logo
New Oil Forecast Offers Trump Cautious Hope

New Oil Forecast Offers Trump Cautious Hope

Newsweeka day ago
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
Oil demand will be slower than expected as supply grows over the coming year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its latest market report Wednesday, offering U.S. President Donald Trump room for optimism—with caveats.
Lower oil prices, already in decline in the past few months, would help take some of the heat out of elevated inflation in the U.S. and could offset some of the consumer price increases associated with Trump's tariffs.
It would also put extra economic pressure on oil-producing foes of the U.S., including Iran, Russia, and Venezuela, another positive for the Trump administration.
But American oil producers would also suffer a financial hit from lower prices, and reduced demand is a sign of global economic weakness that could feed back to the U.S., too.
"While oil market balances look ever more bloated as forecast supply far eclipses demand towards year-end and in 2026, additional sanctions on Russia and Iran may curb supplies from the world's third and fifth largest producers," the IEA said.
This is a developing article. Updates to follow.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Does Melania Trump's $1B Lawsuit Threat Against Hunter Biden Have Merit?
Does Melania Trump's $1B Lawsuit Threat Against Hunter Biden Have Merit?

Newsweek

time2 minutes ago

  • Newsweek

Does Melania Trump's $1B Lawsuit Threat Against Hunter Biden Have Merit?

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Legal analysts weighed in on whether first lady Melania Trump's billion-dollar defamation lawsuit threat against Hunter Biden has merit. Why It Matters Trump threatened to file a lawsuit against Hunter Biden, the son of former President Joe Biden, accusing him of making "false, defamatory, disparaging, and inflammatory statements" during an interview in which he claimed Jeffrey Epstein introduced her to her husband, President Donald Trump. If she follows through with that threat, the case could test the limits of defamation law involving high-profile individuals such as the first family. The Trump administration has been under scrutiny over its handling of a trove of documents and files related to Epstein, the disgraced financier who died by suicide in a New York federal jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking. There have long been rumors of an Epstein "client list," and Trump campaigned on greater transparency on the case. However, Trump's Justice Department has not released those files, fueling political backlash against him. What To Know Hunter Biden made those claims about Melania Trump during an interview with journalist Andrew Callaghan earlier this month, citing an article from The Daily Beast based on claims by Trump biographer Michael Wolff. The Daily Beast retracted that story after receiving a letter from the first lady's lawyer challenging its headline and framing. Melania Trump's lawyer, Alejandro Brito, sent the letter to Hunter Biden and his lawyer, Abbe Lowell, on August 6, 2025, reported Fox News Digital. He said Biden's comments are "extremely salacious and have been widely disseminated throughout various digital mediums." First lady Melania Trump attends the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on July 18, 2024. First lady Melania Trump attends the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on July 18, an interview with Callaghan on Thursday, Biden declined to apologize, saying, "F*** that. That's not going to happen." Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told Newsweek that in theory, Melania Trump has a "strong case against Hunter Biden" if his statement was indeed false. "As a public figure, the first lady would have to prove malice, that the younger Biden knew the statement was false or that he acted with reckless disregard for the truth. But if Epstein did not introduce the president and first lady, that would not be difficult to prove," Rahmani said. If the first lady files the lawsuit, Biden would likely raise First Amendment arguments, including that political speech receives strong free speech protections. Practically speaking, however, Rahmani said he does not believe Melania Trump will file. If she does, she and her lawyers may look for a quick settlement. "The president has been very litigious when it comes to these types of cases, but truth is an absolute defense to defamation. A civil complaint puts how Donald and Melania met and their relationship with Epstein, if any, at issue," Rahmani said. "That means the president and first lady would have to sit for a deposition and answer questions about Epstein. Hunter may dig in his heels and push the case to trial or the brink, like he did with his criminal cases." A trial about the Trumps and Epstein would be a "circus," and no one wants to be associated with Epstein, Rahmani said. However, former federal prosecutor Shanlon Wu said he believes Melania Trump does not have a strong case against Hunter Biden. "It's pretty tough for a public figure like a first lady to be able to claim defamation," Wu said. The case could also be difficult to prove because the statements originate from Wolff's book, he said. She would not only have to prove that the claim is false, but that Hunter Biden knew or should have known it was false. "It would be different if he was the only person starting this rumor or something, but given that there's been other people—it may be factually inaccurate, but there are other sources publicly available—it becomes more of a defamation suit based on the idea you're not allowed to reference other publicly reported stories," Wu said. He added that a defamation trial would not "be very helpful at all" to the scrutiny the Trump administration has faced over Epstein. What People Are Saying Melania Trump's lawyer, Alejandro Brito, wrote in his notice to Hunter Biden: "Failure to comply will leave Mrs. Trump with no choice but to pursue any and all legal rights and remedies available to her to recover the overwhelming financial and reputational harm that you have caused her to suffer." Hunter Biden said on Channel Five: "What I said was what I have heard and seen reported and written, primarily from Michael Wolff, but also dating back all the way to 2019 when The New York Times, I think, Annie Carney and Maggie Haberman reported that sources said that Jeffrey Epstein claimed to be the person to introduce Donald Trump to Melania at that time. "And then I think excerpted in a book that was published in Vanity Fair, and I think it's been repeated by journalists and authors since then. But the primary source was the interviews that Michael Wolff has been conducting, in which he has, actually, tapes of I think hours and hours of interviews with Jeffrey Epstein. So, you know, fact of the matter is that, you know, I don't think that these threats of a lawsuit add up to anything other than a design destruction because it's not about who introduced whom to who. I don't know how that in any way rises to the level of defamation to begin with." Nick Clemmens, an aide to Melania Trump, previously told Newsweek: "First lady Melania Trump's attorneys are actively ensuring immediate retractions and apologies by those who spread malicious, defamatory falsehoods. The true account of how the first lady met President Trump is in her best-selling book, Melania." What Happens Next Whether Melania Trump will end up filing the lawsuit against Hunter Biden is yet to be seen. If so, it would garner significant attention while testing the First Amendment and defamation law.

