Penulis: Agus S

Two years on from the devastating floods in the wake of the Kakhovka Dam destruction, the landscape is returning to its natural state. But climate change and plans for a new dam are threatening the new ecosystem.

Two years ago, in the early hours of June 6, 2023, the Kakhovka Dam was partially destroyed,flooding nearby towns and citiesin southern Ukraine — including in Russian-controlled territory. As the reservoir, which provided water for the nearby hydroelectric station, spilled into the surrounding lowlands, Ukraine and Russiatraded accusationsover the dam's destruction.

After the water receded, the exposed basin underwent adramatic transformation, initially drying out and becoming a desert. Today, lush vegetation has taken over, home to a wide variety of wildlife.

The Dnipro River — Ukraine's largest — has once again formed vast floodplains, similar to those that were there before the dam was first built in the 1950s. Ecologist Vadym Maniuk told DW that the Dnipro has many tributaries in the area.

Much of what happens in the floodplain landscape is hidden from view, he said, but streams like these are all along the river.

"They can be fast-flowing streams, or narrow or wider ones, resembling ponds. All these labyrinths existed before the area was flooded to build the dam," he said.

Birdsong interrupts the babbling of the many brooks, as Maniuk spots a sea eagle. "Just seeing that makes it worth bringing along a pair of binoculars," he said, gazing skyward. "That's the true ruler of the Dnipro floodplains."

Over the next few hours, Maniuk's team also identifies hawks, buzzards, herons, swallows, snakes, a muskrat and the tracks left in the mud by wild boars. Locals say they have even spotted deer. According to the ecologist, the underbrush teems with ants, wasps, beetles, assassin bugs, butterflies and praying mantises.

Among the grasses, the team finds the fossilized bones of prehistoric animals and fragments of pottery. One of the bones looks like a hoof, and Maniuk picks it up and examines it.

"This is an ancient bone. There were no cows here back then," he said. "There are lots of bones like this here, including from woolly rhinoceroses and mammoths, and other large prehistoric large animals."

Maniuk surveyed the area a year ago, and he said the difference between then and now is striking. Grasses have sprouted up everywhere, and the different varieties of flowering plants havegrown from about 200 to nearly 500 species.

Where once was dry sand, green meadows now flourish. Poppies, sedges, thistles, goat's rue and wild rye bloom everywhere. "None of this was here a year ago," said Maniuk, adding that, "over time, not only forests but also meadows will form here."

By now, the trees have grown five or six meters (15–20 feet) tall; Maniuk estimates the willows and poplars have shot up by about a meter over the last 12 months. But he said it was too dangerous to proceed any further. "The forest has changed, it's become much denser and larger," he explained.

The past year hasn't been easy for the floodplains, said Maniuk. The summer and fall of 2024 were too dry, and the trees started to wither. Thanks to the spring rains, however, the landscape has started recovering.

"The floodplains withstood their first trial," he said, "but we're concerned about the upcoming season."

But the future of this new ecosystem remains uncertain, as Ukraine is still deliberating whether or not to rebuild the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant destroyed in 2023.

Petro Volvach, an ecologist and agricultural historian, visited the floodplains as a child before the dam was built. He's against the plant being reconstructed, as it would destroy the newly formed landscape.

Maniuk agrees. "I'm sure this could be counted as one of Europe's top 10 national parks," he said enthusiastically. "It would be incredible!"

But engineers argue that the entire Kakhovka plant is vital for supplying water to the region's residents and businesses, as well as for agricultural irrigation, shipping and the energy system. Since the dam's destruction, there hasn't been enough water to go around.

Oleh Pashchenko from the Kakhovkahydroelectric power plantwarned that the absence of the reservoir is threatening the survival of the entire region.

"The water level in the wells is decreasing every year," he said. In the first six months after the dam's destruction, levels fell by five meters; now they are 15 meters or more below normal levels.

Pashchenko predicted that 2025 will be a difficult year for the Dnipro River, as inflows are already three to five times lower than usual. "That is why the reservoir must be rebuilt," he said. Otherwise, he fears, without it, "we'll soon have a desert."

The current situation, he added, is not yet critical due to the sharp population decline caused by the war and reduced agricultural and industrial activity. But water shortages will worsen once people return, he said.

Meanwhile, the state energy company Ukrhydroenergo is developing plans to rebuild the power plant and reservoir. The first step will be examining the remains of the dam and the reservoir bed. Reconstruction of the power plant could take five to six years; refilling the reservoir alone expected to take two years. Ukrhydroenergo said this is the only way to ensure safe drinking water for the region.

