ah ah ah this is dw news life from berlin. an unprecedented drought in europe dries up the continents main waterways. the effects of re court breaking hate revealed how much europe depends on its rivers for trade and energy transport and germany is key shaping artery. the brine is at risk of grinding to a halt. also on the show explosions, rock,

a russian military facility in crimea. moscow coals this latest incident on the kremlin control peninsula, sabotaged. and can you declare its next president? william brutal wins the tightly contested race. but the battle may not be over several election officials say they won't stand by the results. ah, i've been visible and welcome a summer of record breaking heat is drying up rivers across europe. around half the continent is facing an unprecedented drought. shipping companies in germany, a preparing for the worst as levels on the river rind dropped to critical levels. authority say many vessels will be unable to navigate the key shipping route if the water drops much lower. scientists, warm climate change will lead to even more frequent periods of extreme heat and

drought. dw samantha baker is covering the story for us from the banks of the river, ryan and cologne. i asked her about the water levels where she is. the water levels here are extremely low and they're almost approaching record levels here in cologne . so you can see around me the, the banks here are creeping into the middle of the river. i mean, that they're really expanding from, from where the waters levels were earlier. this summer so like i said, this is reaching almost near record lows and it's affecting shipping as you mentioned. so if the water is not a meter and a half high, these large ships can't navigate the ryan, which means they have to carry less goods as little as 25 percent of what they were planning to carry. and that leads to delays and shipping and increased costs. unfortunately, this situation isn't forecasts you change any time soon. those law, those water levels aren't set to rise any time soon. sam, normally,

water levels only begin to drop from this time of year. how's it managed to get is so bad. so worley well, climate change is certainly having an impact here on the drought across europe really. so we've seen it prolonged periods of high temperatures the summer and not very much rainfall in the past few weeks. so that is just making the problem worse and worse. and so you know, this, this impact is making droughts in general, more intense, more frequent, more severe. and, and it's leading to these really low water levels. not only here on the ryan, but also on the war in france on the po river in italy, on the danube. really, across the continent, authority, se, shipping on the river rhyme, where you might soon come to a standstill. what, what would be the economic impact of that?

yes, so that will certainly impact businesses here in germany as well as a few other countries. most of germany's goods are shipped on the rhine, so it's going to have a big impact in 2008 last time that water levels got this low. ah, it impacted germany's g. d p by a point 4 percent of businesses are a little bit more prepared this time because they had that record year in 2008. 18 but you know, it's, it's to be seen usually at the record lows come closer to october. 3rd, we still got a ways to go in the season. so what can be done so because this drought is made worse by climate change, the main thing is reducing our greenhouse gas emissions and i means stop using fossil fuels. now it's perhaps a bit ironic that many of the ships that go up and down this river behind me are

carrying things like coal, heating, oil and diesel and burning. those fossil fuels is making the problem of climate change worse, which is making it harder for them to navigate this river due to low water levels and due to this drought. so that's the main thing to be done in the long term. short term. some of these companies, you know, may need to find other ways to move their goods. i, if they can't get up and down the ryan d, w samantha baker in cologne. thank you. will climate scientists say human activities have contributed to an increasingly warm planet? g. w reporter william blue cross has an overview of the extreme heat, catastrophic drought and wrinkled wild fires disrupting this european cello. the whole world is getting hotter, but data show europe is out pacing the global average, and that's leading to conditions rarely seen in an otherwise temperate part of the world. let's start with those wild fires that several european countries are battling of this year. has already been

a record number of total fires since the european union started keeping track in 2006. now here we can see those blazers have so far burned, 660000 hector's of land. and if we compare it to the average to this point so far in the year, it's 3 and a half times more than the average over all of those years. now, what is 660000 actors? let's put that in perspective. that area is bigger than all of the city of istanbul, and the fire season is not over yet. so what's making it so bad? fire officials are pointing to extreme drought and high temperatures, which are only getting hotter and not just about hot weather or one hot summer. it's about a trend. we can look at germany as just an example. germany is of course, a fairly cool, northern european country. you can see here average summer temperatures in germany between 1960 and now 2022. and yes, of course there are some cooler years,

