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A Jesuit priest says he prefers going to prison than paying a 500-euro ($541) fine for participating in a climate activists’ street blockade in the southern German city of Nuremberg. The Rev. Jörg Alt started serving his nearly month-long prison sentence on Tuesday in Nuremberg. Today, I am starting my 25-day alternative custodial sentence in Nuremberg prison, he said before entering the prison. I dont like doing this, especially as my health is no longer the best at the age of 63. But I see no alternative, because its the last form of protest I have left in this specific case to draw attention to important issues such as climate change. In November, Alt said that “as a priest, I have no income and no bank account due to my vow of poverty and that I do not want to harm the order and my fellow brothers by paying my fine, German news agency dpa reported. His remarks came after a Bavarian Higher Regional Court rejected his appeal to a lower court’s decision and confirmed Alt’s conviction for coercion for participating in a sit-in blockade. After the court’s decision, authorities repeatedly asked Alt to pay the 500 euros, before the fine was eventually commuted to the 25-day prison sentence. The court ruling in November was in connection with a street blockade in August 2022, when the Jesuit priest and about 40 other activists blocked traffic in Nuremberg by gluing their hands to a street in front of the city’s train station to draw attention to climate change. Numerous similar protests have taken place across Germany and other countries in recent years, as activists try to draw attention to the urgency of tackling climate change. The public and political response to such road blockades has been mixed. While some Germans have said they support the protesters cause, if not their means, activists have also faced violence from enraged motorists and calls for tough punishment from conservative politicians. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has sharply criticized climate activists as nutty for drastic protests such as blocking streets or gluing themselves to famous paintings in museums. Last year, activists belonging to one of the main protest groups, the Last Generation, announced that they would abandon the tactic and move on to holding what they call disobedient assemblies. Alt has said that he had also decided to serve the prison sentence instead of paying the fine “in solidarity with those climate activists who are treated similarly by the administration and the judiciary it may all be lawful, but it is unjust. It’s not the first time, that Alt was convicted for his activism. In May 2023, a court also convicted him of coercion after he participated in a road blockade in Munich and ordered him to pay a small fine. Kirsten Grieshaber, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
Think youve got game? Time to put it to the test with Tinders latest launch in collaboration with OpenAI. On Tuesday, Tinder rolled out The Game Gamea new experience designed to help users practice their flirting skills by chatting with an AI voice, powered by OpenAIs GPT-4o model. Players are dealt a stack of virtual cards, each introducing a different AI persona and a hilariously exaggerated rom-com scenario (think: a luggage mix-up at the airport or accidentally crushing someones sunglasses on the beach). Your challenge? Charm your way through it. The bot makes the first move, and users respond in real timeearning feedback on their game as they go. Nail the convo, land a date, and you win. But dont get too cozy with your digital crush: Each session is capped at three minutes, and users are limited to five plays per dayjust in case you forget Tinder is still about connecting with real people. While The Game Games April 1 launch date might raise eyebrows, its no prankits just not that serious. Using speech-to-speech AI, the game delivers absurdly funny scenarios designed to make you laugh more than sweat. Our Future of Dating report found that 64% of young singles are totally fine with a little cringe if it leads to a real connection, Hillary Paine, Tinders VP of product, growth, and revenue, tells Fast Company. We didnt want it to feel overly polished or intense. Instead, we leaned into humor, awkwardness, and low-pressure moments to help users practice flirting in a fun, playful, and judgment-free way. Tinder has built in safeguards to ensure that conversations stay appropriate and follow community guidelines. And no, theyre not trying to create an AI companion (this isnt Her). The goal is to blur the line between the digital and the real worldsomething Tinder has been exploring with events like the Single Summer Series, Chaotic Singles Party, and Swipe Off. According to a Forbes Health survey, 79% of Gen Z reported feeling dating-app burnout in 2023. Tinder is betting that a little fun might just reignite the spark. Our mission has always been to spark real connections by making dating feel less like a chore and more like something to look forward to, Paine says. At a launch event hosted at OpenAIs New York City office, I got to try The Game Game myself. Lets just say my gym meet-cute didnt exactly end in a rom-com-style kiss in the rain. Humbling, to say the least. The Game Game is now live for U.S. Tinder users on iOS for a limited time.
