Germany updates: Companies pledge €631 billion investment

Germany and Norway have agreed to increase surveillance against maritime and airborne threats in the North Atlantic region.

The countries said they would strengthen their "surveillance and control over these strategic areas to counter potential threats, including maritime and airborne activities," according to a joint statement released as German Chancellor Friedrich Merz met with Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store in Berlin.

Berlin and Oslo said that "the North Atlantic, including the strategically crucial Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom (GIUK) and Bear gaps and adjacent waters, and the North and Baltic Seas, are crucial for both Norwegian and German security."

They also said that their cooperation in the North Atlantic and North Sea would include "enhanced protection of critical underwater infrastructure."

In a joint statement, Germany and Norway also reaffirmed their continued support for Ukraine, which is under attack from Russia.

Germany said that it has allowed two envoys from Afghanistan's ruling Taliban regime to enter the country for the first time since the hardline, Islamist movement seized power in 2021.

The measure was approved to facilitate further deportations of Afghan migrants, after 81 Afghans with failed asylum claims and criminal convictions were deported on Friday.

That flight was the second of its kind since Germany resumed deportations to Afghanistan last year, which were halted after the Taliban returned to power and Germany closed its embassy in Kabul.

Read more on why Germany is deporting some Afghan migrants to their home country.

Police in the western German city of Düsseldorf are searching for a man who managed to escape from a courthouse.

The man is wanted by authorities and has several European arrest warrants.

A court spokesperson was cited by local media as saying that the man had been taken to a meeting room in a specially secured detention area to speak to his lawyer.

Upon leaving the room, the prisoner managed to escape through a side door into the courtyard before scaling a high security fence.

Despite police efforts to catch him, the man remains on the run. Police deployed a helicopter and dogs in the search.

The Rheinische Post newspaper cited a court spokesperson who said that the man was a Romanian national scheduled to appear in court regarding an Austrian extradition request.

The publication reported that he was known to the judiciary for cases of gang-related theft and there were further investigations and criminal proceedings for grievous bodily harm and theft.

How do you stay fit in old age? Friedhelm Adorf has an answer. The 81-year-old exercises every morning, eats a healthy diet and trains for a world record: the 200-meter sprint in his age group. Unfortunately, his knee is giving him problems. Will he still succeed? 

German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said Poland's measures to secure its border with Belarus were having an "enormous impact" on migration while on a visit to the border area.

"Here you can see how effective external border protection is done," Dobrindt told reporters.

Dobrindt said that Russia and Belarus were trying to "weaponize migration" to destabilize Poland, Germany and the EU.

Poland has long accused the leadership of Belarus and Russia of deliberately encouraging illegal border crossings into Poland.

Dobrindt praised the controls Poland had in place in response to Germany's increased border checks.

"We support this," the German minister said, calling it an important contribution to prevent a new EU migration route from Belarus.

"Poland is Germany's most important partner within the EU, alongside our French neighbours," Dobrindt said.

The German Weather Service (DWD)  has forecast heavy rainfall in parts of the north-eastern German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, comparable to the rainfall during the Ahr Valley flood disaster in 2021.

During the 2021 flash floods in the Ahr Valley in Rhineland-Palatinate, at least 136 people were killed while nearly 50 others died in neighboring North Rhine-Westphalia.

Extremely heavy and continuous rainfall was predicted in some parts of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, although it was predicted that it would drain better into the Baltic Sea, due to the absence of mountains.

The amount of rainfall was expected to be around double the normal total for the entire month of July in the region, German news agency dpa cited a DWD spokesman as saying.

"A massive surge will come during the night," he said.

Severe weather warnings for heavy or continuous rain are also in place for parts of Brandenburg, Berlin and Saxony. 

Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has called for a new television interview to be held, after protesters on Sunday drowned leader Alice Weidel's "summer interview" in Berlin.

Each year, broadcaster ARD holds annual televised question and answer sessions with the country's main political parties.

