Rio Tinto Eyes Bailout for Australian Aluminum Smelter, AFR Says
Rio Tinto Group is seeking a multibillion-dollar government bailout for its Tomago aluminum smelter — Australia's largest electricity user — due to spiraling energy costs, the Australian Financial Review reported.
The talks center on the smelter's electricity contract for 2026 to 2029 and the federal government's production tax credits, the newspaper reported Saturday, citing unidentified sources familiar with the discussions. One person interviewed by the AFR said any bailout package will likely be 'more sophisticated' than a direct subsidy and that talks are mainly being conducted with the New South Wales state government.
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Elon Musk trades threats with Trump: What it could mean for SpaceX launches in California
When President Donald Trump took office in January, he began offering plenty of signs that his goals for U.S. spaceflight aligned closely with those of billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk. Now those goals, which included reaching Mars during Trump's second term as a top priority, appear to be up in the air amid an increasingly volatile fallout between two of the world's most powerful men. As insults have turned to threats, Trump has suggested he'd hit Musk where it could hurt most: His wallet. Musk's SpaceX has spent years positioning itself at the center of American civil and military spaceflight – a profitable relationship that has made the company's founder incredibly wealthy. In response, Musk has floated – and then retracted – the idea of decommissioning a SpaceX vehicle critical to NASA's spaceflight program. Serious threats, or empty words? That remains to be seen as Musk and Trump reportedly consider a détente. In the meantime, here's what to know about what's at stake if the U.S. government's relationship with SpaceX were to crumble: U.S. spaceflight: Dozens of NASA space missions could be axed under Trump's budget The feud between Trump and his former top adviser escalated in a dramatic fashion when the president threatened to cut off the taxpayer dollars that have fueled Elon Musk's businesses, including SpaceX. "The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts," Trump said in a post on his social media platform. "I was always surprised that Biden didn't do it!" In all, Musk and his businesses have received at least $38 billion in government contracts, loans, subsidies and tax credits, a Washington Post analysis found. With SpaceX as the fulcrum of much of the U.S. government's spaceflight programs, parting ways with the commercial company would leave a void that would be hard to fill. But NASA Press Secretary Bethany Stevens said in a post on social media site X that 'NASA will continue to execute upon the President's vision for the future of space.' 'We will continue to work with our industry partners to ensure the President's objectives in space are met,' Stevens wrote. Elon Musk, the world's richest man, founded SpaceX, in 2002. The commercial spaceflight company is headquartered at Starbase in South Texas. The site, which is where SpaceX has been conducting routine flight tests of its 400-foot megarocket known as Starship, was recently voted by residents to become its own city. SpaceX conducts many of its own rocket launches, most using the Falcon 9 rocket, from both California and Florida. That includes a regular cadence of deliveries of Starlink internet satellites into orbit from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County. In the month of May alone, SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket deployed six different deliveries of Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit. Recently, SpaceX has also moved its recovery operations from the Florida Coast to the coast of California for vehicles returning from orbit – with or without a crew. SpaceX also partners for occasional privately funded commercial crewed missions, the most recent of which was an April venture known as Fram2. SpaceX was additionally famously involved in funding and operating the headline-grabbing Polaris Dawn crewed commercial mission in September 2024. SpaceX benefits from billions of dollars in contracts from NASA and the Department of Defense by providing launch services for classified satellites and other payloads. Gwynne Shotwell, CEO of SpaceX, has said the company has about $22 billion in government contracts, according to Reuters. The vast majority of that, about $15 billion, is derived from NASA. SpaceX's famous two-stage Falcon 9 rocket ‒ one of the world's most active ‒ is routinely the rocket of choice to get many NASA missions off the ground. For instance, the rocket is due in the days ahead to help propel a four-person crew of private astronauts to the International Space Station for a venture with NASA known as Axiom Mission 4. NASA also has plans to use SpaceX's Starship in its Artemis lunar missions to ferry astronauts aboard the Orion capsule from orbit to the moon's surface. The rocket, which is in development, has yet to reach orbit in any of its nine flight tests beginning in April 2023. SpaceX's Dragon capsule is also a