US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order aimed at increasing the use of coal, which contradicts global efforts to limit carbon emissions, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
Coal-fired power plants meet less than 20% of electricity consumption in the United States, a drop from 50% in 2000, according to data from the Energy Information Administration, as fracking and other drilling techniques have increased natural gas production. The growth of solar and wind power has also reduced coal use.
"We are rebuilding a dying industry," Trump said at the White House, standing before about 30 people, mostly male miners.
"We are going to put the miners back to work," Trump said of the workforce, which has shrunk to 40,000 from 70,000 years ago.
U.S. electricity demand is rising for the first time in two decades due to the growth of energy-intensive data centers for artificial intelligence, electric vehicles and cryptocurrencies.
The orders include efforts to save coal plants that would have been retired, including by unlocking powers in the Defense Production Act of 1950 to stimulate production of coal.
US President Donald Trump's pick to head NASA will tell senators that the agency will prioritize a mission of astronauts to Mars, noting that most US space programs are over budget and behind schedule, Reuters reported.
"We will prioritize sending American astronauts to Mars. "In doing so, we will inevitably have opportunities to return to the Moon and determine the scientific, economic, and national security benefits of maintaining a presence on the lunar surface," Jared Isaacman, a 42-year-old billionaire entrepreneur, said in a written statement to the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee for confirmation.
On Monday, Reuters reported that Isaacman told Senate staff last week that returning humans to the Moon before China sends its own astronauts there is a national imperative. His remarks allayed some concerns that NASA's multibillion-dollar lunar program could be cut short by Trump and the CEO of "SpaceX" Elon Musk as the main destination for American astronauts.
The billionaire candidate's position on the program is expected to be a major topic during his Senate hearing tomorrow.
NASA has allocated billions of dollars for its lunar program, involving US allies and relying heavily on dozens of private companies, including Musk's "SpaceX".
But in his second term, Trump has publicly focused on Mars, while Musk, who spent 250 million dollars in support of Trump's presidential campaign and pushed for Isaacman's nomination, openly believes the Moon distracts from his ultimate goal of sending crews to the Red Planet.
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has taken steps to restore at least six recently terminated U.S. foreign aid programs, six sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Acting USAID administrator Jeremy Lewin, who is also an official in the efficiency department of billionaire Elon Musk's government, asked staff in an internal email to reverse the terminations.
The programs he has asked to be restored include the World Food Program in Lebanon, Syria, Somalia, Jordan, Iraq and Ecuador, five sources familiar with the matter said.
On Monday, Reuters reported that the Trump administration had terminated life-saving aid programs for more than a dozen countries, including Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia and Syria, totaling more than $1.3 billion.
"I regret all this back-and-forth," Lewin said in an internal email seen by Reuters. "There are many stakeholders and we need to do a better job of balancing these competing interests - that was my mistake and I take responsibility," he added.
The reversal followed pressure from the administration and Congress, two sources said, and after the U.N. World Food Program said closing the programs could be "a death sentence" for millions of people.
The cuts are the latest part of the Trump administration's program to dismantle USAID, the main U.S. humanitarian aid agency, Reuters recalls.
A U.S. judge has ordered President Donald Trump's White House to lift restrictions imposed on the Associated Press over the agency's decision to continue calling the Gulf of Mexico by its name in its reporting, Reuters reported.
The order by U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, whom Trump appointed during his first term, requires the White House to allow AP journalists access to the Oval Office, Air Force One and events held at the White House while the lawsuit filed by the AP moves forward.
The AP sued three senior Trump aides in February, alleging that the restrictions were an attempt to force the media to use the administration's preferred terms. The lawsuit claims the restrictions violate the U.S. Constitution's protections for free speech.
Trump administration lawyers argue that the AP is not entitled to what the White House calls "special access" to the president.
The Senate confirmed Elbridge Colby as the Pentagon's top policy adviser, overcoming concerns that he downplayed threats from Russia and its President Vladimir Putin, the Associated Press reported.
The vote was 54-45, with Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky the only Republican to vote against him. Three Democrats voted for Colby.
In a statement, McConnell said that "Colby's long public record suggests a willingness to underestimate the complexity of the challenges facing America and the critical value of our allies and partners." McConnell also said that Colby's confirmation "encourages isolationist distortions of the idea of peace through strength to continue apace at the highest levels of the administration's policymaking."
Vice President J.D. Vance spoke at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing early last month to push for Colby's confirmation, saying that the nominee has said things in the past that have alienated Republicans and Democrats, but also things that both parties would agree with.
The vice president said Colby would be able to work with lawmakers and would seek to rebuild the defense industrial base, a key goal.