Tausi Insider

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (R) and French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne shake hands after delivering a joint press conference at the Chancellery in Berlin on Nov. 25, 2022. JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP/Getty Images Germany and France pledged Friday to provide each other mutual support in preventing a possible energy crisis after supplies from Russia dried up amid the war in Ukraine. As part of a joint agreement signed by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, Germany will provide France with electricity while getting much-needed natural gas in return. “Friends help each other in need,” Scholz said after the signing ceremony in Berlin. Borne echoed that sentiment, saying the friendship between the two European heavyweight was crucial. “It has already proved it can withstand tests and master many challenges,” she said. Before Russia launched its war in Ukraine nine months ago, Germany was heavily reliant on Russian gas supplies. Since then, Germany has scr...

Former Wirecard CEO Markus Braun sits in the dock at Munich Regional Court 1, in Munich, Germany, on Dec. 8. Peter Kneffel/The Associated Press Wirecard’s former chief executive, who steered the payments company through its rise and spectacular collapse two years ago, went on trial for fraud on Thursday after a scandal that shook German politics and tarnished the country’s business reputation. The 53-year-old former CEO Markus Braun, who has been in custody since his arrest in 2020, and two other managers of the former blue chip company face charges including fraud and market manipulation that could result in a jail term of up to 15 years for each of them if convicted. In his first public appearance in more than two years, Braun entered the courtroom to hear the charges carrying a laptop, wearing rimless glasses and a dark turtleneck jumper and jacket, and speaking briefly to confirm his identity. The trial is taking place in Munich’s largest and newest courtroom, a bombproof undergr...

A senior German official said on Thursday Twitter should join other tech firms in being directly monitored by the European Commission, saying the company’s erratic behaviour under new owner Elon Musk posed a threat to free speech. Sven Giegold, the state secretary in charge of competition policy at Germany’s Economy Ministry, pointed to Twitter’s abrupt suspension of journalists’ accounts and restrictions on the access to some links. In a letter to two European Commissioners, Mr. Giegold called on the EU to launch an investigation and said the Commission should act to prevent what he called Twitter’s “anti-competitive behaviour.” Twitter did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The European Commission confirmed receiving the letter and said it would reply in due course, adding that it was following the developments at Twitter closely. “General terms and conditions that change almost every hour, erratic justifications for extensive restrictions on links and the blocking of...

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks during a news conference in Berlin, on Jan. 13. MICHELE TANTUSSI/Reuters Germany is in talks with Iraq over the possibility of importing natural gas from the oil-rich country, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Friday, as Berlin scrambles to diversify its energy sources to replace a drop in Russian fossil fuel shipments. “We also talked about possible gas deliveries to Germany and agreed to stay in close contact,” Scholz told journalists in a joint news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani in Berlin. Scholz did not give further details on the volumes of gas Germany hopes to import from Iraq. Baghdad has offered opportunities to German companies to invest in using Iraq’s natural gas and the gas generated as a byproduct from oil production, al-Sudani said, adding that Iraq wants to deliver gas through a pipeline via Turkey to Europe. Iraq continues to flare some of the gas extracted alongside crude oil because it lacks the facili...

German army battle tank Leopard 2 returns after a NATO exercise in Lithuania on May 17, 2017. INTS KALNINS/Reuters Prime Minister Justin Trudeau isn’t ruling out sending Canada’s German-made battle tanks to Ukraine, saying Ottawa would consider such a request from Kyiv. Speaking to reporters in Saskatoon on Monday, Mr. Trudeau was asked if he would donate Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine in the event Germany dropped its objections to the re-export of military weapons it manufactured. Germany has resisted such a move so far, saying Western tanks should only be supplied to Ukraine if there is agreement among Kyiv’s main allies, particularly the United States. “Right from the start we’ve made it clear we’re here to support Ukraine against the illegal and brutal invasion by Russia,” Mr. Trudeau said. “We’ve sent a huge slew of different types of weapons, including an air-defence system. We will look at all the requests from Ukraine but we’re not there yet for the Leopard 2 tanks,” he said. ...