Moody’s cuts US credit rating as debt crisis grows - Moody’s cut the US rating from triple A to Aa1 and changed its outlook from stable to negative. Fitch and S&P had already downgraded the US from the top rate. Reporting on the decision, the Financial Times (FT) said it had come when “investors are growing increasingly concerned about the US’s fiscal trajectory” as Trump and the Republican party are “pursuing a budget bill that is widely expected to increase debt significantly over the next decade.” Announcing its downgrade, Moody’s said: “While we recognize the US’s significant economic and financial strengths, we believe these no longer fully counterbalance the decline in fiscal metrics.” It forecast that over the next decade, annual federal deficits would rise to 9 percent of GDP by 2035, compared to 6.4 percent last year. Even more significant was its forecast for the increase in payments for a rising interest bill. It predicted that due to higher interest rates since 2021, “federal interest payments are likely to absorb around 30 percent of revenue by 2035, up from about 18 percent in 2024 and 9 percent in 2021.” It continued: “This one-notch downgrade… reflects the increase over more than a decade in government debt and interest rate payment ratios to levels that are significantly higher than similarly rated sovereigns.” As a result of its decision on the US government, Moody’s also lowered its ratings on several large American banks, including Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, and Wells Fargo. The Moody’s decision had immediate consequences, reflecting concerns in financial markets about the financial position of the US and the stability of the dollar as the global currency. The yield (interest rate) on 30-year Treasury bonds rose by 0.13 percentage points to reach 5.03 percent at one point yesterday, exceeding the rise during the turmoil after the announcement of the Trump tariff hikes last month. The dollar fell by 0.7 percent against a basket of currencies. One of the fears in some sections of the financial markets is that the US could experience a “Liz Truss moment”—a repetition on a larger scale of the financial crisis in the UK in September 2022 when her short-lived Tory government sought to provide major tax cuts to the wealthy and corporations, supposedly to promote growth, by increasing debt. In a post on X, billionaire founder of the hedge fund Bridgewater, Ray Dalio, who has continually warned of the rise in debt, wrote: “For those who care about the value of their money, the risks for US government debt are greater than the rating agencies are conveying.” The head of JP Morgan, Jamie Dimon, told his firm’s investor day meeting yesterday that financial markets were not taking into account the impacts of a potential downturn. “Credit today is a bad risk,” he said, “The people who haven’t been through a major downturn are missing the point about what can happen in credit.”
U.S. Treasury yields: Moody's downgrades U.S. credit rating -- U.S. Treasury yields were off their highs Monday afternoon but remained elevated after Moody’s downgraded the U.S.’s credit rating. Rates hit key levels that have pressured financial markets recently. The 30-year Treasury yield hit a high around 5.03%, reaching levels not seen since November 2023. The yield last traded at 4.921%, up 2 basis points. The 10-year yield also climbed 2 basis points to reach 4.459%. Meanwhile, the 2-year Treasury yield shed 1 basis point to 3.972%. One basis point is equivalent to 0.01%, and yields and prices move in opposite directions. Investors proceeded to shake off the downgrade with bond buying seen as the session unfolded, driving yields lower from their highs. Investor concerns had initially mounted after the rating agency Moody’s slashed the U.S.′ credit rating on Friday, bringing it down one notch from Aaa — the highest score — to Aa1. The agency attributed the downgrade to the increasing burden of financing the government’s budget deficit, as well as the high cost of rolling over existing debt amid high interest rates. “This one-notch downgrade on our 21-notch rating scale reflects the increase over more than a decade in government debt and interest payment ratios to levels that are significantly higher than similarly rated sovereigns,” the rating agency said in a statement. Moody’s has assigned a “country ceiling rating” of Aaa to the U.S. since 1949. It is now in line with all the major credit rating agencies that had already given the U.S. their second-highest available rating. “This is a major symbolic move as Moody’s were the last of the major rating agencies to have the U.S. at the top rating,” Deutsche Bank analysts said in a note. In April, Treasury yields jumped after U.S. President Donald Trump implemented sweeping “reciprocal tariffs” on international trade partners. The 10-year yield moved above 4.5% and the 30-year rate hit 5%, causing the Trump administration to back off the stiffest tariffs on fears they was causing a financial panic and would raise rates for consumers. But now following the downgrade by Moody’s, the long-term Treasury yields have returned to these levels. Interest charged on consumer debt, such as mortgages, is tied to the 10-year note. House Republicans were pushing ahead with Trump’s tax and spending bill this week, with the legislation making it past the House Budget Committee on Sunday evening. The bill, however, is estimated to add trillions to the budget deficit. Moody’s warned about the lack of the country’s fiscal restraint in its downgrade: “Successive U.S. administrations and Congress have failed to agree on measures to reverse the trend of large annual fiscal deficits and growing interest costs. We do not believe that material multi-year reductions in mandatory spending and deficits will result from current fiscal proposals under consideration.” “With tax cuts and tariffs hanging in the balance, Moody’s appears to be sending a message that it thinks these policy changes will, on net, put the US on an even worse fiscal trajectory,” wrote Bank of America economist Aditya Bhave in a note. “That is, tariff revenues won’t fully offset the cost of the proposed tax bill. We agree.” Concerns about tariffs and the U.S. debt burden are raising questions about whether Treasurys are still a safe-haven asset for global investors.
Trump economic adviser on debt downgrade: ‘Moody’s can do what it wants to’ - One of President Trump’s top economic advisers on Monday brushed off news that Moody’s Ratings downgraded the U.S. creditworthiness, saying he would still give the U.S. economy the top triple-A rating. In an interview on Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria,” host Maria Bartiromo asked White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett about the drop in the U.S. government’s credit rating, from “Aaa” to “Aa1.” “Make no mistake, the U.S. debt is the safest bet on Earth. There is no country’s debt that I’d rather have than the United States’s. And so, Moody’s can do what it wants to,” Hassett told Bartiromo about the downgrade. Hassett cited Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s explanation of the credit rating drop. “As Secretary Bessent said, it’s a backward-looking thing, penalizing us for all the reckless spending of the Biden administration. But we’re cutting spending. We’re deregulating. We’ve got supply-side growth,” Hassett said. “We’ve got every reason in the world to believe that we’re going to have the best economy on Earth,” he continued. “If you have the best economy on Earth, you’re going to have the best debt on Earth too. And that’s the way I would rate it.” The Moody’s ratings agency downgraded U.S. creditworthiness Friday as Republicans work to pass a massive bill to cut taxes and spending that would add nearly $4 trillion to the federal deficit. Moody’s cited concerns over the federal government’s increased debts and interest payments, which have accounted for a growing share of federal spending each year and, for the first time last year, surpassed $1 trillion, accounting for approximately 13 percent of government spending. The agency said in a statement that the downgrade reflects the increase “in government debt and interest payment ratios to levels that are significantly higher than similarly rated sovereigns.” Asked about some House Republicans’ concerns over adding trillions to the national debt in Trump’s so-called “big, beautiful bill,” Hassett said members should raise the debt ceiling as they always do to avoid any further risk to the government’s credit rating. “I think that the debt ceiling is going to go up with the ‘big, beautiful bill.’ It always goes up. It’s going to go up. And so, people should just be done with it and raise the debt ceiling to reduce that risk,” he said.
The bond market is shaking Wall Street again, this time because of worries about tax cuts (AP) — Wall Street’s quiet corner is making noise again. While the bond market is typically seen as slower moving, it can pack a heavy punch when it’s alarmed. And right now, it’s getting worried about how much more Washington is preparing to pile onto its spiraling mountain of debt because of its desire to cut taxes. The House of Representatives approved a bill of tax breaks early Thursday that could add trillions of dollars to the federal government’s debt, and it’s heading to the Senate next. Worries about the U.S. debt have sent yields jumping in the bond market, which in turn has shaken the stock market. The S&P 500 is potentially heading toward its worst week in seven. In the past, angry reactions from the bond market have been so strong that they’ve forced governments to backtrack on policies and even led to the ouster of some political leaders. To be sure, many veteran investors say it would be overblown or at least premature to say “bond-market vigilantes” are rounding up this time around, because yields have not jumped high enough to indicate a crisis. But the higher yields will nevertheless have wide-reaching effects. “I wouldn’t look at this from an apocalyptical dynamic, but there are real ramifications,” said Nate Thooft, a senior portfolio manager at Manulife Investment Management. “Look at mortgage rates.” The centerpiece of the U.S. bond market is the 10-year Treasury, and its yield has climbed to 4.54% from 4.43% at the end of last week and just 4.01% early last month. That’s a notable move for the bond market, which measures things in hundredths of percentage points. That yield shows roughly how much in interest the U.S. government needs to pay investors to get them to lend it cash for 10 years. Washington needs that cash because it consistently spends more than it takes in through tax revenue. And when bond investors are more wary of lending to the U.S. government, yields for Treasurys rise. The moves have been sharpest for the longest-term bonds. The yield on a 30-year Treasury has topped 5% and is getting close to where it was before the 2008 financial crisis wiped out interest rates. Bond investors hate inflation because it means the future payments that bonds will give them won’t be able to buy as much stuff. Worries are rising about the potential for higher inflation for a couple reasons. On one hand are President Donald Trump’s tariffs, which could push up prices for all kinds of products. A bigger, more long-term concern is how much debt the U.S. government is building up. Those debt concerns gained momentum at the end of last week after Moody’s Ratings became the last of the three major rating agencies to say the U.S. government no longer deserves a top-tier credit rating because of its troubles keeping its debt in check. The worries then built through this week as the House moved forward on its tax-cut bill that it approved early Thursday. Other factors have also been pushing yields up recently, including increasing hopes that the U.S. economy will not fall into a recession after Trump delayed many of his stiff tariffs, particularly against China. In the past, the bond market has recoiled at policies that it’s found distasteful. Sometimes, the reaction is violent enough to scare politicians. Trump himself said that the bond market may have played a role in his decision earlier this year to delay many of his tariffs, saying that he noticed investors “were getting a little queasy.” The bond market also helped make Liz Truss the United Kingdom’s shortest-serving prime minister in 2022, when it revolted against her plan to cut taxes and raise spending without a way to pay for them. James Carville, adviser to former U.S. President Bill Clinton, also famously said he’d like to be reincarnated as the bond market because of how much power it wields. While there is some element of vigilantism that’s keeping Treasury yields higher than they would be otherwise, the reaction so far by the bond market likely isn’t enough to get Trump or Congress to back off their efforts to cut taxes. “I don’t really expect it to snowball or last,” said Brian Rehling, head of global fixed income strategy at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. “I don’t think this is going to rise to a level of a crisis.” Treasury yields calmed on Thursday, for example. And the United States isn’t the only country seeing yields for its bonds rise. That’s happening for other developed economies around the world, particularly Japan. Plus, all of the issues about the U.S. government’s debt are well known, and critics have been warning for years that it’s heading on an unsustainable path. It still might be years before the U.S. government’s rising debt load triggers a panic button in financial markets, Rehling said.
Fed officials take cautious view on US markets amid downgrade (Reuters) - U.S. Federal Reserve officials speaking on Monday took on cautiously the ramifications of the latest downgrade of the U.S. government’s credit rating and unsettled market conditions as they continued to navigate a very uncertain economic environment. "We will put that downgrade in the same perspective that we do with all incoming information: What are the implications of this in terms of us achieving our mandated goals without commenting on what that downgrade might mean in sort of a political economy context," Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson said at a conference held by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Sign up here. On Friday, Moody’s ratings agency lowered the U.S. government’s credit rating one notch amid mounting concerns over deficits and interest costs that remain on an unsustainable pace. It was the last of the major ratings agencies to cut the U.S. sovereign rating from the highest level. While not an imminent issue for the Fed, over time higher market borrowing costs tied to a deteriorating U.S. financial position make credit generally more expensive and create restraint on economic activity. In turn that becomes a consideration for how the Fed sets monetary policy and its expectations for the longer-run path of economic activity. The downgrade "will have implications for the cost of capital and a bunch of other things, and so it could have a ripple through the economy," said Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic, speaking in a CNBC interview on Monday. With the economy in flux, "I think we'll have to wait three to six months to start to see where this settles out, and I think that'll be an important determinant about people's willingness and appetite for investing in the U.S." While concerns about the government’s financial position have existed for years, and Fed officials have regularly warned that long-run borrowing trends have been on an unsustainable path, ongoing huge levels of spending, joined with a Republican budget plan now under consideration that’s likely to add even more debt, are raising fears of a nearing crisis. At the same time, the aggressive and erratic trade policy agenda of the Trump administration, which targets most of the world’s nations with high tariffs in a bid to bring more factory work back to the U.S., is shaking confidence in the U.S. as a reliable place to invest. On Monday, stock markets were selling off as bond yields rose. President Donald Trump said he disagreed with the action taken by the ratings agency. Speaking at a conference held by the Mortgage Bankers Association in New York, New York Fed President John Williams acknowledged market issues but suggested some of the concerns are overblown. "We have heard over the last few months, there are some rumors or concerns about, well, do investors want to be so heavily invested” in Treasuries and other dollar assets given big government policy changes and large levels of economic uncertainty, Williams said. Investors are “clearly” weighing future options, he said. Nevertheless, investors "have viewed and continue to view" the U.S. as "a great place to invest, including Treasuries, fixed income assets, so I think that that narrative is still there." In a hometown appearance, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said that over the long run, retaining investor confidence is one of the key issues that will determine whether government borrowing rates remain manageable. "Right now there's a question mark being raised about what is the U.S. competitive position going to be relative to other advanced economies around the world," given all of the policy changes and debt issues, Kashkari said. "There's more of a question mark than there was a year ago or two years ago," he said, adding "we don't know right now" how this will all shake out. Concern over the future of official finances is particularly pointed given the U.S. government bond market’s traditional role as a global safe haven for investors. That role is being challenged by the possibility markets will no longer be able to smoothly absorb the huge supply of Treasury debt, as trade policy could work to deter investors and upend the flow of dollars back into U.S. markets. “The sell-America theme in today’s trading with U.S. bonds, stocks and the dollar all pointing sharply lower on Moody’s U.S. rating downgrade suggests this is serving as a coordinating device for an underlying shift in global investor preferences coming out of Trump tariff and wider geoeconomic shocks that is still in process,” said analysts at Evercore ISI. In this current climate of large-scale uncertainty and anxiety, “the fact that U.S. Treasuries and the dollar are not rallying now is striking and shaves away a fraction of the attractiveness of Treasuries going forward.” The Fed officials who spoke Monday also continued to send a wait-and-see signal on the outlook for monetary policy. Williams said the economy is in a good place with interest rate policy “well positioned” to respond to what lies ahead. Meanwhile, Bostic said with his current expectations it will now take longer to lower inflation back to 2%, "I am leaning much more into one cut this year.”
Trump bill’s steep price tag surprised bond market, Fed official says - A top Federal Reserve official said the steep cost of President Trump’s major policy bill caught the bond market off-guard, leading to a spike in U.S. interest rates. In a Thursday interview, Federal Reserve Gov. Christopher Waller said bond traders were “surprised” by a lack of “fiscal restraint” in the House GOP’s bill — passed earlier in the day — to implement Trump’s agenda. Yields on U.S. Treasury bonds have soared throughout the week as the House advanced the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which is expected to add trillions to the national debt. The bill extends and expands upon Trump’s 2017 tax cuts while cutting Medicaid spending a wide range of other safety net programs. “The markets are watching the fiscal policy … the bill being put through the House and the Senate, and they have some concerns about whether it’s going to be reducing the deficit,” Waller said on Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria.” “We ran $2 trillion deficits the last few years. This is just not sustainable. And so the markets are looking for a little more fiscal discipline. They’re concerned,” Waller continued. Despite the White House’s claims that the bill would be deficit neutral, budget experts across the ideological spectrum project the bill to add even more to the $36 trillion national debt. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said the tax cuts included in the bill would add roughly $3.7 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years. “Everybody I’ve talked to in the financial markets, they’re staring at the bill, and they thought it was going to be much more in terms of fiscal restraint, and they’re not necessarily seeing it,” Waller said. Fiscal hawks have expressed concerns that the rising national debt will continue to push interest rates on Treasury bonds higher, forcing the government to pay hundreds of billions of dollars more just to service the debt. Yields on a wide range of Treasury bonds, which rise as U.S. debt becomes less attractive to own, shot up Tuesday as the House closed in on the final version of Trump’s bill. A weaker than expected Treasury bond auction Tuesday deepened concerns about the national debt. Waller also cited a decline in global demand for U.S. stocks and assets that took hold as Trump ramped up his tariffs and brought American trade with China to an effective halt. “There does seem to be a risk off on American assets across the board, not just government debt, but everything. And whether that continues in the future or not, I don’t know,” Waller said. “I think as long as the economy kind of gets back on a good path, the economy starts growing, inflation stays low, and you might see a resurgent demand for U.S. assets.” Waller, a Republican, was appointed to the Fed board by Trump and confirmed by the Senate during the president’s first term. Fed watchers consider him to be among the top candidates to replace Fed Chair Jerome Powell when the latter’s term leading the Fed board ends in 2026.
Waller: Fed not looking to buy bonds amid sell-off -- Federal Reserve Gov. Christopher Waller said the central bank is not looking to intervene in the Treasury market despite a recent dampening in demand for U.S. debt. Bond yields are shooting up for the second time in as many months. Federal Reserve Gov. Christopher Waller attributes the volatility to concerns about rising national debt levels.
House Budget Committee Republicans advance Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ in unusual late-night vote -- Republican deficit hawks allowed President Trump’s bill of legislative priorities to advance out of the House Budget Committee in an unusual late-night vote Sunday, marking a key hurdle cleared for House GOP leaders and a sign of progress for warring Republican factions After gaveling in after 10 p.m. EDT on Sunday, the committee voted 17-16 to advance the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which would extend Trump’s tax cuts and boost his border funding priorities while reforming Medicaid and food assistance programs. The four Republican holdouts who had tanked the vote Friday — Reps. Ralph Norman (S.C.), Chip Roy (Texas), Andrew Clyde (Ga.), and Josh Brecheen (Okla.) — voted present to allow the bill to go forward, with Roy revealing there was progress on moving up the start date for new Medicaid work requirements and speeding up the phaseout of green energy incentives. In a sign of the high-stakes nature of the vote, the Speaker as well as White House Legislative Affairs Director James Braid made appearances off a room to the side of the late-night Budget Committee affair. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said they are counting the vote “as a big win tonight.” “There’s a lot more work to do; we’ve always acknowledged that towards the end there will be more details to iron out. We have several more to take care of,” Johnson said. “But I’m looking forward to very thoughtful discussions, very productive discussions over the next few days, and I am absolutely convinced we’re going to get this in final form and pass it in accordance with our original deadline, and that was to do it before Memorial Day.” “So this will be a victory out of committee tonight. Everybody will make a vote that allows us to proceed, and that was my big request tonight.” The next stop is the House Rules Committee, which is set to take up the legislation later this week and make last-minute changes to the bill to reflect any compromises and demands between deficit hawks and moderates in high-tax states. Despite the victory for leadership, the conservatives indicated they still have more work to do. Roy said that while he voted present “out of respect for the Republican Conference and the President,” the bill “does not yet meet the moment.” He said the revamped measure would “move Medicaid work requirements forward and reduces the availability of future subsidies under the green new scam.” But, in a statement on the social platform X, he objected to provisions around green energy tax credits and Medicaid. “This all ultimately increases the likelihood of continuing deficits and non-Obamacare-expansion states like Texas expanding in the future. We can and must do better before we pass the final product,” he wrote, alluding to wanting even more controversial Medicaid reforms such as reining in the provider tax mechanism that allows states to extract more federal Medicaid matching dollars. Norman also indicated he was looking for changes. “We had some great changes, got a lot more work to do. We’re excited about what we did. We wanted to move the bill forward, and it went like I thought,” he said.
Here’s what’s in the GOP’s 1,116-page ‘big, beautiful bill’ - House Republicans cleared a major hurdle over the weekend in advancing a sweeping package of President Trump’s tax proposals, along with significant spending cuts and reforms for key federal programs.The House Budget Committee advanced the mammoth, 1,116-page bill in an unusual late-night vote on Sunday, as Republicans of various factions have clashed over the size and scope of the plan.While Republicans are expected to make further changes in the coming days, here’s a rundown of what’s in the bill.A centerpiece of the legislation is making the 2017 Trump tax cuts permanent — which nonpartisan scorers and think tanks estimate would cost trillions of dollars over the next decade. The Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT), the official revenue scorer for Congress, estimated earlier this month the overall cost of extending the tax cuts and other measures in the plan would put more than $5 trillion toward the nation’s deficits. One of the most costly proposals is extending the individual rate reductions in the 2017 law, which is estimated to reduce revenues by more than $2 trillion through 2034. At the same time, JCT also found the package would put about $1.9 trillion toward reducing the deficit through measures like cuts to renewable energy incentives and international tax enforcement. Overall, JCT estimated the tax piece would cost $3.7 trillion over the next decade. The bill also includes a proposal that would raise the cap for the state and local tax (SALT) deduction, which would allow taxpayers — especially those in higher-tax blue states — to deduct more of their regional taxes from their federal tax bill.The measure calls for raising the current deduction cap to $30,000 for filers making less than $400,000, with a phasedown for higher incomes.But changes to the proposal could be possible in the coming days as some moderates in high-tax blue states have pressed for a higher cap.The cap has been a source of contention in the GOP conference in recent months, as some fiscal hawks have also raised concerns about raising the limit. New tax proposals also make the cut in the legislation, including a measure aimed at nixing taxes on tips, as Republicans seek to make good on a key pledge Trump made on the campaign trail last year.The legislation also includes provisions seeking to do away with taxes on car loan interest and overtime pay, as well as an enhanced deduction for seniors and a suite of other proposals seeking to provide tax relief. The legislation includes significant cuts to Biden-era tax credits for climate-friendly energy sources — though amid pressure from conservatives, it could go even further. The bill’s initial text eliminates tax credits for electric vehicles within two years. It also phases out credits for low-carbon electricity including wind and solar through 2032. And it institutes new requirements on the credits while they are in effect that would make it so many companies would likely not qualify for them even while they are still technically on the books — making it so any projects that use minerals, components or subcomponents from China would be excluded.Beyond the green tax credits, the legislation also eliminates other green programs including those that seek to fund climate-friendly projects and reduce air pollution. It also seeks to eliminate Biden-era regulations that are expected to reduce the share of new gas-powered cars sold in the U.S.The bill includes major reforms to Medicaid estimated to lead to upward of 10 million people losing coverage by 2034. The bill would require states to impose work requirements on childless adults between 19 and 64 years of age to be eligible for the program and seeks to shorten the open enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act, among a host of other changes. The proposed Medicaid and health care reforms are key pieces of a significant portion of the bill crafted by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which was tasked with finding more than $800 billion in savings over a decade. Republicans are pushing for well more than $1 trillion in cuts to federal spending to ride alongside the tax piece. The bill would tighten eligibility requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and require states to cover a portion of benefit costs. While SNAP benefits are currently funded by the federal government, the proposal calls for the federal share of the cost of allotments to go from 100 percent in the next two fiscal years to 95 percent in fiscal 2028 “and each fiscal year thereafter.” It also includes language to increase the states’ 5 percent share of benefit costs in fiscal 2028 depending on its payment error rate. Republicans say the move would give states an incentive to lower their payment error rates for the program, over which lawmakers on both sides have raised alarm. The legislation seeks to significantly limit funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which was established during the Obama administration in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.As part of its funding structure, the CFPB receives transfers from the Federal Reserve not exceeding a cap set at 12 percent of the Federal Reserve System’s total operating expenses. The GOP-crafted recommendations, if enacted, would significantly reduce the amount of funding the agency can receive from the central bank, setting that cap to 5 percent. Democrats have hailed the CFPB as one of the most successful creations of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law, praising its aggressive track record of enforcing consumer protection laws. But Republicans have long pressed for measures to rein in the agency, which they have argued has too much power and independence from Congress. House Republicans are also moving forward with plans to raise the nation’s debt ceiling by $4 trillion as part of the package, as the Treasury warns the government risks defaulting on its more than $36 trillion debt in the coming months. Treasury Department Secretary Scott Bessent is already calling on Congress to raise or suspend the debt ceiling by July to keep the federal government from defaulting on its more than $36 trillion debt. The bill would beef up Pell Grants for some students for short-term training programs but would tighten limits for how much students could borrow in federal student loans. The plan calls for a tax increase on private university endowments amid an ongoing clash between the Trump administration and higher education.If passed, it would also create the first federal school choice bill by allowing federal tax credits for individuals who donate to groups that provide school choice scholarships to students, making it so individuals in all 50 states could receive a stipend to cover the cost of private school or homeschool expenses.The bill also includes increases to Pentagon spending, along with funding boosts to help advance Trump’s immigration and border priorities.Defense spending would stand to see a roughly $150 billion boost as part of the package — a proposal that Trump officials have touted will push defense spending to more than $1 trillion for the first time ever, when accounting for the annual budget.The bill also calls for tens of billions of dollars for Trump’s border wall and funding for detention.
Tech groups warn against AI rule in ‘big, beautiful bill’ A coalition of more than 140 organizations urged House leaders to reject a proposal in the House’s tax and spending bill that would block states from regulating artificial intelligence (AI) models for the next 10 years. In a letter sent Monday to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), House Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and congressional members, the organizations said the 10-year moratorium on state AI regulation would remove accountability for developing technology. “This moratorium would mean that even if a company deliberately designs an algorithm that causes foreseeable harm — regardless of how intentional or egregious the misconduct or how devastating the consequences — the company making that bad tech would be unaccountable to lawmakers and the public,” the letter stated. Signers of the letter included tech workers, civil society groups, academic institutions and artists. Among those are Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, progressive consumer rights watchdog nonprofit Public Citizen and Alphabet Workers Union, the labor representatives for workers at Google’s parent company. The provision, included in President Trump’s “one, big beautiful” bill, would bar states from enforcing laws or regulations governing AI models, systems or automated decision systems. The House Budget Committee voted to advance the sweeping tax bill Sunday, though the broader bill still needs to face a vote with the full chamber. The letter’s signatories argue states’ actions on AI so far have attempted to protect residents from “the risks posed by unregulated or inadequately governed AI technologies.” “We will only reap the benefits of AI if people have a reason to trust it,” the letter wrote. It comes amid a broader debate over federal preemption for AI regulation, which several AI industry heads have pushed for as state laws create a patchwork of rules to follow.
GOP bill raises fears of major reduction in home care for seniors, disabled -Rep. Judy Chu (D-Ca.) said she worries over the future of at-home care for seniors if President Donald Trump’s federal funding package passes in the House. Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” proposes cutting billions from social benefit programs, including $800 billion from Medicaid and $300 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Chu called the proposed reduction in Medicaid funding the most “devastating cut to services for seniors in our lifetime” since it will force states to heavily reduce the amount of money they spend on at-home care for older people and people with disabilities. “This will be really tough for seniors if these cuts go through,” Chu said during The Hill’s event, “Health Safety Net Programs: Will Older Adults Fall Through,” sponsored by the Alliance for Aging Research. More than 7 million Americans over 65 are enrolled in Medicaid, and 11 million adults between the ages of 50 and 64 receive health care coverage through Medicaid, according to the program’s website. Medicaid also provides health insurance coverage to about 5 million disabled Americans. Medicaid is also a major funder of nursing home care. Medicare, the federal health insurance program for Americans 65 and older, only covers short nursing home stays. Medicaid will often pay for Longer-term nursing home stays and at-home care for low-income Americans who qualify. The program pays more than 60 percent of long-term care residents in nursing homes, according to reporting from KFF Health News. The proposed Medicaid cuts have received pushback from disabled and older Americans across the country. Medicaid cut protesters disrupted a House Committee on Energy and Commerce meeting last week as lawmakers began a marathon markup session. Capitol Hill police arrested 26 people and removed several protesters in wheelchairs as they shouted phrases like “keep your greedy hand off our Medicaid” and “no cuts to Medicaid” at lawmakers. Protests urging lawmakers to oppose the proposed Medicaid cuts have popped up around the country, including in New York, New Hampshire, and California. Several Democratic lawmakers, including Chu, have held town halls in their districts about the proposed Medicaid cuts in the federal spending package. Chu told The Hill that her constituents in southern California are “incredibly fearful” and “anxious” over the possible cuts. “They feel devastated by the potential cuts that could happen to them and to their fellow neighbors,” Chu told The Hill’s Julia Manchester, who moderated Wednesday’s event. “I have never seen such passion in my life, they have turned out in record numbers at the town halls, the pack each one of them.”
SALT Caucus, GOP leaders emerge from late-night meeting without crucial deal - A late-night meeting between Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and moderate Republicans fighting for an obscure tax break ended with no deal on Monday, prolonging the fight over an issue that’s emerged as one of the major barriers to a final agreement on President Trump’s domestic agenda. “We had some questions, they have to wait for some more scores now,” Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.) said. “They’re hoping to have some numbers back to us by morning.” The moderate lawmakers are seeking a significant hike to the ceiling on the state and local tax (SALT) deduction, which was capped at $10,000 as part of the Republicans’ 2017 tax law. The cap was designed to prevent wealthy taxpayers from getting a huge break, but the critics say it’s also hitting middle-class taxpayers in high-income, high-tax states like New York, New Jersey and California. The high-tax state moderates oppose the $30,000 cap included in the Republicans’ initial package, which passed through the Budget Committee on Sunday night. They’re pressing Johnson to increase the figure as part of changes expected to be taken up by the Rules Committee at 1 a.m. on Wednesday. Emerging from the meeting in Johnson’s office, which began at 10 p.m., SALT Caucus members said leadership has offered them several proposals, and now they’re waiting on several scorekeepers — the Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation — to provide estimates. Complicating the decision for Johnson are conservative spending hawks who are threatening to oppose any hike in the SALT cap that isn’t completely offset by changes elsewhere in the budget — pressure the moderates are quick to acknowledge. “The Speaker’s doing everything he can to try to get us to yes,” Garbarino said. “There’s a lot of pressure coming to him from the other side.” One idea that has been floated throughout talks — according to two sources familiar with the deliberations — is a two-part plan that would increase the deduction cap from the current $30,000 proposal to a higher number for a shorter period of time, then decrease the deduction cap after that window expires. The strategy is designed to appease conservative spending hawks seeking to lower the cost of the package, while also providing SALT Caucus members a political win for their districts with a higher — albeit temporary — deduction cap. It remains unclear what the deduction caps and timeline would be, how seriously leadership is considering such a proposal, or if members of the SALT Caucus would accept the framework. Both sides said the talks will continue Tuesday as GOP leaders race for an agreement on President Trump’s domestic agenda. Trump will also enter the fray on Tuesday when he visits the Capitol to huddle with the House GOP conference, where he’s expected to urge the holdouts to drop their reservations and rally behind the bill. Leaving Monday’s meeting, Johnson offered no details about the leadership offers. But he said the House remains on track to pass the legislation before Memorial Day. “Lots of progress,” Johnson said. The SALT debate has become one of the thorniest sticking points gumming up progress on the GOP’s “big, beautiful bill,” as moderate Republicans from high-tax blue states push for a higher deduction cap, and hardline conservatives demand any increase be paid for. Leadership initially proposed a $30,000 deduction cap — up from the current $10,000 cap — for individuals making $400,000 or less, a number that key stakeholders rejected. Instead, members of the SALT Caucus floated a $62,000 deduction cap for single filers and a $124,000 cap for joint filers — highlighting the gulf between the two camps.
Trump drops f-bomb, pressures Republicans to get in line behind his legislation - President Trump pressed House Republicans on Tuesday to fall in line behind a massive bill containing key pieces of his agenda in a rare trip to the Capitol. He also provided lawmakers clarity about where he stands on some of the package’s biggest sticking points, leading to a flurry of last-minute negotiations on the bill that leaders hope to pass by the end of the week. Trump pushed moderate Republicans from blue states to give up their fight over the state and local tax (SALT) deduction, while warning members not to “f‑‑‑ with Medicaid” as some lawmakers eye changes to the program. “That was love in that room. There was no shouting,” Trump told reporters after the meeting. “I think it was a meeting of love. And there were a couple of things we talked about specifically where some people felt a little bit one way or the other. Not a big deal.” The One Big Beautiful Bill Act has run into a series of hurdles in the House as different factions within the conference clash over priorities. Deficit hawks have pushed for changes to avoid adding to the debt, while moderates have sought an increase in the SALT cap. A White House official said Trump made clear in the meeting that he’s losing patience with all holdout factions of the conference, including the SALT Caucus and the House Freedom Caucus, and he insisted every Republican should vote “yes.” His main requests to the conference were not to let SALT impede the bill, arguing Republicans can fight for SALT later on; not to touch Medicaid except for eliminating waste, fraud and abuse, namely by booting off those who entered the country illegally and instituting commonsense work requirements; and to stick together and get the bill done, a White House official told The Hill. The president told lawmakers in the closed-door meeting to “let SALT go,” arguing concerns over the provision can’t get in the way of passing the bill. He signaled he was supportive of raising the SALT deduction from $10,000 to $30,000 for anyone making $400,000 or less — the proposal currently in the bill that members of the SALT Caucus have vocally rejected. He took specific aim at Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), who has been outspoken about making greater changes to the SALT deduction. “I know your district better than you do,” Trump told Lawler, according to a source. “If you lose because of SALT, you were going to lose anyway.” Lawler held the line in the immediate aftermath of Trump’s speech, saying he was “not budging.” But later in the day, after SALT Caucus meetings in the Speaker’s office, Lawler said GOP leaders have floated “an improved offer” to members of the SALT Caucus, and the lawmakers were waiting for cost estimates to arrive from the Joint Committee on Taxation. “We’re waiting on some more information, but we made progress,” he said. Trump was also adamant about avoiding major changes to Medicaid. “Don’t f‑‑‑ around with Medicaid,” Trump told lawmakers in the private meeting. Trump told reporters before the meeting that the bill is not cutting “anything meaningful” and instead was focused on “waste, fraud and abuse.” He also raised concerns that migrants were getting Medicaid benefits. Hard-line conservatives had mixed reactions to the push from the president. Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), the chair of the conservative House Freedom Caucus who had been pushing for more changes to Medicaid, appeared unmoved by the president’s message as of Tuesday evening. “The president I don’t think convinced enough people that the bill is adequate the way it is,” Harris said after the meeting.
Donald Trump pitch fails to move GOP holdouts on 'big, beautiful bill' ---- President Trump’s forceful pitch for House GOP lawmakers to rally around the party’s “big, beautiful bill” fell flat Tuesday, as two groups of holdouts — hard-line conservatives and moderate blue-state Republicans — are still demanding changes to win their support. During a nearly two-hour meeting in the Capitol basement, Trump urged Republicans to support his agenda bill as Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) self-imposed Memorial Day deadline for passing the package inches closer. The trouble was, he didn’t seem to change the minds he needed to. “The president I don’t think convinced enough people that the bill is adequate the way it is,” said Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), the chair of the conservative House Freedom Caucus. Several members of the Freedom Caucus are among the loudest critics of the legislation. “I can’t support it the way it is right now,” he added. “We’re still a long ways away.” On spending cuts, the president urged lawmakers not to “f‑‑‑ with Medicaid,” as those on the right flank demand more muscular changes to the social safety net program. On the state and local tax (SALT), meanwhile, the president pressed moderate Republicans from high-tax blue states to relent on their push for a higher deduction cap. Those moderates, too, are holding the line. “While I respect the president, I’m not budging on it,” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), a prominent member of the SALT Caucus, said after the meeting with Trump. Trump told lawmakers he was comfortable with the bill as it currently stands, according to Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.). It includes a $30,000 deduction cap for individuals making $400,000 or less — a format that members of the SALT Caucus deem a nonstarter. “I’m still a no on the Jason Smith number,” Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.) said, referring to the $30,000 cap, which House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) included in the bill. “I hope that the president’s presence here today motivates everybody, especially my leadership, to give the SALT Caucus a number to which we could actually say yes.” The defiance among both camps is creating a dilemma for Johnson. Taken together, the opposition is more than enough to sink the bill on the floor. The Speaker, for his part, is remaining optimistic. “Failure is simply not an option,” Johnson said after the meeting, arguing Trump “could be the most consequential president of the modern era.”
Senate Republicans want to break up House’s Trump bill into bite-size pieces - Senate Republicans say the House-drafted bill to enact President Trump’s legislative agenda has “problems” and are taking a second look at breaking it up into smaller pieces in hopes of getting the president’s less controversial priorities enacted into law before the fall. Even if Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) manages to squeak Trump’s agenda through the House, it faces major obstacles in the Senate, where moderate Republicans say they oppose proposed cuts to Medicaid and fiscal conservatives say it doesn’t go nearly far enough in cutting the deficit. “There are still a lot of problems,” said one Republican senator who requested anonymity to discuss internal Senate GOP discussions on the budget reconciliation bill. The source said that while proposed cuts in Medicaid spending face stiff opposition in the Senate, GOP negotiators have yet to make much headway on reforms to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which conservatives are targeting for cuts. The lawmaker said colleagues are talking about a plan B if the bill fails to pass the House or if it hits a brick wall in the Senate. Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill” suffered a setback Friday when a group of fiscal hawks on the House Budget Committee voted against advancing it out of committee. That forced the Budget Committee to convene again at 10 p.m. EDT Sunday in a scramble to get the legislation moving and meet a self-imposed Memorial Day deadline for winning House approval of the legislation. The Speaker insists the bill is still on track, but a group of Senate Republicans are growing increasingly doubtful about his plan. Several Republican senators say the best way to jump-start the stalled bill would be to break it up into two or three pieces and pass the elements of Trump’s agenda that have the most support in Congress first. That’s the strategy Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) first proposed to his colleagues in December. But the plan was set aside after Johnson argued Trump’s agenda would be easier to pass if all of the elements were piled into one package. “If the bill continues to have problems over here, we could split it up,” said a second GOP senator who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. “Thune was smart to say from the beginning that there should be two packages.” The senator said GOP lawmakers are coming under increasing pressure to provide tens of billions of dollars in resources to secure the border, something that’s been delayed for months because of the protracted battle over new tax proposals, such as lifting the cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions and reforms to Medicaid and SNAP. “We’ve heard from the Border Patrol chief that, ‘We need this, that and other thing and we needed it yesterday,’” the senator said. “The debate over the tax and spending elements are likely to drag through the summer,” the senator warned. Senate Finance Committee Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), whose committee has primary jurisdiction over taxes and Medicaid, two of the most contentious issues in the bill, isn’t ruling out the possibility of breaking up the legislation. That would give Republicans a chance to quickly pass border security funding and perhaps a permanent extension of the 2017 Trump tax cuts as well. “The two- or [three]-bill strategy? I didn’t weigh in on that [earlier this year] and I’m not weighing in on it now,” Crapo said. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) has been the most vocal in calling for the bill to be broken up into two or several pieces. Johnson said the spending cuts in the House bill are “fake.” He has argued to colleagues that they should split up the bill to pass the less controversial elements quickly and “give us the time” to get the trickier policy questions “right.”
Republicans Race to Finalize 'Big Beautiful Bill' As Johnson Seeks Memorial Day Deadline --After weeks of turmoil and negotiations, House Republicans are inching closer to passing their sweeping domestic-policy package, anchored by a multi-trillion-dollar suite of tax cuts, as Speaker Mike Johnson races to finalize the legislation ahead of the Memorial Day recess.Following a personal visit to Capitol Hill on Tuesday by President Donald Trump and a flurry of behind-the-scenes bargaining, House GOP leaders believe they are nearing a deal with key factions. The House Rules Committee convened late into the night and early morning hours Wednesday, preparing the reconciliation bill for floor action. The committee had only just concluded its first panel - which included the chairs and ranking members of the Oversight, Budget, Armed Services, and Financial Services Committees - shortly before 4:30 a.m. (and then returning to their coffins for a nap?).The second panel will include top lawmakers from House Homeland Security, Judiciary, Natural Resources and Transportation and Infrastructure committees, while a third panel will include the chairs and ranking members from Agriculture, Energy and Commerce, Education and the Workforce & Ways and Means. mIn total, 537 amendments have been submitted to Rules - none yet from Democrats. Notably, GOP leadership has still not released its long-awaited manager’s amendment, which will incorporate many of the compromises Johnson negotiated to appease internal party divisions,including revisions to SALT, Medicaid work requirements, and clean-energy tax credits, Punchbowl News reports.Despite the complexity, Johnson is moving aggressively. He hopes to pass a rule and hold a full floor vote as soon as today - a schedule driven by his desire to meet the Memorial Day deadline, avoid attendance issues later in the week, and capitalize on rare momentum.The legislative sprint follows a dramatic shift in tone after Trump met Tuesday morning with warring GOP factions and urged unity. Several Republican holdouts publicly maintained opposition afterward, but six senior Republicans involved in the talks said many were privately seeking off-ramps - policy concessions that would let them support the bill while still claiming political victories.As Just the News notes, a final push will require some conservatives to make a leap of faith, like Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX), the chairman of the House Republican Study Committee, is taking. "Look as a conservative, I want to save as much money as I can, and we have pushed for that in the Republican Study Committee," he told the outlet on Tuesday. "But the President was pretty clear that we've worked five or six months straight on this, and it is time to get it done. "That doesn't mean that a guy like me doesn't want more. Yes, of course I do. But I also want to govern, which means you don't get 100% of everything you want every single time. You have to come back and do it again, and we will," he said during the John Solomon Reports podcast. Currently included in the Bill...
- Trump tax cuts; the largest in history with an average $5,000 decrease per household, and includes 'No Tax on Tips, Overtime or Social Security.'
- Immigration and Border Security:
- “Big, Beautiful Deportations”: funding for 1 million deportations per year
- Completion of the border wall
- Expansion of border personnel - including 10,000 new ICE agents, 5,000 customs officers & 3,000 Border Patrol agents - and$10,000 bonuses for front-line border workers
- Medicaid Reform:
- Remove 1.4 million illegal migrants from Medicaid
- Requires work for benefits starting January 2029
- Spending Cuts and Fiscal Reform:
- $1.6 trillion in mandatory spending cuts - the largest deficit reduction in nearly 30 years - though the Penn Wharton Budget Modelpredicts deficits of nearly $3.3 trillion, even when accounting for "positive economic dynamics," while the Joint Committee on Taxationsees the House reconciliation bill increasing deficits by $3.8 trillion through 2034.
- The White House Council of Economic Advisers projected that the bill would boost GDP by 4.2% to 5.2% in the short run — a staggering level of growth that goes far beyond the mainstream consensus, via Axios.
- Repeals all of Biden’s “Green New Scam” subsidies & ends electric vehicle mandates.
- Social and Cultural Measures:
- Ends taxpayer-funded sex reassignment procedures for minors
- Infrastructure and Modernization:
- Major overhaul of air traffic control systems
- Support for Families and Workers:
- Launch of "MAGA Accounts" for newborns (tax-advantaged savings)
- Increased child tax credit, strengthened paid family leave, and repeals IRS gig worker reporting rule (>$600 for Venmo/PayPal)
- Support for Farmers: $10 billion+ in tax cuts & eliminates death tax to aid generational farm transfers
GOP House passes Donald Trump's 'one big, beautiful bill' after marathon session - House Republicans on Thursday morning passed a sweeping bill full of President Trump’s legislative priorities, marking a major win for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) but kicking off what’s expected to be a bitter battle with the Senate over achieving key parts of the White House’s policy agenda. The chamber cleared the sprawling package in a 215-214 early-morning vote after days of marathon meetings, intense negotiations that spanned both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, and a series of last-minute changes to the bill that were crucial in coalescing Republicans around the measure. In the end, just two Republicans — Reps. Thomas Massie (Ky.) and Warren Davidson (Ohio) — opposed the legislation. House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.) voted “present.” Republicans on the House floor erupted in cheers and applause when Johnson slammed the gavel just before 7 a.m. EDT to close the successful vote. The bill — titled the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” adopting Trump’s slogan for the measure — extends the tax cuts enacted by the president during his first term in 2017; boosts funding for border, deportation, and national defense priorities; imposes reforms, like beefed-up work requirements, on Medicaid that are projected to result in millions of low-income individuals losing health insurance; rolls back green energy tax incentives; and, among many other provisions, increases the debt limit by $4 trillion. It also does away with taxes on tips and overtime — two of Trump’s campaign promises. Its passage marks a massive victory for Johnson, who successfully cajoled scores of Republican holdouts — from hard-line conservatives to vulnerable moderates — to support the bill before his self-imposed Memorial Day deadline, muscling it through his razor-thin majority. “This is a big day,” Johnson said at a press conference surrounded by GOP leadership after the vote. “We said on the House floor: It’s finally morning in America again.” “Today, the House has passed generational, truly nation-shaping legislation to reduce spending and permanently lower taxes for families and job-creators, secure the border, unleash American energy dominance, restore peace through strength and make government work more efficiently and effectively for all Americans,” he added. The GOP trifecta is using the special budget reconciliation process to advance the package, which will allow the party to circumvent a Democratic filibuster in the Senate. Looking to take advantage of their full control in Washington, Republicans packed the measure with a host of partisan priorities, putting it on track to be one of the most consequential bills in years and one that will help define Trump’s second term. Democrats, meanwhile, are working to ensure discussion of the bill centers what analysts predict will be devastating impacts for America’s poor — especially as the 2026 midterm elections inch closer.
US House narrowly passes Trump's sweeping tax-cut bill, sends on to Senate (Reuters) - The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed a sweeping tax and spending bill that would enact much of President Donald Trump's policy agenda and saddle the country with trillions of dollars more in debt. The bill, passed by a single-vote margin, would fulfill many of Trump's populist campaign pledges, delivering new tax breaks on tips and car loans and boosting spending on the military and border enforcement. It will add about $3.8 trillion to the federal government's $36.2 trillion in debt over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. "This is arguably the most significant piece of Legislation that will ever be signed in the History of our Country!" Trump wrote on social media. The package passed in a 215-214 vote after a marathon push that kept lawmakers debating the bill through two successive nights. All of the chamber's Democrats and two Republicans voted against it, while a third Republican voted "present", neither for nor against the bill. Another Republican missed the vote because he had fallen asleep. With a narrow 220-212 majority, House Speaker Mike Johnson could not afford to lose more than a handful of votes from his side, and he made several last-minute changes to satisfy various Republican factions. "The House has passed generational, truly nation-shaping legislation," Johnson said. What Trump has dubbed a "big, beautiful bill" now heads to the Senate, which Republicans control by a 53-47 margin. Several said they would seek substantial changes over what is likely to be weeks of debate. "Senators are going to want to put their own imprint on it," said Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri. The 1,100-page bill would extend corporate and individual tax cuts passed in 2017 during Trump's first term in office, cancel many green-energy incentives passed by Democratic former President Joe Biden and tighten eligibility for health and food programs for the poor. It also would fund Trump's crackdown on immigration, adding tens of thousands of border guards and creating the capacity to deport up to 1 million people each year. Regulations on firearm silencers would be loosened. Democrats blasted the bill as disproportionately benefiting the wealthy while cutting benefits for working Americans. The CBO found it would reduce income for the poorest 10% of U.S. households and boost income for the top 10%. "This bill is a scam, a tax scam designed to steal from you, the American people, and give to Trump's millionaire and billionaire friends," Democratic Representative Jim McGovern said.The bill passed despite growing concerns over the U.S. debt, which has reached 124% of GDP, prompting a downgrade of the United States' top-notch credit rating by Moody's last week.
Housing, nutrition in peril as Trump pulls back Medicaid social services --During his first administration, President Donald Trump's top health officials gave North Carolina permission to use Medicaid money for social services not traditionally covered by health insurance. It was a first-in-the-nation experiment to funnel health care money into housing, nutrition, and other social services.Some poor and disabled Medicaid patients became eligible for benefits, including security deposits and first month's rent for housing, rides to medical appointments, wheelchair ramps, and even prescriptions for fresh fruits and vegetables.Such experimental initiatives to improve the health of vulnerable Americans while saving taxpayers on costly medical procedures and expensive emergency room care are booming nationally. Without homes or healthy food, people risk getting sicker, becoming homeless, and experiencing even more trouble controlling chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart disease.Former President Joe Biden encouraged states to go big on new benefits, and the availability of social services exploded in states red and blue.Since North Carolina's launch, at least 24 other states have followed by expanding social service benefits covered by Medicaid, the health care program for low-income and disabled Americans—a national shift that's turning a system focused on sick care into one that prioritizes prevention. And though Trump was pivotal to the expansion, he's now reversing course regardless of whether evidence shows it works.In Trump's second term, his administration is throwing participating states from California to Arkansas into disarray, arguing that social services should not be paid for by government health insurance. Officials at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which grants states permission to experiment, have rescinded its previous broad directive, arguing that the Biden administration went too far."This administration believes that the health-related social needs guidance distracted the Medicaid program from its core mission: providing excellent health outcomes for vulnerable Americans," CMS spokesperson Catherine Howden said in a statement."This decision prevents the draining of resources from Medicaid for potentially duplicative services that are already provided by other well-established federal programs, including those that have historically focused on food insecurity and affordable housing," Howden added, referring to food stamps and low-income housing vouchers provided through other government agencies.Trump, however, has also proposed axing funding for low-income housing and food programs administered by agencies including the departments of Housing and Urban Development and Agriculture—on top of Republican proposals for broader Medicaid cuts. The pullback has led to chaos and confusion in states that have expanded their Medicaid programs, with both liberal and conservative leaders worried that the shift will upend multibillion-dollar investments already underway. Social problems such as homelessness and food insecurity can cause—or worsen—physical and behavioral health conditions, leading to sky-high health care spending.Medical care delivered in hospitals and clinics, for instance, accounts for only roughly 15% of a person's overall health, while a staggering 85% is influenced by social factors such as access to healthy food and shelter for sleep, said Anthony Iton, a policy expert on social determinants of health.Health care experts warn the disinvestment will come at a price."It will just lead to more death, more suffering, and higher health care costs," said Margot Kushel, a primary care doctor in San Francisco and a leading researcher on homelessness and health care.The Trump administration announced in a March 4 memo that it was rescinding Biden-era guidance, dramatically expanding experimental benefits known as health-related social needs. Federal waivers are required for states to use Medicaid funds for most nontraditional social services outside of hospitals and clinics.Last month, the administration told states that these services, which can also include high-speed internet and storage units, should not be part of Medicaid.Future waiver requests allowing Medicaid to provide social services—a liberal philosophy—will be considered on a "case-by-case basis," the administration said. Rather, it has signaled a conservative shift toward requiring most Medicaid beneficiaries to prove that they're working or trying to find jobs, which puts an estimated 36 million Americans at risk of losing their health coverage."What they're arguing is that Medicaid has been expanded far beyond basic health care and it needs to be cut back to provide only basic coverage to those most desperately in need," said Mark Peterson, a health policy expert at UCLA."They're making the case, which is not widely shared by specialists in the health care field, that it's not the job of taxpayers and Medicaid to pay for all this stuff outside the traditional heath care system."Although states have not received formal guidance to end their social experiments, Peterson and other health policy researchers expect the administration not to renew waivers, which typically run in five-year intervals. Worse, legal experts say programs underway could be halted early.
House passes Trump agenda bill, hitting Medicaid, Affordable Care Act -The House passed legislation early Thursday morning to fund President Trump’s domestic agenda, which includes steep cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, totaling nearly $800 billion. It does this through a combination of provisions including work requirements on “able-bodied adults” through age 64 without dependents, a freeze on provider taxes, more frequent checks of eligibility and reducing federal Medicaid payments to states that provide health care coverage for undocumented immigrants. The effort united the feuding factions of the House GOP behind a massive bill, but it faces headwinds in the Senate. Some senators are pushing for steeper cuts, while others want to protect Medicaid. But even among members who say they oppose Medicaid cuts, work requirements get no objection. A last-minute change made to appease House conservatives would accelerate the start of the work requirements and prohibit future administrations from widening exemptions for certain populations. Instead of Jan 1, 2029, the bill requires states to start imposing work requirements Dec. 31, 2026. States could lose Medicaid funding if they don’t comply and continue to cover people who don’t prove their eligibility. Lawmakers rushed the amended bill through the chamber before the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) could update its analysis. Under the original version, work requirements would save the federal government $280 billion over six years, about triple what the CBO had estimated an earlier Republican plan would cut. But all those savings come from millions of people losing their Medicaid coverage. In the two states that have tried work requirements previously, red tape due to data and paperwork errors was common. Experts predict giving states less than two years to set up complicated verification systems is inviting disaster and will result in many people getting wrongly kicked off Medicaid.
US House passes ‘big, beautiful’ bill, which ramps up oil and gas leasing -- The US House on Thursday narrowly passed the “One Big Beautiful Act”, a sweeping legislative package from Republicans that, among many other things, aims to ramp up oil and gas lease sales in the US while curbing a wide swath of clean energy tax credits. Named after US President Donald Trump’s promise of “one big, beautiful bill” to push his domestic legislative agenda, the package passed by a single vote, 215-214. All 215 votes in favour were from Republicans, though two GOP representatives voted against the bill, one voted “present”, and two others did not vote. All 212 House Democrats were unanimous in their opposition to the bill. The sprawling act is an amalgamation of bills from 11 House committees, including Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Natural Resources, to name a few. Though much of the legislation touches energy, it also revamps military funding, student loans, Medicaid and immigration, among other issues. It will head to the Senate for another round of contentious voting. US stock markets were all up less than 1% in Thursday morning trading following the bill’s House passage. In addition, the Dow Jones US Oil and Gas Index and the S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production Select Industry Index were each down less than 1%. Chevron's Anchor platform in the US Gulf. Related Trump issues new analysis for endangered species protections in US Gulf More leasing ahead Many of the bill’s energy directives open up oil and gas leasing activity through the Department of the Interior (DoI), which oversees leasing in federal waters and on federal lands. Perhaps the biggest winners after the bill’s House passage are offshore operators in the US Gulf. The package requires at least 30 lease sales in the US Gulf over the next 15 years, with the first to be held 15 August. The lease sales would rotate between August and March through 2040. The 30 leases sales would be a significant change from President Joe Biden’s tenure, when his administration passed an offshore leasing programme that featured only three lease sales in five years. Under the legislation, each US Gulf lease sale would have to offer at least 80 million acres, assuming that much unleased acreage is available. The bill also modifies the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (GOMESA), which outlines how offshore oil and gas revenue is distributed to Gulf Coast states. It would raise the distribution cap from $500 million to $650 million from 2026 to 2034 before lowering the cap back to $500 million The act also directs DoI to “immediately resume” quarterly onshore lease sales in a another policy reversal from Biden, who curbed oil and gas drilling shortly after taking office in 2021. The legislation also transforms Alaska oil and gas activity by ordering DoI to hold at four lease sales in the state’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge while reviving oil and gas leases for the region that were cancelled by the Biden administration.It also orders DoI to resume the oil and gas programme in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) and requires at least six lease sales in the next decade in Alaska’s Cook Inlet, with the first required by March 2026.DoI Secretary Doug Burgum is likely to champion the bill’s directives. His agency is already working on a revamped offshore oil and gas programme that aims to add more lease sales to the current schedule.While the bill sets a $1 million fee for any gas company that applies with the Department of Energy (DoE) to either import or export liquefied natural gas, it also lets those applicants pay a $10 million fee to expedite their federal regulatory reviews. In addition, the bill sends $1.32 billion to the DoE to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) and repeals a provision that forced the agency to draw down specific amounts of crude oil from the SPR during 2026 and 2027. Meanwhile, renewable and clean energy took a massive hit from the bill, which rolls back tax credits for solar and wind manufacturing along with clean hydrogen production, zero-emission nuclear power production and clean vehicles, among other measures. The bill also rescinds unallocated funds from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the Biden-led bill from 2022 that unleashed a wave of clean energy subsidies. It also repeals funding for a methane emissions reduction programme under the Clean Air Act. However, the carbon capture tax credits that were increased through the IRA — known as 45Q credits — were left intact. Jeff Eshelman, chief executive of the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA), called the legislation “a win for American energy”. “IPAA is pleased that the legislation reinstates oil and natural gas lease sales for onshore and offshore federal lands and makes common sense reforms to the permitting and leasing process on federal lands,” Eshelman said in a statement. Meanwhile, the Sierra Club said the legislation would “kneecap important environmental protections” and allows oil and gas companies to “pay to pollute” through the expedited review payments. “This bill is a disaster for working Americans. It endangers our clean air and water, will devastate our growing economy and the manufacturing jobs that are powering it, and opens up our precious lands and waters to even more reckless oil and gas drilling — all to reward Trump and Republicans’ billionaire buddies and corporate polluter pals,” Sierra Club legislative director Melinda Pierce said in a statement.
Winners and losers as House approves Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ -House Republicans approved a massive legislative package comprising the major pieces of President Trump’s domestic agenda Thursday, including tax cuts, an immigration crackdown and sharp cuts in Medicaid. The vote defied the skeptics who thought it impossible to unite the feuding factions of the House GOP behind so large a bill. And it marked a huge political victory for Trump, whose approval rating is well underwater, and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who has faced internal criticisms for his handling of major legislative debates since he took the gavel in 2023. For a president who made campaign promises to extend tax cuts, clamp down on immigration and unleash domestic energy production, Thursday’s vote marked a major victory for President Trump for a simple reason: All of those policies are in the bill. But the political implications of the vote might be even more significant, demonstrating Trump has a firm grip over even the conservative, rabble-rousing wing of the House Republican Conference, whose members have frequently defied the legislative wishes of their own GOP leaders. Indeed, ask any Republican in the Capitol who gets credit for nudging the package over the finish line and the answer is clear: President Trump. “He’s the one that’s responsible for this,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), a prominent Freedom Caucus member, said just after Thursday’s vote. “It would’ve never happened if he hadn’t gotten involved.” Heading into the week, there were plenty of skeptics saying Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) push to pass the legislation through the House by Memorial Day was a pipe dream. And there were points in the debate, the Speaker conceded, when he was almost forced to agree. “There [were] a few moments over the last week when it looked like the thing might fall apart,” Johnson said Thursday morning. Still, Johnson was relentless in his pursuit of meeting his own deadline, staging countless discussions with the two groups of holdouts — conservative spending hawks fighting for steeper Medicaid cuts and moderate blue-state Republicans vying to secure tax relief for their high-income districts — in search of an elusive deal. In the process, he made a few bold gambles. When the conservatives blocked the bill in the Budget Committee last Friday, he quickly staged a second vote on the same proposal late Sunday night, all but daring them to sink it again. They didn’t. And when Trump’s warning for both groups to drop their demands didn’t bear fruit, Johnson brought both camps back to his office with new offers that ultimately helped to win their approval.Moderate Republicans from high-tax blue states made it clear from the start that they would go to the mat for a significant increase to the SALT deduction cap, threatening to tank the entire package if they did not get substantial relief.In the end, they held the line — and it paid off. The Trump agenda bill includes a $40,000 SALT deduction cap for individuals making $500,000 or less — quadruple the current $10,000 deduction cap adopted as part of the 2017 Trump tax law. The deduction cap and income limits would increase 1 percent per year over 10 years.The final deal came after days of intense — and sometimes contentious — negotiations between leadership and members of the SALT Caucus, with the moderate Republicans digging in on their demands, a political gamble when working with such a sprawling package.Conservative spending hawks drew a sharp red line at the launch of the debate, warning they wouldn’t support a package that added to deficit spending. Then they crossed it. The package approved by the House on Thursday is estimated to increase deficits by trillions of dollars over the next decade. And while some Republicans have dismissed those projections as wildly off base, others — including some of Congress’s most vocal spending hawks — are readily acknowledging the package falls far short of their fiscal goals. A central feature of the Republican bill is a gutting of the green-energy agenda adopted under former President Biden. Under the proposal, tax credits offered to climate-friendly energy projects will end altogether beginning in 2029, and companies hoping to take advantage of those benefits before then will have to begin construction within 60 days of the legislation becoming law. Roy said the expedited rollback of those credits will save taxpayers tens of billions of dollars — and was a major factor in securing his vote. “The solidification of the Inflation Reduction Act tightening … was massive,” he said. “By that, we’re constraining the hell out of wind and solar, which is good.” The GOP bill would also slash federal programs designed to fight pollution, allocate billions of dollars to the strategic petroleum reserve and eliminate a $7,500 tax credit for the purchase of electric vehicles. The proposal drew howls from Democrats and environmental activists, who are warning that the effects on the climate will be far-reaching. Trump, during his visit to the Capitol, was adamant that Republicans should not touch Medicaid benefits and should focus instead on “waste, fraud and abuse” under the low-income health care program. Conservative hard-liners, however, weren’t convinced. And much of the last-minute wrangling centered on their demands to expedite the timeline for implementing new Medicaid eligibility restrictions. Those proposed changes, including new proof-of-employment requirements for certain adult beneficiaries, are estimated to cause more than 7 million people to become uninsured over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Democrats have pounced on the projections, accusing Republicans of slashing health care benefits for the poorest Americans in order to underwrite tax cuts for the wealthiest. It’s unclear if the Medicaid cuts will survive in the Senate, where a handful of GOP senators — including conservative Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) — have warned that they’ll oppose any package that cuts health benefits under the program.
Conservatives plot to revive ‘REINS Act’ in reconciliation - House Republicans ditched a massive overhaul of federal regulations from their party-line megabill, but champions of the effort in the Senate say it’s all part of a plan.Still, they have some work to do to avoid running up against the procedural landmines that could doom their effort.Initial versions of the House reconciliation package would have given Congress final approval over any “major rule that increases revenue” and expanded mechanisms for undoing existing rules. The deregulatory language, based on the “Regulations from the Executive In Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act,” would have upended federal agencies’ independent rulemaking powers. Such an overhaul alarmed environmental advocates, who forcefully pushed against it. The League of Conservation Voters said the provision would “cripple federal agencies’ ability to implement major climate and environmental rules.”
Not done yet: US Senate Republicans plan changes to House's Trump tax-cuts bill (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Republicans said on Thursday they will seek substantial changes to President Donald Trump's sweeping tax and spending bill after it narrowly won approval in the House of Representatives, in a sign that significant hurdles remain for the package. Just hours after House Republicans passed it with only one vote to spare, senators from Trump's party outlined a range of objections to the package, which encompasses many of his top domestic priorities. That could make it more difficult for Congress to settle on a final version for Trump to sign into law. "I expect there will be considerable changes in the Senate," said Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Republicans broadly agree on the main planks of the legislation, which would extend Trump's 2017 tax cuts, tighten eligibility for health and food benefits, review many green-energy incentives and fund Trump's immigration crackdown. But many of the same fractures that threatened the bill's passage in the House are at play in the Senate. Some lawmakers raised concerns about cuts to the Medicaid health care program, noting that the coalition of voters who powered Trump's November election victory and whose support they will need to hold control of Congress in the 2026 midterm elections rely on the bill. Others repeated the concerns of House counterparts that the measure does not sufficiently cut spending. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates it will add $3.8 trillion to the federal government's $36.2 trillion in debt. Republicans control the Senate by a 53-47 margin, and they have invoked special rules that will enable them to pass the package with a simple majority, rather than the usual 60-vote threshold required for most legislation. That will allow them to bypass Democrats, who blast the bill as a giveaway to the rich. That gives them a little more room for disagreement than their counterparts in the House, where a narrow 220-212 margin requires near unanimity. Senators Josh Hawley of Missouri and Susan Collins of Maine said they were worried the House version could cut Medicaid health benefits for low-income Americans too deeply. Hawley also said he had spoken with Trump and discussed closing a tax loophole that allows wealthy private equity investors to lower their tax payments. "They ought to close the carried interest loophole," Hawley said. The move could raise more tax revenue. Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, meanwhile, said he would push for deeper spending cuts to lower the deficit. "We're definitely going to have to seek more savings," he told reporters. Collins and Tillis both will be defending seats seen as competitive in next year's election. Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, a hard-right conservative and fiscal hawk, said he would not vote for the bill as written, saying it needed broader across-the-board spending cuts. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky likewise said it did not cut spending enough, and objected to the inclusion of a $4 trillion debt-ceiling increase that would head off a possible default sometime this summer. "I'll consider voting if they take the debt ceiling off of it," he said. They will have to contend with others who aim to increase the bill's total cost. Hawley called for expanding a $2,500-per-child tax credit, while Tillis cautioned against quick cancellation of green-energy tax incentives, which he said would disrupt companies that have grown to depend on them. Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota questioned the accounting assumptions that underpin the bill, saying they did not take economic growth into account. While debating the tax cuts initially passed in 2017, during Trump's first term, congressional Republicans also argued that they would pay for themselves by stimulating economic growth. The CBO estimates the changes increased the federal deficit by just under $1.9 trillion over a decade, even when including positive economic effects. In the end, Senate Republicans will face the same reality that their House counterparts did. Their party's undisputed leader, Trump, wants the bill passed and can be expected to continue to apply pressure until it is. "It's time for our friends in the United States Senate to get to work, and send this Bill to my desk AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social service early Thursday. So far the Republican-controlled Congress has not rejected any of his legislative requests. The Senate is not expected to take up the bill in earnest until early next month, after its week-long recess for the Memorial Day holiday. Any changes it makes to the bill will need to be negotiated with, and ultimately passed by, the House before Trump can sign the bill into law. Top Senate Republican John Thune of South Dakota spoke carefully as he addressed the bill's prospects in his chamber. "They gave us a good product to work with," Thune told reporters on Thursday. "But we want to have — and have — senators who want to write our own bill."
Rand Paul says he'll vote against House GOP's 'big, beautiful bill' --Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has told Senate GOP leadership that he is a hard no on the bill the House passed early Thursday morning to enact President Trump’s legislative agenda because the legislation includes language to raise the debt limit by $4 trillion over the next two years. “I’ve told them if they’ll take the debt ceiling off of it, I’ll consider voting for it,” Paul said of his conversations with GOP leadership. “We’ve never, ever voted to raise the debt ceiling this much. It’ll be a historic increase. I think it’s not good for conservatives to be on record supporting a $4 [trillion] or $5 trillion increase in the debt ceiling,” he said. Paul said the expected yearly deficit will be $2 trillion over the next two years if the bill passes in the upper chamber. “It’s not conservative; I can’t support it,” he said. “If they were to take the debt ceiling off of it and have the tax reductions and spending reductions, I’d probably vote for that,” he added. “The spending reductions are imperfect, and I think wimpy, but I’d still vote for the package if I didn’t have to vote to raise the debt ceiling.” Paul predicted Trump and the Republican Party will “own” future deficits if they pass a budget reconciliation bill that adds another $4 trillion on to the debt. “Republicans now own the debt, and Republicans now own the spending. There’s no more blaming, ‘Oh, it’s [former President] Biden’s fault.’ The deficit is fully and completely owned by Republicans after this bill,” he said. Senate Republicans control a 53-seat majority, which means Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) can afford only three defections from within his conference and still pass Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.” Vice President Vance would break a 50-50 tie to advance the legislation. Other Senate conservatives, including Sens. Ron Johnson (Wis.) and Rick Scott (Fla.), have called for changes to the bill to further reduce federal deficits over the next 10 years.
Ron Johnson criticizes House GOP bill, says Trump ‘can’t pressure’ him same as House hardliners Sen. Ron Johnson Loading (R-Wis.) on Thursday criticized the House GOP’s recent sprawling package to enact President Trump’s tax priorities and cut spending, while swiping at his colleagues in the lower chamber for setting “the bar way too low” in their goal to generate savings. “They just kept talking about $1.5 trillion. They set the bar way too low,” Johnson told reporters Thursday morning, while referring to the minimum amount of savings House Republicans were looking to secure as part of the package. “The goal of the House effort has been to pass one big, beautiful bill. It’s rhetoric. It’s false advertising. The goal should have been reduce average annual deficits, so we have to focus on spending,” he said. He was also asked by reporters about conservative holdouts on the House side who shared similar concerns about the deficit, only to eventually allow the bill to move forward after pressure from Trump. “In the House, President Trump can threaten a primary, and those guys want to keep their seats. I understand the pressure,” he said. “Can’t pressure me that way.” “I ran in 2010 because we were mortgaging our children’s future. It’s wrong,” he said. “We were $14 trillion in debt, now we’re $37 [trillion],” he said. “Have you been watching what the bond markets are doing in relation to the one big, beautiful bill? They’re not thinking it’s a very big, beautiful bill.” The cost of extending Trump’s expiring 2017 tax cuts — a cornerstone of the legislative package — along with measures to nix taxes on tips and overtime pay, is estimated to add trillions of dollars to the nation’s deficits over the next decade. Accompanying the tax cuts, House Republicans have crafted a suite of proposals seeking to cut federal spending by well more than a $1 trillion in the coming years, with reforms to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program expected to account for a chunk of those savings. Many House Republicans have promoted the tax cuts as progrowth while arguing part of the tax proposals will pay for themselves. But estimates from federal budget analysts have found the bill would add more than $2 trillion to the nation’s deficits, not factoring recent changes made this week. Other estimates from nonpartisan think tanks have projected even higher price tags. The White House has claimed the bill will not add to the deficit, and Republicans have sought to discredit estimates from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) about the bill’s costs. However, some conservatives are saying more action is needed to lower the nation’s deficits in the coming years, citing the country’s $36 trillion-plus debt.
