Internet, which according to US media is said to be from flight 1554, shows how several people are trying to free the woman. ""We're currently working on opening the door, ma'am. We'll get you out soon, okay?"" Says a man. The airline apologized to all passengers. It was initially unclear whether the woman would receive any compensation."

The cockroach: Inspired by Kafka: Ian McEwan writes Brexit novel

How does a writer like Ian McEwan deal with all the Brexit chaos? He writes a book about it - and his protagonist is unmistakable.

"Inspired by Franz Kafka's famous story ""The Metamorphosis"", the successful British author Ian McEwan (71) wrote a book about the Brexit chaos in Great Britain."

"The novel ""Die Kakerlake"" (Original: ""The Cockroach"") will be published in German on November 27, said Diogenes Verlag (Zurich). It is about the transformation of a man named ""Jim Sams"" who was ignored or hated in his previous life, but who is now Britain's most powerful man. He sees it as his mission to put the will of the people into practice and is wildly determined not to be stopped by anything or anyone."

"McEwan was quoted as saying, ""If the parliament is closed so that the government cannot be challenged at a critical moment, if ministers lie shamelessly like the Soviet leaders once did, if Brexiteers in high positions literally cause the no-deal disaster - then a writer has to ask himself what he can do. There is only one answer: write "". McEwan's novel ""Machines Like Me"" on artificial intelligence was only published in the spring."

"Kafka's story, first published in 1915, is about Gregor Samsa, who wakes up one morning and sees himself ""transformed into a tremendous vermin"", is gradually excluded from family and society, and finally perishes. ""Ian McEwan bows before Kafka to describe an upside-down world,"" said Diogenes Verlag."

11,200 wagons in Austria and Hungary are equipped with whisper brakes to reduce noise pollution caused by freight trains. In addition, sections of the rail connections between Graz and Györ and Wiener Neustadt and Sopron will be modernized and electrified.

"According to the EU authority, this should make travel more comfortable and reduce CO2 emissions. The funds come from the EU infrastructure pot ""Connecting Europe Facility""."

"The German tour operator Thomas Cook canceled all trips up to and including October 31, 2019 one day after his bankruptcy application. Travel ""could not be started due to bankruptcy law reasons,"" the company said on Thursday evening."

This also affects bookings for the brands Thomas Cook Signature, Thomas Cook Signature Finest Selection, Neckermann Reisen, ÖGER TOURS, Bucher Reisen and Air Marin that have already been paid or paid in full. The company left it open as to travel starting on November 1, 2019. In coordination with the insolvency insurance, the further procedure will be examined, it said.

Thomas Cook in Germany was caught up in the bankruptcy of the British parent company and filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday. The company, which includes Neckermann Reisen, Öger Tours and Bucher Reisen, employs about 2,000 people in Germany.

On the other hand, hotels abroad that currently still accommodate Thomas Cook holidaymakers are to receive money from Zurich insurance from this Friday. According to Zurich, payments to the hotels are linked to the condition that holidaymakers are no longer asked to make extra payments.

"Based on the booking information and without submitting separate invoices, the hotels in the resorts should now receive 50 percent of the outstanding payments, as a Zurich spokesman for the German Press Agency said. ""This applies immediately and on the condition that Thomas Cook travelers from these hotels are neither immediately asked for individual payment of hotel bills or otherwise compelled,"" said spokesman Bernd Engelien."

The insurance company thus reacted to reports from hotel guests who, according to their own statements, had been forced to pay for their accommodations themselves. Some had to put more than 1000 euros on the table. The German Travel Association (DRV) and the Federal Association of Consumer Centers had criticized this sharply.

How many hotels are affected will be coordinated with the insolvent travel provider on Friday, the insurance spokesman said. According to information from Thursday, there were still 70,000 Thomas Cook package holidaymakers from Germany. Zurich Germany has secured vacation and return travel for Thomas Cook customers.

Insolvency administrators want to try to continue the three Thomas Cook companies in Germany and to find a future solution.

The now announced payments to hotels by Zurich Insurance will only help travelers who are currently on the move. Things look bad for Thomas Cook customers who still want to fly on vacation. The company announced late Thursday evening that all trips up to and including October 31 would be canceled. This also applies to bookings that have already been paid for.

The company left it open as to travel starting on November 1, 2019. In coordination with the insolvency insurance, the further procedure will be examined, it said. In principle, Zurich Insurance is also responsible for these cases. The sale of new trips has stopped. dpa

The company refers to the insurer Zurich, which can be represented by the company Kaera. Customers could find out about options for reimbursement of the travel price on the Kaera website and make their claims using a web form.

Prince Harry has long continued Lady Diana's engagement. In Africa, he is now following in the footsteps of his mother.

Dressed with a blue shatterproof vest, the British prince Harry detonated and destroyed an explosive mine in Angola.

Near a camp of the British Halo Trust near Dirico, he made the ignition circuit in front of running TV cameras on Friday morning. At a safe distance, the explosive device exploded in the savannah landscape without causing any damage. Although the Halo Trust alone has destroyed more than 100,000 relics from the decades-long bloody conflict in the African country, there are still more than 1,000 minefields that threaten the population.

On the fifth day of his trip to Africa, Harry then wanted to follow the traces of his mother Diana (1961-1997) in the city of Huambo. With the same demolition master who once accompanied his mother, he wanted to cover the path she was taking at the time. The pictures of Princess Diana walking through a cleared minefield in 1997 had gone around the world. She also demonstrated support for the Halo Trust.

Harry (35) and his wife Meghan (38) have been on a ten-day trip to Africa since Monday, which began in the South African tourist metropolis of Cape Town.

Stagnating Brexit negotiations: the danger of a no deal remains acute

In fact, Prime Minister Boris Johnson had made a clear commitment: with him there will definitely not be a third postponement of the Brexit negotiations. But which statements are of eternal duration with the polarizing British. The recent Supreme Court ruling in Britain hangs over the blond head like a sword of Damocles. His suspension of Parliament to stubbornly continue his Brexit course by the withdrawal date was canceled earlier this week. And a law passed by Parliament obliges Johnson to extend bilateral talks until October 31 if negotiations with the EU fail. Johnson had categorically ruled that out, however.

But the pressure does not seem to pass Johnson. Meanwhile, when visiting a hospital, he indicated that he would support an extension of the negotiations until the end of October in the event of a non-agreement:

At the same time, we are confident that we will leave the EU on October 31.

And best with a deal. I am cautiously optimistic that it will work.

And time is running away from the Brexit negotiators in Brussels. The EU and the British negotiators still have around six weeks to prevent Britain from leaving the European Union without an agreement. But even the most recent talks have not made a breakthrough. An agreement by the end of October currently seems rather difficult to imagine. If the British Prime Minister does not break the law, the date of resignation will be postponed again. The opposition does not trust the Prime Minister's words. She fears that Johnson could somehow enforce Brexit in the event of a no-deal.

"The number of deaths related to the use of e-cigarettes in the United States has increased to twelve. In addition, there are now 805 confirmed and likely injuries in this connection, the CDC said. According to a study in the ""New England Journal of Medicine"", there were already more than 900 people affected, around 500 of whom were confirmed. The cause of the lung damage is still completely unclear. No similar increase in lung damage is known to date in Europe. The complaints seem to be limited to users in the United States."

"Mohammed Ali's videos have been shared millions of times on online networks. The building contractor and actor living in Spain calls for a ""People's Revolution"". Today he called for further protests against President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and the Egyptian military, which critics accuse of corruption and mismanagement. Ali is hoping for mass rallies with one million participants in central locations in the country."

In any case, the security authorities are alarmed. An increased police presence was already observed in the center of Cairo. Several subway stations remained closed and streets around central Tahrir Square were closed. In the past few days, the police had intensified their roadside checks and partially searched pedestrians' cell phones for news and photos related to the protests.

On September 20, the demonstrators also gathered around Tahrir Square.

"Last weekend there were protests in Cairo, Alexandria, Suez and Mansura with hundreds of participants. There had been no such open protest in Egypt in years. The security forces reacted correspondingly harshly. According to the human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW), almost 2,000 people have been arrested since last week. Many of them were arbitrarily arrested - just because they were ""in the wrong place at the wrong time"", HRW said, citing lawyers."

The organization also criticized the censorship in the North African country. The government in Cairo is blocking websites and online services to stop further protests against al-Sisi. The general has ruled the country since 2013 after overthrowing democratically elected Islamist President Mohammed Mursi. Thousands of Islamists, opponents of the government, bloggers and activists have been detained and partially sentenced in recent years.

"Polar explorer Arved Fuchs returned from his Greenland expedition on Friday. When he arrived in the port of Hamburg, he was greeted by skipper Boris Herrmann, who had brought climate activist Greta Thunberg across the Atlantic with the racing yacht ""Malizia""."

"In the past few months, Fuchs and a team of scientists had investigated and documented the effects of global warming on his sailing ship ""Dagmar Aaen"" on the coasts of Iceland and Greenland."

The Fridays for Future movement is a blessing, the polar researcher said. He had waited for years for the young generation to speak up. It has been known for decades that the earth is warming up. Nevertheless, many acted as if there was a planet B.

"""What happens at sea often takes place in camera,"" Fuchs said. He and his team wanted to inform people about the effects of global warming and the pollution of the oceans. During the expedition, Greenland glacier ice was measured with a drone and fished with microplastic nets, it was said."

"The polar researcher from Bad Bramstedt was honored with the ""Seadevcon Maritime Award"" for his ""struggle for sustainable and respectful use of the world's oceans"" as part of Hamburg's Climate Week. ""Arved Fuchs is a great role model for all of us who care about the survival of the oceans,"" said skipper Boris Herrmann at the award ceremony. ""He is a witness to the changes that have taken place in the Arctic in the past few decades."""

430 euros for two plates of spaghetti with fish in a simple restaurant near the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome: that seemed too much for two Japanese tourists. The bill with a tip of 80 euros was paid by the two women, but they posted the receipt on Facebook, which triggered heated reactions.

"""Such cases damage Rome's reputation. We ask the police to investigate whether this is a fraud,"" said a spokesman for Federagit, the association of travel guides in Rome, according to the Roman daily Il Messaggero (Friday edition)."

The reaction of the owners of the restaurant came promptly. The Japanese owner justified herself that the Japanese not only ordered spaghetti, but also fresh fish. However, this is not apparent from the invoice. A tip of up to 20 percent of the bill is also normal, said the innkeeper.

A call to Ukraine and everything is broken? After the turbulent revelations of the past few days, US President Donald Trump could actually be faced with impeachment proceedings, and the Democrats now want to examine this with their investigation in the House of Representatives as soon as possible - there are weeks before a decision would be taken.

At the beginning of the scandal there is supposedly a telephone call with the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj. The whistleblower's allegation, which ultimately brought the conversation out of concern for national security and democracy in the United States with his complaint, is monstrous: the president has misused the power of his office to represent another country's government for one Instrumentalizing influence on the 2020 election. He exploited Ukraine's dependency in a blackmail manner and wanted to force it to take action against a political opponent.

The essence of this project can also be seen in the transcript of the conversation with Selenskyj that has since been published, although it does not reproduce the full text. But the phone call on July 25 is only one episode of a much larger story, centered on Trump and above all on his personal lawyer: Rudy Giuliani.

"The story starts from a public perspective in May 2019 when the New York Times reports on Rudy Giuliani's travel plans to Ukraine. He wants to meet the newly elected President Selenskyj in Kiev, and the lawyer knows very well that his intentions are delicate. ""We do not interfere in an election, we interfere in an investigation of what we have the right to do,"" he told the newspaper. You'd think it was inappropriate, but ""there's nothing illegal about it."" Giuliani wants Ukraine to be followed up by investigations for which there is hardly any basis - ""because this information will be very, very helpful for my client and could prove helpful to my government""."

