Germany’s VW, China’s BYD face off at Munich auto show

Europe’s top car manufacturer Volkswagen presented a series of more affordable electric vehicles Monday as Chinese EV titan BYD said it would start producing a cut-price model on the continent. The duelling announcements at the closely-watched Munich auto show highlight the fierce battle shaping up between Europe’s traditional automakers and fast-growing Chinese rivals.VW — along with peers BMW and Mercedes-Benz from the long troubled German auto sector — are seeking to make up lost ground in the race for electric dominance.Volkswagen unveiled four small EV models from its namesake VW brand, as well as its Cupra and Skoda marques.With starting prices of around 25,000 euros ($29,000), lower than many current EVs made by European manufacturers, their commercial launch is set for next year. But at a press event at the IAA Mobility show, which runs the whole of this week, CEO Oliver Blume conceded that VW faced a tough fight. “The automotive industry, and especially the Volkswagen group, has never faced so many headwinds at the same time,” he said.And he conceded that the situation in China, where VW has lost market share to local rivals, was highly competitive. BYD “without a doubt is doing a great job there,” he said.- Resistance to EU ban -BYD meanwhile announced that its Dolphin Surf electric compact car, already on sale in Europe since May for around 20,000 euros, will be produced from the end of 2025 in its new Hungarian factory. “We are almost ready to build our cars in Europe, for Europe,” said the manufacturer’s executive vice president Stella Li. Building its cars in Hungary, an European Union country, should help the Chinese manufacturer avoid hefty EU tariffs the bloc has slapped on Chinese-made EVs over what Brussels says are unfair state subsidies. Germany’s top automakers have all suffered in recent times due to weak demand and fierce competition in key market China, where BYD and others have eroded their sales.They have struggled with the shift to EVs as demand has proven weaker in Europe than many had anticipated and prices remain too high for many motorists. Calls have meanwhile been growing for the EU to review a plan to end sales of new combustion engine vehicles by 2035 as part of efforts to tackle climate change.Stellantis, whose brands include Jeep and Fiat, as well as BMW and Mercedes have all expressed scepticism or outright opposition to the plan.  Volkswagen’s Blume added his voice to the criticism on Monday, saying that it was “unrealistic” to aim for “100% electric mobility” in a decade.”We need reality checks every year,” he said.

Teen arrested after two Turkish police officers shot dead

Two officers were killed and two others wounded in a shooting attack on a police station near the Turkish city of Izmir on Monday, with a 16-year-old suspect arrested, officials said. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said the “heinous” attack on the police station in Balcova, just west of the resort city, left two officers dead and a third “seriously injured”. “The suspect in the incident, 16-year-old E.B., has been arrested and an investigation has been opened,” he wrote on X. Izmir’s Governor Suleyman Elban said the suspect lived on the same road as the police station and was injured during his arrest. “The murder suspect is a 16-year-old who lives on this street. He has no criminal record or previous arrests for any crime,” Elban told the private NTV television and other media at the scene. “We saw plenty of empty shotgun shells… and there were many cartridges” of unused ammunition, he added, saying the suspect had used “a shotgun his father bought 10 years ago”.The DHA news agency said the assailant had used “a long-barrelled gun” while NTV described the weapon as a “pump-action shotgun”. It was not immediately clear why the station was targeted, and the authorities later imposed a ban on the dissemination of images related to the attack. Before the ban, footage posted by the Gercek Gundem news website showed mobile phone video of a person in a balaclava, a black top and pale trousers jogging along the pavement carrying a rifle and then entering a building. – Covered with blood -Another widely published clip showed the alleged attacker lying on the pavement being treated by paramedics. He appeared to be conscious but the back of his trousers was covered with blood and multiple bullet cases were lying on the ground.A third clip showed a group of civilians helping to manhandle the suspect into a police van. Police immediately fanned out across the area, imposing tight security measures, media reports said.Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said Izmir’s chief public prosecutor had opened an investigation involving an eight-strong team of prosecutors in a post on X, where many ministers denounced the attack and sent condolences to the families of the victims. 

