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Nicki Minaj accuses California Gov Newsom of ‘trying to be Trump’ in scathing interview

Politics 3 Mins Read

Nicki Minaj, who has recently been a vocal critic of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, accused him in a new interview of trying to be like President Donald Trump, referring to recent social media posts of the governor’s that emulate the president’s frank style.

‘With Newscum, it’s the fact that with everything you said, but then having the audacity to be playing on Twitter, obsessed with Trump, trying to be Trump, trying to be funny when it’s not and then wanting to roll around in the mud with female rappers or whomever and completely missing the plot,’ Minaj told Katie Miller on her podcast this week.

Many of Minaj’s online attacks have been over the governor’s support of transgender children.

‘Imagine being the guy running on wanting to see trans kids,’ Minaj wrote on social media late last year. ‘Not even a trans ADULT would run on that. Normal adults wake up & think they want to see HEALTHY, SAFE, HAPPY kids. Not Gav. The Gav Nots. GavOUT. Send in the next guy, I’m bored.’

She suggested to Miller that Newsom would be better off not trying to compete with Trump.

‘But President Trump is already the president, get it?’ she said as if speaking directly to Newsom. ‘He’s already done it twice. He’s won. Good. OK. Meanwhile, you are embarking on what — a journey that will end up being a big huge failure for him.’

The ‘Tukoh Taka’ singer said the governor still doesn’t ‘seem to grasp the fact that these jokes that you’re making are only funny to your assistant, you know, the weirdo little guy that calls Black women stupid h— and stuff.’

Newsom’s assistant responded to one of Minaj’s slams on social media last year by posting a picture of a Nicki Minaj T-shirt in the trash. He captioned the image: ‘Stupid H–,’ a reference to her 2012 song of the same name.

She claimed that ‘no one cares’ about Newsom’s rhetoric online, ‘and he’s making a fool out of himself like when he went all the way to another country to speak ill of the country and the president. We would never want someone like that to be our president. Americans are so big on loyalty and that just showed us all you do not have a loyal bone in your body and no one is going to vote for you.’

Newsom spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last month, expressing his concerns that ‘freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, freedom of speech’ are all under attack because of the Trump administration.

‘They’re censoring historical facts, they’re rewriting history,’ he added, also claiming that the administration had canceled an earlier event the governor was supposed to speak at.

Minaj said Newsom failed to respond to her when she asked for his office’s help ‘on Twitter about swatting calls that were happening that were clearly a part of their extended smear campaign. And he completely ignored it, right? And next thing you know, he’s on there flapping his gums about female rap stuff and trying to get in women’s business. So I had to. I had to show him who’s boss on Twitter.’

Newsom has only responded to her tirade of social media attacks once.

In December, he posted a mashup of videos and images of Trump, including with Jeffrey Epstein, set to Meghan Thee Stallion’s Minaj diss track ‘HISS.’

Fox News Digital has reached out to Newsom’s office for comment.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

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Politics

Pro-life group finds Biden-era FDA policy is driving 500 abortions per day, says Trump has power to end it

Politics 6 Mins Read

A pro-life group is releasing a new report claiming abortions have continued to rise nationwide since 2020 because of a Biden administration FDA policy that allows abortion pills to be prescribed via telehealth and shipped by mail — a move the group says the Trump administration could reverse.

In a report obtained by Fox News Digital, the Restoration of America Foundation (ROAF) argues that a COVID-era FDA policy under former President Joe Biden is driving an estimated more than 500 mail-order chemical abortions per day, citing data from Guttmacher and WeCount.

The data also shows that chemical abortions now account for the majority of abortions, making up about 63% in 2023, a jump from 39% in 2017.

The report also estimates that there were roughly 170,000 additional abortions in 2024 than would have happened if the abortion rate had remained at 2019 levels.

‘Since hitting a low in 2017, the national abortion rate has seen a persistent and troubling climb,’ the report states. ‘In 2019, the last full year that abortion by mail was clearly illegal, there were an estimated 916,460 abortions. Using our estimate for 2024, the overall growth in abortion from 2019 to 2024 was 22 percent. Over the same window, the U.S. population grew by just 2.9 percent. Had the abortion rate remained steady from 2019, there would have been 171,103 fewer abortions in 2024.’

The findings show abortion-by-mail made up roughly one in four abortions in the U.S. in the first half of 2025.

WeCount data cited in the report also shows an estimated 244,590 do-it-yourself abortions were facilitated by telehealth in 2024, including more than 120,000 pills sent into states where abortion was restricted or banned after the Supreme Court overturned Roe V. Wade in 2022, giving the power to make abortion laws back to the states.

The Biden administration policy removed safety standards that required women to see a doctor to be prescribed mifepristone, allowing it to be prescribed through telehealth and sent by mail. The report argues that the FDA under Biden justified the change using limited studies and adverse-event data, despite most mandatory reporting requirements for mifepristone complications being removed in 2016 under the Obama administration. A research paper in 2021 additionally compared adverse-event data with Planned Parenthood data and concluded that the system is ‘inadequate’ to evaluate the safety of mifepristone abortions.

