Portal:Germany/Germany news/Archive

2020

 * 7 August 2020 –
 * France and Germany end talks with the United States to reform the World Health Organization, after the former two's respective health ministries expressed opposition to the attempt from the United States at leading the talks, despite the United States having decided to leave the organization. (Reuters)


 * 6 August 2020 – COVID-19 pandemic in Germany
 * The Robert Koch Institute reports 1,045 new cases in Germany during the last 24 hours. It is the first time since May 7 that new COVID-19 cases in the country surpass 1,000. (The New Indian Express)


 * 1 August 2020 – Protests over responses to the COVID-19 pandemic
 * A demonstration against coronavirus restrictions attended by thousands of people in Berlin, Germany, is terminated by police over "non-respect of hygiene rules". Police say they launched legal action against the organisers. (Al Jazeera)


 * 17 July 2020 –
 * Police in Germany arrest a gunman, nicknamed Rambo due to his acts, who disarmed four policemen and escaped in the Black Forest five days before. (BBC)


 * 3 July 2020 –
 * German lawmakers agree to a deal to end nuclear power by 2022 and the use of coal by 2038. (AP via Seattle Times)


 * 30 June 2020 –
 * German Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer orders the "partial dissolution" of the country's elite Kommando Spezialkräfte (KSK) special forces command over its suspected ties to the far-right. The KSK also has a "toxic leadership culture", according to the Defence Minister. (BBC)


 * 16 May 2020 – Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports
 * The Bundesliga becomes the first major sports league to resume its season since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. (NBC News)


 * 15 May 2020 –
 * Germany's Bundestag votes to make the burning of the EU flag or that of another country a hate crime equivalent to that of burning the German flag - carrying a sentence of up to three years in prison. The only major party that opposed the move was the right-wing Alternative for Germany. (BBC)


 * 23 April 2020 –
 * Two former high-ranking members of the Syrian Army go on trial in Koblenz, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, for alleged war crimes committed during the Syrian Civil War. This is the first time that Syrian military officials are being prosecuted for their roles in the conflict. (Al Jazeera) (Reuters)


 * 20 April 2020 – 2020 coronavirus pandemic in Germany
 * Germany reopens shops, but Chancellor Angela Merkel warns of a second coronavirus wave in the country. (The Guardian)


 * 16 April 2020 – 2020 coronavirus pandemic in Germany
 * The Robert Koch Institute reports 2,866 new confirmed cases and 315 more deaths from COVID-19, the highest daily death toll in the country to date, bringing Germany's death toll to 3,569 and 130,450 total cases. (Reuters)


 * 22 March 2020 – 2020 coronavirus pandemic in Germany
 * Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel self-isolates after being in contact with a doctor infected with COVID-19. (CNBC)


 * 15 March 2020 – 2020 coronavirus pandemic in Germany
 * Germany closes its borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark and Luxembourg. (BBC)
 * The first two virus-related deaths are confirmed in Germany. (BBC)


 * 4 March 2020 –
 * Bodo Ramelow is elected Minister-President of Thuringia after lengthy political instability and scandal surrounding the election of his predecessor Thomas Kemmerich. (DW)


 * 4 March 2020 – 2019–20 coronavirus outbreak
 * Wallis and Futuna turns a German cruise ship away due to fears of coronavirus, and says that it is studying the possibility of denying entry to another ship. (RNZ)


 * 25 February 2020 –
 * German Health Minister Jens Spahn declines to run for leadership of the ruling Christian Democratic Union party, and endorses North Rhine-Westphalia Minister-President Armin Laschet for the position. (Reuters)


 * 24 February 2020 – Volkmarsen ramming attack
 * Nearly 60 people are injured when a car rams civilians at a carnival parade in Volkmarsen, Hesse, Germany. A 29-year-old German national is arrested by police. (BBC)


 * 19 February 2020 – 2020 Hanau shootings
 * Nine people are killed and five others injured in two mass shootings at shisha bars in Hanau, Hesse, Germany. The attacker also kills his mother and then himself in their apartment. He expressed far-right views in a letter of confession and video. (The Guardian)


