Volkswagen reportedly planning to axe 100,000 jobs

row of shiny vehicles on parking lot of car market

Volkswagen, one of the world’s largest automakers, is reportedly planning to axe as many as 100,000 jobs over the next few years, representing 15% of its global workforce. The job cuts would come alongside the planned closure of four factories in Germany and a 15% reduction in investment over the next five years, according to a report Friday by Manager Magazin, a German business magazine. The report added that Volkswagen – Germany’s biggest automaker and one of its major employers – is planning to spin off its main Volkswagen brand and auto parts business into separate entities.

The company owns several other brands including Audi and Porsche. A Volkswagen spokesperson declined to comment to CNN on “internal, confidential documents.” “The underlying matters will be discussed and approved in the respective committees,” the spokesperson added. “We will not pre-empt this process.” VW employs almost 660,000 people worldwide and had already announced plans to slash 50,000 jobs in Germany by 2030. The company has one US assembly plant, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which has more than 4,000 workers. Like many European carmakers, it has been squeezed by fresh tariffs on its exports to the United States as well as struggling to counter the rise of Chinese electric vehicles manufacturers, including BYD.

The Volkswagen spokesperson said the company required “sharper focus as well as stricter discipline over costs and investment” to meet its new reality, adding that its traditional business model – making cars in Europe and exporting them globally – “no longer works” for all of its brands. Any job cuts will likely meet resistance from German unions. “If such plans are pushed forward, we would prevent them with all our might,” labor union IG Metall and Volkswagen’s General Works Council said in a joint statement on Friday. Shares of Volkswagen were down 1.5% early afternoon local time. Its stock has dropped by more than a quarter so far this year.

Source: Volkswagen reportedly planning to axe 100,000 jobs | CNN Business

A soft answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger.
Proverbs 15:1

Faith Under Pressure

Pip: Drink of Jesus is a site that treats ancient Scripture the way a good contractor treats load-bearing walls — you don’t move them just because the room looks dated. Mara: Today…

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Casualties in Leipzig Car Ramming May be as High as 80

a car being towed away

Number of Casualties in Leipzig Car Ramming May be as High as 80 Getty Images OLIVER JJ LANE5 May 2026968 While the picture is unclear because many were ‘walking wounded’ who left the scene without talking to medics, it is thought the Leipzig car attack may have struck as many as 80 people on Monday. The alleged driver of a car that was ploughed through crowds on a busy shopping street and a historic market square appeared before a court on Tuesday after being arrested at the scene on Monday afternoon.

The suspect, a 33-year-old German citizen, is said to be a local amateur boxing coach. Police say they do not believe the car being driven through the crowds was accidental and they are treating it as a deliberate attack, but say they don’t believe there is any political or religious motivation, NTV reports. The alleged perpetrator was already known to police, it is said, and had left a psychiatric hospital the day before the attack. If the facts as presented turn out to be true, the deaths in Leipzig may again speak to state failure, where a patient at a mental hospital has been allegedly expelled after violence towards staff and fellow inmates, exposing the general public to this danger rather than transferring the individual to a more secure unit. On Monday afternoon, a car was driven at speeds of “at least” 50 kilometres per hour (30mph) through the pedestrianised city centre of Leipzig, eastern Germany.

As reported on Monday, two people were declared dead at the scene, and they have now been identified as a 63 year old woman and 77 year old man reports Die Welt. The number of injured has remained unclear, although it has quickly risen from around a dozen to as many as 80. Three of those are said to be seriously injured and in critical condition, but the total number is unclear as many lightly injured individuals are thought to have left the scene without checking in with paramedics to either check themselves into hospital or go home.

Source: Casualties in Leipzig Car Ramming May be as High as 80

Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Matthew 7:13-14

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German tourist dies after being bitten at snake show on family holiday in Egypt

king cobra in wicker basket

A German tourist has died after a snake crawled into his trousers and bit him as he watched a show in Egypt on a family holiday, police in Germany have said. The 57-year-old man was watching the snake-charming show at a hotel in Hurghada, a popular beach holiday destination on the Red Sea, in early April. The two snakes involved, thought to be cobras, were draped over the necks of audience members, police in southern Bavaria state said.

“The ‘snake charmer’ then let one of the snakes crawl into the trousers” of the German man and it bit him in the leg, they said in a statement. The victim showed “clear signs of poisoning” and had to be resuscitated before being taken to hospital, where he later died, they said. The man – who was not named in the statement – came from the Unterallgäu district of Bavaria and was on holiday with two relatives. German police and prosecutors are investigating his death and are awaiting the results of a toxicology test. When contacted by Agence France-Press, Egyptian authorities said they were not aware of the incident.

Source: German tourist dies after being bitten at snake show on family holiday in Egypt | Egypt | The Guardian

But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.
1 Timothy 6:9

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Baby and mother among three killed after tree topples during Easter egg hunt in Germany

people pushing a stretcher

A 10-month-old girl has died along with two other people after a tree toppled during an Easter egg hunt in northern Germany, police say. The 100-foot tree fell on four people participating in the event on Sunday morning in woods near the town of Satrupholm. The baby girl died in hospital, while her 21-year-old mother died at the scene as she was being treated by first responders, as did another 16-year-old girl. An 18-year-old woman suffered serious injuries and was brought to the hospital by helicopter. The incident took place as around 50 people from a nearby residential facility for new mothers, pregnant women and children hunted for eggs in the area, which had been under a high winds warning from the German weather service. Grief counsellors were sent to the scene, where pictures published by the Bild news site showed several Easter eggs scattered on the ground and two of the victims covered in white sheets.

Source: Baby and mother among three killed after tree topples during Easter egg hunt in Germany | World News | Sky News

Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
Matthew 6:26

Trade, Ukraine and new world order are top concerns on German leader’s visit to China

BEIJING (AP) — The first official trip to China by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz comes as his country’s manufacturers face increasing pressure from Chinese competitors and as U.S. President Donald Trump shakes up a post-World War II global order that Europe has long depended on.

Source: Trade, Ukraine and new world order are top concerns on German leader’s visit to China :: WRAL.com

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