Daily Briefing 04.10.2026, 16:53 (CEST)

Merz in Kiev brushes off Russian threats: 'We will not be intimidated'

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Sunday that he would not be intimidated by Russian warnings or a drone attack on Kiev during his visit to the Ukrainian capital.

New record as 7.4 million people visit Bavaria's Oktoberfest

This year's Oktoberfest in Munich attracted a record 7.4 million visitors, the city said, passing the previous record of 7.2 million set in 2023.

Aleph Alpha unveils German-language AI model for public infrastructure

German AI company Aleph Alpha has released a new language model called Kolibri for use in public administration and industry, designed to run on infrastructure that customers control themselves, the Heidelberg-based firm said at the weekend.

Poll: Merkel better suited than Merz to tackle Germany's problems

Nearly half of Germans believe former chancellor Angela Merkel would be better equipped than incumbent Friedrich Merz to tackle the country's current problems, according to a YouGov poll commissioned by dpa.

Alliance calls for German government to halt planned spending cuts

Unions and welfare organizations have called on the German government to halt planned spending cuts.

Two men suffer homophobic attack after German Unity Day celebrations

Two gay men were attacked in the north-western German city of Bremen on their way home from the German Unity Day celebrations on Saturday evening due to their sexual orientation, police said, leaving both with minor injuries.

German environment minister calls for water management rethink

Germany needs to rethink water management in light of this year's drought, Environment Minister Carsten Schneider has said.

German unemployment agency IT outage fixed after days of disruption

The technical outage at Germany's Federal Employment Agency has been resolved, with online services restored since Saturday evening, the agency said on Sunday.

Frankfurt Book Fair held under cloud of poor sales, declining literacy

The mood in the book industry is rather gloomy ahead of the start of the Frankfurt Book Fair this week, with younger people reading less, the number of new titles and translations falling, and both sales volumes and revenues declining.

Germany celebrates Unity Day as leaders warn against extremism

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier called for a resolute defence of democracy as the nation marks Unity Day in numerous events staged on Saturday.