Corona

Schoolchildren study at home, professionals work from home, businesses are closed: in many european countries, governments have massively curtailed public life in the fight against the coronavirus crisis.

In many places, the rules go much further than in germany. An overview:

ITALY: in the worst-hit country, the 60 million inhabitants are only allowed to leave the house for shopping, work and medical reasons. You have to write the reason on a form. Otherwise there is a threat of fines. Schools, universities and kindergarten remain closed until at least 3. April closed. Head of government giuseppe conte announced, however, already that the mabnahmen will be extended.

Berlin (dpa) – the rail industry benefited from well-filled order books in the corona crisis and achieved record sales in the first half of the year.

However, because hardly any new orders are currently coming in, especially from abroad, the situation of the industry was soon allowed to deteriorate significantly from the point of view of their association. "The supply chains have held up during the crisis," said the president of the association of the rail industry in germany (VDB), andre rodenbeck, in berlin. "This is evidenced by the very dynamic turnover."

In the first six months of this year, sales rose by more than a quarter year-on-year to 6.4 billion euros. "A plus that reflects the high order intake of the last two years," said rodenbeck. "And a plus that reflects the resilience of the rail industry in germany."4.4 billion euros of this was spent on the sale of rail vehicles such as locomotives and trains. The rest of the industry’s sales came from rail infrastructure components.

35 million buildings in the european union to be renovated within ten years to protect the climate. A mix of stricter energy-saving requirements for homeowners and new financial aid is to be the incentive for the billions of euros of investment needed.

This is the result of the strategy for a "renovation wave", which the EU commission presented on wednesday. Instead of one percent of the stock per year, twice as much will be modernized in the future.

Europe's 220 million buildings consume 40 percent of the energy used in the EU and produce 36 percent of greenhouse gases. In order to achieve the EU commission's proposed target of a 55 percent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, energy demand in buildings must be reduced by 14 percent, the commission calculates. In concrete terms, houses need new heating systems, windows or insulation.