The lawyer and former Mayor of New York seems to have been infected with right-wing conspiracy fantasies that are fixed on Trump's opponent in the 2016 election: Hillary Clinton had conspired with actors in Ukraine, critics said at the time, for a reason for the Russia investigation to construct the United States. However, this charge was never to be taken seriously.

This is exactly the investigation that Trump will talk to Selenskyj so prominently on the phone in July. Giuliani's and the President's version reads: Former Vice President and currently promising candidate for the Democratic presidential candidacy, Joe Biden, as the Obama administration's Ukraine commissioner, pushed for the dismissal of the Ukrainian Attorney General at the time, Victor Shokin. To stop the investigation he was responsible for for the gas company on which his son Hunter Biden was a member. Biden senior financially blackmailed Ukraine to cover up his family's corrupt dealings.

In fact, the process was a little different. When Joe Biden demanded that the Ukrainian attorney general go, the investigation into the gas company was complete, and Hunter Biden was never directly affected. Schokin was also accused of profoundly corrupt conduct, and the US government was by no means the only western partner to press for his release. The Obama administration even explicitly supported the investigation into the company.

Disruptions on Instagram Facebook and Whatsapp: Social media are down

Users worldwide report massive disruptions on Instagram and Facebook. According to this, Germany, Great Britain and Spain are particularly affected. On the website allestault.de users report that Facebook has not been loading since around 3:30 p.m. Instagram also issues the error message that content could not be loaded. Whatsapp also appears to be affected by the disruption, although not to the same extent so far.

It is not the first massive accident this year. The services had already been down for several hours in March and July. And as in the previous cases, users mainly use Twitter this time to vent their anger.

The Chilean Air Force rescued three Polish scientists from the Antarctic ice. They were on a rubber dinghy and miles from their base when their engine failed. They were lucky in disaster - the Chilean rescue helicopter took less than an hour to recover.

"""At 9:30 a.m. we received the news, we started shortly before ten and a good 20 minutes later we were over the rubber dinghy."""

Poland has been operating the Henryk Arctowski Polish Antarctic Station on King George Island since 1977, 19 scientists work there. The frozen researchers were safely brought back to their research station.

Inductive technology via the Qi standard is extremely practical, but should not be used.

Since several new smartphones have recently come onto the market that support wireless charging and sell very well - especially the new iPhone 11 models, we would like to recall a study from the beginning of July. Wireless charging of mobile devices is extremely practical, but not recommended.

Researchers warn of wireless charging of smartphones. According to the findings of the University of Warwick, this is extremely harmful for the devices. The reason for this is the significantly greater heat development. If you charge a cell phone normally using a cable, the battery heats up to 27 degrees within three hours. With wireless charging, however, the researchers have always measured over 30 degrees even with the smartphone perfectly aligned on the charging pad. The temperature rises even higher if the cell phone is lying next to the coil. In addition, the wattage of the charging pad increases, which in turn drives up electricity consumption.

According to the researchers, temperature is a crucial factor for the durability of batteries. Every degree plays a role here. When charging at higher temperatures, the battery not only loses capacity, it also does not last as long overall. The lifespan is therefore shorter. The researchers therefore recommend that you always charge the smartphone via cable. Since replacing the battery in modern smartphones is always associated with high costs, this should be a helpful tip. Apple recently increased the cost of replacing the battery even more - for all iPhones.

The technology is extremely convenient: Simply place the device on an appropriate charging pad - these are already installed in many restaurants, airports, hotels and cars - and the battery is charged without the hassle of cable clutter and tedious plugging. Since Qi (stands for inductive energy transfer) has become a worldwide standard, which Apple even participates in, there are hardly any restrictions. However, according to the researchers, the technology should only be used in exceptional cases.

Everest traffic jam photographer: 13 eight-thousanders in six months

A Nepalese mountaineer claims to have climbed 13 of the 14 highest mountains in the world within just six months. Nirmal Purja (36) reached the top of Manaslu in Nepal and set a record, said his expedition organizer.

"The former soldier wants to climb all 14 eight-thousanders in seven months. Purja calls his project ""Mission Possible"". He has already made international headlines: a spring photo of mountaineers standing in line on Mount Everest comes from him."

The image of the mass influx triggered a debate about stronger security measures on the 8848 meter high mountain and the highest peak on earth. In May, eleven climbers died climbing within a few days.

Climbing the 14th eight-thousanders could be a problem for Purja: Chinese authorities are currently blocking Xixabangma mountain in Tibet. One of the reasons for this is bad weather. At the beginning of the week, Purja wrote on Twitter that the Nepalese government wanted to speak to China to enable him to rise.

"A police spokesman said on Friday that there was a pregnant elephant cow among the dead animals. ""We suspect that the elephants were poisoned""."

The four carcasses were found in a protected area near the famous Sigiriya rock fortress, which was visited by many tourists. According to the police spokesman, the animals were probably between 15 and 25 years old. An autopsy was ordered to determine the cause of death.

Nearly 200 elephants are killed in Sri Lanka every year. The perpetrators are often farmers on whose land the animals had previously been harmless. At the same time, around 50 people are killed by elephants each year. This usually happens when the animals roam through villages built near their habitat.

It is estimated that only around 7,000 elephants are left in Sri Lanka. Theoretically, the death penalty is based on their killing.

"The British oil tanker ""Stena Impero"" leaves the port city of Bandar Abbas more than two months after being fixed by Iran. This was announced by the Bandar Abbas Maritime Office, according to the IRNA news agency. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards had arrested the British-flagged tanker on July 19 on charges of violating maritime law in the Persian Gulf."

"The responsible business committee of the lower house wants to investigate the bankruptcy of the travel giant Thomas Cook. This should include the salary packages of the board of directors as well as the question of why the British government did not want to financially support the struggling company. ""We are interested in supervision in the company as well as control by external auditors,"" said committee chair Rachel Reeves in London. ""Apparently we are dealing with a bad example of management greed""."

According to experts, genes in bowel cancer risk are overestimated

The role of genes in the family's increased risk of colon cancer has apparently been overestimated. This is the conclusion reached by researchers from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) Heidelberg in a recent study. Other risk factors such as family eating habits are therefore likely to outweigh those previously thought. The DKFZ scientists emphasize that this has consequences for calculations of the individual colorectal cancer risk.

"Musk wrote this in an email to Tesla employees published on Thursday (local time) by the industry blog ""Electrek"". The demand is strong, so Tesla could book 110,000 orders, it said in Musk's circular."

The challenge is to get the cars to customers quickly. To do this, Tesla had to provide as many resources as possible at the end of the quarter.

Investors liked the information: Tesla's shares closed trading with a plus of over six percent. The course has not increased so much in almost four months. Tesla delivered a good 95,000 cars in the second quarter, achieving its best ever.

British government wants to circumvent Brexit law? Johnson reluctant

Prime Minister Boris Johnson remains silent about whether he is looking for ways to circumvent the law recently passed by Parliament against an unregulated Brexit. When asked a question on Friday, he only told journalists that his government would abide by the law.

"The law stipulates that the government must request a postponement of the withdrawal date if no agreement with the EU is reached by mid-October. Johnson criticizes this as a ""surrender law"" that complicates negotiations with the EU."

"Former British Prime Minister John Major said Thursday that Johnson could try to use ""political harassment"" to circumvent the law. Johnson could use a procedural trick that postponed the entry into force of the law until after the EU exit."

"Johnson said he was looking for a contract with the European Union. ""We are confident that we will leave the EU on October 31st and the best way is by agreement."""

"Iranian President Hassan Rohani has increased pressure on European contracting parties in the dispute over the rescue of the historic nuclear agreement. ""Unfortunately, European countries show inability or unwillingness to take concrete action,"" Rohani said Thursday at a press conference on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. In the event that they did not deliver on their promises, he announced ""further steps"" away from the agreements of the laboriously negotiated agreement of 2015."

"The background to this is the conflict over the international agreement to prevent an Iranian atomic bomb, which in return contained a promise to Tehran to normalize economic relations. The United States single-handedly stepped out of the agreement in 2018 in order to force Iran with ""maximum pressure"" to change course in the aggressive Middle East policy. The government of President Donald Trump wants to negotiate a new agreement with stricter conditions and is now back on tough sanctions against Tehran. Iran recently responded by restarting the contracted uranium enrichment."

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed in a report that the Islamic Republic now uses the centrifuges installed at the beginning of September with uranium, or at least has prepared them for use. According to the IAEA, Iran is also preparing to set up more than 300 additional centrifuges.

Perhaps the Europeans were not ready to carry their part of the deal and therefore left the Iranians alone with the cost and burden of oppressive US sanctions, Rohani speculated. However, there would still be further talks that hopefully would provide a solution.

Rohani continues to deny Iran's involvement in attacks in Saudi Arabia

"However, the situation changed after an attack on an important oil plant in Saudi Arabia in mid-September: Germany, France and Great Britain followed on Monday the US assessment that Tehran was responsible for the attack. The Houthi rebels in Yemen, which had been supported by Iran, originally claimed responsibility for the attack, but the United States considered the false confession. ""We have nothing to do with it,"" Rohani confirmed on Wednesday."

"""Those who make such allegations have to provide evidence,"" said Rohani. However, the European leaders could not have done this in talks with him during the UN general debate. Instead, they just claimed that the rebels in Yemen could not launch an attack like this. Rohani has met with Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the past few days."

"Rohani demanded that the far-reaching sanctions imposed by the US administration be lifted before possible talks with US President Trump. He urged the Washington government to switch to a ""dialogue and reason"" policy."

Astronomers are currently observing a comet from deep space. That only worked before. The comet allows conclusions to be drawn about other solar systems.

What was initially only a guess is now confirmed: an interstellar guest crosses through our solar system. The comet from deep space was named 2I / Borisov after its discoverer and aroused the interest of astronomers around the world.

The widely traveled comet was discovered on August 30 by amateur astronomer Gennadi Borissow at the Margo Observatory in Crimea - with a self-made telescope with a diameter of 65 centimeters. Follow-up observations from various observatories not only confirmed that it was an unknown comet, but also showed that it did not originate from our solar system.

After 1I / 'Oumuamua from 2017, 2I / Borisov is only the second interstellar object that was spotted during a flight through our solar system.

"2I / Borisov offers astronomers the rare chance to get a close-up look at an alien solar system before it disappears again. Initial observations show that the interstellar comet is similar to that of our own system, as reported by the Canary Islands Astrophysical Institute. ""The current speed of the comet is high, around 150,000 kilometers per hour, which is far above the typical speeds of objects orbiting the sun,"" said Davide Farnocchia of the US space agency Nasa in a message."

According to the analyzes, the comet is traveling on a so-called hyperbolic orbit, which leads it out of our system - and clearly of interstellar origin, as announced by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). It is also responsible for naming and categorizing celestial bodies. In honor of its discoverer, the interstellar tail star, which was initially listed under catalog number C / 2019 Q4, was given the designation 2I / Borisov, with the first part of the name indicating that it is the second interstellar object that has been discovered in our solar system.

"The astronomers are lucky: In contrast to 1I / 'Oumuamua, 2I / Borisov was already sighted on the approach. This leaves researchers with many months to study. ""The object will reach maximum brightness in mid-December and will then be seen with medium-sized telescopes until April 2020,"" said Farnocchia. ""After that, it will only be observable with larger, professional telescopes until October 2020""."

