News Headlines - 19 January 2019
▽Markus Söder officially takes the reins of Bavaria′s CSU party | DW
Garnering 87.4 percent of the vote from party delegates — and running unopposed — Bavarian state premier Markus Söder was chosen as the newest leader of the Christian Social Union (CSU) at a special party conference in Munich on Saturday.
The 52-year-old from Nuremberg will replace Horst Seehofer as the leader of the CSU — the Bavarian sister-party to German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU)... The election not only marks an end to the Seehofer era, but also marks the first time that a Protestant was chosen to lead the typically Catholic-dominated party.
▽Deadlocked Swedish Parliament affirms Stefan Lofven as PM 4 months after election - UPI.com
Sweden finally has a prime minister, more than four months after the parliamentary elections ended.
Social Democrat leader Stefan Lofven will return as prime minister after winning the vote from his party and the Green Party in Friday's vote. The Moderate Party, Christian Democrats and Sweden Democrats all voted against Lofven. Lawmakers from the Center Party, Liberal Party and Left Party abstained from the vote except for one, who voted no.
The final vote was 115 in favor, 153 against and 77 abstained. The opposition needed 175 votes to block Lofven.
▽Norway's PM Solberg forms majority center-right government | Reuters
Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg struck a deal on Thursday to form a center-right majority government by adding the small Christian Democratic Party to her minority three-party coalition.
The agreement fulfils a long-standing goal of Conservative Solberg, in power since 2013, who hopes that a majority will provide stability and help ease her path to re-election in 2021.
▽Oxford University suspends Huawei donations and sponsorships - BBC News
The University of Oxford has suspended new donations and sponsorships from Chinese telecoms giant Huawei... Oxford University said it had decided on 8 January that it will "not pursue new funding opportunities... at present" with Huawei.
Officials are trying to verify if a drawing of a rat holding an umbrella, spray painted near a monorail station in central Tokyo, is the work of the famous and mysterious British street artist Banksy... An image of a rat holding an umbrella is one of Banksy’s most famous artworks... City maintenance workers removed the door, which was installed to prevent flooding during high tides, and placed it in storage Wednesday night to prevent any damage...