SNAP changes proposed in GOP’s ‘big, beautiful bill.’ Here’s what to know – House Republicans have passed a massive, 1,116-page piece of legislation — titled the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” — that includes changes to everything from taxes to student loans, Medicaid to deportations, a “Golden Dome” of defense and federal cuts to SNAP.SNAP, which stands for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, used to be called the Food Stamp Program. It provides low-income people and families with financial assistance to pay for groceries.The bill first and foremost cuts federal funding for SNAP by about $267 billion over a 10 year-period.States are expected to make up the gap by shouldering 5% of the benefit costs and a majority (75%) of SNAP’s administrative costs. Currently, states pay none of the benefit costs and only half of the administration costs.Another provision would make states pay even more of the benefit costs if their payment error rate tops 6%. There’s a sliding scale that would require states with higher error rates to pay between 15% and 25% of the benefit costs. While supporters say it incentivizes lower error rates, critics argue it would lead to states cutting benefits for those in need.Under the new plan, more people are also required to prove they are working, pursuing an education or are in a training program to qualify for food assistance. Currently, able-bodied adults between the ages of 18 and 54 have to meet these work requirements to get food stamps for more than three months. Under the bill, those requirements would extend up to age 64. There are exceptions to the work requirements, a USDA spokesperson previously told Nexstar. Homeless people, veterans, or youth ages 18 to 24 who aged out of foster care are all exempt from these requirements. People who cannot work due to a physical or mental limitation, are pregnant, or have a child 18 or younger living in their home are also exempt.This bill changes that last exemption. Only adults caring for a dependent child under the age of 7 would be exempt from the SNAP work requirements.House Republicans stayed up all night to pass the multitrillion-dollar tax breaks package, with Speaker Mike Johnson defying the skeptics and unifying his ranks to muscle President Donald Trump’s priority bill to approval Thursday.The House launched debate before midnight and by dawn the vote was called, 215-214, with Democrats staunchly opposed. It next goes to the Senate, with long negotiations ahead.The act’s name is a nod to President Donald Trump, who described the legislation as a “big, beautiful bill.” Democrats have described it quite differently. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries called it an “extreme and toxic bill.” There is a lot more proposed in the bill’s 1,116 pages. The Hill previously broke down some of the major pieces of the plan here, but several elements could change as the bill works its way through Congress.
Republicans strip public land sales from reconciliation - House Republicans have scrapped public land sales from the latest version of their tax cut, energy and border security megabill, according to text released Wednesday evening.Several House and Senate Republicans, including Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke, had complained about language that would sell or swap hundreds of thousands of acres in Utah and Nevada.Negotiators also came up with what some lawmakers are calling a compromise on the fate of Inflation Reduction Act tax incentives. The new language tightens requirements for renewables but would be more generous to nuclear.Republicans also appeared to have rolled back a provision popular with conservatives that would have required congressional approval of major rules.House Republicans unveiled a so-called manager’s amendment to the latest text of their budget reconciliation package. Leaders were hoping to release the updated text earlier Wednesday, but disagreement between moderates and conservatives delayed the process. A floor vote could happen in the coming hours.What the One Big Beautiful Bill Act means for energy and manufacturing tax credits -Following an intense week of negotiations among Republicans, the House of Representatives passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act this morning on a party-line vote of 215-214-1. The legislation passed with several last-minute modifications, including tighter restrictions on certain clean energy and manufacturing credits. The Senate is now poised to act to craft their own version of the legislation, and we anticipate they will take a significantly different approach. More on that belowWhile the updated House bill significantly narrows the scope of several credits — particularly for non-nuclear participants in the tech-neutral electricity incentive — transferability was treated more favorably in the new proposal. Transferability was fully restored for both the tech-neutral and nuclear credits for the duration the credits are available. In the draft from the Ways & Means Committee, transferability was proposed to be repealed for projects that did not begin construction within two years of enactment. Advanced manufacturing production (§45X), clean fuels (§45Z), and carbon sequestration (§45Q) are still subject to limitation on transferability after 2027 in the draft legislation. A summary of the key changes:
- At the behest of the House Freedom Caucus, the new text repeals §45Y and §48E tech-neutral electricity credits for projects beginning construction more than 60 days after enactment.
- Projects that begin construction within 60 days must also be placed in service by December 31, 2028 to remain eligible for the credit.
- The previously proposed 2029–2031 credit phasedown is now eliminated.
- Eligible nuclear projects tech-neutral credit are exempted from the new 60-day requirement, and instead must only comply with the 2028 placed-in-service requirement.
- Transferability is fully restored for the more limited tech-neutral credits.
- The revised legislation offers a more beneficial treatment of the §45U credit than the Ways and Means bill, extending the credit at its full value through 2031.
- The legislation originally proposed a three-year phasedown.
- Transferability is fully restored through the duration of the §45U credit through 2031.
- The Ways and Means proposal eliminated §45U transferability after 2027.
- Foreign Entity of Concern (FEOC) restrictions moved up to 2026
- The previous restrictions largely went into effect January 1, 2027.
- This language is widely seen by experts to be unworkable.
- The new legislation specifically eliminates the credit for leased residential solar installations for any taxable year beginning after enactment.
- 48C remains untouched
- 48C remains eligible for transfer, as well.
Senate Republicans are expected to return from Memorial Day recess during the week of June 2 and begin writing their own version of the legislation. Given the legislation includes a debt limit increase, the Senate is compelled to act ahead of the “X” date, which the Treasury Department currently projects the US will hit by mid-August. Beyond the energy provisions discussed here, the Senate will also need to grapple with cuts to Medicaid and a much higher cap on State and Local Tax (SALT) deductions. Neither set of provisions is popular in the chamber. Importantly, multiple Senate Republicans have continued to voice their concern with making major changes to the energy and manufacturing tax credits. Following last week’s release of the Ways and Means Committee text (which provided more favorable treatment to a number of credits than the modified text passed today), numerous Republican Senators — representing both the moderate and conservative wings of their party — said significant revisions must be made to secure their support, including:
- Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) indicated that there would need to be changes to save the jobs created by the credits.
- Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) said that the tech-neutral energy credits should have longer phaseouts to support emerging technology.
- Senator John Hoeven (R-ND) similarly said he expected the Senate to change the credit provisions.
- Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said Senate Republicans would take “a more cautious and conscientious approach” to the credits, arguing that they should preserve the job creation and investment that came from the credits.
- Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) said he expects most, if not all, of the energy and manufacturing tax credit provisions to change, following previous public statements supporting the preservation of transferability.
It is worth noting that, historically, the House version of a reconciliation bill represents the biggest change to law, with the Senate playing the role of narrowing the approach. A good recent example was the initial House-passed version of what eventually became the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The House version — initially dubbed Build Back Better — cost nearly $2 trillion and made sweeping investments in social programs, healthcare, education, and housing in addition to clean energy and manufacturing. The Senate passed a much smaller package, where moderates raised concerns about inflationary effects, cost, and the scope of the programs. It was later reworked into the IRA, which passed in August 2022 with a narrower focus on climate, healthcare, and deficit reduction. Conclusion As the House was moving toward passage of legislation estimated to add roughly $3 trillion to the national debt, yesterday's spike in the treasury yields — and resulting reaction by the equity markets — underscored policymaking does not occur in a vacuum and could create further pressure on the Senate to significantly limit the scope of the bill. Given these factors, our view remains unchanged that the Senate will act as a significant moderating force for many of the energy and manufacturing credits, and their changes will be much lighter in touch. Moreover, support for transferability remains strong and we believe that it will emerge largely in place in any potential enacted law.Please note, this is a fluid situation and any analysis is subject to change. We will continue to monitor developments and provide timely updates as the legislative process unfolds.
Moderates promised to protect green credits. They folded. - Climate action advocates who banked on a group of moderate House Republicans to fight for lucrative renewable energy tax credits were sorely disappointed this week when those lawmakers opted not to hold the line in the GOP’s party-line bill. Now, those advocates and clean energy companies are gearing up for a fight in the Senate with a similar playbook — but there’s no guarantee that it’ll work this time either. Defenders of the Democrats’ 2022 climate law are hoping senators — operating in different political realities than House members — will soften the rapid phase-outs and strict new requirements for the tax incentives. “We’re going to urge our supporters in the Senate to make significant changes to this bill,” said Frank Macchiarola, vice president of the American Clean Power Association, a leading trade group. “We’re going to work with them to show the flaws in this legislation that the House passed.” Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.), co-chair of the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus, helped lead an effort to protect the tax credits. After initial legislation emerged, he and others called for “thoughtful changes.” But the changes ended up being in the opposite direction. As he left House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office Wednesday night as the latest version of the bill was taking shape, Garbarino said he was “not happy.” He ended up missing the vote but released a statement saying he would have been a “yes.” The tax, energy and national security package proposes some of the most significant changes to energy policy in years. Senators on Thursday were still digesting the late-stage changes to the megabill. It would eliminate “technology neutral” production and investment tax credits in 2028 for projects that have not started construction within 60 days of the law’s enactment. There are big exceptions for nuclear power and biofuels — both sectors with long-running GOP support. While the renewable energy credits have fueled projects in Republican districts and states across the country, conservative hardliners are hellbent on finding savings. President Donald Trump has been adamant that the “Green New Scam,” as he calls it, be eliminated. As such, the clean energy lobby has spent more than a year trying to cozy up to Republican lawmakers, contributing generously to their campaigns and targeting advertisements in red congressional districts. But some observers stressed that the American Clean Power Association is still just a few years old, and that the groups, think tanks and nongovernmental organizations that helped pass the Inflation Reduction Act were ill-equipped to defend the climate law with Republicans and Trump officials. Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), a former state utility regulator and informal adviser to the president, said on Thursday, “The IRA to some people is Joe Biden,” Cramer said. “But when I see IRA, I don’t think Joe Biden.” Still, he suggested the House may have found the right balance between climate law defenders and its foes. “I think they did pretty well,” said Cramer. Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah), who founded the Conservative Climate Caucus in the House, said Thursday he wanted to take a closer look at the incentives for the GOP-favored nuclear industry and left the door open to more tweaks. “I don’t know where that lands,” he said of the final tax break language, stressing the importance of protecting business certainty. “Many of these things are very important to President Trump’s agenda, and included is that where is this power going to come from.”
Donald Trump’s 'big, beautiful bill' faces Senate GOP objections -- The 1,116-page bill the House passed early Thursday morning to enact President Trump’s ambitious legislative agenda faces a swarm of objections from Senate Republicans. GOP senators are calling for a rewrite of the bill to address concerns ranging from Medicaid reforms and the phaseout of clean energy incentives to the sale of government-owned spectrum bands and the bill’s projected impact on the federal debt. The deal Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) struck with Republicans from blue states to raise the cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions from $10,000 to $40,000 is also a sticking point with Republican senators. The biggest obstacle may be the threatened opposition from Senate conservatives who say the bill doesn’t do nearly enough to cut future deficits, which are projected to exceed $2 trillion annually for the next two years. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul (R) immediately announced his opposition to the House-passed bill Thursday, vowing to vote against it unless Senate Republican leaders remove a provision to raise the federal debt limit by $4 trillion over the next two years. “We’ve never, ever voted to raise the debt ceiling this much. It’ll be a historic increase. I think it’s not good for conservatives to be on the record supporting a $4 trillion or $5 trillion increase in the debt ceiling,” he said. “The anticipated deficits per year now will be $2 trillion a year for the next two years,” he added. “It’s not conservative; I can’t support it.” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), an outspoken fiscal hawk, said Thursday that there are four Senate Republican conservatives who will vote against the House bill as currently drafted, which would be enough to sink the bill if there is full attendance. “There should be a goal of this Republican Senate budget resolution to reduce the deficit, not increase it. We’re increasing it. It’s a nonstarter from my standpoint,” he said. Johnson said he’s “absolutely” a no on the House bill as “currently constructed.” “I actually want to reduce the deficit,” he said. The Congressional Budget Office projects the bill will add another $3.8 trillion to the debt, but Johnson thinks that number is likely to be closer to $4 trillion. When asked how many Republican senators would refuse to advance the House bill without deeper spending cuts, Johnson said: “I think I’ve got at least four right now that this is not going anywhere.” “Three in addition to myself. We’ve got the four we need,” he said. Fiscal conservatives in the House also threatened to vote against Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” unless GOP leaders agreed to include bigger spending cuts in the package, but several of them folded after Trump met with them earlier this week and told them bluntly: “Don’t f‑‑‑ around with Medicaid.” Just two House Republicans voted against the bill, Reps. Thomas Massie (Ky.) and Warren Davidson (Ohio), while House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.) voted “present.” A group of Senate Republicans concerned about Medicaid reforms pose another major obstacle to the bill. This group includes Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.). Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has begun meeting one-on-one and in small groups with some of these senators to listen to their concerns about the impact of the House reforms on constituents and rural hospitals. These lawmakers are primarily concerned about reforms intended to crack down on states’ use of health care provider taxes to receive more federal Medicaid funding and a proposal to require more cost sharing for adults who earn between 100 percent and 138 percent of the federal poverty level. Asked about the health care provider tax reforms and expanded cost sharing, Collins said: “We’re still trying to figure out what the provider tax reforms are but I’m very worried about our rural hospitals in Maine.” Hawley flagged health care provider tax reform and cost-sharing reform as two problems earlier this month. He said the “cost-sharing proposal” would make “beneficiaries pay more.” “These are working people in particular who are going to have to pay more,” he said. Hawley this week advised colleagues to listen to Trump’s reported instruction to GOP lawmakers to “leave Medicaid alone.” Another point of friction are the proposals in the House bill to phase out clean energy incentives enacted by the Inflation Reduction Act, which could wipe out billions of dollars of investment in Republican states. Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), John Curtis (R-Utah), Murkowski and Moran wrote a letter to Senate Thune last month to “emphasize the importance of maintaining a stable and predictable tax framework to promote domestic energy development.” “We caution against the full-sale repeal of current credits, which could lead to significant disruptions for the American people and weaken our position as a global energy leader,” they warned. Tillis said Thursday that the House bill would need to be changed to avoid stranding billions of dollars of private-sector investment in clean energy projects. “If millions or billions of dollars have been deployed, we’ve got to give those businesses some offramp,” he said. He said suddenly cutting off renewable energy subsidies would “have the same sort of effect” as what the oil industry suffered when former President Biden “just arbitrarily canceled the [Keystone] XL pipeline” in 2021. Some Senate Republicans are also balking at Speaker Johnson’s deal with Republicans from New York, New Jersey and other high-tax state to raise the SALT cap from $10,000 to $40,000. The higher limit on those deductions would phase out at annual incomes above $500,000. “The SALT thing is going to come up. It’s going to be an issue,” Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) said. Thune acknowledged Thursday that the language to lift the SALT cap will be one of many provisions Senate GOP colleagues will seek to change. “Our members want to be heard on it, and I assume we’ll have something to say,” Thune remarked on the SALT deal. Thune says Senate Republicans will rewrite parts of the House bill, but he noted Speaker Johnson warned GOP senators in a meeting Tuesday that they risked scrambling the coalition he put together in the House Republican Conference to pass the bill. Some Republican senators are digging in their heels to oppose lower-profile provisions in the House bill, such as a plan to auction off government-owned spectrum that is currently used by the Pentagon. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) says the House provision poses a major national security risk. “It has to be taken out or modified,” Rounds said of that House language on spectrum. “That, to me, is of critical national importance.” Rounds, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said House negotiators “extended the [spectrum] auction authority until 2034” but only protected the military portions of the spectrum in the first auction sale. “If they’re going to have auction authority until 2034, the [Department of Defense] portions and the [intelligence community] portions have got to be protected during the time this auction authority exists,” he said.
President Trump Unveils Plans for 'Golden Dome' Missile Defense System - President Trump has unveiled his plans to develop a new massive missile defense system to cover the entire territory of the United States, which he has dubbed the “Golden Dome,” a project that will almost certainly kick off a new arms race.The president claimed the project would cost $175 billion and would be completed within three years, although an estimate from the Congressional Budget Office put the price tag at $500 billion over 20 years. Next year’s budget will include $25 billion to start the construction.The idea of the Golden Dome is to develop space-based interceptors that could shoot down the most advanced missiles in the world. President Trump said it was something President Reagan wanted “many years ago,” referring to the failed “Star Wars” program. “Once fully constructed, the Golden Dome will be capable of intercepting missiles even if they are launched from other sides of the world and even if they are launched from space,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday.The president announced that Michael Guetlein, a general in the Space Force, a branch of the US military that Trump established in his first term, will oversee the Golden Dome construction. Elon Musk’s SpaceX is reportedly the frontrunner to build key parts of the missile shield. Daryl G. Kimball, director of the Arms Control Association, said President Trump was “doubling down on a strategic blunder” by pursuing the Golden Dome project.In a blog post published in response to Trump’s announcement, Kimball noted that “nuclear and defense strategists have long understood that the development and deployment of strategic missile interceptors is ineffective against determined nuclear-armed adversaries because it could lead them to build more numerous and sophisticated offensive missile systems — at relatively lower cost and more quickly — to overwhelm and evade missile defenses.”Kimball said Trump’s Golden Dome “flies in the face of these realities” and will cost much more than the $175 billion estimate. He said if Congress “rubber stamps Trump’s radical and unrealistic strategic missile defense gambit in full or in part, we should expect the Chinese nuclear arsenal to grow even more substantially and Russia to resist any offensive nuclear reductions.”
Trump's 'Golden Dome' Missile Shield Expected To Cost $500 Billion President Trump’s plan to develop a new massive missile defense system for the US, dubbed the “Golden Dome” or the “Iron Dome for America,” is expected to cost $500 billion over the next 20 years, CNNreported on Monday, citing an estimate from the Congressional Budget Office.The project will be a boondoggle for US weapons makers, and, according to a report from Reuters, Elon Musk’s SpaceX has emerged as a frontrunner to develop key parts of the missile shield. The report said SpaceX has partnered with Palantir and Anduril on the project.The CNN report said that representatives from SpaceX, Palantir, and Anduril have all pitched Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on their plans for the project, and a source told the media outlet that he “wants what they’re selling.”Pentagon officials have submitted plans to Trump for several options for developing the missile shield, and the president is expected to announce his preferred plan soon.“The Secretary of Defense and other Department leaders have engaged with the President to present options and look forward to announcing the path forward in the coming days,” said Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell.The idea of the “Golden Dome” is to provide a missile shield for the entire territory of the United States that can intercept the most advanced missiles in the world. Trump’s executive order that directed the Pentagon to pursue the plan specified that it must include “space-based interceptors.”The White House’s $1.01 trillion military budget request for 2026 includes $25 billion for the Golden Dome. Besides the massive cost, the project will likely kick off a new global arms race.
China ‘gravely concerned’ by Trump Golden Dome plan - China said it is “gravely concerned” by President Trump’s plan for the U.S. to build a multibillion-dollar Golden Dome missile defense shield and is encouraging Washington to halt its development. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Wednesday that the defense system, which Trump said would take $175 billion to build, will “exacerbate the risk of turning outer space into a battlefield,” therefore starting an arms race and shake up the international security and arms control “system.”“The U.S., by putting itself first and being obsessed with pursuing absolute security, violates the principal diminish the security for all undermines global strategic balance and stability,” Mao said during a press conference. “China is gravely concerned about this,” he continued. “We urge the U.S. to give up developing and deploying the global antimissile system at an early date and take concrete actions to enhance strategic mutual trust between countries and safeguard global strategic stability.”Trump announced Tuesday that the missile system will be “fully operational” in less than three years and that the push will be led by Vice Chief of Space Operations Space Force Gen. Michael Guetlein. Canada will also be included in the effort. “This design for the Golden Dome will integrate with our existing defense capabilities and should be fully operational before the end of my term,” the president said Tuesday during an announcement alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. “So, we’ll have it done in about three years.”He added, “Once fully constructed, Golden Dome will be capable of intercepting missiles even if they are launched from other sides of the world, and even if they are launched from space, and we will have the best system ever built.”
China has an off-switch for America, and we aren’t ready to deal with it. --Imagine waking up tomorrow and your phone has no signal. Your smart home isn’t working. Your Ring camera is offline. You get in your car, but your GPS won’t route. Worse, every traffic light in town is out. Intersections are a mess of blaring horns and confusion. Sirens echo in the distance. You drive to an ATM, hoping to grab some cash. The screen flickers, then goes black. It’s not just your neighborhood. It’s not just your state. The entire nation has gone dark.This scenario is digital darkness, caused by China’s “off-switch” for America. It is the penultimate step in China’s strategy to defeat America before gunning for global control.So-called “assassin’s maces” play a central role in China’s plan to become the world’s sole superpower by 2049. Of the many known assassin’s maces, four demand immediate attention:
- 1) Tactical Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Weapons: China develops tactical EMP weapons that can disable entire regions by targeting civilian infrastructure America relies on to function. These compact pulse generators can hover above unprotected data centers, destroying electronics inside with pinpoint electromagnetic blasts. Several dozen well-coordinated EMP strikes could wipe out cloud infrastructure, disrupting America’s power, transportation, communications and financial systems nationwide.
- 2) Deep Sea Fiber Cuts: Over 95 percent of global internet traffic travels through undersea fiber cables. China recently unveiled deep-sea cable cutters capable of severing cables at extreme depths. Recent disruptions near Taiwan and the Baltic Sea suggest these tools are already in use. Cutting a few lines disrupts global communications instantly and fractures U.S. military coordination.
- 3) Anti-Satellite Weapons: As America stockpiles low earth orbit satellites, China expands its anti-satellite arsenal to include missiles, parasitic satellites and lasers designed to disable or destroy orbital assets. In March 2025, the U.S. Space Force reported that Chinese satellites performed aggressive “dogfighting” maneuvers in orbit. This capability allows China to carry out precise strikes designed to trigger the dreaded Kessler Cascade, a chain reaction of satellite collisions capable of destroying all low earth orbit satellites within days, crippling internet, communications and surveillance systems.
- 4) Cyber Attacks: China’s cyber weapons are the most deeply embedded assassin’s mace. Just this week, U.S. investigators uncovered rogue communication devices hidden in Chinese-made solar inverters and batteries. Such undocumented components can bypass firewalls, allowing China to remotely monitor, destabilize and disable critical infrastructure. Chinese-made chips, routers and switches embedded throughout U.S. networks contain dormant firmware that, upon activation, could place critical U.S. infrastructure under Chinese Communist Party command.
The Chinese army’s “blended domains” philosophy strips traditional boundaries between war and peace. An omnipresent battlefield erases any line between military and civilian enterprise. The doctrine is described in “Unrestricted Warfare,” the 1999 book in which Chinese military leaders promote the use of psychological, technological and informational attacks to undermine and subsequently overwhelm America.Under this approach, China targets power grids, satellites, telecom networks and data centers to exploit a critical U.S. vulnerability: when building digital infrastructure, we tend to optimize for return on investment, which inversely correlates to premium cost and time to market. As a result, most of our digital infrastructure — including hyper-scaler data centers where we house “the cloud,” fiber switches and internet service provider networks — aren’t designed to withstand deliberate, coordinated attacks. Chinese strategists studied weaknesses in our civilian infrastructure closely, then carefully designed their maces for maximum leverage.China is ready to deploy its maces when the “moment of Shi” arrives — the point at which they will proceed to the next step in their stated goal to become the world’s only superpower. Meanwhile, America’s digital infrastructure remains dangerously exposed.
Rubio expresses cautious optimism on Kremlin's peace efforts - Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday expressed cautious optimism about the Kremlin’s commitment to brokering peace with Ukraine as the U.S. continues to press for an end to the war that’s stretched on for nearly three years.Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke with Rubio on Saturday and, per Rubio, Lavrov said Russia is in the process of drafting a ceasefire proposal.“He communicated in our call, that they are, their side will be working on a series of ideas and requirements that they would have in order to move forward with a ceasefire and further negotiations,” Rubio said in an interview on CBS’s “Meet the Press.” “So we’ll await that, and hopefully it’s a document that is close enough to what the Ukrainians want to be able to get to that point and maybe work out those differences.”“Are they tapping us along? Well, that’s what we’re trying to find out, and we’ll find out pretty soon,” Rubio added.But the nation’s top diplomat stressed that the U.S. is in a new role as a possible peace accord starts to form. “We’re no longer flying all over the world trying to set up meetings; we’re responding to meetings that are set up and we always said we’re willing to do whatever it takes to bring them together if the opportunities present themselves,” Rubio said. President Trump repeatedly has voiced frustration over the stagnant talks and recently threatened harsher sanctions on Russia if progress isn’t made. He announced Saturday that he plans to speak separately with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday. Zelensky spoke with Rubio and Vice President Vance on Sunday.
Live updates: Donald Trump talks with Putin, Zelensky; Joe Biden remarks on prostate cancer -President Trump opened his week with high-stakes phone calls on the war in Ukraine.Trump first spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, before calling Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday morning. The conversations follow talks in Turkey late last week.The president announced the Putin call in a Truth Social post Saturday, saying the main thrust of the conversation would be “stopping the bloodbath” that is killing both Russian and Ukrainian soldiers.On Capitol Hill, Republicans celebrated a win in the budget process, as House Budget panel approved the chamber’s reconciliation bill in a late Sunday vote. Negotiations are continuing, though, on sticky issues in the plan, like SALT and cuts that would lower the deficit.Early Monday, a day after it was announced Joe Biden has prostate cancer, the former president released a new statement in a post on social platform X. “Cancer touches us all. Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places. Thank you for lifting us up with love and support,” he said, posting a photo of himself with former first lady Jill Biden.
After Call With Putin, Trump Says Russia-Ukraine Ceasefire Talks Will Begin 'Immediately' - President Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday and said that the call went well and that Russia and Ukraine would “immediately” begin negotiations on a ceasefire.“Just completed my two hour call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. I believe it went very well,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire and, more importantly, an END to the War.”Putin told reporters after the call that Moscow was ready to “work with the Ukrainian side on a memorandum on a potential future peace treaty.”The Russian leader said the memorandum could outline “a number of positions, such as, for instance, settlement principles, the timeframe for signing a potential peace agreement, and so on, including a potential ceasefire for a certain period.”Trump also said he spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and informed several European leaders of the plans for Russia and Ukraine to begin ceasefire negotiations. He noted that Pope Leo XIV has offered the Vatican as a potential venue for the talks.The Trump-Putin call came just a few days after Russian and Ukrainian officials held talks in Istanbul. During the talks, the two sides agreed to a prisoner swap, but it didn’t appear that any progress was made toward a ceasefire.Russia and Ukraine remain very far apart on their conditions for ending the war. Putin wants Ukraine to recognize four Ukrainian oblasts that Moscow annexed in 2022 as part of Russia, which would require Ukrainian forces to withdraw from territory it holds in those regions, and Zelensky has repeatedly stated he will not cede territory.The negotiations in Istanbul marked the first direct talks between Russia and Ukraine since March and April 2022. At that time, Russia’s main demand was Ukrainian neutrality. The Biden administration discouraged those negotiations, and later that year, Russia declared its annexation of the four Ukrainian oblasts and added the recognition of that territory as part of Russia to its demands to end the war.
US Official Denies Threat To 'Abandon' Israel Over Gaza - A US official speaking to The Times of Israel has denied a report that Trump administration officials have threatened to “abandon” Israel if it refuses to end its assault on the Gaza Strip.The official was responding to a report from The Washington Post that cited a person familiar with discussions between the US and Israel. “Trump’s people are letting Israel know, ‘We will abandon you if you do not end this war,’” the source told the Post.The US official speaking to the Times said there may be disagreements, but “the idea that we would abandon Israel is preposterous.”Also on Monday, Axios reported that Vice President JD Vance cancelled a planned trip to Israel because he didn’t want to suggest the Trump administration endorsed the Israeli decision to launch a massive escalation in Gaza, which led to the slaughter of hundreds of Palestinians in recent days.. Vance denied the report, insisting his trip was cancelled for “logistical reasons.”The US has recently taken steps in the Middle East that Israel was likely unhappy about, including the ceasefire with Yemen’s Houthis, the deal with Hamas to free US-Israeli citizen Edan Alexander, and negotiations with Iran. There have also been a series of media reports about friction between President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but there’s no indication that the US administration is willing to leverage military aid to Israel to force Netanyahu to agree to a permanent ceasefire deal in Gaza.
Netanyahu Says Trump's Ethnic Cleansing Plan Is a Condition To End Gaza War - On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said President Trump’s plan to remove the Palestinian population from Gaza was a condition to end Israel’s genocidal war on the besieged territory.“I am prepared to end the war in Gaza, under clear conditions that will ensure the safety of Israel – all the hostages come home, Hamas lays down its arms, steps down from power, its leadership is exiled from the Strip … Gaza is totally disarmed, and we carry out the Trump plan. A plan that is so correct and so revolutionary,” Netanyahu said, according to The Cradle. Trump has repeatedly called for the removal of Gaza’s population as part of his plan for the US to take over the territory and has previously said there would be no right of return for Palestinians. Netanyahu’s comments on Wednesday marked the first time he said the expulsion of the Palestinian population was a condition to end the war. It’s been clear since October 2023 that the Israeli government wanted ethnic cleansing in Gaza, and Trump’s calls have emboldened Netanyahu and other officials to pursue a plan to carry it out. It still remains unclear where the Palestinians would go. Netanyahu recently told a Knesset committee that the lack of countries willing to take in Gaza’s population was the “main problem” preventing “emigration.”Netanyahu also vowed on Wednesday that Israel would fully occupy Gaza. “All of Gaza’s territories will be under Israeli security control, and Hamas will be totally defeated,” he said. The Israeli leader also said Israel would set up a “sterile zone” in southern Gaza for the civilian population. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said that under Israel’s plans for its current military offensive, the civilian population will be “concentrated” into a tiny area of the south and then pressured to leave Gaza. “The Gazan citizens will be concentrated in the south. They will be totally despairing, understanding that there is no hope and nothing to look for in Gaza, and will be looking for relocation to begin a new life in other places,” Smotrich said.
Mercenary Firm Set To Oversee Gaza Aid For Israel Goes On LinkedIn Hiring Spree -The US private military contracting firm set to oversee Gaza aid distribution on Israel's behalf is actively hiring for positions on LinkedIn, according to job postings shared with Middle East Eye by current and former US officials.The firm, Safe Reach Solutions, or SRS, says it is actively looking for "Humanitarian Liaison Officers" who will "serve as vital connectors between our operational teams and the broader humanitarian community," according to one job description. Another position on offer a week ago but has since closed is for a “Team Deputy/Manager” to support “day-to-day management, planning, and mission execution”.A liaison officer position appears to be analytically focused. It says that hires will “advise on best practices for engaging with affected populations, local authorities, and community-based organizations” while monitoring developments that could impact “operational posture”.The team deputy position is geared towards recruits with a background in operations. One of the requirements is “field experience in the Middle East, especially in conflict-affected or post-crisis settings”.The positions want applicants with at least seven years of experience. They require applicants to be US citizens and say fluency in Arabic is preferred. Ironically, SRS is seeking people with UN experience, but the plan to take over aid distribution seeks to supplant the United Nations, which is already capable of delivering aid in Gaza. "These mid- to senior-career professionals will help bridge communication, coordination, and trust with NGOs, international agencies, and UN bodies operating in complex environments."Demand for the positions appears to be high. According to LinkedIn, more than 100 people applied for the humanitarian liaison officer position within two weeks.
Israeli Officials Explain Balancing Act Between Overt Genocide And Maintaining Western Support - Caitlin Johnstone -One of the talking points Israel apologists like to regurgitate is that Israel can’t possibly be acting with genocidal intent in Gaza, because if they had wanted to exterminate the Palestinians they could have easily done so in a matter of days.As luck would have it, leaders from the Israeli government have just helpfully come out and debunked that talking point with a few shockingly frank public admissions.Explaining the decision to allow a minuscule amount of aid into Gaza after months of deliberate starvation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Israel is now allowing “minimal humanitarian aid” on the insistence of western officials so that they will support Israel’s murderous operation to conquer the enclave. Jeremy Scahill reports the following for Drop Site News: “We’re going to take control of all the Gaza Strip,” Netanyahu vowed Monday in a video released by his office announcing that Israel would begin delivering “minimal humanitarian aid: food and medicine only.” Netanyahu claimed that international pressure, including from pro-Israel Republican senators and the White House, required the appearance of humanitarian intervention. “Our best friends in the world — senators I know as strong supporters of Israel — have warned that they cannot support us if images of mass starvation emerge,” he said. “They come to me and say, ‘We’ll give you all the help you need to win the war… but we can’t be receiving pictures of famine,’” Netanyahu added. To continue the war of annihilation, he asserted, “We need to do it in a way that they won’t stop us.”As usual, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich went even further in saying the quiet part out loud and giving the whole game away, explaining that Israel is providing just enough aid to maintain western support and avoid war crimes charges while advancing its ethnic cleansing operation in the Gaza Strip, boasting about the government’s skillfulness in “navigating” that line. Some choice Smotrich quotes, courtesy of the aforementioned Drop Site News write-up:
- Smotrich said the aid scheme would allow “our friends in the world to continue to provide us with an international umbrella of protection against the Security Council and the Hague Tribunal, and for us to continue to fight, God willing, until victory.”
- “The [aid] that will enter Gaza in the coming days is the tiniest amount. A handful of bakeries that will hand out pita bread to people in public kitchens. People in Gaza will get a pita and a food plate, and that’s it. Exactly what we are seeing in the videos: people standing in line and waiting to have someone serve them, with some soup plate.”
- “Truth be told, until the last of the hostages returns, we should also not let water into the Gaza Strip. But the reality is that if we do that, the world will force us to halt the war immediately, and to lose. It would be winning the battle, and losing the war. I’m committed to winning the war.”
- “We are disassembling Gaza, and leaving it as piles of rubble, with total destruction [which has] no precedent globally. And the world isn’t stopping us. There are pressures. There are those who attack [us]; they are trying to [make us] stop; they are not succeeding. You know why they aren’t succeeding? Because we are navigating [the campaign] responsibly and wisely, and that’s how we’ll continue to do [it].”
- Smotrich said that the Israeli forces are initiating a campaign to force Palestinians into the south of Gaza “and from there, God willing, to third countries, as part of President Trump’s plan. This is a change of the course of history — nothing less.”
Smotrich also praised the IDF for deliberately targeting civilians and civil infrastructure, saying “The IDF is finally conducting a campaign against the civilian rule of Hamas… eliminating ministers, officials, money changers, and figures in the economic and governmental apparatus.”
You Are Already Fully Qualified To Oppose The Genocide In Gaza - Caitlin Johnstone - You don’t need to understand every little detail about Israel and Palestine to oppose the genocide in Gaza. You can safely go with your gut on this one. You can and should research this issue, of course, but everything you learn will only make Israel look worse. I say this because I see too many people get intimidated away from speaking out about Gaza by an erroneous but widespread notion that this is an issue best left to the experts. This notion is promulgated by Israel and its apologists throughout the western world, who try to frame this as a super duper complex issue which requires years of research to be able to comprehend with the requisite nuance and accuracy.And it’s complete bullshit. The Gaza genocide is exactly what it looks like at first glance. I say this as someone who has been researching this issue extensively.You don’t need to know everything about the history of modern Israel to know that it’s wrong to intentionally starve a civilian population. You don’t need to be able to defend your position to aggressive pro-Israel trolls online to know that it’s wrong to assassinate journalists, bomb hospitals, and rain military explosives on areas full of children. You don’t need any qualifications of any kind to see the horrific footage coming out of Gaza and denounce your government for facilitating those atrocities.Israel and its supporters understand the power of narrative control better than maybe any other group out there. They even have a word, “hasbara”, for the practice of defending Israel’s public image and justifying its crimes to the western public. If you speak out about Gaza on any public forum you are likely to run into a hasbarist who tries to intimidate you into silence by knowing a little bit more than you about this issue and spouting a few talking points that you are not quite equipped to address just yet.And I am telling you that you should definitely disregard these people and push past your initial impulse to be intimidated into silence. The reason “I ain’t reading all that, free Palestine” has become a meme in pro-Palestine circles is because Israel apologists have been trying to use mountains of verbiage to counter the public response to raw video footage documenting clear abuses in Gaza. It takes a whole lot of words to try and spin footage of mutilated children as the fault of Hamas, or photos of IDF soldiers mockingly dressing in the clothes of dead and displaced Palestinian women as fine and normal. They confront people with walls of text filled with apologia and talking points to try and overwhelm their common sense and empathy as they look at raw evidence of Israel’s depravity.
The World Cannot Know True Peace Until We Have Reckoned With What We Did To Gaza -- Caitlin Johnstone - I was listening to a young writer describe an idea he’d had that he was so excited about he couldn’t sleep the night before, and I remembered how before Gaza I used to get excited about writing stuff. I haven’t felt that feeling since 2023. I’m not complaining or feeling sorry for myself, I’m just remarking on how incredibly bleak and dark the world has been during this terrible time. It would be weird and unhealthy if I was enjoying my job here this past year and a half. These things aren’t supposed to feel good. Not if you’re really looking at them and being sincere and honest with yourself about what you are seeing. It’s been so ugly and so unsettling this whole time. There’s not really any way to reframe all this horror and make it okay. All you can do is work on yourself to make sure you have enough inner spaciousness to accommodate the bad feelings and feel them all the way through until they’ve had their say. Let in the despair. The grief. The rage. The pain. Let it move all the way through your system without resisting and then get up and write the next thing. That’s what writing is for me now. It’s never anything I am excited to share or am lit up with inspiration about. If anything it’s more like “Okay, here you go, awful sorry I’ve got to show this to you, folks.” It’s just staring into the darkness and the blood and the gore and the anguished faces and writing out what I see, day after day. Nothing about it is pleasant or rewarding. It’s just what you do when there’s a live-streamed genocide happening right in front of you with the backing of your own society. Everything about it sucks, and there’s no way to make it not suck, but you do what needs to be done, like you would if it were your own family out there in the rubble. This genocide has changed me forever. It has changed a lot of people forever. We will never be the same. The world will never be the same. No matter what happens or how this nightmare ends, things are never again going back to the way they were. And they shouldn’t. The Gaza holocaust is the product of the way the world was before it happened. Our society birthed it into existence, and now it’s staring us all right in the face. This is who we are. This is the fruit of the tree of what western civilization has been up until this point. Now it’s just a matter of doing everything we can to make sure the genocide ends, and that the world learns the right lessons from it. This is as worthy a cause as anyone could take up in this life. I still have hope that we can have a healthy world. I still have hope that writing about what’s happening can be enjoyable again one day. But these things exist on the other side of some very hard and confronting work in the years to come. There’s just no getting around it. The world cannot have peace and happiness until we have fully reckoned with what we did to Gaza.
Witkoff Says US 'Cannot Allow' Any Iranian Nuclear Enrichment - US envoy Steve Witkoff said in an interview that aired Sunday that the US “cannot allow” Iran to maintain a civilian nuclear enrichment program, calling the issue a “red line” for the Trump administration.“We have one very, very clear red line, and that is enrichment. We cannot allow even one percent of an enrichment capability,” Witkoff said. Iranian officials have made clear that they’re ready to reduce uranium enrichment levels, but the idea of eliminating its enrichment program altogether is a non-starter, and the US’s insistence on that demand makes a deal unlikely. Witkoff said the US has “delivered a proposal to the Iranians that we think addresses some of this without disrespecting them” and insisted the US is seeking “a deal that does not include enrichment.”In response to Witkoff’s comments, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi vowed that Iran’s nuclear enrichment program would continue.“If the US is interested in ensuring that Iran will not have nuclear weapons, a deal is within reach, and we are ready for a serious conversation to achieve a solution that will forever ensure that outcome,” Aragchi wrote on X. “Enrichment in Iran, however, will continue with or without a deal.”The Trump administration is under significant pressure from Republicans in Congress to settle for nothing less than a deal that eliminates Iran’s nuclear enrichment program. More than 200 GOP lawmakers made the demand in a recent letter to President Trump, which was likely an effort to sabotage diplomacy to bring the US and Iran closer to war.Trump has been threatening that the US will attack Iran if a deal isn’t reached on its nuclear program, even though his intelligence agencies recently reaffirmed that there’s no evidence Tehran is building a bomb or that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has reversed his ban on the development of nuclear weapons.
Iran's Khamenei Says US Demands About Nuclear Enrichment Are 'Nonsense' - Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday called US demands for Iran to eliminate its civilian nuclear enrichment program“nonsense” and said he doesn’t think the negotiations with the US would “bring results.”Iranian officials have made clear that the idea of dismantling Tehran’s nuclear enrichment program is a non-starter, but US officials have continued to make the demand, including Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s Middle East envoy, who has been leading negotiations with Iran.“For them to say, ‘we won’t allow uranium enrichment,’ is utter nonsense,” Khamenei said at an event marking the one-year anniversary of the death of former Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi“We are not waiting for anyone’s permission. The Islamic Republic has certain policies and approaches, and it will pursue its own policy,” Khamenei added.Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi, who has been leading negotiations with the US, has also had harsh words for the US demand for Iran to eliminate its enrichment program and said Tehran has yet to agree to hold a fifth round of talks.“A date has been suggested, but we have not yet accepted it,” Aragchi said, according to Reuters. “We are witnessing positions on the US side that do not go along with any logic and are creating problems for the negotiations. That’s why we have not determined the next round of talks, we are reviewing the matter and hope logic will prevail.”The Trump administration is under significant pressure from Republicans in Congress to settle for nothing less than a deal that eliminates Iran’s nuclear enrichment program. More than 200 GOP lawmakers made the demand in a recent letter to President Trump, which was likely an effort to sabotage diplomacy to bring the US and Iran closer to war.Trump has been threatening that the US will attack Iran if a deal isn’t reached on its nuclear program, even though his intelligence agencies recently reaffirmed that there’s no evidence Tehran is building a bomb or that Khamenei has reversed his ban on the development of nuclear weapons.
Oman Says US-Iran Nuclear Talks To Take Place in Rome This Friday -Oman’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that the fifth round of US-Iran nuclear talks will be held in Rome this Friday, despite US and Iranian officials being at odds over Tehran’s nuclear enrichment program. Trump administration officials have been demanding that Iran eliminate its civilian enrichment program, a condition Iranian officials have made clear is a non-starter. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Tuesday that the US demand was “nonsense.” Republicans in Congress are also demanding that any deal eliminate Iran’s nuclear enrichment program, likely in an effort to sabotage diplomacy and bring the US and Iran closer to war. Axios reported on Wednesday that Israel is preparing to swiftly strike Iran’s nuclear facilities if the US-Iran talks break down. An Israeli official said that any attack on Iran would not be a one-off, but a military campaign lasting at least a week. The Israeli officials speaking to Axios also confirmed a report from CNN a day earlier that said the US observed Israel making preparations for an attack on Iran.Israel would require significant US support if it wanted to do real damage to Iran’s nuclear facilities, but the CNN report cited an Israeli source who said Israel could launch an attack on its own if the US and Iran were to negotiate what it considers a “bad deal.” Another source said it was more likely Israel would strike Iran to sabotage the talks.While President Trump previously declined to back an Israeli attack on Iran and opted for diplomacy, he has been threatening to bomb Iran if a deal isn’t reached. The threats come even though US intelligence agencies have recently reaffirmed there’s no evidence Iran is building a nuclear weapon.
Iran Says It Will Hold US Accountable for Any Israeli Attack - Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi has said in a letter to the UN that Tehran would hold the US responsible for any Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities.The letter was a response to recent media reports that said Israel was preparing for a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Sources told CNN that the attack could come if Israel isn’t happy with a negotiated deal between the US and Iran or if Israel wants to sabotage an agreement from ever being reached.“Iran strongly warns against any adventurism by the Zionist regime of Israel and will decisively respond to any threat or unlawful act by this regime,” Aragchi said in a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi.“We are likewise of the firm conviction that — in the event of any attack against the nuclear facilities of the Islamic Republic of Iran by the Zionist regime — the government of the United States shall bear legal responsibility, having been complicit therein,” Aragchi said.The Iranian diplomat called on the “international community to take effective preventive measures against the continuation of Israeli threats, which if unchecked, will compel Iran to take special measures in defense of our nuclear facilities and materials.” Iranian officials have previously said Iran could suspend IAEA inspections of its civilian nuclear program or move enriched uranium to undisclosed locations in response to an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. Aragchi’s letter comes a day before the US and Iran are set to hold another round of nuclear talks in Rome. The two sides have been at odds over the US’s demands for Iran to eliminate its nuclear enrichment program altogether, which Iranian officials have made clear is a non-starter, but the negotiations have continued.
Iran Says Nuclear Talks With US Have 'Possibility of Progress' - The Iranian Foreign Minister expressed optimism that the US and Iran could reach an agreement over his country’s nuclear energy program. Italy hosted the talks with the Omani mediator issuing a less optimistic statement following the talks. “This round was one of the most professional stages of negotiations we have ever experienced. In this meeting, the positions and principles of the Islamic Republic of Iran regarding the negotiation process were once again presented with complete transparency,” Abbas Araghchi said. He continued, “Although we have not yet reached the final agreement stage, the atmosphere prevailing in today’s negotiations, especially given the proposals made by Oman to remove obstacles, has strengthened the possibility of achieving progress.”The optimistic statement followed multiple Iranian officials stating that Tehran would not give up its nuclear enrichment program. Several US officials have said that Washington will not reach a new deal with Tehran unless the Islamic Republic dismantles its enrichment program. Donald Trump’s Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff, who is leading the US talks with Iran, said Sunday that Washington would not allow Tehran to keep any enrichment capabilities. “We have one very, very clear red line, and that is enrichment. We cannot allow even one percent of an enrichment capability,” he said. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei responded on Tuesday, calling Witkoff’s remarks “utter nonsense.” “For them to say, ‘we won’t allow uranium enrichment,’ is utter nonsense,” he explained. Before the talks on Friday morning, Araghchi wrote on X that demanding Iran dismantle its nuclear enrichment program was a red line. “Figuring out the path to a deal is not rocket science. Zero nuclear weapons = we DO have a deal. Zero enrichment = we do NOT have a deal. Time to decide…”
Rubio Warns Syria Could Descend Into 'Full-Scale Civil War' Within Weeks - Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Congress on Tuesday that the US assesses the new al-Qaeda-linked Syrian government could collapse within weeks and that the country could descend into “full-scale civil war.”Rubio made the comments at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, where he explained the administration’s rationale for engaging with Syria’s new de facto leaders, who the US helped put in power, despite their al-Qaeda roots. Rubio recently met with Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, Syria’s new foreign minister, in Turkey. According to Turkish media reports, Shibani was a founding member of the al-Nusra Front, Syria’s al-Qaeda affiliate that eventually rebranded into Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the group that led the offensive against former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and took power in Damascus in December 2024. “The bad news is that the transitional authority figures, they didn’t pass their background check with the FBI. They’ve got a tough history and one that we understand,” Rubio said. “If we engage them, it may work out, it may not work out. If we did not engage them, it was guaranteed that it would not work out,” he added. “In fact, it was our assessment that, frankly, the transitional authority, given the challenges they’re facing, are maybe weeks, not many months, away from potential collapse.”Rubio said that a collapse would lead to “a full-scale civil war of epic proportions. Basically, the country splitting up.”Rubio’s testimony came after President Trump announced he planned to lift sanctions on Syria and met with the country’s de facto leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, who was previously known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, who was the leader of the al-Nusra Front and later HTS.A civil war does appear to be brewing in Syria as HTS-affiliated jihadists have carried out massacres of Alawite civilians in western Syria and have also been clashing with Druze fighters around Damascus. In recent days, government forces have also launched raids against ISIS. Syria has also faced heavy airstrikes from Israel since the regime change, and the Israeli military has invaded and seized territory in southern Syria. Sharaa has signaled that he’s willing to normalize relations with Syria to obtain sanctions relief from the US, but Israel appears more interested in continuing its occupation and bombing campaign in the country.
Navy Chief Says US Recently Launched the 'Largest Airstrike in the History of the World' on Somalia - Adm. James Kilby, the US Navy’s chief of naval operations, has claimed that the US recently launched the “largest airstrike in the history of the world” in an attack on Somalia. Kilby said US fighter jets fired 125,000 pounds of bombs “from a single aircraft carrier into Somalia.” A US official told Business Insider that Kilby was referring to a February 1 bombing of ISIS fighters in northeast Syria’s Golis Mountain range in the Puntland region.The official said 16 F/A-18 Super Hornets launched the strikes from the aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman as it was operating in the Red Sea, and that the attack targeted a sprawling cave complex. The head of Somalia’s Puntland region claimed at the time that 46 ISIS fighters were killed by the US bombing. The February 1 strike marked the first time the US bombed Somalia under the new Trump administration. Since then, the US has launchedanother 24 strikes on the country, according to AFRICOM press releases, in attacks that have targeted both ISIS in Puntland and al-Shabaab in southern and central Somalia.The pace of airstrikes marks a significant escalation in the US air war in Somalia. For comparison, in all of 2024, the US launched nine airstrikes in the country. President Trump also dramatically escalated the bombing campaign in his first term and set the record for the number of US airstrikes in Somalia in a single year at 63 in 2019.Kilby also discussed the US bombing campaign in Yemen, which ended when President Trump announced the ceasefire with the Houthis on May 6. In about a month and a half, the US military said it launchedover 1,000 strikes on Yemen, and the attacks killed more than 200 civilians.Kilby said the Harry Truman and its strike group launched 670 strikes on Yemen and engaged 160 drones and missiles that the Houthis fired at Israel, US warships, and shipping lanes.
US Launches Two More Airstrikes in Somalia - US Africa Command said in a press release on Wednesday that its forces launched an airstrike in Somalia in coordination with the US-backed government on May 17. AFRICOM said the strike targeted al-Shabaab and was launched about 125 miles north of Mogadishu but offered no other details. “Specific details about units and assets will not be released to ensure continued operations security,” the command said.On Tuesday, the White House released a video of an airstrike in Somalia that it said was launched on Monday. The White House claimed it killed 10 “Jihadis” and that it brought the total number of “blood thirsty terrorists” killed by the Trump administration to over 100.According to Somali media, the strike targeted the ISIS affiliate in Somalia’s northeastern Puntland region. So far, AFRICOM has not put out a press release on the strike claimed by the White House. AFRICOM used to offer estimates on the number of militants killed and whether or not civilians were harmed, but it stopped releasing that information last month. The command told Antiwar.com in an email last week that it wouldn’t be sharing any information about casualties in its airstrikes in Somalia as the Trump administration “settles in,” even though the first 100 days have already passed.
AFRICOM Says It Won't Share Info on Casualties in Somalia Strikes as Trump Administration 'Settles In' - US Africa Command (AFRICOM) has told Antiwar.com that it won’t share details about casualties in its airstrikes in Somalia as the new Trump administration “settles in.”According to AFRICOM press releases, the US has launched at least 24 airstrikes in Somalia since President Trump was sworn in. Strikes have targeted the ISIS affiliate in northeastern Somalia’s Puntland as well as al-Shabaab, which has been on the offensive against the US-backed federal government in southern and central Somalia.Until recently, AFRICOM would share estimates of casualties in its airstrikes in Somalia. In a press release dated April 12, AFRICOM said it launched a strike against ISIS-Somalia and that its “current assessment is that the airstrike killed one ISIS terrorist and that no civilians were harmed.”But since then, AFRICOM’s press releases have become briefer and have not included casualty estimates or assessments of civilian harm. “Specific details about units and assets will not be released to ensure continued operations security,” the command said in a release on its latest airstrike in Somalia.“As the new administration settles in, we’re refraining from reporting estimated battle damage assessments and providing initial assessments on civilian harm probability as a matter of course,” AFRICOM spokesman Lt. Col. Doug Halleaux told Antiwar.com in an email on Friday.“We’re expecting policy to follow guiding how and when these assessments are released, but until then, our shorter press releases post-strike will be the norm,” he added.Halleaux said that AFRICOM would continue to publish quarterly civilian casualty assessments and that the “command has assessed that there have been no civilian harm or civilian casualties in any of our recent strikes – if that changes, it will be included in the quarterly reports.”The lack of transparency in the air campaign in Somalia follows a similar policy to the recent bombing campaign in Yemen. Throughout about a month and a half of airstrikes, US Central Command offered no estimates of the number of people killed in particular strikes and provided no assessment on civilian harm. According to the Yemen Data Project, the US bombing campaign in Yemen killed over 200 civiliansfrom March 15 to April 31.
Donald Trump threatens ABC News over Qatar jet coverage --President Trump is threatening ABC News over its coverage of a luxury jet he is set to receive from Qatar, a decision that is drawing criticism from both congressional leaders and national security experts. “Why doesn’t Chairman Bob Iger do something about ABC Fake News,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Saturday, name-checking the Disney CEO who presides over the broadcast news network. The president referenced a multimillion-dollar settlement the network paid him late last year over comments made by George Stephanopoulos in which the “This Week” anchor falsely said Trump had been convicted of sexual assault. The company retracted and apologized for the remarks. “Now I see they are at it again, and I again give these SleazeBags fair warning,” Trump wrote in his weekend post. “The wonderful country of Qatar, after agreeing to invest more than 1.4 Trillion Dollars in the United States of America, deserves much better than Misleading (Fake!) News. Everyone, including their lawyers, has been told that ABC must not say that Qatar is giving ME a FREE Boeing 747 Airplane, because they are not.” Trump said his lawyers have requested ABC stop calling the jet “free,” arguing the network “fully knows and understands, this highly respected country is donating the plane to the United States Air Force/ Defense Department, AND NOT TO ME.” Trump has threatened a number of leading news networks over their coverage of him during his second term in office, urging his Federal Communications Commission to investigate the outlets and refusing questions from reporters working for those he says are not fair to him.
White House rolls out a multibillion-dollar US-UAE nuclear deal … then deletes it - The White House announced a historic multibillion-dollar partnership between Holtec and United Arab Emirates’ investment giant IHC to build a fleet of small nuclear reactors, but that’s been difficult to verify. According to a Friday email sent by the White House’s Office of Communications, the deal would see Abu Dhabi’s International Holding Co. (IHC) commit up to $30 billion to deploy Holtec International’s SMR-300 small modular reactor technology globally — a gargantuan sum, even for the nuclear industry. The announcement came alongside a broader suite of $200 billion in U.S.-UAE commercial deals.The original White House email read: “Holtec International and IHC Industrial Holding Company (IHC) are entering cooperation to build a fleet of Holtec’s SMR-300 small modular reactors, starting at the Palisades site in Michigan. This agreement includes a commitment of $10 billion, and an additional $20 billion for fleet projects, helping to revitalize American nuclear energy infrastructure, strengthen domestic energy security, and create high-skilled jobs in engineering, construction, and advanced manufacturing across the United States.” But the veracity of the announcement is unclear. The email was sent at 3:01 p.m., but at 4:09 p.m. on Friday, the White House website’s fact sheet — with otherwise identical information and verbiage — did not include anything about a Holtec-IHC partnership. And Holtec did not confirm the details laid out by the White House.
Trump alleges ‘genocide’ in South Africa. At an agricultural fair, even Afrikaner farmers scoff (AP) — Here in Bothaville, where thousands of farmers gathered for a lively agricultural fair with everything from grains to guns on display, even some conservative white Afrikaner groups debunked the Trump administration’s “genocide” and land seizure claims that led it to cut all financial aid to South Africa. The bustling scene was business as usual, with milkshakes and burgers and tow-headed children pulled in wagons. The late President Nelson Mandela — South Africa’s first Black leader — stood in Bothaville over a quarter-century ago and acknowledged the increasing violent attacks on farmers in the first years following the decades-long racial system of apartheid. “But the complex problem of crime on our farms, as elsewhere, demand long-term solutions,” he said. Some at the agricultural fair said fleeing the country isn’t one of them. “I really hope that during the upcoming visit to Washington, (President Cyril Ramaphosa) is going to be able to put the facts before his counterpart and to demonstrate that there is no mass expropriation of land taking place in South Africa, and there is no genocide taking place,” John Steenhuisen, minister of agriculture, told The Associated Press. He will be part of the delegation for Wednesday’s meeting. The minority white Afrikaner community is in the spotlight after the U.S. granted refugee status to at least 49 of them claiming to flee racial and violent persecution and widespread seizures of white-owned land — despite evidence that such claims are untrue. While many at the agricultural fair raised serious concerns about the safety of farmers and farm workers, others were quick to point out that crime targeted both Black and white farmers and farm workers, as shown by South Africa’s crime statistics. Thobani Ntonga, a Black farmer from Eastern Cape province, told the AP he had been attacked on his farm by criminals and almost kidnapped but a Black neighbor intervened. “Crime affects both Black and white. … It’s an issue of vulnerability,” he said. “Farmers are separated from your general public. We’re not near towns, we are in the rural areas. And I think it’s exactly that. So, perpetrators, they thrive on that, on the fact that farms are isolated.” Other farmers echoed his thoughts and called for more resources and policing. “Crime especially hits small-scale farmers worse because they don’t have resources for private security,” said Afrikaner farmer Willem de Chavonnes Vrugt. He and other farmers wondered why they would leave the land where they have been rooted for decades. Ramaphosa, himself a cattle farmer, also visited the agricultural fair for the first time in about 20 years — to buy equipment but also do outreach as many in South Africa puzzle over the Trump administration’s focus on their country. “We must not run away from our problems,” the president said during his visit. “When you run away, you’re a coward.”
Trump's image of dead 'white farmers' came from Reuters footage in Congo, not South Africa (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump showed a screenshot of Reuters video taken in the Democratic Republic of Congo as part of what he falsely presented on Wednesday as evidence of mass killings of white South Africans. "These are all white farmers that are being buried," said Trump, holding up a print-out of an article accompanied by the picture during a contentious Oval Office meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. In fact, the video, published by Reuters on February 3 and subsequently verified by the news agency's fact check team, showed humanitarian workers lifting body bags in the Congolese city of Goma. The image was pulled from Reuters footage shot followingdeadly battles with Rwanda-backed M23 rebels. The blog post showed to Ramaphosa by Trump during the White House meeting was published by American Thinker, a conservative online magazine, about conflict and racial tensions in South Africa and Congo.The post did not caption the image but identified it as a "YouTube screen grab" with a link to a video news report about Congo on YouTube, which credited Reuters.The White House did not respond to a request for comment. Andrea Widburg, managing editor at American Thinker and the author of the post in question, wrote in reply to a Reuters query that Trump had "misidentified the image."She added, however, that the post, which referred to what it called Ramaphosa's "dysfunctional, race-obsessed Marxist government", had "pointed out the increasing pressure placed on white South Africans."The footage from which the picture was taken shows a mass burial following an M23 assault on Goma, filmed by Reuters video journalist Djaffar Al Katanty. "That day, it was extremely difficult for journalists to get in ... I had to negotiate directly with M23 and coordinate with the ICRC to be allowed to film," Al Katanty said. "Only Reuters has video."
More US troops headed to the Southern border - The Pentagon is sending 1,115 additional active-duty troops to deploy to the U.S.-Mexico border, bringing the number of service members there close to 10,000. The troops will mainly help with sustainment engineering, logistics, medical and construction, U.S. Northern Command said in a statement Thursday. The additional service members mark another increase in the military’s role in supporting President Trump’s aggressive immigration control agenda. There are already just shy of 8,000 active-duty troops at the border, with the added 1,115 bringing the total to nearly 10,000, a figure approved by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth earlier this year. Trump, since the start of his administration, has vastly increased the number of troops at the border – by about 7,500 – after he heavily campaigned on minimizing illegal immigration and removing immigrants in the United States without legal status, promising “mass deportations.” Last month, Trump authorized the military to take control of federal land stretching across three states at the southern border and designate it as “National Defense Areas” to assist in implementing his immigration crackdown. The move gave the military a more direct role in interacting with immigrants at the border, as it was given the authority to detain and search immigrants lacking certain documentation in New Mexico. In the past decade, troops have traditionally supported law enforcement agencies with immigration issues at the border via logistics, surveillance, security and setting up temporary barriers or fencing, and they were not meant to come into contact with individuals crossing into the United States. But under Trump’s second term, the U.S. military has continued to surge troops, armored vehicles, surveillance planes, warships and helicopters to assist in the southern border mission, even as the number of people attempting to enter the country has dropped dramatically.
Supreme Court allows Trump to strip Venezuelans’ temporary legal status over Jackson dissent -- The Supreme Court in an emergency order on Monday allowed the Trump administration to strip legal protections the Biden administration gave to hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans, over the public dissent of one of the court’s liberal justices. The Trump administration in January said it would move to revoke Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelans — lifting protections that bar deportation due to civil unrest and dangerous conditions in a migrant’s home country. The Justice Department appealed to the Supreme Court after a San Francisco-based federal district judge put the efforts on hold, finding they “appear predicated on negative stereotypes.” Only Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, former President Biden’s appointee to the court, publicly dissented from Monday’s order to lift that judge’s block. Neither Jackson nor the majority explained their decision. It marks another significant legal victory for the Trump administration, which has brought a flurry of emergency appeals to the Supreme Court after district judges across the country blocked President Trump’s various policies. The court on Friday handed the administration a loss, however, by blocking it from swiftly deporting a group of Venezuelan migrants it claims are gang members.In announcing the move, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said she “vacated” an earlier designation of TPS by her predecessor, complaining the Biden administration had sought to “tie our hands.” “For decades, Secretaries across administrations have accordingly terminated TPS designations when, in their judgment, the statutory conditions no longer warrant them. That is exactly what Secretary Noem did here,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote to the justices. It spurred a suit from the National TPS Alliance, who said Noem had no power to simply unwind the earlier designation, arguing she must go through the process of evaluating conditions in the country and providing notice of the decision. The administration has argued the courts have no authority to review the matter, casting any intervention as an intrusion on the executive branch’s control over foreign affairs. But the National TPS Alliance has warned that position would hand over unchecked power. “They could designate Mexico for fifty years to accomplish mass legalization, or China and India to sweeten a trade deal,” the group’s lawyers wrote in court filings. “The government believes such blatantly unlawful actions would be unreviewable ‘determinations.’ The Court should not so radically expand the Secretary’s powers, especially on the emergency docket,” they continued.
First Trump $1,000 ‘self-deport’ flight conducted by DHS -The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has conducted its first charter flight for migrants who agreed to “self-deport” after starting a program to give those voluntarily leaving the country a $1,000 stipend. The flight took 64 citizens of Colombia and Honduras to their home country. “This was a voluntary charter flight, not an ICE enforcement operation,” DHS said in a press release, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “All participants were offered the same benefits as any illegal alien who self-deports using the CBP Home App. They received travel assistance, a $1,000 stipend, and preserved the possibility they could one day return to the United States legally.” The Trump administration earlier this month announced they would begin offering travel assistance as well as the stipend for those registering to self-deport through the CBP Home App. They said migrants would typically be given about three weeks to organize their affairs before departing the country. The CBP Home app is a redesign of the Biden administration’s CBP One app, which allowed migrants to make an appointment at a port of entry for those seeking to make an initial claim of asylum. Still, the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) cautioned people against taking the assistance, noting that some may not be able to return to the U.S. in the future.
At least 50 migrants sent to El Salvador prison entered US legally: Report At least 50 Venezuelan men who were sent to a notorious Salvadoran prison by the Trump administration had immigrated to the U.S. legally, a review by the Libertarian Cato Institute found. The Monday report reviewed data for just a fraction of the men sent to the prison for whom immigration records are available. “The government calls them all ‘illegal aliens.’ But of the 90 cases where the method of crossing is known, 50 men report that they came legally to the United States, with advanced US government permission, at an official border crossing point,” Cato wrote in its report. That figure is in line with broader statistics for Venezuelan migrants, as many came as refugees or through a parole program established by the Biden administration that provided two years of work permits to those who could secure a U.S.-based sponsor. “The proportion isn’t what matters the most: the astounding absolute numbers are,” Cato wrote. “Dozens of legal immigrants were stripped of their status and imprisoned in El Salvador.” The report takes issue with Trump administration claims that it deported immigrants who had illegally entered in the country, when in fact, 21 were allowed into the country after presenting at a port of entry, and 24 were paroled into the country. Four came as refugees, and one initially came on a tourist visa. Full records for the roughly 200 Venezuelans sent to prison in El Salvador have not been provided by the Trump administration. Cato reviewed the information for 174 of the men for whom some information is publicly available. While the Trump team has accused several of the men of being involved with gangs, in many cases that accusation appears to be largely based on tattoos. Several of those tattoos are nods to sports teams or have personal meaning not related to gang affiliation. In the case of one man, Andry José Hernández Romero, the crown tattoos on his arms were a nod to the Three Kings Day celebrations the makeup artist’s hometown in Venezuela is known for. “At least 42 were labeled as gang members primarily based on their tattoos, which Venezuelan gangs do not use to identify members and are not reliable indicators of gang membership,” Cato wrote. The records reviewed by Cato also countered administration claims that it was deporting criminals. Of the men who had immigrated legally, “only two appear to have had a U.S. criminal conviction of any kind, both for minor drug offenses,” the report found. The report noted that because many were detained immediately before being deported to the Salvadoran prison, “there is no possibility that they demonstrated any gang ties or committed any crimes inside the United States.”
Trump administration violates judge’s order, banishes immigrants to South Sudan - On Wednesday, District Judge Brian E. Murphy in Boston, Massachusetts, ruled that the US government violated his previously issued order when the US government began deporting eight men to South Sudan, a country currently in a state of civil war, earlier this week. In an emergency hearing Wednesday, Judge Murphy said the Trump administration “unquestionably” was in “violation of this court’s order.” Last month, Murphy instructed the Trump administration not to deport immigrants to countries they are not citizens of without providing at least a 15-day notice for them to challenge their deportation. Lawyers for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) admitted in Wednesday’s hearing that only one of the eight immigrants currently in Africa was actually from South Sudan. The other seven men, according to DHS, are citizens of Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Burma and Vietnam and had never been to South Sudan. It appears none of the men was given more than a few hours’ notice before they were flown out of the country. Not one of them was able to contact lawyers after the notice was given, and it is unclear how many of the men even understood the order. “It was impossible for these people to have a meaningful opportunity to object to their transfer to South Sudan,” Murphy explained Wednesday. According to the New York Times, as of this writing the plane carrying the immigrants is currently in Djibouti. The Times, citing “two people familiar with the matter,” reported that US military personnel were “standing by to assist with securing detainees if needed.” Djibouti is home to Camp Lemonnier, the only permanent US military base on the African continent. The base currently houses over 5,000 US and allied soldiers, contractors and spies. The base serves as a major drone and logistics center and is strategically located next to the Djibouti-Ambouli International Airport in Djibouti City. South Sudan is currently in a civil war. A March 8 travel advisory from the State Department warns: Do not travel to South Sudan due to crime, kidnapping, and armed conflict. ... Violent crime, such as carjackings, shootings, ambushes, assaults, robberies, and kidnappings are common throughout South Sudan, including Juba. Foreign nationals have been the victims of rape, sexual assault, armed robberies, and other violent crimes. If one does decide to travel to South Sudan, the State Department suggests drafting “a will and designate appropriate insurance beneficiaries and/or power of attorney” and discussing “a plan with loved ones regarding care/custody of children, pets, property, belongings, non-liquid assets (collections, artwork, etc.), funeral wishes, etc.”
Habba announces criminal charge against Rep. McIver over ICE facility scuffle -- Alina Habba, the interim U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, announced Monday she is charging Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) with assaulting law enforcement while at an U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Newark earlier this month. It marks the first time that President Trump’s Justice Department has criminally charged a sitting lawmaker during his second term, a major escalation stemming from when McIver tried to gain access to the Delaney Hall ICE detention center along with two other New Jersey Democrats and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka (D) earlier this month. Habba’s office previously charged Baraka with a misdemeanor trespassing charge. She simultaneously announced on Monday that his charge would be dropped “for the sake of moving forward.” But Habba said McIver’s conduct “cannot be overlooked” and accused the congresswoman of the federal crime of assaulting, resisting and impeding law enforcement. “I have persistently made efforts to address these issues without bringing criminal charges and have given Representative McIver every opportunity to come to a resolution, but she has unfortunately declined,” Habba said in a statement.