‘People are calling up and saying whatever they need to say to get the drug in the mail,’ ROAF CEO Doug Truax said in an interview with Fox News Digital. ‘The point that we’re making is that abortions are on the rise dramatically. 874,000 in 2023, up to 1.1 million in 2024. Then on this trajectory, by the time President Trump leaves office, it’d be about 1.4 million a year. And so it’s largely driven by the drugs going out in the mail.’

‘There’s about 150 women a day that are being seriously harmed by this drug,’ Truax continued. ‘So we need to get them to go see the doctor. The doctor needs to verify where they’re at with the pregnancy. Obviously, if it’s an ectopic pregnancy, it means they could take this drug, and they could die from it, which has happened. But there are all kinds of sepsis and rupturing and hemorrhaging and everything going on with this drug.’

‘So there are two angles to this. We’re very pro-life over here. We want to go to zero abortions in the country. But the other angle is that this is a women’s health issue. So we need to decrease the number of abortions, and we need to basically save women from being harmed by this,’ he added.

Truax also noted that states with higher populations are receiving the most abortion pills through the mail and that Democrat-led states have enacted shield laws preventing GOP-led states from taking legal action against providers.

‘For instance, Texas, they don’t have abortion anymore, but they sure do,’ he said. ‘People think it’s down to zero. It’s not at all. It’s about where it was. So you have all these abortionists in, to name a few, Massachusetts and California. There’s dispensing organizations now around the country and around the globe that will mail these things out. They’re very active getting these abortion drugs into states that said, ‘we don’t want abortion here.”

The FDA continues to keep the in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone suspended — a safety rule that had been in place for roughly 20 years before Biden’s FDA permanently removed it following a COVID-era suspension.

The policy was met with legal challenges under the previous administration, but the Supreme Court allowed it to remain in effect after ruling that the plaintiffs lacked standing. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled the FDA’s action under Biden was likely ‘arbitrary and capricious’ under the Administrative Procedure Act.

Truax said that the Trump administration has the authority to nix the policy, and urged the federal government to do so.

‘I think that from a political standpoint, they’d rather not talk about it. But our point is, from a political standpoint, it’s going to start hurting. Pro-life Americans are really grateful to the president for the Supreme Court that we have, they got Roe thrown out, as it should have been a long time ago. But there’s more work to be done. We’re grateful for defunding Planned Parenthood. That’s great for a year. But the bottom line is, if the number of abortions is actually going up and there’s a step you could take to stop it, we got to do that,’ he said.

‘There’s a massive number of pro-life Americans that are base supporters of the president who may say, ‘wait a minute, we’ve been in power for this entire time and the number of abortions keeps going up, and we could have stopped it,” he added.

Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill and state officials have been calling on the Trump administration to take action.

Last summer, more than 20 attorneys general urged Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary to complete a safety review of mifepristone and consider reinstating safeguards or removing the drug from the market. Kennedy and Makary vowed to conduct a new review of the safety of the drug, but they have not released a timeline for the results.

‘President Trump, Secretary Kennedy, and Commissioner Makary already have the tools at their disposal to reverse the legally and scientifically dubious decisions of the Biden Administration’s FDA and to reinstate the in-person dispensing requirement. The Trump Administration must act swiftly to restore commonsense medical safeguards to the chemical abortion pill,’ the ROAF report says.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

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Politics

Maduro ally Alex Saab arrested in joint US-Venezuelan operation, official says

Politics 3 Mins Read

Venezuelan official Alex Saab, a former businessman and close ally of captured former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, was arrested in the Latin American country on Wednesday as part of a joint operation between the U.S. and Venezuela, according to a U.S. law enforcement official.

Saab, 54, who had previously been held in the U.S., is expected to be extradited to the U.S. in the coming days, the U.S. official told Reuters.

A lawyer for Saab, Luigi Giuliano, was cited in the Colombian newspaper El Espectador later on Wednesday, denying the arrest as ‘fake news.’ Journalists aligned with Venezuela’s government also made social media posts denying that Saab had been arrested.

Giuliano told Venezuelan news site TalCual that Saab may make an appearance to refute the arrest allegations himself but was consulting with the government about what had happened.

Venezuela’s top lawmaker, Jorge Rodríguez, did not confirm or deny the reports during a press conference, saying he had no information concerning the possible arrest.

This comes after the U.S. operation to attack Venezuela and arrest Maduro, and the Trump administration’s subsequent seizing of oil tankers from the country.

Saab’s arrest would suggest a new level of collaboration between U.S. and Venezuelan authorities under the government of interim President Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s former deputy, who currently controls Venezuela’s law enforcement agencies and actions.

The U.S. official highlighted the significance of Rodriguez’s cooperation in the joint operation.

Raul Gorrin, the head of Venezuela’s Globovision TV network, was also arrested in the operation, the official said.

