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MEDIA

Klinsmann suing daily over crucifixion cover

Bayern Munich coach Jürgen Klinsmann is taking legal action against a German daily after it printed an image of him being crucified on the front page of its Easter edition, the paper said on Tuesday.

Published: 14 April 2009 11:20 CEST
Klinsmann suing daily over crucifixion cover
The cover of the TAZ showing Klinsmann's crucifixion. Photo: TAZ

Die Tageszeitung said it had received a letter from Klinsmann’s lawyer saying the embattled coach felt his human dignity “deeply and massively” violated by the picture, modelled on Monty Python’s “Life of Brian.”

Bayern spokesman Markus Hörwick said the picture of the “crucified” Klinsmann under the headline “Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life” was “perhaps the worst gaffe ever made by the German media.”

Klinsmann’s lawyer said the damages could amount to €100,000 ($132,000) if the case went to court.

For its part, the paper said it was “relaxed” about the legal action. Pressure has been mounting on Klinsmann following disastrous results both in the Bundesliga and the Champions League.

On April 4, Bayern were humiliated 5-1 by Bundesliga front-runners Wolfsburg before suffering what club chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge called a football “lesson” during a 4-0 drubbing by Barcelona in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final. The team relieved some of the pressure on their coach with a 4-0 win at home against Eintracht Frankfurt last weekend, but the German giants stand second in the Bundesliga, ahead of Hamburg on goal difference.

As for the Champions League, Bayern host Barcelona in the second leg on Tuesday needing an extraordinary turnaround to progress to the semi-finals.

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BUSINESS

French court hands Amazon €90,000-per-day fine over contracts

French authorities on Wednesday slapped a €90,000-per-day fine on e-commerce giant Amazon until it removes abusive clauses in its contracts with businesses using its platform to sell their goods.

Published: 14 April 2022 09:06 CEST
French court hands Amazon €90,000-per-day fine over contracts

The anti-fraud Direction générale de la concurrence, de la consommation et de la répression des fraudes (DGCCRF) service said the online sales giant’s contracts with third-party sellers who use its Amazon.fr website contain “unbalanced” clauses.

“The company Amazon Services Europe did not comply completely with an injunction it was served and it is now subject to a fine of €90,000 per day of delay” in applying the changes, the DGCCRF said in a statement.

It also urged the platform to conform with European rules on equity and transparency for firms using online platforms.

Amazon said the order would harm consumers.

“The changes imposed by the DGCCRF will stop us from effectively protecting consumers and permit bad actors to set excessive prices or spam our clients with commercial offers,” the e-commerce giant said in a statement.

“We will comply with the DGCCRF’s decision but we absolutely do not understand it and we are challenging it in court,” responded the e-commerce giant in a statement.

Amazon said the clauses that the DGCCRF has ordered removed had, for example “prevented the appearance of exorbitant prices for mask and hydroalcoholic gel during the pandemic”.

In 2019, Amazon was fined €4 million for “manifestly unbalanced” contract clauses with third-party sellers on its site in a case brought by the DGCCRF.

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