Hassan, Noem lock horns over habeas corpus --Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) tussled with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem at a committee hearing Tuesday over habeas corpus, which the administration is considering suspending as it increasingly comes into focus in the legal fights over President Trump’s immigration agenda. “What is habeas corpus?” Hassan asked during the hearing before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. “Well, habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country, to suspend their right to —” Noem responded. Hassan then interjected, “Let me stop you, ma’am. Habeas corpus, excuse me, that’s incorrect.” Habeas corpus requires the government to bring someone they are detaining before a court and justify the legality of their detention. It has become a key legal tool for migrants to contest the administration’s immigration crackdown. Among others, it has been used by Venezuelans to challenge the Trump administration’s use of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to swiftly deport them to a Salvdoran megaprison and foreign students to contest their immigration detention over participation in pro-Palestinian activism. “If not for that protection, the government could simply arrest people, including American citizens, and hold them indefinitely for no reason,” Hassan said. “Habeas corpus is the foundational right that separates free societies like America from police states like North Korea.” The New Hampshire Democrat then asked Noem at the hearing if she supports habeas corpus. “I support habeas corpus, I also recognize that the president of the United States has the authority under the Constitution to decide if it should be suspended or not,” Noem responded. Her comments echo those of White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, who suggested earlier this month that the president may try to suspend habeas corpus to carry out mass deportations without bringing individuals for court hearings. The Constitution provides that “the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.” Noem last week indicated she believed current immigration conditions could warrant a suspension. Any move by the White House to unilaterally revoke the writ by declaring an “invasion” at the southern border is all but certain to spark lawsuits. The restrictions were laid out in Article I of the Constitution, which defines the legislature. But the specific phrasing does not explicitly tie the suspension power to Congress, leaving ambiguity that the administration believes also vests Trump with the authority.
Trump administration blocks Harvard's international enrollments, threatens broader crackdown (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's administration revoked Harvard University's ability to enroll international students on Thursday, and is forcing existing students to transfer to other schools or lose their legal status, while also threatening to expand the crackdown to other schools. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem ordered the department to terminate Harvard University’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification, the department said in a statement. Noem accused the university of "fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party." Harvard said the move by the Trump administration - which affects thousands of students - was illegal and amounted to retaliation. The clampdown on foreign students marks a significant escalation of the Trump administration’s campaign against the elite Ivy League university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which has emerged as one of Trump's most prominent institutional targets. The move comes after Harvard refused to provide information that Noem had previously demanded about some foreign student visa holders who attend the university, the department said. Harvard enrolled nearly 6,800 international students in the 2024-2025 school year, amounting to 27% of its total enrollment, according to university statistics. In 2022, Chinese nationals made up the biggest population of foreign students with 1,016, university figures show. After that were students from Canada, India, South Korea, the UK, Germany, Australia, Singapore and Japan. “It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments to help pad their multibillion-dollar endowments," Noem said in a statement. Harvard rejected the allegations and pledged to support foreign students. “The government’s action is unlawful," the university said in a statement. "This retaliatory action threatens serious harm to the Harvard community and our country, and undermines Harvard’s academic and research mission.” The university said it was "fully committed" to educating foreign students and was working on producing guidance for affected students.
Trump Admin Blocks Harvard From Enrolling International Students, Requires Current Foreign Students To Transfer 'Or Lose Legal Status' --Harvard is having a really bad year. From feds yanking billions in grants, to House Republicans alleging ties to the Chinese military, to President Trump threatening their tax-exempt status, to detained embryo-smuggling scientists (and most of that's just this month), the university has now been blocked from enrolling international students - which constitute nearly 1/3 of Harvard admissions. "I am writing to inform you that effective immediately, Harvard University’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification is revoked," according to a letter sent to the university by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, which they promptly shot over to the NY Times. The university has 72 hours to hand over requested information. The decision followed a back-and-forth in recent days over the legality of a wide-ranging records request by the Department of Homeland Security. According to Bloomberg, existing foreign students must transfer or lose their legal status, the notice reads. This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus. It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments… pic.twitter.com/12hJWd1J86 — Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) May 22, 2025 In April DHS threatened to block Harvard from enrolling international students if the university refused to hand over detailed records about the student body containing "relevant information" on student visa holders who have been involved in "known illegal" or "dangerous" activity."It is a privilege to have foreign students attend Harvard University, not a guarantee," Noem wrote in an April letter. "The United States government understands that Harvard University relies heavily on foreign student funding from over 10,000 foreign students to build and maintain their substantial endowment."Harvard dug in last month following the Trump admin's demands - with president Alan Garber saying in a statement "No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue."Concurrently, a federal judge in California has blocked the Trump administration from terminating the legal status of international students nationwide while a court case challenging previous terminations is pending.The order by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White in Oakland bars the government from arresting or incarcerating the plaintiffs and similarly situated students; from transferring any of them outside the jurisdiction of their residence; from imposing any adverse legal effect on students and from reversing the reinstatement of the legal status until the case is resolved. Students can still be arrested for violent crimes. -APAccording to White, the government's actions "wreaked havoc not only on the lives of Plaintiffs here but on similarly situated F-1 nonimmigrants across the United States and continues do so."
Harvard sues Trump administration after DHS bans international students - Harvard University is suing the Trump administration a day after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) revoked its certification to admit foreign students, an escalation of its fight with the institution and an effort to hit its wallet.Harvard President Alan Garber announced the suit in a letter to the Harvard community.“Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard,” the complaint reads.The suit, filed in federal court in Massachusetts, claims the administration’s actions violate the First Amendment, constitutional due process and DHS’s own regulations. It landed just hours after DHS Secretary Kristi Noem ordered Harvard be taken off the Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification. The order effectively bans Harvard from enrolling new international students and forces current ones, who make up roughly a quarter of the school’s student population, to transfer. Garber characterized the government’s actions as an effort to lash out at Harvard over its “refusal to surrender our academic independence and to submit to the federal government’s illegal assertion of control over our curriculum, our faculty and our student body.”“We condemn this unlawful and unwarranted action,” he wrote.
Khanna criticizes Trump agreement to put AI data center in Dubai: What about ‘America First’?-Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) on Sunday criticized the Trump administration’s deal with the United Arab Emirates to build a massive artificial intelligence (AI) data center in Dubai, suggesting the president should have sought to build the hub on American soil. In an interview on ABC News’s “This Week,” the Silicon Valley congressman questioned whether the UAE deal aligns with the president’s “America First” philosophy. “I don’t like the fact that the biggest AI center, research center, is going to be in Dubai,” Khanna said, when asked about the president’s first trip to the region. “I mean, what happened to ‘America First?’” he continued. “Why don’t we put that center in Pennsylvania or in Ohio? Especially western Pennsylvania, that’s a place that’s looking to get massive data centers, and that would create a lot of jobs.” “Now, I’m all for collaboration, selling more into our allies in the Middle East, but we should be focused on putting the new technology jobs in the United States,” Khanna added. The AI campus, unveiled during Trump’s visit to the UAE, will have 5 gigawatts of capacity and will eventually stretch across 10 square miles, the Commerce Department announced Thursday. The data center at Qasr Al Watan will serve as a regional platform for U.S. hyperscalers, which are technology companies that provide cloud computing and data management services. These companies will be able to offer low-latency services to nearly half of the global population residing within 2,000 miles of the UAE, the Commerce Department said. “In the UAE, American companies will operate the data centers and offer American-managed cloud services throughout the region,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in a statement Thursday. “By extending the world’s leading American tech stack to an important strategic partner in the region, this agreement is a major milestone in achieving President Trump’s vision for U.S. AI dominance.”
China puts anti-dumping duties on US engineering plastics - China on Sunday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of POM copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from the United States, the European Union, Japan and Taiwan.The Chinese Commerce Ministry’s findings conclude a probe launched in May 2024, shortly after the U.S. sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports, according to a statement from the ministry.POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, according to the ministry. The highest anti-dumping rates of 74.9 percent were levied on imports from the United States, while European shipments will face 34.5 percent duties, the ministry said.
Walmart responds to Trump comment that retailer should ‘eat the tariffs’ - — Shortly after Walmart announced prices would increase on multiple items sold by the chain, President Trump blasted the company on social media, accusing it of blaming his tariff agenda. “Walmart should STOP trying to blame Tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Saturday. “Between Walmart and China they should, as is said, ‘EAT THE TARIFFS,’ and not charge valued customers ANYTHING. I’ll be watching, and so will your customers!!!” Trump’s post came after Walmart announced in its first-quarter earnings that prices for anything from bananas to car seats would increase partly due to the president’s tariffs. The retail giant responded to Trump’s comments in a statement to NBC News and CBS News.“We have always worked to keep our prices as low as possible and we won’t stop,” the company said. “We’ll keep prices as low as we can for as long as we can given the reality of small retail margins.”Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said during news interviews on Sunday that he spoke with Walmart CEO Doug McMillon a day earlier, and the company would reportedly absorb some of the tariffs.“Walmart will be absorbing some of the tariffs, some may get passed on to consumers,” Bessent said, according to The Associated Press.Walmart told Nexstar’s KNWA on Sunday that it had no comment on Bessent’s remarks.The retailer is not the only company to announce price hikes.Microsoft said earlier this month that it planned to increase the recommended retail prices of Xbox video game consoles and some controllers. The company did not provide an exact reason for the price increase, although Xbox consoles are known to be manufactured in China, which has been a target of massive tariffs from the Trump administration. Barbie maker Mattel, Ford and e-commerce giants Temu and Shein have also recently announced possible price hikes connected to tariffs.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon says markets are too complacent on tariffs, expects S&P 500 earnings growth to collapse --- JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said Monday that markets and central bankers underappreciate the risks created by record U.S. deficits, tariffs and international tensions. Dimon, the veteran CEO and chairman of the biggest U.S. bank by assets, explained his worldview during his bank’s annual investor day meeting in New York. He said he believes the risks of higher inflation and even stagflation aren’t properly represented by stock market values, which have staged a comeback from lows in April.“We have huge deficits; we have what I consider almost complacent central banks,” Dimon said. “You all think they can manage all this. I don’t think they can,” he said.“My own view is people feel pretty good because you haven’t seen effective tariffs,” Dimon said. “The market came down 10%, [it’s] back up 10%. That’s an extraordinary amount of complacency.” Dimon’s comments follow Moody’s rating agency downgrading the U.S. credit rating on Friday over concerns about the government’s growing debt burden. Markets have been whipsawed over the past few months over worries that President Donald Trump’s trade policies will raise inflation and slow the world’s largest economy.Dimon said Monday that he believed Wall Street earnings estimates for S&P 500 companies, which have already declined in the first weeks of Trump’s trade policies, will fall further as companies pull or lower guidance amid the uncertainty.In six months, those projections will fall to 0% earnings growth after starting the year at around 12%, Dimon said. If that were to happen, stocks prices will likely fall.“I think earnings estimates will come down, which means PE will come down,” Dimon said, referring to the price to earnings ratio tracked closely by stock market analysts.The odds of stagflation, “which is basically a recession with inflation,” are roughly double what the market thinks, Dimon added.Separately, one of Dimon’s top deputies said corporate clients are still in “wait-and-see” mode when it comes to acquisitions and other deals.Investment banking revenue is headed for a “mid-teens” percentage decline in the second quarter compared with the year-earlier period, while trading revenue was trending higher by a “mid-to-high” single-digit percentage, said Troy Rohrbaugh, a co-head of the firm’s commercial and investment bank.
Trump threatens 25% tariff on Apple, other tech giants if they don't start making devices in America -Apple shares fell 3% Friday after President Donald Trump threatened the tech giant with a 25% tariff if it does not start producing iPhones in the U.S. — his latest salvo directly targeting a U.S. company over how it conducts its business.In a post on his Truth Social platform Friday morning, Trump wrote he had "long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their iPhone’s that will be sold in the United States of America will be manufactured and built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else.""If that is not the case, a Tariff of at least 25% must be paid by Apple to the U.S.," Trump said.Apple is now down approximately 20% year to date as Trump's threats run up against concerns about the tech giant keeping pace with the AI race.In remarks to the press early Friday afternoon, Trump clarified that any tariff imposed on Apple would also apply to devices imported by companies like Samsung “and any other company that makes that product.”“Otherwise it would not be fair,” Trump said, adding that such a tariff could be implemented by the end of June."When they build their plant here, there's no tariff," Trump continued. He said he believed he'd come to an "understanding" with Cook that he wouldn't be keeping iPhone production overseas. The tariff, Trump indicated, was in response to Apple continuing to do so.An Apple spokesperson declined to comment to CNBC. Less than 24 hours earlier, the Financial Times reported Apple was finalizing plans for a $1.5 billion iPhone component production center in India.Trump also posted threats of a blanket-50% duty on the European Union, saying trade negotiations with the region were “going nowhere.”That post sent broader markets into deeper negative territory. The S&P 500 ended the day down 0.67% for its first significant weekly loss in a month.After a seeming lull that allowed U.S. stocks to make up or erase much of the losses they'd suffered since his shock "Liberation Day" reciprocal tariffs announcement in April, Trump returned Friday to attempting to bend markets to his will.Late in the afternoon, he announced his blessing of a deal between U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel. He ostensibly opposed a tie-up during the campaign. Shares of the U.S. Steel soared 20% on the newsIn a statement, United Steelworkers International President David McCall said. “We cannot speculate about the impact of today’s announcement without more information." "Our concern remains that Nippon, a foreign corporation with a long and proven track record of violating our trade laws, will further erode domestic steelmaking capacity and jeopardize thousands of good, union jobs.”
Trump threatens 50% tariffs on EU and 25% penalties on smart phones (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday threatened a 50% tax on allimports from the European Union as well a 25% tariff on smartphones unless those products are made in America.The threats, delivered over social media, reflect Trump’s ability to disrupt the global economy with a burst of typing, as well as the reality that his tariffs have yet to produce the trade deals he is seeking or the return of domestic manufacturing he has promised voters.The Republican president said he wants to charge higher import taxes on goods from the EU, a longstanding US ally, than from China, a geopolitical rival that had its tariffs cut to 30% this month so Washington and Beijing could hold negotiations. Trump was upset by the lack of progress in trade talks with the EU, which has proposed mutually cutting tariffs to zero even as the president has publicly insisted on preserving a baseline 10% tax on most imports. “Our discussions with them are going nowhere!” Trump posted on Truth Social. “Therefore, I am recommending a straight 50% Tariff on the European Union, starting on June 1, 2025. There is no Tariff if the product is built or manufactured in the United States.”
Trump threatens ‘straight 50% tariff’ on European Union -President Trump threatened to impose a 50 percent tariff on the European Union (EU) starting next month, arguing the 27-member bloc has been uncooperative and that negotiations have gone nowhere. “The European Union, which was formed for the primary purpose of taking advantage of the United States on TRADE, has been very difficult to deal with. Their powerful Trade Barriers, Vat Taxes, ridiculous Corporate Penalties, Non-Monetary Trade Barriers, Monetary Manipulations, unfair and unjustified lawsuits against Americans Companies, and more, have led to a Trade Deficit with the U.S. of more than $250,000,000 a year, a number which is totally unacceptable,” Trump wrote in Friday morning post on Truth Social. The president added that the United States’s discussion with the EU is “going nowhere,” therefore he is recommending a “straight 50 percent Tariff on the European Union, starting on June 1, 2025. There is no Tariff if the product is built or manufactured in the United States.” The potential hike of import taxes on Europe would escalate tensions with the EU. Trump rolled out his “Liberation Day” tariffs in April, which included a 20 percent duty on European goods. The bloc swiftly responded with its own countermeasures. Since then, Trump has halted most of the “reciprocal” tariffs to allow for negotiations to take place, but a 10 percent duty was left in place. He’s also suggested in recent days that once the pause is over, the administration would announce new rates.In early May, the EU’s executive arm, the European Commission, rolled out a plan to respond to Trump by slapping tariffs on more than $100 billion worth of U.S. goods if the negotiations with Washington do not yield a desirable outcome. The list included cars, alcohol, industrial products and Boeing planes. The commission said it would debate the measures through June 10 with its members.
Trump says he’s ‘not looking for a deal’ with the EU after threatening a 50% tariff — President Donald Trump on Friday threatened a 50% tariff on goods from the European Union, citing a lack of progress in current trade negotiations. “Their powerful Trade Barriers, Vat Taxes, ridiculous Corporate Penalties, Non-Monetary Trade Barriers, Monetary Manipulations, unfair and unjustified lawsuits against Americans Companies, and more, have led to a Trade Deficit with the U.S. of more than $250,000,000 a year, a number which is totally unacceptable,” he wrote in a Truth Social post Friday morning. “Our discussions with them are going nowhere!” Trump wrote. “Therefore, I am recommending a straight 50% Tariff on the European Union, starting on June 1, 2025.” But later Friday, at an executive order signing in the Oval Office, Trump escalated his message to the EU. “I’m not looking for a deal,” he said. “We’ve set the deal — it’s at 50%.” Trump opened the door to pushing his June 1 deadline further, saying, “If somebody comes in and wants to build a plant here, I can talk to them about a little bit of a delay.” After a phone call with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Maroš Šefčovič, European Commissioner for Trade, said a deal between the EU and the US must be based on “mutual respect, and not threats.” “The EU’s fully engaged, committed to securing a deal that works for both,” he wrote in a post on X Friday, adding that the European Commission “remains ready to work in good faith.” “We stand ready to defend our interests,” he said. Shortly after Trump’s Truth Social post on Friday morning, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a Fox News interview that the “EU proposals have not been of the same quality that we’ve seen from our other important trading partners.” “I’m not going to negotiate on TV, but I would hope that this would light a fire under the EU,” Bessent said, adding that the “EU has a collective action problem.” The three major European stock market indexes fell sharply after Trump’s post: The benchmark STOXX 600 index was down 1.7%. Germany’s DAX fell 2.4% and France’s CAC index slid 2.2%. London’s FTSE index was 1% down. US stocks also slid, with the Dow opening lower by 480 points, or 1.15%. Stocks came off their lows after Bessent said in a Bloomberg TV interview on Friday that he expects US trade representatives to meet in person with Chinese officials again to continue trade negotiations following a temporary pause in higher tariff rates. The tariff Trump is considering slapping on the EU is more than double the size of the 20% initial “reciprocal” tariff that was briefly in place in April before he swiftly paused those tariffs to allow for further negotiations. The pause is set to expire on July 9. Since the pause, the only trade deal that’s been announced is with the United Kingdom. Bessent declined to share in the earlier Fox interview which country could be next to ink a deal with the US. However, he said talks are “far along with India,” and many Asian countries have presented “very good deals.”
EU calls for US trade deal based on 'respect' after Trump's tariff threats -The European Union's trade chief said the 27-member bloc is committed to securing a trade deal with the US based on "respect" not "threats". It comes after US President Donald Trump threatened to slap a 50% tariff on all goods sent to the US from the EU. "The EU's fully engaged, committed to securing a deal that works for both," EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said after a call with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. "EU-US trade is unmatched & must be guided by mutual respect, not threats. We stand ready to defend our interests." Earlier on Friday, Trump expressed impatience with the pace of ongoing EU-US trade negotiations, saying his plan to raise tariffs on 1 June was set. Writing on social media, Trump said: "Our discussions with [the EU] are going nowhere," adding that there would be no tariffs for products built or manufactured in the US. "I'm not looking for a deal - we've set the deal," he told reporters later, before immediately adding that a big investment in the US by a European company might make him open to a delay. The EU is one of the Washington's largest trading partners, sending more than $600bn (€528bn; £443bn) in goods last year and buying $370bn worth, US government figures show. Reacting to Trump's threats, European governments warned that higher tariffs would be damaging to both sides. "We do not need to go down this road," said Ireland's Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Micheál Martin. "Negotiations are the best and only sustainable way forward." France's Trade Minister Laurent Saint-Martin, said: "We are maintaining the same line: de-escalation, but we are ready to respond." German Economy Minister Katherina Reiche said the bloc "must do everything" to reach a solution with the US. While Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof told reporters that he backed the EU's strategy in trade talks and "we have seen before that tariffs can go up and down in talks with the US".
Senate Passes Bill to Eliminate Federal Taxes on Tips - The Senate on Tuesday passed a bill that would eliminate federal taxes on tips, advancing with the help of Democrats a top campaign promise of President Trump. Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) brought the bill to the floor with the expectation that it would be blocked, but Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) declined to. It passed via unanimous consent (UC). “I just want to say: This is great news for Nevada,” Rosen said after the bill was advanced, lauding the work of the millions of hospitality and service workers in her home state, who she says are being “squeezed by rising costs.” “This bill is not the be-all, end-all, but it’s going to offer immediate financial relief while the Senate continues to work to lower costs and find other avenues of relief for hardworking families,” she said before yielding the floor. Trump unveiled the idea last year during a campaign stop in Nevada, which is home to scores of tipped workers. Cruz noted in his floor remarks in support of Rosen’s UC request that the Nevada senators — Rosen and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) — relayed that roughly 25 percent of Nevada workers rely on tips. Rosen said that the Silver State has more tipped workers per capita than any other. “Nevadans, our families, are being squeezed, and we need real relief,” Rosen said in her floor remarks. “For some, many service and hospitality workers, tips aren’t extra, it’s part of their income that they use to make ends meet.” The Texas Republican spoke up in support of the bill immediately after, explaining the genesis of the push by Trump during the campaign and hailing it as a moment of “political genius” by the president to back the idea. The bill, the No Tax on Tips Act, will now head to the House, where the provision is expected to be passed one way or another — be it via the stand-alone measure or Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” that will extend tax cuts.
US Supreme Court lets Trump keep labor board members sidelined for now (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court allowed Donald Trump on Thursday to keep two Democratic members of federal labor boards away from their posts while their challenge to his firing of them proceeds in a legal dispute that tests the Republican president's power over independent government agencies. The court temporarily blocked orders by two separate Washington-based federal judges that had shielded Cathy Harris from being dismissed from the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) and Gwynne Wilcox from being removed from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) before their terms expire. Their legal challenges are ongoing in lower courts. Both were appointed to their posts by Trump's Democratic predecessor Joe Biden. In a brief, unsigned opinion, the court said that its action on Thursday "reflects our judgment that the government is likely to show that both the NLRB and MSPB exercise considerable executive power." "Because the Constitution vests the executive power in the president," the court wrote, "he may remove without cause executive officers who exercise that power on his behalf, subject to narrow exceptions recognized by our precedents." The court has a 6-3 conservative majority. Its three liberal justices dissented from the opinion. The opinion also addressed fears voiced by critics that allowing the firings of Wilcox and Harris would jeopardize the independence of the Federal Reserve. "We disagree," the court stated. "The Federal Reserve is a uniquely structured, quasi-private entity that follows in the distinct historical tradition of the First and Second Banks of the United States." The legal fight over these firings emerged as an important test of Trump's efforts to bring under his sway federal agencies meant by Congress to be independent from the president's direct control. Trump's move to oust Harris and Wilcox was part of his far-reaching shakeup and downsizing of the U.S. government, including firing thousands of workers, dismantling federal agencies, installing loyalists in key jobs and purging career officials. Chief Justice John Roberts on April 9 temporarily halted orders by the two judges who had blocked Trump's firing of Harris and Wilcox, giving the justices more time to decide how to proceed. The labor boards after that decision by Roberts had confirmed that Harris and Wilcox were no longer in their posts. U.S. District Judges Rudolph Contreras and Beryl Howell separately upheld federal laws protecting officials serving in these posts from being fired without cause, rejecting Trump's argument that the measures passed by Congress encroach on authority granted to the president under the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on April 7 declined to pause the rulings by the judges while the cases proceed after an earlier ruling by that court had permitted the removals. Harris was appointed by Biden in 2022 to serve a seven-year term. Trump moved to fire her on February 10 after naming Henry Kerner, a Republican, as acting chair of the Merit Systems Protection Board. Federal workers who lose their jobs can bring a challenge before the merit board, an independent three-member panel with quasi-judicial powers, seeking to be reinstated. The board has proven to be a potential roadblock to the Trump administration's efforts to carry out mass firings of probationary workers, meaning those recently given their positions. Trump's efforts to remove Harris have threatened to leave the board without a two-seat quorum - making it unable to decide cases - after the term of Democratic member Raymond Limon expired on February 28. In ruling in favor of Harris, Contreras said the statutory protections for board members from being removed without cause conform with the Constitution in light of a 1935 Supreme Court precedent in a case called Humphrey's Executor v. United States. In that case, the court ruled that a president lacks unfettered power to remove commissioners of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, faulting then-President Franklin Roosevelt's firing of a commissioner on that agency for policy differences. Federal law permits a president to remove an official serving in this post only with cause such as inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance. Howell, the judge overseeing Wilcox's case, ruled on similar grounds to uphold almost identical job protections for the National Labor Relations Board member.
Zeldin slams Whitehouse in heated exchange: Americans ‘put President Trump in office because of people like you’ -- Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin got into a shouting match over agency grant cancellations during a Senate hearing Wednesday. Whitehouse was questioning Zeldin over whether the EPA conducted individual reviews of the grants it had canceled amid sweeping funding cuts across the government under President Trump. The Rhode Island Democrat said the testimony of agency officials and statements made in court by government lawyers contradict the administration’s comments about the thoroughness of the reviews. Specifically, he pointed to a court document where EPA official Travis Voyles stated, “On February 25, 2025, I conducted an individualized review of EPA grant programs,” as well as Zeldin’s own comments that the administrator himself had conducted a grant review. Whitehouse also said that “On May 16, DOJ [Justice Department] career lawyers … filed a pleading in federal court that conceded that you had not done individualized, grant-by-grant reviews.” “The problem with your assertion here today is that it is belied by your own employees’ sworn statements in court and by the decision of the Department of Justice to admit that what you say isn’t true,” Whitehouse told Zeldin. “No, you’re not grasping the fact that we would have multiple employees looking at these grants. That concept just escapes you,” Zeldin fired back. After a back-and-forth, Zeldin said, “We’re not going to waste dollars just because you insist on EPA lighting taxpayer dollars on fire.” “The American taxpayers, they put President Trump in office because of people like you. They have Republicans in charge of the House and Senate because of people like you, because you don’t care about 99 percent of this story,” he continued. In response, Whitehouse said what he actually wants is for Zeldin to “explain why the Department of Justice lawyers representing EPA in court, under a duty of candor, have said that everything you’ve just said isn’t true.” Zeldin also entered into a tense exchange with Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) over the agency’s environmental rollbacks and a particular grant. Schiff opened his remarks by rattling off rollbacks at the Trump EPA and saying “if you’re successful in eliminating half of our efforts to clean our water and our air, your legacy will be more lung cancer, it’ll be more bladder cancer, it’ll be more head and neck cancer, it’ll be more breast cancer, it’ll be more leukemia and pancreatic cancer, more liver cancer, more skin cancer, more kidney cancer, more testicular cancer, more colorectal cancer, more rare cancers of innumerable varieties.” He also asked about a specific grant related to preventing lead poisoning in children in Santa Ana, Calif. As he appeared to be looking through a list for that specific grant, Zeldin retorted, “With that wind up, by the way, I understand that you are an aspiring fiction writer. I see why.” “I understand your view that you can cut half of the agency, and it won’t affect people’s health or their water, their air. That, to me, is a big fiction. Mr. Zeldin,” Schiff replied. “If your children were drinking water in Santa Ana, Mr. Zeldin, maybe you wouldn’t be so cavalier about whether there was lead in their water,” he continued. “You could give a rat’s ass about how much cancer your agency causes.”
Trump signs orders to boost nuclear power, including reduced environmental review - President Trump on Friday signed executive orders that aim to bolster nuclear power, including by scaling back environmental reviews. The president signed four orders, including one that directs an evaluation of whether the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is too cautious in terms of acceptable levels of radiation exposure. Trump’s orders also are expected to require the commission to decide whether to approve a nuclear reactor within 18 months, speeding up a process that typically takes many years to complete. The commission’s environmental reviews alone typically take two to three years. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is an independent agency that regulates nuclear power plants. Another order Trump is signing is expected to allow the Energy and Defense departments to build nuclear reactors on federally owned lands, allowing nuclear energy to power defense and artificial intelligence operations. Trump was also expected to sign orders that speed up nuclear reactor testing at national labs and bolster domestic uranium mining and enrichment.
Interior offshore safety agency resisted Gulf office relocation plan - The Interior Department’s offshore safety agency expressed concerns earlier this year about the prospect of moving offices in the New Orleans area — changes that now appear to be off the table.Offices occupied by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, or BSEE, appeared on a “lease termination list” in February, according to records obtained by POLITICO’s E&E News through a Freedom of Information Act request.The “planned termination” date for leases at four addresses in the New Orleans area was Aug. 31 for two sites and Dec. 31 for the others, the spreadsheet showed. The document listed the Bureau of Minerals Management Service — a precursor to BSEE and its sister agency, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management — as the entity tied to those leases. Experts cautioned that office changes could slow President Donald Trump’s push to expand domestic oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico, which he renamed the Gulf of America. But while Interior did not comment last week on whether the building leases in southeast Louisiana were still being targeted for termination, a local business official is not expecting closures or moves in the area.
Trump, who called FEMA ‘slow,’ is making people wait months for help - Public officials have started pleading with the Trump administration for help in recovering from deadly disasters as President Donald Trump triggers frustration in states struck by tornadoes, floods and storms by taking no action on requests for aid. Trump has left states, counties and tribes in limbo as he delays making decisions on formal requests for millions of dollars in Federal Emergency Management Agency funding. Some areas that are still reeling from extreme weather are unable to start cleanup.“We’re at a standstill and waiting on a declaration from FEMA,” said Royce McKee, emergency management director in Walthall County, Mississippi, which was hit by tornadoes in mid-March.The county of 13,000 people can’t afford to clean up acres of debris, McKee said, and is waiting for Trump to act on a disaster request that was submitted by Gov. Tate Reeves, a Republican, on April 1 after the tornadoes killed seven people, destroyed or damaged 671 homes, and caused $18.2 million in public damage.“I’m disappointed, especially for the people that lost their houses,” McKee said.Trump himself assailed FEMA in January for being “very slow.”The frustration over Trump’s handling of disasters is the latest upheaval involving FEMA. Trump recently canceled two FEMA grant programs that gave states billions of dollars a year to pay for protective measures against disasters. The move drew protests from Republican and Democratic lawmakers.On May 8, Trump fired FEMA leader Cameron Hamilton and replaced him with David Richardson, a former Marine Corps officer who has no experience in emergency management.At a congressional hearing on Tuesday, Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican, pleaded with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to push Trump to approve three disaster requests that Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe, a Republican, had sent to Trump beginning April 2. “We are desperate for assistance in Missouri,” Hawley said as Noem pledged to help. Her department oversees FEMA.St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer, whose city was badly damaged by tornadoes earlier this week, told MSNBC: “What we need right now is federal assistance. This is where FEMA and the federal government have got to come in and help communities. Our city can’t shoulder this alone.” Trump has not acted on 17 disaster requests, a high number for this time of year, according to a FEMA daily report released Wednesday. On the same date eight years ago, during Trump’s first presidency, only three disaster requests were awaiting presidential action, the FEMA report from May 21, 2017, shows. Eleven of the 17 pending disaster requests were sent to Trump more than a month ago. “This looks to me like, until FEMA’s role is clarified, then we’re just going to sit on it,” said a former senior FEMA official who was granted anonymity to speak candidly. Trump has indicated that he wants to shrink the agency, which distributes about $45 billion in disaster aid a year, helps with as many as 100 disasters at a time and, he said, “has been a very big disappointment.” The Trump administration has made no announcements about how it is handling requests for disaster aid, leaving governors, local officials and individuals uncertain about what to expect. “A disaster survivor that’s waiting for relief — that’s the hard part about this,” the former FEMA official said. In a statement to POLITICO’s E&E News, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said the administration wants state and local governments “to invest in their own resilience before disaster strikes, making response less urgent and recovery less prolonged.” Trump handles disaster requests “with great care and consideration, ensuring American tax dollars are used appropriately and efficiently by the states to supplement — not substitute, their obligation to respond to and recover from disasters,” Jackson said.
Biden's cancer diagnosis sparks questions over screening age - Former President Biden’s aggressive prostate cancer diagnosis is raising questions about whether warning signs could have been caught earlier, and if the current screening recommendations should be changed. Prostate cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in older men. One in every eight men will be diagnosed in his lifetime. According to the American Cancer Society, prostate cancer kills 35,000 a year, meaning a man dies from prostate cancer every 15 minutes. Biden’s diagnosis is serious, and while treatable, it can’t be cured. Prostate cancer experts said it’s unclear how long Biden has had cancer. Even if he was screened regularly in recent years, they said it’s not uncommon for cancer to develop without notable symptoms. “Cancer doesn’t necessarily follow a rule book. It’s possible that this came out of the blue, because cancer can do that,” said Alicia Morgans, a prostate cancer specialist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and board member of the advocacy group ZERO Prostate Cancer. Doctors diagnosed Biden with a prostate nodule last week after he experienced increasing urinary symptoms. By Friday, he was diagnosed with cancer that had metastasized to his bones. It’s not clear if the symptoms were due to cancer, or if the nodule was found as part of a routine screening. Morgans said even if Biden had been getting regular screening, it is an imperfect science. “Sometimes our tests are imperfect. And even if we’re doing perfect blood tests and perfect imaging and perfect everything, we don’t find things,” she said. Biden left office as the oldest serving president in history, consistently dogged by concerns over his physical health and mental acuity. Prior to the diagnosis last week, his most recent medical update came in February 2024, when he was declared “fit to serve” after a routine physical at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. The public summary of his visit listed several tests doctors performed, but not a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test. That’s not surprising, said Geoffrey Sonn, an associate professor of urology at Stanford University School of Medicine. “Really, there’s not many people out there that will advocate for continuing aggressive PSA screening for men in their 80s,” he said. “In retrospect, I think that it’s likely that if he had continued screening against pretty much all guidelines, that they probably would have found this earlier.” Current cancer screening guidelines are complicated, and Biden’s case echoes a tension; it’s best if the cancer is caught early, but there needs to be a balance between early detection and overtreatment. The American Cancer Society does not recommend routine testing for men at any age. Instead, it recommends men have a conversation with their health provider about the benefits, risks and uncertainties of screening starting at age 40 for those at highest risk, and age 50 for men at average risk. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an independent panel of experts that makes recommendations on services like screenings, suggests men ages 55 to 69 make an “individual” decision after first discussing it with their provider. The “shared decisionmaking” recommendation generally stops at age 70 and older, because prostate cancer is slow-growing and physicians don’t see a clinical benefit in doing a screening for people with only 10 to 15 years of life expectancy.
Dean Phillips on timing of Biden’s cancer news: ‘I don’t think it’s coincidental’ -- Former Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), who challenged former President Biden for the Democratic presidential nomination last year, suggested in a new interview that Biden timed his cancer diagnosis announcement to deflect from renewed scrutiny of his time in the White House. “I don’t think it’s coincidental that this was announced this week,” Phillips told the New York Times in an interview published Monday.
Prostate Cancer Has A Right To Exist. Biden's Tumor Has A Right To Defend Itself. -Caitlin Johnstone- Joe Biden reportedly has an aggressive form of prostate cancer which has spread to his bones.On this day we must all stand in solidarity with Biden’s cancerous growth. Prostate cancer has a right to exist. Biden’s malignant metastatic tumor must be given everything it needs to defend itself from unprovoked attacks by radical oncologists.None of the people wishing Biden well today have ever really stood for anything. Nobody who chides those who are celebrating his cancer diagnosis actually cares about human beings. They inhabit a different moral universe from the rest of us. One where politeness and decorum matter more than human lives. One where it’s more important to preserve one’s political image in the eyes of the establishment than it is to oppose an active genocide. One where a rude tweet about a blood-soaked monster provokes more outrage than daily footage of children ripped to shreds by western-supplied munitions.Those who are applauding Biden’s tumor today are obviously not saying that cancer is good. They are saying that Biden’s victims matter more than the rules of imperial etiquette. They are saying the mountains of human corpses he created matter more than protecting the feelings of those who believe he’s a swell guy. They are rejecting the empire’s demand that they dehumanize and dismiss all those people who were killed, crippled, displaced, traumatized and bereaved by the abuses of this fugitive from The Hague in order to demonstrate docility and obedience to their masters. When Biden finally dies there will be people falling all over themselves to sanctify his image and grieve him as a kind and beneficent leader, and there will be those lining up to piss on his grave. The latter group will be of far greater moral quality than the former, no matter what they try to tell you.
Key takeaways from RFK’s MAHA report targeting food, drug, tech industries -- The Trump administration issued its long-awaited Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission report Thursday, hammering various industries while deviating from mainstream science on key issues including farming practices, vaccinations and psychiatric medications. President Trump appointed Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the MAHA Commission, which issued its first report on children’s health Thursday. It pointed to four key factors that it says are hurting U.S. children: ultraprocessed foods, environmental chemicals, digital behavior and “overmedicalization.”The report identifies pesticides and other chemicals as potentially having harmful health impacts, but it stops short of recommending actions to limit them — disappointing some advocates.When it came to childhood mental and physical health, the report concludes that large corporations are distorting the U.S. health system for the sake of profits.“There is a growing concern about the link between environmental health risks, particularly cumulative risks, and chronic disease,” the report states. “Furthermore, in the past nearly 30 years, the chemicals children are exposed to have grown – and no country fully understands how the cumulative impact of this growth impacts health,” it continues. However, rather than calling for specific actions against these health threats, the report says more studies are needed, including from the National Institutes of Health, to fully understand the impacts of things like microplastics and pesticides.In particular, it mentions glyphosate, the chemical in Roundup weed killer, which has been the subject of thousands of lawsuits, many of which allege that it causes cancer, though the company has denied this. The report also mentions atrazine, a commonly used pesticide that has been found to disrupt the endocrine system and has been banned in the European Union Also on the list to study more are PFAS, toxic substances used in nonstick and waterproof products that can last in the environment for hundreds of years, as well as phthalates, which are used to make plastics flexible and have been found to disrupt the endocrine system. The Wall Street Journal reported the White House altered the report to remove references to the company Monsanto, information about PFAS lobbying and conflicts of interest in chemical regulation.Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin told reporters that the Trump administration would not be pursuing a “European, mandate-driven regulatory system that stifles growth.”Lori Ann Burd, environmental health program director at the Center for Biological Diversity, told The Hill that identifying a problem but not pursuing actions was not good enough.“It’s really disappointing that, after all the promises that the commission was going to stand up to powerful corporate interests and really get to the bottom of what is making Americans so sick, it caved to these powerful corporate interests,” Burd said. “They have joined every administration before them in cowering in fear when faced with the power of Big Ag,” she added. Kennedy has been vocal in his belief that many medications like vaccines and psychiatric drugs are overused in the U.S. and, in aggregate, are causing some of the health problems plaguing America’s children. These beliefs were reflected in the commission’s findings.The report noted the use of stimulant drugs, antidepressants, antipsychotics and asthma medications have all increased among children within the past 30 or so years. It further cast speculation on childhood vaccination schedules, noting that the number of vaccines implemented in the U.S. exceeds that of many European vaccine schedules.“These time trends significantly outpace more moderate increases seen in other developed countries. Psychotropics for ADHD or one example, prescribed 2.5 times more in US than in British children, and 19 times more than in Japanese youth,” the report stated.Kennedy has claimed that childhood psychiatric drugs are “insufficiently scrutinized” and addictive. Childhood psychiatrists blasted Kennedy’s rhetoric as unhelpful to children with mental illnesses.“There is some concern, even more so in the field, that many children with depression and mental health disorders do not get access to the mental health services that they need, and that includes the comprehensive treatment that we would recommend, which is beyond just SSRIs, but also therapy and other supports,” Lisa Fortuna, a child psychiatrist and chair of the American Psychiatric Association’s Council on Children, Adolescents and Their Families, previously told The Hill.While stopping short of blaming vaccines for directly contributing to chronic illnesses and acknowledging that immunizations “benefit children by protecting them from infectious diseases,” the report claimed there has been “limited scientific inquiry into the links between vaccines and chronic disease.” To improve the understanding of vaccines and any links to chronic disease, the report supported “more rigorous clinical trial designs” that include placebos, larger sample sizes and longer follow-up periods. The report blamed the “overmedicalization of American children” on “corporate capture.” It claimed the outsized influence of large corporations on public institutions had distorted “scientific literature, regulatory processes, clinical practices and public discourse.” “The corporate capture of media, primarily through lavish advertising campaigns that are uniquely targeted to American consumers (no other developed country allows direct advertising of drugs to consumers, other than New Zealand where such advertising is heavily regulated and federally controlled) confers a notable level of reliance on the industry by those that benefit financially,” the report read. “While in the U.S. the pharmaceutical industry has the First Amendment right to have these advertisements, studies suggest that they have a strong influence on those who view them, potentially increasing inappropriate prescription.” The report blamed “a sedentary, technology-driven lifestyle” that’s developed over the past 40 years for increasing “chronic physical and mental health diseases,” with childhood behaviors differing vastly from prior generations.Citing data from the American Heart Association, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and numerous studies published within the last 15 years, the report noted how larger shares of children don’t meet healthy standards of fitness and fewer children take part in daily physical activities. These conclusions align with what has been observed globally, with a 2019 study finding that 81 percent of adolescents aged between 11 and 17 were “insufficiently physically active.”“Parallel to the decline in physical activity, American youth face a deepening psychosocial crisis. This is marked by rising mental health disorders, significant sleep deficits, chronic stress, and pervasive loneliness, all exacerbated by the widespread influence of technology,” the report stated. “The crisis persists despite rising therapy rates, with some suggesting it may exacerbate the issue.”Social media use was also cited in the report as having a negative impact on children’s mental health, echoing initiatives from the Biden administration. Then-Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued a health advisory in 2023 warning that increasing evidence suggests social media use was damaging youth mental health. At the same time, screen usage has also been potentially linked to a reduction in some risky behaviors, like substance use and motor vehicle accidents, though whether there is a direct cause is unclear.As with “overmedicalization,” the report took issue with the role that large corporations have in children’s use of social media as well as public health messaging. “Technology corporations suggest a reach over childhood health that stretches well beyond the direct harms of screen exposure, actively shaping the contours of scientific discourse and the public-health policies that follow,” it stated, noting how federal agencies coordinated with social media platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic. “These informal, largely invisible coordination between agencies and platforms — coupled with undisclosed ranking algorithms — compresses the range of permissible debate on childhood-health questions and can bury legitimate scientific concerns while impacting parental supervision.”
US is ending penny production: How will you be impacted? -The U.S. may be on the verge of ditching its penny. The U.S. Treasury is reportedly gearing up to stop putting new one-cent coins into circulation by early next year, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, which could change the way you pay.The Treasury made its final order of penny blanks this month, the WSJ reported, citing a spokesperson, meaning the Mint will only produce pennies until it runs out of blanks. The end of the penny will mean businesses will have to round up or down prices to the nearest five cents, the spokesperson also told the WSJ.The Treasury and the U.S. Mint, which is responsible for producing the nation’s coins, did not immediately respond to Nexstar’s requests for comment.Thursday’s report comes months after the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) set its sights on the penny and President Donald Trump called on the Treasury Department to stop minting new one-cent coins, calling them “wasteful.”It costs roughly 3.69 cents to make one penny, per the latest data from the U.S. Mint. Last year marked the 19th consecutive year that the penny (and the nickel) “remained above face value” when it comes to production costs.Earlier this month, a bipartisan bill to halt penny production was introduced by Senators Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah). It was one of a handful of bills that have been brought forth since Trump’s comments on the one-cent coin. “I’m pleased to see the Treasury Department taking a page from my ‘Make Sense, Not Cents Act,'” Sen. Lee said in a statement shared with Nexstar. “Each penny costs four cents to make, so cutting this waste will save the American taxpayer over $85 million every year.”“Ending penny production is the right thing to do, but let’s make sure we do it the right way,” said Sen. Merkley. “If President Trump is serious about ending this wasteful spending—with each penny costing 4 times more to mint than it’s worth—he should work with Congress to take up necessary legislation, like my bipartisan bill with Senator Mike Lee. It’s time to make sense, not cents.”Under the Constitution, Congress is responsible for regulating the Federal Reserve and overseeing our money.The U.S. wouldn’t be the first country to ditch its lowest-denomination coin. (It wouldn’t even be the first time we’ve stopped producing a coin.)Canada parted ways with its penny in the early 2010s for the same reasons the U.S. has expressed regarding its penny. At the time, however, it cost Canada 1.6 cents to produce one new penny, vastly less than what the U.S. is paying now, but enough to spur the government to do away with the coin.The Royal Canadian Mint worked with financial institutions and charities to begin collecting the nation’s pennies, essentially putting the distribution process in reverse, Alex Reeves, then the Senior Manager of Communications for the Mint, told PBS News in 2014. Old pennies were turned in and melted down to extract their valuable metals. Without a one-cent coin, cash transactions had to change. Cash purchases are now rounded to the nearest nickel: For instance, a $19.82 purchase becomes $19.80 while $19.83 becomes $19.85. Payments with checks or debit or credit cards are not rounded.The U.S. appears likely to do the same, a Treasury spokesperson indicated to the Wall Street Journal.
Senate confirms Charles Kushner to become ambassador to France - The Senate on Monday confirmed the nomination of Charles Kushner to become the ambassador to France, cementing a family member of President Trump to a key diplomatic post despite his past legal trouble. Senators voted 51-45 to approve Kushner’s nomination. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) voted in favor of confirmation, while Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) voted against it. Kushner, who is Jared Kushner’s father and Ivanka Trump’s father-in-law, will take over as ambassador to France and Monaco despite pleading guilty two decades ago to 18 counts including tax evasion, lying to the Federal Election Commission and retaliating against a federal witness. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), then the U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, led the investigation into what he later called “one of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes” he prosecuted during his tenure. He ultimately spent two years in prison. Trump pardoned Kushner in 2020.
In hearing, Mace shows ‘naked silhouette’ screenshot she says was recorded without her consent - Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) showed a blurry screenshot of her “naked silhouette” that she said was recorded without her consent during a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee hearing she chaired on surveillance in private spaces on Tuesday. The hearing was the latest instance of Mace using the position of her office in a highly unusual way to amplify accusations against her ex-fiance and his business associates, who have denied wrongdoing. “Freedom is not a theory. It is the right to breathe. It is the right to dress and undress, to sleep without someone’s camera filming your naked body. The Founders wrote liberty in parchment, but hidden cameras erase it in pixels,” Mace said. “I speak not just as a lawmaker, but as a survivor.” Displayed behind the congresswoman was a poster board showing a wide-angle security camera view of a living room, with a blurred human figure appearing to come out of a doorway — an image that she teased ahead of time with a post on the social platform X saying that she would be “going there” to “show my naked body” captured on one of the videos. “Behind me is a screenshot from one of the videos I found of myself. The yellow circle, my naked silhouette, is my naked body,” Mace said. “I didn’t know that I had been filmed. I didn’t give my consent. I didn’t give my permission.” She urged lawmakers to advance her Sue VOYEURS Act to create a civil right of action and the Stop VOYEURS Act to expand the federal prohibition on video voyeurism. Mace first alleged that the men made and kept secretly recorded videos of women and girls, including herself, through hidden cameras placed at a rental property co-owned by her ex-fiancé in a stunning House floor speech in February. Some of her allegations extended to more serious crimes such as sexual assault. Mace went on to show censored intimate photos of other women who were filmed and photographed purportedly without their knowledge — some of whom, she said, had given Mace permission to show the photos — while pointing fingers at the men. Mace’s ex-fiance, Patrick Bryant, denied Mace’s allegations in a lengthy statement to The Hill. “I categorically deny the false and outrageous claims made by Nancy Mace. I have never raped anyone. I have never hidden cameras. I have never harmed any woman. These accusations are not just false—they are malicious and deeply personal,” Bryant said. “My mistake was loving and trusting someone who later weaponized our relationship.”
Nancy Mace Parades Her Own Naked Photos in Bizarre Hearing -- Congresswoman Nancy Mace displayed a poster she claimed was of her naked at a hearing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday as she accused her ex-fiancé and others of taking video of women without permission. It was the latest in a series of explosive allegations Mace has publicly made against her ex. The silhouette image was one of several visuals the South Carolina congresswoman used during a House Oversight Committee hearing on surveillance in private spaces. Mace drew attention ahead of the hearing when she posted on X: “I will show my naked body on one of the videos predator and rapist Patrick Bryant took of me and many other women,” referring to him by name. She has accused him and three other men of filming women without their knowledge and keeping the videos and images for years. Her ex-fiancé and others have denied the accusations. Congresswoman Nancy Mace speaking at a hearing on Capitol Hill on May 20 with a poster showing her silhouette circled as she accused her ex of filming her naked without consent. House Oversight Committee/Youtube “Exhibit 1: behind me is a screenshot from one of the videos I found of myself. The yellow circle, this naked silhouette, is my naked body. I didn’t know I had been filmed. I didn’t give my consent,’ Mace said in the hearing. As she spoke she referenced a black and white image blown up on a poster behind her. It showed a yellow circle around a blurred figure walking through the back of a scene taken from what appeared to be a kitchen looking into a living space. “I was filmed in secret. The camera sat silent, yet it screamed my safety was negotiable and my dignity disposable,” she said. The right-wing firebrand also held up a picture of her ex-fiancé with others as well as one of the property where she claimed she found the camera, and said, “many women were filmed.” During her opening remarks, Mace also held up a series of other posters that she said were of other women who had been recorded without their consent. The posters had parts blurred out. Mace encouraged other potential victims to come forward and said she has their backs. The congresswoman’s opening statement came after she delivered an explosive speech on the House floor in February, where she accused her ex-fiancé and others of sexual misconduct. In it, she claimed she found a mountain of evidence of including videos of herself, after being given access to her ex’s safe and phone. She described being “horrified” and “humiliated” after realizing the person in the video was her. At the time, she did not provide any of the corroborating evidence she had claimed to have obtained. One of the men she has accused sued the congresswoman for defamation in March. As well as making allegations against her former partner in February’s speech, Mace also went after South Carolina’s attorney general Alan Wilson and accused him of turning a blind eye. Wilson’s office called Mace’s accusations against the attorney general’s office “categorically false” in a statement in response to her floor speech and claimed it had “no knowledge of these allegations until her public statements.” In her remarks on secret recordings on Tuesday, Mace called South Carolina laws “weak” and a “joke.” She has introduced legislation on the issue. “Today I choose daylight. I invite every member of this House to step into this light with me,” Mace declared.
Judge criticizes DOJ as he dismisses charge against Newark Mayor Ras Baraka - A federal judge chided the Department of Justice (DOJ) during a Wednesday hearing where he agreed to dismiss a trespassing charge against Newark Mayor Ras Baraka (D) that stemmed from his visit to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility earlier this month alongside three Democratic members of Congress. U.S. District Judge Andre Espinosa said the arrest suggested a “worrisome misstep” by the New Jersey’s U.S. attorney’s office, noting the “apparent rush” in bringing the case that culminated in the government’s “embarrassing” retraction of the charge. He dismissed the complaint against Baraka with prejudice, meaning the charge cannot be brought again. “Your role is not to secure convictions at all costs, nor to satisfy public clamor, nor to advance political agendas,” Espinosa said to the government’s lawyer. “Your allegiance is to the impartial application of the law, to the pursuit of truth and to the upholding of due process for all.” The dismissal comes after Alina Habba, interim U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, said her office planned to drop the single misdemeanor trespassing charge. She revealed in the same announcement that Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.), one of the lawmakers Baraka accompanied to the Delaney Hall ICE detention center, would be charged with assaulting law enforcement while at the detention center. McIver was due in court Wednesday. The criminal complaint against her says she “slammed her forearms” into immigration officers as they attempted to arrest Baraka.
Trump to Kennedy Center board members: ‘We’re going to do some good things, but the basics are there’ - President Trump on Monday delivered remarks to members of the Kennedy Center board of trustees, which Trump drastically overhauled earlier this year as he sought to put his stamp on the performing arts institution. Trump held the meeting in the State Dining Room at the White House on the same day the Kennedy Center announced its theater season for 2025-2026. The performing arts center, which has faced backlash over some of its changes under Trump, announced musicals such as “Chicago,” “Monty Python’s Spamalot,” and “Moulin Rouge!” would have runs at the center. “We’re going to do some good things, but the basics are there,” Trump told the board on Monday. “The location is phenomenal. The importance of the building is phenomenal. And we’ll have some very interesting plans.” “I always thought they should have built a beautiful performing center, open air, facing out over the Potomac,” Trump continued. “They didn’t do that. They built these crazy rooms underneath; they built three tiny little stages, very expensive. Someday, maybe somebody will occupy one.” “We’re going to turn it around,” Trump added. “That’s what I love doing. I love turning things around. Turnaround artist. We’re doing that with the country.” Trump announced in February that he would boot multiple members of the Kennedy Center’s board and serve as its chair. He accused the prominent arts hub of being too “woke” and appointed Richard Grenell, his envoy for special missions, as its interim executive director. The president went on to appoint a slew of political allies as board members, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Fox News hosts Laura Ingraham and Maria Bartiromo and senior White House official Sergio Gor. Bondi, Wiles and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were among those at Monday night’s meeting. Trump on Monday bemoaned that the Kennedy Center’s previous programming was “out of control,” arguing it showcased performances with “rampant political propaganda.” “Instead of putting forward programming that tears our country down and tears our country apart, the Kennedy Center should be the nation’s premier venue for lifting up the best of our country and lifting up the American arts, theater, music and culture,” Trump said.
Donald Trump calls for probe into Kamala Harris's celebrity endorsements - President Trump is pressing for a “major investigation” into why some celebrities lined up to support former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, questioning whether megastars Bruce Springsteen, Beyoncé, Oprah Winfrey and Bono were illegally paid for their endorsements under the guise of performance fees. He wrote in a post on Truth Social early Monday morning, nearly six months after he beat Harris in the election. “I am going to call for a major investigation into this matter. Candidates aren’t allowed to pay for ENDORSEMENTS, which is what Kamala did, under the guise of paying for entertainment,” the president added. “In addition, this was a very expensive and desperate effort to artificially build up her sparse crowds. IT’S NOT LEGAL! For these unpatriotic ‘entertainers,’ this was just a CORRUPT & UNLAWFUL way to capitalize on a broken system. Thank you for your attention to this matter!!!” The White House didn’t immediately respond to The Hill’s request for more details about what investigative body Trump wants to see take up the issue. Harris’s campaign held a number of star-studded events during her four-month bid against Trump after then-President Biden abruptly dropped out of the race. Winfrey openly denied being paid to back Harris. “I was not paid a dime. My time and energy was my way of supporting the campaign,” Winfrey wrote on Instagram last fall. She added that her production company was paid only to cover the incurred costs of events. “The people who worked on that production needed to be paid. And were. End of story,” she wrote. Springsteen, meanwhile, has become an outspoken foe of Trump, with the president posting last week his dislike of the legendary rocker, after Springsteen lambasted his administration during a performance overseas. “Never liked him, never liked his music, or his Radical Left Politics and, importantly, he’s not a talented guy — Just a pushy, obnoxious JERK,” Trump wrote on social media Friday, going on to call the New Jersey icon a “dried out ‘prune’ of a rocker.”
Trump Says He Had To Run Again After "Rigged Election" To "Shove It Up Their Ass" -- President Trump said Monday that he was relentlessly determined to regain the Presidency after the “rigged” 2020 election.Trump made the remarks during a Kennedy Center Board dinner in the White House’s State Dining Room Monday.“They rigged the election,” the president said, adding “And then I said, you know what I’ll do? I’ll run again, and I’ll shove it up their ass.”
Bernie Sanders Says 'Quiet Part Out Loud' In Brutal Backstab Of Democratic Party Bernie Sanders just said the quiet part out loud - and Andrew Schulz got it all on tape... In one of his most brutally honest interviews ever, Sanders admitted Democrats ARE a threat to democracy. He even pulled back the curtain on being robbed in 2016 and revealed his thoughts on a 2028 run. By the halfway mark of the 80-minute conversation, Sanders started unleashing truth bombs.He said the Democratic establishment sold out decades ago, trading working-class voters for wealthy donors and out-of-touch consultants. According to Sanders, that’s when everything started to fall apart.“The 70s, 60s, Democrats caught on that you could raise a lot of money from wealthy people,” Sanders explained.“And it gets back to campaign financing and all that stuff. So you got a Democratic establishment now, which is funded by wealthy people. You have consultants who are really way out of touch with reality, who make a whole lot of money in campaigns. And working class is ignored,” Sanders said. He added that Donald Trump succeeded where Democrats fell short because at least he pretended to care about the working class.The conversation pivoted to Kamala Harris’s crushing defeat, where Bernie Sanders got visibly upset.He recalled how Kamala’s “bloody consultants” told her to campaign on: “Hey, everything’s good. We’re going to keep doing the exact same thing.”“That was what her bloody consultants told her to say. I begged them [to go with a different message]!” Sanders lamented. Andrew Schulz challenged Sanders, saying, “Why can’t she [Kamala] push back?”—to which he conceded, “You’re right. There’s no argument.” Then came a jaw-dropper. Sanders was cornered by co-host Akaash Singh, who got him to admit that, YES, Democrats ARE a threat to Democracy.It happened when Schulz brought up how, over the past four election cycles, Democratic voters had little to no real say in who their nominee would be. He flat-out told Sanders that the DNC stole the 2016 primary from him.Sanders didn’t deny it. “In the world that I live in, you got a choice,” he replied—implying it was either let the Democrats rig the process or risk handing the White House to Trump.He even said his wife agrees that the nomination was stolen from him. Still, Sanders stood by the choice to support Hillary, calling both her and Trump “not a great choice”—but Hillary the lesser evil. That’s when Schulz’s co-host Akaash Singh jumped in and asked:“Could we not also say that if there hasn’t been a fair primary for the Democrats since 2008, are they not also a threat to democracy?”Sanders conceded. “Fair enough,” he said. “I’m not going to argue with that point.”Sanders pulled back on the Democratic establishment, detailing how they despise “DIRTY” working-class people without a PhD.He recalled how thousands of energized, working-class supporters would show up to rallies—only to be met with hostility at official party events.Sanders painted the scene:“There’d be a few hundred people, mostly older, whiter, wealthier. And you saw the clash. The establishment did not want to open the door. They hated the idea that all these people whose hands were a little bit dirty, who didn’t have PhDs or weren’t wealthy…” “Imagine walking in—‘It’s my party, man. You ain’t getting in.’ Yes, we will fight you in the most ruthless ways that we can. And that’s the struggle.” He warned that Democrats either open the door—or go down with the Titanic. It didn’t stop there. Sanders went on to blame the Democratic establishment for destroying his 2016 run with a coordinated smear campaign. When asked who labeled his grassroots supporters as racists and misogynists, Sanders didn’t hesitate: “It was the Democratic establishment.”He admitted that the Democratic establishment worked hand-in-hand with the media to push this “myth” to destroy his campaign. “They were sitting there, we had a lot of young people, we had people of color, and you know, they create this kind of myth, with the help of the corporate media and all that stuff,” Sanders explained. Then it got worse. When Schulz pointed out that the same playbook was used against podcasters in 2024, Sanders agreed without skipping a beat: “Yeah, that’s what the liberal elite tries to do.” The conversation ended with a surprise. Bernie Sanders officially ruled out a 2028 presidential run, saying, “I think I’ve run my last race.”What came next was another shocker: he refused to endorse AOC.When asked if his “Oligarchy Tour” with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was part of a passing of the baton, Sanders shut it down immediately.“No. Don’t look at it like that,” adding, “It’s not a passing of the baton.” While he praised her efforts, he made his position clear: “I think Alexandria is great, but it’s NOT MY JOB to determine who the new leaders are.” See the full conversation below. This one is actually worth watching.
Congress To Seize Control Of AI: States Stripped Of Regulatory Power -Buried deep in Congress’s 1,116-page “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” is a provision so sweeping, so dystopian, and so underreported that it’s hard to believe it was passed at all. Section 43201 of the bill, blandly titled the “Artificial Intelligence and Information Technology Modernization Initiative,” doesn’t just fund the federal government’s full-scale AI expansion—it removes every state’s right to regulate artificial intelligence for the next decade. Let that sink in: For the next ten years, no state in America—not even your state—will be allowed to create its own safeguards, protections, or liability standards for how AI is developed or deployed. “No State or political subdivision thereof may enforce any law or regulation regulating artificial intelligence models… during the 10-year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act.” - Sec. 43201(c)(1) of the bill This is not a theoretical threat. It’s a federal ban on local AI regulation—handing the reins to the very bureaucrats and corporate tech giants already embedding AI into military systems, healthcare, financial markets, education, and law enforcement. This section of the bill is a preemptive strike against state sovereignty. It neuters legislatures and governors from protecting their own citizens—just as powerful corporations and federal agencies rush to install AI systems into every layer of society. It’s not just overreach. It’s a federal power grab dressed as “modernization.”And President Trump is now marching on Capitol Hill to personally demand the bill’s passage—pushing the very legislation that would shield his $500 billion Stargate AI surveillance grid from any state-level resistance.The bill—developed by the House Budget Committee, which passed the legislation yesterday—still needs to be voted on in the House and Senate before it hits Trump’s desk, so if you want your senators and representatives to vote no on it, you can contact them here and tell them why.
US Senate Votes To Move Ahead With GENIUS Act; 'Legitimizing' Stablecoins For Global Institutional Adoption -- The GENIUS Act moved through a procedural vote on Monday (66-32), and has just passed its latest hurdle (69-31) allowing Senate Republican leaders to bring the legislation to the floor for debate and a final vote, as soon as this week A challenging amendment pricess awaits as the Senate bill, if passed, would need to be reconciled with a version approved by the House Financial Services Committee, and then both chambers of Congress must agree on a single bill before sending a final version to President Donald Trump for his signature."There are still a lot of moving pieces," said Jennifer Schulp, director of financial regulation studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis, one of the bill’s key backers, said on May 15 that she thinks it’s a “fair target” to have the GENIUS Act passed by May 26 - Memorial Day in the US.As CoinTelegraph's Zoltan Vardai detailed ahead of the vote, stablecoin adoption among institutions could surge as the United States Senate prepares to debate a key piece of legislation aimed at regulating the sector.After failing to gain support from key Democrats on May 8, the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act passed the US Senate in a 66–32 procedural vote on May 20 and is now heading to a debate on the Senate floor.The bill seeks to set clear rules for stablecoin collateralization and mandate compliance with Anti-Money Laundering laws.
Senate forges ahead with bipartisan stablecoin bill -The Senate has voted to advance the GENIUS Act, a bipartisan bill that would establish the first federal framework for regulating cryptocurrencies pegged to real-world assets, known as stablecoins. The Senate's version of a stablecoin regulation bill cleared a key procedural hurdle as the Senate voted 66-32 to invoke cloture on the legislation. A final vote on the Senate floor is expected within weeks. Mark Warner, D-Va., voted to invoke cloture on a bill to regulate stablecoins after gaining concessions from the Republican majority. Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass, has been a vocal critic of the measure.
Stablecoin bill clears early Senate floor hurdle in win for crypto industry -- The Senate voted to move forward with consideration of legislation to create a regulatory framework for payment stablecoins Monday night, bringing the key crypto bill one step closer to final passage. Sixteen Democrats joined all but two Republicans in voting to end debate on a motion to proceed on the GENIUS Act. The vote marks a reversal for the group of more than a dozen Democrats, who joined with the rest of their colleagues to vote down the legislation earlier this month amid a dispute with Republicans. “Tonight’s vote is a welcome and long-overdue step toward asserting U.S. leadership in digital assets,” Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.) said in a statement. “After playing politics, I’m glad many of my Democratic colleagues have returned to the table and are supporting a bipartisan product they helped shape.” “By moving forward on the GENIUS Act, we are one step closer to delivering a regulatory framework that keeps innovation in America, protects consumers, and safeguards our national security,” he continued. A contingent of crypto-friendly Democrats, several of whom had voted the GENIUS Act out of the Senate Banking Committee, pulled their support for the bill earlier this month after Senate leadership moved to expedite a floor vote. Democrats accused Republicans of cutting negotiations short, arguing they still had numerous concerns with the legislation and could not vote for it in its current form. After two weeks of negotiations, the two sides reached an agreement on new language, with crypto-friendly Democrats touting “major victories” on anti-money laundering, national security and consumer protection provisions. They also highlighted new restrictions aimed at blocking Big Tech firms from launching their own stablecoins. However, the changes did not prove sufficient for some Democratic holdouts. Senate Banking Democratic staff, under the leadership of longtime crypto critic and ranking member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), argued in a memo last week that the bill “paves the way for more Trump crypto corruption” and that its Big Tech restrictions don’t go far enough. President Trump’s growing crypto portfolio has complicated efforts by his administration and Republican lawmakers to get key crypto legislation across the finish line. Trump is set to have dinner with the top investors in his meme coin later this week. The token, which the president launched shortly before inauguration, has traded higher in recent weeks as investors competed for one of 220 coveted spots at the private dinner. World Liberty Financial, the crypto venture launched by Trump and his sons, also announced earlier this month that its new stablecoin would be used to conduct a $2 billion transaction between Emirati firm MGX and crypto exchange Binance. Democrats have raised concerns that the president is using the various crypto ventures to profit off his office while also exposing the federal government to potential foreign influence. These concerns prompted House Democrats to walk out of a hearing on market structure legislation earlier this month. Market structure legislation aims to clarify how the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) split up the regulation of the entire digital asset market. It represents the second key piece to the Trump administration’s legislative agenda for the crypto industry, alongside the stablecoin bill.
Tech groups warn against AI rule in ‘big, beautiful bill’ A coalition of more than 140 organizations urged House leaders to reject a proposal in the House’s tax and spending bill that would block states from regulating artificial intelligence (AI) models for the next 10 years. In a letter sent Monday to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), House Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and congressional members, the organizations said the 10-year moratorium on state AI regulation would remove accountability for developing technology. “This moratorium would mean that even if a company deliberately designs an algorithm that causes foreseeable harm — regardless of how intentional or egregious the misconduct or how devastating the consequences — the company making that bad tech would be unaccountable to lawmakers and the public,” the letter stated. Signers of the letter included tech workers, civil society groups, academic institutions and artists. Among those are Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, progressive consumer rights watchdog nonprofit Public Citizen and Alphabet Workers Union, the labor representatives for workers at Google’s parent company. The provision, included in President Trump’s “one, big beautiful” bill, would bar states from enforcing laws or regulations governing AI models, systems or automated decision systems. The House Budget Committee voted to advance the sweeping tax bill Sunday, though the broader bill still needs to face a vote with the full chamber. The letter’s signatories argue states’ actions on AI so far have attempted to protect residents from “the risks posed by unregulated or inadequately governed AI technologies.” “We will only reap the benefits of AI if people have a reason to trust it,” the letter wrote. It comes amid a broader debate over federal preemption for AI regulation, which several AI industry heads have pushed for as state laws create a patchwork of rules to follow.
AI's usefulness in emergency room diagnoses is limited to presentation of typical symptoms, researchers find -Artificial intelligence tools can assist emergency room physicians in accurately predicting disease, but only for patients with typical symptoms, West Virginia University scientists have found.Gangqing "Michael" Hu, assistant professor in the WVU School of Medicine Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Cell Biology and director of the WVU Bioinformatics Core facility, led a study that compared the precision and accuracy of four ChatGPT models in making medical diagnoses and explaining their reasoning.His findings, published in the journal Scientific Reports, demonstrate the need for incorporating greater amounts of different types of data in training AI technology to assist in disease diagnosis.More data can make the difference in whether AI gives patients the correct diagnoses for what are called "challenging cases," which don't exhibit classic symptoms. As an example, Hu pointed to a trio of scenarios from his study involving patients who had pneumonia without the typical fever."In these three cases, all of the GPT models failed to give an accurate diagnosis," Hu said. "That made us dive in to look at the physicians' notes and we noticed the pattern of these being challenging cases. ChatGPT tends to get a lot of information from different resources on the internet, but these may not cover atypical disease presentation."The study analyzed data from 30 public emergency department cases, which—for reasons of privacy—did not include demographics.Hu explained that in using ChatGPT to assist with diagnosis, physicians' notes are uploaded, and the tool is asked to provide its top three diagnoses. Results varied for the versions Hu tested: the GPT-3.5, GPT-4, GPT-4o and o1 series."When we looked at whether the AI models gave the correct diagnosis in any of their top three results, we didn't see a significant improvement between the new version and the older version," he said. "But when we look at each model's number one diagnosis, the new version is about 15% to 20% higher in accuracy than the older version."Given AI models' current low performance on complex and atypical cases, Hu said human oversight is a necessity for high-quality, patient-centered care when using AI as an assistive tool."We didn't do this study out of curiosity to see if the new model would give better results. We wanted to establish a basis for future studies that involve additional input," Hu said. "Currently, we input physician notes only. In the future, we want to improve the accuracy by including images and findings from laboratory tests."Hu emphasized that while ChatGPT is promising, it is not a certified medical device. He said if health care providers were to include images or other data in a clinical setting, the AI model would be an open-source system and installed in a hospital cluster to comply with privacy laws.
