It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Friday, May 30, 2025
Video: Monsoonal Rains and Wind Drive Ships Ashore in Bangladesh
At least four ships have been driven ashore in the storm (Bangladesh TV/YouTube)
Incessant heavy rains along with strong winds are interrupting shipping operations in the Bay of Bengal while several ships have been driven from the anchorage along the coast of Bangladesh. The port of Chattogram remains open but many smaller vessels have been forced to seek shelter with forecasts that the strong conditions will continue for at least another day.
As of mid-day on Friday, May 30, the weather service was reporting that nearly eight inches of rain had fallen in the past 24 hours. That was in addition to more than nine inches in the previous 48 hours. At the same time, winds were reported at between approximately 30 and 40 mph with forecasters warning of a two-to-four-foot tidal surge along the coast.
There are widespread reports of flooding and tin roofs being blown from houses. Operations at the main airport have also been delayed. The poor conditions prompted officials to raise warnings at both the ocean port and inland areas.
Container operations were slowed but proceeding at Chattogram but lightering operations were largely suspended. Smaller vessels used for the transfer of cargo have been forced to seek shelter inland according to the reports stopping much of the cargo operations.
At least four vessels have been driven ashore in the storm. Near Anwara on the eastern coast south of Chattogram, two vessels were reported to have been blown from the anchorage. A local official told the news reports that “The vessels lost control due to strong waves at sea and crashed into the shore.”
One vessel, the Navimar-3 is reported to be a tugboat that was under arrest for the non-payment of fuel bills. In addition, a cargo barge, Mermaid-3, was also driven onto shore.
To the north at Chattogram, the Al Herem, a smaller tanker, was driven ashore sitting on the rocky coast. Reports indicate the vessel dragged its anchors.
Another vessel, the B-LPG Sophia (6,665 dwt) was an LPG tanker that was heavily damaged in October 2024 during a transfer operation offshore. It was being used to ferry LPG from larger vessels to the onshore terminal. The ship was burnt out and rising at anchor. The 380-foot (116-meter) hulk was also driven from the anchorage landing on the shoreline near Chattogram.
Officials are warning the weather conditions are not expected to subside until at least Saturday, May 31.
Solong’s Master Enters Not Guilty Plea for Death of Seafarer in Collision
Firefighting continued for days aboard the Solong (HM Coastguard)
The master of the containership Solong made his first official appearance at a court in the UK today, May 30, two and a half months after the ship he was commanding hit the anchored tanker Stena Immaculate off the English coast. The UK is proceeding with charges of manslaughter for the death of a Filipino seafarer working aboard the vessel at the time of the allision.
Vladimir Motin, age 59, a Russian citizen from St. Petersburg, made a brief appearance via video from Hull where he remains detained. During the hearing conducted by London's Central Criminal Court (the “Old Bailey”), Motin was asked to confirm his identity. He then entered a plea of not guilty.
During the brief appearance, the captain was assisted by a Russian interpreter. During a previous hearing, the court had to adjourn until an interpreter could be found to assist Motin.
After the brief hearing, Motin was ordered to remain in jail with the next hearing scheduled for September 10. A tentative trial date has been set for January 12, 2026.
UK prosecutors so far are only perusing the charge of manslaughter in the case although the maritime investigation into the allision and subsequent fire that heavily damaged both vessels is continuing. All the seafarers were rescued from the Stena Immaculate in an operation that included privately contracted crew transfer vessels working in the offshore wind sector as well as HM Coastguard and boats from the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).
One crewmember from the Solong, 38-year-old Mark Angelo Pernia of the Philippines, was reported missing. An unsuccessful search was launched. It was later reported that he likely had been working at the bow of the containership when it struck the Stena Immaculate and the fireball erupted from the jet fuel loaded on the tanker.
The UK’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch released initial results at the beginning of April from its ongoing investigation into the “very serious marine casualty” that occurred on March 10. Critical details were confirmed including that Motin had been the sole person on the bridge of the containership when it hit the anchored tanker. He had resumed watch at 0700 after at most seven hours off the bridge after the vessel’s departure from Scotland.
