Germany's vice chancellor is stepping up an appeal for the country's residents to save energy after Russia's Gazprom announced significant cuts in natural gas deliveries through a key pipeline.

State-owned Gazprom announced on Tuesday that it was cutting gas flows through the undersea Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany by 40%, then, a day later, announced a further cut that brings the overall reduction to about 60%.

A contest to lead Europe's financial rescue fund is drawing to a close with the spotlight on three candidates. But a question that has hung over the monthslong race looks certain to persist: Will the winner have enough to do despite fresh economic shocks?

Finance ministers from the 19 countries that share the euro currency could decide Thursday in Luxembourg on a successor to Germany's Klaus Regling as managing director of the European Stability Mechanism, created during the eurozone debt crisis a decade ago. They also could postpone the decision until July.

The head of the Russian Central Bank warned Thursday that the country's economy faces pressure from abroad that could persist indefinitely, dampening hopes that conditions could return to what they were before Russia sent troops into Ukraine.

"It seems to me that it's obvious to everyone that it won't be as it was before," Elvira Nabiullina said at a session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, an annual showpiece gathering aimed at investors.

At Greece's largest coal mine, controlled explosions and the roar of giant excavators scooping up blasted rock have once again become routine. Coal production has been ramped up at the site near the northern Greek city of Kozani as the war in Ukraine forced many European nations to rethink their energy supplies.

Coal, long treated as a legacy fuel in Europe, is now helping the continent safeguard its power supply and cope with the dramatic rise in natural gas prices caused by the war.

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.