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Inflation in Germany fell to 2.2% in June, preliminary data shows
Preliminary June inflation figures for Germany released on Monday showed inflation easing again, with prices 2.2% higher than the same month last year. That is a decline from the 2.4% figure for May, according to preliminary figures released by the Germany's Federal Statistical Office. Core inflation, which excludes volatile prices for food and energy, amounted to 2.9%. While services in particular became more expensive, energy became cheaper in June. Compared to May, prices rose by 0.1% in June, according to the preliminary figures. Economist Sebastian Dullien from the labour-affiliated Institute for Macroeconomics and Economic Research (IMK) said the slight bump in inflation in May...
German far-right leader again convicted for using banned Nazi slogan
The firebrand regional leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the German state of Thuringia, Björn Höcke, has been convicted and fined again for using a banned Nazi slogan. Höcke, 52, was found guilty of using signs of unconstitutional and terrorist organizations for leading a crowd in a chant of the outlawed motto of the Nazi SA stromtroopers - "Alles für Deutschland" (Everything for Germany) - during a speech at a party event in December 2023. Höcke said the first two words and then allegedly gestured to the crowd to complete the slogan. At the time, he was under criminal...
Czech wing back Jurásek loaned back to Hoffenheim for a year
Hoffenheim have signed wing back David Jurásek on loan for another year from Benfica, the Bundesliga club said on Monday. Jurásek, who recently played for the Czechs at Euro 2024 before they were eliminated, still has a contract with the Portuguese club until 2028. "David is a dynamic and offensively strong full back who also knows how to defend reliably. His outstanding performances in top matches, such as our away game in Leverkusen, are wonderful examples of this and make us very optimistic going into next season," Hoffenheim sporting director Alexander Rosen said in a statement. The 23-year-old originally joined Hoffenheim in January after just six months in Portugal and played in 13 Bundesliga games. Hoffenheim finished seventh last season and will be in the Europa League.
Our conversations are losing individuality, linguists say
"Yes, we're all individuals! ... We’ve got to work it out for ourselves!" 45 years ago, a scene in Monty Python film "Life of Brian" famously mocked conformism and group-think. And while the gag was so self-explanatory as to become iconic, its obvious message may have been lost, going by new linguistic research. Conversation and speech patterns are increasingly lacking individuality, as people grow more likely to echo bromides and jargon made fashionable by business, academia and activism, according to linguists at Lancaster University and the University of Liverpool. People are "increasingly adopting each other’s speech patterns to be more socially inclusive," the...
UEFA flags more than 4,000 offensive social media posts during Euros
European football governing body UEFA flagged 4,656 posts on social media that included offensive, racist or homophobic content during the Euro 2024 group stage, it said on Monday. Posts were monitored on platforms such as X, Instagram and TikTok and were directed at players, coaches, officials and other participants in the tournament. Most of them (74%) were directed at individual players. UEFA said that 71% of "these abusive posts have been actioned by the platforms." Some 94% of flagged posts were for generalized abuse, which includes abuse which is not specifically targeted at a group or community, UEFA said. In addition to this,...
Kimmich: Germany have a lot of respect for Spain but no fear
Germany national team players are looking forward to the Euro 2024 quarter-final against Spain with a lot of respect, but no fear of the opponent, defender Joshua Kimmich said. "Spain have made the most stable impression so far, so it will be a tough one - for both sides," Kimmich said on Monday. The hosts on Friday will face title favourites Spain, who are the only team so far with a perfect record at the tournament. "If you want to win the tournament, there's no way around Spain," the Bayern Munich player added. Defender David Raum said that it's "a complement" when people refer to the match-up as an early final, but stressed: "I'm not cold sweating yet." Germany and Spain are tied as record Euros winners, with three titles each.