Digital dollars? The stablecoin impact on banks, payments - Stablecoins are poised to become a fixture in the regulated banking space at some point this year, but just what that means for the broader banking and payments landscape is far from clear. With licensing bills progressing through both the House and Senate, stablecoins are poised to become part of the regulated financial sector. How the banking and payments landscape will respond to that is up for Yellow Card Financial traded more than $3 billion worth of crypto in 2024. The pending passage of stablecoin legislation in the U.S. could expand the market for the assets, though to what degree remains to be seen.
JPMorgan, BBVA make fresh bets on AI payments strategies -- BBVA has embarked on a new strategy that aims to make digital banking distinct for each user, applying artificial intelligence to give consumers more control over structure and content The Spanish bank is integrating machine learning with cards, payments, financial management, savings and other products, while the American banking giant is assessing risk for business transactions. Plus: The CFPB eases a consent order on Wise. Under the amended order, Wise has paid $450,000 for consumer redress and will pay a $44,955 civil money penalty.
Trump's Meme Coin Event Raises Corruption Concerns - President Trump is set to host a private dinner Thursday night with the top investors in his meme coin, who spent millions of dollars to secure a spot at the exclusive event, fueling Democratic accusations of corruption. More than 200 investors in $TRUMP will dine with the president at his golf club outside of Washington, D.C., in what Democratic lawmakers have alleged is a “pay-to-play scheme” effectively selling access to Trump. “There is a big ‘For Sale’ sign on the White House lawn,” Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) said at a press conference Thursday. “U.S. policy for sale.” “Anyone who thinks those 220 people who are attending the dinner tonight who paid about $150 million for those seats just really craved to have a digital equivalent of a baseball trading card, well, you’re a little off the mark,” he continued. “They absolutely want to buy influence over U.S. policy.” Trump launched his meme coin shortly before his inauguration. Meme coins are cryptocurrencies typically based on internet trends that have no inherent value, often making them highly volatile assets. The token almost immediately drew scrutiny, prompting concerns that it could be used to buy influence with the president. $TRUMP even received pushback from within the crypto industry, as some worried it could derail the president’s efforts to pass long-sought digital asset legislation. However, the announcement of the dinner last month, which urged investors to load up on $TRUMP to secure one of 220 spots at the “intimate private dinner,” has sparked a new level of backlash. “Donald Trump’s dinner is an orgy of corruption,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said Thursday. “That’s what this is all about. We are here today to talk about exactly one topic: corruption, corruption in its ugliest form.” “Donald Trump is using the presidency of the United States to make himself richer through crypto, and he’s doing it right out there in plain sight,” she added. “He is signaling to anyone who wants to ask for a special favor and is willing to pay for it exactly how to do that.” The White House has pushed backed on these allegations, arguing that Trump is attending the event in his personal time and abiding by all conflict-of-interest laws. “The president has been asked about this, he has addressed this. I have also stated previously from this podium that the president is abiding by all conflict-of-interest laws that are applicable to the president,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday. “And I think everybody, the American public, believes it is absurd for anyone to insinuate that this president is profiting off of the presidency,” she continued. However, Democrats and ethics watchdogs have underscored concerns about the relatively anonymous nature of those buying up millions of dollars’ worth of Trump’s meme coin to secure a spot at the dinner. “This dinner is different from a traditional donor fundraiser,” Eric Petry, who serves as counsel in the Brennan Center’s Elections and Government Program, told The Hill. “Typically, when a candidate is raising money for a campaign, all that money has to be reported, and it goes into the campaign finance system,” he said. “This situation is totally different.” He noted that Trump is no longer a candidate, and it’s much more difficult to trace where these funds are coming from. “It’s much, much harder to track and trace who these people are,” Petry said. “The money can come from foreign governments, foreign officials, from abroad, which raises a host of corruption concerns that we just really haven’t seen before.”
Democrats propose bill to limit officials' crypto activities — Congressional Democrats introduced a bill Thursday that would limit what crypto activities the president, vice president, members of Congress or their families may engage in, a move prompted by President Donald Trump's stake in the World Liberty Financial crypto venture. House Financial Services Committee ranking member Maxine Waters joined fellow Democrats in introducing a bill barring the president, vice president, members of Congress or their families from owning so much of a cryptocurrency that they are able to influence the market.
BankThink: Democrats can be both pro-crypto and and anti-corruption -Everyone should be concerned that the sitting president and his family are using crypto for political advantage and personal financial gain. Democrats can call out crypto grifters while supporting sensible policy, writes Adam Kovacevich, of the Chamber of Progress. Imagine hearing this sentence 20 years ago: President Donald Trump is shilling meme coins. In 2005, that wouldn't just have been improbable, it would have been nonsensical. Everyone should be concerned that the sitting president and his family are using crypto for political advantage and personal financial gain. Democrats can call out crypto grifters while supporting sensible policy.
Coinbase: Cyber crooks stole customer data, demanded $20M ransom - -Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase said Thursday cyber criminals stole customer data and demanded a $20 million payment from the company to not publicly release the sensitive information.The group of cyber criminals allegedly persuaded a small group of customer support agents overseas to copy data from its customer support tools in exchange for cash, Coinbase announced in a blog post Thursday.The criminals hoped to use the data to contact customers and trick them into giving their crypto, the exchange alleged.Coinbase, the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, rejected the $20 million ransom.“Instead of paying this $20 million ransom, we’re turning it around. And we’re putting out a $20 million award for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of these attackers,” Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said Thursday in a video posted to the social platform X. “For these would-be extortionists or anyone seeking to harm Coinbase customers, know that we will prosecute you and bring you to justice.” Less than 1 percent of customer data was stolen but included users’ names, addresses, phone numbers, emails, government ID images, and account data. They also received the last four digits of users’ social security numbers and masked bank account numbers but did not gain access to users’ login credentials, private keys and did not have the ability to move or access funds.“Attackers still want access to this information because it allows them to conduct social engineering attacks where they can call our customers impersonating Coinbase customer support and try to trick them into sending their funds to the attacker,” Armstrong said. Customers who were manipulated by the criminals will be reimbursed and flagged accounts will have additional ID checks on large withdrawals, Coinbase said. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Coinbase estimated the company will have to spend between $180 million to $400 million between the remediation costs and voluntary customer reimbursements.
Bitcoin Surges To New Record High, 'Trumping' Gold Since Election (7 graphics) Bitcoin just surge to a new record high, $109,500, extending its recent post-pause recovery and up over 60% since President Trump was elected... BTC ETF inflows continue to build... ...and we suspect there is more to come, if the recent surge in global liquidity is anything to go by... The aggregate open interest in Bitcoin futures surged to a record high on May 20, raising questions about whether bearish positions are now at risk. Since Trump's Liberation Day (and now amid the 'One Big Beautiful Bill'), while gold has rallied solidly, Bitcoin appears to have been the preferred position for global uncertainty (after testing down to pre-election levels)... As Bitcoin Magazine's Oscar Zarraga Perez reports, a new report from River reveals that the United States dominates Bitcoin ownership globally, holding about 40% of all available Bitcoin. With 14.3% of its population owning Bitcoin, the U.S. outpaces Europe, Oceania, and Asia combined.Corporate America also leads in Bitcoin holdings. Thirty-two U.S. public companies, with a combined market cap of $1.26 trillion, hold Bitcoin as a treasury asset. These firms account for 94.8% of all Bitcoin owned by publicly traded companies worldwide. Major holders include Strategy with 569,000 BTC, U.S. mining companies with 96,000 BTC, and others with 68,000 BTC, totaling 733,000 BTC in the U.S., compared to 40,000 BTC held elsewhere. Since China’s ban on Bitcoin mining in 2021, the United States has become the global leader in Bitcoin mining, responsible for 38% of all new Bitcoin mined since then. The U.S. attracts miners thanks to its stable regulatory environment, access to deep and liquid capital markets, and abundant energy resources. These advantages have helped the U.S. increase its share of the global Bitcoin mining hashrate by over 500% since 2020, solidifying its position as the center of the industry. Bitcoin is also emerging as America’s preferred reserve asset, overtaking gold. Over 49.6 million Americans are in favor of holding Bitcoin, compared to 36.7 million who still prefer gold.
Former banker pleads guilty to $2 million check kiting fraud --A former executive at the O'Fallon, Illinois-based Bank of O'Fallon this week pleaded guilty to check kiting and investment fraud from which he gained more than $2 million and left a retired Illinois couple in financial distress. Andrew Blassie, a former executive at Illinois-based Bank of O'Fallon, pleaded guilty to inflating bank accounts, defrauding retirees and abusing insider access, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Office of the Inspector General.
TD to spend $1B in 2-year span on compliance fixes -- Upgrading its anti-money-laundering controls is the Canadian bank's top priority following historic failures that led to a $3.1 billion penalty and a U.S. asset cap.
BankThink: In a fractured regulatory arena, proactivity is fintech's best play -- Active collaboration, both among fintechs and between the industry and regulators, is the surest route to a future in which compliance obligations address real threats while allowing companies to thrive, writes Valentin Neiconi, of Stax. Over the past several decades, financial technology companies have redefined how consumers access and experience financial services. By introducing innovative models for loans, deposits and payments, fintechs have expanded financial inclusion, particularly for communities historically underserved by traditional banking institutions. Active collaboration, both among fintechs and between the industry and regulators, is the surest route to a future in which compliance obligations address real threats while allowing companies to thrive.
Fed's Cook: More study needed on bank-nonbank interreliance -- Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook said that financial markets fared well in the face of uncertainty sparked by President Trump's evolving tariff regime, but that more study is needed to understand how risks from nonbanks affect the banking system and vice versa. Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook said in a speech Friday that the market's response to recent volatility shows resilience, but more study is needed about the financial stability implications of business relationships between banks and nonbanks.
Fed paper flags 'underappreciated' risks of private credit - As banks provide the liquidity that fuels private credit lending — even without originating the loans themselves — researchers at the Federal Reserve say traditional lenders risk being dragged into a financial crisis if defaults among private credit borrowers spike. As private credit tops $1 trillion, Fed researchers warn bank exposure to the sector could spark systemic risk if defaults spike.
BankThink: Geopolitical turmoil calls for a rethink of global risk management -- Global finance has never existed in a vacuum. From the moment sovereign states began trading with one another, politics and power have shaped the flow of capital. Today, with rapid shifts in trade alliances, the resurgence of great power competition, and an array of targeted economic sanctions, banks and other financial institutions find themselves navigating a landscape that grows more unpredictable by the day. Only by facing the realities of geopolitical uncertainty head-on can we hope to preserve the integrity of the global financial system and enable the flow of capital that underpins prosperity everywhere.
House committee advances bank supervisory measures - The House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday passed a slew of bank supervisory and regulatory bills, including measures that would set timelines for regulators' approval of mergers, limit regulators' ability to make reputational risk determinations and establish an appeals process for supervisory determinations. The House Financial Services Committee passed bills to expedite bank merger review, limit the use of reputational risk in bank examinations and imposing timelines for supervisory determinations.
House votes to roll back OCC bank merger rule --The House of Representatives approved a joint resolution to roll back a 2024 bank merger rule Tuesday afternoon, sending the initiative on to the White House for the president's signature. The House passed a joint resolution to nullify the rule finalized by the agency last and prohibiting it from implementing similar reforms in the future. It will now go to the president's desk for his signature.
BankThink: No, a 'shot clock' won't improve the bank merger approval process - Setting an artificial deadline for approving bank mergers will result in hasty, ill-considered decisions. The potential damage to consumers and communities far outweighs the possible benefits, writes Jeremey Kress, of the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. When basketball players face a shot clock, they often rush and miss. Yet that is exactly what Rep. Andy Barr wants to impose on our banking system — a rigid 90-day "shot clock" for merger approvals, which the House Financial Services Committee will vote on tomorrow. As Republicans reshape financial policy, this rushed approach to bank consolidation threatens to undermine careful regulatory oversight. Setting an artificial deadline for approving bank mergers will result in hasty, ill-considered decisions. The potential damage to consumers and communities far outweighs the possible benefits.
FDIC's Hill rethinks deposit insurance fund reserve ratio - Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. acting Chair Travis Hill on Tuesday suggested the agency consider changing how it calculates the Deposit Insurance Fund's reserve ratio. As the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s Deposit Insurance Fund inches toward replenishment, acting Chair Travis Hill suggested that banks should be assessed on a range of metrics rather than insured deposits alone.
CFPB seeks to block states from enforcing federal laws -The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has withdrawn guidance from the Biden administration that had expanded states' rights, allowing individual states to broadly enforce violations of federal consumer protection laws. The CFPB has withdrawn guidance that allowed states to bring enforcement actions broadly under federal consumer protection laws.
NCUA to cut staff by 20% in sweeping overhaul -- More than 200 employees are leaving the National Credit Union Administration under a voluntary separation initiative that agency leadership says will reshape operations as it aims to reduce its roughly 1,200 staff by 20% by the end of the year. They are exiting the National Credit Union Administration as the credit union regulator pursues its Trump-era mandate to shrink government and slash operating costs.
FHFA's Pulte defers to a higher authority on conservatorship -- Bill Pulte, director of what has been known as the Federal Housing Finance Agency, shed light on certain plans he has for the government-sponsored enterprises during an appearance at an industry event on Monday, but deferred to President Trump on a conservatorship exit. The Federal Housing Finance Agency chief also explained an alternate name he's used for the agency in his first speech at a Mortgage Bankers Association event.
OceanFirst in NJ gets top CRA rating after redlining settlement - OceanFirst Bank in New Jersey has earned the highest possible Community Reinvestment Act rating less than a year after settling federal charges related to alleged discriminatory lending practices. Months after it settled federal redlining allegations, OceanFirst Financial received the highest possible Community Reinvestment Act rating from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. CEO Christopher Maher said the bank made a "significant effort" to introduce its lending products to markets it had recently entered via acquisition.
Fed exploring Home Loan bank collateral interoperability - Banks could soon be able to position assets as collateral to both the Federal Reserve's discount window and the Federal Home Loan Bank System. Federal Reserve Vice Chair Philip Jefferson said the central bank is in the "early stages" of enabling banks to pledge assets to both the Federal Home Loan bank and discount window liquidity facilities.
Donald Trump considers public offering for Fannie and Freddie President Trump said Wednesday he was considering making two giant government-sponsored home lenders public. “I am giving very serious consideration to bringing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac public,” Trump wrote in a Wednesday post on Truth Social, adding that he would make a decision in the “near future.” The president unsuccessfully attempted to release the two entities from government control during his first term in 2019. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were originally created by Congress but remained private companies funded by the U.S. Treasury Department until the housing market crash in 2008. Trump said the companies are now ready for a change. “Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are doing very well, throwing off a lot of CASH, and the time would seem to be right. Stay tuned,” the president wrote in his Wednesday post. Housing affordability remains out of reach for many American families, with the median price of a new single-family home in the U.S. about $460,000, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), a trade group for residential construction companies. Mortgage rates sit at 6.5 percent, with current underwriting standards from banks reflecting the cost is out of range for about three-quarters of all U.S. households, the NAHB found in March. Experts have warned that privatizing Fannie and Freddie could cause mortgage rates to skyrocket. However, some advocacy organizations have argued the move could boost development and expand home ownership opportunities for the middle class. Trump said he would consult Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency William Pulte before making a final decision on how to move forward.
ICE First Look at April Mortgage Performance: "Foreclosure Activity Edges Higher Following Recent Record Lows" -From Intercontinental Exchange: ICE First Look at Mortgage Performance: Foreclosure Activity Edges Higher Following Recent Record Lows - Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE) ... today released its April 2025 First Look, which shows U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) mortgages progressing through the foreclosure pipeline following the recent moratorium expiration. The ICE First Look reports on month-end delinquency, foreclosure and prepayment statistics sourced from its loan-level database, which covers a majority of the U.S. mortgage market. Key takeaways from this month’s findings include:• The national delinquency rate ticked up 1 basis point (bp) to 3.22% in April and is up a modest 13 bps (4.1%) from the same time last year. Still, delinquencies remain below pre-pandemic levels.
• Serious delinquencies – loans 90+ days past due but not in foreclosure – improved seasonally but rose 14% from April 2024 marking the sixth consecutive month of 10%+ annual increases.
• While foreclosure activity remains muted, foreclosure starts (+13%), sales (+9%), and active inventory (+4%) all rose on an annual basis for the second consecutive month.
• April’s 6,500 foreclosure sales marked the largest single-month volume in 15 months, with VA sales, which account for the bulk of the recent rise, hitting their highest level since 2019.
• Prepayment activity, measured in single month mortality, jumped to 0.71%, the highest level since October. This rise was driven by stronger home sale and refinance-related prepayments, which grew +19.0% over the previous month and +34.9% over the previous year.
Here is a table from ICE.
MBA: Mortgage Applications Decrease in Latest MBA Weekly Survey --From the MBA: Mortgage Applications Decrease in Latest MBA Weekly SurveyMortgage applications decreased 5.1 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending May 16, 2025.The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 5.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 5 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index decreased 5 percent from the previous week and was 27 percent higher than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 5 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 6 percent compared with the previous week and was 13 percent higher than the same week one year ago.“Mortgage rates jumped to their highest level since February last week, with investors concerned about rising inflation and the impact of increasing deficits and debt,” . “Higher rates, including the 30-year fixed rate increasing to 6.92 percent, led to a slowdown across the board. However, purchase applications are up 13 percent from one year ago.... The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($806,500 or less) increased to 6.92 percent from 6.86 percent, with points increasing to 0.69 from 0.68 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans.The first graph shows the MBA mortgage purchase index.According to the MBA, purchase activity is up 13% year-over-year unadjusted. Purchase application activity is up from the lows in late October 2023 and is 5% above the lowest levels during the housing bust. The second graph shows the refinance index since 1990. The refinance index decreased and remained very low.
"Mortgage Rates Briefly Over 7%" -- From Matthew Graham at Mortgage News Daily: Mortgage Rates Briefly Over 7% Before Mid-Day Improvement Mortgage rates jumped sharply over the weekend as financial markets reacted to Moody's credit rating downgrade of the U.S. News of the downgrade broke with only minutes left in Friday's market/business day, so most of the response played out when global markets opened again late last night. ... Most mortgage lenders are deciding on rates for the day in the 9am-10am ET time frame. Because this was one of the weakest moments for the bond market, mortgage rates were sharply higher at first. The average lender was back over 7% for the 1st time since April 11th, and only the 2nd time in 3 months. No sooner were these rates being published than the underlying market began moving back in the other direction. Mortgage lenders prefer to only set rates once per day, but will make mid-day updates when things change enough. Today's reversal was more than sufficient to prompt a re-price. After that, the average top tier 30yr fixed rate moved just barely back below 7.0%--still higher than Friday, but much more in line with last week's range. [30 year fixed 6.99%]
Housing May 19th Weekly Update: Inventory up 1.5% Week-over-week, Up 32.7% Year-over-year -Altos reports that active single-family inventory was up 1.5% week-over-week. Inventory is now up 22.9% from the seasonal bottom in January and is increasing. Usually, inventory is up about 13% from the seasonal low by this week in the year. So, 2025 is seeing a larger than normal pickup in inventory.The first graph shows the seasonal pattern for active single-family inventory since 2015.The red line is for 2025. The black line is for 2019. Inventory was up 32.7% compared to the same week in 2024 (last week it was up 32.9%), and down 15.6% compared to the same week in 2019 (last week it was down 15.7%). This is the highest level since 2019. It now appears inventory will be close to 2019 levels towards the end of 2025. This second inventory graph is courtesy of Altos Research. As of May 16th, inventory was at 767 thousand (7-day average), compared to 756 thousand the prior week. Mike Simonsen discusses this data regularly on Youtube
Realtor.com Reports Most Actively "For Sale" Inventory since 2019 --On a weekly basis, Realtor.com reports the year-over-year change in active inventory and new listings. On a monthly basis, they report total inventory. For May, Realtor.com reported inventory was up 30.6% YoY, but still down 16.3% compared to the 2017 to 2019 same month levels. Now - on a weekly basis - inventory is up 30.6% YoY. Realtor.com has monthly and weekly data on the existing home market. Here is their weekly report: Weekly Housing Trends View—Data for Week Ending May 10, 2025• Active inventory climbed 30.6% year over year. The number of homes actively for sale remains on a strong upward trajectory, now 30.6% higher than this time last year. This represents the 79th consecutive week of annual gains in inventory. There were more than 1 million homes for sale last week, the highest inventory level since December 2019.
• New listings—a measure of sellers putting homes up for sale—rose 11.2% year over year
New listings rose again last week, up 11.2% compared with the same period last year. The momentum that began earlier this spring remains strong, signaling a vibrant market as we head into late spring and early summer.
• The median list price remained flat
After three consecutive weeks of gains, the national median list price remained flat year over year last week. Ongoing affordability challenges, along with growing concerns about personal finances and job security, continue to pose significant hurdles for many buyers. Nearly 4 in 5 home shoppers believe it’s a bad time to buy, which is dampening demand. Here is a graph of the year-over-year change in inventory according to realtor.com. Inventory was up year-over-year for the 79th consecutive week. New listings were solid. Median list prices were unchanged year-over-year.
ICE: "Annual home price growth nationally slowed to 1.6% in May" - The ICE Home Price Index (HPI) is a repeat sales index. ICE reports the median price change of the repeat sales.From ICE (Intercontinental Exchange):Annual home price growth nationally slowed to 1.6% in Mayfrom 2% in April, as inventory surpluses that began in the Sunbelt spread to the West.
Price declines appear to be inventory driven:• 40% of the nation’s largest housing markets experienced seasonally adjusted month-over-month price declines from April to May, including 23 of the 24 top markets in the West
• The number of markets with year-over-year price declines increased from 9 to 23 by mid-May, with a majority (9) of the newcomers located in the West
• Those markets include: Denver (-1.6%), San Francisco and Stockton, Calif. (-1.5%), Phoenix (-1.2%), with more modest declines in Honolulu, Colorado Springs, Tucson, Sacramento, and San Diego
• That’s the largest number of markets with annual price declines since interest rates surged above 7.5% in late 2023
• Western markets (led by California) have seen sharp rises in inventory, with every major California market now having at least +40% more homes available for sale than at the same time last year, led by Stockton (+87% ) and Oxnard and San Diego (+70% each)If current trends persist, we could see prices fall year over year in even more West Coast markets.As ICE mentioned, cities in the South have been leading the way in inventory increases and price declines (especially Florida and Texas). Now the West Coast markets are following, although inventory levels are mostly still below the pre-pandemic levels.
• Inventories in San Francisco, San Jose, and Stockton have already surpassed pre-pandemic levels, with other California markets on pace to ‘normalize’ later this year
NAR: Existing-Home Sales Decreased to 4.00 million SAAR in April; Down 2.0% YoY -- From the NAR: Existing-Home Sales Edged Lower by 0.5% in April - Existing-home sales slowed in April, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. Sales dipped in the Northeast and West, grew in the Midwest and were unchanged in the South. Year-over-year, sales declined in three regions and remained steady in the Northeast.Total existing-home sales – completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – slipped 0.5% from March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.00 million in April. Year-over-year, sales descended 2.0% (down from 4.08 million in April 2024).....Total housing inventory registered at the end of April was 1.45 million units, up 9.0% from March and 20.8% from one year ago (1.2 million). Unsold inventory sits at a 4.4-month supply at the current sales pace, up from 4.0 months in March and 3.5 months in April 2024. This graph shows existing home sales, on a Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) basis since 1994. Sales in April (4.00 million SAAR) were down 0.5% from the previous month and were 2.0% below the April 2024 sales rate. This was the 3rd consecutive month with a year--over-year decline in sales. The second graph shows nationwide inventory for existing homes. According to the NAR, inventory increased to 1.45 million in April from 1.33 million the previous month. Headline inventory is not seasonally adjusted, and inventory usually decreases to the seasonal lows in December and January, and peaks in mid-to-late summer. The last graph shows the year-over-year (YoY) change in reported existing home inventory and months-of-supply. Since inventory is not seasonally adjusted, it really helps to look at the YoY change. Note: Months-of-supply is based on the seasonally adjusted sales and not seasonally adjusted inventory. Inventory was up 20.8% year-over-year (blue) in April compared to April 2024. Months of supply (red) increased to 4.4 months in April from 4.0 months the previous month. As expected, the sales rate was below the consensus forecast.
In Q1 2025, 19% of Units Started Built-for-Rent were Single Family -Today, in the Real Estate Newsletter: In Q1 2025, 19% of Units Started Built-for-Rent were Single Family Brief excerpt: Along with the monthly housing starts report for April released last week, the Census Bureau also released Housing Units Started by Purpose and Design through Q1 2025. The first graph shows the number of single family and multi-family units started with the intent to rent. This data is quarterly and Not Seasonally Adjusted (NSA). Although the majority of units built-for-rent’ are still multi-family (blue) - even after the sharp decline in 2022 - there has been a significant pickup in single family units started built-for-rent (red). A total of 102,000 units were started built-for-rent in Q1, with 19% single family units.
New Home Sales Increase to 743,000 Annual Rate in April -The Census Bureau reports New Home Sales in April were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 743 thousand.The previous three months were revised down significantly, combined.Sales of new single-family houses in April 2025 were at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 743,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 10.9 percent above the March 2025 rate of 670,000, and is 3.3 percent above the April 2024 rate of 719,000.The first graph shows New Home Sales vs. recessions since 1963. The dashed line is the current sales rate.New home sales were above pre-pandemic levels.The second graph shows New Home Months of Supply. The months of supply decreased in April to 8.1 months from 9.1 months in March.The all-time record high was 12.2 months of supply in January 2009. The all-time record low was 3.3 months in August 2020.This is well above the top of the normal range (about 4 to 6 months of supply is normal)."The seasonally-adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of April 2025 was 504,000. This is 0.6 percent below the March 2025 estimate of 507,000, and is 8.6 percent above the April 2024 estimate of 464,000. This represents a supply of 8.1 months at the current sales rate. The months' supply is 11.0 percent below the March 2025 estimate of 9.1 months, and is 5.2 percent above the April 2024 estimate of 7.7 months."Sales were above expectations of 700 thousand SAAR, however sales for the three previous months were revised down significantly, combined.
Newsletter: New Home Sales Increase to 743,000 Annual Rate in April -- Today, in the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter: New Home Sales Increase to 743,000 Annual Rate in April Brief excerpt:The Census Bureau reported New Home Sales in April were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 743 thousand. The previous three months were revised down significantly, combined.... The next graph shows new home sales for 2024 and 2025 by month (Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate). Sales in April 2025 were up 3.3% from April 2024.New home sales, seasonally adjusted, have increased year-over-year in 19 of the last 25 months. This is essentially the opposite of what happened withexisting home sales that had been down year-over-year for 40 of the last 44 months.There is much more in the article.
AIA: "Billings continue to decline at architecture firms" - Note: This index is a leading indicator primarily for new Commercial Real Estate (CRE) investment.From the AIA: ABI April 2025: Billings continue to decline at architecture firms: The AIA/Deltek Architecture Billings Index (ABI) score declined to 43.2 for the month. Billings have declined for 28 of the last 31 months, since they first dipped back into negative territory following the post-pandemic boom. Despite generally strong backlogs at firms, inquiries into new work declined for the third consecutive month in April, while the value of new design contracts declined at the majority of firms for the fourteenth consecutive month. Although the U.S. economy is not officially in a recession at this time, many architecture firms are reporting recession-like business conditions. Regionally, business conditions at architecture firms remained softest at firms located in the Northeast for the seventh consecutive month in April. Conditions have also softened significantly at firms located in the West since the beginning of the year. In addition, billings continued to decline at firms of all specializations this month, particularly at firms with commercial/industrial and multifamily residential specializations. The pace of the decline remains slower at firms with an institutional specialization, but billings have still declined nearly every month since mid-2023....The ABI score is a leading economic indicator of construction activity, providing an approximately nine-to-twelve-month glimpse into the future of nonresidential construction spending activity. The score is derived from a monthly survey of architecture firms that measures the change in the number of services provided to clients.• Northeast (40.2); Midwest (44.4); South (46.2); West (42.1)
• Sector index breakdown: commercial/industrial (40.5); institutional (46.3);multifamily residential (40.8)
This graph shows the Architecture Billings Index since 1996. The index was at 43.2 in April, down from 44.1 in March. Anything below 50 indicates a decrease in demand for architects' services. This index has indicated contraction for 28 of the last 31 months. Note: This includes commercial and industrial facilities like hotels and office buildings, multi-family residential, as well as schools, hospitals and other institutions.This index usually leads CRE investment by 9 to 12 months, so this index suggests a slowdown in CRE investment throughout 2025 and into 2026. Multi-family billings have been below 50 for the 33 consecutive months. This suggests we will see continued weakness in multi-family starts.
Update: Lumber Prices Up 13% YoY - This is something to watch again. Here is another monthly update on lumber prices. NOTE: The CME group discontinued the Random Length Lumber Futures contract on May 16, 2023. I switched to a physically-delivered Lumber Futures contract that was started in August 2022. Unfortunately, this impacts long term price comparisons since the new contract was priced about 24% higher than the old random length contract for the period when both contracts were available. This graph shows CME random length framing futures through August 2022 (blue), and the new physically-delivered Lumber Futures (LBR) contract starting in August 2022 (Red). On May 20, 2025, LBR was at $599.50 per 1,000 board feet, up 13% from a year ago. There is somewhat of a seasonal demand for lumber, and lumber prices frequently peak in the first half of the year.Last year, prices bottomed in July at $449.00 per 1,000 board feet.The recent year-over-year increase might be due to the tariffs.
Communication outage reported at Denver airport - Air traffic controllers’ radio at Denver International Airport experienced an outage for a minute-and-a-half this week, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The federal agency said a part of the Denver Air Route Traffic Control Center suffered a loss of communications for about 90 seconds at around 1:50 p.m. local time Monday because “both transmitters that cover a segment of airspace went down.” Controllers utilized another frequency to relay instructions to pilots flying in, according to the FAA. Aircraft remained “safely separated” and there were no “impacts to operations.”The FAA is investigating the incident. As many as 20 pilots flying aircraft into the airport were not able to communicate with air traffic controllers Monday, Denver7 reported Thursday, citing multiple unnamed sources. The outage marks another incident at U.S. airports in recent weeks. Newark Liberty International Airport has been in the headlines lately over experiencing multiple delays while dealing with staffing challenges, mostly among air traffic controllers, and outdated technology. One of the New York City metropolitan area’s biggest airports has also been set back with construction on parts of the runway, which has contributed to delays.
LA Ports: April Inbound Traffic Up YoY, Outbound Down --There were still a large number of ships unloading in April. We should see a sharp drop in May traffic due to the tariffs. Container traffic gives us an idea about the volume of goods being exported and imported - and usually some hints about the trade report since LA area ports handle about 40% of the nation's container port traffic. The following graphs are for inbound and outbound traffic at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in TEUs (TEUs: 20-foot equivalent units or 20-foot-long cargo container). To remove the strong seasonal component for inbound traffic, the first graph shows the rolling 12-month average. On a rolling 12-month basis, inbound traffic increased 0.7% in April compared to the rolling 12 months ending the previous month. Outbound traffic decreased 0.3% compared to the rolling 12 months ending the previous month. The 2nd graph is the monthly data (with a strong seasonal pattern for imports). Usually imports peak in the July to October period as retailers import goods for the Christmas holiday and then decline sharply and bottom in the Winter depending on the timing of the Chinese New Year. Imports were up 10% YoY in April and exports were down 4% YoY. Recently importers rushed to beat the tariffs. And port traffic will likely slow sharply in coming months.
May Vehicle Forecast: Sales "Cooling Off" to 15.9 million SAAR -From WardsAuto: U.S. Light-Vehicle Sales Cooling Off in May; Inventory Still Falling (pay content). Brief excerpt: With inventory set to continue declining month-to-month, and the cost to automakers of the tariffs more strongly kicking in by July, sales are likely to continue sequential weakness into the summer – unless automakers decide to eat most of the increased cost. Based on the North America production outlook for the next several months, most are not planning to eat a lot of the cost. This graph shows actual sales from the BEA (Blue), and Wards forecast for May (Red). On a seasonally adjusted annual rate basis, the Wards forecast of 15.9 million SAAR, would be down 7.9% from last month, and up 0.5% from a year ago. Car buyers rushed to buy over the previous couple of months to beat the tariffs. There will be further payback in coming months.
Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims Decrease to 227,000 -- The DOL reported: In the week ending May 17, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 227,000, a decrease of 2,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 229,000. The 4-week moving average was 231,500, an increase of 1,000 from the previous week's unrevised average of 230,500. The following graph shows the 4-week moving average of weekly claims since 1971.The dashed line on the graph is the current 4-week average. The four-week average of weekly unemployment claims increased to 231,500.The previous week was unrevised. Weekly claims were lower than the consensus forecast.
More than half of U.S. workers say job insecurity has significant impact on their stress -- A majority of U.S. workers (54%) said job insecurity has had a significant impact on their stress levels at work, and more than a third (39%) said they are concerned they may lose their job in the next 12 months due to changes in government policies, according to the American Psychological Association's 2025 Work in America survey.Two-thirds of employed adults (65%) said their company or organization has been affected by recent government policy changes. The survey found that for some, these changes, as well as growing economic uncertainty, are related to intensifying workplace stress andmental health concerns. The Harris Poll conducted the survey on behalf of APA from March 26 to April 4, 2025, among more than 2,000 working U.S. adults aged 18 and older."When people feel their jobs are at risk, it creates a sense of uncertainty that can affect every aspect of their lives," said Arthur C. Evans Jr., Ph.D., APA's chief executive officer. "This cultural moment is threatening workers' sense of stability, control and ability to meet their basic needs. And feelings of insecurity at work and poor mental health can amplify each other in a vicious cycle." Government policy changes, economic concerns and general stress over job security may have had a ripple effect on the psychological and emotional standing of employees, according to the survey findings. Those whose company or organization had been affected by recent government policy changes were more likely than others to report experiencing negative outcomes at work over the last month. These workers most commonly reported experiencing a lack of interest, motivation or energy (28% whose company experienced drastic/significant impacts and 31% whose company experienced moderate/minor impacts vs. 16% whose company experienced no impacts), emotional exhaustion (27% and 30% vs. 18%) and difficulty focusing (23% and 24% vs. 13%). Other highlights include:
- Workers who said government policy changes had significantly or drastically affected their company or organization—to the point of fundamental changes to their operation or strategy—were more likely than people who had not experienced any changes due to government policies to say job insecurity had a significant impact on their stress at work (70% vs. 39%).
- Among local, state or federal government workers, 53% said they anticipate changes happening in their company or organization due to government policy changes that may happen in the future.
- Around half of workers (51%) said it would take them a significant amount of time to find a new job if they lost theirs, and two in three workers who said they are concerned about losing their job in the next 12 months due to changes in government policies (66%) said the same.
- More than two in five (44%) said that if they lost their job, they would need to move to a different field or industry to find a new job.
Nebraska banning soda, energy drinks from SNAP under first federal waiver Nebraska has received the first federal waiver to ban soda and energy drinks from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps. The move is set to take effect on Jan. 1 as a part of a broader effort to restrict taxpayer dollars from contributing to the purchase of sugary drinks and junk food under the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). “SNAP is about helping families in need get healthy food into their diets, but there’s nothing nutritious about the junk we’re removing with today’s waiver,” Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen (R) said in a Monday press release. Governors in Iowa, Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, West Virginia and Colorado are also considering similar changes to SNAP benefits. Program funds are supplied by the USDA and administered individually by states. Recipients right now are able to buy anything except alcohol, tobacco and hot foods. Researchers have long argued that SNAP restrictions are unlikely to change eating patterns, and that it will be costly for the federal government to track 650,000 food and beverage products on the market and 20,000 new products introduced annually, according to economic policy researcher Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach’s 2017 testimony before the House Committee on Agriculture. “The complexity is multiplied because there is no clear standard for defining foods as ‘healthy’ or ‘unhealthy,’ or as luxury goods. Creating such standards would be difficult at best, and would entail substantial administrative costs to categorize and track the nutritional profile of each good to produce a SNAP-eligible foods list,” she told lawmakers. “The list would have to be maintained continuously and communicated to retailers and consumers in real time.” However, Trump administration officials say Nebraska’s new initiative falls in line with the “Make America Healthy Again” agenda of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has largely focused on eliminating disease through food consumption since his confirmation. “The one place that I would say that we need to really change policy is the SNAP program and food stamps and in school lunches,” Kennedy said in February on Fox News’s “The Ingraham Angle.” “There, the federal government in many cases is paying for it. And we shouldn’t be subsidizing people to eat poison,” he added.
Judge blocks revocation of international students' legal status - A district judge ruled Thursday the federal government could not revoke the legal status of international students after a nationwide crackdown on foreign individuals at U.S. universities. The case involves two dozen students who were admitted to the U.S. on F-1 nonimmigrant visas who saw their status changed when the federal government took them off the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). Along with blocking terminations, District Judge Jeffrey White, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush, is enjoining the federal government from arresting the plaintiffs or those similarly situated or transferring those arrested outside of their resident jurisdiction. The Hill has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for comment. This is the first time a judge has issued a nationwide injunction after dozens of lawsuits appeared in response to the federal government’s crackdown on international students. “That initiative is a uniform policy that uniformly wreaked havoc not only on the lives of Plaintiffs here but on similarly situated F-1 nonimmigrants across the United States and continues do so,” White said, noting in other cases a nationwide relief request was not made. Thousands of international students saw their visas get revoked this spring, with the government arguing it has the authority under the Immigration and Nationality Act. Many of the students received notices that their legal status was revoked with little explanation, with some choosing to leave the country on their own to avoid arrest. The DHS has restored many of the students originally taken off SEVIS, but fear has grown as the administration has made clear it is not done targeting foreign students. “Finally, Defendants’ actions since these cases were filed raise the concern that they may be trying to place any future SEVIS terminations beyond judicial review. At each turn in this and similar litigation across the nation, Defendants have abruptly changed course to satisfy courts’ expressed concerns,” White wrote. “It is unclear how this game of whack-a-mole will end unless Defendants are enjoined from skirting their own mandatory regulations,” he added.
The US is reinstating records for international students. For some, it’s too late - After the government terminated his legal status in the U.S., one student abruptly lost his laboratory job in Houston and, fearing detention, he returned to his home country in south Asia on a one-way ticket. The Trump administration later reversed course in its expansive crackdown on international students, but there was a major obstacle. The student cannot return because his American visa was revoked. Without it, he’s “stranded,” said the student, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. As the government begins reinstating students’ records, many face a daunting and complicated path toward rebuilding their lives. For those who left, there is no guarantee they can return. Others have faced challenges reenrolling in school and returning to jobs. Mental anguish from their ordeals linger, as do feelings of vulnerability. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has expanded the grounds for terminating a student’s legal status, leaving many to fear they could be targeted again. A total of more than 4,700 international students had their permission to study in the U.S. canceled this spring, with little notice or explanation. In court hearings, Department of Homeland Security officials said they ran the names of student visa holders through an FBI-run database that contains the names of suspects and people who have been arrested, even if they were never charged with a crime or had charges dropped. At a court hearing last week in Oakland, California, lawyers for international students sought a nationwide injunction they said would protect their clients and others across the country. But government attorneys said that wasn’t necessary because ICE was mailing status reactivation letters to affected students. It likely will take two weeks for all students to receive their letter, which can then be shared with universities and employers, assistant U.S. attorney Elizabeth Kurlan said. The plaintiffs’ lawyers said the letter is meaningless, arguing ICE’s new policy suggests student records can be terminated on a whim. There’s also no evidence ICE has asked the State Department to restore revoked visas, the plaintiffs’ attorneys said. The man in Houston left within about a week of learning his legal status had been terminated. Around that time, he also received an email that the visa he used to enter the U.S. had been revoked. He believes his termination stemmed from a 2021 fraud case that was dismissed. Over nearly a decade he had built a life in the U.S., where he was enrolled in “optional practical training,” which allows foreign students to stay and work for up to three years on their student visas. In his home country, he is now looking for work and living with his mother. The wait time for a U.S. visa interview is at least a year, he said. Even if he got another visa, returning would be complicated because of his financial situation. He had a car loan and credit cards in the U.S. that he can’t afford to pay after losing his job, and his credit score has since dropped, he said. “Revoking a visa or revoking a SEVIS status does not just affect the educational side of things, it affects the whole life,” said the student, who has struggled with feelings of loneliness and also grief over his father’s recent death. SEVIS is the Student and Exchange Visitor Information Systems database that tracks international students’ compliance with their visa status. Students who left the country may not have known their rights or had the resources to hire a lawyer, said Ben Loveman, an immigration attorney. They now will have a harder time being reinstated, he said. “There were huge consequences,” Loveman said. For a Nepali programmer in Texas who had his status terminated, the ordeal brought up a mistake he thought he had left in the past. The programmer, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear or retaliation, was arrested four years ago for drunken driving. He said he took responsibility for his actions, performing community service hours, serving probation and paying fines. The judge told him the records could be sealed after two years, but the case appears to explain why he was targeted by immigration authorities. “I followed everything,” he said. “If they’re going to take it all, at least give me due process.” His status has since been restored, and the programmer, who is on an OPT program, has gone back to his job. But the episode hasn’t faded from his mind. If the right opportunity emerged in another country like New Zealand or Canada, he said he would take it and leave. A student at Iowa State University who also requested anonymity out of concern about being targeted, said he is looking for options to leave the U.S., after what he describes as a “dark period.” The Ph.D. student said his status termination pushed him to a mental breaking point. He had a plane ticket back home to Bangladesh reserved. He hardly left his apartment, and when he did, he felt he was being followed. He attributes his termination to pending charges against him for marijuana possession, but he said he hadn’t been convicted. After his status reinstatement, he restarted a teaching assistant job he had lost. Then, he had to catch up on grading almost three weeks of assignments for dozens of students. While he’s relieved to get back to school, he’s confident about his decision to leave by the end of the year — either for home or Europe. The degree is not worth the risk of another status termination, he said. “How much should I suffer to continue here?” he said.
Trump administration blocks Harvard's international enrollments, threatens broader crackdown (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's administration revoked Harvard University's ability to enroll international students on Thursday, and is forcing existing students to transfer to other schools or lose their legal status, while also threatening to expand the crackdown to other schools. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem ordered the department to terminate Harvard University’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification, the department said in a statement. Noem accused the university of "fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party." Harvard said the move by the Trump administration - which affects thousands of students - was illegal and amounted to retaliation. The clampdown on foreign students marks a significant escalation of the Trump administration’s campaign against the elite Ivy League university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which has emerged as one of Trump's most prominent institutional targets. The move comes after Harvard refused to provide information that Noem had previously demanded about some foreign student visa holders who attend the university, the department said. Harvard enrolled nearly 6,800 international students in the 2024-2025 school year, amounting to 27% of its total enrollment, according to university statistics. In 2022, Chinese nationals made up the biggest population of foreign students with 1,016, university figures show. After that were students from Canada, India, South Korea, the UK, Germany, Australia, Singapore and Japan. “It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments to help pad their multibillion-dollar endowments," Noem said in a statement. Harvard rejected the allegations and pledged to support foreign students. “The government’s action is unlawful," the university said in a statement. "This retaliatory action threatens serious harm to the Harvard community and our country, and undermines Harvard’s academic and research mission.” The university said it was "fully committed" to educating foreign students and was working on producing guidance for affected students.
Trump Admin Blocks Harvard From Enrolling International Students, Requires Current Foreign Students To Transfer 'Or Lose Legal Status' --Harvard is having a really bad year. From feds yanking billions in grants, to House Republicans alleging ties to the Chinese military, to President Trump threatening their tax-exempt status, to detained embryo-smuggling scientists (and most of that's just this month), the university has now been blocked from enrolling international students - which constitute nearly 1/3 of Harvard admissions. "I am writing to inform you that effective immediately, Harvard University’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification is revoked," according to a letter sent to the university by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, which they promptly shot over to the NY Times. The university has 72 hours to hand over requested information. The decision followed a back-and-forth in recent days over the legality of a wide-ranging records request by the Department of Homeland Security. According to Bloomberg, existing foreign students must transfer or lose their legal status, the notice reads. This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus. It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments… pic.twitter.com/12hJWd1J86 — Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) May 22, 2025 In April DHS threatened to block Harvard from enrolling international students if the university refused to hand over detailed records about the student body containing "relevant information" on student visa holders who have been involved in "known illegal" or "dangerous" activity."It is a privilege to have foreign students attend Harvard University, not a guarantee," Noem wrote in an April letter. "The United States government understands that Harvard University relies heavily on foreign student funding from over 10,000 foreign students to build and maintain their substantial endowment."Harvard dug in last month following the Trump admin's demands - with president Alan Garber saying in a statement "No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue."Concurrently, a federal judge in California has blocked the Trump administration from terminating the legal status of international students nationwide while a court case challenging previous terminations is pending.The order by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White in Oakland bars the government from arresting or incarcerating the plaintiffs and similarly situated students; from transferring any of them outside the jurisdiction of their residence; from imposing any adverse legal effect on students and from reversing the reinstatement of the legal status until the case is resolved. Students can still be arrested for violent crimes. -APAccording to White, the government's actions "wreaked havoc not only on the lives of Plaintiffs here but on similarly situated F-1 nonimmigrants across the United States and continues do so."
Harvard sues Trump administration after DHS bans international students - Harvard University is suing the Trump administration a day after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) revoked its certification to admit foreign students, an escalation of its fight with the institution and an effort to hit its wallet.Harvard President Alan Garber announced the suit in a letter to the Harvard community.“Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard,” the complaint reads.The suit, filed in federal court in Massachusetts, claims the administration’s actions violate the First Amendment, constitutional due process and DHS’s own regulations. It landed just hours after DHS Secretary Kristi Noem ordered Harvard be taken off the Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification. The order effectively bans Harvard from enrolling new international students and forces current ones, who make up roughly a quarter of the school’s student population, to transfer. Garber characterized the government’s actions as an effort to lash out at Harvard over its “refusal to surrender our academic independence and to submit to the federal government’s illegal assertion of control over our curriculum, our faculty and our student body.”“We condemn this unlawful and unwarranted action,” he wrote.
Let the colleges fail -- The U.S. is known for having exceptional private business enterprises. It is the prime mover in creating the most powerful and bountiful economy in history and also for having great colleges and universities. Its schools dominate world college rankings and draw students from throughout the world. Yet American universities are facing a dramatic decline in public support. This is manifested in lower enrollments today than a dozen years ago and widespread threats to their funding, as both the Trump administration (via threats to revoke tax exemptions, reduced research support, etc.) and Congress pose what some college leaders deem existential threats to their very existence. Additionally, some state governments are beginning to sharply increase their intervention into the affairs of public universities that have historically exercised a great deal of independence. A major reason corporations are faring far better than universities in today’s public policy milieu can be explained by one word: ownership. Everyone knows who owns and controls the operations of American companies, but who “owns” or controls our universities? We all know that Elon Musk makes the key decisions at SpaceX and Tesla, but who does so at elite universities like Harvard or Stanford, or even at distinctly less selective and prestigious schools, such as Ball State University in Indiana or the University of District Columbia? Who owns or “runs” Harvard? Is its president, Alan Garber, truly the “CEO?” Is the controlling authority the governing board — or in Harvard’s case, one of the two governing boards? Is it the faculty, whose presence is absolutely essential to carrying out the dominantly important institutional functions of discovering and disseminating knowledge? Is it a vast and ever-growing bureaucracy that constitutes the administrative bloat raising university costs and diluting the emphasis on the primary academic functions? Is it the students whose presence, like the faculty, is the whole point of higher learning? Is it rich alumni, like Johns Hopkins’ Michael Bloomberg or the University of Oregon’s Phil Knight, whose multi-billion dollar contributions are critically important to the future of those institutions? Are any of these the “owners” in any sense? Or, are universities often better viewed as confederations of various largely autonomous fiefdoms that pay allegiance and some funds to a central administration, very much like feudal lords in the Middle Ages nominally recognized a distant king to whom they paid some feudal dues? Using Harvard as an example, does the Harvard Business School pay a tax out of its tuition and endowment revenues to President Garber across the Charles River, mainly so that it can continue to use the prestigious name “Harvard?” And what of others using the Harvard moniker — Harvard Law School, Harvard College (undergraduate school), the Kennedy School of Government, etc.? This brings us to another term explaining the difference between the relative efficiency of colleges and American business: incentives. In American business, major errors in decision-making can literally be either a death sentence or being put on life support, but success provides owners and CEOs with vast wealth. In contrast, a successful college president might get a bonus of $100,000, although his or her head football coach, effectively running a business in a highly competitive market environment, might get a salary vastly dwarfing that of his nominal university president boss.
GLAAD Claims Free Speech Surge On Social Media Undermines LGBT Safety -One of the most detrimental self-sabotage efforts of the woke movement was their rabid push to control public speech online. In the case of gay and trans issues, any criticism no matter how factual or logical was met with Orwellian oversight. For most major social media apps, simply engaging in debate with LGBT activists could mean your account would be flagged and silenced for days or weeks at a time. Refusing to use a trans person's preferred pronouns could result in a permanent ban. Such policies were established hand-in-hand with federal government efforts to codify LGBT language and make gay and trans people a privileged class protected from any and all scrutiny. Governments and social media platforms partnered up to institute speech controls that might not be possible otherwise. Under the guise of "protecting LGBT people" from discrimination, the door to arbitrary censorship was opened. This is why in the US there is no such thing as a legal definition for "hate speech". Classifying any speech as "hate speech" would represent a clear violation of the 1st Amendment. Yes, you can "yell fire" in a crowded theater, and yes you can call people whatever pejoratives you want to call them. Hurt feelings are irrelevant to the law, and this is a good thing.GLAAD, the gay and trans lobby group, thinks otherwise.The organization issued an “alarming” Social Media Safety Index report this month, which found that, after significant rollbacks in protected speech, social media platforms are overwhelmingly "failing to protect" LGBTQ people.The only major app that did not receive an "F" grade on LGBT safety was TikTok, which got a D+. GLAAD has now changed it's grading system due to the lack of platforms meeting their standards. For 2025, the platforms were rated numerically, with TikTok at 56/100; Facebook: 45/100; Instagram: 45/100; YouTube: 41/100; Threads: 40/100; and X the lowest at 30/100.“At a time when real-world violence and harassment against LGBTQ people is on the rise, social media companies are profiting from the flames of anti-LGBTQ hate instead of ensuring the basic safety of LGBTQ users,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement shared with TheWrap. “These low scores should terrify anyone who cares about creating safer, more inclusive online spaces,” she added.
UnitedHealth Shares Drop After Report Alleges Secret Bonus Payments To Nursing Homes For Cutting Hospital Transfers --UnitedHealth Group shares dropped as much as 7.5% in premarket trading Wednesday in New York, following a Guardian investigation that revealed the health insurer shelled out "Premium Dividend" and "Shared Savings" bonuses to nursing homes that reduced hospital transfers for sick residents. The Guardian's investigation is based on thousands of confidential corporate and patient records obtained through sources, public records requests, and court filings, along with interviews with nearly two dozen current and former UnitedHealth and nursing home employees, as well as two whistleblower declarations submitted to Congress.The report offers a new snapshot into UnitedHealth's daily operations at nearly 2,000 nursing homes across the country, where it manages Medicare Advantage coverage for more than 55,000 long-term residents. Here are some of the key findings from the report:
- UnitedHealth stationed in-house medical teams at nearly 2,000 nursing homes, incentivizing them to lower hospitalizations through financial rewards like "Premium Dividend" and "Shared Savings" payments tied to hospitalization rates.
- Internal records show UnitedHealth monitored nursing homes using "admits per thousand (APK)" metrics and set "budgets" for hospitalizations. Facilities with high APKs were denied bonuses.
- In multiple documented cases, patients were denied urgent hospital care, leading to serious harm, including permanent brain damage. Whistleblowers say these incidents were hidden or minimized.
- Nurse practitioners were pressured to push "Do Not Resuscitate" (DNR) orders, even when patients had previously expressed the desire for life-saving treatments.
- UnitedHealth also incentivized increased enrollment in its Institutional Special Needs Plans by offering large payments to nursing homes, which in some cases leaked confidential patient data to help sales teams directly solicit families—often bypassing consent rules.
The Guardian noted: In several cases identified by the Guardian, nursing home residents who needed immediate hospital care under the program failed to receive it, after interventions from UnitedHealth staffers. At least one lived with permanent brain damage following his delayed transfer, according to a confidential nursing home incident log, recordings and photo evidence. A current UnitedHealth nurse practitioner, who recently submitted a congressional complaint regarding the nursing home program, stated: "No one is truly investigating when a patient suffers harm. Absolutely no one. "These incidents are hidden, downplayed and minimized. The sense is: 'Well, they're medically frail, and no one lives for ever.'"
AI's usefulness in emergency room diagnoses is limited to presentation of typical symptoms, researchers find -Artificial intelligence tools can assist emergency room physicians in accurately predicting disease, but only for patients with typical symptoms, West Virginia University scientists have found.Gangqing "Michael" Hu, assistant professor in the WVU School of Medicine Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Cell Biology and director of the WVU Bioinformatics Core facility, led a study that compared the precision and accuracy of four ChatGPT models in making medical diagnoses and explaining their reasoning.His findings, published in the journal Scientific Reports, demonstrate the need for incorporating greater amounts of different types of data in training AI technology to assist in disease diagnosis.More data can make the difference in whether AI gives patients the correct diagnoses for what are called "challenging cases," which don't exhibit classic symptoms. As an example, Hu pointed to a trio of scenarios from his study involving patients who had pneumonia without the typical fever."In these three cases, all of the GPT models failed to give an accurate diagnosis," Hu said. "That made us dive in to look at the physicians' notes and we noticed the pattern of these being challenging cases. ChatGPT tends to get a lot of information from different resources on the internet, but these may not cover atypical disease presentation."The study analyzed data from 30 public emergency department cases, which—for reasons of privacy—did not include demographics.Hu explained that in using ChatGPT to assist with diagnosis, physicians' notes are uploaded, and the tool is asked to provide its top three diagnoses. Results varied for the versions Hu tested: the GPT-3.5, GPT-4, GPT-4o and o1 series."When we looked at whether the AI models gave the correct diagnosis in any of their top three results, we didn't see a significant improvement between the new version and the older version," he said. "But when we look at each model's number one diagnosis, the new version is about 15% to 20% higher in accuracy than the older version."Given AI models' current low performance on complex and atypical cases, Hu said human oversight is a necessity for high-quality, patient-centered care when using AI as an assistive tool."We didn't do this study out of curiosity to see if the new model would give better results. We wanted to establish a basis for future studies that involve additional input," Hu said. "Currently, we input physician notes only. In the future, we want to improve the accuracy by including images and findings from laboratory tests."Hu emphasized that while ChatGPT is promising, it is not a certified medical device. He said if health care providers were to include images or other data in a clinical setting, the AI model would be an open-source system and installed in a hospital cluster to comply with privacy laws.
Biden's cancer diagnosis sparks questions over screening age - Former President Biden’s aggressive prostate cancer diagnosis is raising questions about whether warning signs could have been caught earlier, and if the current screening recommendations should be changed. Prostate cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in older men. One in every eight men will be diagnosed in his lifetime. According to the American Cancer Society, prostate cancer kills 35,000 a year, meaning a man dies from prostate cancer every 15 minutes. Biden’s diagnosis is serious, and while treatable, it can’t be cured. Prostate cancer experts said it’s unclear how long Biden has had cancer. Even if he was screened regularly in recent years, they said it’s not uncommon for cancer to develop without notable symptoms. “Cancer doesn’t necessarily follow a rule book. It’s possible that this came out of the blue, because cancer can do that,” said Alicia Morgans, a prostate cancer specialist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and board member of the advocacy group ZERO Prostate Cancer. Doctors diagnosed Biden with a prostate nodule last week after he experienced increasing urinary symptoms. By Friday, he was diagnosed with cancer that had metastasized to his bones. It’s not clear if the symptoms were due to cancer, or if the nodule was found as part of a routine screening. Morgans said even if Biden had been getting regular screening, it is an imperfect science. “Sometimes our tests are imperfect. And even if we’re doing perfect blood tests and perfect imaging and perfect everything, we don’t find things,” she said. Biden left office as the oldest serving president in history, consistently dogged by concerns over his physical health and mental acuity. Prior to the diagnosis last week, his most recent medical update came in February 2024, when he was declared “fit to serve” after a routine physical at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. The public summary of his visit listed several tests doctors performed, but not a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test. That’s not surprising, said Geoffrey Sonn, an associate professor of urology at Stanford University School of Medicine. “Really, there’s not many people out there that will advocate for continuing aggressive PSA screening for men in their 80s,” he said. “In retrospect, I think that it’s likely that if he had continued screening against pretty much all guidelines, that they probably would have found this earlier.” Current cancer screening guidelines are complicated, and Biden’s case echoes a tension; it’s best if the cancer is caught early, but there needs to be a balance between early detection and overtreatment. The American Cancer Society does not recommend routine testing for men at any age. Instead, it recommends men have a conversation with their health provider about the benefits, risks and uncertainties of screening starting at age 40 for those at highest risk, and age 50 for men at average risk. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an independent panel of experts that makes recommendations on services like screenings, suggests men ages 55 to 69 make an “individual” decision after first discussing it with their provider. The “shared decisionmaking” recommendation generally stops at age 70 and older, because prostate cancer is slow-growing and physicians don’t see a clinical benefit in doing a screening for people with only 10 to 15 years of life expectancy.
Key takeaways from RFK’s MAHA report targeting food, drug, tech industries -- The Trump administration issued its long-awaited Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission report Thursday, hammering various industries while deviating from mainstream science on key issues including farming practices, vaccinations and psychiatric medications. President Trump appointed Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the MAHA Commission, which issued its first report on children’s health Thursday. It pointed to four key factors that it says are hurting U.S. children: ultraprocessed foods, environmental chemicals, digital behavior and “overmedicalization.”The report identifies pesticides and other chemicals as potentially having harmful health impacts, but it stops short of recommending actions to limit them — disappointing some advocates.When it came to childhood mental and physical health, the report concludes that large corporations are distorting the U.S. health system for the sake of profits.“There is a growing concern about the link between environmental health risks, particularly cumulative risks, and chronic disease,” the report states. “Furthermore, in the past nearly 30 years, the chemicals children are exposed to have grown – and no country fully understands how the cumulative impact of this growth impacts health,” it continues. However, rather than calling for specific actions against these health threats, the report says more studies are needed, including from the National Institutes of Health, to fully understand the impacts of things like microplastics and pesticides.In particular, it mentions glyphosate, the chemical in Roundup weed killer, which has been the subject of thousands of lawsuits, many of which allege that it causes cancer, though the company has denied this. The report also mentions atrazine, a commonly used pesticide that has been found to disrupt the endocrine system and has been banned in the European Union Also on the list to study more are PFAS, toxic substances used in nonstick and waterproof products that can last in the environment for hundreds of years, as well as phthalates, which are used to make plastics flexible and have been found to disrupt the endocrine system. The Wall Street Journal reported the White House altered the report to remove references to the company Monsanto, information about PFAS lobbying and conflicts of interest in chemical regulation.Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin told reporters that the Trump administration would not be pursuing a “European, mandate-driven regulatory system that stifles growth.”Lori Ann Burd, environmental health program director at the Center for Biological Diversity, told The Hill that identifying a problem but not pursuing actions was not good enough.“It’s really disappointing that, after all the promises that the commission was going to stand up to powerful corporate interests and really get to the bottom of what is making Americans so sick, it caved to these powerful corporate interests,” Burd said. “They have joined every administration before them in cowering in fear when faced with the power of Big Ag,” she added. Kennedy has been vocal in his belief that many medications like vaccines and psychiatric drugs are overused in the U.S. and, in aggregate, are causing some of the health problems plaguing America’s children. These beliefs were reflected in the commission’s findings.The report noted the use of stimulant drugs, antidepressants, antipsychotics and asthma medications have all increased among children within the past 30 or so years. It further cast speculation on childhood vaccination schedules, noting that the number of vaccines implemented in the U.S. exceeds that of many European vaccine schedules.“These time trends significantly outpace more moderate increases seen in other developed countries. Psychotropics for ADHD or one example, prescribed 2.5 times more in US than in British children, and 19 times more than in Japanese youth,” the report stated.Kennedy has claimed that childhood psychiatric drugs are “insufficiently scrutinized” and addictive. Childhood psychiatrists blasted Kennedy’s rhetoric as unhelpful to children with mental illnesses.“There is some concern, even more so in the field, that many children with depression and mental health disorders do not get access to the mental health services that they need, and that includes the comprehensive treatment that we would recommend, which is beyond just SSRIs, but also therapy and other supports,” Lisa Fortuna, a child psychiatrist and chair of the American Psychiatric Association’s Council on Children, Adolescents and Their Families, previously told The Hill.While stopping short of blaming vaccines for directly contributing to chronic illnesses and acknowledging that immunizations “benefit children by protecting them from infectious diseases,” the report claimed there has been “limited scientific inquiry into the links between vaccines and chronic disease.” To improve the understanding of vaccines and any links to chronic disease, the report supported “more rigorous clinical trial designs” that include placebos, larger sample sizes and longer follow-up periods. The report blamed the “overmedicalization of American children” on “corporate capture.” It claimed the outsized influence of large corporations on public institutions had distorted “scientific literature, regulatory processes, clinical practices and public discourse.” “The corporate capture of media, primarily through lavish advertising campaigns that are uniquely targeted to American consumers (no other developed country allows direct advertising of drugs to consumers, other than New Zealand where such advertising is heavily regulated and federally controlled) confers a notable level of reliance on the industry by those that benefit financially,” the report read. “While in the U.S. the pharmaceutical industry has the First Amendment right to have these advertisements, studies suggest that they have a strong influence on those who view them, potentially increasing inappropriate prescription.” The report blamed “a sedentary, technology-driven lifestyle” that’s developed over the past 40 years for increasing “chronic physical and mental health diseases,” with childhood behaviors differing vastly from prior generations.Citing data from the American Heart Association, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and numerous studies published within the last 15 years, the report noted how larger shares of children don’t meet healthy standards of fitness and fewer children take part in daily physical activities. These conclusions align with what has been observed globally, with a 2019 study finding that 81 percent of adolescents aged between 11 and 17 were “insufficiently physically active.”“Parallel to the decline in physical activity, American youth face a deepening psychosocial crisis. This is marked by rising mental health disorders, significant sleep deficits, chronic stress, and pervasive loneliness, all exacerbated by the widespread influence of technology,” the report stated. “The crisis persists despite rising therapy rates, with some suggesting it may exacerbate the issue.”Social media use was also cited in the report as having a negative impact on children’s mental health, echoing initiatives from the Biden administration. Then-Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued a health advisory in 2023 warning that increasing evidence suggests social media use was damaging youth mental health. At the same time, screen usage has also been potentially linked to a reduction in some risky behaviors, like substance use and motor vehicle accidents, though whether there is a direct cause is unclear.As with “overmedicalization,” the report took issue with the role that large corporations have in children’s use of social media as well as public health messaging. “Technology corporations suggest a reach over childhood health that stretches well beyond the direct harms of screen exposure, actively shaping the contours of scientific discourse and the public-health policies that follow,” it stated, noting how federal agencies coordinated with social media platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic. “These informal, largely invisible coordination between agencies and platforms — coupled with undisclosed ranking algorithms — compresses the range of permissible debate on childhood-health questions and can bury legitimate scientific concerns while impacting parental supervision.”
Donald Trump: Autism ‘has to be artificially induced’ -President Trump said Thursday that autism must not occur naturally, citing figures inflating the spike in autism and suggesting the administration’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission could provide answers.“When you hear 10,000, it was 1 in 10,000, and now it’s 1 in 31 for autism, I think that’s just a terrible thing. It has to be something on the outside, has to be artificially induced, has to be,” Trump said at a MAHA Commission event. “And we will not allow our public health system to be captured by the very industries it’s supposed to oversee. So we’re demanding the answers, the public is demanding the answers and that’s why we’re here.”He noted that the administration is phasing out eight of the most common artificial food dyes, after the Food and Drug Administration announced actions last month to phase out the use of petroleum-based food dyes in U.S. food products, citing concerns over potential health impacts on children.The MAHA Commission event unveiled the group’s new report, which pointed to four key factors it says are hurting U.S. children: ultraprocessed foods, environmental chemicals, digital behavior and “overmedicalization.” The report identifies pesticides and other chemicals as potentially having harmful health impacts, but it stops short of recommending actions to limit them.At the event, the president was sitting beside Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is a prominent vaccine skeptic and has also shared his debunked theories about a link between autism and vaccines.Ahead of Kennedy’s confirmation vote in the Senate, Trump also shared figures questioning the autism rate.“20 years ago, Autism in children was 1 in 10,000. NOW IT’S 1 in 34. WOW! Something’s really wrong. We need BOBBY!!! Thank You! DJT,” Trump wrote on Truth Social at the time.
Health experts brace for medical coverage losses from 'big, beautiful bill' -- Doctors, patients and health experts are bracing for massive coverage losses as House Republicans are poised to impose Medicaid work requirements as part of the “big, beautiful bill” encompassing many of President Trump’s legislative priorities. They are warning that a blizzard of red tape and administrative hurdles will strip people of needed health care. The requirements would apply to everyone aged 19 to 64, with certain exceptions. States wouldn’t be able to waive them. According to partial estimates released by Republicans on the Energy and Commerce Committee, nearly 5 million people would lose Medicaid coverage. GOP lawmakers say they are fine with those consequences, even those who have said they oppose cutting Medicaid benefits, because the requirements will only target the “able-bodied” people who should be working but choose not to. “I like work requirements,” said Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.). “People that are able-bodied, mentally healthy and all that should be working if you’re working age. Able-bodied people still get Medicaid, but you should be looking for work, trying to improve your skills or working. And I think most Americans want that.” Groups such as the disabled, pregnant women and people who are in prison or rehabilitation centers would be exempt from the requirements. Those people, Republicans say, are the truly needy. But someone who qualifies would need to prove they are exempt, which would require submitting the correct forms and documentation — in the correct order — at the time they apply for Medicaid and after they are already enrolled. GOP leaders even seem likely to move up the start date for the work requirements. That accelerated time frame would front-load much of the savings, but also the coverage losses, meaning millions of people could be losing Medicaid in the run-up to the 2028 presidential election. Work requirements currently account for the largest savings in the health portion of the legislation: about $301 billion over seven years. Those savings come from removing millions of people from coverage, and there is no provision in the legislation to connect them with jobs or other sources of coverage. “It’s not like they’re saving money by reducing costs or making people healthier. If the feds are saving money, it’s because the states are spending it or people aren’t getting health care. I mean, there’s no magic efficiency in these proposals,” said Jennifer Wagner, director of Medicaid eligibility and enrollment at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a left-leaning think tank.
