Thousands of Germans have been threatened with fines or prison sentences for social media posts, reports The Telegraph, calling the country's political speech laws "unusually stringent for an EU member state."
One German had his home raided for calling a minister a "Schwachkopf [dummy]" while another was fined €2,000 (£1,700) for calling Friedrich Merz a "lying Fritz" under a law that, critics claim, makes it effectively illegal to make fun of politicians. The number of investigations under Section 86a, the Nazi symbols ban... has more than doubled over the past decade according to official police statistics. Investigations into the "political insult" law also reached record levels in 2025. The surge in cases is so vast that the UN has launched an investigation into free speech violations in Germany, a step typically reserved for dictatorships and banana republics...
In one recent case, a pensioner was investigated under Section 188 for posting "Pinocchio is coming" on Facebook, after he learnt Friedrich Merz, the chancellor, was visiting his hometown... The case was dropped after the story caused an outcry in Germany, and police have since clarified that calling the chancellor Pinocchio is not a crime... In November 2024, police in Bavaria raided the home of another pensioner because he called Robert Habeck, the then vice-chancellor of Germany, a "schwachkopf", or dummy. The raid was reportedly launched after Mr Habeck personally filed a criminal complaint against the pensioner. Prosecutors eventually dropped the investigation after deciding that the insult "dummy" was not of "sufficient weight" to merit criminal charges.


While such cases might seem like bizarre outliers, there are plenty of others. In 2021, police raided a man's apartment in Hamburg after he told a senator "you're such a d---," and this year a resident was fined €2,000 for calling Mr Merz a "lying Fritz". Official figures show a record 4,792 Section 188 cases were filed in Germany in 2025, with the numbers rising by nearly 85 per cent between 2023 and 2025.
The article notes both left- and right-leaning free speech activists in Germany are calling for some of the stricter laws to be scrapped. And it adds that the uproar "bears some similarities to the free speech debate in Britain, where citizens have had a knock on the door from police over opinions posted online."

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There's been a change to NASA's launch of six satellites for solar storms research. Space.com reports that those satellites "were originally slated to lift off on a United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur rocket but have now been assigned a SpaceX Falcon Heavy, according to a NASA mission update."




[NASA's Sun Radio Interferometer Space Experiment mision — or SunRISE] will fly to space as part of a rideshare mission sponsored by the U.S. Space Force's Space Systems Command. Though it's not stated specifically in the NASA release, that may be a hint as to why the mission's rocket was changed. On its most recent launch [U.S. Space Force mission USSF-87], Vulcan experienced an anomaly in one of its solid rocket boosters — the second such incident to occur during the rocket's four launches to date. Vulcan succeeded in delivering the USSF-87 payload to its designated orbit on that launch, but the recurrence of the booster issue during ascent prompted the Space Force to pause national security launches on Vulcan until it could be addressed. Which mission SunRISE will be manifested on has not yet been released, but Space Force's Space Systems Command [SSC] has already shifted other launches between Vulcan and SpaceX's Falcon 9...

Falcon Heavy is SpaceX's heavy-lift launch vehicle... that consists of three modified Falcon 9 first stages, and has launched 12 times since it debuted in 2018. Four of those have delivered national security payloads to orbit, with the most recent of those, USSF-52, launching in December 2023. Falcon Heavy's most recent flight overall occurred this past April, when it sent the Viasat-3 F3 telecom satellite to orbit. Falcon Heavy's next mission will lift off with NASA's Nancy Roman Space Telescope, currently set for no earlier than Aug. 30. SunRISE is scheduled to launch later this year...



Sientists will use data collected by the satellites "to improve prediction models for impending space weather, which in turn could lead to mitigation plans to better thwart the effects of such solar events on orbital infrastructure."

Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 for sharing the article.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

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Romania summons Russian ambassador after shooting down three drones; Zelenskyy to meet Andy Burnham in UK. What we know on day 1,615

Ukrainian and US officials have discussed a proposal to offer Russia an air ceasefire, the Reuters news agency has reported, citing a Ukrainian source. Volodymyr Zelenskyy is due to meet Donald Trump, the US president, in Washington on Tuesday. The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said on ⁠Sunday that Russia considered it premature to comment on any such ceasefire proposal. “We do not know how credible these reports are or where they come from. These are newspaper reports and nothing more. Therefore, it is premature to comment on them at this stage,” the Interfax news agency quoted Peskov as saying. “We have heard statements that some new formulas may be possible. We still need to learn ​more about them … What happens next will depend on how closely they correspond to our interests.”

Romania said it was summoning Russia’s ambassador after the Nato member’s military shot down a third drone in as many days. A Romanian F-16 fighter jet shot down the drone over the Black Sea, five minutes after it entered the country’s airspace, said Romania’s defence minister, Radu Miruță. The foreign minister, Oana Țoiu, condemned “repeated violations”. The Romanian president, Nicușor Dan, said that according to an investigation, a drone shot down on Friday was a “Shahed model used by the Russian Federation in its war of aggression against Ukraine”. Investigations into drones shot down on Saturday and Sunday continued, he said.

The Golden Leo, an international cargo vessel, sank off the coast of ⁠Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa on Sunday, a week after Ukrainian ⁠officials said ⁠it ​had been struck by Russian forces. Nine ⁠crew members were killed in the ​attack while eight ‌were evacuated to safety. The ‌ship had left the ‌port of Chornomorsk with a cargo of corn when it was shelled by Russian forces on 19 July. Russia’s defence ministry ⁠said on Sunday that its forces had ⁠struck Ukrainian ⁠ports ​and shipping. Russia claimed the container terminal ‌at Chornomorsk, near ‌Odesa, handled “military cargoes”.

Russia launched seven ballistic missiles and 136 drones at Ukraine overnight into Sunday, the Ukrainian air force said. In the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, a Russian drone hit ⁠a supermarket, killing two people – including a nine-year-old child – and wounding 25, emergency services said. In the eastern city of Kharkiv, one person was killed and 16 others required medical attention ‌after a daytime drone attack, said the mayor, Ihor Terekhov. A glide bomb attack killed one person and wounded six in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, said the regional governor, Ivan Fedorov.

In Kyiv, a fire broke out on the seventh and eighth floors of a multi-storey apartment block in a central district after ‌a missile attack, said the mayor, Vitali Klitschko. Three people were wounded. In Sloviansk, Donetsk region, the national oil and gas company Naftogaz said two of its employees died in a Russian attack while trying to help residents affected by an earlier strike.

Russia said ⁠areas of Ukraine ​under Moscow’s control had also come under attack, with four people killed in a Ukrainian drone strike in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Horlivka. Twelve ⁠people, including two children, were ⁠injured ⁠in drone ​attack on ⁠the Russian city of Belgorod, close ⁠to ​Ukraine’s ‌border, regional authorities ‌said early on Monday. Ukraine denies targeting civilians.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy will become Andy Burnham’s first overseas visitor as prime minister, in a visit that Burnham said underlined Britain’s “unwavering” backing for Ukraine, Peter Walker writes. Less than two weeks after Keir Starmer travelled to Kyiv for the final foreign visit of his prime ministership, Zelenskyy will on Monday join Burnham at a naval base where Ukrainian forces have been receiving training. According to statistics released by No 10, since Russia’s full invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, total UK support for the country has totalled £25bn, including £16bn in military assistance.

Burnham and Zelenskyy are due to discuss joint projects including Stone Cloak, an electronic jammer for which the UK has shared the intellectual property, allowing Ukraine to use the system immediately to prevent Russia shooting down Ukrainian drones. Since being proven on the Ukrainian frontline, the jammers are due to be fitted to new UK weaponry, including cruise missiles.

