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Trump orders Pentagon to buy electricity generated by coal

Trump orders Pentagon to buy electricity generated by coal

Trump’s order is the latest move by US administration to boost fossil fuel industry despite climate change concerns. Listen to this article Listen to this article | 3 mins info Published On 12 Feb 202612 Feb 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share United States President Donald Trump has ordered the Pentagon to buy electricity generated by coal, his latest effort to boost demand for the fossil fuel amid its declining cost competitiveness and climate change concerns. In an executive order signed on Wednesday, Trump directed the US Department of Defence to enter into long-term purchase agreements with coal-fired plants and prioritise the “preservation and strategic utilisation” of “coal-based energy assets”. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list Trump’s order did not specify how much energy the Pentagon would purchase or under what financial terms. “You do so much,” Trump said at a White House event attended by coal industry executives and miners. “You heat our homes, fuel our factories, and turn natural resources into American riches and dreams,” he said. Trump also announced that the US Department of Energy would invest $175m to upgrade six coal plants in North Carolina, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia. “The most important people here today are those who get their hands a little bit dirty to keep America running at full speed – our front line coal workers,” Trump said. Coal production in the US has been in decline for decades amid growing competition from natural gas and renewables, including wind, hydropower and solar. Production fell by more than half between 2008 and 2023, when output hit 578 million tonnes, according to the US Energy Information Administration. The fossil fuel accounted for about 16 percent of US energy production in 2023, behind natural gas and renewables at 43 percent and 21 percent, respectively. Advertisement Trump: ‘Beautiful, clean coal’ A 2023 analysis by Energy Innovation, a California-based nonprofit, found that 99 percent of coal-powered facilities in the US were more expensive to run than the cost of their replacement with renewable alternatives. Trump has championed the revival of “beautiful, clean coal” as crucial to boosting domestic manufacturing and achieving US dominance in artificial intelligence, despite the fossil fuel’s flagging competitiveness and contribution to greenhouse gases that drive climate change. Trump, who initiated Washington’s exit from the Paris climate accord and has described the scientific consensus on warming temperatures as a “con job”, declared an “energy emergency” on his first day in office to prevent the closure of ageing coal plants. The US Energy Department has forced at least five plants to extend their operations beyond their scheduled retirement date since Trump’s order. Also on Wednesday, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the largest public utility provider in the US, voted to extend the lifespan of two coal plants that had been scheduled for closure by 2035. The TVA vote came after the utility added four Trump appointees to its board of directors last month, after the US president had earlier fired three board members chosen by his predecessor, President Joe Biden. Adblock test (Why?)

Russia evacuates tourists from Cuba as US-engineered fuel crisis deepens

Russia evacuates tourists from Cuba as US-engineered fuel crisis deepens

Russia will operate only return flights from Cuba as ‘evacuation’ of Russian citizens visiting the Caribbean island gets under way. Listen to this article Listen to this article | 3 mins info Published On 12 Feb 202612 Feb 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Russia is preparing to evacuate its citizens who are visiting Cuba, Moscow’s aviation authorities said, after a United States-imposed oil blockade on the island nation has choked off supplies of jet fuel. “Due to the difficulties with refuelling aircraft in Cuba, Rossiya Airlines and Nordwind Airlines have been forced to adjust their flight schedules to airports in the country,” Russia’s federal aviation regulator Rosaviatsia said in a statement on Wednesday. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list “Rossiya Airlines will operate a number of return flights only – from Havana and Varadero to Moscow – to ensure the evacuation of Russian tourists currently in Cuba,” the regulator said. About 5,000 Russian tourists may be on the island, Russia’s Association of Tour Operators said earlier this week. Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development separately called on citizens not to travel to Cuba amid its worst fuel crisis in years, caused by the US choking off supplies of oil from Venezuela following the US military’s abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in early January. Russia’s TASS news agency said the Russian embassy in Havana is in contact with national carrier Aeroflot and Cuban aviation authorities to “ensure our citizens return home safely”. Aeroflot has announced repatriation flights for Russians, TASS said, reporting also that the embassy in Havana told Russian media outlet Izvestia that Moscow plans to send humanitarian aid shipments of oil and petroleum products to Cuba. Humanitarian ‘collapse’ in Cuba A traditional ally of Havana, Moscow has accused Washington of attempting to “suffocate” the Caribbean island nation. Advertisement Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Moscow was discussing “possible solutions” to provide Havana with “whatever assistance” it needs. More than 130,000 Russians visited Cuba in 2025, according to reports, the third-largest group of visitors to the island after Canadians and Cubans living abroad. Air Canada and the Canadian airlines Air Transat and WestJet have also cut flights to Cuba due to the fuel shortages. While Cuba has been in a severe economic crisis for years, largely caused by longstanding US sanctions due to Washington’s antipathy towards Havana’s socialist leadership, the situation has become dire since the return of President Donald Trump to the White House. Trump has directly threatened Cuba’s government and passed a recent executive order allowing for the imposition of trade tariffs on countries that supply oil to Cuba. Cuba, which can produce just a third of its total fuel requirements, has seen widespread power outages due to the lack of fuel. Bus and train services have been cut, some hotels have closed, schools and universities have been restricted, and public sector workers are on a four-day work week. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned last week of a humanitarian “collapse” in Cuba if its energy needs go unmet. Adblock test (Why?)

Three children killed in drone strike on mosque in central Sudan: Doctors

Three children killed in drone strike on mosque in central Sudan: Doctors

The Sudan Doctors Network said the deadly strike was carried out by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. Listen to this article Listen to this article | 3 mins info Published On 12 Feb 202612 Feb 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share A drone attack on a mosque in central Sudan has killed two children and injured 13 more, according to a Sudanese doctor’s association, amid a rise in similar attacks across the region.  The Sudan Doctors Network said the attack was carried out at dawn on Wednesday by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group engaged in a three-year civil war with the Sudanese Armed Forces. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list The children were reportedly studying the Quran at the Sheikh Ahmed al-Badawi Mosque in North Kordofan State when the building was hit by a drone in a “blatant violation of international humanitarian law and a grave assault on places of worship”, the doctors’ group said in a Facebook post. “Targeting children inside mosques is a fully constituted crime that cannot be justified under any pretext and represents a dangerous escalation in the pattern of repeated violations against civilians,” the doctors said. The Sudan Doctors Network said the RSF has previously targeted other religious buildings for attack, including a church in Khartoum and another mosque in el-Fasher, reflecting a “systematic pattern that shows clear disregard for the sanctity of life and religious sites”. “The network calls on the international community, the United Nations, and human rights and humanitarian organizations to take urgent action to pressure for the end to the targeting of civilians, ensure their protection, open safe corridors for the delivery of medical and humanitarian aid, and work to document these violations and hold those responsible accountable,” it said. Advertisement The UN separately said on Wednesday that a recent series of drone attacks have been reported on civilian infrastructure in Sudan’s South Kordofan, North Kordofan and West Kordofan states. A World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse in Kadugli was also hit by a suspected rocket attack on Tuesday night, according to UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric. He did not say which group was responsible for the attack. “The fact that we have to reiterate almost every day that civilians and civilian infrastructure, places of worship, schools and hospitals cannot and should not be targeted is a tragedy in itself,” Dujarric told reporters. The UN has warned that Sudan’s civil war is expanding from western Darfur into the Kordofan region. It has documented more than 90 civilian deaths and 142 injuries caused by drone strikes between the end of January and February 6, which were carried out by the RSF and Sudanese Armed Forces. Targets included a WFP convoy, markets, health facilities and residential neighbourhoods in southern and northern Kordofan, the UN said. Adblock test (Why?)