Germany updates: Defense Minister Pistorius heads to US

Customs officers in Germany seized some 1,500 tarantulas that were hidden in chocolate spongecake boxes.

The package, that was sent from Vietnam, was found at Cologne Bonn airport.

Customs officials said they had been tipped off by a "noticeable smell" that was different than what was expected of seven kilograms of sweets, Cologne customs spokesman Jens Ahland said.

According to Ahland, packages from all around the world result in the officials being "surprised," but the finding of the tarantulas left "even the most experienced customs officers speechless."

"It saddens us to see what some people do to animals purely for profit," Ahland concluded, adding that many of the tarantulas had not survived the long shipment from Vietnam to Germany.

In his first visit to Washington since Donald Trump took office, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Germany and the United States will make a decision about sending the Patriot missile systems to Ukraine within days or weeks.

Trump has recently endorsed a plan to have European allies buy billions of dollars worth of US military equipment that can be transferred to Ukraine so Kyiv is better prepared to defend itself against intensified Russian attacks.

Pistorius is said to have also assured US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that Germany would continue to play a strong and reliable role in the NATO alliance. 

He added that Germany was determined to play its part in building a more efficient, reliable and resilient Europe.

Boris Pistorius came to Washington with a clear goal: to get Donald Trump's administration to agree to sell two US-made Patriot air defense systems to Germany so that Germany could pass them on to Ukraine.

All deliveries made by Trump so far have already been pledged under former President Joe Biden. By going via Germany, this would also be a face-saving measure for those in the Trump camp who would much rather stop all military aid to Ukraine.

The German defense minister also came to Washington with another goal: getting clarity on the role the US intends to play in security in Europe.

Pistorius' motto in the talks with US counterpart Pete Hegseth is that the German government has been doing its part, and has committed to a defense spending goal of 5% of GDP — just what the US has always asked for.

Berlin has been waiting for the US to station medium-range missiles in Germany as of next year, a deal signed under Biden. But the Trump administration has still not confirmed these plans.

Pistorius also hopes to get some clarity on just how many soldiers the US might withdraw from Germany.

In Germany's western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Cologne Zoo had to make the tough decision of euthanizing two newly born cubs, after their mother did not care for them enough to ensure a chance of survival.

In a statement on Facebook, the zoo said it tried its hardest to get the mother, an Asiatic lionness, to care for the two cubs born last week, a male and a female. However, she was distracted by her two older cubs, born in January last year, who are in the final stages of rearing before they were ready to become independent.

"The chances of survival of the youngest litter, very immaturely born, were remarkably low from the outset," the Cologne Zoo said.

It added that the decision to euthanize them came after careful consideration by biologists and vets and bearing in mind the recommendation of the breeding guide "to spare the already severely weakened cubs unnecessary suffering."

Once her older cubs are fully mature and independent, the Cologne Zoo plans on giving Gina another chance to reproduce, hoping for better luck the next time.

The zoo stressed that in the wild, newborn cubs have a 30-50% chance of survival, far lower than in zoos.

"It is evolutionary for a mother lionness to only take care of the cubs that have the best chance of making it through," the zoo said.

Berlin is getting rid of China's AI application DeepSeek from app stores in the country, citing data protection threats.

Federal Data Protection Officer Louisa Specht-Riemenschneider told the newspapers of Funke media group on Monday that the app violates European law.

"China does not have a level of data protection that corresponds to our General Data Protection Regulation," Specht-Riemenschneider said, describing data transfers to China as "extremely critical."

The download of the Chinese AI chatbot, especially on government devices, has already been banned in other countries, including South Korea, Italy, Taiwan and Australia.

Some state authorities in the US have also banned employees' use of the app.

High-speed train services are scheduled to resume on the route between the Bavarian city of Munich in the south and the capital, Berlin, in the northeast after a week of repairs to fire damage at an underpass, national railway operator Deutsche Bahn has said

It warned, however, that some delays might still occur.

The line was closed more than a week ago after a fire broke out in a railway underpass in the southern town of Hirschaid.

Trains were rerouted, leading to considerable delays on the busy route.

Investigations into the blaze are considering the possiblity of arson, though there is so far no indication that the fire was deliberately lit.

The fire might also have been caused by negligence connected with wooden construction materials stored in the underpass, authorities said.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz has reiterated that his Christian Democrats (CDU) will uphold its decision not to work together with either the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party or the socialist Left Party.

In the traditional interview before the summer break with broadcaster ARD, Merz said the ban on cooperation would remain in place "in the east, in the west, in the south and in the north." 

At the same time, Merz conceded that the previous strategy for coping with the AfD, which has been seeing rising popularity throughout Germany, particularly in the east, had failed.

"We want to confront it on concrete issues and also come to terms with it as a party," he said. "Ignoring it and believing it would disappear in the long rund has obviously not worked."

Instead, he said, the government had to solve the problems that were driving the party's popularity, partly by ensuring that economic development the eastern states progressed once more and by dealing with the issue of migration.

"These seem to be the two biggest topics used by the AfD to drive its political agenda," he said.

Merz also voiced concern about an apparent rightward shift in the political attitude of young people, attributing this in part to disinformation on social media.

Although he stressed the importance of freedom of opinion, he said that freedom ended at the point where false news was being disseminated, adding the same rules had to apply in the digital world as in the analogue world.