Several observatories have already targeted the visitor. For example, a team led by Karen Meech from the University of Hawaii, who had already led the characterization of 1I / 'Oumuamua, determined the diameter of the celestial object over a distance of 2 to 16 kilometers. Images from the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii show a clear tail of the comet.

"Researchers at the Astrophysical Institute of the Canary Islands (IAC) have already gained a first so-called spectrum from the interstellar tail star, which offers a kind of fingerprint of its chemical composition. ""The spectrum of this object is similar to that of comets in our solar system, and this indicates that their composition must be similar,"" said IAC researcher Julia de León. This observation suggests that comets in other solar systems could form through processes similar to ours, added de León's colleague Javier Licandro."

According to the IAU, the discovery of two interstellar visitors within just two years suggests that these objects could open up a new way of researching certain processes in other solar systems. How frequent such flying visits are, however, is still difficult to estimate. A planned satellite mission of the European space agency Esa could possibly intercept one of the next interstellar visitors.

"The agency plans to station the three-part ""Comet Interceptor"" spacecraft in a waiting position 1.5 million kilometers from Earth by 2028. According to Esa science director Günther Hasinger, it should either be waiting for an untouched, fresh comet from our own solar system, or for an interstellar visitor like 1I / 'Oumuamua."

The time has come just in time for the 70th birthday of the People's Republic: the first China United Airlines passenger plane has landed at the new mega-airport in the south of the Chinese capital, a special honor for the captain and crew.

"By 2022, around 45 million passengers will be handled at the new airport every year, and by 2025 it will be 72 million. Chinese President Xi Jinping personally announced the opening of the 450 billion project. China's most recent prestige project is also called ""starfish"" because of its six-armed building structure."

The complex has four runways that will later be expanded to seven and is equipped with the world's largest automatic air traffic management system. A new underground new subway transports passengers to downtown Beijing in just 20 minutes.

During the construction, the Chinese had already announced several times that Berlin could learn from Beijing. The opening of the - and much smaller - capital airport in Germany, which has been under construction since 2006, has been postponed so far. In Beijing, on the other hand, the first passenger plane landed after four years.

New supersonic aircraft to fly in 2030: in four and a half hours from London to Sydney

"From London to Sydney in just four and a half hours - that's what the UK space agency dreams of. The US broadcaster CNN quoted the agency as saying that this special propulsion system (Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine, Saber), which the company Reaction Engines from Oxfordshire is developing, is intended to make this supersonic flight aimed for the 2030s possible. ""This is the technology that could definitely do that,"" agency chief Graham Turnock told the broadcaster. ""We are talking about the 2030s for commissioning, and the work is already very advanced""."

"In order to advance the project, the British space agency wants to work more closely with the Australian. A flight from the British capital to the Australian metropolis currently takes around 20 hours. The Concorde was the only supersonic aircraft for passenger transport to have covered the New York-Paris route from 1976 until it ceased operation in 2003, taking three to three and a half hours to do so. In 2000, an accident occurred at the start of a Concorde at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, in which all 109 occupants were killed. Last year, the US aircraft manufacturer Lockheed Martin announced plans to develop a supersonic aircraft, the ""X-Plane"", together with the US space agency Nasa. Virgin Galactic also has such developments in its program."

"""Saber will make the world smaller with its high-speed point-to-point transport,"" Reaction Engines writes on its website, among other things. The Saber drive could be used for efficient travel at a speed of Mach 5 - that means five times as fast as the sound. In addition, such aircraft can also be used outside the earth's atmosphere and thus enable the ""next generation of truly reusable creamer devices""."

Turmoil in Washington: Trump wants to track down anonymous tipsters in the Ukraine affair

Donald Trump wants to track down possible leaks in the White House in the Ukraine affair about possible abuse of power by the US President.

"""I want to know who gave the information to the whistleblower,"" Trump said on Thursday before US embassy staff at the United Nations in New York. The person concerned is almost ""a spy"" and they were dealt with ""a little differently"" in the past than today."

This was seen as an attempt to intimidate tipsters. The event was actually not open to the public. However, several US media released audio recordings of the speech on Friday. Democrats were outraged at the President's testimony.

The House of Representatives Democrats announced Tuesday that it was preparing to impeach Trump. Their allegations are based primarily on the written complaint of an anonymous secret service agent who makes serious accusations against Trump and his government headquarters. The information given by the whistleblower was made public on Thursday following great public pressure.

"As part of his work, the whistleblower claims to have received information from several government officials that the US president ""uses the power of his office"" to get another country to intervene in his favor in the 2020 US election."

At the heart of the allegations is a controversial phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj at the end of July, in which Trump encouraged his counterparts to investigate which could harm his political rival Joe Biden. This relates to Biden's son Hunter's previous business in Ukraine and alleged efforts to protect his offspring from the Ukrainian judiciary. Biden is at the forefront in the race for the 2020 presidential nomination.

The whistleblower also accused the White House of covering up with regard to the Ukraine phone call: leading government officials had tried to keep the exact wording of the conversation under cover. As usual, an electronic wording protocol had been prepared. According to legal experts from the White House, this was removed from a database provided for this purpose after the interview and was instead stored in a specially protected system. So far, only a rough record of the conversation has been published.

The identity of the whistleblower is not publicly known. The New York Times reported that it was a CIA foreign intelligence officer.

"Trump again questioned the source's credibility on Friday. In a series of tweets on the subject, the president wrote, among other things, that the ""so-called whistleblower"" had spread second-hand information that had turned out to be incorrect. Therefore, there may be no tipsters or spies at all."

How Trump expressed himself in New York about those who are said to have leaked information to the whistleblower, but caused outrage. The House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, was concerned and complained that Trump's testimony once again undermined the government's integrity.

In the House of Representatives, various investigations against Trump and his environment have been ongoing in various committees for months. In the face of the Ukraine allegations, the Democrats are now pushing ahead with new force to initiate impeachment proceedings against Trump.

"""The whistleblower gave us a road map for our investigation,"" said Adam Schiff, the chief secretary in the House of Representatives. Trump attacked Schiff sharply, accused him of misrepresenting things, and again called for the chairman's resignation. Trump regularly abuses ship and had called for its withdrawal months ago."

"More than 300 former US government officials from the security and foreign affairs sector, most of whom worked under democratic but also under Republican presidents, backed the investigation launched by the Democrats for a possible impeachment process in a statement released on Friday. If the allegations are true, it would be ""an unscrupulous abuse of power"" by Trump, it said."

There is no exact schedule for the further procedure. With a majority in the House of Representatives, the Democrats could try a so-called impeachment procedure. The decision about an actual impeachment would be made in the Senate, where Trumps Republicans have the majority. The chances of success of such a procedure are therefore slim. So far, no US president has been removed through an office impeachment process.

The VW brand plans to further reduce production costs could have a negative impact on production in Germany and Europe. This concern concerns the car manufacturer's works council. The brand plans to cut its annual factory costs by two billion euros from ten billion euros by 2023. Of this, 500 million euros are to be saved this year.

"Personnel costs are a key to this. The ""Future Pact"" negotiated between the company and the works council in 2016 already provides for the reduction of 14,000 jobs in Germany alone by 2020. Basically the following applies: A job at the car manufacturer can only be reduced if it is proven that the related activities are no longer necessary. In addition, employment protection will apply until 2029."

"As our newspaper has now learned from the works council circles, however, jobs in production that are not actually available are ""slinkingly"" cut in another way - that is, bypassing the official course. In this way, vacant regular jobs would often not be filled."

"In these cases, the works council has no way of forcing the staff to be reappointed. In the meantime, there is a shortage of staff in many places, the workload is increasing, and the worries about a gradual bleeding of the vehicle plants are increasing. This also increases the fear that vehicle production could gradually be withdrawn from Germany and Europe because it is cheaper in other parts of the world. VW only said: ""As agreed, the employment volume will be adjusted socially in line with the demographic curve""."

"The VW brand wants to standardize production even more worldwide and control new projects centrally. This is also intended to reduce costs and accelerate decisions - the goal is to increase productivity and thus competitiveness. Production director Andreas Tostmann said at a manager conference in Berlin: ""Especially in uncertain times from Brexit to the impending trade war between the USA and China, we are well advised to make ourselves crisis-proof""."

There are already successes in this way: For example, for the first time since 2013, the production costs per vehicle would decrease compared to the previous year. Tostmann told journalists that the production time for the Golf 8, which will be presented on October 24 in Wolfsburg, will be reduced by 1.1 hours. VW does not give exact figures on the production time, according to information from our newspaper it is around 7 for the Golf 7

The Wolfsburg parent plant is the only VW factory in our region where vehicles are produced. The Braunschweig and Salzgitter plants manufacture components. The internal rule of thumb for Wolfsburg is that 800,000 cars have to be built there annually so that the plant is satisfactorily profitable. In 2018, however, the utilization in Wolfsburg was only around 700,000 vehicles - due to the falling diesel demand and the problems with the changeover to the new consumption and exhaust gas test method WLTP.

As production director Tostmann announced last year, one million cars should roll off the assembly line in Wolfsburg. This should make it possible to bundle the golf production in the main plant - because the Zwickau plant will hand over the golf production by converting it to the location for e-car production.

The SUV Tiguan and Tarraco (Seat) are also produced in Wolfsburg. However, sales of Golf and Tiguan have recently declined. As a result, expectations now rest on the Golf 8. Despite all efforts to develop e-mobility, it should remain Wolfsburg's bread and butter car for the time being.

Young women from Nigeria are sworn in oaths, smuggled into the Ruhr area and forced into prostitution. Six alleged human traffickers have to go to prison for this.

Six suspected Nigerian traffickers were sentenced to probation and prison terms of up to eight years and three months in Bochum on Friday. The accused had smuggled young women from Nigeria into the Ruhr area and forced them into prostitution. In order to enforce their obedience, the Nigerians willing to leave had to take a ritual oath in front of a voodoo priest at home.

The victims were between 17 and 22 years old. They were brought across the Mediterranean with the help of Libyan smugglers in rubber boats. However, the dream of a better future was not fulfilled. When they arrived in Germany, they were distributed to various brothels in order to process the alleged smuggling costs of an average of 25,000 euros. The wages were therefore completely taken from them.

"The accused - four men and two women - admitted the smuggling and subsequent distribution of the young Nigerian women to brothels in the trial. ""The work was physically and mentally difficult for the women,"" said judge Isabel Hoffmann when the verdict was pronounced. ""Some were really disgusted""."

The judgments are on commercial and gang-based smuggling of foreigners, human trafficking, pimping and heavy forced prostitution.

In the ongoing dispute with the Lufthansa Group, the flight attendants' union Ufo has again threatened strikes.

"If the company does not return to the negotiating table, the union will ""inform on October 14 about industrial action in the LH group,"" said UFO collective board member Daniel Flohr on Friday. Lufthansa and its subsidiary Eurowings have been refusing to conduct collective bargaining with the UFO for months. This also involves the question of whether the union has lawfully terminated collective agreements with Lufthansa."

"On this point, Ufo now sees itself strengthened after a decision by the Frankfurt Labor Court. Lufthansa wanted to ascertain that the collective agreements had not been terminated. The court rejected the applications. The company confirmed the decision and is considering appeal. ""I think it is unlikely that a second court will see things completely differently,"" said UFO board member Flohr."

In August, Lufthansa also submitted an application to the Landesarbeitsgericht Frankfurt to have the status of the UFO as a union judicially reviewed. The company argues that the union has not had a board of directors authorized to represent the company for months and is therefore unable to fulfill its role as a collective bargaining partner.

