An energy crisis is looming over India as coal supplies grow perilously low, adding to challenges for a recovery in Asia's third largest economy after it was wracked by the pandemic.

Supplies across the majority of coal-fired power plants in India have dwindled to just days worth of stock.

Jordan's foreign minister on Thursday pushed back against a report that the country's monarch, King Abdullah II, went out of his way to hide the purchase of more than a dozen luxury homes worth more than $106 million, saying there was "nothing secretive" about the transactions.

Ayman Safadi also told The Associated Press that none of the billions of dollars of international aid the kingdom has received over the years were used to fund the purchases, and that strict safeguards are in place to prevent any abuses.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison welcomed France's decision to return its ambassador to Australia and said Thursday the bilateral relationship was bigger than the canceled submarine contract.

Morrison dismissed suggestions that Australia needed to rebuild its relationship with France after canceling a 90 billion Australian dollar ($66 billion) contract last month, an act French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian described as a "stab in the back."

Royal Dutch Shell on Thursday warned of a financial hit from the recent Hurricane Ida, but the energy giant said cash flows would profit from soaring gas and electricity prices.

British business leaders on Thursday criticized Prime Minister Boris Johnson for lacking a plan to deal with a labor shortage crisis, after he called for them to pay higher wages.

A row between Iran and South Korea is intensifying, with Tehran threatening legal action unless Seoul releases more than $7 billion in funds for oil shipments frozen because of US sanctions.

The Islamic republic was South Korea's third-largest Middle Eastern trade partner before the US unilaterally withdrew from a 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers and re-imposed crippling sanctions.

Greece's lawmakers are set to vote Thursday on a broad five-year defense pact signed last week with France which includes a clause of mutual assistance in case of attack by a third party.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis signed the deal with French President Emmanuel Macron during a Sept. 28 visit to Paris, during which Greece also announced it would be buying three French frigates for the Greek navy.

Long queues returned to Lebanon’s gas stations on Thursday amid a delay in the issuance of the weekly prices schedule by the Ministry of Energy.

The delay has been blamed on a rise in the price of oil globally and on a surge in the dollar exchange rate on the black market in Lebanon.

The European Union on Wednesday urged member countries to provide relief funds to consumers and small businesses hit hardest by rising gas and electricity prices, as criticism mounts that the bloc's climate change fighting policies are fueling the problem.

In recent days, France and Spain have led the charge for change to the rules governing EU energy markets as the price surge ramps up already-high utility bills and increases pressure on many people already hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.

The energy ministers of Lebanon, Jordan and Syria met in Amman on Wednesday and agreed on a timeframe for supplying Lebanon with Jordanian electricity via Syria.

During the meeting, “a work plan and a timeframe were presented to reactivate the electrical connection line between Jordan and Syria, and to carry out all the technical studies and prepare the necessary treaties for the implementation of the supply process,” Jordan’s news agency said.