Categories
Germany news: Top court rules out mass admission revocations
Germany news: Top court rules out mass admission revocations
Mark Hallam | Jon Shelton with AFP, AP, dpa, ReutersPublished 07/24/2026Published July 24, 2026last updated 07/25/2026last updated July 25, 2026An Afghan woman has won victory over Germany's Interior Ministry after it cancelled her admission. Elsewhere, consumer confidence and VW profits are down, while violent extremist crime is up. Follow DW for the latest.
https://p.dw.com/p/5HhhZWhat you need to know
This blog has been paused. Thank you for joining us.
Here are some of the top headlines from and about Germany on Friday, July 24, 2026:
- Germany's Constitutional Court ruled that Afghan admission pledges cannot be revoked en masse
- German consumer confidence is forecast to drop again in August
- German automaker VW reports that year-on-year second quarter net profits were down by 32.9%
- Extremist violence in the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg saw a sharp rise across the political spectrum
Tired of missing our real-time updates? Click here to add us as a Preferred Source on Google. Then tap the "Star" or "Preferred" to keep DW News at the top of your feed.
Skip next section We are pausing these updatesPublished 07/25/2026Published July 25, 2026last updated 07/25/2026last updated July 25, 2026We are pausing these updates
Thank you for reading. We will back on Saturday morning to bring you more headlines from Germany.
Bis bald!
https://p.dw.com/p/5HjDMSkip next section IN DEPTH: Highs and lows as Bayreuth Festival turns 15007/24/2026July 24, 2026IN DEPTH: Highs and lows as Bayreuth Festival turns 150
Anastassia Boutsko | Gaby ReucherThe Bayreuth Festival's 150th anniversary, coming up on the last weekend of July, has been clouded by controversy surrounding German-Jewish speaker Michel Friedman. Yet it offers an opportunity to celebrate, including with an AI-enhanced Ring cycle.
Learn more about the celebrations for this year's Bayreuth Festival, which the current chancellor, Friedrich Merz, and his predecessor, Angela Merkel, will both attend, in this report.
https://p.dw.com/p/5Hj7hSkip next section Foreign Minister Wadephul draws international law and traffic offense analogy in satire show interview07/24/2026July 24, 2026Foreign Minister Wadephul draws international law and traffic offense analogy in satire show interview
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul has taken the bold but risky move of appearing in a feature interview on public television's premiere weekly satirical comedy the "heute-show," roughly like the US "Daily Show."
Wadephul speaks at some length to young anchor Fabian Köster in an elevator in a playful interview that's nevertheless focused on entirely serious topics. It spans NATO relations and Donald Trump and Greenland, Russia's war against Ukraine, the low popularity of government he serves in, the war in Iran and Nicolas Maduro's abduction from Venezuela.
"We're not conducting some kind of foreign policy interview here," Wadephul said at one point with a chuckle after a trickier question, only for Köster to immediately reply "doch!" or roughly "oh, but we are!"
When the topic turned to the US military operation to kidnap Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Wadephul was asked whether "international law can rub up against the boundaries of Realpolitik."
"Yes, if you're honest, yes, that's the case," Wadephul said. "But to be honest, we're familiar with this in the rule of law. If you think of yourself in road traffic, for instance, have you always kept to everything 100%?"
Köster said he liked the analogy but noted that "a stop sign is something slightly different" than the abduction of a head of state.
"In the law it's written that you can't drive faster than 50 km/h in a built-up area, but nevertheless sometimes people drive faster. And it's the same, fundamentally, in international law. And you have to deal with that. The laws are there to provide an orientation, but they are never dogmatically upheld 100%," Wadephul said.
Asked whether it was "embarrassing" for Germany to only speak up against breaches of international law if "the right countries" are offenders, Wadephul said it was important to note that there were gradations of color.
"There are differences," he said. "If you, like [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, have been waging five years of war against Ukraine and killing thousands upon thousands of people — including your own people — or if you took this one step against a person in power in Venezuela, who did not exactly keep to international law himself: There really is a difference."
