Germany is grappling with the impacts of damaging storms after a prolonged dry spell. Meanwhile, a CDU politician in Saxony-Anhalt reportedly donated money to the far-right AfD party.
1 killed as dangerous storms battered parts of Germany overnight into Thursday. Longtime CDU politician in Saxony-Anhalt pens letter to support AfD party, regional newspaper says. Germany logged 14,000 heat-related deaths during blistering heat wave this summer, official data shows.
Charlotte Knobloch, the former president of the Central Council of Jews, has joined other politicians in Germany in condemning comments by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who called for targeted nightly killings in Gaza. "I think that targeted killings should be carried out in Gaza," Ben-Gvir said during a podcast interview. "I think targeted assassinations should be carried out in Gaza, taking down 30 to 40 every night. Not just those who pose an immediate threat — there are people there who are not worthy of life."
"These sentences do not stand for Israel's values and they should not go unchallenged," Knobloch said on Thursday. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil have both strongly condemned Ben-Gvir's remarks.
Young people in Germany have little confidence that the state pension system will carry them through when they are older, a study on Thursday showed. In a Forsa poll, only 49% of the 1,003 respondents (aged between 18 to 30) said they expected to count on money from the state when they are older.
The upcoming regional election in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt could be one of the most important postwar elections in the country because there's a good chance that a far-right party takes over governance of a state for the first time since the end of World War II.
German prosecutors have filed charges against four former employees of Commerzbank over alleged tax evasion linked to the Cum-Ex scandal. The Frankfurt Public Prosecutor's Office said the four men were responsible for tax losses amounting to more than €20 million.
A sizeable number of people reported nausea and vomiting at the world-famous Elbphilharmonie concert hall in Hamburg on Thursday morning. Medical crews and fire services were on site, treating people. Initial reports indicate that about 20 to 25 people were affected.
Around 14,000 people died as a result of the heat and related impacts in Germany as Europe endured blistering heat waves this summer, official data showed on Thursday. The death toll was greater than a previous record set in 2018. Around 9,600 deaths took place in one week in late June when Germany baked in temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius.
A number of people at a hotel in Bavaria were treated for illness by paramedics overnight. At least 31 people said they were feeling some kind of stomach illness in what officials suspect could have been a norovirus outbreak.
A wave of destructive storms overnight into Thursday toppled trees, damaged homes in several parts of the country as well as killed a woman in the western German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The woman, who was 58 years old, was out on a walk when a tree fell over. Around 60 homes were damaged in Wetzlar, Hessen.
Bernd Prange, a longtime member of the CDU and mayor of a municipality in Saxony-Anhalt, wrote an open letter urging voters to support the AfD in the upcoming regional vote on September 6. The paper reported that Prange donated a total of €10,000 to the AfD.
