Hacker News with Generative AI: Europe

We have reached the "severed fingers and abductions" stage of crypto revolution (arstechnica.com)
Wave of crypto kidnappings hits Europe.
A coherent European/non-US cloud strategy (berthub.eu)
In the earlier post ‘But how to get to that European cloud?’ I alluded to a coherent strategy that might get us to such a non-US cloud. In the present article I hope to clarify what this could mean, and why I think it could work. Here I focus especially on what should happen concretely, and who should do it. Note that this page is compatible/congruent with the latest EuroStack document.
Europe's last maker of antibiotics ingredients shuts biggest domestic factory (ft.com)
Europe launches a drive to attract scientists and researchers (apnews.com)
Friedrich Merz's bid to become Germany's chancellor fails in parliament in a stunning defeat
Canada should move towards integration with Europe instead of the U.S. (policyalternatives.ca)
Trump’s chaotic global tariff war, which has upended the international order, shows no sign of letting up.
EU announces €500M package to woo scientists away from Trump's America (france24.com)
French President Emmanuel Macron and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are hosting a Paris conference to attract US researchers ready to relocate because of President Donald Trump's policies.
Europe Makes a Pitch to Attract Scientists Shunned by the U.S. (nytimes.com)
As the Trump administration slashes support to research institutions and threatens to freeze federal funding to universities like Harvard and Columbia, European leaders are offering financial help to U.S.-based researchers and hoping to benefit from what they are calling a “gigantic miscalculation.”
Tesla's sales figures in Europe tanked even further in April (insideevs.com)
France and EU host 'Choose Europe for science' conference to lure US scientists (lemonde.fr)
French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen took aim at Donald Trump's policies on science on Monday, May 5, as the EU seeks to encourage disgruntled US researchers to relocate to Europe.
EU to ban anonymous crypto accounts and privacy coins by 2027 (cointelegraph.com)
Europe will ban anonymous crypto accounts and privacy coins starting in 2027 under sweeping new AML regulations targeting service providers and token anonymity.
The European Accessibility Act: what businesses and app developers need to know (abra.ai)
How Russia is using online recruits for a campaign of sabotage in Europe (theguardian.com)
Moscow’s intelligence services have launched a new type of attack on the west, violent but piecemeal and hard to prove
Trump dismantles surveillance watchdog, triggering Europe's privacy PTSD (politico.eu)
Donald Trump wants to oust three members of a national privacy watchdog that is a key part of Europeans’ privacy protections in the United States — spelling trouble for thousands of U.S. companies moving personal data out of Europe.
Tesla (TSLA) sales continue to crash in Europe despite new Model Y (electrek.co)
Tesla’s sales in several key European markets continue to decline sharply in Q2 2025, despite the new Model Y, which was blamed for disappointing sales in the first quarter, now being available.
'ProtectEU' security strategy: a step further towards a digital dystopian future (edri.org)
On 1 April 2025 (sadly not a joke), the European Commission released its new five-year strategic plan, ‘ProtectEU’, to address ‘internal security threats’ of the continent.
Microsoft gets twitchy over talk of Europe's tech independence (theregister.com)
Microsoft is responding to mounting "geopolitical and trade volatility" between the US administration and governments in Europe by pledging privacy safeguards for customers worried about using American hyperscalers, and vowing to fight the US government in court to protect Euro customers' data if needed.
Elon Musk's X lost 11M users in the EU over the past 5 months (mashable.com)
X's user base in the European Union is now officially lower than it was prior to Elon Musk's acquisition of the company.
Microsoft gets twitchy over talk of Europe's tech independence (theregister.com)
Microsoft is responding to mounting "geopolitical and trade volatility" between the US administration and governments in Europe by pledging privacy safeguards for customers worried about using American hyperscalers, and vowing to fight the US government in court to protect Euro customers' data if needed.
Microsoft announces new European digital commitments (microsoft.com)
Forty-two years ago, Microsoft released the very first version of Microsoft Word. It was a major milestone in the company’s journey to enhance people’s productivity through innovation. It also marked the young and growing company’s first big step in Europe with the first Microsoft product localized in multiple European languages, starting with German and French.
Spain and Portugal power outage: what caused it, and was there a cyber-attack? (theguardian.com)
Spain, Portugal and some of south-west France suffered a massive power cut on Monday, with major cities including Madrid, Barcelona and Lisbon among those affected.
The Agonizing Task of Turning Europe's Power Back On (wired.com)
At 12:30 pm local time on Monday, the power went out. Across Spain and Portugal, trains and traffic lights abruptly stopped working.
Massive power outages cause blackouts in Spain and Portugal (elpais.com)
The worst power blackout in Spain’s recent history has affected, since noon local time, millions of citizens throughout the country as well as Portugal.
European Critical Dependencies (gaeremyn.be)
TLDR; Multiple countries in Europe are critically dependent on services provided by Microsoft. Querying mail-servers teaches that in some countries, over 70% of all public services rely on this American provider. Europe needs to build its own infrastructure, and open source is the most robust solution.
Power outage cripples Spain and Portugal (politico.eu)
Spain and Portugal lost power Monday in a massive electricity blackout that affected public transport systems, traffic lights, hospitals and manufacturing.
There are reports of widespread power cuts in Spain and Portugal (bbc.co.uk)
A huge power outage seems to be affecting swathes of Spain and Portugal.
Widespread power outage in Spain and Portugal (bbc.com)
Hours after a massive power cut hit large parts of Spain and Portugal, Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez says the cause is still being investigated
Why US and China economic own goals give Europe an unlikely chance of glory (politico.eu)
Washington and Beijing are trading tariff blows. The EU could come out on top ― if it can rise to the challenge.
How the idea of stripping citizenship for crimes spread across Europe (theguardian.com)
The plans, hatched by Sweden’s rightwing government with support of its far-right backers, made waves around the world.
The record-breaking tunnel being built from Denmark to Germany (bbc.com)
A record-breaking tunnel is being built under the Baltic Sea between Denmark and Germany, which will slash travel times and improve Scandinavia's links with the rest of Europe.
VW has overtaken Tesla as Europe's top EV seller (businessinsider.com)
Tesla has lost its crown as the top EV seller in Europe.