Free Republic

Russian gas producer Gazprom said on Saturday it had stopped supplying gas to EU member state Latvia, accusing it of violating conditions for gas withdrawal. "Today, Gazprom suspended its gas supplies to Latvia... due to violations of the conditions" of purchase, the company said on Telegram. It was not specified which withdrawal condition had been violated. The move comes a day after Latvian energy firm Latvijas Gaze said it was buying gas from Russia and paying in euros rather than in rubles. In March Russian President Vladimir Putin said countries deemed unfriendly to Moscow would have to pay for gas...

Germany could be forced to scrap Oktoberfest celebrations and its famous Christmas markets as officials desperately search for ways to save energy after Russia began throttling gas supplies to Europe. Hanover yesterday became the first major city on the continent to announce it will turn off all hot water in public buildings to conserve energy, while Berlin has begun dimming streetlights and Augsburg has turned off public water fountains.

Germany's leading energy expert says she's living in a nightmare. What's worse, she saw it coming. Germany had vowed to ditch coal but is now restarting mothballed, coal-fired power stations For 15 years Claudia Kemfert says she tried to warn politicians and the public that the country was too reliant on Russian energy. Until recently Germany bought more than half of its gas from Russia. She advised Berlin to find other sources and focus more on renewables. And she warned against the construction of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline through which Germany receives much of its gas. "That's what I...

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia tightened its gas squeeze on Europe on Monday as Gazprom said supplies through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany would drop to just 20% of capacity. Gazprom said flows would fall to 33 million cubic metres per day from 0400 GMT on Wednesday - a halving of the current, already reduced level - because it needed to halt the operation of a Siemens gas turbine at a compressor station on instructions from an industry watchdog. Germany said it saw no technical reason for the latest reduction, which comes as Russia and the West exchange economic blows...

Russian President Vladimir Putin can afford to cut off natural-gas exports to Europe thanks to ample revenues from other commodities, but such a move would come with longer-term risks for Russia’s sanctions-stricken economy and its prolific energy industry. Earlier this week, Moscow resumed gas supplies via the Nord Stream pipeline after annual maintenance ended, easing worries in Europe that Mr. Putin would further crimp exports at a time when the continent is filling up its storage ahead of winter. The restarted pipeline, however, is pumping at just 40% capacity, after a separate, still-unresolved technical issue that Moscow blames on Western...

Over the weekend, Russia also destroyed a major Ukrainian grain export terminal in Mykolaiv (southern Ukraine). Russia’s attack on Ukraine’s grain infrastructure came after last week saying it was open to allowing grain exports via “humanitarian corridors” from Ukrainian ports has heightened global supply concerns. Tensions between Russia and the West are escalating as Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that Moscow would strike new targets if the U.S. supplied long-range missiles to Ukraine, according to Russian state media. The news comes as Russia attacked Kyiv this weekend. The airstrikes followed days after the U.S. announced $700 million in aid to...

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - U.S. government officials in March asked Brazil's state-run oil company Petrobras whether it could increase crude output after Russia's invasion of Ukraine sent global prices soaring, three people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. They came away empty-handed, the sources said. Officials at Petrobras, formally Petroleo Brasileiro SA, said output levels were a function of business strategy rather than diplomacy and also that a significant short-term production boost would not be logistically possible, the sources said. "We are ... doing everything possible with our allies and partners to mitigate the economic impacts of Russian...

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the powerful Middle Eastern oil cartel, stuck to its planned incremental production increase, shrugging off calls from the West for greater supply. Both the cartel and Russia, collectively known as OPEC+, will stick to their plan to raise production by a modest 432,000 barrels per day in June, multiple delegates told Reuters, despite pleas from the Biden administration. The White House has repeatedly called upon OPEC+ to boost its oil output over the last year as supply chains have been snarled amid the COVID-19 pandemic recovery. White House national security adviser Jake...

