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Germany: Scholz open to new talks with CDU leader Merz

A party ally says Chancellor Scholz would be open to talks with Friedrich Merz on when to move toward new elections — but only after dealing with urgent business in parliament. Merz earlier said this wasn’t acceptable.

The standoff between German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and opposition l…[Read more]

How a German football club is making refugees feel at home

Hertha Bonn, a football club in western Germany, has started the project “Football Connects” to help refugee children integrate into society. The initiative has drawn praise from Germany’s football association.

With just a few hand gestures, Salim Mehdaoui indicates what he wants from…[Read more]

Germany’s Habeck set to run for chancellor for the Greens

Green minister and Deputy Chancellor Robert Habeck is expected to announce candidacy as leader Olaf Scholz faces pressure to call early elections after the collapse of his governing coalition.

Germany’s Deputy Chancellor and Economy Minister Robert Habeck will announce his bid for the…[Read more]

Regional victory brings Germany’s Scholz brief respite

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD) staved off the far right in a regional election on Sunday, likely providing him only a brief reprieve from growing criticism of his leadership within his own party.

The center-left SPD staged a last minute comeback in the eastern sta…[Read more]

Germany honors Jürgen Klopp with highest civic award

German football coach Jürgen Klopp received the Federal Order of Merit for his contribution to democracy and his impact on the football world and more. He accepted the honor with customary modesty, asking “why me?”

German football coach Jürgen Klopp on Wednesday received the Federal Order of…[Read more]

Not just AfD: What’s the BSW, Germany’s rising populist left party?

The party founded in January espouses anti-NATO, anti-immigrant populist rhetoric while promoting left-wing economics.

It’s the new kid on the block in German politics — and the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) is making waves.

A little more than nine months after its birth,…[Read more]

‘The end of Schengen’: Germany’s new border controls put EU unity at risk

Critics say tightened land border checks a ‘transparent’ bid to appease far right that breaches free movement rights

Germany’s decision to tighten controls at every one of its land borders seems driven chiefly by politics, is difficult to justify in law, deals a heavy blo…[Read more]

The German woman who helped build an Indian university

In a Muslim graveyard in Delhi, a tombstone stands out.
It has an inscription written in the Urdu language, but beneath it lies the name of a German-born Jewish woman – Gerda Philipsborn – followed by the epithet ‘Aapajaan’ or ‘elder sister’.
This is an unusual sight as the graves of the…[Read more]

Germany: Second explosion shakes Cologne

The explosion was the second in a week in Cologne’s city center. Police said it was still too early to say if there was a connection. Sniffer dogs were on the site as officers investigated.

The western German city of Cologne saw a small explosion for the second time in a week early on Wednesday.

The…[Read more]

Germany has stopped approving war weapons exports to Israel: Report

Germany faces mounting pressure from legal cases arguing that German weapons exports to Israel breach humanitarian law.

Germany has put a hold on new exports of weapons of war to Israel while it deals with legal challenges, according to the Reuters news agency.

A source close…[Read more]

German far right hails ‘historic’ election victory in east

Germany’s anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) is celebrating a “historic success”, with a big victory for the far-right party in the eastern state of Thuringia.
The AfD won almost a third of the vote, nine points ahead of the conservative CDU, and far in front of Germany’s…[Read more]

An ‘earthquake’ at Volkswagen – and a crisis for Germany?

The company is seen as crucial not just to local but national wellbeing – and never before have its workers been threatened in their own homeland like this

‘Earthquake at Volkswagen” ran the stark headline in the Wolfsburger Nachrichten, the newspaper serving the north German city that i…[Read more]

German Chancellor Scholz expands border checks to tackle immigration

Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s ruling coalition agreed to temporarily extend frontier controls to all nine of Germany’s land borders as part of a crackdown on irregular immigration and an effort to strengthen domestic security.

Germany already has temporary controls on its bor…[Read more]

Far-right AfD eyes big gains in German elections

Voters in Germany’s two eastern states are due to cast their ballots in elections in which the far right is expected to perform strongly.
The Alternative for Germany (AfD) has been polling top in Thuringia ahead of Sunday’s vote, while the party has been running neck-and-neck for first place with…[Read more]

Austria to work with Germany on deportations of people with criminal records to Afghanistan

Austria’s Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum has said that deportations to Afghanistan are permissible on a case-by-case basis due to the changed security situation in the country.

Austria has fallen in line with Germany and said it intends to…[Read more]

Germany expels head of banned Muslim association

Germany has told the Iranian head of the recently banned Islamic Centre Hamburg (IZH) that he is being expelled from the country and has two weeks to leave, authorities in Hamburg said on Thursday.
The interior ministry of the German city state of Hamburg said in a statement that it had informed…[Read more]

Germany deports 28 Afghans for first time since 2021 Taliban takeover

‘Our security counts,’ German interior minister says as government confirms those deported are convicted criminals.

Germany has deported 28 Afghan nationals charged with criminal acts, in the first such move since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 202…[Read more]

Deportation flight leaves Germany for Afghanistan

A flight has taken off from an airport in eastern Germany deporting individuals to Afghanistan. It is the first deportation of Afghans since the Taliban took power in Kabul in 2021.

A deportation flight to Afghanistan has left Germany’s Leipzig/Halle Airport, the Interior Ministry for the state…[Read more]

Germany: Several killed in stabbing at Solingen street party

Police have launched a manhunt after a man killed three people and seriously injured five more with a knife. The attack took place as the city of Solingen was celebrating its 650th anniversary.

Three people were killed and five seriously injured in a knife attack in the western German…[Read more]

German police yet to identify attacker who stabbed 3 to death at festival despite major manhunt

A major manhunt is underway in Germany after an attacker stabbed to death three people at a festival on Friday evening in the western city of Solingen but police say they are yet to identify the suspect.

Police said a 15-year-old boy was arrested on…[Read more]