Germany news: Merz to nominate Aigner for president

Germany news: Merz to nominate Aigner for president Published November 7, 2026last updated November 8, 2026What you need to know - German Chancellor Friedrich Merz confirmed he will nominate Ilse Aigner for president - Iranian opposition politician Reza Pahlavi accepted a 'Freedom Prize' in Frankfurt - More than 18,000 people rallied to show support for Pahlavi, but some others protested - Man replaced the German flag with a Palestinian one at the Berlin parliament building This is a roundup of the top stories from and about Germany on the weekend of Saturday, November 7, and Sunday, November 8, 2026: Body of missing 13-year-old Berlin girl found in abandoned house, suspect in custody The Berlin Police and the Berlin Public Prosecutor's Office on Sunday evening issued a joint statement announcing that they believe that a body found in an abandoned house in Brandenburg is in fact that of Lisa T., a 13-year-old Berlin girl who went missing on her way to school Tuesday morning. Police in Brandenburg found the body, as well as an injured male whom they believe to be responsible for the child's death, when they acted on a tip from locals alerting them of a break-in. Authorities say the man is in critical condition at a nearby hospital where he is under police guard. Further, authorities say the man's injuries were self-induced. Police are now working to ascertain the man's identity. On Friday, the police said that the girl had likely not disappeared voluntarily. On Saturday, they said that it must be assumed that she had been the victim of a crime. Bundesliga: FC Bayern's woes continue as Neuer goes down to injury Veteran keeper Manuel Neuer has been added to the list of walking wounded at Bundesliga top team FC Bayern Munich, suffering a torn foot tendon in his team's 2-1 victory in Mainz. Neuer, who posted on social media that "an injury never comes at the right time, but it's part of the game," left the match just before the half. Bayern released a statement saying that the champion goalie would be "out for the time being." Though no further information was given, media reports suggested Neuer could be out for at least two months. "I've been through this before, and I'll get through this one, too," said Neuer. "From now on: full focus on recovery. Until then, I will support the boys on the pitch wherever I can." A two-time Champions League winner, Neuer made club history at the start of the match — his 550th in Germany's Bundesliga — as the oldest ever player to take the pitch for Bayern at age 40 years and 225 days. The veteran's absence will only compound Bayern's injury woes as they battle on without head coach Vincent Kompany — who is recovering from an illness — as well as Jamal Musiala, Luis Diaz, Ismael Saibari and Serge Gnabry — all of whom are on long-term injured reserve. German citizen among 15 wounded in Krakow shooting, Steinmeier voices solidarity As authorities in Poland try to make sense of yesterday's deadly shooting in Krakow, lists of victims' nationalities have been made public. Of the six victims shot and killed at the city's market square on Saturday, four were women and two were men. Three of the women and one of the men were Polish, while the remaining woman was from Austria and the man from the UK. Austrian, British, German, Portuguese and Russian passport holders were among the 15 individuals wounded by the Polish gunman. German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier's office on Sunday posted a statement of support on X, writing: "In this difficult hour, Germany stands in mourning and solidarity with Poland and its citizens." Further, Steinmeier expressed his condolences to Polish President Karol Nawocki, saying, "my thoughts are with the victims and their families." Allgäu Alps lose their lost glacier, researchers say Researchers have confirmed the loss of the Schwarzmilzferner, the last glacier in the Allgäu Alps on the border between Germany and Austria. Estimates by researchers say that the eastern Alps could be completely ice-free by 2070 due to climate change and rising global temperatures. The glacier was located on the Austrian side of the mountain range at an altitude of 2,450 meters (8038 feet). It can no longer be considered a glacier as it has lost over 4 meters in thickness and around half its volume earlier this year, glaciologist Cristoph Mayer told the dpa news agency. Mayer said that the glacier will likely disappear "completely" by next summer. The rapid melting came as Europe was hit by a massive heatwave over the summer of 2026. "Even if there is heavy snowfall in winter, the ice masses are shrinking rapidly. Summers have now become too hot for them," Mayer said. "As things stand, I expect the entire Eastern Alps to be ice-free between 2060 and 2070." Man replaces German flag with Palestinian flag at Berlin parliament building A 22-year-old man took down the German flag at the Reichstag building in Berlin and replaced it with a Palestinian flag, police said on Sunday. The Reichstag building is the seat of the lower house of German parliament, the Bundestag. The large German flag that flies in front of the building is known as the Unity Flag, or Flagge der Einheit in German, as it commemorates the German reunification of 1990. The man climbed up the flagpole using a climbing harness at around 11:30 a.m. local time (1030 UTC) and threw the German flag to the ground, police said. He lowered himself back down on his own, according to police, after which he was taken into custody. He was supported by two other men aged 20 and 32, according to the report. Police have launched an investigation into a suspected case of denigration of the state