Germany news: Drones posing growing danger to aviation

CDU foreign policy expert Norbert Röttgen on Sunday said the new US National Security Strategy published by the Trump administration last week had heralded what he called "a second turning point." His statement played on former Chancellor Olaf Scholz's declaration that Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine had signaled a turning point in Europe's approach to security.

In comments delivered to Germany's Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND), Röttgen said the US paper outlined a seismic shift.

"For the first time since the end of the Second World War, the US no longer stands with Europeans," said Röttgen, who added that beyond that, the US was abandoning Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.

Further still, Röttgen expressed shock at Washington's vow to, "help Europe correct its current trajectory," with the Trump administration claiming that the EU and the governments of member states are "trampling the principles of democracy to suppress opposition."    

The US strategy paper warned that Europe faces "civilizational erasure" as a result of "failed policies" though said it is heartened by the rise of what it called "patriotic" European parties. 

"The aim is to influence our mindset with the current ideological tenets of the MAGA movement, and, to this end, to collaborate with the domestic enemies of liberal democracy in Europe — in Germany, that means the AfD," said Röttgen.

Trump and his administration have regularly leaned into supporting the furthest right of Europe's populist movements. Officials such as Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, former US Ambassador to Germany Ric Grenell, as well as presidential donor Elon Musk, have all campaigned hard for Alternative for Germany (AfD) — an outfit that Germany's intelligence services have found to be, at least in part, right-wing extremist.

Germany's foreign minister, Johann Wadephul (CDU), is visiting China on Monday, where he says he wants to "find common solutions" to "urgent international challenges," including global trade restrictions, Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine and tensions over Taiwan.

"No other country has as much influence over Russia as China," Wadephul said in a statement. "No other country can use its weight to ensure that Russia finally shows readiness to enter into serious negotiations which respect the sovereignty of Ukraine."

Despite claiming neutrality in the conflict, China has faced accusations of supporting the Russian war effort. "It is in our interests for China to contribute to achieving a just and durable peace in Ukraine," Wadephul added.

Another potential conflict is brewing in China's own back yard, with Beijing continuing to insist that Taiwan is a Chinese province which ought to be brought back under its control – with military force if need be.

"As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China carries a responsibility for peace and stability in the world," said Wadephul, calling on Beijing to respect the UN charter and refrain from the use of violence.

On his two-days visit to China, Wadephul will also address trade issues such as rare earth export restrictions imposed by Beijing in response to tariffs levied by US President Donald Trump. The valuable metals are important for many modern technologies from electric vehicles to wind turbines to computer chips.

German car manufacturers are particularly affected by the restrictions – as well as by Chinese state subsidies for the production of electric vehicles. The European Union has accused Beijing of flooding the market with cheap Chinese models produced at a cost with which European manufacturers can't compete.

Wadephul's China trip was originally scheduled for the end of October but was postponed at short notice – officially due to scheduling difficulties but more likely due to the German foreign minister's criticism of Beijing's policy toward Taiwan.

United States Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Saturday praised Germany for increasing its defense spending, among a number of other NATO allies.

"Model allies that step up like Israel, South Korea, Poland, increasingly Germany, the Baltics and others will receive our special favor," he said, although neither Israel and South Korea are part of NATO.

Hegseth made the comments at the Reagan National Defense Forum in California and added that US President Donald Trump was happy to "help countries which help themselves" but threatened consequences for other allies who fail to meet their obligations on defense spending.

What to know about NATO's defense spending target

In June 2025, in response to Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine and under pressure from Washington, NATO set member states a goal of spending at least 5% of their gross domestic product (GDP) on defense by 2035 – the highest level since the Cold War.

Of that amount, 3.5% is to be spent on direct military capabilities while the remaining 1.5% can be spent on defense-related infrastructure projects.

Germany aims to raise its defense spending to 3.5% of GDP by 2029, kickstarted by a €100-billion investment in the military launched in 2022.

Of all NATO members, the only country that spent over 4% of GDP on defense in 2024 was Poland (4.12%), followed by Estonia (3.43%) and the US. (3.38%).

In real terms, the US is still by far the biggest financial contributor to the alliance ($967.7 billion in 2024, over 65% of total NATO expenditure), followed by Germany ($97.7 billion), the UK ($82.1 billion) and France ($64.3 billion).

A man is missing and presumed dead after driving his car into the Rhine River near the southwestern German city of Karlsruhe on Saturday night.

According to local police, witnesses alerted the authorities after seeing the car drive off a jetty and into the water near the small town of Rheinstetten, close to the border with France.

Recovery attempts involving specialist divers overnight were unsuccessful and were set to continue on Sunday morning, but a police spokesman said the driver is presumed to have drowned.

Rescue teams are planning to use a sonar boat to search for the car which may have been carried further downstream by the rising water level and fast current.

The identity of the driver remains unclear but he is thought to have been alone in the vehicle.

River traffic on the Rhine was temporarily suspended during the night but had resumed by Sunday morning.

Drones flying near major airports or manned aircraft in Germany are creating a growing hazard to aviation, the air traffic authority (DFS) has said.

The DFS reported 208 incidents where unmanned aircraft posed a danger for aviation operations up to the end of November, a large increase over the 149 such occurrences in the same period last year.

The figure already exceeds the 161 incidents reported in the whole of 2024, a previous record for the country.

Drone sightings have repeatedly led to a suspension of operations at major airports.

In most cases, the drone operators cannot be identified. Authorities, however, increasingly suspect that there could be potential foreign involvement by hostile powers in some cases, though inexperienced hobbyists are often to blame.

The most-affected airport was Germany's biggest aviation hub in Frankfurt, which recorded 45 sightings up to the end of November, up from 17 in the same period last year.

In Germany, drones are not permitted to fly closer than 1.5 km (nearly a mile) to sites where planes take off or land. Infringements can carry prison sentences of up to 10 years. 

Guten Tag once more from DW's newsroom in Bonn.

We will continue looking at events in and connected with Germany, among other things the Middle East trip of Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who is in Israel today.

As you could read in an earlier entry, however, he and his coalition government are seeing plunging popularity ratings at a time when Germany and Europe need stable governments amid a myriad of economic and security challenges.

You can read more in our Germany news blog on Sunday, December 7. 

For now, we are pausing our coverage. Tune in again on Sunday morning for more German news and analysis.

The ruling coalition in Germany is continuing to see diminishing public support, an Insa poll conducted for the Bild am Sonntag newspaper showed.

Nearly 70% of the respondents said that they were dissatisfied with the performance of the governing coalition. which comprises the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), its Bavarian sister party Christian Social Union (CSU), and the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD).

With only 21% expressing satisfaction, this is the lowest approval rating recorded since the government took office in May.

The poll interviewed 1,005 people from December 4 to 5. 

Chancellor Friedrich Merz was also rated poorly, with 68% of respondents expressing dissatisfaction with his work and only 23% approving of it.

The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) has elected two new party leaders at a federal party conference held on Saturday.

Amira Mohamed Ali and European lawmaker Fabio De Masi will take the reins of the party following party founder Sahra Wagenknecht's withdrawal from the federal chairmanship.

De Masi garnered 93.3% of the votes cast at the party gathering, while Mohamed Ali was confirmed in office with 82.6% of the votes.

The two politicians used to be members of the Left Party along with Wagenknecht and were founding members of the BSW in January 2024.

A 19-year-old mountain climber from Germany has been killed following an avalanche on the Zugspitze in southern Austria.

Tyrol police said that the young alpinist had been ascending a fixed cable route when an avalanche was triggered, dragging him to his death over steep and rocky terrain.

Police said that the man had been with another 21-year-old companion, who was secured to the cable with a carabiner and was not swept away in the incident.

Mountain rescue teams along with avalanche rescue dogs managed to locate the 19-year-old some 350 meters down the mountain.

He had been buried by snow and despite resuscitation attempts. Police said he died at the scene.

A Level 2 warning of a risk of avalanche was in force over many areas in Tyrol on Saturday. The moderate level indicates that weak layers in old snow may become loosened by climbing activity.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will be joining French President Emmanual Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for talks in London on Monday.

Merz' spokesman confirmed the talks would take place as the chancellor was about to set off from Jordan to Israel on his first official visit.

Macron took to X to announce that the talks would be taking place, with the comments coming as Ukrainian and US officials held a third straight day of talks in Miami to discuss a plan to end the nearly four-year war.

"I will travel to London on Monday to meet with the Ukrainian President, the British Prime Minister, and the German Chancellor, in order to take stock of the situation and the ongoing negotiations within the framework of the US mediation," Macron wrote, slamming what he called Russia's "escalatory path" after fresh overnight strikes.

"We will continue these efforts with the Americans to provide Ukraine with security guarantees, without which no robust and lasting peace will be possible," he added. 

German populist party BSW — short for Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht, or Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance — is changing its name. 

The party will be called the Alliance for Social Justice and Economic Reason ("Bündnis Soziale Gerechtigkeit und Wirtschaftliche Vernunft" in German) in the future, it said on Saturday at a federal party conference.

The move will take effect on October 1, 2026. To honor its founder, Sahra Wagenknecht, the party is still to be known by the same initials, BSW.

The rebrand is meant to distance the party from its association with Wagenknecht, who created the BSW in early 2024 following her split with the socialist Left Party.

In November, Wagenknecht announced that she is stepping down as chair of the BSW.

A 45-year-old woman has died after being stabbed on the street in Germany's southern city of Ingolstadt, police said.

According to the German DPA news agency, the woman got into an argument with her former male partner on Friday evening when he attacked her with a kitchen knife.

Her 49-year-old ex-partner is currently under police guard in hospital after sustaining serious injuries.

Police said the dead woman's two sons, aged 23 and 17, attempted to intervene to protect their mother, hitting and kicking her assailant.

One of them suffered a slight injury to his hand, according to the police spokesman.

Ingolstadt is situated between Munich and Nuremberg, on the banks of the Danube River.

Earlier this year, cases of domestic violence reached a new high in Germany, with almost 266,000 people registered as victims of the crime.

Germany's Olympic body DOSB says the country wants to be one of the top five sporting nations in the world by 2035.

The DOSB set six ambitious targets for the next decade at its general meeting in Frankfurt, including increasing the number of Olympic medals won.

To achieve this, the body wants children and young people to spend more time exercising. A target of 90 minutes per day has been set. 

At present, only one in five young people meets the target, DOSB data showed.

The sports body plans to campaign for German residents to have access to a modern sports facility within 15 minutes of their home.

A passenger ship carrying 137 people struck a bridge in Germany's southern state of Bavaria, police said.

DPA news agency cited a police spokesperson as saying the crash happened on the Main-Danube Canal near the town of Dietfurt, some 70 kilometers southeast of Nuremberg late Friday evening.

Police said the ship was about to enter a lock and collided with the bridge because the vessel's wheelhouse had not been retracted enough.

A wheelhouse is the enclosed cabin on a ship or boat containing the steering wheel and navigation controls. Some wheelhouses can be lowered to help the vessel navigate low bridges.

Damage was estimated by police in the upper five-figure range.

The crew and all 137 passengers were unharmed. 

The ship has been ordered not to continue its journey for the time being, the police spokesman said.