It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Thursday, September 24, 2026
Space investment more than doubled to US$23 billion in year to June, report says
Private investment in space companies globally climbed to US$23 billion in the year through June, more than double the $9.7 billion raised a year earlier, according to a report by Relm Insurance and British investment firm Seraphim on Wednesday.
SpaceX’s June IPO has reshaped the funding landscape for the sector, drawing in new investors as venture firms look for the next space company capable of a similar payoff.
Investors are funneling capital toward companies that can show operational proof rather than early-stage promise, with the space economy moving from “hype to commercial reality,” according to the report covering Earth observation (EO), in-orbit manufacturing and satellite supply chains.
“EO is already an established category — the tech is well established, if still improving,” said Andrew Bonwick, Relm’s VP of Product Development.
“The real value is in the analytics. Customers buying these services don’t think of them as space services — they’re sold on what they actually want: where are my ships, when should I plant my crops, is that refinery switched on, where’s at risk of wildfire.”
Capital grew more selective toward Earth observation companies with visible revenue and experienced leadership, the report said.
In-orbit manufacturing is still in its early days, held back by limited ways to launch and bring products back to Earth, with some companies merging while others struggle to grow beyond small pilot projects.
Satellite supply chains have grown more complicated as production increases, pushing companies to bring more of their manufacturing in-house to control costs and reduce reliance on outside suppliers.
Traditional insurance policies often don’t fit these smaller, experimental space projects, creating demand for new types of coverage, the report said.
(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
There’s a reason Trump is the only one talking about 1% rates
WASHINGTON -- As a lifelong real estate investor whose businesses relied on debt and interest rates, U.S. President Donald Trump might be expected to know better: The one per cent rate he keeps demanding from the U.S. Federal Reserve is impractical and would likely backfire, according to analysts.
A policy rate slashed that low, from its current range of 3.75 per cent to four per cent, would likely touch off massive dislocation in the global financial system and end up with the U.S. government paying more to borrow than it does now in bond markets.
Some figures close to the president say his interest rate demands should be seen less as a prescription and more as a way to deflect from issues like high consumer prices ahead of midterm elections in November.
But in practical terms, a three-percentage-point cut by the Fed “seems cataclysmic,” said J. Benson Durham, founder of DASM investment research firm.
Treasury rates would climb as investors priced higher inflation, countries like Germany could soak up capital by offering just a bit more to lenders than the US, and the dollar would “plummet,” he said.
Yet despite the bond market math and concerns about Fed credibility, Trump has repeatedly called for ultra-low borrowing costs, which he says the U.S. deserves as the world’s largest economy with, he argues, the safest credit.
Trump’s demands
After the Fed under its relatively new chair, Kevin Warsh, hiked rates last week, Trump criticized the decision and repeated the one per cent figure.
“The president in his own way is saying, ‘I don’t like the pain of this,’ but he should be clear that it’s not the fault of the Fed” for having to raise rates, said Grover Norquist, head of the conservative group Americans for Tax Reform, and an outside Trump economic adviser.
Given the importance of controlling inflation ahead of the vote, some allies of the administration privately praised Warsh after the rate decision, according to one person involved in the exchanges, who requested anonymity to discuss them.
A White House ally who liaises with Warsh told Reuters the calls for one per cent are unrealistic given the workings of global bond markets.
“Can everybody just wake up? If you mess up the bond market, it’s good for the bond investor and no one else,” said the person.
The White House did not respond to requests for comment. The Fed did not comment on Trump’s remarks.
High inflation ahead of vote
Trump’s pressure on the Fed goes beyond the one per cent rate request.
He aims to oust Governor Lisa Cook, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, and is awaiting results of an inspector general’s probe of former Chair Jerome Powell’s oversight of a Fed construction project. Powell remains a Fed governor, denying Trump a new appointee at the central bank.
Some analysts say the Fed remains a useful scapegoat for Trump, who heads into the midterms with mortgage rates nearing seven per cent and prices for staples like ground beef and gasoline also rising, underlining the issue of affordability.
Inflation has increased since early in Trump’s term from the combined shocks of his tariffs and energy costs from the US war with Iran, among other things.
The Fed’s preferred inflation measure was 3.7 per cent in July and the bank doesn’t expect that rate to fall to a two per cent target before 2029, suggesting inflation could remain elevated for Trump’s entire term.
Tone shift
The president’s public comments have mostly spared Warsh, his handpicked successor to Powell, and focused more on the Fed’s other policymakers.
President Donald Trump, left, and Kevin Warsh arrive at a swearing-in ceremony for Warsh as Chairman of the Federal Reserve in the East Room of the White House, Friday, May 22, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
When Powell as chair ignored Trump’s various calls to cut rates or not raise them, the president called him an “enemy,” a “numb skull” and other epithets.
By contrast last week, Trump characterized Warsh as being boxed in by a “political” board. After the Fed lifted rates for the first time in three years, in a unanimous vote, Trump said that he had told Warsh in a phone call beforehand to go along with the majority if necessary.
Warsh has said he won’t discuss conversations with Trump.
Long considered an inflation hawk, Warsh had weeks ago laid out the case for higher rates, surprising some analysts who had questioned his independence from Trump.