"If the state needs it, we will build a large power plant there," said Bohdan Sukhetskyi, the acting director general of Ukrhydroenergo. "Everything depends on the economic situation. Also, experts have confirmed that without the Kakhovka reservoir, safe operation of theZaporizhzhia nuclear power plantis impossible."

This article was originally written in German.

Ukraine has received more than 1,000 bodies of dead soldiers amid a dispute with Russia over the action. A Kremlin aide says the two countries will start exchanging seriously wounded POWs on Thursday.

This blog is now closed. Thank you for reading.

Below you can read the main developments fromRussia's war in Ukrainefrom Wednesday, June 11, 2025:

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has thrown his support behind the current Ukrainian leadership in handlingthe delicate relationship with Washington.

"So it is a bipartisan decision to impose additional severe and harsh sanctions on those who purchase Russian oil," he dded.

"The thing is that there is a political will inside the US political establishment to help Ukraine. Look at the polls: More than 60% of Americans still support Ukraine."

"So it plays directly into the hands of Trump. If he wants to retain power, if he wants to win the mid-terms, which are expected to be in a year and a half or so, it's in his interest, in his political interests to support Ukraine."

Yatsenyuk was also asked if he thought Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyywas an asset in improving ties between Washington and Kyiv in view of the notorious "dressing-down" given to the Ukrainian leader by Trump on February 28.

"You know, he is doing a good job and the German chancellor did a good job," he said, referring to the recent meeting between Friedrich Merz and Trump.

"My take is that my president is walking a tightrope. On the one hand, he is not allowed to criticize the US president; on the other hand, he managed to mitigate the tension," he said, pointing out the recent and apparently more amicable talks at the Vatican between Trump and Zelenskyy ahead of the funeral of Pope Francis.

"At this meeting, that's what I know for sure, he got along with President Trump," Yatsenyuk said, conceding that "it is the question of how long they get along."

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Ukraine has taken back the bodies of 1,212 of its fallen soldiers from Russia after days of dispute during which Russia accused Kyiv of not accepting the remains.

The agency dealing with prisoners of war in Kyiv said the soldiers had died in fighting in Russia's Kursk region and the Ukrainian regions of Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

Ukraine said its experts "will identify the deceased as soon as possible".

Russia's top negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, also confirmed the handover and said Russia had "received the remains of 27 Russian soldiers."

Ukraine did not say how many bodies it returned to Russia.

Russia has for days said Ukraine was refusing to accept the bodies, calling on Kyiv to honoragreements reached at talks in Istanbul at the beginning of the month.

According to Moscow, the bodies had been made ready for handover at the weekend, but Ukraine said no handover date had been agreed, accusing Russia of unilateral and uncoordinated actions.

The Istanbul talks provided for the return of the remains of more than 6,000 fallen soldiers from each side.

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Russiacarried out more drone attacks acrossUkraineovernight, with the northeastern city of Kharkiv one of the main targets.

Three people were confirmed killed, according to Kharkiv regional head Oleh Syniehubov.

According to Mayor Ihor Terekhov, 17 drones struck two residential districts.

"Those are ordinary sites of peaceful life — those that should never be targeted," Terekhov wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

Scores of people were also wounded in the attacks.

In a statement, Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyyreiterated his calls for greater international pressure on Moscow.

"Every new day now brings new vile Russian attacks, and almost every strike is telling," he said. "We must not be afraid or postpone new decisions that could make things more difficult for Russia," he said.

"Without this, they will not engage in genuine diplomacy. And this depends primarily on the United States and other world leaders. Everyone who has called for an end to the killings and for diplomacy must act."

Kharkiv has been frequently targeted in recent months as Russia launched large scale drone and missile attacks on civilian infrastructure.

A Russian court has ruled that opposition lawmaker Lev Shlosberg should be placed under house arrest and other restrictions after he was charged with discrediting the Russian army.

His Yabloko party said he was detained on Tuesday for remarks made in January where he described the war in Ukraine as a game of "bloody chess."

The 61-year-old Shlosberg made the comment in a video debate in which he urged an end to the war.

The Kremlin has made it a punishable offense to make comments that it deems to be derogatory about the Russian military, which includes any remarks criticizingMoscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Shlosberg, who the court in the Pskov region said was already designated as a "foreign agent" by Russian authorities, faces up to five years' imprisonment if convicted.

Ukraine and Russia are proceeding with exchanges of POWs and the remains of thousands of fallen soldiers from both sides following talks in Istanbul on Monday.

Russia has meanwhile continued with its aerial bombardment of its neighbor as it pushes on with its full-scale invasion.

Stay with DW for real-time news, analysis, and analysis from our correspondents on the ground as we followMoscow's war in Ukraine.

Generative AI models are bad at representing things that require human senses, like smell and touch. Their creativity is 'hollow and shallow,' say experts.

