logo
Hungary announces construction of oil pipeline with Russia and Serbia

Hungary announces construction of oil pipeline with Russia and Serbia

Budapest, July 22 (UNI) In a move that could potentially upset the ties between Hungary and the EU, Budapest has announced progress on a new pipeline with Serbia to transport Russian oil.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, taking to X wrote 'We're moving forward with Serbian and Russian partners to build a new oil pipeline between Hungary and Serbia.
'While Brussels is banning Russian energy, cutting links and blocking routes, we need more sources, more routes. Hungary won't fall victim to these disastrous decisions.'
Szijjarto made the announcement yesterday after meeting with Russian Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin and Serbian Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Dedovic-Handanovic.
Szijjarto said all sides support the project, which could be operational by 2027, and have reviewed investment and construction details, reports RT News.
He further accused Brussels of seeking 'to cut us off from Russian oil and gas, forcing Hungarian families to pay two to four times more.'
'We won't allow that. We are building new sources, not shutting them down.'
While the Hungarian FM did not disclose Moscow's exact role in the venture, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum last month that the country was ready to both aid in construction and supply oil to the planned pipeline.
Hungary's relationship with the European bloc has been stormy, as the country refused to cut ties with Russia following its war Ukraine, and has further denounced the EU's move to cut away its dependence on Moscow's oil and gas supplies by 2028 under its RePower EU Plan, calling the move illogical and detrimental Budapest's energy security. UNI ANV SSP
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Europe is breaking its reliance on American science
Europe is breaking its reliance on American science

