Climate Activists and Major Raids in Germany
Fridays for Future climate activists are holding dozens of nationwide rallies in Germany. These demonstrations are part of a global day of action linked to the UN conference in Belem, Brazil. Organizers claim that ten years after the Paris Agreement, there has still been no sufficient progress on climate protection. They argue that Germany has hindered progress in the fight against “the existential climate crisis.”
Meanwhile, police and customs officers have launched major raids in a probe into smuggling and tax fraud. Here are the latest headlines from Germany on Friday, November 14:
Arrests After Suspected Street Food Poisoning Kills Mother and Children
Turkish authorities have detained four suspects after a German mother and her two young children died from suspected food poisoning while on holiday in Istanbul. Investigators say the family had eaten street food.
Turkish prosecutors arrested four people on suspicion of negligent homicide in connection with the deaths in Istanbul, Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said Friday. The family — a couple and their children aged six and three — had traveled to the city on Sunday and reportedly ate at several street vendors in the Ortaköy district, a busy tourist area on the Bosporus. Shortly afterward, all four fell ill with symptoms of food poisoning. They were taken to a hospital on Wednesday but later discharged. The children died shortly after being readmitted, followed by their mother. The father remains in intensive care, according to Turkish media.
Man Suffers Severe Head Injuries After Being Struck by Train in Western Germany
A 27-year-old man was seriously injured after being struck by a train while standing on a station platform in the western state of North Rhine–Westphalia. The man was looking at his phone and standing too close to the platform edge in the town of Leichlingen when the train approached, federal police said on Friday. The driver sounded a warning horn and initiated an emergency brake but could not prevent the impact. The man was airlifted to a hospital with severe head injuries. Rail traffic on the line was temporarily suspended following the incident on Thursday.
Greens and Greenpeace Slam Air Travel Tax Cut as Climate Setback
Environmental groups and the opposition Green Party reacted with dismay on Friday to the German government’s plan to cut air passenger taxes, warning that the move undermines climate policy at a critical moment. The measure was part of a broader policy package unveiled late Thursday by Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s coalition, which also included a subsidized industrial power price, a new “Germany Fund” to spur investment and a strategy to build additional gas-fired power plants.
Felix Banaszak, leader of the opposition Greens, said the tax cut would do little to revive Germany’s sluggish economy. “To believe that the economic crisis can be ended by slashing air traffic taxes and creating a Germany Fund is extremely presumptuous,” he said. Greenpeace issued an even sharper warning, calling the reversal of the tax — which was raised in May 2024 — a damaging signal while nations are negotiating emissions reductions at the COP30 climate summit in the Brazilian city of Belem.
Germany Moves to Restrict Laughing Gas and Ban Date-Rape Drugs
Germany’s parliament has approved a law sharply limiting access to laughing gas, aiming to curb rising misuse among teenagers. The Bundestag passed the bill, drafted by the Health Ministry, in a Thursday night session. Medical, scientific and industrial uses of the substances will remain permitted. Under the law, laughing gas may no longer be sold to minors, distributed through vending machines or shipped via private online delivery.
Use of the gas, which is used in medicine as a mild anaesthetic, has become increasingly common among young people. Health Minister Nina Warken said the regulation was needed because laughing gas “is not a toy and not a harmless party drug,” warning of risks ranging from frostbite and loss of consciousness to lasting neurological damage. The law also seeks to restrict access to date-rape drugs, which offenders use to incapacitate victims for assault or robbery.
Germany Sees Further Rise in Insolvency Filings in October
Germany’s regular insolvency filings increased by 6.5% in October 2025 compared to the same month last year, according to preliminary figures released by the Federal Statistical Office. The agency noted that filings appear in the statistics only after an initial court ruling, meaning most applications were actually submitted around three months earlier. In August 2025, local courts recorded 1,979 corporate insolvencies, a 12.2% increase from August 2024. Creditors’ claims linked to these cases amounted to roughly €5.4 billion, more than double the €2.3 billion reported a year earlier.
Measured per 10,000 companies, Germany registered 5.7 corporate insolvencies in August. The transport and storage sector was affected most heavily with 10.1 cases per 10,000 firms, followed by construction with 8.9 and the hospitality sector with 8.2. Consumer insolvencies also rose. Courts counted 6,132 cases in August, an increase of 8.1% compared with August 2024.
Germany Conducts Large-Scale Raids Targeting Smugglers and Tax Fraud
German authorities have launched a major overnight operation targeting suspected people smugglers and tax evaders in Baden-Württemberg and Berlin, officials said. Between 600 and 700 officers from customs, federal police and tax investigators were deployed, according to the federal police office in Offenburg. Several properties were searched, and the raids concluded after several hours, a Stuttgart police spokeswoman said on Friday. Police said they had no immediate information on arrests but confirmed that initial evidence had been secured.
The operation focused on multiple sites in the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg — including Baden-Baden, Böblingen, Lörrach and several surrounding districts — with additional searches in Berlin. Prosecutors in Baden-Baden initiated the investigation, which centers on suspected smuggling of people from non-EU countries and organized tax and wage fraud. Authorities said more details would be released later Friday.
Cannabis Use in Germany Continues to Rise After Partial Legalization
Cannabis consumption in Germany has continued to climb, according to new data. The survey found that 9.8% of respondents said they had used cannabis in the past 12 months — up from 8.8% in 2021 and 4.5% in 2012. The 2024 data was collected between August and December from 7,534 adults aged 18 to 64, just months after the drug’s partial legalization.
The Epidemiological Survey of Substance Abuse (ESA) researchers said the increase was small and not statistically significant, noting it is still too early to identify clear effects of the legal changes. They said usage patterns changed only minimally following the easing of legislation. Germany’s coalition government introduced partial legalization on April 1, 2024, allowing adults to smoke and grow limited amounts of cannabis under strict conditions.
Fridays for Future Plans More Than 60 Climate Rallies Across Germany
Fridays for Future climate activists are staging more than 60 demonstrations nationwide as part of an international day of action tied to the UN climate conference underway in the Brazilian city of Belem. In Berlin, protesters plan to gather at Pariser Platz with lanterns and an illuminated “Keep your Promises” sign, the group said. The organizers say that a decade after the Paris Agreement — and after 30 rounds of global climate talks — there has been “no sufficient progress on climate protection.”
“Even in 2025, emissions have risen again, and the habitability of the planet is in a poor state,” activist Luisa Neubauer told the DPA news agency. “Germany has taken on the role of the aimless blocker in the global fight against the existential climate crisis,” she said. Neubauer accused German Chancellor Friedrich Merz of deliberately making climate-friendly technologies such as heat pumps and electric cars more expensive. “At the same time, the jobs and locations of the future are emerging in other places with bolder governments,” she said.
The Paris Agreement, adopted in 2015, commits countries to limiting global warming to well below two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The UN climate conference runs through November 21.
