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As Donald Trump shakes up the global order, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is being pushed closer toward a more predictable partner in Moscow. Now they're in the same corner trying to shield businesses from U.S. sanctions, defend the Iran nuclear accord ditched by Trump and rebuffing American objections to a new gas pipeline linking Russia and Germany. Rapprochement with Russia is now a core policy objective in Berlin. Even as the German leader seeks out Russia, Trump's spurning of global conventions on climate, trade and the Middle East is spooking her. "Putin likes the irritation that Trump has created with...

In a pair of tweets on Monday, President Trump touted a potential trade deal with China that would mean massive Chinese purchases of U.S. farm exports, “practically as much as our Farmers can produce.” The tweets followed a joint statement by the two nations over the weekend that said China would import more American-made products, including “meaningful increases” in agricultural goods, in order to reduce its huge trade surplus with the United States. The administration provided no specifics about the prospective increases. China is already the top customer for U.S. farm exports, and the USDA projects it will buy $21.6...

Oil prices eased on Friday as Russia hinted it may gradually increase output, after having withheld supplies in concert with producer cartel OPEC since 2017.

U.S. crude oil production could top 12 million barrels per day by the end of 2019, according to the latest Energy Department (DOE) forecast released on Tuesday. The U.S. Energy Information Administration, the DOE’s statistics arm, (EIA) projects U.S. crude output would grow by more than 1.5 million barrels per day over the next two years, primarily as the result of abundant shale oil and gas reserves. EIA projects the U.S. will “average 11.9 million [barrels per day (b/d)] in 2019, 0.4 million b/d higher than forecast” the agency released in April. Now, EIA “forecasts U.S. crude oil production will...

New York has a major opportunity to lead the nation in reducing emissions and to strike a blow against inequality by making significant and bold investments in public transit across the state. Transportation is now the top climate culprit in New York state, responsible for more greenhouse-gas emissions than power plants. While our state is ramping up investments in renewable energy, moving people cleanly and efficiently is absolutely critical too. We must address this need by expanding public transit in ways that will also create family-sustaining employment options, improved public health, safety and mobility. The climate crisis and the transportation...

Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) is ripping the White House over high gas prices, arguing President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal is putting a pinch on middle class wallets. “According to energy analysts and experts, President Trump’s reckless decision to pull out of the Iran deal has led to higher oil prices,” Schumer said at a press conference held at an Exxon filling station on Capitol Hill, where a gallon of regular costs $3.89. “These higher oil prices are translating directly to soaring gas prices, something we know disproportionately hurts middle- and lower-income people,” Schumer...

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro looked to the world of digital currency to circumvent U.S.-led financial sanctions, announcing on Sunday the launch of the "petro" backed by oil reserves to shore up a collapsed economy. The leftist leader offered few specifics about the currency launch or how the struggling OPEC member would pull off such a feat, but he declared to cheers that "the 21st century has arrived!" "Venezuela will create a cryptocurrency," backed by oil, gas, gold and diamond reserves, Maduro said in his regular Sunday televised broadcast, a five-hour showcase of Christmas songs and dancing. The petro, he...

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro looked to the world of digital currency to circumvent U.S.-led financial sanctions, announcing on Sunday the launch of the “petro” backed by oil reserves to shore up a collapsed economy.The leftist leader offered few specifics about the currency launch or how the struggling OPEC member would pull off such a feat, but he declared to cheers that “the 21st century has arrived!”

In a major blow to Republican leaders and after a week full of drama and last-minute vote wrangling, the House failed to pass a farm bill Friday, with several Freedom Caucus members voting no in protest to a lack of immediate action on immigration. The bill failed 198-213. House GOP leaders had been touting the bill as a fulfillment of their campaign promise to overhaul welfare programs. The vote also brings the GOP’s intraparty fissures further into public view. Thirty Republicans joined all Democrats in voting it down.

GOP seeks farm bill support amid immigration debate House Freedom Caucus members are trying to flex some muscle on immigration in exchange for support on the farm bill; A sprawling and subsidy-packed farm bill that also would have tightened food stamp rules failed in the House on Friday, in a dramatic defeat for GOP leaders who faced an uprising from conservatives over inaction on immigration. The farm bill, which was voted down 213-198, had been hanging in the balance as the conservative House Freedom Caucus threatened to withhold support without an agreement on an immigration bill vote. The GOP leadership,...

