Germany has made public burning of the EU flag or that of another country punishable by up to three years in jail, classing it as a hate crime. The vote in the Bundestag (parliament) on Thursday makes defiling foreign flags equal to the crime of defiling the German flag.

The same applies for the EU anthem, Beethoven’s Ode to Joy theme. The move followed Social Democrat (SPD) complaints about protesters’ burning of the Israeli flag in Berlin in 2017. Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht, a member of the centre-left SPD, said “burning flags publicly has nothing to do with peaceful protests”. She said it stoked up “hatred, anger and aggression”, and hurt many people’s feelings.

The new law also applies to acts of defilement besides burning, such as publicly ripping a flag up. Public display of the Nazi swastika and other Nazi symbols is already banned in Germany. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has condemned the new law as “excessive interference in free speech and artistic expression“.(BBC)…[+]

The head of the World Trade Organization has said he will step down a year earlier than planned, at a crucial moment for the global economy. Roberto Azevedo’s surprise departure comes as the WTO faces the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and criticism from US President Donald Trump. Global trade has slumped and the world is braced for the worst downturn since the Great Depression.

Meanwhile, Mr Trump has accused the body of treating America unfairly. Mr Azevedo said his early departure as the WTO’s director-general was a “personal decision” that was in the best interests of the organisation. “The WTO may not be perfect, but it is indispensable all the same. It is what keeps us from a world where the law of the jungle prevails, at least as far as trade is concerned.”(BBC)…[+]

Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell has warned that America faces a slow and painful economic recovery without additional government relief. The dark forecast from the head of the US central bank is a turnaround from early April, when he said he expected a robust rebound.

It comes as lawmakers debate additional spending to shield the US economy from coronavirus shutdowns. Mr Powell said further measures would be “costly but worth it”. Employers in the US cut more than 20 million jobs last month, sending the unemployment rate to 14.7%, with the many of the losses falling on poor and minority households.

Analysts expect the jobless rate to climb further in May, before starting to subside. Mr Powell said on Wednesday that unemployment levels are likely to to remain elevated – particularly compared to the 50-year lows the US labour market enjoyed as recently as February.(BBC)…[+]

France has said it would be “unacceptable” for French drug giant Sanofi to prioritise the US market if it develops a Covid-19 vaccine. The government was reacting to remarks by Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson, who said “the US government has the right to the largest pre-order because it’s invested in taking the risk”.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said access for all was “non-negotiable”.  Many labs worldwide are involved in research to find a Covid-19 vaccine. Vaccines usually take years to develop. “For us, it would be unacceptable for there to be privileged access to such and such a country for financial reasons,” Deputy Finance Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher told France’s Sud Radio.

The prime minister later tweeted that a vaccine should be for the benefit of everyone worldwide. President Emmanuel Macron said that recent efforts proved that a vaccine should not be subject to market forces, the Elysée Palace said. He is due to meet top Sanofi officials next week.(BBC)…[+]