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Rubio and German Foreign Ministry spar on X over comments accusing Germany of ‘tyranny in disguise’

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CNN
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A remarkable exchange played out on X on Friday as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused the government of key ally Germany of “tyranny in disguise” for designating the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) as an extremist entity.

In a post Friday afternoon, the top US diplomat slammed the classification made by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, which allows it to increase surveillance of the political party. Vice President JD Vance later echoed the rebuke of the move in his own post on the social media platform.

“Germany just gave its spy agency new powers to surveil the opposition,” Rubio wrote on his official State Department X account. “That’s not democracy—it’s tyranny in disguise.”

“What is truly extremist is not the popular AfD—which took second in the recent election—but rather the establishment’s deadly open border immigration policies that the AfD opposes,” he continued.

Rubio, who has been newly tapped as the interim national security adviser, said the US ally “should reverse course.”

In a direct reply on X more than three hours later, the German Foreign Office pushed back.

“This is democracy. This decision is the result of a thorough & independent investigation to protect our Constitution & the rule of law,” the account posted. “It is independent courts that will have the final say.”

“We have learnt from our history that rightwing extremism needs to be stopped,” the foreign office wrote.

Rubio’s post was not the first time a high-level Trump official has spoken out in support of the far-right party, whose leaders have engaged in anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim, and xenophobic rhetoric, including calling for the mass expulsion of immigrants. One of its key politicians, Björn Höcke, was convicted in 2024 after breaking German laws against uttering Nazi slogans in public.

People march to protest against the rising cost of living in a demonstration organized by the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) political party on October 8, 2022 in Berlin, Germany.

Vance – who met with the leader of the AfD in Munich in February, ahead of German federal elections – also took to X on Friday afternoon to rebuke the move.

“The AfD is the most popular party in Germany, and by far the most representative of East Germany. Now the bureaucrats try to destroy it,” he wrote from his personal X account, quoting the Rubio post.

“The West tore down the Berlin Wall together. And it has been rebuilt—not by the Soviets or the Russians, but by the German establishment,” he wrote in a post that came after the German government’s reply.

In a speech at the Munich Security Conference in February, the US vice president also accused European leaders of turning their back on post-Cold War values and suppressing free speech.

“In Britain and across Europe, free speech, I fear, is in retreat,” he said in remarks that shocked and rankled European officials.

According to the Associated Press, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency said AfD is a threat to the country’s democratic order.

“It aims to exclude certain population groups from equal participation in society, subject them to unconstitutional discrimination, and thus assign them a legally devalued status,” it said. “Specifically, for example, the AfD does not consider German citizens with a migration history from predominantly Muslim countries to be equal members of the German people, as defined ethnically by the party.”

AfD leaders condemned the move, according to the AP.



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Europe

American Coco Gauff ousted in the opening round at Wimbledon in a shocking upset

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CNN
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No. 2 seed Coco Gauff was shockingly upset at the 2025 Wimbledon Championships on Tuesday as Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska defeated the Roland Garros champion 7-6(3), 6-1.

The world No. 42 was in control throughout the first set tiebreak and appeared very comfortable against Gauff, who typically dominates opponents in the early rounds.

The two-time grand slam winner appeared tight and unusually conservative with her strong forehand and serving, which let her down on Court No. 1. She double-faulted nine times in the match. The Ukrainian stroked 16 winners compared to just six from the American.

On match point, Yastremska’s deep forehand forced Gauff into an unforced error, to which the 25-year-old let out a victorious primal scream.

The pair embraced at the net with Gauff quickly gathering her rackets while waving to the crowd as she walked off the court. Yastremska basked in the upset victory – the biggest win of her career.

Gauff’s loss, along with Jessica Pegula’s defeat, marked the first time in women’s major history in the Open Era that two of the top three seeds lost in the first round.

Gauff has never made it past the fourth round at Wimbledon.

Coco Gauff struggled to find her form throughout Tuesday's match.

After the match, the Ukrainian star, who reached the 2024 Australian Open semifinal, acknowledged that she brought the heat to the All England Club.

“I was really on fire. I even have fire on my nails,” she said while holding up her fingers for the crowd and cameras to see.

Yastremska said playing Gauff is always special and was thankful for the support.

“These courts are made for the greatest players, so I’m very grateful to be on this court,” she said while the crowd clapped. “I’m actually enjoying really a lot being on the court and I love playing on grass. I feel that this year we are kind of friends,” she said with a smile.