but the trend is unmistakable. it's going up. it's getting warmer and warmer and warmer with every year. starting in 1960 with a temperature of just under 16 degrees celsius and this year, not yet over. we don't quite know, but we may be reaching almost 19 degrees celsius with that high point back in 2003 at 19.67 degrees celsius. and remember these are just averages. these also include lowes in the night time heat, waves, hot days and tropical nights are all on the rise. now that has health consequences for people living in these more frequent and more intense conditions, because the human body can't cool off and infrastructure that's made for a temperate zone like northern europe can't cope. but there's not on effects as well for all around the world. higher temperatures and less water can reduce economic productivity, destroy agriculture, and make trade more difficult and expensive. and that makes climate change anywhere a problem for everyone. everywhere william click right there, the netherlands,

which borders germany is normally one of the wettest countries in europe. but this summer is also battling a prolonged drought and water shortages with just about a 3rd of its land below sea level. the netherlands is especially vulnerable to climate change and is now being forced to adapt fast kettle coming to a want to hold dried out reservoir just outside the dutch town of devon. ter it's very dry season now. and he could see the water levers very, very low. this canal would normally be bringing water into one of the netherlands biggest rivers. we are at the bottom of the civic. normally the sir, me the water over here. but now you can see it's all, it's all gone. you can see a little bit water over there, fill me the sub stream, but this is all gone. and as the river i saw, you can see alo, it's mine and is responsible for the upkeep of the dike system in this region. and the extreme heat is not only drying out the waterways,

but also endangering his levies. and his will be all covered with grass by now you can see it's sol, dirt so dry. now you need to cras cover because it's erosion, blankets or top of levy. or you can see or the future would look like if it stays this better. the dike needs water for it to stay safe and violent, has to prepare for the change in conditions. yeah, look what, what plans are gonna be better as and ralph that that longer roots, we want to learn from sort aponce parts of europe to if to learn from it moving 90 kilometers westward on the outskirts of the city of attrition. the picture seems quite different with pumping station is called the armed border, the supplier, and its part of the climate adaptation system that we used to get sweetwater to the west of the netherlands. but with the rhine already running it extremely low levels

. it looks to be helping one neighbor at the expense of another nature, agriculture, and also the dikes need your water from the rhine river. because if this pump stopped working, salt water from the sea will push into the coastal waterways. sharon is looking at a complete reversal of dutch water manage meant the history of the netherlands is a history of a flood defense. and that is how the dutch bales of the netherlands, especially the western western bar. we know below the sea level. but we also now have to prepare for more drugs and more and more heat. however, central water distribution is of little help on the we touch family farm. normally the couch all day or walk outside and take the grass outside. but now there's nothing growing. so i have to eat something, so they stay inside an old address from last year and was his corn fields and

his sorry, state farm a william young has little hope they can grow enough feet and there's no rain the straight out. nothing grows over to that a and we will hope that it will rain but the weight goes on. the forecast is expecting yet more dry and hot weather and so now from delft in the netherlands by, by phone to hook. he's a climate researcher at that cell towers institute. professor, we heard it, they read our report. the forecast is not good. how damaging do you think this hot dry summer will be to the netherlands? well, this is indeed something we're not very used to. i mean, you heard from the video just before we are a country that is prepared for flooding and we sort of have a heroic story about our country that we defend that ourselves against c and the rivers. but this is a drought declaration that is of course, yeah,

reaching us more and more often with the changing climate, but we need to increasingly get used to it. and so we really need to adjust hotels to this concentration for sure. what would be the consequences though, if the dots don't adapt in time? wow, that's actually no option because no one can live without water. so we'll, we'll, we'll adept in one way or another and you know, there was, we have had tried years for sure. and we are currently in this year, we are not in the records here, even at $976.00 is still the most prominent drought year that we have experience in more than history. but of course our society has developed as well since then our, our population has grown. economy is growing, so we are probably a bit more sensitive to say, so these kinds of conditions. but again, 2018 also was a year that was really yeah,

another kind of wave call call. and also because we had a sequence of dry year sales of $2920.00 were relatively dry and in a growing season. and that made us aware that this is something to stay and something to prepare for. and, and since then we have, we have implemented quite a few measures like more water retention. we've, we, we've, we've elaborated on the way we manage our fresh water as far as we have a big lake called lake, which is covering 15 percent of the live say to the north and we manage it in order to have sufficient amount of water. we also have a lot of attention paying paid, going on currently to, you know, keeping water in the domain that ever we intend to all domain for many of the areas were designed to, to get rid of the water and we drain areas to go further into to agriculture land for now we realize we need to keep the water in. so we've, we've changed

