ReportWire

Tag: Germany government

  • Germany summons Russian ambassador over alleged sabotage, cyberattacks and election interference

    BERLIN (AP) — Germany summoned Russia’s ambassador Friday following accusations of sabotage, cyberattacks and election interference, an official said.

    The German government has also accused Moscow of perpetrating disinformation campaigns.

    “The goal of these Russian cyber and disinformation attacks is clear: It is to divide society, stir up mistrust, provoke rejection, and weaken confidence in democratic institutions,” German foreign ministry spokesperson Martin Giese said.

    “This targeted manipulation of information is one of a wide range of activities by Russia aimed at undermining confidence in democratic institutions and processes in Germany,” he said during a government news conference.

    German officials have previously accused Russia of hybrid warfare attacks to destabilize Europe. Moscow didn’t immediately return a request for comment Friday.

    Giese said that the shadowy Russian military intelligence agency known as GRU was behind a 2024 cyberattack against German air traffic control. The foreign ministry says GRU, which has been sanctioned in other countries, was responsible for the attack that was allegedly perpetrated by hacker collective APT28, also known as Fancy Bear.

    APT28 and GRU have also been linked to global cyber intrusions, including in the 2016 U.S. election, where they were accused of aiding U.S. President Donald Trump by leaking Democratic Party emails.

    Giese also said investigators believe GRU also attempted to destabilize and influence Germany’s last federal election, held in February, through a campaign called “Storm 1516.”

    “Our services’ analysis shows that the campaign spreads artificially generated, pseudo-investigative research, deepfake image sequences, pseudo-journalistic websites, and fabricated witness statements on various platforms,” he said.

    Russia will face a series of countermeasures for its hybrid warfare, Giese said.

    “The German government condemns the repeated and unacceptable attacks by state-controlled Russian actors in the strongest possible terms,” he said. “We will continue to strengthen our support for Ukraine and our deterrence and defense.”

    The summons occurred Friday as the European Union indefinitely froze Russia’s assets in Europe to ensure that Hungary and Slovakia, both with Moscow-friendly governments, can’t prevent the billions of euros from being used to support Ukraine.

    Using a special procedure meant for economic emergencies, the EU blocked the assets until Russia gives up its war on Ukraine and compensates its neighbor for the heavy damage that it has inflicted for almost four years.

    It’s a key step that will allow EU leaders to work out at a summit next week how to use the tens of billions of euros in Russian Central Bank assets to underwrite a huge loan to help Ukraine meet its financial and military needs over the next two years.

    Source link

  • German government to subsidize industry’s energy prices in bid to revitalize economy

    BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s governing coalition agreed to subsidize energy prices for heavy industry over the next three years as it tries to breathe new life into a stubbornly slow economy that is weighing on Europe’s performance.

    Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he and other coalition leaders agreed Thursday evening to introduce an electricity price of about 5 euro cents (6 U.S. cents) per kilowatt hour starting Jan. 1, through 2028, to “support companies that use a lot of electricity and face international competition.”

    Talks on the plan with the European Union’s executive commission are near-complete and “we assume we will get permission for this,” Merz said.

    The German economy, Europe’s biggest, has shrunk for the past two years and has not seen significant growth for much longer. The conservative Merz’s coalition government with the center-left Social Democrats has made revitalizing it a priority since taking office in early May.

    Still, results haven’t shown through yet, with gross domestic product stagnating in the third quarter. This week, the government’s panel of independent economic advisers forecast it will grow by an unimpressive 0.9% next year after edging up 0.2% this year.

    The country’s economy, which is heavy on manufacturing and exports, has been held back by multiple factors including high energy prices, competition from Chinese producers of autos and industrial machinery, a lack of skilled workers and excessive bureaucracy.

    The government has launched a program to encourage investment and set up a fund of 500 billion euros ($581.4 billion) to pour money into Germany’s creaking infrastructure over the next 12 years. The government promises to cut red tape and speed up the country’s lagging digitization.

    ING economist Carsten Brzeski, who put the current energy price at some 15 euro cents (17 U.S. cents) per kilowatt hour, said Friday that the planned subsidy “sends a strong signal and could provide industry not only short-term relief but also clarity and stability for years to come.”

    Holger Lösch, deputy managing director of the Federation of German Industries, said the subsidized price would “help particularly energy-intensive industrial companies to remain competitive internationally,” adding that he hopes the EU allows Germany the flexibility to reduce a large number of companies’ costs.

    Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil put the expected cost of the measure at between 3 and 5 billion euros ($3.4 billion and $5.8 billion).

    Coalition leaders also agreed to cut a tax on airline tickets starting in July, something the air transport industry has long demanded. The measures will need parliamentary approval.

    Source link

  • Caught cold by UniCredit’s swoop on Commerzbank, Germany will want to avoid a national embarrassment

    Caught cold by UniCredit’s swoop on Commerzbank, Germany will want to avoid a national embarrassment

    A protestor holds a placard with a slogan reading “Stop Merger Horror” during a union demonstration outside the Commerzbank AG headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024.

    Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    Italy’s UniCredit appears to have caught German authorities off guard with a potential multibillion-euro merger of Frankfurt-based Commerzbank, a move that has triggered a fiery response from Berlin.

    Market observers told CNBC that the swoop may have provoked a sense of national embarrassment among Germany’s government, which firmly opposes the move, while it’s been argued that the outcome of the takeover attempt could even put the meaning of the European project at stake.

    Milan-based UniCredit announced on Monday that it had increased its stake in Commerzbank to around 21% and submitted a request to boost that holding to up to 29.9%. It follows UniCredit’s move to take a 9% stake in Commerzbank earlier this month.

    “If UniCredit can take Commerzbank and take it to their level of efficiency, there’s a tremendous upside in terms of increased profitability,” Octavio Marenzi, CEO of consulting firm Opimas, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Tuesday.

    “But [German Chancellor] Olaf Scholz is not an investor. He’s a politician and he’s very concerned about the jobs side of things. And if you look at what UniCredit has done in terms of slimming down things in its Italian operations or particularly in its German operations, it’s been quite impressive,” Marenzi said.

    Scholz on Monday criticized UniCredit’s decision to up the ante on Commerzbank, describing the move as an “unfriendly” and “hostile” attack, Reuters reported.

    Commerzbank’s Deputy Chair Uwe Tschaege, meanwhile, reportedly voiced opposition to a potential takeover by UniCredit on Tuesday. Speaking outside of the lender’s headquarters in central Frankfurt, Tschaege said the message was simple and clear: “We don’t want this.”

    “I feel like vomiting when I hear his promises of cost savings,” Tschaege reportedly added, referring to UniCredit ‘s CEO Andrea Orcel.

    Separately, Stefan Wittman, a Commerzbank supervisory board member, told CNBC on Tuesday that as many as two-thirds of the jobs at the bank could disappear if UniCredit successfully carries out a hostile takeover.

    The bank has yet to respond to a request for comment on Wittmann’s statement.

    German firms facing softer environment, Goldman Sachs Bank Europe CEO says

    Hostile takeover bids are not common in the European banking sector, although Spanish bank BBVA shocked markets in May when it launched an all-share takeover offer for domestic rival Banco Sabadell. The latter Spanish lender rejected the bid.

    Opimas’ Marenzi said the German government and trade unions “are basically looking at this and saying this means we could lose a bunch of jobs in the process — and it could be quite substantial job losses.”

    “The other thing is there might be a bit of a national embarrassment that the Italians are coming in and showing them how to run their banks,” he added.

    A spokesperson for Germany’s government was not immediately available when contacted by CNBC on Tuesday.

    Germany’s Scholz has previously pushed for the completion of a European banking union. Designed in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis, the European Union’s executive arm announced plans to create a banking union to improve the regulation and supervision of lenders across the region.

    What’s at stake?

    Craig Coben, former global head of equity capital markets at Bank of America, said the German government would need to find “very good” reasons to block UniCredit’s move on Commerzbank, warning that it would also have to be consistent with the principles around European integration.

    “I think it is very difficult for UniCredit to take over or to reach an agreement on Commerzbank without the approval of the German government, just as a practical matter — but I think Germany needs to find a legitimate excuse if it wants to intervene [or] if it wants to block the approach from UniCredit,” Coben told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Tuesday.

    The Commerzbank AG headquarters, in the financial district of Frankfurt, Germany, on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024.

