60/2018 • 13 March, 2018
Chinese migration brings social change to Italyʼs Alps Home to the largest concentration of Chinese residents in Europe, two mountain villages have become the unlikely setting of an integration experiment. Giulia Saudelli and Matteo Civillini report from northern Italy. At midday, the fog is so thick one can barely see the mountainside. From the vast space that opens out below, all one can hear are the Chinese workers busily hitting large slabs of stone with their chisels. The quarryʼs owner paces around them, making sure the precious material is handled with care. A few meters away a truck is ready to load the rough-cut stones, which, after a journey down a steep mountain road, will be delivered to the workshops in the tiny villages of Bagnolo Piemonte and Barge. This is the daily routine in the Infernotto Valley, in northern Italy, home to the largest Chinese community in terms of concentration in Europe. Since the early 1990s more than 1,300 of them have settled in this remote area, making up around 10 percent of the total population. The Chinese presence is so strong that Hu has now become the most common surname in Barge. Their arrival initiated what can be described as a 20-yearlong migration experiment, unintentionally providing a testing ground for integration policies in Italy and beyond. What brought them to this unlikely place is the Luserna stone. A pillar of the local economy, the ʼgrey goldʼ — as it is known locally — is a foliated rock featuring sheet-like layers of varying shades of color.
German metalworkers finally secure wage agreement Following weeks of bitter fighting, a wage agreement for the German metal and electrical industries has finally been struck. Employees were able to secure higher wages and more flexible working hours. A wage agreement was reached in the early hours on Tuesday in Germanyʼs metal and electrical industries. The powerful IG Metall union announced the deal initially covering workers in the southern German state of BadenWürttemberg, but expected to be eventually implemented for a total of 3.9 million workers in the sector nationwide. According to the deal, employeesare to receive a pay hike of 4.3 percent from April this year. Additionally, monthly one-off payments of €100 ($124) were agreed for January through March. Employers and trade union representatives also agreed on the possibility of workers reducing their hours from 35 to 28 hours per week for two years, should they need to look after children or care for older relatives. 4
German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer pays ʼflyingʼ visit to Mobile World Congress Deutsche Telekom has ʼflownʼ in a special guest to showcase its broadband capabilities at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The German telecom giant focused on its activities to advance 5G mobile networking. Deutsche Telekomʼs Head of Innovation Claudia Nemat was just wrapping up her description of the European Aviation Network, a project that allows passengers to use broadband thousands of meters up in the air, when she casually invited CEO Timotheus Höttges up on stage, claiming she had a surprise for him. Next thing,legendary German goalkeeper Manuel Neuerappeared on the screen behind them. He was sitting in a plane, live-streaming the Deutsche Telekom press conference. "Howʼs it
United Kingdom waits to see how the post-Brexit winds will blow The UK is the current world leader in offshore wind capacity. But with the country heading for the EU exit door, can the renewable energy boom last? Lying unpainted on its side, the greenish curve of a 75meter (246 feet) long wind turbine blade bears a passing resemblance to a whale. Itʼs twice the length of a blue whale but at 25 tons, is much lighter than the earthʼs largest creature. For employees at the state-ofthe-art Siemens Gamesa factory in the port city of Hull in northern England, another comparison is more apt. "Four bull elephants, thatʼs how we equate it," said Alison Maxwell, the head of communications at the facility. Siemensʼ £160 million ($223 million/182 million euros) plant has manufactured these great fiberglass beasts for wind farms in Britain since it opened at the end of 2016 in the economically deprived city. And itʼs a good time to be in business.
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Nissan, Dongfeng to invest heavily in e-cars in China Together with its joint venture on the ground, Japanese automaker Nissan is to make a multi-billiondollar investment in the production of e-cars in China. Beijingʼs e-car quota system goes into effect next year. Japanese carmaker Nissan and its Chinese joint venture partner Dongfeng Motor Company announced Monday they would invest $9.5 billion (€7.6 billion) in China to increase annual sales by 1 million vehicles andboost the production of electric cars. The move came as China was rolling out new regulations to limit gas vehicles in a bid to reduce air pollution across the Asian nation. Authorities in Beijing will implement a complex quota system as of 2019, requiring carmakers to produce a minimum number of electric vehicles. They are also looking at plans to completely ban fossil fuel cars at a date that has yet to be decided.
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going?" Höttges asked breezily. Neuer grinned and pointed his smartphone out the window at the clouds. The gimmick concluded a press event that was dedicated to showcasing Deutsche Telekomʼs advances in 5G, its new voice assistant Magenta (meant, Nemat stressed, as an alternative, not as a replacement to counterparts like Alexa) and a pair of smart glasses that could one day display a checklist for doctors to consult before performing surgery.
The end of competition in the energy market
German energy giants RWE and E.ON want to reposition themselves and are planning a radical change. Itʼs a necessary development but will come at the expense of both workers and consumers, says DWʼs Andreas Becker. German energy giants RWE and E.ON want to reposition themselves and are planning a radical change. Itʼs a necessary development but will come at the expense of both workers and consumers, says DWʼs Andreas Becker. In the past, the German energy industry was all about the future.Long-term planning was paramount. Now decisions are being made under more pressure and with greater urgency, a reflection of the sectorʼs current nervous mood. A couple of years ago, the major energy providers E.ON and RWE started carving up their companies. Eon channeled its coal, gas and water concerns into a new company called Uniper and floated it on the stock market. It was a similar story at RWE, except it was their green and renewable interests which were floated as a new company called Innogy. In the process,RWE became a sort of "bad bank"that had a legacy of producing fossil fuels.