Germany holds high-level talks with India, China

A court in Germany on Friday ruled that US tech giant Meta — the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp — can use posts from users in the EU to train its artificial intelligence software.

The higher regional court in Cologne sided with Meta after a complaint was filed by a consumer protection agency in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia which accused the tech company of violating EU data protection laws.

"Meta is pursuing a legitimate end by using the data to train artificial intelligence systems," the court said in a statement.

It added that feeding user data into AI training systems was permitted "even without" users' consent.

From May 27, Meta will use publicly available content from users in the EU over the age of 18 to train its AI software, unless they actively object. Users under 18 will not be affected.

Meta said in April that the AI training will "better support millions of people and businesses in the EU by teaching AI at Meta to better understand and reflect their cultures, languages and history."
 

Emergency services in the German city of Hamburg have revised the number of people injured in a knife attack at the main railway station to 17. Four of the victims are reported to be in life-threatening condition.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz spoke by phone with Hamburg Mayor Peter Tschentscher and offered the support of the federal government in response to the incident.

“The news from Hamburg is shocking. My thoughts are with the victims and their families. My thanks go to all the emergency services on the ground for their rapid assistance,” Merz wrote on X. 

Police in the northern German city of Hamburg have arrested a suspect after a knife attack at the main train station on Friday evening.

At least six people have sustained severe injuries, according to reports, while six others were slightly injured.

Rail services to the station, one of the busiest in the country, have been disrupted.

Police confirmed that "several" people were injured "with a knife."

German media are reporting that a woman has been arrested.

Read the full coverage of the Hamburg train station knife attack here.

Germany's biathlon team will receive a gold medal they won in the relay event at the Winter Olympics in Sochi 11 years ago.

The belated medal award comes after Switzerland's Federal Supreme Court dismissed an appeal on Thursday by Evgeny Ustyugov.

The Russian biathlete had appealed against a ruling by the international Court of Arbitration for Sport's (CAS) that banned him for doping.

After being found guilty in 2020, he was stripped of the gold medal he won in 2014, when his nation hosted the Winter Olympics in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi.

Ustyugov also had his medals from the 2010 Vancouver Games stripped after the CAS upheld the doping violations.

Over 100 Russian athletes were banned from the Rio Olympics in 2016 after the state-sponsored doping scandal was revealed. 

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in 2019 banned Russian athletes from taking part in international competitions for four years after a complex scheme of systematic doping was uncovered at the Sochi Winter Olympics.

More than 50 Olympic medals have been stripped from Russia and its associated teams — four times more than any other competing nation.

The German quartet of Erik Lesser, Daniel Böhm, Arnd Peiffer and Simon Schempp will now move up from silver to gold if the International Olympic Committee enforces the ruling, as is expected.

The silver will go to Austria and the bronze to Norway. 

"I'm pleased that this is now really off the table and finished. And I can look forward to a new medal with a new colour. Even after 11 years, it's right that someone else moves up if the other is playing unfairly," Lesser told German news agency dpa.

Germany's Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said the European Union and India are close to sealing a trade deal that could be completed by the end of the year.

Wadephul met with his Indian counterpart S. Jaishankar in Berlin on Friday.

During a joint press conference, Wadephul said the EU and India are "committed to finalizing a free trade agreement ... by the end of the year."

He acknowledged the timeline is "ambitious," but added that in this "dynamic world, we need ambitious goals for ambitious economic areas."

India's Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar, for his part, said Germany is a "really important partner" for Delhi.

"Germany is our largest economic partner in the European Union," Jaishanker said, adding that he was confident that the relationship would become "much stronger, much deeper, much closer" in the coming years.

He also said Delhi recognizes "Germany's ... invaluable role in shaping a larger relationship with the EU."

Germany's Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul has slammed US President Donald Trump's threat to raise import taxes on goods from the European Union. 

Trump said Friday that he would raise tariffs on the EU to 50% from June 1 because talks between Washington and Brussels on a trade deal were "going nowhere."

The announcement has renewed global uncertainty and sent markets tumbling.

Speaking at a press conference alongside his Indian counterpart S. Jaishankar in Berlin, Wadephul said Trump's tariffs "don't help anyone. They would only cause economic development in both markets to suffer."

The German diplomat said the European Commission, which is leading trade talks with the White House, "has our full support in maintaining our access to the American market."

"We want to defend Europe and the European market while simultaneously exerting the power of persuasion in America," Wadephul added.

Police in Berlin have arrested a 13-year-old after a knife attack at an elementary school on Thursday.

A police statement on Friday confirmed that the boy was in custody and that he was being taken to a child and adolescent psychiatric facility.

Police had been searching for the suspect since the incident occurred on Thursday, and had appealed for the public's help in apprehending him.

Police said a 12-year-old pupil at the primary school in Wilhelmstadt, in the Spandau district of the German capital, had suffered "life-threatening injuries" after he was stabbed with a kitchen knife in the upper body while on the school grounds.

The victim's condition was stable, a police statement said Friday morning.

An operation to locate the suspect involved a police helicopter and sniffer dogs after he fled the scene.

The motive for the attack is not yet known. Police have said there are "indications of attempted homicide."

During a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz made an urgent plea for China to support Western efforts to establish a truce in Ukraine. 

This was their first phone call between leaders since Merz took office this month.

A statement from Merz's office said he told Xi about "the common efforts of Europe and the EU to bring about a quick ceasefire in Ukraine" and that he urged China to "support these efforts."

Both leaders "underlined their readiness to work together as partners to overcome global challenges", Berlin said.

Merz and Xi also discussed economic relations. The leaders emphasized the importance of "fair competition and reciprocity," according to a statement from Merz's office. 