    Emanuele Cremaschi | Getty Images News | Getty Images

    “Germany has signed up to the [EU’s] single market, it has signed up to the single currency, it has signed up to [the] banking union and so it would be inconsistent with those principles to block the merger on the grounds of national interest,” he continued.

    “And I think that’s really what’s at stake here: what is the meaning of [the] banking union? And what is the meaning of the European project?”

    Former European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi said in a report published earlier this month that the European Union needs hundreds of billions of euros in additional investment to meet its key competitiveness targets.

    Draghi, who has previously served as Italian prime minister, also cited the “incomplete” banking union in the report as one factor that continues to hinder competitiveness for the region’s banks.

    — CNBC’s April Roach contributed to this report.

    Source link

  • German president inaugurates the rebuilt tower of a church with Nazi-era historical baggage

    German president inaugurates the rebuilt tower of a church with Nazi-era historical baggage

    BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s president on Thursday inaugurated the rebuilt tower of a church that became associated with the Nazis’ takeover of power and whose remains were demolished under communist rule.

    President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said it offers an opportunity to reflect on the country’s complicated past amid a surge in authoritarian and antidemocratic attitudes.

    The baroque tower of the Garrison Church, rebuilt with a viewing platform 57 meters (187 feet) above street level, rises over the center of Potsdam, just outside Berlin. Mayor Mike Schubert said it “provides a new view over the expanse of our city and also into the depths and the abysses of our history.”

    On March 21, 1933, the Garrison Church, or Garnisonkirche, was the scene of the first opening of parliament after Adolf Hitler became chancellor — weeks after the fire at the Reichstag building in Berlin that was followed by the suspension of civil liberties.

    Outside the church, Hitler shook hands with President Paul von Hindenburg. The scene came to symbolize the alliance of the “new” and “old” Germany, between the Nazis and conservative traditionalists.

    The church was originally built in the 1730s to serve the Prussian royal court and the military. It burned out in bombing shortly before the end of World War II in 1945, and the remains of the tower were blown up under East Germany’s communist government in 1968.

    Ambitions to rebuild the church — and opposition to the plans — date back to the 1990s. The partial reconstruction was eventually carried out by a foundation backed by the Protestant church.

    Critics view the church as a symbol of militarism and a place the far-right could identify with. More than 100 people demonstrated opposite the tower Thursday in a protest organized by a group that has opposed the rebuilding.

    Backers aim to counter the opposition with an exhibition taking a critical look at the history of the site. The words “Guide our feet into the way of peace” are inscribed into the base of the rebuilt tower in five languages.

    The regional Protestant bishop, Christian Stäblein, pledged at the inauguration ceremony to ensure that “the enemies of democracy and peace … have no place here.”

    Steinmeier acknowledged that the road to rebuilding the tower “was long, it was complicated and, as we can hear outside, it remains contentious.”

    “This place challenges us,” he said. “It confronts us with its and with our history.”

    Under the kaisers, preachers at the church “put religion into the service of nationalist propaganda, glorified war and unconditional obedience,” Steinmeier said. After the end of World War I and the monarchy, it still “attracted antidemocratic forces.”

    But he said the building’s hefty historical baggage, and the debate about it, offers opportunities today.

    Concern about the strength of the far right has mounted in Germany in recent months. The far-right Alternative for Germany party appears on course for strong performances in three state elections in the formerly communist east — including in Brandenburg, whose capital Potsdam is — over the next month.

    “Contempt for democracy and its institutions, fascination with authoritarianism and exaggerated nationalism unfortunately are not just yesterday’s issues — they are alarmingly topical,” the president said. “The new Garrison Church can be a place where we develop an awareness for historical contexts … and critically question Prussian and German history. More than that, we can reflect on how to deal with history.”

    The rebuilt tower stands alongside a communist-era data processing center, which now serves as a working place for artists. Steinmeier, who was the patron of the rebuilding project, said that center should be preserved. There are no plans to rebuild the nave of the church.

    The reconstruction cost about 42 million euros ($46 million), the majority provided by the federal government, according to the foundation behind it. The tower opens to the public starting Friday.

    Potsdam is home to a range of historical sites including the Sanssouci Palace and its park, and the Cecilienhof Palace where the wartime allies’ Potsdam conference was held in 1945.

    Source link

  • Far-right party aims for wins in 2 state elections as Germany’s government flounders

    Far-right party aims for wins in 2 state elections as Germany’s government flounders

    BERLIN (AP) — The far-right Alternative for Germany could become the strongest party for the first time in two state elections Sunday in eastern Germany, while a months-old party founded by a prominent leftist also hopes to shake up the picture as the national government has squabbled its way to deep unpopularity.

    Germany’s main opposition conservative party hopes to keep Alternative for Germany at bay in Saxony and Thuringia, home to around 4.1 million and 2.1 million people, respectively. But prospects look grim for the three parties in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s governing coalition, whose constant infighting has added to a flatlining economy and other problems to turn voters off.

    An election campaign poster of the far-right Alternative for Germany, AfD, showing the top candidate for Thuringia Bjoern Hoecke and the slogans ” The East does it” and “Almost forbiddenly good” is displayed at a street in Jena, Germany, Aug. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

    Wins for Alternative for Germany, or AfD, would be a potent signal for the party just over a year before the next national election is due. But it would most likely need a coalition partner to govern, and it’s highly unlikely anyone else will agree to put it in power. Even so, its strength could make forming new state governments extremely difficult.

    Problem in Berlin

    High ratings for AfD and the new Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance, both at their strongest in Germany’s formerly communist east, have been fed in part by discontent with the national government. Scholz’s alliance argued throughout the campaign for the European Parliament election in June and obtained dismal results. The internal hostilities have intensified over a summer plagued by disagreements about the 2025 budget.

    Scholz’s center-left Social Democrats, the environmentalist Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats were weak in these two states to start with, though the former two parties are the junior partners in both outgoing regional governments. They now risk dropping under the 5% support needed to stay in the state legislatures.

    Over 50 countries go to the polls in 2024

    Scholz said recently that “gun smoke from the battlefield” is masking the successes of his government of uneasy allies, which set out to modernize Germany. Justice Minister Marco Buschmann said that the government isn’t a “self-help group.” One of the Greens’ national leaders, Omid Nouripour, described the coalition as a “transitional government.”

    The mainstream opposition Christian Democratic Union, or CDU, won the European Parliament election. It has led Saxony since German reunification in 1990 and hopes that governor Michael Kretschmer can power it past AfD again, as he did five years ago. In Thuringia, surveys show it trailing AfD, but it hopes to cobble together a governing coalition.

    Thuringia’s politics are particularly complicated because the Left Party of governor Bodo Ramelow has slumped into electoral insigificance nationally. Wagenknecht, long one of its best-known figures, left last year to form a new party that is now outperforming it.

    Migration, war and peace

    Image

    Election campaign posters of the Christian Democratic Union party, CDU, with top candidate Mario Voigt and of the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance are displayed at a lamp post in Jena, Germany, Aug. 13, 2024. State elections in Thuringia and Saxony scheduled on Sunday Sept. 1, 2024, in the eastern Germany states. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

    AfD has tapped into high anti-immigration sentiment in the region, with one campaign poster in Thuringia promising “summer, sun, remigration” and depicting a plane with the logo “Deportation-Hansa.”

    A national AfD leader, Alice Weidel, assailed both the governing parties and the CDU — which previously ran Germany under Angela Merkel — for their “policy of uncontrolled mass immigration” following last week’s knife attack in Solingen in which a suspected extremist from Syria is accused of killing three people.

    Wagenknecht’s new party, known by its German acronym BSW, combines left-wing economic policy with a migration-skeptic agenda. The CDU also has stepped up pressure on the national government for a tougher stance on migration.

    Germany’s stance toward Russia’s war in Ukraine is also an issue in these eastern states. Berlin is Ukraine’s second-biggest weapons supplier after the United States; those weapons deliveries are something both AfD and BSW oppose. An AfD poster combining the German and Russian flags declares that “Peace is Everything!”

    Wagenknecht also has assailed a recent decision by the German government and the U.S. to begin deployments of long-range missiles to Germany in 2026. She has declared that her party will only join state governments that have a “clear position for diplomacy and against the preparation of war.”

    Who will govern with whom?

