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EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, a Republican, speaks as the U.S. vice president visits East Palestine, Ohio, U.S., February 3, 2025.
The EPA’s new mission: business first, environment last
The new administration has already revised its legal framework for regulating greenhouse gas emissions, rolled back CO₂ and mercury limits on power plants, and reversed tailpipe regulations that were steering the US auto industry toward electric vehicles. Achieving Zeldin’s new vision means slashing environmental regulations, a move that earned Donald Trump praise on the campaign trail. These changes should make it cheaper and easier for businesses to build and expand.
While this may be good news for gas prices, it’s bad news for the environment and public health. The administration has called for the closure of all EPA offices addressing the disproportionately high levels of air and water pollution in poor communities, pollution that has been linked to higher rates of cancer and respiratory illnesses. These changes follow last year’s Supreme Court Chevron decision, which stripped the agency of much of its regulatory authority over industries.Russia's President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Burkina Faso's interim President Ibrahim Traore at the Russia-Africa Summit in Russia in July.
Russia helps Burkina Faso go nuclear
Only one in five citizens of Burkina Faso has access to electricity, making it one of the least electrified countries in the world. It also has one of the highest electricity costs on the continent. The landlocked country gets one-third of its total energy supplies from petroleum products, 2% from coal, and the remainder from biofuels, chiefly wood and charcoal. The nuclear plant would help the Burkinabe government meet its goal of attaining 95% electricity access for urban areas and 50% for rural areas by 2030.
The plant would also help cement ties between Moscow and Ouagadougou. Traore, who took power in a coup just last year, needs assistance to battle Islamic militants linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. In May, Traore hailed Russia as a key strategic ally while denying that he had retained the services of Russia’s Wagner Group. But analysts say he doesn’t have much choice and will likely go down the same road as neighboring Mali, which hired Wagner in 2021, and the military junta in neighboring Niger, which has made overtures to the mercenary group since taking power in July.
Moscow, meanwhile, needs allies in Africa to shore up support for its side in its war in Ukraine. It is eager to fill the vacuum created by France’s military withdrawal from all three Sahel nations, where anti-colonial sentiment is on the rise.Russia is also helping Egypt build a nuclear power plant and is committed to building another in Nigeria.
China's S$2bil coal deal with Indonesia may hit Australia
JAKARTA - China plans to buy about US$1.5 billion (S$2 billion) of coal from Indonesia after agreeing to a new three-year supply pact, a move that has the potential to further weaken trade ties with rival supplier Australia.
Shoplots housing cryptocurrency operations in Johor raided for stealing electricity
ISKANDAR PUTERI (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Two cryptocurrency mining premises in Johor have been raided for electricity theft totalling an estimated RM2.5 million (S$820,000).