According to Chinese state media, Xi called for Germany to clear the path for more two-way investment.

The Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz revealed this week — in part of a long-term study on media trust — that people in Germany had an increasingly negative perception of public debates, seeing them as irrelevant and crude.

Around 1,200 people were interviewed via telephone about their feelings on public discourse in various settings including political talk shows and social media.

Researchers found that 36% of respondents — up from 21% in 2022 — find people behaved rudely and disrespectfully in public discourse.

The study found that 31% — up from 18% in 2022 — see others being insulted and abused in such scenarios.

Authors of the study said they have not observed an erosion of trust in the media.

Nationally, 47% of respondents said they rather or fully trust the established media "when it comes to really important things," although a slightly growing minority viewed established media with a level of hostility or "media cynicism."

Germany's upper house of parliament, the Bundesrat, commemorated the 60th anniversary of the country officially establishing diplomatic relations with Israel.

The anniversary comes at a time when relations are strained over the war in Gaza. Addressing the chamber, Bundesrat President Anke Rehlinger noted that sympathy for the people of Gaza is not incompatible with a commitment to Israel.

Diplomatic ties were formally established on May 12, 1965, following an agreement between then-German Chancellor Ludwig Erhard and then-Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol.

The move came after a gradual rapprochement following the atrocities carried out during the Holocaust, when Nazi Germany murdered approximately six million Jews.

Manfred Pentz, the minister for federal and European affairs of the central state of Hesse, called the step "a miracle of reconciliation" at the time, saying it "shows the greatness of which human forgiveness is capable."

Over the past few decades, Germany and Israel have developed a strong network of political, economic, military, scientific, and cultural partnerships.

To mark this diplomatic milestone, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier received his Israeli counterpart, Isaac Herzog, in Berlin earlier this month and returned the favor with a subsequent two-day visit to Israel.

Germany has criticized the US government's decision to bar Harvard from enrolling foreign students.

"It's not a positive signal, neither for the young generation nor the free world," German Research Minister Dorothee Baer told the Bayern 2 radio station.

She hoped the Trump administration would reverse the decision.

US President Donald Trump has accused Harvard of being rife with antisemitism and "woke" liberal ideology.

He demanded that the university submit to government oversight on admissions and hiring, as well as "audit" the viewpoints of faculty, students and staff.

Harvard rejected Trump's demands and slammed the decision to revoke its permission to enroll foreign students as "unlawful."

Baer said there is already "a shift" in terms of preferences of international students, with more of them now choosing Europe "because they simply see their freedom guaranteed differently here."

"I never thought... that it would come to this, that the hotspot of academic freedom would someday be questioned," she added.

The German Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, said Berlin will speak to US officials about the interests of German students at Harvard.

"We know of a three-digit number of German students studying at Harvard, so we will quickly take up the question with our partners in the USA what impact this will have on German students," a spokesperson said.

Germany's Stern magazine reported that of the 3.4 million pensioners living below the poverty line, 2.1 million were female.

Stern quoted analysis from the Federal Statistics Office (Destatis) requested by the left-wing populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW).

According to Destatis figures, pensioners are considered to be at risk of poverty if they net less than € 1,378 (around $1,560) per month as a single person.

The BSW is calling for a minimum pension of 1,500 euros after 40 years of insurance.

Women were found to be at higher risk due to the trend of working part-time more often, having to take longer breaks from work and often being employed in lower-paying jobs.

"Our pension system is misogynistic," said BSW leader Sahra Wagenknecht, favoring the introduction of a pension model based on the Austrian model.

In Austria entitlement to old-age pension comes after 15 years of contributions, while in Germany it comes after five years.

The Federal Ministry of Labour and the German Pension Insurance have said in the past that the pension systems are not comparable.

Berlin police are searching for a 13-year-old boy who is suspected of stabbing a 12-year-old classmate at a local primary school.

Police said the child was critically injured in the attack after having been stabbed in the upper body on the school grounds.

Police say the suspect fled the scene and an operation to locate him is underway and involves a police helicopter and sniffer dogs.

The motive for the attack is not yet known.

Demonstrations over rising rent are set to take place across Germany starting from today and lasting throughout the weekend.

The campaign has been launched by the "Mietenstopp" (Rent Freeze) campaign, which seeks caps on rental prices in Germany.

The initiative is being supported by around 180 partner organizations with protest action planned in Munich, Cologne and Bremen, among other cities.

"It is unacceptable that more and more people are spending 30, 40 or even more percent of their income on rent alone," German press agency dpa quoted Stefan Körzell, a board member of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) as saying.

Figures from the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) show net base rents have risen by 64% since 2010.

Körzell labelled rent increases a "socio-political scandal," warning that it threatened to exacerbate Germany's skilled labor shortage.

"More and more workers are unable to find affordable housing near their workplace," he said.

The action days, running through Sunday, include rallies, photo campaigns and discussions with those impacted by rising costs.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's government is looking to extend Bundeswehr involvement in three international missions.

His cabinet on Wednesday approved the extension of mandates for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in the eastern Mediterranean, the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) and the EU mission EUFOR Althea in the western Balkans.

"By continuing its participation in these missions, the German government is emphasizing its ongoing commitment to peace and
stability," government spokesman Stefan Kornelius said.

Germany's lower house of Parliament, the Bundestag, still needs to give its approval before the measures can take effect.

Kornelius said Germany will continue to deploy a maximum of 400 troops to Kosovo and up to 50 soldiers who form part of EUFOR Althea in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Up to 300 German soldiers will also continue their involement in the UNIFIL mission, which has been monitoring the border area between Israel and Lebanon since 1978.