GERMANY: Bjoern Hoecke of the far-right Alternative for Germany has been convicted for a second time of using a Nazi slogan at a public event.

Mr Hoecke, the party’s leader in Thuringia, was fined €16,900 (£14,300) today for leading the crowd in a chant of “everything for Germany,” a slogan of the Nazi Stormtroopers (SA). He had previously been fined €13,000 (£11,000) for the same offence.

Mr Hoecke says he is innocent and was just using “everyday words.”

PAKISTAN: A man has been sentenced to death for allegedly sharing hateful anti-Muslim content on social media, his lawyer said today.

Ehsan Shan was convicted of posting defaced pages of the Koran on TikTok following riots in August 2023, in which dozens of Christian homes and some churches were burned by mobs acting on claims that two Christian men had been seen tearing pages out of a Koran and writing insults on them. He will appeal.

GREECE: Firefighters rushed to douse wildfires on the islands of Chios and Kos today.

“We have had an exceptionally difficult June regarding weather conditions, with high levels of drought and unusually strong winds for this season,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said.

This year’s summer, he warned, “is predicted to be particularly dangerous” for wildfires.

CANADA: A mechanics’ strike at WestJet has been called off after a new deal was reached, but no details are available yet.

Over 400 flights were cancelled over the weekend due to the strike, with chief executive Alexis von Hoensbroech saying that the action was that of a “rogue union from the US.” 

The Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, which is headquartered in the US, acknowledged that its demands would raise pay above Canadian averages and towards those found south of the border.