Norinchukin Dodges Trump's Market Chaos After Selling Treasuries
New Chief Executive Taro Kitabayashi said the bank finished selling off its unprofitable US Treasury holdings by the end of March, thus avoiding the volatility last week as Trump's trade policies whipsawed markets. Through the end of December, the bank had unloaded ¥12.8 trillion of its holdings in US and European government bonds. The bank is not currently doing any large-scale buying or selling of sovereign debt, he said.
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Why Airlines Will Be Watching White House-Ukraine Talks Closely
At Monday's meeting between President Donald Trump and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky, all eyes are on progress toward a meaningful ceasefire, but there is also a pressing set of commercial concerns for the global airline industry. Russia's invasion of Ukraine upended the sector, with few, if any, companies left untouched. Airlines have been forced into longer, circuitous routes to avoid Ukrainian airspace since the start of the war. This not only adds time to flights, but also moves air traffic into narrower corridors, which can result in congestion and delays. Airspace over Russia has also been off limits to many Western airlines. Skift has reported extensively on the challenges faced by European airlines serving East Asia. Major carriers have pared back frequencies to China in particular, with diversionary routes a critical factor. Others have gone even further. In October, Virgin Atlantic withdrew from China after 25 years. Traveling westbound,
UPI
3 minutes ago
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Newsmax settles defamation suit by Dominion Voting Systems for $67M
A Newsmax banner hangs at the entrance of the New York Stock Exchange before the closing bell on Wall Street on March 31. The conservative media company's stock price jumped more than 700% in its first day of trading on the NYSE. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo Aug. 18 (UPI) -- Newsmax on Monday agreed to pay $67 million to Dominion Voting Systems in a defamation suit against the conservative media company over its 2020 presidential election coverage. The announcement came as President Donald Trump on Monday reiterated his criticism of certain voting machines and mail-in ballots. Newmax announced the agreement in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in which the two sides mutually agreed to resolve the litigation. Dominion, a private company based in Denver, provides voting equipment to jurisdictions in 28 states. The systems include touchscreen screens and paper ballot scanning devices. The settlement will be paid in installments over three years, which the company said it "expects to fund through revenues." Newsmax, which went public in March with an initial public offering of $10 per share for $75 million, has a market capitalization of $1.56 billion. Last September, Newsmax agreed to a settlement with another voting machine company, Smartmatic, before a trial. The settlement of $40 million wasn't disclosed until March. In 2021, Dominion filed suit against Newsmax, seeking $1.6 billion and alleging certain statements made in Newsmax's coverage about the election were defamatory. "We are pleased to have settled this matter," a Dominion spokesperson told CNN, declining to comment further. "The judiciary's willingness to punish news organizations for reporting on matters of urgent national debate undermines the role of the press in a free society," Newsmax said in a news release. After Joe Biden was declared the winner against Donald Trump in November 2020, Newsmax hosts and guests falsely claimed the election results were fraudulent and specifically took aim at voting machines. Newmax didn't disclose whether there would be an on-air apology or acknowledgement about false claims that voting results were incorrect. "Newsmax believed it was critically important for the American people to hear both sides of the election disputes that arose in 2020," the company said in a statement. "We stand by our coverage as fair, balanced, and conducted within professional standards of journalism." Newsmax said it determined that Delaware Court Judge Eric Davis, who was presiding over the case, would not provide a fair trial in which the company could present standard libel defenses to a jury. He presided over the voting machine company's defamation suit against Fox News, in which $787 million was awarded in April 2023 in a suit settlement. Davis, who was appointed by a Democratic governor, Jack Markell, in 2010, earlier this year ruled that Newsmax aired defamatory statements about the company. He said a jury would decide if the lies were intentional and if so how much would be awarded. "From the very beginning, Judge Davis ruled in ways that strongly favored the plaintiffs and limited Newsmax's ability to defend itself," Newsmax said. The judge indicated that he likely would refuse to allow the jury to hear that Fox News had already paid Dominion $787 million. Newsmax also noted Dominion was permitted to comb through extensive communications, including personal emails, cellphone text messages and other documents of reporters and company executives unrelated to the case. "The Delaware Court under Judge Davis effectively enforced a confiscation of our property because our reporting was not always sympathetic to Joe Biden," Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy said. Newmax, which is the fourth-highest-rated network of all major pay TV providers, became a public company in March and is listed on the Nasdaq. Its main offices are in New York City and Boca Raton, Fla. The company reaches more than 40 million Americans regularly through Newsmax TV, the Newsmax App, website and publications. Trump, who continues to claim he won the 2020 election despite being told otherwise in court cases and audits, blasted the use of mail-in ballots and voting machines on Monday morning in a post on Truth Social. "I am going to lead a movement to get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS, and also, while we're at it, Highly "Inaccurate," Very Expensive, and Seriously Controversial VOTING MACHINES, which cost Ten Times more than accurate and sophisticated Watermark Paper, which is faster, and leaves NO DOUBT, at the end of the evening, as to who WON, and who LOST, the Election," Trump posted. Trump, who became a resident of Palm Beach in Florida in September 2019, has sometimes voted via absentee ballot, which is essentially the same thing as mail-in ballots. His legal residence previously was New York City. Trump also spoke against the U.S. voting system during his appearance with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House. "Mail-in ballots are corrupt," he said. "You can never have a real democracy with mail-in ballots."
