Germany won't win World Cup, fans think

The US fast food chain Taco Bell will open its first locations in Germany, according to its local franchise owner.

Contracts for the chain's first two locations in Munich have been signed. Christian Lehmann, the German franchise owner, said that 15 locations are set to open in Munich, Nuremberg, and Passau.

Taco Bell already has locations in the United Kingdom, Romania, Greece, and Sweden. However, its arrival in Germany, originally planned for summer 2025, was delayed.

Taco Bell operates over 8,000 restaurants in the US, and its parent company, Yum! Brands, also owns Pizza Hut and KFC.

The Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservative party, canceled an event that was supposed to be held in Magdeburg in the eastern state ofSaxony-Anhalt.

This comes ahead of the elections in Saxony-Anhalt on September 6, in which the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is expected to become the state's biggest party, with polls suggesting the AfD is to receive some 40% of the votes, and the CDU — the state's current ruling party — lagging behind by about 15 percentage points.

According to a party spokesperson, the cancellation was decided to allow the CDU to focus on its election campaign rather than hold internal meetings. 

Most Germans do not believe their national team will win the World Cup, according to a new survey.

A survey by the public broadcaster ZDF suggests that only 15% of Germans believe that coach Julian Nagelsmann's team will become world champions.

The largest group, 33%, believes Germany will be eliminated in the quarterfinals where they could face France. 15% expect the national team to lose in the round of 16, another 15% say Germany will make it to the semifinals, and 2% expect a defeat in the final.

3% percent of Germans expect the national team to perform as poorly as in the previous two tournaments, when it was eliminated in the group stage.

More than 50,000 people have received German citizenship since 2021 because their families were persecuted by the Nazis, Germany’s interior ministry said.

Germany and Austria allow victims of World War II persecution and their descendants to reclaim the citizenship that was taken from them by the Nazis.

The number of citizenship applications in Germany reached 101,180 — more than double the number of citizenships granted between the start of 2021 and March 2026. This increase is also due to German bureaucracy and the length of time it takes to process an application.

The data begins in 2021 because a change in German law expanded the group of people eligible to apply for German citizenship due to their ancestors’ treatment by the Nazis.

Germany and Mexico will strengthen their cooperation in the fight against organized crime and drug trafficking as officials from the two countries hold meetings on a wide range of issues.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul and his Mexican counterpart Roberto Velasco headed discussions between representatives from various ministries from both countries.

According to Wadephul, the fight against organized crime should be a top priority, mostly due to concerns in Europe over rising drug consumption and the operations of international drug trafficking networks.

The economic relations between the two countries, described by Mexican Foreign Minister Velasco as among the strongest and most diverse between Latin America and Europe, were also discussed. 

More than half of Germany's companies have integrated artificial intelligence (AI) into their operations, according to a poll by the Institute for Economic Research (Ifo).

54.5% of the companies surveyed said they make use of AI in their operations, representing a rise of about 13 percentage points from last year's result of 40.9%.

AI is used most frequently in the manufacturing sector (58.7%), followed by the services sector (56.2%), the poll results show.

According to Ifo, AI is most commonly used to support existing work processes and present businesses with new opportunities by processing large amounts of information quickly.

Only 26% of Germans say they believe that the current coalition can solve the issues in the country's social security system, a new poll suggests.

The poll by the German public broadcaster ZDF also found that 52% believe the coalition — consisting of Chancellor Friedrich Merz's CDU/CSU bloc and the Social Democrats (SPD) — will last until the next federal elections in 2029. Meanwhile, 43% said the government is bound to fall apart beforehand.

Meanwhile, support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party remains high. It is currently the most popular party (27% of support), beating the CDUand its Bavarian sister party, the CSU, by two percentage points.

A German serial killer has been sentenced to life in prison for the 2004 murder of a 10-year-old boy, local reports in France said.

The 55-year-old man was found guilty of murdering the boy after abducting him from a school holiday camp in the town of Saint-Brevin-les-Pins in April 2004.

While the defendant denied his involvement throughout the trial, prosecutors said the killing had the "signature" of Martin N., whose full name cannot be disclosed according to Germany's privacy laws. 

N., who is also known as the "masked man," is already in jail in Germany for murdering three children and sexually abusing dozens of boys between 1992 and 2001.

GermanForeign Minister Johann Wadephul's Mexicotrip started with a visit to Mexico City's Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, one of the world's largest Catholic pilgrimage sites.

Berlin's top diplomat also held a meeting with his Mexican counterpart Roberto Velasco, with whom he will co-chair a meeting of the German-Mexican Binational Commission.

The visit comes after Germany's failed bid for a seat on the UN Security Council.

Despite the loss, Wadephul emphasized there will be no funding cuts to the UN on Germany's behalf, and that Berlin still views the UN as the institution as the decisive international institution promoting peace, human rights and international security.

Greetings from Bonn!

Today, among other things, we will be covering German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul's visit to Mexico, in which he will hold a series of meetings with local politicians and strategic partners.

The visit comes shortly after Germany suffered a defeat in its bid to secure a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

Join us as we bring you all the updates from Germany.