The morning was dominated by the announcement that former transport minister Andreas Scheuer will stand trial over the failed car toll, covered across outlets from Spiegel to FAZ. By early afternoon, attention shifted to intensifying speculation about a chancellor swap from Merz to Hendrik Wüst, with Welt and merkur.de reporting on secret CDU discussions and a meeting between the two. The Scheuer trial represents a new legal development, while the Merz succession rumors, building for days, reached a peak with Wüst's public backing of Merz later in the day. Other stories included a tragic accident in Dinslaken where a driver's cardiac arrest killed two children, climate blockades in the Ruhr, and a Russian drone strike in Romania prompting Medvedev's threats.