Judgment on Presale Fees Defeat for ticket retailer CTS Eventim

As of: 06/09/2021 5:24 p.m.

Are ticket retailers allowed to keep advance booking fees for concerts that have been canceled due to corona? The Munich Regional Court has declared a clause ineffective that excludes a refund. However, there is no general claim. Several CTS Eventim customers are upset. You had booked a concert at the ticket dealer early on, which was then canceled due to Corona. Nevertheless, CTS Eventim withheld the advance booking fee. Now they want the fee back. The North Rhine-Westphalia consumer center therefore took it to court and sued the company. With success: the consumer advocates were partially right at the Munich I Regional Court. The judges declared ineffective a clause in which the company had excluded a reimbursement of the advance booking fee if the event was canceled or postponed. A corresponding sentence in the general terms and conditions is illegal.

It depends on the contracts

In the opinion of the court, the ticket retailer must bear the risk of an event alone and should not pass costs on to the customers if the event does not take place. After all, the dealer collects a commission if an event goes off successfully, the judges argue. In addition, the amount of the advance booking fee is often not visible in the ticket prices, the court complained. This is not transparent. However, the judgment, which is not yet final, does not mean that all customers are now entitled to a refund of the advance booking fees for the concert that has been canceled due to Corona. That depends on the respective design of the contracts. CTS Eventim would only be responsible for the reimbursement at a commercial agency. Eventim arranges event tickets either through a commercial agency or through an organizer through a commission. In the latter case, the concert promoter would be responsible for the reimbursement. “We are assuming that in a large number of cases Eventim wrongly withheld amounts of money,” said Wolfgang Schuldzinski, board member of the consumer advice center in North Rhine-Westphalia. Now those affected who are in dispute with the group could ask it to pay and refer to the judgment.

CTS Eventim suffers from the lull in concerts

The dispute over the advance booking fee shows how tense the situation in the concert event industry is. The largest German ticket retailer CTS Eventim is suffering from the unusual concerts and events. In the first quarter of this year, sales collapsed by almost 90 percent compared to the same period in the previous year. The Bremen company slipped into the red. The number of employees including temporary workers fell by almost a third. Nevertheless, CEO Klaus-Peter Schulenberg does not give up hope of a new start soon. He relies on the “longing of people to experience culture together”. The more people vaccinated, the greater the chance of concerts.

The warehouse was converted into an isolation area for infected people during the 1918 flu pandemic. Photo: According to Live Science “The research results, although not directly applicable to the Covid-19 pandemic, show that humans can eventually overcome their variants. This is being expected by the world in the context of the corona virus outbreak. evolved with many dangerous mutations today,” evolutionary biologist Sébastien Calvignac-Spencer, lead author of the study, told Live Science. According to Spencer, as now, when focusing on studying the virus that caused the 1918 flu pandemic, the research team questioned whether its new variants worked differently from the original? Since then, the team has studied six human lungs dating from the pandemic years of 1918, which are preserved in formalin at pathological archives in Germany and Austria. The researchers determined that three of the six sample lungs – two from young soldiers who died in Berlin, the other from a young woman who died in Munich – contained the 1918 flu virus. “The virus that caused the 1918 flu pandemic is still around today. But it’s more attenuated, mainly because we are descendants of people who survived the outbreak 103 years ago. Because So we’ve inherited some form of genetic immunity,” explains Calvignac-Spencer. Estimates suggest that the 1918 strain of influenza infected about 1 billion people, while the global population was only 2 billion. About 50-100 million people may have died in three consecutive outbreaks then. The first wave of the pandemic occurred in early 1918, it was less deadly than later waves: “The preserved lungs of two German soldiers were determined to be dead at this time”, the research team at the Institute of Robert Koch confirmed. The researchers extracted viral RNA from those lung samples. Both German soldiers died on the same day and when decoding the genome of the virus that killed them there was almost no difference. Spencer added: “But the form of the flu virus found in the soldiers’ lungs, is somewhat genetically different from the form of the virus that infected the young woman who died in Munich. Presumably, the woman. did not survive a subsequent outbreak.” The scientists also compared viral genomes from the US and Germany, and conducted laboratory studies with synthetic copies of virus samples. They wanted to learn to assess the infectivity and replication ability of different strains inside cells. The findings of German scientists also show that the 1918 flu virus has mutated to make the next outbreak stronger and more dangerous than the previous one, by evolving to overcome the human ability to “defence”. The genetic mutations that emerged between the first and second waves may have made the virus better adapted for human-to-human transmission, rather than between birds, its natural host. The other mutation may have changed the way the virus interacts with a human protein called MxA, which helps regulate the body’s immune response to new pathogens. Although the scientists are not sure how the variants changed the “strength” of the virus, “it can be predicted that these changes helped the virus avoid one of the mechanisms by which cells respond.” to kill the flu virus,” Calvignac-Spencer said. The evolution of the virus that caused the 1918 flu pandemic has similarities to the current Covid-19 pandemic, such as consecutive outbreaks with many different strains, and the following outbreaks are more dangerous than the previous one. . Thanks to the advancement of science, today when understanding the Covid-19 pandemic, researchers can better understand the 1918 influenza pandemic: “The more we understand about the current pandemic, that The more we can understand the pandemic in the past, rather than vice versa,” Calvignac-Spencer emphasized. One significant advance is that researchers have been able to accurately sequence the viral genome in human tissue preserved in formalin for more than 100 years – something that has hitherto been thought to be very difficult. “Thanks to new techniques, the study ended up being much easier than we expected,” added Calvignac-Spencer, adding: “We can now sequence the viral genome from infected humans. buried in permafrost for up to 1,000 years, because the cold can help preserve DNA even longer.” The team of German scientists also wanted to sequence viral genomes that could have been stored in the bodies of ancient Egyptian mummies – the earliest mummies are about 5,000 years old.”The mummies were prepared to prevent biological processes, and that’s exactly what we want. So we will also embark on research to better understand other diseases of the past,” the German scientist said. about the group’s future plans.