Lawyers caught in Turkey’s crackdown on opposition

Turkish lawyers defending human rights or representing clients who challenge state policies have found themselves increasingly caught in the crossfire of the crackdown on its main opposition party. At least 10 defence and human rights lawyers have been jailed or arrested in Istanbul alone since the start of this “black year”, said Ibrahim Kaboglu, head of the city’s bar association. Mehmet Pehlivan, who was representing Istanbul’s mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, also found himself locked up after his client was jailed in March as part of a graft investigation critics have denounced as politically motivated. Just days later, Pehlivan’s own lawyer was also arrested, denouncing the move as “intimidation”. The arrest of Imamoglu, seen as the only opposition leader with a realistic chance of beating President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the ballot box, triggered Turkey’s worst street protests in years.Six months on, there are still no formal charges against him.Kaboglu himself and his executive board are also facing legal action after being dismissed in March by prosecutors who accused them of spreading “terrorist propaganda” and “false information”. “Turkish lawyers are facing unprecedented pressure,” he said. “When lawyers are targeted, it is those seeking justice — the people, civil society and anyone in opposition (to the government) who are in the firing line,” he told AFP.Their case resumes in court on Tuesday, with all 11 in the dock for demanding an investigation into the deaths of two Turkish journalists of Kurdish origin who were killed in northern Syria.An NGO said they were targeted by a Turkish drone. The Turkish military denies targeting civilians. – ‘Direct assault’ -Twelve legal and human rights organisations denounced the case against the bar association Monday as a “direct assault” on the independence of the legal profession.”The criminal and civil proceedings against the Istanbul Bar Association’s executive board amount to retaliation for engaging in lawful, rights-based advocacy,” said Ayse Bingol Demir, director of the Turkey Human Rights Litigation Support Project. “They are part of a broader effort to intimidate the legal profession and silence institutions that challenge state power,” she added.Lawyers outside Istanbul are also being held.Seven who were defending people arrested in Izmir, Turkey’s third city, during nationwide protests over Imamoglu’s removal were also detained in March. “The increase in lawyers being detained and arrested can only be explained by the pressure and growing attacks on Turkish (civil) society as a whole,” said Goksel Akbaba, one of the arrested lawyers.He said he was never told why he was arrested. “Such methods are used to intimidate lawyers in the same way as they are used to intimidate society,” Akbaba added.In April, an international coalition of lawyers, bar associations and rights groups raised the alarm over Ankara’s “escalating attacks” on the legal profession. Describing it as “an affront to the independence of the legal profession and the rule of law” it urged the international community to “condemn the Turkish authorities’ misuse of the justice system to suppress independent legal professionals and institutions and undermine public confidence in the rule of law.”- Accused of same crimes as clients -In recent years, several hundred lawyers have been imprisoned, according to figures provided by several associations. Many have been accused of the same alleged charges as their clients, using broadbrush anti-terror legislation widely criticised by human rights groups as disproportionately restrictive. In August 2020, Ebru Timtik — who was jailed for “belonging to a terror organisation” — died in an Istanbul prison after a months-long hunger strike to demand a fair trial, her death drawing a sharp rebuke from the European Union, which denounced “serious shortcomings” in Turkey’s justice system. Although several lawyers have been released from jail in recent months in the predominantly Kurdish southeast of the country, “there has been a distressing increase in trials involving Turkish lawyers in the past two years,” said French-based DSF-AS (Defence Without Borders-Solidarity with Lawyers). “There is a desire within the Turkish government to bring the legal profession to heel,” a spokesman told AFP, pointing to the case against the Istanbul Bar Association as an example. 

Spain, Israel spar after Madrid moves ‘to stop Gaza genocide’

