Germany news: Deutsche Bahn calls safety summit

Syria's transitional government says it needs more time to rebuild the country before large numbers of refugees can safely return home, and is urging Germany to hold off on deportations. 

 "We are asking Germany to understand the Syrian refugees and to give us more time for reconstruction," Mohammed Yaqub al-Omar, head of consular affairs at the Syrian Foreign Ministry told German news outlet Focus in remarks published on Friday.

After taking office in May 2025, Germany's conservative-led government said it would resume deportations to Syria after long-time dictator Bashar al-Assad was ousted in December 2024 after a 13-year civil war destroyed much of the country. 

Earlier this month, Jens Spahn, the parliamentary group leader of the Conservatives in the Bundestag, drew parallels with Germany's rebuilding effort following World War II. Spahn said Syrian refugees had a responsibility and a "patriotic duty" to help restore their country.

According to Berlin-based migration information service Mediendienst Integration, of about 948,000 Syrian citizens currently living in Germany, some 667,000 have temporary residence permits.

Despite Assad's ouster, clashes continue with with Kurdish paramilitary groups in the northeast, and other conflicts breaking out in Alawite coastal regions and with the Druze in the country's south.

According to the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA), 90% of Syria's population lives in poverty and is largely dependent on aid. 

"The return of thousands of Syrians to Syria at this point in time could exacerbate the humanitarian crisis and mean that many people would have to live in refugee camps," al-Omar said.

German Environment Minister Carsten Schneider criticized the US decision to withdraw a pivotal scientific assessment on the threat that greenhouse gases pose to public health.

He said the decision was "ideologically motivated" and based on the desire to profit from oil and gas sales.

This comes after US President Donald Trump's administration terminated the so-called endangerment finding, which categorized six greenhouse gases as air pollutants that threaten human health.

This scientific finding has been the cornerstone of the United States' efforts to combat climate change for over 16 years.

Read moreabout the impact of this decision on US climate efforts.

German Eurofighter combat aircraft have taken off from Germany towards Iceland to take part in the NATO Arctic Sentry Mission, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Friday during the Munich Security Conference. 

The NATO Arctic Sentry mission was announced on Wednesday and aims to bolster NATO's presence in the critical region. The mission is also an attempt to deescalate tensions after US President Donald Trump called for the US to takeover Greenland due to security threats from Russia and China.  

The German Defense Ministry said the four Eurofighters departed from the southern German city of Neuburg an der Donau to take part in the mission.

An A400M transport plane also left the northwestern German state of Lower Saxony to assist with air-to-air refueling.  

Air-to-air refueling is a complicated, high stakes operation which can enable the fighter aircraft to stay in the air longer for the mission.  

Pistorius said Germany has "a lot to offer NATO's northwestern flank."

This not only includes the Eurofighter aircraft but also Boeing P-8 Poseidon maritime reconnaisance planes, submarines and frigates. The Poseidons in particular can be used in anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare.  

"The Russian Northern Fleet is highly active in the Arctic with nuclear-powered submarines and its fleet," Pistorius said. "We are talking a very, very strong military maritime power there." 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said a first German-Ukrainian joint venture is already producing drones for the Ukrainian military.

He said he received the first jointly made attack drone on Friday and watched the production line and its first flight.

Zelenskyy described the drone as modern Ukrainian, battle-tested technology powered by AI, saying it would be used to strike targets, conduct reconnaissance and protect soldiers.

The Ukrainian president, on his way to the Munich Security Conference, said 10,000 drones manufactured at the site would be delivered to Ukraine this year to strengthen its forces.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine plans to open 10 joint ventures producing Ukrainian drones by the end of the year, calling the German production line the first operational project in Europe.

He thanked German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and the German people for their support.

Russia has designated the German Academic Exchange Service, or DAAD, as an "undesirable organization," effectively banning its activities in the country.

DAAD, based in Bonn, said it had taken note of the decision by Russia's Justice Ministry in Moscow.

"We are in close contact with the Foreign Office regarding the next steps," the organization said.

For Russian citizens, the classification means they could face criminal prosecution for having contact with the German organization.