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Southern and central states from California to Mississippi face heat indexes above 100F amid another heat dome

At least 40 million people were under extreme heat warnings across central and southern parts of the United States on Sunday as high temperatures and severe humidity gripped large swaths of the country for a second straight day.

Heat indexes well above 100F (38C) stretched from Minnesota down to Mississippi, extending west into southern California and Nevada. Parts of the south-west were expected to see highs of 120F (49C), according to the National Weather Service.

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iain.davidson100 has added a photo to the pool:

iain.davidson100 has added a photo to the pool:

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GY?R ? OFFICIAL CITY IDENTITY (2025) The identity of Gy?r is built on a simple yet meaningful emblem, inspired by the form of a shield and a heart. It represents both structure and emotion, a city that is grounded, yet deeply human. The four waves integrated into the shape reference the four rivers of Gy?r, embedding movement directly into the symbol. The emblem functions as a window into the city. It frames and reveals different layers of Gy?r, allowing its stories, places, and people to appear within a consistent visual system. The brand extends through a flexible visual language where key local symbols, objects, and cultural references become part of the identity. These elements help translate the city's character into recognizable and relatable visuals across all applications. At the core of the concept lies one defining quality: momentum. Whether in its industry, sports culture, or flowing rivers, Gy?r is a city driven by continuous movement and energy.

LONDEN (ANP) - De olieprijzen zijn maandag flink gedaald nadat de Verenigde Staten dit weekend hun luchtaanvallen op Iran pauzeerden. Brentolie, de belangrijkste indicator voor olie uit het Midden-Oosten, daalde met ongeveer 6 procent tot rond de 91 dollar per vat. Vorige week kwam de prijs van Brentolie kort boven de 100 dollar per vat uit.

Dertien dagen achter elkaar voerden de VS aanvallen uit op Iran, dat reageerde met vergeldingsacties. Ook Teheran heeft aangekondigd de vergeldingsacties op te schorten.

De prijs van West Texas Intermediate zakte onder de 84 dollar per vat en de Europese aardgasprijs daalde met 7,8 procent.

SAPPEMEER (ANP) - In het Groningse Sappemeer heeft zondagavond om 19.08 uur een aardbeving plaatsgevonden. De beving had een magnitude van 1,6 en zat op 3 kilometer diepte. Dat meldt het KNMI.

RTV Noord meldt dat er tientallen meldingen zijn binnengekomen van mensen die een klap, knal of dreun hebben waargenomen. Ook werden er trillingen gevoeld. Op de website van het KNMI is te lezen dat het om een "geïnduceerde aardbeving" gaat. Dat betekent dat de beving werd veroorzaakt door menselijk handelen, bijvoorbeeld gaswinning.

