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Tesla has simplified the manufacturing process "dramatically," Musk said. In the same factory space where Tesla can build 50,000 Model S or Model X cars, it will soon be able to produce 200,000 Model 3s. Part of that is due to a simplified package of options. 

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The new Model 3 has cheaper range availability than the current record holder, the $37,500 Chevy Bolt, which is outclassed in nearly every way by the Model 3. Each year the battle for cheap range gets a little bit more fierce.

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Musk reiterated his projections of a very slow start in the next few months and then increasing rapidly to a rate of 20,000 a month by the end of the year, and 50,000 a month by the end of 2018. It's an aggressive schedule that will more than double Tesla's total production rate in six months, and then quintuple it by the end of next year.

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If the Model 3 is successful, it would signal the completion of the Master Plan and a new era of electrification for the auto industry.

BMW AG, Daimler AG, Volkswagen AG and its Audi and Porsche brands shared competitive information about vehicle technologies with one another from 1996 through at least 2015 in violation of antitrust laws, according to a complaint filed Friday in San Francisco federal court.

"These coordinated actions enabled the manufacturer defendants -- the self-named ‘Fünfer-Kreise,' or Circle of Five -- to impose a German automobile premium on consumers premised on superior German engineering, while secretly stunting incentives to innovate," the suit alleges.

The suit, which seeks class-action status on behalf of U.S. drivers, says the companies agreed to limit the development of vehicle systems, including emissions control. The arrangement allegedly led to the development of so-called "defeat devices" used by Volkswagen to cheat on pollution tests.

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The suit filed Friday is the second in the U.S. to allege the anti-competitive actions by the companies. Drivers filed a similar class-action suit in New Jersey federal court on Tuesday alleging German automakers created an anti-competitive culture in the U.S. and conspired over 20 years to increase prices of luxury vehicles while sharing technology to skirt emissions norms.

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Markus Beyrer, director of the EU's main business lobby, Business Europe, urged Washington to "avoid unilateral actions that would mainly hit the EU, its citizens and its companies".

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The Commission could demand a formal U.S. promise to exclude EU energy companies; use EU laws to block U.S. measures against European entities; or impose outright bans on doing business with certain U.S. companies, an EU official said.

But if no such promise is offered, punitive sanctions such as limiting the access of U.S. companies to EU banks require unanimity from the 28 EU member states.

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Meanwhile there is little or no sign that the Western sanctions have had any tangible effect in Ukraine, as the Russian-backed rebellion in the country's industrial east continues unabated.

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Now, almost a month later, confirmation of the white coup/regime change in Riyadh has been splashed on the front page of The New York Times, attributed mainly to the proverbial "current and former United States officials".

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The dry casks are designed to keep spent fuel confined only for decades, while the health standard for a permanent repository covers hundreds of thousands of years -- longer than humans have roamed Earth. If the radioactive waste sits around in temporary storage for hundreds of years, it could be neglected and eventually forgotten.

So one outcome that nobody seems to want is for a temporary site to eventually become permanent by default.

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Volvo also announced it would launch five new electric and hybrid cars between 2019 and 2021, and that two of those will be made by Polestar, which the company recently announced would become its own subsidiary and brand selling performance EVs, likely to compete with high-end Tesla models.

Part of the cost benefit of making electric cars is dealing with ever stronger emissions requirements on vehicles, which are set to tighten in most key international markets, including China, which is where Volvo's owner Geely is based. Production costs of EV parts and batteries are also getting smaller, as capacity and manufacturing processes improve.

Nigerian officials have attempted to freeze Aluko's assets, including a full-floor penthouse at Midtown's One57 skyscraper, as part of a wider investigation. Aluko and others are accused of pocketing $1.8 billion meant for government coffers and spending it on luxury goods around the globe, court filings in that country show.

Foreclosure proceedings were started in January on Aluko's apartment on the 79th story of One57, which would be the costliest ever residential seizure in New York City. The 6,240-square-foot (580-square-meter) condo was bought in 2014 by a shell company listed in New York City public records as One57 79 Inc., whose sole shareholder is Earnshaw Associates Ltd. Earnshaw was set up by Aluko in the British Virgin Islands, according to the Panama Papers, a trove of documents leaked in 2016 to expose offshore tax evasion, which cite him as a shareholder and beneficiary.

Investors still aren't demanding higher overall premiums for the riskiest corporate debt and the $18.4 billion iShares iBoxx High Yield Corporate Bond ETF has gained 3.9 percent this year, even as credit spreads for energy companies widened to the highest since September after crude slid below $43 a barrel. 

"There may be more pain on the way" for the energy patch, warns Bloomberg Intelligence senior credit analyst Spencer Cutter.

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In 2015, "there was a significant lag between oil really cratering and credit catching up," writes Peter Tchir, head of macro strategy at Brean Capital LLC. "While I think the energy related credit selling was overdone by late 2015, it seems to me that we have hit a point yet again where the lag effect has to start kicking in -- credit can't ignore ongoing weakness for so long."

Yeah, everything bad is "contained" and will remain so, and everything bullish will continue forever... don't you just love it when we reach the point in market/crisis cycles that the word "contained" has to be trotted out? We're certainly reassured...

Output from Libya surged by more than 178,000 bpd to 730,000 bpd as the country's rival factions moved toward reconciliation, and supplies disrupted throughout years of conflict remained on line.

In Nigeria, production was up more than 174,000 bpd to 1.68 million bpd as supplies sidelined by militant attacks on energy infrastructure last year came back into operation. With the gain, Nigeria reclaimed the title of largest African producer in OPEC from Angola, where output fell by 54,000 bpd, the biggest drop among the 13 members in May.

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Only four countries were producing at or below the levels they agreed to in November: Saudi Arabia, Angola, Kuwait, and Qatar.

This is a huge challenge for major oil producers, especially Saudi Arabia and Russia. In December 2016, OPEC and its oil-producing partners agreed to cut production by about 1.8 million barrels per day, or roughly 1.5% of global crude production at the time... The OPEC deal managed to stabilize oil prices around $50 per barrel, and last month the cuts were extended for another nine months. If it were still 1973, that might have caused a jump in oil prices. But in 2017, OPEC produces only about 40% of the global supply, and the US is among the top three producers in the world. The price of Brent crude spiked to $54.15 per barrel after the cuts were extended but has since dropped almost 12% and may continue to fall.

Much of the decline in coal's fortunes from 2012 on is accounted for by non-environmental policy factors. As the report shows, growth in energy supply from natural gas accounted for 49 percent of the total market share loss accruing to coal. Further 26 percent of coal's decline was down to a drop in overall demand, and 18 percent was accounted for by renewables. Only 3-5 percent of coal's market share decline was down to Obama Administration's environmental regulations.

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In simple terms, coal hardly makes any sense as a target for either investment, or jobs creation, or economic value added creation. Not because the U.S. is leading the world on the environmental policies, but because China is shifting its energy mix toward cleaner alternatives. Worse, improving coal demand outlook makes even less sense for an Administration that actively promotes more gas production and exports. President Trump is missing the main point of changing global economy: no one wants coal anymore. Nor do many want more supplies of oil and gas, as clearly evidenced by collapse in worldwide prices of these sources of energy.