This was preceded by a violent leadership dispute in the divisional union, in the course of which numerous members of the board and the advisory board resigned, including the longtime union chief Nicoley Baublies. Due to doubts about its management, the UFO had suspended an initial vote on strikes by cabin staff at Eurowings at the end of July.

So far, Saudi Arabia has not been well known as an international tourist magnet. But that should change now. The country on the Persian Gulf wants to introduce new visa regulations.

Saudi Arabia plans to attract more international tourists in the future with a new visa system. The tourism commission announced that the number of international and domestic visitors would increase to 100 million per year by 2030.

"""The opening of Saudi Arabia to international tourists is a historic moment for our country,"" said the Chairman of the Tourism Commission, Ahmad Al-Chatib."

Saudi Arabia has so far been difficult for tourists to access. Visas are usually only issued for short business trips, religious pilgrimages or visits with relatives in the desert state. With the new rules, the arch-conservative kingdom hopes to generate more income from the tourism business. According to its own statement, Riyadh wants to reduce its dependence on oil trading.

In mid-September, several missiles and drones struck two of the most important oil plants in eastern Saudi Arabia: the country's largest oil refinery in Abkaik and the Churais oil field. As a result, national oil production slumped, oil prices soared. It will take several weeks for the Kingdom's oil production to return to its old level.

Singer Justin Bieber (25) and his wife Hailey (22) are preparing for their wedding party. The model posted several party photos in her Instagram Stories on Thursday (local time), in which she can be seen in the white wedding look. Reality star Kendall Jenner (23) and others had organized a hen night in Los Angeles, according to People magazine.

"Justin posted several colorful, including banana-printed suits on Instagram and asked his followers: ""Help me choose my tuxedo for the wedding"". According to media reports, the celebrity couple wants to marry in church next weekend."

The Biebers said yes in a New York registry office a year ago. At that time there was no bigger festival.

"In an interview with Australian Vogue, Hailey recently said that after initial problems, the two had found a common level: ""If you don't want to compromise, you can't have a relationship."""

Two people died in the crash of a small plane in the west of the Czech Republic. The wreck was discovered on Friday in a forest area near the city of Mecin (Metschin), the police said. The dead were a 38 year old woman and a 64 year old man.

The authorities had been looking for the machine since Thursday evening after the crew had given an emergency signal via GPS. A military helicopter was also used in the search. The cause of the accident has yet to be determined. The crash site is around 30 kilometers south of Pilsen (Plzen) and 100 kilometers northeast of Regensburg.

In addition to pests, diseases, alien species, unsustainable logging and the growth of cities are also causes of the threat, the World Conservation Union IUCN reported on Friday in Brussels. It has examined the stocks of all 454 tree species known in Europe. 265 of them are not found on any other continent. 58 percent of these 265 are threatened. 66 would already be at the highest level of risk and thus before extinction.

"The IUCN divides endangered species into six categories: from ""potentially endangered"" to ""endangered"", ""endangered"", ""threatened with extinction"" and ""extinct in nature"" to ""extinct"". In total, it lists more than 28,000 animal and plant species worldwide as endangered."

"In Germany, mountain ash (Sorbus) is particularly threatened, said one of the authors, David Allen, the German Press Agency. ""Most are threatened because the populations are small anyway, or because of the transformation or weakening of their habitats."""

"It also looks bad for the wild horse-chestnuts. They have been considered ""at risk"" since stage two of the IUCN scale. The greatest threat besides a fungus is the Balkan leaf miner. It has spread from south-east Europe across the continent since the 1980s and has hardly any natural enemies. IUCN estimates the number of wild horse chestnuts (Aesculus hippocastanum) in Europe to be less than 10,000 specimens. The trees in cities, parks and avenues are not included in this assessment."

The IUCN scientists also created new European red lists for molluscs, shrubs and mosses. According to the IUCN, more than a fifth of molluscs and mosses and almost half of all shrub species are threatened. This is mainly due to the destruction of the wilderness, introduced species, agricultural practices and climate change. Molluscs like snails played a key role in the recycling of nutrients in the soil and were an important food source for birds and other animals.

"""This report shows that the situation is precarious for many overlooked and underestimated species, species that form the backbone of the European ecosystem and contribute to a healthy planet,"" said Luc Bas, IUCN director of the Europe office. ""We need to limit human impact on our ecosystems and make protecting these species a priority."""

34 people were injured in the recent earthquake in Turkey. According to the information, there were no deaths. Dozens of people should have left their homes and 14 schools in Istanbul had been closed for security reasons, Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said on Friday.

Hundreds of buildings have been damaged. There have been almost 200 aftershocks since the quake the previous day. The 5.8 magnitude earthquake had shaken the Marmara region off Istanbul on Thursday and triggered panic in the metropolis.

Now the government wants to set up a commission to prepare the country better for earthquakes in the future, announced Oktay. In the past 20 years, Turkey has not been adequately prepared for earthquakes, said Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.

Istanbul is considered to be particularly vulnerable to earthquakes. Under the Sea of ​​Marmara lies a section of the so-called North Anatolian fault, which marks the border between the Eurasian and the Anatolian earth plate.

One of the worst quakes was a 7.6 magnitude near Istanbul in 1999. The epicenter was then in Gölcük southeast of Istanbul. More than 17,000 people lost their lives.

A magnitude 4.6 quake had already shaken the region around Istanbul on Tuesday. The authorities called on residents to stay away from damaged buildings.

Super Bowl 2020: Jennifer Lopez (JLo) and Shakira appear on the halftime show

"Latin pop singers Jennifer Lopez and Shakira will head the halftime show of the next American football final, Super Bowl. The singers announced on Twitter. ""It won't get any bigger,"" Shakira wrote on a photo of himself and Lopez. She is extremely excited to be on the Super Bowl stage. On February 2, 2020 it will be ready in Miami."

"Jennifer Lopez said that she had dreamed of appearing at the Super Bowl since 1996 - at that time she saw Diana Ross flying in the sky at the half-time show. ""Now it's even more special because the NFL is 100 years old and I'm going to perform with another Latina."" They couldn't wait to ""show what we girls can do on the biggest stage in the world""."

"Shakira said in a statement that she was honored to stand alongside another artist on one of the largest stages worldwide and represent Latinos and Latinas from the United States and around the world. ""And then also on my birthday!"" The main sponsor of the event wrote on Twitter that it was the first time that the two ""queens"" were standing together on a stage."

Shakira is from Colombia. Jennifer Lopez was born in New York, her parents come from Puerto Rico.

The Super Bowl is the highlight of the American football season. The game and halftime show are among the most watched TV broadcasts in the United States. Even if you have recently dropped the number of viewers: This February, the spectacle in the USA attracted the fewest viewers in more than ten years. Even so, there were still almost a hundred million people on average.

There had been turmoil in advance of the half-time show of the previous Super Bowl: According to media reports, top stars like Rihanna, Pink and Cardi B did not appear in the dispute over dealing with quarterback Colin Kaepernick last February. Finally, the pop group Maroon 5 led the halftime show - the reviews were not very friendly.

Kaepernick, then quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, had fallen on his knees in the 2016/17 season before the NFL games at the national anthem in protest against police violence and racism. With his protest Kaepernick triggered a movement, numerous players took over the gesture. This caused great excitement, US President Donald Trump sharply attacked the mostly African-American football stars. Kaepernick has been without a club since March 2017 and has not played an NFL game anymore. He accuses the clubs of not wanting to hire him for political reasons.

"According to a press report, some banks may face the bankruptcy of travel provider Thomas Cook. There is a risk of high write-downs on outstanding bonds and loans. Credit Suisse is also affected by this, writes the ""Financial Times"" in its Friday edition."

Banks such as Barclays, Morgan Stanley, UniCredit or Credit Suisse would probably have to write down a total of up to £ 1.8 billion (around € 2 billion) on their books, the report said. That would have shown estimates of the consulting firm AlixPartners.

Borrowers would have to put up with write-downs of £ 900m to £ 1bn and lenders between £ 550m and £ 825m. The amounts actually to be written off are more likely to be at the upper end of the range, an expert told the paper.

"How big the losses of the creditors will actually be in the end will be shown after the bankruptcy proceedings. A person close to this process did not radiate much hope. For example, the approximately 40 planes of Thomas Cook in Great Britain are ""old"" and many of the properties are in bad locations. The most money can probably be got out by selling the airport slots and the Thomas Cook brand, it said."

"Sea Watch captain Carola Rackete may have brought men to Italy who are said to have tortured and killed people in Libya. ""We cannot rule this out, but we have no reliable information ourselves,"" said the spokesman for the refugee organization Sea-Watch, Ruben Neugebauer, the dpa news agency."

"Other migrants would have recognized the three men in Italy. They are accused of raping, torturing and killing people in Libya. The alleged perpetrators were arrested in the reception center in Messina, Italy. Neugebauer emphasized that the refugee organizations could not check who they were letting on their ships. ""They come without passports""."

Carola Rackete had illegally brought migrants to the port of Lampedusa on June 29, ramming a ship belonging to the Italian financial police. The three suspects are said to have arrived there that day. The captain is under investigation for aid to illegal immigration.

The head of the US Internet agency Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Ajit Pai, has warned the federal government against trusting the Chinese network supplier Huawei.

"We believe that the risks are too great, ""Pai told the"" Handelsblatt ""with regard to the establishment of the new 5G mobile network."

"China has a ""national security law"" that requires every company ""under Chinese jurisdiction"" to follow instructions from the security organs."

"The current law also prohibits companies from informing third parties about such requests, ""the FCC chief continued. This makes it very difficult to have confidence in the integrity of technical equipment and services."

"The federal government has now agreed to require suppliers to provide a ""declaration of trust""."

"Berlin initially wants to try to control the risks, for example with technical solutions, reports the ""Handelsblatt"", citing its own information."

Pai doubts that this is possible. 5G technology is not just hardware:

"The software in particular is important to keep the devices up to date. This software is made up of billions of lines of code that change over time, ""said Pai."

"It was ""very difficult to imagine"" that a government agency, ""wherever, would be able to check each and every update in real time to identify security risks,"" the FCC chief continued."

He accuses the Chinese company Huawei of close contacts with the Chinese state apparatus:

"The ownership structure is opaque. The employee company that the company supposedly owns is not necessarily independent of the government, ""Pai told Handelsblatt."

The United States had knowledge that government employees were placed within the company. Pai recently went to Berlin for talks to promote the position of the United States.

During the night, residents hear explosions. A gigantic wall of fire illuminates the sky over a chemical plant in northern France. The fire is extinguished after hours - the clean-up work could now take days.

After a fire in a chemical plant in the northern French city of Rouen on Thursday, the schools and crèches in the region remain closed.

As a precaution, the facilities in twelve municipalities would not open on Friday, the responsible prefecture said. The Home Office had asked citizens to stay in buildings as much as possible and not to smoke. There were no injuries. Farmers and breeders were asked to bring their animals indoors, to protect their feed and to stop harvesting for the time being.

The fire was completely extinguished on Thursday evening, as the prefecture announced. There is still a risk that smell will spread after the extinguishing, says the prefecture on Twitter. According to the prefecture, 240 firefighters and 90 police and gendarmes were deployed to the site of the fire.

A gigantic black column of smoke had previously risen from the chemical plant. French media reported huge flames and explosions at the Lubrizol factory, which makes additives for oils. The production facility is located a few kilometers from the city center.

According to the authorities, the Normandy factory belongs to the so-called Seveso category of dangerous locations that are subject to special surveillance. A devastating chemical accident occurred in 1976 in Seveso near Milan in Italy.

"The prefect of the Normandy region, Pierre-André Durand, told the news broadcaster BFMTV that initially no ""high toxicity"" was found in samples. Soiling of the nearby Seine cannot be ruled out. Dams against pollution have been built in the river, the prefecture said."

