US ⁠President Donald Trump determined ⁠on Thursday that petroleum ⁠production, refining and related activities are essential to national defence, a move that could open up US funding for fossil fuel projects. In a presidential memo, Trump also invoked part of ‌the Cold War-era Defence Production Act, allowing him to provide financial incentives for oil-related activities, pipelines and storage of liquid fuels. Prices for crude oil and diesel have surged since the US and Israel attacked Iran in...

Versatile actor Tom Skerritt, who starred in Hollywood megahits including the sci-fi classic Alien, the ⁠war comedy M*A*S*H, and the action drama Top Gun, ⁠has died at the age of 93. Skerritt, a Detroit native ⁠whose Hollywood career spanned from the 1960s to the 2020s, died on Wednesday of natural causes, his family said in a statement. “While the world knew Tom through his remarkable acting career, we knew him for his humour, curiosity, wisdom, generosity and the love he brought into our...

The US State Department has ordered some diplomats and family members to depart ‌from its missions in Saudi Arabia and plans to withdraw family members from a number of other US missions in the region, US officials said. The order came as attacks in Saudi Arabia killed at least one person and injured eight others at a civilian airport in Dammam, and two people were killed in a drone attack on an oilfield. US State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a post on social media ⁠that the...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to resume US-mediated peace talks with Ukraine as soon as next month, the Kremlin said on Wednesday, after Putin met US envoy Steve Witkoff in Washington’s latest push to stop Europe’s bloodiest conflict since second world war. The talks in a grand imperial palace in St Petersburg, the ninth time that Witkoff has met Putin in person, began with a goodwill gesture from Russia – the release of Stephen Hubbard, a retired US teacher held in...