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Population register in Denmark with data of 8.8 million people hacked
Oct 5, 2026, 9:09 a.m. Reading time: 1 min.
Christiansborg government headquarters: population register hackedReuters
Ifo: “The automotive industry is still in crisis” +++ 100,000 applications for e-car bonuses submitted +++ Trade expert: Galeria could continue with a few houses +++ News in the company live blog
Population register in Denmark with data of 8.8 million people hacked
The Danish government announced on Monday morning that the state population register had been hacked. It contains the data of 8.8 million people.
Ifo: “The automotive industry is still in crisis”
The mood in the German automotive industry deteriorated significantly in September. The barometer for the business climate fell to minus 35.0 points, from minus 22.0 points in August, as the Munich Ifo Institute announced on Monday in its survey. The companies assessed their business situation as worse than ever this year. The prospects for the coming months had already fallen drastically in August and now remain at a low level. “The automotive industry is still in crisis,” said Ifo industry expert Anita Wölfl.
This mood of crisis can be seen in many other indicators: export expectations in the automotive industry fell after they had previously risen. The same applied to employment expectations. In September, companies also assessed their order backlog as worse than in the previous month. According to the company, the earnings situation, which is always surveyed quarterly, fell significantly in the third quarter compared to the previous quarter.
100,000 applications for e-car bonuses submitted
According to government figures, the new e-car bonus, which was activated in May, has so far been paid out to 100,000 applicants. Federal Environment Minister Carsten Schneider (SPD) told the “Bild” newspaper that “the funding program has far exceeded our expectations and has already helped 100,000 households protect themselves from high fuel prices.” Every additional electric car makes Germany more independent of expensive oil imports and international conflicts.
The money will benefit people who would not have even thought about buying an electric car before, said Schneider. Half of the applicants had an annual household income of a maximum of 45,000 euros, three quarters earned a maximum of 60,000 euros. “It is particularly important to me that the social differentiation works,” emphasized Schneider.
The purchase and leasing of new electric cars, certain plug-in hybrids that can run on both electricity and fuel, and electric cars with so-called range extenders are eligible for funding. The latter are small combustion engines that increase the range of electric cars. The prerequisite is that the vehicle has been registered since January 1st of this year.
Expert: Some Galeria department stores could continue
What's next for the Galeria department store chain after its recent bankruptcy? “A complete end is possible, but by no means inevitable,” said trade expert Carsten Kortum from the Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University Heilbronn to the German press agency dpa. He considers a continuation with significantly fewer locations to be a possible solution, especially for the employees, "but not a permanent rescue of the entire existing branch network."
Galeria currently has 83 branches. The Düsseldorf company has around 12,000 employees. On Friday it filed for bankruptcy again - for the fourth time in six years.
According to Kortum, the prerequisite for continuation are “economically viable houses, a clear product range profile and sufficient equity capital for modernization and conversions”. This “finally” requires an owner who not only has short-term financial interests, but also believes in the department store business model in the long term.
Starbucks under pressure over new branches in Xinjiang
The US coffee chain Starbucks is coming under political pressure because of its first branches in the Chinese region of Xinjiang. The chairman of the China special committee in the US House of Representatives, John Moolenaar, called on the company to close its stores again in view of the oppression of the Uyghurs. The Republican called the opening “shocking and morally bankrupt.”
“Starbucks should immediately change course and close its stores in Xinjiang,” Moolenaar said in a statement. With every cup sold there, a well-known American brand is linked to the Communist Party's brutal crackdown on the Uyghurs. Starbucks opened two cafes in the regional capital Urumqi on Tuesday: one at the Grand Bazaar and another at the international airport.
Bayer is investing $2.2 billion in a new plant in the USA
The pharmaceutical company Bayer wants to invest $2.2 billion in a new factory in the USA and thus create around 600 jobs. The company announced on Friday that the facility would be built in New Albany, Ohio. Sebastian Guth, who is responsible for the operational business of the pharmaceutical division at Bayer, said that it was a conscious decision to strengthen the presence in the USA, “and to place this alongside a historically strong presence in Europe and a strong presence in Asia”.
The plant will produce a range of drugs, including Kerendia for the treatment of chronic kidney disease, Nubeqa for prostate cancer and the still-in-development drug Asundexian for the prevention of strokes.
In an interview with the Reuters agency, Guth referred to Bayer's strong growth in the USA. In 2018, the company generated around 20 percent of global pharmaceutical sales in the USA, but now it is 35 percent. “We see the momentum continuing now and have set the goal of doubling our business in the United States again by the end of the decade.” Behind this is a willingness in the USA to pay for innovations.
Reiche: Sufficient reserve even after diesel release
According to Federal Economics Minister Katherina Reiche (CDU), the diesel supply is not in question even after part of the emergency reserves has been released. Reiche announced on Friday evening that 100 million barrels would now be mobilized over four months in a coordinated manner via the International Energy Agency. “There is always sufficient reserve to secure the supply in the system.” This will be monitored continuously.
At the same time, the G7 countries would keep their energy flows open to each other, coordinate the capacities of the refineries and increase utilization where possible. “In this way, we are bringing additional supply into the market, limiting further price pressure and creating reliability – for companies and consumers as well as for our transatlantic partnership,” says Reiche.