 * 16 February 2020 –
 * A German court orders Tesla, Inc. to temporarily halt construction of new manufacturing plant Giga Berlin in Grünheide, Brandenburg, due to the threat it poses to the local wildlife and water supplies. (BBC)


 * 14 February 2020 –
 * Twelve men are arrested in Germany for attempting to start a far-right organization aimed at carrying out attacks against politicians, asylum seekers, and Muslims. (Al Jazeera)


 * 10 February 2020 –
 * The chairwoman of Germany's CDU party, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, announces that she will resign as party chair and not be a candidate for the federal chancellorship in the next election. (Der Spiegel) (The Guardian)


 * 7 February 2020 –
 * Minister-president of Thuringia Thomas Kemmerich has resigned two days after his controversial election to the post. As the state constitution mandates, he will continue in his post as caretaker. (Deutsche Welle)


 * 5 February 2020 –
 * Thomas Kemmerich is elected Minister-President of Thuringia with votes of the far-right Alternative for Germany, sparking widespread outcry across Germany.  (Deutsche Welle)


 * 27 January 2020 – 2019–20 Wuhan coronavirus outbreak
 * Germany confirms its first case of novel coronavirus in the state of Bavaria. The infected man has been placed in an isolation ward and the risk of further infection is currently considered to be "low", according to the Bavarian Health Ministry. (Deutsche Welle)


 * 7 January 2020 – 2019–20 Persian Gulf crisis, Iran–United States relations
 * Germany announces a partial withdrawal of the Bundeswehr troops positioned in Iraq, citing security concerns. (DW)


 * 1 January 2020 –
 * A fire at Krefeld Zoo (pictured) kills over 30 animals. (BBC)

2019

 * 18 December 2019 –
 * The Cabinet of Germany proposes to ban conversion therapy for both transgender and gay people. The proposal was expanded to include people between the ages of 16 and 18. (Deutsche Welle)


 * 25 November 2019 – 2019 Dresden heist
 * Diamonds and jewelled items worth hundreds of millions of euros are stolen from the Green Vault (pictured) in Dresden. (The Guardian)


 * 22 November 2019 – 2021 German federal election
 * Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, who replaced German Chancellor Angela Merkel as leader of the Christian Democratic Union, threatens to stand down as a chancellor candidate if her centre-right party continues to disagree over support. (BBC) (The Guardian) (The Telegraph)


 * 19 November 2019 –
 * Physician Fritz von Weizsäcker, son of former German president Richard von Weizsäcker, is stabbed to death during a lecture. The attacker is reported as 57 years old and mentally ill. (Deutsche Welle) (The Berlin Spectator)


 * 8 November 2019 –
 * An explosion in a mine in Teutschenthal, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, injures two workers and traps around 30 underground in a secure area. All are rescued several hours later. (Deutsche Welle)


 * 20 October 2019 –
 * The 2019 Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels is awarded to Sebastião Salgado (pictured). (Deutsche Welle)


 * 10 October 2019 –
 * The 2019 Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded to Peter Handke. (The New York Times)


 * 9 October 2019 – Halle and Landsberg attacks
 * Two people are killed and two others are injured in attacks by a man wearing military camouflage near a synagogue and at a kebab shop in Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Shots are also reported in nearby Landsberg. A suspect, 27-year old Stephan Billiet, is arrested. The attack had been livestreamed on Twitch for 35 minutes, citing anti-Semitic and racist motivations. (BBC) (DW) (The Guardian)


 * 7 October 2019 –
 * A 32-year-old Syrian man rams a stolen truck into eight cars in Limburg an der Lahn, Hesse, causing eight injuries. German police believe it was intentional, but the motive is yet to be determined. (The Guardian)


 * 7 October 2019 – Economic effects of Brexit
 * Holger Bingmann, head of the Federation of German Wholesale, Foreign Trade and Services, tells journalists that German businesses have lost €3.5 billion so far this year due to Brexit. (Deutsche Welle)


 * 30 September 2019 –
 * Eight alleged members of a far right terror cell go on trial in Germany. The defendants, from Chemnitz, are accused of plotting attacks against immigrants and "the economic establishment". The city saw far-right protests last year following the stabbing homicide of a German man. (BBC)