Saab, who was born in Colombia, was previously detained in the African nation of Cape Verde in 2020 and held in the U.S. for more than three years on bribery charges. He was eventually granted clemency in exchange for the release of Americans held in Venezuela.

Before he was granted clemency, U.S. officials had charged Saab with taking around $350 million out of Venezuela through the U.S. as part of a bribery scheme connected to Venezuela’s state-controlled exchange rate.

Saab denied the allegations and appealed to have the charges dismissed on grounds of diplomatic immunity. An appeals court had not ruled on Saab’s appeal by the time the prisoner swap went through.

When he returned to Venezuela at the end of 2023, Maduro praised Saab’s loyalty to the country’s socialist revolution and called him a national hero.

Maduro later appointed Saab as industry minister, a position he held until last month, when he was dismissed by Rodriguez following the arrest of the country’s former leader.

Reuters contributed to this report.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

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Business

The architect of Amazon’s supply chain on running a startup with your spouse

Business 2 Mins Read

For at least two decades, former Amazon executive Dave Clark ended his work week the same way: a standing Friday date night with his wife, Leigh Anne.

Over dinner, the Clarks would talk through the “peak and pit” of their weeks. The ritual often revolved around Amazon, where Clark played a central role in building the logistics infrastructure that helped launch the e-commerce era.

During those years, Leigh Anne was a sounding board for her husband. In the process, she had a front-row seat to Amazon’s growth from what she called “a baby to a behemoth.”

By the time Clark left Amazon in 2022, he was CEO of the Worldwide Consumer division and one of billionaire founder Jeff Bezos’ top lieutenants.

Dave Clark at Auger headquarters Monday.David Jaewon Oh for NBC News

But these days, Fridays for the Clarks look very different.

Their dinner date has morphed into afternoon cocktails — a bourbon with Diet Coke for her and a Manhattan for him. And the conversation isn’t focused on Amazon anymore. It’s about Auger, the supply-chain startup they run together.

In their first joint interview from Auger’s Seattle office, the Clarks described how their marriage and complementary skill sets are shaping the company.

“We’ve been together for so long that we kind of just read each other’s minds,” Leigh Anne said. Working together, she said, “felt like a natural fit.”

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS

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Business

Trump administration alleges Nike discriminated against white workers

Business 3 Mins Read

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Wednesday that it is investigating Nike for allegedly discriminating against white workers.

The agency that polices discrimination in the workplace filed an action in federal court in Missouri to compel the publicly traded athletic shoe and apparel giant to produce information in response to a subpoena the agency served on the company last fall, according to court filings reviewed by NBC News.

The EEOC said it was investigating allegations that the company’s mentorship and training programs and its personnel decisions gave nonwhite employees preferential treatment that amounts, according to the agency, to discrimination against white workers.

Nike is the world’s largest sportswear and apparel company, with nearly 80,000 employees and revenues of around $51.4 billion in 2024.

The allegations were not made by workers at Nike who believed they had been the targets of unfair treatment, however, as is typically the case in EEOC investigations.

Instead, the court filings show that this case stems from a commissioner’s charge brought by then-commissioner Andrea Lucas herself in May 2024, and based on publicly available information such as Nike’s own annual “Impact Reports” and information on its public website.

The EEOC’s request that a judge enforce the subpoena is the latest instance of the Trump administration using a federal agency that is typically charged with preventing and responding to discrimination against nonwhite Americans, and deploying it instead to protect what it says are the underrepresented interests of white people.

Nike has objected in court to many of the EEOC’s demands to documents over the last several months, arguing that they are vague, overly broad, and seek information dating back to well before the period in question.

“This feels like a surprising and unusual escalation,” a Nike spokesperson said. “We have had extensive, good-faith participation in an EEOC inquiry into our personnel practices, programs, and decisions and have had ongoing efforts to provide information and engage constructively with the agency.”

The spokesperson added that Nike has shared “thousands of pages of information and detailed written responses” in connection with the agency’s inquiry and said the company is in the “process of providing additional information.” Nike will respond to the agency’s petition, the spokesperson said.

Lucas was appointed chair of the EEOC by President Donald Trump in November 2025 after serving as a commissioner since 2020, when the president nominated Lucas to the agency.

The agency said it filed the subpoena enforcement action after “first attempting to obtain voluntary compliance with its investigative requests.”

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS

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Investing

Japan Advances Rare Earths Ambitions with World’s First Seabed Trial

Investing 4 Mins Read

Japan announced that it has successfully retrieved mineral-rich seabed sediment from nearly 6,000 meters below the ocean’s surface near the remote island of Minamitorishima.

Officials say the technical milestone could help reduce the country’s dependence on China.

The work was carried out by deep-sea drilling vessel Chikyu, which collected the sediment as part of a government-backed test program aimed at assessing the feasibility of mining rare-earths-bearing mud from the deep ocean.

According to Japan’s Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Chikyu departed last month for Minamitorishima — about 1,950 kilometers southeast of Tokyo — and arrived at the test site on January 17.

The first batch of sediment was recovered on February 1.

“It is a first step toward industrialization of domestically produced rare earth in Japan,” Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said in a statement posted on X. “We will make efforts toward achieving resilient supply chains for rare earths and other critical minerals to avoid overdependence on a particular country.”

Rare earths are essential in the high-performance magnets used in electric vehicles, wind turbines, electronics and defense systems. China currently dominates global production and processing of heavy rare earths, giving Beijing significant influence over prices and supply, a vulnerability that has increasingly worried world governments.

Japan’s latest test comes amid heightened geopolitical tension in the region.

Tokyo has grown more concerned about potential supply disruptions after China recently suspended exports of certain dual-use goods to Japan. While rare earths were not explicitly named, the move raised fears that Beijing could use its control over critical minerals as leverage as it has in the past.

Japanese researchers first identified rare-earth-rich mud deposits around Minamitorishima in the 2010s. Since then, the government has funded research, development and feasibility studies under its Strategic Innovation Promotion Program, focusing on whether those resources could support a domestic supply chain.

The current trial is designed to test not only the ability to retrieve sediment from extreme depths, but also the logistics of deep-sea mining. Officials cautioned that the work is still at an early stage. Details such as the concentration of rare earth elements in the retrieved mud and the overall recovery rates are still being analyzed. Moving toward commercial production would require demonstrating the entire process, from seabed extraction to separation and refining.

Japan plans to continue testing through mid-February. If the trials are successful, larger-scale demonstrations could follow, potentially including the construction of a dedicated processing facility on Minamitorishima later this decade.

US targets rare earths security with Project Vault

While Japan pushes deeper into rare earths supply diversification, developments in the US underscore how deeply critical minerals policies are shaping markets on both sides of the Pacific.

On Monday (February 2), the Trump administration rolled out Project Vault, a roughly US$12 billion strategic critical minerals reserve aimed at reducing US dependence on China for rare earths and other essential metals.

The initiative, anchored by a US$10 billion loan from the US Export‑Import Bank and about US$2 billion in private capital, is designed to stockpile strategic materials like rare earths, cobalt and lithium.

The program’s backers say the reserve will function much like America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve, offering a buffer against global supply disruptions and insulating manufacturers from price shocks that have plagued markets during recent US-China trade tensions. Analysts say the effort signals an ongoing shift toward industrial policy that treats critical minerals as strategic assets, even as completion details and long‑term execution remain uncertain.

The financial markets responded quickly. Shares of Australian rare earths producer Lynas Rare Earths (ASX:LYC,OTCQX:LYSDY) rallied more than 3 percent on Tuesday (February 3), closing at AU$15.25, reflecting renewed investor interest tied to the policy news and the broader rare earth narrative.

Lynas’ recent movements come against a backdrop of broader gains in non‑Chinese mineral producers, as investors reposition around supply chain security and government policy support.

Rare earths stocks more generally saw upticks in the US market after the country’s critical minerals plan came into focus, with producers like MP Materials (NYSE:MP) and USA Rare Earth (NASDAQ:USAR) gaining on reports of increased government engagement in critical mineral sourcing.

Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

This post appeared first on investingnews.com

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Investing

Can You Invest in Neuralink?

Investing 10 Mins Read

Elon Musk’s Neuralink has captured the public’s attention and imagination with its futuristic vision of connecting the human brain to computers.

Neuralink has drawn interest to the brain computer interface (BCI) sector with its N1 implant, which is undergoing human trials in patients with spinal cord injuries (SCIs) and ALS.

Musk’s company is far from the only one developing BCI tech to assist users with conditions such as SCIs, ALS and neurological disorders.

‘The number of new firms entering the space and the amount of venture funding being distributed to startups surpasses any other product category we have seen in the 25 years we have been covering the neurotechnology industry,’ Neurotech Reports stated in June 2025.

As Neuralink continues to make strides, investors are wondering how to get a piece of the action by investing in the neurotechnology venture.

Because it is privately held, Neuralink stock isn’t accessible to the average person — but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to get exposure to this future-looking medical research company. Read on to learn how to participate in the growth of this exciting business, and other BCI firms you can invest in.

In this article

    What is Neuralink?

    Neuralink is a neurotechnology startup that was founded in 2016 by Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Musk and a team of eight scientists and engineers in 2016.

    It was first reported on in 2017, and two years later, in June 2019, the company held and streamed its public launch event to showcase the technology it is developing: an innovative brain-computer interface.

    Instead of using traditional electrodes, which, according to a company whitepaper, can be bulky and damaging to brain tissue, Neuralink’s BCI uses “ultra-thin threads” that are implanted into the brain using a robotic device that resembles a sewing machine. Once implanted, the electrodes develop a BCI, stimulating the brain and monitoring activity, and the threads connect to a custom-designed chip that can read data from groups of neurons.

    Musk announced the coin-sized Telepathy chip, with over 1,000 electrodes 20 times finer than hair, in January 2024.

