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☆ German EU-harmonised consumer prices up 9.2% y/y in January
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BERLIN, Feb 22 (Reuters) - German consumer prices, harmonised to compare with other European Union countries, rose by 9.2% on the year in January, data from the federal statistics office showed on Wednesday. Compared with December, prices increased by 0.5%, it added, confirming preliminary data on both a monthly and annual basis. According to non-harmonised standards, German consumer prices rose 8.7% on the year in January and 1.0% on the month. "Following a slowdown at the end of last year, the inflation rate thus remains at a high level," said Ruth Brand, president of the German statistics office. Energy product prices were 23.1% higher year-on-year despite government relief measures, while food prices increased 20.3% on year.

☆ German exports to China decline in January despite lifting of lockdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Exports to China fell by 7.1% in January compared with the same month last year, to 7.4 billion euros ($7.90 billion). By comparison, exports to the United States grew by 20.8% to 12 billion euros, with the world's largest economy retaining its place as the most important customer for goods made in Germany. While goods worth around 298 billion euros were traded between the two countries last year, exports of German goods to China increased by only 3.1%, to around 107 billion euros. Germany, on the other hand, imported goods worth 191 billion euros from China, a third more than in 2021. Overall, Germany had a trade deficit with China of around 84 billion euros in 2022, a situation that German Finance Minister Christian Lindner called a "dangerous development".

☆ Online fashion retailer Zalando to cut hundreds of jobs
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BERLIN, Feb 21 (Reuters) - German online fashion retailer Zalando (ZALG.DE) is to cut hundreds of jobs across the company, citing over-expansion in some areas and a more difficult economic environment since the coronavirus pandemic. Zalando said the pandemic had boosted business in 2020 and 2021, but these tailwinds had faded since 2022 and the macroeconomic environment had become more challenging. Zalando, which has a workforce of some 17,000, did not give precise details on which areas would be affected by the cuts. The planned job cuts were first reported by the Financial Times, which said the online retailer's workforce would shrink by up to 5%. The company is due to report full-year earnings next month.

☆ Germany to speed up power market reform in 2023, minister says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

FRANKFURT, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Germany will do most of the work this year to prepare its power market for greater reliance on renewable supplies by the end of the decade, Economy Minister Robert Habeck said on Monday. "We will do most of the necessary work in 2023," he said at a consultation meeting on power market reform. To back up swings in green power as more reliable nuclear and coal production is phased out, the government will prepare tenders for gas-fired power capacity, Habeck said. Habeck said the government was working on the assumption that national power usage would reach 700-750 TWh by the end of the decade. Germany's plan may set it apart from some other European Union countries that may hold on to more stable sources of power, said Habeck.

☆ Developing countries' debt troubles in focus at G20 talks, says Germany's Lindner
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

China is by far the largest creditor for many highly indebted countries in Africa and Asia, and has been repeatedly pressed to make concessions. G20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs will meet from Feb. 22 to Feb. 25 to discuss growing debt troubles among developing countries triggered by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Highly indebted developing countries must retain access to international financial markets so that they can continue to import energy and food, Lindner said. India has drafted a proposal for G20 countries to help debtor nations by asking big lenders including China to take a large haircut on loans. Just days before the first anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Lindner praised the unity among Western nations in supporting Ukraine, both financially and militarily.

☆ Helen Mirren: Starring in 'Golda' like playing British monarch
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( Miranda Murray | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BERLIN, Feb 20 (Reuters) - For Helen Mirren, playing Israel's only female prime minister, Golda Meir, was not unlike a role as a British monarch. "Golda," which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival on Monday, focuses on Meir's leadership during the Yom Kippur War between Israel and a coalition of Arab states in October 1973. "It's not a biopic, it's not her whole life, it's just a little section where she's most challenged," said Mirren. Mirren is nearly unrecognizable as Meir thanks to prosthetics and a make-up regimen that took hours, re-creating the Israeli leader's nicotine-stained fingers and swollen ankles. Nattiv also explained his decision to cast Mirren even though she is not Jewish, saying that besides being an excellent actor, she felt like a family member.