Anyone can sit down with an artificial intelligence (AI) program, such asChatGPT, to write a poem, a children's story, or ascreenplay. It's uncanny: the results can seem quite "human" at first glance. But don't expect anything with much depth or sensory "richness", as researchers explain in a new study.

They found that theLarge Language Modes (LLMs)that currently powerGenerative AI toolsare unable to represent the concept of a flower in the same way that humans do.

In fact, the researchers suggest that LLMs aren't very good at representing any 'thing' that has a sensory or motor component — because they lack a body and any organic human experience.

"A large language model can't smell a rose, touch the petals of a daisy or walk through a field of wildflowers. Without those sensory and motor experiences, it can't truly represent what a flower is in all its richness. The same is true of some other human concepts," said Qihui Xu, lead author of the study at Ohio State University, US.

The study suggests that AI's poor ability to represent sensory concepts like flowers might also explain why theylack human-style creativity.

"AI doesn't have rich sensory experiences, which is why AI frequently produces things that satisfy a kind of minimal definition of creativity, but it's hollow and shallow," said Mark Runco, a cognitive scientist at Southern Oregon University, US, who was not involved in the study.

Thestudy was published in the journalNature Human Behaviour, June 4, 2025.

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The more scientists probe the inner workings of AI models, the more they are finding just how different their 'thinking' iscompared to that of humans. Some say AIs are so different that they are more likealien forms of intelligence.

Yet objectively testing the conceptual understanding of AI is tricky. If computer scientists open up a LLM and look inside, they won't necessarily understand what the millions of numbers changing every second really mean.

Xu and colleagues aimed to test how well LLMs can 'understand' things based on sensory characteristics. They did this by testing how well LLMs represent words with complex sensory meanings, measuring factors, such as how emotionally arousing a thing is or whether you can mentally visualize a thing, and movement or action-based representations.

For example, they analyzed the extent to which humansexperience flowersby smelling, or experience them using actions from the torso, such as reaching out to touch a petal. These ideas are easy for us to grasp, since we have intimate knowledge of our noses and bodies, but it's harder for LLMs, which lack a body.

Overall, LLMs represent words well — but those words lack any connection to the senses or motor actions that we experience or feel as humans.

But when it comes to words that have connections to things we see, taste or interact with using our body, that's where AI fails to convincingly capture human concepts.

AI creates representations of concepts and words by analyzing patterns from a dataset that is used to train it.This idea underlies every algorithmor task, from writing a poem, to predicting whether an image of a face is you or your neighbor.

Most LLMs are trained on text data scraped from the internet, but some LLMs are also trained on visual learning, fromstill-images and videos.

Xu and colleagues found that LLMs with visual learning exhibited some similarity with human representations in visual-related dimensions. Those LLMs beat other LLMs trained just on text. But this test was limited to visual learning — it excluded other human sensations, like touch or hearing.

This suggests that the more sensory information an AI model receives as training data, the better it can represent sensory aspects.

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The authors noted that LLMs are continually improving and said it was likely that AI will get better at capturing human concepts in the future.

Xu said that when future LLMs are augmented with sensor data and robotics, they may be able to actively make inferences about and act upon the physical world.

But independent experts DW spoke to suggested the future of sensory AI remained unclear.

"It's possible an AI trained on multisensory information could deal with multimodal sensory aspects without any problem," said Mirco Musolesi, a computer scientist at University College London, UK, who was not involved in the study.

However, Runco said even with more advanced sensory capabilities, AI will still understand things like flowers completely differently to humans.

Our human experience and memory are tightly linked with our senses — it's a brain-body interaction that stretches beyond the moment. The smell of a rose or the silky feel of its petals, for example, can trigger joyous memories of your childhood or lustful excitement in adulthood.

AI programs do not have a body, memories or a 'self'. They lack the ability to experience the world or interact with it as animals and human-animals do — which, said Runco, means "the creative output of AI will still be hollow and shallow."

Former Germany player Lina Magull says she has recovered her passion both for football and life — and credits a psychiatric clinic stay with helping her to recover.

Inter Milan midfielder Linda Magull told the latest edition of the "Wie geht's?" ("How are you?") podcast that she now feels much better and is happy, a year after she reached rock bottom in a severe bout of depression.

Speaking publicly about the matter for the first time, she told host Robin Gosens that both sporting and personal reasons were behind her depression, which came to a head last summer.

"I wouldn't have had a problem with dying," Magull said of the time.

In sporting terms, Magull had gone from the pinnacle of her international football career,winning silver with Germany at the 2022 Euros in England, to an embarrassing elimination in the group stage of the 2023World Cupin Australia and New Zealand one summer later.