a lot of the natural flows and into water management in order to, to have higher water level throughout the year. and try to touch sort of so many adaptation actions ongoing and still to come have no other taishan is not an option at all. some of those solutions or all of those solutions, solutions that other countries can adapt. sorry, good question yet. those solutions that you just listed off solutions that other countries going to dance to you know, it well, yes or no, i think and do we have a good tradition in water management and it has both of the technical side to say about the infrastructure, but also on the governance side was a lot of adaptation actually that is going about who is actually responsible for which part of all system and also the adjustment between a different government like layers and interactions with, with the use of the water. that's also a thing that has evolved over time,

but i think we can also learn from, from other countries on our side. as i said, this is, this is not a usual situation cuz it's not something we are really experienced to. and so, and there is other countries, even within europe, where, where i say climate is a bit different in differences in spain, we have a much a very different a annual cycle of rainfall. and we know for sure that in large part of the summer season, there is no water at all. so you need to deal a lot on the water management already early in the year when the rest of the water and, and they're the say the negotiation process on who gets which part of the water, of course, takes place at the moment that you still can take some action which is more like in, in early spring time. and, and those are, and also in all kinds of awful, a more infrastructure arrangement about how to consumer port or how to maintain its

quality. how to emit development of living with water like a development of housing on water or agriculture, that is more water resistance. whatever those are kinds of practices to be definitely learn from other countries. i would say, can i just ask you briefly though, how the problems here in europe caused by extreme he compared to other parts of the world? well, yes that's, that's a good question. i've been involved in the latest, i pcc climate change assessment in the physical report that was released last last year in august. and then we get a global picture of what the climate change is doing. and for sure, europe is, is exposed to increasingly to also drug problems for sure. the mediterranean area is re hold support for this. but we also see at our se, latitudes,

where germany and the nuns are the risk of these kinds of content is increasing. so there's all, what we are seeing are sort of fits the picture. but i'm really, you know, sometimes astonished by the pictures i see from, for instance, the middle east or countries like iraq or more that in china. currently we have a 9 week long heat wave with, with days and days, or even weeks and weeks where regions temperature is exceeding 540 degree said your while time. and that is, that is getting incredibly difficult to almost survive in your life. and it's part of iraq bus. i was told the other day that we have 52 degrees centigrade on me and it's cooling to know cooler than 35 degrees and it during nighttime. so there's no way people can recall what exactly sounds like a global phenomena. that for sure, by phone to hook, we'll have to leave it there. thank you very much. really,

really interesting stuff. thank you. bye bye. another use an ammunition step o has exploded in crimea a week after similar blasts wrought to russian air base on the antics peninsula. the russian defense ministry originally attributed the blasts to a fire at a military warehouse. but now says the damage is the result of sabotage. local officials say 2 people were injured while another 2000 were evacuated. as a precaution, ukraine has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement in the recent blasts in crimea. and sheila was illegally annexed by russia in 2014. he of you corresponded john philip sholtes is in keith. this isn't the 1st such blast in crimea. what has keith been saying about these incidents? of course, hardly anybody here believes that it's just a strange series of accidents, and some ukrainian officials have made comments that leave some room for

interpretation. let say so shortly after the explosions of presidential adviser tweeted that invaders have to understand that there is a high risk of death in occupied territories for them. so hardly anybody believes in accidents and for many ukrainians. crimea is one of the most symbolic places of this war. they would so welcome any possible attack on your russian facilities there. as you know, crimea has been occupied by russia for the past 8 years. and so, president lensky has repeatedly made it clear that any efforts to win the war, any effort to take back occupied territory must include crimea, concerns, or also growing about the strikes near the separation nuclear plant. what, what's the latest there? yes, local authorities say that artillery attacks have continued so very close to the

plant and the past 48 hours that is very concerning. and they say that the the russian fight says that the ukrainians are responsible for the attacks and vice versa. they blame it is each other as usual, but we were able to talk to some engineers that worked or at the plant until recently. and they confirm that the situation is getting increasingly alarming. a lot of facilities have been destroyed in recent days. in theory, both ukraine and russia agree that there should be a mission of international inspectors, but they disagree on the conditions. russia rejects any mission that travels through non occupied ukrainian territory. so at the moment of our