and its symbols, damaging public property and trespassing. The Palestinian flag was removed with the assistance of the fire department. As the mast hoisting cable had been damaged in the incident, the German flag could not be immediately raised again. Camel survives collision with bus in Bavaria A camel survived a collision with a bus in southern Germany. The accident occurred on a rural road in Riedering, a town southeast of Munich in the state of Bavaria. According to police, three camels escaped a fenced pasture, with one of them ending up on the road on which the accident occurred when the bus drove past it at 8am local time. While the camel did not sustain any injuries, the bus suffered an estimated €500 ($552) worth of damage. Bavaria's Söder calls for return to conscription Bavarian Premier Markus Söder has spoken out in favor of military conscription in remarks seemingly in response to Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, who this week said he believed the draft was not necessary in the near future (see earlier entry in this blog). "If our democracy is important to us, we have to stand up for it. That's why it is clear: We need true military conscription again," he wrote on X. "Germany is threatened in a way it has not been in a long time," Söder wrote. "That is why we have to keep strengthening the Bundeswehr." Söder, who also leads the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), which forms part of Germany's coalition government, said the current large investments in equipment and infrastructure were not enough on their own. "A new concept of defense for the country and its allies also needs more soldiers," he wrote. In remarks published on Saturday, Pistorius told newspapers from the Funke media group that the Bundeswehr currently had some 190,000 members, the highest level in 13 years, meaning that voluntary recruitment measures were working. "If this trajectory continues, we will have no problems with growth," he said, and there would not have to be "a discussion about conscription of whatever kind." During Gen Z protests last weekend, young demonstrators called among other things for an end to any considerations of reintroducing military conscription. IG Metall union calls for strike at Mercedes-Benz plant Germany's largest union, IG Metall, has called on workers at a Mercedes-Benz plant outside Berlin to walk out for two hours on Monday amid stalled wage negotiations. Employees at local car supplier Gestamp in Ludwigsfelde, a town south of Berlin, have also been called upon to take part in the industrial action. IG Metall is demanding 5% more pay for the around 96,000 employees in the metal and electrical industry in the states of Berlin and Brandenburg as part of a 12-month collective wage agreement, as well as job and location security. The strike is being called after the union failed to reach agreement in a third round of a wage dispute. During a second round of talks, the employers presented a coordinated nationwide offer of a one-off payment next year and a 1.3% pay rise in July 2028, which was rejected by the union as inadequate. Holocaust denial on the up among young people — Anne Frank Zentrum Young people are increasingly denying the facts of the Holocaust or downplaying its horrors, according to the head of the Anne Frank Zentrum in Berlin. In remarks made to the Catholic news agency KNA ahead of the 88th anniversary of the November pogroms in Germany, Veronika Nahm said that people attending traveling exhibitions organized by the center sometimes asked, "Is that even true?" She said that people downplaying or denying the Holocaust was particularly apparent in social media posts connected with the center. She said there were comments such as, "Why do you commemorate Anne Frank, why not a child in Gaza?" Lack of information, not bad intentions Nahm attributes the rise in such opinions to ignorance rather than bad intentions on the part of young people, saying they were not as well-informed on the topic in schools as they were 15 years ago. "There has been a generational change of teachers. For many older teachers, it was close to their hearts, and it was mentioned in many places and subjects during lessons. That is different today," she said. Nahm said it was important that visits by young people to sites commemorating the Holocaust be used to strengthen their feeling of empathy, something that worked particularly well with the story of Anne Frank. The Anne Frank Zentrum in Berlin is a partner organization to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. Anne Frank was a Jewish girl who hid in that house during the 1940-1945 German occupation of the Netherlands and wrote a famous diary, later published, about her experiences and feelings. She was discovered and deported by the Nazis and died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in early 1945. The November pogroms, during which Jews and Jewish property and institutions were attacked, took place on November 9-10, 1938, across the German Reich at the instigation of Germany's Nazi regime. Large majority for fuel price cap, windfall tax — survey Most people in Germany favor the government imposing a cap on prices for gasoline and diesel, a survey has shown. The government is currently debating such a cap, which would replace a current fuel tax rebate that runs out at the end of the year. According to the survey by the NIM Institute, 71% of the people asked said they would like the government to control fuel prices. Altogether 66% of respondents were in favor of levying a windfall tax on oil corporations, which have been turning in massive profits amid shortages caused largely by the war in Iran. Other measures to relieve the