NOVI SAD, Serbia (AP) — Small boats stand idle on cracked ground in a shriveled side channel of the Danube River in northern Serbia, where the water has receded into a couple of shrinking ponds under pressure from extreme drought and heat. Fish circle in the shallow waters.
"This is all we have, these two little ponds that are full of juvenile fish," fisherman Dusan Jovanovic said. He said the fish are in danger because there is too little water and its temperature is over 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit).
"If they start to die, they will all die at once," Jovanovic said.
Persistent drought and scorching heat this summer have ravaged ecosystems and businesses across the region, from a lake in Slovenia and the side channel of the Danube in Serbia, to fish farms in Bosnia, the Czech Republic, Romania and Hungary.
The fish industry has been hit especially hard, with damage estimated in the millions of euros (dollars). This is adding to the already high toll caused by problems with energy and water supplies, devastated crops, losses in river traffic and trade.

#serbia #ponds

Our ******* ysts just identified a stock with the potential to be the next Nvidia. Tell us how you invest and we'll show you why it's our #1 pick. Tap here.
Revenue growth of 16.5% was primarily driven by a 10.9% increase in capacity PCDs following the addition of seven river vessels and two ocean ships.
Management attributes long-term margin expansion to a 'young fleet' strategy and identical ship designs, which simplify crew training, maintenance, and inventory management while maintaining consistent yields across itineraries.
Historically low water levels on the Danube and Rhine rivers created industry-wide challenges, but management utilized ship-swap capabilities and deployment flexibility to avoid cancellations.
The company is proactively issuing future cruise vouchers to affected guests to preserve brand loyalty, viewing this as a long-term investment despite the resulting financial impact in 2027 and 2028.

#management #revenue #pcds #danube

By Pavel Polityuk and Felix Light
Aug 16 (Reuters) - Russia carried out a wave of airstrikes on Ukraine overnight, killing two people at a steel plant, and Kyiv launched a heavy drone attack on the Moscow region that killed one ‌person and set ablaze a warehouse used by Russia's leading e-commerce retailer.
Romania, which borders Ukraine, said an F-18 fighter on ‌a NATO air policing mission had shot down a drone that breached its airspace during the latest attacks. It did not specify the origin of the drone, which entered from Moldova, but a NATO spokesperson said it appeared to be Russian.
Russia struck Ukraine's largest grain export port on the River Danube near the Romanian border last week after stepping up attacks on Ukraine in recent weeks. Ukraine has also intensified attacks on Russian targets including oil refineries, and both sides have struck commercial vessels in the Black Sea.
In the latest attacks since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russian forces ‌struck Ukraine's biggest steel plant overnight in the industrial ⁠city of Kryvyi Rih, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's home town.

#russian

BUDAPEST, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Hungarian authorities will sink two barges in the Danube on Saturday to raise the ‌water level at the Paks nuclear plant to avert ‌a shutdown of one of its last two remaining turbines, as water levels are dropping, Prime Minister Peter Magyar said.
The plant currently operates at around 25% of its capacity due to a historic drought and record low water levels on the Danube river, from ‌which the nuclear plant ⁠draws its coolant.
Magyar said in a Facebook post that current forecasts indicated the water level would ⁠drop to the critical level by early Monday morning at which point one of the two operating turbines would have to be shut down.
"The Danube is receding...The controlled sinking of the barges ‌will begin shortly," he said.
Hungary's government said on Wednesday that it would build a riverbed "sill", a submerged, dam-like structure built crosswise on the bottom of a river channel, to manage water flow. That will take weeks.

#level #magyar #levels

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania raced on Thursday to sink four barges laden with rock into the Danube River in an attempt to redirect water downstream toward a nuclear power plant, to buy more time before its second reactor is likely forced offline due to record-low water levels.
Extreme heatwaves and low rainfall across the region have left the Danube at record lows over the past week, forcing the shutdown of a reactor at Romania's Cernavoda nuclear plant last week. The state-owned nuclear power plant accounts for about 20% of the country's electricity generation when fully operational and uses river water to cool its reactors.
The four barges were loaded with rock that Romania's military blasted from the river this week using explosives near the Danube's Bala Canal. Once submerged, the barges will create an underwater barrier to redirect the water down the river's main channel and toward the Cernavoda plant.
Speaking to local news channel Digi24, the plant's director Romeo Urjan said Thursday the Danube's water level had decreased about two centimeters (0.7 inches) from Wednesday to Thursday and that, without sinking the barges, the plant's second reactor would likely have to be shut down in five to six days.
"If the installed barges bring surplus water ... instead of five to six days, we will talk about nine to 10 days of operation from today onward," he said.