Chancellor Friedrich Merz had faced criticism amid the US operations in both Venezuela and Iran for comments suggesting the situations were "complex." Wadephul expanded on this saying they were politically complex but perhaps simpler from a purely legal perspective, still without explicitly saying they were breaches of the law.
The show airs on Friday evening.
https://p.dw.com/p/5Hj4YSkip next section Police puzzle over Regensburg bank attacker hitting cashless branch07/24/2026July 24, 2026Police puzzle over Regensburg bank attacker hitting cashless branch
Investigative police officers are trying to nail down the motive of a 20-year-old suspect who was holed up in a Regensburg bank branch for three hours on Thursday and who is suspected of killing an employee.
He is suspected of attacking and fatally wounding a staff member and of attempted robbery.
But Regensburg criminal police investigator Robert Fuchs said the precise motive remained a mystery given the circumstances.
On the one hand, the man was carrying a note suggesting that he was planning a bank robbery and was trying to secure money. On the other, he had targeted a cashless branch, meaning his chances of any meaningful haul were near zero from the outset.
Investigators said in a press conference on Friday that the suspect had used a kitchen knife with a 12-centimeter by 2-centimeter (roughly 4-inch by 3/4-inch) blade.
The 20-year-old was already subject to a weapons ban after a prior incident of him carrying a knife and an electric shock device without authorization.
Police said there were no indications of psychiatric illness but that relevant tests were ongoing. Special units were able to detain him roughly three hours after the first emergency calls. He did not resist.
The man was also in police custody less than 24 hours prior to the crime, investigators said. They said he had turned himself in, saying that he had thrown a beer bottle at a police officer. Police said they investigated the slightly inebriated man's claim and later released him, saying they had no valid reason to detain him.
Fuchs said that the young man had repeatedly come to authorities' attention for minor infractions over the years. He was also repeatedly reported as missing from a facility caring for children and young people.
https://p.dw.com/p/5HihxSkip next section READ — Merz reshuffles Cabinet in aftermath of Spahn's exit07/24/2026July 24, 2026READ — Merz reshuffles Cabinet in aftermath of Spahn's exit
The other big news of Friday morning, frankly, might not live as long in the memory as Klopp's appointment.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz has shuffled around some more of his Cabinet posts as he tries to fill the gap left by Jens Spahn's forced resignation amid a surrogacy scandal last week.
Health Minister Nina Warken is taking up the vacancy running Merz's chancellery after the previous occupant, Thorsten Frei, took up Spahn's job as the parliamentary floor leader for the CDU/CSU group.
Carsten Linnemann will step in for Warken as health minister, and youngster Philipp Amthor will become the junior minister responsible for coordinating with the state governements on behalf of the federal government.
Amthor, still only 33, is best known for a 2020 lobbying scandal that put the brakes on his rapid rise through the party ranks in his late 20s.
https://p.dw.com/p/5HiauSkip next section IN DEPTH — Jürgen Klopp confirmed as new Germany coach07/24/2026July 24, 2026IN DEPTH — Jürgen Klopp confirmed as new Germany coach
In case you missed it this morning, Jürgen Klopp is now officially Germany's men's national team football coach.
This ends a period of weeks where the deal seemingly needed little more than some dotted i's and crossed t's.
The "Normal One" Klopp takes over from Julian Nagelsmann, who resigned in the aftermath of Germany's disappointing exit on penalties against Paraguay in the World Cup.
DW Sports' Jon Harding looks at a partnership long in the making — with Klopp's name having been linked to the national team job for years already — in this feature story.
https://p.dw.com/p/5HiZYSkip next section Sharp rise in extremist violent crimes in Baden-Württemberg in 202507/24/2026July 24, 2026Sharp rise in extremist violent crimes in Baden-Württemberg in 2025
The internal intelligence agency, known as the Verfassungsschutz, for the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg has published its annual report for 2025.
