ROUNDUP: Volkswagen withdraws completely from Russia

WOLFSBURG/KALUGA - The VW Group is selling its most important factory in Russia and withdrawing completely from the country until further notice. The plant in Kaluga will be sold to the Avilon trading group, the Wolfsburg-based company announced Friday. Following earlier moves in connection with the Ukraine war, the decision marks the de facto end of an independent Russian business at Europe's largest auto group.

ROUNDUP: Tiktok users sue app ban in US state of Montana.

WASHINGTON/MISSOULA - Just hours after the Chinese-developed video app Tiktok was banned in Montana, five users from the U.S. state have filed a lawsuit. They, like other critics of the ban, say their right to free speech is at risk. "Montana cannot prohibit its residents from using Tiktok and posting there any more than it can prohibit The Wall Street Journal because of its ownership or the ideas it publishes," a lawsuit filed in a federal court in Missoula as early as Wednesday evening states.

U.S. Supreme Court won't touch key Internet rule

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court has left untouched a key rule that protects online services from liability for user contributions. The justices dismissed plaintiffs in two cases seeking to hold Twitter and Google accountable for disseminating terrorist content. That strengthens the shield from lawsuits known as "Section 230," under which major online platforms have been able to thrive.

ROUNDUP/Social Affairs Minister Heil on heating law: 'Create clarity quickly'

BERLIN - Social Affairs Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) has spoken out against a longer-term postponement of the controversial law on the replacement of oil and gas heating systems. "It is necessary to create clarity quickly," he told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung (Friday). "I am confident that we can come up with a good solution." He said he was in favor of slogans that were technically feasible and socially presentable. "Climate protection needs broad social acceptance and must not become a project only for the well-heeled." The SPD parliamentary group will take care in the parliamentary process "that no one is overburdened," the social affairs minister said.

ROUNDUP/Mützenich: Heating law relies too one-sidedly on heat pumps

BERLIN - The SPD parliamentary group has criticized an excessive focus on heat pumps in the planned heating turnaround. The government draft is "too one-sided" in this respect, said parliamentary group chairman Rolf Mützenich to the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung" ("FAS"). "In the process, the heat pump will not work everywhere. Especially in existing buildings, we need a diverse mix of technologies." In fact, in addition to heat pumps, the draft law explicitly provides for such things as connection to district heating, direct electricity heating, solar thermal and hybrid heating with a heat pump plus gas or biomass heating.

ROUNDUP 2: More social, less heat pump: corrections to heating law demanded

BERLIN - Following the withdrawal of Energy State Secretary Patrick Graichen, the focus is shifting to corrections to the content of the heating exchange law he drafted. On Friday, the SPD and FDP again called for improvements during the deliberations in the Bundestag. "We will work together to make the law a good law in the parliamentary process," FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur. "How long that will take is secondary if the result is right."

Two Uniper bosses start jobs earlier than planned

DÜSSELDORF/ESSEN - New bosses are starting earlier than originally planned at Germany's largest gas importer Uniper. British Eon energy executive Michael Lewis will take over as CEO as early as June 1, a month earlier than previously announced, according to a Uniper release Friday. The CEO post has been vacant since early March, after group CEO Klaus-Dieter Maubach stepped down.

ROUNDUP: Tour operators see no cheap boom due to high inflation

FRANKFURT - Vacationers from Germany don't seem to be cutting back on the year's most sparing weeks so far, despite stubbornly high inflation - on the contrary. "Inflation and the energy crisis did not lead to a cheap boom," said Sven Schikarsky, head of product at Dertour and its sister brands ITS and Meiers Weltreisen. According to industry leader' Tui, people are also spending more on their vacations.

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Further messages

-Tenants' association fears rent increases due to heating law

-ROUNDUP: Restrictions at ATU repair shop chain after cyber attack

-ROUNDUP: Landline telephone continues to lose importance

-Study: More than half of the world's largest lakes are losing water

-Green Party leader Lang: Implement heating law soon

-Slightly less wheat - farmers in Germany stick to winter cereals

-Bahn markets excavated earth in tunnel projects

-New York sinks, also due to building load - Flooding threatens

-Recent warning strike at Ikea

-Fight away: BVB wants to keep title fight open

-DFB boss: Talks on TV broadcast of Women's World Cup 'sensitive'°

Customer Notice:

ROUNDUP: You are reading a summary in the company overview. There are several reports on this topic on the dpa-AFX news service.

/jha