Germany news

Germany news

Guten Morgen from a wet and dreary Bonn. We are expecting the five suspects who were arrested on Monday on suspicion of violating sanctions against Russia to appear in court today and we will be looking into a new report about poverty in Germany. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is also expected to host a carnival reception at the Chancellery in Berlin, which will hopefully provide some interesting pictures. For this and more, keep reading.

Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

According to the authorities, the value of the illegally exported goods was at least 30 million ($35.6 million). They are suspected of having run a network of shell firms to supply the Russian defense industry since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, bypassing EU sanctions. It is believed that Russian state agencies are behind the network, with 24 defense companies receiving around 16,000 deliveries from the network.

Many bus, trams and underground services in Germany will not be operating on Monday amid a nationwide strike by the trade union Verdi. Millions of employees and schoolchildren who rely on public transport will be forced to find alternative methods of getting to work or school, with wintry weather conditions adding to their problems. All 16 German states bar one, Lower Saxony, where employees have agreed not to strike for now, are to be initially affected by the industrial action, Verdi said.

Germany's military, the Bundeswehr, is currently on a spending spree: it has more than 108 billion ($129 billion) at its disposal this year a gigantic, unprecedented sum. This is being financed both by the official federal budget and special funds, for which the state is taking out loans. This money is intended to make the Bundeswehr, which has been subject to decades of cutbacks, more powerful and modern. There is also time pressure.

The upBUS system is being developed by the Institute of Structural Mechanics and Lightweight Design (SLA), the Chair of High Frequency Electronics (HFE), and the Chair of Production Engineering of E-Mobility Components (PEM). It is based on a detachable passenger compartment that can automatically couple either to a road vehicle chassis or to a cable car suspension. The overall concept and its intended role in urban transport have been previously outlined in the upBUS project article published by Sustainable Bus.

Germany's part-time workforce has indeed increased significantly over the decades, but that is due in large part to families no longer being able to survive on a single income, as well as technological changes that have left many people choosing part-time work over no work at all. Citing data from Germany's federal statistics agency, DeStatis, MIT has pointed out that in 2022, 27% of part-time workers in Germany reported their reasons for not working full-time as simply "a desire to work part-time."

In a classroom in Chennai, India, around 20 nurses are learning German at breakneck speed. They have six months to become fluent enough to work in Germany. Ramalakshi, one of the nurses, says her family struggled financially, but still managed to pay the equivalent of several thousand euros for her nursing college. Ever since completing her education, she felt the need to give back.

Two men reportedly fired shots at an elite police unit during a car chase in southern Germany Tuesday evening, causing a road accident in which five people were lightly injured. Officers from the Spezialeinsatzkommando (special deployment unit, or SEK) had attempted to arrest three men, aged 23, 24 and 30, in the small town of Absberg near the city of Nuremberg on suspicion of illegal possession of weapons.

Generative AI tools have created a flood of fake, sometimes misleading, content about the Holocaust that experts warn are distorting the realities of the history of Nazi Germany for young audiences. An emaciated and apparently blind man stands in the snow at the Nazi concentration camp of Flossenbuerg: the image seems real at first but is part of a wave of AI-generated content about the Holocaust.

Survivors of Auschwitz, the Nazi concentration camp, laid flowers and candles at the memorial site on Tuesday, as commemorations marking its liberation 81 years ago took place around Europe and beyond. Marking International Holocaust Memorial Day, Jewish leaders across the continent warned against forgetting the extermination of millions, while some of the few remaining survivors urged ordinary people to stand up against populism and extremism.

"The German economy is starting the new year with little momentum," said Ifo president Clemens Fuest. Hammered by a manufacturing slump, fierce competition in key export markets and US tariffs, the German economy has been mired in a long decline. After meagre growth in 2025 following two years of recession, some have been banking on the turnaround picking up speed sharply this year driven by a public spending blitz.

The Estrel Berlin hotel hosted in 2025 around 1,500 participants, 150 speakers, and over 100 exhibitors, with more than 20 vehicles on display across 7,500 square meters of exhibition space. The event has grown from its origins as the "VDV Electric Bus Conference and Trade Fair ElekBu" into a hub where operators, manufacturers, service providers, public authorities, policymakers, and associations exchange ideas and explore the future of mobility.

