Latest news with #SATELLITEConferenceandExhibition
Newsweek
12 hours ago
- Business
- Newsweek
Rand Paul Takes Swipe at Elon Musk Over 'Big Not So Beautiful Bill'
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Republican Senator Rand Paul took a swipe at Elon Musk's large family over President Donald Trump's top legislative proposal, which he is calling the "Big not so beautiful bill." Both Musk and Paul have expressed frustration with the bill as it stands, with Paul's dislike being focused on its impact on government debt. Paul posted on X: "The legislation, as currently written, would pay someone like Elon Musk $1000 per child, and we know how prolific he is . . . No offense, Elon, but Is [sic.] that a wise use of our $$?" How about this: tweak the Big not so beautiful bill so it doesn't add so much to the debt? The legislation, as currently written, would pay someone like Elon Musk $1000 per child, and we know how prolific he is . . . No offense, Elon, but Is that a wise use of our $$? — Rand Paul (@RandPaul) June 28, 2025 Paul did not expand on this post. The budget bill as it stands brings the Child Tax Credit (CTC) up to $2,200. This is not directly paying people to have children but is a tax incentive for people making under $200,000 a year. The libertarian senator from Kentucky may also have been referring to the children's savings program portion of the bill, which would give every child born in America between 2025 to 2028 $1,000 in an investment account. This is putting money directly to a child's account, not to their parents, so would not necessarily benefit Musk, who is father to at least 14 children, directly. Newsweek has contacted Paul via email for comment outside of working hours. From left, Senator Rand Paul talks with reporters in Russell building on Tuesday, June 17, 2025, Washington DC; Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk speaks at the SATELLITE Conference and Exhibition, March 9, 2020, in... From left, Senator Rand Paul talks with reporters in Russell building on Tuesday, June 17, 2025, Washington DC; Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk speaks at the SATELLITE Conference and Exhibition, March 9, 2020, in Washington DC. More Left: Tom Williams, Right: Susan Walsh, File/Left: CQ Roll Call via AP Images, Right: AP Photo Why It Matters Paul and Musk have been reposting each other's comments about the impact of the bill on national debt, so Paul's comment on X may have been an effort to highlight how the bill would add billions to the national debt, rather than an insult. The bill as it stands is not popular with American voters. According to a poll conducted by The Tarrance Group, which Paul has also shared, 58 percent of people agree with Musk's assertion that the budget is a "pork-filled spending bill that will massively increase the budget deficit and burden American citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt." The Trump administration says the bill is needed to address voter priorities. It seeks to permanently extend $3.8 trillion in expiring benefits while funding Trump's mass deportation efforts with $350 billion in national security spending. Not that we should govern by poll, but it is very clear people don't want this extreme amount of debt and reckless spending — Rand Paul (@RandPaul) June 28, 2025 What To Know Senator Rand Paul has been one of the most outspoken Republican voices against the "Big Beautiful Bill," as it stands. The bill passed a procedural vote in the Senate on June 28, with Paul and another Republican senator, Thom Tillis, voting against it. Paul has said he would be open to voting for the bill if it did not increase the debt, but it currently stands to add over $4 trillion, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Tax cuts in the budget bill are also expected to provide more tax benefits to the rich than the working or middle class. It will extend Trump's 2017 tax cuts that resulted in reducing taxes significantly more for the top 0.1 percent, per analysis by the Tax Policy Center, Urban Institute, and Brookings Institution. The White House says that the bill "delivers for the American worker" and will deliver a "Blue-Collar BOOM." It highlights measures such as a 15 percent tax cut for Americans earning between $30,000 and $80,000 per year, and no taxes on overtime or tips. Trump has also said that revenue generated from global tariffs will offset the reduction in tax revenue. The tax cuts in the bill as it stands are expected to add $4.6 trillion in debt, and tariffs are expected to generate up to $3.1 trillion, according to the Tax Policy Center, the Tax Foundation, and the Yale Budget Lab. Another Republican and libertarian legislator, Representative Thomas Massie, has criticized the "omnibus" nature of the bill, as it contains everything from tax credits to AI regulation in one package. Paul has agreed with this sentiment, saying on X: "Break up the bills so we can vote on individual matters, not a bunch of things at once." What People Are Saying Senator Rand Paul on X: "I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I'm willing to negotiate if the White House strips the massive $5 TRILLION, long-term debt ceiling increase and replaces it with short-term extensions tied to real spending reforms. Fiscal responsibility isn't a talking point. It's a principle." I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I'm willing to negotiate if the White House strips the massive $5 TRILLION, long-term debt ceiling increase and replaces it with short-term extensions tied to real spending reforms. Fiscal responsibility isn't a talking point. It's a… — Rand Paul (@RandPaul) June 16, 2025 Daniel Hornung, former President Joe Biden's deputy director of the National Economic Council, told The Guardian: "It's really striking that this bill is both as fiscally irresponsible as it is and regressive. People making less than $50,000 a year will actually see their incomes go down, and it's really to finance tax cuts for largely high-income people." The White House, in a June 24 statement: "President Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill lowers tax rates to keep more money in Americans' pockets—PREVENTING THE LARGEST TAX HIKE IN HISTORY." What Happens Next The budget bill just passed a procedural vote in the Senate without a single Democrat vote, or Senators Paul or Tillis. It still needs to pass another simple majority vote in the Senate, with Vice President JD Vance potentially needed as a tiebreaker. Then, it will return to the House for a final vote before it can be approved by the president.
