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Yesterday, a baffling video started making the rounds on social media showing Tennessee representative Tim Burchett casually claim that alien entities are here on Earth, and that they're rising out of the ocean. "What if, these are entities that are here on this earth, that have been on this earth for who knows how long, and we think they're coming from way out," he says while strolling along the streets of DC, the Capital rotunda glowing in the distance. "Maybe they did a millennia ago, but they're here, and they're in these deep water areas." Throughout the minute long cell...

Amid California’s worsening affordability crisis and warnings of a 75-percent price increase at the gas pump, state legislators over the weekend sent a package of bills aimed at tackling energy costs, fuel supply, and pollution to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk.Newsom announced the deal with state lawmakers last week, and the two chambers extended their session through Saturday to finalize last-minute negotiations before the Legislature adjourns until January.“After months of hard work with the Legislature, we have agreed to historic reforms that will save money on your electric bills, stabilize gas supply, and slash toxic air pollution—all while fast-tracking California’s transition...

It starts off looking harmless. You’ve pulled into a petrol station, you’re in a rush, maybe even heading off on holiday, and a stranger at the next pump leans over with a polite smile. ‘Could you put five euros on your card for me? I’ll give you the cash now.’ It sounds like nothing – a neighbourly gesture, a quick favour. But what many drivers in Spain don’t realise is that this “harmless” exchange is the basis of a clever new scam sweeping petrol stations across the country. And those five euros? They could end up draining your bank account...

Phillips 66 will begin shutting down its 139,000 bpd Los Angeles-area refinery as soon as next week , sources told Reuters, moving forward on a closure plan announced last year. Units at the plant will idle in phases through Q4 2025, with the facility permanently offline by year-end. The decision isn’t a surprise—Phillips 66 said in October it would exit the site, citing “market dynamics.” But it comes with fallout about 600 employees and 300 contractors will lose their jobs by December, with only a handful reassigned to the company’s marine terminal. The company insists it will support workers through...

A new law went into effect in Colorado earlier this month requiring health warning labels on gas stoves, similar to those placed on cigarette packages. It’s one example of multiple efforts, primarily in blue states, to stop consumers from using gas-powered appliances in their homes. After a Biden administration official in 2023 alluded to the possibility of a ban on gas stoves in the name of public health, legacy media outlets produced a number of “fact checks” insisting the Biden administration wasn’t going to ban gas stoves. They claimed the whole idea was just a "right-wing conspiracy." Conveniently, most of...

Trapped in underground rocks, a potential energy resource has eluded generations of British politicians. It's called shale gas and the method of getting it out of the ground, known as fracking, has proved politically difficult. Fracking, short for hydraulic fracturing, has been banned many times by different prime ministers since 2011 over concerns about earthquakes and environmental impacts. And yet despite this, Reform UK - which is leading in national opinion polls - believe it's worth going after the gas again. "We've got potentially hundreds of billions of energy treasure in the form of shale gas," Richard Tice, the party's...

The move to develop the Amu Darya field aligns with the Taliban’s goal of self-sufficiency, but can the cash-strapped regime go it alone?In late July, Afghanistan’s Taliban-run government decided to pursue unilateral development of the Amu Darya oil field, at least for the time being. It seems unlikely the cash-strapped regime will be able to maximize the potential of the oil field without foreign investment, but it will still be able to collect millions of dollars in revenue by going it alone. The move aligns with the Taliban’s oft stated goal of self-sufficiency. However, international investors may be troubled by...

Forced electric load reduction and possible rolling blackouts in Maryland. Electric system in crisis. Got Coal?

When my friend Rebecca in Highland Park, NJ, opened her PSE&G gas and electric bill last month, she almost fell out of her seat: It had tripled. It’s now costing her more than $1,000 a month to keep her modest home running. “It’s been creeping up for months, in spite of the fact that nothing about our house has changed,” she told me. “In years past, it was averaging about $300 a month.” “I don’t know how we’re expected to absorb these new bills,” she posted on Facebook. Her neighbor Felix Urman wondered the same as he ticked off his...

Ali Saleh Kahlah al Marri, an admitted former al Qaeda operative, has been released from a American jail and permitted to return home to Qatar. No formal statement has been released yet by either government, but it is being reported that al Marri's release was the result of a bilateral agreement between the Qatari and American governments. According to the US Bureau of Prisons, a prisoner with the same name and estimated age (ID number 12194-026) was freed on Friday. Additionally, a source from al Marri's family told the Qatari press he was recently released and arrived in Doha Saturday....

