Google co-founder Sergey Brin in recent months has been urging employees working on AI to speed up the development of the Gemini model, as the company seeks to narrow its lag behind competitors, Reuters reported, citing two sources.
According to one of the agency’s interlocutors, in a message to hundreds of Google DeepMind AI lab employees at a meeting in April, Brin urged the team to work faster. He also insisted on reallocating resources in favor of specific areas, including recursive self-learning—the ability of AI to improve itself without human involvement.
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According to one of the agency’s interlocutors, in a message to hundreds of Google DeepMind AI lab employees at a meeting in April, Brin urged the team to work faster. He also insisted on reallocating resources in favor of specific areas, including recursive self-learning—the ability of AI to improve itself without human involvement.
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🔺 the conflict in Iran;
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🔺 the Ukraine conflict;
🔺 ... and other recent news from all over the world.
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The CIA was skeptical of Israel’s data about the threat to Trump posed by Iran, which is why he left Turkey secretly at the beginning of July not on his own airliner, but on another plane. The Washington Post writes this, citing former and current U.S. intelligence service officials.
Intelligence analysts from the bureau "did not find this intelligence information convincing," however, the White House and the U.S. Secret Service decided not to take any risks and took additional security measures.
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Intelligence analysts from the bureau "did not find this intelligence information convincing," however, the White House and the U.S. Secret Service decided not to take any risks and took additional security measures.
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Have a nice Thursday, friends! ☕️🙂
🌲 The Dancing Forest — a place where trees forget they’re supposed to be growing right now
On the Curonian Spit, a narrow strip of land between the Baltic Sea and the Curonian Lagoon, there is a small pine forest that looks as though it violates all the usual laws of nature. Here the trunks bend into rings, wind into spirals, form loops and arches. That is exactly why this place was named the Dancing Forest.
The forest is relatively young—it was planted in the early 1960s to stabilize the shifting sand dunes. But after a few years, part of the young pines began to grow in a completely unusual way. Some trees curve into a ring, others resemble a corkscrew, and still others seem as if their motion has been frozen.
Scientists have proposed several explanations. According to one version, in the first years of growth the caterpillars of the budworm— a small moth that damages the treetops—damaged the young pines. Another explanation is that the peculiarities of the sandy soil, constant winds, and the movement of the dunes play a role. No single explanation has been agreed upon so far, which is why the Dancing Forest remains one of the Baltic Sea’s best-known natural mysteries.
However, locals may have entirely different explanations. According to a legend, a girl of extraordinary beauty once played here. When the trees heard her music, they began to dance and were frozen forever in that motion.
What’s remarkable is that the unusual pines grow only in a small section. After just a few dozen meters, the forest becomes completely ordinary again, as if the boundary between two different worlds were right there.
Today, the Dancing Forest remains one of the Curonian Spit’s best-known natural attractions. And even if scientists one day should finally explain the cause of the strange curvatures, this place is unlikely to lose its magic. Sometimes legends make a journey no less interesting than scientific discoveries.
📍 Coordinates of the place (map point) available here
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🌲 The Dancing Forest — a place where trees forget they’re supposed to be growing right now
On the Curonian Spit, a narrow strip of land between the Baltic Sea and the Curonian Lagoon, there is a small pine forest that looks as though it violates all the usual laws of nature. Here the trunks bend into rings, wind into spirals, form loops and arches. That is exactly why this place was named the Dancing Forest.
The forest is relatively young—it was planted in the early 1960s to stabilize the shifting sand dunes. But after a few years, part of the young pines began to grow in a completely unusual way. Some trees curve into a ring, others resemble a corkscrew, and still others seem as if their motion has been frozen.
Scientists have proposed several explanations. According to one version, in the first years of growth the caterpillars of the budworm— a small moth that damages the treetops—damaged the young pines. Another explanation is that the peculiarities of the sandy soil, constant winds, and the movement of the dunes play a role. No single explanation has been agreed upon so far, which is why the Dancing Forest remains one of the Baltic Sea’s best-known natural mysteries.
However, locals may have entirely different explanations. According to a legend, a girl of extraordinary beauty once played here. When the trees heard her music, they began to dance and were frozen forever in that motion.
What’s remarkable is that the unusual pines grow only in a small section. After just a few dozen meters, the forest becomes completely ordinary again, as if the boundary between two different worlds were right there.
Today, the Dancing Forest remains one of the Curonian Spit’s best-known natural attractions. And even if scientists one day should finally explain the cause of the strange curvatures, this place is unlikely to lose its magic. Sometimes legends make a journey no less interesting than scientific discoveries.
