Greece’s pledge to ramp up planned budget-deficit cuts by half failed to yield commitments of financial assistance from Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, to help solve its financial crisis. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said a meeting tomorrow with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou won’t be “about aid commitments.” Her finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, said the deficit-reduction measures announced in [...]

debt, Euro Zone, forex, Germany, greece Hide

Daimler AG’sMercedes-Benz unit, the world’s second-largest maker of luxury cars, will almost double investment on “green” technologies to take on BMW in the race to offer electric vehicles. Stuttgart, Germany-based Mercedes intends to spend 1 billion euros ($1.4 billion) in each of the next two years to develop batteries and fuel-saving engines, Thomas Weber, Daimler’s development [...]

automobiles, Germany, spending Hide