German backpacker Carolina Wilga, who had gone missing in Australia for 12 days, released a statement detailing how it all happened. 

Wilga said she had lost control of her car and rolled down a slope and abandoned it there even though it had food, water and clothing.

In the crash, she said she hit her head significantly and left her car in a state of confusion. Wilga spent 11 nights in the remote Australian Outback before she was found by a member of the public, Tania Henley, in a chance encounter.

Wilga described Henley as being her "rescuer and angel" and thanked the people of Western Australia, where she went missing, for their efforts to locate her.

Wilga's tale of survival is a remarkable one since the remote reserves of Western Australia are particularly rough because of the rugged terrain and harsh temperatures.

Wilga wrote in the statement that: "Previously, I didn't know where my place was in a culture on the other side of the world to my own, but now, I feel a part of it."

"Western Australia has taught me what it really means to be part of a true community. Here, humanity, solidarity, and care for one another are what truly matter — and in the end, that's what counts most," she said.

WIlga wrote she was certain she survived because of the "incredible outpouring of support" and thanked the German consulate as well as medical services for their help. "I am simply beyond grateful to have survived," she added.

Read more about how Wilga was rescued after being lost in the wilderness in Australia here.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has marked the fourth anniversary of deadly floods in western Germany by calling for more emergency aid capacity to help victims of natural catastrophes.

"Four years ago, there was a catastrophe in the Ahr Valley. Its consequences can be felt and seen to this day," he wrote on X.

The Ahr is a tributary of the Rhine River that runs through the western states of North-Rhine Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate.

"In future, we must make sure that those affected are helped more quickly and effectively. We owe this to the victims whom we are commemorating today," he wrote.

Merz's post drew much criticism, with commentators alleging that his government was taking too little action to combat climate change,which scientists have cited as a likely major factor in the flooding.

At least 136 people in Rhineland-Palatinate were killed during the floods overnight from July 14 to July 15, 2021, while thousands of buildings and much infrastructure were damaged or destroyed in the Ahr Valley.

 

Germany has joined 18 other nations in the "Talisman Sabre" military drills in Australia and in neighboring Papua New Guinea — the first time activities related to the exercise have been conducted abroad,

The drills, which started on Sunday and will take place over three weeks, began in 2005 as a two-yearly exercise between Australia and the US.

Other countries taking part include Canada, Fiji, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Tonga, and the United Kingdom, with Malaysia and Vietnam as observers.

Defense Industry Minister Pat Conroy said China was likely to monitor the exercise with surveillance ships and that the drills would be conducted accordingly.

 The exercises started a day after Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese began a six-day visit to China, where he is expected to meet with President Xi Jinping on Tuesday.

In 2023, four Australian army crew members were killed when their helicopter crashed into the sea off Queensland during the drills.

The trial of a palliative care doctor who is suspected of murdering at least 15 people opens in Berlin on Monday.

The Berlin public prosecutor's office is also investigating whether the 40-year-old could be involved in dozens of other cases.

The suspect, who has not been publicly named in line with German privacy laws, is accused of murdering terminally ill patients while working for a nursing service in the German capital.

Although his alleged victims were all terminally ill, their deaths had not been expected imminently. 

According to the 255-page indictment, he is accused of administering "a lethal mixture of various medications," including an anesthetic and a muscle relaxant, to 12 women and three men "without their knowledge or consent"  between September 2021 and July 2024.

His first alleged victim was the youngest, a 25-year-old woman, and the oldest is a 94-year-old woman.

The trial is expected to run until at least January 28, 2026.

The physician first came to the attention of police during arson investigations into fires he allegedly set to cover up the murders.

The married father of one has not yet commented on the allegations, according to both the defense and the prosecution. He has also refused to speak with a psychiatric expert.

The suspect reportedly wrote a doctoral thesis at university in 2013 titled "Why do people kill?", in which he examined homicides committed in Frankfurt am Main from 1945 to 2008.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius is to meet with US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Monday, with Europe's security a likely focus of talks amid growing Russian territorial aggression in Ukraine. 

His visit — his first since Donald Trump returned to the White House in January — comes after Germany loosened its constitutional rules on debt to allow massively increased defense spending in line with NATO demands.

The talks are expected to center on Berlin's offer to pay for American Patriot air defense systems for Ukraine, which Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced weeks ago.

Trump said on Sunday he would send Patriot missiles to Ukraine, saying the EU would reimburse their cost.

Pistorius will also try to establish whether Washington is still planning to temporarilydeploy long-range missiles to Germany from 2026, as agreed under former US President Joe Biden.

Another topic is likely to be the mooted cuts to the deployment of US forces worldwide, which European leaders fear could bring a drawdown of the number of US soldiers in Europe, including some 40,000 in Germany.

European allies are urging Washington to ensure that any such moves are coordinated to avoid leaving gaps in the continent's defense capabilities that could be exploited by actors such as Russia.

Guten Morgen from the DW newsroom on the banks of the Rhine in Bonn!

We'll be bringing reports on Defense Minister Boris Pistorius' visit to Washington at a time when the US' defense commitment to Europe seems to be wavering under the Trump administration.

A trial in a case that has shocked the country is also getting underway in Berlin, with a 40-year-old doctor accused of killing 15 patients.

We will bring these and other stories, along with explainers and analysis from across DW's departments, as we cover the big topics that are the focus of talk in Germany at the moment.