“I hope that the road will continue for me here.”

Gauff, who has now lost in the first round at Wimbledon two of the last three years, wasn’t blaming the grass surface but noted this was her first experience managing preparation and schedule after winning the French Open just over three weeks ago.

“I felt like mentally I was a little bit overwhelmed with everything that came afterwards,” she said after the upset loss.

“So, I didn’t feel like I had that enough time to do, I guess, celebrate and then also get back into it. But it’s the first time of this experience of coming off a win and having to play Wimbledon and I definitely learned a lot of what I would and would not do again.”

Gauff also gave credit to Yastremska’s performance.

“She played great. I mean, I saw the draw and knew it would be a tough match for me,” she said.



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The weather phenomenon behind the European heat wave

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A marine heat wave in the Mediterranean Sea is combining with a powerful heat dome to cause Europe to swelter under a brutal early summer heat wave.

It’s a pattern that’s popping up frequently as the planet warms: The influence of Mediterranean marine heat waves has been more pronounced in recent summers, with the ocean heat playing a role in spiking temperatures on land, contributing to deadly floods and stoking devastating fires.

Water temperatures in the Mediterranean Sea are up to 9 degrees above average for this time of year amid a significant marine heat wave. The most intense warming is present in the western Mediterranean, including just south of France.

This is helping to cause high humidity to surge north and to keep temperatures elevated at night across the heat wave-affected regions.

The heat wave, which also involves hot air flowing north from Africa, is also reinforcing the marine heat wave in a feedback cycle.

People take advantage of water mist fountains in Valencia, Spain on June 21, 2025, as parts of the country experience a heatwave.
Pedestrians walk past a pharmacy sign showing 39 degrees celsius (86 Fahreneheit) as high temperatures hit Lisbon, Portugal on June 28, 2025.

Temperatures have broken records in Spain and Portugal as swaths of Europe brace for more records to fall through Wednesday as the heat wave intensifies.

The town of El Granado in Spain saw temperatures spike to 46 degrees Celsius (114.8 Fahrenheit) on Sunday, a new national record for June, according to Spain’s national meteorological service AEMET. Last month was Spain’s hottest June in recorded history, as temperatures “pulverized records,” Aemet said Tuesday.

In Portugal, a provisional temperature of 46.6 degrees Celsius (115.9 Fahrenheit) was recorded in the city of Mora, about 80 miles east of Lisbon, according to the country’s weather service IPMA, which would be a new national record for June.

Scorching heat is sweeping almost the entirety of France. Multiple towns and cities endured temperatures above 100 degrees on Monday, according to provisional recordings from Météo France.

A red heat wave warning, the highest designation, is in place for 16 French départements Tuesday, including Île-de-France, where Paris is located. The Eiffel Tower summit is closed to tourists Tuesday and Wednesday due to the heat.

The United Kingdom is also baking, currently enduring its second heat wave of the summer. Temperatures pushed above 90 degrees on Monday, making for very uncomfortable conditions in a country where fewer than 5% of homes have air conditioning.

Wimbledon tennis spectators use handheld fans to cool themselves down during the first round match between Russia's Daniil Medvedev and France's Benjamin Bonzi in London, on 30 June 2025.
Smoke and flames from wildfires in Seferihisar district of Izmir, Turkiye on June 30, 2025.

“The current June-July heatwave is exposing millions of Europeans to high heat stress,” Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting, said in a statement.

“The temperatures observed recently are more typical of the months of July and August and tend to only happen a few times each summer.”

Wildfires are sweeping several countries as the temperatures spike. Fires broke out Sunday in Aude, in the southwest of the country, burning nearly 400 acres. In Turkey, 50,000 people have been evacuated as firefighters tackle fierce blazes mostly in the western Izmir and Manisa provinces.

Temperature records are also poised to fall Tuesday and Wednesday in Germany as the heat dome expands east, and before a series of relief-providing cold fronts begin to swing into northwestern Europe from the west.

Human-caused climate change is causing heat waves to be more frequent, intense and long-lasting. Europe is the fastest-warming continent, and is warming at twice the rate of the rest of the world. Climate change is also leading to more frequent and intense marine heat waves.



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3 times Trump’s tariffs worked

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CNN
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President Donald Trump’s tariffs are designed to boost US manufacturing, restore the balance of trade and fill America’s coffers with tax dollars. The White House’s record on those three goals has been a decidedly mixed bag.

