Business

Renault's new electric Twingo fits easily into the French carmaker's portfolio. It is a modern mini passenger car meant for urban European drivers, but it also tells a story about changes in the broader auto industry.   Renault developed the new Twingo over a breakneck 21 months in Shanghai, following an initial design phase in France.  The car is now in production in Slovenia, arriving this month at dealers with a price tag just under €20,000 ($23,000). The continent-hopping Twingo is a snapshot of a hypercompetitive auto industry and its new center of gravity in China. There, many legacy carmakers are developing new models by focusing on speed, cost and technology.  Germany's Merz seeks China reset as trade imbalance widens To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider u...

"We've been preparing for exactly this moment," German-Venezuelan businessman Thilo Schmitz tells DW. "I'm certain that we'll do very good business over the next five years," the 59-year-old Caracas-born entreprenur predicts. By "this moment" he means the Venezuela's reopening after years of decline. Venezuela has been changing rapidly since United States special forces abductedVenezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on January 3. Although interim President Delcy Rodriguez, Maduro's former deputy, continues to handle official business, Schmitz is convinced the US is pulling the strings. "On an economic level, the Americans are calling all the shots," Schmitz said.Venezuelan acting president Delcy Rodriguez recently met US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, one of many US officials to visit Ven...

The dramatic rise in energy prices in the wake of the Iran war has led to calls for the European Union to introduce a so-called windfall tax on oil and gas companies, to use some of their profits to help governments fund relief schemes. Earlier this month, the finance and economy ministers of Austria, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain wrote a joint letter to EU Climate, Net Zero and Clean Growth Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra, asking for such a levy. They wrote that it would "send a clear message that those who profit from the consequences of the ​war must do their part to ease the burden on the general public." Oil companies have made massive profits as a result of the spike in prices caused by the war in Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. An analysis by the UK's Guardian new...

"The catalyst was about mid-2024," said Stephanie Wilks-Wiffen from eToro, an online broker. That was when she read the annual Boring Money report, which showed that the gender investment gap had widened in the United Kingdom, with men making up almost 60% of investors. That inspired eToro to start developing its Loud Investing campaign, which aims to educate and empower women to invest. Launched in October 2025, it isn't the only initiative targeting women investors, by far. Wilks-Wiffen has noticed a rise in female-led initiatives over the past six to 12 months across the industry. Online brokers are launching new brand campaigns, producing "female finance" podcasts or sponsoring women's sports teams.  "The more the merrier, in my opinion," she said. "If our messaging doesn't land wit...

Why has the UAE decided to quit OPEC now? OPEC, the global cartel of oil-producing nations, operates a quota system that limits how much oil each member can produce. For years, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has clashed with Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s most powerful member, over these quotas. The UAE has invested heavily to expand its oil industry and grow its market share, but OPEC limits have repeatedly held it back. Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei told the New York Times on Tuesday: "The world needs more energy. The world needs more resources, and [the] UAE wanted to be unconstrained by any groups." The UAE is now betting it can sell more oil once the Iran war and Strait of Hormuz crisis ends, both in the medium and the longer term. Analysts, meanwhile, see the move as a calculated step...

Iran's shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz has drawn comparisons with the supply disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic and US President Donald Trump's new tariff regime. The pandemic exposed the world's heavy dependence on China for manufacturing everything from electronics to medical gear, while Trump’s tariffs, introduced last year, also accelerated efforts to cut that reliance. The war in Iran has highlighted yet another weakness: how fast a disruption to critical raw materials such as oil, gas and fertilizers can ripple across global trade. The International Energy Agency described the loss of roughly 10% of the world's oil supply and a fifth of global liquefied natural gas last month as the largest in the history of the global energy market. Demand and then supply shock While the pan...

Four decades ago, the Strait of Hormuz revealed its deadly vulnerability to the global oil market. During the 1980 to 1988 Iran-Iraq war, both sides repeatedly targeted oil tankers in the strait, turning one of the world’s most vital crude arteries into a floating battlefield. Saudi Arabia reacted by building the East-West Pipeline across its vast desert peninsula to the Red Sea port of Yanbu. Years later, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) followed suit with the Habshan–Fujairah pipeline from the Abu Dhabi emirate to the Gulf of Oman. Hormuz’s vulnerability came roaring back in late February when the US-Israel war with Iran broke out. Tehran made good on its longstanding promise to close the strait if it were ever attacked. The move stranded hundreds of oil and gas tankers, choking off arou...

Russia plans to stop oil exports from Kazakhstan to Germany via the Druzhba pipeline from May 1, threatening a key refinery which supplies the vast majority of diesel, petrol and heating oil needed for the city of Berlin. The PCK refinery, located in the town of Schwedt about 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of Berlin, receives oil supplies via the pipeline. Previously run by Russian oil major Rosneft, the German government seized the refinery's operations following Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Since 2022, the refinery has imported Kazakh crude oil in increasing volumes, which is transported from the Central Asian nation, across Russian territory, to Berlin. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy confirmed the news to DW in a statement....

Social media giant Meta on Thursday announced plans to lay off about 8,000 employees, or about 10% of its workforce, as it seeks to scale up development of artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The owner of social media platforms Facebookand Instagram, along with the messaging app Whatsapp, said in an internal memo that the first round of cuts is due on May 20. Along with the cuts, Meta said 6,000 further posts would be left unfilled. Also on Thursday, US media reported that tech giant Microsoft was planning to offer voluntary early retirement buyouts for around 8.700 workers, or about 7% of its workforce. Massive AI investment  The job cuts come as both companies increase spending on developing AI applications. Meta has announced plans to develop "personal superintelligence," wh...

Iran's shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz has drawn comparisons with the supply disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic and US President Donald Trump's new tariff regime. The pandemic exposed the world's heavy dependence on China for manufacturing everything from electronics to medical gear, while Trump’s tariffs, introduced last year, also accelerated efforts to cut that reliance. The war in Iran has highlighted yet another weakness: how fast a disruption to critical raw materials such as oil, gas and fertilizers can ripple across global trade. The International Energy Agency described the loss of roughly 10% of the world's oil supply and a fifth of global liquefied natural gas last month as the largest in the history of the global energy market. Demand and then supply shock While the pan...