At the same time, the now 30-year-old midfielder found herself falling down the pecking order somewhat at her then-club, Bayern Munich. Changes in personal relationships exacerbated the situation.

"I was totally confused and didn't know what to do with myself," she said.

In January, 2024, she moved to Inter Milan, but that seems to have served only to make matters worse.

"I fled Munich, but after a few weeks, I missed it terribly. I thought I'd lost everything," she said.

"I started sweating, I started having panic attacks. That was the moment when I thought, 'What's wrong with me?'" Magull said.

In the summer of 2024, far from heading to the Paris Olympic Games with Germany's women's team, as she had once hoped, she took the difficult decision to seek treatment at a private clinic.

"I knew I had to do it because my thoughts had become so out of control that I no longer saw any meaning in life," she said.

She spent six weeks in therapy at the clinic before returning to Inter, having rediscovered her passion for both football and life in general.

"The months before, that wasn't me. The depression simply took over my personality. You need treatment, you need therapy."

In March 2025, Magull announced her retirement from thenational teamafter 77 international matches and 22 goals.

"I want to focus even more on club football and have more time to pursue other things," Magull said.

Now she is looking forward to another season at Inter, whose women have qualified for the Champions League for the first time in their history. Still, she remains proudest of the difficult decision she took last summer to enter treatment at the psychiatric clinic.

"That's the thing I'm most proud of, no matter what or how many titles I've won. I'm proud that I went to this private clinic, but especially how I left," she said.

*Editor's note: If you are suffering from serious emotional strain or suicidal thoughts, do not hesitate to seek professional help. You can find information on where to find such help, no matter where you live in the world, at this website:https://www.befrienders.org/

Tusk's call for a confidence vote came after right-wing nationalist Karol Nawrocki was elected president, narrowly beating the Tusk-backed candidate. The opposition had said the lost election would be Tusk's downfall.

Polish Prime MinisterDonald Tuskwon a parliamentary vote of confidence in his pro-European government on Wednesday, just days after astinging presidential election defeat.

Tusk is seeking to reassert his authority after the defeat of his key ally Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski in a recent presidential election to the nationalist historian Karol Nawrocki.

"I needed this vote because we were seeing… speculation that this government will not make it, that Tusk may be taken down, and you cannot work under such conditions," Tusk said.

From the 460-seat parliament, 243 backed Tusk's coalition, achieving the simple majority needed for the government to survive. Another 210 lawmakers voted against Tusk's government.

Tusk's supporters inside the Sejm, Poland's lower house, rose to applaud the prime minister and chant his name.

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The confidence vote, called by Tusk himself, came afterright-wing nationalistNawrocki, backed by the oppositionLaw and Justice (PiS) party, narrowly beat his candidate Rafal Trzaskowski.

Nawrocki, who Nawrocki has promised to continue outgoing president Andrzej Duda's policy of blocking Tusk's reformist agenda, also has the backing ofUS President Donald Trump.

Announcing the vote, Tusk said his party was prepared for the challenge, understands the stakes, and does not "intend to take a single step back."

"The vote of confidence should be a new opening," Tusk said.

Behind the call for a confidence voteis Tusk's aim to rally support for his pro-European coalition.

Tusk's governing coalition has sought to reverse theprevious PiS government'sjudicial reforms, which the European Union said undermined democracy and the rights of women and minorities.

However, theoutgoing President Andrzej Duda blocked those efforts, and Nawrocki is expected to maintain this position.

This inability to deliver on key reforms — which also includes abortion rights — despite holding a parliamentary majority, has been a dark cloud over Tusk's government.

Critics point out that since coming to power in December 2023, little change has been seen under Tusk's government.

In Poland, the prime minister, chosen by parliament, holds most day-to-day power, while the president, as the head of state, can influence foreign policy and veto legislation.

Now Tusk finds himself in the same position with Nawrocki as he did with Duda, whose veto power blocked the PM fromfulfilling his promises.

So, while Tusk has framed the vote as a "new beginning" and promised a cabinet reshuffle in July, negotiations with his coalition also loom.

Opposition leaders had seized the moment to signal Tusk's downfall.

Former Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro told reporters´: "The lost presidential election is the end of Donald Tusk. His fate is already sealed."

Edited by: Kieran Burke and Zac Crellin

June 12 is World Day Against Child Labor as promoted by the International Labour Organization and UNICEF. Despite some progress, around one in 10 children globally work in ways that are deemed harmful or illegal.

Child laborremains a global scourge. Although there has been significant progress in reducing it since 2000, the fallout of theCOVID-19pandemic and international conflicts have pushed millionsof families into poverty and threatened to halt advancements.

However, the latestUNICEFand International Labour Organization ILO) report on the topic notes a decline compared with the last report four years ago,with 138 million involved in child labor in 2025, down from 160 million.