Visitors enjoy beer at the Oktoberfest beer festival in Munich, Germany, September 21, 2019. Photo: THX/VNA According to the Vietnam News Agency correspondent in Germany, speaking at a press conference, both Mr. Söder and Mr. Reiter emphasized that the forced to continue canceling this year’s beer festival was made based on the epidemic situation as well as the current regulations on epidemic prevention, including keeping distance and wearing masks. Bavarian officials are concerned about the risk of widespread infection when too many people gather in beer tents to eat and dance once the festival is held. The early notification of the cancellation of the beer festival is to help the participating units know to be proactive when planning the preparation as well as hiring workers to serve the festival. According to the original plan, this year’s beer festival was planned to be held from September 18 to October 3. The Oktoberfest was first held in 1810 and has been canceled more than 20 times in its 210-year history for various reasons, such as war and epidemics. Last year, the festival was also canceled for the first time in 70 years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The most recent beer festival in 2019 attracted about 6.3 million visitors from all over the country, bringing in around 1.23 billion euros for the city.

The switch to electric vehicles will affect at least 178,000 jobs in the German auto industry. Photo: VNA Ifo’s research presents a number of potential challenges in the future as governments work to phase out diesel and gasoline-powered vehicles in favor of low-emissions, even zero-emission vehicles. waste. In a statement released alongside the report, Ifo said an estimated 75,000 workers in Germany’s car manufacturing sector will retire by the middle of the decade. But if by 2025, the production of cars powered by internal combustion engines falls to levels previously predicted under current emissions regulations, the switch to electric vehicles will affect little. 178,000 jobs in the German auto industry. This group, Ifo explained, would include workers manufacturing product groups directly or indirectly dependent on internal combustion engines, with 137,000 of these working directly in the auto industry. Ifo President Clemens Fuest described the transition to electric vehicles as a major challenge, especially for auto parts suppliers as midsize companies dominate the sector. . He assessed that it is important to maintain skilled jobs in the production of vehicles using internal combustion engines and electric vehicles without changing the industry structure. The report comes after the German federal government announced its ambition to have 7-10 million new registered electric vehicles in the country by the end of the decade. In January 2021, Germany’s road traffic regulator said sales of electric vehicles in Germany will be more than 194,000 units in 2020, a threefold increase from the previous year. Internationally, the European Commission has also expressed its desire to have at least 30 million zero-emissions cars on the road by 2030, as part of its “Smart and Sustainable Transport Strategy.” . According to the International Energy Agency, about 3 million new electric cars were registered last year, a record number and up 41% from 2019.

