Conflicting reports have emerged on whether Lebanon and Israel will manage to quickly reach a sea border demarcation deal in the wake of U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein’s visit to Lebanon earlier this week.

Lebanon's caretaker energy minister has extended the licensing deadline for oil and gas companies to explore in the country's territorial waters until mid-December, to give more firms the chance to bid, state-run news agency reported.

The decision by the minister, Walid Fayyad, to extended the deadline of the second round of licensing until Dec. 15 followed a request by the Lebanese Petroleum Administration, the National News Agency said.

Russian energy giant Gazprom's decision to cut supplies of natural gas to Europe via the Nord Stream pipeline was "political", Germany's economy minister said Wednesday.

Egypt, Israel, and the European Union on Wednesday signed a deal to increase liquefied natural gas sales to EU countries, who aim to reduce dependence on supply from Russia as the war in Ukraine drags on.

The deal, stamped in a five-star Cairo hotel, will see Israel sending more gas via Egypt, which has facilities to liquefy it for export via sea, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said.

An EU-backed cap on the price of natural gas used by power plants in Spain and Portugal came into effect Tuesday to ease the spiraling electricity prices in the two nations.

Air travel chaos in Britain is purely down to Brexit "shambles" by hobbling recruitment at airports, Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary said on Tuesday.

Elon Musk will address Twitter employees Thursday for the first time since the billionaire and Tesla CEO offered $44 billion to buy the social media platform, the company said Tuesday.

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal announced an all-hands meeting to employees in an email on Monday, saying they'd be able to submit questions in advance, according to The Wall Street Journal.

South Korea's prime minister warned Tuesday that the disruption of cargo transport could cause "irrecoverable" damages on the country's economy, as a nationwide truckers' strike entered its eighth day.

About 6,800 truckers were rallying Monday at various sites across South Korea, continuing to trigger a delay in the shipment and delivery of key items like steels, cement, petrochemicals and tires, the Transport Ministry said in a statement.

The Lebanese pound hit a new low against the U.S. dollar on the black market Tuesday, crashing below 30,000 to the greenback.

The exchange rate, which is unofficial but applies to most transactions, had dropped from a record high of LBP 38,000 to LBP 27,300, last month, after Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh issued a statement saying banks would resume exchange operations at the Sayrafa platform rate to “all the holders of Lebanese pounds, be them citizens or institutions, who want to exchange them for U.S. dollars.”

The German government is setting in motion plans to legalize the sale of cannabis for recreational purposes, aiming to have legislation ready later this year.

The Health Ministry said Monday that it will start holding expert hearings on various aspects of the issue Tuesday. It said that more than 200 representatives from the medical, legal and other fields will take part, along with officials from various levels of government and unidentified international experts.