"The findings of our report offer hope and show that progress is possible," said ILO Director-General Gilbert F. Houngbo, in a press release. "But we must not be blindsided by the fact that we still have a long way to go before we achieve our goal of eliminating child labor."

Nina Mast, an analyst with the Washington D.C.-based Economic Policy Institute, told DW that child labor is exploitative or oppressive labor by a minor or "any work that is excessive in the sense that it interferes with a child's education or health or well-being."

Harmful child labor is typically associated with the world's poorest countries. According to Claudia Cappa, senior adviser for statistics and monitoring at UNICEF,sub-Saharan Africa is hometo two-thirds of all children in child labor.

However, she cautioned that it is also an issue for higher-income parts of the world, such as theEuropean Unionand the United States.

"While child labor is more common in low-income countries, it still exists in high-income ones," she told DW. "Often, it's hidden in agriculture, informal work, or within marginalized communities. Poverty, inequality, and exclusion make certain groups of children vulnerable, no matter where they live."

Nina Mast argues child labor breaches are not just about unpaid or hazardous work but also about conditions such as hours worked or any "excessive or exploitative work that interferes with education."

Her main focus is on the US where breaches of the country's Fair Labor Standards Act — the main worker protection legislation in the country — have increased since the pandemic.

According to the US Department of Labor, the number of children found employed in violation of federal child labor lawsincreased 31% between 2019 and 2024.

Mast believes that increase in violations is related to ramped up enforcement measures from the US Department of Labor.

"I think it's difficult to disentangle the real increase in violations with the increased enforcement that is simply finding more violations. But it is the case that the more we look, the more we find," she said.

"I think that we should consider this a crisis that has not been resolved in terms of the recent increase in violations," she added, pointing out that the Trump administration has announced plans to weaken various labor protection laws.

She says the typical violations in the US involve minors working too late or for too long, or cases where minors are employed using equipment that is prohibited for their age or doing jobs that they should not be doing based on their age.

Another major problem, she added, was the agriculture industry, where children as young as ten are sometimes employed in harmful work.

"A problem that we haven't addressed in the US is the fact that the standards are much lower in agriculture," said Mast. "Agriculture is the deadliest industry for children in terms of the fatality rate. That's an issue that remains unaddressed."

According to the International Labour Organization, around 71% of all child laborers are in agriculture.That is also a major part of the problem in Europe, according to Marco Dubbelt. He is a director with Global March, a network of trade unions and civil society organizations dedicated to the elimination of child labor, slavery and trafficking.

He says there have been recent violations in Albania, Romania and in the fruit and vegetable sector in Italy. "It doesn't hit you like a child working in the mines in Congo," he told DW. "But it's very dangerous work. The children work with pesticides, work under enormous heat stress. It's really unhealthy for the child."

UNICEF's Claudia Cappa points out that prevalence of child labor in the EU is low compared to global levels, but says "it exists in more hidden forms, including in agriculture, informal services, and among marginalized communities."

Both Cappa and Dubbelt caution that reliable data in higher-income countries is hard to come by and that there is a lack of reporting.

Back in 2021, the EU signed up to a global initiative to designate 2025 as the year to end child labor in all forms. While that goal has not been achieved, the EU does have relatively strong legislation aimed at protecting children and minors from harmful labor practises.

TheEU Directive on the Protection of Young People at Workrequires member states to ban the employment of children under 15 or those still in full-time education, with some exceptions. It also sets out various obligations for employers with regards to young workers' health and safety.

Stephen Blight, UNICEF's senior adviser on child protection, believes the EU's introduction of its Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, which came into force in July 2024, was an important step towards tackling the problem. He told DW the directive has "enormous potential to contribute to the respect and protection of children's rights, if fully and properly implemented."

However, he expresses concerns over theEU Commission'sso-calledOmnibus proposal, which aims to simplify and reduce certain regulations and reporting requirements for businesses across the bloc.

Blight argues that the proposal could weaken progress in relation to EU supply chains, pointing to the fact that one of the plans is to limit the extent to which EU companies will have to carry out due diligence on suppliers. "It risks overlooking the deeper parts of supply chains, where the worst forms of child labor often occur."

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Marco Dubbelt agrees that one of the biggest challenges for the EU in relation tochild labor relates to its supply chains from outside the bloc.

He thinks the problem is bigger than many estimate but emphasizes again that a lack of reliable data is a major issue, and that more research and reporting is required.

"What I've seen is that a lot of children are connected with supply chains, but it's sometimes very difficult to make that connection because so much of the work is off the grid, and under the table."

Police and political leaders have denounced "racist thuggery" after violent riots in Northern Ireland. Attacks on the Romanian community follow the arrest of two teenagers over the attempted rape of a young girl.