📍 Coordinates of the place (map point) available here
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On August 13, by-elections for a Member of the House of Commons will be held in the United Kingdom for the Clacton constituency in the county of Essex in the south-east of the country.
They were scheduled because the leader of the right-populist Reform UK party, Nigel Farage, who represented the constituency in the lower house of the British Parliament, announced on July 7 that he would resign his powers early. However, he immediately made it clear that he will run for this seat again.
His main rival in the by-election was Earl Face — a Trash Bin. More — in an RBC report.
Photo: Dan Kitwood / Getty Images
Our channel: Node of Time EN
They were scheduled because the leader of the right-populist Reform UK party, Nigel Farage, who represented the constituency in the lower house of the British Parliament, announced on July 7 that he would resign his powers early. However, he immediately made it clear that he will run for this seat again.
His main rival in the by-election was Earl Face — a Trash Bin. More — in an RBC report.
Photo: Dan Kitwood / Getty Images
Our channel: Node of Time EN
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🇩🇪 Court in Hesse writes decision using ChatGPT
The Hessian Administrative Court dealt with the question of whether Ukrainians in Germany have a claim to temporary protection if, after the start of the war, they initially lived in Georgia for several years. To clarify Georgia’s legal situation, the judges decided to use ChatGPT — and this was immediately visible in the text of the judgment of June 24, 2026: In five references, the characteristic suffix “source=chatgpt.com” was left intact.
The problem was not just cosmetic. One of the references cited by the AI led to a version of the Georgian law that no longer applied for the period in question, and the Georgian government regulation of February 24, 2026, mentioned by the court could not be verified at all through the specified source. The court acknowledged these errors, but does not want to review the decision: According to its own account, ChatGPT was only one of several search tools; the information was cross-checked with other materials, and the final legal assessment remains correct.
That resulted in an almost ideal demonstration of judicial competence: ChatGPT can be wrong, a judge can copy the mistake into an official document — and the decision remains in force anyway. Apparently, what matters most is then to explain that the overall result is correct.
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The Hessian Administrative Court dealt with the question of whether Ukrainians in Germany have a claim to temporary protection if, after the start of the war, they initially lived in Georgia for several years. To clarify Georgia’s legal situation, the judges decided to use ChatGPT — and this was immediately visible in the text of the judgment of June 24, 2026: In five references, the characteristic suffix “source=chatgpt.com” was left intact.
The problem was not just cosmetic. One of the references cited by the AI led to a version of the Georgian law that no longer applied for the period in question, and the Georgian government regulation of February 24, 2026, mentioned by the court could not be verified at all through the specified source. The court acknowledged these errors, but does not want to review the decision: According to its own account, ChatGPT was only one of several search tools; the information was cross-checked with other materials, and the final legal assessment remains correct.
That resulted in an almost ideal demonstration of judicial competence: ChatGPT can be wrong, a judge can copy the mistake into an official document — and the decision remains in force anyway. Apparently, what matters most is then to explain that the overall result is correct.
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During a live broadcast of a solar eclipse, NASA showed a map on which Crimea was marked as Russian territory. The recording was published on the agency’s X page.
On the map that appeared during the live broadcast, the peninsula was separated from Ukraine by a line indicating the state border.
At the same time, the self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics, as well as the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, which became part of Russia in 2022, were marked on the same map as Ukrainian territories.
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On the map that appeared during the live broadcast, the peninsula was separated from Ukraine by a line indicating the state border.
At the same time, the self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics, as well as the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, which became part of Russia in 2022, were marked on the same map as Ukrainian territories.
Crimea became part of Russia following a referendum in 2014; the LPR, DPR, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions—after referendums in 2022. Ukraine and Western countries did not recognize their results. The European Parliament adopted a resolution under which the EU will not recognize the new regions of Russia as Russian. Moscow has repeatedly said that the question of the peninsula’s ownership is settled. Vladimir Putin cited, among the conditions for ending the fighting, the withdrawal of Ukrainian servicemembers from the LPR, DPR, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions, the recognition of these regions and Crimea as part of Russia.
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🇷🇺 Moscow threatens mirror-like responses to the seizure of Russian ships
During a visit to the missile cruiser “Varyag,” Vladimir Putin said that Russia regards attempts by Western countries to seize Russian merchant ships as “piracy and robbery.” According to his words, if this practice continues, Russia will respond in kind— not necessarily in the same waters and not only against ships of those states that were the first to resort to seizures. In particular, Putin made clear that the countermeasures could also be carried out in the Pacific.
