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US agency to charge $45 for passengers without REAL ID
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration announced on Monday that it would begin charging air passengers $45 if their identification documents do not meet the stricter federal standards on February 1. This move is intended to encourage travelers to obtain enhanced identity documents. The TSA will begin enforcing "REAL ID' standards in May 2025. Passengers without these IDs are given warnings and subjected to enhanced screening. TSA officials have said that they will urge passengers who do not possess REAL IDs to get them before arriving at an airport or pay a fee. The $45 will cover travel within a 10 day period. TSA announced in an announcement in the Federal Register on November 20 that travelers without REAL ID would be charged $18. However, officials told reporters that the fee was increased because the costs for this option were higher than expected. If you don't pay for the fees before you arrive at the airport, it could take up to 30 minutes. In exceptional circumstances, officials said they may waive the fee. Children under the age of 18 are not required to show an ID at airport checkpoints. Most travelers use state-government-issued driver's licenses that meet the requirements but passports issued by any government are also an acceptable form of ID as are other forms of IDs including permanent resident cards, Department of Defense IDs, DHS trusted traveler cards and others. At the moment, 94% of passengers at airports are carrying valid ID. In 2005, the Congress approved stricter federal standards to be used for issuing ID cards. However, enforcement of these standards has been repeatedly delayed. These IDs are also required to enter a federal building. The 2005 law implemented the recommendation of the 9/11 Commission that the U.S. Government "set standards for issuance of forms of identification such as drivers licenses." The law establishes minimum security standards in the issuance of licenses and their production.
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On Sunday, the US checked a record 3,13 million airline passengers.
U.S. Transportation Security Administration reported that it screened 3,13 million airline passenger on Sunday. This was the highest number of passengers screened in a single day. The record travel occurred on the busiest day of Thanksgiving travel, despite the weather problems in the Midwest. The previous record was set on June 22, when 3.09 millions passengers were screened. Airlines for America, a trade group, said that it expects U.S. airlines to fly 31 million passengers over the 11 days ending on Monday. The Federal Aviation Administration predicted that there would be over 360,000 flights in the nine days ending December 2, the highest number for 15 years. The TSA screened over 3 million passengers on a single day twice before 2024. But in 2025, it exceeded 3 million travelers eight times. As air travel increased in the last few years, the Biden administration increased TSA's size, which now has almost 60,000 employees. In 2024, the TSA screened 904 million passengers. This was a new record and an increase of 5% from 2023. Many airlines had to deal with a problem involving Airbus 320 aircraft over the holiday season. Airbus and global regulators ordered several U.S. airlines to perform a software upgrade that was mandated after an incident involving a JetBlue A320 revealed a vulnerability for solar flares. JetBlue announced that the problem forced them to cancel 20 more flights on Monday, as they continue to work on the planes covered by this order. (Reporting and editing by Franklin Paul, Paul Simao, and David Shepardson)
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Russia and Saudi Arabia Sign Agreement for Visa-Free Travel
The Russian government and Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry announced that Russia and Saudi Arabia signed an agreement on Monday to implement a visa free regime for business and tourist people from both countries for up 90 days. The agreement was signed in Riyadh, on the sidelines the Saudi-Russian Investment and Business Forum. The legal procedures to exchange notes and bring the document into effect will be followed. According to me, it will be possible to travel to our countries without a visa at the start of next year," said Russian Deputy Premier Alexander Novak in an interview on television. Novak said that Russia and Saudi Arabia would also increase the number of direct flights between their two countries.
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Snam, an Italian company, wins EU support for a hydrogen pipeline and CO2 Storage
The European Commission included on Monday in its list of priority projects for cross-border energy two initiatives supported by Italian gas grid operator Snam. These are eligible for EU financing. The projects were already on the priority list of 2023 but, with their inclusion in this year's updates, it is likely they will also be included in Snam’s updated industrial plan due to be released early next year. Snam has a list of 235 projects that includes a hydrogen pipe linking Algeria, Italy and Germany, dubbed SoutH2 Corridor. It also includes offshore carbon dioxide storage near Ravenna in Italy as part of the Callisto Project. They will be eligible for a fast-tracked authorisation process, and may also receive financial support from the EU, since they fall under the category of Projects of Common Interest or Projects of Mutual Interest.