UK Prime MinisterKeir StarmerjoinedNorthern Ireland's political leaders on Wednesday in condemning violence and racially motivated unrest that left police injured and multiple homes and businesses damaged.

Tensions have flared in Northern Ireland following the arrest and court appearance of two teenage boys charged in connection with a serious sexual assault on a teenage girl in Ballymena.

Police have not disclosed the ethnicity of the two teenage boys who remain in custody, but some of Monday's attacks targeted areas whereRomanianmigrants reside.

During a court appearance on Monday, the pair of 14-year-olds charged requested a Romanian interpreter, sparking unrest in areas with large migrant populations.

The violence was centered in the town of Ballymena, about 48 kilometers (30 miles) northwest of Belfast, and other locations.

Six people were arrested following a second consecutive night of rioting on Tuesday. The unrest, which left 15 police officers injured on Monday and 17 more the next night, involved rioters hurling petrol bombs, fireworks, and bricks at homes and businesses.

Four houses were damaged by fire, and rioters also smashed windows and doors at homes and businesses.

Ministers from all parties in Northern Ireland's power-sharing executive condemned the violence in a joint statement on Wednesday.

"We strongly condemn the racially motivated violence witnessed in recent days and make an urgent appeal for calm across society," the ministers said.

"There can never be any justification for the violence that has taken place in recent days," said the leaders.

Residents had been "terrorised," they said, as they urged people to reject the "divisive agenda being pushed by a destructive minority."

Traditional foes such as the republican Sinn Fein and pro-UK Democratic Unionist Party joined in the statement.

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Prime Minister Starmer echoed the message, denouncing the incidents.

"I utterly condemn the violence that we have seen overnight in Ballymena and in other parts of Northern Ireland," Starmer told parliament. He added it was "absolutely vital" that police could investigate "rather than face mindless attacks as they seek to bring peace and order to keep people safe."

Meanwhile, Northern Ireland's Chief Constable Jon Boutcher said: "Hate-fuelled acts and mob rule do nothing but tear at the fabric of our society — they resolve nothing and serve no one."

The violence comes amid rising political tensions overimmigration in the UKandneighboring Republic of Ireland.

After a slowdown last year, electric vehicle sales in Europe are powering ahead. But adoption is uneven, and lingering consumer doubts over batteries and costs threaten to slow the charge.

Europe'selectric vehicle(EV) market is thriving in 2025, marking a robust recovery. From January to April, over 2.2 million electrified vehicles were registered across theEuropean Union, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association.

This figure, encompassing battery-electric vehicles (BEVs), hybrid-electric vehicles (HEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), reflects a 20% surge compared to the same period in 2024. BEV registrations alone soared by 26%, signaling strong momentum in the shift to zero-emission driving.

TheUnited Kingdommirrored this trend, with BEV, HEV and PHEV registrations climbing 22.8% to 486,561 units from January to April. Pure electric models led the charge, with sales surging by over a third.

This rebound offers relief to Europe's automotive industry, which is grappling withrising production costs, fierce competition from Chinese EV manufacturers and stringent EU carbon emissions regulations. The sector now faces new challenges, including potentialtariffsoncars exported to the United States, as threatened by US PresidentDonald Trump.

In 2024, EV registrations plummeted across Europe, particularly in major markets likeGermanyandFrance, though hybrids bucked the trend with nearly 30% year-on-year growth. The downturn stemmed from multiple factors.

Germany, Europe's largest car market, abruptly ended EV subsidies in 2023 due to budget constraints, betting that declining vehicle prices would sustain demand. However, the loss of incentives — ranging from €3,375 ($3,854) to €9,000 based on vehicle cost — deterred price-sensitive consumers, leading to a 27.4% drop in BEV registrations.

France faced a broader auto market downturn, driven by economic uncertainty and stricter EV subsidy eligibility rules. This impacted EV sales and led to sharp declines in petrol and diesel vehicle deliveries, compounding the industry's problems.

The recovery was anticipated to come from growing consumer enthusiasm for EVs, fueled by advances in battery range and expanded charging infrastructure. While these factors contributed, auto analysts attribute the primary driver to a January 1 EU mandate requiring automakers to cut fleet-wide CO2 emissions by 15% from 2021 levels.

This regulation spurred a surge in corporate sales, particularly in Germany, allowing carmakers to avoid hefty EU fines.

"To avoid fines for excessive emissions [on sales of petrol and diesel models], vehicle manufacturers were told to increase sales ofEVs, through price discounts or more cost-effective models,"Sandra Wappelhorst, research lead at the Berlin-basedInternational Council on Clean Transportation Europe, told DW.

