ConocoPhillips to lay off up to 25% of global workforce

Source: United Press International

“Oil giant ConocoPhillips announced Thursday that it will lay off about 25% of its workforce globally as part of a restructuring effort. Dennis Nuss, ConocoPhillips'[s] director of media relations, told USA Today the cuts are part of ‘looking at how we can be more efficient with the resources we have’ and that the majority of the layoffs will happen in 2025. ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance detailed the plans in a video message. Profits at U.S.-based ConocoPhillips fell 15% year over year, to $2 billion in the second quarter. Other large oil companies saw earnings fall, too.” (09/04/25)

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2025/09/04/conocophillips-lay-offs/3821757006954/

Thomas L. Knapp

India: Regime Lowers Tax on Renewables in Steps to Fight Trump Tariffs

Source: Bloomberg

“India more than halved a tax rate on domestic sales of renewable-energy equipment, as part of a raft of measures to shore up local consumption and shield the economy from punitive US tariffs. Goods and services tax on equipment including solar panels and parts for windmills and biogas plants was reduced from 12% to 5%, according to the finance ministry, lowering costs for consumers and potentially accelerating capacity installations. The tax panel recommended the changes come into effect from Sept. 22. … The tax reduction — though designed mainly to soften the blow from tariffs on America’s imports of Indian goods — comes as India seeks to install record volumes of solar and wind energy to meet its climate goals for 2030 and beyond.” (09/04/25)

https://archive.is/pdCIa

Thomas L. Knapp

Trump’s Nobel Fantasies

Source: The American Conservative
by Doug Bandow

“President Donald Trump desperately wants the Nobel Peace Prize. His lust for the ultimate sign of international and establishment acceptance is truly cringeworthy. Does he know whose ranks he would be joining if he received the nod of appointees by the Norwegian parliament? Many prior recipients, however worthy, are international unknowns. Other better-known awardees were unworthy. … In short, Trump has no claim to the Nobel Peace Prize. And that judgment comes before considering his direct complicity in mass killing committed by U.S. client states.” (09/04/25)

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/trumps-nobel-fantasies/

Thomas L. Knapp

Congo’s health ministry announces new Ebola outbreak

Source: SFGate

“Congo’s health ministry on Thursday announced a new Ebola outbreak, the 16th in the central African country, after a case was confirmed in the southern Kasai province. ‘To date, the provisional report shows 28 suspected cases and 15 deaths, including 14 in Boulapé and 1 in Mweka, as well as four healthcare workers,’ said Samuel-Roger Kamba, Congo’s health minister. He added that the case fatality rate, estimated at 53.6%, showed the gravity of the situation. He said that the figures were provisional and research was ongoing. The suspected cases and deaths presented symptoms such fever, vomiting, diarrhoea and haemorrhage. The confirmed case was of a 34-year-old pregnant woman in the locality of Boulape, in the southern Kasai province. The World Health Organization said Thursday it dispatched its experts alongside Congo’s Rapid Response Team to Kasai Province to strengthen disease surveillance, treatment and infection prevention and control in health facilities.” (09/04/25)

https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/congo-s-health-ministry-announces-a-new-ebola-21030793.php

Steve Trinward

The False Pretenses Behind the Naval Operation Off the Coast of Venezuela

Source: The Dispatch
by David Smilde

“The U.S. has sent eight warships and one attack submarine to international waters off the coast of Venezuela, nominally to combat ‘cartels [that] have engaged in a campaign of violence and terror throughout the Western Hemisphere … [and] flooded the United States with deadly drugs, violent criminals, and vicious gangs.’ Part of this operation has been the designation of the ‘Cartel de los Soles’ in July, as a specially designated terrorist group. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump celebrated the operation’s first result on Truth Social — a drone strike on a small wooden boat with outboard motors, that he claimed was being used to transport drugs to the U.S. The entire naval operation raises a number of questions. First, Venezuela is not a leading source of the drugs reaching U.S. streets. … Perhaps more important, there is no actual organization called Cartel of the Suns.” (09/04/25)

https://thedispatch.com/article/venezuela-strike-cartel-navy-trump-deportations/

Thomas L. Knapp