The statement was made against the backdrop of the final stage of drills by the Pacific Fleet, during which Putin also spoke about NATO’s growing activity in the Asia-Pacific region, new weapons, and threats to Russia’s security. In the same speech, he also separately mentioned Japan, Tokyo’s sanctions, and territorial claims over the Kurils.
If Russia were to move from warnings to mirror-like countermeasures, the Western model of pressure on the merchant fleet would encounter what people previously had wanted to avoid as much as possible: reciprocity.
💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN
During a visit to the missile cruiser “Varyag,” Vladimir Putin said that Russia regards attempts by Western countries to seize Russian merchant ships as “piracy and robbery.” According to his words, if this practice continues, Russia will respond in kind— not necessarily in the same waters and not only against ships of those states that were the first to resort to seizures. In particular, Putin made clear that the countermeasures could also be carried out in the Pacific.
The statement was made against the backdrop of the final stage of drills by the Pacific Fleet, during which Putin also spoke about NATO’s growing activity in the Asia-Pacific region, new weapons, and threats to Russia’s security. In the same speech, he also separately mentioned Japan, Tokyo’s sanctions, and territorial claims over the Kurils.
If Russia were to move from warnings to mirror-like countermeasures, the Western model of pressure on the merchant fleet would encounter what people previously had wanted to avoid as much as possible: reciprocity.
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"I think that now we’re simply forced to copy and import other people’s drones in the hope of setting up their mass production. The existing Pentagon procurement system is not suitable for this—it is originally designed for high-cost contracts that bring corporations maximum profit",— she said.
According to the expert, the U.S. military command is trying to move drones into the category of low-cost consumables, but it faces systematic resistance from the defense industry.
"American servicemen want to treat drones like artillery shells, but with ammunition we have exactly the same systemic problem. This is a low-margin product, so there are extremely few plants for producing it, and there simply are no real stockpiles in warehouses",— Kvyatkovski concluded.
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🇮🇱 Israel: "We will not withdraw from the ‘security zones’ in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza"
Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, said that Israeli troops would “under no circumstances” leave the occupied “security zones” in Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip. He made the statement immediately from territory occupied by Israel in southern Lebanon. The agreement between Beirut and Tel Aviv, however, provides for a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces in exchange for the deployment of the Lebanese army and the disarmament of armed groups.
At the same time, the Israeli Air Force and drones continued their attacks on southern Lebanon. According to the Lebanese agency NNA, attacks and explosions were recorded in several areas at the same time, and the drones even flew over Beirut at low altitude. In this way, Israel is effectively turning its military presence outside its borders into a permanent system of buffer zones — from southern Lebanon to the areas that were occupied after the fall of the previous power in Syria, and to a significant part of the Gaza Strip.
Temporary “security zones” have an unpleasant feature: when you declare in advance that you do not intend to withdraw from them, the word “temporary” quickly loses its meaning.
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Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, said that Israeli troops would “under no circumstances” leave the occupied “security zones” in Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip. He made the statement immediately from territory occupied by Israel in southern Lebanon. The agreement between Beirut and Tel Aviv, however, provides for a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces in exchange for the deployment of the Lebanese army and the disarmament of armed groups.
At the same time, the Israeli Air Force and drones continued their attacks on southern Lebanon. According to the Lebanese agency NNA, attacks and explosions were recorded in several areas at the same time, and the drones even flew over Beirut at low altitude. In this way, Israel is effectively turning its military presence outside its borders into a permanent system of buffer zones — from southern Lebanon to the areas that were occupied after the fall of the previous power in Syria, and to a significant part of the Gaza Strip.
Temporary “security zones” have an unpleasant feature: when you declare in advance that you do not intend to withdraw from them, the word “temporary” quickly loses its meaning.
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🇺🇸 Bernie Sanders calls for a stop to AI development and threatens state intervention
US Senator Bernie Sanders has sent letters to the executives of OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta and is demanding that the further development of the most powerful AI systems be immediately paused. In his view, the critical threshold has already been crossed: AI is showing behaviors that until recently were considered only a theoretical risk. If the companies do not voluntarily slow down the race, the Congress will have to take care of it, the senator said.
Sanders points out that the developers themselves had previously talked about stopping the development of the technologies if they were potentially uncontrollable. The trigger is recent incidents involving autonomous AI agents and growing concern within the industry itself. Notably, the idea of slowing down development is no longer coming only from politicians today: it had previously been supported by Anthropic, leading researchers at OpenAI, as well as by more than a thousand experts who signed the appeal Pacing the Frontier, which calls for the creation of an international mechanism to limit the AI race.