    Image

    FILE – Opposition leader Friederich Merz delivers a speech during a debate about Germany’s budget crisis at the parliament Bundestag in Berlin, Germany, Nov. 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

    AfD secured its first mayoral and county government posts last year, but the party hasn’t yet joined a state government. In June, national co-leader Tino Chrupalla said that “the sun of government responsibility must rise for us in the east.”

    That doesn’t look likely in Saxony and Thuringia, where no other party wants to join it in a coalition. The domestic intelligence agency has AfD’s branches in both states under official surveillance as “proven right-wing extremist” groups. Its leader in Thuringia, Björn Höcke, has been convicted of knowingly using a Nazi slogan at political events, but is appealing.

    Depending on how badly the national governing parties perform, that could leave the CDU looking for improbable coalition partners. The party has long refused to ally with Ramelow’s Left Party, which is descended from East Germany’s communist party, but hasn’t ruled out working with Wagenknecht’s BSW.

    The CDU’s national leader, Friedrich Merz, told the RND newspaper group that “we can’t work with” AfD.

    “That would kill the CDU,” he said.

    Source link

  • Germany slides deeper into budget crisis. Here’s what you need to know

    Germany slides deeper into budget crisis. Here’s what you need to know

    German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (C), Finance Minister Christian Lindner (R) and Economy Minister Robert Habeck give statements to the media following the weekly government cabinet meeting on November 15, 2023 in Berlin, Germany.

    Sean Gallup | Getty Images News | Getty Images

    Germany’s budget is in trouble.

    Last week, the constitutional court ruled that it was unlawful to re-allocate unused debt originally designated for emergency Covid-19 pandemic funding to current spending plans.

    This week, the finance ministry froze spending across all ministries.

    But that could be just the tip of the iceberg as financial woes could lead to political ones, and even potentially endanger the future of Berlin’s coalition government.

    Germany didn’t get to this point overnight, however — in ways, the roots of the current crisis even predate the pandemic. And that is because of Germany’s so-called debt brake.

    A long time in the making

    Enacted in 2009, the debt brake limits how much debt the government can take on, and dictates the maximum size of the federal government’s structural budget deficit. The rules say it can be no bigger than 0.35 percent of Germany’s annual GDP.

    Since the global financial crisis, the debt brake has been the cornerstone of German fiscal policy.

    But then, the Covid-19 pandemic happened. The government took on emergency debt to try to stem the impact the pandemic had on its budget through a temporary debt brake suspension.

    As it turned out, the extra funding wasn’t actually needed. And so, the current coalition government decided to re-allocate it to finance policies aimed at climate change and a greener, more sustainable economy.

    Constitutional or not?

    Germany’s opposition was not happy about the re-allocation and eventually took the matter to Germany’s constitutional court. Last week, the verdict came in and, in a blow to the government, the court confirmed that the emergency funding was not allowed to be used for policy plans unrelated to the pandemic.

    The government appeared somewhat unprepared for this verdict and was left fumbling for answers when questioned by colleagues and the press.

    Some observers (and several Green party members), have suggested that the climate crisis is as much of an emergency as the pandemic. But the court’s ruling stands, and Germany’s budget now has a 60-billion-euro ($65 billion) hole.

    The government has since scrambled to figure out its financial plans, and earlier this week German media reported that the finance ministry had more or less shut down the possibility of any additional spending that hasn’t already been scheduled for 2023.

    A divided coalition

    A major factor in the government’s dilemma is the range of political positions the three coalition partners hold.

    There’s the Greens, who were the key instigators behind the climate policy plans that are now at risk and are therefore heavily attached to its success. Then the SPD, the social democrats, who would be content with making the debt brake more lenient or increase taxes. And the FDP, the Free Democratic Party, who control the finance ministry and don’t want higher taxes or higher debt.

    Germany, EU heavily impacted by trade tensions: Baker McKenzie

    But a full break up of the government is unlikely, according to a research note published by Eurasia Group directors Jan Techau, Mujtaba Rahman and Jens Larsen.

    “Government stability is not in question, and the coalition is still likely to complete its full term,” they said.

    “All three parties would face devastating losses in the (unlikely) case of snap elections, diminishing their appetite for breaking out of the current arrangement. No obvious new majority is possible in the current parliament,” they said.

    Any solutions?

    Solutions are still few and far between, especially ones that can be applied in the immediate term, and the government is still working on plans to readjust spending and funding that coalition partners can agree on.

    And in the long term?

    “An obvious way out would be to change the constitution,” Berenberg Bank’s Chief Economist Holger Schmieding said in a note. This would require a new consensus with at least some of the opposition politicians needed to reach the required two-thirds majority, he explained, which would mean political deals and sacrifices on divisive topics such as asylum rules.

    “For now, such a deal seems unlikely. But after the next election in September 2025, a (new) government that would once again need to include parts of the centre-right and centre-left may perhaps strike such a deal,” Schmieding said.

    Reforming the debt brake after the next General Election is also one of the paths ahead that Citi economists Christian Schulz, Giada Giani and Benjamin Nabarro foresee. They also note that long-term changes to the way the German government is funded could be ahead.

    “We expect the ruling to drive the government to build actual cash reserves in normal times as well as during emergencies, which would allow it to address long-term consequences of crises without breaching the debt break,” they wrote in a research note.

    And finally, the bar for what constitutes an “emergency” (and therefore allows for a suspension of the debt brake) could be lowered — and eventually perhaps even include the climate crisis.

    Source link

  • Lean green flying machines take wing in Paris, heralding transport revolution

    Lean green flying machines take wing in Paris, heralding transport revolution

    LE BOURGET, France (AP) — Just a dot on the horizon at first, the bug-like and surprisingly quiet electrically-powered craft buzzes over Paris and its traffic snarls, treating its doubtless awestruck passenger to privileged vistas of the Eiffel Tower and the city’s signature zinc-grey rooftops before landing him or her with a gentle downward hover. And thus, if all goes to plan, could a new page in aviation history be written.

    After years of dreamy and not always credible talk of skies filled with flying, nonpolluting electric taxis, the aviation industry is preparing to deliver a future that it says is now just around the corner.

    Capitalizing on its moment in the global spotlight, the Paris region is planning for a small fleet of electric flying taxis to operate on multiple routes when it hosts the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games next summer. Unless aviation regulators in China beat Paris to the punch by greenlighting a pilotless taxi for two passengers under development there, the French capital’s prospective operator — Volocopter of Germany — could be the first to fly taxis commercially if European regulators give their OK.

    Volocopter CEO Dirk Hoke, a former top executive at aerospace giant Airbus, has a VVIP in mind as his hoped-for first Parisian passenger — none other than French President Emmanuel Macron.

    “That would be super amazing,” Hoke said, speaking this week at the Paris Air Show, where he and other developers of electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft — or eVTOLs for short — competed with industry heavyweights for attention.

    “He believes in the innovation of urban air mobility,” Hoke said of Macron. “That would be a strong sign for Europe to see the president flying.”

    But with Macron aboard or not, those pioneering first flights would still be just small steps for the nascent industry that has giant leaps to make before flying taxis are muscling out competitors on the ground.

    The limited power of battery technology restricts the range and number of paying passengers they can carry, so eVTOL hops are likely to be short and not cheap at the outset.

    And while the vision of simply beating city traffic by zooming over it is enticing, it also is dependent on advances in airspace management. Manufacturers of eVTOLs aim in the coming decade to unfurl fleets in cities and on more niche routes for luxury passengers, including the French Riviera. But they need technological leaps so flying taxis don’t crash into each other and all the other things already congesting the skies or expected to take to them in very large numbers — including millions of drones.

    Starting first on existing helicopter routes, “we’ll continue to scale up using AI, using machine-learning to make sure that our airspace can handle it,” said Billy Nolen of Archer Aviation Inc. It aims to start flying between downtown Manhattan and Newark’s Liberty Airport in 2025. That’s normally a 1-hour train or old-fashioned taxi ride that Archer says its sleek, electric 4-passenger prototype could cover in under 10 minutes.

    Nolen was formerly acting head of the Federal Aviation Administration, the U.S. regulator that during his time at the agency was already working with NASA on technology to safely separate flying taxis. Just as Paris is using its Olympic Games to test flying taxis, Nolen said the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics offer another target for the industry to aim for and show that it can fly passengers in growing numbers safely, cleanly and affordably.

    “We’ll have hundreds, if not thousands, of eVTOLs by the time you get to 2028,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press at the Paris show.

