Issue # 81
11/16/2015
Ukraine on high combat alert.
Ukrainian parliament recognizes 1944 deportation of Crimean Tatars as genocide.
Genocide victims to be commemorated on 18 May annually READ MORE

• November 16, 2015

ISIS claimed responsibility for attacks that killed at least 129 people in Paris, saying it sent fighters with suicide bombing belts and machine guns into the heart of the French capital. President Francoise Hollande declared the attacks "an act of war" as the city mourned its mounting dead.

• November 14, 2015

Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister said the country must defend encroachment of its sovereignty in a veiled swipe at China's territorial claims in the South China Sea, as tensions flared ahead of a regional meeting that Beijing will attend.

• November 14, 2015

The United States, Russia and powers from the Middle East and Europe outlined a plan on Saturday for a political process in Syria leading to elections within two years, but differences over the fate of President Bashar al-Assad remained.

• November 14, 2015

Two U.S. B-52 strategic bombers flew near artificial Chinese-built islands in the South China Sea this week and were contacted by Chinese ground controllers but continued their mission undeterred, the Pentagon said on Thursday.

• November 13, 2015

Russia has banned incoming flights by Egypt's state-owned airline, a senior Russian diplomat and an official of Moscow's Domodedovo airport said on Friday, two weeks after a Russian jet crash in Sinai that Islamist militants claimed to have caused.

• November 13, 2015

Egypt's revaluation of the pound this week has raised expectations of a major shift in how it manages a long-running currency crisis, with evidence growing that the central bank may be preparing for a more flexible exchange rate mechanism.

• November 13, 2015

A Snapshot of Key Developments in the External Relations of the Russian Gas Sector
By Dr Jack Sharples, EGF Associate Researcher on the external dimensions of Russian gas and Lecturer in Energy Politics at the European University of St Petersburg

• Gazprom and the EU: Good news and bad news for Gazprom: sales volumes rising but prices falling in 2015-16; European Commission and Gazprom continue on their dual-track approach to resolving the antimonopoly case; Stalemate over Gazprom’s use of the OPAL pipeline; EU Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy, Miguel Arias Cañete, warns against Nord Stream-II at European Parliament plenary session
• Nord Stream: Gazprom CEO suggests that Nord Stream-II gas could be delivered to south-eastern Europe; Nord Stream-II to enter Baltic Sea at Ust-Luga, not Vyborg; Nord Stream reaches milestone 100 bcm of deliveries, but continues to operate below capacity
• Turkish Stream: Turkish Botaş initiates gas price arbitration against Gazprom as Russia-Turkey relations come under strain
• Ukraine: Naftogaz prepays and resumes imports from Gazprom, without formally signing the ‘Winter Package’ agreement
• Asia: Gazprom launches construction of Amur gas processing plant (GPP) as part of the Power of Siberia project; Gazprom hosts working meetings with Mitsui and Mitsubishi to discuss Sakhalin-II LNG terminal expansion; Gazprom Marketing and Trading Singapore (GM&TS) signs 10-year LNG sale-and-purchase agreement with Singaporean state-owned Pavilion Gas for exports to the Asia-Pacific region
• Other: Gazprom launches construction of second line of Ukhta-Torzhok pipeline

• November 13, 2015