FDA approves full license for Novavax's COVID vaccine -Novavax today announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved full licensure for its COVID-19 vaccine, Nuvaxovid, which had been used since July 2022 under an emergency use authorization. The FDA, however, provided a narrowed approval, limiting use to people ages 65 years and older and people ages 12 to 64 years old who have underlying health conditions that put them at greater risk for severe disease. In its approval letter, the FDA did not specify the underlying conditions.The FDA also requested a post-approval randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled efficacy and safety study in people ages 50 to 65 who don't have high-risk conditions. Novavax said the request is in addition to earlier agreed-upon postmarketing study requirements that are routinely required for COVID vaccine makers. The company said it is working closely with Sanofi to assess funding and execution of the new trial. Novavax's vaccine is the only protein-based option and contains the Matrix M adjuvant, which boosts a person's immune response. It is indicated for use in people ages 12 and older. Drug regulators in several other countries have already fully approved the vaccine, including the European Union, United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Australia, Taiwan, and Singapore, without the FDA's restrictions.When Novavax submitted its application for full licensure, the FDA set an April 2025 approval date. In early April, an FDA deputy commissioner asked for more data on the vaccine, an unusual step, given that FDA staff typically reviews and manages the massive amounts of data that support product reviews, a process designed to shield the deliberations from political interference.The delay, narrowed approval, and extra study steps raise concerns about the status of and potential added requirements for other COVID vaccines, with the FDA's vaccine advisory group set to meet on May 22 to discuss the vaccine strains for versions that manufacturers will produce for the US market for the fall and winter season.
FDA significantly limits COVID-19 vaccine recommendations - The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced today that it will only recommend COVID-19 vaccines for adults 65 and older and people at risk for severe illness. In a marked departure from the current recommendations of seasonal vaccination for anyone 6 months and older, the FDA will require manufacturers to conduct clinical trials demonstrating the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children and adults under age 65.Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, FDA Commissioner Martin Makary, MD, MPH, and Vinay Prasad, MD, MPH, director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said the move aligns the United States with other high-income nations that have limited vaccine access to older and vulnerable populations. But the announcement comes just 2 days before the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) meets for the first time this year. VRBPAC was expected to address COVID-19 vaccines, as was the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC's) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which is set to meet in June.Historically, the two advisory boards work in tandem to weigh evidence before making changes to vaccine policy, but today’s announcement circumvents those discussions. Critics said today’s announcement is more evidence of the current administration’s willingness to undermine public trust in vaccines under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.Commenting to ABC News, Paul Offit, MD, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said, “The only thing that can come of this will make vaccines less insurable and less available.”Makary and Prasad said uptake of the annual fall COVID-19 booster dose since 2023 has been low among healthy adults and children, at less than 25% and 10%, respectively. “The benefit of repeat dosing—particularly among low-risk persons who may have previously received multiple doses of Covid-19 vaccines, had multiple Covid-19 infections, or both—is uncertain,” Makary and Prasad wrote. “The American people, along with many health care providers, remain unconvinced.”The low uptake contributes to vaccine hesitancy, they said, “resulting in a reluctance to vaccinate that is affecting even vital immunization programs such as that for measles–mumps–rubella (MMR) vaccination, which has been clearly established as safe and highly effective.” The authors also noted that their approach uses an expansive list from the CDC of health conditions that increase the risk of severe COVID-19, including obesity, depression, asthma, pregnancy, and cardiovascular disease.“Estimates suggest that 100 million to 200 million Americans will have access to vaccines in this manner,” they wrote. With adults over age 65, this is roughly one third of the US population. The authors said COVID-19 is different from influenza, which requires seasonal boosting, in several ways, most notably because natural immunity from previous COVID-19 infections against severe disease appears robust.
Data show slight increase in menstrual length after COVID vaccines -Investigators analyzing data on almost 2 million women participating in 17 studies observed a slight and transient increase in the length of menstruation after they received a COVID-19 vaccine, according to a study published late last week in PLOS One.The authors said the study offers clarity on the topic. "Given the extensive reporting by the media on the topic, a continued lack of clarity can fuel further vaccine hesitancy, not just for COVID-19 vaccines but also more broadly with serious implication," they wrote. Overall, women who received a COVID vaccine had a 19% greater risk of increase in menstrual cycle length as compared to unvaccinated women or women in pre-vaccination time periods (summary relative risk [sRR], 1.19; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.11 to 1.26).Both the Moderna and Pfizer mRNA vaccines carried the same 15% increased risk of an extended menstrual cycle. AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson had higher risks (sRR, 1.27 and 1.69, respectively).After the first vaccine dose, menstrual cycle length increased an average of less than half of one day, and after the second dose 0.62 days. All changes were observed only in the first cycle after vaccination, and menstrual length returned to normal in the second cycle."Results of this study show that there exists but a minimal and short-lasting risk of increased menstrual disturbance associated with COVID-19 vaccines that could likely be experienced by females as a normal variant sometime during a 12-month time-frame regardless of vaccination," the authors concluded. "The fear of menstrual disturbance should not discourage anyone from getting COVID-19 vaccine."
Covid-19 vaccines, what just happened at the FDA, and why it matters -- Katelyn Jetelina, Your Local Epidemiologist -- Yesterday, the FDA Commissioner, Marty Makary, and his new advisor, Vinay Prasad, unveiled a major shift in U.S. Covid-19 vaccine policy—via a New England Journal of Medicine perspective piece and a live FDA event. Their bottom line: Going forward, Covid-19 vaccines will only be recommended for people over 65 or with at least one chronic condition. If manufacturers want to offer updated vaccines to younger adults, they must run a new placebo-controlled trial after a variant arrives. Their rationale is that, given higher levels of population immunity, the original trials are no longer relevant. Vinay followed up by saying, “This is a restoration of trust. It’s bringing us back to evidence.” On the surface, this sounds reasonable. After all, severe Covid-19 is far less common in healthy young people. Given growing immunity, real scientific questions exist about whether annual boosters are still warranted for everyone. And, yes, other countries do things differently. But beneath the surface, this move is deeply troubling. It bypasses the scientific systems built to answer these questions, replacing the public process in health policy with the opinions of two political appointees with chips on their shoulders.Reassessing Covid-19 vaccine policy isn’t new. In fact, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)—a group of independent scientists, doctors, and public health experts—has been doing exactly that, using evolving real-world data as the virus changes and immunity shifts.While early decisions relied on placebo-controlled trials, that approach became impractical as variants emerged quickly. Instead, ACIP adapted—reviewing real-world data on protection, safety, and impact. Each year, they evaluated whether annual vaccines were providing meaningful added protection. And each year, the data said yes—especially for high-risk groups, but also across broader populations. ACIP also considers other factors, including equity, accessibility, ease of implementation, and cost effectiveness. ACIP was already scheduled to revisit these recommendations this June. (YLE covered this in detail at the last ACIP meeting.) In normal times, the U.S. vaccine process works like this:
- FDA Approval. Once a vaccine goes through clinical trials, an external advisory committee of experts (called VRBPAC) and FDA assess whether a vaccine is safe and effective. Then that vaccine is given a license. Thereafter, for fast-mutating viruses like flu or Covid they decide whether a vaccine formula needs to be updated based on evolving data.
- CDC Recommendation. ACIP then reviews how the vaccine should be used: who should get it, when, and how often. Insurance companies use this recommendation to cover vaccine costs for you. Then the CDC Director signs off.
This process is public, deliberative, and based on evidence, ethics, and implementation factors. As STAT pointed out yesterday, during the pandemic, Makary posted on X that making a 2022 decision about Covid vaccines without holding an FDA advisory committee was “unconscionable.” Yet, here we are. This decision was made without a VRBPAC vote. No ACIP meeting. No new data. No transparency or public discussion. Two FDA appointees decided the Covid-19 vaccine policy needed to change.
Viewpoint: Making key COVID vaccine decisions without input, transparency is a public disservice | CIDRAP -- Strengthening trust in public health, especially around big changes to vaccine policy, requires transparency, including letting the American people know what data you're using to make them. Newly announced rules that limit the use of COVID vaccines suggest that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and federal public health agencies are moving in the opposite direction. We support a fresh look at COVID-19 vaccine and vaccination policies, informed by the experience of the past 5 years and the evolving science and epidemiology. We viewed the upcoming Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) meeting on May 22 as an opportunity to begin that discussion, with the interested public looking on. (VRBPAC, and independent panel of experts advises the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on vaccines and other medical products.)But yesterday—before the planned VRBPAC meeting of advising experts—the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research Director Vinay Prasad, MD, MPH, and Commissioner Marty Makary, MD, MPH, announced new rules for COVID vaccine use via an opinion piece in the New England Journal of Medicine. Without the benefits of their committee's expertise and public discussion, the op-ed dictates that shots will be reserved for people over 65, or for those in a risk-category for severe illness.Processes can always be improved, and the process for approving vaccines and recommending their use should be routinely reexamined. But processes are in place for a reason. The FDA typically uses a "notice and comment rule-making" process for publishing new guidance and policies that are developed by the agency, with input from FDA scientists. This involves developing and publishing a proposed rule in the Federal Register with ample time to allow for public comment, and then issuing a final rule based on the feedback received. A public, deliberate process lets the people who are affected weigh in, and the opportunity to examine that feedback typically leads to better rules and better outcomes—for patients, clinicians and manufacturers. In addition, bringing proposed changes to the federal advisory committee charged with providing this kind of advice is an opportunity for all to hear the discussion and debate in a public forum. The op-ed proclamations occurred in the absence of public comment, and it remains unclear whether or how broadly FDA scientists and outside experts have been consulted.
FDA vaccine advisers recommend sticking with JN.1 strain for next COVID vaccines -The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) vaccine advisory group today recommended sticking with a monovalent JN.1 lineage vaccine for COVID vaccines for the upcoming US respiratory virus season, though the experts didn't recommend a specific sublineage.The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) meeting was its fourth to discuss COVID composition and its first since December 2024. With the administration change, the group was slated to meet in February to recommend strains to include in flu vaccines for the US market for the 2025-26 fall and winter. Instead, an interagency FDA group met in a nonpublic meeting, then announced the strain selections on March 13.At today's meeting, VRBPAC members heard from federal health officials on vaccine performance and COVID circulation, which included their analysis of the current variant landscape. They also heard from the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) COVID vaccine composition group and from scientists at the three vaccine companies, who gave an early look at nonclinical data on how well current or updated vaccine strains might perform against the latest circulating variants.The vote by nine of the group's members who participated in today's meeting was unanimous.VRBPAC's recommendation is similar to two recent recommendations from global groups. On May 15, the WHO COVID-19 vaccine composition committee said current JN.1 and KP.2 vaccines are still appropriate, but a LP.8.1 is a suitable alternative. On May 17, the European Medicines Agencypreferentially recommended that updated vaccines target the LP.8.1 variant, though vaccines targeting JN.1 and KP.2 could still be used until vaccines containing the LP.8.1 antigen are available.Some VRBPAC members leaned toward recommending the newer LP.8.1 subvariant as a vaccine strain, based on nonclinical data from vaccine companies, which found somewhat more robust neutralization against other newer strains, such as NB.1.8.1, which is driving new waves in some Asian locations, including Hong Kong.Arnold Monto, MD, who codirects the Center for Respiratory Virus Research and Response at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, led today's meeting and remarked that the group faced a similar situation last spring when it recommended the JN.1 strain, while eyeing the possibility of picking one of its newer offshoots. In making its final recommendation, the FDA settled on the more specific KP.2 recommendation.
FDA approves formula for fall COVID vaccines - The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday issued new instructions to COVID vaccine manufacturers regarding the next round of updated COVID shots.In a document posted on the FDA website, the agency said COVID-19 vaccines used in the United States starting in fall 2025 should be based on JN.1 lineage strains, preferably the LP.8.1 strain, which, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, currently accounts for 70% of US COVID cases."Based on the totality of the evidence, FDA has advised the manufacturers of the approved COVID-19 vaccines that to more closely match currently circulating SARS-CoV-2 viruses, the COVID-19 vaccines for use in the United States beginning in fall 2025 should be monovalent JN.1-lineage-based COVID-19 vaccines (2025-2026 Formula), preferentially using the LP.8.1 strain," the FDA said. The document was posted following a meeting of the FDA's Vaccines and Related Biologic Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC). At that meeting, advisers unanimously recommended sticking with a JN.1 lineage for the 2025-26 formula but did not take a position on a specific strain. The current US COVID vaccines use the KP.2 strain, which is within the JN.1 family of variants. The VRBPAC recommendation is similar to the position of the World Health Organization's COVID-19 vaccine composition committee, which said on May 15 that JN.1 and KP.2 vaccines are still appropriate, but LP.8.1 is a suitable alternative.
'A national scandal': US excess deaths rose even after pandemic, far outpacing peer countries -Excess deaths in the United States kept rising even after the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, with more than 1.5 million in 2022 and 2023 that would have been prevented had US death rates matched those of peer countries, estimates a Boston University (BU)-led study today in JAMA Health Forum. The data show a continuation of a decades-old trend toward increasing US excess deaths, mainly among working-age adults, largely driven by drug overdoses, gun violence, auto accidents, and preventable cardiometabolic causes, the researchers say."The US has been in a protracted health crisis for decades, with health outcomes far worse than other high-income countries," says lead and corresponding author Jacob Bor, ScD, said in a BU news release. "This longer-run tragedy continued to unfold in the shadows of the COVID-19 pandemic." The investigators analyzed all-cause death data in the United States and 21 other high-income countries (HICs) in the Human Mortality Database from January 1980 to December 2023. They calculated annual age-specific death rates for the United States and the population-weighted average of other HICs. The team counted the number of US deaths that would have been expected each year had the country experienced the age-specific death rates of other HICs, computed ratios of observed-to-expected US deaths, and estimated the number of excess deaths attributable to the US mortality disadvantage. They fit a linear regression model to determine whether the number of excess US deaths in 2023 differed from the 2014 to 2019 prepandemic trend."Mortality rates decreased more slowly in the US than in other high-income countries (HICs) between 1980 and 2019, resulting in growing numbers of excess US deaths compared with other HICs," the study authors noted. From 1980 to 2023, 107.5 million people died in the United States, and 230.2 million people did so in other HICs. During this period, an estimated 14.7 million excess US deaths occurred, peaking during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. Yet there were still more than 1.5 million excess deaths in 2022 and 2023, and rates remained substantially elevated compared with those from before the pandemic. Other HICs saw less-pronounced pandemic surges.Gaps between the United States and other HICs widened before and during the pandemic, especially among younger adults, before shrinking in 2022 and 2023. Age-standardized death rate ratios comparing the United States with other HIC averages were 1.20 in 2010 (20% higher), 1.28 in 2019, 1.46 in 2021, and 1.30 in 2023. Death rates among US adults aged 25 to 44 years were 2.6 times higher than in other HICs in 2023.
World Health Assembly adopts Pandemic Agreement, ups funding for WHO -In a historic development, the World Health Assembly (WHA) at its plenary session today adopted a Pandemic Agreement, which is designed to better prepare the world and form a more equitable response to the next pandemic.The WHA, made up of World Health Organization (WHO) member states, is the WHO's decision-making body. Yesterday, the Pandemic Agreement passed the committee A with 124 voting in favor, none against, and 11 abstaining.In the making for 3 years, the agreement has been the subject of intense negotiations by the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body appointed by WHO member states. In a WHO statement today, Teodoro Herbosa, MD, secretary of the Philippines Department of Health and president of this year’s WHA, said, now that the agreement has passed, health leaders must urgently implement its key elements, which include systems to ensure more equitable access to life-saving pandemic-related health products."As COVID was a once-in-a-lifetime emergency, the WHO Pandemic Agreement offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build on lessons learned from that crisis and ensure people worldwide are better protected if a future pandemic emerges," he said.The WHO emphasized that the Pandemic Agreement includes wording clarifying that the agreement doesn't provide the WHO or its leadership to dictate, order, or proscribe national or domestic laws or impose any requirements to take specific actions, such as travel bans or vaccine mandates.In a statement yesterday after committee A passage, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) praised countries and negotiators for advancing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make the world safer. CEPI also said it stands ready to help implement the agreement. The organization noted, however, that the agreement on its own won't deliver the level of pandemic preparedness the world urgently needs. "It will take sustained investment, enduring political commitment and unprecedented scientific collaboration to create the systemic change needed to protect not just our own generation, but generations to come," CEPI said.
Texas and Georgia announce more measles cases - The Texas Department of State Health Services (TDSHS) today reported four more measles cases since its last update on May 16 in the large outbreak centered in West Texas, bringing the outbreak total to 722. So far, 92 people have been hospitalized, and the number of deaths remains at two.Based on rash-onset dates, cases have been declining since a peak in mid-March. Active transmission is still under way in seven counties, mostly in West Texas. The exception is Lamar County in East Texas, which has reported 19 cases.No new illnesses were reported from New Mexico or Oklahoma, which have reported earlier cases linked to the Texas outbreak.In other measles developments, the Georgia Department of Public Health (GDPH) reported the state’s fourth measles case of the year, which involves an unvaccinated Atlanta resident who had recently traveled internationally. Health officials said they are working to identify people who may have been exposed to the patient while he or she was infectious between May 10 and 18.
Potential measles mass-spreader event at Newark Airport, latest sign of US transit and health infrastructure free fallHealth officials from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed Wednesday that a measles-infected traveler passed through Newark Liberty International Airport’s Terminal B between 12:30-4:00 p.m. on May 12, potentially exposing thousands of travelers to the highly contagious disease. The public health emergency was the latest crisis to emerge at the airport, following several outages of vital equipment, which briefly left air traffic controllers blind. However, several incidents have occurred at airports across the country in recent days, pointing to the US air infrastructure on the brink of collapse. There are currently no known additional cases of measles in New Jersey. The state’s health department released a statement on May 15 that the patient was a non-resident visiting the state while infectious. As of this writing, the full travel information of the infected person has not been released. That there are no known cases, however, does not mean that the virus has not spread. Both the New Jersey Department of Health and the CDC have warned that anyone who traveled through Newark at the time should be conscious of any flu-like symptoms acquired through June 2, as measles can show up to 21 days after exposure. In addition, it is not clear how well the virus can be tracked, given the complete dismantling of the public health infrastructure, begun in Trump’s first term, continued under Biden and now greatly accelerating in Trump’s second term. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the American ruling elite actively shut down contact tracing and testing systems in order to spread the lie that the coronavirus pandemic had “ended.” The re-emergence of measles, which was declared eliminated in the US back in 2000, is a particularly ominous expression of this decline. Trump’s head of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is an anti-science quack who regularly promotes anti-vaccine skepticism. He has played a critical role in the reduction of vaccination rates—including the safe and 97 percent effective MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine—among the US population.
Multistate Salmonella outbreak tied to whole cucumbers -The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and public health officials in several states are investigating a multistate Salmonella outbreak in whole cucumbers.To date, 26 people in 15 states have been sickened in the outbreak of SalmonellaMontevideo infections, and 9 have been hospitalized, according to an update posted yesterday by the CDC. Seven of the case-patients reported taking a cruise ship departing from Florida in the 7 days before they became ill. Illness dates range from April 2 to April 28. The CDC says the outbreak is likely much larger, given that most people recover from Salmonella without medical care.Of the 13 people interviewed, 11 reported buying and eating cucumbers from a variety of locations, including grocery stores, restaurants, hospitals, and cruise ships.Epidemiologic, laboratory, and traceback data have linked the outbreak to whole cucumbers grown by Bedner Growers and distributed by Fresh Start Produce Sales to stores, restaurants, and other facilities. Both the grower and the distributor are based in Florida. FDA investigators collected an environmental sample from Bedner Growers in April that was positive for Salmonella and matched clinical samples from case patients. Bedner Growers was also linked to a 2024 outbreak of Salmonella Africana and Salmonella Braederupthat sickened 551 people in 34 states. The FDA's April inspection of the farm was a follow-up in response to that outbreak.The CDC and FDA say restaurants and retailers that purchased whole cucumbers grown by Bedner and distributed by Fresh Start from April 29 to May 19 should not sell or serve them while the investigation is ongoing and should notify customers of the potential health concern. Cucumbers distributed before this timeframe should be past shelf life. The cucumbers may have been sold individually or in smaller packages and labeled as "supers," "selects," or "plains.""If you have any whole cucumbers in your home and can't tell where they are from, throw them out," the CDC said.
Urgent nationwide recall for cucumbers that could KILL or trigger severe infections - Health officials have issued an urgent warning over cucumbers linked to a salmonella outbreak that has sickened over two dozen people. Florida-based Bedner Growers, Inc, voluntarily recalled all cucumbers sold at Bedner's Farm Fresh Market between April 29 and May 14, 2025, because they could be contaminated with salmonella. The recalled cucumbers were sold to consumers at three Bedner’s Farm Fresh Markets locations in Florida (Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, and West Palm Beach).They were also sold to a wholesalers, restaurants, retailers and distribution centers. Officials found salmonella bacteria from samples on the farm that matched samples from people who got sick. The FDA said because the recalled cucumbers don't have specific stickers or labeling, customers should discard and not consume any cucumbers purchased from these locations between the affected dates. The tainted cucumbers have been linked by the FDA to a salmonella outbreak that has sickened 26 people in Alabama, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Kenticky, Michigan, North Carolina, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Nine of the patients have been hospitalized, and 11 out of 13 patients who were interviewed reported eating cucumbers.
Family likely infected with histoplasmosis in bat-colonized cave -A new report published last week in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report describes how 12 members of an extended US family who toured a bat-colonized Costa Rican cave tied to a previous histoplasmosis outbreak returned with confirmed or likely cases of the fungal disease. Histoplasmosis, which primarily affects the lungs, is caused by inhaling Histoplasma spores from disturbed soil containing bat guano or bird droppings. Most people have no symptoms, but the disease can put infants and people with weakened immune systems at risk for severe illness that can be chronic or deadly if untreated. As part of a 7-day vacation, on December 24, 12 of 13 family members in the travel group, who lived in Georgia, Texas, and Washington state, toured Venado Caves, a popular tourist destination in Alajuela province, in the north-central part of Costa Rica near Nicaragua's southern border. Six family members were aged 42 to 49 years, and six were aged 8 to 16. All reported seeing bats and coming into contact with bat droppings while crawling through tight spaces during the 2-hour tour and became mildly or moderately sick after returning to the United States 8 to 19 days after the visit. Five adults and one child sought treatment at an urgent care or primary care center after experiencing symptoms but didn't mention any travel. The family member who didn't tour the cave didn't become ill.Signs and symptoms included headache, malaise, fever, night sweats, muscle pain, and respiratory and gastrointestinal problems. No other activities reported before, during, or after the trip were tied to risk factors for exposure to Histoplasma species. Four family members were tested for fungal antigens, with two of them positive for Histoplasma capsulatum species complex. Three patients received antibiotics, two were given corticosteroids, and one received a cough suppressant. One adult was referred to an emergency department and hospitalized because of abnormal chest radiographic findings that raised concerns about lung cancer. That patient was given antifungal medication. But the day after admission, healthcare providers who asked if the patient had recently traveled learned of the cave visit and began to suspect histoplasmosis. On January 17, a Georgia infectious disease physician notified the CDC of the cases. The cave was associated with a histoplasmosis outbreak in 1998 and 1999 that sickened 51 people. The CDC alerted health departments through an Epidemic Information Exchange notification to identify additional histoplasmosis cases and is working with the US Embassy in Costa Rica and the Costa Rica Ministry of Health to add information about histoplasmosis risks into the Venado Caves tour waiver forms. Currently, the website for the Venado Caves tour, which prominently features photos of bats, says that the cave is home to a colony of bats and that guests will be given a mask of an unspecified type but doesn't mention histoplasmosis.On March 18, the US Embassy issued a health alert to notify the public of the risk of contracting histoplasmosis from caving. Exposures to H capsulatum at Venado Caves could be ongoing. Histoplasmosis diagnoses are often delayed, and treatment guidelines recommend antifungal drugs for only severe histoplasmosis. "Antibiotic (i.e., antibacterial) medications are ineffective, and corticosteroids might worsen fungal infections; prescription of these medications to certain affected family members suggests that fungal infections were not initially considered as the cause of the illness," the researchers wrote.
Togo reports mpox outbreak as activity escalates in West Africa - Togo's health ministry declared an mpox outbreak late last week, with three confirmed cases reported so far, raising concerns about further disease spread in West Africa where illness activity is surging in Sierra Leone, the region's latest hot spot, health officials from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said yesterday at a weekly briefing.Yap Boum, PhD, MPH, deputy incident manager for Africa CDC mpox response, said Africa's mpox activity reflects a mixed picture, with promising signs in some of the earlier affected countries and with different regions of the continent experiencing different clades and transmission patterns.Confirmation of cases in Togo pushes the number affected African countries to 25, with active transmission under way in 16.Boum said none of Togo's patients had a travel history to other outbreak countries, but one had recently been in Benin, which hasn't reported any confirmed cases. Sequencing has revealed the clade 2 virus, which is fueling Sierra Leone's surge. So far 55 contacts have been identified in the Togolese patients. Africa CDC officials are working with their counterparts in Togo, and a mission is being planned to support the country.Boum also said neighboring Ghana, where the virus was under control after 8 weeks with no cases, has reported four new cases. Clade 2 has also been detected in Ghana.Health officials are deeply concerns about the continued mpox surge in Sierra Leone, where cases have been detected in all 16 districts. Cases are concentrated in urban areas, including Freetown, the country's capital.Last week, 658 cases were confirmed, up from 526 the previous week. Cases in Sierra Leone accounted for 61% of all infections in Africa last week.The pace of infections has overwhelmed the country's capacity to treat and isolate mpox patients, and Boum said that, in some instances, healthcare providers have had to place two mpox patients in the same bed. Earlier sequencing showed that the global clade 2b virus is fueling the country's surge. In-country sequencing has identified 22 clade 2b A.2.2 sublineage viruses.
Multidrug-resistant Shigella outbreak in New Mexico infected people, primates -A paper published today in Nature Communications describes an outbreak of multidrug-resistant (MDR) Shigella in New Mexico involving humans and non-human primates (NHPs) from a local zoo.The outbreak of the highly infectious gastrointestinal condition, which stretched from May 2021 through November 2023, involved 202 Shigella flexneri serotype 2a cases identified by the New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) in Bernalillo County, home to Albuquerque. The outbreak was initially detected in May/June of 2021, with an initial cluster of four cases in men who have sex with men (MSM). By August 2021, the outbreak had spread to people experiencing homelessness (PEH). Over the course of the outbreak, just over half of the cases (102, 50.5%) were classified as PEH or PEH-adjacent and 11 (5.5%) reported MSM activity. Nearly 70% of case-patients were hospitalized, and one died. Others infected by the outbreak included children in daycare settings. To help curb transmission, NMDOH and City of Albuquerque officials installed portable toilets and handwashing stations near PEH encampments and kept local providers aware of significant developments in the outbreak.Shigella is transmitted by the oral-fecal route; via contaminated fomites, food, and water; or by direct person-to-person contact. S flexneri is one of four strains that can cause symptoms that range from mild diarrhea to severe dysentery. Although most cases are self-limiting, antibiotics are commonly used to treat more severe symptoms. But the United States is one of several countries that have seen an increase in recent years of MDR and extensively drug-resistant Shigella strains that have challenged antibiotic treatment regimens.While shigellosis is common in young children in low-income settings and international travelers, a growing number of outbreaks in wealthier nations are occurring in MSM and PEH.Ten weeks after the first human cases were identified, 15 NHPs at Albuquerque BioPark Zoo—6 western lowland gorillas, 4 siamangs, 3 Sumatran orangutans, and 2 chimpanzees—showed clinical signs of shigellosis, and four subsequently died from their infection. Almost a year later, in July 2022, a chimpanzee at the zoo tested positive for S flexneri, and subsequently died. A siamang who was transferred to a second zoo after a negative test later became symptomatic and infected two other siamangs at the second zoo, and all three died. Analysis of human and NHP isolates from the outbreak found that all harbored mutations conferring resistance to fluoroquinolones—the first-line treatment option for Shigellainfections—and a variety of other resistance genes. Genomic analysis revealed the human and NHP outbreaks were caused by the same S flexneri strain.It remains unclear how the outbreak strain was introduced into the zoo. No zoo staff members reported illness or exposure consistent with Shigella infection, and municipal water testing revealed no fecal contamination. Because Shigella is known to persist on surfaces, one theory is that a visitor may have thrown a contaminated item into a primate enclosure. The outbreak is one of the largest identified in New Mexico, and the first large outbreak in the state involving an MDR strain, according to the researchers. They say the findings warrant the need for heightened surveillance.
France grapples with tropical diseases amid spread of tiger mosquitoes - French regions are waging war against tiger mosquitoes as the country records rising cases of tropical diseases such as dengue, zika and chikungunya.Since Jan. 1, France has already seen 1,123 imported cases of dengue, 728 imported cases of chikungunya and four imported cases of zika. In May alone, French health authorities said they recorded 225 cases of chikungunya, 152 cases of dengue and one case of zika — also all imported.The numbers raise alarm for health authorities, who are warning people to watch out for tiger mosquitoes, the insects most responsible for carrying and spreading the diseases. While a person infected with dengue or chikungunya cannot pass the virus to another person, they can infect other mosquitoes, which can further spread the disease. Zika can be transmitted from an infected person through sexual intercourse.
Wisconsin to begin milk sampling for H5N1 avian flu -The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection (DATCP) announced yesterday that the state will soon begin mandatory monthly milk sampling for avian influenza as part of the National Milk Testing Strategy required by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).The USDA has been phasing in states for testing based on previous detections. Wisconsin is the nation’s second-biggest dairy producer and is among the 33 states that haven’t reported any H5N1 detections in dairy cattle.In its statement, the DATCP said that, with help from industry partners, the plan is to collect one milk sample per dairy farm each month, primarily through existing milk-quality labs, to minimize disruptions to dairy farms yet get farm-level results. Initial testing will be done by the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, with any H5N1 detections confirmed by the USDA’s National Veterinary Service Laboratories. In other H5N1 developments, the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) reported two more H5N1 outbreaks in poultry, one of them involving a commercial layer farm in Maricopa County, Arizona, that has about 2.26 million birds. The other involves a backyard flock in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, that has 30 birds.
Taurine, common ingredient in food, linked to leukemia growth (WROC) — A recent study links taurine, an amino acid made by the body and an ingredient found in several types of food, to the growth of blood and bone marrow cancers like leukemia. The research team, headed by Jeevisha Bajaj at the University of Rochester’s Wilmot Cancer Institute, discovered that taurine is made by certain normal cells in the bone marrow, which is where myeloid cancers start and grow. Because leukemia cells cannot produce taurine on their own, they depend on other genes to obtain it and transport it to the cancer cells. “We are very excited about these studies because they demonstrate that targeting uptake by myeloid leukemia cells may be a possible new avenue for treatment of these aggressive diseases,” Bajaj said in a May press release published by the University of Rochester Medical Center. Researchers discovered that when leukemia cells absorb taurine, it enhances the breakdown of glucose for energy, which supports cancer growth. Earlier studies did not indicate that taurine could be involved in cancer. Researchers noted that taurine is an amino acid naturally present in bone marrow, the brain, the heart and muscles. It is also found in foods like meat, fish, eggs, energy drinks and protein powders.
Bees facing new threats, putting our survival and theirs at risk -Warzones, microplastics and light pollution pose serious new risks to bees and other pollinators over the next decade, according to a landmark report on World Bee Day (20 May 2025). The report from Bee:wild, a new science-led global campaign to save pollinators, identifies the top 12 emerging threats that could accelerate pollinator losses within the next five to 15 years, according to 10 of the world's leading experts. It also outlines steps we can take to protect them and reverse the decline. Pollinators like bees, butterflies, some birds and bats are vital to nature and our food supply, with almost 90% of flowering plants and over three-quarters of the world's staple crops depending on them. But habitat loss, pesticides, climate change and invasive species have caused their severe decline, including the extinction of some bee species. A wave of new threats is adding further pressure, according to the report: "Emerging Threats and Opportunities for Conservation of Global Pollinators." These include:
- War and conflict, such as the war in Ukraine, forcing countries to grow fewer crop types and leaving pollinators without diverse food throughout the season.
- Microplastic particles contaminating beehives across Europe, with testing from 315 honey bee colonies revealing synthetic materials like PET plastic in most hives.
- Artificial light at night reducing flower visits by nocturnal pollinators by 62% and inhibiting the crucial role moths and night insects play in pollination.
- Antibiotic pollution potentially contaminating beehives and honey, and affecting the behavior of pollinators, such as reducing their foraging and visits to flowers.
- Air pollution affecting their survival, reproduction and growth.
- Pesticide cocktails weakening pollinators who increasingly face a dangerous mix of different pesticides, particularly in developing countries.
- More frequent and larger wildfires, destroying habitats and making recovery harder.
The University of Reading's Professor Simon Potts, lead author and chair of Bee:wild's Scientific Advisory Board, says, "Identifying new threats and finding ways to protect pollinators early is key to preventing further major declines."He continues, "By acting early, we can reduce harm and help pollinators continue their important work in nature and food production. Various conservation opportunities already exist and more are emerging. This is not just a conservation issue. Pollinators are central to our food systems, climate resilience, and economic security. Protecting pollinators means protecting ourselves."
Butterflies show lead pollution is still a problem in the Twin Cities - While laws to limit pollution have been around for decades, heavy metal pollutants like lead remain a problem in many areas. Lead and other metals in the soil or air can move through urban ecosystems, impacting the health of humans, plants and animals.In a pair of new studies, one published inScience of The Total Environment and the other forthcoming in Evolutionary Applications, researchers with the Minneapolis-St. Paul Long Term Ecological Research Program asked how this pollution might impact butterflies in greenspaces around the Twin Cities, and why some species may tolerate pollution better than others.They also wanted to know whether butterflies were absorbing lead through their food sources or through more direct routes of exposure to contaminated soil or air.The research sets the stage for a broader understanding of pollution risks in the Twin Cities, said author Emilie Snell-Rood, a professor in the College of Biological Sciences. "Butterflies can give us clues on routes of exposure and impacts not just on wildlife health, but also human health. Humans are just a part of the urban ecosystem."The research team found:
- Butterflies in green spaces with elevated soil and air lead pollution carry high levels of lead in their bodies.
- Higher lead concentration correlated with smaller wing size across all species studied, suggesting lead exposure is somewhat stressful.
- Species that have larger ranges and an evolutionary history with plant toxins are more tolerant of lead. Butterflies that have been feeding on toxic plant families for millions of years may harbor adaptations for environmental stressthat can protect them from lead pollution.
"We found correlations between lead and smaller wing size across all common butterfly species that we studied. Lead was mostly outlawed in the 1970s, yet we are still being exposed and experiencing consequences from this pollutant. And lead is just one pollutant," said postdoctoral researcher and project leader Lindsey Kemmerling. "Recent research has shown that butterfly abundance has declined by over 20% in the last 20 years, a truly tragic number," said Kemmerling. "Testing why some species are better or worse at tolerating pollution can point us to which species might require the most urgent conservation support. Our work shows that species with smaller habitat ranges and species that don't feed on plants that contain natural toxins are likely the most vulnerable to pollution."
Spotted lanternfly quarantine expands to Summit, Portage counties - Summit and Portage counties joined Cuyahoga, Lorain and Erie in the spotted lanternfly quarantine area, under updated guidelines from the Ohio Department of Agriculture.Other counties now under quarantine are Wood, Seneca, Trumbull, and Carroll.The spotted lanternfly is an insect native to Asia that feeds on a wide range of plants, including grapevines, hops and apple trees. It excretes a sticky, sugary fluid that causes mold that can damage the plants.The state’s grape and wine industry is especially leery of the invasive species. The industry produces more than $6 billion in annual economic activity in Ohio, the Department of Agriculture said in a statement.In counties under quarantine, trees and nursery stock cannot be moved out of the area without a compliance agreement, permit or inspection certificate. Producers who ship these products to non-regulated areas must have their stock inspected. Each load must have a certificate confirming their product is free of the lanternfly.The state updated the quarantine after new infestations were reported to the Department of Agriculture’s Ohio Plant Pest Reporter. The state asks the public to continue to report sightings of the spotted lanternfly in counties that are not currently under quarantine.Homeowners are encouraged to spot egg masses on trees and kill them with soapy water or rubbing alcohol, or by squishing them to pop open individual eggs. They can also kill adult spotted lanternflies they see on trees.Insecticides such as bifenthrin, carbaryl and malathion may be used as spot treatments against SLF nymphs and adults. Repeat treatments may be necessary.“The spotted lanternfly is an invasive pest that is known to cause harm to Ohio’s agricultural industry,” Ohio Department of Agriculture Director Brian Baldridge said in the statement. “We appreciate community members stepping up to report this insect when it is found. With their help, our experts can more efficiently identify SLF, treat it, and work to protect the abundant plant life we have here in Ohio.” The pest was first spotted in Pennsylvania in 2014, likely brought to the U.S. by imported goods. The first confirmation in Ohio was in Mingo Junction in 2020.
Native turtles return to Yosemite after removal of invasive bullfrogs - The call of American bullfrogs was deafening when scientists from the University of California, Davis, first began researching the impact of invasive bullfrogs on native northwestern pond turtles at Yosemite National Park. "At night, you could look out over the pond and see a constellation of eyes blinking back at you," said UC Davis Ph.D. candidate Sidney Woodruff, lead author of a study chronicling the effects of removal. "Their honking noise is iconic, and it drowns out native species' calls." But the ponds of Yosemite sound different today, with a chorus of native species making themselves heard. The researchers' study, published in the May issue of the journal Biological Conservation, found that as the park was depopulated of bullfrogs, northwestern pond turtles began to return. The study suggests that removing invasive bullfrogs may be necessary in priority conservation areas to help pond turtle populations recover. The northwestern pond turtle is one of two species of western pond turtle, the other being the southwestern pond turtle. Together, they are the only native freshwater turtles in California. Yet the western pond turtle has disappeared from over half of its range, which stretches from Baja, California to Washington state. One of the biggest threats to the species is the introduction of American bullfrogs, which are native to the eastern United States but were introduced in the West, where they prey upon small, young turtles. "One reason American bullfrogs are among the top worst globally introduced pests is because they eat everything—anything that fits into their mouth," said senior author Brian Todd, a UC Davis professor in the Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology. "They've been causing declines to native species everywhere they're introduced, which is around the world." American bullfrogs were introduced throughout Yosemite in the 1950s and were well-established in multiple regions in the park by the mid-1970s. Field observations of bullfrogs eating native turtles suggested their arrival could be a factor in the northwestern pond turtle's drastic decline, but little research was available to confirm that theory. Where bullfrogs were present, only older, large turtles—too big to fit in bullfrogs' mouths—remained. Researchers even found juvenile turtles—along with newts, snakes, small birds and rodents—in the stomachs of captured bullfrogs. Turtles were up to 36% larger and up to 97% heavier at sites where bullfrogs were present, suggesting younger turtles are not surviving at sites shared with bullfrogs. Turtles were 2 to 100 times more abundant where bullfrogs were absent. Not until bullfrogs were nearly eradicated from the sites in 2019 did scientists observe the first juvenile turtles at the formerly "bullfrog-present" ponds.
Nevada fish is the first species slated for protection in new Trump term - - A lithium mine could contribute to the extinction of a fish species in southwestern Nevada, the federal government acknowledged on May 20 in a document recommending its protection. The Fish Lake Valley tui chub is the first species to get a positive recommendation for Endangered Species Act listing under the second Trump administration. "Water use for lithium mining will likely exacerbate the already over-allocated Fish Lake Valley groundwater basin that supplies water for tui chub habitat," the proposal said, pointing to geothermal energy development and farming as additional water stressors in the region. The species is endemic to a system of springs in Esmeralda County, the least populated county in Nevada, where fewer than 1,000 people live. All but one of those springs has dried up because of agricultural pumping, and the environmental advocacy group Center for Biological Diversity estimates the remaining spring has receded by more than 50%. "The Fish Lake Valley tui chub is barely clinging to existence," said Patrick Donnelly, the center's Great Basin director, in a statement. "Nevada has already lost so many native fish species. We can't afford any more extinction." Ioneer, an Australian company, is building a lithium-boron mine at Rhyolite Ridge that could stand to further strain already limited water resources. A company representative did not immediately provide comment on Tuesday. In the first months of the new administration, Trump officials have floated redefining whether habitat degradation can be legally considered "harm"—something environmentalists have decried as an attempt to weaken the Endangered Species Act in favor of industry interests such as logging and oil drilling. The act, signed into law in 1973 by Republican President Richard Nixon, is the basis for how the federal government directs its efforts to rehabilitate species on the path to extinction. Some species have been delisted over the years because numbers were restored, such as the American bald eagle and the American alligator.
Wildfire smoke exposure is harming pregnant patients who have limited access to health care: Study -- The U.S. health care system is ill-prepared to treat pregnant patients and their infants who have endured the impacts of wildfire smoke exposure, a new study finds. Many residents of communities prone to the proliferation of wildfire smoke lack geographic access to the treatments they might need, according to the study, published in the American Public Health Association’s Medical Care journal. “The smoke-plumes generated by wildfires can be transported over large distances and affect nearly every community in the U.S., even those far from fire activity,” the authors stated. The researchers, from the University of Maryland and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, warned that exposure to smoke during pregnancy “has been linked to adverse birth outcomes.” “Impacts on pregnant people have been less well studied, but the pollutants carried by smoke increase hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, gestational diabetes, and cardiovascular events,” the scientists noted. To identify the geographic bounds of wildfire smoke plumes, the researchers harnessed existing data from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite sensors. They then collected county-level information on demographics, number of births and locations of maternity care and neonatal units, as well as the availability of OB-GYN services and family practice physicians. The assessments also included measurements of fine particulate matter — PM 2.5 — that were attributable to wildfire smoke. The scientists found that the average annual number of smoke days during the 2016 to 2020 study period ranged from 3.8 in low-risk counties to 15.3 in higher-risk regions. Some of the most affected counties located on the West Coast had more than 35 such days each year, although the Northern Rockies and portions of the Midwest also had their fair share of elevated smoke days, the researchers found. The average concentration of PM 2.5 in high-risk counties was more than double that of low-risk areas, according to the study. Ultimately, the scientists determined that 7.3 million women of reproductive age lived in the high-risk counties during the study period, and nearly 460,500 infants were born to them. They also found significant discrepancies in perinatal resource distribution according to regional smoke-risk categories. For example, the data showed that the number of OB-GYN physicians per 10,000 births was 61 in low-risk counties, 33 in moderate-risk counties and zero in high-risk counties. As for the median distance to the nearest maternity care hospital, the respective mileage was 8, 13 and 22. And when it came to the nearest neonatal care facility, those ranges grew to 34, 44 and 72 miles.
Cleaning plastic containers in a dishwasher is a source of microplastic pollution, study finds --Washing household plastic containers in a dishwasher releases nanoplastic and microplastic pollution into wastewater, University of Queensland researchers have found. Dr. Elvis Okoffo from UQ's Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences said domestic dishwashers have so far been an unexplored source of plastic pollution. "We demonstrated that plastic containers and utensils washed in dishwashers release plastic particles," Dr. Okoffo said. "Even seemingly harmless everyday actions can have cumulative environmental consequences. The introduction of plastics into the environment carries a potential risk of adverse impacts on environmental and human health. "This study highlights the need to be more mindful of the plastics we use, how we clean them, and how we dispose of them." During mechanical dishwashing, plastic items are exposed to chemical, thermal and abrasive cleaning processes with high temperatures up to 70°C. The study, published in ACS ES&T Water, found a single dishwasher cycle containing a full load of common household plastic items could release about 920,000 micro and nano particles into wastewater—or 33 million particles per household per year globally. The overall plastic mass equated to about 6 milligrams per person per year, or about a quarter of the weight of a grain of rice. "Despite the high number of particles released, the total mass released from plastic containers is low and is minor compared to other known sources of plastic pollution," Dr. Okoffo said. Dr. Okoffo said 58% of Australian households regularly use dishwashers and that future appliances could be fitted with built-in filters or traps to capture plastic particles to help reduce the amount of plastic entering wastewater and the environment. "Plastic manufacturers could also develop plastics that are more resistant to degradation during dishwashing," he said. "Removing this pollutant before it can enter the environment is better than implementing costly measures after the pollutant has already been released.
Thousands ordered to shelter in place as chemical leak spreads across Texas -A potentially deadly chemical leak at an industrial park in Texas has injured four workers as thousands of locals were ordered to shelter-in-place. Sirens began blaring at 9:00am local time at the Olin Plant B in Freeport after chlorine gas spewed from the facility. Images of the scene captured clouds of yellow gas bellowing out from machinery. Reports claimed that four workers were injured, with one still hospitalized. The worker who is still hospitalized is 'alert and awake,' expected to make a full recovery. He's been a worker at Plant B since 1990, the union said. The Lake Jackson Police Department described it as an active Level 3 chlorine release, meaning the gas had moved beyond the immediate area of the plant. Breathing in chlorine gas—even in small amounts—can irritate the eyes, nose, and throat, and may lead to more serious respiratory issues. At higher concentrations, chlorine gas can cause lung injuries, including pulmonary edema (fluid in the lungs), and may be fatal. Freeport, a city in Brazoria County with a population of over 10,500, issued orders for residents to stay indoors. The directive also applied to schools and nearby communities. Olin Corporation confirmed that local officials had issued a shelter-in-place order for Clute and Lake Jackson as a precaution. Lake Jackson Police Department has been advised of the active level 3 chlorine release, meaning gas has moved outside the confines of the city The leak was contained at 9:46am, though shelter-in-place orders remain in effect, but no other communities will be impacted. Resident Michael Kelly told local Click2Houston:'It is just part of being here, explosions, gas releases. 'The chemical plants take precaution for this, it is an undesirable situation but it does happen.' Brazosport Independent School District, located 10 miles from Olin Plant B, was quick to respond to the sirens, ordering all doors to remain closed on campus. 'We will not be releasing students until the All Clear is given by local authorities,' the district stated on Facebook. 'We will provide updates as soon as we receive additional information.' The City of Freeport Emergency Management Office said it is closely monitoring the situation. 'At this time, there is no immediate threat to the surrounding community,' Freeport officials told KHOU11. Locals in surrounding communities have reported burning sensations in their eyes. 'The smell is so strong all in Clute and lake Jackson. Eyes feeling the burn,' one local posted on X. 'We encourage residents to avoid the area until further notice.'>
Infamous PFAS polluter still spewing ‘forever chemicals’ - A West Virginia chemical plant widely known for its discharge of “forever chemicals” into the Ohio River is still spewing those contaminants at levels far above what’s considered safe, in spite of a ballyhooed federal pollution crackdown. In what was hailed as a landmark agreement with the Biden administration in April 2023, Chemours pledged to contain those chemicals — per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS — at its Washington Works plant. But PFAS are still flowing. Pollution from Washington Works — the focus of a 2019 film, “Dark Waters” — is a scourge for water utilities as far away as Louisville, Kentucky, and Cincinnati, Ohio. Located hundreds of miles downstream from the Chemours’ plant, both cities draw drinking water from the Ohio River. Peter Goodmann, director of water quality at Louisville Water, said the city’s drinking water intakes have seen PFAS spikes that correlate with the plant’s discharges. He has notified EPA and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. “I’m trying to get EPA and West Virginia DEP, who has been really helpful to us, to hold their feet to the fire,” Goodmann said in an interview. “There’s politics to this, particularly with [the Trump] administration. I don’t know what their enforcement stance will be.” PFAS, which earned the nickname “forever chemicals” because they don’t break down in the environment and accumulate in the human body, have been dumped in the Ohio River by Washington Works since 1951. Today, it is one of a dozen U.S. plants that produce the substances, prized for their resistance to heat, oil and water and used in products like plastics, carpets and semiconductors. One substance being discharged at high levels by Washington Works is PFOA, which is considered so toxic that chemical companies agreed years ago to stop making it. The other major pollutant is GenX, a similar “forever” substance that studies have linked to kidney damage, liver problems, weakened immune systems and cancer. Chemours has routinely exceeded limits its wastewater permit places on both pollutants since at least January 2022, according to data in EPA’s enforcement and compliance database. The permit limits are weak to begin with, experts say, because they are based on outdated health guidance on PFAS. “You’ve got West Virginia with a permit that’s out of date and is imposing inadequate discharge limits, a company that’s violating those discharge limits and a federal agency that’s sort of lackadaisical in enforcing the limits on the books,” said Robert Sussman, an EPA attorney during the Clinton and Obama administrations. Chemours is facing a lawsuit from the West Virginia Rivers Coalition, which is asking a district court to order the company to stop violating its permit. The West Virginia DEP says it is working to address the violations. The plant is also subject to EPA oversight. “We’ve learned and are learning more and more about the dangers of these chemicals,” said Larry Starfield, who was principal deputy assistant administrator in EPA’s enforcement office from 2011 to 2023. “Where there are discharges that exceed safe levels, enforcement needs to be fast and strong.” Whether the Trump EPA can step up to the task remains to be seen. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin recently announced his intention to hold polluters accountable for PFAS discharges and prevent more contamination. But his pledge comes as he is slashing agency staffing and spending. All eyes are on EPA’s planned regulatory revamp, including an effort to redo the first federal limits on PFAS in drinking water.
Ohio bill aims to replace lead water service lines over the next 15 years - Ohio House Rep. Dontavius Jarrells know first hand the importance of removing lead pipes from Ohio's public drinking water systems — he suffered from lead poisioning as a child. While holding a lead pipe in his hand, he discussed his bill Wednesday to remove lead service lines. Jarrellsbanged on the lectern in a Statehouse hearing room as he explained why his bill is important. “The Lead Line Replacement Act will require every publicly owned water system in Ohio to replace all lead service lines over the next 15 years. No more patchwork repairs. No more half-fixes. No more kicking the can down the road. We are going to get this right for families and children," Jarrells said. The Columbus Democrat introduced a similar bill in the last General Assembly. This legislation has bipartisan support this time around. “Because water isn’t a partisan issue. It is a human right," Jarrells said. State Rep. Monica Robb Blasdel (R-Columbiana), a co-sponsor of the bill, said many lead water pipes in Ohio need to be replaced. “Across Ohio there are an estimated 745,000 lead service lines. Replacing each of these will be a challenging task but one that we firmly believe is attainable," Robb Blasdel said. The bill comes with a hefty $5 billion price tag. The legislation doesn't have its own funding. But Jarrells said J the project would qualify for existing federal, state and community funding sources.
Severe hailstorms damage 40 000 ha (98 840 acres) of crops in Murcia’s agricultural heartland - Severe hailstorms struck the Altiplano region of Murcia, Spain, on May 10, 2025, and continued in the following days, causing widespread agricultural damage across nearly 40 000 ha (98 840 acres). The storms caused an estimated €80 million in losses, particularly affecting the municipalities of Yecla and Jumilla, damaging nearly 40 000 ha (98 840 acres) of farmland. According to the Coordinator of Farmers and Ranchers Organizations (COAG), the total estimated losses amount to €80 million, including €45 million for fruit crops, €13 million for almonds, €11 million for vineyards, €8.13 million for olives, and €1.18 million for cereals. An additional €15 million in indirect costs is expected due to disruptions in handling, packaging, and transport. In Yecla, approximately 6 000 ha (14 800 acres) of vineyards, almond trees, olive groves, and cereals were affected. Jumilla recorded damage to over 4 700 ha (11 600 acres) of vineyards, with an average yield loss of 65%, according to the local agrarian office. Several plantations lost their entire harvests, and trees were weakened for the next growing season. The intensity of the storms caused structural damage to trees and vines, with COAG estimating potential yield reductions of €39 million in the following season. Murcia’s Agriculture Minister, Sara Rubira, stated that the damage threatened future harvests, citing scarred trunks and defoliated canopies that would require expensive recovery measures. Farmers are expected to face increased pruning and replanting costs. Heavy rainfall of up to 100 mm (4 inches) in local dry riverbeds, resulting in soil erosion and possible runoff of pesticides and fertilizers. The loss of foliage disrupted habitats for insects and birds, while waterlogging increased the risk of root rot in crops. The Spanish National Meteorological Agency (AEMET) issued a Yellow weather warning on May 14 for Murcia from 12:00 to 20:00 local time (LT), citing risks of heavy rain, hail, and thunderstorms. The alert, which covered northern areas of the region, advised residents to avoid travel due to possible flooding and dangerous driving conditions.
West Papua landslide leaves 6 dead and 14 missing, Indonesia - A landslide triggered by heavy rain struck a remote gold mine in West Papua on May 16, 2025, killing six and leaving 14 missing. Rescue efforts were delayed by the site’s inaccessibility and were halted again on May 19 due to damaged roads and continued rainfall. Abdul Muhari, spokesperson for Indonesia’s disaster agency (BNPB), said a local gold mine in the Arfak Mountains of West Papua was hit by a landslide on Friday, May 16, sweeping through miner camps built near the site. Six people were confirmed dead, four were injured, and 14 remain missing. Yefri Sabaruddin, who leads the local rescue team, said crews were only able to begin searching on Sunday after a 12-hour journey to reach the remote site. Officials said around 40 rescuers, including police and military personnel, were dispatched to locate the missing. However, road damage and ongoing rainfall hindered access to the site, forcing a temporary suspension of search efforts on Monday, May 19. The operation is expected to resume on Tuesday. The figures released on May 19 revised earlier reports, raising the confirmed deaths to six from one and lowering the number of missing to 14 from 19. Indonesia is highly prone to landslides during the monsoon season. In January 2025, flash floods and landslides in Java killed at least 20 people, while in May 2024, heavy rainfall triggered deadly floods in West Sumatra, resulting in 67 fatalities.
Flash floods and landslides kill 9 in northern Vietnam’s Bắc Kạn and Lai Châu provinces - At least 9 fatalities have been reported following flash floods and landslides triggered by prolonged heavy rainfall in Vietnam’s Bắc Kạn and Lai Châu provinces since Friday, May 16, 2025. Flash floods triggered by heavy rainfall in Bắc Kạn Province from Friday night to Saturday morning, May 16 to 17, claimed at least four lives and left one person missing. Multiple landslides were reported in several areas following heavy rain, including Ba Bể District, which was the most heavily affected. Dozens of homes and large areas of crops sustained significant damage. Flash floods struck Tân Luột Village, Đồng Phúc Commune, at around 23:30 local time (LT) on Saturday, after more than two hours of heavy rain. At least two people were reported dead. At about 01:30 LT on Sunday, heavy rainfall triggered a landslide in Yến Dương Commune, causing the collapse of a house. Two people were killed and one was injured. One person was reported missing following the flooding in Đồng Phúc. Nong Ngọc Duyên, chairman of the district People’s Committee, said that rescue teams were divided into two groups to reach the affected areas and search for the missing person. The flooding significantly damaged farmland, with around 20 ha (50 acres) of corn and 0.5 ha (1.2 acres) of rice fields flooded in Nam Cường Commune of Chợ Đồn District. In Chu Hương Commune, Ba Bể District, a fishpond dam was breached, submerging large areas of farmland. At Nhung Lũy Cooperative in Yến Dương Commune, about 90 cows died or were swept away when floodwaters inundated the barn. The full extent of the damage is still being assessed. In Địa Linh Commune, floodwaters swept away two suspension bridges and one electric pole. Low-lying villages in Quảng Khê and Đồng Phúc Communes were isolated. In Lai Châu Province, a landslide at a hydroelectric construction site in Phong Thổ District resulted in five deaths and four According to a report by the Department of Agriculture and Environment, the severe weather was caused by a compressed low-pressure trough combined with a strong wind convergence zone up to 3 km (2 miles) above the region. Heavy rain continued through the weekend, with the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting reporting that 215 mm (8.5 inches) of rain fell in Yến Dương from 19:00 LT on Saturday to 08:00 LT on Sunday, May 18.
Floods affect 270 000 people in Maguindanao del Sur, Philippines - Heavy rains linked to the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) have affected more than 270 000 people in Maguindanao del Sur, Mindanao, Philippines, between May 14 and 22, 2025. Floodwaters have damaged homes and disrupted transportation, forcing thousands to seek shelter in evacuation centers. The flooding has impacted 120 areas in Maguindanao del Sur Province since May 14, with local authorities reporting significant disruption to transportation and infrastructure. At least three houses have been destroyed, while four roads and one bridge remain impassable. Around 8 000 individuals have taken shelter in eight evacuation centers, while 261 965 are sheltered outside of evacuation centers, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) on May 22. In response to the severity of the situation, a state of calamity was declared in 24 cities and municipalities within Maguindanao del Sur. Officials continue to monitor the situation as rainfall persists over the region. Forecasts indicate additional precipitation through the weekend, with rainfall totals of 50 to 100 mm (2–4 inches) expected across parts of Mindanao, particularly in the Zamboanga Peninsula, Bangsamoro region, Davao provinces, and Soccsksargen corridor. . According to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) meteorologist Grace Castañeda, much of Mindanao remains vulnerable to downpours as the intertropical convergence zone continues to influence weather across the region.
Three dead, over 500 homes flooded after torrential rain hits Bengaluru, India - Heavy rainfall between May 18 and 19, 2025, caused severe flooding in Bengaluru, resulting in three deaths and inundating over 500 homes. Relief operations are ongoing as further rainfall is forecast for the next five days. An unusual pre-monsoon downpour, driven by two converging low-pressure systems and associated thunderstorms, brought intense rainfall to Bengaluru, capital of the Indian state of Karnataka, starting on May 18. The city received 130 mm (5.1 inches) of rain over a 12-hour period, marking the second-highest single-day rainfall in May in the past decade. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) recorded 105.5 mm (4.2 inches) in the 24 hours ending at 08:30 local time on May 19. Three people were killed in the flooding in Bengaluru: a 63-year-old man and a 12-year-old boy who were electrocuted while attempting to pump out floodwater at Madhuvana Apartment in BTM Layout, and a 32-year-old woman who died in Whitefield after a compound wall collapsed. Two other people died in other parts of Karnataka. More than 500 homes were flooded across Bengaluru, with the low-lying Sai Layout area among the worst affected. Around 300 houses were partially submerged there as water levels rose to chest height, forcing 150 residents to evacuate. In Kote Layout, Kengeri, about 100 homes were affected, resulting in significant damage to household belongings. Severe waterlogging was also reported at Manyata Tech Park and Silk Board Junction, disrupting traffic and operations. Other affected areas included BTM Layout, Whitefield, and Vrishabhavathi Valley in RR Nagar. Infrastructure damage included 20 lakes at risk of overflowing and the closure of several underpasses. Across the city, 27 trees were uprooted and 43 large branches fell, blocking roads and pathways. Floodwaters also swept away 44 four-wheelers and 93 two-wheelers.
Unseasonal rains leave 24 dead in Maharashtra, Red alerts still in place - 2 YouTube videos --Unseasonal heavy rain and strong winds triggered by a low-pressure system over the Arabian Sea have battered Maharashtra over the past two weeks, leading to at least 24 deaths and widespread damage. The worst days came on May 19 and 20, with multiple deaths reported from lightning, drowning, tree falls, and a building collapse. With continued rainfall and severe weather predicted, several districts remain under Orange or Red alerts. A low-pressure system over the east-central Arabian Sea has produced heavy unseasonal rainfall and strong winds across Maharashtra over the past two weeks, resulting in at least 24 deaths and 11 reported injuries. The weather system has also caused widespread infrastructure damage, uprooted trees, and left numerous animals dead. Sixteen of the reported fatalities are believed to have occurred in Thane district, although official district-level figures remain unconfirmed. Thunderstorms, lightning, and related severe weather were also responsible for the deaths of at least 55 animals across the state. On Monday, May 19, five people were killed by lightning and five others drowned. The situation further worsened on Tuesday, May 20, when 14 more lives were lost. These included four from lightning, one from drowning, two from tree falls, and six from a building collapse in Kalyan. Earlier in the month, on May 6, three people were killed in Kalyan when a tree fell on an auto rickshaw during stormy weather. By the evening of May 21, intense rainfall had affected multiple districts across the state, prompting a weather advisory from the India Meteorological Department (IMD). In the 24-hour period ending Wednesday evening, Dodamarg in Sindhudurg recorded 140 mm (5.5 inches) of rain, Chinchwad in Pune received 100 mm (3.9 inches), and the National Defence Academy (NDA) in Khadakwasla logged 103 mm (4 inches) by 22:15 local time. YouTube video According to IMD, heavy rain is expected to persist across Maharashtra, especially in the Konkan belt, over the coming days, with the northern Konkan region experiencing the most severe effects. Inland areas remain relatively less impacted as the system progresses. Pune, Sindhudurg, along with the hilly regions of Satara, are under an Orange alert for the upcoming two days. Weather conditions are expected to include thunderstorms with lightning, strong winds blowing between 40 and 60 km/h (25–37 mph), and periods of moderate to heavy rainfall.
Storms kill 56 across Uttar Pradesh, damage infrastructure and crops - At least 56 people died across 24 districts in Uttar Pradesh as severe storms swept through the state from Wednesday night into Thursday, May 21 and 22, 2025. The storms brought strong winds, hail, and heavy rain, causing widespread damage, including a significant fire at a mentha oil factory in Badaun. At least 24 districts in Uttar Pradesh were affected by thunderstorms, strong winds, and hail from the night of May 21 into May 22. According to official data, 6 deaths were reported in Fatehpur, 5 in Kasganj, and 4 each in Meerut, Kanpur Nagar, Bulandshahr, Etah, and Auraiya. Three fatalities occurred in both Gautam Buddha Nagar and Kannauj, while Ghaziabad, Firozabad, Kanpur Dehat, and Etawah each reported 2 deaths. One death was reported in each of the following districts: Aligarh, Hathras, Chitrakoot, Ambedkar Nagar, Jhansi, Agra, Unnao, Baghpat, Azamgarh, and Ayodhya. Among the fatalities, at least two were caused by lightning strikes — one in Chitrakoot and one in Ambedkar Nagar. Over a 100 parrots died while 50 were injured in Jhansi as the storms swept across the state. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath monitored the situation and directed officials to begin relief and rescue operations in the affected districts. Relief Commissioner Bhanu Chandra Goswami instructed all divisional commissioners to release compensation to the families of the deceased within 24 hours. The storms caused widespread damage across Uttar Pradesh, including fallen trees and downed power lines blocking roads. In Budaun, a large fire engulfed a mentha oil factory after a structural collapse triggered by strong winds. Firefighters battled the blaze through the night. Due to the presence of mentha oil and chemicals, water was ineffective, and foam was used to control the fire. According to fire officials, the blaze began when part of the factory collapsed due to high winds, generating sparks that ignited stored oil. Nitrogen cylinders inside the factory reportedly exploded during the incident.
Flooding continues in New South Wales with three dead, 50 000 residents cut off - 3 YouTube videos Severe flooding persisted across eastern New South Wales (NSW) on Thursday, May 22, 2025, following days of heavy rainfall from a slow-moving trough. Floodwaters inundated towns in the Mid North Coast and Hunter regions for a third consecutive day. Three fatalities have been confirmed, one person remains missing, and approximately 50 000 residents are isolated. Aerial shots of New South Wales flooding of May 2025. Flooding in around Taree, New South Wales on May 21, 2025. Credits: NSW-RFS A slow-moving low-pressure trough, fueled by warm Tasman Sea temperatures and persistent humid onshore winds, has produced days of intense rainfall across eastern Australia, triggering widespread flooding in New South Wales. As of Thursday, May 22, the floods have resulted in three confirmed fatalities, one missing person, and the isolation of approximately 50 000 residents. Severe impacts have been reported in rural towns across the Hunter and Mid North Coast regions, where additional heavy rainfall was forecast through Thursday and into Friday. Authorities found the body of a 63-year-old man inside a flooded house on North Moto Road in Moto. In Rosewood, Mid-North Coast, rescuers recovered the body of a man in his 30s who had been reported missing. West of Coffs Harbour, a 60-year-old woman was found deceased in her car near Brooklana after attempting to drive through floodwaters. She had called for assistance when trapped, but emergency crews were unable to reach her in time. A search is underway for a 49-year-old man who disappeared after setting out on foot near a flood-affected road in Nymboida. Already flooded communities record soaring totals In a typical May, the Mid North Coast and Hunter regions of New South Wales receive around 50 to 150 mm (2 to 5.9 inches) of rainfall. However, this week, some areas recorded over 500 mm (19.7 inches) in just three days and more than 300 mm (11.8 inches) within a 24-hour period, WeatherZone’s Ben Domensino reports. Rainfall over the past few days has been so intense that several locations surpassed their previous May monthly records within just 72 hours, Domasino continues. Mount Seaview recorded 614.2 mm (24.2 inches) during the 72 hours ending at 09:00 on Thursday, more than four times its May monthly average. This three-day total exceeded the site’s previous May record of 558.2 mm (22 inches) set in 1980, with observations dating back to 1949. More than 10 rain gauges across eastern New South Wales registered over 500 mm (19.7 inches) of rain between Monday morning and Thursday morning. These included Taree Airport, Mount Barrington, Mooral Creek, Comboyne Public School, and Mount Seaview. This marks the first time on record that Taree has exceeded 500 mm in May, with data going back to 1882. YouTube video As of 21:30 local time on May 22, significant rainfall totals were recorded across several towns in New South Wales. Coffs Harbour received 155 mm (6.10 inches), Port Macquarie 67.2 mm (2.65 inches), Taree 87 mm (3.43 inches), Woolgoolga 154.2 mm (6.07 inches), Sawtell 154.2 mm (6.07 inches), and Dorrigo 136 mm (5.35 inches). The Macleay River is experiencing significant flooding across multiple locations, with levels rising or remaining critically high. At Georges Creek, water levels reached 9.96 m (32.68 feet), with forecasts suggesting a rise above the major flood level of 10.00 m (32.81 feet), peaking near 10.20 m (33.46 feet) overnight. At Bellbrook, levels temporarily dropped to 10.21 m (33.50 feet) but were forecast to rise again to 10.50 m (34.45 feet) by late Thursday or early Friday. In Kempsey, the river stood at 7.11 m (23.33 feet), exceeding the major flood level of 6.60 m (21.65 feet). The Manning River remained elevated. At Wingham, levels reached 10.80 m (35.43 feet), surpassing the moderate flood level of 8.90 m (29.20 feet). At Croki Wharf, the river held at 2.90 m (9.51 feet), above the minor flood threshold of 1.50 m (4.92 feet). Some relief was noted in Taree and Harrington, where levels were receding. Rescue efforts intensify with 48 000 stranded By Thursday afternoon, flood conditions had left approximately 48 000 people isolated. Authorities were managing 150 flood-related alerts across the state, including 37 emergency warnings and 86 under active monitoring. The State Emergency Service (SES) had conducted 591 rescues, supported by 2 500 personnel. More than 4 600 calls for assistance had been logged. Areas most affected by major flooding included Manning, Paterson, Hastings, Williams, Nambucca, and Glenthorne. A total of 15 evacuation centres were established in Dungog, Gloucester, Taree, Manning Point, Wingham, Bulahdelah, Tuncurry, Kempsey, Port Macquarie, Coffs Harbour, Sawtell, Nambucca, Old Bar, Wauchope, and Coopernook. Storm to dump more rain before easing More flash flooding is expected as the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) warns some areas could receive up to 200 mm (7.87 inches) of rain by Friday. The system is then forecast to weaken as it moves south toward Sydney.
First-ever Dust Storm Warning issued for Chicago, visibility drops to near zero across metro area - The first-ever Dust Storm Warning for the Chicago metro area was issued on May 16, 2025, as winds of up to 113 km/h (70 mph) carried dust into the city. The storm reduced visibility to near zero and affected major routes across Chicago and surrounding areas. The National Weather Service (NWS) Chicago office in Romeoville issued its first-ever Dust Storm Warning that included the city of Chicago on May 16, 2025. The warning was prompted by a fast-moving dust storm that originated near Bloomington, Illinois, and advanced northeastward into the Chicago metropolitan area during the afternoon and evening hours. Winds gusting between 97 and 113 km/h (60–70 mph) lifted dust from dry farmlands, reducing visibility to near zero and creating hazardous travel conditions across the region. The office issued four Dust Storm Warnings between 16:48 and 18:23 local time, covering multiple counties in northeastern Illinois and northwestern Indiana, including the Chicago metropolitan area. The warnings encompassed a population exceeding 5 million residents and expired by approximately 20:30 local time. The winds lifted dust from dry farmlands as the system moved into the Chicago area, reducing visibility to near zero by 18:40 local time (LT). Multiple major highways, including I-190, I-290, I-294, and I-355, were affected. Additionally, in Kankakee County, visibility was reduced to zero around 18:30 LT, recovering to approximately 16 km (10 miles) by 19:00 LT. Although conditions began to improve around 19:40 LT, reduced visibility persisted in some areas, continuing to pose challenges for drivers. This was the first Dust Storm Warning to include the city of Chicago and the second ever issued by the NWS Chicago office.