Japan Today
6 days ago
- Automotive
- Japan Today
Would you hail a 'robotaxi'? Musk bets cabs will give Tesla a lift after boycotts and sales plunge
FILE - Tesla and SpaceX Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk speaks at the SATELLITE Conference and Exhibition in Washington, March 9, 2020. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File) By BERNARD CONDON Elon Musk promised in 2019 that driverless Tesla 'robotaxis' would be on the road 'next year,' but it didn't happen. A year later, he promised to deliver them the next year, but that didn't happen either. Despite the empty pledges the promises kept coming. Last year in January, Musk said, 'Next year for sure, we'll have over a million robotaxis.' Would you settle for 10 or 12? Musk appears to be on the verge of making his robotaxi vision a reality with a test run of a small squad of self-driving cabs in Austin, Texas, starting Sunday. Reaching a million may take a year or more, however, although the billionaire should be able to expand the service this year if the Austin demo is a success. The stakes couldn't be higher, nor the challenges. While Musk was making those 'next year' promises, rival Waymo was busy deploying driverless taxis in Los Angeles, San Diego, Austin and other cities by using a different technology that allowed it to get to market faster. It just completed its 10 millionth paid ride. Boycotts related to Musk's politics have tanked Tesla's sales. Rival electric vehicle makers with newly competitive models have stolen market share. And investors are on edge after a $150 billion stock wipeout when Musk picked a social media fight with a U.S. president overseeing federal car regulators who could make the robotaxi rollout much more difficult. The stock has recovered somewhat after Musk said he regretted some of his remarks. Tesla shareholders have stood by Musk over the years because he's defied the odds by building a successful standalone electric vehicle company — self-driving car promises aside — and making them a lot of money in the process. A decade ago, Tesla shares traded for around $18. The shares closed Friday at $322. Musk says the Austin test will begin modestly enough, with just 10 or 12 vehicles picking up passengers in a limited area. But then it will quickly ramp up and spread to other cities, eventually reaching hundreds of thousands if not a million vehicles next year. Some Musk watchers on Wall Street are skeptical. 'How quickly can he expand the fleet?' asks Garrett Nelson, an analyst at CFRA. 'We're talking maybe a dozen vehicles initially. It's very small." Morningstar's Seth Goldstein says Musk is being classic Musk: Promising too much, too quickly. 'When anyone in Austin can download the app and use a robotaxi, that will be a success, but I don't think that will happen until 2028," he says. 'Testing is going to take a while.' Musk's tendency to push up the stock high with a bit of hyperbole is well known among investors. In 2018, he told Tesla stockholders he had 'funding secured' to buy all their shares at a massive premium and take the company private. But he not only lacked a written commitment from financiers, according to federal stock regulators who fined him, he hadn't discussed the loan amount or other details with them. More recently, Musk told CNBC in May that Tesla was experiencing a 'major rebound' in demand. A week later an auto trade group in Europe announced sales had plunged by half. Musk has come under fire for allegedly exaggerating the ability of the system used for its cars to drive themselves, starting with the name. Full Self-Driving is a misnomer. The system still requires drivers to keep their eyes on the road because they may need to intervene and take control at any moment. Federal highway safety regulators opened an investigation into FSD last year after several accidents, and the Department of Justice has conducted its own probe, though the status of that is not known. Tesla has also faced lawsuits over the feature, some resulting in settlements, other dismissed. In one case, a judge ruled against the plaintiffs but only because they hadn't proved Musk 'knowingly' made false statements. Musk says the robotaxis will be running on an improved version of Full Self-Driving and the cabs will be safe. He also says the service will be able to expand rapidly around the country. His secret weapon: Millions of Tesla owners now on the roads. He says an over-the-air software update will soon allow them to turn their cars into driverless cabs and start a side business while stuck at the office for eight hours or on vacation for a week. 'Instead of having your car sit in the parking lot, your car could be earning money,' Musk said earlier this year, calling it an Airbnb model for cars. 'You will be able to add or subtract your car to the fleet.' Musk says Tesla also can move fast to deploy taxis now because of his decision to rely only on cameras for the cars to navigate, unlike Waymo, which has gone a more expensive route by supplementing its cameras with lasers and radar. 'Tesla will have, I don't know,' Musk mused in an conference call with investors, '99% market share or something ridiculous.' Given Waymo's head start and potential competition from Amazon and others, dominating the driverless market to that extent could be a reach. But Dan Ives, a Wedbush Securities analyst and big Musk fan, says this time Musk may actually pull it off because of Tesla's ability to scale up quickly. And even skeptics like Morningstar's Goldstein acknowledge that Musk occasionally does gets things right, and spectacularly so. He upended the car industry by getting people to buy expensive electric vehicles, brought his Starlink satellite internet service to rural areas and, more recently, performed a gee-whiz trick of landing an unmanned SpaceX rocket on a platform back on earth. 'Maybe his timelines aren't realistic," Goldstein says, 'but he can develop futuristic technology products.' © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