The G7 countries had previously agreed to release 100 million barrels of crude oil and diesel from their strategic reserves. The alliance is thus responding to pressure from the USA to increase supply. The hope is that fuel prices will fall, which have risen sharply due, among other things, to the Iran war started by the USA and Israel.
US President Donald Trump is under pressure to reduce fuel costs before the American midterm elections in November. The high prices have become a political problem for Trump and his Republicans - especially in agricultural states where the fuel is crucial for agriculture, trucking and manufacturing.
New US media giant is called Skydance
Following the billion-dollar takeover of Warner Bros by Paramount Skydance, the merged media group will now operate under the name Skydance. This was announced by CEO David Ellison on Friday. The aim was to preserve the independent identities of the traditional film studios Paramount and Warner Bros. “We wanted a name that would give the merged company its own identity,” explained Ellison. Paramount and Warner Bros could each stay in the spotlight. The legal renaming to Skydance is scheduled for Tuesday. On the same day, the shares will move from the Nasdaq technology exchange to the New York Stock Exchange and will be traded there under the new symbol “SKYD”.
A US judge finally cleared the way for the merger on Wednesday, ending a months-long impasse. The company had previously reached an agreement with twelve US states that had sued against the merger. They feared that the new media giant would drive up prices for films and television series.
Ellison had just appointed Ynon Kreiz, previously head of the toy company Mattel, as his co-CEO at the beginning of the week. While Kreiz will manage day-to-day operations and integration, Ellison will focus on the creative direction and overall strategy. The leadership duo faces the challenge of implementing savings of $6 billion and managing a collective mountain of debt of around $80 billion.
Weak US labor market: Only 29,000 new jobs in September
The American labor market surprised in September with weak job growth. The bottom line is that only 29,000 non-farm jobs were created, according to the government's jobs report published on Friday. Experts previously surveyed by the Reuters news agency had expected 90,000 jobs. According to revised data, only 133,000 jobs were created in August. Originally, an increase of 162,000 jobs was reported. The unemployment rate also rose to 4.2 percent in September. Here, experts had expected the figure to remain at the previous month's level.
The US Federal Reserve is supposed to ensure full employment and stable prices and therefore pays close attention to the labor market data. It recently raised the key interest rate to the new range of 3.75 to 4 percent. In doing so, it braced itself against the surge in inflation - a consequence of the Iran war and the resulting sharp rise in oil prices. At the same time, the central bank confirmed in mid-September that the increase in employment had kept pace with the growth of the working population. The head of the New York Fed, John Williams, recently stated that he currently sees no rush to further tighten monetary policy.
Former Chancellor Schröder becomes a supervisory board member at Russian Globus
Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (SPD) has become a member of the supervisory board of the Russian branch of the Globus Group in Russia. The Russian Hyperglobus GmbH confirmed this to the German Press Agency. Schröder was accepted into the supervisory board by the shareholders on September 30th. The former chancellor will take part in the general management of the company and lead the strategic development of the company in Russia, it said.
There was initially no confirmation from the 82-year-old, who is friends with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin. The Hyperglobus press service did not comment on the question of whether the personnel are related to the compulsory administration of foreign companies such as Metro, Auchan or Nestlé recently ordered by the Russian President. According to the information, the Russian branch has been separated from the German holding company since January 2025 and operates “legally and organizationally” independently in Russia.
Schröder was Chancellor from 1998 to 2005. At the end of his term in office, he agreed with Putin to build the Nord Stream Baltic Sea pipeline; After leaving politics, he took on positions at Nord Stream and the Russian energy company Rosneft. His close ties to Putin and his involvement with Russian energy companies have been criticized for years. Schröder also met with Putin repeatedly during Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.
Bauhaus is allowed to take over eight locations from the insolvent Hellweg Group
After the hardware store chain Hellweg went bankrupt, its competitor Bauhaus was allowed to take over eight locations. “The merger proposal is harmless from a competitive perspective,” said the President of the Federal Cartel Office, Andreas Mundt, on Friday in Bonn. The locations affected are Backnang, Beckum, Berlin-Köpenick, Dahlwitz-Hoppegarten, Dortmund-Hacheney, Essen-Rellinghausen, Iserlohn and Potsdam.
The Hellweg company most recently operated 113 DIY and garden centers in Germany under the brands Hellweg and BayWa Bau & Garten. The company filed for bankruptcy under self-administration in June. Bauhaus is one of the leading DIY store chains in Germany. The company operates around 290 locations in Germany and other European countries.
The federal government is likely to significantly increase growth forecasts
The federal government is following the economic research institutes and will significantly increase its growth forecasts for the coming years. This is reported by the Reuters news agency. Accordingly, growth of 1.3 percent this year and 1.1 percent next year is now expected. Gross domestic product will not grow noticeably slower until 2028, at an estimated 0.6 percent.
Federal Minister of Economics Katherina Reiche (CDU) wants to present the autumn projection next week. Since the spring, the government made up of the Union and SPD had expected growth of 0.5 percent for 2026, and then 0.9 percent in 2027. But the Middle East war did not slow down the German economy as much as feared.
The upswing is being fueled primarily by the state's debt-financed investments in infrastructure and the upgrading of the Bundeswehr. The public sector's consumer spending will primarily be expected in 2026
