German Foreign Minister Criticizes Trump's Exclusion of South Africa from G20 Summit

Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, while visiting South Africa as part of his Africa tour, criticized US President Donald Trump's decision not to invite South Africa to the G20 Summit in Florida later this year.

"Excluding South Africa means sidelining an important African voice as well as a regional economic and political leader," Wadephul said during a visit to the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

This was in no one's interest, he added, "because, especially in times of growing global economic uncertainty, we need more cooperation, not less."

South Africa is a founding member of the G20, which gathers major global economies and serves as a key forum for multilateral engagement.

South Africa also hosted last year's G20 summit in Johannesburg, which the Trump administration boycotted after claims that South Africa was committing a genocide against the country's white farmers. South Africa has categorically denied the Trump administration's allegations.

Amid the rift, Trump announced that South Africa was disinvited to the G20 summit in December 2026, arguing "the country has demonstrated to the world they are not a country worthy of membership anywhere."

In 2025, 28.9% of people in single-parent households were at risk of poverty, according to numbers released by Germany's Federal Statistic office.

That's more than double the share of couples in households with children, a rate which stood at 12%.

In Germany, a family or individual is considered at risk of poverty if their net income is less than 60% of the median income.

Overall, one in five families with children under 18 is headed by a single parent. However, the number of single parents has fallen slightly over the past decade, from 1.65 million in 2015 to 1.62 million in 2025.

The report also highlights changes in the gender composition of single-parent households. The proportion of single mothers declined slightly from 2015, from 88.9% to 84.4%, while the share of single fathers increased — though mothers still make up the vast majority of single parents.

Lastly, the figures show that single mothers are more likely to work full-time than mothers in couple households, with 38.6% employed full-time compared with 30.7% of mothers living with a partner.

For fathers, the opposite trend applies: 83.8% of single fathers worked full-time, compared with 91.5% of fathers in couple households.

Chess players from around Germany gathered in Dresden this week for the annual Chess Summit, as the sport is enjoying unprecedented popularity in Germany.

"Our membership numbers are growing at an excellent rate. We are on the verge of surpassing the 100,000 mark," Paul Meyer-Dunker, President of Germany's National Chess Association, told the dpa news agency in Dresden.

Many of the 2300 clubs across Germany are feeling the surge. According to Meyer-Dunker, some clubs in cities such as Berlin are no longer accepting new members because of the overwhelming demand.

Despite the strong growth, Meyer-Dunker said there is still room for improvement when it comes to female participation. Around 90% of members of the German Chess Federation are male.

The highest proportion of girls is found among the youngest age group — children under eight years old — where they account for roughly one-third of participants. However, those figures drop sharply among older age groups.

Nonetheless, Meyer-Dunker believes Germany's national teams are stronger than they have been for a long time.

"We have a national team in which every player is ranked in the world's top 100. This is a team that has a chance to compete for a medal at the Chess Olympiad in Uzbekistan this September," he said.

He pointed to Vincent Keymer, as well as Matthias Blübaum, a two-time European champion, as players who belongs among the world's elite.

On the women’s side as well, Germany has top-level players such as Elisabeth Pähtz and Dinara Wagner. In the European Team Championships in 2025, the German women’s team won a medal — bronze — for the first time.