BEIJING – China’s antitrust authorities have launched an investigation against Chinese internet giant Alibaba. As the authority announced on Thursday, the country’s largest online retailer is being investigated for alleged monopoly offenses. There are also allegations that Alibaba is causing companies to only choose their own platform as an exclusive sales channel.
WIESLOCH – Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) wants to strengthen its liquidity in the corona crisis by selling an area for an industrial park. In addition, the proceeds are to be used for investments in digital transformation. According to further information from the company, the buyer is the Belgian real estate developer VGP, which already has 31 business parks in Germany. Heidelberg achieves a purchase price in the mid double-digit million euro range. CEO Rainer Hundsdörfer said that VGP would market the areas in close cooperation with the communities of Wiesloch, Walldorf and Heidelberg.
ROUNDUP: Double-digit sales growth at Otto during the Corona crisis
HAMBURG – With expected double-digit growth in sales in this financial year, the Otto Group is looking to the future with great optimism, but also cautiously. “We have to be prepared for the fact that difficult times can come again,” said Multichannel Distance Selling Board Member Marcus Ackermann of the German Press Agency in Hamburg. The question of the overall economic situation arises – whether there will be a recession as a result of the corona pandemic, whether unemployment will rise – or to what extent people will spend their money more on other things, such as traveling, than in the end of the pandemic Order online shop.
ROUNDUP: Nature conservation organizations appalled at the extension of the Tesla factory
POTSDAM / GRÜNHEIDE – After the decision of the Brandenburg State Environment Agency to expand the factory of the US electric car manufacturer Tesla in Grünheide near Berlin, representatives of nature conservation associations were appalled. “Making such a serious decision shortly before the Christmas holidays is no longer comprehensible for the two nature conservation associations Nabu and the Green League,” declared the association representatives Christiane Schröder and Michael Ganschow on Thursday. “The associations find it particularly shocking that the environmental ministry’s technical supervision is exercised in favor of economic interests.”
Kremlin criticizes threatening US sanctions against Nord Stream
MOSCOW – Russia does not rule out delays in the further construction of the controversial Baltic Sea pipeline Nord Stream 2 in view of the threat of new US sanctions. That would make things more complicated, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Thursday in Moscow, according to the Tass state agency. “Our European partners and we are interested in this project being implemented.”
Shutdown over Christmas hits the furniture industry hard
BAD HONNEF – The corona-related shop closings before and after Christmas hit the German furniture industry hard. “It’s just that people are more at home during this time and are more concerned with the subject of living and furnishing. The days around Christmas in particular are therefore extremely profitable days in the furniture trade and they will no longer apply this year,” said Jan Kurth, General Manager of the Association of the German Furniture Industry (VDM), in conversation with the German Press Agency. It is uncertain whether the industry will be able to make up for these sales losses if the stores are allowed to reopen in mid or late January.
ROUNDUP / Premiere in Latin America: Mexico and Chile start corona vaccination
MEXICO CITY – Mexico and Chile were the first countries in Latin America to start vaccinating the population against the coronavirus. The vaccination start in Mexico was broadcast live during the morning press conference by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Thursday. The head nurse of the intensive care unit at Rubén Leñero Hospital in Mexico City was the first Mexican woman to receive the corona vaccination, as reported by the Mexican newspaper “El Universal” – and thus also the first Latin American woman.
ROUNDUP: Bulgaria allows Great Britain flights again
SOFIA – Bulgaria has allowed flights to and from Great Britain again from Thursday. This made it possible for planes with returnees to land in the EU country again. The flight stop that came into force on Monday due to the coronavirus mutation was lifted after three days. According to a regulation by Health Minister Kostadin Angelow, the passengers of a first plane from London were tested for the corona virus with rapid tests at the airport. A total of eight planes were expected from the United Kingdom on Thursday.
Christmas traffic: Many trains are only occupied by a third
BERLIN – During the pandemic, the usual Christmas rush for trains in Germany has so far failed to materialize. The company expects an average utilization of the trains of 35 to 40 percent for all Christmas travel, a spokesman said on Thursday evening. Across all modes of transport, this is around 60 percent below the level of the previous year. In order to better comply with distance rules, the railway still uses around 100 special trains. By the end of the year, passengers would have 13,000 additional seats available.
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