Πέμπτη 13 Αυγούστου 2026
5 άρθρα
Kaub gauge falls to 11 centimetres
Through-traffic on Germany’s industrial artery has largely stopped as barges sail nearly empty or remain docked. Rotterdam–Karlsruhe freight rates have more than tripled, threatening chemical, fuel and grain supply chains, while truck exemptions cannot replace the Rhine’s missing capacity. Economists estimate the disruption could shave 0.1–0.2 percentage points from German output this quarter.
NATO condemns breaches but leaves pilots guessing
Russian drones and missile debris have crossed into Poland and Romania, yet NATO’s 12 August meeting produced no new deployment, consultation process or interception rules. Front-line allies are still responding under national law, creating a fragmented defence in which authority changes at each border and evidence does not always point to Moscow.
Putin turns tanker boardings into piracy
European forces have boarded and temporarily detained suspected shadow-fleet tankers, but no public record shows them confiscating ships or cargo. Moscow’s retaliation threat inflates those limited actions into a piracy campaign, raising the political cost for EU governments whose next Russia sanctions package will again require unanimous approval.
Danube shuts Romania’s last operating reactor
Romania has lost 1.4 GW of round-the-clock nuclear power after critically low Danube levels forced both Cernavodă units offline. Bucharest can turn to coal, wind and imports, but the hardest hours come after sunset, when neighbouring Hungary is also short of nuclear output and Bulgaria’s export cushion depends on its own drought-exposed plants.
France’s reactor squeeze sends power above €300
Thirteen French reactors stopped or reduced output as hot rivers and jellyfish disrupted cooling, just as demand peaked. Day-ahead prices rose more than 21% in France and Germany, amplified by weak German wind generation. Europe’s interconnected grid kept electricity flowing, but households on dynamic contracts faced the immediate cost of replacing cheap nuclear power with pricier alternatives.