LONDON/DUBAI (Reuters) - OPEC sees oil’s rally towards $80 a barrel as a short-term spike driven by geopolitics rather than any supply shortage, four OPEC delegates said, a sign the group is not rushing yet to rethink its supply-cutting agreement. The view of top exporter Saudi Arabia is that any brief, speculator-driven jump in oil prices is not sufficient grounds for producers to boost output, an OPEC source familiar with the kingdom’s thinking said.

Protests by environmentalists against hydraulic fracturing (or fracking) have been going on for years now, along with the Hollywood efforts of serial fabulists such as Josh Fox. One of the biggest concerns surrounding the process is the possibility of contamination of groundwater. While a previous study in Pennsylvania by the state Department of Environmental Protection revealed zero instances of this happening (except for surface spills during transport of hydraulic fluids), critics discounted the study and the protests continued. Now a different study conducted in Ohio on the Utica shale play has been completed and published. They were looking for evidence...

A state board in California has approved a proposal to require solar panels on all new homes beginning in 2020, a measure that would increase the cost of new construction but provide savings on utilities — and help the state meet ambitious targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. California, which is routinely a leader in environmental regulatory efforts, would be the first state in the country with such a requirement. Several cities, including San Francisco and South Miami, Fla., have residential solar panel requirements. The new rule in California would cover all low-rise residential buildings, although houses that are frequently...

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has vowed to write a $4.5 million check to the United Nations body that oversees climate change negotiations to make up the shortfall in the agency's budget caused by U.S. funding cuts. President Donald Trump last year formally announced the U.S. would pull out of the Paris climate accord deal, stating that it was not fair. Congress also cut funding for the Bonn, Germany-based UNFCCC from $7.5 million in previous years to $3 million this year. "America made a commitment and as an American if the government's not going to do it we...

Gasoline prices in Fresno already increased beyond $4 per gallon this week at some places in town. And gas prices are projected to rise even more going into the summer in the aftermath of President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal. A year ago, the national average for was $2.34 for a gallon of gas, according to a CNN Money report. These days, that national average has jumped to $2.81 per gallon. Those in Fresno can probably add a dollar on top of the national price, with high state taxes and stringent standards for reformulating...

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan took aim at investors who are selling Turkish lira, saying the currency was under attack as it hit fresh record lows against the dollar. Erdoğan said there was no technical or rational reason why the lira should be losing so much value. Turkey has prepared a “project” that will reverse this trend, he said in a speech on Tuesday. The lira hit a new record as Erdoğan spoke, falling to as low as 4.3 to the U.S. currency. It declined 0.6 percent to 4.2946 at 1:28 p.m. in Istanbul. The currency had traded at 1.15...

Oil prices dropped early on Tuesday as market participants await the decision of U.S. President Donald Trump on the Iran nuclear deal at 2:00 p.m. today. President Trump tweeted on Monday that he would announce his decision on whether to waive sanctions on Iran at 2:00 p.m. At 11:35 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, WTI Crude was down 3.65 percent at $68.10 and Brent Crude was down 3.02 percent at $73.87.

I have argued many times on these pages and elsewhere that the shale oil and gas revolution is the story of the decade. Since 2007 U.S. oil and gas output has risen by about 75 percent, and the renaissance is still in its infancy stages. This year the surge in domestic energy production has further accelerated, in part due to higher world prices for oil (approaching $70 a barrel) and to massive drilling operations in rich oil patches, such as the Permian Basin in Texas and the Bakken shale in North Dakota. The Energy Information Administration reports that the U.S....

The 86-year-old social scientist says accepting the impending end of most life on Earth might be the very thing needed to help us prolong it. We’re doomed,” says Mayer Hillman with such a beaming smile that it takes a moment for the words to sink in. “The outcome is death, and it’s the end of most life on the planet because we’re so dependent on the burning of fossil fuels. There are no means of reversing the process which is melting the polar ice caps. And very few appear to be prepared to say so.” Hillman, an 86-year-old social scientist...