China's reliance on ASML EUV technology is its 'biggest moat': Analyst
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The Hill
11 minutes ago
- The Hill
Appeals court hands Mike Lindell win in fight over $5M election fraud contest
A federal appeals court ruled in favor of MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell on Wednesday in his bid to avoid paying $5 million to a software developer, who declared victory in Lindell's contest to disprove his claims of foreign interference in the 2020 election. The three-judge 8 th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel's unanimous decision found an arbitration panel exceeded its power by changing unambiguous contract terms to award the developer Lindell's prize. 'Fair or not, agreed-to contract terms may not be modified by the panel or by this court,' U.S. Circuit Judge James Loken wrote in the 12-page decision. Lindell hosted a 'Cyber Symposium' in South Dakota in 2021, where he showed data claiming Chinese election interference in President Biden's 2020 victory. Lindell offered $5 million if someone could prove the data was 'unequivocally' not related to the 2020 election. Software developer Robert Zeidman, a contestant, produced a 15-page report rebuffing Lindell's data. But the challenge judges said Zeidman wasn't entitled to the prize. Per the contest rules, Zeidman brought the dispute into arbitration. After a hearing, the arbitration panel ruled in his favor. The panel concluded Zeidman had proven Lindell had not provided packet capture data, often referred to as PCAP files, and therefore had shown it was not election data. 'We conclude that the panel effectively amended the unambiguous Challenge contract when it used extrinsic evidence to require that the data provided was packet capture data, thereby violating established principles of Minnesota contract law and our arbitration precedents,' Loken wrote in the opinion. Loken is an appointee of the first former President Bush. His decision was joined by U.S. Circuit Judge Lavenski Smith, appointed by the younger former President Bush; and U.S. Circuit Judge L. Steven Grasz, appointed by President Trump. The decision instructs a lower court to immediately wipe the $5 million arbitration award or conduct further proceedings in line with the appeals court's reversal. The Hill has reached out to attorneys for Zeidman and Lindell for comment. Lindell has been embroiled in litigation over his baseless claims of mass election fraud in the 2020 election. Last month, a Colorado jury ordered Lindell to pay $2.3 million to a former Dominion Voting Systems employee who sued him for defamation. Lindell also faces defamation lawsuits that remain ongoing from both Dominion and Smartmatic, another voting systems company.
Newsweek
12 minutes ago
- Newsweek
NATO Ally Shadows China Icebreaker
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. The Canadian military confirmed to Newsweek that it is "actively monitoring" the Chinese icebreaker Xue Long 2, which was tracked entering Arctic waters from East Asia last week. "The top priority of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) is the defense of Canada and Canadians, and we will continue to conduct activities needed to detect, deter, and defend against potential threats in, over, and approaching Canada," the Canadian Joint Operations Command said. Newsweek reached out to China's Foreign Ministry and Canada's Coast Guard via email for comment. Why It Matters China asserts itself as a "near-Arctic state" and an important stakeholder in Arctic affairs. In recent years, it has gradually expanded its presence in the region, including deploying its icebreaking fleet and conducting scientific research that could have military applications. The Xue Long 2's voyage comes amid growing Arctic rivalry between the United States and China. U.S. President Donald Trump expressed interest in acquiring Greenland, a Danish island rich in mineral and energy resources, and one that counts China as a key economic partner. Canada, Washington's key NATO ally, conducted an "Arctic awareness and sovereignty mission" in July of last year, during which one of its warships shadowed the Arctic-bound Xue Long 2, China's first domestically built icebreaker capable of conducting research. China's icebreaker Xue Long 2 leaving the Xiuying Port in Haikou on June 8, 2025. China's icebreaker Xue Long 2 leaving the Xiuying Port in Haikou on June 8, 2025. VCG/VCG via AP What To Know Using data from the vessel-tracking website MarineTraffic, Steffan Watkins, a research consultant based in Canada, said the Canadian Coast Guard vessel CCGS Sir Wilfrid Laurier shadowed the Xue Long 2 at a distance as it sailed from Japan toward Alaska. A Newsweek map shows that the Xue Long 2 departed East China on July 6 and was operating in the Chukchi Sea, located south of the Arctic Ocean and north of the Bering Strait, on July 18, following a transit past the west and north coasts of Japan and Russia's Far East. As of Tuesday, the Xue Long 2 was not in Canadian territorial waters, which extend up to 13.8 miles from the coastline, the Canadian Joint Operations Command told Newsweek. According to the Chinese company COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry, the icebreaker completed a 10-day, high-intensity maintenance on June 29 and returned to its polar expedition base in Shanghai, as it prepared for an Arctic scientific expedition mission scheduled for this month. The Sir Wilfrid Laurier, a multi-purpose ship capable of icebreaking, was deployed to the North Pacific last month for a patrol aimed at deterring illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. According to the map, it departed Hakodate Port in northern Japan on July 8. The ship, one of seven Canadian icebreakers scheduled to deploy for the Coast Guard's Arctic summer operations between June and November, was tracked near Nome, Alaska, on July 19, as it shifted its mission to icebreaking and scientific support in the Arctic. While the voyages of the Chinese and Canadian vessels "unmistakably paralleled" each other during their transit to the Arctic, as described by Watkins, the Canadian Coast Guard denied that the Sir Wilfrid Laurier was shadowing the Xue Long 2, according to CBC News. Meanwhile, ADSBexchange, an online platform that collects real-time flight data, tracked a Canadian CP-140 patrol aircraft launching from Alaska and heading toward the Chinese vessel in the Arctic, Watkins revealed on Bluesky on Sunday. Watkins told Newsweek that only one patrol aircraft appears to have been deployed to Anchorage, flying nine-hour sorties every day or every other day. The Canadian Joint Operations Command confirmed to Newsweek that a CP-140 aircraft was based in Alaska. 