Germany news: Minister warns of high terror threat

Here is a roundup of of the latest headlines from Germany on Saturday, July 18 and Sunday, July 19:

Bavaria 's state premier, Markus Söder , visited celebrations in Bernau am Chiemsee on Sunday, praising rural areas as the "soul of Bavaria."

Söder said in a post online that he had always enjoyed visiting the area, and pledged to develop "tourism, natural protection and the needs of locals in a balanced manner in future."

The conservative CSU leader made no mention, however, of reports on newspaper Bild 's website and later on German news agency DPA of a man jumping out a bush and throwing a tomato at him amid the visit.

Bild cited eyewitnesses and a video of the incident. It said that the presumed attacker was swiftly apprehended and that Söder was unhurt.

Bernau am Chiemsee is a small municipality of around 7,000 people on the Chiemsee lake, southeast of Munich and near the Austrian border.

Germany's largest electronic music festival Parookaville concluded on Sunday night on the Dutch border in Weeze.

After three days of music performances and five days of camping on site, organizers and police both issued positive initial appraisals.

A total of roughly 225,000 people attended across the entire event.

Fesitval co-founder Bernd Dicks, who got a taste for the scene during his years reporting from similar events, said, "We're not just the biggest festival in North Rhine-Westphalia and one of the biggest in Germany, we're also one of the most peaceful."

He said that figures for criminality and misbehavior were "absolutely below average."

Police in nearby Kleve were also largely positive, saying there had been assaults, sexual harassment cases and theft, "but nothing too serious, thank God."

Police spokesman Stefan Sparberg told regional public broadcaster WDR that it was a very pleasant event for law enforcement.

He said there had also been drug offenses, but said this was "not our main issue at this event." Since the partial legalization of cannabis in Germany in 2024, he said, "people smoke dope here, that's generally understood, the event's over-18s only."

The local supermarket in Weeze, a small town of just over 12,000 people, reported a busy week. By late Saturday, it had sold 12,500 turkey pastries, 15,400 bananas, 222,000 beers, 40,000 packs of ice cubes and 35,400 frozen pizzas.

NRW's State Premier Hendrik Wüst also visited on Friday, sporting shades and some grey-blue Adidas summer shoes, touring the festival with Bernd Dicks.

German World Cup winner turned pundit for the ZDF public broadcaster Christoph Kramer was in typically pithy form on seeing the pitch for the final in Rutherford, New Jersey this evening.

Kramer was less than complimentary of the groundskeeping staff, who have been battling searing July temperatures and frequent use of the MetLife Stadium pitch amid the tournament.

"It's like a skittles alley with a carpet laid over it. For Spain in particular, it's a different kind of football match," Kramer said, insinuating that Spain's possession-based passing game could be compromised by the imperfect playing surface.

Kramer is no stranger to World Cup finals involving Argentina, but famously his memory of his personal experience is not what it should be.

The midfielder suffered a concussion in Germany's win after extra time against Messi's Argentina 12 years ago, later saying he had no recollection of the biggest match of his life.

Jürgen Klopp has said that a key hurdle to him becoming the Geman national team's next coach has been cleared.

In the build-up to the World Cup final on MagentaTV, where he has been appearing as a pundit, Klopp gave an update on his talks with the managing director of Red Bull, Oliver Mintzlaff, on the sidelines of the final in the New York area.

"I have reached an agreement with Red Bull, a generous arrangement," Klopp said.

Klopp is currently Red Bull's "Head of Global Soccer" and contracted until 2029, a post he took up after leaving Liverpool and saying he would take a timeout from top-level coaching.

Asked about a final agreement with Germany's football association, the DFB, Klopp said: "Nothing is final yet, but the talks are ongoing and everything is moving in the right direction."

Based on reports and off-the-record comments, the DFB made clear to Red Bull that it could not pay a large severance package for Klopp. However, reports of "creative solutions" to the impasse, such as Klopp continuing to operate in some commerical capacity on behalf of the energy drinks giant, soon circulated.

Measuring stations are still reporting low water levels at most posts along the Rhine river in western Germany.

Water levels along Europe's busiest inland freight waterway, connecting Rotterdam's vast port to much of Germany, are roughly half what you'd expect at this time or year, or around a third of the annual averages. This is a result of two recent heat waves, the earlier of the two bringing unprecedented temperatures to parts of Germany .

Low summer water levels can cause complications for freight companies, sometimes forcing them to run barges with only partial loads, particularly if they are carrying high-density cargo.

The levels have however risen slightly in the past few days, particularly in major cities in North Rhine-Westphalia like Bonn, Cologne and Düsseldorf, and are forecast to continue to improve as the week begins.

Düsseldorf's city website predicts that levels in the city, which is one of the river's shallower and busier points, should roughly double by Tuesday when compared to Friday evening's low point.

Although not much rain is forecast in the NRW region in the coming days, areas upstream have improved levels that should soon be reflected further north.

Folk dance enthusiasts or simply early-morning revellers gathered in central Munich for the annual Kocherlball on Sunday.

A crowd of some 12,000 people gathered at the Chinese Tower dining room and beer garden in the English Garden park in the Bavarian capital.

People arrived to reserve tables as early as 3 a.m. for the tradition to ring in the dawn by candlelight; every table was taken by 4 in the morning, Bavaria's BR broadcaster reported.

The tradition traces its roots back to 1794, when an English count Benjamin Thomspon threw a ball for staff members at a military workhouse he'd established in the city.

The tradition caught on and endured annually for decades, weather permitting at least.

Many participants worked as serving girls or maids or soldiers, or as cooks in the mess hall, hence the Bavarian dialect name Kocherlball. They had to gather at dawn because they were expected back on duty later in the day.

The event was banned in 1904 amid reports of rowdy behavior. But in 1989, the tradition was revived, by this point more for enthusiasts from the general public than serving staff.