"We all notice that the challenges remain considerable," the president of the state intelligence agency, Beate Bube, said. "The crises of the world are also having an effect here. On top of that there are worrying developments in almost every working area of the Verfassungsschutz."
The report showed rapid increases in violent extremist crime from both the far right, 97 crimes compared to 54 in 2024, and the far left, 49 crimes compared to 34 the previous year.
The number of people classified as far-right extremists hit a new high of 3,790, up from 3,140 in 2024. The number of crimes motivated by far-right ideology dropped marginally, to 2,537 cases.
The number of perceived far-left extremists rose slightly to 2,730, 880 of whom were classed as willing to commit violence. The number of crimes attributed to the far-left scene rose by 80% year-on-year, to 608 cases from 342 in 2024.
The report also noted the growing dangers of hybrid threats, acts of sabotage, online disinformation, and Russian "disposable agents," as well as what it termed the "secular pro-Palestinian extremist spectrum" amid protests in support of Gaza in 2025, differentiating this group from German and Turkish leftists or Islamists.
"2025 has shown us: Extremist threats to our security are becoming more varied, complex and digital," state Interior Minister Manuel Hagel said. "The boundaries between internal and external security, between war and peace are disintegrating. The threats are wholly concrete — and reveal themselves in drone flights over critical infrastructure, in disinformation campaigns and in acts of sabotage."
He said the threats were becoming "more dynamic and subversive," and also noted that they were "reaching ever more young people."
https://p.dw.com/p/5HiPGSkip next section VW's Q2 profits dip, boss Blume wants clarity on savings plans by year's end07/24/2026July 24, 2026VW's Q2 profits dip, boss Blume wants clarity on savings plans by year's end
The Volkswagen Group filed its second quarter results on Friday, with profits continuing to dip for the struggling car giant.
The company logged net profits of €1.54 billion (roughly $1.75 billion) in the second quarter, a 32.9% drop compared to €2.29 billion in the same quarter of 2025.
Although the vagaries of the Trump administration's tariff regime hardly help, most of the company's woes can be traced back to China.
Sales, particularly of high-value and high-margin models, in the world's second-largest car market are stagnating as China's economic growth slows. And VW is also struggling with intense Chinese competition both on the Chinese market, and increasingly in Europe as well, as Chinese carmakers look to tap new markets amid the domestic slowdown.
Some in the company are calling for more drastic job cuts and factory closures.
"In a situation where the overall market in China is shrinking by 20% and Chinese competitors are increasing their exports and therefore the competitive pressure in Europe, the currently planned initiatives do not suffice," board member Arno Antlitz said.
CEO Oliver Blume, meanwhile, said a savings program alone would not suffice. He said the priority should be making VW faster, more resilient, more competitive and more innovative. He said they needed to find a way to stay profitable if only selling 8 million vehicles a year, and said he wanted details to be finalized by the end of 2026.
"VW's business model does indeed face pressure in many areas and needs optimization," Blume said, albeit adding that it was also clear that, "a debate about factory closures and historically unprecedented personnel cuts is not the new business model for the VW Group, because that's not a new source of revenue or profits, it brings no technological advantage, creates no competitive products and taps no new markets for our vehicles."
Some initial measures, like reducing the range of products on offer, seeking to streamline production, should be complete this year, Blume said. Larger steps would take time, he added, saying it was unrealistic to expect full factory closures before 2030.
The Volkswagen Group comprises multiple major automakers in Germany and beyond, also including Audi, Porsche, Seat, Skoda, Lamborghini, Bentley and Ducati.
https://p.dw.com/p/5Hi8oSkip next section Consumer confidence dips slightly as fuel costs rise again07/24/2026July 24, 2026Consumer confidence dips slightly as fuel costs rise again
German consumer confidence looking ahead to August has dipped slightly, according to the NIM index.
The Nuremberg Institution for Market Decisions (NIM) on Friday moved its confidence index down 0.3 points, to negative 29.6 points.