🇨🇳 Chinese dual-use research vessel Xue Long 2 (MMSI:413381260) has returned to the Arctic, shadowed at a distance by CCGS Sir Wilfrid Laurier (MMSI:316052000) all the way from Japan. It appears #RCAF CP-140 Aurora 140108 #C2B1ED is monitoring Xue Long 2 right now. 👀 — Steffan Watkins 🇨🇦 (@ 2025-07-21T02:32:24.602Z Canada has been deploying military patrol aircraft to Alaska for at least the past two years to monitor Chinese research vessels in the Arctic; however, such missions have not been made public. "Canadians should be aware and appreciate what the air force does," Watkins said. What People Are Saying The Canadian Joint Operations Command said in a statement to Newsweek on Tuesday: "Competitors are exploring Arctic waters and the seafloor, probing our infrastructure, and collecting intelligence using dual-purpose research vessels and surveillance platforms. The [Canadian Armed Forces] will continue to actively monitor the Xue Long 2 so long as it continues to operate near Canadian territorial waters." Steffan Watkins, a research consultant based in Canada, told Newsweek on Tuesday: "I'm sure some of [Chinese research vessel] deployments to the Pacific are academic-research related, but like American and Russian research vessels, I presume they're conducting some of that 'research' for their military; whether that's deploying or retrieving sensors, mapping undersea cables, collecting intelligence, measuring the salinity of the water, or other tasks." What Happens Next According to Watkins, Canada is expected to receive the first of its 16 P-8A patrol aircraft, each equipped with a long-range radar and high-resolution imaging and detection system, in 2026 and achieve full operational capability by 2033 for monitoring vessels of interest.
Yahoo
26 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Why famed short seller Jim Chanos is warning Bitcoin treasury companies of SPAC-style risk
Jim Chanos has seen this movie before — and he says it doesn't end well. The legendary short seller that called the 2001 Enron bankruptcy is now sounding the alarm on the booming market for corporate Bitcoin treasuries. Chanos is comparing it to the SPAC mania of 2021 that raised $90 billion in just three months before crashing spectacularly. Only this time, it's public companies issuing convertible notes and preferred shares to buy Bitcoin — and not much else. 'We are seeing SPAC-like 2021 numbers in the Bitcoin treasury market right now,' Chanos said on the Bitcoin Fundamentals podcast this week, adding that there are reasonably large announcements every day now — 'hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars a night.' It shouldn't be a surprise that Bitcoin treasuries have become all the rage. Since Michael Saylor adopted the scheme for his firm, now-called Strategy, the company's stock has soared more than tenfold. That success has brought in a deluge of other companies that want to mirror the model — and reap the same returns. Some, like former budget hotel operator Metaplanet, scrapped its previous business model in favour of a Bitcoin treasury scheme. Its market capitalisation has ballooned to $6 billion from $13 million in one year. SPAC boom and bust Chanos's warning is warranted. SPACs — those blank-check companies that exploded in 2020 and early 2021 — raised $90 billion in just 90 days at the height of the craze. They promised easy exits, moonshot mergers, and infinite upside. Instead, they delivered one of the most brutal post-hype collapses in modern market history. Indeed, many of them tanked. Electric truck startup Lordstown Motors went public via SPAC, hyped a futuristic factory, only to declare bankruptcy in 2023. Its stock dropped more than 98%. Hydrogen truck play Nikola rocketed on nothing more than a rolling prototype and a catchy narrative. The founder was later convicted of fraud. Shares are down over 95% from their peak. By mid-2022, the De-SPAC Index, which tracks companies post-merger, had cratered more than 75%. 'Me too' trades Chanos, who's shorting the premium between Strategy's stock and its underlying Bitcoin holdings — to then go long on Bitcoin — says capital markets are being flooded with 'me-too' Bitcoin trades. 'Now we have to bring in what's also new in the past handful of months in 2025, and that is the proliferation of me-too strategies,' Chanos said. 'I believe it's over 130 companies already — and growing.' Collectively, 154 public companies control about 863,298 Bitcoin worth around $102 billion. According to 26 firms have become Bitcoin treasuries in the past 30 days. Financial engineering Just as SPACs were built on cheap capital, investor euphoria, and zero business fundamentals, the new wave of Bitcoin treasury companies are being built on clever financial engineering schemes. One example is Strategy's preferred shares. Michael Saylor raised over $1 billion through this model just a few months ago. Preferred stock lands in between debt and common equity. Similar to bonds, preferred shares usually pay a fixed dividend and tend to be considered less risky than common stock. Whereas debt comes with a maturity date — the day when a loan has to be paid — preferred stock does not. Holders of preferred shares usually don't get voting rights, but they do have priority over common shareholders when it comes to dividends. And since preferred stock never matures, Strategy has no need to repay the principal, nor does it face the same refinancing or liquidation risk as it would with traditional debt. For Chanos, it's 'complete financial gibberish.' And just like the SPACs, he warns, it could all implode once the money dries up or sentiment turns. Pedro Solimano is DL News' Buenos Aires-based markets correspondent. Got at a tip? Email atpsolimano@ Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