Illustration. https://kinhtexaydung.petrotimes.vn The Munich-based Ifo Institute said: The German Automotive Industry Association has presented some potential challenges ahead, as the government attempts to eliminate diesel and gasoline-powered vehicles instead. for vehicles with low and zero emissions. In a statement released with the report, the research agency said: “It is estimated that about 75,000 German auto manufacturing workers will retire by the middle of this decade. But if by 2025, production of cars powered by internal combustion engines decreases to a predictable level under current emissions regulations, the shift to electric motors will have little impact. 178,000 employees ”. Ifo explains: the group that will be unemployed includes “workers producing product groups directly or indirectly dependent on internal combustion engines, with 137,000 of them working directly in the automotive industry” . “The transition to electric automation is a huge challenge, especially for automotive suppliers where mid-sized companies dominate,” said Ifo Chairman Clemens Fuest. “It is important to maintain skilled jobs in the manufacturing of internal combustion engines and electric vehicles without altering the structure,” he said. A real major transformation seems to be ahead. The German federal government has set a target of 7 to 10 million electric cars registered in the country by the end of the decade. In January, the German road traffic authority Reuters said: Battery-powered car sales were more than 194,000 vehicles by 2020, which had tripled over the same period last year. The executive branch of the EU, the European Commission wants to have at least 30 million zero-emission cars on the road by 2030 as part of the “Smart and Sustainable Mobility Strategy”. About 3 million new electric cars were registered last year, a record number and up 41% from 2019, according to the International Energy Agency. Oliver Falck, Director of the Ifo Center for New Industries and Technologies, sought to emphasize systemic change that has been and is taking place. “The evolution in production figures has shown us that very different parts are needed for electric cars rather than the internal combustion engines,” he said, noting that “this shift has yet to be reflected in the similar level in number of employees ”. https://kinhtexaydung.petrotimes.vn

Tinder members can search for new connections as far as Miami, Munich, or Marseilles. Or find out the situation in your country while waiting for the vaccine passport. And no matter what you’re looking for, the Passport feature takes you to countless amazing places and opportunities to meet interesting people, all in one screen. your phone at home. After the Passport feature opened for free last April, more than 25% of Tinder members used the feature, and recorded their travels with the hashtag “tinderpassport on TikTok, which attracted 72 million visitors. (and the number is still growing.) There were 1.4 billion matches made up by the Free Passport feature, which broke the record for the highest number of matches in a day with 55 million hits. on April 24. “For the first time, we recorded a large number of Passport users because people were eager to find connections at that time,” said Udi Milo, Vice President of Product Management. Tinder shares. “We expect this year, the member community will receive Passports as warmly as they did last year, but with a very different dynamic – endless possibilities. We are all looking to move to a new chapter, but most still have to stay at home for a while longer Tinder’s free passports will allow users to dream of a new life, travel, meet friends and work on other plans. ” With the Passport feature being free until April 30, the question is: Where should we start? If you are looking for a bit of inspiration to choose your first destination, Tinder will recommend some of the most visited countries: Top 10 most famous cities in the world: 1. Los Angeles, California, USA 2. New York City, New York State, United States 3. London, UK 4. Paris, France 5. Miami, Florida, USA 6. Tokyo, Japan 7. Seoul, Korea 8. Stockholm, Sweden 9. Amsterdam, Netherlands 10. Moscow, Russia To access Tinder’s Passport feature, go to Settings, select your current location, and pin more locations.

German National Railway Company Deutsche Bahn (DB) high-speed train at the station in Munich, Germany, February 10, 2020. Photo: AFP / VNA The joint announcement stated that the BDL and DB aim to attract about 4.3 million passengers shifting from air to rail for domestic travel in the medium term. The program will also seek to increase the number of trains connecting to international flights, make the transfer between aircraft and train travel easier, and shorten the transit time by mid-rail. major cities of Germany. Through this partnership, the BDL and DB hope that CO2 emissions from Germany’s domestic air traffic can be reduced by a sixth. According to the German Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, the country’s transport sector emissions in 2020 will decrease by 11.4% year-on-year, mainly due to the low Use a car more – especially for long-distance journeys – in the first blockade. The ministry noted that the COVID-19 pandemic also had a significant impact on Germany’s domestic aviation industry. By 2020, the CO2 generated by the sector is 60% less than the year before, thanks to travel warnings, blockades and canceled vacations. The German government is aiming to reduce emissions in the transport sector by almost 42% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels.