Germany updates: Domestic violence at all-time high — report

The Left party in Germany is torn over one of its member's support for Israel over the conflict in Gaza, with the member having been threatened with expulsion.

Andreas Büttner serves as anti-semitism commissioner for the eastern state of Brandenburg. At least nine members have taken issue with some of his stances, according to German news agency DPA.

The application to have him expelled cited nine members saying Büttner was "consistently conspicuous on social media with statements regarding the Middle East conflict in which he not only clearly violates applicable party resolutions, but in some of his arguments also ignores applicable international law."

Members of the far-left party highlighted a post by Büttner on X where he said that "recognizing a Palestinian state would be the worst step one could take." Plus, they said Büttner criticized the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA,which Israel has banned amid claims it has been infiltrated by the militant group Hamas.

Büttner said he has been branded a "child murderer" and "genocide denier" on social media. 

"The party's resolutions bind the party executive, but not every single member," Büttner told Tagesspiegel. "Of course, members can have their own positions." 

Germany has observed an "initial slight progress" in aid deliveries in the Gaza Strip, government spokesman Stefan Kornelius said, adding that it remains insufficient to alleviate the humanitarian emergency. 

His comments came a week after Israel allowed larger aid deliveries to the Palestinian territory via land routes, along with air drops to ease a worsening hunger crisis that has left residents on the brink of famine.

Kornelius added that Berlin is "concerned about information indicating that large quantities of aid supplies are being withheld by Hamas and criminal organizations," referring to the Iran-backed militant group.

German security sources said this week that between half and all of the aid reaching Gaza is being diverted by Hamas and other organized groups.

Israel last week allowed larger aid deliveries into Gaza via land routes, along with air drops.

So far, 220 trucks have entered the territory daily to drop off vital food and medical supplies.

Along with other countries, Germany on Friday began assisting the aid effort, with the Bundeswehr armed forces airdropping pallets of food and medical equipment over Gaza.

The airdrops continued on Saturday. A German military aircraft, stationed in nearby Jordan, carried a total of 9.6 tons of aid according to a Bundeswehr spokesperson.

Germany's Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil will travel to the United States next week for talks on the US-EU trade dispute, his ministry said.

Klingbeil will meet US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday in Washington D.C.

The talks come days after US President Donald Trump finalized a deal with Brussels, imposing a 15% tariff on most European Union imports.

The bloc had been threatened with a 30% levy, but had been hoping for a 10% tariff or even a reciprocal zero-for-zero tariff deal on key goods. 

The German finance ministry said the talks would focus on "maintaining and expanding the trans-Atlantic partnership, cooperation in multilateral forums and institutions, and issues and challenges related to the agreement in principle in the trade dispute."

Klingbeil, who is also Germany's vice chancellor, will meet with World Bank President Ajay
Banga during his trip.

The German Security Cabinet met on Saturday for more discussion on the situation in the Gaza Strip amid Israel's offensive against Hamas, with Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul giving his impressions from the region by telephone following his recent trip there, according to government spokesman Stefan Kornelius.

Kornelius said the cabinet had noted "first small progress in humanitarian aid for the population in the Gaza Strip that, however, was nowhere near enough to alleviate the emergency situation."

According to Kornelius, the government was of the view that "Israel continues to be under the obligation to ensure a comprehensive supply [of aid], including with the support of the United Nations and other humanitarian organizations."

However, the government said it was also concerned by reports that large quantities of aid had been siphoned off by the militant groupHamas and criminal organizations.

The Security Cabinet members include Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil, Wadephul, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and Chancellery Minister Thorsten Frei.

In view of the expansion of the use of Palantir surveillance software by German police, Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig has said investigators' methods should be "compatible with constitutional principles."

"With regard to constitutional law, particular caution is vital when using software solutions like those provided by Palantir," she told the daily Süddeutsche Zeitung.

The minister warned that "sensitive data of our citizens" was involved in the process. That makes it "important that possible risks are closely investigated, not least where, like here, there are nontransparent algorithms of a private company" at play, Hubig said.

For a DW story focusing on Palantir and the controversy surrounding its use by German law enforcement officials, click here.

Germany could start using electronic ankle tags on offenders from next year, particularly to protect women from violent partners or ex-partners, according to Justice Mininster Stefanie Hubig.

Hubig told the daily Süddeutsche Zeitung that she was planning to introduce a regulation based on the so-called Spanish model.

In Spain, the distance between violent offenders and victims is monitored by electronic means rather than banning the former from particular areas that must then be held under surveillance.

Under the system, victims wear a GPS device, while police can use the tag to determine whether their potential aggressors have come too close to them, whether deliberately or by accident.

Hubig said she would present a draft bill after the summer. The plan would allow family courts to order offenders to wear an ankle tag, while their victims can choose whether to carry a GPS device.

In her interview, Hubig also said she was understanding of the view held by a majority of people in Germany that abortions in the first three months of pregnancy should no longer be classified as illegal, as is now the case.

However, she pointed out that such abortions did not carry any penalty despite their illegal nature.

She also expressed the view that the currently obligatory pre-abortion consultation should remain in place, saying that the decision to terminate a pregnancy was a difficult one "with consequences for the woman's life as well as for the unborn child."

 

The Wacken Open Air heavy metal music festival put on a drone show honoring the late British singer Ozzy Osbourne following the closing performance on Friday,  with the words "Ozzy, we love you" lighting up the night sky. 

Osbourne's song "Mama, I'm Coming Home" and the Black Sabbath anthem "Paranoid" accompanied the tribute, while images of the rock legend were shown on giant screens.

Osbourne, the co-founder and frontman of Black Sabbath, died on July 22, aged 76, just weeks after giving a final concert with the rock band's original line-up.

Wacken Open Air has been held annually since 1990, except for the coronavirus pandemic years 2020 and 2021. The event, set in a village of just 2,000 inhabitants in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, is considered one of the biggest heavy metal festivals in the world.
 

Train services resumed early on Saturday on the railway line between Düsseldorf and Duisburg in western Germany after successful repairs to cable damage caused by arson attacks.

A railway spokesman said test runs had been conducted before the resumption of services to ensure that all was functioning correctly.

The suspected arson attacks caused damage to cables vital for operating switches and signals.

Police believe left-wing extremists were behind the disturbance and are treating the incident as sabotage. 

A leftist group has claimed responsibility for the attacks in a letter that is being examined by police.

Herbert Reul, the interior minister of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, where the attacks occurred, told a press conference that the extremist group had "carried out several acts of sabotage in the Düsseldorf area in recent years."

The route between Düsseldorf and Duisburg is one of Germany's busiest railway connections, with more than 620 passenger trains using the line every day.
 

A German consumer group has launched legal action against several budget airlines, saying that their charges for hand luggage violate existing law.

Ramona Pop, the chairwoman of the vzbv consumer umbrella body, told the daily Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung that many carriers were "charging inadmissible fees and thus misleading consumers about flight prices."

She said that while current rules obliged airlines to carry reasonably sized hand luggage free of charge, many budget airlines allowed only a small personal item in the base fare, demanding a paid upgrade for larger items.

She said the vzbv had issued formal warnings to several carriers, with lawsuits filed against Ryanair, EasyJet, Wizzair and Vueling Airlines.

The vzbv's legal action is part of a broader Europe-wide campaign, she said.

The group is basing its legal actions on a ruling by the European Court of Justice in 2014 that hand luggage is a fundamental necessity of air travel rather than an optional extra provided by an airline.

Cases of violence within private households have reached a record level, according to a report by the weekly Welt am Sonntag that cites statistics from the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA).

Altogether 265,942 people were registered as victims of domestic violence in 2024, the paper said.

Women suffer the most from domestic violence, making up 73% of registered cases, according to the report.

Violence from partners or ex-partners accounted for 171,069 victims, a 1.9% increase over 2024.

There was also a 7.3% increase in violence between family members, with 94,873 cases, according to the BKA. 

Over the past five years, domestic violence has surged by almost 14%, the BKA says.

Editor's note: Welt am Sonntag clarified an error in citing the number of domestic violence cases, with this post having since been updated with the correct (and unfortunately higher) figure.

Guten Tag from the team in DW's newroom on the banks of the Rhine in Bonn!

Today, we will be looking at the latest statistics showing another worrying rise in the number of cases of domestic violence in the country.

Germany's railroad system is also in focus following what seems to have been a case of major sabotage on a key section.

If you are interested in the major talking points in Europe's largest economy, we hope we have the right stories for you here in our blog on Saturday, August 2!