Germany: Energy, Defense, Crime, and Aid Cuts Dominate National Headlines

Talks between the German chancellor and Ilham Aliyev have focused on energy. Meanwhile, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt will present a report on sexual offenses against children. DW has more.

What you need to know

Merz spoke to Azerbaijan's Aliyev about gas and oil supplies

A 2025 report on sexual crimes against minors in Germany has been presented in Berlin

An anti-racism association is also to present an annual report on far-right, racist violence

Here is a round-up of the top headlines from and about Germany on Tuesday, July 21, 2026:

Merz and Aliyev talk cooperation on oil, gas supply

Chancellor Friedrich Merz says he has talked with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev about how to enhance cooperation on the supply of crude oil and natural gas.

"We intend to intensify our cooperation — particularly in the energy sector — over the coming years," Merz said at a press conference in Berlin following the talks.

"From the German perspective, we have a strong interest in diversifying our imports, specifically our gas imports," he said, citing Germany's decision 4 1/2 years ago to stop Russian gas imports over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Aliyev, in his turn, said his country was ready to supply more gas to the EU but stressed that more investment in infrastructure was needed to make this possible.

Azerbaijan's economy is based largely upon exports of oil and natural gas.

Suspect in Stade murders commits suicide — ministry

A man suspected of shooting dead six people at a shelter for young mothers in the northern city of Stade three weeks ago has been found dead in his prison cell, authorities said on Tuesday.

The Justice Ministry in the state of Lower Saxony said he had killed himself and that there was no evidence of outside involvement.

The 45-year-old suspect had been in pre-trial detention.

The shooting is believed to have occurred amid a child custody dispute.

The suspect's three-month-old baby and its 34-year-old mother were both staying at the facility, which includes temporary accommodation for pregnant women or young mothers with children.

They both remained unharmed, with all victims being employees at the shelter or youth affairs workers from the region.

Pistorius says Germany wants influence over tank maker KNDS

Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Tuesday that Germany wants to secure its influence over tank maker KNDS in some way.

"We want to keep this key technology within Germany's control — on an equal footing with our partners from France," he said, while visiting a company site in the central city of Kassel.

"Which shape this will take will be subject to discussions and decisions over the next few weeks," he said.

Pistorius said the company was of the highest importance for the defense and economy of Germany.

KNDS, which produces German Leopard-2 and French Leclerc battle tanks, is currently owned half by the French state and half by the German Wegmann Group.

In early July, it postponed a planned stock market flotation that had been set to enable the German government to take a 40% stake in the company.

The German government has said it remains committed to the project despite the postponement, which the company said was due to "unfavorable market conditions."

An agreement was struck with France to ensure both states would hold equal shares of 40%, with 20% to be floated publicly, according to the news magazine Spiegel.

Danish waste triggered 2021 industrial accident — prosecutors

Waste from Denmark triggered a deadly 2021 explosion at an hazardous waste incineration plant in western Germany that killed seven people, prosecutors said on Tuesday.

Prosecutors said the "technical cause and starting point of the explosion" was the Danish waste, which had been stored in a tank above the so-called self-heating temperature.

This caused "an exponential rise in temperature and pressure and ultimately to an explosion followed by a fire," they said.

Ongoing investigation into waste source

The prosecutors, from the central unit for the prosecution of environmental crime in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, (ZeUK) said they were looking into culpability on the part of a Danish waste producer and a Hamburg-based broker.

They said the plant operators seem not to have received enough information from those companies to recognize that the waste had the "self-decomposing property" that led to the blast.

Proceedings against Currenta, the operator of the chemical park in Leverkusen where the accident occurred on July 27, 2021, had been dropped, they said.

Nonetheless, the ZeUK says it has applied to the Dortmund Regional Court for a fine of €1.9 million ($2.2 million) to be imposed on Currenta, which the company has indicated that it is willing to pay.

The accident was one of the worst in Germany in recent decades.

Charity organization Caritas warns on government aid cuts

The Catholic-run aid organization Caritas international received some €39.9 million ($45.6 million) in private donations in 2025, it said on Tuesday.

Caritas head Oliver Müller, who presented the organization's annual report in Freiburg on Tuesday, said the sum was roughly the same as a year before, speaking of "impressive solidarity."

However, Müller criticized Germany's recent cuts to humanitarian aid, saying they were not just morally wrong but weakened the country's credibility in the world.

"The cuts take away Germany's possibilities for political influence, make the world more uncertain and thus in the end cause damage to ourselves," he said.

Caritas called on Germany to set aside at least €3 billion annually for humanitarian aid, saying this sum was an "appropriate and just share" in view of the country's economic power.

Germany's budget for 2026 has earmarked just €1 billion for humanitarian aid.

Railway operator DB plans alcohol ban at all stations

Germany's national railway operator, Deutsche Bahn (DB), is planning to introduce a ban on drinking alcohol at all train stations in a bid to improve security.

The ban is scheduled to go into force by mid-October, with only restaurants and bars on railway premises, as well as restaurants on the trains themselves, to be exempted.

Some large stations in Germany, such as Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne, already have such a ban in place.

Violent incident prompts alcohol ban

The planned ban has been prompted by an incident on Friday in which a railway security guard fell from a moving train, sustaining critical injuries, after an altercation with a drunken passenger during a ticket inspection.

DB chief Evelyn Palla told the mass-circulation Bild newspaper: "We want more order and security in our trains stations and in our trains."

However, the police union GdP has voiced doubts about how the ban can be properly enforced, given personnel shortages, and also called for a ban on alcohol on the trains themselves.

"It makes little sense to introduce an alcohol ban at stations and then for people to be able to consume alcohol in trains," GdP deputy federal chairman Alexander Poitz told broadcaster RTL/ntv.

Reports of sexual crimes against minors rising sharply in Germany

Germany has seen a considerable rise in registered cases of child sexual abuse over the past five years, according to a report by the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) for 2025.

Last year, the police registered 17,126 cases, some 4.7% more than a year before, according to the report, entitled "Sexual offenses to the detriment of children and youth."

The report showed that in more than half of the cases, the victims and suspected perpetrators had a prior relationship with another, while the overwhelming majority of suspected offenders were males acting on their own.

In Germany's penal law, a child is defined as anyone below 14 years of age.

The number of sexual abuse cases against young people aged 14 or more rose from 1,191 in 2024 to 1,239 in 2025.

The report, which was presented by Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, BKA President Holger Munch and the government's commissioner against child sexual abuse, Kerstin Claus, warned that a large number of offenses go unreported.

Dobrindt described the figures in the report as highly alarming.

"We have to protect our children better, especially in the digital sphere," he said.

Welcome to our coverage

Timothy Jones | Rana Taha Editor

A hearty guten Tag from DW's newsroom in Bonn to all our readers!

Tuesday is shaping up to be a day of reports in Germany.

Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt is to join Holger Munch, the president of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), in presenting a 2025 review of the situation regarding sexual crimes against minors.

An association for victims of racist violence will also be presenting its annual report for 2025, which is expected to show an alarmingly high level of such offenses.

And the charity organization Caritas will also be giving its donation results for 2025 along with a review of current humanitarian crisis zones and the problems caused by dwindling financial resources.

Alongside all of this, Chancellor Merz will be hosting Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev, one of the longest-serving presidents in Europe.

Read on here for more details on these and other stories.