Germany news: Munich votes in favor of Olympics bid

We're closing our weekend roundup of German news. But we'll shortly start our coverage of the latest news and analysis for Monday, October 27. 

German politicians are making serious accusations against the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Thuringian Interior Minister Georg Maier expressed concern that the AfD is abusing its parliamentary powers to gather information about Germany's transport infrastructure, water supply, digital infrastructure and energy supply — in the interests of the Kremlin.

Read more about the allegations of espionage against AfD.

Munich residents voted in favor of the German city's bid to host the Olympics for the first time since 1972.

According to Mayor Dieter Reiter, 60% of those who cast their vote said "yes" to Munich hosting the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2036, 2040 or 2044.

"This is a good day for Munich," he said, while Jörg Ammon, the head of the Bavarian State Sports Association, called the outcome a "dream result."

Bavaria's state premier Markus Söder said the outcome of the vote was "a very strong signal."

"Now we're getting started. Now we're moving forward. It's been a great day today," he said.

But there is still a long way to go as Munich, which hosted the 1972 Summer Olympic Games, will have to compete against Berlin, Hamburg and the Rhine-Ruhr region in Germany. 

"I'm very excited to see the reactions from the competing cities," Reiter said.

Germany and the UK plan to jointly trace Russian submarines in the northern Atlantic.

The defense ministers of both countries took a ride on one of the high-tech planes that will make this possible.

Here's how Russian submarines and suspicious ships could be detected. 

Around 400,000 chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys have been culled at more than 30 commercial poultry farms following several outbreaks of avian influenza, Germany's animal health institute said on Sunday.

"We had similar figures in 2021, the strongest 'avian influenza year' to date. It is impossible to predict how the situation will develop, but the FLI [Friedrich Loeffler Institute] is expecting a further increase in outbreaks and cases," the institute's head, Christa Kühn said, adding: "The situation remains highly dynamic."

The northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and that of Brandenburg, which surrounds Berlin, have seen the highest cull rates.

On Sunday, a district in Brandenburg announced that 130,000 more birds would be killed after bird flu cases were detected.  

There has also been preemptive culling of livestock in other states after the FLI confirmed cases of infection with the highly contagious H5N1 avian influenza virus.

Wild birds migrating to southern regions are seen as the main carriers of avian influenza, with cranes being affected this year more than usual.

This has been seen particularly in northwest Brandenburg, where they have been dying in large numbers during their normal stopover in the region on their way to France, Spain or North Africa.

Kühn said there was a low risk of infection for the general population but that those "who come into contact with infected animals, such as the teams that clear affected poultry houses or collect dead wild birds, have a moderate risk of infection and therefore wear protective clothing." 

The German Police Union (GdP) is calling for more federal officers at railway stations and wider powers to carry out checks, amid growing political debate over urban migration.

GdP chief Andreas Rosskopf, told the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND) editorial network that "it is becoming increasingly dangerous, especially at the large railway stations in city centres, including for our colleagues. They are experiencing less and less respect and acceptance." 

The call follows controversial remarks by Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said migration policy failures have changed the face of German cities. Europeans are "afraid to move around in public spaces" due to migrants who do not obey the law, Merz said.

"More security at train stations also results in a better image of the city," Rosskopf said, referencing Merz's original remarks.

Federal police currently oversee borders, airports and train stations.

Rosskopf also called for police to be allowed to conduct random checks without suspicion.

Guten Tag from DW's newsroom in Bonn.

The fallout continues after controversial remarks by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz over immigration.

The German Police Union is calling on the government to boost the police presence at railway stations and expand officers' powers there. 

While the union pointed to growing threats and a decline in public respect, it stopped short of directly linking the concerns to migration, though it did reference Merz's recent comments.

Meanwhile, in Munich, residents are weighing in on whether the city should launch a bid to host the Summer Olympics.

We'll be covering these stories and more from across Germany this Sunday.

We're pausing the blog now, but we'll be back with the latest news from Germany on Sunday. 

The two cooling towers at the former Gundremmingen nuclear power plant in southern Germany were demolished on Saturday.

The two 160-meter-high towers, consisting of a total of 56,000 metric tons of reinforced concrete, were brought down by controlled explosives.