It attributed its latest slight decrease in confidence to lower expected incomes and a higher tendency to save money.
"The ongoing uncertainty is leading to many households remaining reticent when it comes to consumption," NIM expert Rolf Bürkl said. Most people anticipated negative overall economic growth in the coming 12 months, he said.
It also noted the role of rising fuel costs, particularly diesel and gasoline, after the government's temporary tax relief expired at the beginning of July, only for fighting between the US and Iran to flare up once again.
"Given the expiry of the petrol discount at the end of June, prices at the pumps have risen considerably once again, which is reflected in the price expectations of consumers," the institute said.
The current figures are based on interviews with roughly 2,000 people conducted between July 2 and 13 — which was before the renewed fighting really kicked into gear in the Gulf and started pushing energy prices up at pace.
https://p.dw.com/p/5Hi3DSkip next section Constitutional Court says Afghan admission pledges cannot be revoked en masse07/24/2026July 24, 2026Constitutional Court says Afghan admission pledges cannot be revoked en masse
Germany's Constitutional Court on Friday ruled in favor of an Afghan woman who filed a lawsuit against the federal Interior Ministry after the German government reneged on the promise to provide protection from the Taliban on human rights grounds.
The woman was among hundreds of individuals promised admission to Germany in 2021 after the repressive Islamist Taliban returned to power.
In December 2025, Germany's Interior Ministry reversed policy by announcing the blanket cancellation of promised admissions for roughly 640 Afghans whom the prior administration had left stranded in Pakistan for years.
The court on Friday said admissions must be considered on a case-by-case basis, adding, "Even where the executive enjoys a broad measure of discretion, it is never completely free."
Once a person has been informed that they will be granted admission, the court said, individual circumstances must be reviewed before it can be canceled.
The court said the Interior Ministry's decision to simply revoke all admissions was in breach of a German constitutional ban on arbitrary state action.
The case will now be reexamined by Germany's Higher Administrative Court.
The Constitutional Court further ordered the Interior Ministry to continue supporting those Afghans currently in Pakistan until they are admitted to Germany or the ministry reviews their cases in compliance with Germany's Basic Law.
Afghan refugees at risk as deportations surge in Pakistan
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
https://p.dw.com/p/5HhkiSkip next section Welcome to our coverage07/24/2026July 24, 2026Welcome to our coverage
Sean Sinico EditorGuten Tag from the DW newsroom. Although it's almost the weekend, smack in the middle of what used to be Germany's slowest news season, there is plenty to report.
Beyond the fact that the men's national football team has a new coach and the chancellor is reshuffling his Cabinet, we are keeping an eye on a host of other stories, including a Constitutional Court decision in favor of an Afghan woman who sued the Interior Ministry over its mass cancellation of admissions to the country.
The woman and her two young children were among hundreds of Afghans promised admission to Germany on humanitarian grounds. The court said Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt's 2025 blanket policy reversal was unconstitutional and ordered Berlin to review cases individually.
Although the German economy has shown signs of life despite prior pessimism, the US war in Iran and resulting price hikes — on top of inflation and the adverse impact of more than four years of war in Ukraine — have again put the crunch on consumer confidence, which is expected to drop in August.
Economic bright spots came from the construction industry, which is apparently booming, as well as unexpectedly rosier sales at luxury sports car manufacturer Porsche. Volkswagen, however, complained that it only netted €1.54 billion ($1.75 billion) in second quarter profits, and says it hopes to have a cost-cutting package figured out by year's end.
If that's not enough, Baden-Württemberg's Interior Ministry registered a "worrying" rise in the number of extremist violent crimes committed in the well-heeled southwestern state, with a growing number of these — from right-wing, left-wing and Islamist fanatics — being carried out by men under the age of 30.
Stay tuned to DW for the latest in Germany news this Friday, July 24, 2026
https://p.dw.com/p/5HhjzShow more posts