    Potential uses of BCI technology include helping paralyzed individuals regain control of their limbs and restoring vision. Musk told his audience during Neuralink’s 2019 launch event that this technology could have a wide range of applications in medicine, such as restoring sensory and motor function in people with spinal cord injuries or neurological disorders. Additionally, an early goal of development is translating neuron signals into computer commands, which would allow humans to control devices like computers and smartphones with their brainwaves.

    Musk has claimed that BCI could even facilitate direct communication between humans and machines, although some members of the neuroscientific community are skeptical.

    Other experts have suggested that Neuralink’s work is not necessarily novel, as Dr. Jason Shepherd, an associate professor of neurobiology at the University of Utah, told Business Insider in 2020. “All the technology that he showed has been already developed in some way or form,’ he said. ‘Essentially, what they’ve done is just package it into a nice little form that then sends data wirelessly.”

    Other experts in the field have ethical concerns about how Neuralink is conducting its clinical trials and the broader implications of disregarding established standards.

    “If you decide to play with fire in a house, you increase the risk threshold not only of yourself but of the whole house,” Marcello Ienca, a professor of ethics of AI and neuroscience at Technical University of Munich, told Forbes in 2024. “My fear is that Neuralink’s disregard for the ethical aspects of their technology may cause a backfire effect for the entire neurotechnology community.”

    How much is Neuralink worth?

    Neuralink was valued at around US$9.7 billion as of June 2025, but as a privately held business, much of its financial information is kept under wraps. That said, US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) documents containing information about its funding rounds provide some insight.

    The earliest came in 2017, when the company raised US$27 million out of a planned US$100 million in a Series A funding round. In April 2019, SEC filings show the company acquired US$39 million out of a planned US$51 million in a Series B funding round. A limited amount of information has been made available to the public, and the identities of the investors have not been publicly disclosed. However, some news outlets have speculated that funding could have come from a combination of venture capitalists, or from Musk himself and the Neuralink team.

    In 2021, Neuralink received what was then its largest amount of money to date, raising US$205 million in a funding round led by tech investment firm Vy Capital. Other participants included Google Ventures, the venture capital arm of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL); OpenAI CEO Sam Altman; Fred Ehrsam, co-founder of Paradigm and Coinbase Global (NASDAQ:COIN); and Ken Howery, co-founder of PayPal Holdings (NASDAQ:PYPL) and Founders Fund.

    In May 2023, as Neuralink faced public backlash over accusations of animal mistreatment, it received clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to run the first human trial of its brain implant. Just months later, in August, Neuralink closed a US$280 million funding round led by Founders Fund. The filing was amended in November 2023 to reflect an additional US$43 million, bringing the total to US$323 million.

    Most recently, the company announced the closure of a US$650 million Series E funding round in June 2025.

    Is Neuralink approved for human trials?

    In May 2023, Neuralink received clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to run the first human trials of its brain implant. The company opened a patient registry in early 2023 that allowed people who had at least one of a qualifying list of conditions to volunteer for upcoming clinical trials. It is also approved for human trials in Canada, Great Britain and the UAE.

    The first US study, dubbed PRIME — Precise Robotically Implanted Brain-Computer Interface — is specifically focused on patients with cervical spinal cord injuries or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). It has an estimated primary completion date of January 2026 and is estimated to be fully completed by January 2031.

    The study’s first participant, a patient with quadriplegia, received the implant on January 28, 2024; Musk reported a quick recovery and ‘promising neuron spike detection’ the following day.

    A month later, Musk said the patient, who is named Noland Arbaugh, could control a cursor mentally. Arbaugh shared 100-day positives in May 2024, calling it a success over prior tech. One of the largest benefits is that it allows him to operate his computer and other devices lying down, while he needed assistance for setup and repositioning with prior devices. He explained that the change gives him more freedom to live on his own time.

    The study’s next two participants were a patient who became paralyzed following a spinal cord injury from a diving accident and another who lost use of his limbs to ALS. The company issued an update on their progress in February 2025, with all three patients touting positive changes following the procedure.

    As of January 2026, Neuralink has now implanted devices in 21 trial participants across the US, Canada, the UK and the UAE.

    The UAE-PRIME trial began recruiting in May 2025 via the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, while the GB-PRIME study launched in Great Britain two months later.

    Neuralink is also conducting the CONVOY study in the US, announced in November 2024, testing the use of the implant to control an investigational assistive robotic arm. It is open to participants of the PRIME study.

    Meanwhile, the company received FDA breakthrough device designation for Blindsight, a capability being developed to generate visual perception by activating brain areas responsible for visual function, as well as for its speech restoration technology, in 2024 and 2025, respectively. Blindsight trials aimed at restoring vision for the blind are reportedly planned to begin soon in the UAE.

    Looking ahead, Musk says the company will begin high-volume chip production in 2026. In a January update, Neuralink shared plans to improve the implant, including raising electrodes from 1,000 to 3,000. It is also investigating a change to the surgical procedure that would reduce invasiveness by inserting the implant’s threads through the dura mater, the brain’s tough outer membrane.

