EU banks back non-Russian gas pipeline

European and Central Asian leaders gathered in Budapest have given new political impetus to the bloc's Nabucco gas pipeline from the Caspian region, designed as an alternative to the Russian distribution network.

Leaders of the countries affected by the pipeline, which would flow from the Caspian region to Central Europe, on Tuesday (27 January) said they would sign an agreement by 30 June covering the legal and technical aspects of the project, Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsan...