World
EU remains 'fully committed' to lithium deal despite unrest in Serbia
The EU Commission remains committed to strategic partnership on raw materials with Serbia despite recent protests, while Emmanuel Macron and Ursula von der Leyen are rumoured to be set to visit Belgrade.
The European Commission is steadfast in its intention to pursue a strategic partnership on raw materials with Serbia despite concerns over president Aleksandar Vučić’s claims that western powers lie behind widespread protests against a planned lithium mine, a spokesperson for the EU executive said today.
Commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič and German Chancellor Olaf Schulz signed a memorandum of understanding in Belgrade last month, just days after Belgrade gave the green light for Anglo-Australian mining corporation Rio Tinto to resume a lithium mining development in the west of the country.
The EU executive said today that it remains “fully committed” to the partnership – the latest in over a dozen Brussels has signed to reduce dependence on China for access to the critical raw materials essential for electric car batteries and Europe’s ongoing energy transition.
“I don’t think we can quantify the importance of the memorandum of understanding with Serbia,” the Commission’s spokesperson on trade Johanna Bernsel told reporters today after president Ursula von der Leyen said securing access to cheap raw materials would be a key goal of the Clean Industrial Deal, the flagship policy agenda for her second mandate.
“What I can say is that we remain fully committed both to the partnership as such and to the environmental standards, to the fact that the environmental standards have to be compatible with EU law,” Bernsel said.
But such rhetoric, which EU leaders have been using since the deal was struck on 18 July, has cut little ice with opponents of Rio Tinto’s plans to open Europe’s largest lithium mine in the Jadar valley 100 kilometres west of the Serbian capital.
Widespread protests by environmentalists and opponents who fear Serbians will receive little benefit of the project culminated on 10 August when tens of thousands marched in the capital, and smaller groups later blocked railway lines into the capital.
There were reports of dozens of arrests, with protest organisers complaining of what they saw as coordinated police action and surveillance – while President Vučić railed against unnamed western powers he said were waging a “hybrid war” against his government.
Vučić said Russian intelligence services had warned him that unspecified governments were looking to foment “mass unrest and a coup” to unseat him from power – echoing assertions the Serbian president made back in February during a television appearance.
The European Commission dismissed such claims. “The European Union absolutely rejects any allegations that it would be involved in any kind of illegal or illegitimate activities linked to foreign interference,” foreign affairs spokesperson Peter Stano said.
EU leaders are keenly watching developments in Serbia, historically an ally of Russia which in May hosted Chinese leader Xi Jinping, with Vučić having said he expects a visit later this month from French president Emmanuel Macron whom he met on the sidelines of a summit in the UK in July.
WIDGET: Big summit of European leaders kicks off, focusing on Ukraine and EU-UK ties | Euronews
Macron said of the meeting that he had expressed his “full support” for Serbia’s integration into the EU, while stressing the importance of normalising relations between Belgrade and the majority ethnic Albanian enclave of Kosovo – whose independence Belgrade has yet to recognise and whose government is currently facing EU criticism over plans to open a bridge in the divided city of Mitrovica.
The French foreign ministry did not respond to repeated requests for confirmation that this visit may have been scheduled for next week. Similarly, the European Commission would not confirm whether president von der Leyen is planning her own visit to Belgrade in the coming weeks.
World
Kilauea displays lava fountains for the 37th time since its eruption began last year
HONOLULU (AP) — The on-and-off eruption that’s been dazzling residents and visitors on Hawaii’s Big Island for nearly a year resumed Tuesday as Kilauea volcano sent fountains of lava soaring 400 feet (122 meters) into the air.
The molten rock was confined within Kilauea’s summit caldera inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, the U.S. Geological Survey said. No homes were threatened.
It’s the 37th time Kilauea has shot lava since last December, when the current eruption began.
The latest lava display was preceded by sporadic spattering and overflows that began Friday. Each eruptive episode has lasted about a day or less. The volcano has paused for at least a few days in between.
In some cases, Kilauea’s lava towers have soared as high as skyscrapers. The volcano has generated such tall fountains in part because magma — which holds gases that are released as it rises — has been traveling to the surface through narrow, pipelike vents.
Kilauea is on Hawaii Island, the largest of the Hawaiian archipelago. It’s about 200 miles (322 kilometers) south of the state’s largest city, Honolulu, which is on Oahu.
It’s one of the world’s most active volcanoes and one of six active volcanoes in Hawaii.
