you're watching database the news, his reminder of the top story we're following for you this hour. the head of the un nuclear watchdog has warned an emergency security council meeting of a grave crisis unfolding in the separated nuclear plant in ukraine as moscow and cave tried accusations of new shelling near the facility. that's all for now, stephen beardsley will be here for you. business update on for a short breaks. the staging for that will have morning. heavens for you at the top of the next town. thanks. very much watching. if you ever have to cover up a murder, the best way is to make an accident raring to me. you've never read a book like this. literature list under german most reads i

that is a journey across the entire continent. says variety of cottonwood and this so the focus of the movers. shake is visionaries and majors when binding the meaning of modern africa. this is as an egg on di devin ah. europe's rivers are drying and that threatening trade across the continent or visit the rhine in germany, where ships are lighting their loads and businesses looking at alternatives to one of europe's major waterways. also in our shows, attempts are sweltering and spain, but it's getting harder to cool off new energy rules,

limit the use of air conditioning and 4 months after defaulting on its debt, sri lanka is still puzzling together rescue plan one walk the show. i'm seeking beardsley in berlin. dry spells heat waves and now shrinking waterways from an industry is facing another blow or the countries commercial arteries. the river rhine is approaching historically low water levels. a number of industrial heavyweights rely on the right to transport goods and raw materials to the north sea. you can see some of them coming up here. b s f, toussant group, the still producer a significantly lower water levels mean that the companies have to reduce their shiploads, but have your ship displaces more water after all. a current capacities for some barges are as low as 30 percent. one shipping company even reported that it needed 4 or 5 shiploads. now to get a full load downstream thing as it could get worse. the cal check point near the city of mines is an especially shallow point in the river. on friday,

it was nearing a 40 centimeter reference level that's getting close to being on passable and from wellness. let's go to asher. touch pan day. our correspond. who's standing by the river, right in bon areas. ashtosh. it looks like it's pretty far from where you're standing . give me some reference for how low we are right now. well steve, i'm standing not very far from the middle of river right now, just a few weeks back. i would have been under water just to put things away. in plain words, i would have been under water, but below me right now you can see the river bed, or you can see pieces of so stones, rocks, wood, all exposed now. and on the other side, what i can explain, what i've experienced in the for, as i've spent here, is that the number of ship that usually would go on this. so river have actually come down drastically. so i've just seen a handful of ships or sale by in the last 4 hours and the ship that i actually

sailing are actually going, carrying much or less a capacity that they would usually do the fact that they're carrying these lower capacities. what ramifications does that have for these businesses upstream trying to get their goods for the c? miss will see. so the last time water levels were at these levels in 2018, it caused the german economy 0.4 percent around fi of some billions of dollars. but this time around of it's for the thing, it could be worse, given that not only supply chains would be disrupted, but these ships also carry coal. these are diesel gas oil. and that's actually very important during the energy crisis that you're facing at this point in time. so electricity prices would go up and that would actually be a double whammy for the economy. ah, as far as the companies are concerned, they are actually better prepared december around having dealt what their faces lost around in 2018. the better prepared the better or stop by right now. and i

knew companies like b s f d. i actually ordered a custom ship the ships with lower drafts, so that's what we're surf toussant group. they are doing that, but unit, but the utility has warned that it may actually have to cut output the 2 of its core plants because much of its cool actually comes through, right? so that's going to be something to watch out for. if the water levels do not go higher from here. so this is something that companies have already too adapted to, to some extent. but climate change means are probably going to have to adapt to it even more or their alternatives to the right. or will they just have to rely on increasingly lower and lower river west even so it has become unpredictable, right? so this was some, a predictable mode of transport. oh, bedrock of in the no transportation. but it has become unpredictable to what are the options in the current environment spread. we know the face of the real system in germany faces from face has grown congestion, then trucks at the option but trucks. one average barge for one average wide,

you would need 110 trucks. actually the carry, the equivalent amount of goods. so that's not possible in germany at this point in time, given that there is a major shortage of trucks with 80000 or so drivers a shortfall of 80000 or so drivers. right. i should touch plenty in bond on the river. ryan, talking about the difficult trade off right now as the water level sinks. thank you . will. spain is also in during this, especially hot european summer. it's already experienced to heat waves with temperatures over 40 degrees celsius, turning on the air conditioning isn't an option. however, at least not officially new rules in the country limit energy use and that makes it harder to keep who businesses are adjusting their temperatures and shutting their doors. this is to keep in line with new regulations set by the spanish government, which aim to me recent you energy agreements to limit dependency on russian gas.