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E-Commerce
Gadgets sold without batteries. Toys sold in slimmed-down boxes or no packaging at all. More household goods that shoppers need to assemble themselves. These are some of the ways consumer product companies are retooling their wares to reduce costs and avoid raising prices as President Donald Trump levies new import taxes on key trading partners as well as some materials used by American manufacturers. The economic environment in which the president has imposed, threatened and occasionally postponed repeated rounds of tariffs is more precarious than during his first term. U.S. consumers are feeling tapped out after several years of inflation. Businesses say tariffs add to their expenses and eat into their profits, but they are wary of losing sales if they try to pass all of the increase on to customers. Instead, some companies are exploring cost-cutting options, both ones that consumers likely would notice in time remember shrinkflation? and ones that exist too far down the supply chain for them to see. The changes may help minimize price increases, yet won’t be enough in every case to offset them completely. These are some of the strategies retailers and brands have in mind: A kink in the supply chain After putting an extra 20% tariff on all goods from China, as well as a 25% tariff on imported steel, aluminum and automobiles, Trump said he would announce on Wednesday the targets of reciprocal tariffs that mirror the taxes all other nations apply to certain U.S. exports. He argues the tariffs will spur domestic manufacturing, among other goals. Also on the horizon: twice-delayed tariffs on most goods from Canada and Mexico, and duties on copper, lumber and pharmaceutical drugs. Kimberly Kirkendall, president of supply-chain consulting firm International Resource Development, has told clients U.S. makers of shelving, home goods and food products that given all the uncertainty, this is not the time for long-term moves like seeking factories outside of China. She encouraged them to focus on the short term, particularly the need to scrutinize product lines from every angle for possible savings. Youve got to collaborate and work together with your suppliers in this situation to be able to bring costs down,” Kirkendall said. Sourcing concerns are not only a worry for big companies that rely on Chinese manufacturers. Sasha Iglehart, founder of a small online clothing company called Shirt Story, has a collection of upcycled mens shirts that sell for around $235. She said she typically gets her vintage buttons from an Austrian supplier and knows Trump has talked about taxing goods from the European Union. I will continue to look for local vendors and collectors here in the States as back up, said Iglehart, whose company is based in Connecticut. Reworking a product For many companies, evaluating which components or details they can remove from their products or replace with less expensive ones is the go-to move for absorbing the potential financial hit from tariffs. Los Angeles-based toy company Abacus Brands Inc., which designs science kits and other educational toys, has most of its products made in China. By using slightly thinner paper in an 80-page project book that comes with two of its kits, the company expects to avert a $10 retail price increase, President Steve Rad said. Three or 4 cents here, Rad said. Seven or 6 cents there. Two more pennies over there. All of a sudden, you’ve made up the difference. Aurora World Inc., known for its plush pets and toy vehicles, is looking at using fewer paint colors as a way to counteract tariff costs, according to Gabe Higa, managing director of the California company’s toy division. All of Aurora World’s toys come from factories in China. This is something that makes it a little bit simpler so that theres less manual labor involved or less material cost, Higa said. (It) doesn’t have a lot of incremental value so it’s easy to take away. The company still may have to raise prices as long as the new tariffs are in effect, he said. Economy packaging Tweaking or reducing product packaging is another area where importers may cut back and carries the advantage of possibly appealing to eco-conscious customers. Basic Fun CEO Jay Foreman, whose company markets classic toys like Tonka trucks, Lincoln Logs and Care Bears, said he is presenting retailers with three different packaging options and asking them to decide which ones they prefer for the trucks and some other products that will be in stores next spring. The first is the current packaging, which consists of a box with a big open window that lets customers see what’s inside. The second option: no box, just a tray attached to the bottom of toys to hold them in place on shelves. The third: unwrapped but affixed with a simple paper price tag that features brand information. The second-tier packaging would reduce the toy company’s cost per item by $1.25, and the package-free version would yield savings of $1.75, Foreman said. Both would diminish the appeal of the products and would not come close to canceling out the tariff on goods made in China, Foreman said. He said he would make pricing decisions later this week after Trump provides details about his planned reciprocal tariffs. To further reduce its production costs, Abacus Brands is thinking of switching from plastic to cardboard for the package inserts that keep toy parts in place. Cardboard trays cost 7 cents per unit compared to 30 cents for the plastic version, according to Rad. The change requires finding a new factory to make the inserts, a move that did not make financial sense before now, he said. The various tariff-related modifications should be effective for fall and holiday deliveries to stores, Rad said. The compromises were making are things that do not matter to the consumer, he said. Forget the extras Shoppers will likely have to assemble more of their products at home as companies look to reduce shipping costs, according to Kirkendall of International Resource Development. One of her clients manufactures self-watering planters that are made in China. The product is undergoing a redesign so it can be shipped as seprate nesting components instead of fully assembled. Companies also are reevaluating the pieces of their products that are essential or extra. Chris Bajda, managing partner at online wedding gift retailer Groomsday, said accessories like batteries and decorative gift boxes may end up in the latter category. We now carefully assess whats truly necessary and avoid including items that dont serve a functional purpose for the customer, Bajda said. The return of shrinkflation? Reducing the size or weight of products without lowering prices proliferated as a business practice from 2021 through 2024 as companies grappled with rising costs for ingredients, packaging, labor and transportation. Edgar Dworsky, a consumer advocate and former assistant attorney general in Massachusetts, suspects the makers of consumer goods will embrace shrinkflation again to hide costs given the blast of new tariffs. The additional import tax on Canadian soft lumber, for example, might show up in smaller toilet paper rolls, he said. Shrinkflation has been a little quiet in the last few months, Dworksy said. But I would expect to see both price increases and product shrinkage.” Anne D’Innocenzio, AP retail writer
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E-Commerce
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