Net-neutrality
The Netherlands is the first European country to pass legislation in favour of net neutrality. What does this mean? The consequence is that large telecommunications companies and providers of Internet services can no longer discriminate between different types of traffic on the network, for example by imposing surcharges for certain services (like Skype) and make it more difficult to navigate on certain sites (like YouTube).
Up to now only Chile adopted a similar law, with the aim of preventing...
Trade tax abolition
Munich. Bavarian cities are up in arms against a possible abolition of the trade tax. They protest against the possible loss of their main source of income.
Especially in larger cities, the trade tax brings about half their revenue, said Hans Schaidinger, President of the Bundestag in Munich, to...
MAN and Rheinmetall together form a new company
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...
Financial Crisis Reaches Munich
Financial crisis arrives in Munich: according to an article in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung the city debtor and insolvency advice office has to deal now with much more requests than in previous years. When earlier their clients were mostly social help recipients and unemployed who were in debt,...
2010 Culture Capital Ruhr Program
The industry which has shaped the history and culture of Germany's Ruhr area for over 200 years is in decline. Unemployment is high, and many factories, warehouses and hangers lie empty. If the region is to survive, it must reinvent itself, said Fritz Pleitgen to Deutsche Welle. A former director...
German Federal Statistical Office industrial news
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...
AOL plans to close German and French offices
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...
Shell and Petronas get Iraq Oil Field
Oil company Shell and Malaysia's state-owned Petronas oil company signed a contract on Sunday to work on Iraq's giant Majnoon oil field.
In December, Shell and Petronas beat a rival bid from France's Total and China's CNPC to develop the 12.6bn barrel field in southern Iraq. The field currently...
