Germans expect the national team to fail to win the World Cup

American fast food chain Taco Bell will open its first location in Germany, according to a local franchise owner.

The contract for the first two venues of the series has been signed in Munich. German franchise owner Christian Lehmann said 15 locations are scheduled to open in Munich, Nuremberg and Passau.

Taco Bell already has locations in the United Kingdom, Romania, Greece and Sweden. However, its arrival in Germany, originally planned for summer 2025, was delayed.

Taco Bell operates more than 8,000 restaurants in the US, and its parent company, Yum! Brands, also owns Pizza Hut and KFC.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), canceled an event in Magdeburg in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt.

It comes ahead of elections in Saxony-Anhalt on September 6, in which the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is expected to become the state’s largest party, with surveys showing the AfD will get around 40% of the vote, and the CDU – the state’s current ruling party – trailing by around 15 percentage points.

According to a party spokesperson, the decision to cancel was taken to allow the CDU to focus on its election campaign rather than holding internal meetings.

Most Germans don’t believe their national team will win the World Cup, according to a new poll.

A poll by public broadcaster ZDF shows that only 15% of Germans believe coach Julian Nagelsmann’s team will become world champions.

The largest group, 33%, believe Germany will bow out in the quarter-finals where they could face France. 15% expect the national team to lose in the round of 16, another 15% say Germany will reach the semi-finals, and 2% expect to lose in the final.

3% percent of Germans expect the national team to perform as poorly as in the last two tournaments, when it was eliminated in the group stage.

Germany’s Interior Ministry said more than 50,000 people have received German citizenship since 2021 because their families were persecuted by the Nazis.

Germany and Austria allow victims of World War II persecution and their descendants to regain citizenship taken by the Nazis.

The number of citizenship applications in Germany reached 101,180 – more than double the number of citizenships granted between the beginning of 2021 and March 2026. This increase is also due to the German bureaucracy and the time it takes to process an application.

The data begins in 2021 as changes in German law expanded the group of people eligible to apply for German citizenship due to the treatment of their ancestors by the Nazis.

Germany and Mexico will strengthen their cooperation in the fight against organized crime and drug trafficking as officials from the two countries meet on a wide range of issues.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadeful and his Mexican counterpart Roberto Velasco led the discussion between representatives of various ministries from the two countries.

According to Wadefull, the fight against organized crime should be a top priority, primarily due to concerns about the increasing drug consumption in Europe and the operation of international drug trafficking networks.

Economic relations between the two countries, which Mexican Foreign Minister Velasco described as one of the strongest and most diverse between Latin America and Europe, were also discussed.

More than half of German companies have integrated artificial intelligence (AI) into their operations, according to a survey by the Institute for Economic Research (IFO).

54.5% of companies surveyed said they use AI in their operations, which represents an increase of about 13 percentage points from last year’s result of 40.9%.

The survey results show that AI is most often used in the manufacturing sector (58.7%), followed by the services sector (56.2%).

According to Ifo, AI is commonly used to support existing work processes and provide new opportunities to businesses by quickly processing large amounts of information.

A new poll shows that only 26% of Germans say they believe the current coalition can solve issues in the country’s social security system.

The poll by German public broadcaster ZDF also found that 52% believe the coalition – which includes Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s CDU/CSU bloc and the Social Democrats (SPD) – will last until the next federal elections in 2029. Meanwhile, 43% said the government would collapse already.

Meanwhile, support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party remains high. It is currently the most popular party (27% support), beating the CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the CSU, by two percentage points.

A German serial killer has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a 10-year-old boy in 2004, according to local reports in France.

The 55-year-old man was found guilty of murdering the boy after abducting him from a school holiday camp in the town of Saint-Brevin-les-Pins in April 2004.

While the defendant denied any involvement throughout the trial, prosecutors said the murder bore the “signature” of Martin N., whose full name cannot be revealed in accordance with Germany’s privacy laws.

N., also known as the “Masked Man”, is already in prison in Germany on charges of murdering three children and sexually abusing dozens of boys between 1992 and 2001.

German Foreign Minister Johann Waddefull’s visit to Mexico began with a visit to Mexico City’s Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, one of the largest Catholic pilgrimage sites in the world.

Berlin’s top diplomat also met with his Mexican counterpart Roberto Velasco, with whom he will co-chair the meeting of the German-Mexican Binational Commission.

The visit follows Germany’s unsuccessful bid for a seat on the UN Security Council.

Despite the loss, Waddefull stressed that there would be no cut in Germany’s funding to the UN and that Berlin still viewed the UN as the definitive international institution promoting peace, human rights and international security.

Best wishes from Bonn!

Today, among other things, we will cover German Foreign Minister Johann Wadeful’s visit to Mexico, in which he will hold a number of meetings with local politicians and strategic partners.

The visit comes on the heels of Germany’s defeat in its attempt to secure a temporary seat on the UN Security Council.

Join us as we bring you all the updates from Germany.