famous vehicle that is widely used for a variety of spaceflights. The capsule, which sits atop the Falcon 9 for launches to orbit, is capable of transporting both NASA astronauts and cargo to the space station. Under NASA's commercial crew program, the U.S. space agency has been paying SpaceX for years to conduct routine spaceflights to the International Space Station using the company's own launch vehicles. The first of SpaceX's Crew missions ferrying astronauts to the orbital outpost on the Dragon began in 2020, with the tenth and most recent contingent reaching the station in March for about a six-month stay. Standing nearly 27 feet tall and about 13 feet wide, Dragon capsules can carry up to seven astronauts into orbit, though most of SpaceX's Crew missions feature a crew of four. The Dragon spacecraft also was the vehicle NASA selected to bring home the two NASA astronauts who rode the doomed Boeing Starliner capsule to the space station in June 2024. Certifying the Starliner capsule for operation would give NASA a second vehicle in addition to Dragon for regular spaceflights to orbit. Because Boeing is still developing its Starliner capsule, Dragon is the only U.S. vehicle capable of carrying astronauts to and from the space station. It's also one of four vehicles contracted to transport cargo and other supplies to the orbital laboratory. For that reason, Musk's threat Thursday, June 5 to decommission the Dragon "immediately" would be a severe blow to NASA if he were to follow through on it. Musk, though, appears to already be backing off on the suggestion, which he made in response to Trump's own threats. In response to a user who advised Musk to "Cool off and take a step back for a couple days," Musk replied: 'Good advice. Ok, we won't decommission Dragon.' Seven astronauts are aboard the International Space Station, including three Americans. Four of the astronauts rode a SpaceX Dragon to the station for a mission known as Crew-10, while the remaining three launched on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. Contributing: Joey Garrison, Josh Meyer, USA TODAY; Reuters Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@ This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: SpaceX California rocket launches: Trump-Musk feud's possible effects
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2 hours ago
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Why Musk's feud with Trump could jeopardize his business empire
Elon Musk, the world's richest man, may have made himself an enemy of the world's most powerful leader. The public blowout between Musk and President Trump is threatening the tech billionaire's businesses, some of which have billions of dollars' worth of federal contracts. Musk's aerospace company SpaceX alone reportedly has at least $22 billion in federal contracts — which Trump had threatened to revoke at the peak of his feud with his former adviser. 'Trump goes after people, companies and organizations he doesn't like,' said Peter Loge, a professor at George Washington University and former senior FDA adviser during the Obama administration. 'As a real estate developer, politician and president, he has used every tool at his disposal to punish people he thinks have wronged him,' Loge added. 'Unless Musk expresses contrition, Trump is likely to hurt him in every way he can think of. If Musk is contrite, he can be welcomed back into the Trump tent.' While the two could reconcile in the future, observers agree the dramatic turn of events leaves Musk's business empire vulnerable to Trump's wrath. Trump, at one point during Thursday's back-and-forth, threatened to cut Musk's government contracts as he called his former adviser 'crazy.' 'The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts. I was always surprised that Biden didn't do it!' Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. Musk, in turn, said he would decommission SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, which is responsible for ferrying astronauts and cargo to and from the International Space Station. He later backed off, after an X user urged him to 'cool off and take a step back.' The exchange underscored how Musk's business ventures could get caught in the crosshairs of any feud with the president, who is known to have a proclivity for retribution. 'If this turns into a hot war, certainly, the consequences for Musk's business relationship with the federal government could be in peril, or at least significantly complicated,' said GOP strategist and Trump campaign alum Brian Seitchik. The tech billionaire officially departed the White House last week after a four-month stint in government in which he seemed to rarely leave Trump's side, becoming a near constant presence at Mar-a-Lago, Cabinet meetings and the Oval Office. He exited the administration seemingly on good terms with Trump despite his pushback against the president's sweeping tax and spending bill — the centerpiece of Trump's domestic policy agenda, which is projected to add trillions of dollars to the deficit. Trump presented Musk with a golden key to the White House during a Friday farewell ceremony in Oval Office, during which the duo downplayed their differences and spoke highly of each other's work. However, Musk sharpened his criticism of Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' soon after, as he slammed the legislation as a 'disgusting abomination.' The president responded Thursday, saying he was 'very surprised' and 'disappointed' by Musk's comments and cast doubt on the future of their relationship. 