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Germany news: 1-in-6 retailers fear for future

About one-in-12 German businesses worry about survival, with twice as many retailers jittery. Meanwhile in Stuttgart, five pro-Palestinian activists face trial over attacking an Israeli defense company site. Follow DW. Below are the latest developments from and about Germany on Monday, May 11, 2026.   Germany's flagship carrier Lufthansa said it had placed an order for 10 Airbus and 10 Boeing long-haul aircraft worth a total of $7.7 billion (€6.5 billion). The order consists of A350-900s and Boeing 787-9s aircraft. The new aircraft will replace older and less efficient models starting in 2032, with the deliveries completed in 2034, the airline group said. Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr said in a statement that the move represented "a clear commitment to a modern fleet, to premium quality, and to further reducing CO2 emissions." "After all, aircraft featuring the latest technology are the most powerful tool for more climate-friendly air travel," he added. Lufthansa said the latest order brings the number of aircraft it has on order to 232, including 107 next-generation long-haul aircraft.  A German couple will spend two years and 10 months in prison in Spain, after a court found them guilty of locking their three children for three and a half years inside their home. The couple said they had isolated the children to protect them from contracting diseases such as COVID-19. Prosecutors had sought 25 ​years in ‌prison for the father and mother. They were ultimately found guilty of family abandonment ​and causing psychological harm, but were cleared of more stringent charges ​of unlawful detention.  Investigators spoke of a "house of horror," filled with trash for three, with the children reportedly forced to wear diapers and face masks, having been completely cut off from the outside world. They were not even allowed into the garden.  A seriously ill cat was also found on the premises, surrounded by excrement. The children, who were then 8-year-old twins and a 10-year-old boy, were rescued by authorities in April 2025 by a tip from a neighbor to the police. The kids were found "dirty, in their pyjamas and severely neglected," as well as "significantly malnourished."  Investigators said the twins could neither read nor write and that all three children were reportedly found immobile, walked hunched over and had difficulty climbing stairs. The last time the children were taken to a doctor was in Germany in 2019. The father is German and the mother is a German-US dual national. The mother's lawyer ⁠said the children were home schooled, had "a stable family life" and ⁠were well fed. The pair are expected to appeal the ruling. Authorities in Cologne have disabled a fairly large World War II-era bomb in the western Lindenthal district of the city. It was discovered during construction work in the area last week.  More than 4,400 people in a 500-meter radius around the site were affected by orders to clear the area on Monday. Nearby schools and daycares remained closed for the day, one hospital had to be temporarily cleared as a precaution.  "The ten hundredweight (a little less than 500 kilogram) World War II bomb in Cologne-Lindenthal was deactivated by the Rhineland munitions disposal service of the Düsseldorf district government at about 14:20," Cologne city authorities said in an alert . "The bomb is now being transported away."  In a later update, the city said that most restrictions on traffic and public transport were being lifted but that a few disruptions were set to last slightly longer.  Cologne, like several cities in the north and west of Germany in particular, was heavily bombed during the Second World War. Unexploded bombs like this are found on a very regular basis; most can be defused, the minority require a controlled detonation instead. Exclusion zones are routinely set up in case something goes wrong.  A 17-year-old has been arrested over a suspected terror plot in Hamburg . Prosecutors said the Syrian teenager had been inspired by the "Islamic State" militant group and was planning to kill an unspecified number of people. Possible targets included a shopping mall, a bar, or a police station, according to the prosecutors in the northern German city. The suspect allegedly intended to carry out an attack using explosives, Molotov cocktails, or a knife. He is said to have obtained fertilizer, firelighters, a balaclava, and a knife in preparation. Special police units detained the teenager last Thursday. The arrest followed investigations involving Germany's domestic and foreign intelligence services, Federal Criminal Police, and Hamburg State Police. Authorities continue to investigate the case. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Police have identified a 65-year-old suspect after multiple cases of injured and killed pigeons in Freiburg. Authorities said several pigeons in the Stühlinger district had been found wounded by "needle-like projectiles," while others were injured or killed by airgun pellets. One particularly striking case involved a pigeon — still alive — with a needle lodged transversely in its head. The bird has not yet been captured. It remained unclear how many animals were affected in total, or whether all the acts could be attributed to the man. Investigators from the police unit for commercial and environmental crime traced the suspect after about three weeks of intensive work in coordination with animal welfare groups and the veterinary office. Prosecutors in Freiburg then obtained a search warrant, and officers seized relevant evidence from the man's home. The man is now under investigation on suspicion of violating animal protection and weapons laws. Officers seized evidence during a search of his home. German companies are increasingly worried for their survival, with the situation especially critical in the retail sector, according to a new survey by Munich's ifo April Business Survey . As per the survey results, released on Monday, 8.1% of German companies believe their survival is at risk, with the figure going as high up as 17.4% in the retail sector. "The economic situation remains tense," said Klaus Wohlrabe, head of surveys at ifo. "Given the geopolitical uncertainty, insolvency figures are likely to remain at a high level in the coming months." The survey has noted a reluctance among customers to spend. Meanwhile, growing online trade and cheap foreign discounters are attracting those still willing to spend their money on shopping. In total, the survey concluded that 11.6% of all trading companies (both wholesale and retail) are worried they will be forced out of business. Three core pressures have been weighing on businesses: weak demand and falling orders, rising operating and energy costs, and heavier bureaucracy. Liquidity bottlenecks have also been increasing as customers save or go bankrupt. "The crisis is spreading along the supply chains," said Wohlrabe. "When customers leave or cancel orders, it hits suppliers and service providers with full force. Germany's Defense Minister Boris Pistorius warned on Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin's talk of a possible end to the war in Ukraine could be another "deception." During a surprise visit to Kyiv on Monday, Pistorius dismissed Putin's weekend statements on his willingness to negotiate new security arrangements in Europe, proposing former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder as a mediator. "I believe that Putin is ⁠ultimately ​trying to distract from his ​own weakness with this approach. He can currently point ​to hardly any ‌territorial gains, and his army keeps losing parts of conquered territory," Pistorius said. The nocturnal animal section at the Wilhelma Zoo in Stuttgart in southwestern Germany reopened to the public again on Monday, following a days-long closure after two children were injured. In late April, two children were apparently injured by an unknown person in separate occasions in a dark part of the nocturnal animal section.  In one of the cases, a three-year-old girl sustained a small wound to the leg while being carried by her mother. The other incident involved a six-year-old boy, who had sustained a minor injury to his back. Police could not rule out that the injuries had been deliberately inflicted. On Monday, the Wilhelma Zoo said in a statement on its website that the probe into the incidents was still ongoing. It stressed that the reopening of the nocturnal animal section followed adding safety and preventive measures including:  Improved lighting in the visiting area of the section An increased presence of staff Further organizational safety measures "The incidents have deeply affected us," Wilhelma Director Dr Thomas Kölpin said in the statement. "The safety of our visitors is our top priority." A Berlin -based runner has covered the distance of 600 kilometers (370 miles), which is the distance between Munich and Hamburg, in just a little over 123 hours. 28-year-old Arda Saatçi ran through the American desert in some four and half days, reaching his destination of the Santa Monica Pier near Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon. Still, believe it or not, the extreme athlete was left disappointed despite his feat, as he did not manage to reach his goal of covering the distance in just 96 hours. But even as he was close to the finish line, Saatçi was still sporting an impressive speed of some six minutes per kilometer at times, with an average pace of just over 12 minutes per kilometer.  Hundreds of thousands of people watched the impressive run via a livestream. Saatçi enjoys around 1.5 million followers on YouTube alone, with another two million on Instagram. Four German passengers who were aboard the hantavirus-afflicted MV Hondius arrived at a hospital in Frankfurt on Monday for further examination and observation before being moved into quarantine in their home states, a spokesperson said. The German passengers were transferred by ground to Frankfurt from Eindhoven airport in the Netherlands after arriving on an evacuation flight from Tenerife on Sunday.  