Tornado hits St. Louis metro area, leaving 5 dead and causing widespread damage - A destructive tornado struck the St. Louis metropolitan area, Missouri, on May 16, 2025, killing at least five people and injuring dozens, according to city officials. The storm caused significant damage to infrastructure and homes, with over 5 000 properties affected. At least seven storm-related deaths were reported across multiple states on May 16, with some reports mentioning at least 10 fatalities.. The tornado formed during a severe weather outbreak across the U.S. Midwest and impacted several neighborhoods, including Clayton, Forest Park, Central West End, and The Ville. Radar-based analysis suggests the tornado touched down between 14:30 and 14:50 local time in the area of Forest Park and was likely in the EF-2 to EF-3 range, based on observed debris signatures. Wind speeds in such tornadoes range from 178 to 266 km/h (111 to 165 mph), capable of tearing roofs from homes and uprooting large trees. The event was accompanied by intense thunderstorms and destructive winds, prompting a Particularly Dangerous Situation (PDS) tornado warning for over 1 million residents in the St. Louis region. The storm affected approximately 5 000 properties, with many residential structures losing their roofs or suffering collapsed walls. “The loss of life and destruction St. Louis has experienced in today’s storm is horrendous, and my thoughts are with everyone whose lives were altered today. Our first responders and community are stepping up in tremendous ways to save lives, help those who are injured, provide shelter, and so much more,” St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer said. Among the fatalities was a woman killed in a building collapse on Bayard Street in North St. Louis. A portion of the Centennial Christian Church collapsed, leading to one fatality.
Violent tornado strikes London, Kentucky, killing at least 9 – (3 YouTube videos) A violent tornado struck the city of London in Laurel County, Kentucky, at 23:49 LT on May 16, 2025, killing at least nine people and injuring many others. The tornado caused extensive damage along Keavy Road, KY 1006, and Old Whitley Road. Tornado damage in London, Kentucky, on May 16, 2025. Credit: Live Storms Media A violent tornado impacted Laurel County, Kentucky, late on Friday, May 16, 2025, touching down at approximately 23:49 local time. The tornado caused severe structural damage across southern parts of London, particularly along Keavy Road, KY 1006, and near the London Corbin Airport. According to local emergency management officials, at least 9 people have been confirmed dead, and multiple others sustained critical injuries. The National Weather Service (NWS) is still assessing the tornado’s rating, though preliminary ground assessments suggest it may have reached EF-4 intensity. London Mayor Randall Weddle told WKYT-TV that lives had been changed forever and urged people to come together and pray for the community. “I have never personally witnessed what I’ve witnessed here tonight.” Governor Andy Beshear declared a State of Emergency early Saturday morning, describing the event as a mass casualty incident. Emergency shelters have been established for displaced residents, while first responders and rescue units continue to conduct search and recovery operations. Power outages, debris-blocked roads, and widespread telecommunications failures have hampered emergency responses. Multiple homes, businesses, and infrastructure elements sustained major damage, with significant areas rendered inaccessible. The Kentucky Emergency Management and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) teams are coordinating with local authorities for damage assessment and resource deployment. Residents are urged to stay clear of affected zones and monitor official updates. This tornado is part of a broader outbreak affecting the Ohio Valley region, with at least 21 total fatalities reported across Kentucky (14) and Missouri (7). Officials expect the number of fatalities to continue rising. A destructive tornado struck the St. Louis metropolitan area, Missouri, on May 16, 2025, resulting in at least five fatalities and dozens of injuries. The storm severely damaged infrastructure and homes, affecting more than 5 000 properties. This severe weather outbreak is still in progress. An upper-level low over the Great Lakes is advancing eastward toward the Northeast, triggering widespread thunderstorm development across the Interior Northeast and northern New England. According to the NWS forecast, the storms may become severe in regions including northeast New York, western Massachusetts, and Vermont. The primary threats are damaging wind gusts and large hail, with isolated flash flooding possible due to heavy rainfall. Simultaneously, a frontal boundary extending from the Mid-Atlantic into the southern Plains will serve as another focal point for severe thunderstorm development later today. Conditions along and east of a pronounced dry line over northwest Texas are expected to support the formation of strong to severe storms, forecast to track eastward into northern Texas. The primary risks are large to very large hail, damaging winds, and the potential for a few tornadoes.
At least 28 dead as tornadoes, storms batter states from the Heartland to the East Coast - - At least 28 people have been reported dead across several states in an expansive outbreak of severe weather from the Heartland to the East Coast, with more potentially powerful storms in the forecast for Saturday. Nineteen people were killed in Kentucky, according to an update from Gov. Andy Beshear, with seven people killed in Missouri and two in Virginia. Most of the deaths in Kentucky occurred in Laurel County in the southeastern part of the state, about 130 miles southeast of Louisville. Beshear toured the damage in his state Saturday, telling reporters during a news conference afterward, "You can not only see the destruction, you can feel it." Beshear, who declared a state of emergency ahead of the storms, said he's been governor for at least 13 federally declared disasters related to weather and this storm was one of the worst in terms of loss of life and damage. The ages of those killed in the storms ranged from 25 to 76, with at least 12 of the deaths being people in their 60s and 70s, according to information released by state officials. One of the people who died was identified as Maj. Roger Leslie Leatherman of the Laurel County Fire Department, who had been in public service for 39 years and "died doing what first responders do every day, risking his life for our safety," Beshear said. Some neighborhoods in London, the Laurel County seat, saw total devastation -- homes blown away in the middle of the night, with residents huddling in hallways and basements. On Saturday, with whole blocks of homes gone, residents were left to sift through what remained of their homes. Lonnie Nantz, 78, said he was in bed with his wife when his daughters yelled that a tornado was coming. They held onto each other in their hallway as the home crumbled around them. Pieces of his home were scattered all over his yard and his vehicles were destroyed by debris. \ Down the street, Kyndra Foster was with 13 family members in their basement. She said she believed they were going to die. The youngest child with her was just 4 months old. Her 8-year-old daughter was left with bruises on her face, and didn't think she was going to make it through. Foster was in a wheelchair Saturday with a broken foot after being hit by a flying piece of debris. In Missouri, St. Louis was particularly hard hit when a tornado ripped through city neighborhoods Friday afternoon, tearing roofs off homes and knocking buildings down. The National Weather Service said in an update Saturday that, based on preliminary information, the storm was at least an EF-3 tornado, with winds up to 140 mph, and up to 1 mile wide at times. "I would describe this as one of the worst storms," St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer said at a news conference Saturday. "Absolutely, the devastation is truly heartbreaking, and let's not forget people have lost their lives. We are continuing to make sure that we are identifying all those that are injured, in addition to the massive amount of property damage that has taken a huge toll." Five people in the city were killed and 38 were injured, Spencer said.
Tornadoes rip through several US states, leaving trail of destruction and at least 28 dead - Over the last 48 hours violent storms, including dozens of tornadoes, have ripped through the central and southern United States, leaving a trail of destruction and claiming the lives of at least 28 people in Kentucky, Missouri and Virginia. Tornadoes have been spotted in nearly a dozen states including Indiana and Wisconsin. Videos shared from across the US show cars overturning, roofs being ripped off and massive tornadoes demolishing entire neighborhoods, apartment buildings and worksites. On Friday, the National Weather Service (NWS) issued its first ever “Dust Storm Warning” for the city of Chicago after the state, for the second time in two years, was enveloped in a massive dust storm. While thankfully not as deadly as the May 1, 2023 storm, which led a to 72-car pileup resulting in 8 deaths, this most recent storm forced road closures and led to at least one multi-vehicle accident. As of this writing, severe weather warnings are still in effect for several states throughout Monday, including southeastern Colorado, western Nebraska, northern Texas, western Oklahoma and Kansas. Videos posted on social media Sunday show multiple tornadoes touching down in Barrett, Colorado and just east of Denver. Severe hail and tornadoes were visible from the Denver International Airport. The thunderstorms and deadly tornadoes began on Friday. While the NWS warned of possible severe weather throughout the region on Thursday, its ability collect weather data and turn it into accurate and timely warnings has been severely damaged due to spending cuts imposed by Elon Musk’s misnamed “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE). Cuts imposed by the world’s richest man in order to help pay for tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy and a $1 trillion military budget have led to a gutting of the NWS, and with it the capacity to provide urgent warnings of extreme weather events. Since Trump’s inauguration, nearly 600 people in the agency out of 4,000 have left, mainly through layoffs and retirements. DOGE-imposed cuts have also reduced the capacity of weather stations to conduct twice-daily weather balloon launches, used to collect the data that powers forecasting models. Normally the 122 weather forecasting offices spread throughout the United States operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. “For most of the last half century NWS has been a 24/7 operation—not anymore,” Tom Fahy, legislative director of the National Weather Service Employees Organization (NWSEO), told the New York Times in an article published just before the storms hit. Fahy told the Times that due to cuts ordered by DOGE, four weather stations were no longer operating on a 24-hour schedule, including offices in Sacramento and Hanford, California; Goodland, Kansas; and the station in Jackson, Kentucky that was directly in line with one of the tornadoes that touched down Friday evening. Several powerful EF3 (Enhanced Fujita Scale) and EF2 tornadoes, with wind speeds of 111-165 miles per hour (179 -265 kilometers per hour), were reported in Kentucky Friday night and Saturday morning. Kentucky is the state with most confirmed deaths so far from the storms. Governor Andy Beshear, a Democrat, confirmed that at least 19 people had died in Kentucky, with significant destruction reported in London and Somerset. Major damage was also reported at the London-Corbin Airport, including the destruction of the local medical helicopter, along with several collector planes flipped over or damaged. Multiple buildings were also demolished.
Tornado damages 17 structures near Bennett, Colorado - (4 YouTube videos) -A tornado touched down near Bennett, Colorado, at approximately 14:00 LT on May 18, 2025, destroying multiple homes and power lines as part of a broader outbreak across the Great Plains. The tornado outbreak impacted Colorado’s eastern plains on May 18, damaging at least 36 homes and structures in Adams and Elbert counties. In Adams County, near the town of Bennett, 17 structures were damaged or destroyed, including six residential homes, according to the Adams County Sheriff’s Office. In nearby Elbert County, another 19 homes sustained damage ranging from minor to severe, particularly near the town of Elizabeth. CORE Electric Cooperative reported outages affecting 90 customers in the Bennett area. Crews replaced at least 30 broken power poles and repaired downed wires, with power restored by the following morning. Meteorological conditions on May 18 included a potent upper-level trough positioned over the western United States and an eastward-advancing dryline, favoring the development of intense supercell thunderstorms, which produced multiple tornadoes across Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. The National Weather Service (NWS) issued tornado warnings starting around 14:00 LT (20:00 UTC), covering the Denver metro area and extending across the Eastern Plains. Tornadoes were confirmed in locations such as Manila Village, near Arapahoe Park, and two in the town of Bennett.
Large tornado damages homes, church, and school in Grinnell, Kansas - 3 YouTube videos - A significant tornado impacted the town of Grinnell, Kansas, at approximately 19:00 local time (00:00 UTC) on May 18, leaving a path of destruction through the small community of around 260 residents. The National Weather Service (NWS) issued a tornado warning describing the event as “large and extremely dangerous.” Preliminary surveys indicate the tornado caused widespread structural damage, including multiple homes destroyed down to their foundations. A church and a school in the town sustained major damage, while numerous utility poles and trees were snapped or uprooted. Midwest Energy reported that both electric and gas systems were compromised, leaving approximately 330 customers without power. The gas system was proactively shut down to facilitate inspections and emergency repairs. Interstate 70 near Grinnell was closed due to debris and downed power lines, significantly impacting regional traffic. YouTube video Based on initial damage patterns, particularly structures leveled to foundations, the event is preliminarily consistent with an EF-2 or stronger classification with wind speeds of at least 178–217 km/h (111–135 mph). As of May 19, no fatalities or injuries have been confirmed. The NWS is conducting a damage survey to determine the tornado’s rating on the Enhanced Fujita (EF) scale. This tornado was part of a broader severe weather outbreak across the Great Plains, affecting regions in Kansas, Texas, and Colorado. Multiple tornadoes were reported throughout the evening of May 18.
Large wedge tornado hits Plevna, Kansas near midnight, causing severe structural damage (two videos) A large wedge tornado struck Plevna, Kansas, around 23:50 local time (04:50 UTC) on May 18, 2025, causing significant damage to homes and infrastructure. The tornado crossed Highway 50 before weakening and left a trail of destruction, including flattened homes near South Langdon Road. YouTube video: Damage after a large wedge tornado touches down in Plevna, Kansas, on May 18, 2025. Multiple homes were destroyed within Plevna and just southwest along South Langdon Road, where one brick house was completely flattened. The town experienced downed power lines, uprooted trees, and damage to infrastructure. The National Weather Service (NWS) had issued a tornado emergency for Plevna ahead of the storm, citing the imminent threat posed by the tornado-producing supercell. Although no fatalities or injuries have been confirmed in Plevna, the broader storm system has resulted in casualties and widespread destruction in other parts of the region, including Kentucky and Missouri.
Tornadoes strike Oklahoma, Arkansas and Nebraska, damage reported in Greenland and Pittsburg - Over a dozen tornadoes ripped through Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Nebraska on Monday, May 19, 2025, destroying multiple homes and leaving over 100 000 customers without power as it downed trees and power lines in the affected areas. Tornadoes were reported in Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Nebraska on Monday, May 19, with damage reports coming in from parts of Oklahoma and Arkansas. The National Weather Service (NWS) office in Tulsa confirmed 13 tornadoes occurred in their jurisdiction, which includes parts of Oklahoma and Arkansas, on Monday. At least 8 tornadoes passed through parts of Oklahoma and 5 through Arkansas, according to the NWS. Meanwhile, the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) has thus far received only five confirmed tornado reports on Monday from Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Illinois. Over 100 000 customers were without power across Oklahoma, and Arkansas late Monday. Residents in parts of eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas were advised to seek shelter on Monday evening, according to the National Weather Service. In Oklahoma, tornadoes were reported in McAlester, Stilwell, Gowen, Bunch, Gore, Wardville, and the communities of Haileyville and Hartshorne. Radar observations showed that a tornado touched down in southern Pittsburg County, Oklahoma, near Blanco at around 18:54 local time (LT) on Monday, while another tornado reportedly touched down at 20:08 LT near Fairfield. Search and rescue operations began in the Pittsburg area after the storms passed through, causing widespread damage, destroying homes, and uprooting trees in the eastern parts of the town. In Arkansas, tornadoes were reported in Fayetteville, Prairie Grove, Lincoln, Shady Point, and Greenland. Widespread damage was reported in all the areas, including Greenland, where multiple structures were either destroyed or damaged as the tornado downed multiple trees and power lines. Some reports indicate that two tornadoes may have touched down in Greenland, but this is yet to be confirmed. While no injuries or fatalities have been reported due to the event, the exact number of tornadoes and a full assessment of the aftermath are yet to be completed, and details may change as more data becomes available.
Tornado rips through Jackson, Tennessee, damaging warehouse and airport area – (videos) A tornado touched down near Jackson, Tennessee, on May 20, 2025, ripping the roof off a warehouse and damaging infrastructure near the Jackson Regional Airport. The event was part of a larger outbreak that produced multiple tornadoes across Tennessee. Multiple tornadoes were reported across the Mississippi, Ohio, and Tennessee Valleys on May 20, with confirmed sightings from Alabama, Illinois, Tennessee, and Arkansas. According to the Storm Prediction Center (SPC), at least 13 tornadoes were reported across four states by 11:02 UTC on May 21. The SPC received two tornado reports from Arkansas, three from Tennessee and Alabama each, and five from Illinois. A large tornado touched down near Jackson, Tennessee, with damage being reported along the I-40, McKellar Airport, and the Jackson Regional Airport. Visuals of the tornado showed debris flying through the air as it tore through the area. The tornado ripped off the roof of the Kirkland warehouse on Smith Lane, just east of Jackson in Madison County. Multiple tornado warnings and watches were issued across Tennessee on May 20. Jackson-Madison County Emergency Management confirmed that safe rooms at McKellar-Sipes Regional Airport were opened to provide shelter during the storm. Two tornadoes were reported in Montgomery County’s Clarksville and Fredonia, while one was reported near Hohenwald in Lewis County. The tornado near Hohenwald reportedly touched down at around 14:59 local time, just north of the city, and was confirmed by radar. The Clarksville tornado touched down around 17:51 LT on May 20, with visuals showing a massive gray cloud moving north-northwest of the area. Meanwhile, the Fredonia tornado touched down at around 17:58 LT, just west of I-24 near SR-76 and highway-41A. Both tornadoes were confirmed via radar with debris signatures.Spencer: Tornado siren error was a result of 'human failure' -Tornado sirens did not sound in St. Louis during the extreme weather last week because of a “human failure,” Mayor Cara Spencer said Monday. Since a devastating EF3 tornado ripped through the area on Friday that killed five people, an outpouring of residents have said they did not hear a warning that could have saved lives. “A button wasn't pushed, and the sirens were not deployed,” the mayor said. In the minutes between when the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning around 2:30 p.m. and when the storm cut through St. Louis’ central corridor and up through north city neighborhoods, Spencer said someone made a mistake and did not trigger the siren system. “There was a failure, a human failure, a failure in protocol to get the sirens up and running to let the community know that there was a massive weather event hitting our community,” she said. Spencer said emergency protocols put in place in 2021 were “not exceptionally clear” about who was supposed to complete which task. According to the city’s website, workers at the St. Louis Fire Department Dispatch Center or City Emergency Management Agency activate the siren alerts.“My role to ensure that moving forward, this protocol is crystal clear, and it is,” Spencer said. “This protocol is calling for our fire department — who is staffed 24 hours a day — to issue those warnings. And from this point forward, the fire department, with whom I have the utmost confidence, is going to be doing that work moving forward.”The mayor’s acknowledgement on Monday confirms what St. Louisans had suspected and feared: Despite the city successfully testing updated sirens one day earlier, residents were not given a warning for the first deadly tornado in the city since 1959.The tornado, which reached wind speeds up to 152 mph and stretched a mile wide at some points, injured 38 people in the metro area, damaged more than 4,440 buildings and caused at least $1 billion in property damage. Officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency are expected to assess the area’s damage later this week.Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe requested an emergency declarationfrom the federal government.After FEMA officials survey St. Louis, St. Louis County and six counties in southeast Missouri, Kehoe and other elected officials are hopeful the region will be eligible for a major disaster declaration, which will unlock even more federal dollars.“FEMA has a lot of resources, and we want to see all of them deployed here,” U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley said at a Monday press conference. City officials are waiting to call the Missouri National Guard until they know more about the needs of damaged neighborhoods, the mayor said. The city is also working to set up more dumpsters and large-scale dump sites to collect debris.
May Tornado Outbreak Spawned EF4s In Kentucky, Illinois; Over 160 Twisters Confirmed In Midwest, South and East - Another multiday, deadly severe weather outbreak spawned over 160 tornadoes in 22 states, along with damaging thunderstorm winds and hail from the Plains to the Midwest, South and East, including the most active day for severe weather so far in 2025. A total of 167 tornadoes were either sighted by spotters or confirmed by the National Weather Service in this outbreak from May 15 through the morning of May 21. Of those, 39 were categorized as "strong" tornadoes, those that produced at least EF2 damage on the Enhanced Fujita scale from which tornadoes are rated and peak winds are estimated. Missouri lead with 25 tornadoes, followed by Kansas with 19 twisters. That total tornado tally is likely to tick higher in the coming days, as damage surveys by National Weather Service meteorologists are still being conducted. This map shows confirmed tornadoes and preliminary reports from the May 15-20, 2025, outbreak. (NOAA/NWS/Storm Prediction Center) In addition to the tornadoes, there were over 2,000 reports of large hail and either damaging or strong thunderstorm wind gusts during the outbreak. Over 700 of those reports were from Friday, May 16, into early morning on Saturday, May 17, alone. This latest rash of severe weather may have driven insured losses of $4-7 billion, according to an initial estimated from Gallagher Re, a reinsurance broker. Two of these tornadoes were rated EF4, a threshold the NWS classifies as violent tornadoes. Twisters this strong aren't rare, but they make up a small fraction of America's yearly tornado tally. From zero to six EF4 tornadoes occurred in the U.S. annually from 2015 through 2024. The first violent tornado tracked through southern Illinois' Williamson County on the evening of May 16. Along its almost 17-mile path, one two-story home south of Marion was swept clean off its foundation, with just stubs of trees left behind the home by winds estimated up to 190 mph. Luckily, the residents of the home weren't there at the time. This was the strongest tornado to impact the region served by the National Weather Service's Paducah, Kentucky, office since the Dec. 10, 2021, outbreak. The other violent tornado tore a 60-mile path across Russell, Pulaski and Laurel counties, Kentucky, in almost 90 minutes late on the night of May 16. Heavy damage was reported in parts of the cities of London and Somerset, with homes "wiped clean from their foundations" in London's Sunshine Hills subdivision, where 17 people were killed, according to the NWS damage survey. Peak winds were estimated at 170 mph. Two others were killed by the tornado in Russell and Pulaski Counties. That made this tornado the deadliest in the area served by the NWS-Jackson, Kentucky, office. First, an afternoon EF3 tornado tore through the north side of the St. Louis metro area, killing five and injuring 38. Over 5,000 buildings were damaged in the city. The tornado crossed the Mississippi River and tracked through Granite City and Pontoon Beach, Illinois, before ending its almost 23-mile journey in the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville campus. It was the strongest tornado in St. Louis since the April 22, 2011, EF4 that hit Bridgeton and Lambert International Airport. Other deadly tornadoes included an EF3 just north of Sikeston, Missouri (two killed), and an EF2 in Greene County, Indiana (one killed), both on May 16. Notable long-track tornadoes included a 35-mile path carved by an EF2 tornado south of Bloomington, Indiana, on May 16 and a 32-mile path in south-central Kansas on May 18.
Trump, who called FEMA ‘slow,’ is making people wait months for help - Public officials have started pleading with the Trump administration for help in recovering from deadly disasters as President Donald Trump triggers frustration in states struck by tornadoes, floods and storms by taking no action on requests for aid. Trump has left states, counties and tribes in limbo as he delays making decisions on formal requests for millions of dollars in Federal Emergency Management Agency funding. Some areas that are still reeling from extreme weather are unable to start cleanup.“We’re at a standstill and waiting on a declaration from FEMA,” said Royce McKee, emergency management director in Walthall County, Mississippi, which was hit by tornadoes in mid-March.The county of 13,000 people can’t afford to clean up acres of debris, McKee said, and is waiting for Trump to act on a disaster request that was submitted by Gov. Tate Reeves, a Republican, on April 1 after the tornadoes killed seven people, destroyed or damaged 671 homes, and caused $18.2 million in public damage.“I’m disappointed, especially for the people that lost their houses,” McKee said.Trump himself assailed FEMA in January for being “very slow.”The frustration over Trump’s handling of disasters is the latest upheaval involving FEMA. Trump recently canceled two FEMA grant programs that gave states billions of dollars a year to pay for protective measures against disasters. The move drew protests from Republican and Democratic lawmakers.On May 8, Trump fired FEMA leader Cameron Hamilton and replaced him with David Richardson, a former Marine Corps officer who has no experience in emergency management.At a congressional hearing on Tuesday, Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican, pleaded with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to push Trump to approve three disaster requests that Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe, a Republican, had sent to Trump beginning April 2. “We are desperate for assistance in Missouri,” Hawley said as Noem pledged to help. Her department oversees FEMA.St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer, whose city was badly damaged by tornadoes earlier this week, told MSNBC: “What we need right now is federal assistance. This is where FEMA and the federal government have got to come in and help communities. Our city can’t shoulder this alone.” Trump has not acted on 17 disaster requests, a high number for this time of year, according to a FEMA daily report released Wednesday. On the same date eight years ago, during Trump’s first presidency, only three disaster requests were awaiting presidential action, the FEMA report from May 21, 2017, shows. Eleven of the 17 pending disaster requests were sent to Trump more than a month ago. “This looks to me like, until FEMA’s role is clarified, then we’re just going to sit on it,” said a former senior FEMA official who was granted anonymity to speak candidly. Trump has indicated that he wants to shrink the agency, which distributes about $45 billion in disaster aid a year, helps with as many as 100 disasters at a time and, he said, “has been a very big disappointment.” The Trump administration has made no announcements about how it is handling requests for disaster aid, leaving governors, local officials and individuals uncertain about what to expect. “A disaster survivor that’s waiting for relief — that’s the hard part about this,” the former FEMA official said. In a statement to POLITICO’s E&E News, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said the administration wants state and local governments “to invest in their own resilience before disaster strikes, making response less urgent and recovery less prolonged.” Trump handles disaster requests “with great care and consideration, ensuring American tax dollars are used appropriately and efficiently by the states to supplement — not substitute, their obligation to respond to and recover from disasters,” Jackson said.
Jaw Fire and Democrat Fire burn over 1 650 ha (4 000 acres) in Kern County, California - The Jaw Fire and Democrat Fire in California’s Kern County have scorched approximately 1 657 ha (4 095 acres) of land as of May 21, 2025. Jaw Fire, the larger of the two, rapidly expanded on May 20, burning over 1 295 ha (3 200 acres) since its ignition on May 19. Meanwhile, the Democrat Fire has consumed about 362 ha (895 acres) since it started on May 18. The Jaw Fire was first reported at approximately 14:23 local time (LT) on May 19, in Kern County, near Kelso Valley Road and Jawbone Canyon Road, north of Tehachapi. The fire was initially reported at approximately 40.5 ha (100 acres) on May 19 and expanded to about 121 ha (300 acres) later the same day. By the evening of May 20, the blaze had rapidly grown, burning more than 1 295 ha (3 200 acres) of land. As of the morning of May 20, the fire was 20 % contained, with air tankers being deployed for suppression efforts. The Democrat Fire also continues to burn in Kern County alongside the Jaw Fire. It was first reported at approximately 15:39 LT on May 18, along Highway 178 near the Upper Richbar Picnic Area in Sequoia National Forest. The fire was initially reported at approximately 16 ha (40 acres) and has since grown to 362 ha (895 acres) and is 50 % contained. The causes of both fires remain under investigation. No structures are currently under threat. Firefighters continue suppression efforts. Several smaller wildfires have also been reported across the state.
Havana sets new May temperature record at 38°C (100.4°F) - The Casablanca weather station in Havana, Cuba, recorded a maximum temperature of 38°C (100.4°F) on May 20, setting a new all-time high for the month of May in the capital. The new high surpassed the previous May record of 37.3°C (99.1°F), recorded on May 19, 2024, according to INSMET’s Forecast Center. This record-setting heat in Havana followed several days of unusually high temperatures across the country. On May 18, the Veguitas station in Granma province recorded 37.1 °C (98.8 °F), while most Cuban regions reported temperatures ranging between 32 °C (89.6 °F) and 35 °C (95.0 °F) during early May. Meteorologist Raydel Ruisánchez noted that the recent heatwave is influenced by a well-structured anticyclone affecting all layers of the troposphere, leading to persistent heat and below-average rainfall across the country. Frequent power outages have made the extreme heat even harder to bear, especially in urban areas where many people lack reliable infrastructure. Public frustration has been widely expressed on social media, citing the combined effects of heat, mosquitoes, and blackouts. Havana’s new record adds to a broader trend of extreme temperatures registered across Cuba in recent years. On April 11, 2024, the Jucarito station in Granma province recorded 40.1 °C (104.2 °F), the highest temperature ever measured in the country. Just a month later, on May 14, the town of Bolivia in Ciego de Ávila reached 40°C (104°F), the second-highest on record.
Significant eruption at Lewotobi Laki-laki volcano, Indonesia - A strong eruption occurred at Lewotobi Laki-laki volcano, Indonesia, on April 18, 2025, sending an ash cloud to approximately 9 km (30 000 feet) above sea level. The Aviation Color Code was raised from Orange to Red at 06:29 UTC. The Darwin VAAC reported that volcanic ash reached an altitude of 9.1 km (30 000 feet) above sea level (a.s.l.) at 07:40 UTC, extending southeast from the summit area.The Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) maintains the Alert Level at III (Siaga). Residents and visitors are advised to avoid activities within a 6 km (3.7 miles) radius of the volcano’s summit.The volcano has been exhibiting continuous activity in recent months, including a significant eruption on March 20, which sent ash plumes up to 16.2 km (53 000 feet) a.s.l. Additionally, between April 18 and 25, there were 110 recorded eruptions.
High-level eruption at Sheveluch volcano, Russia - The WatchersA strong eruption began at Sheveluch volcano, Kamchatka, Russia, around 18:00 UTC on May 16, 2025, producing a plume of ash and sulfur dioxide up to 12.2 km (40 000 feet) above sea level, according to the Tokyo Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC). The Aviation Color Code remains at Orange. Satellite image of ash plume produced by Sheveluch volcano at 19:00 UTC on May 16, 2025. Credit: JMA/Himawari-9, RAMMB/CIRA, The Watchers Satellite observations from the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) indicated that the ash cloud reached an altitude of 8.5 km (28 000 feet) above sea level (a.s.l.) and drifted approximately 200 km (120 miles) northeast by 21:00 UTC on May 16. KVERT reported continued extrusive-effusive activity at the ‘Young Sheveluch’ volcano and extrusive eruption of the ‘300 years RAS’ lava dome. The growth of the lava domes is accompanied by vigorous gas-steam emissions. The Aviation Color Code remains at Orange since December 2006.
Congress tears down 3 California pollution, climate rules - The Senate took a hatchet to California’s transportation emissions standards Thursday with votes blocking the state’s electric vehicle mandate and other related rules.Final votes Friday against Biden-era EPA waivers allowing the state to set stricter vehicle emissions requirements concluded months of deliberations and partisan acrimony over whether the Senate should — or could — act on the issue.Democrats focused less on defending California than attacking Republicans for overruling the Senate’s rules referee. Republicans, for their part, said they had no other choice. The dispute is headed back to the courts, with California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta saying they would sue to overturn Congress’ action.
California to sue Trump administration over ‘shortsighted’ and ‘illegal’ attempt to upend state’s emissions standards - California officials announced their intentions on Thursday to file their 23rd lawsuit against the Trump administration — this time, over an attempt to upend the state’s stricter-than-federal emissions rules. “We want to make sure our future generations have clean air to breathe, and a livable planet,” state Attorney General Rob Bonta said at a Thursday press conference. “Meanwhile, the president’s focus on red team versus blue team is threatening California’s lives, our economy and our environment. It’s undoubtedly shortsighted, and it’s also illegal,” Bonta added. The Thursday announcement followed a 51-44 vote in the Senate that morning, in which lawmakers passed a measure to repeal California’s phaseout of gas-powered cars. The legislation, which already earned the House’s approval, is heading to President Trump’s desk for its expected signing into law. Rather than directly overturning California’s rule, the bill would revoke the Biden administration’s authorization of the Golden State’s policy. Both chambers advanced the legislation via the Congressional Review Act (CRA), which enables the repeal of recently approved regulations with a simple majority. Yet in advancing the bill, lawmakers circumvented a ruling from the Senate parliamentarian, who concluded that the act didn’t apply to the Biden administration’s decision, due to its status as a waiver, rather than a regulation. Nonetheless, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) conducted several procedural votes on Wednesday night that he deemed sufficient to enable such a vote. The waiver in question, which received the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) approval in December, enabled the implementation of California’s Advanced Clean Cars II regulations. These stricter-than-federal emissions standards sought to require that 35 percent of cars sold in California in 2026 be zero-emissions, followed by 68 percent in 2030 and 100 percent in 2035. California can set such standards through a 1970 Clean Air Act clause, written amid historic smog conditions in the Los Angeles area. But to do so, the Golden State must first apply to the EPA for a waiver for each rule it wants to set — and only then can other states follow suit. At the press conference announcing the lawsuit on Thursday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said that while he and his colleagues “anticipated being back here,” they “didn’t expect the path” that the administration elected to take with the CRA. “They decided to change the rules that have been established in the United States Senate, protocols that have been well established for centuries, in order to attack California, in order to pollute more,” Newsom said. Bonta slammed the Trump administration for its “unlawful and unprecedented CRA resolutions,” stressing that the law has been in place for 30 years and “has never, ever, not once, been used to apply to a waiver.” “This is a workaround for Trump to punish California for defying his efforts to bring us backward,” Bonta said. “The federal government’s overreach is illogical. It’s politically motivated, and it comes at the expense of Californians’ lives and livelihoods.”
Greens urge court to force feds to restore online enviro data - Advocacy groups are asking a federal court to restore public access to climate and environmental justice webpages removed by EPA and other agencies earlier this year. The Trump administration illegally removed interactive webpages and underlying data that helped both public interest groups and federal agencies identify communities that are most at risk from pollution, extreme weather and rising global temperatures, the Sierra Club and others said in a court filing Friday.“By removing resources from their websites, Defendants have made it harder for communities to understand the environmental burdens they face and to advocate for policies that will improve their health and well-being,” the groups told the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.The groups are urging Judge Rudolph Contreras, an Obama appointee, to issue a preliminary injunction requiring agencies to make the webpages available to the public again as litigation over the removal is ongoing. The groups filed their suit challenging the removed pages last month.
EPA scraps Clinton-era environmental justice panel --EPA has quietly abolished a long-standing forum for exploring and addressing pollution’s unequal toll on people of color and low-income communities.The National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) — launched in 1993 — was among three advisory committees that EPA axed in response to a downsizing directive from President Donald Trump that calls for eliminating “unnecessary” panels, according to a publicly available database.EPA cited the database in responding to a Freedom of Information Act request from POLITICO’s E&E News. Also scrapped: The White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council and the Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Serving Institutions Advisory Council, both of which were founded during the Biden administration.The NEJAC had a far longer history, dating back to its creation during the Clinton administration.
Trump administration to allow massive New York offshore wind project to continue, Hochul says -The Trump administration will allow a major offshore wind project that will deliver power to New York to continue, Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-N.Y.) said Monday. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum halted the project last month, claiming that the Biden administration did not adequately review it. But, Hochul said in a Monday evening post on X that she managed to “save” the project by working with the administration. “1,500 union jobs. 500,000 homes powered by wind. That’s what Empire Wind 1 will deliver,” Hochul wrote. “I’ve been working with President @realDonaldTrump to save this project & today learned we’ve been successful. Grateful for his partnership on projects that create jobs here in New York,” she added. The Trump administration has generally been hostile to climate action and has targeted wind energy in particular, with Trump on his first day in office signing an executive order that barred the government from auctioning off the rights to build wind farms offshore and also temporarily blocked new rights for wind on public lands. But the decision to issue a stop-work order was seen as a further escalation, halting a project already in progress.The president has repeatedly bashed offshore wind, complaining about the impacts to birds and views and even baselessly claiming in 2019 that wind power noise can cause cancer. At the same time, however, he has declared a national energy emergency and says the nation needs to produce more power.Empire Wind 1 would be expected to deliver 810 megawatts of power into Brooklyn, enough to power 500,000 New York homes, according to the project’s website.
Equinor says Trump has allowed Empire Wind to resume construction - Equinor said Monday that the Interior Department has lifted a stop work order on Empire Wind 1, a dramatic reversal by the Trump administration that breathed life into the 54-turbine project that had been on the brink of cancellation.The reason for the turnaround wasn’t immediately clear. In a statement, Equinor CEO Anders Opedal thanked President Donald Trump for “finding a solution that saves thousands of American jobs and provides for continued investments in energy infrastructure in the U.S.”Empire Wind 1 is central to New York’s climate and energy plans. The $5 billion project would connect directly into New York City’s power grid, providing enough electricity to supply 500,000 homes. It has been the focus of an intense international lobbying effort in recent weeks. Opedal and Norwegian Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg met with White House officials to discuss the project last month.New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, said in a statement that “countess conversations with Equinor and White House officials” had yielded the deal.“I want to thank President Trump for his willingness to work with me to save the 1,500 good paying union jobs that were on the line and helping get this essential project back on track,” Hochul said. “New York’s economic future is going to be powered by abundant, clean energy that helps our homes and businesses thrive. I fought to save clean energy jobs in New York — and we got it done.”The move would amount to a stunning reversal for Trump, who has railed against offshore wind since returning to the White House. A White House spokesperson deferred comment to Interior, which could not immediately be reached for comment.Hochul told Newsday that she held three conversations with Trump over the weekend, in which she pleaded with the president to save the project. The governor told the Long Island newspaper that she emphasized the 1,500 union laborers working on the project.Trump has pushed for building new pipelines into New York. The governor did not mention pipelines directly in her statement but made an apparent reference to the issue, saying, “I also reaffirmed that New York will work with the Administration and private entities on new energy projects that meet the legal requirements under New York law. In order to ensure reliability and affordability for consumers, we will be working in earnest to deliver on these objectives.”Interior Secretary Doug Burgum alluded to a pipeline deal in a post on X, which did not mention Empire Wind. “Energy Dominance is the foundation of America’s economic and national security,” he wrote. “I am encouraged by Governor Hochul’s comments about her willingness to move forward on critical pipeline capacity. Americans who live in New York and New England would see significant economic.” Equinor secured a lease to build the wind farm south of Long Island in 2017. The Biden administration issued a final permit for the project in 2024. Equinor began work at a marine terminal in Brooklyn last summer. It had begun preparing to install the underwater foundations in March when, the following month, Burgum announced the stop work order. He cited a report from NOAA that he said showed Empire Wind 1’s approval had been rushed. He never released the report. Equinor came close to walking away from the project, telling POLITICO’s E&E News on May 9 that it would be canceled if the stop work order was not lifted. Hochul told Newsday that she had pleaded with Equinor to give her a week to appeal to Trump directly to save the project. The Norwegian oil giant could yet walk away from the project. It said it would perform an updated assessment of the project’s economics in the second quarter.
Donald Trump administration eyes deep sea mining off American Samoa coast -- The Trump administration is taking a step toward potentially allowing companies to trawl for minerals under the ocean floor off the coast of American Samoa. The Interior Department announced late Tuesday it would start the process to assess whether it should auction off rights to allow companies to mine American Samoa’s seabed. American Samoa is a U.S. territory made up of islands in the South Pacific Ocean. The Interior Department said it would begin with a formal “request for information and interest” to seek input from the mining industry as well as the Indigenous island community and others about whether it should proceed. “Critical minerals are fundamental to strengthening our nation’s resilience and safeguarding our national interests,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement. “By providing opportunities to responsibly access deep-sea mineral resources, we are supporting both American economic growth and national security,” he added. The announcement comes a month after President Trump signed an executive order directing the administration to jumpstart the deep sea mining process. Large-scale deep sea mining has never been done — though some companies have pushed for it — but the seafloor is expected to contain valuable materials. However, environmental concerns have been raised about potential mining, as critics argue it could release toxins, destroy habitats and contribute to biodiversity loss and noise pollution.
Congress ends the road for EV support - Congressional Republicans on Thursday effectively parked the electric vehicle on the side of the road and abandoned it as tool for American policy. The moves were thorough and unambiguous. The Senate sank California’s effort to remove gasoline-powered cars from its roads within a decade, while the House in its budget reconciliation bill erased nearly every special treatment that Democrats created a few years ago to make EVs easier to buy or manufacture. It could not be a starker turn from four years ago, when then-new President Joe Biden made EVs the centerpiece of his efforts to create jobs, fight climate change and combat China. Reactions to Congress’ actions revealed how divisive federal support for EVs has become. Republicans see the government picking winners, while Democrats see a crucial nation-building tool — and both sides claim their approach is best for countering China’s rise. Ben Prochazka, the executive director of the Electrification Coalition, a nonprofit that promotes EVs, said in a statement that the House’s bill “takes a sledgehammer to the U.S. EV industry and undermines efforts to build robust, secure and reliable access to critical minerals.” Meanwhile, two oil and gas industry groups, the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers and the American Petroleum Institute, issued a joint statement calling the Senate’s vote “a victory for American consumers, manufacturers, and U.S. energy security.” The Senate’s ending of the California clean-cars waiver also drew strong support from the auto industry, including parts makers and auto dealers. “Congress has safeguarded this important hub of innovation and American engineering prowess,” said the Specialty Equipment Market Association, which represents manufacturers of auto parts. It noted that a third of its members’ products are meant for internal-combustion engines. While the GOP’s moves were decisive, they were not conclusive. The House’s giant bill faces a rewrite in the Senate, and the Senate’s killing of the waiver immediately drew a court challenge from California. Nonetheless, the consequences could be profound for the trajectory of Americans’ EV adoption and of U.S. auto manufacturing. Observers of the EV market worry that Congress’ withdrawal of support at best discourages investment in EVs and at worst clears the field for China to further dominate advanced cars and their batteries. “This market is less certain than it was a few days ago, and that’s going to be bad for investment,” said Nick Nigro, the founder of Atlas Public Policy, which studies EV trends.
Trump move to block EV charger funding illegal, GAO finds - The Trump administration violated federal law by withholding funding for a $5 billion federal electric vehicle charging program tied to the bipartisan infrastructure law, government watchdogs said Thursday.The Government Accountability Office unveiled a report that concluded the Department of Transportation’s decision to halt funding for the EV charging program violated a “recording statute” and was not allowed under the Impoundment Control Act, which stipulates how and when the president can delay or rescind funding that’s been enacted by Congress.The report was signed by Edda Emmanuelli Perez, GAO’s general counsel, who in recent weeks has reiterated publicly that the agency is independent, is nonpartisan and works for Congress. Gene Dodaro, who is head of GAO in his role as U.S. comptroller, was appointed by President Barack Obama and confirmed by Congress in 2010. His 15-year term ends this year.GAO’s finding takes direct aim at an order that Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy issued in February, which halted funding for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program.
New EV fees won’t fix highway funding problems — and could ding transit - Electric vehicle and hybrid car fees included in the Republicans’ sprawling party-line bill would be the first new revenue dedicated to the Highway Trust Fund in 30 years.But there’s a catch, experts and lawmakers say. The fees would go only part of the way toward closing the fund’s massive spending gap.And, as currently written, the legislation would direct the money only to highway projects, to the exclusion of transit. Historically, 80 percent of the fund’s money has gone to highways and 20 percent to transit. Republicans — and the construction industry — are optimistic about securing a long-term solution to pay for the nation’s aging roads. But public transportation advocates and some Democrats are worried that buses, rail and ferries will be left at the station.
Republicans strip public land sales from reconciliation - House Republicans have scrapped public land sales from the latest version of their tax cut, energy and border security megabill, according to text released Wednesday evening.Several House and Senate Republicans, including Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke, had complained about language that would sell or swap hundreds of thousands of acres in Utah and Nevada.Negotiators also came up with what some lawmakers are calling a compromise on the fate of Inflation Reduction Act tax incentives. The new language tightens requirements for renewables but would be more generous to nuclear.Republicans also appeared to have rolled back a provision popular with conservatives that would have required congressional approval of major rules.House Republicans unveiled a so-called manager’s amendment to the latest text of their budget reconciliation package. Leaders were hoping to release the updated text earlier Wednesday, but disagreement between moderates and conservatives delayed the process. A floor vote could happen in the coming hours.What the One Big Beautiful Bill Act means for energy and manufacturing tax credits -Following an intense week of negotiations among Republicans, the House of Representatives passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act this morning on a party-line vote of 215-214-1. The legislation passed with several last-minute modifications, including tighter restrictions on certain clean energy and manufacturing credits. The Senate is now poised to act to craft their own version of the legislation, and we anticipate they will take a significantly different approach. More on that belowWhile the updated House bill significantly narrows the scope of several credits — particularly for non-nuclear participants in the tech-neutral electricity incentive — transferability was treated more favorably in the new proposal. Transferability was fully restored for both the tech-neutral and nuclear credits for the duration the credits are available. In the draft from the Ways & Means Committee, transferability was proposed to be repealed for projects that did not begin construction within two years of enactment. Advanced manufacturing production (§45X), clean fuels (§45Z), and carbon sequestration (§45Q) are still subject to limitation on transferability after 2027 in the draft legislation. A summary of the key changes:
- At the behest of the House Freedom Caucus, the new text repeals §45Y and §48E tech-neutral electricity credits for projects beginning construction more than 60 days after enactment.
- Projects that begin construction within 60 days must also be placed in service by December 31, 2028 to remain eligible for the credit.
- The previously proposed 2029–2031 credit phasedown is now eliminated.
- Eligible nuclear projects tech-neutral credit are exempted from the new 60-day requirement, and instead must only comply with the 2028 placed-in-service requirement.
- Transferability is fully restored for the more limited tech-neutral credits.
- The revised legislation offers a more beneficial treatment of the §45U credit than the Ways and Means bill, extending the credit at its full value through 2031.
- The legislation originally proposed a three-year phasedown.
- Transferability is fully restored through the duration of the §45U credit through 2031.
- The Ways and Means proposal eliminated §45U transferability after 2027.
- Foreign Entity of Concern (FEOC) restrictions moved up to 2026
- The previous restrictions largely went into effect January 1, 2027.
- This language is widely seen by experts to be unworkable.
- The new legislation specifically eliminates the credit for leased residential solar installations for any taxable year beginning after enactment.
- 48C remains untouched
- 48C remains eligible for transfer, as well.
Senate Republicans are expected to return from Memorial Day recess during the week of June 2 and begin writing their own version of the legislation. Given the legislation includes a debt limit increase, the Senate is compelled to act ahead of the “X” date, which the Treasury Department currently projects the US will hit by mid-August. Beyond the energy provisions discussed here, the Senate will also need to grapple with cuts to Medicaid and a much higher cap on State and Local Tax (SALT) deductions. Neither set of provisions is popular in the chamber. Importantly, multiple Senate Republicans have continued to voice their concern with making major changes to the energy and manufacturing tax credits. Following last week’s release of the Ways and Means Committee text (which provided more favorable treatment to a number of credits than the modified text passed today), numerous Republican Senators — representing both the moderate and conservative wings of their party — said significant revisions must be made to secure their support, including:
- Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) indicated that there would need to be changes to save the jobs created by the credits.
- Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) said that the tech-neutral energy credits should have longer phaseouts to support emerging technology.
- Senator John Hoeven (R-ND) similarly said he expected the Senate to change the credit provisions.
- Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said Senate Republicans would take “a more cautious and conscientious approach” to the credits, arguing that they should preserve the job creation and investment that came from the credits.
- Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) said he expects most, if not all, of the energy and manufacturing tax credit provisions to change, following previous public statements supporting the preservation of transferability.
It is worth noting that, historically, the House version of a reconciliation bill represents the biggest change to law, with the Senate playing the role of narrowing the approach. A good recent example was the initial House-passed version of what eventually became the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The House version — initially dubbed Build Back Better — cost nearly $2 trillion and made sweeping investments in social programs, healthcare, education, and housing in addition to clean energy and manufacturing. The Senate passed a much smaller package, where moderates raised concerns about inflationary effects, cost, and the scope of the programs. It was later reworked into the IRA, which passed in August 2022 with a narrower focus on climate, healthcare, and deficit reduction. Conclusion As the House was moving toward passage of legislation estimated to add roughly $3 trillion to the national debt, yesterday's spike in the treasury yields — and resulting reaction by the equity markets — underscored policymaking does not occur in a vacuum and could create further pressure on the Senate to significantly limit the scope of the bill. Given these factors, our view remains unchanged that the Senate will act as a significant moderating force for many of the energy and manufacturing credits, and their changes will be much lighter in touch. Moreover, support for transferability remains strong and we believe that it will emerge largely in place in any potential enacted law.Please note, this is a fluid situation and any analysis is subject to change. We will continue to monitor developments and provide timely updates as the legislative process unfolds.
Moderates promised to protect green credits. They folded. - Climate action advocates who banked on a group of moderate House Republicans to fight for lucrative renewable energy tax credits were sorely disappointed this week when those lawmakers opted not to hold the line in the GOP’s party-line bill. Now, those advocates and clean energy companies are gearing up for a fight in the Senate with a similar playbook — but there’s no guarantee that it’ll work this time either. Defenders of the Democrats’ 2022 climate law are hoping senators — operating in different political realities than House members — will soften the rapid phase-outs and strict new requirements for the tax incentives. “We’re going to urge our supporters in the Senate to make significant changes to this bill,” said Frank Macchiarola, vice president of the American Clean Power Association, a leading trade group. “We’re going to work with them to show the flaws in this legislation that the House passed.” Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.), co-chair of the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus, helped lead an effort to protect the tax credits. After initial legislation emerged, he and others called for “thoughtful changes.” But the changes ended up being in the opposite direction. As he left House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office Wednesday night as the latest version of the bill was taking shape, Garbarino said he was “not happy.” He ended up missing the vote but released a statement saying he would have been a “yes.” The tax, energy and national security package proposes some of the most significant changes to energy policy in years. Senators on Thursday were still digesting the late-stage changes to the megabill. It would eliminate “technology neutral” production and investment tax credits in 2028 for projects that have not started construction within 60 days of the law’s enactment. There are big exceptions for nuclear power and biofuels — both sectors with long-running GOP support. While the renewable energy credits have fueled projects in Republican districts and states across the country, conservative hardliners are hellbent on finding savings. President Donald Trump has been adamant that the “Green New Scam,” as he calls it, be eliminated. As such, the clean energy lobby has spent more than a year trying to cozy up to Republican lawmakers, contributing generously to their campaigns and targeting advertisements in red congressional districts. But some observers stressed that the American Clean Power Association is still just a few years old, and that the groups, think tanks and nongovernmental organizations that helped pass the Inflation Reduction Act were ill-equipped to defend the climate law with Republicans and Trump officials. Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), a former state utility regulator and informal adviser to the president, said on Thursday, “The IRA to some people is Joe Biden,” Cramer said. “But when I see IRA, I don’t think Joe Biden.” Still, he suggested the House may have found the right balance between climate law defenders and its foes. “I think they did pretty well,” said Cramer. Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah), who founded the Conservative Climate Caucus in the House, said Thursday he wanted to take a closer look at the incentives for the GOP-favored nuclear industry and left the door open to more tweaks. “I don’t know where that lands,” he said of the final tax break language, stressing the importance of protecting business certainty. “Many of these things are very important to President Trump’s agenda, and included is that where is this power going to come from.”
Tesla sales sink as Chinese cars flood Europe - The European Commission’s duties on made-in-China electric vehicles aren’t stopping the automakers from exporting to Europe.Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s increasingly toxic reputation continues to harm Tesla sales.In April, the registration of Chinese EVs increased 59 percent year-over-year, new data from research company JATO Dynamics shows, far outpacing their European competitors.EVs manufactured by European, American and other automakers increased 26 percent over the same period. Volkswagen’s EV sales were up 61 percent. Overall EV sales grew 28 percent in April compared to last year.
Zeldin slams Whitehouse in heated exchange: Americans ‘put President Trump in office because of people like you’ -- Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin got into a shouting match over agency grant cancellations during a Senate hearing Wednesday. Whitehouse was questioning Zeldin over whether the EPA conducted individual reviews of the grants it had canceled amid sweeping funding cuts across the government under President Trump. The Rhode Island Democrat said the testimony of agency officials and statements made in court by government lawyers contradict the administration’s comments about the thoroughness of the reviews. Specifically, he pointed to a court document where EPA official Travis Voyles stated, “On February 25, 2025, I conducted an individualized review of EPA grant programs,” as well as Zeldin’s own comments that the administrator himself had conducted a grant review. Whitehouse also said that “On May 16, DOJ [Justice Department] career lawyers … filed a pleading in federal court that conceded that you had not done individualized, grant-by-grant reviews.” “The problem with your assertion here today is that it is belied by your own employees’ sworn statements in court and by the decision of the Department of Justice to admit that what you say isn’t true,” Whitehouse told Zeldin. “No, you’re not grasping the fact that we would have multiple employees looking at these grants. That concept just escapes you,” Zeldin fired back. After a back-and-forth, Zeldin said, “We’re not going to waste dollars just because you insist on EPA lighting taxpayer dollars on fire.” “The American taxpayers, they put President Trump in office because of people like you. They have Republicans in charge of the House and Senate because of people like you, because you don’t care about 99 percent of this story,” he continued. In response, Whitehouse said what he actually wants is for Zeldin to “explain why the Department of Justice lawyers representing EPA in court, under a duty of candor, have said that everything you’ve just said isn’t true.” Zeldin also entered into a tense exchange with Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) over the agency’s environmental rollbacks and a particular grant. Schiff opened his remarks by rattling off rollbacks at the Trump EPA and saying “if you’re successful in eliminating half of our efforts to clean our water and our air, your legacy will be more lung cancer, it’ll be more bladder cancer, it’ll be more head and neck cancer, it’ll be more breast cancer, it’ll be more leukemia and pancreatic cancer, more liver cancer, more skin cancer, more kidney cancer, more testicular cancer, more colorectal cancer, more rare cancers of innumerable varieties.” He also asked about a specific grant related to preventing lead poisoning in children in Santa Ana, Calif. As he appeared to be looking through a list for that specific grant, Zeldin retorted, “With that wind up, by the way, I understand that you are an aspiring fiction writer. I see why.” “I understand your view that you can cut half of the agency, and it won’t affect people’s health or their water, their air. That, to me, is a big fiction. Mr. Zeldin,” Schiff replied. “If your children were drinking water in Santa Ana, Mr. Zeldin, maybe you wouldn’t be so cavalier about whether there was lead in their water,” he continued. “You could give a rat’s ass about how much cancer your agency causes.”
EPA’s challenges grow in quest to claw back ‘gold bars’ - The Trump administration’s bid to take back billions of dollars in green finance grants hasn’t made much progress. The money is still sitting in Citibank accounts under the names of the eight nonprofits the Biden administration chose for the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund grants. Internal emails between government lawyers — obtained by POLITICO last month — show that several raised doubts about EPA’s case for withholding those funds from recipients.And EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s claims of fraud are being contradicted by the Justice Department lawyers defending the agency in court.But on Tuesday, Zeldin continued to insist that EPA’s decision to terminate the awards is justified by evidence of malfeasance.“One thing that we have zero tolerance for, is that there will be zero waste and abuse of even a penny of your constituents’ tax dollars,” he said during a Tuesday hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.EPA announced it would terminate the awards March 12, pointing to “well-documented incidents of misconduct, conflicts of interest, and potential fraud.”Two months later, the Trump administration has yet to publicly disclose any concrete charges of fraud or wrongdoing either by the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund recipients or the Biden officials who designed the program. Last week, The New York Times reported that a probe into the grant program — initiated by the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia — may have shut down after finding no evidence of criminality.Zeldin often goes on the offensive when asked to provide evidence of fraud. He cites a surreptitiously recorded video of a former Biden official describing the late-term rush to obligate climate law funds as “throwing gold bars” from the Titanic, the fact that several of the program’s awardees have former Democratic officials on their staff or board, and the relative newness of some of the nonprofits launched to run the new lending facility.At the House budget hearing Tuesday, he complained that Rep. Nanette Díaz Barragán (D-Calif.) prevented him from listing all those data points in response to her question about the grant terminations.“I guess the other side of the aisle doesn’t want me to go into any real list,” he told Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.). “One, two, three, four, I mean, how much time do you have? Because if you want to yield a full 20 minutes, I’m happy to go through all of the specifics.”At a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing a day later, Zeldin got into a heated argument with Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), the committee’s ranking member. Whitehouse accused EPA of not meeting the requirements of its own grantmaking regulations — and lying about individually reviewing every canceled grant.Zeldin hit back at Whitehouse, accusing him of trying to force EPA to light “taxpayer dollars on fire.”“The American taxpayers, they put President [Donald] Trump in office because of people like you,” he said.
Trump DOJ Sues New York, Other States for Climate Laws Targeting O&G -- Marcellus Drilling News - - In early April, President Trump signed four executive orders (EOs) dealing with energy issues (see Trump Signs EO Targeting NY, Other States Blocking Domestic Energy). Three of the four EOs targeted reviving the declining coal industry, which Trump calls “beautiful, clean coal.” However, it was the noncoal EO that caught our attention. Trump signed the Protecting American Energy from State Overreach EO, which removes unlawful and burdensome state-level impediments to domestic energy production. Trump tasked Attorney General Pam Bondi to challenge state laws that may be “unconstitutional, preempted by Federal law, or otherwise unenforceable” to go after states like New York, which is mentioned explicitly in the EO. The Department of Justice that Bondi heads has done just that—filing a lawsuit challenging a New York law. Three other states have been sued, too.
Tycoon’s wild plan for US data centers ignores grid reality - -- If anyone needed more evidence that the Wild West days of data center expansion would continue apace under President-elect Donald Trump, it came just seconds into his press conference at Mar-a-Lago earlier this week. At the start of the event Tuesday, Trump introduced Hussain Sajwani, a real estate developer in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Trump business partner who he called “one of the most respected business leaders in the Middle East, indeed the world.” Sajwani then announced that his company, Damac Properties, would invest at least $20 billion to build data centers for artificial intelligence and cloud computing across eight states. Damac Properties said that money would support an initial 1,000 megawatts of data center capacity split between the Sunbelt and Midwest and then double that capacity over the next four years. The press conference was pure Trump: a mix of policy dictate, populism and personal grievance. But such a high-profile announcement of foreign cash-at-the-ready to build more AI data centers in the U.S. raises fresh questions about the fast and furious tech industry expansion. Is it butting up against (and perhaps completely ignoring) the realities of U.S. electric grids straining to keep up with power demand and facing the real-world challenges of climate change? “Everyone wants to throw money at data centers. It’s no surprise that Trump is interested or that a foreign entity is willing to put money into it,” said Jim Kerrigan, managing partner of North American Data Centers, a Chicago-based firm that helps facilitate real estate deals for data center developers. “The question is whether you can actually deploy it.” Sajwani mentioned eight states — Texas, Arizona, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan and Indiana — as the location for the first phase of the growth. And his company later said the money would be used to establish joint ventures, acquire land and purchase existing data centers. POLITICO’s E&E News reached out to either the governors’ offices or public utility commissions in all of the states. Officials in every state said either they had not heard of the plans before Tuesday’s press conference or there had been no outreach by the Trump team or Damac. Likewise, electric grid operators that serve those states said they had not been contacted — though development plans often start at the local or utility level. Building a large data center means finding a site connected to a local utility or stringing a distribution line. The developer then has to acquire the electricity. That means connecting to a regional grid or developing an on-site source of generation. For a building that can span multiple football fields and use enough power for several hundred thousand homes, that can be a yearslong process. That has not slowed the pace of new announcements. Microsoft said last week that it would invest $80 billion in data centers this fiscal year. Meta is plowing more than $10 billion into a Louisiana data center, part of more than $30 billion in announced spending from the company.It also comes as Trump has indicated he’d use federal tools to make it easier for foreign investors to build in the United States. Calling artificial intelligence and cloud computing a “very hot item in the coming years,” Trump reiterated a pledge to expedite environmental reviews for companies investing more than a billion dollars in the United States.And while that promise is unlikely to hold water unless Congress acts to rewrite the National Environmental Policy Act, it signals his eagerness to clear any hurdles for foreign tech investors looking to put cement and steel in the ground on U.S. soil.
Nonprofits join lawsuit to release federal EV charging money - A group of nonprofits on Thursday joined a lawsuit that seeks to stop the Trump administration from halting a $5 billion federal effort to build electric vehicle charging stations.The nine nonprofits, representing mostly environmental and EV interests, said in a joint statement that they opposed the Trump administration’s “unlawful and indefinite freeze of billions in federal funding.”The lawsuit was filed earlier this month by 16 states with Democratic leadership that want federal courts to force the U.S. Department of Transportation to release the money. That prompted an angry response from DOT Secretary Sean Duffy, who said the pause was necessary because the Biden administration “failed miserably” to deploy the charging stations. In related news, on Thursday the Government Accountability Office ordered DOT to release the money, asserting that the department had no authority to halt funding that had been approved by Congress.
DOE makes metallurgical coal a ‘critical material’ - The Department of Energy on Thursday night designated metallurgical coal as a critical material, a move the department says will boost the U.S. steel sector.Metallurgical coal is a type of coal used in steelmaking. It differs from thermal coal, which is used to generate electricity.“Metallurgical coal is more than a fuel — it is a cornerstone of our industrial base,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement. “We are ensuring that American steel, generated by American coal, remains the backbone of our manufacturing sector.” The move follows a White House executive order last month dubbed “Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry.”
DOJ sees path to continue coal suit against BlackRock, Vanguard - The Trump administration is weighing in on allegations from Texas and other states that three of the world’s largest investment management companies are manipulating the energy market to limit domestic coal production. In a court filing Thursday, the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission argued that federal antitrust law allows a federal court in Texas to consider how BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard were allegedly using their influence as shareholders to reduce coal production below competitive levels.The DOJ and FTC argued that the judge in the case should “disregard” the asset managers’ “misstatements of law.”President Donald Trump has made the revival of the nation’s declining coal industry a key piece of his broader “energy dominance” agenda. BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard argue their actions have not contributed to harming the industry and that there is no evidence of any agreement or conspiracy to reduce coal production.
Energy bill eliminating subsidies for two coal power plants from Ohio's House Bill 6 signed into law -- Subsidies for two coal-fired power plants that Ohio electric utility customers have been paying since even before the scandal-tainted House Bill 6 will soon be gone. Gov. Mike DeWine has signed legislation that eliminates those subsides and makes other changes in response to the state’s growing energy demands. The bill stops subsidies for two Ohio Valley Electric Corporation plants—one of which is in Indiana—that were included in the nuclear power plant bailout. That law was passed in 2019 following a $60 million bribery scheme that ended with Republican speaker Larry Householder and former Ohio Republican Party chair Matt Borges in federal prison. House Bill 15 passed the House and Senate overwhelmingly, with just a few representatives voting against the bill. “If we leave this OVEC deal in place it's going to cost our taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars for a bill that was bought and paid for in the largest scandal in Ohio's history," said Rep. Josh Williams (R-Sylvania Twp.) as he argued for the bill on the House floor in March. The law, which takes effect in August, will also create an accelerated review process for energy generation projects in some areas of the state. Senate President Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) told reporters after the bill passed his chamber in April that the first to be affected by the law will likely be data centers, which are known to consume vast amounts of energy. "It's to Ohio's benefit to have data centers. And it's also to Ohio's benefit to make sure that they're not taking up more than their fair share of the precious resources we have on the grid," McColley said. “There have been data center operators who have already signaled to me and others that this is something that is going to trigger large investments for them in the state of Ohio, because they'll be able to do it kind of on their own terms without impacting some of the precious resources we have where reserved for the general population on the grid." HB 15 also includes some consumer protections, such as:
- Requiring utility distributors to come before the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) and make their case for their rates every three years
- Establishing a shot clock, hastening turnaround time for regulatory decisions by the Ohio Power Siting Board
- Getting rid of riders—or fees utilities quietly tack onto consumer bills—without PUCO review and authorization
Wisconsin OKs gas-fired power to offset coal closures, serve data centers - Wisconsin’s largest utility received approval from state regulators Thursday to add almost $1.5 billion of new gas-fired generation to supply new data center demand as it shutters existing coal plants.The three-member Public Service Commission, all appointees of Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, voted unanimously to conditionally approve the projects proposed by Milwaukee-based We Energies over opposition from consumer advocates and environmental groups who argued that the utility was overlooking cheaper, cleaner options. The issue before the PSC highlights a tension across the country. States have established emissions reductions goals, yet face political pressure to attract economic investment, specifically “hyperscaler” data centers like the ones proposed along Wisconsin’s Interstate 94 corridor. Such is the case in Wisconsin, where Evers during his first term laid out a goal of achieving 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2050. But the governor sees data centers — and especially a $3.3 billion Microsoft data center campus in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, outside Milwaukee — as a huge economic win for the state.
Trump signs orders to boost nuclear power, including reduced environmental review - President Trump on Friday signed executive orders that aim to bolster nuclear power, including by scaling back environmental reviews. The president signed four orders, including one that directs an evaluation of whether the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is too cautious in terms of acceptable levels of radiation exposure. Trump’s orders also are expected to require the commission to decide whether to approve a nuclear reactor within 18 months, speeding up a process that typically takes many years to complete. The commission’s environmental reviews alone typically take two to three years. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is an independent agency that regulates nuclear power plants. Another order Trump is signing is expected to allow the Energy and Defense departments to build nuclear reactors on federally owned lands, allowing nuclear energy to power defense and artificial intelligence operations. Trump was also expected to sign orders that speed up nuclear reactor testing at national labs and bolster domestic uranium mining and enrichment.
A fraction of proposed data centers will get built. Utilities are wising up. | Utility Dive One expert estimated that speculative interconnection requests were five to 10 times more than the number of actual data centers, but the scale of the problem remains elusive. The U.S. grid is flooded with data center proposals that will never get built. That’s making it much more difficult for utilities and grid operators to plan for the future. “Conservatively, you’re seeing five to 10 times more interconnection requests than data centers actually being built,” said Astrid Atkinson, a former Google senior director of software engineering and now co-founder and CEO of grid optimization software provider Camus Energy. Even relatively short-term data center load growth forecasts are all over the map. Last year, RAND Corporation’s “upper confidence” forecast projected 347 GW of AI-sector power consumption by 2030. But Schneider Electric called that prediction “extreme” in a whitepaper on AI’s potential grid impacts last month, which cited more down-to-earth forecasts — under 100 GW — from other reputable observers. Schneider’s own 2030 AI power demand scenarios range from 16.5 GW to 65.3 GW, with 33.8 GW the optimal outcome under a sustainable AI framework that balances AI growth with grid stability. The wild divergence in near-term AI power demand forecasts hints at a fundamental challenge facing utilities, grid operators and power system regulators today: speculative load interconnection requests, or what Bianca Giacobone of Latitude Media in March called “phantom data centers.” Experts like Atkinson advise power system stakeholders to take utility forecasts, like Exelon’s expectation for 11 GW of “high-probability” data center load over 10 years, with a grain of salt. A 2018 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study that compared load forecasts and actual growth for 12 Western U.S. utilities in the mid-2000s and found most overestimated future demand. But experts say it’s very difficult for utilities to tell in advance which data center interconnection requests will pan out, or how much potential load to discount in the aggregate. This is a problem because, as Giacobone noted, excess requests sap utilities’ limited study resources, cause delays for others in the interconnection queue and distort long-range resource planning, raising the risk of costly system overbuilding.
Portugal to demand EU put pressure on France over power connectors - Portugal will demand that the European Commission push France for better electricity links to the Iberian Peninsula following last month’s crippling power outage, Portuguese Energy Minister Maria da Graça Carvalho said.The low number of cross-border cables means there is less network capacity to balance out blackouts like the massive one that paralyzed Spain and Portugal in late April. Carvalho said she sees this a European Single Market issue.“We will involve the president of the European Commission on this to make sure that we are all integrated and … we help each other to solve the problems,” Carvalho said in an interview with the Financial Times published Sunday. “This is a European question; it’s not a question between the three countries.” Portugal’s grid is highly integrated with its Spanish neighbor, which is how the power outage spread easily westward. Spain, in turn, is connected by just a few lines to France.
India’s steel expansion threatens climate goals and global efforts to clean up industry: report (AP) — India’s plans to double steel production by the end of the decade could jeopardize its national climate goals and a key global target to reduce planet-heating gas emissions from the steel industry, according to a report released Tuesday. The report by Global Energy Monitor, an organization that tracks energy projects around the globe, said efforts to decarbonize steelmaking are gaining traction around the world. However, in India, which is the world’s second largest steel-producing nation, overwhelming reliance on coal-based technologies presents a big challenge. “India is now the bellwether of global steel decarbonization,” said Astrid Grigsby-Schulte, project manager of the Global Iron and Steel Tracker at GEM and report co-author. “If the country does not increase its plans for green steel production, the entire sector will miss an important milestone. So goes India, so goes the world.” Currently, up to 12% of India’s greenhouse gas emissions, which go into the atmosphere and heat the planet, come from steelmaking. That number could double in five years if steel is produced in line with the government’s plans, according to the report. At the same time, India wants to produce 500 gigawatts of clean power — enough to power nearly 300 million Indian homes — by the end of this decade. The South Asian nation recently crossed the milestone of installing 100 gigawatts of solar power, most of which was installed in the last 10 years. By 2070, India also aims to go net zero, that is, it will either eliminate all carbon dioxide pollution it emits or cancel it out by using other methods, such as planting trees that absorb carbon. Steel production is one of the most carbon polluting industries, responsible for nearly 9% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The International Energy Agency has set a target for 37% of global steelmaking capacity to rely on lower-emission electric arc furnaces by 2030. Current projections by GEM show the world reaching just 36% — a shortfall largely due to India’s coal-heavy pipeline.