The fire broke out in the early morning at 2:40 a.m., the authorities reported. The cause initially remained unclear. Rouen is a regional metropolis and is located on the Seine between Paris and the port city of Le Havre.

French Minister of Economics and Finance Bruno Le Maire has called on Germany to make major investments to boost economic growth in the euro area.

"Germany must invest now, the sooner the better, ""said Le Maire on Thursday evening when the French budget was presented for the coming year."

"We cannot wait until the economic situation worsens to make the necessary decisions. """

Those states that have budgetary scope for more investment would have to act, said Le Maire, among other things, with regard to Germany.

"France did not have this leeway, the minister added, referring to his country's high level of public debt. This is more than 98 percent of the gross domestic product. French national debt must be ""stabilized"" and ""reduced"", said Le Maire."

In recent years, France has repeatedly received appeals from Germany to make more public investments in order to stimulate the European economy. In return, German politicians have repeatedly asked France to get their budget deficit under control.

The French budget for 2020 presented on Thursday provides for tax breaks of more than nine billion euros for households.

The French government is responding to the protests of the yellow vest movement, among other things. New debt should decrease to 2.2 percent, after an expected 3.1 percent this year.

Is he still trying to trick ?: Johnson dodges question about Brexit tactics

"Prime Minister Johnson sharply criticizes the ""surrender law"" passed by parliament."

Parliament is back, a law requires the British prime minister to avoid a chaotic Brexit. Critics fear, however, that Boris Johnson could still use a loophole. When asked about this possibility, the Tory politician evades.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson remains secret about whether he wants to push through an unregulated Brexit - despite the recent law passed by Parliament, which is exactly what should prevent it. When asked a question, Johnson only told journalists that his government would abide by the law.

"Former British Prime Minister John Major said Thursday that Johnson could try to use ""political harassment"" to circumvent the law. The prime minister could use a procedural trick that postponed the entry into force of the law until after the EU exit. Johnson said he was looking for a contract with the European Union. ""We are confident that we will leave the EU on October 31st and the best way is by agreement."""

"Meanwhile, Johnson's chief adviser Dominic Cummings stated that he felt the political disputes surrounding Brexit to be a ""walk in the park"" and was confident that the desired exit from the EU would still come about: ""We enjoy it, we will win, we will. d .: Editing the EU), do not worry, ""said Cummings according to the British newspaper"" Telegraph ""at a book launch."

"Cummings, who led the Brexit campaign ""Vote Leave"" during the election campaign before the 2016 EU referendum, is now the chief strategist at Downing Street. He is said to be behind the uncompromising policy that has led the prime minister to an almost hopeless situation."

"Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan or Janis Joplin - they all stood in front of the camera of Linda McCartney, who has become one of the great rock photographers. But it doesn't always have to be great glamor. The photo book ""The Polaroid Diaries"" (Taschen) delves deep into the very private world of the McCartney family."

"Paul McCartney, who was married to her from 1969 until Linda's death in 1998, was visibly proud and moved when he presented the picture book ""The Polaroid Diaries"" in mid-September at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Illustrious guests included Ringo Starr, Stella McCartney, Olivia Harrison and Pretenders frontwoman Chrissie Hynde."

"After the launch event, McCartney wrote on Instagram: ""#ThePolaroidDiaries is a glimpse into the life of an exceptional pre-Instagram family, a celebration of LindaMcCartney's legacy as a dedicated artist and the instant magic of Polaroid film."""

"With Linda McCartney, who had studied art history at the University of Arizona until she found photography, the camera was always there. She has made thousands of Polaroids, a few hundred of which are now being published for the first time in ""The Polaroid Diaries""."

"There are portraits, still lifes, landscapes, several hamsters, a sheep in the kitchen and other interiors from the early 70s to the late 90s. ""She wanted real moments,"" writes the art critic Ekow Eshun in his preface. And of course there is always one focus: your husband Paul - as you may never have seen him before."

There he dances with his daughter Mary on the shoulders, talks on the phone in a bathrobe with a bag on his head or wears shapeless moon boots. Sure, the McCartneys were an extraordinary family, but they also lived a normal life beyond the spotlights on their farm in southern England or Scotland. So, according to the BBC, Mary McCartney said that as a baby she slept in a bed that her father made out of old potato boxes. And it wasn't always tidy with the McCartneys either.

The Poloraid camera captures the immediate moment like hardly any other medium. Linda McCartney's recordings are certainly a kind of family diary, but they are much more than pure snapshots.

"It's about the decisive click: You have to recognize when a great photo happens in front of you. And then you have to snap it at exactly the right moment, ""said Paul McCartney."" If you snap two seconds later or two seconds earlier, it can be a completely different photo. ""And Linda would have had the gift of always capturing the right moment. ""She just knew she had it,"" said Paul in the Eshun essay."

"The light, the composition, the image detail and the colors are right, which makes ""The Polaroid Diaries"" not only an entertaining picture book for Beatles fans, but besides everything anecdotal it is also a great aesthetic pleasure, where landscapes are sometimes like abstract Paintings work. The perfect addition to the recently released Beatles album ""Abbey Road"", which was released exactly 50 years ago."

Despite the US sanctions imposed on Iran, Turkey wants to continue importing oil and gas from the neighboring country. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in an interview released on Friday that Turkey could not stop importing oil and gas from Iran.

"We will continue to buy our natural gas from there, ""said Erdogan in New York, where he attended the UN General Assembly."

"Erdogan admitted that Turkey had problems importing Iranian oil because some companies had ""withdrawn because of the US threats""."

"Nevertheless, Turkey ""will continue our relationship with Iran, particularly on this issue and many other issues,"" said the Turkish president, who has repeatedly criticized US sanctions against Iran in the past."

"The US has been pursuing a ""maximum pressure"" policy against the Islamic Republic since leaving the international nuclear deal with Iran. According to the United States, Iran is secretly pursuing a nuclear program and is not adhering to the agreement."

Their sanctions have led to a slump in Iranian oil exports and a severe economic crisis in Iran. Tensions in the Gulf region have increased considerably in recent months.

The US government wants to drastically restrict the admission of refugees. The U.S. State Department said Thursday that the annual ceiling for a resettlement program should be reduced from 30,000 to 18,000 refugees. That corresponds to a cut of 40 percent.

The State Department said the US remains committed to supporting refugees. But the most important task is to protect and serve US citizens. The US immigration system is currently overloaded.

The U.S. government plans to focus on the admission of two groups of refugees in the future: people who are persecuted for their beliefs - and Iraqis who have helped the US military in the country and are at risk as a result of the State Department statement emerges. In contrast, a maximum of 1,500 refugees are to be admitted from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.

The program, launched in 1980, selected refugees from UN camps around the world and resettled in the United States. The ceiling of 18,000 refugees for the 2020 budget year would be the lowest in the program's history. The current upper limit of 30,000 is already a low. When President Donald Trump's predecessor Barack Obama left the White House, the number was just under 85,000.

"Aid organizations were horrified by the announced lowering of the upper limit. ""It's a very sad day for America,"" said International Rescue Committee chief David Miliband. The United States would further damage its leadership role in protecting the most vulnerable people in the world."

Trump is strictly trying to limit immigration to the U.S., both legally and illegally. The US government says it expects 350,000 asylum applications for the coming budget year. These numbers are separate from the resettlement program.

"US President Donald Trump has accused whistleblowers of spying on whistleblowers. Whoever has given relevant information to the informant who accuses him of abuse of power ""comes close to an informer,"" said Trump, according to a recording of a private event in New York on Thursday. Several US media report this unanimously."

"According to this, Trump spoke to employees of the United States' UN mission. When asked about the person who informed the whistleblower about controversial events in the White House, he replied, ""This is close to a spy."" Then Trump added, ""Do you know what we did in the old days when we were smart? Right. The spies and treachery, we used to do it a little differently than we do now."""

Observers valued the latter comment on a possible allusion to the death penalty. The Democrats sharply criticized Trump's statements and accused him of being intimidated by witnesses. It was also an attempt to hinder a congressional investigation into possible impeachment proceedings against him, wrote the chairmen of the Foreign Affairs, Intelligence and Supervision Committees in the House of Representatives.

The whistleblower has now complained to the president that he has abused his office to solicit interference from another country in the 2020 U.S. election. Specifically, it is about his controversial phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart Wolodymyr Selenskyj in the summer: In the conversation, Trump encouraged him to investigate his possible democratic challenger Joe Biden and his son Hunter in Ukraine. Trump denies any wrongdoing.

It is still unclear who the whistleblower himself and his informants are. However, as the New York Times reports, the whistleblower is said to be a CIA analyst.

People keep trying to get from Turkey to Greece via the Aegean Sea. The boats, which are often much too small, capsize regularly. Seven migrants were killed in the dinghy of an inflatable boat - including five children.

Seven migrants were killed in an inflatable boat off the Greek island of Chios. The Greek coast guard reported that a baby and four other children were among the fatalities. Four children, three women and five men were saved from the floods by the crew of a passing ferry.

A smuggler is said to be among the victims, the local news portal of Chios, Alithia.gr. The migrants had left Turkey in the morning. They had tried to reach the small island group Inousses in the northeast of the island of Chios. Inousses is located between Chios and the Turkish mainland.

It is not yet known from which countries the migrants come. Hundreds of migrants from Turkey are currently crossing over to the Greek islands in the east of the Aegean, mostly in boats that are much too small. Last year, 174 people died on this route, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

"A US concert by the rock band The Who came to an abrupt end due to the indisposition of lead singer Roger Daltrey. In the middle of the performance on Wednesday evening (local time) in Houston, his voice failed. On the eighth song, Daltrey said to the audience: ""I think I should leave it while it is still running""."

"Lead guitarist Pete Townsend apologized and added that Daltrey ""really can't speak now"". Townsend promised the audience that he would get his money's worth at a reparation concert. However, an appointment has not yet been made."

The Who canceled performances in Dallas in Friday and Denver in Sunday. They should be made up for later. The 75-year-old Daltrey and his 74-year-old bandmate Townsend are the only remaining founding members. The British cult band formed 55 years ago.

Letting suddenly stopped: WeWork makes real estate markets tremble

Within a few years, WeWork rises from a small startup to a driving force in the world's most expensive real estate markets. But now the company is in crisis. Landlords have to fear billions of dollars in income.

"The crisis of the office rental company WeWork threatens to upset the balance in the largest real estate markets in the world. A few days ago, the company had taken over founder Adam Neumann as its boss, postponed the planned IPO and started selling subsidiaries and assets such as the private jet for executives in order to gain financial scope for the coming weeks and months. In addition, the British ""Financial Times"" reports, among other things, that WeWork has stopped the conclusion of new rentals with immediate effect. This means that the largest tenant of office space in New York and London is suddenly out of the market."

WeWork rents large office space on a long-term basis and rents it out to members in small units. These can be individual freelancers, small startups or entire departments of large corporations. So far, WeWork has been burning money with this business at breathtaking speed. Last year, the company made a loss of $ 1.6 billion on sales of $ 1.8 billion. This year, rental costs alone are expected to have risen to an estimated $ 2.5 billion as a result of the leasing of new large spaces. In order to limit the loss, the new company management is said to have pulled the emergency brake and stopped renting new space with immediate effect.

According to the Financial Times, WeWork has signed leases of up to 15 years that result in commitments of more than $ 40 billion. These huge liabilities could become a problem not only for the company itself and its investors, but for entire property markets.