Forget DC. We've got rabbits with tentacles the National Guard needs to fight.
Forget DC. We've got rabbits with tentacles the National Guard needs to fight.

USA Today

time3 minutes ago

  • USA Today

Forget DC. We've got rabbits with tentacles the National Guard needs to fight.

I'm not an expert on pending apocalypses, but I have a hunch that 'rabbits with tentacles' and 'radioactive wasps' might be nature's way of telling us to buckle the (expletive) up. I have a question for our so-called government: Why has the National Guard been sent to Washington, DC, to combat a make-believe crime wave when America is facing a literal invasion of tentacled rabbits and radioactive wasps? An Aug.13 headline right here in USA TODAY read: 'Rabbits with 'tentacles' spotted in Colorado. Are they OK?' No. No, they are not OK, and neither are we, because last time I checked, BUNNIES DON'T HAVE TENTACLES! Rabbits with tentacles and radioactive wasps. What could go wrong? Two weeks ago, CNN had this headline: 'Radioactive wasp nest found at site where US once made nuclear bombs.' Oh. Radioactive wasps, you say? Found near an old nuclear weapons plant? That sounds like a totally normal thing we should ignore. Look, I'm not an expert on pending apocalypses or a proven spotter of signs of the end-times, but I have a hunch that 'rabbits with tentacles' and 'radioactive wasps' might be nature's way of telling us to buckle the (expletive) up. Ignoring our tentacled rabbit crisis, Trump sends National Guard to DC And how is the current administration addressing our pending wasp-ageddon? By not doing a darn thing. The president is apparently too busy dispatching armed soldiers to the nation's capital because a government employee who calls himself Big Balls claims he was beaten up by children. (Google it.) Opinion: Trump ushers in new DC tourist event: 'A Live Re-creation of Authoritarianism!' Life in America is unfolding like a rejected screenplay for a spinoff of 'The Walking Dead,' and I, for one, am not looking forward to death-by-rabbit-tentacle. When the government tells you not to worry about bunnies, worry The Colorado bunnies in question, according to a New York Times report, have 'black spikes growing on their heads, tentacles protruding from their mouths and sluglike growths blocking their eyes.' Totally normal. Totally cool. Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokeswoman Kara Van Hoose said the bunnies have something called cottontail rabbit papillomavirus, which can't spread to humans. What I found notable about that comment is that Van Hoose failed to say whether the infected bunnies can use their mouth tentacles to grab humans by the face before exsanguinating them. That's certainly what I would do if I were a rabbit with mouth tentacles. Please disregard the radioactive wasps. Everything is fine. In South Carolina, near the facility where the radioactive wasps were found, the so-called experts tried to paint a similarly calm portrait of the looming nuclear-wasp crisis. Opinion alerts: Get columns from your favorite columnists + expert analysis on top issues, delivered straight to your device through the USA TODAY app. Don't have the app? Download it for free from your app store. Edwin Deshong, manager of the U.S. Department of Energy's Savannah River Operations Office, told The Times in a statement that his agency is 'managing the discovery of four wasp nests with very low levels of radioactive contamination,' saying the wasps 'do not pose a health risk' to 'the community, or the environment.' That's generally the last thing a person hears before getting murdered by a radioactive wasp. We need our National Guard focused on bunnies and wasps Look, if there's one thing the Trump administration has taught me, it's not to trust the government. So if you think I'm going to read news stories about nuclear-powered wasp menaces and freak rabbits with tentacles and black spikes growing out of their heads and think everything is hunky dory, think again. Opinion: I'm glad Trump is focused on nonexistent DC crime wave, not his campaign promises I believe the government is trying to distract us from our pending annihilation at the hands (paws? stingers?) of bloodthirsty bunnies and wasps by claiming crime in DC is out of control. Don't buy it, folks. We must demand our National Guard troops be sent where they are actually needed. Not to the National Mall or the streets of DC, where the leading crime lately is assault with a foot-long sandwich, but to the ravaged tentacle-bunny lands of Colorado and the toxic wasp swamps of South Carolina. This is serious. At least as serious as what's happening in Washington, DC. Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @ and on Facebook at You can read diverse opinions from our USA TODAY columnists and other writers on the Opinion front page, on X, formerly Twitter, @usatodayopinion and in our Opinion newsletter.

California Just Gave Their Redistricting Bill A Very Good Name With Very Good Branding
California Just Gave Their Redistricting Bill A Very Good Name With Very Good Branding

Buzz Feed

time3 minutes ago

  • Buzz Feed

California Just Gave Their Redistricting Bill A Very Good Name With Very Good Branding

California is getting new election maps. Trump didn't respond, so he started tweeting like him: "DONALD TRUMP, THE LOWEST POLLING PRESIDENT IN RECENT HISTORY, THIS IS YOUR SECOND-TO-LAST WARNING!!! (THE NEXT ONE IS THE LAST ONE!). STAND DOWN NOW OR CALIFORNIA WILL COUNTER-STRIKE (LEGALLY!) TO DESTROY YOUR ILLEGAL CROOKED MAPS IN RED STATES." And ding ding, time ran out. Trump never responded. Today, he announced he would be going through with that redistricting. And now, we've got a name for it. It's the "Election Rigging Response Act." As this person said, "Gavin's 'Election Rigging Response Act' may just be the most beautiful bill name I've ever heard." So, what do you think? Would you vote yes?

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store