The Justice Committee in the state parliament will also convene for emergency talks on Thursday, following a series of issues this summer concerning penitentiaries in Germany's most populous state. The state's opposition Social Democrats and Free Democrats called for the session. 

The SPD's judicial policy spokeswoman Sonja Bongers said the question would be "how prisoners were at all able to prepare and decide upon an uprising of this kind, without the justice system becoming aware of it on its own initiative," referring to regional media accounts of some of the alleged details that prompted the raid. 

The FDP's Werner Pfeil, meanwhile, lamented that the "negative headlines from correctional facilities in North Rhine-Westphalia are not stopping," saying the frequent problems were leading to "uncertainty about the condition" of the state's prisons. 

This follows two major investigations of suspected bribery at prisons in Euskirchen in May and Rheinbach earlier this month, both within fairly close proximity to the Siegburg penitentiary. 

In Euskirchen, officials are suspected of selling prisoners information on the timing of spot checks in exchange for a regular fee. In Rheinbach, they are suspected of helping smuggle in contraband — like mobile phones or even narcotics — in exchange for payment. Those investigations against staff and present and former inmates are ongoing; so far they have resulted only in news of searches, raids and employees being suspended from duty.

Germany, France move forward on nuclear production deal with Russia

A German state regulator has cleared the way for a Germany-based subsidiary of a French nuclear fuel company to do joint work with Russia's state-owned Rosatom.

Despite banning nuclear power plants in 2011, Germany is still home to facilities producing nuclear fuel rods, which use fission — different from the fusion process used in traditional nuclear power stations.

The research is aimed at producing fuel rods for use in Russian-designed reactors.

A subsidiary of France's Framatome called ANF (Advanced Nuclear Fuels) applied for permission for the project in March 2022, weeks after Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The decision underscores how nuclear energy has largely remained exempt from the EU's sanctions against Russia following its war against Ukraine.

The Environment Ministry in the state of Lower Saxony expressed regret at giving the go-ahead, indicating that it did not have much choice as the venture does not fall under any ban.

It did, however, say the approval could be revisited "if new risks are identified", particularly in "national security."

The EU has so far been unable to come to an agreement as to how to extend sanctions to include Russia's nuclear sector.

Munich court upholds ban on night-time sale of beer in university district

A court in the Bavarian capital of Munich upheld the city's recently imposed ban on the sale of alcoholic drinks at to-go kiosks in the area around its main Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) campus.