Germany news roundup: August 29-30, 2026

A Eurowings plane was forced to make a landing in Paris on Saturday evening after steam was detected in the aircraft's galley, the airline said. The Boeing 737 with 131 passengers on board was flying from the western German city of Cologne to the Spanish island of Mallorca. The unscheduled landing at Charles de Gaulle Airport was made as a precaution and under 'normal' flight priority status, according to Eurowings.

High-ranking German politicians have advocated for proceedings to ban the most radical regional branches of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and Baden-Württemberg's state premier, Cem Özdemir, called for bans to be initiated swiftly in a joint guest op-ed in the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Their comments come just days before the September 6 election in Saxony-Anhalt.

A British woman was stabbed to death overnight at a railway station in the southern German state of Bavaria, police said on Sunday. The 31-year-old was taken to hospital but later died from her injuries. Police reported that a 27-year-old German man was detained at the scene in Rosenheim.

Three Germans are among those missing following Wednesday's flash flood in the Himalayan border region between Nepal and China, Chinese authorities said on Sunday. A total of 261 foreign nationals from 23 countries were unaccounted for. The Foreign Office in Berlin has said 'a high single-digit number of German nationals' are missing in the devastating flood.

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called on her compatriots to 'stand up' for democracy ahead of next weekend's state election in Saxony-Anhalt. Merkel said the AfD had, to some extent, managed to 'dominate all our discussions from morning to night' about politics in Saxony-Anhalt.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's government plans to officially hold Moscow responsible for the Leipzig drone incident in early August, several German news outlets reported on Saturday. Berlin is expected to announce the planned move in the coming days, including 'extensive' sanctions.

The total amount of wages German firms paid in sick and maternity leave has more than doubled over the past 15 years, a study from the Cologne-based German Economic Institute (IW) shows. IW estimated that German companies paid a record-high €85.6 billion in wages to employees who were out sick last year.

Volkswagen's second-biggest shareholder has called on all sides to agree on a restructuring plan for the German auto giant in the next few days. Olaf Lies, state premier of Lower Saxony, said he was convinced 'a viable solution' can be found. VW's management now thinks they may need to cut up to 100,000 jobs and that several German factories may face closure.

Two-thirds of residents think the United States has more influence on Germany since US President Donald Trump returned to the White House, according to a Forsa research institute poll.

The Taliban has sent a team of three people to Germany to help facilitate the deportation of Afghan nationals, public broadcaster NDR reported. The delegation arrived in Germany on Wednesday and is staying at the Afghan embassy in Berlin.