    The “very small” hoped-for experiment with Volocopter for the Paris Games is “great stuff. We take our hats off to them,” he added. “But by the time we get to 2028 and beyond … you will see full-scale deployment across major cities throughout the world.”

    Yet even on the cusp of what the industry portrays as a revolutionary new era kicking off in the city that spawned the French Revolution of 1789, some aviation analysts aren’t buying into visions of eVTOLs becoming readily affordable, ubiquitous and convenient alternatives to ride-hailing in the not-too-distant future.

    And even among eVTOL developers who bullishly talked up their industry’s prospects at the Paris show, some predicted that rivals will run dry of funding before they bring prototypes to market.

    Morgan Stanley analysts estimate the industry could be worth $1 trillion by 2040 and $9 trillion by 2050 with advances in battery and propulsion technology. Almost all of that will come after 2035, analysts say, because of the difficulty of getting new aircraft certified by U.S. and European regulators.

    “The idea of mass urban transit remains a charming fantasy of the 1950s,” said Richard Aboulafia of AeroDynamic Advisory, an aerospace consultancy.

    “The real problem is still that mere mortals like you and I don’t get routine or exclusive access to $4 million vehicles. You and I can take air taxis right now. It’s called a helicopter.”

    Still, electric taxis taking to Paris’ skies as Olympians are going faster, higher and stronger could have the power to surprise — pleasantly so, Volocopter hopes.

    One of the five planned Olympic routes would land in the heart of the city on a floating platform on the spruced-up River Seine. Developers point out that ride-hailing apps and E-scooters also used to strike many customers as outlandish. And as with those technologies, some are betting that early adopters of flying taxis will prompt others to try them, too.

    “It will be a total new experience for the people,” said Hoke, Volocopter’s CEO. “But twenty years later someone looks back at what changed based on that and then they call it a revolution. And I think we are at the edge of the next revolution.”

    ___

    AP Airline Writer David Koenig contributed to this report from Dallas.

    ___

    More AP coverage of the Paris Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

    Source link

  • Lean green flying machines take wing in Paris, heralding transport revolution

    Lean green flying machines take wing in Paris, heralding transport revolution

    LE BOURGET, France (AP) — Just a dot on the horizon at first, the bug-like and surprisingly quiet electrically-powered craft buzzes over Paris and its traffic snarls, treating its doubtless awestruck passenger to privileged vistas of the Eiffel Tower and the city’s signature zinc-grey rooftops before landing him or her with a gentle downward hover. And thus, if all goes to plan, could a new page in aviation history be written.

    After years of dreamy and not always credible talk of skies filled with flying, nonpolluting electric taxis, the aviation industry is preparing to deliver a future that it says is now just around the corner.

    Capitalizing on its moment in the global spotlight, the Paris region is planning for a small fleet of electric flying taxis to operate on multiple routes when it hosts the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games next summer. Unless aviation regulators in China beat Paris to the punch by greenlighting a pilotless taxi for two passengers under development there, the French capital’s prospective operator — Volocopter of Germany — could be the first to fly taxis commercially if European regulators give their OK.

    Volocopter CEO Dirk Hoke, a former top executive at aerospace giant Airbus, has a VVIP in mind as his hoped-for first Parisian passenger — none other than French President Emmanuel Macron.

    “That would be super amazing,” Hoke said, speaking this week at the Paris Air Show, where he and other developers of electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft — or eVTOLs for short — competed with industry heavyweights for attention.

    “He believes in the innovation of urban air mobility,” Hoke said of Macron. “That would be a strong sign for Europe to see the president flying.”

    But with Macron aboard or not, those pioneering first flights would still be just small steps for the nascent industry that has giant leaps to make before flying taxis are muscling out competitors on the ground.

    The limited power of battery technology restricts the range and number of paying passengers they can carry, so eVTOL hops are likely to be short and not cheap at the outset.

    And while the vision of simply beating city traffic by zooming over it is enticing, it also is dependent on advances in airspace management. Manufacturers of eVTOLs aim in the coming decade to unfurl fleets in cities and on more niche routes for luxury passengers, including the French Riviera. But they need technological leaps so flying taxis don’t crash into each other and all the other things already congesting the skies or expected to take to them in very large numbers — including millions of drones.

    Starting first on existing helicopter routes, “we’ll continue to scale up using AI, using machine-learning to make sure that our airspace can handle it,” said Billy Nolen of Archer Aviation Inc. It aims to start flying between downtown Manhattan and Newark’s Liberty Airport in 2025. That’s normally a 1-hour train or old-fashioned taxi ride that Archer says its sleek, electric 4-passenger prototype could cover in under 10 minutes.

    Nolen was formerly acting head of the Federal Aviation Administration, the U.S. regulator that during his time at the agency was already working with NASA on technology to safely separate flying taxis. Just as Paris is using its Olympic Games to test flying taxis, Nolen said the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics offer another target for the industry to aim for and show that it can fly passengers in growing numbers safely, cleanly and affordably.

    “We’ll have hundreds, if not thousands, of eVTOLs by the time you get to 2028,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press at the Paris show.

    The “very small” hoped-for experiment with Volocopter for the Paris Games is “great stuff. We take our hats off to them,” he added. “But by the time we get to 2028 and beyond … you will see full-scale deployment across major cities throughout the world.”

    Yet even on the cusp of what the industry portrays as a revolutionary new era kicking off in the city that spawned the French Revolution of 1789, some aviation analysts aren’t buying into visions of eVTOLs becoming readily affordable, ubiquitous and convenient alternatives to ride-hailing in the not-too-distant future.

    And even among eVTOL developers who bullishly talked up their industry’s prospects at the Paris show, some predicted that rivals will run dry of funding before they bring prototypes to market.

    Morgan Stanley analysts estimate the industry could be worth $1 trillion by 2040 and $9 trillion by 2050 with advances in battery and propulsion technology. Almost all of that will come after 2035, analysts say, because of the difficulty of getting new aircraft certified by U.S. and European regulators.

    “The idea of mass urban transit remains a charming fantasy of the 1950s,” said Richard Aboulafia of AeroDynamic Advisory, an aerospace consultancy.

    “The real problem is still that mere mortals like you and I don’t get routine or exclusive access to $4 million vehicles. You and I can take air taxis right now. It’s called a helicopter.”

    Still, electric taxis taking to Paris’ skies as Olympians are going faster, higher and stronger could have the power to surprise — pleasantly so, Volocopter hopes.

    One of the five planned Olympic routes would land in the heart of the city on a floating platform on the spruced-up River Seine. Developers point out that ride-hailing apps and E-scooters also used to strike many customers as outlandish. And as with those technologies, some are betting that early adopters of flying taxis will prompt others to try them, too.

    “It will be a total new experience for the people,” said Hoke, Volocopter’s CEO. “But twenty years later someone looks back at what changed based on that and then they call it a revolution. And I think we are at the edge of the next revolution.”

    ___

    AP Airline Writer David Koenig contributed to this report from Dallas.

    ___

    More AP coverage of the Paris Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

    Source link

  • OpenAI boss downplays fears ChatGPT maker could leave Europe over AI rules

    OpenAI boss downplays fears ChatGPT maker could leave Europe over AI rules

    LONDON (AP) — OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on Friday downplayed worries that the ChatGPT maker could exit the European Union if it can’t comply with the bloc’s strict new artificial intelligence rules, coming after a top official rebuked him for comments raising such a possibility.

    Altman is traveling through Europe as part of a world tour to meet with officials and promote his AI company, which has unleashed a frenzy around the globe.

    At a stop this week in London, he said OpenAI might leave if the artificial intelligence rules that the EU is drawing up are too tough. That triggered a pointed reply on social media from European Commissioner Thierry Breton, accusing the company of blackmail.

    Breton, who’s in charge of digital policy, linked to a Financial Times article quoting Altman saying that OpenAI “will try to comply, but if we can’t comply we will cease operating.”

    Altman sought to calm the waters a day later, tweeting: “very productive week of conversations in europe about how to best regulate AI! we are excited to continue to operate here and of course have no plans to leave.”

    The European Union is at the forefront of global efforts to draw up guardrails for artificial intelligence, with its AI Act in the final stages after years of work. The rapid rise of general purpose AI chatbots like ChatGPT caught EU officials off guard, and they scrambled to add provisions covering so-called generative AI systems, which can produce convincingly human-like conversational answers, essays, images and more in response to questions from users.

    “There is no point in attempting blackmail — claiming that by crafting a clear framework, Europe is holding up the rollout of generative #AI,” Breton said in his tweet. He added that the EU aims to “assist companies in their preparation” for the AI Act.

    Altman tweeted that his European tour includes Warsaw, Poland; Munich, Germany; Paris; Madrid; Lisbon, Portugal; and London. Brussels, headquarters of the EU, has not been mentioned.

    He has met with world leaders including British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, French President Emmanuel Macron, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

    Google CEO Sundar Pichai also has been crisscrossing Europe this week to discuss AI with officials like Scholz, European commissioners including Breton, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, and two EU lawmakers who spearheaded the Parliament’s work on the AI rules.

    “Good to discuss the need for responsible regulation and transatlantic convergence on AI,” Pichai tweeted.

    Google has released its own conversational chatbot, Bard, to compete with ChatGPT.

    Other tech company bosses have been wading into the debate this week over whether and how to regulate artificial intelligence, including Microsoft President Brad Smith, who unveiled a blueprint for public governance of AI on Thursday.

    Microsoft has invested billions in OpenAI and integrated ChatGPT-like technology into its products, including a chatbot for its Bing search engine.

    Altman told congressional lawmakers this month that AI should be regulated by a U.S. or global agency because increasingly powerful systems will need government intervention to reduce their risks.

    Altman was mobbed by students when he appeared in a “fireside chat” at University College London on Wednesday. He told the audience that the “right answer” to regulating AI is “probably something between the traditional European, U.K. approach and the traditional U.S. approach.”

    “I think you really don’t want to overregulate this before you know what shape the technology is going to be,” Altman said.

    There’s still potential to come up with “some sort of global set of norms and enforcement,” he said, adding that AI regulation has been a “recurring topic” on his world tour, which has also included stops in Toronto, Rio de Janeiro and Lagos, Nigeria.

    Source link

  • After Russia bombs own city, explosive found at same site

    After Russia bombs own city, explosive found at same site

    Seventeen apartment buildings were evacuated Saturday in a Russian city near the Ukrainian border after an explosive device was found at the site where a bomb accidentally dropped by a Russian warplane caused a powerful blast this week, authorities said.

    The bomb blast late Thursday rocked part of Belgorod, leaving a large crater and three people injured. The Russian Defense Ministry quickly acknowledged that a weapon accidentally released by one of its own Su-34 bombers caused the explosion.

    The ministry said an investigation was underway but did not elaborate on the details of the weapon, which military experts said likely was a powerful 500-kilogram (1,100-pound) bomb.

    The governor of Belgorod province, Vyacheslav Gladkov, reported Saturday that sappers examining the site of Thursday’s blast found and decided to detonate what he called an “explosive object” that was “in the immediate vicinity of residential buildings.”

    The precautionary evacuations ended later in the day, according to Belgorod Mayor Valentin Demidov.

    “The bomb was removed from the residential area. Residents are being delivered back to their homes,” Demidov wrote on Telegram.

    Russian authorities did not say if the detonated device was dropped by accident on Thursday and if so, if it was a remnant of or separate from the bomb that exploded in the city.

    Belgorod, located about 40 kilometers (25 miles) east of the Russia-Ukraine border, has faced regular drone attacks since Russia sent troops into Ukraine last year. Russian authorities have blamed those strikes on the Ukrainian military, which refrained from directly claiming responsibility for the attacks.

    Late Saturday, the governor of the Kharkiv region, Oleh Syniehubov, said five missiles fired from the Belgorod area hit the region, including one that struck unspecified “civilian infrastructure” in the capital city Kharkiv.

    Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine has sent relations with the West into deep freeze, with frequent expulsions of diplomats on both sides.

    On Saturday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that German authorities had “decided on another mass expulsion of employees of Russian diplomatic missions in Germany.”

    A ministry statement said that “as a reaction to the hostile actions of Berlin,” Russia decided to “mirror” the expulsions by Germany and “significantly limit” the maximum number of staff at German diplomatic missions in Russia.

    Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Russia is expelling more than 20 German diplomats, Russian state media reported, but didn’t give a precise number.

    Germany’s Foreign Ministry said it took note of the comments. It said that the German government and Russia had been in contact in recent weeks on “questions regarding the staffing of the respective diplomatic missions” and that a flight on Saturday took place in that context. It didn’t elaborate.

    The German air force said earlier that a Russian plane flew to Berlin with diplomatic clearance on Saturday, but didn’t specify who or what was on board. Special clearance is required because the European Union closed its airspace to Russian aircraft shortly after the war in Ukraine started.

    ___

    Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine-war

    Source link

  • King Charles III addresses German parliament, meets Scholz

    King Charles III addresses German parliament, meets Scholz

    BERLIN (AP) — King Charles III became the first monarch to address Germany’s parliament, the Bundestag, on Thursday as part of a high-profile visit by the U.K. head of state aimed at bolstering ties between the two European powers.

    Speaking to lawmakers and other dignitaries in the packed lower house, Charles stressed the close bonds between the United Kingdom and Germany going back centuries, including his own family links to the royal House of Hannover, and the present-day economic, scientific, cultural and military cooperation between the two countries.

    Charles noted that London and Berlin have provided considerable aid to Ukraine in its efforts to fend off Russia’s invasion, a point that will appeal to German government officials more used to hearing how their country isn’t doing enough to help Kyiv.

    “Germany’s decision to provide so much military support to Ukraine is extremely brave, important and welcome,” Charles said.

    Speaking mostly in fluent German, he noted how the intertwined history of the two nations could be seen in the home of the Bundestag itself. The restoration in the 1990s of the former Reichstag building, that was heavily damaged during World War II, was capped with a glass cupola designed by British architect Norman Foster intended as a symbol of transparency and accountability.

    “From here the citizens can actually watch their politicians work,” Charles said. “Democracy in action.”

    The 74-year-old largely trod on safe territory, making gentle jokes about soccer rivalry, national humor and mutual admiration for each other’s cultures — from the Beatles to Kraftwerk and from Brahms to Byron. Charles briefly touched on the grim history of Nazism and WWII.

    Charles and Camilla, the queen consort, will visit Hamburg on Friday to pay respects at a memorial to the Kindertransporte, or children’s transports, which saw more than 10,000 Jewish children rescued from Nazi Germany 85 years ago. They will also commemorate the more than 30,000 people — most of them civilians — killed in the Allied bombing of Hamburg in July 1943.

    “Heeding the lessons of the past is our sacred responsibility, but it can only be fully discharged through a commitment to our shared future,” he said. “Together we must be vigilant against threats to our values and freedoms, and resolute in our determination to confront them. Together we must strive for the security, prosperity and well-being that our people deserve.”

    When Charles finished his speech, the lawmakers rose for a long, standing ovation, something rarely seen in Germany’s parliament.

    Charles is on his inaugural foreign trip since becoming king. He and Camilla arrived in Berlin on Wednesday. Crowds of well-wishers and Germany’s head of state, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, greeted the couple at the capital’s iconic Brandenburg Gate. They later attended a banquet in their honor at the presidential palace.

    Pomp and royal glamour aside, the three-day visit has a decidedly political purpose. The U.K. government is trying to mend frayed ties with its continental partners following the painful Brexit process.

    The fallout has been considerable: Britain’s departure from the European Union’s common market has resulted in trade barriers and labor shortages, and locked the country out of key European science programs. By devoting special attention to the EU’s two biggest powers — France and Germany — Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hopes to normalize relations with the 27-nation bloc.

    Charles originally planned to stop in France first, but anti-government protests there delayed that part of his trip. That put the focus on Germany, where the U.K. royal family and particularly the late Queen Elizabeth II have long commanded interest and admiration.

    Not all were pleased by the visit, however. Jan Korte, a lawmaker with the opposition Left party, said it wasn’t in keeping with Germany’s democratic tradition to have Charles address the country’s highest political body, the Bundestag.

    “A king isn’t elected,” Korte told public broadcaster ZDF. “He can obviously speak everywhere and is very welcome, including by me, but I think that particularly in the Bundestag, which is about representing the people, it’s not really appropriate to have a monarch speak.”

    Charles has spoken to the Bundestag before, at an event in 2020 commemorating the victims of WWII, though he was still the Prince of Wales at the time.

    Before his speech Charles met briefly with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and visited a farmers’ market in Berlin.