pressure on motorists amid surging fuel prices were less popular, according to the survey. Just 56% of respondents wanted to see a rise in the allowed tax deduction for commuters, and just 52% favored direct payments from the state to drivers on low incomes. Enviroment minister hopes for progress at UN climate conference German Environment Minister Carsten Schneider has said he hopes agreement will be reached on measures to limit global warming at the UN Climate Change Conference over the next two weeks. "The faster global emissions fall, the faster we can bring the temperature curve back down to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit). At the same time, we must do more to protect people from the effects of heat waves, droughts and floods," Schneider said. Schneider was referring to the target of limiting global warming to 1.5 C compared with pre-industrial levels agreed on under the Paris climate accords. The UN said last month, however, that this target will be missed within the century, with most nations failing to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by a significant amount. Schneider also said moving toward electricity as the main source of energy was the best way to combat climate change, which is being driven largely by the human burning of fossil fuels such as oil and gas. Merz announces his absence Schneider will be the only German Cabinet member to attend the COP31 summit, which kicks off in Turkey on Monday. Chancellor Friedrich Merz has decided to skip the event, citing "other commitments." His decision has drawn considerable criticism, with leading German climate activist Luisa Neubauer saying it sent "the worst possible signal to the international community." "It is unworthy of Germany and an insult, particularly to those nations around the world that are already facing an existential threat from rising sea levels," she said. Media reports say Merz is planning a visit to an Italian restaurant with his wife and daughter for his 71st birthday on Wednesday while the summit is underway, leading Neubauer to describe his non-appearance as a "Bella Italia absence." Nearly 200 states will convene for the summit in Antalya. Search continues for missing 13-year-old girl in Berlin Police in Berlin are still looking for a 13-year-old girl who disappeared on the way to school on Tuesday. In a statement, Berlin police said they could not rule out that the girl, who has been identified as Lisa T., "has been the victim of a crime." "Based on the current state of the investigation, it is assumed that the child did not leave her home environment voluntarily," police said. Around 220 police officers were deployed in the Marzahn district of the German capital on Saturday, with a police spokesman saying that the search was time-consuming because of the large number of houses and parks in the area. The search began on Friday, supported by sniffer dogs and a police helicopter. Pay gap narrows for women executives Women on the executive boards of Germany's leading listed companies were earning almost as much on average as their male colleagues in 2025, a study by consultancy EY says. According to the study, female board members at companies listed on the DAX, MDAX and SDAX indices, not including chief executives, earned an average of €2.20 million ($2.45 million) last year. That is a rise of 2.4% from 2024. Their male counterparts, on the other hand, saw a nearly 2% reduction in their pay down to €2.23 million, which reduced the pay gap from €121,000 to €26,000. The study also found that there were more women serving on executive boards in 2025 than a year previously, with 101 female board members compared with 88 in 2024 and just 33 in 2013. "Women on executive boards are no longer the exception. That is also reflected in salaries," said EY partner Jens Massmann. CDU committee to meet over presidential nomination The executive committee of Chancellor Friedrich Merz's Christian Democrats (CDU) is scheduled to meet in the evening to finalize the party's nomination for the post of German president. So far, Merz has declined to confirm widespread reports that his party will join with Bavarian allies, the Christian Social Union (CSU), in putting forward Bavarian parliamentary speaker Ilse Aignerfor the job, but he is expected to officially do so at the meeting. The actual announcement of the choice of the conservative CDU/CSU bloc for a successor to President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will be made on Monday. The new German head of state is to be chosen on January 30 by a special assembly, the Federal Convention, which comprises all 630 members of the Bundestag and an equal number of electors who represent the state parliaments. Aigner, 61, who enjoys support from within all the major parties, is seen as have good chances of taking the largely ceremonial job as German head of state. If she were to become president, she would become the first woman and the first CSU member to hold the position. Welcome back We are resuming our coverage of all things Germany after an overnight break. On the agenda for today: a meeting of leaders from Friedrich Merz's Christian Democrats, where the chancellor is expected to confirm that his party will join coalition partners in nominating Bavarian parliamentary speaker Ilse Aigner for the post of German president. Ahead of the anniversary of the 1938 November pogroms on Monday, the head of the Anne Frank Zentrum in Berlin has warned that Holocaust denial is becoming more prevalent among young people. And a survey has shown that most people in Germany are in favor of both a fuel price cap and a windfall tax on oil corporations. Read on for more details on these and other stories.