The ship was sailing at about 15 knots and likely encountering patchy fog. Under the regulations, MAIB highlighted, the containership was required to have a lookout during darkness or when it was encountering limited visibility such as fog.
MAIB emphasizes with the release of its initial information that the findings were preliminary and that the investigation into the accident was ongoing. It stated among the factors it would be exploring are “the navigation and watchkeeping practices on board both vessels, manning, and fatigue management.”
This incident again raised awareness of these issues and this week, researchers released a report highlighting that fatigue and anxiety are increasing for seafarers. The same issues of manning and fatigue are also being investigated in the grounding of another smaller containership in Norway. The second officer who was along on the bridge navigating the vessel confirmed that he had fallen asleep toward the end of his watch and shortly before the vessel grounded.
In the past few years, there have been several incidents in the North Sea and Baltic highlighting similar issues. Vessels were reported to be operating with a single officer on the bridge who became distracted before collisions or other incidents.
Three of the workers who were injured in a platform fire off Angola have died of their wounds, according to the country's mineral resources ministry.
On May 20, a fire broke out on the cellar deck of the Benguela Belize Lobito Tomboco (BBLT) platform, operated by a Chevron joint venture. The platform was shut down and undergoing scheduled maintenance at the time of the accident.
17 workers were injured, including four who sustained serious injuries. They were transferred to shore for treatment, and some were transferred onward to a higher level of care in South Africa, according to oil industry media. Two of the injured personnel later died of their wounds.
One additional person went missing during the fire. Their body was recovered from the water on May 21, bringing the overall death toll to three people.
In a statement, the Chevron joint venture CABGOC expressed its condolences for the families of the deceased. “The safety and well-being of our workforce remains our highest priority. CABGOC is collaborating with its contracting partners to provide support to the impacted individuals and their families," the company said.
BBLT is a bottom-fixed compliant tower platform located about 50 nautical miles off the coast of Angola. It sits atop a 1,200-foot flexible platform jacket (compliant tower), which is partially supported by its own buoyancy. The jacket can sway horizontally, giving it better resistance to wave action.
Sitka, a Small Town in Alaska, Resoundingly Rejects Cruise Ship Limits
Sitka resoundingly rejected cruise limits although on busy days visitors outnumber residents (Sitka Sound Cruise Terminal)
There has been a growing focus in many destinations around the world on the challenges as cruise ships get larger and efforts to limit or even ban large cruise ships grow. A small town in southern Alaska, Sitka (population 8,300) however bucked the trend by rejecting proposed cruise ship limits.
A popular cruise ship destination because of its heritage as a Russian outpost in Alaska, Sitka like many ports has grappled with the surge of passengers during the summer busy season. The cruise passenger problem has grown more acute in the small town as the number of visitors more than doubled over two seasons in the years 2022 and 2023. At its peak, the city can receive as many as 13,000 or more visitors a day so that they exceed the number of residents.
Opponents of the cruise ships have been fighting for years to have a public referendum, and they succeeded on their fourth try with a special election called for May 28. The sole issue on the ballot was proposed limits on cruise ships. They called for a daily limit of 4,500 visitors and an annual limit of 300,000 visitors. In addition, they were proposing implementing a permitting system for ship visits and requiring that one day each week be without large cruise ships.
Town fathers however surprised with a total of nearly 3,000 votes cast, higher than the last regular elections and less than 10 percent from their all-time high for a special election. The unofficial results showed 73 percent of the people rejected the limits with only 27 percent (773 people) voting in favor of the proposed limits.
The private operator of the dock however did admit that more than a quarter of the voters supported limits and it said that it was working with the town on possible solutions. Historically, Sitka was an anchorage port with passengers having to land by tender which helped to disperse some of the crowds. The dock, which handles two large cruise ships at a time, requires shuttle buses as it is five miles away, and that people say is part of the problem creating congestion.