Kremlin: Le Pen's French election victory is the will of the voters
The Kremlin has interpreted the victory of Marine Le Pen's far-right nationalist National Rally (RN) and its allies in the first round of the parliamentary election in France as a clear sign of the will of the voters. "We are certainly following the election very closely. What we saw in a number of European countries earlier, including France, these trends are being confirmed," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday. "I guess we will wait for the second round, even though it’s pretty clear to us what French voters want," Peskov added. In the past, National Rally has been repeatedly accused of having close ties to the Kremlin. In 2014, what was then the National Front party, rebranded National Rally in 2018, took out a multimillion-dollar loan from a Russian bank. Le Pen has called Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Moscow that same year, a Russian territory. In a report to the French parliament from last year, it was also noted that party officials had travelled to Crimea and the Donbass region, which was already occupied by Russian forces at that time, before the outbreak of the Ukraine war. National Rally is divided on whether the Russian war against Ukraine should be condemned.
EU: Meta 'pay or consent' advertising may break online gatekeeper law
The European Commission on Monday informed Meta - owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp - that its policy of asking users to either accept personalized advertising across its services or pay may violate the European Union's digital "gatekeeper" rules. The commission sent the company a "preliminary view" that the policy breaches the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The DMA regulates the behaviour of digital "gatekeepers," meaning companies that hold powerful, entrenched positions in the EU's digital economy, acting as intermediaries between many users and businesses. Meta could face fines as high as 10% of its global revenue if the commission's final decision upholds...
Bayern's Guerreiro trains again after ankle injury, Heidenheim back
Bayern Munich utility player Raphael Guerreiro has returned to training at the Bundesliga club following the ankle injury which ruled him out of Portugal's Euro 2024 campaign. The 30-year-old, who was injured at the end of May, has started his first big steps to recovery at Bayern's training ground. Serge Gnabry had already come in last week as he seeks full fitness after an injury-hit season which cost him a place in Germany's Euro squad. The rest of the players are not due back at Bayern for the start of pre-season until July 15, with Euro stars given extra time off depending...
German far-right leader again convicted for using banned Nazi slogan
The firebrand regional leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the German state of Thuringia, Björn Höcke, has been convicted and fined again for using a banned Nazi slogan. Höcke, 52, was convicted of leading a crowd in a chant of the outlawed motto of the Nazi SA stromtroopers - "Alles für Deutschland" (Everything for Germany) - during a speech at a party event. Höcke said the first two words and then allegedly gestured to the crowd to complete the slogan. At the time, he was under criminal indictment for having used the same banned slogan during a separate speech. In May, Höcke was convicted in that earlier case and sentenced to a fine. He is currently appealing the verdict. The court in Halle on Tuesday sentenced Höcke to a fine totalling €16,900 ($18,150). Höcke is the lead candidate for the AfD in upcoming state parliamentary elections in Thuringia, where the party holds a clear lead in opinion polls.
AI appears to discriminate against people with disabilities
AI innovators have already been told of the risks their chatbots bring, from potentially costing millions of people their jobs to "hallucinating" false information when fielding user queries. But a more immediate risk could be the prejudices that such software reinforces: According to University of Washington (UW) researchers, the best-known model, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, appears to be biased against people with disabilities, going by how it ranks resumes. The Seattle-based team found ChatGPT to have "consistently ranked resumes with disability-related honours and credentials" as "lower than the same resumes without those honors and credentials." "When asked to explain the rankings, the system spat out...
Coup averted in Ukraine, authorities report
The Ukrainian authorities reported thwarting a coup attempt: A group had attempted to mount "provocations" in Kiev on Sunday, when the country marks Constitution Day, the SBU intelligence service and prosecutors reported on Monday. The plans involved occupying parliament during a demonstration and setting up a "provisional government," the report said. Investigations were proceeding into four men, with two held in custody, the report said. Weapons and ammunition had been found in raids, the report said. The suspects could face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty. The investigation is being led by the authorities in Ivano-Frankivsk in the west of the country. A security zone has been declared around the government quarter in Kiev, where the access and the right to demonstrate have been restricted. The authorities regularly report that informers and supporters of Russia have been arrested.
German police investigating 43-year-old man in acid attack at café
Police in Germany are investigating a 43-year-old man as the potential culprit behind an acid attack outside a café in the western city of Bochum on Sunday that left several people seriously injured. The suspect is in police custody and is expected to be brought before a judge on Monday on suspicion of attempted murder, a police spokeswoman told dpa. Police believe a 30-year-old man sitting at a table outside the café was the intended target of the attack. He was hit with the most acid and suffered serious injuries. A woman sitting at the same table and a waitress working nearby were...
