Skip next section Hamburg knife attack: Suspect sent to psychiatric clinicMay 24, 2025
Hamburg knife attack: Suspect sent to psychiatric clinicA magistrate on Saturday ordered the only suspect in a knife attack at Hamburg’s Central Station to be placed in a psychiatric clinic.
According to police, the woman was arrested for attempted murder in conjunction with 15 counts of grievous bodily harm.
Earlier in the day, the German police said that there does not appear to be a political motive behind the attack, which injured 18 people.
Read more on the aftermath of Friday’s knife attack at one of the country’s busiest railway stations.
https://p.dw.com/p/4usAl
Skip next section Germany considering reintroduction of military draftMay 24, 2025
Germany considering reintroduction of military draftGermany this week unveiled its largest permanent overseas military deployment in decades, an armored tank brigade in Lithuania [FILE: May 22, 2025]Image: Michael Kappeler/dpa/picture allianceGermany is considering bringing back military conscription from next year unless more volunteers sign up for the armed forces, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has said.
In an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntaggszeitung (FAS), which was published on Saturday, Pistorius outlined plans to boost Germany’s understrength army.
The initial plan to boost numbers will rely on volunteers, but Pistorius warned that could change if numbers remain insufficient. Compulsory military service was scrapped in 2011.
“Our model is initially based on voluntary participation,” Pistorius told the newspaper.
“If the time comes when we have more capacity available than voluntary registrations, then a decision may be made to make recruitment mandatory. That is the roadmap,” he added.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine three years ago, Germany has sought to boost its defense spending and capabilities.
Some 100,000 additional soldiers are required to meet its obligations as part of the NATO military alliance.
Pistorius added that Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s coalition government is hoping to introduce a new military service bill by January next year.
The defense minister accompanied Merz to Vilnius last week for the official unveiling of an armored tank brigade, Germany’s biggest foreign military mission since World War II.
https://p.dw.com/p/4us8x
Skip next section Molodova’s President Sandu receives German award for civil courageMay 24, 2025
Molodova’s President Sandu receives German award for civil courageMaia Sandu is seen as strongly pro-EUImage: Elena Covalenco/DWMoldovan President Maia Sandu has been awarded the prestigious Theodor Heuss Award for her achievements in fostering freedom and democracy in her country.
“Sandu is the president of a small country, but she is a big model with her courage, her persistence, her commitment to the political cause of liberty and democracy,” said Gesine Schwan from the Theodor Heuss Foundation.
Sandu, who was not personally present at the award ceremony in the southern German city of Stuttgart, but sent a video message in which she said that democracy had not just happened in Moldova but had had to be fought for.
She said that it was still fragile in her country, as in all young democracies, but was getting stronger all the time.
The citizens in the former Soviet republic had chosen the rule of law over corruption and peace over provocation, she added.
Sandu, who turned 53 on Saturday, became the president of Moldova in 2020 as the country’s first female head of state. She is a strong supporter of Moldova’s accession to the EU and has promoted anti-corruption measures, economic reforms and liberalization throughout her political career, as well as being a strong supporter of Ukraine as it fights the ongoing invasion by Russia.
Moldova started EU accession talks in December 2023.
Why Moldovans backed a pro-EU candidate in Romania election To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
The Theodor Heuss Foundation, established in 1964, is named after the Federal Republic of Germany’s first chancellor and aims to promote civil courage and democracy with its award, first presented in 1965.
Former award-winners include the German philosopher Jürgen Habermas and the Russian human rights organization Memorial International.
https://p.dw.com/p/4urgU
Skip next section Police say all Hamburg knife attack victims ‘stable’ as police call for AI helpMay 24, 2025
Police say all Hamburg knife attack victims ‘stable’ as police call for AI helpAll the people injured in Friday’s knife attack at Hamburg’s main rail station are now in a stable condition, police said on Saturday.
Three women, aged 24, 52 and 85, and a 24-year-old man had received life-threatening injuries in the attack by a 39-year-old female suspect who is believed to be mentally ill.
Fourteen others were also wounded, seven of them seriously.
Following the attack, the chairman of the GdP police union, Andreas Rosskopf, called for improved surveillance methods at train stations, notably the use of AI-assisted camera technology.
Such technology should “also include behavioral recognition so that such abnormal conduct can be detected ahead of time,” he said.
Witnesses have allegedly reported seeing the woman brandishing the knife at another site in the station before going to the platform 13/14 where the crime was committed.
https://p.dw.com/p/4urVq
Skip next section German residents called upon to locate remaining mobile phone dead spotsMay 24, 2025
German residents called upon to locate remaining mobile phone dead spotsMobile phone users still encounter spots where there is little or no network coverageImage: Matthias Balk/dpa/picture alliance Users of mobile phones in Germany are being asked to help close the last gaps in coverage throughout the country by reporting areas where reception is poor or lacking.