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Spain deploys military forces to contain African Swine Fever near Barcelona
Spain called on its military to contain an outbreak near Barcelona of African swine flu, in order to protect the multi-billion euro pork export industry. Officials believe the virus spread when a wild boar consumed contaminated food. It could have been a sandwich imported from another country. The authorities confirmed that the two dead wild boars had tested positive for this disease. Bellaterra is located on the other side of Collserola Mountain range, away from the coastal city. A 6-km exclusion area has been set up to exclude the affected area. Three hundred Catalan rural wardens and police were deployed in the northeastern Spain area at the weekend. On Monday, 117 members from Spain's emergency military unit will be using drones to locate infected animals. Oscar Ordeig, Catalonia’s agriculture minister, told local radio that the most likely scenario is that a sandwich or cold cut could end up in the bin, and that a wild boar might eat it, and get infected. While African swine flu is harmless to humans it spreads quickly among wild boars and pigs, posing an economic risk for Spain, which is one of the largest pork exporters in the world. The area infected is near the AP-7, a major route connecting Spain and France. Regional authorities reported that eight more suspected cases are being investigated, and they expect more cases to follow. Risk to Spain's Pork Industry Ordeig, who is awaiting the final results of the tests, told a press briefing that it was most likely human activity which brought this virus from Europe to Spain, as no boars infected had been found in Catalonia and neighbouring France. The spokesperson for the European Commission said that the results of sequencing tests would be available before the Commission could comment on the origin of the outbreak. The spokesperson announced that a team of EU vets would visit the area to assess the situation, give advice, and create a report containing recommendations. Luis Planas, Spain's Agriculture Minister, said on Saturday that a third of Spain's export certificates for pork have been blocked due to the outbreak. However no farms have tested negative so far. Within a radius of 20 km from the original infection site, pork farms are subject to operating and sale restrictions. (Additional reporting in Brussels by Philip Blenkinsop and Emma Pinedo. Emma Pinedo is the author, with Aislin Laing and Ros Russel editing.
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Russian Railways cargo volumes keep falling, data shows
Data released on Monday showed that the cargo volumes handled by Russia's largest commercial employer, state-owned Russian Railways, continued to decline in November. Russian Railways released a statement saying that November cargo volumes fell by 1.5% on an annual basis to 94.2 millions tonnes. Volumes from January to November also dropped by 5.6%, to 1.021 billion tonnes. The Russian government is examining different options to support Russian Railways. It has accumulated a debt of 4 trillion roubles ($50,8 billion). The railway cargo volume, a key economic indicator of the strength of Russia's export economy, fell to its lowest level in 15 years in 2024. It continued to fall in 2025, due in part, to a decline in Russia's war-based economy and market conditions worldwide. VTB CEO Andrei Kostin said in an interview that Russian Banks are willing to restructure a portion of Russian Railways debt, as long as central bank doesn't increase reserve requirements. (Reporting and editing by Andrew Osborn; Gleb Stolyarov)
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IAG's Iberia has extended the suspension of flights to Venezuela through December
Iberia, the Spanish airline, extended its suspension of flights to Venezuela through December 31 citing a recommendation by Spain's aviation agency AESA. Tensions between Caracas & Washington continue to roil the commercial aviation. The decision was made just days after Venezuela revoked the operating rights of six major international carriers that had suspended services in response to a U.S. Aviation warning about a 'potentially dangerous situation' in Venezuelan airspace. Caracas accused carriers of participating in "actions of State Terrorism" promoted by the United States. Iberia, which is owned by International Consolidated Airlines (ICA), said that passengers affected could either change their tickets or rebook a destination nearby, or request a full refund. It also stated that the airline intended to resume flight operations "as quickly as safety assurances are restored". The airline was among several international carriers who had indicated their readiness to return to Caracas as soon as conditions stabilized. However, ongoing military activity in Caribbean has prevented most services from being resumed. (Reporting and editing by Kirby Donovan; Additional reporting and editing by Corina Poons)
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Sources say RPT-Airbus is facing a new quality issue on dozens A320 jets.