#plant

SOFIA, July 29 (Reuters) - The remains of what is believed to be an ancient mammoth ‌have been revealed in northern Bulgaria, after Danube ‌River water levels receded to a record low level, the BTA news agency reported on Wednesday, citing historians.
The animal's remains were found on Wednesday by a local resident of the Ryahovo village, who noticed the unusual find ‌on the river bed. ⁠Villagers then alerted specialists in the Regional History Museum in the nearby town of ⁠Ruse.
Museum Director Nikolay Nenov told BTA that experts who were sent to the site recognised a lower jaw, two tusks and possibly a mammoth rib, and that ‌the bones will be removed for further examination on Thursday to establish with accuracy the origin and age of the find.
"I would not call it a sensation, but any discovery of such ancient remains is ‌very important for science," Nenov said, adding it has been long believed that the site was a swamp where the ‌animal probably died thousands of years ago.
Danube levels have fallen to record lows in recent weeks following the summer's prolonged heat waves and drought that have ‌affected rivers across Europe including key waterways such as the Rhine.

#river #believed

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Since Russia's full invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the war has repeatedly spilled across Romania's border as drones violate the airspace of the neighboring European Union and NATO member.
Now Romania is trying something new to stop the incursions: shooting down the drones.
Romanian pilots shot down the first of three drones in as many days from F-16 fighter jets starting Friday as Russia intensified attacks against Ukraine near the border. After determining the drones were of Russian origin, Romania summoned Moscow's ambassador in protest and expelled a Russian diplomat on Monday.
Drones have crossed into Romanian territory multiple times from Ukraine to the north and east, including in May when a drone injured a mother and child after crashing into an apartment block in the eastern town of Galati along the Danube River.
Romanian authorities largely responded by scrambling jets, collecting debris, erecting fallout shelters near the border and frequently admonishing Moscow for its war spilling into its territory.

#drones #romanian #border #territory

Viking Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:VIK) is one of the high growth stocks to buy right now. On June 11, Viking announced the delivery of two new river ships, the Viking Annar and the Viking Fjolvar, both constructed at the Meyer Neptun Werft shipyard in Germany. The Viking Annar is designed for itineraries on the Rhine, Main, and Danube rivers, while the Viking Fjolvar will serve routes on the Seine River, including exclusive docking access in the heart of Paris.
These additions expand Viking's fleet of award-winning longships, which are noted for their Scandinavian design, patented square-bow engineering, and innovative indoor/outdoor **** es. The new vessels offer modern, comfortable accommodations for guests, with the Viking Annar hosting 190 passengers and the Viking Fjolvar hosting 168.
Oleksiy Mark/Shutterstock.com
This delivery aligns with Viking Holdings Ltd.'s (NYSE:VIK) long-term growth strategy to remain a leader in experiential travel. The company has a robust expansion plan that includes the delivery of 22 additional river ships by 2028, nine ocean ships by 2031, and 2 expedition ships by 2031, reinforcing its commitment to scaling its global river and maritime operations.
Viking Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:VIK) engages in passenger shipping and other forms of passenger transport in North America, the UK, and internationally. It operates through the River & Ocean segments.

Archaeologists lift the lid on a 1,700-year-old Roman sarcophagus hidden beneath Budapest

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — A remarkably well-preserved Roman sarcophagus has been unearthed in Hungary’s capital, offering a rare window into the life of the young woman inside and the world she inhabited around 1,700 years ago.
Archaeologists with the Budapest History Museum discovered the limestone coffin during a large-scale excavation in Óbuda, a northern district of the city that once formed part of Aquincum, a bustling Roman settlement on the Danube frontier.
Untouched by looters and sealed for c

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — A remarkably well-preserved Roman sarcophagus has been unearthed in Hungary’s capital, offering a rare window into the life of the young woman inside and the world she inhabited around 1,700 years ago.
Archaeologists with the Budapest History Museum discovered the limestone coffin during a large-scale excavation in Óbuda, a northern district of the city that once formed part of Aquincum, a bustling Roman settlement on the Danube frontier.
Untouched by looters and sealed for centuries, the sarcophagus was found with its stone lid still fixed in place, secured by metal