As part of Germany's nuclear phaseout, the former Gundremmingen nuclear power plant was shut down at the end of 2021.

Since then, it has been undergoing decommissioning, which will continue into the 2030s.

Once decommissioning is completed, the operator RWE plans to use the site as a battery facility to store solar power. A photovoltaic plant and a new gas-fired power station are also planned.

According to a report in the Sunday newspaper Welt am Sonntag, ongoing challenges with the digitalization of the German Army's land forces could harm their operational readiness.

The digitalization program for land-based operations (D-LBO) is intended to link individual soldiers, vehicles, command vehicles, and mobile command posts through modern, secure digital networks.

Documents from the Defense Ministry and the Bundeswehr cited by the newspaper suggest that a proposed solution would preserve "military operability" but would require a "temporary reduction in operational readiness."

The Defense Ministry has repeatedly stated, in response to questions about radio system issues, that the project remains on schedule.

However, even after another test planned for November, the system will reportedly be suitable only "for training and exercises," and not yet ready for combat use.

Profits at Porsche plunged by nearly 96% in the first nine months of 2025. The German carmaker attributed the decline to a change in strategy, shifting its focus back to combustion engines due to weak demand for electric vehicles.

Around 2,000 people braved the rain in Hamburg on Saturday to protest against Chancellor Friedrich Merz's comments on migration. 

Under the motto "We are the cityscape!," demonstrators displayed slogans such as "Standing together against racism and division" and "Merz out of our cityscape!". 

The Left Party, Fridays for Future Hamburg, and smaller left-wing groups called for the demonstration.

The party accused Merz's center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) of aligning its rhetoric with the far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD).

"The CDU is going crazy — and with every new right-wing statement, Chancellor Merz is further ingratiating himself with the AfD," the Left Party said. 

The Hamburg AfD parliamentary group leader, Dirk Nockemann, had already criticized the call for the demonstration on Friday. 

He said: "The professional outrage-mongers are once again taking to the streets for a fabricated reason. Yet everyone who walks through our cities with their eyes open knows: Since 2015, our country has become less safe, and many Hamburg streets are no-go areas in the evenings."

According to a recent Politbarometer survey conducted by German public broadcaster ZDF, Merz is receiving predominantly positive feedback from the public for his latest statement.

63% of respondents agreed with the CDU chairman that there are problems in the urban landscape. 29% do not consider the statement justified.

Germany's poultry industry is calling for urgent action amid the rapid spread of bird flu.

The Poultry Industry Association of the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg is urging a nationwide mandate requiring free-range poultry to be kept in closed barns or coops to contain the highly contagious H5N1 virus.

The Friedrich Loeffler Institute reports that more than 200,000 birds have already been culled this fall, with cases rising sharply during the autumn migration. Migrating cranes, wild geese and ducks have been particularly affected.

Experts warn the outbreak could rival the severe wave of 2020, when more than 2 million birds were destroyed.

On Friday, Federal Agriculture Minister Alois Rainer said it was a "top priority to prevent the spread of the virus, protect animals, and avert damage to our agriculture and food industry."

He also mentioned ongoing talks with ministers from the federal states responsible for the issue.

Rainer's ministry has submitted a request to the European Union to raise the compensation limit for valuable animals that must be culled from €50 to up to €110 ($54 to $118).

Parties of both the center-right and the center-left are unintentionally strengthening far-right parties by repeating their ideas and rhetoric in a doomed attempt to shrink their support, according to a new study by the Berlin Social Science Center.

Chancellor Friederich Merz's recent remarks on Germany's "cityscape" are the latest example.

Read how the far-right are dragging the political center to their issues by clicking here. 

The number of deportations from Germany rose significantly in the first three quarters of 2025 compared to the same period last year.

Government figures obtained by the Left Party in the Bundestag show over 17,600 people were deported between January and September, compared with 4,706 in the same period in 2024.

Most people were sent to Turkey and Georgia.

Almost one in five deportees was under 18, and more than 300 were over 60.

Some opposition politicians have criticised the rise, warning of deportations to countries with poor human rights records. The government has not commented.