Wednesday's top story: Relief coming for Europe after brutal heatwave
After days of record-breaking heatwaves across Europe, relief will start to arrive from the Atlantic on Wednesday, bringing thunderstorms and cooler temperatures to parts of western Europe.
Germany's national weather service is forecasting a peak of 40C on Wednesday in the economic capital Frankfurt, but that will plummet to 27C by Thursday.
High temperatures are also expected to peak in Berlin by Wednesday afternoon at around 39C.
"For the continent as a whole, the month is likely to be ranked among the top 5 warmest Junes on record," said the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.
"Due to climate change caused by humans, extreme heat is becoming more frequent and intense. This is something we must learn to live with," said Clare Nullis, spokesperson for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), a UN agency based in Geneva.
Extreme heat can cause dehydration, muscle cramps, headaches and nausea. The most serious risk is heatstroke, which can lead to death, especially in vulnerable people.
READ ALSO: The official German advice for how to stay safe in a heatwave
The all-time heat record for Germany was measured on July 25, 2019 and was 41.2C at the DWD weather stations Tönisvorst and Duisburg-Baerl (both in North Rhine-Westphalia).
Number of sick days due to heat on the rise
The number of sick days due to the effects of heat is rising. In 2023, it stood at around 92,700 – or twelve percent more than the previous high in 2018, according to data from the Ministry of Social Affairs.
The figures include days lost due to heatstroke, sunstroke, and heat exhaustion - and fluctuate from year to year depending on the weather conditions. In 2021, for example, there were just under 32,400 days lost due to heat, compared to around 71,200 the following year. Overall, however, the curve has been rising since 2015.
READ ALSO: Heatwave rules - Who decides when it's too hot for school in Germany?
According to the figures, men are affected by heat in the workplace much more than women. In 2023, men had 63,145 days of absence due to heat. For women, the figure was less than half that, at 29,577. The disparity is partly explained by the fact that men are more likely to work in physically demanding outdoor jobs, such as road or housing construction.
The Green Party parliamentary group is proposing time off work for employees during hot weather. A draft resolution by the party's executive committee states: “We want employers to be required to take measures to protect the health of their employees when temperatures at the workplace reach 26 degrees Celsius.”
Rail traffic disrupted in northern Germany
Long-distance rail services in northern Germany were disrupted on Tuesday because of multiple embankment fires and a bomb disposal operation near Osnabrück Central Station.
According to Deutsche Bahn, the embankment fires were in the Hamburg, Lower Saxony, and Saxony-Anhalt areas and caused delays on routes between Berlin and the Ruhr area/Hanover as well as between Hamburg and Berlin.
Property prices in Germany rise again
Residential property prices in Germany rose again in the first quarter of 2025. From January to March, they increased by an average of 3.8 percent compared to the same period last year, according to Germany's Statistical Office.
This represents the largest increase since the third quarter of 2022 and the second increase in a row.
From the end of 2022 onwards, real estate prices had fallen across the board due to higher interest rates and material costs. The trend didn't reverse until the final quarter of 2024, with an initial increase of 1.9 percent.
IN NUMBERS: Rents soar in Germany's big cities despite the rent brake
German performance by rap group Bob Vylan cancelled
A German music venue said Tuesday that a planned performance by rap duo Bob Vylan would not take place after its frontman led an anti-Israel chant at the Glastonbury festival.
London-based Bob Vylan, who often tackle racism in their tracks, were slammed by international and British politicians after they led the crowds in chants of "Death to the IDF" -- the Israeli military.
The group are due to support the band Gogol Bordello on a European tour this autumn but the venue in Cologne, the Live Music Hall, said in a post on its Instagram account: "The band 'Bob Vylan' will NOT perform as a support act on 13.09.2025!"
An employee at the venue who did not wish to be named told AFP that "we decided together with local organisers that (Bob Vylan) will not perform here after the media uproar", which followed their set at Glastonbury.
On Monday, British police said they were launching a criminal investigation into remarks made by Bob Vylan and fellow rap group Kneecap at the festival in southwestern England.
The BBC, which broadcast the festival, later apologised for not pulling the live stream of the band's set.
With reporting by DPA, AFP and Tom Pugh.
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