World
Russia warns it may reject US-Ukraine peace plan if it fails to uphold Alaska summit ‘understandings’
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov suggested Moscow could reject the White House’s latest Ukraine peace deal framework if it doesn’t uphold the “spirit and letter” of the understandings reached at the August Alaska summit between President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
Lavrov said at a news conference Tuesday that Russia is awaiting the updated version of the Trump administration’s latest peace plan aimed at ending the nearly four-year war.
He warned that if the terms of the “key understandings” are “extinguished” then the situation would become “fundamentally different.”
Russia has maintained its maximalist demands in negotiations, insisting Ukraine be barred from joining NATO and required to give up the rest of the Donbas as part of any peace deal.
RUSSIA BOMBARDS KYIV, KILLING AT LEAST 6, AS TRUMP PEACE PLAN MOVES FORWARD
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov delivers a speech for heads of diplomatic missions accredited in Russia in Moscow, Russia, Sept. 19, 2022. (Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool/AP Photo)
John Hardie, the deputy director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Russia Program, told Fox News Digital Moscow’s intransigence over the past 10 months has been the main obstacle to Trump’s diplomatic efforts.
“The United States has really shot itself in the foot by kind of flip-flopping between strategies. One month you’re trying to pressure the Russians and saying they’re the obstacle to peace. The next minute you’re trying to, you know, force their terms on Kyiv,” said Hardie.
“What we really need is sustained military support for Ukraine and economic pressure on Russia, and Putin has to realize that neither the Ukrainian military nor Western, especially U.S., resolve, are going to falter.”
Emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire after a Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine Sept. 7, 2025. (Efrem Lukatsky/AP Photo)
Former CIA station chief Dan Hoffman told “The Brian Kilmeade Show” Tuesday he remains skeptical about an end to the war, arguing the United States lacks the leverage to compel Moscow to halt its invasion.
NATO JETS SCRAMBLED AMID RUSSIA’S LARGEST DRONE ATTACK ON UKRAINE
“Vladimir Putin, his strategic objective has always been to overthrow the democratically elected government of Ukraine. He’ll engage in negotiations, but he does it to ensure that he’s asserting the primacy of Russia in his self-designated sphere of influence,” said Hoffman. “I just don’t see any evidence that Russia is going to pause in their relentless attacks on Ukraine.”
Ukrainian soldiers from the 115th Brigade Mortar Unit conduct mortar training as members of the Anti-UAV unit test an FPV drone inhibitor in Lyman, Ukraine. (Jose Colon/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Ukraine agreed Tuesday to a peace deal to end the war with Russia, but some details still need to be finalized, a U.S. official told Fox News.
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U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll met with Russian officials in Abu Dhabi Monday and Tuesday to discuss the framework for a Ukraine peace deal. The U.S. official said a Ukrainian delegation was also in Abu Dhabi and in contact with Driscoll and his team.
Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report
World
Hungary’s Orbán looks to meet Putin in Moscow amid Ukraine deal talks
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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will travel to Moscow on Friday to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to media reports.
The information came from Hungarian government sources who were involved in the preparations of the trip, according to investigative central European outlet VSquare.
The Hungarian government has not confirmed the visit at this time, with Budapest saying it would inform the public about Orbán’s programme in due time.
The agenda for the meeting is not yet known. But Orbán has maintained ties to Putin since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and the two leaders have kept in regular touch, meeting in person three times since early 2022.
The Hungarian premier has repeatedly stated he was in favour of an immediate ceasefire and peace talks to end the war in Ukraine. Over the weekend, Orbán called on the European Union to support Washington’s peace efforts and engage in direct negotiations with Russia.
‘”Europeans must immediately and unconditionally support the peace initiative of the President of the United States,” Orbán said in a letter sent to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Saturday.
“In addition to supporting the US president, we must, without delay, launch autonomous and direct diplomatic negotiations with Russia,” he added.
Europeans ‘prefer to continue the war,’ Orbán says
Hungary is one of the few European countries that imports large quantities of Russian oil and gas, despite the European Union’s efforts to decouple from Moscow’s fossil fuels.
During a visit to Washington in November, Orbán secured exemptions from Washington’s secondary tariffs targeting Russia’s oil exporters Rosneft and Lukoil.
Addressing US President Donald Trump, Orbán also blamed the European Union for what he said was its support of the war.
“Your peace efforts are splendid, but the problem is Brussels, the Europeans. They prefer to continue the war, because they still think Ukraine can win on the front line,” Orbán said.
Earlier, Trump announced direct talks with Putin in Budapest, only for the meeting to be called off by Washington, citing a lack of agreement with Moscow.
Following the leak of the US-Russia 28-point plan last week, said to be strongly in favour of Moscow, Ukrainian and European representatives have met with their US counterparts for further talks, followed by a counterproposal offering more guarantees for Ukraine.
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