☆ 'Past Lives' director draws from real life for love story across continents, time
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

That scene re-creates a moment from director Celine Song's life that inspired her to make the film, her first feature, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to rave reviews. The Korean-Canadian director recounts visiting a bar with her American husband and a childhood sweetheart from Korea. This idea from the movie that we've all known each other from our past lives," Lee told Reuters. "I really hope that people come for the romance and for the love and the idea of just a simple story about love," she said. "But maybe they can leave with something bigger about life and about what connects us to each other as human beings."

☆ 'Reality' recreates fateful day for U.S. whistleblower in Berlinale premiere
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] Cast members Marchant Davis, Sydney Sweeney, Josh Hamilton and Director Tina Satter attend a photo call to promote the movie 'Reality' at the 73rd Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin, Germany, February 18, 2023. Director Tina Satter aims to change that with the movie "Reality," a 85-minute re-enactment of the day FBI agents came to Winner's house based off the transcript of the audio they recorded which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival on Saturday. Winner's sister and mother also attended the premiere, prompting a burst of applause from the crowded theatre. "After spending time speaking with her, I wanted to make sure that I captured her as much as possible," said Sweeney. "I hope that they see this moment in a woman's life, that it was a really hard decision to make, and to not reduce Reality to just a headline," she added.

☆ Austrian poet seeks solace from gender roles in Berlinale biopic
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( Miranda Murray | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Michele TantussiBERLIN, Feb 19 (Reuters) - For German director Margarethe von Trotta, "Ingeborg Bachmann - Journey into the Desert," chronicling six years of the titular Austrian poet's life, is part of a dialogue with the past about how life for women has changed and how much they have achieved. "Bachmann's search for liberty and freedom - she said 'I cannot be subjugated by men' - what she was searching for, we have achieved now," said von Trotta of the poet and author, who rose to prominence in the 1950s and 1960s. "She arrives in the desert very weak ... and in the end she says it's her salvation, I'm liberated," said von Trotta. Born in Berlin, she began working as an actor in the late 1960s before moving into directing, making her first solo debut in 1977. Reporting by Miranda Murray; Editing by David HolmesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Berlinale film 'Manodrome' explores misogynistic world of incel culture
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-18 | by ( Miranda Murray | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] Cast members Adrien Brody, Odessa Young, Jesse Eisenberg and director John Trengove attend a photo call to promote the movie 'Manodrome'' at the 73rd Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin, Germany, February 18, 2023. The film, which premieres at the Berlin Film Festival on Saturday, explores the "manosphere" of online toxic masculinity that bubbled up into the mainstream after a series of mass killings by "incels" - the self-described "involuntary celibates" - in the 2010s. They eventually win Ralphie as a new adherent to their cult and initiate him by branding him with their symbol. "It really became this idea of a character who just immerses himself in a world of men. And it all kind of leads to a sort of madness, a kind of a fever dream," Trengove told the premiere's audience.

☆ Inside Tracy Anderson's cutthroat fitness empire: Legal threats, paranoia, and trainers who say their bodies were 'breaking apart'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Katie Warren | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +29 min

One day around 2015, a dozen or so gift boxes showed up at the Brentwood, California, studio of the celebrity fitness trainer Tracy Anderson. "It was an exclusive boutique fitness studio," the former New York trainer said. Darren Gerrish/WireImageThe method demanded that TA trainers, most of whom were also professional dancers, perform the strenuous workouts full out, every time. Let's help you do it correctly so you don't get injured,'" the former New York trainer said. "This is at a time where everyone is already overworked," one of the former New York trainers said.

☆ Lufthansa to cancel 34,000 flights in summer schedule - WirtschaftsWoche
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

BERLIN, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) plans to cancel 34,000 flights in the summer half-year, German business weekly WirtschaftsWoche said on Thursday, adding the number could increase as cancellations at its Eurowings and SWISS units might be added. "Lufthansa has adjusted the 2023 summer flight schedule from Frankfurt and Munich," the paper quoted a Lufthansa spokesperson as saying. The exact extent could not be determined "as further daily cancellations can always be added," the person told WirtschaftsWoche. Reporting by Kirsti Knolle Editing by Miranda MurrayOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Infineon to begin work on 5 bln euro chip plant in Germany
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SummarySummary Companies Economy Ministry approved early project launchProject still requires European Commission approvalBERLIN, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Infineon has won approval to begin work on a 5-billion-euro ($5.35 billion) semiconductor plant in the German city of Dresden due to start production in 2026, it said on Thursday. Infineon is seeking 1 billion euros in public funding for the plant, which it said would create around 1,000 jobs. The Economy Ministry approved the early project launch, which allows construction to begin before the European Commission has finished inspecting the legal subsidy aspects. The European Union is seeking to bolster semiconductor production after a global chip shortage over the past two years. Under the European Chips Act, the European Commission has earmarked a total of 15 billion euros for public and private semiconductor projects by 2030.

