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    Germans Are Buying More Electric Cars, but Not Teslas

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    Drivers in the country, Europe’s largest car market, are avoiding vehicles from Tesla, which has seen a drop in sales in other countries as well.Tesla sales in Germany dropped in May for the fifth month in a row, as demand for the electric vehicle maker continued to slide across much of Europe, despite Elon Musk’s efforts to turn his focus away from his U.S. government activities and back to his companies.Registrations of new Tesla cars in Germany, Europe’s largest car market, dropped more than a third from the same month last year, data released by the country’s Federal Motor Transport Authority, K.B.A., showed on Wednesday.Tesla sales in other European countries have also remained depressed, falling more than 67 percent in France and 29 percent in Spain in May.Only Norway stood out as an exception, with Tesla selling 2,600 cars in May, more than triple the number sold a year earlier. Sales were led by deliveries of Tesla’s newly revamped version of its most popular vehicle, the Model Y.In neighboring Sweden, Volkswagen sold nearly twice as many of its latest electric model, the ID.7, as the new Model Y from Tesla, whose overall sales in the country dropped 53 percent.Mr. Musk has tried to downplay the extent of Tesla’s losses in Europe, telling Bloomberg News in an interview at the Qatar Economic Forum that although it was the region where the brand faces its greatest challenges, “the European car market is quite weak.”But data from European markets does not support that claim. In Germany, sales of battery-powered cars grew nearly 45 percent in May, compared with a year earlier. In Spain, overall sales of electric cars grew 72 percent, while Tesla sales slid 19 percent.In Germany, demand for BYD, Tesla’s main E.V. rival, rose ninefold, the strongest showing of an electric vehicle producer from China. The company, which overtook Tesla as the world’s top seller of electric cars this year, has been making inroads in Europe, despite facing tariffs of 17 percent imposed by the European Union in 2024.Although Mr. Musk has left his role at the White House, Tesla sales have been affected by his foray into politics. In April, the company reported that its vehicle sales fell 13 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, as profit plunged to its lowest level in four years.The company has been hurt by protests against Mr. Musk’s support for President Trump and several far-right parties in France, Germany and Italy. More

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      Skulls of 19 Black Americans Return to New Orleans After 150 Years in Germany

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      The remains, used in the 19th century as part of now discredited racial science, are being laid to rest on Saturday in a traditional jazz funeral.Sometime before Jan. 10, 1872, a young Black laborer named William Roberts checked himself into Charity Hospital in New Orleans. Just 23 years old, he was from Georgia and had a strong build, according to hospital records. His only recorded sickness was diarrhea.He was one of 19 Black patients who died at the hospital in December 1871 and January 1872, and whose skulls were sent to Germany to be studied by a doctor researching a now wholly discredited science that purported a correlation between the shape and size of a skull and a person’s intellect and character.The skulls languished in Germany for about 150 years until Leipzig University contacted the city of New Orleans two years ago to repatriate them.They were returned to New Orleans this month, and on Saturday morning those 19 people who died in the 1800s are being honored with a jazz funeral before their skulls are interred.A staff member at Rhodes Funeral Home removes the remains of one person from the shipping crate that arrived from Germany.Jacob Cochran/Dillard UniversityWhile the return of human remains from museum collections has become more common, the repatriation of these 19 Black cranial remains to New Orleans is believed to be the first major international restitution of the remains of Black Americans from Europe, according to Paul Wolff Mitchell, a researcher at the University of Amsterdam who studies the 19th century history of race and science in the United States and Europe.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Zelensky Is Expected in Berlin as Merz Steps Forward as Key Backer of Ukraine