    How to invest in Neuralink?

    With Neuralink continuing to move forward, how can investors get a piece of this up-and-coming technology?

    The firm has yet to go public, so purchasing Neuralink stock is not an option for many investors. However, there are still ways for investors to potentially profit from Neuralink’s growth before it goes public.

    The vast majority of Neuralink’s funding has come from venture capitalists and a handful of billion-dollar companies. Investors can gain indirect exposure to Neuralink before its IPO by buying publicly traded companies that have invested in the company. This includes Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), which has funded Neuralink via its subsidiary Google Ventures. This strategy captures potential upside from Neuralink’s growth.

    Those who qualify as accredited investors could also potentially invest in a Neuralink funding round. According to the SEC, an accredited investor must have a net worth of at least US$1 million, not including the value of their primary residence, or an annual income of at least US$200,000 for individuals and US$300,000 for married couples. There must also be a reasonable expectation of the same level of income in the year of filing.

    Individuals can also qualify as accredited investors if they are investment professionals in good standing. In that case, the SEC’s guidelines indicate that they need to hold either a general securities representative license, an investment advisor representative license or a private securities offerings representative license.

    Entities like banks, insurance companies or investment firms with total assets of at least US$5 million may also qualify as accredited investors. Certain types of entities, such as private business companies and small business investment companies, may be exempt from the standard asset value requirements for accredited investor status.

    It’s also worth noting that Neuralink is just one of several companies currently working on developing BCI technology:

      The potential for BCI to impact various industries such as robotics, medicine and biotech has generated a growing amount of interest and excitement. Additionally, heightened interest in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector has led to more research and exploration in related fields, and has attracted increased investment in fields benefiting from AI advancements, including robotics and medicine.

      AI is also being used as a tool to help discover new insights and make moves that might not have been possible without its use. Scientists in California have even developed a brain implant capable of decoding and vocalizing inner speech.

      Finally, one of the simplest ways to gain exposure to Neuralink would be through an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that invests in companies related to BCI technology. While there isn’t an ETF that exclusively focuses on BCIs, there are funds that offer exposure to related themes.

      In the health sector, some options covering similar themes include medical device ETFs and the iShares Healthcare Innovation ETF (LSE:HEAL,OTCPK:BLKIF), a fund that consists of companies that are developing new and innovative healthcare technologies.

      Two other options are the Global X Robotics & Artificial Intelligence ETF (NASDAQ:BOTZ), which includes companies that are involved in the development of robotics and AI, and the ARK Innovation ETF (ARCA:ARKK), which focuses on disruptive technologies across multiple industries, including healthcare and robotics.

      As with any investment decision, it’s important to perform due diligence on available options, including comparing ETFs, to ensure they align with one’s investment goals.

      Securities Disclosure: I, Meagen Seatter, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

      This post appeared first on investingnews.com

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      Investing

      Osisko Metals Closes C$15 Million “Bought-Deal” Flow-Through Share Financing

      Investing 7 Mins Read

      NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

      Osisko Metals Incorporated (the ‘Company’ or ‘Osisko Metals’) (TSX: OM,OTC:OMZNF; OTCQX: OMZNF; FRANKFURT: OB51) is pleased to announce the successful closing of its previously-announced ‘bought-deal’ private placement financing, pursuant to which the Company issued an aggregate of 11,812,000 common shares of the Company that will qualify as ‘flow-through shares’ (within the meaning of subsection 66(15) of the Income Tax Act (Canada)) (the ‘Flow-Through Shares’) at a price of C$1.27 per Flow-Through Share for gross proceeds to the Company of C$15,001,240 (the ‘Offering’).

      The Company will use an amount equal to the gross proceeds from the sale of the Flow-Through Shares under the Offering to incur eligible ‘Canadian exploration expenses’ that will qualify as ‘flow-through critical mineral mining expenditures’ (as both terms are defined in the Income Tax Act (Canada)) (the ‘Qualifying Expenditures‘), in respect of the Company’s projects in Canada. The Qualifying Expenditures will be incurred on or before December 31, 2027 and will be renounced by the Company to the initial purchasers of the Flow-Through Shares with an effective date no later than December 31, 2026.

      The Offering was co-led by Canaccord Genuity Corp. and BMO Capital Markets.

      The Company understands that Agnico Eagle Mines Limited and Hudbay Minerals Inc., two of its existing strategic investors, along with Toronto-based fund Rosseau Asset Management Ltd., have purchased, as part of a follow-on transaction to the issuance of the Flow-Through Shares, all of the Common Shares issued under the Offering at a price of C$0.85 per Common Share for an aggregate purchase price of approximately C$10 million.

      The Flow-Through Shares issued under the Offering are subject to a hold period expiring four months and one day from the date hereof, pursuant to applicable Canadian securities laws. The Offering remains subject to final acceptance of the Toronto Stock Exchange.

      This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the ‘U.S. Securities Act‘), or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to or for the account or benefit of a U.S. person (as defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act) unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.