New NTSB documents point to questionable gas company records - Tribune Chronicle — The National Transportation Safety Board has not completed its investigation into the cause of the deadly May 28, 2024, explosion at the Realty Tower downtown, but it released documents Wednesday suggesting that gas company attempts to shut off the gas that caused the explosion fell short. Workers who cut into the line thought the line no longer carried pressurized natural gas, but it did, the NTSB stated in its June 14, 2024, preliminary investigative report. Chief among the 52 documents released Wednesday was a “Pipeline Operations” review that quotes from East Ohio Gas Co. / Dominion Energy documents. Some show the steps the company took over the years to shut off the natural gas service in the basement of the Realty Tower. The report cites examples in which there is no evidence showing that requests for the gas to be shut off were completed. Keith Holloway, NTSB spokesman, said the documents released Wednesday contain “factual information only,” adding that “analysis, probable cause & contributing factors will be determined at the conclusion of the investigation. A typical NTSB investigation can take between 12 and 24 months to complete,” he stated in an email. The 2:44 p.m. explosion killed Akil Drake, a J.P. Morgan-Chase Bank employee who was at work in the bank at the time of the explosion. It injured others and led to the building being demolished. Numerous lawsuits also resulted, blaming the catastrophic blast on the companies that owned and managed the building and the multiple natural-gas-related companies that serviced the building over the years. The document lists the interactions that East Ohio Gas Co. / Dominion Energy had with Realty Tower. One section states that the 1-inch diameter inactive service line that caused the explosion was manually cut and abandoned on Sept. 11, 2015. But that “record was inaccurate,” the new document states. Typically, when workers are asked to cut and abandon an inactive (meaning not used) service line, that task would be assigned to a gas company’s Construction & Maintenance crew, who would perform the work and complete the documentation electronically in the Customer Care System, the new document states. “However, (the Sept. 11, 2015) work was manually entered into the (Customer Care System) by a customer relations specialist,” the document states. East Ohio Gas “expected there to be a paper form … that led to the manual entry, but no record has been found at the time of this report,” the new document states. East Ohio Gas Co.’s documentation regarding the Sept. 11, 2015, service at the Realty Tower shows that the “Curb Box Off” and “Cut Code” boxes were checked, “indicating that the curb valve was closed and the service line was cut, physically removing its connection to the main,” the new document states. On Feb. 9, 2017, the Public Utilities Protection Service (or Ohio 811) was called to alert East Ohio Gas (then Dominion) staff that their unmarked gas pipeline was struck by an excavator and may have a possible leak. The responding Dominion employee(s) indicated that there was no gas leak, the line was not hit, the line was not marked and the line had been abandoned per the (gas company’s Construction & Maintenance) crew,” the new document states.Ascent 1Q Drilled 18 Wells, Produced 2 Bcfe/d, Lost $362 Million - Marcellus Drilling News - Ascent Resources, founded as American Energy Partners by gas legend Aubrey McClendon, is a privately held company focusing 100% on the Ohio Utica Shale. Ascent, headquartered in Oklahoma City, OK, is Ohio’s largest natural gas producer and the 8th largest natural gas producer in the U.S. The company issued its first quarter 2025 update on May 7. 1Q25 net production averaged 2,002 MMcfe/d (2.0 Bcfe/d), consisting of 1,680 MMcf/d of natural gas, 13,833 bbls/d of oil, and 39,789 bbls/d of natural gas liquids (NGLs), putting liquids at 16% of the overall production mix for the quarter.
North Hudson Raises $344M for Non-Op Investments, Including Utica --Marcellus Drilling News -- The oil and gas industry is large and complex, including how companies raise money to drill new wells. One of the ways companies get financing to drill is via partners that invest but don't take an active role. It's called being a non-operated (non-op) owner or partner. A company (another driller, an investment company, bank, etc.) will give an active driller money and, in return, will receive a percentage ownership in the well and its production. North Hudson Resource Partners, a Houston-based energy investment firm, is one such company. North Hudson has, in the past, raised multiple rounds of money from investors and invested that money in different plays, including the Utica Shale.
EOG Cuts Back on Oil Drilling in Some Places, but Not in the Utica -- EOG Resources, one of the largest oil and gas drillers in the U.S. (with international operations in Trinidad and China), owns nearly half a million acres of leases in the Ohio Utica (~460,000 acres). EOG calls its position the “Ohio Utica combo play” and considers it one of the company’s “premium” and “emerging” plays. EOG concentrates on oil drilling in the Utica. During the company’s first quarter 2025 update in early May, we learned that EOG is cutting $200 million from its 2025 spending plan, believing Trump’s tariffs will lead to a slowdown in oil demand. However, the company is not cutting spending or work in the Utica
Vast Majority of MPLX NatGas Processing Happens in Marcellus/Utica -- Marcellus Drilling News -In late 2015, MPLX (i.e., Marathon Petroleum) bought out and merged in the Utica Shale’s premier midstream company, MarkWest Energy, for $15 billion (see MarkWest Energy Investors/Unitholders Approve Merger with Marathon). The “new” MarkWest, aka MPLX, plays on a much larger stage now, including the ownership and operation of major assets in the Permian Basin and the Bakken Shale, in addition to the Marcellus/Utica. However, the M-U still plays a starring role for the company. MPLX recently issued its first quarter 2025 update. CEO Maryann Mannen said most of the company's first quarter profits were from its natural gas and NGL segment in the Northeast.
Marcellus/Utica Gas Ready to Power the AI Revolution - Marcellus Drilling News - - Yesterday, the first of what will no doubt be many such events, the Appalachian AI Energy Conference (sponsored by Shale Directories) was held at the Hilton Garden Inn in Pittsburgh/Southpointe. Event speakers explored why Appalachia is uniquely suited to meet AI’s massive energy needs. CNX’s VP of sustainable development, Brent Bobsein, spoke about the region’s “massive opportunity.”
New Pipes, Data Centers, LNG – Is M-U Set to Increase Production? - Marcellus Drilling News - -The Marcellus/Utica region is the United States’ top natural gas production area, accounting for about one-third of the country’s daily output. Natural gas production in the M-U has soared from 2 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day) to over 33 Bcf/d today in the past 15 years. Growth has slowed in recent years due to pipeline constraints, but new pipeline projects, rising Gulf Coast LNG demand, and in-basin data center development could drive a resurgence. Despite past challenges like canceled pipelines and a focus on the Permian, our region’s vast potential and improving infrastructure suggest a breakout, according to RBN Energy. However, low gas prices and regulatory hurdles remain big concerns, though data centers and LNG exports could boost demand significantly.Is the Marcellus/Utica Finally Poised for a Gas-Production Breakout? --The Marcellus/Utica region is by far the most prolific natural gas production area in the U.S., accounting for about one-third of the nation’s daily output. The shale play experienced phenomenal growth in the 2010s, its gas production rising from less than 2 Bcf/d to more than 33 Bcf/d over that decade. But the pace of growth has slowed dramatically in recent years, mostly due to takeaway constraints. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss how a combination of new pipeline projects, in-basin data center development and incremental Gulf Coast LNG demand might breathe new life into the Marcellus/Utica. In their production-growth heyday a few years back, the “dry Marcellus” in northeastern Pennsylvania and the NGL-packed “wet Marcellus/Utica” in southwestern Pennsylvania, northern West Virginia and eastern Ohio garnered more than their share of attention. But then came the Permian, which like Beyoncé or Taylor Swift stole the show when crude-oil-focused development activity in West Texas and southeastern New Mexico took off like a SpaceX rocket. It didn’t help that much of the energy news out of Appalachia the past few years has been about pipeline projects that were set back or canceled — or that took what seemed like eons to finally advance to construction and operation. Even out of the spotlight, the Marcellus/Utica has remained a production powerhouse. As shown in Figure 1 below, the broader region (Marcellus/Utica plus other parts of Appalachia) has been hovering between 34 Bcf/d and 36 Bcf/d through the first half of the 2020s, with only a few MMcf/d coming from the “other” category. Of the current ~35 Bcf/d of Marcellus/Utica production, about 11 Bcf/d comes out of the dry Marcellus in northeastern Pennsylvania and the other 24 Bcf/d comes out of the wet Marcellus/Utica: ~10 Bcf/d from northern West Virginia, ~9 Bcf/d from southwestern Pennsylvania, and ~5 Bcf/d from eastern Ohio. (RBN estimates that more than 1 MMb/d of NGLs is currently being “recovered” — that is, not “rejected” into natural gas for its Btu value — in the wet Marcellus/Utica, more than 400 Mb/d in both southwestern Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia and more than 200 Mb/d in eastern Ohio.) As all but our youngest readers will recall, the rapid expansion of Marcellus/Utica production upended traditional gas-flow patterns in the Northeast. For decades, the region had piped in the vast majority of its natural gas needs from the Gulf Coast, the Midcon, the Rockies and Canada. But as we discussed in our Drill Down Report, 50 Ways to Leave the Marcellus, the Northeast quickly flipped to a net “exporter” of gas and midstreamers scrambled to (1) allow for bidirectional flows on existing pipelines and (2) build greenfield pipelines to enable increasing volumes of Marcellus/Utica gas to flow to the Midwest, the Gulf Coast, the Southeast and Canada. Also, several smaller, in-basin pipelines were either built or expanded to allow more gas to flow from production areas to larger-diameter takeaway pipelines, and a couple of projects enabled a modest increase in gas flows into New England. And, as we’ll discuss in more detail later, gas demand within the Northeast increased, in part as power plant developers in particular sought to take advantage of the readily available, favorably priced natural gas being produced in the Marcellus/Utica. Most important, perhaps, several thousand megawatts (MW) of older, coal-fired power plants in the region were replaced by dozens of new gas-fired combined-cycle plants, which generate considerably lower volumes of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases (GHGs). And still more gas-fired plants are under development in the region, in part to meet an expected rise in power demand from data centers. Figure 2 below shows the largest pipelines moving Appalachia-sourced gas out of the basin, which include — as we said — a mix of large pipes like ANR (purple line), Columbia Gas (blue line), Rockies Express (REX; dark-green line), Tennessee Gas (orange line), Texas Eastern Transmission (TETCO; red line) and Transco (brown line) that have been made bidirectional during the Shale Era and new pipes like NEXUS (light-green line) and Rover (yellow line) built to provide still more egress capacity out of the Marcellus/Utica. For many years, there was a seesaw race in the Marcellus/Utica between egress capacity and production, with E&Ps holding back on increasing their output until the next increment of pipeline capacity came online. By the late 2010s and early 2020s, it became increasingly difficult to secure needed approvals and permits for new takeaway projects — especially newbuild efforts in the Mid-Atlantic and New England states — and the pace of capacity additions stalled. Many midstreamers (and their attorneys) surely could recite the proposals that failed to advance: the Constitution Pipeline from Pennsylvania through New York, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline from West Virginia to North Carolina, and the Penn East Pipeline from Pennsylvania into New Jersey, to name just a few. One major project — the 2-Bcf/d Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP; aqua line in Figure 2) from northern West Virginia to south-central Virginia — managed to make it through, but it literally took an act of Congress. Thanks in large part to MVP, several other efforts to add incremental egress capacity are in the works — including a big project unveiled by Williams on May 5. Before we get to those, we should note that, with major takeaway additions few and far between the past few years, Marcellus/Utica E&Ps have been carefully managing their production levels so as not to exacerbate regional oversupply issues and further reduce the price they receive for their gas, which is typically between $0.30/MMBtu and $1/MMBtu lower than Henry Hub. Most producers have done this by shifting to maintenance mode — that is, limiting their drilling-and-completion activity to levels that enable them to keep their output close to flat. E&Ps and gas marketers also have been supporting midstreamers’ efforts to expand takeaway capacity and encouraging the development of additional in-basin and near-basin demand from data centers, industrials and other customers. We expect that incremental takeaway capacity from the projects we’ll discuss next — and incremental demand from customers within or near the Marcellus/Utica region — will enable producers to ramp up their output gradually over the next few years. Several projects aimed at increasing egress capacity out of the Marcellus/Utica have been advancing over the past couple of years, many of them along Transco. For simplicity’s sake, we’ll divide the projects into three buckets and work our way from north to south. In the northernmost first bucket, Williams in July 2024 started service on its Regional Energy Access expansion project (yellow line), which helped to debottleneck the existing eastbound route from northeastern Pennsylvania to New Jersey and Maryland and allows Transco to move an incremental 829 MMcf/d.In the second bucket, we’ll note the handful of projects tied to Station 165 — the southern terminus of MVP. We’ll begin with Williams’s recently announced Power Express project (dashed purple line), which will run north from Station 165 along existing rights of way to northern Virginia, the biggest concentration of existing and planned data centers in the world. Williams said during its quarterly earnings call earlier this month that the project already has an anchor shipper and will provide a whopping 950 MMcf/d of incremental capacity. Nothing’s been filed yet, but Williams expects to bring Power Express online in Q3 2030.The other projects associated with Station 165 include:
- The Carolina Market Link (orange line), which came online in Q1 2024, added 78 MMcf/d of firm service south from Station 165 to delivery points in Cherokee County, SC. Patriots Energy Group (which operates a gas pipeline serving three counties in north-central South Carolina) and Duke Energy signed up for that capacity.
- The Southside Reliability Enhancement Project (green line), which started up in December 2024, added and upgraded compression and other facilities to increase takeaway by 423 MMcf/d on Transco’s existing system in southern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. The project also allowed an incremental 160 MMcf/d to flow east from Station 165 via Transco’s South Virginia Lateral for delivery to North Carolina’s Northampton and Hertford counties. And it enabled an additional 263 MMcf/d to move south from an interconnect with Williams’s Pine Needle LNG storage/peaking facility in Guilford County, NC, to Iredell County, NC.
- The Commonwealth Energy Connector (dashed pink-and-black line), slated for startup in Q4 2025, will install additional compression and six miles of new pipeline along Transco’s South Virginia Lateral in Brunswick and Greensville counties in southern Virginia to expand capacity by 105 MMcf/d.
- The Southeast Supply Enhancement (SSE) project (dashed blue lines), which via 55 miles of pipeline looping and other improvements will add a total of 1.6 Bcf/d of capacity along three paths, each extending south from Station 165: to Station 160 in Rockingham County, NC (Path 1; dashed light-blue line); to Station 145 in Cleveland County, NC (Path 2; dashed medium-blue line); and the Station 85 Zone 4 Pool in Choctaw County, AL (Path 3; dashed dark-blue line).
In upcoming blogs in this series, we’ll discuss the Borealis Pipeline project in more detail. We’ll also look at the impact of new LNG export projects in Louisiana and Texas on Marcellus/Utica producers and the efforts by those producers and others to spur the development of more gas-fueled projects within and near the Appalachian Basin, including power plants tied to new data centers. And we’ll examine the latest drilling and production plays by gas-focused E&Ps in the Pennsylvania/West Virginia/Ohio region to help assess how quickly a new round of Marcellus/Utica production growth might begin in earnest.
31 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV May 12 – 18 - Marcellus Drilling News - - For the week of May 12 – 18, the number of permits issued to drill new wells in the Marcellus/Utica was up five from the previous week. Last week, 31 new permits were issued in the M-U. In the Keystone State (PA), seven new permits were issued. The top permittee was Range Resources, which was issued four permits in Washington County. Seneca Resources scored two permits in two different counties: Elk and Tioga. PennEnergy Resources received a single permit in Butler County. ANTERO RESOURCES | ASCENT RESOURCES | BELMONT COUNTY | BUTLER COUNTY | CARROLL COUNTY | CNX RESOURCES | ELK COUNTY | ENCINO ENERGY | GUERNSEY COUNTY | MARSHALL COUNTY | PENNENERGY RESOURCES | RANGE RESOURCES CORP | SENECA RESOURCES | TIBURON OIL & GAS | TIOGA COUNTY (PA) | TYLER COUNTY | WASHINGTON COUNTY
Low Marcellus Break-Even Prices Keep Region #1 for Gas Production -- Marcellus Drilling News - -The Marcellus Shale has a distinct advantage over every other gas-focused shale play in the country: It’s WAY cheaper than anywhere else to produce gas in the Marcellus. It’s called the break-even point, when a driller makes a profit after paying for expenses. The break-even in the Marcellus is *below* $2/Mcf (thousand cubic feet) for many drillers, including giants EQT and Expand Energy. Other gas-focused plays, like the Haynesville, cost a lot more—$3.50/Mcf or more for break-even. But then, the Haynesville is much closer to Gulf Coast LNG export facilities, so it costs much less to pipeline the gas. That’s OK, the Marcellus has a geographic advantage, too.
Trump Deal Trades NY Offshore Wind for Constitution, NESE Pipes -- Marcellus Drilling News - - It is “The Art of the Deal” with Donald J. Trump. Only DJT could pull off such a miracle. We are referring to a deal just struck (on Monday) with New York Governor Kathy Hochul. Trump will allow New York to blow $5 billion on an idiotic offshore wind project (off the coast of Long Island) in return for Hochul allowing the construction of two long-stalled pipeline projects: The Constitution Pipeline and the Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) Project, part of the Transco pipeline system. We had no idea NESE was on the table as part of a potential deal!
Antis Convince Rockland County, NY Legislators to Oppose Pipe Proj. -- Marcellus Drilling News - -The Algonquin Gas Transmission pipeline (owned by Enbridge) transports up to 3.09 Bcf/d through a pipeline that is 1,131 miles long. Algonquin connects to Texas Eastern Transmission (TETCO), Millennium Pipeline, and Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline and supplies New England with critically needed natural gas supplies for power generation and consumer use. As we told you in September 2023, Enbridge conducted an open season to gauge interest in expanding Algonquin’s capacity to flow more gas into New England—mainly from the Marcellus/Utica—called Project Maple (see Enbridge Open Season to Expand Algonquin Pipe in New England). Since that time, anti-fossil fuel nutters (like Food & Water Watch, Sierra Club, and others) have mounted a coordinated attack against the project (see our Project Maple stories here). Here we are, almost two years later, and the antis finally have a sliver of support—from the emasculated legislators of Rockland County, NY.
Williams Plans New Transco Expansion to Serve 'Power-Hungry' Virginia — Williams has unveiled a major expansion of its Transco pipeline network with the newly announced Power Express project, a 950 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) expansion aimed at meeting surging power generation needs in Virginia. The project is slated to enter service by the third quarter of 2030. The Transco pipeline delivers natural gas through a 10,000-mile interstate transmission pipeline system extending from south Texas to New York City. The pipeline system transports approximately 15% of the nation’s natural gas. The expansion underscores the pipeline operator’s strategy to support rapidly growing electricity markets increasingly driven by data centers and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, which require reliable and scalable natural gas capacity. The expansion joins a growing list of Transco initiatives, including the recently completed Texas to Louisiana Energy Pathway and Southeast Energy Connector, as well as ongoing construction on the Alabama Georgia Connector. In addition to the Virginia expansion, Williams reported progress on its Socrates Power Innovation project in New Albany, Ohio. The $1.6 billion development includes two advanced natural gas-fired generation facilities—Socrates North and South—with a combined capacity of 400 megawatts (MW). Each site, covering about 20 acres, is designed to provide 200 MW of behind-the-meter power for AI and data center operations. Socrates is already under construction and is fully contracted under a 10-year fixed-price power purchase agreement. Regulated by the Ohio Power Siting Board, the Socrates project is expected to be in service by Q3 2026. Construction activities include the installation of high-efficiency gas turbines, substations, and emissions control technology to minimize environmental impact. The company noted the project’s role in reinforcing grid reliability and enabling power-hungry industries to scale in the Columbus metro area. Beyond Virginia and Ohio, the company is actively advancing other projects, including its Overthrust Westbound Expansion and deepwater pipeline systems tied to the Whale and Ballymore fields. These developments are expected to further boost earnings through 2026.
Strategy Revealed for Building 3 GW Gas-Fired AI/Data Center in SWPA - Marcellus Drilling News - In January, MDN brought you the news that TECfusions, based in Tampa, Florida, had purchased 1,395 acres in Upper Burrell (Westmoreland County), PA, for a groundbreaking data center project called TECfusions Keystone Connect (see Massive 3 GW Gas-Fired AI/Data Center Coming to Southwest Pa.). The site is the old Alcoa R&D campus and the surrounding real estate in New Kensington. The project will transform the shuttered office and industrial site into a state-of-the-art data center campus, with plans to deploy up to 3 gigawatts (GW) of gas-fired capacity over six years, using gas wells on the property (see Massive 3 GW Gas-Fired AI/Data Center in SWPA to Use Local Wells). At the Appalachian AI Energy Conference held earlier this week, TECfusions COO Mark Hamilton laid out the company’s strategy for developing the site moving forward
Backlog for Natural Gas Turbines Expands on Surging Demand, Supply Constraints -There is tremendous buzz around natural-gas-fired turbines right now with backlogs reportedly stretching five years into the future due to supply-chain bottlenecks, labor shortages and a surge in demand. The power generation industry is poised for a major upswing as data center development and overall electricity demand continue to accelerate, driving an even greater need for gas turbines. In today’s RBN blog, we will explore why gas turbines are so challenging to build and why there’s such a manufacturing backlog. As we noted recently in Only Happy When It Rains, there’s been a lot of talk the past few months about artificial intelligence (AI) and plans by Amazon, Google, Microsoft and others to build a slew of data centers — energy hogs that require vast amounts of around-the-clock electricity. Developers have been considering the full gamut of power-generation sources — everything from renewables to nuclear — but almost everyone understands that gas-fired plants will be a big part of the solution. A number of major gas producers and just about every big midstreamer with a gas pipeline network have been talking up their plans to serve these new power plants, and several gas-fired projects — many tied directly to data centers — have already been announced. And while there are other fundamental factors stimulating demand for gas-fired power generation, the high profile of the data center development has put a spotlight on the prospects for acquiring the turbines needed to run a gas-fired power plant, a bigger challenge than it might appear. Given their size and complexity, it’s no surprise that turbine manufacturing can be expensive and time consuming. A small to medium gas turbine can weigh anywhere from 6,000 to 16,000 pounds but GE Vernova’s enormous gas turbines (see photo below) — among the largest and most advanced in the world — can weigh up to 700,000 pounds (350 tons), making manufacturing and delivery challenging. One of the biggest issues for would-be customers is that only three prominent players manufacture gas turbines — GE Vernova, Mitsubishi Power and Siemens Energy — and all three are focused on meeting their existing contracts rather than capacity expansion (more on that in a bit). One reason few firms manufacture gas turbines is that they are highly complex and expensive to build, and the plants themselves require massive capital investment. (GE Vernova is spending $160 million to expand its facility near Greenville, SC, one of the largest in the world.) Plus, getting all the necessary parts, including steel, can be especially challenging in today’s environment. (We’ll discuss how tariffs could impact these materials in Part 2 of this series.) Those factors have helped contribute to the backlogs being reported today by turbine manufacturers, with customers urged to secure orders early to address multi-year delays. For example, as we just said, GE Vernova is expanding in South Carolina to meet surging demand, but that won’t do much to reduce its order backlog right away. GE Vernova has the capacity to produce more than 50 GW of turbines over the next five years but already has orders in place for 29 GW, up from 22 GW in Q4 2024. That means the company has slots available for 21 GW of future orders, which won’t have a chance of arriving until 2028 or even 2030. The backlog at Mitsubishi, which had $12.5 billion in gas turbine orders in 2024, is currently 15-18 GW based on the 2024 order volume. Orders placed today face multi-year delays, with deliveries around 2029 or 2030. Industry analysts estimate the turbine backlog at Siemens at 25-30 GW. Let’s look next at the factors that manufacturers say are contributing to the backlog:
- Surging Demand: As we noted earlier, several factors are contributing to a significant increase in electricity, with one notable factor being the expected surge in data center demand and their search for more power (see Storm Front, Dive In, and We Should Be Friends, Part 1 and Part 2). Gas-fired power plants are considered ideal candidates to power data centers because they can offer the 24x7 electricity that data centers demand. Future power demand in the U.S. is uncertain but the U.S. National Power Demand Study expects on-grid electricity demand in the Lower 48 to increase from 4,170 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2024 to between 4,734 and 4,970 TWh in 2030; 5,139 and 5,573 TWh in 2035; and 5,591 and 6,127 TWh in 2040.
- Manufacturers’ Reluctance: Despite the feeding frenzy for data centers and the power they will demand, turbine manufacturers have been reluctant to invest more heavily in expanding production. They’ve been burned at least twice in recent years — first during the 2010s, when the gas turbine market collapsed, leading to massive layoffs and restructuring. Then, in 2017-18, global demand fell again due to several factors, including low energy demand growth and improvements in energy efficiency. Because the turbine market changed so rapidly in previous years, executives have said they will sign large agreements for turbine manufacturing but are reluctant to make major increases in production lines. In a letter to shareholders in February, GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik emphasized his company would “defend shareholder value” rather than chase short-term demand.
- Supply-Chain Bottlenecks: Turbine components such as castings and forgings — used for turbine blades — rely on the same suppliers as the aerospace and defense industries, which are also booming. This creates competition for critical parts like turbine blades and combustion systems. Plus, there are concerns about tariffs, which could cause bottlenecks.
- Shortage of Skilled Workers: The massive layoffs mentioned above caused a shortage of workers with expertise in turbines; now, with the surge in demand, companies are struggling to rehire them. Because turbine manufacturing is specialized, it can take years to train new engineers and technicians and there is fierce competition in the energy industry for the same workers.
There’s no quick fix to the turbine backlog — a result of surging demand, supply-chain issues, labor gaps and manufacturing caution — and industry analysts say turbines won’t be available at scale until at least 2030. And, as you’d guess, the pace of turbine deliveries will have a direct impact on domestic demand for natural gas. In Part 2 of this series, we’ll address the surging costs, challenges in finding materials, and tariffs.
Kinder Morgan Proposes 290-Mile Gas Pipeline Expansion Spanning Three States - Kinder Morgan, one of the largest energy infrastructure companies in the United States, introduced plans for a multibillion-dollar expansion of its existing natural gas pipeline system in the southeastern U.S. back in February, according to Augusta-Aiken WRDW-TV. The proposal, currently under review, calls for the addition of 14 new pipeline segments totaling approximately 290 miles. These lines would stretch across Georgia, South Carolina, and Alabama. The plan also includes upgrades to 13 compressor stations and the installation of four new metering facilities to manage and measure gas flow. “This is an expansion of an existing natural gas pipeline system that we have operated in Georgia for over 50 years,” Allen Fore, vice president of Kinder Morgan, told Augusta-Aiken WRDW-TV. “It’s designed to increase natural gas supply for the region.” Branded as the “South System 4 Expansion,” the project is being positioned as necessary to meet long-term energy demand, even for those who don’t directly use natural gas at home. Some property owners in Jefferson County have expressed concern about how the project might interfere with future land use. In recent public forums, Kinder Morgan has emphasized its willingness to work with landowners to accommodate specific needs. If regulatory approvals are granted, construction could begin in the coming years, with operations expected to start between 2028 and 2029.
Pipeline Operators Favor Buying Over Building Despite Trump Push for Projects(Reuters) — President Donald Trump's pro-energy policies were meant to speed the construction of the United States' next generation of energy infrastructure, but many oil and gas pipeline operators would still rather buy than build their way to expansion due to a host of factors impeding large projects. Trump declared an energy emergency on his first day in office and has issued directives to support exports, reform permitting and roll back environmental standards. Since his November election, a number of large-scale projects have been greenlit, including a liquefied natural gas terminal and a handful of pipelines. But higher costs from a global trade war sparked by U.S. tariffs, labor shortages, low oil prices, and the risk of legal snags mean many companies are generally reluctant to commit to bold new construction. Instead, operators see mergers and acquisitions as a more efficient way to grow. In the first quarter of this year, 15 U.S. midstream deals were struck, the highest quarterly number since the final three months of 2021, according to energy tech company Enverus. "We have spent a lot of time thinking about the buy versus build question and, at this time, we're seeing more opportunities to buy assets," said Angelo Acconcia, a partner at ArcLight Capital Partners, which invests in energy infrastructure. Acconcia said factors including tariffs and high demand for supplies and labor made it challenging to calculate the economics of building a project. One of the most prevalent trends in dealmaking so far in 2025 has been pipeline companies buying back stakes in joint ventures, previously sold to help fund the initial development costs of prior-year builds. Targa Resources TRGP.N said in February it would acquire preferred equity in its Targa Badlands pipeline system from Blackstone for $1.8 billion, while MPLX said in the same month it would buy the 55% interest in the BANGL natural gas pipeline previously owned by WhiteWater Midstream and Diamondback Energy for $715 million. Private equity owners of energy infrastructure are keen sellers, having spent recent years developing systems that are now online. Northwind Midstream, a New Mexico-focused pipeline operator, is currently being marketed for sale by Five Point Infrastructure, for example.
Biden-Era LNG Study Complete, Opening Door to Next Wave of Natural Gas Export Approvals -The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is set to begin issuing full LNG export authorizations after concluding that a study of the industry undertaken during the Biden administration justifies expanding natural gas exports. Graph and three charts showing global LNG futures settles with historical market volatility. More than a year after DOE staff was ordered to review the environmental and economic impacts of U.S. LNG, the agency has reviewed public comment and finalized the study for the public record.In a response to public comments published earlier in the week, DOE reaffirmed that it would continue to review LNG export projects on an individual basis. However, it largely assumed sending more domestic natural gas into the global marketplace is in the public interest.
Commonwealth LNG Clears Final Environmental Review, Paving Way for Summer Authorization -Federal regulators have delivered a key analysis for the Commonwealth LNG project that could signal a busy summer of final authorization orders for FERC in the coming months. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staff published a final supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) with data of potential nitrous dioxide (NO2) emissions from the proposed Louisiana export project (CP19-502). FERC staff wrote that they reached the same conclusions after further study as the first EIS issued in 2022.
3 Years Later, Freeport LNG Returns LNG Storage Tank to Service -- Marcellus Drilling News - -Freeport LNG’s export terminal with three liquefaction “trains” completely shut down (all three trains) in June 2022 after an explosion and fire (see Explosion Rocks Freeport LNG Export Plant – Offline for 3 Weeks). What was initially thought to be a three-week outage lasted for ten months. The plant finally returned online in March 2023 (see Freeport LNG Plant Back to Full Capacity Using 2.1 Bcf/d of NatGas). Since that time, one or more Freeport trains have been offline more times than we can count. Freeport announced yesterday that, finally, after three years, it has restored full operations to the last remaining component that was still offline since 2022—an LNG storage tank.
Freeport Back at Full Capacity Three Years After Explosion — Freeport LNG Development LP has returned its third LNG storage tank to service nearly three years after it was knocked out of service by a fire and explosion at the facility on the upper Texas coast. The tank will increase the facility’s storage capacity by 165,000 cubic meters after the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission authorized its return. The incident occurred on June 8, 2022 near LNG transfer equipment and the storage area. The failure occurred because of the warming and expansion of LNG within piping and an improperly isolated pressure relief valve. The expansion increased pressure within the piping, which ruptured and released LNG, which caught fire, according to a third-party analysis.
How Will the Trade War Impact U.S. LNG Demand? — Listen Now to NGI’s Hub & Flow --Click here to listen to the latest episode of NGI’s Hub & Flow. Ben Cahill, director for energy markets and policy at the Center for Energy and Environmental Systems Analysis at the University of Texas at Austin, joins NGI's Jamison Cocklin, managing editor of LNG, to discuss how the trade war and other challenges could impact rapid U.S. LNG export growth.They explore supply, demand and price trends that could emerge as the Trump administration works to balance the U.S. trade deficit. They also discuss other challenges like the European Union’s methane emissions regulations and LNG production growth in the Middle East that could curb the appetite for North American LNG at a time when it’s growing at an unprecedented rate.Believing that transparent markets empower businesses, economies and communities, NGI – which publishes daily, weekly and monthly natural gas indexes at pricing points across North America – works to provide natural gas price transparency for the Americas. NGI’s Hub & Flow podcast is a part of that effort.
US natgas prices at Waha hub in Texas fall into negative territory (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas prices for Monday in the Permian shale basin in West Texas turned negative as spring pipeline maintenance and other constraints trap gas in the nation's biggest oil-producing basin. Financial firm LSEG said average gas output in the Lower 48 U.S. states fell to 103.9 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far in May, down from a monthly record of 105.8 bcfd in April. n Part of the reason for that output reduction was spring maintenance on some gas pipes, including U.S. energy firm Kinder Morgan's 2.7-bcfd Permian Highway from the Permian basin in West Texas to the Texas Gulf Coast. Kinder Morgan said it will perform a turbine exchange at the Big Lake compressor station from May 13-26 that will reduce mainline capacity to around 2.2 bcfd. Traders have noted the Permian Highway reduction trapped some gas in the Permian basin, helping spot gas prices at the Waha Hub fall by over 260% from 94 cents per million British thermal units (mmBtu) for Friday to a six-month low of minus $1.52 for Monday. That was the fourth time Waha prices averaged below zero in 2025 and compares with an average of $1.96 per mmBtu in 2025, 77 cents in 2024 and an average of $2.91 over the prior five years (2019-2023). Waha prices first averaged below zero in 2019. It happened 17 times in 2019, six times in 2020, once in 2023 and a record 49 times in 2024. Analysts have said negative prices were a sign the Permian region needs more gas pipes. There are some pipes under construction, including Kinder Morgan's Gulf Coast Express expansion, the WPC joint venture's Blackcomb and Energy Transfer's Hugh Brinson, but they are not expected to enter service until 2026. The Permian in West Texas and eastern New Mexico is the nation's biggest and fastest-growing oil-producing shale basin. A lot of gas also comes out of the ground with that oil. Even though U.S. crude futures were down about 13% so far in 2025, energy firms have been willing to take some losses on gas because they can still make up for those losses with profits in selling oil. But with oil prices on track to decline for a third year in a row in 2025, some energy firms said they plan to reduce the amount of capital they will spend on new oil drilling this year.
US Natgas Futures Fall 7% to 3-Week Low on Rising Output, Spot Waha Prices Turn Negative - U.S. natural gas futures fell about 7% to a three-week low on Monday on a small increase in output over the last few days even though pipeline maintenance curtailed some gas flows from the Permian Basin in West Texas. That pipeline work in Texas trapped some gas in the Permian shale and caused spot prices at the Waha hub to turn negative for the fourth time this year. Gas futures for June delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 22.1 cents, or 6.6%, to settle at $3.113 per million British thermal units, putting the contract on track for its lowest close since April 25. That put the front-month down for a fourth day in a row for the first time since late April. During those four days, gas prices fell about 15%. Analysts said heating and cooling demand should remain low across much of the country in the coming weeks, allowing utilities to keep adding more gas into storage than normal for this time of year. Gas stockpiles were already around 3% above the five-year (2020-2024) normal. Financial firm LSEG said average gas output in the Lower 48 U.S. states fell to 103.9 billion cubic feet per day so far in May, down from a monthly record of 105.8 bcfd in April. The decline so far this month, however, was lower than expected on Friday. Part of the reason for output reductions was maintenance on some gas pipes, including U.S. energy firm Kinder Morgan’s 2.7-bcfd Permian Highway from the Permian Basin in West Texas to the Texas Gulf Coast. Kinder Morgan said it will perform a turbine exchange at the Big Lake compressor station from May 13-26 that will reduce mainline capacity to around 2.2 bcfd. Traders have noted the Permian Highway and other pipeline work trapped some gas in the Permian basin, helping spot gas prices at the Waha Hub in West Texas to drop from 94 cents per mmBtu for Friday to a negative $1.52 for Monday. That compares with an average of $1.83 over the prior seven days. LSEG forecast average gas demand in the Lower 48, including exports, will drop from 99.0 bcfd this week to 94.6 bcfd in two weeks. Those forecasts were higher than LSEG’s outlook on Friday. The average amount of gas flowing to the eight big liquefied natural gas export plants operating in the U.S. fell to 15.1 bcfd so far in May, down from a monthly record of 16.0 bcfd in April. The LNG feedgas decline so far this month was mostly due to reductions as a result of maintenance at Cameron LNG’s 2.0-bcfd plant in Louisiana and Cheniere Energy’s 3.9-bcfd Corpus Christi plant under construction and in operation in Texas, and brief reductions at Freeport LNG’s 2.1-bcfd plant in Texas. Gas was trading at around $12 per mmBtu at both the Dutch Title Transfer Facility benchmark in Europe and the Japan Korea Marker benchmark in Asia.
U.S. Natural Gas Prices Surge 10% on Output Dip and Technical Buying (Reuters) — U.S. natural gas futures soared about 10% on May 20 on a decline in daily output, forecasts for more demand next week, long-term forecasts for a hotter-than-normal summer and what some analysts called a technical bounce. Gas prices fell about 7% and closed below the 200-day moving average on May 19, which some analysts said likely prompted some technical traders to start buying gas. "Sometimes technical traders have more power than the fundamental guys. There are times where there is not a lot of news and computers and algorithms can drive the prices up and down regardless of the fundamentals, and then ultimately the fundamentals start kicking in," Gas futures for June delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 31.4 cents, or 10.1%, to settle at $3.427 per million British thermal units. On May 19, the contract closed at its lowest since April 25. That was the biggest daily gain for the front-month since early April when the contract also climbed a little over 10%. In the short-term, analysts said heating and cooling demand should remain low across much of the country in coming weeks, allowing utilities to keep adding more gas into storage than normal for this time of year. Gas stockpiles were already around 3% above the five-year (2020-2024) normal. But longer-term, the U.S. National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center projected temperatures would be above normal across the entire continental U.S. in June, July and August, with well above-normal heat expected in Utah and parts of surrounding states, southwest Texas and in the New England and Mid-Atlantic regions. Financial firm LSEG said average gas output in the Lower 48 U.S. states fell to 103.9 billion cubic feet per day so far in May, down from a monthly record of 105.8 Bcf/d in April. On a daily basis, output was on track to slide to a preliminary one-week low of 103.4 Bcf/d on May 20, down from 104.7 Bcf/d on May 19 and an average of 104.1 Bcf/d over the prior seven days. Analysts noted preliminary data is often revised later in the day. Energy traders noted those output reductions were due in part to maintenance on some gas pipes, including U.S. energy firm Kinder Morgan's 2.7-Bcf/d Permian Highway from the Permian Basin in West Texas to the Texas Gulf Coast. Traders have noted the Permian Highway and other pipeline work trapped some gas in the Permian Basin, causing spot gas prices at the Waha Hub in West Texas to drop to a negative $1.52 for May 19. Waha prices, however, rose to a positive 46 cents for May 20. LSEG forecast average gas demand in the Lower 48, including exports, will drop from 98.8 Bcf/d this week to 95.1 Bcf/d next week. The forecast for next week was higher than LSEG's outlook on May 19.
Natural Gas News: Bearish Sentiment Builds on Forecasted 119 Bcf Storage Injection - U.S. natural gas futures slipped Thursday morning, with traders reacting to downside momentum following Wednesday’s rejection at the key $3.438 pivot. Market participants are bracing for another larger-than-normal storage build in the weekly EIA report, reinforcing a bearish near-term bias. Can the 200-Day Moving Average Hold Under Pressure? Futures are edging lower with prices threatening the 200-day moving average at $3.170. A decisive break below this level would signal growing seller conviction. However, stronger support lies below at $3.098 and $3.035, both of which have recently attracted aggressive dip-buying. To push through this zone, bears will likely need a significant volume surge—something that has yet to materialize. If the downside holds, the rebound path is clearly mapped. A break above $3.438 would put the 50-day moving average at $3.700 in play, with further resistance at $3.733. Breaching that level could open the door for a run toward $4.062, making $3.438 the key battleground for both sides in the coming sessions. Thursday’s EIA report is widely expected to show a build of +119 Bcf for the week ending May 16, significantly above the five-year average of +87 Bcf. If confirmed, this would follow last week’s +110 Bcf injection, further weighing on sentiment. Inventory levels now sit 2.6% above their five-year average, despite being 14.6% lower year-on-year. These data continue to suggest ample supply heading into summer. The bearish tone isn’t limited to U.S. markets. European gas storage was at 45% capacity as of May 18, compared to a five-year seasonal average of 55%, further reinforcing global supply adequacy even as the continent prepares for peak summer demand. Short-term demand remains muted. Forecasts for May 21–27 point to a mild pattern across the Midwest and East, with highs in the 50s to 70s and even 40s in some areas. The West and South remain hotter, but not enough to drive significant national demand. Looking forward, some models suggest a warming trend by early June, but confidence in that outlook remains limited given the timeframe. Unless bulls can retake the $3.438 pivot, the path of least resistance remains lower. Elevated storage builds and mild weather imply limited upside for now. A break below $3.035 would further cement short-term bearish momentum. Traders should monitor weather shifts and EIA surprises for potential catalysts, but current conditions favor sellers.
Interior will oversee oil decommissioning in marine sanctuary - The Trump administration is giving an offshore regulatory agency new authority over decommissioning oil and gas sites in a recently created marine sanctuary off California’s central coast.The Interior Department said Thursday that its Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement is now the lead federal agency to oversee retiring oil and gas platforms in the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary. The 4,543-square-mile swath of the Pacific Ocean became protected near the end of the Biden administration. Oil and gas decommissioning oversight for the area had been under the Department of Commerce.“This is a strong example of interagency collaboration to streamline permitting and promote responsible energy development while honoring our commitment to environmental protection,” said Interior’s acting Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management, Adam Suess, in a statement. “By leveraging BSEE’s regulatory expertise, we can ensure that offshore decommissioning activities within the sanctuary are conducted safely and efficiently.” BSEE is charged with leading safety and environmental protection related to offshore energy activities on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which is also part of Interior, manages the development of resources in that offshore region.
Gray Oak Expansion Helping to Ease Permian-to-Corpus Crude Oil Congestion -The pipelines carrying crude oil from the Permian Basin in West Texas to the Corpus Christi area have been as jammed as an urban highway on the Friday before Memorial Day weekend. The Gray Oak Pipeline, the largest from the Permian to Corpus, has just completed the 80-Mb/d first phase of a planned two-phase expansion that will add a total of 120 Mb/d of capacity. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll discuss what this project means for pipeline congestion and crude exports out of Corpus and nearby Ingleside. As we’ve frequently discussed in the RBN blogosphere, the Permian Basin has experienced rapid growth in crude oil production and now accounts for 49% of all U.S. output. As shown in Figure 1 below, there are four large pipelines that transport crude oil from the Permian to the Corpus Christi area — Cactus I (blue line), Cactus II (teal line), EPIC Crude (yellow line) and Gray Oak (green line) — which (as of April) collectively provide 2.64 MMb/d of capacity. Gray Oak is an 850-mile crude oil pipeline system that originates from multiple points in West Texas (see Figure 2 below). The pipeline started up with a capacity of 900 Mb/d shortly before crude oil demand cratered as the pandemic hit in 2020. In response to COVID, Permian producers shut in a significant amount of production, but output from the basin quickly rebounded and it didn’t take long for Gray Oak to add volumes — its flows ramped up throughout 2020. Note that it is common for new pipelines to gain volumes from old pipelines as take-or-pay commitments are typical on new pipelines — meaning you pay for the capacity regardless of whether you use it. As discussed in our weekly Crude Oil Permian report, Gray Oak has long operated at high utilization rates, which means nearly every available barrel of capacity is spoken for on what is now a 980-Mb/d pipeline. Its recently completed 80-Mb/d expansion originates at Crane, TX, and flows to Corpus Christi and Ingleside, where it supports crude exports at Enbridge’s Ingleside Energy Center (EIEC; pink square in Figure 2). According to the recently published quarterly edition of our Crude Voyager report, EIEC accounted for just over 30% of total Gulf Coast crude oil exports in Q1 2025 — the highest share among all terminals. It also set daily and quarterly export records. The pipeline is designed to receive crude oil from various areas in West and South Texas before it is sent to the Gulf Coast. It has receipt points in both the Permian’s Midland Basin (Crane; easternmost black dot in the upper-left corner of Figure 2 above) and Delaware Basin (Marathon Petroleum’s Conan Terminal, near the Texas-New Mexico line and the crude hubs in Wink and the rarely used Orla TX; blue tank icon and the westernmost and middle black dots in the upper left of the map, respectively). Gray Oak, like EPIC Crude, also picks up some volumes in the Eagle Ford production region in South Texas at Three Rivers (black dot at lower right within the Eagle Ford).Gray Oak’s owners set their sights on a 200-Mb/d expansion last year but ultimately revised that down to 120 Mb/d. While smaller than originally planned, it's the only Permian crude pipeline to get the green light for an expansion so far. The first phase of the project was wrapped up in April, boosting the system’s capacity by 80 Mb/d. Phase 2 is scheduled to come online in April 2026, adding another 40 Mb/d and pushing total capacity to 1.02 MMb/d. It’s our understanding that the full expansion capacity is contracted for, meaning there are commitments behind it. It’s possible that Gray Oak is using drag-reducing agents for its expansion project — rather than new construction — which would help to explain the speed of the project’s completion. Enbridge hasn’t confirmed its strategy for Gray Oak, but during the company’s March 1 Investor Day executives said they use drag-reducing agents to increase pipeline volumes, which involves injecting chemicals to lower the friction of flowing oil and takes much less time than traditional construction — see our Kind of a Drag blog series for more. The expansion is important because, according to the most recent data from the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC), Gray Oak has been recently operating at 104% of its nameplate capacity, including receipts from the Permian (teal area in Figure 3 below) and Eagle Ford (dark-teal area), which has helped push Corpus-bound pipes from the Permian to capacity (dotted black line). Permian-to-Corpus Christi pipes, inclusive of Eagle Ford receipts, have averaged 2.55 MMb/d, or 99% utilization, since February 2023.
Oil states mull crackdown on idle wells - Three of the country’s largest fossil-fuel-producing states are considering new rules to prevent the abandonment of oil and gas wells.Texas and Oklahoma’s legislatures for the first time could create restrictions on how long wells can be inactive or idled before operators must plug them. In New Mexico, the state’s oil and gas regulator is proposing new rules that would require operators to pay more in insurance to cover the cost of plugging abandoned wells.The new rules are part of broader efforts to tackle the tens of thousands of old oil and gas wells that are left unplugged and without an owner that can properly seal them shut. Wells left inactive for years can contaminate ground and surface water and spew planet-warming methane out of their wellheads.Once an oil and gas well is orphaned, any contamination and leftover equipment becomes a government — and taxpayer — liability.
US House passes ‘big, beautiful’ bill, which ramps up oil and gas leasing -- The US House on Thursday narrowly passed the “One Big Beautiful Act”, a sweeping legislative package from Republicans that, among many other things, aims to ramp up oil and gas lease sales in the US while curbing a wide swath of clean energy tax credits. Named after US President Donald Trump’s promise of “one big, beautiful bill” to push his domestic legislative agenda, the package passed by a single vote, 215-214. All 215 votes in favour were from Republicans, though two GOP representatives voted against the bill, one voted “present”, and two others did not vote. All 212 House Democrats were unanimous in their opposition to the bill. The sprawling act is an amalgamation of bills from 11 House committees, including Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Natural Resources, to name a few. Though much of the legislation touches energy, it also revamps military funding, student loans, Medicaid and immigration, among other issues. It will head to the Senate for another round of contentious voting. US stock markets were all up less than 1% in Thursday morning trading following the bill’s House passage. In addition, the Dow Jones US Oil and Gas Index and the S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production Select Industry Index were each down less than 1%. Chevron's Anchor platform in the US Gulf. Related Trump issues new analysis for endangered species protections in US Gulf More leasing ahead Many of the bill’s energy directives open up oil and gas leasing activity through the Department of the Interior (DoI), which oversees leasing in federal waters and on federal lands. Perhaps the biggest winners after the bill’s House passage are offshore operators in the US Gulf. The package requires at least 30 lease sales in the US Gulf over the next 15 years, with the first to be held 15 August. The lease sales would rotate between August and March through 2040. The 30 leases sales would be a significant change from President Joe Biden’s tenure, when his administration passed an offshore leasing programme that featured only three lease sales in five years. Under the legislation, each US Gulf lease sale would have to offer at least 80 million acres, assuming that much unleased acreage is available. The bill also modifies the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (GOMESA), which outlines how offshore oil and gas revenue is distributed to Gulf Coast states. It would raise the distribution cap from $500 million to $650 million from 2026 to 2034 before lowering the cap back to $500 million The act also directs DoI to “immediately resume” quarterly onshore lease sales in a another policy reversal from Biden, who curbed oil and gas drilling shortly after taking office in 2021. The legislation also transforms Alaska oil and gas activity by ordering DoI to hold at four lease sales in the state’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge while reviving oil and gas leases for the region that were cancelled by the Biden administration.It also orders DoI to resume the oil and gas programme in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) and requires at least six lease sales in the next decade in Alaska’s Cook Inlet, with the first required by March 2026.DoI Secretary Doug Burgum is likely to champion the bill’s directives. His agency is already working on a revamped offshore oil and gas programme that aims to add more lease sales to the current schedule.While the bill sets a $1 million fee for any gas company that applies with the Department of Energy (DoE) to either import or export liquefied natural gas, it also lets those applicants pay a $10 million fee to expedite their federal regulatory reviews. In addition, the bill sends $1.32 billion to the DoE to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) and repeals a provision that forced the agency to draw down specific amounts of crude oil from the SPR during 2026 and 2027. Meanwhile, renewable and clean energy took a massive hit from the bill, which rolls back tax credits for solar and wind manufacturing along with clean hydrogen production, zero-emission nuclear power production and clean vehicles, among other measures. The bill also rescinds unallocated funds from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the Biden-led bill from 2022 that unleashed a wave of clean energy subsidies. It also repeals funding for a methane emissions reduction programme under the Clean Air Act. However, the carbon capture tax credits that were increased through the IRA — known as 45Q credits — were left intact. Jeff Eshelman, chief executive of the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA), called the legislation “a win for American energy”. “IPAA is pleased that the legislation reinstates oil and natural gas lease sales for onshore and offshore federal lands and makes common sense reforms to the permitting and leasing process on federal lands,” Eshelman said in a statement. Meanwhile, the Sierra Club said the legislation would “kneecap important environmental protections” and allows oil and gas companies to “pay to pollute” through the expedited review payments. “This bill is a disaster for working Americans. It endangers our clean air and water, will devastate our growing economy and the manufacturing jobs that are powering it, and opens up our precious lands and waters to even more reckless oil and gas drilling — all to reward Trump and Republicans’ billionaire buddies and corporate polluter pals,” Sierra Club legislative director Melinda Pierce said in a statement.
Monumental test awaits Trump’s drilling plans - — Cane Creek units 26-2 and 26-3 might be on the most scenic oil and gas well pad in the country. Red rock formations tower behind a pumpjack, and Arches National Park is visible along the horizon. Canyonlands National Park is a 15-minute drive away, and visitors can see the massive Green River Canyon from Dead Horse Point just up the road. The well pad —which includes several storage tanks, compressors and pipes — sits in the Paradox Basin, one of Utah’s oil -and gas-producing regions. Crews close to some of the country’s most prized national parks are drilling for everything from heavy crude to lithium to potash, although the industrial sites in the area are few and far between compared to more prolific oil plays like northeastern Utah’s Uinta Basin or Colorado’s Denver-Julesburg Basin.Drilling equipment, fracking rigs and lithium wells could soon be a more common sight in Utah and other parts of the West. President Donald Trump has pledged to open more federal lands to oil, gas and mineral production — including land within current boundaries of national monuments and close to national parks. But the success of that push will depend on whether the U.S. can attract private investors to these sensitive sites as concerns about the economy and oil prices engulf the industry.Interior Secretary Doug Burgum in February signed a secretarial order that requires the department’s assistant secretaries to prioritize reducing barriers to the use of federal lands for energy development, as well as speed up the permitting process for drilling and offer more parcels of public land for oil and gas leasing.On April 23, Burgum said he would slash the time requirement for reviewing environmental impact statements on federal oil and gas leases from two years to 28 days as part of Trump’s announced “energy emergency.” Also last month, Burgum said at an economic summit that federal bureaucracy and policies have prevented taxpayers and states from realizing the full potential of public lands.“We have Western states that are being choked because they have so much public land, and there’s so much overreach by the federal government and overlap between federal agencies and state agencies, that we’re creating a suboptimal protection and suboptimal use of those public lands,” Burgum said.Whether oil and gas companies will take the Trump administration up on offers of more federal leases is a different question.“Who drills right next to a national park? Nobody likes that,” said Samantha Gross, director of the Energy Security and Climate Initiative at the Brookings Institution. “No big oil company with name recognition is going to do that.”Oil and gas association leaders told POLITICO’s E&E News that operators are also reluctant to bid on federal oil and gas leases or undertake new drilling projects in general as the price of crude has declined after Trump on April 2 announced sweeping tariffs on nearly all U.S. trading partners. He later issued a 90-day pause on many of the new tariffs.Companies are especially reluctant to lease federal lands near national monuments and parks, fearing bad publicity, legal challenges from environmental groups and a lack of infrastructure to get their product to market.
Produced water, crude oil spill reported near Rhame— On May 20, the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality (NDDEQ) was notified of a produced water and crude oil spill. According to NDDEQ, Denbury reported that the spill happened at a well site 12 miles southeast of Rhame in Bowman County. It was estimated that 195 barrels of produced water and four barrels of crude oil were spilled, affecting the surrounding rangeland. Personnel from NDDEQ are on site to monitor the investigation and remediation efforts.
Sable restarts oil production at unit responsible for Refugio Oil Spill - According to Sable, oil has been flowing from Platform Harmony to Las Flores Canyon at 6,000 barrels a day since May 15. Seven of the eight pipelines in the Las Flores system have passed hydrotests, with one more test needed before the system can fully restart. Alex Katz is with the Environmental Defense Center, one of several groups against reopening the pipeline that polluted the coast in 2015. “The fact that they're announcing that they're restarting this system on the 10th anniversary of a spill that was so devastating just shows how little regard they have for the environment and for people in California,” Katz said. Katz said environmental groups are concerned restarting the system could lead to another spill. But Sable said it has added new safety measures– including 27 emergency shutoff devices and round-the-clock leak detection. In recent months, the California Coastal Commission cited Sable for unpermitted work on the unit, but the company still received approvals to restart from the State Fire Marshal and Santa Barbara County. The Environmental Defense Center is currently suing the Fire Marshal, in an ongoing lawsuit arguing that they improperly allowed Sable to operate the pipeline without corrosion protection– the same issue that reportedly caused the Refugio oil spill.
Alaska drilling, mining could see a megabill comeback - House Republicans sacked two prominent Alaska drilling and mining provisions from their tax, energy and national security megabill just hours before it cleared the chamber, but a top GOP lawmakers has hopes the Senate will add them back in.The two provisions cut from H.R. 1, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” would have facilitated approval of the Ambler mining access road and ramped up drilling in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve. They are long-sought priorities for Republicans, and their fate on the cutting room floor came as a surprise.House Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.), however, said the provisions were removed over procedural concerns relating to the budget reconciliation process.“These provisions were addressed in the manager’s amendment out of an abundance of caution as part of the nuanced reconciliation process,” Westerman said in an email.
Canadian Oil Exports Pivot Toward China, Undermining U.S. Energy Influence (Reuters) — If there is a law of unintended consequences, then a good example is how commodity markets are adjusting to both the realities and the perceived threats of the tariff war launched by U.S. President Donald Trump. Trump's trade and tariff measures have forced commodity producers, traders and buyers to re-think long-established relationships, adapt to emerging realities and try to predict what may happen. What is becoming clear is that commodity markets are adjusting not only to actual measures imposed by the Trump administration, but also to the possibility of future actions, which has created a desire to limit exposure to the United States. An example of this is seaborne exports of crude oil from Canada, which have shifted away from the United States and towards China, even though Trump backed away from his initial plan to impose a 10% tariff on energy imports from Canada. For the first time ever, Canada exported more seaborne crude to China in April than it did to the United States, showing how market dynamics can move amid the uncertainty created by Trump's trade war. Canada's seaborne exports of crude to China were 299,000 barrels per day (bpd) in April, up from 277,000 bpd in March, according to data compiled by commodity analysts Kpler. Seaborne shipments to the United States were 286,000 bpd in April, roughly in line with March's 283,000 bpd but down from the record of 431,000 bpd in September last year. The discount of Western Canadian Select crude to U.S. West Texas Intermediate has narrowed to the lowest in about 4-1/2 years at just over $9 a barrel, dropping from levels closer to $30 as recently as November. This reflects another dynamic that Trump probably didn't expect, as his sanctions on Venezuelan oil, which like Canadian crude is heavy, reduced the amount of this grade available to U.S. refiners. This means that Canadian crude is more in demand in the United States, and U.S. refiners are having to pay more. The rising price for Canadian crude brings into question the view that Canada was far more dependent on the United States than vice versa. It now seems that the United States is actually quite dependent on Canadian crude, especially if Trump has limited the suitable alternatives with sanctions.The advantage also seems to be with Canada when it comes to seaborne exports. Canada has lifted its seaborne crude exports since the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion came on line in May last year, which increased its capacity to 890,000 bpd. It has been expected that the bulk of this oil would be shipped to refiners on the U.S. West Coast, and initially that is how it played out. But once Trump returned to the White House in late January and upped both his rhetoric and actions against his northern neighbor and erstwhile close ally, Canada's seaborne oil flows have shifted. Even though Trump backed down on imposing any tariff on energy imports from Canada, the damage has largely been done, with Canadian oil producers keen to develop alternative markets. Hence the interest in China, the world's biggest oil importer, which has also been keen to increase the diversity of its suppliers in a bid to lessen its dependence on oil from the OPEC+ group of exporters. China has also effectively halted importing crude from the United States amid the escalation in tariffs imposed by Washington and Beijing since Trump's return. While those tariffs have been lowered for a 90-day period to allow for talks, China is still imposing a 10% levy on U.S. oil imports, which is high enough to render U.S. oil uncompetitive in China. No U.S. crude is scheduled to arrive in China in May and June, according to Kpler, while as recently as June last year China imported 417,000 bpd from the United States.
Enbridge ‘Ready To Rock’ on Pipeline Projects in Canada as Prime Minister Promises to ‘Build, Baby, Build’ - North American midstream company Enbridge Inc. expects Canada to be more open to building pipeline infrastructure after newly elected Prime Minister Mark Carney pledged to make the country an “energy superpower.” Natural Gas Intelligence's (NGI) Canada Border Tracker displaying a map and major natural gas hubs with prices. Depicts flow data key for market analyses. Ebel joined other Canadian natural gas and oil businesses leaders in urging the nation’s politicians in March to declare an “energy emergency” to shore up the nation’s “economic sovereignty.” They said Canada needs to build infrastructure links to other markets in response to President Trump’s economic threats. Carney, elected in April, said “build, baby, build” in his victory speech, echoing President Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” campaign slogan. Carney promised to build an “independent future” for the country.
Trump pushes UK to embrace drilling, dump windmills -- President Trump on Friday criticized the United Kingdom’s energy policy, pushing the British government to do away with “costly and unsightly” windmills and drill for more oil in the North Sea.“Our negotiated deal with the United Kingdom is working out well for all. I strongly recommend to them, however, that in order to get their Energy Costs down, they stop with the costly and unsightly windmills, and incentivize modernized drilling in the North Sea, where large amounts of oil lay waiting to be taken,” Trump said on Truth Social. “A century of drilling left, with Aberdeen as the hub. The old fashioned tax system disincentivizes drilling, rather than the opposite. U.K.’s Energy Costs would go WAY DOWN, and fast!” the president said. Trump returned to the Oval Office with plans to “drill, baby, drill” and had said on the campaign trail that he aimed to “have a policy where no windmills are being built.” He’s since made moves to roll back Biden-era renewable energy policies and hasten fossil fuel development — and his efforts to hold up wind energy development have drawn legal challenges. U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, on the other hand, has championed renewable energy and a net-zero agenda. The government has planned to double onshore wind and quadruple offshore wind by 2030, according to WindEurope, in pursuit of low-carbon goals.Trump’s call for Britain to embrace drilling comes after the U.S. and U.K. signed a trade deal earlier this month, the first country-specific agreement since the Trump administration’s “Liberation Day” tariff hikes in early April.The deal, which had been in the works for some time, included billions of dollars of increased market access for American exports.
European Natural Gas Prices Retreat Despite Ongoing Maintenance in Norway — The Offtake -A look at the global natural gas and LNG markets by the numbers
- $12.021/MMBtu: European gas traders appeared to be shrugging off summer maintenance in Norway’s gas fields as prompt Title Transfer Facility (TTF) prices retreated Thursday. Pipeline exports from Norway had dropped by around 2.5 Bcf/d since Tuesday as maintenance began, landing at 5.6 Bcf/d Thursday, according to NGI calculations. TTF edged down Thursday to roughly 20 cents day/day to $12.021/MMBtu.
- 70 Bcf: France remained the No. 1 destination for U.S. LNG volumes in March, according to the latest U.S. Department of Energy report. France received 15 Bcf of U.S. natural gas during the month, equivalent to 15% of all Gulf Coast exports in March. France is an LNG import hub with seven operating terminals that help transport gas volumes through Central and Eastern Europe.
- 2.4%: Global LNG trade grew to 411.24 million tons (Mt) in 2024, a 2.4% increase year/year, according to the latest market review from the International Gas Union (IGU). Global LNG trade growth has been decreasing since 2023 amid market volatility and limited export capacity additions. In 2024, trade increases were driven by the startup of Plaquemines LNG in the United States, and the addition of Mexico and Congo as exporters.
- 21.22 Mt: Europe’s LNG imports in 2024 fell to levels last seen before the invasion of Ukraine, according to IGU. Import volumes decreased by 21.22 Mt to 100.07 Mt, the lowest point since 2021. The UK contributed to the largest reduction in imports, followed by the major European LNG hubs of France, the Netherlands and Spain.
Positive Signs for U.S. LNG Demand as Prospect of Russian Gas Returning to Europe Dims The prospect of Russian natural gas returning in any meaningful way to Europe continues to look remote in another bullish sign for U.S. LNG demand. Bar graph showing U.S. LNG exports to different countries showing historical differences. The Trump administration has pursued an end to the war in Ukraine, raising the possibility that Russian gas exports to Europe could somehow increase as part of any potential peace deal. Those efforts, however, have fallen flat. Russia and Ukraine met for direct talks last week for the first time since 2022, but made no progress. President Trump’s conversations this week with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also came up short and yielded no agreement on a ceasefire.
Asian Spot Buying Rebounds, Tightening Global Natural Gas Market and Lifting Prices — European natural gas prices charged higher on Monday, continuing three straight weeks of gains as colder weather is forecast in the coming days, Asian spot buying picks up and the market closely watches for any signs of a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. Natural Gas Intelligence's (NGI) spot XXXX daily natural gas price graph showing historical market volatility. \ The July Title Transfer Facility contract finished at $11.62/MMBtu on Monday, up four cents from Friday’s close. Asian natural gas prices have also been steady at above $11 and gained 4% last week as more buyers waded into the market to replenish inventories as summer nears. Asian spot buying has been sluggish in recent weeks as the trade war has weighed on energy demand, which has provided limited competition for Europe as it works to rebuild storage inventories drained over the winter.
Aramco Wading Deeper into Global Natural Gas Market as Production, LNG Supply Grow - Saudi Arabian Oil Co., better known as Aramco, continued to boost its natural gas production in the first quarter as it works to expand its presence in the global market. Aramco’s natural gas output jumped to 10.2 Bcf/d in the first quarter, up from 9.7 Bcf/d in the year-ago period. The company is working to boost natural gas production by more than 60% from 2021 levels by 2030.
‘Russia detains Greek oil tanker after it departs Estonian port - Russia has detained a Greek oil tanker sailing under the Liberian flag as it left the Estonian port of Sillamae on a previously agreed route through Russian waters, the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs says. In a statement published on Sunday, the ministry added that the vessel, the Green Admire, was undertaking a navigational route established in a deal between Russia, Estonia and Finland. “Today’s incident shows that Russia continues to behave unpredictably,” Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said. “I have also informed our allies of the event,” he said, referring to other NATO members. Estonian Public Broadcasting (EPB), citing the Transport Administration, reported that the Greek tanker was carrying a cargo of shale oil destined for Rotterdam in the Netherlands. It added that such incidents had never occurred before. Vessels leaving Sillamae usually move through Russian waters to avoid Estonia’s shallows, which can be dangerous for larger tankers, the EPB said. Advertisement The incident took place after the Estonian navy on Thursday tried to stop an unflagged tanker that was said to be part of a Russian “shadow fleet” of vessels sailing through Estonian waters. Russia responded by sending a fighter jet to escort the tanker, violating Estonia’s airspace. The “shadow fleet” is meant to help Moscow maintain its crude oil exports to avoid Western sanctions imposed after its invasion of Ukraine.
India’s oil imports from Russia surge to 10-month high on strong demand for light crude - India's imports of Russian crude oil are set to reach nearly 1.8 million barrels per day in May, the highest in 10 months, according to ship tracking data from Kpler, as domestic refiners ramp up purchases of lighter Russian grades like ESPO Blend. Strong demand from the world’s third-largest oil consumer is expected to continue into July, with Indian refiners reportedly ordering more than 10 cargoes of June-loading ESPO crude just last week, traders told Reuters. The surge in buying comes ahead of new EU and UK sanctions targeting Russia’s “shadow fleet” of oil tankers and associated financial entities, raising questions about future logistics and pricing. India’s appetite for Russian ESPO crude has also triggered a rebound in spot premiums for shipments delivered to China, the largest buyer of the Far East-exported grade from Russia’s Kozmino port. According to Jay Shah, senior oil analyst at Rystad Energy, shutdowns at crude distillation units at Indian refining majors like Reliance Industries and MRPL have increased the need for light crude feedstock at their fluid catalytic crackers, particularly due to favourable refining margins.
China's crude oil imports from Russia fall in April; imports from Malaysia surge (Reuters) - China's imports of crude oil from Russia fell 12.9% in April from a year earlier, coming in at 8.07 million metric tons or 1.96 million barrels per day, Chinese customs data showed on Tuesday. Russian supply to China also declined 5.8% on a monthly basis, down from 2.08 million bpd in March. Imports from Malaysia, the top trans-shipment hub for sanctioned Iranian oil, stood at 7.95 million tons in April, or 1.93 million bpd, down 6.3% from March, but up 96.9% year-on-year. China's total crude oil imports stood at 48.06 million tons in April, or 11.69 million bpd, lower from March but up 7.5% from a year earlier due to abundant deliveries of sanctioned shipments and as state refiners built stocks during maintenance shutdowns. Imports from Saudi Arabia, the third-largest supplier, were down 12.8% year-on-year in April, at 5.53 million tons or 1.35 million bpd. Customs recorded no imports from Iran and Venezuela in April. Below are the details of imports from key suppliers, volume in million metric tons.
Nigeria's Trans Niger oil pipeline bursts, spills crude, rights group says (Reuters) - Nigeria's Trans Niger Pipeline, a major oil artery transporting crude from onshore oilfields to the Bonny export terminal, burst and spilled oil into the local B-Dere community in Ogoniland, an environmental rights group said on Thursday. This is the second incident affecting the Trans Niger Pipeline in two months. In March, the pipeline was shut after a blast that caused a fire. Nnimmo Bassey, executive director of Health of Mother Earth Foundation, said the spill, which occurred on May 6, was yet to be stopped, adding that the slow response showed a lack of care for the people and was "unconscionable." "We are in a disaster zone and further disasters can erupt from even an accidental spark of fire," he said. "The fact that this spill that happened a week ago is yet to be stopped sends a very strong point to why the government should focus on cleaning up Ogoniland and not seek to open new oil wells. The old wells should be shut down, and decommissioned." Ogoniland, one of Africa's earliest crude oil producing areas, has been dealing with oil pollution for decades, but its profits have often flowed to the big oil companies and to Nigerian state coffers. Local residents have long complained of toxic waste and little compensation. Nigerian oil consortium Renaissance Group, which now owns Shell's former onshore subsidiary that operates the pipeline, confirmed the explosion and said a team of investigators has been dispatched to determine the cause of the spill. The Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP), with a capacity of around 450,000 barrels per day, is one of two conduits that export Bonny Light crude from Nigeria, Africa's biggest oil producer. It was not immediately clear whether the TNP was shut. TNP did not immediately provide a statement when asked for comment. A prolonged outage could, however, force its operators to declare force majeure on Bonny Light exports. Pipeline sabotage and crude theft are some of the major reasons that forced oil majors like Shell, Exxon Mobil, Total and Eni to sell their onshore and shallow-water fields in Nigeria to concentrate on deep-water operations./p>
Nigeria's Renaissance reports oil spill from illegal pipeline connection (Reuters) - Nigeria's Renaissance Africa Energy Co. Ltd has confirmed an illegal connection on its Okordia-Rumuekpe pipeline at Oshika community in Nigeria's coastal Rivers state caused a spill, the independent oil producer said on Monday. The company was immediately isolating the pipeline and stopping production to minimize potential environmental impact, a spokesperson said in a statement. It has informed government regulators and is coordinating a mandatory joint investigation. This probe, involving government and local community representatives, will determine the cause and impact of the incident, the company said. Monday's oil spill marks the second incident this month on the Okordia-Rumuekpe pipeline and the third across Renaissance's operations. Last Friday, the company, which now owns former Shell Nigeria onshore assets, halted production on a line feeding the Trans Niger oil pipeline, a crucial artery transporting crude from onshore fields to the Bonny export terminal, following an operational incident.