    After his speech, Charles visited a refugee center for Ukrainians at Berlin’s former Tegel airport, and met representatives from a joint German and U.K. military unit stationed near Berlin to see a demonstration of their bridge-building amphibious vehicles.

    Later on Thursday afternoon, he visited an organic farm 80 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of the capital where he helped make an orange-colored cheese with a crown imprint.

    His drive to the countryside was slowed down by torrential rain, and he had to skip a tour of the cowshed with newborn calves. Still, Charles had enough time to try a special, crown-shaped cake made by the farm’s pastry chef in his honor.

    When the king’s motorcade left the farm, a few royal fans huddled under umbrellas on a nearby lawn shouted in German “Long live the king,” as Charles waved good-bye from his car.

    ___

    Kirsten Grieshaber contributed.

    Source link

  • German government sued over failure to meet climate goals

    German government sued over failure to meet climate goals

    BERLIN (AP) — A prominent environmental group said Tuesday that it is suing the German government over the failure to meet its own climate targets.

    Friends of the Earth Germany, also known as BUND, said in its submission to the Berlin-Brandenburg administrative court that the government should be required to put forward an emergency program for the transport and building sectors.

    Both sectors have fallen behind on their legally binding targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

    The group, which has more than 450,000 members, argues that time is running out for Germany to meet its national climate goals for 2030 and achieve ‘net zero’ emissions by 2045.

    A report published earlier this month by the think tank Agora Energiewende concluded that Germany’s emissions of planet-heating gas last year were likely higher than the target set for 2020.

    The government has put together an ambitious program to expand the use of renewable energy in the coming years.

    But differences between two members of the coalition government — the environmentalist Greens and the libertarian Free Democratic Party — have stalled efforts to drastically cut fossil fuel use in the transport sector.

    Source link

  • 1st tanker carrying LNG from US arrives in Germany

    1st tanker carrying LNG from US arrives in Germany

    BERLIN (AP) — The first regular shipment of liquefied natural gas from the United States arrived in Germany on Tuesday, part of a wide-reaching effort to help the country replace energy supplies it previously received from Russia.

    The tanker vessel Maria Energy arrived at the North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven, where its shipment of LNG will be converted back into gas at a special floating terminal that was inaugurated last month by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

    Germany has rushed to find a replacement for Russian gas supplies following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The facility in Wilhelmshaven is one of several such terminals being put in place to help avert an energy supply shortage.

    Germany has also temporarily reactivated old oil- and coal-fired power stations and extended the life of its last three nuclear power plants until mid-April.

    Environmental campaigners said they planned to protest the arrival of the Maria Energy, arguing Germany shouldn’t be importing fossil fuels, particularly gas obtained through fracking.

    Reserves in Germany’s gas storage facilities rose above 90% at the start of the year as unseasonably warm temperatures across much of central Europe reduced heating demand.

    Source link

  • German police union calls for action after New Year attacks

    German police union calls for action after New Year attacks

    BERLIN — Germany’s biggest police union called Tuesday for concerted action to prevent a repeat of the violent excesses seen in Berlin and other cities during the New Year’s celebrations, in which officers, firefighters and medical personnel were attacked with fireworks.

    Police in the capital recorded dozens of attacks and said 41 officers were injured. Online videos showing people firing rockets and throwing firecrackers at police cars and rescue vehicles drew widespread condemnation from German authorities.

    The head of the GdP union, Jochen Kopelke, said there should be an “immediate debate” about the causes and consequences of such attacks, adding that they “must not be repeated at the next turn of the year.”

    Kopelke said it was important to discuss the facts of what had happened and avoid blanket accusations against particular social groups.

    Some conservative and far-right politicians have noted that some of the attacks took place in areas of Berlin with large immigrant communities.

    Christoph de Vries, a lawmaker with the center-right Christian Democrats, wrote on Twitter that to tackle the issue of violence toward police officers and firefighters it was necessary to “talk about the role of people (with the) phenotype: West Asiatic, darker skin type.”

    His comments drew accusations of racism, but De Vries said he was “ironically” referring to recent guidance by Berlin police on how to describe suspects’ ethnicity and this should not distract from “the necessary discussion about migration policy and glaring deficits when it comes to integration.”

    Berlin police have so far said only that out of 103 suspects released from detention, 98 were male.

    The German government’s top integration official, Reem Alabali-Radovan, condemned the New Year’s attacks and called for those responsible to swiftly be punished “with the full force of our laws.”

    In an interview with the Funke media group, she also called for the perpetrators to be judged “according to their deeds, not according to their presumed origins, as some are doing now,” warning that this could cause further divisions in society rather than address the social causes of the problem.

    The attacks have also reignited a debate in Germany about the use of fireworks around New Year. The tradition suffered a blow during the pandemic, when the government banned their sale in an effort to ease the pressure on hospitals and discourage large public gatherings.

    Experts say the absence of such a ban may have contributed to the scale of violence and large number of fireworks injuries — including at least one death — seen this year.

    The GdP union’s regional head in Berlin, Stephan Weh, suggested it was time to consider a nationwide ban on pyrotechnics, saying the attacks in the capital had shown how they can be used “as weapons against people.”

    Source link

  • Germany formally suspends guarantees for business with Iran

    Germany formally suspends guarantees for business with Iran

    BERLIN — The German government said Friday it is formally suspending export credit and investment guarantees for business in Iran in the wake of authorities’ crackdown on protests.

    The Economy Ministry said it also has suspended other “economic formats,” including a dialogue on energy issues, in view of “the very serious situation in Iran.”

    Export credit guarantees protect German companies from losses when exports aren’t paid for. Investment guarantees are granted to protect direct investments by German companies from political risk in the countries where they are made.

    The ministry said that use of those instruments for projects in Iran was suspended for decades until there was a “short phase of opening” from 2016 as a result of Iran’s agreement with world powers, including Germany, on its nuclear program. It said that guarantees were granted or extended for a few projects in that period, but there have been no new ones since 2019.

    The German government has now decided to “suspend completely” the guarantees, it added, and exemptions can only be granted if there are solid humanitarian reasons. German-Iranian trade totaled 1.76 billion euros (nearly $1.9 billion) in 2021 and 1.49 billion euros in the first nine months of this year, the ministry said.

    Nationwide protests erupted in September after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, detained by the morality police for allegedly violating Iran’s strict dress code for women. They have since transformed into calls for the overthrow of Iran’s ruling clerics. Authorities have sought to stamp out the demonstrations and ramp up pressure on critics.

    Since the protests started, the United States and European Union imposed additional sanctions on Iran for its brutal treatment of demonstrators and its decision to send hundreds of drones to Russia for its war in Ukraine. Germany pushed for a meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Council last month that voted to condemn the crackdown and create an independent fact-finding mission.

    Source link

  • Germany formally suspends guarantees for business with Iran

    Germany formally suspends guarantees for business with Iran

    BERLIN — The German government said Friday it is formally suspending export credit and investment guarantees for business in Iran in the wake of authorities’ crackdown on protests.

    The Economy Ministry said it also has suspended other “economic formats,” including a dialogue on energy issues, in view of “the very serious situation in Iran.”

    Export credit guarantees protect German companies from losses when exports aren’t paid for. Investment guarantees are granted to protect direct investments by German companies from political risk in the countries where they are made.

    The ministry said that use of those instruments for projects in Iran was suspended for decades until there was a “short phase of opening” from 2016 as a result of Iran’s agreement with world powers, including Germany, on its nuclear program. It said that guarantees were granted or extended for a few projects in that period, but there have been no new ones since 2019.

    The German government has now decided to “suspend completely” the guarantees, it added, and exemptions can only be granted if there are solid humanitarian reasons. German-Iranian trade totaled 1.76 billion euros (nearly $1.9 billion) in 2021 and 1.49 billion euros in the first nine months of this year, the ministry said.

    Nationwide protests erupted in September after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, detained by the morality police for allegedly violating Iran’s strict dress code for women. They have since transformed into calls for the overthrow of Iran’s ruling clerics. Authorities have sought to stamp out the demonstrations and ramp up pressure on critics.

    Since the protests started, the United States and European Union imposed additional sanctions on Iran for its brutal treatment of demonstrators and its decision to send hundreds of drones to Russia for its war in Ukraine. Germany pushed for a meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Council last month that voted to condemn the crackdown and create an independent fact-finding mission.