"According to calculations by economist Dan Alpert from Cornell Law School in New York, WeWork has rented almost 300,000 square meters of office space in Manhattan, one of the most expensive real estate markets in the world, in the past 24 months. WeWorks' new contracts alone ensured that the demand for offices in New York was greater than the space that was newly launched during this period. Without WeWorks expansion, office vacancies in the US metropolis would have increased during this time, as Alpert wrote in ""Business Insider"". The situation is similar in London, where WeWork now operates several dozen office locations in prime locations."

Even in the British capital, the balance on the real estate market could shift noticeably without further expansion of the aggressive start-up. Among other things, WeWork is the main tenant, in an office building in the center of the financial metropolis bought last year by the savings bank fund provider Deka for just under EUR 100 million.

Many landlords have remodeled their properties to meet the requirements of WeWork with high investments. If WeWork fails to make its business model profitable soon, the property owners would probably have to write off part of the hoped-for billions of dollars. Despite the long-term leases, they do not have access to WeWork's - already scarce - reserves. Because the individual WeWork locations are usually rented by specially founded subsidiaries, so-called special purpose vehicles, for which the parent company is only liable to a limited extent.

The Russian coast guard has once again taken action against North Korean fishermen. In the past few days, a further 262 poachers have been arrested who illegally fished in the waters, the Russian domestic intelligence agency FSB said on Friday, according to the agency Interfax.

Only ten days ago, 161 fishermen from North Korea were arrested. The border guards had previously been shot at and three of them injured. This time there were no injuries, it said. Communist North Korea is suffering from a chronic food shortage.

The North Korean fishermen were therefore in Russian territorial waters. There, the Russian Coast Guard says it patrols to protect its marine biological resources. During the renewed inspections, 30,000 squids were discovered. In addition, three fishermen and two motor boats were confiscated and brought to Nachodka and Posjet near Vladivostok. According to the Ria Nowosti agency, the coast guard found a total of more than 8,000 violations in 2018

The Russian fisheries authority had not issued fishing licenses to the North Koreans this year, even after complaints from local entrepreneurs. According to the media, thousands of fishermen from North Korea have been arrested there temporarily in 2019.

The head of the Association of Russian Fishing Companies in the Far Eastern Region of Primorye, Georgi Martynow, has also recently complained of high ecological damage caused by North Korean fishermen. They fished with close-meshed synthetic nets that were forbidden in Russia. These would also be used to take small creatures out of the sea. In addition, the nets would simply be disposed of in the ocean, where they would take 200 years to be decomposed. The ships themselves do not meet the hygienic and technical regulations.

According to Moscow, three members of the Russian coast guard were injured in the arrests last week. Another North Korean who was also wounded later died of his injuries, according to the FSB. On September 17, Russian border guards first moored a North Korean boat and then a second one after it opened fire.

"The United States has banned former Cuban President Raul Castro and his children from entering the country. The US State Department justified this in a statement on Thursday that Castro was involved in ""gross human rights violations"". As head of the Communist Party of the Caribbean State, he headed a system in which thousands of Cubans were arbitrarily arrested and there were more than 100 political prisoners."

"As head of the armed forces, the brother of the late revolutionary leader Fidel Castro was also to blame for human rights violations there, supported by the President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro. ""The Cuban regime's disregard for human rights and the use of violence to support the former Maduro regime are responsible for the ongoing crises in Cuba and Venezuela,"" tweeted US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo."

President Donald Trump had issued bans on entry against members of the Venezuelan government and the military, among others, on Wednesday. A bitter power struggle between the government and the opposition has been raging in Venezuela for months. The United States has imposed a number of sanctions on Maduro's government to bring him to his knees and to power the opposition leader and self-appointed interim president, Juan Guaidó.

Cuba is one of Maduro's closest allies. The socialist Caribbean island receives oil from Venezuela in exchange for the services of posted doctors. The United States and the Venezuelan opposition estimate that Cuba has also dispatched numerous Secret Service agents to Venezuela to help the government suppress opponents of the government.

A week after the largest international climate protests to date, thousands and thousands of people want to take to the streets again for more climate protection.

At the end of an international climate strike week, the Fridays for Future movement is once again planning campaigns and rallies in dozens of countries worldwide. New Zealand and Australia should start because of the time difference before the protests spread across Europe to North America. Climate activist Greta Thunberg wanted to take part in a major rally in Montreal, Canada. Demonstrators also wanted to gather outside the White House in Washington.

"How big the worldwide response will be this Friday after last week's record participation is relatively unclear. Thunberg himself was in good spirits. ""Last Friday over four million people went on strike for the climate. We'll do it again this Friday!"" She wrote on Twitter. So far there have been 6383 actions in 170 countries as part of the strike week, she added."

In Germany in particular, the influx was very large last Friday. A good third of all worldwide demonstrators - around 1.4 million - took part in the protests in 575 German cities, according to estimates by Fridays for Future. This time, according to a list of the movement, rallies are planned in at least 65 cities. Among them in cities like Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Cologne, but also in smaller communities and cities like Jüchen in North Rhine-Westphalia or Westerland on Sylt, people want to take the streets for the climate.

At the age of 15 at the time, Thunberg sat in front of the Swedish parliament in August 2018 to call on her country's politicians to step up their efforts to protect the climate. This gave rise to the Fridays for Future movement within a short period of time. Schoolchildren and students in particular take part in climate protests, but scientists and other adults are also increasingly involved.

Together, they call on politicians to be more ambitious in the fight against global warming and the impending climate catastrophe. Above all, according to the Paris climate agreement, global warming must be contained below 1.5 degrees compared to pre-industrial times.

Thunberg had arrived in New York almost a month after a two-week transatlantic trip with an ocean-going racing yacht. There she had recently participated in climate protests and United Nations summits. On Monday, she gave an emotional speech at the UN, urging the heads of state and government of the world into their consciences. In her home town of Stockholm, she was awarded the Alternative Nobel Prize by the Right Livelihood Foundation on Wednesday for her commitment to protecting the climate.

"In future, people in Russia will no longer be allowed to smoke on the balcony. This provides for a change in fire protection. ""This also applies to smoking,"" said a spokesman for the emergency ministry in Moscow on Thursday, according to the Tass agency. The ban is due to enter into force on October 1st."

Anyone who still smokes must therefore face a fine of 3,000 rubles (EUR 42.46). If the cigarette starts a fire, the penalty will be higher. According to the ministry, the ban also includes burning candles. Grilling meat skewers on the balcony is no longer permitted.

Strike against cybercriminals - investigators are digging up servers

In the fight against crimes on the Internet, German investigators have for the first time excavated a large server provider for illegal business on the Darknet.

A total of 13 perpetrators are suspected of having hosted numerous websites as the operators of a data center in a former NATO bunker in Traben-Trarbach on the Moselle, through which internationally active criminals operated their machinations.

This was announced by the Attorney General in Koblenz. Seven suspects were arrested on Thursday night in a major operation. The darknet is a shielded part of the internet.

"The suspects' customers were said to have been the operators of the world's second largest darknet drug market, ""Wall Street Market"", which investigators had smashed in the spring. The attack on 1.25 million telecom routers at the end of November 2016 was also controlled by a server in the cyber bunker, according to the Attorney General."

Such a host was first excavated in Germany, it said. A web host provides the infrastructure for an internet presence.

During the access campaign with the support of special units such as the GSG9, searches were carried out in Germany and in neighboring countries. It was the result of almost five years of investigations. At noon, the investigators want to provide further details.

At the end of an international climate strike week, the Fridays for Future movement again planned campaigns and rallies in dozens of countries worldwide.

In Germany, protests are planned in at least 65 cities, including metropolises such as Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Cologne, but also in smaller communities and cities such as Jüchen in North Rhine-Westphalia or Westerland on Sylt. Climate activist Greta Thunberg wants to take part in a major rally in Montreal, Canada.

Sense of justice and courage are high virtues, even in the 21st century, in a world full of war and smoke factories that warm the climate. It is all the more surprising that a 16-year-old girl, of all people, holds the mirror in front of the power people of that time. But what's behind it? Is it helpfulness or wise marketing of a climate activist? Historic feat or manipulative tactics for its own sake?

On the one hand, Greta Thunberg sets the masses in motion and makes young people stand up for a better climate-friendly world. Historically, it is not the first time in Europe that a young person has managed to win over a crowd of children and young people. As early as 1212, a child named Nikolaus from Cologne felt that he was chosen to work for a fairer world. At that time he was able to win over a crowd of young people and persuaded them to cross the sea to get to the promised land, similar to how Greta Thunberg recently traveled to America with a sailing boat.

"But is there a dark side to this? Why is a stock called ""We don't have time"" needed to save the world? In addition, Greta Thunberg has rich PR managers at her side. By the way, her mother has published a book that has sold widely, thanks to the daughter in the spotlight. Well-tried followers of Greta Thunberg were a little indignant about the last PR show, or the trip by boat was probably too thick for some successors. This is also not unfounded, because the campaign was very well received in the media worldwide and a lot of money is flowing thanks to the impressive campaign."

Here, opinions are divided: is it morally right to enrich yourself financially when you save the world? Is it still authentic if certain groups of people work together with stockbrokers during the world rescue operation? Regardless of the position ultimately taken, a critical and reflected point of view is increasingly important in a democratic society, because democracy lives from different opinions and discussions. Therefore, it may make sense to critically question apparently pious projects by certain trendsetters.

Comet discovered: Interstellar guest crosses through our solar system

The astronomers' assumptions have been confirmed: an alien comet is currently crossing our solar system - it is only the second of its kind.

Garching / Washington - For a long time the researchers only suspected it, but now they are certain: a comet from another star is currently crossing our solar system. He was baptized after his discoverer 2I / Borisov and currently employs astronomers worldwide.

2I / Borisov: Comet was discovered by amateur astronomers in the Crimea

The body was discovered in the Crimea by an amateur astronomer named Gennadi Borissow. He looked up at the sky with a self-made telescope and further observations confirmed his first suspicions. It is actually an unknown comet that is not from our solar system. It is only the second of its kind that was sighted during the flight.

The great opportunity for astronomers is now to get a glimpse of a strange solar system up close. Apparently the Comet is similar to that of our own system, as reported by the Canary Islands Astrophysical Institute. According to the International Astronomical Union (IAC), the comet is clearly interstellar in origin and is currently moving on a so-called hyperbolic orbit, which leads it out of our system.

Komet was sighted before approach - and can be observed for several months

"But before that happens, astronomers can watch him closely. In contrast to its predecessor, 2I / Borisov has already been sighted on its approach, which means that it can be examined from Earth for many months. ""The object will reach its highest brightness in mid-December and will then be seen with medium-sized telescopes until April 2020,"" explains Davide Farnocchia from the US space agency Nasa. ""After that, it will only be observable with larger, professional telescopes until October 2020""."

"The predecessor of the new visitor: 1I / 2017 U1 ""Oumuamua""."

According to initial findings, the comet is estimated to be 2 to 16 kilometers in diameter. At the same time, the celestial body seems to be similar to our comets - because, as the IAC researcher Julia de León puts it, the spectrum of the tail star is similar to ours. This observation suggests that comets in other solar systems could form through processes similar to ours, added de León's colleague Javier Licandro.

The observation goes beyond individual knowledge. The fact that two such objects have already been discovered within just two years may allow a new way of researching certain processes in other solar systems.

The asteroids keep the researchers busy. Just recently, a giant asteroid raced past Earth and came dangerously close to it.

"""Absolutely reprehensible"": Rachel Johnson horrified by brother"

"It is getting lonely around Boris Johnson. First his younger brother leaves the cabinet, now his sister scourges the warlike language of the premier as ""tasteless"" with clear words. It is not the brother she knows."