Oil spill forces Renaissance to halt production, investigate cause -Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited has confirmed an illegal connection on its Okordia-Rumuekpe pipeline at Oshika community in Rivers State, causing an oil spill. According to the indigenous oil producer on Monday, the company was immediately isolating the pipeline and stopping production to minimise potential environmental impact. In a statement released by the company, it disclosed it has informed government regulators and is coordinating a mandatory joint investigation. “This probe, involving the government and local community representatives, will determine the cause and impact of the incident”, the company said. According to a Reuters report, Monday’s oil spill marks the second incident this month on the Okordia-Rumuekpe pipeline and the third across Renaissance’s operations. Last Friday, the company, which now owns former Shell Nigeria onshore assets, halted production on a line feeding the Trans Niger oil pipeline, a crucial artery transporting crude from onshore fields to the Bonny export terminal, following an operational incident. There are concerns that the repeated attacks on Renaissance pipelines may impact oil output negatively.
Petrobras Plans Return to Nigeria’s Oil Sector with Focus on Deepwater Exploration “Latest Naira Dollar Rate News – – Brazil’s state-controlled oil giant, Petrobras, is set to re-enter Nigeria’s oil industry, reversing its 2020 divestment move, with a fresh focus on acquiring frontier deepwater acreage. This development signals a renewed commitment by the company to expand its international portfolio and deepen ties with Nigeria’s energy sector. The announcement came during an inter-ministerial review meeting at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima, as Nigeria prepares for the second Nigeria–Brazil Strategic Dialogue Mechanism (SDM) session scheduled for June 2025. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Shettima credited the Tinubu administration’s economic reforms for revitalising Petrobras’ interest in Nigeria. He said, “As the economic reforms take root, Petrobras, which previously wound down its operations at the Agbami Field, is now actively engaging with Nigerian authorities to enhance bilateral cooperation.” Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister Yusuf Tuggar, who attended the meeting, confirmed Petrobras’ eagerness to acquire new deepwater acreage. “Petrobras is no longer active in Nigeria, but they are very keen on returning. They want frontier acreage in deep waters,” he stated. Petrobras first entered Nigeria in 1998, securing indirect stakes in major offshore projects such as the Agbami Field (8% stake), and the Akpo and Egina Fields (16% stake), which are operated by Chevron and TotalEnergies respectively. These assets collectively produced hundreds of thousands of barrels per day at their peak. However, in 2020, Petrobras exited Nigeria by selling its 50% stake in Petrobras Oil & Gas B.V. (POGBV), its Nigerian joint venture, as part of a global strategy to streamline operations and prioritise domestic investments. Now, the company’s renewed interest aligns with Nigeria’s broader aim to deepen economic cooperation with Brazil and attract investments into its upstream oil sector. This move also follows Petrobras’ expressed intent earlier this year to acquire stakes in African oil assets previously held by global majors including ExxonMobil, Shell, and TotalEnergies. Vice President Shettima emphasised that the upcoming Nigeria–Brazil SDM will provide a platform to formalise sector-specific Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) and boost investment flows between the two countries. The renewed partnership underscores Nigeria’s ongoing efforts to strengthen energy sector reforms, improve investor confidence, and increase oil production capacity through frontier deepwater exploration.
Guyana Passes Bill to Hold Offshore Operators Responsible for Oil Spills -Guyana’s National Assembly on Friday passed a major piece of environmental legislation, making companies and offshore operators responsible for damages arising from oil spills. With offshore oil production expanding in Guyanese waters, the bill hopes to create national environmental safeguards to defend against the effects of oil pollution. President Irfaan Ali is expected to sign the bill into law soon. “Guyana, as a major oil-producing nation, must establish a clear authority for oversight, aligning with best practices and ensuring all operators bear full responsibility for environmental protection,” said Mark Phillips, Guyana’s Prime Minister. Some of the notable provisions of the bill include mandatory financial assurance by companies engaged in oil exploration and production. This financial guarantee will cover potential oil spills, ensuring that funds are promptly available for clean-up efforts. There will be penalties for non-compliance, including suspension of licenses. The legislation designates the Civil Defense Commission (CDC) as the national authority responsible for coordinating response efforts and mitigating the impact of any spill. CDC will also oversee routine inspections and audits to identify and fix potential risks. According to the finance ministry, Guyana’s oil sector expanded 58 percent in 2024. This growth saw Guyana become the fifth largest crude exporter in Latin America after Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela and Colombia. Oil production in Guyana’s first offshore block is controlled by an Exxon Mobil-led consortium. The group produced an average of 616,000 barrels per day (bpd) last year from three operational FPSOs in the massive Stabroek block. This output is set to rise to around 940,000 bpd later this year with a fourth FPSO, which was built by SBM Offshore and arrived in Guyanese waters last month. The FPSO, One Guyana, has a capacity of 250,000 bpd. The backers of the oil spill legislation in parliament argued that the meteoric rise of Guyana’s oil sector ought to be balanced with the tightening of environmental protection laws.
Kazakhstan Defies OPEC+ Once Again --Kazakhstan’s oil production rose 2% in May, defying yet another OPEC+ quota and testing the limits of Saudi Arabia’s patience with overproducers. According to an industry source cited by Reuters, the country pumped an average of 1.86 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude in the first 19 days of May—well above its OPEC+ target of 1.486 million bpd. The increase comes after Kazakhstan’s energy ministry said earlier this month that there would be no cut to its crude and condensate levels—a cut which would be necessary to comply with its OPEC+ obligations. But the ministry insists production will not rise further this year, citing that the giant Tengiz field, operated by Chevron and ExxonMobil, has now hit its planned output level. This isn’t Kazakhstan’s first rodeo when it comes to overproducing. In March, the country hit a record 2.17 million bpd of combined crude and condensate output—much of it thanks to Chevron’s 260,000-bpd expansion at Tengiz. April output dropped slightly but still breached the quota. And now May’s rise adds fuel to the fire just as OPEC+ members like Saudi Arabia have begun loosening their own taps, partly to punish noncompliant producers with lower prices.Kazakhstan has promised to “compensate” by shaving 1.3 million barrels from cumulative output by 2026. But with Western oil majors firmly in control of Kazakhstan’s biggest fields, that promise is more theoretical than enforceable. Chevron’s CEO has flatly stated the company does not engage in OPEC+ coordination.Meanwhile, higher volumes haven’t translated to higher revenues. With oil prices hovering near multi-year lows, Kazakhstan’s National Oil Fund revenues are down 43% year-on-year, and analysts warn more withdrawals may be needed this fall to plug budget gaps.Kazakhstan is pumping hard, promising later, and betting that nobody really wants to be the one to pull the plug on Tengiz.
China Looks To Tighten Its Grip On This Key Middle Eastern Oil Hub - The United Arab Emirates (UAE) holds much greater geopolitical significance to both China and the U.S. than might be inferred from either its size or its current crude oil production of just under 3 million barrels per day (bpd). This is why any major new deals signed with it by either side are so thoroughly scrutinised by the other, and why both continue to leverage whatever economic means they can to attempt to increase their influence across the collection of emirates. The very recent five-year sales and purchase agreement signed between China’s state-owned oil and gas company Zhenhua Oil and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) for around 800,000 metric tonnes a year of liquefied natural gas (LNG) starting in 2026 is the latest deal to catch the U.S.’s attention, a senior Washington-based legal source who works closely with the Office of Foreign Assets Control told OilPrice.com last week. “Chinese LNG deals in the Middle East are always of interest to us, and so is whatever Zhenhua Oil is up to in the region,” he said. It is the UAE’s geographical position next to Saudi Arabia and Oman with coastlines in both the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman that is one reason for its oversized geopolitical importance. This makes it an ideal energy hub between the West and the East, supported further by its plethora of ports and storage facilities spread across the seven constituent emirates of Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm Al Quwain. Fujairah is particularly well-positioned to offer alternative oil transit options that might come from supply disruptions from Iran and its regional proxies, especially the Houthis. This is due to its location both outside the Persian Gulf and a healthy 160 kilometres from the politically ultra-sensitive Strait of Hormuz, through which around 30% of the world’s oil has historically transited. This is a key reason why China made the UAE a focus of the Middle Eastern section of its multi-generational power-grab project, the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ (BRI), back when it was launched in 2013 by President Xi Jinping. Through its ‘Iran-China 25-Year Comprehensive Cooperation Agreement’, first revealed anywhere in the world in my 3 September 2019 article on the subject and as analysed in full in my latest book on the new global oil market order, Beijing exercises enormous influence over what happens in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz and wants to keep it that way. Through other similar deals in the region, China also has a hold over the Bab al-Mandab Strait, through which crude oil is shipped upwards through the Red Sea towards the Suez Canal before moving into the Mediterranean and then westwards. In energy terms, UAE also offers rare LNG capabilities in the region, with its Das Island liquefaction and export terminal and the ongoing expansion of its LNG capacity through the Ruwais LNG project. In the U.S.’s eyes, China’s recent history in the LNG sector is most notably linked to its almost supernaturally prescient flurry of deal-making in the 12 months that preceded Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. In that case, Beijing’s attention was focused on Qatar, as analysed in full in my latest book. After that, LNG became the de factoemergency energy supply of the world, as it does not require the costly and time-consuming infrastructure build-out needed to move gas or oil through pipelines and can simply be bought fast in the spot market and shipped quickly to wherever it is needed. Following a long period of frank discussions between the team of then-U.S. President Joe Biden and Qatar’s leadership, China found the easy relationship that it had enjoyed with Doha in the run-up to the invasion of Ukraine became more difficult. Nonetheless, Washington knows that in the event of another similar scenario – a larger country looking to ‘repatriate’ a smaller breakaway state, such as Taiwan – LNG will again be the go-to form of emergency energy. The presence of Zhenhua Oil in the deal -- its first long-term LNG supply contract -- also does not sit well with the U.S. Established in 2003, it is the oil exploration and production subsidiary of Chinese state-owned defence contractor Norinco and is active across several geopolitically ultra-sensitive countries including Myanmar, Egypt, and Iraq. It is apposite to note in this regard that oil and gas developments in a foreign country legally allow the companies undertaking those investments to safeguard them by whatever means they deem necessary, including by the stationing of tens, hundreds, or thousands of heavily-armed security personnel around the sites. Indeed, it was Zhenhua that on 2 January 2021 made a multi-billion-dollar deal with Iraq’s Federal Government in Baghdad to prepay for four million barrels every month for five years to be delivered to China by Iraq’s State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO). This was exactly the same strategy that Russia used to take over Iraq’s oil industry in its northern semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan in 2017, as also detailed in my latest book. So extraordinarily obviously dangerous to U.S. interests in the Middle East and elsewhere was this deal seen by Washington at the time that it eventually succeeded in forcing the Iraqis to suspend the arrangement. Underlying all of this is that Washington’s recent history with the UAE has been chequered to say the least. In Donald Trump’s first term as U.S. president, it had played an instrumental part in his vision for a new relationship architecture between the U.S. and the Middle East. This was to have been centred on a series of relationship normalisation deals signed between the Arab countries and Israel, with the U.S. as the key broker, and the UAE became the first major Arab state to sign such an agreement on 13 August 2020. The emirate was also to have played a key role in securing India as the regional counterpoint to China’s increasing dominance in the Asia Pacific region. Washington believed that a then-recent clash between Indian and Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley might mark a new push back strategy from India against China’s policy of seeking to increase its economic and military alliances through the BRI. The U.S. believed that this military assertiveness might also be echoed in India’s economic desire to finally make substantive progress on its ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy as an alternative to the BRI programme. Additionally propitious for Washington in this regard was that India’s rapid economic development was expected to drive a huge expansion in its demand for oil and gas. Indeed, at the time, the International Energy Agency predicted that India would make up the biggest share of energy demand growth at 25% over the next two decades. Peculiarly to many perhaps, the UA.E. had a uniquely close relationship with India in the field of energy, as also detailed in my latest book. That said, this positive-looking relationship between the U.S. and the UAE began to unravel after Trump left office. In the Christmas period of 2021, U.S. intelligence sources identified that China had been building a secret military facility in and around the big UAE port of Khalifa. Based on classified satellite imagery and human intelligence data, U.S. officials stated that China had been working for several months “to establish a military foothold in the UAE.” Just after Russia invaded Ukraine, the UAE’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan declined repeated requests from Washington to take a telephone call from then-President Joe Biden who wanted to ask the UAE for help in bringing energy prices down to help ease spiralling inflation in the West. And early February 2024 saw the UAE inform the U.S. that it would no longer allow its warplanes and drones based at the Al Dhafra air base to carry out strikes in Yemen and Iraq without notifying Emirati officials ahead of time. This prompted Washington to move its key fighting air assets to nearby Qatar. However, as it stands, it is extremely difficult to imagine that Sheikh al Nahyan would decline a telephone call from Donald Trump. Moreover, the U.S. still has a presence on the ground in the UAE that it can leverage, most recently in the form of a strategic partnership agreed between ExxonMobil and ADNOC to establish world’s largest low-carbon hydrogen facility. Additionally, Washington believes that further deals could be available to it in the UAE’s US$13 billion expansion programme of its gas operations over the next five years. “This is linked to a big push to boost its LNG capacity, and they’ve asked India to invest in a big new plant [in Ruwais] connected to this, so we might be able to work something there as well,” the Washington source concluded.
Oil slips amid China data; US-Iran talks in focus --Oil prices edged down on Monday as disappointing Chinese economic data and uncertainty surrounding United States-Iran nuclear negotiations raised concerns over global oil demand. By 3:20 pm AEST (5:20 am GMT), Brent crude futures slipped by $0.31, or 0.5%, to $65.10 per barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for July delivery also declined by $0.31, or 0.5%, to $61.66 per barrel. Both benchmarks posted gains of over 1% last week after the U.S. and China - two of the world's largest oil consumers - agreed to a 90-day truce in their trade dispute, during which both sides would significantly reduce tariffs. However, investor optimism was tempered by weaker-than-expected Chinese retail sales, which rose just 5.1% in April from a year earlier, falling short of the 5.5% forecast. Industrial production, by contrast, slightly exceeded expectations with a 6.1% year-on-year increase, compared to projections of a 5.5% gain. Geopolitical tensions added another layer of uncertainty. Talks between the U.S. and Iran continued to hang in the balance, with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff stating Sunday that any potential agreement must prohibit Iran from enriching uranium. Tehran quickly criticised the demand, raising doubts about progress.
Oil Prices Drop as U.S. Loses Top AAA Rating - Oil prices fell on Monday after the last of the big three credit rating agencies, Moody’s, downgraded its rating on the United States from AAA to Aa1, reigniting concerns about America’s economy and bond markets. Moody’s Ratings on Friday downgradedthe long-term issuer and senior unsecured ratings of the U.S. to Aa1 from Aaa and changed the outlook to stable from negative. The one-notch downgrade “reflects the increase over more than a decade in government debt and interest payment ratios to levels that are significantly higher than similarly rated sovereigns,” said Moody’s, which was the last agency to hold the top triple A rating on the U.S. As a result of the downgrade, market sentiment soured on Monday with a broad pullback from U.S. assets and riskier assets including crude oil.As of 7:27 a.m. EDT on Monday, the U.S. benchmark, WTI Crude, was down by 1.23% at $ 61.75, while the international benchmark, Brent Crude, traded 1.19% lower at $64.64 per barrel. “Moody's downgrade, adding renewed focus on US fiscal debt problems, and Scott Bessent’s warning that some tariffs may return to "Liberation Day" levels, have hurt risk sentiment in early Monday trading with USD and crude oil falling,” Ole Hansen, Head of Commodity Strategy at Saxo Bank, commented on Monday. “Crude's rollercoaster ride to nowhere continues within an established wide range as traders' focus continues to alternate between ample supply and tariff-related demand worries, and the prospect of lower production from high-cost producers, US-Iran talks, and other geopolitical tensions,” Saxo Bank said in a note today. The U.S.-Iran nuclear talks and the expected Trump-Putin call later on Monday are also drawing the attention of the oil market early this week. The U.S.-Iran talks on a nuclear deal “will lead nowhere” if the United States continues to insist that Iran halt uranium enrichment, Majid TakhtRavanchi, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs, said on Monday, after U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff toldABC News this weekend that Iran’s enrichment activity is “one very, very clear red line” for the United States.
Oil settles up as signs of US-Iran impasse counter economic concerns (Reuters) - Oil prices settled marginally higher on Monday as signs of a breakdown in U.S. talks with Iran over its nuclear program offset a Moody's downgrade of the U.S. sovereign credit rating. Brent crude futures settled 13 cents higher at $65.54 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude closed up 20 cents at $62.69 a barrel. Both contracts rose more than 1% last week. Nuclear talks will lead nowhere if Washington insists that Tehran stop its uranium enrichment activity, Iranian state media quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi as saying on Monday. That remark dented hopes for an agreement, which would have paved the way for the easing of U.S. sanctions and allowed Iran to raise its oil exports by 300,000 to 400,000 barrels per day, StoneX analyst Alex Hodes said. "That potential increase looks very unlikely now." The U.S. sovereign credit downgrade by Moody's raised questions about the economic health of the world's largest oil consuming nation. Pressure also came from news of slowing industrial output growth and retail sales in China, the top oil importer. Additional pressure came from U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's comments that President Donald Trump will impose tariffs at the rate he threatened last month on trading partners that do not negotiate in "good faith." Oil prices are likely to remain volatile for the foreseeable future as investors look for updates on the tariffs, U.S.-Iran negotiations, and talks to end the war in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin, after a call with Trump on Monday, said Moscow was ready to work with Ukraine on a memorandum about a future peace accord and that efforts to end the war were on the right track. An end to the Ukraine war would pave the way for the lifting of some Western sanctions against Moscow's oil sales, potentially boosting global supply and adding more pressure to oil prices.
Global Oil Prices Remain Stable... Oil prices saw little change on Tuesday as traders weighed the potential collapse of U.S.-Iran nuclear talks against strong physical demand in Asia for the first month of the year and cautious macroeconomic expectations regarding China. According to Bloomberg Economics, Brent crude futures fell by 6 cents to $65.48 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose by 1 cent to $62.70 per barrel. Prices were supported by expectations of short-term demand growth, fueled by solid refining margins in Asia. Refining margins in Singapore—a key regional benchmark—averaged over $6 per barrel for May, up from an April average of $4.40 per barrel, according to data from the London Stock Exchange. However, Moody’s downgrade of the U.S. sovereign credit rating has weakened economic forecasts for the world’s largest energy consumer, contributing to a decline in oil prices.
Oil Market Reaction to Global Economic Concerns - On its last day as the spot contract, the June WTI contract posted an inside trading day as traders assessed the potential risks stemming from the Ukraine-Russia peace talks and U.S.-Iran nuclear negotiations. Following a call with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said Russia and Ukraine would resume direct talks but hinted that the U.S. may step back from its mediator role. Meanwhile, Iranian officials said its ability to enrich uranium was non-negotiable, casting doubts over the prospects of a deal that could lift sanctions and increase Iranian oil output. The crude market posted the day’s trading range by mid-morning as it traded to a high of $63.17 in overnight trading and a low of $62.19 early in the session with no breakthroughs seen in talks to end Russia’s war in Ukraine and the U.S.-Iran negotiations. The June WTI contract went off the board down 13 cents at $62.56, while the July WTI contract ended the session down 11 cents at $62.03. The July Brent contract settled down 16 cents at $65.38. The product markets ended the session in positive territory, with the heating oil market settling up 12 points at $2.1289 and the RB market settling up 1.33 cents at $2.1521. Mehr news reported that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei voiced doubts over whether nuclear talks with the United States will lead to an agreement, as Iran reviews a proposal to hold a fifth round of negotiations. Separately, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, said Iran received and is reviewing a proposal for a fifth round of nuclear talks with the United States. An Iranian official told Reuters that the next round of talks could take place over the weekend in Rome, although this remains to be confirmed. On Tuesday, the European Union and Britain announced new sanctions against Russia without waiting for the United States to join them, a day after President Donald Trump spoke to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin without winning a promise for a ceasefire in Ukraine. The EU and London said their new measures would zero in on Moscow’s “shadow fleet” of oil tankers and financial companies that have helped it avoid the impact of other sanctions imposed over the war. The EIA said an expected stronger hurricane season than average raises the risk of weather-related production outages in the U.S. oil industry. It said the concentration of U.S. oil production and refineries along the U.S. Gulf Coast means more than 1 million bpd of U.S. refining capacity, which is about 5% of daily U.S. petroleum consumption, is likely to be shut in anticipation of a major storm. Bloomberg News reported that President Donald Trump’s administration is set to extend Chevron’s deadline to halt its operations in Venezuela by another 60 days as the U.S. continues negotiations with President Nicolas Maduro’s government over the fate of U.S. detainees in the country.
Oil prices little changed on geopolitical uncertainty, weak China demand signals (Reuters) - Oil prices were little changed on Tuesday due to uncertainty in U.S.-Iran negotiations and Russia-Ukraine peace talks, while new government data delivered a cautious outlook for top crude-importer China's economy. Brent futures slid 16 cents, or 0.2%, to settle at $65.38 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude slid 13 cents, or 0.2%, to settle at $62.56. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said U.S. demands that Tehran stop enriching uranium are "excessive and outrageous," voicing doubts whether talks on a new nuclear deal will succeed. A deal between Iran and the U.S. would allow Iran to raise oil exports by 300,000 to 400,000 barrels per day if sanctions were eased, StoneX analyst Alex Hodes said. Iran was the third-biggest crude producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) group in 2024 behind Saudi Arabia and Iraq, according to U.S. federal energy data. The European Union and Britain announced new sanctions against Russia without waiting for the U.S. to join them, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin without winning a promise for a ceasefire in Ukraine. Ukraine wants the Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies to reduce their price cap on Russian seaborne oil to $30 per barrel. The current G7 cap, imposed over Russia's war in Ukraine, is $60. "An immediate resolution of the Russia/Ukraine war does, however, look unlikely. So while it could lead to more oil from Russia into the market, it is out in time and uncertain as Russia is still bound by its obligation to OPEC+," said Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst at SEB, a Nordic bank. An agreement to end the war between Russia and Ukraine could allow Moscow to export more oil to the world. Russia is a member of the OPEC+ group of countries, which includes OPEC and other producers. Russia was the world's second-biggest crude producer behind the U.S. in 2024, according to U.S. federal energy data. CHINESE DATA At least seven Federal Reserve officials are scheduled to speak on Tuesday. Traders currently expect the U.S. central bank to deliver at least two 25-basis-point interest rate cuts in 2025, with the first expected in September, according to data compiled by financial services firm LSEG. Central banks like the Fed use interest rates to keep price inflation in check. Lower interest rates can spur economic growth and demand for oil by reducing consumer borrowing costs. Data showing decelerating industrial output growth and retail sales in China piled more pressure on oil prices, with analysts expecting a slowdown in fuel demand from the world's top oil importer. The analysis, however, did not reflect a 90-day pause on tariffs between the U.S. and China, with Goldman Sachs pointing to a pickup in China trade flows late on Monday. In Germany, the biggest economy in Europe, Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil promised swift measures to boost investment amid global trade uncertainty.
Oil prices rise on fears of Israeli strike on Iran - Oil prices advanced more than 1% on Wednesday as heightened geopolitical tensions in the Middle East raised concerns about potential supply disruptions. The gains followed reports that Israel may be preparing to launch a strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, a move that could escalate regional instability.By 3 pm AEST (5 am GMT) Brent crude futures for July delivery added $1.08 or 1.7% to $66.46 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for July gained $1.10 or 1.8% to $63.13 per barrel. CNN reported on Tuesday that new U.S. intelligence indicated Israel was preparing for a possible attack on Iran's nuclear infrastructure. Citing multiple American officials, the report noted that no final decision had yet been made by Israeli leadership.The prospect of military action has added a layer of uncertainty to an already volatile market, particularly given Iran's role as the third-largest oil producer in the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). An Israeli strike could disrupt Iranian oil exports and risk retaliatory measures, including potential closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint for global oil shipments. Crude from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq and the UAE passes through the Strait en route to global markets.ANZ analysts commented in a note to clients: "Much of the focus has been on talks between the U.S. and Iran. The country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamanei expressed scepticism over discussions with the U.S. He said he doesn’t think negotiations will succeed and urged the Trump administration to stop talking nonsense. The U.S. and Iran have held several rounds of discussions this year over Tehran's nuclear ambitions, with the Trump administration intensifying sanctions on Iranian crude exports in a bid to pressure the regime. Despite the talks, statements from both the U.S. and Ayatollah Khamenei on Tuesday signalled that the two sides remain far from resolving their differences.On the data front, American Petroleum Institute (API) suggested a mixed picture for U.S. oil supply. Crude oil inventories rose by 2.5 million barrels for the week ending 16 May, well ahead of an expected 1.85 million barrel draw.Traders now focus on official inventory data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), expected later Wednesday.
WTI Erases Israel-Iran Spike As Crude & Gasoline Stocks See Unexpected Build Oil prices are modestly higher ahead of this morning's official energy inventory and supply data, but have come dramatically back off the overnight spike highs driven by CNN headlines suggesting Israel is ready to strike Iranian nuclear enrichment sites.“Either the impact on the oil market in case of an attack is assumed to be low, or the probability for an attack is assumed to be low,” Wednesday’s gain “is not much when we are talking bombs in the Middle East major oil producing region.”Overnight also saw API report another sizable crude inventory build, while products drewdown (again)...API
- Crude +2.5mm
- Cushing -443k
- Gasoline -3.24mm
- Distillates -1.4mm
DOE:
- Crude +1.33mm
- Cushing -457k
- Gasoline +816k - biggest build since January
- Distillates +579k
A smaller than expected crude build was offset by an unexpected build in Gasoline stocks according to the official DOE data...Including a 843k barrel addition to SPR, total US crude stocks rose for the second week in a row... US Crude production was up very modestly last week - hovering just below record highs - while the rig count continues to reject Trump's 'Drill, baby, drill' narrative...
EIA Reports Crude, Product Builds All Around -Crude oil inventories in the United States saw an increase of 1.3 million barrels during the week ending May 16, according to new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration released on Wednesday. Crude oil prices were trading up prior to the crude data release by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. On Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a build in US crude oil inventories of 2.499 million barrels in U.S. crude oil inventories with draws in gasoline and distillate stocks. At 10:14 am in New York, the Brent benchmark was trading up $0.31 per barrel (+.47%) at $65.69—a roughly $0.80 drop week over week. WTI was trading up $0.37 (+0.60%) on the day at $62.40 per barrel, a $1 per barrel increase week over week. For total motor gasoline, the EIA estimated that inventories increased by 800,000 barrels for the week to May 16, with daily production increasing to an average 9.6 million barrels. This compares with an inventory decrease of 1 million barrels for the previous week and an average daily production of 9.4 million barrels. For middle distillates, the EIA estimated an increase of 600,000 barrels, with production increasing to 4.7 million barrels daily. This compares to an inventory dip of 3.2 million barrels in the week prior, when production stood at an average of 4.6 million barrels daily. Distillate inventories are now 16% below the five-year average for this time of year. Total products supplied over the last four weeks were down week over week, averaging 19.6 million barrels per day—a 2.8% decrease from this time last year. Distillate products supplied over the last four weeks are up 4.2% compared to this time last year, while gasoline products supplied were up 1% from the same period last year.
Oil prices fall on news that US-Iran will hold nuclear talks(Reuters) - Oil prices settled lower on Wednesday, after Oman's foreign minister said a fresh round of nuclear talks between Iran and the U.S. would take place later this week. Prices had gained earlier in the session on a CNN report on Tuesday that U.S. intelligence suggests Israel is preparing to strike Iranian nuclear facilities. CNN cited multiple U.S. officials and added that it was not clear whether Israeli leaders have made a final decision. Brent futures settled down 47 cents, or 0.7%, to $64.91 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 46 cents, or 0.7%, to $61.57. Iran is the third-largest producer among members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and an Israeli attack could upset flows from the country. "Now we're going for another round of peace talks so that offset that premium we put in," Still, there are concerns Iran could retaliate by blocking oil tanker flows through the Strait of Hormuz, through which Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates export crude oil and fuel. "If tensions were to escalate, we're likely looking at temporary trade shifts or a supply hit of around 500,000 barrels a day - something OPEC+ could offset fairly quickly," Rystad Energy analyst Priya Walia said. The U.S. and Iran have held several rounds of talks this year over Iran's nuclear programme while U.S. President Donald Trump has revived a campaign of stronger sanctions on Iranian crude exports. Kazakhstan's oil production, meanwhile, has risen by 2% in May, an industry source said on Tuesday, defying OPEC+ pressure to reduce output. Oil prices also fell on Wednesday after bearish U.S. government data on domestic crude, gasoline and distillate inventories, which all posted surprise builds last week. Crude inventories rose by 1.3 million barrels, while gasoline stocks rose by about 800,000 barrels and distillate stockpiles added about 600,000 barrels, data from the Energy Information Administration showed.
Oil Prices Slide on US-Iran Deal Hopes and OPEC+ Production Gains -Oil prices fell over 1% in early Thursday trading as markets reacted to two significant developments: continued US-Iran nuclear negotiations that could potentially ease sanctions and lift Iranian oil exports, and reports that OPEC+ is considering increasing production output for July. West Texas Intermediate crude dropped to $60.65 per barrel while Brent crude declined to around $63.45. The fifth round of Iran-US nuclear talks is scheduled to take place in Rome on Friday, with Oman acting as a mediator between the two sides. According to Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei, Tehran has agreed to a proposal pitched by Oman, though significant obstacles remain. The Iranian negotiating team remains committed to defending “the rights and interests of the Iranian people, particularly in securing the peaceful use of nuclear energy, including uranium enrichment,” and seeks the lifting of what it terms “unjust sanctions.” However, Tehran’s uranium enrichment program remains the primary sticking point between Iran and the US, with Washington insisting that Tehran fully cease its enrichment activities. The potential for sanctions relief has significant implications for global oil markets. Iran is currently exporting crude oil at limited volumes due to US sanctions, but could significantly ramp up its exports if restrictions are eased. This development aligns with production increases already underway in several OPEC+ member states, raising concerns over potential oversupply in global oil markets and putting downward pressure on prices. Mixed signals surrounding the talks, coupled with reports of a potential Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, are adding to market uncertainty and investor caution. The market is pricing in the possibility that successful negotiations could bring substantial Iranian crude back to global markets relatively quickly. As of 5:20 AM EDT on May 22, 2025, WTI crude futures were trading at $60.65 per barrel, down $0.92 or 1.49% from the previous settlement price of $61.57. Brent crude fell by a similar margin to $63.94, down $0.97 or 1.49%. The decline extends recent weakness, with WTI down 15.61% year-to-date and 21.20% over the past year. Adding to supply concerns, Bloomberg News reported that OPEC+ is discussing whether to make another large output increase at their June 1 meeting. An increase of 411,000 barrels per day for July is among the options under discussion, according to delegates, though no final agreement has been reached. The potential production increase comes as US inventory data showed mixed signals about demand. Commercial crude oil inventories increased by 0.3% during the week ending May 16, rising by around 1.3 million barrels to 443.2 million barrels – higher than market predictions of a 1.8 million barrel decrease. This surprise stock build, along with increases in gasoline inventories of around 800,000 barrels, suggests sluggish demand in the world’s largest oil consumer.
OPEC+ Discussing a Production Increase for July -The oil market on Thursday traded lower and settled down following a report that OPEC+ is discussing a production increase for July. The market posted the day’s trading range by early this morning, trading to a high of $61.75 before it sold off sharply after Bloomberg News reported that OPEC+ producers are discussing whether to make another large output increase at their meeting on June 1st. The crude market sold off to a low of $60.25 as it retraced more than 38% of its move from a low of $54.95 to a high of $64.19. The market later settled in a sideways trading range during the remainder of the session. The July WTI contract settled down 37 cents at $61.20 and the July Brent contract settled down 47 cents at $64.44. The product markets ended the session lower, with the heating oil market settling down 2.16 cents at $2.1175 and the RB market settling down 1.86 cents at $2.1312. The White House said U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed a potential deal with Iran in a call on Thursday, adding that President Trump believes things are moving in the right direction.Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Israel will receive a “devastating and decisive response” if it attacks Iran, days after CNN reported U.S. intelligence suggesting Israel was preparing to strike Iranian nuclear facilities. Iran and the U.S. will hold a fifth round of nuclear talks on Friday in Rome. It was not clear whether Israeli leaders have made a final decision on military action and there was disagreement within the U.S. government about whether the Israelis would ultimately decide to attack. On Tuesday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said U.S. demands that Tehran stop enriching uranium are “excessive and outrageous”.Separately, Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araqchi, said the U.S. will bear legal responsibility in the event of an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. He said Iran would view the U.S. as a “participant” in any such attack and Iran would have to adopt “special measures” to protect its nuclear sites and material if threats continued and added that the IAEA would be subsequently informed of such steps.The Chinese Mission to the European Union said that it had filed a complaint with the EU over its Russia-related sanctions on Chinese firms. Bloomberg News reported that OPEC+ members are discussing whether to agree on another large production increase at their meeting on June 1. An output hike of 411,000 bpd for July is among the options under discussion, although no final agreement has yet been reached. U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, said Chevron’s oil license in Venezuela will expire on Tuesday, May 27.
Oil prices settle down on potential further increase in OPEC+ output (Reuters) - Oil prices settled lower on Thursday as investors weighed a report that OPEC+ is discussing a production increase for July, stoking concerns that global supply could outpace demand growth. Brent futures settled down 47 cents, or 0.72%, to $64.44 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude settled down 37 cents, or 0.6%, at $61.20. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, known collectively as OPEC+, are discussing whether to make another large output increase at their meeting on June 1, Bloomberg News reported. An increase of 411,000 barrels per day for July is among the options under discussion, though no final agreement has been reached, the report said, citing delegates. "The OPEC+ speculation is the biggest factor today," said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital in New York. "This OPEC+ decision is going to be pretty weighty, and it is not helping that Kazakhstan did not come through last month," he added. Kazakhstan's oil production has risen by 2% in May, an industry source said on Tuesday. Reuters previously reported that the group planned to accelerate output increases and could bring back as much as 2.2 million bpd by November. OPEC+ has been in the process of unwinding production cuts, with additions to the market in May and June. "We're seeing the market reacting to evidence that OPEC is letting go of a strategy to defend price in favour of market share," said Harry Tchiliguirian at Onyx Capital Group. "It's a bit like taking off a Band-Aid; you do it in one fell swoop." RBC Capital analyst Helima Croft said in a note on Wednesday that a 411,000-bpd increase from July is the "most likely outcome" from the meeting, primarily from Saudi Arabia. "A key question will be whether the voluntary cut will be fully drawn down before the leaves turn brown in many parts of the world, in line with the original taper schedule," she said. Prices were already lower in the session after Energy Information Administration data released on Wednesday showed U.S. crude and fuel inventories showed surprise stock builds last week as crude imports hit a six-week high and gasoline and distillate demand slipped. Crude inventories rose by 1.3 million barrels to 443.2 million barrels in the week ended May 16, the EIA said. Analysts in a Reuters poll had expected a drawdown of 1.3 million barrels. The EIA's surprise stock builds will exert downward pressure on prices, particularly on WTI, said Emril Jamil at LSEG Oil Research, adding that this could further encourage more U.S. exports to Europe and Asia. Curbing losses on Thursday, U.S. oil company Chevron's (CVX.N), opens new tab license to operate in Venezuela will expire on May 27, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a post on his personal X account late on Wednesday. "This statement by Rubio could be a game changer. But these deadlines have been extended in the past, so maybe the market is just not convinced yet,"
Oil slides on Trump tariff threats and OPEC+ supply expectations | Cyprus Mail -Oil prices dropped by 1 per cent on Friday and were set for their first weekly decline in three weeks as US President Donald Trump recommended a 50 per cent tariff on the European Union and expectations rose that OPEC+ will increase crude output further in July. Brent crude futures fell 64 cents, or 1 per cent, to $63.80 a barrel by 1236 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down 64 cents, or 1.1 per cent, at $60.56. Prices were already down for a fourth consecutive session, pressured by the OPEC+ output expectations, before the tariff news left Brent on track to fall 2.4 per cent on the week and WTI set for a 3 per cent decline. President Trump said on Friday that he is recommending a straight 50 per cent tariff on goods from the EU starting on June 1, saying the bloc has been hard to deal with on trade. “The tariff threats versus the European Union, an important trading partner of the US, supports renewed economic slowdown concerns,” said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo. Meanwhile, the OPEC+ group comprising the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies led by Russia is holding meetings next week expected to yield another output increase of 411,000 barrels per day (bpd) for July. Reuters reported this month that the group could unwind the rest of its 2.2 million bpd voluntary production cut by the end of October, having already raised output targets by about 1 million bpd for April, May and June. The market is also focused on US-Iranian nuclear negotiations that could determine future supply of Iranian oil. The fifth round of talks will take place in Rome on Friday. “The growing conviction of OPEC+ sticking with the accelerated output increase throughout July, and the fact that the US-Iran nuclear talks are ongoing all add to the bearish sentiment,” said PVM oil analyst Tamas Varga. The supply tailwind offset jitters earlier in the week after a report said that Israel is making preparations to strike Iranian nuclear facilities, plus the announcement of new sanctions by the EU and Britain on Russia’s oil trade.
WTI Settles at $61.53 in Light Trade | Rigzone - Oil drifted higher in thin pre-holiday trading as investors’ conviction that the US and Iran can reach a nuclear deal waned while strong US data buoyed a shaky demand picture. West Texas Intermediate edged up by 0.5% to settle above $61 a barrel, with volumes trending lower ahead of Monday’s Memorial Day holiday. The US and Iran concluded a fifth round of nuclear talks in Rome that yielded “some but not conclusive progress,” according to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. A wrong turn in the negotiations, which have spurred criticism from several high-ranking Iranian officials, may lead to tighter sanctions, crimping flows from the OPEC member. Meanwhile, strong US economic data helped erase an earlier rout of nearly 2% after President Donald Trump said in a social media post that the European Union had been “very difficult to deal with” and that he would recommend a 50% tariff to be imposed on the bloc on June 1. The US dollar slumped to its lowest level since 2023, making commodities priced in the currency more attractive. Geopolitics have been a major focus for traders this week, with a report from CNN that US intelligence suggested Israel was making preparations to strike Iranian nuclear facilities driving brief gains earlier in the week. After that, Araghchi, Iran’s lead negotiator in talks with the US, said a deal was possible that would entail Tehran avoiding nuclear weapons, but not ditching uranium enrichment. Still, the outlook remains overall bearish. Crude has shed about 14% this year, hitting the lowest since 2021 last month, as OPEC+ loosened supply curbs at a faster-than-expected pace, just as the US-led tariff war posed headwinds for demand. Prices had recovered some ground as trade tensions between the US and China eased, but data this week also showed another increase in US commercial oil stockpiles, adding to concerns about a supply glut. “Bearish sentiment returned to the oil market this week,” said Jens Naervig Pedersen, a strategist at Danske Bank. “While another OPEC+ output hike is the main concern, progress in Iran nuclear talks, and the potential sanctions relief, and lack of progress in trade talks add to market woes.” A group of eight OPEC+ nations, including de facto leader Saudi Arabia, will hold a virtual meeting on June 1 to decide on July’s supply levels. A Bloomberg survey of traders and analysts showed most expected another surge. Elsewhere, European Commission economy chief Valdis Dombrovskis said it would be appropriate to lower the cap on Russian oil to $50 a barrel. The current $60 ceiling — meant to punish Moscow for its war against Ukraine, while keeping the oil flowing — isn’t hurting the producer given lower prices, he added. WTI for July delivery rose 0.5% to settle at $61.53 a barrel in New York. Brent for July settlement advanced 0.5% to settle at $64.78 a barrel.
Oil gains on short-covering, nuclear talks (Reuters) - Oil prices gained on Friday as U.S. buyers covered positions ahead of the three-day Memorial Day weekend amid worries over the latest round of nuclear talks between American and Iranian negotiators. Brent crude futures settled at $64.78 a barrel, up 34 cents, or 0.54%. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures finished at $61.53, up 33 cents, or 0.54%. "I think there is some short-covering going into this weekend," said Phil Flynn, senior analyst with Price Futures Group. The Memorial Day weekend kicks off the U.S. summer driving season, the period of highest demand for motor fuels. U.S. and Iranian negotiators met in Rome on Friday in another round of talks aimed at curtailing the Islamic Republic's nuclear program. Traders are afraid crude supplies could be interrupted if talks fail to reach a deal, Flynn said. "The talks are not looking good," he said. "If these are the last talks and there's no deal, it could give a green light to the Israelis to attack Iran." President Donald Trump said on Friday that he is recommending a straight 50% tariff on goods from the EU starting on June 1, saying the bloc has been hard to deal with on trade. "The oil market has been under pressure from two things," said Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates. "We await the impact of tariffs on oil demand and OPEC+ is expected to increase supply again this summer." OPEC+, comprising the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies led by Russia is holding meetings next week expected to yield another output increase of 411,000 barrels per day (bpd) for July. Reuters reported this month that the group could unwind the rest of its 2.2 million bpd voluntary production cut by the end of October, having already raised output targets by about 1 million bpd for April, May and June.
CNN: Israel Preparing Possible Strike on Iran's Nuclear Facilities - The US has obtained new intelligence that suggests Israel is preparing to launch an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, CNN reported on Tuesday.The report cited officials who said it was unclear if Israeli leaders had made a final decision, and the chances of an attack depend on the results of the negotiations between the Trump administration and Iran. One source told CNN that the “chance of an Israeli strike on an Iranian nuclear facility has gone up significantly in recent months” and the “prospect of a Trump-negotiated US-Iran deal that doesn’t remove all of Iran’s uranium makes the chance of a strike more likely.”Iranian officials have made clear that the idea of eliminating Iran’s uranium enrichment program is a non-starter, although US officials continue to make the demand.The CNN report acknowledged that Israel doesn’t have the capacity to destroy Iran’s nuclear program without support from the US. A senior US official said that the US was stepping up intelligence collection to be prepared to assist in an Israeli attack on Iran, but another source said it was unlikely Trump would support such a move at this time.An Israeli source said that Israel could launch an attack on its own if the US and Iran were to negotiate what it considers a “bad deal.”Another source said that it was more likely Israel would launch the strike during the negotiations to sabotage the chances of the agreement. “I think it’s more likely they strike to try and get the deal to fall apart if they think Trump is going to settle for a ‘bad deal,’” the source said. “The Israelis have not been shy about signaling that to us … both publicly and privately.”President Trump previously declined to back an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, opting instead for diplomacy. But he has conducted the negotiations under the threat that if a deal isn’t reached, the US will bomb Iran.
Israeli Strikes Kill Hundreds in Gaza as IDF Announces 'Extensive Ground Operations' - Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza in recent days as the Israeli military has launched a new phase of its assault on the Strip, dubbed “Gideon’s Chariots.”On Sunday, the IDF announced it was conducting “extensive ground operations” in northern and southern Gaza, and medical sources told Al Jazeera that at least 144 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza since dawn.The Palestinian news agency WAFA described overnight Israeli attacksas “one of the bloodiest nights since the beginning of the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza.” The news agency reported that at least 20 were killed and 100 were wounded by attacks on tents sheltering displaced Palestinians in the al-Mawasi area near Khan Younis.The purpose of Israel’s new offensive is to capture more territory and flatten every remaining building in Gaza with the goal of a full military occupation. Israeli officials have said another goal is to “concentrate” the Palestinian civilian population into a tiny area in southern Gaza, although a leaked Israeli military proposal suggests another plan could be in the works.Under the proposal, which was obtained by The Sunday Times, the IDF would force all civilians into three strips of land in the northern, central, and southern parts of Gaza. The civilian areas will be separated by four IDF-occupied military zones that civilians aren’t allowed to enter.The Times report said the Israeli military could carry out the plan if a ceasefire deal with Hamas is not reached in the coming days. According to Axios, US envoy Steve Witkoff presented a proposal for a 45 to 60-day ceasefire and the release of 10 Israeli captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.The proposal also involves Israel making a commitment to work toward a permanent ceasefire, but Israel has violated a similar deal before. Hamas has also maintained that it will not agree to a deal without an upfront commitment to a ceasefire. CNN reported that Hamas had agreed to release nine hostages in exchange for a two-month ceasefire, but the report was quickly denied by a Hamas official.
Netanyahu Announces Israel Will Allow a 'Basic' Amount of Food To Enter Gaza - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday that Israel would allow a “basic” amount of food to enter Gaza after a more than 70-day total blockade on the Palestinian territory.“On the recommendation of the IDF, and out of the operational need to enable the expansion of the intense fighting to defeat Hamas, Israel will introduce a basic amount of food to the population in order to ensure that a famine crisis does not develop in the Gaza Strip,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement, according to Drop Site News.Netanyahu said that a famine would “jeopardize” Israel’s new military campaign in Gaza, dubbed “Gideon’s Chariots,” which was launched in recent days as the Israeli military has significantly stepped up strikes on Gaza and expanded ground operations, killing hundreds of Palestinians.Netanyahu’s statement added that Israel “will work to deny Hamas’s ability to take control of the distribution of humanitarian aid to ensure that the aid does not reach Hamas terrorists.”According to the Israeli news site Ynet, Netanyahu told his security cabinet that the decision was necessary due to pressure from the US. In recent days, high-level US officials have expressed concern about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Israeli media also reported that aid will be distributed by international organizations, including the UN’s World Food Program and the US-based World Central Kitchen, before being done through a new US and Israeli-backed foundation, a plan the UN has condemned as not sufficient to bring real relief to Gaza’s civilian population.Both the WFP and WCK have recently shuttered operations in Gaza after running out of supplies due to the Israeli blockade. According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, 57 children have died of malnutrition since the total blockade was imposed on March 2.
Smotrich: Allowing 'Minimal' Aid Into Gaza Will Ensure Israel Can 'Destroy' the Strip - Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Monday that allowing “minimal” aid into Gaza will ensure Israel has continued support from its “friends” to continue with its goal of “destroying” the Palestinian territory.Smotrich’s comments came after more than 70 days of Israel’s total blockade on Gaza and a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would allow a “basic” amount of food to enter the territory, and the five aid trucks reportedly entered Gaza on Monday, the first trucks since March 2.Smotrich said allowing a minuscule amount of aid to enter Gaza will allow “for our friends in the world to continue to provide us with an international umbrella of protection against the Security Council and The Hague Tribunal, and for us to continue to fight, God willing, until victory.”Netanyahu made similar comments on Monday, saying that allowing “minimal” aid into Gaza was about maintaining support from the US. “Our best friends in the world – senators I know as strong supporters of Israel – have warned that they cannot support us if images of mass starvation emerge,” he said.“We must avoid famine, both for practical reasons and diplomatic ones. Without international backing, we won’t be able to complete the mission of victory,” the prime minister added.Last year, Smotrich said that it may be “moral and justified” for Israel to starve two million Palestinians to death in Gaza, but that the world wouldn’t let it happen.Smotrich said on Monday that in the coming days, a small amount of supplies will be delivered to “bakeries that distribute pitas to people and public kitchens that provide a daily ration of cooked food. Civilians in Gaza will receive a pita and a plate of food, and that is it.”Smotrich praised the Israeli military’s new offensive, dubbed Gideon’s Chariots, saying the IDF was now “destroying what is left of the Strip simply because everything there is one big city of terror.” He said once the civilian population is forced to move to southern Gaza, they will be expelled from Gaza “as part of President Trump’s plan.” Smotrich has been one of the leading proponents of the ethnic cleansing of Gaza within the Israeli government.Netanyahu said that Israel was engaged in “intense, large-scale combat in Gaza” to take “control of the entire territory.”Both Netanyahu and Smotrich said that aid wouldn’t reach Hamas. Israel is planning to establish a new aid mechanism that will involve private US contractors providing security for aid distribution points. The plan has been condemned by the UN and other aid agencies as insufficient and as a way to forcibly displace starving Palestinians by using aid as “bait.”
Israeli Strikes in Gaza Kill 125 Over 24 Hours Amid Ramped-Up IDF Offensive - Gaza’s Health Ministry said on Monday that at least 125 Palestinians were killed and 364 were wounded over the previous 24-hour period as the Israeli military expanded military operations in the Strip.The Health Ministry said that the bodies of 11 Palestinians who were killed in previous Israeli attacks were also recovered. “There are still a number of victims under the rubble and on the streets, and ambulance and civil defense crews cannot reach them,” the ministry wrote on Telegram.Heavy Israeli strikes hit the southernMedical sources told Al Jazeera that the Israeli military launched at least 30 strikes on Khan Younis on Monday, and attacks also hit the central and northern parts of Gaza.More than 100 Palestinians have been reported killed on a daily basis for the past few days as the Israeli military has launched a new phase of its genocidal war on Gaza, an offensive it has dubbed “Gideon’s Chariots.” The purpose of the assault is the full Israeli takeover of Gaza and the destruction of any remaining buildings.
Yemen's Houthis Announce Blockade on Israel's Haifa Port -Yemen’s Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, announced on Monday that they are imposing a blockade on Israel’s Haifa port, signaling Yemeni attacks on Israel will expand.Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the blockade was a response to Israel escalating its genocidal war on Gaza.“The Yemeni Armed Forces, relying on Allah and trusting in Allah, have decided, with Allah’s help, to implement the leadership’s directives to begin working to enforce a naval blockade of the port of Haifa,” Saree said, according to Yemen’s SABA news agency. “Accordingly, all companies with ships present in or heading to this port are hereby notified that, as of the time of this announcement, the aforementioned port has been included in the target bank,” Saree added.Since President Trump announced a US-Houthi ceasefire on May 6, Ansar Allah has continued its missile and drone attacks on Israel, which have focused on the Ben Gurion Airport. Israel has launched several rounds of airstrikes on Yemen, but the Houthis have shown no sign of backing down.The Houthis have maintained that Yemeni attacks on Israel will continue until there’s a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to the Israeli blockade of the Palestinian territory. “All measures and decisions of the armed forces related to the Israeli enemy, including support operations and the ban on air and sea navigation, will cease once the aggression on Gaza ends and the blockade is lifted,” Saree said. While President Trump framed the truce with the Houthis as a US victory, the US really gave up trying to stop Yemeni attacks on Israel after a month and a half of heavy airstrikes.
UN Says No Aid Distributed Yet in Gaza - The UN said on Tuesday that while aid trucks have been allowed to enter the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom border crossing, its teams have been unable to access and distribute the shipments.“Today, one of our teams waited several hours for the Israeli green light to access the Kareem Shalom area and collect the nutrition supplies. Unfortunately, they were not able to bring those supplies into our warehouse,” said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.“So just to make it clear, while more supplies have come into the Gaza Strip, we have not been able to secure the arrival of those supplies into our warehouses and delivery points,” he added.Dujarric said that only four trucks of baby food were dropped off on the Gaza side of the border on Monday, and a few dozen trucks of flour, medicine, and other basic goods entered Gaza on Tuesday. Dujarric’s comments came as Tom Fletcher, the UN’s humanitarian chief, warned that 14,000 babies could starve to death “within the next 48 hours” if aid doesn’t reach them. Fletcher described the difficulty of the UN distributing aid due to the continued Israeli military operations in Gaza. “We run the risk of looting. We run the risks of being hit as part of the Israeli military offensive. We run all sorts of risk trying to get that baby food through to those mothers who cannot feed their children right now because they’re malnourished,” Fletcher said.
Israeli Opposition Leader Says Israel Is Killing Palestinian Babies as a 'Hobby' - Yair Golan, the leader of Israel’s Democrats party, has said Israel is killing Palestinian babies as a “hobby,” sparking a strong backlash from other Israeli Knesset members and government officials.“Israel is on the path to becoming a pariah state among the nations – like the South Africa of old – if it does not return to behaving like a sane country,” said Golan, a retired IDF major general.“A sane country does not wage war against civilians, does not kill babies for a hobby, and does not set goals involving the expulsion of populations,” he added.Golan pinned the blame on the Netanyahu government, saying that it was filled with “people who have nothing whatsoever to do with Judaism – Kahanist types, lacking wisdom, morality, and the ability to manage a state during an emergency.”In response to Golan’s comments, Netanyahu accused him of “blood libel,” and other Israeli MKs are trying to strip him of his military rank.Following the criticism, Golan said that he was specifically criticizing the government, not the Israeli military. “The war is the realization of fantasies of [Finance Minister Bezalel] Smotrich and [National Security Minister Itamar] Ben-Gvir. And if we allow these fantasies to become real, we’ll become a pariah state,” he said. “The IDF is moral and the people are honest, the government is crooked. The war needs to end, the hostages returned and Israel rehabilitated,” Golan added.
Former Israeli MK: 'Every Child, Every Baby in Gaza Is an Enemy' - Moshe Feiglin, a former member of the Israeli Knesset, declared in an appearance on Israeli TV on Tuesday that “every child, every baby in Gaza is an enemy” of Israel. “The enemy is not Hamas, nor is it the military wing of Hamas, as our military commander tells us, that we are forbidden to harm a Hamasnik unless he is part of the military wing,” Feiglin said, according to the Israeli newspaper Maariv. “Every child in Gaza is the enemy. We need to occupy Gaza and settle it, and not a single Gazan child will be left there. There is no other victory,” he added. Feiglin’s genocidal comments came on the same day that Yair Golan, leader of Israel’s Democrats Party, said that Israel was killing babies in Gaza as a “hobby,” which sparked a strong backlash from Netanyahu and his allies.
Israeli Hatred for Children in Gaza Is Shocking - by Rep. John J. Duncan, Jr - The hatred of some in Israel for the people of Gaza – even for little children – is just astounding. If they have even a tiny bit of belief in God, they should pray for forgiveness. Unfortunately, NPR reported last Thursday (May 15) on “deadly airstrikes, killing more than 150 people in the past day, including dozens of children.” On May 9 the Israeli newspaper Haaretz and many other publications reported on a meeting of a subcommittee of Israel’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. The hearing in the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, was not about concern for children who were starving or who had to have amputations without anesthesia. It was about concern over the public relations harm to Israel. One of the witnesses was Dr. Sharon Shaul from NATAN, a worldwide humanitarian aid charity. Dr. Shaul said, “I believe that none of the people sitting around this table are concerned that a suffering child cannot receive painkillers or even minimal medical treatment.” Then the story said that Knesset member Amit Halevi from Netanyahu’s Likud Party “interrupted her angrily saying, ‘I’m not sure you’re speaking for us when you say we want to treat every child and every woman.’” The doctor then replied that she hoped the member would not oppose “a four-year-old child” undergoing an amputation receiving pain medication. “I hope you have that compassion,” Dr. Shaul said. However, Knesset member Limor Son Har-Melech “pointed at the doctor and said ‘the only treatment that should be given is to you.’” Another member shouted, “You are the sickest doctor I have ever seen.” Elad Barashi, a producer at Israel’s Channel 14, surpassed even this hatred by writing on social media in early May: “Good morning. Let there be a holocaust in Gaza.” In another post, he wrote: “I can’t understand the people here in the State of Israel who don’t want to fill Gaza with gas chambers … or train cars… and finish this story. Let there be a holocaust in Gaza.” He added: “Men, women and children – by any means necessary we must simply carry out a Shoa against them – yes, read that again – H-O-L-O-C-A-U-S-T!” He said there were 2.6 million terrorists in Gaza and wrote: “Without fear, without weakness – just Crush. Eliminate. Slaughter. Flatten. Dismantle. Smash. Shatter.” The fanatic Netanyahu has been indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity, yet he is a hero in our Congress because of campaign contributions. The rest of the world is overwhelmingly against the genocide in Gaza. In my column two weeks ago, I wrote of the letter signed by the 36 members of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, which criticized what it called this “most extremist of Israeli governments” and said, “We stand against the war.”
Pope Leo XIV Renews Call for Gaza Ceasefire, End To Israeli Blockade on Aid - On Wednesday, Pope Leo XIV renewed his call for a ceasefire in Gaza and for Israel to allow humanitarian aid to enter the besieged Palestinian territory. “The situation in Gaza is increasingly worrying and painful,” Leo said during his first general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican.- “I renew my appeal to allow the entry of dignified humanitarian aid and to put an end to the hostilities, whose heartbreaking price is paid by the children, elderly, and the sick,” he added. Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza on March 2, and in recent days, has allowed a small number of trucks to enter the enclave.However, according to the latest reports, no aid has reached the starving population. The UN said on Tuesday night that its teams were unable to access aid trucks on the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom crossing. Since being elected pope on May 8, Leo, the first US-born pontiff, has made several calls for peace in Gaza and other conflict zones around the world. At the conclusion of his inaugural Mass on Sunday, Leo urged Catholics to keep in mind those suffering in Gaza, Myanmar, and Ukraine.“In the joy of faith and communion, we cannot forget our brothers and sisters who suffer because of war. In Gaza, the surviving children, families, and the elderly are reduced to starvation,” he said. Leo has also offered to host peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. President Trump noted Leo’s offer in a recent statement on future Russia-Ukraine ceasefire negotiations, suggesting the Vatican could be the venue.
You Are Already Fully Qualified To Oppose The Genocide In Gaza - Caitlin Johnstone - You don’t need to understand every little detail about Israel and Palestine to oppose the genocide in Gaza. You can safely go with your gut on this one. You can and should research this issue, of course, but everything you learn will only make Israel look worse. I say this because I see too many people get intimidated away from speaking out about Gaza by an erroneous but widespread notion that this is an issue best left to the experts. This notion is promulgated by Israel and its apologists throughout the western world, who try to frame this as a super duper complex issue which requires years of research to be able to comprehend with the requisite nuance and accuracy.And it’s complete bullshit. The Gaza genocide is exactly what it looks like at first glance. I say this as someone who has been researching this issue extensively.You don’t need to know everything about the history of modern Israel to know that it’s wrong to intentionally starve a civilian population. You don’t need to be able to defend your position to aggressive pro-Israel trolls online to know that it’s wrong to assassinate journalists, bomb hospitals, and rain military explosives on areas full of children. You don’t need any qualifications of any kind to see the horrific footage coming out of Gaza and denounce your government for facilitating those atrocities.Israel and its supporters understand the power of narrative control better than maybe any other group out there. They even have a word, “hasbara”, for the practice of defending Israel’s public image and justifying its crimes to the western public. If you speak out about Gaza on any public forum you are likely to run into a hasbarist who tries to intimidate you into silence by knowing a little bit more than you about this issue and spouting a few talking points that you are not quite equipped to address just yet.And I am telling you that you should definitely disregard these people and push past your initial impulse to be intimidated into silence. The reason “I ain’t reading all that, free Palestine” has become a meme in pro-Palestine circles is because Israel apologists have been trying to use mountains of verbiage to counter the public response to raw video footage documenting clear abuses in Gaza. It takes a whole lot of words to try and spin footage of mutilated children as the fault of Hamas, or photos of IDF soldiers mockingly dressing in the clothes of dead and displaced Palestinian women as fine and normal. They confront people with walls of text filled with apologia and talking points to try and overwhelm their common sense and empathy as they look at raw evidence of Israel’s depravity.
Netanyahu Says Trump's Ethnic Cleansing Plan Is a Condition To End Gaza War - On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said President Trump’s plan to remove the Palestinian population from Gaza was a condition to end Israel’s genocidal war on the besieged territory.“I am prepared to end the war in Gaza, under clear conditions that will ensure the safety of Israel – all the hostages come home, Hamas lays down its arms, steps down from power, its leadership is exiled from the Strip … Gaza is totally disarmed, and we carry out the Trump plan. A plan that is so correct and so revolutionary,” Netanyahu said, according to The Cradle. Trump has repeatedly called for the removal of Gaza’s population as part of his plan for the US to take over the territory and has previously said there would be no right of return for Palestinians. Netanyahu’s comments on Wednesday marked the first time he said the expulsion of the Palestinian population was a condition to end the war. It’s been clear since October 2023 that the Israeli government wanted ethnic cleansing in Gaza, and Trump’s calls have emboldened Netanyahu and other officials to pursue a plan to carry it out. It still remains unclear where the Palestinians would go. Netanyahu recentlytold a Knesset committee that the lack of countries willing to take in Gaza’s population was the “main problem” preventing “emigration.”Netanyahu also vowed on Wednesday that Israel would fully occupy Gaza. “All of Gaza’s territories will be under Israeli security control, and Hamas will be totally defeated,” he said. The Israeli leader also said Israel would set up a “sterile zone” in southern Gaza for the civilian population. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said that under Israel’s plans for its current military offensive, the civilian population will be “concentrated” into a tiny area of the south and then pressured to leave Gaza. “The Gazan citizens will be concentrated in the south. They will be totally despairing, understanding that there is no hope and nothing to look for in Gaza, and will be looking for relocation to begin a new life in other places,” Smotrich said.
Gaza health system at breaking point as Israeli hostilities intensify, WHO says (Reuters) - The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday that Gaza's health system is at a breaking point as Israel's intensified military operations continue, amidst worsening mass population displacement and acute shortages of basic necessities.Four major hospitals in Gaza have had to suspend medical services in the past week due to their proximity to incidents. WHO missions attempting to reach Al-Awda Hospital and the Indonesian Hospital were impeded, it said. Only 19 of the Gaza Strip's 36 hospitals remain operational while at least 94% of all hospitals are damaged or destroyed, the WHO said, adding that only 12 are in a condition to provide a variety of health services.
Russian Strike On Ukrainian Training Ground Results In Mass Casualties Despite ongoing US-backed efforts to get Russians and Ukrainians to the negotiating table again, days after last week's Istanbul talks, both warring sides have on Wednesday ramped up tit-for-tat assaults on each other's territory.Ukrainian drones have once again threatened the Moscow region, leading to the capital's four airports temporarily suspending nearly all flightsfor a period on Wednesday.Domodedovo and Zhukovsky airports halted inbound and outbound flights, and Sheremetyevo suspended arrivals, the country's Federal Air Transport Agency confirmed, after air defense missile systems downed three inbound drones on Moscow. "Emergency services are working at the crash sites," an official Moscow city statement said. The Defense Ministry had earlier in the day said it destroyed 159 Ukrainian inbound drones overnight. Drones threatened several regions across southern Russia, as well as at least 40 UAVs spotted over Crimea.Ukraine on Wednesday announced that six of its servicemen were killed, and at least ten more were wounded when a missile attack struck a training camp in northeast Ukraine's Sumy region the day prior.However, Russia's defense ministry said the death toll was much higher, according to its intelligence estimates. It indicated the missile attack "killed up to 70 Ukrainian service members, including 20 instructors."Like many other such mass casualty events of late, it will likely be impossible to confirm which said has the accurate casualty numbers, given 'fog of war' and lack of journalistic access on the ground to many of these sites.The location was reportedly a shooting range, according to Ukraine's national guard, which further said the commander of the unit had been suspended. The strike happened during the light of day.Ukraine's military leadership has in some regions had a ban in place of large gatherings of troops or training which takes place out in the open, given the ever-present danger of missile and drone attacks from Russia. Reuters notes that "During more than three years of Russia's full-scale invasion, Moscow's forces have inflicted casualties in attacks on Ukrainian military educational institutions and various formal outdoor gatherings.
Former Ukrainian commander says Ukraine cannot restore post-Soviet borders, media report says (Reuters) - Ukraine should abandon any notion of restoring its borders established with the 1991 collapse of Soviet rule or even those dating from the 2022 full-scale Russian invasion, the country's former military commander was quoted as saying on Thursday.Valery Zaluzhnyi, now Ukraine's ambassador to London, was replaced as top commander in February 2024 after months of reported disagreements between him and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Zelenskiy and other public figures have long called for the eviction of Russian forces and a return to Ukraine's 1991 post-Soviet borders, including Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014. But as efforts over recent months have focused on launching talks to secure a ceasefire, public statements by Kyiv have been more moderate on the question of ceding territory. "I hope that there are not people in this room who still hope for some kind of miracle or lucky sign that will bring peace to Ukraine, the borders of 1991 or 2022 and that there will be great happiness afterward," the RBK Ukraine news site quoted Zaluzhnyi as telling a forum in Kyiv. "My personal opinion is that the enemy still has resources, forces and means to launch strikes on our territory and attempt specific offensive operations." Zaluzhnyi said Russia had been waging a war of attrition for a year and, given Ukraine's smaller forces and difficult economic circumstances, its only hope was to rely on advanced technology. "We can speak only about a high-tech war of survival, using a minimum of economic means to achieve maximum benefit," he was quoted as saying. Opinion polls show Zaluzhnyi to be among the most popular public figures with Ukrainians. Polls also show Zelenskiy's rating rising since his confrontation with U.S. President Donald Trump at a White House meeting in February.
300 million people in 53 countries at risk of starving to death --The number of people facing “high levels of acute food insecurity” in 2024 rose for the sixth consecutive year, reaching a horrific 295.3 million. The 2025 Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) notes that this is equivalent to nearly a quarter—22.6 percent—of the population of the 53 countries requiring external assistance that were its subject. The almost 300 million people at risk of starvation is an increase of 13.7 million over 2023, thanks to escalating conflicts, cuts in humanitarian aid and climate and economic shocks. That so many people face death by starvation, under conditions of unprecedented scientific and technological developments in food production and distribution, is a devastating indictment of the capitalist system of production for private profit. The report itself was barely mentioned in the mainstream media, indicating the degree to which famine and starvation have been normalised by the world’s ruling elites. The 2025 annual report was prepared by 16 international agencies, including various United Nations organisations, the European Union, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and several regional intergovernmental bodies. It said that escalating “conflicts” in Palestine and the Sudan h ad driven extraordinarily high levels of acute food insecurity, with Gaza becoming the most severe food crisis since the annual Global Report on Food Crises began. The number of people facing the most severe lack of food, described as “catastrophic” and characterised by starvation, death, destitution and high rates of acute malnutrition, more than doubled last year. More than 95 percent of the people existing in such conditions are in Gaza or Sudan. Some 36 countries or territories are deemed protracted food crises, having been included in all eight reports. Of these, 19 are protracted major food crises and account for up to 80 percent of the total population facing high levels of acute food insecurity across food-crisis countries/territories each year. Yet the plight of many of these countries never makes it to the international media. In the anodyne words of the press briefing, “Intensifying conflict, increasing geopolitical tensions, global economic uncertainty and profound funding cuts are deepening acute food insecurity.” Wars—typically described as conflicts—and insecurity were the primary drivers of food insecurity in 2023-24, affecting 134.5 million people in 20 countries or territories. Seven of these were in the Middle East and North Africa and six were in West Africa. Conflict was the major driver in most of the 10 largest food crises: Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Myanmar, Nigeria, Gaza, Sudan and Yemen, with Gaza, Haiti and Sudan listed as worsening conflicts. Globally there were 12 percent more conflicts in 2023 than in 2022, and 40 percent more than in 2020. These have also contributed to the rapid increase in the number of displaced people over the last 10 years. Since October 2023, around 80 percent of Gaza’s population have been internally displaced, many multiple times, due to Israel’s genocidal war on what was already little more than an open-air prison, suffering the impact of Israel’s 16 year-long blockade of the Hamas-controlled entity. The lack of adequate shelter and access to essential services, along with the reduced supply of food, fuel and other basic commodities, further increased the risk of famine, even before Israel imposed a total blockade last March.
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