 * 25 September 2019 – Collapse of Thomas Cook
 * German airline Condor, a subsidiary of the now insolvent Thomas Cook Group, files for bankruptcy. (BBC)


 * 25 September 2019 –
 * Authorities raid the German bank Deutsche Bank as part of a money laundering prove into €200 billion of suspicious payments identified into the accounts of Danske Bank's branch in Estonia. Danske Bank's Estonian boss from 2007 to 2015 is found dead near Tallinn at his home in circumstances police describe as neither suspicious nor accidental. (City A.M.)
 * Luxury automaker Daimler, owner of the Mercedes-Benz brand, is fined €870 million by prosecutors in Stuttgart, Germany for its role in the diesel emissions scandal. (Reuters)


 * 22 September 2019 – Climate change mitigation
 * German Environment Minister Svenja Schulze says the €54 billion climate plan approved by the German cabinet on Friday enables her country to join the Powering Past Coal Alliance. Germany expects to transition away from coal by 2038. (Deutsche Welle)


 * 20 September 2019 –
 * U.S. President Donald Trump demands that European allies, in particular Germany and France, take back captured ISIL fighters, or else, he says, "we're going to let them go at your border". Trump also made the same threat in August. (AFP via MSN News)


 * 8 September 2019 –
 * Neo-Nazi National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) politician Stefan Jagsch is elected as the mayor of Altenstadt-Waldsiedlung in Altenstadt, Hesse, after running unopposed, prompting condemnations from Germany's political leaders, including SPD General Secretary Lars Klingbeil. Norbert Szilasko, a member of the council who voted Jagsch into office says, "We voted for him due to the fact we have nobody else". (The Telegraph)


 * 1 September 2019 – 2019 Amazon forest wildfires
 * Germany and Norway cease paying into the Amazon Fund, citing concerns over Brazil's environmental policies and the role they have played in the fires. (Al Jazeera)


 * 1 September 2019 – Germany–Poland relations
 * German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier asks Poland's forgiveness at a remembrance ceremony in Wieluń, Poland, attended together with Polish President Andrzej Duda. The heads of state commemorate Nazi Germany's bombing of Wieluń on the first day of World War II, the world's bloodiest conflict, 80 years ago. (France 24)


 * 1 September 2019 – 2019 Brandenburg state election and 2019 Saxony state election
 * The right-wing AfD party climbed to second spot in both Eastern states. (DW)


 * 26 August 2019 –
 * The Federal Cartel Office in Germany announced that it will appeal a decision by a regional court that suspended its restrictions on Facebook's activities. The appeal will bring the dispute, over underlying privacy issues, to the attention of the country's highest court. (Reuters)


 * 22 August 2019 – 2018 Chemnitz protests
 * A Syrian man is jailed for manslaughter in relation to a stabbing in Chemnitz, Saxony, Germany last year. The killing sparked far-right protests and riots in the city. (BBC)


 * 14 August 2019 – Economy of Germany
 * The Federal Statistical Office of Germany discloses that Germany's gross domestic product shrank by 0.1% in the second quarter. (The Guardian)


 * 5 August 2019 –
 * German association football club Chemnitzer FC sacks club captain Daniel Frahn for "openly displaying sympathy for Neo-Nazi groups". Frahn, who is currently unable to play due to injury, watched the club's recent match in the stands with far-right hooligan fans. (The Guardian)


 * 29 July 2019: An eight-year-old boy is killed and his mother injured after being pushed by a man into the path of an oncoming train at Frankfurt's main station, in Hesse, Germany. The attacker, a 40-year-old immigrant Eritrean man, also attempted to knock a third person onto the tracks. The suspect and the victims did not appear to have known one another. (Sky News)
 * July 2019 European heat wave: A number of national maximum temperature records are broken, several surpassing records set the previous day: Germany sees 42.6 C at Lingen, Belgium 41.8 C at Begijnendijk and The Netherlands 40.7 C at Gilze en Rijen. (Accuweather) (The Guardian)