Economic Times

time20 minutes ago

  • Economic Times

Europe is breaking its reliance on American science

AI generated used for representation European governments are taking steps to break their dependence on critical scientific data the United States historically made freely available to the world, and are ramping up their own data collection systems to monitor climate change and weather extremes, according to Reuters interviews. The effort - which has not been previously reported - marks the most concrete response from the European Union and other European governments so far to the U.S. government's retreat from scientific research under President Donald Trump's administration. Since his return to the White House, Trump has initiated sweeping budget cuts to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, the National Institutes of Health, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Centers for Disease Control and other agencies, dismantling programs conducting climate, weather, geospatial and health research, and taking some public databases offline. As those cuts take effect, European officials have expressed increasing alarm that - without continued access to U.S.-supported weather and climate data - governments and businesses will face challenges in planning for extreme weather events and long-term infrastructure investment, according to Reuters interviews. In March, more than a dozen European countries urged the EU Commission to move fast to recruit American scientists who lose their jobs to those cuts. Asked for comment on NOAA cuts and the EU's moves to expand its own collection of scientific data, the White House Office of Management and Budget said Trump's proposed cuts to the agency's 2026 budget were aimed at programs that spread "fake Green New Scam 'science,'" a reference to climate change research and policy. "Under President Trump's leadership, the U.S. is funding real science again," Rachel Cauley, an OMB spokesperson, said via email. European officials told Reuters that - beyond the risk of losing access to data that is bedrock to the world's understanding of climate change and marine systems - they were concerned by the general U.S. pullback from research. "The current situation is much worse than we could have expected," Sweden's State Secretary for Education and Research Maria Nilsson, told Reuters. "My reaction is, quite frankly, shock." The Danish Meteorological Institute described the U.S. government data as "absolutely vital" - and said it relied on several data sets to measure including sea ice in the Arctic and sea surface temperatures. "This isn't just a technical issue, reliable data underpins extreme weather warnings, climate projections, protecting communities and ultimately saves lives," said Adrian Lema, director of the DMI's National Center for Climate Research. Reuters interviewed officials from eight European countries who said their governments were undertaking reviews of their reliance on U.S. marine, climate and weather data. Officials from seven countries - Denmark, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden - described joint efforts now in the early stages to safeguard key health and climate data and research programs. As a priority, the EU is expanding its access to ocean observation data, a senior European Commission official told Reuters. Those data sets are seen as critical to the shipping and energy industries as well as early storm warning systems. Over the next two years, the senior official said, the EU plans to expand its own European Marine Observation and Data Network which collects and hosts data on shipping routes, seabed habitats, marine litter and other concerns. The initiative was aimed at "mirroring and possibly replacing US-based services," the senior European Commission official told Reuters. Europe is particularly concerned about its vulnerability to U.S. funding cuts to NOAA's research arm that would affect the Global Ocean Observing System, a network of ocean observation programs that supports navigation services, shipping routes and storm forecasting, a second EU official told Reuters. The insurance industry relies on the Global Ocean Observing System's disaster records for risk modelling. Coastal planners use shoreline, sea-level, and hazard data to guide infrastructure investments. The energy industry uses oceanic and seismic datasets to assess offshore drilling or wind farm viability. In addition, the senior EU Commission official said, the EU is considering increasing its funding of the Argo program, a part of the Global Ocean Observing System which operates a global system of floats to monitor the world's oceans and track global warming, extreme weather events and sea-level rise. NOAA last year described the program, in operation for over 25 years, as the "crown jewel" of ocean science. It makes its data freely available to the oil and gas industry, marine tourism and other industries. The United States funds 57% of Argo's $40 million annual operating expenses, while the EU funds 23%. The White House and NOAA did not respond to questions about future support for that program. The European moves to establish independent data collection and play a bigger role in Argo represent a historic break with decades of U.S. leadership in ocean science, said Craig McLean, who retired in 2022 after four decades at the agency. He said U.S. leadership of weather, climate and marine data collection was unmatched, and that through NOAA the U.S. has paid for more than half of the world's ocean measurements. European scientists acknowledge the outsized role the U.S. government has played in global scientific research and data collection - and that European countries have grown overly dependent on that work. "It's a bit like defense: we rely heavily on the U.S. in that area, too. They're trailblazers and role models-but that also makes us dependent on them," Katrin Boehning-Gaese, scientific director of Germany's Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, told Reuters. A number of European governments are now taking measures to reduce that dependence. Nordic countries met to coordinate data storage efforts in the Spring, Norwegian Minister of Research and Higher Education Sigrun Aasland told Reuters. European science ministers also discussed the U.S. science budget cuts at a meeting in Paris in May. Aasland said Norway was setting aside $2 million to back up and store U.S. data to ensure stable access. The Danish Meteorological Institute in February started downloading historical U.S. climate data in case it is deleted by the U.S. It is also preparing to switch from American observations to alternatives, Christina Egelund, Minister of Higher Education and Science of Denmark, said in an interview. "The potentially critical issue is when new observations data stop coming in," the Institute's Lema said. While weather models could continue to operate without U.S. data, he said the quality would suffer. Meanwhile, the German government has commissioned scientific organizations, including the center, to review its reliance on U.S. databases. Since Trump returned to the White House, scientists and citizens worldwide have been downloading U.S. databases related to climate, public health or the environment that are slated for decommissioning - calling it "guerrilla archiving." "We actually received requests-or let's say emergency calls-from our colleagues in the U.S., who said, 'We have a problem here... and we will have to abandon some datasets", said Frank Oliver Gloeckner, head of the digital archive PANGAEA, which is operated by publicly funded German research institutions. About 800 of NOAA's 12,000-strong workforce have been terminated or taken financial incentives to resign as part of Trump's Department of Government Efficiency cuts. The White House 2026 budget plan seeks to shrink NOAA even further, proposing a $1.8 billion cut, or 27% of the agency's budget, and a near-20% reduction in staffing, bringing down the NOAA workforce to 10,000. The budget proposal would eliminate the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, NOAA's main research arm, which is responsible for ocean observatory systems including Argo, coastal observing networks, satellite sensors and climate model labs. It is also reducing its data products. Between April and June, NOAA announced on its website the decommissioning of 20 datasets or products related to earthquakes and marine science. NOAA did not respond to requests for comment. Gloeckner said there were no legal hurdles to storing the U.S. government data as it was already in the public domain. But without significant funds and infrastructure, there are limits to what private scientists can save, said Denice Ross, a senior fellow at the Federation of American Scientists, a nonprofit science policy group and the U.S. government's chief data officer during Joe Biden's administration. Databases need regular updating - which requires the funding and infrastructure that only governments can provide, Ross said. Over the last few months, the Federation and EU officials have held a series of talks with European researchers, U.S. philanthropies and health and environment advocacy groups to discuss how to prioritize what data to save. "There is an opportunity for other nations and institutions and philanthropies to fill in the gaps if U.S. quality starts to falter," she said.

