Inside a hall stretching more than 100 meters (about 330 feet), countless robots hum as lights blink and warning signals chirp. Currently, only about a dozen people are working on the floor, with the remaining work being handled by high-performance machines.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he is open to new dialogue with the United States, but added that he would not join US President Donald Trump's so-called Board of Peace as it currently stands.
The incident is emblematic of the threats that the West, Germany and other EU countries see coming from Russia. Above all, it highlights how close potential Russian agents can get to politicians in Germany.
Departures have been suspended at Berlin Brandenburg Airport on Thursday morning because freezing rain has made it impossible to de-ice aircraft, an airport spokeswoman has said. The disruption has affected air travel in the German capital as the national weather service warns of dangerous icy conditions, although landings initially appear unaffected.
Published February 5, 2026 last updated February 5, 2026 Representatives from Ukraine, Russia, and the United States are set to begin the second day of talks in Abu Dhabi aimed at ending the nearly four-year-long war. Follow DW for the latest.
The threat of a renewed global nuclear arms race came a little closer to reality as the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty between the United States and Russia expired at midnight GMT on Thursday. The New START pact and its predecessors had for decades imposed limits on the world's two largest nuclear arsenals.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, speaking in Washington on Wednesday, announced that his nation's security agencies had "foiled a series of cyberattacks" of "Russian origin." Tajani said the attempted attacks targeted numerous "Foreign Ministry offices, starting with Washington, and also some Winter Olympics sites, including hotels in Cortina."
On Wednesday, a court in Hungary ruled that Maja T.*, an anti-fascist activist from the city of Jena in the eastern German state of Thuringia, was guilty of seriously injuring several suspected right-wing extremists in Budapest in February 2023.
After months of mounting pressure on independent media, academic institutions and NGOs, Serbia's ruling majority has turned its attention to the judiciary.
Massive Russian drone and missile attacks on infrastructure and cities, 20 hours or more each day without water, electricity, and at times even heat, and outside temperatures of -15 Celsius (5 Fahrenheit): This is what many Ukrainians are being forced to endure this winter.
Russian President Vladimir Putin bathes in the blood of Ukraine, while US President Donald Trump tears up the climate protection agreement like an angry child: These Dusseldorf Carnival floats made by German artist and float builder Jacques Tilly are meant to provoke.
Germany's military, the Bundeswehr, is currently on a spending spree: it has more than €108 billion ($129 billion) at its disposal this year — a gigantic, unprecedented sum. This is being financed both by the official federal budget and special funds, for which the state is taking out loans.