'Elon and I had a great relationship. I don't know if we will anymore,' Trump said during an Oval Office appearance alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The situation quickly devolved into personal attacks. Musk fired back on his social platform X, suggesting the president would have lost the 2024 election without him, linking Trump to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and backing calls for the president's impeachment. As the feud dragged on Thursday, Tesla's stock plunged 14 percent Thursday, costing the electric vehicle maker more than $150 billion. The company was still trying to fully recover from the fallout of Musk's highly controversial role in the Trump administration, leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Tesla's stock is down 20 percent since the start of the year. 'The social media and war of words back and forth is not good for anyone and put massive pressure on Tesla shares with fears that Trump will turn from friend to foe and create a tough regulatory environment for Musk in the Beltway,' Wedbush Securities analysts wrote in a note Friday. 'Musk needs Trump and Trump needs Musk for many reasons, and these two becoming friends again will be a huge relief for Tesla shares,' they added. Ross Gerber, a longtime Tesla investor and CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, slammed Musk for the ripple effects his comments may have had on Tesla's stock. 'Trump is an angry and vindictive man who doesn't forget when slighted. This doesn't get solved other than Elon groveling back and publicly apologizing,' Gerber wrote on X Friday, adding in an earlier post, 'So Tesla investors are down $140 billion over this break up. About how much Musk claimed to saving for the US government.' As the back-and-forth unfolded Thursday, Gerber quipped, 'Can someone please take the phone away from him [Musk].' When pressed on the feud, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Musk has a right to speak for his companies. 'So the only difference between Friday and today is Elon went back to his companies. And, as a businessman, he has a right to speak for his companies. But as president, President Trump has a responsibility to fight for this country,' she said Thursday on FOX News Channel's 'Hannity.' While Trump could pose new risks to Musk's business outlooks, analysts say the fight could also impede the president's ability to run the government. SpaceX held federal contracts with agencies like NASA and the Pentagon long before Trump's presidency, becoming a crucial partner to the federal government as it phased out the space shuttle program. If Musk reverses on his decision to keep Dragon in commission, experts say it could debilitate the U.S. space program 'If such threats were carried out, it would be catastrophic,' said space policy expert Mark Whittington, adding later, 'Without SpaceX, we're back to being dependent on the Russians.' NASA has increasingly relied on SpaceX for its infrastructure, including the Dragon capsule, which is the only U.S. system capable of getting crews to the International Space Station. Russia's Souyuz capsules, the Associated Press reported, are the only other way to get crews to the space station. While both Trump and Musk have much to lose from a war, some Republicans veterans aren't ruling out the chance of a reconciliation. 'There's always the possibility that Trump is serious about this, but I think if you take the 'Art of the Deal' seriously, he is often maximally negotiating,' said GOP strategist Chris Johnson. The feud appeared to cool slightly Friday morning, as Musk seemingly agreed with a post from hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who suggested the pair 'should make peace for the benefit of our great country.' But Trump has shown no desire to talk to Musk despite reports the two might speak on the phone. 'I won't be speaking to him for a while, I guess, but I wish him well,' Trump told CNN's Dana Bash on Friday. Tesla's stock partially recovered amid hopes of a détente, rising 5 percent. 'If Musk is able to sue for peace and the onus is on him to make peace with Trump, then it'll be a blip in the screen and their bromance will be restored,' Seitchik told The Hill. However, he added, 'If this call goes poorly and this continues to escalate, then certainly Trump will look for every bit of leverage to inflict pain on Elon Musk and his businesses.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Sign in to access your portfolio
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3 hours ago
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Australia Online Casino Trends Reveal Reddit Community Preferences for Real Money Gaming in 2025 By Spinsy Online Casino
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