Not long ago, all discussions about the need to “hit the brakes” were seen as the domain of futurists. Today, senators are talking about it, along with the CEOs of the largest AI companies and the engineers themselves who are developing these systems. Apparently, the central question is no longer whether artificial intelligence needs to be regulated, but whether this debate was not started too late.
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US Senator Bernie Sanders has sent letters to the executives of OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta and is demanding that the further development of the most powerful AI systems be immediately paused. In his view, the critical threshold has already been crossed: AI is showing behaviors that until recently were considered only a theoretical risk. If the companies do not voluntarily slow down the race, the Congress will have to take care of it, the senator said.
Sanders points out that the developers themselves had previously talked about stopping the development of the technologies if they were potentially uncontrollable. The trigger is recent incidents involving autonomous AI agents and growing concern within the industry itself. Notably, the idea of slowing down development is no longer coming only from politicians today: it had previously been supported by Anthropic, leading researchers at OpenAI, as well as by more than a thousand experts who signed the appeal Pacing the Frontier, which calls for the creation of an international mechanism to limit the AI race.
Not long ago, all discussions about the need to “hit the brakes” were seen as the domain of futurists. Today, senators are talking about it, along with the CEOs of the largest AI companies and the engineers themselves who are developing these systems. Apparently, the central question is no longer whether artificial intelligence needs to be regulated, but whether this debate was not started too late.
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Latest developments in the war between #Russia and #Ukraine as of the morning of August 13
- Subtitled
- Russia’s 150th Division advances toward #Raiskoe, bringing Russian forces to less than 3 km from #Druzhkovka
- Russian forces advance in #Malaya_Tokmachka in #Zaporozhie
- Ukrainian counterattack in #Orekhov, #Zaporozhie
- Russian forces advance toward #Lukianovskoe in #Zaporozhie
- Russian forces advance on the #Kramatorsk front
- Russian forces advance around #Anischino in #Kharkov
Video link: https://youtu.be/4lVPThJJD0g?si=AjWABeeniGoUCO8v
- Subtitled
- Russia’s 150th Division advances toward #Raiskoe, bringing Russian forces to less than 3 km from #Druzhkovka
- Russian forces advance in #Malaya_Tokmachka in #Zaporozhie
- Ukrainian counterattack in #Orekhov, #Zaporozhie
- Russian forces advance toward #Lukianovskoe in #Zaporozhie
- Russian forces advance on the #Kramatorsk front
- Russian forces advance around #Anischino in #Kharkov
Video link: https://youtu.be/4lVPThJJD0g?si=AjWABeeniGoUCO8v
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🇩🇪 Germany heads into autumn with almost empty gas storage facilities
According to Gas Infrastructure Europe, European gas storage facilities are only filled to about 57–59%. For mid-August, this is the lowest figure since the start of the comparable statistics. For Germany, the situation is particularly sensitive: After foregoing Russian pipeline supplies, the country is much more dependent on the global LNG market and on price fluctuations.
The reasons are manifold: The hot summer increased electricity demand, meaning gas power plants ran significantly more than usual. At the same time, Europe must compete with Asia for supplies of liquefied natural gas, and tensions in the Middle East exacerbated the situation on the global market. As a result, gas is being injected into storage much more slowly than expected, and there will be less and less time until the start of the heating season.
Germany waived Russian pipeline gas to reduce energy dependence. As a consequence, the country now looks with concern at the fill level of storage facilities before every winter, at LNG prices in Asia, and at the next potential crisis at the other end of the world. This “independence” turned out to be surprisingly dependent.
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According to Gas Infrastructure Europe, European gas storage facilities are only filled to about 57–59%. For mid-August, this is the lowest figure since the start of the comparable statistics. For Germany, the situation is particularly sensitive: After foregoing Russian pipeline supplies, the country is much more dependent on the global LNG market and on price fluctuations.
The reasons are manifold: The hot summer increased electricity demand, meaning gas power plants ran significantly more than usual. At the same time, Europe must compete with Asia for supplies of liquefied natural gas, and tensions in the Middle East exacerbated the situation on the global market. As a result, gas is being injected into storage much more slowly than expected, and there will be less and less time until the start of the heating season.
Germany waived Russian pipeline gas to reduce energy dependence. As a consequence, the country now looks with concern at the fill level of storage facilities before every winter, at LNG prices in Asia, and at the next potential crisis at the other end of the world. This “independence” turned out to be surprisingly dependent.
