The castles were already a major attraction in Germany’s southern region, but the new heritage listing will likely bring in even more visitors.
Below, you’ll find a roundup of news, analysis and background from Germany on Saturday, July 12.
Skip next section Boat accident at Eibsee: Bodies of father and son found07/12/2025July 12, 2025
Eibsee lake in southern Germany is popular among both tourists and localsImage: Elke Münzel/CHROMORANGE/picture alliance
One week after a father and his son went missing in Eibsee lake in southern Germany, rescue teams have recovered their bodies, German police reported Saturday.
Investigators believe the 6-year-old boy fell into the lake while the family of four was out on the Eibsee, a Bavarian Alpine lake located at the foot of Germany’s highest mountain, the Zugspitze.
His 33-year-old father jumped in to rescue the child, but neither of them resurfaced, police said, adding that there are no signs of foul play.
The mother and the couple’s daughter were also on the pedal boat at the time. The family is from the southern state of Bavaria, according to the police.
Emergency responders conducted an intensive, week-long search operation to find the pair.
https://p.dw.com/p/4xN3VSkip next section Which Bavarian palaces have been added to the World Heritage list?07/12/2025July 12, 2025
https://p.dw.com/p/4xMylSkip next section Economy Minister Reiche calls for ‘pragmatic’ tariff solution07/12/2025July 12, 2025
Economy Minister Katherina Reiche is calling for a pragmatic solution to the escalating trade warImage: Katharina Kausche/dpa/picture alliance
Economy Minister Katherina Reiche said that the US tariffs “would hit European exporting companies hard,” following US President Donald Trump’s announcement that he would impose 30% tariffs on all EU goods.
“At the same time, they would also have a strong impact on the economy and consumers on the other side of the Atlantic,” Reiche said in an emailed statement.
“A pragmatic outcome to the negotiations must be reached quickly,” she added.
You can read more about the reactions to Trump’s tariff announcement on Saturday in our special blog.
https://p.dw.com/p/4xMtqSkip next section WATCH: What makes Neuschwanstein castle so fascinating?07/12/2025July 12, 2025
The Bavarian castle, which inspired the young Walt Disney, is one of the most popular attractions in Germany.
Now it has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. What makes it so magical?
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https://p.dw.com/p/4xMtYSkip next section UNESCO puts Bavarian castles on World Heritage List07/12/2025July 12, 2025
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on Saturday announced the newest additions to its list of designated World Heritage Sites during an annual meeting in Paris.
Several sites in Germany were added to the list, namely, the castles and residences of King Ludwig II of Bavaria (1845-1886).
Built in the 1800s in different historicizing styles and defamed as a fanciful if not mad waste of money at the time, the sites have been tourist magnets for nearly 140 years.
The UNESCO designation will no doubt increase the number of people visiting the sites. Some 1.7 million individuals, many of them foreign tourists, visited the castles in 2024.
Politicians in the southern German state of Bavaria have fought for the designation for a quarter century.
Known around the world — in large part due to the Disney corporation’s use of Neuschwanstein as a model for various castles, as well as the image of the palace perched on an outcropping and surrounded by Alpine forests — Neuschwanstein Castle, Herrenchiemsee Palace, Linderhof Castle and the King’s House on Schachen were all added to the list Saturday.
“The inclusion of the palaces on the World Heritage List is an outstanding tribute to these impressive places,” said German Unesco Commission President Maria Böhmer.
“They are all architectural masterpieces and bear witness to the artistic imagination, but also the eccentricity of the fairytale king.”
Prior to Saturday’s additions, there were 54 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Germany. Globally, there are some 1,223 World Heritage Sites in 168 different countries.
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https://p.dw.com/p/4xMoZSkip next section Thyssenkrupp and IG Metall reach labor agreement07/12/2025July 12, 2025
ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe and labor union IG Metall announced on Saturday that they have reached agreement over hard fought cost-cutting measures at the German industrial company.
A collective restructuring agreement came Saturday after three days of negotiations, with management and labor seeking to put the company back in the black by 2030.
ThyssenKrupp, Germany’s largest steelmaker, has struggled with rising energy prices and cheap imports from Asia of late.
In order to combat that trend, lay-offs — up to 10,000 of them — and the cancellation of various bonuses will be undertaken, with laborers taking home less pay in the future.
“We are reducing excess capacity, improving efficiency, and can thus achieve a competitive cost structure,” said Marie Jaroni, a member of the company’s executive board, in describing the company’s long-term viability.
Regional IG Metall leader Knut Geisler noted that concessions made by ThyssenKrupp regarding firings and investment had softened the impact of the agreement.
Now IG Metall union members at ThyssenKrupp must approve the deal.
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https://p.dw.com/p/4xMaFSkip next section Interior minister says spat over judicial appointments doesn’t weaken Constitutional Court 07/12/2025July 12, 2025
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt on Saturday said recent parliamentary wrangling within the ruling coalition over the appointment of judges to the Federal Constitutional Court do not weaken the institution.
Dobrindt, of Bavaria’s conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), was reacting to criticism by opposition parties but also from coalition partner Social Democrats (SPD) who accused the CDU/CSU of “deliberately dismantling our highest German court and our democratic institutions.”
Speaking with radio broadcaster Deutschlandfunk (DLF), Dobrindt said, “I don’t see any damage to the Federal Constitutional Court at all.”
Germany’s Bundestag had been scheduled to vote on three appointments to the bench on Friday but the vote was torpedoed when the conservative CDU/CSU bloc unexpectedly withdrew support for a candidate put forth by the SPD over plagiarism accusations.
https://p.dw.com/p/4xMPESkip next section Welcome to our Saturday coverage07/12/2025July 12, 2025
Jon Shelton with AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters, epd, KNA | Dmytro Hubenko Editor
Guten Tag from Bonn!
