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U.S. oil production is rising sharply and increased output from shale will be a "game changer" in global energy markets in the coming years, according to a new report out Tuesday by the International Energy Agency.

"U.S. shale oil will help meet most of the world's new oil needs in the next five years, even if demand rises from a pick-up in the global economy," the Paris-based agency said in its five-year outlook, called the Medium-Term Oil Market Report.

"North American supply is an even bigger deal than we thought. A real game changer in every way," said Maria van der Hoeven, the IEA's executive director.

She said that North American production has set off a "supply shock that is sending ripples throughout the world" and urged the United States to dismantle the Export Administration Act of 1979 that bans the sale of U.S. crude abroad, except to Canada and Mexico.

"This issue is on the table. I think it has to be addressed because if there are no export licenses for crude, then the industry will find different ways, as they are looking for now already with processed, half-processed products, things like that," van der Hoeven said.

The IEA report forecasts:

"North American supply to grow by 3.9 million barrels per day from 2012 to 2018, or nearly two-thirds of total forecast non-OPEC supply growth of 6 [million barrels per day]. World liquid production capacity is expected to grow by 8.4 [million barrels per day] – significantly faster than demand – which is projected to expand by 6.9 [million barrels per day]. Global refining capacity will post even steeper growth, surging by 9.5 [million barrels per day], led by China and the Middle East."

Spade's arms went around her, holding her to him, muscles bulging through his blue sleeves.

Attorney General Eric Holder has defended the Justice Department's actions in secretly obtaining journalists' phone records as part of a probe into leaks of classified material, but said he himself had nothing to do with the subpoena.

Speaking at a news conference on Tuesday, Holder said he'd recused himself from the investigation at the time the records were sought and that Deputy Attorney General Jim Cole was in charge of the case in which phone records of Associated Press reporters were obtained.

According to a Justice Department statement, Holder stepped aside because he himself was being interviewed in the probe over who provided information for an AP story disclosing details of a CIA operation in Yemen, according to the AP.

Holder that the investigation itself was aimed at locating "a very serious leak, a very grave leak" that "put the American people at risk."

The remarks come on the same day Holder sent a letter to AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt. In it, he writes that Department policy is to "issue subpoenas for phone records of media organizations only in certain circumstances.

"In this case, the Department undertook a comprehensive investigation, including, among other investigative steps, conducting over 550 interviews and reviewing tens of thousands of documents, before seeking the toll records at issue," Holder says.

On Monday, Pruitt had blasted the Justice Department for secretly obtaining the logs for the period April-May 2012, saying there was "no possible justification for such an overbroad collection of telephone communications of The Associated Press and its reporters."

Holder said he understood Pruitt's position "that these subpoenas should have been more narrowly drawn ... but in fact, consistent with Department policy, the subpoenas were limited in both time and scope."

NPR's David Folkenflik reports:

"Deputy Attorney General James Cole authorized the subpoena of records for twenty phone lines involving a two month period. The failure to tell the AP means the organization could not negotiate a more narrow release of records or fight it in court."

The civil war in Syria feels far away for many Americans. But it hits close to home for one Chicago doctor and has pulled him, and many of his colleagues, to the front lines.

Tell Me More host Michel Martin spoke with Dr. Zaher Sahloul, a practicing critical care specialist in Chicago and president of the Syrian American Medical Society.

Sahloul says that for safety reasons, local physicians in Syria have established an underground health care system.

"In every area in Syria," Sahloul notes, "there is what's called field hospitals or medical points. These field hospitals and medical points are usually hidden in the basement of buildings or sometimes in natural caves. I've seen a field hospital in the mountains of Latakia that is made in a cave — natural cave — because it's hidden from the authorities. It cannot be bombed and shelled."

On the type of injuries he sees

"Many of the conditions are related to shrapnel. ... There is a phenomenon in Syria called barrel bombs. These are barrels that are stuffed with bomb powder and dropped on populations.

"We are also treating more and more patients who have infectious diseases related to the disintegration of the health care system. We are seeing more resurgence of measles, for example, because of lack of vaccination in Syria."

Middle East

Syrian-American Doctors Head To The Battle Zone