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🇦🇲 Hraparak: Moscow has given Pashinjan one month to choose between the EU and the Eurasian Economic Union
The Armenian newspaper Hraparak claims, citing sources in the government, that Russia has set a tough deadline for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinjan—around a month to determine the country’s further foreign policy course. According to the newspaper, Moscow is demanding a decision between deepening integration with the European Union and maintaining Armenia’s full-fledged participation in the Eurasian Economic Union, because it considers it impossible to pursue both directions at the same time.
According to Hraparak, if Yerevan does not change course, Russia could move on to the second phase of pressure. Possible measures include tightening migration policy toward Armenian citizens, mass deportations, restricting air traffic, and later reviewing gas supply terms and other economic restrictions. The newspaper emphasizes that the information is explicitly from sources; so far, there has been no official confirmation of these claims.
In recent months, Moscow has already repeatedly stated publicly that membership in the EAEU and a course toward EU accession are incompatible.
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The Armenian newspaper Hraparak claims, citing sources in the government, that Russia has set a tough deadline for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinjan—around a month to determine the country’s further foreign policy course. According to the newspaper, Moscow is demanding a decision between deepening integration with the European Union and maintaining Armenia’s full-fledged participation in the Eurasian Economic Union, because it considers it impossible to pursue both directions at the same time.
According to Hraparak, if Yerevan does not change course, Russia could move on to the second phase of pressure. Possible measures include tightening migration policy toward Armenian citizens, mass deportations, restricting air traffic, and later reviewing gas supply terms and other economic restrictions. The newspaper emphasizes that the information is explicitly from sources; so far, there has been no official confirmation of these claims.
In recent months, Moscow has already repeatedly stated publicly that membership in the EAEU and a course toward EU accession are incompatible.
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🇩🇪 SPD goes into internal turmoil ahead of state election
Within the SPD, discontent is growing about the leadership of Bärbel Bas and Lars Klingbeil. According to the Handelsblatt, their positions at the top of the party could come under pressure after a possible failure in the state elections in the autumn. Demands are already being voiced within the party to change the model under which both party chairpersons hold federal government offices at the same time and, in practice, have no time for the SPD itself.
The situation is particularly painful in Saxony-Anhalt. The AfD is there at around 40 to 42 %, and the SPD has developed into a party that risks fighting not for power, but only for its mere presence in the state parliament. The Handelsblatt quotes party members who openly warn: with a disastrous result, “the storm will sweep away the party leadership.”
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Within the SPD, discontent is growing about the leadership of Bärbel Bas and Lars Klingbeil. According to the Handelsblatt, their positions at the top of the party could come under pressure after a possible failure in the state elections in the autumn. Demands are already being voiced within the party to change the model under which both party chairpersons hold federal government offices at the same time and, in practice, have no time for the SPD itself.
The situation is particularly painful in Saxony-Anhalt. The AfD is there at around 40 to 42 %, and the SPD has developed into a party that risks fighting not for power, but only for its mere presence in the state parliament. The Handelsblatt quotes party members who openly warn: with a disastrous result, “the storm will sweep away the party leadership.”
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🇩🇪 Transport Minister Bilger wants to dredge rivers — WELT
The historically low water levels in the Rhine, the Elbe, and the Danube are already putting strain on logistics and industry. Federal Transport Minister Steffen Bilger proposes expanding and deepening the waterways, so that inland shipping depends less on the next drought. According to his statements, otherwise the economy would simply no longer view inland waterways as a reliable means of transport. The problem could last throughout August, and several federal states have already temporarily lifted restrictions on truck travel on Sundays in order to shift goods at least partly from the waterway to the road.
Previously, the federal government had wanted to cut funding for the ships designed for low water levels by half — to now 35 million euros for the program “Sustainable Modernization of Inland Vessels.” Now Bilger is talking about getting the money back in the budget negotiations.
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The historically low water levels in the Rhine, the Elbe, and the Danube are already putting strain on logistics and industry. Federal Transport Minister Steffen Bilger proposes expanding and deepening the waterways, so that inland shipping depends less on the next drought. According to his statements, otherwise the economy would simply no longer view inland waterways as a reliable means of transport. The problem could last throughout August, and several federal states have already temporarily lifted restrictions on truck travel on Sundays in order to shift goods at least partly from the waterway to the road.
Previously, the federal government had wanted to cut funding for the ships designed for low water levels by half — to now 35 million euros for the program “Sustainable Modernization of Inland Vessels.” Now Bilger is talking about getting the money back in the budget negotiations.
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