Europe Explained

The war between Iran and the United States and Israel is now in its ninth month, and its effects on fuel prices have reached Europe. Oil is the price that Europe's families and firms feel first when the Middle East is in turmoil. On Monday it fell after Iranian and Qatari officials held a third straight day of talks aimed at a deal to end the war between Iran and the United States and Israel. Qatar is acting as a go-between, passing messages between the sides.

Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, said on Sunday that the talks were "ongoing and progressing." He added that Tehran is prepared for both defence and diplomacy. No deal has been reported.

Prices moved a lot. Brent crude, the benchmark oil price used in Europe, rose almost 14% in October and finished the month at its highest level in six months. On Monday afternoon in Australia it was about $111 a barrel, down 2.1%, after reaching $117.64 earlier in the day.

The risk has not gone away. Attacks on oil tankers using the Strait of Hormuz are raising energy and shipping costs worldwide. One analyst, Tim Waterer, said talk about Iran could grow louder after the US midterm elections and push Brent toward $120. OPEC+, the group of oil producers, kept its December production targets unchanged on Sunday and is not expected to change policy again until next year.

For perspective, the Associated Press reported that Brent was near $70 a barrel before the war began, so even Monday's fall left it far above that level. The AP also noted that rising gas prices have been a major issue in the US midterm elections taking place on Tuesday, a sign that the cost of the war is being felt well beyond the region. For now, the talks in Qatar are the main hope that the price will keep falling.

The United Kingdom and the European Union will hold a summit on 20 November. Both sides agree they need closer cooperation, but they do not agree on how to get there.

The EU's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said the UK should first join the EU's existing defence frameworks rather than start talks on rejoining the bloc. She said some people in Brussels are still "traumatised" by Brexit, and that the negotiations will be difficult.

UK Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said Britain remains committed to closer defence ties, even though it stayed out of the EU's €150 billion SAFE defence loan scheme last year. Talks failed over an estimated entry fee of €4 billion to €6 billion, which the UK government saw as poor value.

The summit follows a change at the top. Prime Minister Andy Burnham has promised to rebuild relations with the EU on trade, education, energy and defence, and has not ruled out talks on full membership.

Rising living costs have pushed young people onto the streets in two of Europe's biggest countries. In Germany, largely peaceful afternoon protests, mainly over the cost of living, turned violent after dark on Saturday in several cities, including Frankfurt, Cologne, Hamburg and Berlin.

The sizes differed from city to city. Police put the youth demonstration in Berlin at about 3,500 people, with about 60 arrests, while about 8,000 people demonstrated in Frankfurt. In Hamburg, around 120 people were temporarily detained.

Germany's interior minister, Alexander Dobrindt, called for harsh penalties, and the organisers distanced themselves from the violence.

In France, hundreds of thousands of people joined protests against the rising cost of living on the third weekend of demonstrations. Authorities opened an attempted murder investigation after an officer was set on fire when a petrol bomb went off at his feet in Paris.