Germany's newspaper and magazine publisher associations, the VDZ and BDZV, have filed a complaint with the country's Federal Cartel Office against US internet giant Google. Germany's Cartel Office is also dealing with two other complaints against Google: one from a social-networking site for shoppers, Ciao, which is owned by Microsoft, and one from an online maps company, Euro-Cities, reports Deutsche Welle. The German publisher associations have previously complained that Google profits from ...read more
The German government has no plans to levy taxes on banks, similar to those proposed by US president Barack Obama to recollect funds given to save US banks from collapsing following the financial crisis, states DNA India. Pointing out the differences between Germany and the United States in their involvement in rescuing their financial institutions, German chancellor Angela Merkel said she saw no need for Germany to follow suit. However, if any steps were to be taken in this area, then they h ...read more
German auto parts and weapons maker Rheinmetall AG and truck manufacturer MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG said Tuesday they were teaming up to produce wheeled military vehicles, reports Associated Press. The joint company, Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles GmbH, will provide "complete solutions in the market for military wheeled vehicles, covering the entire range of armored and unarmored transport, command and role-specific vehicles for the international armed forces," the two companies said.Under the ...read more
The Mini, the quintessentially British car that became a style icon of the 1960s, is now more popular in the United States than in the UK, where it is made. Ian Robertson, a member of the board of BMW, which bought the Mini's operations in 1994 as part of the Rover Group and revived the brand in 2001, said that 45,000 Minis were sold in the US last year, compared with 39,000 in the UK. "The US is now our biggest market," he told the Times at the North American International Auto Show in Detr ...read more
US Internet company AOL announced on Tuesday, 12.01.10 that it intends to close its French and German offices as part of a worldwide round of job cuts. "A plan to close offices in France was presented to staff on Monday," an AOL spokesman told AFP. AOL France, which has around 100 employees, "will fulfill its commitments toward its clients, employees and suppliers," the spokesman said. In Germany, AOL will close its offices in Hamburg, Duesseldorf, Frankfurt and Munich, cutting 140 jobs, anot ...read more
German industrial orders returned to weak growth in November as increasing domestic demand in Europe's biggest economy balanced out a dip in foreign orders, official data showed by the Federal Statistical Office on Thursday. Still, the improvement was below expectations - and new figures also showed a larger-than-expected decline in retail sales in November, underlining the risk to spending in Germany as unemployment increases. "The recovery process has lost dynamism at present," an Economy M ...read more