    Source link

  • EU reaches deal on emissions trading, social climate fund

    EU reaches deal on emissions trading, social climate fund

    BERLIN — European Union governments and lawmakers reached a deal Sunday on key elements of the 27-nation bloc’s green deal, reforming the EU’s trading system for greenhouse gas emissions and creating a new hardship fund for those hardest-hit by measures to curb climate change.

    The two sides agreed to push European industries and energy companies to cut their emissions by speeding up the phase-out of free pollution vouchers. Doing so makes each ton of carbon dioxide that’s released into the atmosphere more expensive for polluters.

    The EU’s executive Commission said the measure would require European industries to reduce their emissions by 62% by 2030 from 2005 levels, compared to a target of 43% under the previous rules.

    To ensure a level playing field, the EU will also introduce a tax on foreign companies that want to import products which don’t meet climate-protection standards European companies have to comply with. The so-called Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism was agreed to last week.

    Governments and the European Parliament also agreed to extend the bloc’s emissions trading system to cover road transport and the heating of buildings from 2027. This is likely to raise the price of gasoline, natural gas and other fossil fuels for consumers, providing an incentive to switch to cleaner alternatives.

    The deal includes an emergency clause allowing the introduction to be postponed by a year if energy costs are particularly high.

    Against the backdrop of the current energy crisis that has stoked inflation in Europe and beyond, negotiators agreed to also create a social climate fund that will help vulnerable households and small businesses cope with higher costs for fuel arising from the new measures.

    The fund comprising tens of billions of euros will be phased in from 2026 and filled with proceeds from the auction of emissions vouchers.

    “We can now safely say that the EU has delivered on its promises with ambitious legislation and this puts us at the forefront of fighting climate change globally,” said Czech Environment Minister Marian Jurecka, whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency.

    The provisional agreement needs to be formally adopted by the EU Parliament and governments. It is part of the bloc’s broader ‘ Fit for 55 ’ package intended to help the EU cut its emissions by 55% by 2030 from 1990 levels and achieve “net zero” by mid-century.

    Separately Sunday, countries that are part of the North Seas Energy Cooperation were expected to sign an agreement with Britain on working together to expand the construction of offshore wind power and electricity interconnectors. The deal also envisages cooperation on the production of hydrogen with renewable energy.

    The United Kingdom, which left the North Seas Energy Cooperation agreement when it quit the EU in 2020, already has the biggest installed capacity for offshore wind power in Europe. With further expansion planned, Britain could become a major exporter of wind power to continental Europe in future.

    Source link

  • Scholz inaugurates 1st liquefied gas terminal in Germany

    Scholz inaugurates 1st liquefied gas terminal in Germany

    BERLIN — Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Saturday inaugurated Germany’s first liquefied natural gas terminal, declaring that the speed with which it was put into service is a signal that Europe’s biggest economy will remain strong.

    The top three officials in the government — Scholz, Economy Minister Robert Habeck and Finance Minister Christian Lindner — attended the inauguration in the North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven in a sign of the importance that Germany attaches to several new LNG terminals that it is scrambling to build following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

    The terminals are part of a drive to prevent an energy crunch that also includes temporarily reactivating old oil- and coal-fired power stations and extending the life of Germany’s last three nuclear power plants, which were supposed to be switched off at the end of this year, until mid-April.

    Scholz announced days after Russia invaded Ukraine in February that the government had decided to build the first two LNG terminals quickly.

    “When we said that, for example, such a terminal should be built here in Wilhelmshaven this year already, many said that’s never possible, that would never succeed,” the chancellor said at Saturday’s ceremony. “And the opposite is true.”

    Port facilities were completed a month ago and a specially equipped ship, a so-called “floating storage and regasification unit,” docked on Thursday with 165,000 cubic meters of LNG. The Economy Ministry said that regasification is expected to start in the coming days and “regular service” in January.

    Two more terminals are slated to open this winter, with another three expected to be available next winter. Scholz said their total capacity will be well over half the amount of Russian pipeline gas that was supplied last winter.

    Sluggish planning processes have long been a concern in Germany. Scholz proclaimed on Saturday that “this is now the new German speed with which we are moving infrastructure forward.”

    “This is a good day for our country and a good signal to the whole world that the German economy will be in a position to continue being strong, to produce and to deal with this challenge,” he said.

    Efforts to make Germany independent of Russian gas were well underway before Russia started reducing supplies through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which was its main supply route, in mid-June. Russia, which used to account for more than half of the country’s natural gas supply, hasn’t delivered any gas to Germany since the end of August.

    Scholz underlined the importance of pursuing Germany’s transition to renewable energy sources, and stressed that a new pipeline to Wilhelmshaven was planned in such a way that it can in the future be adapted to transport hydrogen.

    Still, the new gas terminals have drawn criticism from environmental groups.

    And while they have broad mainstream political support, a leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany party, Tino Chrupalla, argued on Saturday that the Wilhelmshaven facility wouldn’t solve the energy crisis and called for the government to drop sanctions against Russia.

    Source link

  • Twitter suspensions raise alarm in and outside media circles

    Twitter suspensions raise alarm in and outside media circles

    Elon Musk’s abrupt suspension of several journalists who cover Twitter is adding to a growing rift between the social media site and media organizations that have used the platform to build their audiences.

    Accounts of reporters with The New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, Voice of America and other publications, went dark Thursday.

    The suspension of journalists continued Friday with the account of a Business Insider columnist who published a series of articles between 2018 and 2021 highlighting what she called dangerous Tesla manufacturing shortcomings.

    There was an exodus of advertisers shortly after the billionaire’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in October over content moderation and Musk now risks a rupture with media organizations, among the most active on the platform.

    The company hasn’t explained to the journalists why it took down the accounts and made their profiles and past tweets disappear. But Musk took to Twitter on Thursday night to accuse journalists of sharing private information about his whereabouts that he described as “basically assassination coordinates.” He provided no evidence for that claim.

    Business Insider’s Linette Lopez told The Associated Press that she was given no explanation for the suspension. Shortly before being suspended, she said she had posted court-related documents to Twitter that included a 2018 Musk email address. That address is not current, said Lopez, because “he changes his email ever few weeks. If he wants to call that doxxing, fine.”

    On Tuesday, she posted a 2019 story about Tesla troubles, commenting “Now, just like then, most of @elonmusk’s wounds are self inflicted.” The same day, she called reports of Musk reneging on severance for laid off Twitter employees, threatening workers who talk to the press and refusing rent payments “classic Elon-going-for-broke behavior.”

    Alarm over the suspensions extended beyond media circles, however.

    “From our standpoint, the move sets a dangerous precedent at a time when journalists all over the world are facing censorship, physical threats and even worse, and we are remaining in touch with officials,” said U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

    The sudden suspension of news reporters followed Musk’s decision Wednesday to permanently ban an account that automatically tracked the flights of his private jet using publicly available data. That also led Twitter to change its rules for all users to prohibit the sharing of another person’s current location without their consent.

    Several of the reporters suspended Thursday night had been writing about the new policy and Musk’s rationale for imposing it, which involved his allegations about a stalking incident he said affected his family on Tuesday night in Los Angeles.

    The official account for Mastodon, a decentralized social network billed as an alternative to Twitter, was also banned. The reason was unclear, though it had tweeted about the jet tracking account.

    “Same doxxing rules apply to ‘journalists’ as to everyone else,” Musk tweeted Thursday. He later added: “Criticizing me all day long is totally fine, but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not.”

    “Doxxing” refers to disclosing online someone’s identity, address, or other personal details.

    The Washington Post’s executive editor, Sally Buzbee, called for technology reporter Drew Harwell’s Twitter account to be reinstated immediately. The suspension “directly undermines Elon Musk’s claim that he intends to run Twitter as a platform dedicated to free speech,” Buzbee wrote. “Harwell was banished without warning, process or explanation, following the publication of his accurate reporting about Musk.”

    CNN said in a statement that “the impulsive and unjustified suspension of a number of reporters, including CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan, is concerning but not surprising.”

    “Twitter’s increasing instability and volatility should be of incredible concern for everyone who uses Twitter,” CNN’s statement added. “We have asked Twitter for an explanation, and we will reevaluate our relationship based on that response.”

    The U.N. is also reconsidering its involvement in Twitter, according Dujarric.

    Another suspended journalist, Matt Binder of the technology news outlet Mashable, said he was banned Thursday night immediately after sharing a screenshot that O’Sullivan had posted before his own suspension.

