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BERLIN (AP) — Germany's vice chancellor on Tuesday launched a program initially worth up to 4 billion euros ($4.4 billion) to help heavy industry shift to more climate-friendly production over a 15-year period. Support will be capped at 1 billion euros per bidder in an effort to accommodate medium-sized companies. He said it is “super cost-efficient” because companies will be bidding to make carbon-neutral production as economically as possible. Habeck's Economy Ministry hopes that a second round of bidding for support totaling up to 19 billion euros will take place at the end of the year. But if “designed wrong, carbon contracts for difference stand completely in the way of this transition” by chaining the country to old, climate-damaging technology, he argued in a statement.

Persons: — Germany's, Robert Habeck, ”, Martin Kaiser, “, Habeck Organizations: BERLIN, European Union, ”, Ministry, of German Industries, Greenpeace, Green Locations: Germany, Greenpeace Germany

☆ Everyone is angry at Germany after a series of snubs and screw-ups
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-06 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Leaked German military discussions about sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine have caused discord. It's the latest diplomatic spat related to Germany and aid to Ukraine. After the US, Germany is the country sending the most military aid to Ukraine, at least in terms of volume. A mortifying leakPart of this anger was triggered by Russian state broadcaster RT publishing a 38-minute leaked recording of four German officials discussing how Ukraine could deploy German Taurus missiles. Taurus missiles are — very broadly speaking — Germany's equivalent to the Storm Shadow: powerful, long-range weapons with a strong ability to evade air defenses.

Persons: Olaf Scholz, —, Emmanuel Macron, Le, Ben Wallace, Scholz, Germany —, Der Westen, Dmitry Medvedev, Vladimir Putin, It's, Edward Hunter Christie, — Scholz, Antoine Gyori, Macron, Le Monde, Rafael Loss Organizations: Taurus, Service, RT, German Taurus, Associated Press, Storm, France, Politico, MOD, government's Foreign, France's Ministry of Defence, NATO, Russian Security, Finnish Institute of International Affairs, Macron, Ukraine Challenger, Ukraine, European Council, Foreign Relations Locations: Ukraine, France, Germany, allyship, German, Kerch, Crimea, Korea, Russia, Europe, Macron Germany

BERLIN (AP) — Germany's state-owned development bank has sold shares in the company that owns the national postal service for about 2.17 billion euros ($2.3 billion), reducing the government's stake and raising money to help finance improvements to the country's rail network. The sale cuts the state's stake in DHL to 16.5%, though it is still the largest single shareholder. The proceeds are to be used to strengthen the capital of Germany's main railway operator, the state-owned Deutsche Bahn, to help it upgrade railway infrastructure, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday. The government is turning to privatization proceeds to help finance improvements to the rail network after a court ruling forced it to plug a big hole in this year's budget and reconsider its wider financial plans. The maneuver ran afoul of Germany’s strict self-imposed limits on running up debt.

Organizations: BERLIN, —, Deutsche, DHL Group, DHL, Deutsche Bahn, Finance Ministry Locations: — Germany's, Germany's

BERLIN (AP) — Germany's train drivers' union is ending its six-day strike early and is back in talks with the country's national railway operator, German news agency dpa reported Saturday. The freight transport strike will end on Sunday evening at 6 p.m. (1700 GMT). This week's strike was the fourth one by the union during the current negotiations to push their demands in a rancorous dispute with the country’s main railway operator, state-owned Deutsche Bahn, over working hours and pay. Both parties were back in talks on Saturday already and said there would be no further strikes until March 3, dpa reported. In addition to pay raises, the union has been calling for working hours to be reduced from 38 to 35 per week without a pay cut, a demand which Deutsche Bahn has so far refused.

Organizations: BERLIN, Deutsche Bahn

The strike by the GDL union will affect passenger services and freight trains operated by state-owned Deutsche Bahn until 6 p.m. (1700 GMT) on Monday. The union held a three-day strike earlier this month and two walkouts last year which lasted up to 24 hours. On Wednesday, train travel across the country and in many cities ground to a halt again with commuters and other travelers struggling to find alternatives involving long-distance bus or car travel or flights. “European freight traffic across the Alps, Poland or to Scandinavia as well as the seaports in Holland or Belgium will also be affected,” said Deutsche Bahn. With negotiations stalled, Germany's transportation minister said the government was not ruling out arbitration proceedings between GDL and Deutsche Bahn.

