Germany news: SPD seeks LGBTQ+ protections in constitution

Germany's center-left wants to add sexual identity to the constitution’s anti-discrimination protections. The push comes as part of the response to a deadly weekend attack near Pride celebrations in Berlin. DW has more.

https://p.dw.com/p/5Hrtm Advertisement Skip next section What you need to know What you need to know Germany's Social Democratic Party wants sexual identity added to Article 3 of the German constitution The article already bans discrimination on grounds such as race, religion and sex The conservative CSU wants talks on ankle tags for extremist threats after a deadly attack on a Berlin LGBTQ+ event The suspect in that attack had been sentenced in May for trying to join "Islamic State," but was not immediately jailed Mercedes-Benz vehicle group profits rose for the first time in three years, despite a slump in China sales Here is a roundup of some of the top headlines from and about Germany on Tuesday, July 28, 2026:

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07/28/2026 July 28, 2026 Online holiday bookings hit German record Bookings for holiday accommodation in Germany through major online platforms have reached a record high.

Travellers booked 68.3 million overnight stays through Airbnb, Booking.com and Expedia in 2025, up 13% from 2024 and more than 83% from 2019, the Federal Statistical Office said.

Domestic demand drove the increase, with German guests accounting for 48.5 million nights, up more than 15%. Foreign visitors booked 19.8 million nights, led by travellers from the Netherlands, Poland and the US.

Around 94% of stays were in properties with fewer than 10 beds, which are not covered by Germany's monthly tourism statistics.

Bavaria recorded the most overnight stays, with 10.6 million. Travel patterns varied considerably between Germany's states.

Around 90% of guests in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Schleswig-Holstein came from within Germany, while city-states and western regions attracted a larger share of international visitors.

Foreign guests accounted for more than two-thirds of bookings in Berlin , at 67.7%.

Their share was also above average in North Rhine-Westphalia , at 42.3%, and Baden-Württemberg , at 40.8%.

07/28/2026 July 28, 2026 Low Rhine levels could push German economy into stagnation Persistently low water levels on the Rhine River could shave as much as 0.2% off Germany's economic output in the third quarter, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.

Prolonged dry weather has continued to lower levels on the river, one of the world's busiest inland waterways.

"The effects could be strong enough to reduce gross domestic product in the third quarter by 0.1% to 0.2%," Stefan Kooths, director of the institute's business cycle and growth research group, told Reuters on Tuesday.

Many economists expect growth of no more than 0.2% during the summer months, meaning the disruption could push Europe's largest economy into stagnation.

At Kaub, a crucial bottleneck between the cities of Koblenz and Mainz, the gauge fell to 30 centimeters (12 inches) on Tuesday. Germany's waterways authority expects it to drop to around 25 centimeters by Friday, matching a record low reached in October 2018.

"As water levels are unlikely to rise suddenly above the critical threshold at the beginning of August, transport capacity is likely to remain impaired for some time next month," Kooths said.

The Rhine carries key commodities including grain, minerals, ores, coal and petroleum products such as petrol.

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07/28/2026 July 28, 2026 Mercedes profit rises, but car business slumps Mercedes-Benz has reported its first rise in quarterly group profit in three years, although its main car business suffered a sharp fall as sales in China weakened.

The German carmaker 's overall net profit rose 13.5% to €1.09 billion ($1.24 billion) between April and June, up from €957 million in the same period last year.

The increase was driven by stronger results from Mercedes' vans and financial services businesses.

But earnings at the company's core passenger-car division fell 26% to €909 million as intense competition and weak demand continued to hit sales in China.

Mercedes also wrote €704 million off the value of its Chinese investments. The non-cash charge indicates that the company expects the difficult market conditions to persist.

Once that write-down is included, profit at the car division fell by almost 94%.

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07/28/2026 July 28, 2026 Bavarian conservatives seek ankle tags for extremist threats The conservative Christian Social Union (CSU) has called for talks within Germany’s ruling coalition on using electronic ankle tags to monitor people deemed extremist security threats.

The call follows an attack near Berlin's Christopher Street Day LGBTQ+ Pride parade on Saturday.

Alexander Hoffmann, the head of the CSU group in parliament, raised the proposal in an interview with broadcaster Deutschlandfunk. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, also of the CSU, has previously floated the idea.

The CSU is the Bavarian sister party to Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democrats , who rule with the backing of the center-left Social Democrats .

A woman was killed and 29 people were injured, some seriously, when a vehicle was driven into people near the CSD event.

The 21-year-old suspected attacker, Abdul B., was sentenced in May 2026 to one year and 10 months in juvenile detention for attempting to join the "Islamic State" militant terror group.

However, the sentence was imposed with a provisional form of susp...

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