The United States could yet impose new sanctions to try to block construction of the Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline across the Baltic Sea to the European Union, the U.S. ambassador to the EU said on Tuesday. Source: Reuters
Germany
Germany will likely be a buyer of liquid natural gas from the United States in the medium term, the government official tasked with trans-Atlantic relations said on Friday, but not as a result of any threats from Washington. Source: Reuters
Germany’s finance minister is advocating a steep increase in the country’s minimum wage as his struggling center-left party tries to reverse a slump in its popularity. Source: The Washington Post
Twelve African heads of state are meeting with Chancellor Merkel in Berlin to take stock of the G20 “Compact with Africa” initiative. Merkel said the project puts African countries and the West on an “equal footing.” Source: Deutsche Welle
French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday hailed Angela Merkel’s “extremely dignified” decision to step down as German chancellor in 2021. Source: The Local
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has told leaders of her Christian Democrats (CDU) that she will not seek re-election as party chairwoman at a conference in early December, a senior party source said on Monday. Source: Reuters
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party suffered heavy losses in Sunday’s regional election in Hesse state, according to an exit poll. Source: The Local
Kosovo President Hashim Thaci says the Russian leader told him in Paris that Moscow will support any peaceful agreement reached between Kosovo and Serbia. Source: Balkan Insight
Israeli Defense Forces have released footage of an Israeli Air Force strike on what the IDF reports was Hamas’ military intelligence headquarters. Hamas militant group has threatened to fire rockets at the Israeli towns of Beersheba, Ashdod if the IDF airstrikes on Gaza continue. Source: Sputnik
Bulgaria is the latest EU-member state to clarify that it will be not back the UN pact on migration, due to be signed next month in Marrakech, claiming it puts the national interest at risk. Source: Balkan Insight
Former Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski fled to Hungary and is seeking asylum. On Monday a Macedonian court issued an arrest warrant for Gruevski, who served as prime minister until 2016 and was supposed to start a two-year jail sentence over an illegal purchase of a luxury car. Source: Politico
Officials close to Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince, Mohammed Bin Salman, discussed plans in 2017 with businessmen to potentially use private companies to assassinate Iranian enemies, The New York Times reported on Sunday. Source Arutz Sheva
Police in Spain and France have smashed a criminal ring suspected of smuggling hundreds of Palestinians into Europe through fraudulent asylum claims, Spanish police said on Sunday. Source: The Local
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday he had a brief but good conversation with US leader Donald Trump at World War I centenary events in Paris, Russian media reported. Source: France24
Turkey’s defense minister Hulusi Akar has presented maps to the Libyan government in a bid to indicate that Greece is trying to encroach upon Libya’s continental shelf, according to reports in Turkey’s Yeni Safak newspaper. Source: Ekathimerini
Israeli forces have killed seven Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in an apparently botched undercover raid and ensuing firefight that has threatened to destroy a precarious, unofficial ceasefire. Source: The Guardian
North Korea and South Korea have begun destroying 20 guard posts along their heavily-fortified frontier under a plan to reduce tensions on the border. Source: Raidió Teilifís Éireann
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić on Sunday (11 November) accused Kosovo of “undermining regional cooperation and stability” by raising taxes on Serbian goods. Source: Euractiv
The nation’s lawmaking body approved the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership on Monday, following Australia’s ratification on October 31. Source: South China Morning Post
Greece’s central bank is working on a plan to help banks cut their bad debts in half, the latest effort to restore trust in the country’s financial system, two people with knowledge of the matter said. Source: Bloomberg
Saudi Arabia has announced a major cut in oil production to rebalance global markets and prop up plunging oil prices, citing U.S. sanctions waivers that are enabling Iran to keep exporting oil to most of its top customers. Source: Radio Free Europe
Italy’s government was set on Tuesday to defy the European Commission, preferring to risk financial sanctions than revise its big-spending budget. Source: The Local
Several thousand drivers took to the streets and roads of more than 20 cities to protest high prices at the pump, local media report. Also as part of the protests, many loaded minute amounts of gasoline at local fuel stations, paying for it in small change as a symbolic gesture. Source: Oil Price
Natural gas is expected to overtake coal as the world’s second largest energy source after oil by 2030 due to a drive to cut air pollution and the rise in liquefied natural gas (LNG) use, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday. Source: CNBC
The United States could yet impose new sanctions to try to block construction of the Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline across the Baltic Sea to the European Union, the U.S. ambassador to the EU said on Tuesday. Source: Reuters
Khalid al-Falih told reporters that Saudi Aramco’s customer crude oil nominations would fall by 500,000 bpd in December versus November due to seasonal lower demand. The cut represents a reduction in global oil supply of about 0.5 percent. Source: Reuters
Iran sold 700,000 barrels of crude oil to private companies for export on Sunday in a second round of sales aimed at countering U.S. sanctions on the country’s exports, oil ministry news website SHANA reported. Source: Reuters
China has recently overtaken Japan to become the world’s biggest importer of natural gas and will likely keep that crown as pipeline and liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure grow. Source: Oil Price
The drillship Stena IceMax, commissioned by US oil giant ExxonMobil to drill for hydrocarbons, has been in Block 10 of Cyprus’s exclusive economic zone since Sunday night, according to Cypriot state radio RIK. Source: Ekathimerini