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      A likely focus of talks between the two leaders will be military aid and whether Germany will provide Ukraine with the Taurus cruise missile.President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine is expected to travel to Berlin on Wednesday in his first visit to Germany since Chancellor Friedrich Merz took office earlier this month.The visit comes at a crucial moment in the German-Ukrainian relationship.With doubts looming about the future of America’s commitment to Kyiv, Mr. Merz has stepped forward as a leading figure in the European alliance supporting Ukraine. That has meant eschewing the cautious stance of his predecessor, Olaf Scholz, even as he faces opposition from within his governing coalition on expanding German military support.After Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, it took over a year for Mr. Scholz to invite Mr. Zelensky to Berlin. Though the Ukrainian leader has not been to Berlin since October, the one-day visit will be his third meeting with Mr. Merz since the chancellor took office on May 6.What are the leaders likely to discuss?A major topic of conversation will likely be military aid in general and, specifically, the Taurus cruise missile, a system jointly developed by Germany and Sweden.The large size, advanced navigation system and 310-mile range of the Taurus means it can accurately deliver bigger strikes deeper into Russian territory than other missiles in Ukraine’s arsenal.The Taurus has long been at the top of Mr. Zelensky’s wish list. Though Britain and France already provide Ukraine with their jointly developed SCALP/Storm Shadow cruise missile, the Taurus would be able to strike as far as bridges connecting the Crimean Peninsula to mainland Russia.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Four Former VW Managers Found Guilty in Emissions Trial

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      The men were accused of conspiring to conceal excess diesel emissions from regulators, helping to provoke a costly scandal.Four former Volkswagen executives were found guilty of fraud charges Monday for their role in an emissions-cheating scandal that shook the auto industry a decade ago and hastened a shift from fossil fuels to battery-powered cars.The four executives held high-ranking positions at the carmaker and were responsible for engine technology. A panel of judges in Braunschweig, Germany, a city near Volkswagen’s headquarters in Wolfsburg, reached the verdict after a trial lasting more than three years. The reading of the sentences lasted almost four hours.Two of the managers received multiyear prison sentences, and two received suspended sentences. Jens Hadler, who oversaw diesel engine development, received the longest prison sentence, at four and a half years. Another ex-manager who worked in engine electronics, Hanno Jelden, received two years and seven months. The two men given suspended sentences were Heinz-Jakob Neusser, who was responsible for components development and was sentenced to one year and three months, and a man identified as Thorsten D., an emissions specialist who received one year and 10 months.The chairman of the panel of judges, Christian Schütz, said that the ex-managers were found guilty of “particularly serious” fraud, referring to them at one point as a “gang.” According to Mr. Schütz, Mr. Hadler knew about the test results of the manipulated software since at least September 2007. Emails between managers suggested that these results were only intended to be known by a small group within the company.The verdict can be appealed within one week, and Philipp Gehrmann, who represents Mr. Jelden, told reporters that he believed the verdict was “wrong,” mainly because his client was cooperative.Volkswagen has admitted that some of its engineers installed software in diesel-powered vehicles that allowed the cars to recognize when they were being tested for emissions. If so, the cars increased their emission controls to be compliant with air-quality regulations. At other times, the cars were more polluting than long-haul trucks. The cars were not capable of consistently adhering to emissions rules.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Tariff Uncertainty Threatens to Drag Down Europe’s Economic Growth

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      The European Union scaled back its forecast for growth in 2025 by nearly half a percent, as the jump in tariffs and surrounding chaos bite.Europe’s economy will grow more slowly than expected this year, dragged down by trade uncertainty from President Trump’s tariffs, despite increasingly stable prices on consumer goods and energy, European Union economists said on Monday.In its spring economic forecast, the European Commission, the trade bloc’s administrative arm, said it expected the gross domestic product of the 20 countries using the euro to grow just 0.9 percent in 2025, down from the 1.3 percent that had been forecast last fall. Economic growth across the European Union is expected to increase 1.1 percent in the same period, down from a previous expectation of 1.5 percent, the commission said.Germany, Europe’s largest economy, has been hit particularly hard by the increase in tariffs, with the commission expecting that country’s economy to stagnate as exports decline 1.9 percent in 2025. France also had its projected growth rate cut to 0.6 percent from 0.8 percent, and Italy’s fell to 0.7 percent from 1 percent.“Heightened global uncertainty and trade tensions are weighing on E.U. growth,” Valdis Dombrovskis, the European commissioner responsible for the trade bloc’s economy, told reporters in Brussels.The commission added that any de-escalation of the tensions between Europe and the United States set off by Mr. Trump’s imposition of a 10-percent import tax on European good could lead to stronger growth, as could new free trade agreements with other economic partners.On Monday, Britain and the European Union reached a deal aimed at removing some of the barriers to trade that Brexit had introduced.Growth is expected to return in 2026, the commission said, but it also scaled that projection back to 1.4 percent for the euro area, down from a previously projected 1.6 percent.One bright spot is the continued robustness of the European labor market, Mr. Dombrovskis said, citing 1.7 million jobs added last year and an expected two million to be added in the coming year.Increased spending on armaments and the military could help spur more growth across Europe, the commission said. The 500 billion euros the German government plans to invest in its defense infrastructure were not included in the forecast for this year, but they were expected to contribute a full percentage point to growth by 2028, Mr. Dombrovskis said.Germany has been stuck in stagnation for three years running, dragging down growth across all of the European Union.The economists also warned that the threat of further natural disasters, related to changes in the global climate, were a risk to growth. Europe suffered widespread flooding and extreme heat in 2024, and the continent is bracing for more extreme weather this year. More

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      3 Are Arrested in Russia-Linked Sabotage Plot, Germany Says

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      The men, Ukrainian nationals, were arrested in Germany and Switzerland, the state prosecutor in Berlin said. They are suspected of planning to sabotage commercial freight infrastructure.Three Ukrainian men have been arrested in Germany and Switzerland for planning acts of sabotage against infrastructure in Europe on behalf of Russia, the German authorities said Wednesday.The federal prosecutor’s office in Berlin said it was investigating the three men, who were arrested over the past five days, for a plan to send incendiary and explosive devices in parcels to addresses in Ukraine. None have been charged.The aim, the prosecutor said in a statement, appeared to be part of a plot to damage logistical infrastructure for commercial freight. The statement did not provide further details about possible targets.One of the men, identified only as Vladyslav T. in accordance with Germany’s strict privacy rules, posted two test packages in Cologne containing GPS transmitters in order to trace the route of the packages to Ukraine, the prosecutor said.Another man, Yevhen B., who was arrested Tuesday in Switzerland and will be extradited to Germany, directed that action, the prosecutor said. A third man, Daniil B., delivered the GPS transmitters and other items for the test packages, it said.Authorities are treating the men as foreign agents, and believe they had been directed by Russian state actors, the prosecutor said.Last year, a package exploded at a DHL hub at the airport in Leipzig, in what Western intelligence officials believe was a test run for a plot coordinated by Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU. The fire in Leipzig was followed by a similar fire at a DHL warehouse in Birmingham, England, and at a transport company near Warsaw.A Romanian national has since been detained by British police in connection with those fires.Poland has also accused Russia of being behind a fire that wiped out 1,400 small businesses when a shopping mall in Warsaw was almost completely destroyed in May of last year. On Sunday, Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland accused Russia of being behind the blaze.“We now know for sure that the great fire of the Marywilska shopping center in Warsaw was caused by arson ordered by the Russian special services,” he wrote on X.The arrests come after several official warnings that Germany has become the target of Russian hybrid attacks. Last year, the authorities charged three Russian-German dual citizens who they believe were hired to carry out acts of sabotage on industrial and military sites. The military has also reported foreign drones flying over training sites where Ukrainian soldiers are being trained.The issue of Russian sabotage in Germany even made it into Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s inaugural speech to lawmakers on Wednesday.“Look at the espionage and sabotage and the systematic disinformation of our population — this is overwhelmingly the work of the Russian government and its helpers, including here,” he said. More

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      Germany Bans Far-Right ‘King of Germany’ Group and Arrests Its Leaders

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      Members of a group calling itself the Kingdom of Germany, which was targeted in nationwide raids, reject the existence of the German state and want to set up a parallel one.Germany announced on Tuesday that it was banning a far-right group that refuses to recognize the German state and that has set up aspects of a parallel one of its own that includes a separate currency, ID cards, license plates and even a bank.On Tuesday morning, 800 police officers were mobilized in seven states and arrested four of the leaders of the group, which calls itself the Kingdom of Germany. Officers also searched buildings where the group was operating.Peter Fitzek, 59, a former cook who leads the group, and is known to his followers as Peter I, the self-appointed king, was among those arrested. The police said that Mr. Fitzek was being investigated for leading a criminal organization and illegally selling insurance and investments.The Kingdom of Germany, which the authorities estimate has 1,000 active members, is the largest organized grouping of the so-called Reichsbürger movement.Adherents of the movement generally claim that the German government is being run by “deep-state operatives” and often use antisemitic and anti-democratic conspiracy theories to justify their resistance to the modern German state.“The aim of this association is to establish a so-called parallel state and to secede from the Federal Republic of Germany,” Alexander Dobrindt, Germany’s new interior minister, said in Berlin after the raids.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Lessons From World War II to Avoid World War III