The Province
22-06-2025
- Automotive
- The Province
Musk bets robotaxis will give Tesla a lift after boycotts and sales plunge
Published Jun 22, 2025 • 4 minute read FILE - Tesla and SpaceX Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk speaks at the SATELLITE Conference and Exhibition in Washington, March 9, 2020. Photo by Susan Walsh / AP NEW YORK (AP) — Elon Musk promised in 2019 that driverless Tesla 'robotaxis' would be on the road 'next year,' but it didn't happen. A year later, he promised to deliver them the next year, but that didn't happen either. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Despite the empty pledges the promises kept coming. Last year in January, Musk said, 'Next year for sure, we'll have over a million robotaxis.' Would you settle for 10 or 12? Musk appears to be on the verge of making his robotaxi vision a reality with a test run of a small squad of self-driving cabs in Austin, Texas, starting Sunday. Reaching a million may take a year or more, however, although the billionaire should be able to expand the service this year if the Austin demo is a success. The stakes couldn't be higher, nor the challenges. While Musk was making those 'next year' promises, rival Waymo was busy deploying driverless taxis in Los Angeles, San Diego, Austin and other cities by using a different technology that allowed it to get to market faster. It just completed its 10 millionth paid ride. Essential reading for hockey fans who eat, sleep, Canucks, repeat. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Boycotts related to Musk's politics have tanked Tesla's sales. Rival electric vehicle makers with newly competitive models have stolen market share. And investors are on edge after a $150 billion stock wipeout when Musk picked a social media fight with a U.S. president overseeing federal car regulators who could make the robotaxi rollout much more difficult. The stock has recovered somewhat after Musk said he regretted some of his remarks. Tesla shareholders have stood by Musk over the years because he's defied the odds by building a successful standalone electric vehicle company — self-driving car promises aside — and making them a lot of money in the process. A decade ago, Tesla shares traded for around $18. The shares closed Friday at $322. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Musk says the Austin test will begin modestly enough, with just 10 or 12 vehicles picking up passengers in a limited area. But then it will quickly ramp up and spread to other cities, eventually reaching hundreds of thousands if not a million vehicles next year. Some Musk watchers on Wall Street are skeptical. 'How quickly can he expand the fleet?' asks Garrett Nelson, an analyst at CFRA. 'We're talking maybe a dozen vehicles initially. It's very small.' Morningstar's Seth Goldstein says Musk is being classic Musk: Promising too much, too quickly. 'When anyone in Austin can download the app and use a robotaxi, that will be a success, but I don't think that will happen until 2028,' he says. 'Testing is going to take a while.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Musk's tendency to push up the stock high with a bit of hyperbole is well known among investors. In 2018, he told Tesla stockholders he had 'funding secured' to buy all their shares at a massive premium and take the company private. But he not only lacked a written commitment from financiers, according to federal stock regulators who fined him, he hadn't discussed the loan amount or other details with them. More recently, Musk told CNBC in May that Tesla was experiencing a 'major rebound' in demand. A week later an auto trade group in Europe announced sales had plunged by half. Musk has come under fire for allegedly exaggerating the ability of the system used for its cars to drive themselves, starting with the name. Full Self-Driving is a misnomer. The system still requires drivers to keep their eyes on the road because they may need to intervene and take control at any moment. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Federal highway safety regulators opened an investigation into FSD last year after several accidents, and the Department of Justice has conducted its own probe, though the status of that is not known. Tesla has also faced lawsuits over the feature, some resulting in settlements, other dismissed. In one case, a judge ruled against the plaintiffs but only because they hadn't proved Musk 'knowingly' made false statements. Musk says the robotaxis will be running on an improved version of Full Self-Driving and the cabs will be safe. He also says the service will be able to expand rapidly around the country. His secret weapon: Millions of Tesla owners now on the roads. He says an over-the-air software update will soon allow them to turn their cars into driverless cabs and start a side business while stuck at the office for eight hours or on vacation for a week. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'Instead of having your car sit in the parking lot, your car could be earning money,' Musk said earlier this year, calling it an Airbnb model for cars. 'You will be able to add or subtract your car to the fleet.' Musk says Tesla also can move fast to deploy taxis now because of his decision to rely only on cameras for the cars to navigate, unlike Waymo, which has gone a more expensive route by supplementing its cameras with lasers and radar. 'Tesla will have, I don't know,' Musk mused in an conference call with investors, '99% market share or something ridiculous.' Given Waymo's head start and potential competition from Amazon and others, dominating the driverless market to that extent could be a reach. But Dan Ives, a Wedbush Securities analyst and big Musk fan, says this time Musk may actually pull it off because of Tesla's ability to scale up quickly. And even skeptics like Morningstar's Goldstein acknowledge that Musk occasionally does gets things right, and spectacularly so. He upended the car industry by getting people to buy expensive electric vehicles, brought his Starlink satellite internet service to rural areas and, more recently, performed a gee-whiz trick of landing an unmanned SpaceX rocket on a platform back on earth. 'Maybe his timelines aren't realistic,' Goldstein says, 'but he can develop futuristic technology products.' Vancouver Canucks Vancouver Canucks Vancouver Canucks News Hockey
Toronto Sun
22-06-2025
- Automotive
- Toronto Sun
Musk bets robotaxis will give Tesla a lift after boycotts and sales plunge
Published Jun 22, 2025 • 4 minute read FILE - Tesla and SpaceX Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk speaks at the SATELLITE Conference and Exhibition in Washington, March 9, 2020. Photo by Susan Walsh / AP NEW YORK (AP) — Elon Musk promised in 2019 that driverless Tesla 'robotaxis' would be on the road 'next year,' but it didn't happen. A year later, he promised to deliver them the next year, but that didn't happen either. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Despite the empty pledges the promises kept coming. Last year in January, Musk said, 'Next year for sure, we'll have over a million robotaxis.' Would you settle for 10 or 12? Musk appears to be on the verge of making his robotaxi vision a reality with a test run of a small squad of self-driving cabs in Austin, Texas, starting Sunday. Reaching a million may take a year or more, however, although the billionaire should be able to expand the service this year if the Austin demo is a success. The stakes couldn't be higher, nor the challenges. While Musk was making those 'next year' promises, rival Waymo was busy deploying driverless taxis in Los Angeles, San Diego, Austin and other cities by using a different technology that allowed it to get to market faster. It just completed its 10 millionth paid ride. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Boycotts related to Musk's politics have tanked Tesla's sales. Rival electric vehicle makers with newly competitive models have stolen market share. And investors are on edge after a $150 billion stock wipeout when Musk picked a social media fight with a U.S. president overseeing federal car regulators who could make the robotaxi rollout much more difficult. The stock has recovered somewhat after Musk said he regretted some of his remarks. Tesla shareholders have stood by Musk over the years because he's defied the odds by building a successful standalone electric vehicle company — self-driving car promises aside — and making them a lot of money in the process. A decade ago, Tesla shares traded for around $18. The shares closed Friday at $322. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Musk says the Austin test will begin modestly enough, with just 10 or 12 vehicles picking up passengers in a limited area. But then it will quickly ramp up and spread to other cities, eventually reaching hundreds of thousands if not a million vehicles next year. Some Musk watchers on Wall Street are skeptical. 'How quickly can he expand the fleet?' asks Garrett Nelson, an analyst at CFRA. 'We're talking maybe a dozen vehicles initially. It's very small.' Morningstar's Seth Goldstein says Musk is being classic Musk: Promising too much, too quickly. 'When anyone in Austin can download the app and use a robotaxi, that will be a success, but I don't think that will happen until 2028,' he says. 'Testing is going to take a while.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Musk's tendency to push up the stock high with a bit of hyperbole is well known among investors. In 2018, he told Tesla stockholders he had 'funding secured' to buy all their shares at a massive premium and take the company private. But he not only lacked a written commitment from financiers, according to federal stock regulators who fined him, he hadn't discussed the loan amount or other details with them. More recently, Musk told CNBC in May that Tesla was experiencing a 'major rebound' in demand. A week later an auto trade group in Europe announced sales had plunged by half. Musk has come under fire for allegedly exaggerating the ability of the system used for its cars to drive themselves, starting with the name. Full Self-Driving is a misnomer. The system still requires drivers to keep their eyes on the road because they may need to intervene and take control at any moment. