Germany news: Train station alcohol ban comes into force

Alla hopp! Another day, another digest of the main news morsels on the menu in fair Deutschland, delectable and perhaps disgusting alike. Thanks for stopping by, Planet Earth.

If you're waiting for a train and frustrated by the delay — hardly an unthinkable scenario in modern Germany — on no account crack open a beer to wile away the time. Starting this Thursday, booze is banned at all of the country's train stations. It's part of a bid to improve behavior, fight littering and in extreme cases protect travelers and staff alike.

Various reform plans should start the parliamentary reading process in the Bundestag, after the Cabinet signed off on them in a Wednesday meeting. These include hikes to tobacco taxes, emergency service reforms, and changes to the federal law on support in education.

The Bundestag will also vote, in what's probably a formality, on extending the military peacekeeping deployments in the Red Sea and in South Sudan into 2027.

Left-leaning coalition negotiations are set to restart in Berlin after hitting a big bump in the road earlier this week.

Essen police are still searching for a prisoner who was violently freed from custody yesterday by two accomplices during a doctor's visit.

And the government stats office is warning of a meager potato harvest and increased prices after the scorching, dry summer.

We'll endeavor to keep you abreast of these stories and whatever else breaks as the day develops.