"""Surrender"", ""fraud"", contract "": Prime Minister Boris Johnson is under pressure and continues to arm up - at least verbally. At Question Time in the House of Commons on Wednesday this met with massive outrage from the opposition, and other critics have now come to terms with each other Word reported: dozens of bishops and his own sister Rachel Johnson."

"The well-known journalist and author told Sky News that her brother uses words like surrender, as if the opponents of an exit from the EU should be ""hanged, dragged, quartered, tarred and feathered"". She thinks that is extremely reprehensible. She doesn’t recognize her brother’s version, said Rachel Johnson, who ran the Change UK anti-Brexit party in the European Parliament elections."

"In particular, she stumbled upon her brother's mentioning Jo Cox, an EU-friendly MP who had been murdered by a neo-Nazi a few days before the 2016 referendum. The best way to honor their memory is to go through Brexit, Boris Johnson had said in the House of Commons. ""It is very tasteless to refer to a Member of Parliament who was murdered by someone who called Britain First,"" criticized Johnson's sister. The perpetrator had apparently come from the extreme right-wing camp, which felt ""reinforced by this type of language"". For those who mourned it, it was very tasteless."

"The Cox widower also sharply criticized the Prime Minister. ""It makes me sick if Jo's name is used like this,"" he tweeted. The best way to honor them is to be passionate and determined about what you believe in - no matter what your view. But never ""demonize the other side"". He also complained that an atmosphere had arisen in which attacks were more likely."

"Just a few weeks ago, Boris Johnson's younger brother Jo resigned as Secretary of State and mandate as Tory MP. ""I have been torn between family loyalty and national interest over the past few months - it's an indissoluble tension,"" said Jo Johnson."

"Johnson's language also met with harsh criticism in the Church. As the Times reports, all 118 Church of England bishops and archbishops criticize the language, which is ""not worthy of this country."" In a joint statement, they said: ""In the past few days, the language, both in debates and outside of Parliament, has not been acceptable. We should speak to each other with respect."""

"The NFL is sending out a strong signal in the year of its 100th anniversary: ​​two women with Latino roots appear in the half-time show of the upcoming Super Bowl. They promise ""an explosion of fun and energy""."

Latina power at the Super Bowl: Superstars Shakira (42) and Jennifer Lopez (50) will deliver the halftime show at the upcoming US Football League NFL final. The organizers announced on Thursday (local time).

"""I feel incredibly honored and humble to represent the Latino community alongside JLo, because it has incredible strength in the United States,"" Shakira said in a video."

"The American Football League final, which will celebrate its 100th birthday next year, will be held in Miami on February 2. Many people with Latin American roots live in the metropolis on the southern tip of Florida. Shakira (""Waka Waka"") comes from Colombia, Lopez (""On the Floor"") is of Puerto Rican origin."

"""I love that the Super Bowl is putting two women on stage this time - and two Latinas,"" said Lopez. This sends an important message to all Americans and the world. She promises ""an explosion of fun and energy"" for the show."

"The 50-year-old was born in New York after her parents emigrated from Puerto Rico. In the 2000s she landed big hits with songs like ""Waiting For Tonight"" or ""Let's Get Loud"" and later published songs in Spanish. Lopez also works as an actress and can be seen in the drama ""Hustlers"" in German cinemas from November."

"Shakira became known as the star of a telenovela and singer in Colombia. Her worldwide breakthrough came in 2001 with her first bilingual album and the single ""Whenever, Whereever""."

The announcement of half-time guests is eagerly awaited in the United States every time. This year, many see the selection as a political gesture. After all, the country is deeply divided, not least due to President Donald Trump's immigration policy.

The Super Bowl is the largest US sporting event and at the same time a gigantic advertising spectacle. Musicians such as Justin Timberlake, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Madonna, Bruno Mars and the Rolling Stones caused a sensation there. As a rule, well over 100 million television viewers watch the NFL final, and it is now also extremely popular in Germany.

Political controversy arose in the past year. The reason was the dispute over quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who, in protest against police violence against blacks, had refused to stand up when playing the national anthem and had been hard-hit by US President Donald Trump, among others. In solidarity with Kaepernick, some musicians had declined a Super Bowl performance - including Rihanna and Pink. The rock group Maroon 5 was ultimately criticized by many.

An actor and Youtuber strikes Egypt's rulers: For the time being, Mohamed Ali prefers to stay abroad.

"The two men who have an impact on whether blood flows on the streets of Egypt have both spent the past week abroad. One of them floated back at Cairo airport on Friday. President Abdelfattah al-Sisi returned from the UN General Assembly. The ex-general, who deposed Muslim brother Mohammed Mursi, the country's first freely elected head of state, in 2013 had spent a pleasant time in New York: US President Donald Trump had praised Sisi's approach to political Islam and not a syllable about human rights violations lost on the Nile - in a week in which Egyptian security forces arrested hundreds of people for daring to protest the president. ""No need to worry,"" said Sisi at the airport into the state television microphones. ""The Egyptians are not to be misled""."

"The President believes that the other man, who is currently driving the streets, is trying to mislead him. Mohamed Ali, of course, stayed abroad, where he escaped the access of the security forces who would arrest him immediately if he tried to step on Egyptian soil. Weeks ago, the 45-year-old was known as an actor to only a minority of Egyptians. Today he is the leading voice who dominates the political discourse in the country's cafes, living rooms and tea rooms: With his YouTube channel ""Mohammed's Secrets"", Ali calls on his compatriots to rise up against Sisi."

He addresses the head of state directly and in a very rustic language. While the people are hungry, the president wallows in luxury and has magnificent new palaces built, it says. The army leadership on which Sisi bases his rule accuses Ali of corruption and enrichment. Because he had been doing business with these gentlemen for 15 years in his second job as a building contractor, he seems to know pretty well what he is talking about - at least that is the impression of many Egyptians, as the virtually exploding click figures show.

"After last week's demonstration against his rule for the first time since Sisi's reach for power, and the arrest of nearly 2,000 citizens, including prominent figures in civil society, human rights lawyers and opposition politicians, Ali called for a ""million march"" this Friday. It was unlikely that so many people would really venture onto the streets. But there were occasional small protests, for example in Giza near Cairo and in Kina near Luxor. Videos on social media showed protests, the participants accused Al-Sisi of corruption and demanded his departure. The police also used tear gas and rubber bullets in these protests. Initially, these videos could not be verified independently. Security circles said the police had ended the protests."

"A massive police presence was reported on Friday from the city of Mansura in the Nile Delta, where demonstrators tore banners with the portrait of the president to pieces last week. Security forces set up checkpoints in the city and on the arterial roads. In Cairo, several subway stations in the city center were closed for ""maintenance work"", and most of the streets around Tahrirplatz, the heart of the 2011 revolution, were blocked. And on Rabaa Square, where supporters of the fallen Muslim brother Mursi entrenched themselves in 2013 until the army put them under fire and killed up to 800 people, another measure was supposed to prevent dissatisfied people from gathering: Sisi's future party wanted a large-scale rally here, of all places hold for the president."

"Mohamed Ali prompted these arrangements to change his tactics: ""Our goal does not have to be Tahrir Square,"" Ali said in his video camera in Barcelona. ""Let's not run into police officers."" However, this should not be understood as a withdrawal: ""All of Egypt is Tahrir Square""."

If the Internet connection always appears to be much slower than advertised by the provider, there are various test options.

Anyone who signs an Internet contract does not need to blindly trust the speed information provided by the provider. In the event of anomalies, customers can check for themselves how much of it is actually being achieved.

After all, the previously promised transmission rates are part of the contract and should therefore also be achieved, explains the Consumer Center Bavaria.

If the connection always appears to be much slower than advertised by the provider, there are various test options. The measurement tools of the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) measure the actual data transfer rates and compare them with the rate agreed in the contract.

"""However, the tests of the providers are carried out according to provider-specific requirements and are therefore not calculated uniformly and objectively,"" the Bavarian Consumer Agency points out on its side."

If the connection is significantly slower than announced, customers can set the provider a reasonable period of time, usually 14 days, to produce the promised service. Those affected do best in writing by registered mail.

If this does not work even after repeated requests, customers can terminate the contract and, under certain circumstances, also claim damages. But if there is no success, only the lawsuit will help.

"The first senior Republican, the Vermont governor has spoken out in favor of an impeachment investigation against US President Donald Trump. ""I think the investigation is important, yes, and where that leads from here is determined by the facts that are found,"" Phil Scott said at a press conference on Thursday. He wanted to know more about the whistleblower affair before taking any action - an impeachment procedure can lead to the President's dismissal."

"Scott said he was not surprised by the revelations that Trump repeatedly called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj over the phone to investigate interventions by Ukraine's Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden. Trump has been watching Biden ""for years""."

Republicans have so far been reluctant to criticize Trump for the whistleblower affair; few have shown unease about it. Scott's remarks are a first sign of this in Trump's party. Scott, a moderate Republican, has opposed Trump's policies on several occasions, such as easing environmental regulations and tightening immigration laws.

"It was a shock for all Spider-Man fans: at the end of August it became known that Sony and Marvel would go their separate ways in the future. Tom Holland's Spider-Man would therefore no longer be part of the ""Avengers"" universe. It was completely unclear how it should go on with the films about Tom Holland."

"Now the surprise: After ""Spider-Man: Homecoming"" and ""Spider-Man: Far From Home"", Spider-Man receives another final third film within the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Several US media report this unanimously. According to this, the theatrical release is already certain: In the USA, the film should start on July 16, 2021."

"Marvel-Boos Kevin Feige is quoted in the magazine ""Screenrant"": ""I am pleased that Spidey's path continues in the MCU. I and everyone at Marvel Studios are delighted that we can continue to work on it ... He is the one only superhero with the ability to play in different universes as Sony continues to work on his Spidey verse. You never know what the future will bring. """

But how does the sudden good news come about? Sony Marvel is said to have submitted an offer. According to industry magazines, Disney, which also includes Marvel, would have a 30 percent share in the revenue of upcoming Spider-Man films. However, the message is not confirmed.

"After nine seasons, the ""Suits"" series has now reached the grand finale in the USA. In the last episode there were many happy ends and just as many cameo appearances. And the royal couple Prince Harry (35) and his Meghan (38), who had been part of the series for many years, were also given a charming tribute. Warning, the following sections contain spoilers for the series finale."

One thing in advance: Duchess Meghan did not return as Rachel Zane in the final for a last farewell, at least not for new scenes. Instead, some flashbacks showed the most memorable scenes with today's Duchess. Such as the moments of the failed and successful marriage to Mike or how she greets him after his serving time in prison.

"But her real husband, Prince Harry, was also mentioned in the ""Suits"" final, of course in a wedding scene. As Louis Litt (Rick Hoffman, 49) is walking towards the altar to marry his fiancee Sheila (Rachael Harris, 51), Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht, 47) makes a meaningful remark about his suit. The stunned Harvey wants to know from the groom whether he actually threw on a frock coat, only to then snap off: ""Louis, you're not the Prince of England""."

A baby and four other children drowned while a refugee boat capsized in the Aegean. In total, seven people died in the accident, as the Greek coast guard announced on Friday. The nationalities are still unclear.

The boat sank near the Greek island of Inousses, which lies between the island of Chios and the Turkish mainland. Four children, three women and five men were saved.

Hundreds of migrants are currently migrating from Turkey to the Greek islands in the east of the Aegean. Last year, 174 people died on this route, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR). Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has now announced that he wants to visit both countries.

"Together with his French colleague and the responsible EU Commissioner, he wants to find out in Turkey ""how the refugee situation is,"" said Seehofer on Friday. Then he wanted to learn more about the ""administrative problems of the Greeks"" in Athens in order to be able to help with the coping."