A new nationwide opinion poll finds a majority of Germans feel threatened by the actions of the US, a country that helped liberate and rebuild Germany and one that has been its most important ally for more than 80 years Germany's interior minister has promised a new, aggressive approach to cybersecurity, vowing to 'strike back' at bad actors The president of Germany's Bundesbank said his institution defends itself against 5,000 attempted cyberattacks every minute

Germany's Dresden State Art Collections (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, or SKD) experienced a cyberattack on Jan. 21, according to a statement from The Saxon State Minister for Culture and Tourism. SKD is among the oldest museum networks in Europe and contains 15 museums. "Large parts" of the organization's digital infrastructure were impacted, as per the ministry's statement. However, its security system was not affected and remains fully functional, including physical and technical security.

The vehicle supply contract was awarded to Iveco Bus shortly before Christmas. The press release does not specify the exact vehicle model ordered by LSE. However, given the reference to a Low-Entry configuration, the vehicles can reasonably be expected to belong to Iveco's Crossway LE Elec range, launched in 2023. The same model has been ordered in 200 units in Germany by the purchasing group "BusGruppe" in late 2024.

In a statement to Reuters, Tesla Germany stated that there has been no significant reduction in permanent staff at its Gigafactory in Grünheide compared with 2024, and that there are no plans to curb production or cut jobs at the facility. "Compared to 2024, there has been no significant reduction in the number of permanent staff. Nor are there any such plans.

You join us this dry January day as a survey shows that fewer people in Germany are drinking alcohol, with consumption down sharply over the past decade.

FC Bayern played an outstanding first half of the Bundesliga season, they've also been once again very successful internationally, and are thus making yet another enormous contribution to the positive perception of the quality of German football. Regarding the international marketing of the league, we know from our international partners that an exciting title race, top stars with global appeal, strong club brands, and international success for clubs and the national team are the key success factors.

House burping is what America's content creators have christened the German practice of Luften, or airing out their homes by opening windows, presumably because it's a bit like burping a baby. TikTok is full of them enthusiastically describing it as a mom hack, or explaining it's supposed to keep sickness away. Does this Luften keep sickness away, then? It's supposed to shift stale air, ensure adequate ventilation and prevent mould buildup, all of which are good for people and places.

Relations between the US and Germany are increasingly tense. As German and European leaders determine how to respond to Donald Trump's tariff threats over Greenland, we're asking if world events affecting the everyday lives of Americans in Germany? While we'd like to believe that everyone is capable of making the distinction between a citizen of a certain country and the actions of their government, that's not always the case.

Global stock markets are bracing for falls when trading resumes on Monday after Donald Trump threatened eight European countries with fresh tariffs until they support his ambition to acquire Greenland. The US president's plan to impose new trade levies of 10% on goods from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Finland from 1 February, rising to 25% on 1 June, is creating fear in the markets, and among European businesses.

One person died and nine others were injured in a collision between a bus and a train locomotive in the northern German city of Hamburg, the city's fire service said Friday. All the victims were inside the bus at the time of the accident, a fire service spokesman told AFP. The bus driver is in a "life-threatening" situation, with two other passengers seriously injured and six lightly injured, he said.

Since ousting Syria's longtime leader Bashar al-Assad in late 2024, Sharaa has made frequent overseas trips as the former Islamist rebel chief undergoes a rapid reinvention. He has made official visits to the United States and France, and a series of international sanctions on Syria have been lifted. The focus of next week's visit for the German government will be on stepping up repatriations of Syrians, a priority for Merz's conservative-led coalition since Assad was toppled.

He faces two charges of murder and 44 of attempted murder, with prosecutors saying he acted out of a "religious motivation" and expected to die in the attack. The vehicle rampage in February 2025 was one of several deadly attacks linked to migrants which inflamed a heated debate on immigration ahead of a general election that month. Farhad N. is accused of deliberately steering his car into a 1,400-strong trade union street rally in Munich on February 13th.

There are serious accusations on the table that must now be completely cleared up. I call for rapid and rigorous investigations,

MAN Truck & Bus SE has formalized a long-term restructuring and investment framework with its works council and IG Metall, positioning the manufacturer for what it describes as sustained competitiveness amid structural shifts in the commercial vehicle industry. The agreement, laid out in a jointly adopted key issues paper, defines the industrial, financial and workforce parameters of the "MAN2030+" program.