However, as Weidel was preparing to begin the interview on a terrace in Berlin's government quarter, demonstrators arrived nearby.

They broke into loud singing, dancing, and chanting and made it difficult for Weidel to hear the questions she was being asked.

"In such a situation, ARD should have moved to a studio to ensure a fair, uninterrupted interview," Markus Frohnmaier, the AfD's deputy parliamentary group leader, told news portal Politico.

"I expect the conversation to be repeated under fair conditions," Weidel said.

Meanwhile, the general secretary of the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) who lead Germany's coalition government, said it was better for democracy to hear her views.

"If you want to strengthen the AfD, go ahead and disrupt these interviews," Carsten Linnemann told broadcasters RTL/ntv.

An alliance of German companies, numbering in the dozens, pledged to invest at least €631 billion ($733 billion) in the German economy over the next three years.

"The investments by the initiative are a very powerful signal that we are now experiencing a shift in sentiment and consolidating it," German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said.

"The message ... is very clear: Germany is back. It's worth investing in Germany again. We are not a location of the past, but a location of the present and above all the future," he added.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that large public investments could be boosted significantly by private funding.

"We want to leverage this potential and thus trigger further growth effects," Merz said after meeting with representatives of the "Made for Germany" initiative at the Chancellery in Berlin.

The new government has launched a program to spur on investment and establish a €500 billion fund to splash on German infrastructure over the next 12 years. It has also pledged to cut bureaucratic red tape and speed up digitization.

The initiative is being led by executives from Germany's blue-chip companies, including lender Deutsche Bank and industrial group Siemens.

A summer interview with Alice Weidel, the leader of the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD), was severely disrupted by protesters on Sunday.

Members of her party have called for a repeat. Watch what happened here:

There has been a continued decline in the number of people employed in Germany's metal and electrical industry, according to the employers' association Gesamtmetall.

The association said that since the beginning of 2025, there had been around 60,000 job losses.

Basing its findings on a survey of companies, the association said that the number of employees in May was 2.5% lower than compared to the same period the year before.

While Germany's new government has taken some measures to relieve the situation, Gesamtmetall's managing director Oliver Zander higlighted a reduction in the electricity tax and the immediate investment program as outstanding issues.

"The speed at which the decline in employment in the metal and electrical industry continues shows, however, that the federal government has no time for breathers," Zander said.

The next heat wave has been forecast in Germany. How is a country known for its lack of air conditioning preparing?

Read the full story about Germany's preparations for heat waves.

Researchers say a far-right social media campaign — that painted a respected law professor as extremist — caused the suspension of the election of judges to Germany's highest court.

Read the full story on the controversial failure to elect a judge to Germany's top court.

Once famed for never being late, German trains almost never run on time anymore.

Deutsche Bahn has launched a refurbishment program that is likely to last at least a decade, and the costs and criticism are increasing.

Read the full story on increasing delays on Germany's rail network.

Germany’s bond market calmed slightly on Monday after weeks of rising long-term interest rates. Investors are now waiting for new economic data from the Eurozone and a key decision from the European Central Bank (ECB).

A bond yield is the return investors get for lending money to the government by buying its bonds. When bond prices go up, yields go down — so falling yields often reflect expectations of slower growth or lower interest rates.

Economists believe the ECB will keep interest rates steady for now, but might cut them again as early as September.

Some analysts think this week's Eurozone business activity data could show little change, partly due to global trade worries and a strong euro. That could make German government bonds more attractive, pushing their prices up and yields down.

Senior representatives from around 50 countries are reconvening for another meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group.

The virtual session is set to begin with opening statements from German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, UK Defense Secretary John Healey, and Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.

The Ukraine Defense Contact Group was first launched on April 26, 2022, at the US air base in Ramstein, Germany — leading to the term "Ramstein format."

US President Donald Trump's turnaround on military aid for Ukaine is likely to be the main topic of discussion, as NATO allies work to facilitate the weapons delivery.