Economy of Germany

Deutsche Telekom's spokesperson, Elpida Trizi, has told Deutsche Welle that the company's subsidiary, the majority owner of Makedonski Telekom AD, is planning to investigate Macedonian opposition claims of mass surveillance in which mobile operators were presumably involved.

Siemens Turkey has launched an innovation competition for young people to encourage innovative ideas with the motto "some inventions change the world," the company said by a press release on March 11.

Three people were killed on Friday night after a severe car collision on Trakiya Motorway. Two more people remain in critical condition.

The incident happened in the region close to the village of Belozem, as cars were travelling from Burgas to Sofia, as announced by the Plovdiv Traffic Police Office.

Germany's ThyssenKrupp will pay 2 million euros of compensation to Turkey as the company has not even begun to produce the submarines, though the company had agreed to make the first delivery in 2015, sources say.

TUI Group wants to restructure its cruise businesses and airline brands and focus more online bookings after its merger to create a giant. TUI Group plans to restructure its airline brands and cruise businesses and drive more online bookings now its merger to create a tourism group with annual sales of over $20 billion has completed.

Germany?s Hamburg airport temporarily shut its terminal building this morning after a strike by security staff caused overcrowding.

The airport said police closed the doors for two hours after queues of up to five hours for security checks built up.

?Passengers have little chance of making their flights today,? a spokeswoman said, adding the building was re-opened.

Ex-Siemens chief Heinz-Joachim Neuburger, aged 62, was found dead. Reports say that he committed suicide. The timing of his death following the meeting between Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis and his German counterpart Wolfgang Schauble is seen as a point of interest. During this meeting, a Greek journalist dredged up the bribery scandal again in  a question.

The German central bank on Dec. 5 downgraded its growth forecasts for the German economy, Europe's biggest, for 2014, 2015 and 2016.        

The Bundesbank said in a statement it is penciling in growth of 1.4 percent for 2014, 1.0 percent for 2015 and 1.6 percent for 2016.

The German pilots' union Vereinigung Cockpit on Oct. 15 called for a new 12-hour walkout at Germanwings, the low-cost airline belonging to Lufthansa, in an ongoing dispute over retirement benefits.

The government is due to unveil on Tuesday its plans for an extended pilot scheme introducing a guaranteed minimum income to several parts of Greece.

The scheme will see some 700,000 people in 13 municipalities receive a total of between 850,000 and 1 million euros next year.