☆ Websites of several German airports down
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BERLIN, Feb 16 (Reuters) - The websites of at least three German airports were disrupted on Thursday, a day after a major IT failure at Lufthansa left thousands of passengers stranded at Frankfurt airport. Among the airports affected were Dusseldorf, Nuremberg and Dortmund, but sites for Germany's biggest airports, in Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin, were operating normally. Focus Online, which initially reported the outage, gave no reason for the problem. "We are troubleshooting", said a spokesperson for Dortmund airport, adding it was unlikely that the failure was due to a regular overload. Reporting by Klaus Lauer Writing by Miranda Murray Editing by Madeline ChambersOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Websites of several German airports down - Focus news outlet
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

BERLIN, Feb 16 (Reuters) - The websites of several German airports are currently disrupted, the Focus Online news outlet reported on Thursday. Airports in Dusseldorf, Nuremberg and Dortmund are among those affected, added Focus. Writing by Miranda Murray Editing by Madeline ChambersOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ German police use of software to fight crime unlawful, court says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BERLIN, Feb 16 (Reuters) - A top German court ruled on Thursday that police use of automated data analysis to prevent crime in some German states was unconstitutional, dealing a win to critics of the CIA-backed Palantir Technologies (PLTR.N) that provides the software. Provisions regulating the use of the technology in Hesse and Hamburg violate the right to informational self-determination under the German constitution, a statement from the constitutional court said. U.S.-based Palantir Technologies makes software for data analytics used by intelligence and law enforcement agencies around the world, according to its website. In comments to the Handelsblatt newspaper, Palantir's strategy chief in Europe, Jan Hiesserich, said the company merely provides the software for processing data, not the data itself. The German Society for Civil Rights (GFF), which brought the case against police data analysis, said Palantir software used innocent people's data to form suspicions and could also produce errors, affecting people at risk of police discrimination.

☆ Operator warns of 'massive disruptions' in German airports strike
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

German trade union Verdi on Wednesday called on workers at Frankfurt, Munich, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Dortmund, Hanover and Bremen airports to go on a 24-hour strike, saying collective bargaining efforts had made little progress. "On Friday, February 17, 2023, there will therefore be massive disruptions to air traffic," said Fraport (FRAG.DE), the operator of Frankfurt airport, which counted more than 48 million passengers in 2022. The walkout also coincides with the start of the 59th Munich Security Conference (MSC), which brings hundreds of delegates to the Bavarian capital, including several global leaders. The issue would be discussed with the airport on Thursday, the Verdi spokesperson added. The union is currently in negotiations for three groups of workers: ground service staff, public sector officials and aviation security workers.

☆ DeSantis got a glowing reception during a secretive, high-profile conservative summit at Trump Doral — then the ex-president called in
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

An influential conservative group, the Council for National Policy, held one of its summits this weekend. The Council for National Policy held a summit this weekend at Trump National Doral, a golf club owned by former President Trump that's just on the outskirts of the City of Miami. The Council for National Policy has been meeting for roughly four decades under a shroud of silence in upscale locations three times a year. "President Trump was honored to have the Council for National Policy at the world-renowned Trump National Doral," he said. "Somebody gets you in, you sort of be loyal to that person," Trump said.

