A renegade Libyan general has launched attacks against Islamists and stormed parliament, whose leader is now mobilizing Islamist forces in response.

Putin visits Xi in Beijing on Tuesday, and the biggest item on the two world leaders’ agenda will be the possible signing a long-discussed natural gas deal. Unfortunately for Vlad, China holds most of the leverage in these talks.

A federal commission found that an LNG export facility in Cove Point, Maryland, will have a “minimal impact” on its local environment. America is on the way to sharing its shale gas bounty.

Good afternoon, TAI readers! We hope you’ve had an excellent weekend thus far, but to keep things going, take the time to look back at what you may have missed on the site over the past week:

A start-up wants cities to incentivize commuters to travel in off-peak times, i.e., to pay employees to show up late to work. That sounds nice, but there’s a better option.

Putin says he wants Brussels to shore up Kiev’s shaky economy, but what he really wants is for Europe to pay Ukraine’s massive gas bills.

The United States is understandably worried that sanctions against Russian energy companies would adversely effect its biggest customers: our allies in Europe. But by focusing its efforts on preventing new oil and gas tech from making its way to Siberian shale and Arctic oil and gas reserves, the West could hamper Russia’s long-term strategic interests without endangering its short-term energy needs.

American biofuel producers have reduced their output this year, as the EPA considers not increasing the biodiesel mandate. This is good news, but we need real reform to end the US biofuel boondoggle.

American green groups successfully stalled construction of a new coal export facility in Oakland, California, on grounds that the terminal would be detrimental for our climate. In their quest to save the planet, environmentalists want to deprive developing countries from one of the cheapest sources of baseload power.

Lithuania’s Prime Minister claims to have secured at least 20 percent lower prices for Russian natural gas. Lithuania’s position has strengthened recently, but this also may be the result of Russia overextending itself.