Air force officers bugged?
The recording is about half an hour long and is distributed by Russian propaganda channels.
In the recording, senior Air Force officers discuss in detail how German Taurus cruise missiles could be used in Ukraine.
It is apparently a recording of a telephone conference; experts believe it to be authentic.
Were the military bugged?
The Bundeswehr secret service MAD is currently examining this question under high pressure.
Anyone who listens to the recording immediately realizes how explosive the process is: Among other things, the men discuss targets that Ukraine could theoretically destroy with the Taurus.
The strategically important bridge to the Crimean peninsula is mentioned.
Chancellor Scholz only reiterated this week that he is strictly against the delivery of Taurus cruise missiles.
Nevertheless, Russian propaganda channels are now trying to exploit the recording.
As my colleague Matthias Gebauer writes, the officers were quite careless during their meeting: they used the WebEx platform, which was relatively easy to intercept.
“In view of the explosiveness of the topics, an encrypted line would have had to be used in this case,” explains Matthias.
And the process may continue to expand.
Because WebEx is regularly used by the Bundeswehr and the Ministry of Defense.
The crucial question now is: Could Russian authorities get even more internal information?
It would be a debacle, especially in the current situation.
Audio of a sensitive meeting leaked in Russia: MAD is investigating suspected espionage in the Bundeswehr
The unknown Mr. Schmit
The Chancellor's appointment calendar today includes a visit to Rome.
A private audience with the Pope is scheduled for Olaf Scholz there.
The Chancellor will also appear at the party congress of the European Social Democrats.
They want to stand for the European elections and choose their common top candidate: Nicolas Schmit.
Don't you know him?
You are not alone.
The 70-year-old Luxembourger has been the EU Commissioner for Employment and Social Rights since 2019.
He probably won't be familiar to most Europeans.
However, it is clear to the Social Democrats that they have little chance of appointing the next President of the Commission.
Not only that it is very unlikely that they will win the election.
It would also be hard to imagine that the heads of state and government would nominate Schmit as Commission President.
A second term in office for Ursula von der Leyen is almost a foregone conclusion.
Next week, the CDU politician will be chosen as the top candidate by the European Christian Democrats in Bucharest.
In the most recent survey for the European elections, the Union is at 27 percent, the SPD at 16 percent.
The comrades hope that things will turn around.
In addition to Katarina Barley, who is leading the SPD as the national top candidate in the European election campaign, they also want to print the Chancellor on the posters.
The only question is whether it really helps.
Von der Leyen's renewed candidacy: She should take on Putin
Beyond the Eastern clichés
If you regularly read the printed SPIEGEL, you may remember a cover from 2019. It showed a black, red and gold bucket hat.
Underneath it was written: “So isser, the Ossi”.
This was meant ironically, but – despite the nuanced text in the magazine – it was offended by many in the East.
To this day, the cliché of the complaining, right-wing, somewhat stubborn Ossi still persists.
It doesn't help that there are elections this year in Saxony, Brandenburg and Thuringia and the focus is once again on the approximately 30 percent AfD voters.
But how does Ossi really eat?
In the past few months, SPIEGEL colleagues from the East - including me - have made their way to their homeland.
They met remarkable people and wrote down their stories.
The portraits show “that the East is much more than the sum of clichés that have been rehashed over and over again,” says my colleague Janko Tietz, who coordinated the project.
I would like to recommend reading it to you.
Journey home:
New Germany
Click here for the current daily quiz
The starting question today: Where did the USA, Great Britain and the Soviet Union discuss the post-war order for Germany and Europe from mid-July to early August 1945?
Winner of the day…
... are the protests against right-wing extremism.
It is true that these no longer bring a million people onto the streets in a single weekend as they did in January.
But the movement has not stopped either, it continues.
Today the German Federation of Trade Unions called for a demo in Duisburg and is expecting 10,000 participants.
It is not yet possible to say seriously how lasting the effect of these demonstrations is and whether the protests are responsible for the AfD's decline in polls.
At Forsa, for example, the extreme right-wing party was still at 23 percent in December, now at 17. Part of the explanation for this could lie with the Sahra Wagenknecht alliance, which is attractive to many AfD voters.
Nevertheless, I think it is entirely plausible that the demonstrations also play a role.
They counteract the creeping normalization of the AfD.
Firstly, the mass demonstrations sent the message: AfD supporters are not the majority.
Secondly, they signal: The AfD is not a normal party.
Thirdly, they show that millions of people see the extreme right-wing party as a threat to democracy.
The effect of this signal should not be underestimated.
Protests against right-wing extremism: Are ministers allowed to encourage teachers to take part in demos?
The latest reports from the night
Negotiations on a ceasefire stall again - USA announces airlift:
Israel does not want to negotiate a ceasefire as long as Hamas does not publish a list of the hostages still alive.
Due to the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, the USA will airdrop aid.
Trial against Trump over secret documents is delayed:
Partial success for Trump: The trial over the illegal storage of sensitive documents will not start in July as planned.
His delaying tactics are also working in Georgia.
New York style icon Iris Apfel is dead:
Big glasses, daring suits and lots of accessories: Iris Apfel never stuck to conventions - and thus became a fashion icon.
The New Yorker has now died at the age of 102.
I would particularly like to recommend this text to you today:
Handbag killer:
Almost two million people follow Volkan Yilmaz, a man with a soft voice and puppy eyes, on TikTok, YouTube and Instagram.
You watch him cut up leather goods from the most illustrious labels: belts from Hermès, pumps from Christian Louboutin, handbags from Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, Louis Vuitton.
With his social media videos, Yilmaz wants to provide an answer to the question: “Is it worth it?” – is it worth spending thousands of euros on these products?
Often the answer is sobering.
My colleague Thilo Neumann portrayed Yilmaz.
I wish you a good start to the day.
Yours, Maria Fiedler, deputy head of the SPIEGEL capital office