 * 22 July 2019: A shooting in the town of Wächtersbach, Hesse, Germany gravely injures an Eritrean man. The suspect commits suicide after fleeing the scene. Police treat the incident to be inspired by xenophobia. (DW)


 * 17 July 2019: President-elect of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen resigns from her position as Federal Minister of Defence of Germany. Chancellor Angela Merkel appoints Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, the leader of the ruling CDU, as her successor. (Deutsche Welle)


 * 6 June 2019: Niels Högel, post-war Germany's serial killer with the highest known kill count, is sentenced to life imprisonment for 85 murders. (DW)


 * 2 June 2019: Andrea Nahles announces her resignation as leader of Germany's Social Democratic Party, effective at the beginning of next week. (BBC)
 * 26 May 2019:In the final stage of the 2019 European Parliament election, voters elect their country's representatives. (European Parliament)
 * 13 March 2019: Ali Bashar confesses in court in Germany to killing teenager Susanna Feldmann. (BBC)
 * 4 March 2019: Germany says it will amend the German nationality law to strip of their citizenship dual nationals who have fought for foreign militant groups, such as ISIL. (The Local)
 * 13 February 2019: The Public Prosecutor General of Germany announces the arrest of two members of the Syrian military intelligence service on charges of crimes against humanity. The arrests happened the day before in the states of Berlin and Rhineland-Palatinate. (DW)
 * 4 February 2019: German airline Germania declares bankruptcy and ceases operations, cancelling all flights immediately. (Reuters)

2018

 * 14 October 2018: Jan and Aleida Assmann receive the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade.
 * 26 June 2018: In a historical disaster, the German football team loses in 2018 FIFA World Cup.
 * 21 March 2018: EU approves German chemical giant Bayer's takeover of Monsanto.
 * 16 February 2018: Journalist Deniz Yücel returns to Germany after release from Turkish prison.
 * 5 February 2018: Berlin Wall now gone for as long as it stood.

2017

 * 18 December 2017: German film company UFA turns 100.
 * 15 October 2017: Margaret Atwood receives the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade.
 * 24 September 2017: Chancellor Angela Merkel wins German federal election, 2017
 * 15 August 2017: Air Berlin files for bankruptcy.
 * 7-8 July 2017: The 12th G20 summit is held in Hamburg.
 * 30 June 2017: Germany's Bundestag passes bill on same-sex marriage.
 * 16 June 2017: Helmut Kohl, former chancellor of Germany, dies at the age of 87.
 * 8 June 2017: Germany has begun granting gays from Chechnya special visas on humanitarian grounds following reports that gay people are being tortured and killed in the Russian republic.
 * 19 May 2017: The Bundestag is debating a draft law to force social media platforms to delete illegal content more quickly.
 * 14 May 2017: North Rhine-Westphalia state election, 2017
 * 7 May 2017: Schleswig-Holstein state election, 2017
 * 24 April 2017: German court orders trial over 2010 Love Parade deaths.
 * 10 April 2017: German army investigates 275 suspected cases of right-wing extremism in its ranks.
 * 4 April 2017: Diver finds first-ever European cave fish in Baden-Württemberg.
 * 2 April 2017: Turkish diplomats, military request asylum in Germany.
 * 21 March 2017: New evidence has surfaced of bullying and abuse in the German military.
 * 19 March 2017: Germany rejects Donald Trump’s claim that it ‘owes vast sums of money’ to NATO.
 * 7 March 2017: WikiLeaks reveals US Consulate in Frankfurt serves as secret CIA hacker base.
 * 1 March 2017: Nationwide protests to free German-Turkish journalist Deniz Yücel.
 * 12 February 2017: Frank-Walter Steinmeier is elected President of Germany.
 * 11 January 2017: The Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg was opened.
 * 10 January 2017: Roman Herzog, president of Germany, dies at the age of 82.

2016

 * 19 December 2016: 2016 Berlin attack
 * 23 October 2016: Carolin Emcke receives the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade.
 * 18 September 2016: Berlin state election, 2016
 * 24 August 2016: Walter Scheel, former president of Germany, dies at the age of 97.
 * 22 July 2016: 2016 Munich shooting
 * 01 January 2016: New Year's Eve sexual assaults in Germany