But Trump has a fourth way that he likes to use tariffs. Trump has repeatedly threatened tariffs as a kind of anvil dangling over the heads of countries, companies or industries.

The subjects of Trump’s tariff threats have, at times, immediately come to the negotiating table. Sometimes, threats just work.

The most recent example was over the weekend, when Canada backed off its digital services tax that was set to go into effect Monday. Trump had railed against the tax on online companies, including US corporations that do business in Canada. On Friday, he threatened to end trade talks with America’s northern neighbor. Trump also said he would set a new tariff for Canada by the end of this week.

On Sunday, Canada backed down, saying it would drop the tax to help bring the countries back to the table.

“To support those negotiations, the Minister of Finance and National Revenue, the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, announced today that Canada would rescind the Digital Services Tax (DST) in anticipation of a mutually beneficial comprehensive trade arrangement with the United States,” the Canadian government said in a statement.

On Monday, United States and Canada restarted trade discussions.

“It’s part of a bigger negotiation,” said Prime Minister Mark Carney in a press conference Monday. “It’s something that we expected, in the broader sense, that would be part of a final deal. We’re making progress toward a final deal.”

Trump’s first tariff action of his second term came against Colombia after President Gustavo Petro in late January blocked US military flights carrying undocumented migrants from landing as part of Trump’s mass deportation effort.

In turn, Trump threatened 25% tariffs on Colombian exports that would grow to 50% if the country didn’t accept deportees from the United States.

Colombia quickly walked back its refusal and reached an agreement to accept deported migrants.

“You can’t go out there and publicly defy us in that way,” a Trump administration official told CNN in January. “We’re going to make sure the world knows they can’t get away with being nonserious and deceptive.”

Trump ultimately dropped the tariff threat.

Citing a lack of progress in trade negotiations, Trump in late May said he was calling off talks with the European Union and would instead just impose a 50% tariff on all goods from there.

“Our discussions with them are going nowhere!” Trump wrote on Truth Social on May 23. Later that day in the Oval Office, Trump said he was no longer looking for a deal with the EU.

But three days later, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke with Trump and said the EU would fast-track a deal with the United States. Trump then delayed the 50% tariff deadline until July 9.

Although a deal hasn’t yet come through, Trump’s threat got Europe to get serious, in the White House’s view, on trade, when it had been slow-walking negotiations, trying to get a consensus from its dozens of members.

The Trump administration attributes a large number of corporate investments in the United State to its tariffs and tariff threats, although it’s often hard to draw a clear line from Trump’s trade policy to a particular company announcing it will build an American factory. Those decisions often take years of planning and are costly processes.

For example, shortly after Trump doubled down on steel and aluminum tariffs and included finished products like dishwashers and washing machines in the 50% tariff, GE Appliances said it would move production from China to Kentucky. The company said it had planned the move before Trump announced the derivative product tariffs – but Trump’s trade war accelerated its plans.

In some other cases, Trump’s threats have largely gone nowhere.

Furious with Apple CEO Tim Cook for announcing the company would export iPhones to the United States from India – rather than building an iPhone factory in the United States – Trump announced a 25% tariff on all Apple products imported to the United States. He threatened the same against Samsung.

But Trump never followed through with his threat, and Apple and Samsung haven’t budged on their insistence that complex smartphone manufacturing just isn’t practical or possible in the United States. Skilled manufacturing labor for that kind of complex work isn’t readily available in the United States – and those who do have those capabilities charge much more to work here than their peers charge in other countries. Complying with Trump’s demands could add thousands of dollars to the cost of a single smartphone – more than Trump’s threatened tariff.

Trump similarly threatened Hollywood in May with a 100% tariff on movies made outside the United States. That left many media executives scratching their heads, trying to figure out what the threat entailed – a threat that ultimately never materialized. The administration later acknowledged Trump’s statement about the tariff was merely a proposal, and it was eager to hear from the industry about how to bring lost production back to Hollywood.

Nevertheless, Trump’s threats against the movie industry raised awareness about the bipartisan issue, and California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom subsequently posted support for a partnership with the Trump administration to incentivize movie and television makers to film in the state again.

Trump’s threats don’t always work, and sometimes his tariffs have kicked off a trade war, raising prices in a tit-for-tat tariff escalation. But a handful of times, including this weekend, his tariff threats have gotten America’s trading partners to agree to major concessions.

CNN’s Luciana Lopez and Michael Rios contributed to this report.



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