Govt exposes 'Pakistani propaganda' over ‘financial emergency' in India claim after Trump's tariff
Govt exposes 'Pakistani propaganda' over ‘financial emergency' in India claim after Trump's tariff

Hindustan Times

time20 minutes ago

  • Hindustan Times

Govt exposes 'Pakistani propaganda' over ‘financial emergency' in India claim after Trump's tariff

Amid swirling social media rumours, the Indian government fact-check unit debunked claims that a financial emergency had been declared in the country following US President Donald Trump's announcement of a 25% tariff on Indian goods. US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that imports from India will face 25 per cent tariffs.(Narendra Modi - X) According to the PIB Fact Check, the false claim, which was amplified by a Pakistani propaganda account, suggested that India had entered a state of financial emergency after its markets reportedly lost $60 billion in value following Trump's tariff announcement. On Friday, the Indian government confirmed that this information was entirely baseless and fabricated. What's the claim? A social media post, widely shared by several non-official accounts, alleged that India had declared a financial emergency due to the economic impact of US trade actions. The post claimed that this supposed emergency was triggered by market losses caused by Trump's 25% import duty on Indian goods, which will take effect on August 1. What's the truth? India's official fact-checking body under the Press Information Bureau (PIB) swiftly responded to the viral claim, calling it "fake news". There has been no financial emergency declared, and the country continues to operate under normal financial and constitutional conditions. "A Pakistani propaganda account is claiming that a financial emergency has been declared in India following a $60 billion market wipeout due to a 25% tariff announced by Donald Trump. This claim is fake," a PIB Fact Check post said. US tariffs on Indian exports US President Donald Trump said Wednesday imports from India will face 25% tariffs, while also announcing an unspecified "penalty" over New Delhi's purchases of Russian weapons and energy. The 25% tariff on India would be marginally lower than the rate announced in April, but is higher than those of other Asian countries that have struck preliminary trade agreements with Washington. Trump announced a slew of new tariffs, including a 10% global minimum and 15% or higher duties for countries with trade surpluses with the US, forging ahead with his turbulent effort to reshape international commerce. Major industrialised economies, including the European Union, Japan, and South Korea, imposed 15% duties on their products, while charges on items from Mexico, Canada, and China are even higher.

Buried in 'back room': FBI's Kash Patel finds hidden Trump–Russia docs; what do they reveal?
Buried in 'back room': FBI's Kash Patel finds hidden Trump–Russia docs; what do they reveal?

Time of India

time28 minutes ago

  • Time of India

Buried in 'back room': FBI's Kash Patel finds hidden Trump–Russia docs; what do they reveal?

Kash Patel (AP) A newly surfaced document has added fresh details to the public's understanding of a complex set of 2016 Russian intelligence reports that examined alleged emails stolen by Russian hackers from American individuals. Indian origin FBI director Kash Patel said that they have found and declassified intel on how the US Intelligence Community handled claims tying then-presidential candidate Donald Trump to Russia during the 2016 election. The document in question is a purported email dated July 27, 2016, alleging that Hillary Clinton had approved a campaign strategy to link Donald Trump to Russia in order to divert attention from the controversy surrounding her use of a private email server, reports the New York Times. The Russian intelligence memos first drew public attention in 2017, when The New York Times and The Washington Post reported on then-FBI Director James Comey's decision to break with Justice Department protocol. Comey publicly addressed the Clinton email investigation, criticizing her use of a private server while ultimately concluding that no criminal charges were warranted. 'We uncovered this annex, along with thousands of other documents, buried in a back room at the FBI. It revealed a highly classified piece of the Durham report: evidence that the Clinton campaign plotted to frame President Trump and fabricate the Russia collusion hoax. We worked with Chairman Grassley and declassified the documents immediately. And now the American people can see the truth for themselves,' said Kash Patel through a post on X. 'Good summary of what we @fbifound and declassified, for the first time ever. More to come' he posted, quoting another post referring to the annex. The annex reportedly revealed "evidence that the Clinton campaign plotted to frame President Trump and fabricate the Russia collusion hoax,' said Kash Patel. Donald Trump and his allies have accused former President Obama of 'treason' as the newly released documents offered fresh insight into a pivotal political period nearly a decade ago, reports the New York Times. Former CIA Director John Ratcliffe claimed the materials confirmed that the Russia collusion narrative originated from 'a coordinated plan to prevent and destroy Donald Trump's presidency.' 'These intelligence reports and related records, whether true or false, were buried for years. History will show that the Obama and Biden administration's law enforcement and intelligence agencies were weaponised against President Trump,' said senator Chuck Grassley said as per the New York Post. The annex, however, casts a doubt on a central piece of evidence behind the allegations that Hillary Clinton approved of a plan to link Donald Trump to Russia. Special counsel John Durham concluded that the July 27, 2016, email, along with a related message from two days earlier, was likely fabricated. "Whether or not the Clinton Plan intelligence was based on reliable or unreliable information, or was ultimately true or false," FBI agents should have exercised greater caution when handling material that seemed to stem from partisan sources, Durham noted, as per the New York Times.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store