Germany
European policymakers urged stepped-up construction and state-backed financing, including guarantees for housing banks, in Switzerland, Germany and other countries to address housing shortages.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he would push in Brussels to overturn the EU ban on new combustion-engine cars from 2035, drawing opposition from SPD ministers.
Former Chancellor Angela Merkel said Poland and the Baltic states partly blocked a 2021 EU–Russia dialogue with Vladimir Putin, and drew criticism from politicians in those countries.
FC Barcelona’s women beat Bayern Munich 7-1 in their Champions League opener in Barcelona, with captain Alexia Putellas scoring and assisting in a dominant display.
A chemical accident at a galvanic plant in Mainaschaff near Aschaffenburg released an orange gas cloud that lightly injured four, and firefighters later lifted shelter-in-place warnings.
The German cabinet debated changes to the Federal Police Act to give the Bundespolizei expanded powers, including drone defence capabilities, access to phone location and passenger data and random checks.
Iris Stalzer, the newly elected SPD mayor of Herdecke, was stabbed at her home and was in critical condition after police detained her 15‑year‑old adoptive son.
Bavarian cabinet approved a law giving police powers to detect, track and, if necessary, shoot down unauthorized drones after drone disruptions shut Munich airport.
Transport and Environment said most European carmakers had advanced electrification and were on track to meet the European Union's 2025–2027 CO2 targets, though a two-year extension cut projected EV sales.
Google announced an "AI mode" for its Search that will roll out across Germany and Europe, turning traditional search into an AI-powered assistant and reshaping user and website interactions.
Former CSU chiefs Horst Seehofer and Erwin Huber criticized party leader Markus Söder's anti-Green course as a strategic mistake and warned it could weaken the Union's ability to govern.
Germany's Finance Ministry projected large budget deficits that would violate EU fiscal limits and risk triggering an EU deficit procedure as debt rose toward 80 percent of GDP.
President Frank-Walter Steinmeier appointed Günter Spinner, Ann-Kathrin Kaufhold and Sigrid Emmenegger to Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court, ending a fraught selection row over Frauke Brosius‑Gersdorf.
Germany faced mounting housing pressure as little new construction coincided with roughly one million vacant apartments, while investors snapped up prime Munich properties and regional price winners emerged.
Former Bild editor Franz Josef Wagner died in Germany at age 82, a longtime columnist whose blunt, poetic tabloid prose made him a prominent and often divisive figure.
