Latest news with #MatthiasWilliams
The Star
07-08-2025
- The Star
Germany's top court limits use of spy software to serious crimes
BERLIN (Reuters) -Germany's top court ruled on Thursday that law enforcement officials can use secretly installed spy software to monitor phones and computers only in cases that involve serious crimes. German digital rights group Digitalcourage had complained that a 2017 reform allowing police to monitor encrypted chats or messaging services like WhatsApp in certain circumstance with spy software could also affect people who were not suspects. The 2017 reform to the criminal procedure code left the areas where surveillance would be used too open, said the court. According to the court, such surveillance is considered serious interference and thus can only be used for looking into especially heinous crimes. As a result, police cannot monitor telecommunications when investigating crimes that carry a maximum sentence of three years as they are not serious enough. Investigators' authority to secretly search suspects' computers and smartphones is partially incompatible with Germany's Basic Law, said the court, but these provisions will remain in effect until new regulations are enacted. (Reporting by Miranda Murray; editing by Matthias Williams)
The Star
01-08-2025
- The Star
German police find more damage along railway disrupted by suspected sabotage
BERLIN (Reuters) -German police said on Friday that damage had been found at a second location along a railway line in western Germany where traffic had been disrupted a day earlier due to a fire in a cable tunnel that authorities suspect was an act of sabotage. Police in the western German city of Duesseldorf said investigations were still ongoing but did not say what kind of damage had been found. Rail traffic in and around the nearby city of Duisburg faced significant disruptions on Thursday after a fire broke out, with investigators ruling out accidental causes. According to the daily newspaper Bild, citing news agency DPA, the damage found on Friday was caused by an incendiary device of the same design as the one found the day before. No injuries have been reported. (Reporting by Miranda Murray; editing by Matthias Williams)
The Star
03-07-2025
- The Star
Man injures four people in attack on German train, police say
MUNICH (Reuters) -A man attacked and injured four people on Thursday on a high-speed train in southern Germany around 70 kilometres (43.5 miles) from the Austrian border before being arrested, police said. The ICE 91 train was carrying around 500 passengers from Hamburg in northern Germany to the Austrian capital Vienna. The man was arrested and the rail line shut down, a police statement said. "Today at around 1:55 p.m., (1155 GMT) a man injured several people with dangerous objects on an ICE train heading towards Vienna shortly before Strasskirchen," a statement from police in the southern state of Bavaria said. The attacker was also injured, police said. (Reporting by Alexander Hübner; Writing by Matthias Williams; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Berlin says aid that entered Gaza this week is 'too little, too late'
BERLIN (Reuters) -The aid trucks that Israel has allowed into the Gaza Strip this week are "too little, too late," a spokesperson for the German government said on Friday. "This is far too little, too late and too slow," the spokesperson said. "Now it's a matter of increasing it significantly ... and ensuring that these aid supplies reach the people so that the suffering in the Gaza Strip comes to an end," he added. (Writing by Friederike Heine; editing by Matthias Williams)
Zawya
24-04-2025
- Business
- Zawya
German economy to flatline in 2025 as tariff turmoil hits, government says
The German government cut its economic growth forecast on Thursday and now sees stagnation in 2025 instead of a 0.3% expansion as uncertainty from global trade disputes is set to hobble growth and dampen investment. Germany was the only G7 economy that failed to grow for the last two years, and the tariffs announced by U.S. President Donald Trump could put Europe's largest economy on track for a third year without growth for the first time in history. Germany's export-driven economy was already struggling with weak global demand for its products and foreign companies chipping away at its competitiveness. While announcing the figures, which were reported by Reuters on Tuesday, Economy Minister Robert Habeck called for the European Union and the U.S. to find a solution on trade but also for the EU to prepare countermeasures if needed. "Now the German economy is once again facing major challenges due to the unpredictable trade policy of the United States," Habeck said in a written statement. "Given the German economy's close integration into global supply chains and our high level of foreign trade openness, the new US protectionism could have significant direct and indirect effects on our economic growth," he said. For 2026, the government now expects growth of 1%, down slightly from its January forecast of 1.1%, expecting some uptick under the incoming government of chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz. Exports are expected to fall by 2.2% this year, following a 1.1% decline in 2024. Next year, exports are expected to rise by 1.3%. Earlier this month, German economic institutes cut their growth forecast for this year to 0.1% from the 0.8% expected in September, taking into consideration initial U.S. tariffs on steel, aluminium and cars. However, a survey on Thursday showed German business morale unexpectedly improving in April, though expectations were still slightly gloomieras companies remain uncertain about how the tariff escalation with the United States will play out. The German government foresees inflation falling to 2% this year and then to 1.9% next year, down from 2.2% last year. Economic weakness will take its toll on the labour market, with the unemployment rate expected to go up to 6.3% this year from 6.0% last year, before falling to 6.2% in 2026. (Reporting by Christian Kraemer, Rene Wagner, Matthias Williams; Writing by Matthias Williams; Editing by Toby Chopra)
