National / International News

A shift in global fuel production is afoot, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency. It predicts that over the next five years, North America will dominate new supplies of oil and natural gas. The trend is in part due to a surge in new technology like hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

Juli Niemann, analyst at Smith, Moore & Company in St. Louis, explains what this means for the US economy and the green energy sector.

The Sun newspaper's Whitehall editor and two other people are to be charged with conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office.

The bill would allow physicians to provide lethal medication to terminally ill patients who request it. If the governor approves the measure, Vermont would become the fourth state in the nation with an aid-in-dying law.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

Organisers of emergency fodder which is being donated to snow-hit farmers in north and mid Wales say they are being inundated with requests for help.

Changes are made to the Isle of Wight Festival's access routes and car parking in a bid to avoid a repeat of last year's traffic chaos.

Once upon a time the fossil fuel capital of the world was the U.S. -- first in Pennsylvania, then in Texas. Then, the center of gravity shifted to the Middle East and beyond. But a new report out today from the International Energy Agency predicts that over the next five years, North America will once again dominate new supplies of oil and natural gas. 

It’s a sweeping shift that few would have expected even just five years ago, when experts saw an era of American “peak oil” looming on the horizon. But, since then, new technologies have evolved faster than anticipated, says Pavel Molchanov, an oil analyst with the investment company Raymond James. 

The big breakthrough, Molchanov says, has to do with new ways of getting oil out of once hard-to-drill spots -- underground layers of shale and other hard rock formations.  You've probably heard of one popular technique known as hydraulic fracturing, nicknamed fracking.  “All of this has unlocked new resources,” says Molchanov.

“The history books are going to go back and talk about this era,” says Phil Flynn, an oil analyst at the Price Futures Group in Chicago.  He says the oil boom we are experiencing now has already begun rippling through the U.S economy.  And that trend should continue, Flynn says, as new U.S. oil supplies lower gas prices, boost consumer spending, and make it cheaper to start up factories here. 

The increasing importance of U.S. oil supplies could also affect global politics, Flynn says. “Instead of the U.S. being beholden to foreign oil producers or OPEC,” he says, referring to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, made of countries based mostly in the Middle East and Africa, “now OPEC has to work with us.” 

The North American oil boom raises other questions. In many local communities where the oil and gas boom is taking place, some residents are concerned about the potential environmental impact of these new technologies, on things like ground water contamination and earthquakes. 

Stuart Hazell is jailed for a minimum of 38 years for murdering 12-year-old Tia Sharp at her grandmother's south London home.

VIDEO: A would-be Whitney Houston wouldn't stop singing on a flight from Los Angeles to New York City. So, the pilot made an unscheduled stop in Kansas City. As she was led off, the woman serenaded everyone.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

Thousands of mourners in Bangladesh hold prayers for more than 1,100 people who died when a garment factory building collapsed near Dhaka last month.

A court hears tape recordings of the "last moments" of a mother-of-two as her husband allegedly stabbed her to death.

Stuart Broad talks chief sports writer Tom Fordyce through his journey from back garden cricket to starring in the Ashes

Pirelli reacts to criticism by announcing changes to the tyres it supplies to Formula 1 from next month.

Nine members of a Liverpool gang that plotted to "flood" Glasgow's streets with cocaine and heroin worth £100m, are jailed.

The astronaut whose photographs of Earth and videos of life in space gained him hundreds of thousands of followers on social networks has returned to Earth.

Former WBA heavyweight champion David Haye pulls out of his bout against Manuel Charr due to a hand injury.

A baby's delivery may not be covered for women insured as dependents on their parents' plans, even though office visits and prenatal care would be. Although the health care overhaul mostly improves coverage for young adults, it also leaves some odd holes in coverage.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

As Dan Brown's new thriller Inferno goes on sale, early reviews describe it as a page-turner that will not win any literary prizes.

Four Welsh Conservative MPs now back an amendment criticising the Queen's Speech for not including a commitment to an EU referendum.

Protesters in Kenya release a pig and about a dozen piglets outside parliament to show their anger at newly elected MPs demanding higher salaries.

Also: Russian security service says it uncovered a CIA agent; the AP blasts Justice Department's search of reporters' phone records; New Orleans police identify a suspect in the city's Mother's Day shooting.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us