Other passengers on Sunday's flight included Dutch, Belgian and Greek nationals, all of who were asymptomatic before departure, according to the Spanish Health Ministry. Berlin's health authorities said one, asymptomatic, German passenger is due to be taken to Berlin's Charite hospital. Another person with no symptoms is due to into home quarantine in the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg, officials there said. According to the latest figures from the World Health Organization (WHO), there are six confirmed cases of  hantavirus and two suspected cases from the Hondius cruise ship. Three people died from the virus — an elderly couple from the Netherlands and a German woman The WHO believes that the chain of infection began with the Dutch couple, who may have been infected in Argentina before boarding the ship. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Germany's Federal Network Agency has advised customers to use gas "sparingly" amid the energy crisis instigated by the Iran war, saying that slight price increases could not be ruled out. Klaus Müller, head of the Federal Network Agency, told the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland on Monday that potential price increases would not be comparable to the jump that followed Russia's 2022 fullscale invasion of Ukraine. "Fortunately, the current situation is not comparable to that of five years ago," said Müller. He also noted that contrary to gas, electricity prices were in decline due to the significant proportion of low-cost renewable energy. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Switzerland is German migrants' favorite destination in Europe, according to the Federal Statistical Agency in Wiesbaden. In early 2025, some 330,000 Germans were living in the neighboring country. The number of German nationals in Switzerland increased by some 10.7% in the past 10 years. A close favorite is Austria, another neighbor where the German language is the official one (in Switzerland, it is one of four official languages.) In early 2025, some 240,000 Germans were living there, making them the largest foreign community in the country. The statistics agency explained the numbers away by pointing to both countries' geographical proximity to Germany as well as the absence of the "language barrier." Meanwhile further south was more attractive to older Germans, who were flocking to Spain, making up some 132,000 in total. The German Federal Council, or Bundesrat , has vetoed a proposal to introduce a relief bonus to employees, with Bavaria's Premier Markus Söder saying the idea was "off the table." The German government had planned to allow employers to give their employees voluntary, tax-free payments of up to €1,000 (roughly $1,176) until June 30, 2027. Employers would be allowed to claim these payments as business expenses for tax purposes. But at the Federal Council, the majority of German states rejected the idea of contributing to the relief payment. Of Germany's 16 states, only the Social-Democrat-run states of Lower Saxony, Hamburg, Bremen and Saarland were in favor of the idea. The opposing states were particularly critical of the cost of the bonus and how it would be distributed. States are expected to advocate for income tax reform instead. Kaja Kallas, the European Union's foreign policy chief, on Monday rejected Russian President Vladimir Putin's proposal to get former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder to mediate an end to the war in Ukraine. "Gerhard Schröder has been a high-level lobbyist for Russian state-owned companies. So it's clear why Putin wants him to be the person so that actually, you know, he would be sitting on both sides of the table," Kallas said of the former German leader, who has maintained close relations with Moscow and is a personal friend of Putin.  Kallas also rejected the premise of allowing Moscow the right to appoint a negotiator, saying that "would not be very wise." Schröder's office on Sunday refused to comment on Putin's proposal. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Five pro-Palestinian activists are due back in court in Germany's western city of Stuttgart on Monday, where they are facing trial over an alleged attack on an Israeli defense company's site in the city of Ulm. The five defendants, three women and two men between 25 and 40 of Irish, British, Spanish and German nationalities, are accused of breaking into the company's premises at night and destroying valuable company inventory. The company in question is Elbit Systems, a provider of military equipment for the Israeli military. They are accused of attacking the company in September last year, as an act of protest against Germany's support to Israel amid the latter's war on Gaza . To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video They became known as the Ulm 5 and face charges of criminal damage and trespassing, as well as membership of a criminal organization, over their ties to Palestine Action Germany. The trial started in late April with dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters gathering outside court and applauding the defendants as they were brought into the courtroom.