Concerns of an impending recession in the U.S., coupled with the war in Ukraine, have caused prices for steel to fall and customers to empty their inventories. That has impacted Thyssenkrupp's materials trading division, where profits tanked by 91%. "There is limited visibility in respect of future economic developments," Chief Financial Officer Klaus Keysberg said in a statement. Adjusted earnings before interest and tax, or EBIT, came in at 254 million euros ($272 million) in the October-December period, while sales remained stable at 9.02 billion euros, the company said. ($1 = 0.9328 euros)Reporting by Christoph Steitz and Tom Kaeckenhoff; Editing by Sandra Maler, Miranda Murray and Nivedita BhattacharjeeOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ German EU-harmonised January consumer prices rise 9.2% y/y
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Maria Martinez | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Summary Harmonised German consumer prices in Jan rise 9.2% y/yDownward trend in inflation expected to continue - CommerzbankCore inflation forecast to remain high, economists sayBERLIN, Feb 9 (Reuters) - German consumer prices, harmonised to compare with other European Union countries, rose by a less-than-anticipated 9.2% on the year in January, preliminary data from the federal statistics office showed on Thursday. According to non-harmonised standards, German consumer prices rose 8.7% on year in January and 1.0% on the month. "Because core inflation will remain high in 2023, a fundamental easing of inflation is not in sight," said Alexander Krueger, chief economist at Hauck Aufhaeuser Lampe Privatbank. The final results for January and all results recalculated from January 2020 onwards using the new 2020 base year will be published by the statistics office on Feb. 22. The statistics office offers a breakdown for January's figures on its website.

Feb 9 (Reuters) - German authorities searched the premises of three companies early Thursday as part of an ongoing probe into the possible violation of European Union sanctions against Russia, prosecutors said in a statement. German authorities also searched the residences of three suspects, according to the statement, which didn't name the companies or individuals. Reuters was unable to reach Smart Impex or its manager, Gokturk Agvaz, by phone on Thursday for comment. Some went to a Moscow customer that had received American and non-U.S. products from Smart Impex before Russia invaded Ukraine last February. The correspondence is available on handelsregister.de, a public German companies registry.

Shares in EnBW rose 5.5% after the news to end the day at their highest level in five weeks. The savings banks in Baden-Wuerttemberg, where EnBW is based, are part of the final bidding round, their president Peter Schneider said last week. KfW, EnBW and CIP declined to comment. EnBW Chief Financial Officer Thomas Kusterer in November said EnBW hoped to conclude the sales process in early 2023. ($1 = 0.9297 euros)Reporting by Christoph Steitz and Markus Wacket Editing by Miranda Murray and Emelia Sithole-MatariseOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Germany's Scholz criticizes 'public competition' to send arms to Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

BERLIN, Feb 8 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday criticized the public competition among some countries over who can deliver more and better weapons to Ukraine, saying it harmed unity among allies. "We preserve and strengthen this cohesion by first preparing decisions confidentially - and only then communicating them," Scholz told the Bundestag lower house of parliament according to a manuscript of his speech, citing his cooperation with U.S. President Joe Biden on the decision to supply tanks to Ukraine. "What harms our unity is a public competition to outdo each other along the lines of: battle tanks, submarines, aircraft - who is asking for more?" Reporting by Andreas Rinke, Writing by Miranda Murray Editing by Paul CarrelOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ 3 Celebrity Manicurists Share Their Cutting-Edge Nail Designs and What Inspired Them
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Fiorella Valdesolo | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Kim TruongLike a number of beauty-world talents, L.A.-based nail artist Kim Truong got a career boost from her relationship with the Kardashian-Jenners. “They started to recommend me to each other and personally request me for photo shoots,” says Truong, who counts both Kim and Kylie as regulars, along with Kerry Washington and Miranda Kerr. After her family moved to the U.S. from Vietnam, her mother became a nail technician and bought a salon, where Truong worked as a teen. When Truong was in college, she took a part-time job at a Hollywood nail salon to help pay her tuition and rent, and there she began to cross paths with people in the beauty industry. I really enjoyed seeing different nail art on the cast members of Euphoria season 2.

FRANKFURT, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Plans by the European Union to loosen state aid rules in order to boost local industry and compete with U.S. support schemes tackle the right issues but lack clarity over implementation and, more importantly, speed, Siemens Energy (ENR1n.DE) said. "The most important issue is not how big the programme is and how many billions are behind it, but how to implement it faster," Siemens Energy Chief Executive Christian Bruch told journalists after presenting first-quarter results. Reporting by Christoph Steitz Editing by Miranda MurrayOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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