Germany's economy returned to modest growth last year after two years of decline. Official figures published Thursday show a 0.2% increase in GDP for 2025, driven by stronger consumer and government spending.

“We heard about this half an hour before it was on TV ,” says a white-uniformed employee in the shop at the factory gates. The factory outlet was busy, despite the snowy weather. Tönnies, the west German meat processor that now owns the factory, “promised to invest when they bought us just two years ago”, complains another worker.

After decades of restraint, Germany is racing to rearm as Russia threatens Europe and U.S. security guarantees look shaky.

Germany plans to rebuild nuclear power after shutting its last plants in 2023, while nuclear energy resurges in France, China and the U.S.

The German government has sharply rejected claims by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that it sidelined patient autonomy during COVID-19.

A stalemate between Denmark and the US over Greenland is prompting Europeans to establish a military presence on the Arctic island after a high-level meeting failed to defuse US threats over its future.

As public opinion in the country increasingly turns against the U.S. president over his threats to seize Greenland, the AfD is seeing the downside of its strong alignment with him.