"Germany's new gas pipeline to Russia angers neighbours"

A project to build a 774-mile pipeline under the Baltic Sea has upset countries left out of the deal, especially those where officials had hoped to be able to collect transit fees for gas shipped through overland tunnels through territory they controlled, according to Tony Paterson, writing in The Independent Online. He reports that the plan is to have the Wyborg, Russia, to Greifswald, Germany, pipeline up and running by 2010, to meet what is expected to be a doubling of demand for gas in Europe over the next decade.

Construction on the tunnel began today, with a ceremonial welding together of the first two sections of pipeline.