Following the pause, DW resumes its coverage of news and analysis from Germany.
On Saturday, Germany awaits news from Paris, where the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO is expected to decide whether to grant World Heritage status to the castles of Neuschwanstein, Herrenchiemsee, and Linderhof, as well as the royal residence on Schachen Mountain in Upper Bavaria.
Stay tuned for more, and we hope you enjoy reading!
https://p.dw.com/p/4xMEySkip next section We’re pausing our coverage07/12/2025July 12, 2025
It’s just past midnight here in Germany, so we’re pausing our coverage for now and will resume early in the morning.
Urmărește cele mai importante știri
https://p.dw.com/p/4xLPTSkip next section WATCH: Victims of Srebrenica massacre laid to rest after 30 years 07/11/2025July 11, 2025
Thousands of Bosnians gather at a cemetery near Srebrenica to mark the 30th anniversary of a massacre in which more than 8,000 Muslim Bosniak men and boys were executed by Bosnian Serb forces during a 1992-5 war.
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https://p.dw.com/p/4xLIPSkip next section German comedian ‘El Hotzo’ to face trial over Trump assassination remarks07/11/2025July 11, 2025
John SilkSebastian Hotz, aka El Hotzo, has more than a million followers on InstagramImage: Hendrik Schmidt/dpa/picture alliance
German comedian Sebastian Hotz will have to go to court in relation to social media posts he made about the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.
The Berlin public prosecutor’s office charges that Hotz, who is also known as “El Hotzo,” condoned and rewarded criminal offences.
His trial is scheduled to begin on July 23 at the Tiergarten district court in Berlin.
Hotz deleted the posts on X, but screenshots soon began to circulate.
In one comment, he suggested a similarity between a “last bus” and then presidential candidate Trump, writing that “unfortunately” both had been “just missed.” In another, Hotz said: “I think it’s absolutely fantastic when fascists die.”
In the wake of the scandal, regional public broadcaster RBB ended its collaboration with Hotz on a youth program.
Soon after, national public broadcaster ARD Kultur canceled a literary event with him.
https://p.dw.com/p/4xLHQSkip next section German steak heiress on trial over kidnapping of her own children07/11/2025July 11, 2025
Richard ConnorThe 52-year-old heiress is accused of organizing the abduction at the end of a lengthy custody battleImage: Georg Wendt/dpa/picture alliance
Christina Block, heiress to Germany’s Block House steakhouse chain, went on trial in Hamburg on Friday accused of ordering the violent kidnapping of her two youngest children.
Block is standing trial alongside her partner, former television sports presenter Gerhard Delling, and several other alleged accomplices accused of snatching the children from their father in Denmark.
Find out more about the high-profile case.
https://p.dw.com/p/4xLFYSkip next section Srebrenica: Survivor speaks for Bosnians who no longer can07/11/2025July 11, 2025
Keno Verseck
Hasan Hasanovic lost his twin brother and father in the Srebrenica genocide in 1995. Now, he has made it his life’s work to document the deadliest massacre in Europe since World War II.
Today, one of Hasanovic most important projects has to do with building an archive with video footage of survivors of the genocide telling their stories. It is unique and the most important record of what happened 30 years ago.
Read more about his life and work here.
https://p.dw.com/p/4xLELSkip next section Wife of Lufthansa CEO expresses ‘deep sorrow’ over fatal car accident in Italy 07/11/2025July 11, 2025
Vivian Spohr, the wife of Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr, said she was “at the complete disposal” of Italian judicial authorities following the death of a 24-year-old woman who was struck by a vehicle in the Italian island of Sardinia.
Local media reported that the 24-year-old died from serious head injuries after she was struck by a vehicle at a crosswalk on Tuesday, with Spohr reportedly at the wheel.
Gaia Costa, the victim, was from from Tempio Pausania, in the Gallura region of northern Sardinia. She died at the scene of accident in in Porto Cervo in northern Sardinia.
In a statement issued by her Italian lawyer on Friday, the 51-year-old German businesswoman expressed “dismay and deep sorrow for this grave accident, which has devastated a family, the town of Tempio, and the entire community of Gallura.”
The statement added that Spohr places herself “at the complete disposal of the Italian judicial authorities for the necessary investigations and, while aware that such a great personal loss cannot be repaired, will take steps to mitigate its consequences.”
Spohr had been staying at her family’s vacation home when the accident occurred, local media reported. She returned to Germany shortly after the accident.
https://p.dw.com/p/4xLDuSkip next section Germany denies report it plans to buy more F-35 jets07/11/2025July 11, 2025
Germany does not plan to procure more F-35 fighter jets beyond the 35 already ordered, the defense ministry has said, rejecting a Politico report that claimed Berlin aimed to expand its fleet to 50.
Germany has so far ordered 35 US-made jets to replace a total of 85 ageing Tornado aircraft.
“The defense ministry currently has no plans to procure additional F-35s beyond the 35 F-35s already contractually agreed,” a ministry spokesperson said at a regular news conference.
A military source told the Reuters news agency that the 15 additional jets had been part of earlier considerations.
However, NATO’s new targets for weapons and troop numbers mean that the number may need adjusting. The source did not confirm if more jets will ultimately be ordered.
The report by Politico comes amid tensions between Germany and France over their joint FCAS fighter jet project. An industry source told Reuters that France now wants an 80% workshare, which could scrap the agreed split and block the project’s next phase.
https://p.dw.com/p/4xJu7Show more postsJon Shelton Writer, translator and editor with DW’s online news team.Send us your feedback
Sursa: DW
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