Government officials in Mexico are expected to donate part of their Christmas money to buy urgently needed ambulances. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador called on civil servants to help with the purchase of 80 cars for the health system,
which was already underfunded before the corona pandemic. The whole action was voluntary, the president assured. The Christmas bonus will be paid out in full. In Mexico City -
with 22 million inhabitants in the metropolitan area one of the most populous metropolises in the world - there are far too few state ambulances. Therefore, numerous private and partly illegally operated cars fill the gap.
The government of the left-wing populist López Obrador did not deviate from its strict austerity policy during the crisis.
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Has the Pakistani government given in to the demands of fundamentalist Muslims and will now boycott French products and expel the French ambassador?
Leaders of the Islamist party Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) claimed this success on Tuesday in the dispute over the "Mohammed cartoons" as well as statements by French President Emmanuel Macron.
The government in Islamabad has signed a pledge officially in favor of a boycott of French products, a TLP spokesman said on Tuesday. An official confirmation from the government was still pending on Tuesday afternoon.
At protest rallies in front of the parliament in the Thai capital Bangkok, against the powers of the royal family and the military, at least 55 people were injured in the course of clashes between government critics and the police.
According to a clinic in the city, at least 32 of them were suffering from the effects of tear gas, and six people had gunshot wounds. The anti-government protesters are demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and amendments to the constitution,
which goes back to Chan-o-cha's military rule. A new constitution would be the 21st constitution of the country since the end of the Absolute Monarchy in 1932 in Siam (today Thailand). King Rama X is far less popular than his father, King Bhumibol, who died in 2016.
The EU states have given the green light for the so-called Hummer deal with the USA. "As a step to improve transatlantic trade relations, the EU will abolish tariffs on lobster imports," said the Council of Member States.
In return, US surcharges on EU products such as ready meals, crystal glass and lighters will decrease. The agreement, which the Council calls a "mini tariff package", is "the first tariff reduction between the EU and the US in two decades".
According to the EU Council, EU exports, which are now cheaper to export to the USA, are worth around 160 million US dollars per year. Future duty-free US imports of "live and frozen lobster products" amount to $ 111 million.
According to a report released by the World Health Organization (WHO) on the 17th, 6173 people are suspected of being infected with the new coronavirus in North Korea as of October 29, until the 22nd, a week ago.
The number increased by 805 compared to 5368 confirmed in. From October 22nd to 29th, 174 people were newly quarantined, and the estimated total number of quarantined people in North korea is 32,182. A total of 12,072 people have undergone PCR testing,
and no one has been reported as infected by the 5th of this month, WHO reports. North Korea has set the number of people infected with the new coronavirus to "zero," but is tightening its reins to prevent epidemics.
The Palestinian Authority plans to restore relations after breaking with the Israeli government in May. "We will resume contacts with the Israelis on financial, health and political issues," said Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtajjeh.
The decision was made because there had been "official written and oral" commitments in which Israel had confirmed that it would comply with the agreements that existed before the announcement of the annexation plans in the West Bank, which have since been overturned.
As reported by local media, Shtajjeh received a corresponding paper from Israel. "That is why we are announcing the resumption of contacts." The Israeli government did not initially comment on the resumption of relations.
In the fight against clan crime, the mayor of Berlin's Neukölln district advocates new ways of providing evidence. "The worst signal we can give is that it is worth becoming a criminal," said SPD politician Martin Hikel.
He is facing illegally obtained money for a reversal of the burden of proof. By this, Hikel means, for example: someone who moves into Hartz IV may have to prove where they got the money for an expensive villa.
It must be prevented that money obtained criminally comes into the legal economic cycle. Neukölln is a focal point of clan crime and on Tuesday was one of the scenes of a raid in connection with the art theft in the Green Vault in Dresden.