little sign for improvements, unfortunately, that is unfortunate. john felix shaw. thank you very much for bringing us up to date on the situation in ukraine. and a quick look at some other stories making headlines today. germany's economy minister hope at heart beck has signed a letter of intent with 4 large energy importers. they've pledged to supply the country's 1st input terminals with liquefied natural gas, the 2 channels on the german north coast due to go into operation at the end of the year. they are part of germany's efforts to reduce dependence on russian energy, indonesian presidential, widowed, or has called on his nation to be a breach of peace between russia and ukraine. in his annual state of the nation address, widow hailed his country's growing stature as a leader on the global stage. his speech comes a day before indonesia celebrates 77 years of independence. the chairman of kenya's

electoral commission has declared william brutal next president. speaking it a victory rally. brutal said he'd be a leader for all can. yet no matter which way they voted route at $150.00 and a half percent of the ballot, narrowly beating his main rival rider dingo companies met with tension and allegations of vote. rigging of the half can use the electoral commission to some of the results, calling it opaque detail. he's my heel. mila was in the town of k sumunah being a strong hold. as the results rolled in hope for his bakery turned into anger of his defeat. people have been celebrating for hours. he and key soon west and kenya, they are confident their favorite candidate, relo dingo was soon be named kenya's. next president. he saw more is the strong hold of long time veteran opposition leader or dinger regularly waiting for the are the president that is i believe. and i eagerly hoping buddy i'll, i'm going to be gone from bethany. but then after a 3 hour delay,

the final result was officially declared. i will follow your godaddy. yes, barzon of the independent electron bond at his commission. here by declares that route to william some way us been duly elected. does the president in other parts of the country, william router supporters celebrated the announcement the mood and he's soon changed rapidly. they are disappointed. they expect it ran out of danger to when they say their victory has been stolen. st battles lasted for 2 hours, protest as through stones that police reacted by fire and tear gas. police has managed to actually push back the protesters down. this road is heard that some

shops have been looted and we also hear occasional done a higher the police still patrolling the roles and make sure that the situation remains calm overnight. meanwhile, president elect william router addressed the country. i went to promised that people of china that i will run a transparent, open democratic government. and i will walk with the opposition to the extent that they provide oversight of my administration. even though a large part of the country remains laboratory and peaceful, it will be one of william brutus hardest tasks to reconcile a divided country. oh, d, w 8 of kamani is in nairobi for us. edith, what is the situation there now? well, it's precisely what my real miller described in her report that has just it does

a lot of celebration on one half of the country. this is of course, where most of the pointers of president elect william, brutal are. and on the other side, these a lot of respondents, a lot of people saying they're very shocked by the result. most of them waiting to hear from presidential candidates rayleigh, what dingo, who is sent to speech any minute. now his words will of course, be very weighty because he could mean that the country goes through additional process. but if he concedes defeat, then it's back to normal. as soon as he makes that announcement, we'll election observers and standing by that result. our dingo support is likely to come round or didn't get support says unlikely to do what. what did you ask them to do? and that's why we're really looking to see what he's going to say. it's rather unusual that we haven't had from his steam up until now. what we do know is that the, we're very confident before the election result was announced, that they were going to be the winner.

sorry, we've lost the line there with edith. but thank you very much for bringing us up to date as much as you can, will be bringing you more on that story. as soon as we get an address from kenya. finally, some of the world's most athletic chess players have gone head to head under water . this is the final of the well dive chest championships in london where it's as much a battle of wits as of lung capacity. players have to hold their breath while considering the next move on a boat submerged in a swimming pool. bolan's mikhail muzzle key, which took the title after 4 rounds. a good way of keeping your cool and reminder of the top story way following for you this out. a summer of re court breaking heat is drying up rivers across europe. with water levels in germany's river rind, dropping to critical levels. authority say many vessels may be unable to navigate

the key. shipping vert, say with us up. next is our bonus, like a show kick off with round up of match. they took i ben for sewland. see you next out. ah. with with

ah. with who take off what's going on here with who do they think they are?

good questions. you can find the answers here. all the games, whole, the goals. the point is so you go highlight w . chronicle of a disaster, august 1 year ago. the totally mind advance into the app and capital international troops leave the country head over heels of decades of reconstruction . work is a last what really happened? the soul of come close up in 60 minutes on d. w. o.

how many pushes out in the world right now, the climate change. if any, off the story, this is my flex the way from just one week. how much was can really get we still have time to go on going on with his subscribe for more minutes like a.