Gas prices often increase in the summer as more motorists hit the road, but this year’s pump prices have dropped to match the summer of 2021, the last time seasonal gas prices were this low. The national average is down about 3 cents per gallon from last week, returning to the price from a month ago, $3.16. One year ago, gas prices were at $3.574. Gas prices were also at a four-year low on Independence Day. The White House is attributing the phenomenon to President Donald Trump’s energy agenda, which Energy Secretary Chris Wright told The Daily Signal can be...

HELL'S KITCHEN, Manahttan -- New York City authorities made a disturbing discovery inside a van that had been involved in an accident Tuesday night on a busy street in Manhattan. Police were called to the scene near 42nd and 10th Avenue just after 7 p.m. The 31-year-old driver was operating a 2013 Chevrolet express van that had a food cart attached which became loose and struck a parked 2021 Kia Serrano with a 48-year-old woman and a 10-year-old boy. Police say the driver, Sayed Khaled Elsayed Abdelmohsen, fled the scene, but the 48-year-old woman followed him in her vehicle. First...

Thousands of businesses and households are waiting to connect to the Dutch grid, forcing network operators to ration power in an early indicator of what other European countries are likely to suffer as the speed of electrification increases. . . . The Netherlands is among the countries in Europe to have moved fastest to electrify critical parts of the economy after it in 2023 ended production at its giant onshore gasfield, Groningen.

Not soon after the general election, and within two weeks of each other, two major financial institutions have left a United Nations Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA). This is after they joined three years ago, pledging to require environmental social governance standards (ESG) across their platforms, products and systems. According to the "bank-led and UN-convened" NZBA, global banks joined the alliance, pledging to align their lending, investment, and capital markets activities with a net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, NZBA explains. Since April 2021, 145 banks in 44 countries with more than $73 trillion in assets have joined NZBA, tripling...

THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Dutch and German intelligence agencies have gathered evidence of widespread Russian use of banned chemical weapons in Ukraine, including dropping a choking agent from drones to drive soldiers out of trenches so they can be shot, they said on Friday. Dutch Defence Minister Ruben Brekelmans called for tougher sanctions against Moscow. "The main conclusion is that we can confirm Russia is intensifying its use of chemical weapons," he told Reuters. "This intensification is concerning because it is part of a trend we have been observing for several years now, where Russia's use of chemical weapons in...

U.S. oil prices retreated from weekly highs as markets assessed the potential for a reprieve in Middle East turmoil following a week of escalating tensions. The U.S. crude oil price benchmark, West Texas Intermediate, fell 8% to less than $68 a barrel, the lowest level since mid-June. The global Brent crude price benchmark likewise fell about 8%. Major stock indexes ended the day in positive territory. Just after 1 p.m. Monday, Iran said it had launched missiles toward a U.S. base in Qatar. Reports suggested the missiles had been intercepted. Markets viewed the strikes "as more of a symbolic retaliatory...

The Cyprus visit is a calculated effort to advance India's Mediterranean strategy by countering the Turkey-Pakistan alignment, they added. Cyprus's maritime connectivity and strategic location position it as a potential hub in the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC).With Cyprus set to hold the rotating presidency of the EU Council in 2026, PM Modi's visit -- the first by an Indian Prime Minister in 23 years -- paves the way for deeper India-EU collaboration during Cyprus's leadership term. This visit comes amid heightened Turkey-Pakistan solidarity, particularly following Turkey's support for Pakistan during Operation Sindoor.Cyprus, engaged in territorial disputes with Turkey, naturally...

MOSCOW, Aug 10, 2002 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov raised the possibility on Saturday of creating a multinational defense force in the resource-rich Caspian Sea, a Russian news agency reported. "I can't exclude the creation in the Caspian of a military group which would include Russia, Kazakhstan and other Caspian Sea countries," Ivanov was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency. Ivanov is currently in the Caspian Sea city of Kaspiisk in Russia's Dagestan region to observe large-scale naval maneuvers in the disputed Caspian waters. The former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are also...

The proposal is regarding 13 million acres of government-owned Arctic land that is part of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska.. The Interior Department on Monday proposed the restoration of oil and gas drilling in the Arctic after it had previously been restricted by the Biden administration. The proposal is regarding 13 million acres of government-owned Arctic land that is part of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, which is a total area of 23 million acres that former President Warren G. Harding set aside in 1923 as an emergency supply of oil for the Navy. The Naval Petroleum Reserves...

Following the news that Trans Mountain Corporation will start filling the expanded pipeline in February, with first crude to be loaded from Vancouver in April, Canadian crude prices jumped to the narrowest discount to WTI since August 2023. U.S. refiners used to cheap Canadian crude will need to start budgeting more for the commodity from this spring. Canadian oil producers are preparing for the 890,000 bpd in takeaway capacity growth. ... U.S. refiners used to cheap Canadian oil might need to reach deeper into their pockets to keep buying it. The idea behind the Trans Mountain expansion was to turn...