Persons: ”, Volker Wissing Organizations: BERLIN, Deutsche Bahn Locations: Poland, Scandinavia, Holland, Belgium

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Germany's economy shrank 0.3% last year as Europe's former powerhouse struggled with more expensive energy, higher interest rates, lack of skilled labor and a homegrown budget crisis. Europe's largest economy has been mired in stagnation since the last months of 2022 amid those multiple challenges. The International Monetary Fund expected Germany to be the worst-performing major developed economy last year, a major turnaround from its place as a model for how to expand when other nations were struggling. German's economy likely also shrank 0.3% in the fourth quarter after stagnating in the third quarter, the Federal Statistical Office said Monday in an initial rough estimate. Official figures for the last three months of 2023 are expected to be announced Jan. 30.

Persons: there's Organizations: Monetary Fund, Federal Statistical Office, Energy, European Central Bank Locations: FRANKFURT, Germany, Ukraine

Europe's largest economy shrank 0.1% in the July-to-September quarter as inflation eroded people's willingness to spend, Germany's statistics office confirmed Friday. The downbeat figures come as the country's budget crisis raises the possibility of deep spending cuts next year. A court ruled last week that previous spending violated constitutional limits on deficits, forcing Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government to put off a final vote on next year's spending plan. The court said the move violated rules in the constitution that limit new borrowing to 0.35% of annual economic output. He termed the uptick in the Ifo survey of business managers as “a bottoming out” rather than a rebound.

Persons: Chancellor Olaf Scholz's, quarrelsome, Christian Lindner, ”, Carsten Brzeski, Brzeski Organizations: International Monetary Fund, Finance, ING Locations: FRANKFURT, Germany, Russia, Ukraine

The strike by drivers and other workers in the GDL union began at 10 p.m. on Wednesday and was scheduled to end at 6 p.m. on Thursday. The main national railway operator, state-owned Deutsche Bahn, expected to run about 20% of its normal long-distance service. The dispute between Deutsche Bahn and GDL is in its early stages, but already is looking unusually difficult. After negotiations started last week, Deutsche Bahn said it had made an offer that amounts to an 11% raise. Political Cartoons View All 1250 ImagesNegotiations were due to resume on Thursday, but Deutsche Bahn canceled this week's talks after GDL called the strike.

Persons: GDL Organizations: BERLIN, —, Deutsche Bahn Locations: GDL

☆ Billionaire FBI informant Peter Thiel dished about two Kremlin invites to private Putin meetings
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-10 | by ( Mattathias Schwartz | Hans-Martin Tillack | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +18 min

It was Angermayer who introduced Bisslinger to Thiel at the party, Thiel would later tell the FBI. After some small talk, Bisslinger made a pitch to Thiel: Thiel should travel to Russia to attend the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. If Thiel chose to attend, Bisslinger said, Bisslinger would arrange for him to meet privately with Putin. "Even if Mr. Angermayer did introduce Mr. Thiel and Mr. Bisslinger," the lawyers wrote in another letter, "Mr. Angermayer is not—and cannot be—responsible for whatever Mr. Bisslinger and Mr. Thiel may or may not have discussed." At his 40th birthday, he connected Peter Thiel with a Russian diplomat, Thiel later told the FBI.

Persons: Peter Thiel, Christian Angermayer, Thiel, Daniil Bisslinger, Bisslinger, Vladimir Putin's, Angermayer, Putin, Maksim Konstantinov, —, Frank Figliuzzi, Vladimir Putin, — Charles Johnson —, Johnathan Buma, Johnson, Welt, Dmitry Peskov, John Lamparski, Donald Trump, — Thiel, Der Spiegel, he'd, Elon Musk, Musk, Thiel —, he's, Palantir, He's, Uma Thurman, Robbie Williams, Queen Latifah, Paul Kagame, Dan McCrum, John Kerry, Richard Grenell, Kerry, Sensei Biotherapeutics, Trump, Dmitry Medvedev, Medvedev, Maureen Dowd, Alexander Schütz, Eva Schütz, Schütz, — Heinz, Christian Strache, Markus Braun, Jan Marsalek, Marsalek, Caroline Haskins, Katherine Long, Jack Newsham, Mattathias Schwartz, Hans, Martin Tillack Organizations: Kremlin, Tech, Pentagon, CIA, Facebook, SpaceX, Kremlin's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Russian Embassy, Thiel, St ., Economic, Getty, FBI, Atlantic, Bisslinger, Germany, Elon, Russia, NSA, US Special Operations Command, National Health Service, Apeiron Investment, Munich Security, intel, Trump, State Department, Angermayer's, PayPal, Nasdaq, Sciences, The New York Times, Deutsche Bank, Welt Locations: Silicon Valley, Schloss Neuwaldegg, Vienna, Silicon, Moscow, Russian, Berlin, Russia, St, St . Petersburg, Petersburg, Ukraine, Europe, Germany, NATO, Crimea, Ukrainian, Sevastopol, Palantir, Washington, Rwanda, Baltic, Belarus, Iran, Angermayer's Malta, Munich, China, China's, Austrian, Austria, Exxpress, Wirecard, schwartz79@protonmail.com

