Death toll in floods rises, as several remain missingÂ
Five people are confirmed to have died and the search is continuing for at least six missing people as floods lash southern Germany.Â
Though water levels on the badly-hit Danube died down slightly overnight on Wednesday, the situation remains critical, with emergency services fearing the death toll could rise.
According to the Flood Information Service (HND), the water levels at the gauges in Passau and Regensburg were still at the highest reporting level 4 early on Wednesday morning.
Thousands in the regions of Bavaria and Baden-WĂĽrttemberg have had to leave their homes since continuous rain has lashed the regions.Â
Police did report that they managed to rescue a woman after she spent 52 hours in a tree she had climbed to escape the flood waters.
The 32 year-old was spotted in the the forest near Neu-Ulm, Bavaria, with the help of a drone and a helicopter.
The clean-up has began in several places. But many areas are still dealing with high waters, including the city of Passau.Â
READ ALSO: Death toll in German floods rises to five as residents left stranded
Bavarian cabinet approves 'more than €100 million' aid for floods
The Bavarian state government has approved an emergency aid package in response to the severe flood damage.Â
"Bavaria is helping quickly and un-bureaucratically," said state premier Markus Söder (CSU) after a cabinet meeting in Munich on Tuesday. "We are not leaving anyone alone in this emergency."
The aid package will be worth more than €100 million. "It will be as much as needed," promised Söder, saying cash would be transferred to district governments this week.Â
According to Söder, private households can receive up to €5,000 for household contents and up to €10,000 for oil damage.
READ ALSO: Evacuations and widespread disruption as southern Germany battles floods
Number of unemployed people in Germany falls slightlyÂ
The slight decline in the unemployment rate in May was significantly weaker than expected, signalling that the labour market in Germany has failed to gain momentum, new figures show.Â
The number of unemployed people fell only minimally by around 27,000 to 2.723 million, according to the Federal Labour Agency (BA).
It means the unemployment rate dropped by 0.2 percentage points to 5.8 percent, compared to last year's figures, as Germany battles a weak economy.Â
"The spring recovery has not really got going this year," said BA boss Andrea Nahles. "Improvement is still a long time coming."
Construction industry preparing 'to cut at least 10,000 jobs'
On the jobs front, things look bleak in the construction industry.
The industry association (HDB) said Tuesday it expects thousands of jobs to be cut - and the housing construction targets of the coalition government to be missed.Â
The president of the industry association, Peter HĂĽbner, said he expects revenues to fall by four percent in 2024 and 10,000 jobs to be lost.
"We are in the fourth year of weakness in the construction industry," said HĂĽbner. "There will be no turnaround this year."
The industry says one of the main issues is the drop in public-sector construction projects. Federal, state and local authorities are expected to reduce their investment in construction this year due to the anticipated lower tax revenues.Â
Debate rages over deportations to AfghanistanÂ
The German government says it is considering allowing deportations to Afghanistan again after an asylum seeker from the country killed a police officer and wounded five others in a knife attack.
Deportations to Afghanistan have been stopped since the Taliban retook power in 2021.
But Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said Tuesday that officials had been carrying out an "intensive review for several months... to allow the deportation of serious criminals and dangerous individuals to Afghanistan".
The debate over resuming expulsions resurged after a 25 year-old Afghan was accused of attacking people with a knife at an anti-Islam rally in the city of Mannheim on Friday.
A police officer, 29, died of his wounds on Sunday after being repeatedly stabbed as he tried to intervene in the attack.
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that deportations to Afghanistan "cannot avoid key constitutional and, above all, security issues".
"How do you expect to work with an Islamist terrorist regime with whom we have no relations at all?" Baerbock said, underlining that Germany has no embassy on site to coordinate the expulsions.
READ ALSO: Germany mulls expulsions to Afghanistan after knife attack
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