Ukraine accused Russia of blackmailing Europe over energy in an attempt to break its allies, as fighting heads into a third month without Russia capturing a major city WARSAW/SOFIA/KYIV — Russia halted gas supplies to Poland under the Yamal contract on Wednesday, data from the European Union network of gas transmission operators showed, in a deepening of the rift between the West and Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. Bulgaria, like Poland a NATO and EU member, said earlier that Russia would also halt supplies of gas to it. Ukraine accused Russia of blackmailing Europe over energy in an attempt...

BlackRock has taken a $17 billion loss as a result of its Russian exposure since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine began in late February—and it’s not the only Western bank set to take a sizable hit. International banks are owed roughly $121 billion by Russia-linked entities, according to data from the Bank for International Settlements—and because of the recent decoupling of the West and Russia, they are unlikely to get most of that money back. BlackRock’s clients held around $18.2 billion in exposure to Russia-linked assets as of the end of January, the firm revealed. The world’s largest asset manager declined...

by Ron Kersten The Sunday Night Football clash between the Rams and the Cowboys was supposed to halt the ratings crash the NFL has experienced so far in the 2020 season. Instead, it was a complete disaster -- nearly equaling the devastating ratings crash the NBA playoffs suffered after embracing the Marxist BLM movement. According to DEADLINE Hollywood, ratings for NBC’s only weekly NFL game, were down a shocking 28%. Putting on the two teams with big national followings, SNF snared a 4.7 in early ratings among adults 18-49 and 14.81 million viewers last night. In numbers certain to change, that’s a fall...

Actress Daryl Hannah says she suffers for her hard-left activism. The Splash star, talking up her appearance in the new assault on climate change skeptics dubbed Greedy Lying Bastards, says being outspoken in Hollywood comes with a price. CM: Do you think that your acting career has suffered in any way — or that you’ve lost any roles — because of your outspoken activism? DH: I know that’s been the case in some instances, for sure. But that’s OK. The truth is, I’m a human being above all. I love life. And I’d love to see life go on on...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- More than half of Muslim-Americans in a new poll say that government anti-terrorism policies single them out for increased surveillance and monitoring, and many report increased cases of name-calling, threats and harassment by airport security, law enforcement officers and others. Still, most Muslim-Americans say they are satisfied with the way things are going in the U.S. and rate their communities highly as places to live.

(Reuters) - A senior Pakistani security official said U.S. troops killed Osama bin Laden in "cold blood", fuelling a global controversy and straining a vital relationship Washington was trying to repair on Thursday. And Pakistan's army, in its first comment since Monday's raid, threatened to halt cooperation with its military sponsor if it repeated what it called a violation of sovereignty. But Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington was still anxious to maintain its alliance with Islamabad. "It is not always an easy relationship. You know that," she said. "But, on the other hand, it is a productive one...

A 53-year-old registered sex offender found slain in his apartment Tuesday morning suffered a single gunshot wound, authorities said. Police identified the man as James Garrett. He is believed to have moved to the apartment sometime in July. Police Capt. Jeff Schneider said the amount of blood at the scene made it difficult for investigators to determine immediately what caused Garrett's death. After an autopsy Tuesday evening, Yakima County Coroner Maury Rice attributed the death to a gunshot wound, but he declined to release further details because of the active investigation. Schneider said detectives had yet to develop a motive...

Khaled Issa, a Palestinian from the West Bank village of Kharbatha Misbah, faces a problem that is unlikely to be resolved before a final resolution of the Mideast conflict occurs. "My father didn't have the time to issue a birth certificate when I was born because he used to work as a laborer in Israel and came home only once every five months," he says. "My mother didn't know where to register me." Issa's case is rare. There are said to be five Palestinians in the West Bank and three in the Gaza Strip who have similar stories. But the...

Subtle things mark the experiences of many women of color in the corporate world. An executive discovers she hasn't been invited for after-work drinks with other executives where key deals are discussed. A young MBA is passed over for an executive training program while others with fewer qualifications are promoted. A newcomer to the firm is continually asked, ``What are you?'' ``A lot of us women of color have similar stories,'' said Gilda M. Morales, a former corporate accountant who is a program coordinator for public information services at the Center for American Women and Politics, a division of Rutgers...