A spokeswoman for the EU Commission confirmed the planned trip to Seehofer on Friday with EU Interior Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos and France's Interior Minister Christophe Castaner.

An unusually large number of migrants from Turkey continue to arrive in Greece. On Tuesday alone, 654 people transferred to the Greek islands, the Greek Ministry of Civil Protection said on Wednesday.

The increased numbers have recently raised doubts about the functioning of the EU-Turkey agreement concluded in 2016. This means that the EU can send back all refugees and migrants who illegally come to the Greek islands via Turkey. In return, the EU wanted to accept a Syrian refugee from Turkey for every Syrian deported.

However, the processing of asylum applications is slow due to a lack of staff on the Greek side. According to the Ministry of Citizens' Protection, almost 29,400 people remain in Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Leros and Kos. The situation is worst in Lesbos: 5200 migrants are currently accommodated in a camp with capacity for 650 people.

The state broadcaster reported that there have never been so many since the EU-Turkey refugee pact came into force in March 2016.

"According to doctors, climate change will test the health system in the future. Climate change is ""definitely"" one of the greatest challenges for the health system in the next 20 to 50 years, said Andreas Zeiher, President of the German Society for Cardiology. The cardiovascular system, in particular, caused problems within a short period of time and large increases in temperature and increasingly led to heart attacks. Especially people with cardiovascular diseases, the elderly and diabetics are affected."

The leader of the Canadian Greens, Elizabeth May, in the election campaign - was the mug manipulated for this reason?

The Canadian Greens boss holds a reusable mug in her hand in a photo. But now it came out: The mug was manipulated.

Ottawa / Canada - It went unnoticed for quite a long time - and finally attracted attention. Elizabeth May, head of the Canadian Greens, never held the reusable coffee mug with a metal straw in her hand. On the party's website, she was seen in a photo with this mug talking to citizens. However, the photo had previously been published and also distributed to the media - and the mug was still a crude (cardboard) mug, as the Canadian National Post reported.

"The National Post subsequently accused May of manipulation and that the party was producing fake news in order to appear more credible on the subject of ""environmental protection"". And this in the middle of an election campaign for the House of Commons election, in which Trudeau is also having an increasingly difficult time due to a bribery scandal."

"The photo went viral on social media and fueled the discussion about fake news. A user shares a juxtaposition of the photos and writes: ""The Greens manipulate a photo of their chairmen to hide their disposable cup""."

May was shocked and stated on her blog that she hadn't known about this campaign. To underline this, she immediately posted the original: In conversation with citizens, she was holding a mug in her hand. However, she corrected, it was made of bamboo. You always have him with you. A spokeswoman for the party said it was only a matter of placing the party logo in the picture and not of covering up something. Only a section of the photo can be seen on the website.

"May writes that she is sorry for the employee who did this. ""I don't want to call him stupid, but there was nothing to hide,"" she told the Guardian, and at the same time asked something from her over-committed team: ""If you feel like editing an image again, you couldn't do anything with it make my face so that I look younger? """

The German Greens also got into shitstorms because of their use of disposable plastic or because of air travel - their pictures, however, were not photoshoped. The head of the Bavarian Greens, Katharina Schulze, ate ice cream with a plastic spoon on vacation, as merkur.de * reported.

Allegedly, Jaqueline Ng was assured an upgrade by email from Cathay Pacific. But when she asked for it at check-in, she wasn't allowed on board - and she should never be allowed to fly with Cathay again.

Spontaneously upgrading to Business Class - that's what many passengers dream of. Sometimes they're lucky, and check-in staff offer a free Economy Class switch.

However, this case shows how one should not do it: A self-declared influencer has actively asked the airline Cathay Pacific for a free upgrade. More than 65,000 users follow Jaqueline Ng on Instagram. She flew from Taiwan to New York on May 30 and June 7.

On the outward flight, Jaqueline's staff refused to upgrade, even though she showed an email in which Cathay Pacific allegedly announced an upgrade. The influencer claims to have received the letter from an airline marketing employee. The airline, on the other hand, accuses Jaqueline of having forged the mail.

On the return flight, Jaqueline tried again to get an upgrade for the long-haul flight. This time the woman is said to have shown the same email, but with a different reference number. The employees at JFK airport were skeptical: they checked the head office. In fact, the employee from whom the email is said to originate is said to have denied email contact with Jaqueline. This was also confirmed by the mail system, in which the messages did not appear.

The airline employees at the airport canceled Jaqueline's ticket and imposed a lifelong flight ban with Cathay Pacific. For 1,400 US dollars (around 1,280 euros), she had to buy a new ticket to Taiwan.

With her case, the influencer turned to Elliot Advocacy, a company that represents consumer interests. Cathay had refunded her the price of her original ticket, but Jaqueline also claimed the cost of the new ticket.

But as long as Jaqueline does not submit the metadata of the email, the case remains clear: the influencer has committed fraud for Cathay, she will be blocked for future flights. The airline's terms and conditions also state that the airline does not have to pay for the new flight. Jaqueline does not want to be satisfied with this - and now hires a lawyer.

Oil prices dropped more than a dollar in a very short time on Friday afternoon. Most recently, a barrel (159 liters) of the North Sea variety Brent cost $ 61.83 - around 1.4 percent less than the previous day. The price of a barrel of the American West Texas Intermediate (WTI) grade fell 1.3 percent to $ 55.77.

The slide in the course was triggered by a Wall Street Journal report on an armistice in Yemen. Saudi Arabia is said to have agreed to a ceasefire in four areas.

In mid-September, a drone attack on Saudi Arabia's oil facilities brought five percent of global oil production to a standstill. The Houthi rebels allied with Iran in the civil war country of Yemen had claimed the attacks for themselves. Saudi Arabia, like the US government, blames Iran. An armistice would alleviate political tension in the region.

If an agreement is actually reached, the company can focus on growth and demand concerns, said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank at the Bloomberg news agency.

Oil prices are continuing their downward trend of the past few days. A week ago, a barrel of WTI oil had cost nearly $ 59, Brent almost $ 65.

Bloomberg, citing insiders, recently reported that after the mid-September attack, oil plant repairs in Saudi Arabia are progressing faster than expected. According to this, the production volume has reached a volume of eight million barrels per day again and is moving in the direction of the original volume.

Recently there have been several press releases citing insiders, which report on the rapid progress of the state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco in the repair work. However, raw materials experts pointed out that Saudi Aramco is currently planning an IPO and wants to avoid negative headlines.

"At the same time, there were signs of some relaxation in the conflict between Iran and western countries: The British oil tanker ""Stena Impero"" is on the way to leaving the port more than two months after being fixed by Iran and the recently granted release. The crew is now preparing to depart while the ship is still at anchor, shipping manager Erik Hånell told the Swedish radio in a text message on Friday morning."

However, the United States announced that it would deploy anti-aircraft missiles and soldiers to the Iranian arch enemy in Saudi Arabia. Fears of an escalation between the Islamic Republic and countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom had temporarily pushed oil prices up significantly in recent weeks.

"President Donald Trump's allegations of abuse of power have raised cover-up charges against the White House. Several senior government officials have worked hard to prevent access to the verbatim text of the conversation after a controversial phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj in late July. This was explained by an anonymous whistleblower. The spokeswoman for the House of Representatives, the democrat Nancy Pelosi, explicitly accused the White House of ""cover-up"". Trump spoke of a ""witch hunt""."

North Korea has raised doubts that rulers Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump will soon hold a third summit in the nuclear dispute. The meaning and prospects of success of such a meeting are questionable due to the lack of progress in implementing agreements at the first summit in Singapore, top diplomat Kim Kye-gwan said on Friday, according to the KCNA agency.

"So far, the US has done nothing to implement last year's summit decisions, the North Korean State Department adviser said. He also criticized tightened US sanctions and the joint military maneuvers of the United States and South Korea. However, he hoped for a ""wise"" and ""courageous"" decision by Trump so that it would come closer again."

Trump said on Monday that he wanted to know what a third summit with Kim would bring before he agreed to do so. Negotiations to disarm the North Korean nuclear and missile program have stalled since Trump and Kim's failed second summit in Hanoi in February. In June, the two met in the demilitarized zone between the two Korean countries. They agreed to revive the consultations, but so far without much success.

Prince Harry: Gun manufacturers are supposed to help mine clearance

"In Angola, British Prince Harry symbolically detonated and destroyed an explosive mine wearing a blue shatterproof vest. He made the ignition circuit near a camp of the British Halo Trust near Dirico. The explosive device exploded at a safe distance. With a view to the goal of getting Angola free of mines by 2025, he later asked in front of running TV cameras: ""I call on all the countries whose names are on these weapons, but which have not helped to clear away, to commit to help ""."

With a rate cut coming soon, the pound is losing value against the euro.

Frankfurt speculations on an early rate cut by the Bank of England (BoE) add to the pound sterling. The British currency fell on Friday by up to 0.4 percent to $ 1.2269.

The sales were triggered by statements by central banker Michael Saunders. This triggered a rate cut, even if a chaotic Brexit could be averted, as the uncertainty would affect the British economy in the foreseeable future. This statement is surprising since Saunders is seen as an advocate of restrictive monetary policy, said analyst Ricardo Evangelista from the brokerage firm ActivTrades.

Last week, the Bank of England had already pointed out the economic downturn caused by the Brexit hack, without directly signaling a rate cut. Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants to lead his country out of the EU by October 31, if necessary without a divorce agreement.

More: The British Prime Minister has taken a high risk with his provocations. But it could pay off for him, says Handelsblatt editor Kerstin Leitel.

Material from the Moscow analysis laboratory is manipulated - this is confirmed by David Howman, former director of the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) and now head of Integrity of the World Athletics Association.

At the start of the World Athletics Championships, new details of the doping scandal in Russia come to light - and they destroy the little credibility that Russian sport had regained at the beginning of the year and only to a degree. In January 2019, the Moscow Doping Laboratory finally delivered the requested samples from 2012 to 2015 to the World Antidoping Agency (Wada). Now it turned out: they were faked.

In December 2014, systematic fraud in Russian sports was revealed. The Wada then blocked the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (Rusada) for three years. During this time Russian athletes were not completely banned from the world stage. After an individual examination, the International Olympic Committee had around 270 athletes competing under the neutral flag at the 2016 Summer Games in Rio, and 168 Russian athletes took part in the Winter Games in February 2018. They were also allowed to take part in the World Cups in the various sports. In summer, the World Cup was even held in Russia with the host as a participant.

The following September, the Wada lifted the Rusada ban again, but requested access to the laboratory and the said samples. The data should provide information on the extent to which state doping has been used to cover up doping cases. They should help punish athletes afterwards. They were finally delivered three months later.

"The chairman of the Independent Integrity Commission (AIU) of the World Athletics Association (IAAF) has now confirmed that the doping data from the Moscow analysis laboratory has been manipulated. ""Yes. We received the data nine months ago. We should check whether the task force received the correct data,"" said David Howman in an interview with the ""Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung"" on Friday. ""We have found numerous discrepancies between the data the Wada received from a whistleblower and the data it received from the Russians in January."" Many positive findings that were mentioned in the McLaren report were missing."

This confirms the attitude of the IAAF: The Athletics Association is the only organization to hold onto the spell of Russia. 30 Russian athletes start at the World Cup in Doha under a neutral flag. They had to prove that they are training outside the Russian system and taking tests.

Earlier this week, the Wada had already tampered with and asked Russia to respond to the allegations within three weeks. Russia is now threatened to block Rusada again and, in the worst case, to be excluded from the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.