Bulgaria’s Trans-Balkan pipeline
The classic Trans-Balkan Pipeline consists of two high-pressure transit lines that cross Bulgaria from north to south and historically connected Romania to Turkey. Today these lines carry zero gas in either direction. Reverse flow does exist, but only on the former Kardam–Negru Vodă 1 line, which was quietly transferred to…
Bardella beats all opponents as France faces budget standoff
French pollster Odoxa predicted for the first time that 30-year-old far-right leader Jordan Bardella would win the next presidential election, scheduled in 2027, no matter who his opponents would be. The current president of far-right National Rally (RN) party, and heir to long-time leader Marine Le Pen, would garner more…
Europol Warns: Criminal networks are turning children into tools of violence
Criminal organizations are increasingly “weaponizing children,” manipulating them through multiplayer video games and smartphones while parents often remain unaware of what’s happening, according to Europol chief Catherine De Bolle. She says these networks currently represent the most serious criminal threat to the European Union, as they undermine society by targeting…
Europe seeks a fresh strategy in Africa’s Battle for critical minerals
When the colonial governments of Belgium and Portugal ordered the construction of a railway connecting oil- and mineral-rich regions in the African interior to the Atlantic, their primary objective was to plunder resources such as rubber, ivory and minerals for export to Western countries. Today, that same stretch of railway…
British divers found a Russian tracking device off the coast of Wales
Divers from Neptune’s Army of Rubbish Cleaners (NARC) weren’t expecting geopolitics on their routine 15 November debris sweep in the Skomer Marine Conservation Zone off Pembrokeshire. But that’s what they got. What first looked like a scrap of navigational equipment quickly raised eyebrows. The team realised the barnacle-scarred tube resembled…