Data van of Tour champion's team banned from route by cycling body
Tour de France defending champion Jonas Vingegaard's Visma|Lease a Bike team have been banned from using a new data-collecting van on the route of the world's greatest cycling race. The team proudly unveiled its "innovative Control Room" shortly before the 111th edition of the Tour started on Saturday in Italy. It was meant to provide the team with important data on the race in real time given signal failures in TV images, helping them react quicker tactically. But cycling's world governing body the UCI launched a probe into the van and Tour organizer ASO told dpa on Monday that the UCI has...
Israel responds with artillery after 20 rockets fired from Gaza Strip
Around 20 rockets have been fired at Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip, with Israeli artillery responding, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported on Monday. Some of the rockets had been intercepted, while others had come down in open countryside, it said. Air-raid sirens sounded in locations near the border ordering residents to seek shelter. The IDF said it had fired on the launch sites with artillery. The attacks were the heaviest for some time, Israeli media reported. Since entering the Gaza Strip following the October 7 attacks mounted by the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement and other organizations, the IDF has destroyed buildings, launch ramps and tunnels. Thousands of rockets were fired in the initial months at Israeli targets as far away as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The attacks have since declined in frequency.
Poland's Tusk issues warning after far-right gains in France
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk issued a warning on Monday following far-right gains in the first round of the French parliamentary elections. "They like Putin, money and power without control. They rule or are reaching for power in the east and west of Europe," Tusk posed on X. He warned that right-wing populists would join forces in the European Parliament. "In Poland, we reversed this disastrous course of events at the last minute. Let's not waste this," he added. A centre-left government took power led by Tusk in Poland in December following elections in October, in which the nationalist conservative Law and Justice Party (PiS) lost power after ruling the country since 2015. PiS policies on justice in particular caused conflict with the European Union and with Germany, Poland's powerful western neighbour.
France's far-right nationalists lead first round of snap election
The French far-right nationalists are clearly leading the first round of the early parliamentary elections, based on provisional results from the Interior Ministry on Monday. Marine Le Pen's party, National Rally (RN), and its allies achieved 33.15% of the votes. The left-wing New Popular Front (NPF) alliance stands at 27.99%, while President Emmanuel Macron's centrist Ensemble (Together) alliance comes in at 20.04%. The conservative Republicans scored 10.23%. According to figures from the Ipsos opinion research institute after the first round of the vote, National Rally received a particularly high number of votes from working-class voters and people without higher educational qualifications. It also...
German farmers' association sees heavy rains hitting harvests
Heavy rains are jeopardizing the harvest in Germany, Joachim Rukwied, head of the German Farmers' Association said on Monday. The grain harvest is predicted to come in at 42 million tons, slightly below last year's result, Rukwied explained during a farm visit in Frankfurt. Warm and moist conditions were promoting rot in the potato crop, with the result that harvests could fail in the absence of pesticides, he said. Rukwied said that pesticides were needed, given flooding and waterlogging. "In combination with rising temperatures, the risk of fungal infestation is rising sharply in many crops," he added. Farmers needed a broad range of agents...
EU: Meta 'pay or consent' advertising may break online gatekeeper law
The European Commission on Monday informed Meta - owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp - that its policy of asking users to either accept personalized advertising across its services or pay may violate the European Union's digital "gatekeeper" rules. The commission sent the company a "preliminary view" that the policy breaches the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The DMA regulates the behaviour of digital "gatekeepers," meaning companies that hold powerful, entrenched positions in the EU's digital economy, acting as intermediaries between many users and businesses. Meta could face fines as high as 10% of its global revenue if the commission's final decision upholds...
Baerbock says Germany must invest in security despite tight budget
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that Germany must continue making further investments in security despite intense pressure to make cuts in difficult negotiations over the 2025 budget. Finance Minister Christian Lindner of the pro-business liberal Free Democrats (FDP) has demanded that the coalition government stick with strict rules against budget deficits, known as the debt brake. But Baerbock on Monday argued that Germany must take a leading role addressing the serious threats to European peace and security, even if that means taking on debt. "It would be more than fatal if we had to say in a few years' time: We have...
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