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      Thursday is the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. As leaders of countries that suffered greatly during and after the war, we attach great importance to this date. We remember our fallen parents, grandparents and other relatives who defended our freedom from two tyrannies of the last century. We remember all those who were killed, including at least six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust by Nazis and their collaborators. We remember the millions of victims of Soviet repressions that continued unabated on the other side of the Iron Curtain at a time when Europe was reuniting and rebuilding itself after the war.The meaning of commemoration is to draw necessary lessons and to prevent mistakes from happening again. The lessons from World War II — we have five of them to share — are critical for understanding how to restore and maintain long-lasting and just peace and security in Europe today, when they are again at risk.Just like the great wars in the past, Russia’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine starting on Feb. 24, 2022, divided the 21st century into before and after. Despite overwhelming odds, Ukraine has managed to repel the attack and liberate more than half of the newly occupied territory. But even after more than 950,000 Russian soldiers killed and wounded in action, Russia has not abandoned its aggressive plans.President Vladimir Putin of Russia hopes to use the current geopolitical moment to his advantage and extract concessions from Ukraine and its partners. Moscow increasingly engages other rogue regimes like Iran and North Korea in the war, threatening the security of not only the European continent but also the Indo-Pacific and the Middle East.Learning from the past is critical today, as Ukraine, the European Union and the United States work to achieve peace. Russia’s war of aggression has shattered the post-World War II security architecture and the international system based on the United Nations Charter and the Helsinki Accords. Its conclusion will form the foundation for a new architecture. We offer the lessons from World War II that must be taken into account if we want to create an enduring peace in Ukraine, rather than a pause before the next potentially disastrous global conflict.Appeasing the aggressor leads to more aggression, not peace. Concessions on unlawful territorial claims are a disastrous mistake. The partition of Czechoslovakia in 1938 only fueled Nazi Germany’s appetite and resulted in a global war. Learning from this lesson, Ukraine will never accept the legitimization of Russia’s occupation and annexation of any part of Ukraine’s territory. Respect for territorial integrity is a fundamental principle of international law. There will be no sustainable peace and security at the cost of Ukraine’s people, independence, sovereignty or territorial integrity.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      The Works of Christo and Jean-Claude Are Experiencing a Revival

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      Known for their outsized and revolutionary art projects, the couple’s work is seen again in Florida, New York and Germany.It was 42 years ago. Miami awoke to a strange, crooked line of hot pink images floating in the waters of panoramic Biscayne Bay.Eleven small islands had been wrapped in wide, rippling swaths of pink plastic. They were almost glowing as the morning sun swept over the beaches and skyscrapers of the city. Crowds came out in helicopters and speedboats and the family car. Some people perched on condo balconies.It was the work of Christo and his wife, Jeanne-Claude, the European artists who had wrapped the Reichstag building in Berlin, the Pont Neuf bridge in Paris and run a billowing, tall white nylon fence 24.5 miles over the cattle ranges just north of San Francisco and into the Pacific Ocean.People flew in from Europe and around the world to see the show, and collectors and museum directors and many others say it lifted the curtain on Miami as a city of natural beauty that would eventually become a dazzling global art center.“It was a world happening,” said Norman Braman, a former owner of the Philadelphia Eagles, a collector and a Miami car dealer with about a dozen brands, from Hyundai to Rolls-Royce.But it was a tough time for Miami. Cocaine seemed to be everywhere. Gunmen were in the streets. Time magazine had put the city on its cover as “Paradise Lost.” In 1984 — a year after the extravaganza on the bay — the “Miami Vice” TV show took the city’s crime and fashion into American living rooms.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More