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In early April 2026, fraud hit the wind power industry with full force during a period of intense expansion pressure. In Germany, the case of fictitious wind farms was once again brought into focus following the ARD documentary “Holt – The Wind Power Swindler,” while simultaneously, a major EU subsidy scandal in Greece weighed heavily […]

Russia earned more from its crude oil exports up to April 5th than at any time since June 2022. This was driven by sharply rising oil prices, a partial recovery in supply volumes, and higher demand for Russian oil after the war in the Middle East severely disrupted traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. At

Amid the tense situation surrounding the Iran nuclear deal, the European Commission in Brussels has set the first fixed CO2 price for its new border tariff, creating an additional cost risk for importers, industry, and agriculture. For the first quarter, the reference value is €75.36 per certificate under the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). Imports

A multi-story parking garage at the BYD factory in Shenzhen caught fire at approximately 2:48 a.m. on April 14, 2026. According to current information, external construction work is believed to have triggered the blaze. The building housed test vehicles and prototypes. While the fire also affected electric cars, they are not currently considered the source

The federal government plans to provide financial support to municipalities burdened with excessive debt. The Federal Cabinet is expected to approve a draft law on Wednesday that will allocate approximately one billion euros annually to cash-strapped cities and towns, the Federal Ministry of Finance announced on Tuesday. The support is limited to the period until

Betz International GmbH, based in Sonnenbühl, Baden-Württemberg, has filed for insolvency. The responsible district court in Tübingen initiated proceedings on April 7, 2026, and appointed attorney Dirk Poff as the provisional insolvency administrator. According to sources close to the company, the financial difficulties were primarily caused by high diesel prices, fierce competition, low profit margins,

At the Opel plant in Rüsselsheim, Germany, automaker Stellantis is facing further massive job cuts, while its parent company intensifies its cost-cutting strategy. Current plans call for further job losses as part of a comprehensive corporate restructuring. The trigger is the ongoing cost pressure in the automotive industry, coupled with the significant investments required for

Over the past decade, China has massively expanded its natural gas reserves in Yancheng and other coastal locations, creating the world’s largest above-ground LNG storage facilities. The current backdrop is the crisis in the Middle East, as the Strait of Hormuz was effectively blocked for five and a half weeks following the initial US-Israeli attacks

Volkswagen will end production of its ID.4 electric SUV at its Chattanooga plant in Tennessee this month, reacting to the weak US market for electric vehicles. According to the company, the move is due to a challenging environment, further exacerbated by the elimination of a $7,500 tax credit for electric vehicles. At the same time,

Economic experts are largely skeptical of the coalition’s decisions to relieve consumers of high energy costs. Michael Hüther, president of the German Economic Institute (IW), warned in the newspaper “Die Welt” of potential losses in tax and social security contributions amounting to twelve billion euros due to the possibility, planned by the CDU/CSU and SPD,

Anyone buying a new electric car in Germany currently faces a significantly higher risk of depreciation than someone buying a comparable combustion engine vehicle. This is the finding of an analysis by the online used car platform Carvago, based on a large data set of German listings. Ten pairs of similar electric cars and combustion

France withdrew 129 tons of gold from New York, recast it into new bars between July 2025 and January 2026, and thus realized a book profit of approximately €12.8 billion. While the total reserves remained constant at around 2,437 tons, the gold, converted into marketable standard bars, is now located in Paris. The Banque de

The Oettinger Group, based in Oettingen, Bavaria, has been pursuing a profound corporate restructuring since 2023, reorganizing its international business through a new company in the Swiss canton of Zug. This move is driven by the sharp decline in the beer market, falling sales in Germany, and the goal of generating a significantly larger share

Following an extraordinary coalition committee meeting at Villa Borsig, the German government announced a temporary reduction in the energy tax on gasoline and diesel. The trigger was a sharp rise in fuel prices, which the coalition primarily attributes to the war in Iran, while the real reasons lie deeper, in high taxes, politically inflated energy

Following sometimes violent protests against high fuel prices in Ireland, the government has decided on a further reduction in petrol and diesel taxes. “We have heard you,” Prime Minister Micheál Martin and his deputy Simon Harris declared at a joint press conference on Sunday, addressing the demonstrators. The government had also put together a further