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9 minutes ago
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Trump signs order that could ease regulations on SpaceX operations, including in Florida
SpaceX and Elon Musk just notched a significant win with President Donald Trump's latest executive order. Trump on Wednesday, Aug. 13, signed an executive order that eases many federal regulatory restrictions on commercial spaceflight companies in the U.S. Though SpaceX is not mentioned by name in the order, the commercial spaceflight company perhaps stands to gain the most from the move due to its many lucrative government contracts and its active launch cadence. The order also comes more than two months since Trump and Musk had a very public feud over a spending bill that led to a falling-out between the once-close allies – and threats that could have hampered U.S. spaceflight ambitions. Here's everything to know about Trump's commercial spaceflight executive order, as well as SpaceX's long battle with government regulators. Trump signs executive order on commercial rocket launches Trump's order directs the U.S. transportation secretary to eliminate or expedite environmental reviews for launch appovals administered by the Federal Aviation Administration, which licenses commercial rocket launches. The declaration further calls on the secretary to do away with "outdated, redundant or overly restrictive rules for launch and re-entry vehicles," the White House said in a statement provided to Reuters. Trump's order states that it is imperative to increase commercial rocket launches in the U.S. to "ensure that new space-based industries, space exploration capabilities, and cutting-edge defense systems are pioneered in America rather than by our adversaries." Interestingly, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, whose title is referenced several times in the order, was appointed in July as interim administrator of NASA. Following the news, Duffy praised Trump in a post on social media site X calling the order "visionary." "We're launching into the final frontier and this EO makes it possible for the U.S. to lead the world from earth travel to space travel," Duffy said in the post. Order could ease environmental regulations for SpaceX missions The executive order would directly benefit private spaceflight companies like Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, both of which conduct the bulk of their operations in Texas. But SpaceX, which Musk founded in 2002, likely stands to gain the most from the relaxed regulatory environment. The commercial rocket launch company leads the way in U.S. spaceflight missions by routinely conducting Starlink satellite deployments using its Falcon 9 rocket from both California and Florida. SpaceX's Falcon 9, one of the world's most active rockets, is also the vehicle of choice for NASA when the space agency sends astronauts to the International Space Station. What's more, the SpaceX Crew Dragon Capsule perched atop the rocket is the only U.S. vehicle capable of transporting astronauts to and from the orbital laboratory. SpaceX additionally benefits from billions of dollars in contracts from not only NASA, but the Department of Defense by providing launch services for classified satellites and other payloads. Trump's order comes as SpaceX prepares to launch its massive 400-foot Starship rocket again in August from its Starbase headquarters in South Texas. Musk has also oft-stated his commitment to increasing the cadence of test missions for the spacecraft due to launch before the end of 2026 from Florida. The launch vehicle, regarded as the world's largest and most powerful rocket, is set to serve a pivotal role in future U.S. spaceflight. Starship is the centerpiece of Musk's vision of sending the first humans to Mars, and is also critical in NASA's plans to return astronauts to the moon's surface. Elon Musk, SpaceX have battled regulations for years Trump's executive order is undoubtedly a huge win for Musk, who has spent years pushing back on federal regulations he views as "superfluous." In September 2024, the FAA announced a proposal to hit SpaceX with $633,009 in civil penalties for what the agency claims were failures by the company to follow license requirements ahead of two separate launches in 2023. In response, Musk took to his social media site X to indicate his plans to sue the agency for "regulatory overreach." The FAA has previously said in a statement to the USA TODAY Network that it seeks to balance spaceflight progress with the need to ensure commercial launches are safely conducted. A record 148 FAA-licensed commercial space operations took place in 2024, up by more than 30% from the year prior, the agency has noted. But when it comes to Starship's development, SpaceX has become known for its risk-tolerant philosophy. Musk has stressed that rapid and frequent testing that sometimes leads to explosive ends can still provide data that helps engineers improve the vehicle's design. Environmental groups, others long oppose SpaceX rocket launches That aggressive approach, though, has rankled environmentalists and others who have criticized SpaceX's operations for potentially decimating regional ecosystems. The South Texas Environmental Justice Network, which has long opposed Musk and his space program, most recently issued a statement in May condemning the FAA for approving SpaceX's request to increase its Starship flight tests to 25 a year. In late June, Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum threatened to sue SpaceX if investigators determined that Musk's spaceflight company had contributed to undue pollution and marine life die-off in the country. The announcement came after the fiery mishap earlier in the month caused debris to fall in the Mexican state of Tamaulipa. Contributing: Reuters Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@ This article originally appeared on Florida Today: SpaceX launches got easier under Trump's commercial spaceflight order Solve the daily Crossword