The dock operator and tour operators report they are working to build more options to better disperse passengers. They are also working with the cruise lines to stagger the arrival and departure times of the ships and brought in new smaller shuttle buses to also disperse the crowds. Also in a memorandum of understanding with the city, they proposed a limit of 7,000 daily passengers and not accepting ships with more than 1,000 passengers at the dock when the limit would be surpassed.
The outcome of the vote is different from elsewhere in Alaska where efforts to limit cruise ship arrivals have gained momentum. Juneau, a larger city with a population of 31,500, and the trade group Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) agreed to daily limits. Other smaller towns, such as Ketchikan (population 8,000) have also discussed the best steps to manage the volume of visitors.
In 2024, an estimated 1.68 million cruise passengers visited Southeast Alaska, making it a record year for tourism in the region. The Alaska Travel Industry Association however calculates when cross-gulf and other destinations are included along with the ferries the total in 2024 was 1.785 million people by ship which was two-thirds of the total 2.7 million visitors to the state in 2024.
Some early forecasts for the 2025 season which began in April projected a leveling off this year due to capacity constraints, but the Port of Seattle forecasted the number could reach as high as 1.9 million cruise visitors from May through October 2025. The following year, 2026, will see further growth as both MSC Cruises and Virgin Voyages launch their first Alaska seasons and for 2027 MSC’s luxury brand Explora Journeys has also announced it will be joining the market. Most analysts agree that Alaska will remain one of the top summer cruise destinations.
Cruise Industry Re-Starts Large Revitalizations as Growth Continues
Rendering showing the new livery after the modernization in 2026 of the Celebrity Solstice (Celebrity Cruises)
With strong advance bookings and a positive outlook, the cruise industry is moving forward with the planned but delayed large revitalizations of existing ships. Brands including Royal Caribbean’s Celebrity Cruises, MSC Cruises, and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings’ Regent Seven Seas Cruises have each recently announced large investments into existing ships in the fleet in addition to their newbuilding efforts.
When the COVID-19 pandemic overtook the industry in 2020, plans for the modernization of ships in the fleets were put on hold and canceled as the cruise lines worked to reduce capital expenditures. None of the major brands canceled new ship orders and recently they have placed the first large cruise ship orders since the pandemic. Now with strong demand from travelers, the lines are resuming their efforts at revitalizing existing ships.
The strength of the industry was highlighted last week when the trade group Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) released its 2025 State of the Industry report. It is projecting approximately nine percent growth in passenger counts for its member lines or a total of 37.7 million passengers in 2025. Especially encouraging was the fact that nearly a third (31 percent) of passengers in the past two years on its members’ ships were first-time cruisers.
Celebrity Cruises announced today, May 29, that it is resuming its efforts at modernizing its Solstice class cruise ships. Built by Meyer Werft, the first of the ships, Celebrity Solstice entered service in November 2008 and was scheduled for a large refit as part of the $500 million Revolution program launched in 2018. The program was deferred mid-way due to the pandemic, but now the company reports it is launching a new investment program spending more than $250 million on the five ships of the Solstice class.
Celebrity Solstice (121,878 gross tons) will be first with an extensive dry dock renovation in early 2026 and introduce her new amenities in March 2026. Celebrity reports they will be adding eight new experiences, four new spaces, reinventing outdoor spaces, and a ship-wide stateroom and suite upgrades. All the 1,479 staterooms will be upgraded as well as adding new entertainment venues, an elevated sports bar, a new Italian restaurant, a redone steakhouse, and more. renderings also show a new livery matching the newbuild Celebrity Xcel.
MSC Cruises is undertaking the most extensive renovation since it stretched cruise ships a decade ago. The MSC Magnifica (95,128 gross tons) had been scheduled to be lengthened by 75 feet adding 215 cabins in 2021 at a cost of $143 million. Now the company reports she will undergo a substantial dry dock refurbishment before the summer of 2026. Included in this will be the first time the line has retrofitted its suite enclave concept, the Yacht Club, onto an existing ship.