The initiative, organized by the federal, state and local governments, is to start on Monday and run until next Sunday.
Users can go to the free broadband measurement app of the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) so that gaps in reception are noted.
“Together we will create an up-to-date picture of network availability — and thus provide a database for better mobile coverage overall,” said Digital Minister Karsten Wildberger.
Although mobile phone coverage in Germany has much improved in recent years, there are still spots in both rural and urban areas where users are frustrated by little or no reception.
https://p.dw.com/p/4urNW
Skip next section WATCH — Woman in custody after mass stabbing at Hamburg train stationMay 24, 2025
WATCH — Woman in custody after mass stabbing at Hamburg train stationGerman police say a 39-year-old woman has been arrested following a mass stabbing at the busy central train station in the German city of Hamburg.
Woman in custody after Hamburg mass stabbingTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
https://p.dw.com/p/4urNT
Skip next section More than 1,500 people sent back at German bordersMay 24, 2025
More than 1,500 people sent back at German bordersAltogether 1,676 people have been turned back at the border to Germany since conservative Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt imposed stricter frontier controls two weeks ago, according to the German news magazine Focus.
The magazine cited figures from the German Interior Ministry in its report.
Dobrindt, from the Bavarian center-right Christian Social Union (CSU), imposed the harsher controls shortly after taking office.
He said, however, that they would not be in place for the long term and that exceptions would be made for “vulnerable groups.”
The minister said that 739 people attempting to illegally enter Germany had been sent back in the first week, a 45% increase on the 511 cases in the week before he took office.
“The current number show that the stronger border controls are working,” he told Focus, praising what he called the “professional and committed work of our federal police.”
The new measures have drawn criticism from several migration researchers as being both ineffective and possibly illegal under EU law.
Police have also warned that the intensified border checks are unsustainable in the long term.
Germany ramps up border checksTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
https://p.dw.com/p/4urLl
Skip next section Trains back to normal in Hamburg after knife attackMay 24, 2025
Trains back to normal in Hamburg after knife attackThe attack in Hamburg caused services at the station to be disruptedImage: Steven Hutchings/dpa/picture allianceTrain services at Hamburg’s main station have resumed normal operations after a knife attack on Friday that left 18 injured, a spokeswoman for train operator Deutsche Bahn told the DPA news agency.
A 39-year-old woman was arrested at the scene on suspicion of carrying out the attack.
She is to come before a magistrate on Saturday.
Four of the 18 wounded suffered life-threatening inuries, while six were seriously hurt, officials said.
So far, police do not believe the attack was politically or ideologically motivated but was rather the result of some kind of psychological distress on the part of the attacker.
Knife attack at Hamburg train station leaves 12 injuredTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
https://p.dw.com/p/4ur0H
Skip next section Head of BKA crime agency warns of growing right-wing youth radicalizationMay 24, 2025
Head of BKA crime agency warns of growing right-wing youth radicalizationThe head of Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), Holger Münch, has warned that young people within right-wing extremist circles are becoming increasingly radicalized.
“For about a year, we’ve increasingly seen very young people with right-wing views becoming more radicalized and forming, at times, well-organized groups to carry out serious crimes,” Münch told the Funke media group of newspapers in remarks published on Saturday.
He said the internet was a major factor aiding the far-right scene to spread its network.
“Radicalization, recruitment and mobilization increasingly happen via social networks and right-wing forums,” Münch said.
The BKA head said right-wing crime was posing a “major challenge” to security agencies but that general society also had a big role to play in reducing the threat.
His remarks follow the arrests this week of five male suspects aged 14 to 18 who were members of a far-right extremist cell alleged to have plotted violent attacks on migrants.
https://p.dw.com/p/4ur0I
Skip next section Welcome to our coverageMay 24, 2025
Welcome to our coverageThe head of Germany’s federal crime agency, Holger Münch, has told newspapers that young people are increasingly falling under the thrall of far-right extremist ideologies, with some prepared to commit “serious crimes.”
Meanwhile, train services at the main station in the northern port city of Hamburg have resumed full operations after disruption caused on Friday by a knife attack carried out by a suspected female assailant in which several were injured.
DW’s Bonn newsroom keeps you up to speed with the latest headlines from Germany at a time when Europe’s economic powerhouse is facing several major challenges from within and abroad.
https://p.dw.com/p/4uqzH
Comments