Industry sources reported on Monday that Airbus discovered a problem with the quality of fuselage panels in several dozen A320 family aircraft. Sources who asked not to be identified said that the suspected production defect is delaying certain deliveries, but there were no immediate signs it had reached aircraft already in service. Airbus had no immediate comment. It was not possible to identify the cause of the issue immediately. Airbus has been busy boosting its efforts to meet the challenging delivery targets set for this year, and also distracted by the weekend recall of jets due to a software error. SOURCE: SOME DELIVERIES HAVE ALREADY BEEN AFFECTED. One person who has direct knowledge of the situation said that some deliveries are already affected, but it was not immediately confirmed how many or for how long. Sources in the industry said that the planemaker had delivered 72 aircraft to date, which is less than what many analysts expected. This brings the total of the year up to 657. It targets "around 820 deliveries" for the year. This would mean it has to achieve a record performance in December of more than 161 jets. In 2019, the record for the last month of the calendar year was 138. Will the planner meet its delivery goals? Analysts are divided over whether the world’s largest aircraft maker will achieve its delivery goals. These goals determine revenue and cash flows as airlines pay a large portion of the plane’s value at delivery. Chloe Lemarie of Jefferies, an analyst who tracks aircraft handovers and forecasts 71 deliveries in November, stated that the performance for the month was lower than expected. She added that the target is still within reach as the underlying production has been increasing in an investor note issued before news of a reported quality issue emerged. Rob Morris, an independent aviation analyst, said Airbus would be able to reach 800 deliveries. Others say that this is enough for the company to be crowned a winner based on its forecast. However, there's a risk the final result will be "marginally less." Reporting by Tim Hepher, Editing by Bernadettebaum
US LNG exports reach record high in November due to cooler weather and strong output
The preliminary data released by financial firm LSEG on Monday showed that U.S. liquefied gas exports reached a record high for the second consecutive month in November, thanks to cooler weather conditions and robust production from the two biggest producers of the country. According to LSEG, the U.S. is the top LNG exporter in the world. It shipped 10.9 million metric tons last month. This was up from 10.1 mmt during October, despite the fact that the month had one fewer working day.
Cheniere Energy, U.S.'s largest LNG exporter, increased shipments from its two Texas facilities to 4.6 mmt, up from 4.1 mmt last month. Venture Global LNG (the second largest exporter) remained at 3 mmt for the month of November, according to LSEG ship tracking data.
In cooler temperatures, LNG plants are more efficient. According to the U.S. National Weather Service, the average temperature along the Gulf Coast was about 8 degrees Fahrenheit less in November than it was in October.
In November, the U.S. demand for natural gas liquefaction reached a new record of 18 billion cubic feet per a day due to an increase in LNG exports. Last week, the daily demand exceeded 19 bcfd. Henry Hub gas averaged $4.47/mmBtu per month in November. This is up from $3.36/mmBtu during October.
EUROPE RETAINS A KEY MARKET
Europe received 70% or 7.5 mmt of U.S. gas exports in November. This is up from 69% for October. Turkey became a major purchaser, with 12 cargoes worth 0.9 mmt compared to just one in October.
Exports to Asia dropped to 1.75 million tonnes, or 16 percent of the total volume, down from 1.96 million tonnes in October. This was due to a weakening in demand for goods in Northeast Asia. Latin America received 0.66 million tonnes, slightly more than in October. Egypt purchased 0.84 million tonnes amid domestic supply problems.
In November, the European benchmark Dutch Title Transfer Facility price per million British Thermal Units was $10.40, compared to $10.88 in Oct. Japan Korea Marker prices averaged $11.25, an increase from $11.111.
The arbitrage opportunity to ship U.S. LNG to Asia via Cape of Good Hope is still closed, which will result in a continuing influx of flexible U.S. goods into Northwest Europe," LSEG stated in a report. Curtis Williams, Houston (reporting) and Nathan Crooks & Paul Simao (editing).
(source: Reuters)