Monday's top story:Will Berlin's left-leaning parties finally decide on coalition talks?
The Greens and SPD in Berlin will decide on Monday on the start of coalition negotiations with the Left Party.
The Greens have convened a small party congress in the evening, at around 8pm. The SPD will decide at a digital meeting of its state executive.
The basis is an exploratory paper that the three parties presented at the weekend.
The Left Party will not make its decision on the start of coalition negotiations until a party congress on October 31st. The reason is the two-week autumn holidays in Berlin.
If approved, the coalition talks can then begin at the start of November.
However, 20 SPD members of the Bundestag opposed a possible coalition of their party with the Left Party in Berlin in a joint statement.
"As members of the SPD parliamentary group, we also see our responsibility for the credibility of common social democratic principles. Therefore...we strongly oppose the start of coalition negotiations with the Berlin Left," the statement reads, according to media reports.
Police investigate fence breach at Leipzig airport
German police at Leipzig/Halle airport were investigating a breach on Sunday after it appeared a vehicle broke through a fence and drove a few metres before exiting.
After police spent the day searching the scene, a spokesperson told journalists that authorities had not yet found the vehicle and were still trying to determine whether the breach was an accident or a crime.
Reuters reported that officers on Sunday could be seen inspecting the area around a large break in the chain-link and barbed-wire fence.
One of the airports runways was briefly closed.
This comes after a more serious incident in August in which an explosives-laden drone was discovered near a runway at the same airport.
Last week there had been a drone sighting near Nuremberg airport just hours before a hijacking scare saw the airport closed for some time.
Merz rolls out the red carpet for investors at Berlin summit
Germany aims to spend many billions on credit to whip the infrastructure into shape and support companies in cutting carbon emissions. This is also a key driver for higher economic growth this year.
READ ALSO: Factory production in Germany hits highest level in 18 months
However, economists are warning that public money alone won't be enough for the task.
So the German government wants to mobilise significantly more private capital for investments -- hence an "Invest in Germany Summit" in Berlin this week.
Kicking the event off, Chancellor Friedrich Merz gathered entrepreneurs in a former heat and power plant in Berlin-Mitte for an exclusive event titled "Red Carpet for Investments".
The head of the US chip manufacturer Nvidia, Jensen Huang, was announced as the "star guest". This comes as the German government is planning a cooperation with Nvidia.
On the actual conference day on Tuesday, Merz and Vice-Chancellor Lars Klingbeil are to be joined by half the cabinet.
Large companies, investment banks and funds are invited. There is talk of around 200 international and German CEOs.
ICE train driver misses stop in East Hesse
The train driver of a fully occupied ICE train missed the stop in Fulda on the way from Frankfurt/Main to Berlin on Sunday afternoon.
A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn told the German Press Agency that the train driver had accidentally forgotten to stop in the eastern Hessian city.
Instead, the ICE 596 then stopped in Hünfeld, a small town in eastern Hesse about 18 kilometres away. All passengers who wanted to go to Fulda had to get off there and take a regional train back.
Because the long-distance train was too long for the platform there, the doors of the 1st class carriages in Hünfeld could not be opened.
"We expressly apologise to all passengers," a railway spokesman told the German Press Agency. He pointed out that affected passengers could apply for compensation within the framework of passenger rights.
The train was scheduled to start at 4:15 pm in Frankfurt and then travel via Fulda, Eisenach, Erfurt, Leipzig and Wittenberg to Berlin. However, it left Frankfurt delayed by 15 minutes.
It is not the first time that Deutsche Bahn has hit the headlines because of a cancelled ICE stop. The city of Wolfsburg in Lower Saxony has been missed several times in recent years.
READ ALSO:
- What Deutsche Bahn's new 2027 timetable means for passengers
- EXPLAINED - How to get compensation for delayed or cancelled trains in GermanyEU to prepare tool to curb market access 'fast' in a trade war
The European Union will develop a weapon that could stop access to the bloc's market "fast" in the event of a trade war, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday.
Her announcement came after France and Germany said they wanted to strengthen the EU's legal armoury in case of a potential trade conflict with China.
"We will develop a new instrument for decisive action by limiting the access to the single market where this is in the union's interests fast and immediately," she said after EU leaders met over two days in Brussels.
But, she added, "let me be clear: new tools are not an alternative to the full use of existing instruments. We should use them to the fullest, just as it is needed in the different situations".
France and Germany sent a joint letter to von der Leyen last week, proposing faster tools to be deployed in a trade war, for example if a country cut off supplies to critical raw materials.
China exports significantly more to Europe than the EU does to China. With the figures rising, leaders fear the imbalance will do further damage to the bloc.
The EU's deficit with China was around 360 billion euros last year, which von der Leyen warned would be "worse" in 2026.