DAAD describes itself as the world's largest funding body for the international exchange of students and researchers. The move is expected to bring academic ties with Russia close to a halt, as many other German research organizations are already on the ban list.

DAAD said around 200 Russian scholarship holders are currently studying in Germany. Overall, about 10,500 Russian students are enrolled at German universities.

After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, DAAD restricted contacts with Russia and stopped sending scholarship recipients there. However, it sought to maintain opportunities for Russian students to study in Germany, and an office in Moscow continued operating until recently.

Deutsche Bahn chief Evelyn Palla is planning to equip all rail employees with customer contact, including on long-distance trains and at stations, with bodycams on a voluntary basis later this year.

The move is one of several immediate measures aimed at protecting staff, Palla said at a security summit she convened in Berlin, according to participants cited by the DPA news agency.

Representatives from the federal and state governments, along with unions, associations and public transport authorities, have been attending the summit since this morning. It was called after thefatal attack on a 36-year-old train conductor in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

The case has caused shock nationwide. The conductor was attacked by a passenger who did not have a ticket and was due to be removed from the train. The conductor suffered severe head injuries and later died in hospital. The suspected attacker, a 26-year-old Greek man, is in pretrial detention.

The rail union EVG has also been calling for wider staffing on regional trains and is demanding the nationwide use of bodycams, including audio recording, to better document and track verbal abuse against employees.

Normal operations at Lufthansa, Germany's national carrier, have resumed after a strike grounded hundreds of flights across the country.

Pilots and flight attendants took strike action on Thursday over pay and working conditions, with some 800 flight cancellations for the airline.

Some 100,000 passengers were affected by the one-day strike, with Munich and Frankfurt — Germany's two largest airports — particularly badly hit.

Some 4,800 pilots at Lufthansa and its cargo subsidiary Lufthansa Cargo walked out in the dispute over higher company pensions.

Meanwhile, cabin crew staged a separate warning strike to force talks on several collective bargaining issues.

Flight operations at Cologne/Bonn Airport were briefly suspended on Friday after a security incident.

Federal police said departures had to be suspended, before being resumed a short time later, because the secure area needed to be closed off. Arrivals were not affected by the closure and were able to continue as normal.

Read more about the story here.

More than one in four people in Germany have said they have felt unsafe on buses or trains, according to a representative YouGov survey commissioned by Germany's DPA news agency.

Overall, 27% of respondents said they had felt unsafe on public transport without being actively harassed, threatened or attacked.

Some 17% said they had witnessed others being attacked, threatened or harassed. Around 16% reported experiencing verbal harassment themselves, while 5% said they had been threatened and 4% said they had been physically attacked.

The survey found younger people under 40 were more likely to feel unsafe or report negative experiences than older respondents.

Women reported feeling unsafe more often, at 30%, compared with 23% of men, while differences between the sexes were small when it came to verbal harassment, threats or attacks.

The findings come after a train conductor was fatally injured during a ticket inspection on a regional express near Kaiserslautern last week.

The western German state North Rhine-Westphalia is proposing a new package of measures and is calling on the federal government to strengthen safety on trains ahead of a Deutsche Bahn security summit in Berlin.

The state, Germany's most populous, wants to expand the use of two-person teams among train conductors. It is also urging the national government to provide legal clarity for the wearing of body cameras on public transport, which is currently voluntary.

North Rhine-Westphalia is also calling for upgraded technology to alert authorities and track suspects, more effective use of video surveillance, and an expanded deployment of security teams to protect passengers and rail staff.

The push follows an attack on a Deutsche Bahn conductor during a ticket inspection in Rhineland-Palatinate in early February. The 36-year-old died two days later from severe injuries.

Deutsche Bahn has invited the federal government, federal police, rail industry representatives, Germany’s states, regional transport authorities and unions to the summit.

Guten Tag from DW’s newsroom in Bonn.

You join us as Germany's national rail operator invites officials from across the board to discuss safety on trains after a train conductor was killed while doing his job.

At the same time, a survey has found that about a quarter of people felt unsafe on public transport.

Stay with us for these and other Germany-related headlines from Friday, February 13.