Europol and Eurojust coordinated with authorities in seven countries, led by Germany's Itzehoe Public Prosecutor's Office, to dismantle a crime-as-a-service operation that supplied fake trading platforms and call centers to fraud rings. The multiyear probe, which began in 2022 after a German couple reported being unable to withdraw their investments, culminated in searches of 17 locations, the seizure of 100 servers, and seven arrests, with estimated losses exceeding 4 million euros.
darkreading.com
· 2026-11-03
A team led by Dirk Witthaut at Forschungszentrum Jülich, working with the University of Cologne and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, has identified the cause of a recurring 60-second dip in European power grid frequency first noticed by grid operator Tennet Germany. The researchers found the pattern stems from large-scale battery storage systems that check their state of charge every minute, a behavior they confirmed occurs globally, not just in Europe. The findings are published in Nature Energy.
fz-juelich.de
· 2026-10-31
Nvidia has entered a preliminary partnership with German energy firm PreussenElektra to evaluate whether its decommissioned nuclear power plant sites could be converted into AI data centers. The assessment, announced October 21st, will examine grid connections, land availability and existing industrial infrastructure at the former plants to see if they can support high-performance computing facilities.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-10-25
Germany's AfD party has confirmed a security breach in which a hacker copied internal mailboxes from its hosting provider in September. The leak site Hexane.cc has published AI-generated, categorized summaries of roughly 421,179 emails and over 100,000 files, with the full 281GB archive available via torrent.
bitdefender.com
· 2026-10-23
Germany's government has amended its 2023 Energy Efficiency Act to drop a requirement that new data centers recycle waste heat into municipal heating systems, replacing it with an obligation merely to study the possibility. The move follows industry complaints, including from the German Data Center Association, that the original rule made building data centers in the country nearly impossible. The amended bill is expected to go before the German parliament for ratification soon.
wired.com
· 2026-10-21
Amazon announced plans to invest more than $17 billion in Germany, covering AI infrastructure, high-speed satellite internet, logistics projects, and new Prime Video content. The investment marks one of the company's largest commitments to a single European market.
wsj.com
· 2026-10-20
Nvidia announced investments in four German startups—Agile Robots, Avelios Medical, Mirelo and Reflex Aerospace—at the Invest in Germany Summit in Berlin, part of a nearly $10 billion commitment to companies, universities and research institutions across Europe. The company did not disclose the size of the individual investments. The announcement coincided with remarks from Chancellor Friedrich Merz urging German businesses, especially small and medium-sized firms, to adopt AI and make greater use of their existing data.
cnbc.com
· 2026-10-20
A long-form account describes how Otto Z, a Munich-based doctor using a pseudonym due to German privacy laws, cared for his elderly mother Doria until her death in June 2020. After she died, Otto performed a private mourning ritual before calling a funeral home, but was instead confronted by armed police officers who arrived at his apartment. The piece is part of a broader narrative involving a plagiarism scandal and a personal quest for revenge tied to Otto's story.
theguardian.com
· 2026-10-17
Cologne police have opened a sexual harassment investigation after a robot allegedly touched a 16-year-old girl's buttocks and made thrusting motions while two young men filmed and streamed the incident on a public street. Authorities seized the robot, roughly 120 centimeters tall and dressed in clothing with a gold chain and fake mustache, along with the suspects' phones, and are investigating whether its actions were preprogrammed or remotely controlled in real time.
hardware.slashdot.org
· 2026-10-16
German police in Cologne opened an investigation after a robot, operated by a 16-year-old and a 19-year-old, touched a teenage girl's buttocks and made thrusting motions toward her overnight between Saturday and Sunday. The pair allegedly filmed and livestreamed the incident with commentary before police found the robot stashed in a car trunk and confiscated it along with their phones.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-10-15
German police confiscated a remote-controlled humanoid robot after it allegedly touched a 16-year-old girl's buttocks and made thrusting motions toward her on a Cologne street overnight on October 10-11. The incident, livestreamed with commentary, involved two teenage boys—reportedly the robot's 16-year-old owner and a 19-year-old companion—who are considered suspects but have not been charged. Officers found the roughly four-foot-tall robot, dressed in sweatpants, sunglasses and a fake mustache, in a car trunk near a fast-food restaurant.
techspot.com
· 2026-10-15
Police in Cologne, Germany, are investigating an incident in which a robot allegedly touched a 16-year-old girl inappropriately. Authorities are examining whether two teenagers were remotely operating the machine at the time of the alleged assault.
gizmodo.com
· 2026-10-15
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