“The MSC Yacht Club is one of our most highly regarded products, loved by guests for its outstanding level of service, elegant spaces, and exclusive facilities, so we are proud to be bringing this to MSC Magnifica,” said Gianni Onorato, CEO of MSC Cruises. “The extensive remodeling is the largest we’ve undertaken in the last ten years and underlines our commitment to offer our guests the best possible guest experience across our entire fleet.”
Among the changes are 63 suites on the ship which will make up the new club as well as a private sun deck, lounge, and restaurant for the suite club. Other changes include an upgraded spa and fitness center and changes to the spaces dedicated to children.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings also recently announced that two ships for Regent Seven Seas Cruises will undergo extensive renovations. Seven Seas Mariner (48,000 gross tons) introduced in 2001 will go into dry dock in Marseille, France in November 2025. Seven Seas Voyager (42,300 gross tons) completed in 2003, will go into dry dock in late April 2026. The company plans investments to refurbish staterooms and upgrade public areas to prepare the ships to match the new cruise ships it introduced in the past few years and is currently building at Fincantieri in Italy.
Other cruise lines are planning similar large investments into existing ships to upgrade them to rival newbuilds. At the same time the industry has according to Seatrade's estimates more than $55 billion in new orders for 69 or more new ships due by the early 2030s.
Eni and BlackRock’s GIP Discuss Investment in Carbon Capture Portfolio
Eni is developing the Liverpool Bay CO2 project in the HyNet network in the UK for industiral carbon capture and storage (Eni)
Italy’s Eni Group which has moved aggressively to build a presence in the emerging carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) segment reports it has entered into exclusive discussions with BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners. The companies are discussing the potential sale of a 49.99 percent stake in Eni’s CCS portfolio to the BlackRock company while analysts highlight it as a demonstration of the growing investor interest in the sector.
The companies have signed an exclusivity agreement signaling progress toward a confirmatory due diligence phase says Eni. It reports the terms under negotiation call for Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) in addition to acquiring the stake to also support investments in the Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage projects in the Eni portfolio. GIP, which was acquired by BlackRock in 2024, invests in infrastructure and energy including offshore wind projects.
CCUS is drawing strong interest as an application in the efforts to reach decarbonization and climate goals. Europe has been at the forefront with projects already getting underway in Norway and Denmark and the UK working to develop applications for its key industrial zones.
Eni has already assembled a portfolio including a key role in the UK’s HyNet industrial cluster project in the northwest of England. Eni is moving forward with the Liverpool Bay CCS project, having received key approvals and recently working on the four planned offshore platforms for the project.
It is also participating in the UK’s Bacton Thames Net Zero initiative that would store carbon in the depleted Hewett gas field off the North Norfolk coast on the central east coast of England and the North Sea. The project aims to store at least 10 million tonnes of CO2 per year from industrial emitters.
The portfolio also includes rights to the Ravenna CCS project in Italy which is billed as the country’s first capture project. Eni also has future rights and through its Eni Next investment arm is working with companies developing new CCS technologies. It is also participating in a European Union initiative involving 44 oil and gas companies to advance carbon storage initiatives.
Zacks Equity Research writes that the potential Eni – GIP partnership could “serve as a model for how legacy energy companies monetize transition-related assets.” It also says it signals “strong investor appetite for such infrastructure as Europe’s regulatory and climate ambitions intensify.”
Eni reports the agreement with GIP follows a thorough selection progress involving several prominent players. It said they found “strong interest,” and that it confirms the great appeal of its CCUS business and growth prospects.
THE MOST EXPENSIVE FLOWER IN THE WORLD
New to South Africa, saffron holds promise
Graaff Reinet (South Africa) (AFP) – Livestock farmer Joe Kroon turned to saffron in desperation when drought threatened his livelihood and, as this season's harvest winds down, he is encouraged by the potential of a new entry into South Africa's farming catalogue.
"Every year that we've planted, it's got better and better," said Kroon, who started growing the world's most expensive spice, mostly associated with Iran and Afghanistan, around five years ago with corms imported from The Netherlands.