BERLIN (AP) — Germany's government said Wednesday that it expects the country's economy to shrink by 0.4% this year, joining a string of other forecasters in revising sharply downward its outlook for Europe's biggest economy. The revised forecast contrasted with the 0.4% growth that the government predicted in late April. The Economy Ministry said in a statement that “the effects of the energy price crisis in combination with global economic weakness are weighing down the German economy more persistently than was assumed in the spring.”On Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund forecast that the German economy will shrink by 0.5%. A group of leading German economic think tanks last month predicted a 0.6% contraction. The Economy Ministry said it expects the economy to pick up around the turn of the year and then accelerate, helped by recovering consumer demand.

Persons: —, Olaf Scholz, Germany’s Organizations: BERLIN, Ministry, International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank Locations: Germany

☆ A timeline of 5 major hurdles Russia's imposed on Western firms trying to exit the country
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-08 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The Russian foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider sent outside regular business hours. Some companies trying to exit Russia recently are facing demands of even steeper discounts, Reuters reported on August 25, citing three persons familiar with exit processes for foreign companies. Both firms had been trying to exit Russia for months before the seizures, before the sudden takeover. In July, Moscow targeted the Russian assets of food and beverage giants Danone and Carlsberg for seizures. A month later, in September, Russia demanded foreign banks unfreeze Russian assets if they wanted to exit the market.

Persons: Linklaters, —, Vladimir Putin's, Germany's, Fortum —, Putin, Dmitry Peskov, Alexei Moiseev Organizations: Service, Yale University, Russia, Russian, Novaya Gazeta, Companies, Kremlin, Investors, Danone, Carlsberg, Financial Times, UBS, Credit Suisse —, Zenit Bank, Reuters, Raiffeisen Locations: Russia, Wall, Silicon, Ukraine, London, Russian, Moscow

☆ Google is testing a new AI tool that can write news articles and reportedly pitching it to The New York Times and News Corp
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Google is pitching news organizations on its new AI tool for journalists, per the NYT. Some executives were unsettled by the AI, but Google says it can't replace journalists. Google is testing an AI tool known as "Genesis" that can write news articles, The New York Times first reported. They said the company wanted to enhance journalists' productivity in the same way that AI tools are becoming available in Gmail and Google Docs. That includes The New York Times, Insider, and Gannett — the largest newspaper publisher in the US.

Persons: didn't, we're, Europe's Organizations: Google, Morning, New York Times, Times, Washington Post, News Corp, Street, The Times, Gmail, Gannett, The Irish Times, Guardian Locations: London, newsrooms

☆ 'Cannabis in Germany will be a success story': Europe's biggest economy moves closer to weed legalization
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Karen Gilchrist | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

The sale of medical cannabis has been allowed in German pharmacies since 2016 — but several barriers to entry remain, including cost. "Patients, who cannot afford medical cannabis, may self-medicate with adult-use cannabis without medical advice. "An overall de-stigmatization of cannabis as a substance will also lead to a de-stigmatized medical cannabis market," Gallois added. The government is currently undertaking a review of its medical cannabis guidelines, including how it is prescribed and reimbursed under the country's statutory health insurance program. A 'domino effect'The plans come as cannabis legalization has fallen under renewed debate over recent years.

☆ German president says Trump's 'America First' policy creates unstable world
▼ + stars: | 2020-02-14 | by ( Amanda Macias | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier addresses the opening speech of the 56th Munich Security Conference in Munich, southern Germany, on February 14, 2020. "Our closest ally, the United States of America, under the current administration, rejects the very concept of the international community," he said. In his opening remarks, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned that the United States would put its own interests first at the expense of allies. MUNICH — Germany's president kicked off the annual Munich Security Conference on Friday by taking a swipe at President Donald Trump's "America First" foreign policy approach. Read more: Nuclear weapons and 5G among national security topics at Munich Security ConferenceSteinmeier also accused Russia and China of amplifying global insecurity in pursuit of "great power" competition.

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