      About Osisko Metals

      Osisko Metals Incorporated is a Canadian exploration and development company creating value in the critical metals sector, with a focus on copper and zinc. The Company acquired a 100% interest in its flagship project, the past-producing Gaspé Copper mine, from Glencore Canada Corporation in July 2023. The Gaspé Copper project is located near Murdochville in Québec’s Gaspé Peninsula. The Company is currently focused on resource expansion of the Gaspé Copper system, with current Indicated Mineral Resources of 824 Mt grading 0.34% CuEq and Inferred Mineral Resources of 670 Mt grading 0.38% CuEq (in compliance with National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects). For more information, see Osisko Metals’ November 14, 2024 news release entitled ‘Osisko Metals Announces Significant Increase in Mineral Resource at Gaspé Copper‘. Gaspé Copper hosts the largest undeveloped copper resource in eastern North America, strategically located near existing infrastructure in the mining-friendly province of Québec.

      In addition to the Gaspé Copper project, the Company is working with Appian Capital Advisory LLP, through the Pine Point Mining Limited joint venture, to advance one of Canada’s largest past-producing zinc mining camps, the Pine Point project, located in the Northwest Territories. The current mineral resource estimate for the Pine Point project consists of Indicated Mineral Resources of 49.5 Mt at 5.52% ZnEq and Inferred Mineral Resources of 8.3 Mt at 5.64% ZnEq (in compliance with National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects). For more information, see Osisko Metals’ June 25, 2024 news release entitled ‘Osisko Metals releases Pine Point mineral resource estimate: 49.5 million tonnes of indicated resources at 5.52% ZnEq’. The Pine Point project is located on the south shore of Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories, close to infrastructure, with paved road access, an electrical substation and 100 kilometers of viable haul roads.

      For further information on this news release, visit www.osiskometals.com or contact:

      Don Njegovan, President
      Email: info@osiskometals.com
      Phone: (416) 500-4129

      Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information

      This news release contains ‘forward-looking information’ within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Any statement that involves predictions, expectations, interpretations, beliefs, plans projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often, but not always, using phrases such as ‘expects’ or ‘does not expect’, ‘is expected’, ‘interpreted’, ‘management’s view’, ‘anticipates’ or ‘does not anticipate’, ‘plans’, ‘budget’, ‘scheduled’, ‘forecasts’, ‘estimates’, ‘potential’, ‘feasibility’, ‘believes’ or ‘intends’ or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results ‘may’ or ‘could’, ‘would’, ‘might’ or ‘will’ be taken, occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking information and are intended to identify forward-looking information. This news release contains forward-looking information pertaining to, among other things: the ability for the Company to obtain the final approval of the Toronto Stock Exchange; the anticipated use of proceeds of the Offering; the tax treatment of the Flow-Through Shares; the timing of incurring and renunciation of the Qualifying Expenditures; and the ability to advance the Company’s properties (and results thereof); and Gaspé Copper hosting the largest undeveloped copper resource in eastern North America.

      Forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and is based upon a number of estimates and assumptions of management, in light of management’s experience and perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, as well as other factors that management believes to be relevant and reasonable in the circumstances, including, without limitation, assumptions about: general market conditions impacting the Company; the ability of exploration results, including drilling, to accurately predict mineralization; errors in geological modelling; insufficient data; equity and debt capital markets; future spot prices of copper and zinc; the timing and results of exploration and drilling programs; the accuracy of mineral resource estimates; production costs; political and regulatory stability; the receipt of governmental and third party approvals; licenses and permits being received on favourable terms; sustained labour stability; stability in financial and capital markets; and availability of mining equipment and positive relations with local communities and groups. Forward-looking information involves risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such factors include, among others, risks relating to the ability of the Company to obtain required approvals, the ability of the Company to complete further exploration activities, including drilling; the results of exploration activities; risks relating to mining activities; risks relating to the global economic climate and metal prices; environmental risks; changes in tax and regulatory regimes; and community and non-governmental actions. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information are set out in the Company’s public disclosure record on SEDAR+ (www.sedarplus.ca) under Osisko Metals’ issuer profile. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law.

      News Provided by GlobeNewswire via QuoteMedia

      This post appeared first on investingnews.com

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      Investing

      Westport Announces $6.5 Million Milestone Payment From Light-Duty Divestiture

      Investing 3 Mins Read

      ~ Previously announced Light-Duty divestiture providing non-dilutive capital that strengthens Westport’s cash position~

      Westport Fuel Systems Inc. (‘Westport’) (TSX:WPRT Nasdaq: WPRT), a supplier of alternative fuel systems and components for the global transportation industry, today announced that it has received $6.5 million (Euro 5.5 million) as part of its previously announced sale of the Light-Duty segment. The escrow payment was triggered under the terms of the sale agreement following the achievement of a defined post-closing milestone.