With around one hectare (2.5 acres) under cultivation at his farm near the town of Graaf Reinet in the dry Karoo region, Kroon is among the few South African farmers pioneering cultivation of the delicate purple crocus and its precious red threads.
"Animals were dying and there's no help from the government so I had to find other means of making an income. I started researching and one of the things that came up was saffron," he told AFP.
"It sort of exponentially grows each year," he said. "At the end of this year, we're going to lift the crop and replant a bigger area."
His partner, Ross Blakeway, expects this season's yield could reach about six kilogrammes (13 pounds), around double the amount of last year. It takes about 150,000 flowers to collect a kilogramme of threads.
Blakeway said output of their Karoo Saffron partnership is only for the domestic market, including local chefs and as an ingredient in a sauce and a Pure Karoo health range, although there had been some interest from Europe.
And while there is promise for South African saffron, it is not a "get rich quick", he said.
The corms are expensive and, "it's popular amongst the porcupines and rabbits, so you really have to protect your land," he said.
Saffricon, which says it is the largest commercial producer in South Africa with seven hectares, also began cultivation around five years ago.
In the process of finding the correct conditions, Saffricon moved several times before settling in the Piketberg area in the Western Cape, said the company's production coordinator, Tiaan Engelbrecht.
The company -- which also shares advice and trial packs to potential cultivators, from domestic gardeners to commercial farmers -- wants to build volume for local saffron to become a worthwhile export.
"It's been met with a lot of hope for being able to diversify the crops that are available in the country, especially for people who have smaller plots," Engelbrecht said, although there had been some scepticism too.
"It's just been absolutely wonderful to see people still being excited about growing the agriculture industry and being excited about new things," he said.
Ex-Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams wins BBC libel case
Dublin (AFP) – Former Irish republican leader Gerry Adams won a libel case against the BBC on Friday and was awarded 100,000 euros ($113,000) in damages over a report containing allegations he was involved in killing a British spy.
The BBC Northern Ireland "Spotlight" investigation included an anonymous allegation that Adams gave final approval for the 2006 murder of Denis Donaldson, a former official in the pro-Irish unity Sinn Fein party Adams once led.
A jury in Dublin ruled that the 2016 programme containing the allegation was libellous.
Speaking outside court, Adams, 76, said the case was "about putting manners on the British Broadcasting Corporation".
His solicitors said Adams was "very pleased with this resounding verdict".
The former republican leader had said earlier he would give any damages to "good causes" if he won.
At a press conference in 2005, Adams revealed that Donaldson spied for the British intelligence agency MI5.
The 55-year-old Donaldson, who later acknowledged working as a police and British agent, was found shot dead months later in County Donegal, where he lived close to the Northern Ireland border.
More than 3,600 people were killed during Northern Ireland's sectarian conflict known as the Troubles, which largely ended after a 1998 peace accord.
In 2009, a dissident Irish republican paramilitary group called the Real IRA claimed responsibility for Donaldson's murder.
The BBC programme claimed the killing was in fact the work of the Provisional IRA, and featured an anonymous testimony alleging that the murder was approved by the political and military leadership of the IRA and that Adams "gives the final say".
The BBC argued that it acted in "good faith", that its programme was "fair and reasonable" and in the public interest, and that the allegation was supported by five other sources.
BBC Northern Ireland director Adam Smyth told reporters outside court that "we are disappointed by this verdict".
Adams brought the case in Dublin as the Spotlight programme could be watched in Ireland, where it was seen by about 16,000 people.
An online article also had around 700 hits in Ireland during a 14-month period after its publication in September 2016. 'Grievous smear'
The jury was asked to decide whether the words in the documentary and the online article could be taken to mean that Adams had sanctioned and approved Donaldson's murder.
The BBC argued that the words were presented as allegations while Adams' side claimed the accusations were put forward as fact and were a "grievous smear" and defamatory.
Adams also argued that the BBC broke its reporting rules and that he suffered "an unjustified attack" by the broadcaster.
After the verdict, Adams told reporters he believed the BBC "was out of sync in many, many fronts with the Good Friday Agreement" of 1998 that ended the conflict.
