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21 November 2023; MEMO: Two commercial ships that diverted their course in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden were connected to the same maritime group whose vessel was seized by Yemen’s Houthis, according to shipping data and British maritime security company, Ambrey, Reuters reports.

17 November 2023; MEMO: The Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said that Amman will not sign an agreement to provide energy to Israel in exchange for water. The exchange agreement was supposed to be signed last month.

Woodside/Beijing, Nov 16 (PTI) US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping have agreed to resume high-level military-to-military communication and counter-narcotics cooperation as they met for four hours in a bid to establish a working relationship amidst Beijing's aggressive actions in the Indo-Pacific region.

15 November 2023; MEMO: Libya turned away an oil tanker that was due to load a cargo from one of its ports, after the vessel previously performed a voyage to Israel, Bloomberg reports.

According to the report, the “Proteus Philippa” arrived near Mellitah in western Libya two days ago.

The vessel was set to load 600,000 barrels, but was asked to leave because it previously moved barrels to Haifa in Israel.

12 November 2023; MEMO: China’s state-owned oil and gas company, PetroChina is to replace US energy giant Exxon Mobil Corp as the lead contractor for Iraq’s West Qurna 1 oilfield, following a settlement agreement, whereby the latter will finalise its exit from the oilfield, according to a senior Iraqi oil executive.

25 October 2023; MEMO: Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said on Wednesday that he had cancelled a plan to visit Israel in light of the ongoing Gaza conflict, Anadolu Agency reports.

At the Justice and Development (AK) Party’s parliamentary group meeting in Ankara, Erdogan said that before 7 October, when the conflict erupted, he had planned to visit Israel but then cancelled his plans.

26 October 2023; MEMO: Saudi Aramco and Enowa, Neom’s energy and water subsidiary, have signed a joint development agreement to construct and establish a synthetic electro-fuel (e-fuel) demonstration plant, Middle East Business Intelligence reports.

According to the report, the plant will be in Enowa’s Hydrogen Innovation and Development Centre (HIDC).

17 October 2023; MEMO: Nearly 1,000 US citizens and family members have departed Israel on State Department-sponsored charter flights and other transport options since Friday for Europe, a department spokesperson told Reuters yesterday.

The State Department said it had offered more than 4,000 seats on US government-chartered transport by air and sea to US citizens and immediate family but said the flights and other departure options have generally departed at half capacity or less.

16 October 2023; AA: Chinese and Russian foreign ministers met in Beijing and discussed relations between their countries and the ongoing armed conflict between Israel and Palestine.

Wang Yi hosted his counterpart Sergey Lavrov ahead of the third Belt and Road Forum for International (BRI) Cooperation.

Ahead of their meeting, Lavrov said: "We consider this project as an important part of promoting cooperation on the basis of equality and mutual benefit throughout the Eurasian continent."

16 October 2023; MEMO: Israel yesterday announced that it would stop its security exports to Colombia in response to statements by Colombian President Gustavo Petro, in which he likened Israel’s targeting of Gaza to the Nazi persecution of the Jews.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Lior Haiat said that Colombian Ambassador to Israel Margarita Manjarrez had been summoned over “hostile and anti-Semitic statements” against the state of Israel made by Petro.