ASIA IN BRIEF Taiwanese mega-manufacturer Foxconn has adopted Singaporean hyperconverged infrastructure vendor (HCI) Arcrfra for some GPU virtualization workloads and to replace VMware in some remote offices. Arcfra launched in 2024 and the next year earned a place on analyst firm Gartner’s Market Guide for Full-Stack HCI Software. Last week, Arcfra launched an update to its Neutree model-as-a-service platform, adding native GPU virtualization and model governance capabilities. The company said Foxconn has adopted Neutree “to modernize distributed factory infrastructure and improve how AI models were delivered, managed, and observed across environments.” The Taiwanese giant has also used Neutree to “accelerate model deployment, improve operational visibility, and build a scalable foundation for future AI and intelligent manufacturing workloads.” Foxconn considers AI a critical part of its plans: The Register last year heard chairman Young Liu hail generative AI’s potential to vastly improve the company’s factories. The Register asked Arcfra to detail its relationship with Foxconn and the HCI upstart pointed us to this case study that states “Foxconn's global branch companies relied on traditional VMware virtualization for their IT systems. This legacy setup was becoming increasingly difficult to manage and scale across a distributed global footprint [and] led to high construction costs and a significant increase in operations and maintenance overhead.” Foxconn apparently deployed Arcfra “across its branch factories in Mainland China, Taiwan, Vietnam, and North America” and uses the Singaporean platform for critical intranet, manufacturing management, ERP and production line management systems. Arcfra also hosts Foxconn's DevTest environments and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure workloads. “The legacy VMware virtualization + SAN storage architecture was successfully replaced, providing a modern, scalable foundation ready to accommodate future business growth and technology adoption,” Arcfra claims. The Register asked Foxconn for further information about its decision, but has not received a response at the time of publication. VMware’s owner, Broadcom, changed strategy to target large entities like Foxconn. Broadcom says the overwhelming majority of its target customers have adopted its flagship Cloud Foundation suite, but The Register has also noted many big-name dissenters, among them Tesco, Western Union, Allstate Insurance – and now Foxconn. Better news for Broadcom In better news for Broadcom, the chip design side of the business has struck a $200 billion deal with Samsung’s memory and foundry businesses. “On the memory front, Samsung and Broadcom plan to pursue a strategic collaboration for the supply of industry-leading memory solutions, including High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), supporting Broadcom’s next-generation AI accelerators,” states Samsung’s announcement of the deal. “In foundry, the companies’ collaboration focuses on Samsung’s 2-nanometer (nm) and below process technologies for Broadcom’s products, including Wireless Broadband Communications (WBC) solutions. The collaboration is expected to extend to advanced packaging technologies built on Samsung’s 2nm process, including 2.3D and 2.5D integration, to enable higher-performance and more power-efficient AI and networking silicon.” “By combining Samsung’s memory and foundry expertise with Broadcom’s AI and connectivity leadership, we aim to continue to deliver technologies that power the next generation of AI infrastructure,” said Charlie Kawwas, the president of Broadcom’s Semiconductor Solutions Group. Broadcom has a huge order book for custom accelerators and needs foundry capacity to build those products and its other offerings. Given the global shortage of fabrication capacity, and Samsung’s status as arguably the world’s second-most-sophisticated fab operator, Broadcom has every reason to be happy it has secured access to the manufacturing resources it needs. Infosys names next CEO Indian tech services giant Infosys last week named Ashiss Kumar Dash as its next CEO. Infosys says Dash is currently “global head for a business portfolio that comprises over 12 industry verticals.” He will replace current Managing Director and CEO Salil Parekh on April 1, 2027. Parekh led the company for nine years. The change is an orderly handover rather than a vote of no confidence in Parekh, although Infosys last week posted [PDF] its Q1 results which included a forecast of revenue growth of between 1.5 and 3 percent, down from previous guidance of possible 3.5 percent growth for the full financial year. The company said its previous guidance assumed an economic upswing that hasn’t happened. India orders takedown for Jack Dorsey’s Bluetooth social network Twitter founder Jack Dorsey has used the renamed platform to share an order from the government of India that requires GitHub to take down BitChat – the decentralized peer-to-peer messaging app that can use Bluetooth mesh networks for offline communication. The order Dorsey shared justifies the takedown request on grounds that Delhi has powers to compel communications services providers to cease service to prevent public disorder, riots, or terrorism, but that authorities can’t act against decentralized messaging infrastructure. At the time of writing, The Register was able to access the BitChat repo. “The government of India does not like technologies like BitChat and wants it taken down,” Dorsey wrote. China fines Trip.com operator $770m for monopoly practices China’s State Administration for Market Regulation on Saturday announced it has fined the Trip.com Group $770 million for monopolistic practices. Beijing went after Trip.com for the behavior of its Ctrip brand, which targets Chinese-speaking customers. The regulator alleged that Ctrip “forced hotel merchants to accept exclusive cooperation agreements and manipulated hotel prices through technological means, thus exacerbating the industry's ‘involutionary’ competition.” The fine may interest regulators around the world, because Trip.com and its sub-brand Skyscanner are popular outside China. ®