      ‘This milestone payment reflects continued progress in the post-closing steps of our Light-Duty business divestiture,’ said Elizabeth Owens, Chief Financial Officer at Westport. ‘While additional payments are expected as the transaction phases are completed, this interim payment strengthens our cash position today to support ongoing operations and our strategic initiatives. We remain disciplined in executing the remaining elements of the divestiture process along with our ongoing operational efficiency improvements.’

      Additional information relating to the Light-Duty divestiture can be found in news releases posted on Westport’s website HERE.

      About Westport
      Westport is a technology and innovation company connecting synergistic technologies to power a cleaner tomorrow. As a leading supplier of affordable, alternative fuel, low-emissions transportation technologies, we design, manufacture, and supply advanced components and systems that enable the transition from traditional fuels to cleaner energy solutions.

      Our proven technologies support a wide range of clean fuels – including natural gas, renewable natural gas, and hydrogen – empowering OEMs and commercial transportation industries to meet performance demands, regulatory requirements, and climate targets in a cost-effective way. With decades of expertise and a commitment to engineering excellence, Westport is helping our partners achieve sustainability goals—without compromising performance or cost-efficiency – making clean, scalable transport solutions a reality.

      Westport is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. For more information, visit Westport.com.

      Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements
      This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the receipt and timing of additional milestone-based payments related to the divestiture of our Light-Duty business, the impact of the Euro 5.5 million escrow release disclosed herein, expectations regarding our cash position, and our ongoing operational and strategic initiatives, including efficiency improvements. These forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees but involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are based on both the views of management and assumptions that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. These risks, uncertainties and assumptions include those related to the completion of remaining post-closing obligations connected to the Light-Duty divestiture, the timing and satisfaction of conditions required for any additional milestone payments, general economic conditions of and access to the capital and debt markets, solvency, governmental policies and regulation, foreign exchange rate fluctuations, supply-chain factors and other risks and assumptions described in our most recent Annual Information Form and other filings with securities regulators. Readers should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of publication. We disclaim any obligation to publicly update or revise such statements to reflect any change in our expectations or in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statements may be based, or that may affect the likelihood that actual results will differ from those set forth in these forward looking statements except as required by National Instrument 51-102. The contents of any website, RSS feed or twitter account referenced in this press release are not incorporated by reference herein.

      Contact Information
      Westport Investor Relations
      T: +1 604-718-2046

              

      News Provided by GlobeNewswire via QuoteMedia

      This post appeared first on investingnews.com

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      Politics

      Schumer faces backlash after calling SAVE Act ‘Jim Crow’ despite previous allegation falling flat

      Politics 3 Mins Read

      Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer stood in the way of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE) this week, claiming that it represents ‘Jim Crow’ segregation laws, leading many on social media to bring up his identical claim about a Georgia voting law that resulted in record Black turnout.

      Schumer pushed back on a Republican plan to add the SAVE Act, which would require states to obtain proof of citizenship in-person when people register to vote and remove non-citizens from voter rolls, to the spending package being debated in Congress.

      ‘I have said it before and I’ll say it again, the SAVE Act would impose Jim Crow-type laws to the entire country and is dead on arrival in the Senate,’ Schumer said on Monday. ‘It is a poison pill that will kill any legislation that it is attached to… The SAVE Act is reminiscent of Jim Crow era laws and would expand them to the whole of America. Republicans want to restore Jim Crow and apply it from one end of this country to the other. It will not happen.’

      Many on social media quickly pointed to Schumer previously calling a Georgia election integrity law ‘Jim Crow 2.0’ before the law resulted in record Black turnout in the 2022 state election.

      ‘Schumer used the same line to describe Georgia laws that indisputably expanded voter access back in 2022,’ commentator and writer AG Hamilton posted on X. ‘It’s incredibly offensive and unserious to pretend that every voting law equates to a renewal of Jim Crow.’

      Many Democrats, from Schumer, to President Joe Biden, to failed Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, warned that the Georgia voter integrity law would be ‘Jim Crow 2.0’ and Major League Baseball even pulled its All-Star Game from Atlanta in 2021 amid public pressure.

      Ultimately, the Georgia Secretary of State revealed that the law did not suppress turnout, but rather increased it, particularly among minority voters.

      ‘Chuck Schumer sounds like a broken record,’ Honest Elections Project Executive Director Jason Snead told Fox News Digital. ‘When Georgia passed a new voting law in 2021, Schumer labeled it ‘Jim Crow’ even though the state went on to see explosive turnout in 2022.’

      Snead pointed to a University of Georgia poll after the 2022 election finding that 0% of Black respondents had a poor experience voting. 

      Snead continued, ‘Now, Schumer is smearing the SAVE Act the same way because he has no legitimate excuse for opposing a law that makes sure only American citizens are voting—which more than 80% of Americans support. Schumer’s smears were false then, and they are false now.

      ‘Schumer and the Democrats keep trying to rig the rules of our elections by pushing failed, California-style election laws that invite chaos and fraud. That’s not what Americans want.’

      Fox News Digital reached out to Schumer’s office for comment.

      This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

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