Germany updates: Mannheim remembers 2024 knife attack victim

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is set to meet with US President Donald Trump in Washington DC on Thursday, German government spokesperson Stefan Kornelius said.

The two leaders have not met since Merz became chancellor in early May. Merz has only met Trump once before, a brief encounter in New York many years ago.

Trump, who returned to the White House in January, has attracted criticism from Merz and his government over tariff threats as well as criticism of Europe and questioning the US' role in NATO.

Kornelius said that the talks would focus on the war in Ukraine, how NATO can respond to growing threats and the trade disputes between the US and the EU.

Observers will also be watching to see what kind of reception Merz receives and whether he will be able to charm the US president.

A small passenger plane crashed into a residential building in the western German town of Korschenbroich on Saturday, killing two people, police said.

The town is located near the city of Mönchengladbach and is not far from the Dutch border.

Read the report on the plane crash here.

Officials led a memorial ceremony in honor of the 29-year-old police officer Rouven Laur who was killed in a knife attack in Mannheim last year.

The Interior State Minister for Baden-Württemberg Thomas Strobl and Mannheim Mayor Christian Specht revealed a memorial plaque to provide information on the incident.

Germany's federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt was also reported to be present.

Strobl spoke of Laur as a "brave and friendly, joyful young man and first-class police officer."

"We bow in silent thought and out of respect for his courage and his selfless dedication," he added.

The state-level interior minister said that everything must be done to prevent such incidents in the future, but 100% safety could not be guaranteed.

The southern German city of Munich is hosting the European football showpiece on Saturday night.

The match between Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan is scheduled to start at 9 p.m. local time (1900 GMT), with tens of thousands of fans expected to attend the event.

The Italian club will attempt to clinch its fourth Champions League title, while the French side is seeking to lift the coveted "big-eared" trophy for the first time in the club's history.

The local police plan to deploy around 2,000 officers for the Champions League final at Bayern Munich's Allianz Arena.

German President Frank Walter-Steinmeier on Saturday remembered the police officer who died of injuries suffered during the Mannheim knife attack, Steinmeier's spokeswoman Cerstin Gammelin said in a post on social media. 

"We will not forget Rouven Laur. He wanted to protect other people — and had to pay for it with his life," Steinmeier said.

"Even a year after the terrible terrorist attack, the shock and pain of the violent death of a young man who died far too young is still deep. My sincere condolences go out to his family, friends and colleagues," he added.

The US wants to station weapons such as the Tomahawk cruise missiles in Germany from 2026, Bundeswehr Inspector General Carsten Breuer told the German magazine Der Spiegel.

"During my recent talks in the US, the commitment to stationing the unit with long-range weapons systems was clearly reaffirmed," said Breuer, who recently met General Dan Caine, the new US chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for the first time.

After the change of government in Washington, there were doubts whether President Donald Trump would keep the promise made by his predecessor, Joe Biden.

In July 2024, Germany and the US had agreed on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Washington that the US would deploy long-range fire capabilities in Germany.

Muhammad al-Muhammad is the Syrian teenager who helped stop last Friday's knife attack in Hamburg.

As more and more outlets have reported on his courage to intervene, al-Muhammad has become the center of a national conversation about immigration dominated by right-wing media narratives.

Read more on how his image has been manipulated to peddle false information online.

In theory, both German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis are determined to stop irregular migration to Europe.

The two conservative governments have decided that from now on, there will be strict controls on who can and cannot come to Europe.

But in practice, Berlin and Athens have very different interests. 

Read more on why Germany wants to send asylum seekers back to Greece and why the Mediterranean country is opposed to the idea.

Germany's Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt is hoping for an EU-wide agreement on sending failed asylum seekers who cannot return home to safe countries near their homelands.

In an interview with the Welt am Sonntag newspaper published on Saturday, Dobrindt said the approach could work only if there was a consensus across the bloc.

"No individual EU member state can create this model on its own," he told the newspaper.

"We need third countries that are prepared to take migrants who are objectively unable to return to their home countries," Dobrindt added.

Earlier this month, the European Commission proposed a concept that would allow member states to reject asylum applications from migrants who could have found protection in a "safe" third country.

A record number of foreigners were granted German citizenship in 2024, the Welt am Sonntag newspaper reported on Saturday.

Last year, a total of 249,901 people were naturalized in 13 federal states — the highest level since the beginning of standardized data collection in 2000. The states of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Schleswig-Holstein did not share overall numbers with the newspaper.

On June 27, 2024, the government's new citizenship reform went into effect, allowing people to apply to become German after lawfully living in the country for five years, rather than the previous eight. The reform also removes restrictions on dual citizenship. 

Back in 2023, the nationwide figure for all 16 states was 200,095  — a record at the time. 

The western German city of Mannheim plans to remember the 29-year-old police officer Rouven Laur on Saturday in the market square where he was stabbed one year ago.

German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, Baden-Württemberg Interior Minister Thomas Strobl, and Mannheim Mayor Christian Specht are expected to unveil a memorial plaque providing information about the May 31, 2024, incident.

A floor slab commemorating the Laur will also be presented.

The fatal stabbing last year also wounded five people who participated in a rally organized by the anti-Islam Citizens' Movement Pax Europa (BPE).

The now 26-year-old suspected Islamist perpetrator, identified as Sulaiman A, has been charged with murder and attempted murder.

His trial has been taking place at the Stuttgart Higher Regional Court since February.

Guten Tag from the team in DW's Bonn newsroom, where we bring you reports covering the main headlines in Germany.

Here, you can read headlines, analyses, multimedia content, and DW on-the-ground reporting on everything to do with Europe's largest economy.