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Federal highway safety regulators opened an investigation into FSD last year after several accidents, and the Department of Justice has conducted its own probe, though the status of that is not known. Tesla has also faced lawsuits over the feature, some resulting in settlements, other dismissed. In one case, a judge ruled against the plaintiffs but only because they hadn't proved Musk 'knowingly' made false statements. Musk says the robotaxis will be running on an improved version of Full Self-Driving and the cabs will be safe. He also says the service will be able to expand rapidly around the country. His secret weapon: Millions of Tesla owners now on the roads. He says an over-the-air software update will soon allow them to turn their cars into driverless cabs and start a side business while stuck at the office for eight hours or on vacation for a week. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'Instead of having your car sit in the parking lot, your car could be earning money,' Musk said earlier this year, calling it an Airbnb model for cars. 'You will be able to add or subtract your car to the fleet.' Musk says Tesla also can move fast to deploy taxis now because of his decision to rely only on cameras for the cars to navigate, unlike Waymo, which has gone a more expensive route by supplementing its cameras with lasers and radar. 'Tesla will have, I don't know,' Musk mused in an conference call with investors, '99% market share or something ridiculous.' Given Waymo's head start and potential competition from Amazon and others, dominating the driverless market to that extent could be a reach. But Dan Ives, a Wedbush Securities analyst and big Musk fan, says this time Musk may actually pull it off because of Tesla's ability to scale up quickly. And even skeptics like Morningstar's Goldstein acknowledge that Musk occasionally does gets things right, and spectacularly so. He upended the car industry by getting people to buy expensive electric vehicles, brought his Starlink satellite internet service to rural areas and, more recently, performed a gee-whiz trick of landing an unmanned SpaceX rocket on a platform back on earth. 'Maybe his timelines aren't realistic,' Goldstein says, 'but he can develop futuristic technology products.' Sunshine Girls Sports World Columnists Editorial Cartoons
Toronto Sun
27-05-2025
- Business
- Toronto Sun
South Africa denies bending the rules to give Musk's Starlink preferential treatment
Published May 27, 2025 • 2 minute read Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk speaks at the SATELLITE Conference and Exhibition, March 9, 2020, in Washington. Photo by Susan Walsh / AP JOHANNESBURG — South Africa's minister of communications on Tuesday denied accusations that a draft policy watering down Black ownership requirements for tech firms was not proposed to benefit the Starlink business of white South African-born tech billionaire Elon Musk. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Under South African law, foreign-owned companies are required to sell 30% of their subsidiaries to shareholders who are Black, or from other racial groups disadvantaged under the apartheid system of white minority rule, in order to acquire a license. However, Communications Minister Solly Malatsi on Friday proposed easing the requirement, prompting criticism from various political parties. He put forward the directive days after South African President Cyril Ramaphosa met with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House, when Trump made baseless claims that white South African farmers were being systematically killed. A senior lawmaker, Khusela Diko, questioned the timing of the directive and whether the country was bending over backwards to accommodate Musk's Starlink satellite telecoms business. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. On Tuesday Malatsi appeared before Parliament in Cape Town to defend the move and denied suggestions it was introduced specifically for Starlink. Lawmakers questioned whether the directives were correctly opening up the playing field for foreign players or tampering with the government's economic empowerment agenda by catering to Starlink. Musk has repeatedly denounced the Black ownership laws and said on social media that Starlink wasn't able to get a license to operate in South Africa because he was white. South African authorities say Starlink hasn't formally applied. Malatsi said the regulations would allow for more than one new operator to enter the market, boosting competition. 'We are not attempting to open a special dispensation for Starlink or any other company or an individual,' Malatsi told lawmakers, adding that work on the policy direction started around September, and was not prompted by the recent meeting between Trump and Ramaphosa. 'There is no conspiracy on our part with regard to this policy direction,' said the minister. Stakeholders, industry players and the public have been given 30 days to send in submissions and provide comment before the framework is finalized. Olympics Music Canada Columnists Relationships
