From new polls showing the tight race for eastern state elections to a ‘placeholder’ surname and the Switzerlands of Germany, here’s what we’re talking about this week.

Germany’s Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the country has been “deeply shocked” by a knife attack in Solingen which left three dead and that police were doing “everything they can” to catch the attacker.

Three people were killed and four severely wounded in a knife attack at a festival in the western German city of Solingen, police said, with the search for the suspect dragging on into Saturday morning.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will visit German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin next week in his first bilateral trip since taking office, a German government spokesman said Friday.

Citizenship applications are piling up faster than they can be processed in immigration offices across Germany. But a pilot project launched in two states could provide a model for streamlining the application procedure.

Berlin Zoo said Friday its resident panda Meng Meng had delivered twins for the second time, hailing the rare births as a boost to the endangered creatures.

Frankfurt’s Hauptbahnhof and the area around it have long been known as troubled areas – and a fatal shooting this week has once again launched it into the spotlight. Authorities have taken measures to make it feel safer – but is it enough?

After the European Commission announced it is reintroducing limits on liquids in hand luggage at airports around Europe, many are wondering what this means for travellers in Germany.

A NATO airbase in western Germany said Thursday it had raised its security level over a “potential threat”.

On top of a mountain in the lush green forest of Thuringia, the Kyffhaeuser monument was erected as a tribute to Kaiser Wilhelm I, the first head of a united Germany.