you think we can, we have to comply with the agreements we have reached in brussels and it's sorta down until you retail stores and offices are not permitted to set air conditioning units below 27 degrees celsius. doors must remain close to contain the cold air and lights in shop. windows must be switched off by 10 p. m. reactions are mixed. some shoppers don't seem to mind the change. your lot of us killer lilian. the truth is that i see it as a good thing, and i reversed that. the doors are open in a store. i don't know. it's true. they are going to enter a store whether the doors open or not. but store owners and employees aren't so keen. go see we have what it is. it's going to be impossible because now we're at 18 degrees inside the ice cream parlor. if we go up to $27.00 degrees, we are going to be sweating all day. we won't need to go to the gym to free,

just give out a lot of heat and the customers are going to complain. nobody is going to come in as temperatures rise in one of europe's hottest countries. so does the pressure for everyone to do their part? let's go down to some of the other global business stories making headlines. britain's economy shrank in the 2nd quarter sharpening fears of recession. official figures showing a 10th of a percent contraction for the period between april and june. the u. k is widely expected to enter recession before years and cost of living is skyrocketing in the country due to soaring energy prices. oil and cash could soon be flowing again through the jewish by pipeline. the european bank has agreed to process the russian transit payment to ukraine after a week long hot oil deliveries. when confirmed by all parties, oil flows will resume to the czech republic, paving away for a process for future transit payments to central europe. let's go over to asia 4

months after defaulting on its foreign debt. sri lanka is still piecing together a survival strategy. it's currently in discussions with the international mater, monetary funds about a bailout. but real debt belief also means approaching its biggest creditor. china big crowds and long lines here at the soup kitchen issue, lancoste, capital, colombo, they're waiting for a meal. in recent months, food prices have exploded. inflation is more than 60 percent into south east asian country. even people who used to be comfortable now come here to get a hot meal. we can't imagine half desperate. some people are that they are crying and come here asking for food, saying they are very hungry. they asked if they can have at least a small portion of food because they are so hungry. sometimes when they come, when the food is almost run out. but we still give them whatever little amount we can't for them. food is cooked over of wood, fire. oil and gas are scarce and expensive. silica is bankrupt. it can no longer

afford to import energy. the island nation is particularly in high debt to china. in the past years by jake invested biddy as insur lanka. lows are costly and now to not to saw coming due, a repayment, or for our close to $1000000000.00 is falling due to sia and we've asked her and we've talked to china about the possibility of providing another loan in order to repay this, the sums and this is still under discussion. there are long queues at the gas stations, too. many courier dryers are desperate since they cannot get enough gas to earn a living. the world bank estimates to sure lankin economy was shrink by up to 8 percent this year. could sri lanka get back on its feet without the debt relief package? it's a huge, unknown much depends on if and how china would accommodate the island nation. and

for more or less, i'm joy now by pocket. so t it serve on a mo, to he's executive director of the sri lankan think tank center for policy alternatives. a packet already. thank you for joining us for months after this default. is there any sign the sri lanka is getting closer to a rescue plan? well, i think the, the queues for fuel and gas are sort of slowing up and that, that they're not as long as they were before. there is some hope that we might get a staff level agreement with the i m f by the end of the month. but as your section earlier on indicated, we need to get the chinese to come on board with regard to taking a haircut. because i think one of the i medical conditions will be that every creditor has to be treated equally. and that would require that the chinese drew take a hack. but apart from that, although the full situation seems to have east sub broad,

there are still problems with regard to people getting 3 square meals a day. or, you know, getting adequate electricity. prices have been raised by 75 percent. inflation is skyrocketing. so people continue to bear a tremendous amount of hardship and they hope and pray for relief. but the one thing that has happened, of course, is, is that the out of the earlier, the struggle collectors out daring welfare in the center of colombo and in the rest of the country. that seems to have a better. when i ask you a going back to china, you talked about a haircut, of course, meaning debt relief, specifically from them. they've been hesitant to provide that in other situations like in africa, are they poised to provide it in sri lanka? do you think there's a better case for them actually coming to terms which relock? well, one hopes, because the way is the whole debt relief, restructuring package is going to be prolonged if not derailed.

i guess the reason for the chinese reactance is that they will have any number of other countries like that doorstep demanding the same treatment. you know, so it's not just the st specific consideration. the chinese have to take into account, but we do have to negotiate something. i can get that out of the way because that is basically a potential spoiler to that relief. ethan's. alright, park year. so to serve on a move to with the center for policy alternatives and colombo, thank you very much. thank you. and his reminder of the top business story were falling for you. at this hour. german industry is facing down a drying up river. the river right is reaching historically low levels and could get even worse. the cobb choke point near the city of mines is nearing $840.00

centimeter reference level during an unpalatable level for river barges. and that's it for me and the dw business same you can find out more about these and other business stories online. check us out at d. w dot com slash business were also on you to check us out on the d w news channels. i'm seeing beardsley. thanks for watching. is the end of the pandemic in sight? we show what it could look like. will return to normal. and we visit those who are finding it difficult. exceeds his successes at

noon in our weekly coven 19 special. next on d, w. these places in europe are smashing all the records, stepped into a bold adventure. it's the treasure map for modern globetrotters. discover some of you up to record breaking sites on your mac, you tube and now also in book form ah, in some parts of the world coping 19 restrictions are being rolled back or even lifted completely. but in many places, case numbers are rising rapidly again, making the search for effective vaccines and treatments as important as ever. in columbia, researchers are testing a protein based.