Warsh “has repeatedly said the Fed will deliver price stability. Wednesday’s rate hike shows that he means it,” Apollo Global Chief Economist Torsten Slok said after the Fed’s Sept. 16 decision.
Keeping an open line
The relative leeway Trump is giving Warsh may reflect their warmer ties early in the new Fed chief’s term.
Trump started chiding Powell early in his first presidency for raising rates, and the relationship remained tense. Powell did not openly push back against the rhetoric until early this year, when the administration sent a grand jury subpoena over the construction project.
Warsh appears to have a more congenial relationship, fielding the president’s phone calls while maintaining he’ll remain an independent broker when it comes to monetary policy.
That policy now includes a hardening stance against inflation.
Polls show that pocketbook issues including record diesel fuel prices are hitting red state rural economies and small businesses, and that Trump’s record-low approval rating is dragging down Republican congressional candidates.
A Reuters/IPSOS poll published Monday showed just 17 per cent of respondents approve of the president’s handling of the cost-of-living, the top issue Americans say will influence how they vote in six weeks.
(Reporting by Howard Schneider; Editing by Dan Burns and Jonathan Spicer)
MULTIPOLARITY
The EU moves closer to free trade deal with Philippines amid global tensions
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen delivers a speech at the annual State of the European Union at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, eastern France, Wednesday, Sept 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Pascal Bastien, File)
BRUSSELS — The European Union and the Philippines have reached substantial agreement on a new free trade deal, the latest bilateral agreement that Brussels is pursuing as it seeks to diversify its economy amid tensions with traditional trading partners including China, Russia and the United States.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tweeted Tuesday, ″we just agreed on a free trade deal,″ but EU officials later clarified that it was a preliminary agreement, and that a full deal would take further negotiations.
The EU’s top trade negotiator, Maroš Šefčovič, said he and Philippine Trade Secretary María Cristina Aldeguer-Roque have been negotiating a deal aimed at boosting the nearly 30 billion euros (around $35 billion) of annual trade between the 27-nation EU and the Southeast Asian nation of 115 million people.
Šefčovič said it would create “a modern, forward-looking partnership between the EU and the Philippines, one that will open new opportunities for our exporters and investors, strengthen our supply chains and deepen bilateral economic ties for years to come.”
He said he expects it to be finalized within a year or two. Parliaments on both sides will also need to ratify it.
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EU-Philippine trade is dominated by electronics, with the EU exporting aircraft, pork and pharmaceuticals while importing semiconductors, integrated circuits and industrial machinery made in the Philippines.
The EU has sought growth and stability through new trade links from Australia to Argentina as the bloc itself is beset by a geopolitical maelstrom, including conflicts in the Middle East and the war in Ukraine that have throttled traditional sources of energy.
The Philippines has already reached deals with two other ASEAN members, Vietnam and Singapore. The European Commission is also negotiating separate deals with Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, while a broader free trade agreement between the EU and ASEAN remains a long-term goal.
Moscow, Beijing and Washington all pose their own kind of challenges to the EU: hybrid attacks that officials across the EU blame on Russia; China’s gargantuan trade imbalance and a near-monopoly over critical mineral supplies; and a Trump administration critical of European policies on defense, migration, and technology regulation.
The EU deal with the Philippines roughly tracks with the “ middle powers ” strategy laid out at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, earlier this year by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. Last week, he was the guest of honor in the European Parliament in Strasbourg at the annual State of the European Union speech by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
She said then that the EU would forge a new kind of “ associate membership ” for Canada.
“In this new world, we must urgently reimagine our partnerships,” von der Leyen said during her speech.
And at the same time, nations around the world have sought out the EU to weather “sudden changes very often on the fundamental principles of how trade is being done,” said Šefčovič, the trade negotiator.
“My phone was ringing all the time,” he said. “When the world goes in such turbulence and turmoil, you work closely with your friends and close partners.”
Sam Mcneil, The Associated Press
Germany maps out fossil fuel exit, backing EVs, heat pumps
BERLIN -- Germany’s cabinet approved a roadmap on Wednesday to phase out coal, oil and gas by 2045, reaffirming a climate strategy focused on electrification despite a minister’s call for more flexibility on cars, heating and carbon pricing.
An environment ministry spokesperson said the plan would be presented at the United Nations General Assembly in New York later on Wednesday.
Germany would be the third country after France and the Netherlands to adopt a national roadmap under an international effort to move away from fossil fuels, the spokesperson added.
Spiegel magazine earlier on Wednesday reported that, under the plan, Germany will examine whether an agreed deadline to end coal-fired power generation by 2038 can be brought forward to 2035.
In transport, the plan foresees EU fleet emissions rules to lead to battery-electric cars making up 100 per cent of new passenger car registrations by 2035, Spiegel said.
That contrasts with demands from some conservatives, including Economy Minister Katherina Reiche, to preserve a larger role for combustion-engine vehicles using alternative fuels.
In buildings, heat pumps are expected to become Germany’s dominant heating system in the coming years, while oil and gas boilers using rising shares of climate-neutral fuels are mentioned only as part of the transition, according to Spiegel.
