Germany news: Heat alerts in effect for millions

European countries are preparing a potential naval mission to restore safe passage, as reports of hidden sea mines, vessels switching off tracking systems, and the risk of renewed conflict have turned the Strait of Hormuz into a "black box," where ships lack visibility and insurers refuse coverage.

Germany, drawing on extensive mine-clearing experience in the North and Baltic Seas, is already positioning ships to play a key role.

A journalist who disappeared from northeastern Syria as government forces advanced on Kurdish fighters in January this year has been released and is back in Germany. 

Eva Maria Michelmann's lawyer announced the news on Friday evening. For months it wasn't even clear what had happened to her, but the government in Damascus later said she was in detention.

Read the full story here. 

The right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) has extended its lead in another opinion poll published on Friday, albeit not to the levels reported by a different polling institute earlier in the week. 

It found that in a hypothetical federal election taking place this Sunday, 28% of respondents would vote AfD, up 1% on the previous month.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservative CDU/CSU bloc slipped one point to 24%. 

Public broadcaster ZDF published the poll compiled by the Forschungsgruppe Wahlen institute. 

A YouGov poll published on Tuesday had given the AfD a record 9% margin over the CDU/CSU, not 4%. That survey does seem to be an outlier among the other major pollsters' findings. 

Friday's survey found the struggling Social Democrats bouncing back 1%, to 13% support. The Greens slipped 2% and stood at 12% with the socialist Left Party on 11%. 

The pro-business Free Democrats stood just shy of the hurdle for proportional representation on 4%. 

In last year's federal election, the AfD emerged as the second-largest party overall for the first time in its history.

Although it is very unlikely to lead a government even if it can become the largest party — given that the other major parties refuse to cooperate with it and it has the support of less than a third of voters — doing so would still be a major blow to the other political parties in the country.

Police in Renningen say they have found a dead body after search for a missing baby boy that started late on Thursday. 

"In the course of the search for the missing infant police were able to locate the dead body of a baby at around 13:45," police said in an update on Friday afternoon. "It could be the missing boy. Police identification measures are ongoing." 

Police said that further details about the situation in which the body was found and the death of the infant was a matter of ongoing criminal police investigations and could not yet be made public. 

Police had said in an initial alert on Friday morning that a major search — involving officers, canine units, a helicopter and drones — had started shortly before midnight on Thursday night. The baby went missing from its pram, or stroller. 

Police have said that the baby's parents filed the missing person's report. The prosecutor's office is also yet to make any comment on potential suspects or grounds for suspicion. 

Investigators issued a public appeal to people to refrain from online speculation about the case and not to launch independent search efforts of their own.

Renningen is a small town west of Stuttgart in southwestern Germany.

 

The heat warnings in place in Germany come after Western Europe experienced an unusually early and intense heatwave during the second half of May.

The Copernicus Climate Change Service, which provides descriptions and analyses of climate conditions in Europe, said the heatwave event in May was consistent with Europe's rapid warming.

Europe is the fastest-warming continent, with temperatures rising by approximately 0.56°C per decade since the mid-1990s, more than double the global average.

That accelerated warming is due, in part, to location. Europe is connected to the Arctic, the only other place in the world that is warming even faster.

Rising temperatures are warming the ocean and melting more ice that then alters global weather patterns.

Many primary schools were closed on Friday in the western state of North-Rhine Westphalia.

In some secondary schools, classes for grades five to ten were dismissed after half-day to account for the heat.

The decisions are taken by school administrations. 

But there are regulations that exclude high school students, which have been criticized by the Education and Science Workers' Union. 

The German Red Cross (DRK) also called for better protection for homeless people, as they are a particularly vulnerable group.

Cities and municipalities must provide cool rooms and public drinking fountains , the Red Cross demanded in the regional Rheinische Post. 

Bonn's North Bridge (Friedrich-Ebert Bridge), one of only three bridges connecting the city split by the Rhine river, will likely remain closed for two years because a part of it will have to be reconstructed, authorities said.

Autobahn GmbH, the federal company responsible for maintaining the some 13,000-kilometer German motorway (Autobahn), said it determined that the approach bridge on the left bank of the Rhine for the bridge had to be demolished and rebuilt. It will likely remain closed until the end of 2028.

"The damage to the approach bridge on the left bank of the Rhine has deteriorated to such an extent that reopening the bridge to both lorry and car traffic is no longer an option," Transport Minister Patrick Schnieder (CDU) said on Friday.

The Friedrich-Ebert Bridge is one of the most important transport routes in the region. Around 100,000 vehicles use the bridge every day.

The bridge has been  closed to traffic since early June.

High levels of heat are forecast across Germany with hot air moving into the country from the southwest, the German Weather Service (DWD) said.

There's an extreme heat warning in place for large parts of the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

There are also warnings for places in the northern state of Lower Saxony and places in the central state of Hesse.

In western and southwestern Germany, temperatures could reach up to 38 degrees Celsius (a little more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit).

Thunderstorms and isolated showers in some parts too

Forecasts also predict thunderstorms and isolated showers in the south of the country later this evening.

There's potential for heavy rain, hail, strong gusts of wind, and severe weather in southwestern Germany, especially in the regions of Baden and Swabia.

The DWD said the situation would ease overnight, though storm activity could continue in the west of the country.

Guten Tag from the Bonn Newsroom!

Heat warnings have been issued for most parts of the country, with temperatures forecast to rise to 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) in Bonn.

Plus, the North Bridge (Nordbrücke) in Bonn, one of the region's busiest crossings over the Rhine, is to be closed to cars and trucks for the next two years.

Follow along for the latest on Germany throughout the day with DW.