In recent months, German automakers like Volkswagen as well as Stellantis have rolled out attractive leasing deals and launched new EV models, incentivizing companies to accelerate fleet electrification. Corporate buyers, who account for roughly two-thirds of car sales in Germany compared to just 20% in France, have been a key force behind the rebound.

Constantin Gall, an analyst atthe consulting firm EY,highlighted that the price gap between internal combustion engine vehicles and EVs has "significantly narrowed." He added that automakers are "offering highly competitive financing and leasing terms for electric vehicles," further boosting corporate adoption across Europe.

With automakers having to bear the cost of not meeting the emissions targets, they lobbied hard in Brussels to have them cut. Last month, the European Council, the EU's political authority, approved the easing of the annual targets for the next three years, to reduce potential fines.

Wappelhorst is disappointed at the rollback, arguing that regulatory pressure has proven effective in helping EV adoption. She noted that the current rebound in EV registrations mirrors a similar emissions deadline during the COVID-19 pandemic that also boosted sales. She cautioned that the three-year relief now "risks slowing the EV transition just as momentum builds."

The EV transition remains patchy across Europe, withNorwayand Denmark leading the way and other Western European countries close behind. Registrations inBulgaria, Croatia, Poland and Slovakia, however, remain below 5%.

"Even in these lower-share countries, new BEV registrations have increased significantly," Wappelhorst said, noting howPolandrecently saw an over 40% growth rate. "This pattern underscores the positive momentum across European markets, including those where the transition isin its early stages."

Public enthusiasm for EVs, meanwhile, isn't growing as fast as policymakers would like. An AlixPartners survey last year found interest in electric vehicles stagnant at 43% compared to 2021, with hybrids favored as a practical alternative due to lower charging concerns.

Similarly, a Bloomberg Intelligence survey conducted last month revealed that only 16% of European car buyers preferred BEVs, while 49% supported hybrids.

Charging infrastructure also remains a critical barrier. Although Europe surpassed 1 million public charging points in 2025, GridX energy research projects a need for 8.8 million by 2030. To meet this target, installations must accelerate to nearly 5,000 new chargers per week, GridX said.

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For the rest of 2025, Tesla’s fortunes will remain in focus after its sales plummeted 39% from January to April across Europe. The decline stems partly from a backlash against CEOElon Musk’scontroversial support for far-right groups, notably Germany’sAlternative for Germany, ahead of the federal election in February. His backing sparked accusations of political interference and led to vandalism of Tesla properties and vehicles.

Musk's deepening political involvement, including his role as a key adviser to Trump, has further eroded Tesla's brand appeal, with some owners distancing themselves fromthe world's richest man. His decision to step back from political duties last week leaves uncertainty about whether Tesla can reverse its sales slide.

While Tesla stumbles, automakers fromChinaare gaining ground, thanks to heavy state subsidies that are undercutting European and Japanese rivals. Despite EU tariffs aimed at curbing the influx of low-cost Chinese EVs, China's market share in Europe surpassed 5% for the first time in the first quarter of 2025, according to Bloomberg. JATO Dynamics reported a 546% year-on-year surge in Chinese plug-in hybrid registrations.

After aggressive marketing, Chinese brand BYD overtook Tesla in European sales for the first time in April, registering 7,231 vehicles compared to Tesla's 7,165, a 169% increase from April 2024, according to JATO Dynamics.

This shift underscores the fast-changing dynamics of the European auto market, now that China has caught up on the technology front. Despite this, last month's Bloomberg Intelligence survey found that support for domestic brands remained strong in Europe's five largest markets, with more than two-thirds of respondents saying they were hesitant to buy Chinese cars.

Editor's note: This story was first published June 11, 2025 and was updated on June 12 with details of the latest Bloomberg Intelligence survey.

The Club World Cup is set to kick off in the United States to crown the world's best – with more teams than ever before. But it is far from universally loved.

On June 14, the FIFA Club World Cup kicks off in a new, vastly expanded format.

"It will be like aWorld Cup," FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in late 2022 when he announced his plans for this expanded Club World Cup with 32 teams. Until now, only the six winners of the continental club championships and a club from the host country had taken part. Infantino's main goal for the new format is that it will generate increased revenue.

The "new" Club World Cup is to be held every four years beginning in 2025. In the intervening years, the FIFA Intercontinental Cup will be played – following the old Club World Cup format. FIFA is planning to introduce a Women's Club World Cup in 2026.

The teams are divided into eight groups of four, with each team facing the other three in their group once. The top two teams in each group qualify for the round of 16 – at which point play continues in a knockout format through to the final.

If a knockout-stage match is tied after 90 minutes, there will be two 15-minute periods of extra time. If the score is still tied, the match will be decided in a penalty shootout follows. Unlike the World Cup there will be no third-place match.

