India has quietly rewritten a key part of its mining playbook, shifting how the state charges royalties on several strategic minerals in order to coax investment, sharpen auction prices, and chip away at import dependence. The headline change puts graphite on an ad valorem footing, as royalties now rise or fall with the sale price set by the Indian Bureau of Mines rather than a fixed rupee-per-ton levy, while, for the first time, formal royalty rates are being set for cesium, zirconium, and rubidium.

New Delhi’s theory of change is straightforward: when royalties track market realities and gaps in the fiscal regime are closed, bidders can price deposits more rationally, projects clear investment committees faster, and domestic output starts to climb in minerals that underpin batteries, electronics, defense systems, and precision agriculture.

The dispute now emerging between Washington and Europe over energy policy is not simply a trade quarrel about liquefied natural gas volumes or market access. It is a broader attempt by the Trump administration to export its domestic energy doctrine into the transatlantic policy architecture.

After dismantling or weakening environmental rules at home in the name of expanding fossil fuel output, the administration is now pressing European institutions, regulators, and even international energy governance bodies to soften climate-linked standards as a condition for deeper energy cooperation.

Protests at Libya’s largest oil field, Sharara, have led to a halt in production as demonstrators entered the facility demanding jobs, services, and a new refinery. The National Oil Corp. (NOC) had previously warned that a complete stoppage and force majeure were likely if protesters’…