    The screenshot showed a statement from the Los Angeles Police Department sent earlier Thursday to multiple media outlets, including The Associated Press, about how it was in touch with Musk’s representatives about the alleged stalking incident.

    “I did not share any location data, as per Twitter’s new terms. Nor did I share any links to ElonJet or other location tracking accounts,” Binder said in an email. “I have been highly critical of Musk but never broke any of Twitter’s listed policies.”

    Late Thursday, Musk briefly joined a Twitter Spaces chat hosted by journalist Kate Notopoulos of Buzzfeed. Musk stood by the suspensions saying, “You doxx, you get suspended, end of story.”

    He abruptly left the conversation and a short time later, all of Twitter Spaces went offline.

    Some of the journalists who had been suspended, and also the creator of the Elon Jet Twitter account, were on the Spaces chat with Musk despite the suspension of their Twitter accounts due to what appears to be a technical quirk.

    Musk later tweeted that “We’re fixing a Legacy Bug” and that the service should be up and running again Friday. It remained dormant Friday afternoon.

    The suspensions come as Musk makes major changes to content moderation on Twitter. He has tried, through the release of selected company documents dubbed as “The Twitter Files,” to claim the platform suppressed right-wing voices under its previous leaders.

    He has promised to let free speech reign and has reinstated high-profile accounts that previously broke Twitter’s rules against hateful conduct or harmful misinformation, but also has said he would suppress negativity and hate by depriving some accounts of “freedom of reach.”

    The nonprofit Committee to Protect Journalists, which defends journalists around the world, voiced concern.

    “If confirmed as retaliation for their work, this would be a serious violation of journalists’ right to report the news without fear of reprisal,” the group said.

    If suspensions lead to the exodus of media organizations that are highly active on Twitter, the platform would be changed at the fundamental level, said Lou Paskalis, longtime marketing and media executive and former Bank of America head of global media.

    CBS briefly shut down its activity on Twitter in November due to “uncertainty” about new management, but media organizations have largely remained on the platform.

    “We all know news breaks on Twitter, it has been stock and trade since I’ve been using Twitter, and to now go after journalists really saws at the main foundational tentpole of Twitter,” Paskalis said. “Driving journalists off Twitter is the biggest self-inflicted wound I can think of.”

    The suspensions may be the biggest red flag yet for advertisers, Paskalis said, some of which had already cut their spending on Twitter over uncertainty about the direction Musk is taking the platform.

    “It is an overt demonstration of what advertisers fear the most,” Paskalis said. “Retribution for an action that Elon doesn’t agree with. That would be the No. 1 reason to pause advertising on Twitter if I haven’t done so already.”

    Advertisers are also monitoring the potential loss of Twitter users. Twitter is projected to lose 32 million of its users over the next two years, according to a forecast by Insider Intelligence.

    They’re projecting a nearly 4% drop in 2023 and another 5% drop in 2024, as technical issues and the return of accounts banned for offensive posts return under new Twitter rules.

    ————

    Associated Press writers Kelvin Chan in London, Frank Jordans in Berlin, Frank Bajak in Boston and Hillel Italie and Edith Lederer in New York, contributed to this report.

    Source link

  • Twitter suspends journalists who wrote about owner Elon Musk

    Twitter suspends journalists who wrote about owner Elon Musk

    Twitter suspended the accounts of several journalists who cover the social media platform, the latest battle over what can and cannot be said on the site since billionaire Elon Musk took control of it.

    Accounts of reporters with The New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, Voice of America and other publications, went dark Thursday.

    The company hasn’t explained to the journalists why it took down the accounts and made their profiles and past tweets disappear. But Musk took to Twitter on Thursday night to accuse journalists of sharing private information about his whereabouts that he described as “basically assassination coordinates.” He provided no evidence for that claim.

    The sudden suspension of news reporters followed Musk’s decision Wednesday to permanently ban an account that automatically tracked the flights of his private jet using publicly available data. That also led Twitter to change its rules for all users to prohibit the sharing of another person’s current location without their consent.

    Several of the reporters suspended Thursday night had been writing about the new policy and Musk’s rationale for imposing it, which involved his allegations about a stalking incident he said affected his family on Tuesday night in Los Angeles.

    The official account for Mastodon, a decentralized social network billed as an alternative to Twitter, was also banned. The reason was unclear, though it had tweeted about the jet tracking account.

    “Same doxxing rules apply to ‘journalists’ as to everyone else,” Musk tweeted Thursday. He later added: “Criticizing me all day long is totally fine, but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not.”

    “Doxxing” refers to disclosing online someone’s identity, address, or other personal details.

    The Washington Post’s executive editor, Sally Buzbee, called for technology reporter Drew Harwell’s Twitter account to be reinstated immediately. The suspension “directly undermines Elon Musk’s claim that he intends to run Twitter as a platform dedicated to free speech,” Buzbee wrote. “Harwell was banished without warning, process or explanation, following the publication of his accurate reporting about Musk.”

    CNN said in a statement that “the impulsive and unjustified suspension of a number of reporters, including CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan, is concerning but not surprising.”

    “Twitter’s increasing instability and volatility should be of incredible concern for everyone who uses Twitter,” CNN’s statement added. “We have asked Twitter for an explanation, and we will reevaluate our relationship based on that response.”

    Another suspended journalist, Matt Binder of the technology news outlet Mashable, said he was banned Thursday night immediately after sharing a screenshot that O’Sullivan had posted before his own suspension.

    The screenshot showed a statement from the Los Angeles Police Department sent earlier Thursday to multiple media outlets, including The Associated Press, about how it was in touch with Musk’s representatives about the alleged stalking incident, but that no crime report had yet been filed.

    “I did not share any location data, as per Twitter’s new terms. Nor did I share any links to ElonJet or other location tracking accounts,” Binder said in an email. “I have been highly critical of Musk but never broke any of Twitter’s listed policies.”

    Binder said a message he received while trying to access his Twitter account showed that his suspension was permanent. But Musk later suggested the penalty would last a week in response to a question about his suspension of former ESPN and MSNBC host Keith Olbermann.

    Late Thursday, Musk briefly joined a Twitter Spaces conference chat hosted by journalist Kate Notopoulos of Buzzfeed. He reiterated his claims that the journalists Twitter banned were “doxxing” him when they were reporting on the jet tracking accounts being banned.

    “There is not special treatment for journalists,” Musk said, after being asked by the Post’s Drew Harwell if he had a connection between the stalking incident and posting of real-time information.

    “You dox, you get suspended, end of story,” he added, before abruptly signing out. The Spaces ended abruptly shortly after 9 p.m. Pacific time.

    “Sorry it appears the Space cut out, screen went suddenly blank on my end and everyone got booted,” host Notopoulos tweeted at 9:14 p.m. Pacific.

    Another suspended reporter, Steve Herman of Voice of America, said he assumes he was banned “because I was tweeting about other journalists being suspended for tweeting about accounts being booted that had linked to the Elon Jet feed.”

    The suspensions come as Musk makes major changes to content moderation on Twitter. He has tried, through the release of selected company documents dubbed as “The Twitter Files,” to claim the platform suppressed right-wing voices under its previous leaders.

    He has promised to let free speech reign and has reinstated high-profile accounts that previously broke Twitter’s rules against hateful conduct or harmful misinformation, but also has said he would suppress negativity and hate by depriving some accounts of “freedom of reach.”

    The nonprofit Committee to Protect Journalists, which defends journalists around the world, said Thursday night it was concerned about the suspensions.

    “If confirmed as retaliation for their work, this would be a serious violation of journalists’ right to report the news without fear of reprisal,” the group said.

    European Union Commissioner Vera Jourova, who heads up the 27-nation bloc’s work on values and transparency, also weighed in.

    “News about arbitrary suspension of journalists on Twitter is worrying,” she tweeted. Existing EU media rules and new digital regulations taking effect next year require “respect of media freedom and fundamental rights.”

    Jourova said, “@elonmusk should be aware of that. There are red lines. And sanctions, soon.”

    The Germany government added more criticism. The Foreign Ministry tweeted that it’s “got a problem” with not being able to follow the suspended accounts and added that “press freedom must not be switched on and off at will.”

    Spokesman Christofer Burger said the ministry opened an account on Mastodon “to ensure we remain reachable.”

    ————

    Associated Press writers Kelvin Chan in London and Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this report.

    Source link