Spain on Monday recalled its ambassador from Tel Aviv after Israel’s top diplomat accused premier Pedro Sanchez of antisemitism and barred two government ministers from entry.The spat came after Sanchez unveiled measures he said aimed to “stop the genocide in Gaza”, marking a new low in relations over the devastating Israeli offensive, launched after an unprecedented Hamas attack in Israel in 2023.The Socialist prime minister said his government would approve a decree to “consolidate in law” a ban on military equipment sales or purchases with Israel, a measure it had applied since the start of the conflict.Boats carrying fuel destined for the Israeli military will be barred from Spanish ports and Spain will act to reduce the transport of military equipment to Israel by air, Sanchez said in a televised address.”All those people participating directly in the genocide, the violation of human rights and war crimes in the Gaza Strip” will be banned from entering Spanish territory, he added.Spain will also ban the importation of products from “illegal settlements” in the occupied Palestinian territories with the aim of stopping “the forced displacement of the Palestinian population” and keeping alive the two-state solution, Sanchez continued.Consular services for Spanish citizens residing in those settlements will be limited “to the legally obligatory minimum assistance”, he said.Sanchez also announced new collaboration projects in agriculture, food security and medical aid to support the Palestinian Authority and additional humanitarian funds for Palestinians.- ‘Divert attention’ -Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar lashed out at Spain after the announcement, accusing Sanchez on X of trying “to divert attention from serious corruption scandals through a continuous anti-Israel and antisemitic campaign”.Saar announced that Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Diaz and Youth Minister Sira Rego, both members of the Socialists’ far-left junior coalition partner Sumar, would be banned from entering Israel.”Today we put a red line here, demonstrating we will not take it from them anymore,” Saar added during a press conference in Budapest with his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto.”Spain will not be intimidated in its defence of peace, international law and human rights,” the Spanish foreign ministry replied in a statement rejecting Saar’s comments.Spain then recalled its ambassador in Tel Aviv “in the face of the slanderous accusations against Spain and the unacceptable measures against two members of our country’s government”, foreign ministry sources said.Diaz said on social network Bluesky that it was a cause for “pride that a state that perpetrates a genocide denies us entry”.Sanchez, one of the most virulent critics of Israel’s military campaign, is the most senior European leader to refer to the conflict as a “genocide”. His government broke with European allies last year by recognising a Palestinian state, infuriating Israel.The Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.Palestinian militants also seized 251 hostages on that day, with the Israeli military saying 47 remain in Gaza, including 25 believed to be dead.Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 64,522 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.

US court upholds $83 mn sex assault defamation order against Trump

A US appeals court upheld Monday a jury’s $83.3 million penalty against President Donald Trump for defaming author E. Jean Carroll, whom he was found to have sexually assaulted.  The January 2024 order consisted of $65 million in punitive damages after the jury found Trump acted maliciously in his many public comments about Carroll, $7.3 million in compensatory damages and $11 million to pay for an online campaign to repair Carroll’s reputation.The civil order, which prompted an audible gasp in the federal court, far exceeded the more than $10 million in damages for defamation that Carroll had sought.Trump — whom a jury found liable for sexually assaulting Carroll in a separate federal civil case in New York — used his Truth Social platform at the time to fire off a spate of insulting messages attacking Carroll, the trial and the judge, whom he called “an extremely abusive individual.”- ‘Substantial financial penalty’ -“We hold that the district court did not err in any of the challenged rulings and that the jury’s duly rendered damages awards were reasonable in light of the extraordinary and egregious facts of this case,” the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit wrote.  Carroll, 81, alleged that Trump defamed her in 2019, when she first made her assault allegations public, by saying she “is not my type.”Jurors were shown Trump’s October 2022 deposition during which he confused a picture of Carroll for his former wife Marla Maples, which threatened to cast doubt on his claim Carroll was not his “type.”In 2023, another federal jury found Trump liable for sexually assaulting Carroll in a department store dressing room in 1996 and subsequently defaming her in 2022, when he called her a “complete con job.””We agree with the district court that the jury was entitled to find that Trump would not stop defaming Carroll unless he was subjected to a substantial financial penalty,” the appeals court ruled Monday.Trump was not required to attend the trial or to testify. However, he used the case to generate heated media coverage and to fuel his claims of being victimized as he campaigned for a return to the White House.

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Avec 4% des émissions, l’Afrique demande plus d’argent pour son adaptation au réchauffement climatique

