Germany news: Low water on Rhine could sever freight route
Germany's inland shipping association has warned that the Rhine could soon become effectively split in two as water levels continue to fall. In Berlin, a man was shot dead near a busy central transport hub. DW has more.
German prosecutors are investigating scores more suspected cases involving a former nurse already convicted of murdering 10 patients.
Prosecutors in the western German city of Aachen say the probe extends to more than 120 additional cases.
They said 39 bodies had so far been exhumed as part of the widening investigation. Authorities in Cologne, who are conducting a separate probe, have exhumed another seven bodies.
The former nurse was sentenced to life imprisonment by Aachen Regional Court last November for 10 murders and 27 attempted murders. The court also found a particular severity of guilt, making release after 15 years unlikely.
According to the verdict, the man administered excessive doses of sedatives to seriously ill patients during night shifts at a hospital in the town of Würselen, sometimes combining them with painkillers or administering repeated doses.
The alleged motives were the man's own sense of personal unease and desire for order.
The nurse denied the allegations during his trial.
The offenses covered by his conviction took place between December 2023 and May 2024. The new investigation concerns possible killings before that period.
Germany's hot summer part of record western Europe heat
Person drinking waterPerson drinking water
People are advised to weather the heatwave by staying in cool places and staying hydratedImage: Thorsten Wagner/W2Art/picture alliance
Germany has been hit by repeated heatwaves, worsening drought and exceptionally low river levels this summer.
New Copernicus data shows the bigger picture: western Europe has just recorded its hottest June and July on record.
Read more about the story here.
Share of young people in Germany remains at record low
Young people continue to make up a historically small share of Germany's population, according to figures from the Federal Statistical Office.
At the end of 2025, around 8.3 million people were aged between 15 and 24, representing 10% of the population.
That share has remained at a record low since the beginning of the 2020s.
The proportion of young people was highest in the first half of the 1980s, when the baby boomer generation was still in this age group.
In 1983, around one in six people in what is now Germany, or 16.7%, were aged 15 to 24.
Young people make up a larger share of the population among people with an immigration background.
The share of young people also varies by region.
Bremen had the highest proportion at 11.1%, followed by Hamburg at 10.5% and Baden-Württemberg at 10.4%. Brandenburg had the lowest share at 8.8%, while Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saxony-Anhalt each stood at 9.1%.
Germany also remained slightly below the European Union average. Young people accounted for 10% of the population, compared with an EU average of 10.7%.
Young Germans in mental crime
Minimum wage violations cost Germany billions, union says
Illegal practices used to evade Germany's minimum wage have cost workers, social security funds and the state as much as €64 billion over a decade, according to calculations by the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB).
The DGB estimates that an average of around two million workers a year have received less than the legal minimum since it was introduced in 2015.
The shortfall amounted to roughly €1.70 to €2.40 per hour, based on survey data on working hours and earnings.
For the period from 2015 to 2024, the union calculated that workers missed out on around €35 billion in pay.
A further €22 billion was lost to social security funds and about €7 billion in income tax revenue.
Germany's main employers' association said minimum wage violations were unacceptable and should be investigated and prosecuted, but urged caution over the DGB figures.
It said survey data could be imprecise, particularly when working hours were not recorded accurately.
Germany's statutory minimum wage currently stands at €13.90 an hour and applies to around six million workers, especially in sectors such as hospitality, retail and agriculture.
Gen Z and the workplace
Germany to speed up drone defenses at airports
Germany has promised to accelerate upgrades to drone detection and defense systems at its airports following last week's explosive-drone incident at Leipzig/Halle.
"Reliable detection is absolutely crucial," Transport Minister Steffen Bilger told the news website Politico on Monday.
Bilger said Germany's air navigation service provider is responsible for safety in the airspace around airports and that early detection therefore
plays a key role.
He said Frankfurt and Munich are already better equipped, but warned that other airports need to catch up quickly.
"We have no time to lose," Bilger said. "I want to accelerate further upgrades wherever possible."
The push follows the discovery last week of a drone carrying an explosive device in a secure cargo area at Leipzig/Halle Airport.
A federal police bomb disposal team defused the device.
Several Ukrainian cargo aircraft were nearby at the time. The airport is used as a hub for military aid shipments to Ukraine.
Leipzig drone threat prompts security concerns in Germany
Man shot dead near Berlin's Zoo station
Police investigate at the scene of the shootingPolice investigate at the scene of the shooting
Police say the background to the fatal shooting is still unclearImage: Christophe Gateau/dpa/picture alliance
A 30-year-old man has been shot dead following a dispute involving several people near Berlin's busy Zoologischer Garten station.
Paramedics tried to resuscitate the victim, but he died at the scene, police said.
The suspected attackers fled and remain at large.
Police did not say how many shots were fired shortly before midnight, and the circumstances surrounding the dispute remain unclear.
A homicide unit has taken over the investigation.
The shooting took place at one of western Berlin's busiest transport hubs, close to the Kurfürstendamm shopping boulevard and the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.
The case comes amid a marked rise in firearms incidents in the German capital.
Berlin police recorded 1,119 cases involving firearms in 2025, up 68% from 2024. Shots were actually fired in more than 500 of those cases.
Police chief Barbara Slowik Meisel said earlier this year that disputes once settled with fists were now increasingly involving guns.
Other recent cases include shots fired at a restaurant window in Neukölln early on Sunday and the shooting of a 38-year-old man in the city's Schöneberg district the previous weekend.
Rhine could become impassable at key shipping point
The Rhine River could soon become effectively split in two for commercial shipping as water levels continue to fall amid persistent dry weather, Germany's inland shipping association has warned.
Jens Schwanen, managing director of the Federal Association of German Inland Navigation, said the gauge at Kaub, a crucial point for freight traffic, was forecast to fall into single digits for the first time this week.
"Commercial shipping will no longer be able to transport goods in the region at such low water levels," Schwanen told the Rheinische Post newspaper.
He said excursion boats and river cruises would also be affected.
"In principle, the Rhine would then no longer be continuously navigable and would be divided into two," Schwanen said.
Shipping would still be possible between the ports of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Antwerp and parts of North Rhine-Westphalia, roughly as far as Cologne.
Further south, traffic could continue on tributaries and connected waterways including the Neckar, Moselle, Main and Main-Danube Canal.
Historic low-water levels were recorded at several points on the Rhine in North Rhine-Westphalia over the weekend after weeks of dry weather and too little rainfall across the river's catchment area.
The falling river is already forcing freight vessels to carry much lighter loads, pushing up transport costs for industries that depend on bulk cargo.
Can shipping adapt as Germany's busiest river runs dry?
Richard Connor | Elizabeth Schumacher Editor
Guten Tag from the DW newsroom in Bonn on the banks of the Rhine.
An inland shipping group is warning that, very soon, the river — Europe's most important inland commercial waterway — could no longer be navigable along its full length.
Germany's inland shipping association warned that the gauge at a crucial point for freight traffic could drop into single digits this week.
At such low levels, commercial vessels would no longer be able to transport goods through that stretch of the river.
Meanwhile, police are investigating a fatal shooting in a busy part of Berlin after a dispute involving several people.
SOURCE:DW