The BBC "hasn't caught on to where we are on this island as part of the process, the continuing process, of building peace and justice, and harmony, and, hopefully... unity".
The case at Dublin's High Court lasted four weeks and included 15 days of evidence from 10 witnesses, including Adams and BBC reporter Jennifer O'Leary.
The BBC's Smyth said the broadcaster had provided "extensive evidence to the court of the careful editorial processes and journalistic diligence applied to this programme".
He also warned that the ruling had "profound" implications, saying "if the BBC's case cannot be won under existing Irish defamation law, it is hard to see how anyone's could".
Adams became president of Sinn Fein, the IRA's political wing during the Troubles, in 1983 and served as MP from 1983 to 1992, and again from 1997 to 2011 before sitting in the Irish parliament between 2011 and 2020.
He stepped down as leader of Sinn Fein in 2018, and has always denied being a member of the IRA.
Rivals neck-and-neck ahead of Poland's 'clash of civilisations' vote
Opinion polls are predicting a close race in Poland's presidential vote on Sunday
Warsaw (AFP) – Warsaw's pro-EU mayor and a nationalist historian held their last day of campaigning on Friday for Poland's presidency, with opinion polls predicting a close race in Sunday's vote, which will determine the direction of the key central European EU and NATO member.
Issued on: 30/05/2025 -
Centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, 53, faces off against right-leaning Karol Nawrocki, 42, in a runoff vote some analysts have described as a "clash of civilisations".
Latest opinion polls predict a close race, with 50.6 percent of the vote going to Trzaskowski and 49.4 percent to Nawrocki, a tiny difference within the margin of error.
A victory for Trzaskowski would be a major boost for Poland's government, which has been in a political deadlock with the current president.
It could also mean significant changes such as the introduction of civil partnerships for same-sex couples and an easing of Poland's near-total ban on abortion.
A win for Nawrocki, backed by the right-wing Law and Justice Party, could undermine Poland's steadfast support for neighbouring Ukraine against Russia.
Nawrocki, an admirer of US President Donald Trump, opposes NATO membership for Kyiv and has called for curbs on benefits for the estimated one million Ukrainian refugees in Poland.
Analysts say a Nawrocki victory could also lead to fresh parliamentary elections in the country of 38 million people, which has been one of Europe's best economic performers.
Given the narrow polling margins, the result of the election may not be known until Monday.
"I would be cautious about popping the champagne on Sunday evening," said Anna Materska-Sosnowska, a political expert.
Tens of thousands of supporters took part in rival rallies for both candidates on May 25, a week before the runoff.
Counting on turnout
At one of his last campaign events, Trzaskowski called for full mobilisation among his supporters, recalling the record turnout of over 74 percent in the 2023 general election that brought the centrists to power.
"If participation is as high as in 2023... we will win these presidential elections," Trzaskowski said Friday in the northern town of Chojnice.
He said there would be "chaos" with Nawrocki as president.
Nawrocki for his part used his last campaign hours to leave flowers at a monument to Poles killed by Ukrainian nationalists during World War II.
"It was a genocide against the Polish people," he said, adding: "I will be the president of your future. The past and the future can be reunited."
Poland, a staunch Ukraine ally since Russia's invasion, wants Kyiv to admit responsibility for the Volyn massacres, in which around 100,000 Poles died between 1943 and 1945. Far-right voters
The election's final result is expected to hinge on whether Trzaskowski can mobilise enough supporters to come out and vote and whether far-right voters will cast their ballots for Nawrocki.
Far-right candidates fared better than expected in the first round of the election on May 18, getting more than 21 percent of the vote -- and leaving Nawrocki a larger pool of votes to draw upon.
Trzaskowski won that round by a razor-thin margin of 31 percent against 30 percent for Nawrocki.
Materska-Sosnowska called the election "a real clash of civilisations", pointing to major policy differences between the candidates on issues including abortion or LGBTQ rights.
The job of Polish president is sometimes dismissed as a ceremonial post, but it comes with crucial veto power over legislation.