The games will be played in 12 stadiums, all of which are in east of the United States, apart from Los Angeles and Seattle on the Pacific coast. The tournament opens on June 14 in Miami with the first match of Group A between the winner of the African Champions League, Al Ahly FC of Egypt, and MLS club Inter Miami, where Lionel Messi now plays. The final is slated for July 13 in New York.

Europe has the most participants, with 12 teams. The last four winners of the Champions League qualified plus the eight-best ranked teams in Europe over the past four years. Germany is represented byBayern MunichandBorussia Dortmund.

South America has six teams, Asia and Africa have four teams, as does the region of North and Central America plus the Caribbean (CONCACAF). Oceania is represented by Auckland City FC of New Zealand.

In its 2024 financial report, FIFA projected revenue of $2 billion (€1.75 billion) for this year's Club World Cup, with $1 billion to go to the participating clubs. FIFA will shell out just over half of this in participation  payments – although this is not evenly distributed among the clubs.

Some UEFA clubs receive the most. Under a special ranking that combines the clubs' sporting and commercial value, the payments per European club range between $12.8 million and $38.2 million. According to Bayern Munich CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen, the Bundesliga champions will receive around $30 million. Auckland are to receive just over a tenth of that.

$475 million will be distributed as performance bonuses: for wins and draws in the group stage, for winning a group, and for advancing through the knockout rounds. The winner of the tournament receives $40 million in prize money, while the other finalist takes home $30 million. If a European club wins the Club World Cup, they could take home more than $125 million.

Opinions are divided. The participating clubs are pleased about the generous financial rewards and have therefore been muted in their criticism. Many critics, though, point to the already overcrowded football calendar, arguing that this additional four-week tournament gives the players even less time to rest and recover – further increasing the risk of injury.

Some Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund players will be on their way to the USA with their clubs just a few days after they were involved in theNations League Finals. If any of these players were to reach the final on July 13, he would be left with under six weeks to go before the start of the newBundesligaseason on August 22.

Another point of criticism is the scheduling conflict with the Gold Cup (June 14 to July 6), the continental championship of the national teams of North and Central America and the Caribbean, will also be played in the USA and Canada. FIFA has exempted the clubs participating in the Club World Cup from the usual obligation to release players to their national teams.

The Club World Cup could also distract football fans from the first 11 days of the Women's Euros, which is taking place in Switzerland (July 2 to 27).

Ticket sales have been slow. Thousands of tickets are still available for the opening match in Miami. FIFA has since drastically reduced ticket prices for the match to prevent the embarrassment of TV images of empty stands. There are even plenty of tickets left for the final. No wonder: the cheapest ticket costs $766.

Therestrictive entry policies introduced by President Donald Trump's administrationmay deter some foreign fans from attending the tournament. The currentprotests in Los Angeles, one of host cities, also seem unlikely to encourage anyone to make a last-minute trip to the Club World Cup.

This article was originally published in German.

There were no major surprises as Germany women's coach Christian Wück nominated his final squad for this summer's Euro 2025 in Switzerland. Germany are looking to go one better than the last tournament.

Entering his first major tournament since taking over asGermanycoach last summer, Christian Wück has gone with a good deal of experience in his 23-player squad for the July 2-27European Championshipin Switzerland.

Captain Giulia Gwinnand Bayern Munich teammate Lea Schüller, as well as Sara Däbritz and Kathrin Hendrich, are among 11 players who were part of the Germany team that made the final in England in 2022 — where they finished second after being defeated 2-1 by the hosts.

Also included in the squad is Freiburg's 20-year-old attacking talent Cora Zicai.

In a statement on the website of the German Football Association, Wück described the squad as "good and balanced" and designed to be able to "find the right solutions for the challenges" of the monthlong tournament.

"We want to play with a mixture of joy, enthusiasm, will and conviction — that's what this squad stands for. If we manage to do that, we can go very far," he said.

Wück added that in light of Germany's last few matches in the Nations League, they were approaching the tournament with a "boost" in self-confidence, but he declined to state a specific goal for his team.

Germany have won their last five Nations League games with little trouble, the most recent being a 6-0 victory over Austria earlier this month.

As expected, defender Felicitas Rauch and Eintracht Frankfurt striker Nicole Anyomi were not included in the 23-player roster. The two had recently caused a bit of controversy by criticizing the national team coach over what they said was a lack of communication with omitted players.

Also absent is Bayern Munich starLena Oberdorf, who is still recovering from a cruciate ligament injury suffered last July.

Germany, winners of the tournament a record eight times, are up against Poland, Denmark and Sweden in Group C. Their opening match is against Poland in St. Gallen on July 4.