Good morning from the Financial Times. Today is Wednesday, March 4th, and this is your FT News

briefing. The war in the Middle East is causing another potential energy crisis for Europe, and

it's setting up another rift between the U.S. and its European allies. Plus, China will lay out its

five-year plan tomorrow.

We'll unpack what's on deck.

I'm Victoria Craig, and here's the news you need to start your day.

European stocks and bonds sold off on Tuesday as concerns grow about an energy shock from the

conflict in the Middle East. Global oil prices have been trading in the $80 per barrel range this week,

while European natural gas prices have nearly doubled. Tehran's retaliatory strikes are targeting

energy production facilities in the Gulf,

and its drone attacks have effectively closed the strait of Hormuz, which is a crucial oil and gas

export route to Europe and Asia. The question now is, will Europe need to look for a new energy source

the way it did after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Here to discuss that is the FTs EU correspondent Ian Johnston.

Hi, Ian.

Hello.

So just walk us through how reliant Europe is on gas supplies from the Middle East.

So Europe is not overly reliant on gas supplies from the Middle East per se. It gets about 10% of its

liquefied natural gas from Qatar, but it's a global market and those shocks to the gas supplies

in Qatar have had a really damaging effect on prices, shooting up about 78% in the space of two days.

And it sparked real concern over what the effect this will have on European businesses and consumers.

Is Europe in any way better positioned to absorb any energy shock than it was when Russia

...