And that has often stymied Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a former European Council chief whose centrist Civic Coalition (KO) has clashed on multiple fronts with conservative President Andrzej Duda since it came to power in 2023.
The election campaign saw Nawrocki mired in a few scandals.
While arguing against a property tax, he claimed to own just one flat. Later it was revealed he had acquired a second one in a convoluted deal with an elderly man.
A bombshell news report also alleged he had arranged prostitutes for guests while working as a hotel security guard.
Nawrocki called the accusations "a bunch of lies" and said he would sue the news site that published the report.
Berlin (AFP) – Germany is weighing plans for a 10 percent digital tax for internet giants such as Alphabet and Meta, a senior official said Friday, despite the risk of stoking further trade tensions with the United States.
"This is a question of tax justice," parliamentary state secretary in the digital ministry Philip Amthor told Die Welt newspaper.
"Large digital corporations in particular are cleverly engaging in tax avoidance" while German businesses are "treated with no mercy, everything is taxed."
"A fairer system must be created here so that this tax avoidance is addressed," he said about the plan to tax advertising revenue from platforms such as Meta's Instagram and Facebook.
Germany's media and culture commissioner Wolfram Weimer said earlier the government was drafting a proposal for such a digital tax but would first invite Google and other big tech companies for talks.
Weimer -- the former editor of Die Welt and other media -- on Thursday told Stern magazine that "the large American digital platforms like Alphabet/Google, Meta and others are on my agenda".
He said he had "invited Google management and key industry representatives to meetings at the chancellery to examine alternatives, including possible voluntary commitments".
"At the same time, we are preparing a concrete legislative proposal," Weimer added.
This could be based on the model in Austria, which has a five percent tax, he said, adding that in Germany "we consider a 10 percent tax rate to be moderate and legitimate".
He said that "monopoly-like structures have emerged that not only restrict competition but also over-concentrate media power. This puts media diversity at risk".
"On the other hand, corporations in Germany are doing billion-dollar business with very high margins and have profited enormously from our country's media and cultural output as well as its infrastructure.
"But they hardly pay any taxes, invest too little, and give far too little back to society."
Weimer stressed that "something has to change now. Germany is becoming alarmingly dependent on the American technological infrastructure."
'We love it': Marseille discovers new Banksy artwork Marseille (AFP) – A new mural depicting a lighthouse by world-famous street artist Banksy has appeared on a wall in the southern French city of Marseille, with AFP confirming its location on Friday.
The anonymous artist known as Banksy revealed the new work on Instagram on Thursday but its location had not been disclosed.
The words "I want to be what you saw in me" are stencilled in English across the black lighthouse set against a beige stucco wall.
The mural is on quiet street near the Catalans beach not far from the city centre, according to an AFP correspondent.
The lighthouse's painted shadow connects to one of the street bollards lining the sidewalk.
Banksy -- whose identity has not been publicly revealed -- has crossed the globe for decades painting clandestine murals in public spaces, including in the occupied West Bank, London and Los Angeles.
"It's fascinating that Banksy chose a city like Marseille, which has so much art, foreigners and life," said Esteban Roldan, a 42-year-old carpenter who came to see the artwork.
"This is huge, Banksy in Marseille," added another local, Virginie Foucault.
She said she was having lunch nearby. "I thought to myself, 'I'm not going to find it in Les Catalans,' and then, by chance -- I never go there -- there it is. We love it, we love it!"
For Susan McAllister, a 60-year-old British teacher, "It was nice to have a little search to discover where it was. I'm happy I found it."
"It's exciting, I'm happy he is exploring different places in different cities to display his art or her art," she said. "It might be a woman."
Banksy is best known for hard-hitting murals, often using a distinctive stencilling style, that frequently pop up on buildings and walls.
In recent years, he has kept the attention of the contemporary art world with his social commentaries and causes -- migrants, opposition to Brexit, denunciation of Islamist radicals -- while still stirring the excitement of the moneyed art markets.
The artist boasts an A-list client lineup and has sold his works for tens of millions of pounds at auction since the early 2000s.