L’Afrique, qui émet seulement 4% des gaz à effet de serre mondiaux mais voit ses populations et sa biodiversité souffrir du réchauffement de la planète, a réclamé lundi plus d’argent pour s’y adapter au nom de la “justice climatique”.L’Union africaine (UA), dont le siège est à Addis Abeba, organise de lundi à mercredi son deuxième sommet continental sur le climat dans la capitale éthiopienne. Lors de la première édition en 2023 au Kenya, une “Déclaration de Nairobi” avait été signée demandant déjà davantage d’efforts financiers des pays riches.”Aujourd’hui, le lien entre le climat et le sous-développement ne fait plus aucun doute. Le climat, l’exode rural, la migration et l’instabilité sous toutes ses formes sont inter-liés”, a affirmé Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, le président de la commission de l’UA, dans son discours inaugural.Mais alors que “l’Afrique ne contribue qu’à hauteur de 4% des émissions de gaz à effet de serre” et que les nations industrialisées “polluent la planète” depuis plus de 150 ans, les plans de mitigation proposés au continent vont à l’encontre de toute “justice climatique”, a-t-il regretté.Selon un rapport publié jeudi par l’ONG Oxfam et l’Igad, un bloc d’Etats d’Afrique de l’Est, ses Etats membres, à savoir Djibouti, Érythrée, Éthiopie, Kenya, Ouganda, Somalie, Soudan et Soudan du Sud, “ont reçu ensemble, en moyenne, 1,7 milliard de dollars par an entre 2013 et 2022, en +équivalents subventions+, soit la valeur réelle de l’aide climatique après intérêts et remboursements de la dette”.”Ce montant est inférieur de 96% aux 41,8 milliards de dollars dont les pays de l’Igad affirment avoir besoin chaque année pour mettre en œuvre leurs plans d’action nationaux sur le climat jusqu’en 2030″, poursuivait ce rapport.”Les pays riches et les pollueurs mettent la planète en feu. (…) Ils doivent assumer la responsabilité des dommages qu’ils ont causés et financer de manière adéquate les mesures climatiques dans les pays où le changement climatique fait des ravages”, estime Fati N’Zi-Hassane, directrice d’Oxfam en Afrique. L’Organisation météorologique mondiale (OMM), dans un rapport intitulé “L’Afrique pâtit de manière disproportionnée du changement climatique et des coûts de l’adaptation”, estimait en 2024 que 48 de ses 53 pays étaient en danger de crues et 40 risquaient des sécheresses du fait du réchauffement.Toujours selon ce rapport, “les aléas associés au climat font perdre aux pays africains entre 2 et 5% de leur PIB chaque année”.

Trump hails cancelation of award ceremony for Tom Hanks

US President Donald Trump cheered Monday after a West Point military academy ceremony honoring “Saving Private Ryan” star and outspoken critic Tom Hanks was canceled.The multiple Oscar-winning actor — who was also an executive producer for several acclaimed miniseries about World War II — was meant to be hosted by the academy’s alumni association later this month.However news emerged over the weekend that this had been abruptly scrapped.Trump, who has overseen a purge of perceived opponents across civil society and the government — including inside the US military — said he was pleased. “Our great West Point (getting greater all the time!) has smartly cancelled the Award Ceremony for actor Tom Hanks. Important move!” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.”We don’t need destructive, WOKE recipients getting our cherished American Awards!!!” the president wrote, in an apparent reference to Hanks’ Democratic political leanings.Hanks was due to receive the prestigious Sylvanus Thayer Award from the West Point Association of Graduates (WPAOG) on September 25.According to The Washington Post, an email from the alumni association announcing the change did not specify whether Hanks would still receive the award without the ceremony.- Supporting veterans and military -The Thayer award is given to “an outstanding citizen of the United States whose service and accomplishments in the national interest exemplify personal devotion to the ideals expressed in West Point’s motto: ‘Duty, Honor, Country,'” the WPAOG said when announcing Hanks as the 2025 recipient.”Much of Hanks’ five-decade career reflects his support of veterans, the military, and America’s space program,” it said in a statement.Hanks starred as an Army captain who landed at D-Day in “Saving Private Ryan,” and portrayed a destroyer commander crossing the Atlantic as U-boats hunted for American ships in “Greyhound.” He also executive produced three miniseries about World War II: “Band of Brothers” about paratroopers in Europe, “The Pacific” about Marines fighting against Japanese forces, and “Masters of the Air” about the crews of US bombers.Hanks — who also served as a national spokesperson for the World War II memorial campaign and was chair of the D-Day museum capital campaign — had expressed excitement about visiting West Point.”To have my first ever visit to the Academy be to accept such an honor as the Thayer Award is simply astounding,” the WPAOG statement quoted him as saying.The alumni association did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the cancelation of the ceremony, which comes after Trump’s administration took aim at both library books and personnel at West Point earlier in the year.In May, the Pentagon ordered a hunt for and sequestration of materials in US military academy and war college libraries that contain information on subjects including diversity, anti-racism and transgender people.Two months later, the secretary of the army directed West Point to rescind an offer for a former cybersecurity agency chief to hold a prestigious position at the military academy after she drew the ire of a far-right conspiracy theorist.