IN BRIEF (Page 8)

United Kingdom

No-deal Brexit will cause severe damage

Leaving the European Union without a deal will cause severe long-term damage to Britain's competitiveness, one of the country's main business groups warned the 12 candidates hoping to succeed Theresa May as prime minister. "Firms large and small are clear that leaving the EU with a deal is the best way forward," Director-General of the Confederation of British Industry Carolyn Fairbairn wrote in a letter. "Short-term disruption and long-term damage to British competitiveness will be severe if we leave without one. The vast majority of firms can never be prepared for no-deal, particularly our SME(small and medium-sized enterprises) members who cannot afford complex and costly contingency plans." Britain was due to leave the EU in March but that has been pushed back until Oct 31 after lawmakers rejected May's negotiated settlement.

Hungary

Captain in boat accident arrested

Hungarian police have detained the captain of a cruise ship that collided with a sightseeing boat packed with South Korean tourists, causing it to sink quickly in the Danube River in Budapest, as loved ones of the missing and dead were expected to arrive Friday in Hungary. Seven people are confirmed dead and seven have been rescued, while 21 people remain missing in the waters. A South Korean group on a package tour of Europe - including 30 tourists, two guides and a photographer - were on an hourlong sightseeing tour of Budapest when their boat collided with a Viking cruise ship during a downpour Wednesday evening. Nineteen South Koreans and two Hungarian crew members remain missing.

Russia

New gym machine for space station astronauts

Russian engineers are developing a new exercise machine for astronauts to keep fit on the International Space Station, an official said on Thursday. The astronauts will be able to perform about eight sets of physical exercise on the new machine to primarily train the muscles that suffer in zero gravity, said Yelena Fomina, head of the Laboratory for the Prevention of Hypo-Gravitational Disturbances under the Russian Academy of Sciences. The key element of the Russian gym system currently on the ISS is a treadmill, and Russian astronauts dedicate two and a half hours each day to physical training, she said. According to her, the Russian crew also use the stationary bike and the weight-lifting device of the US partners, while the Russian exercise machine is being developed. Fomina did not disclose when the new machine will be completed and delivered to the ISS.

Reuters - AP - Xinhua

(China Daily 06/01/2019 page8)