WSJ : Everyone Wants a Piece of Trump’s ‘Golden Dome’ Defense Plan

Everyone Wants a Piece of Trump’s ‘Golden Dome’ Defense Plan
Lasers in space, ‘rods from God’ and a huge number of satellites are being discussed for proposed missile shield

Key Points
  • President Trump is pushing for the Pentagon and defense contractors to develop a missile-defense system called the Golden Dome for America.
  • Golden Dome is envisioned as a system of space and ground technology to defend against missile threats and potential attacks.
  • Deploying Golden Dome, including missile-defense systems in space, is expected to be technically challenging and costly, defense officials say.

Laser-toting satellites capable of taking out missiles have long been the stuff of science fiction. President Trump is asking defense contractors to make the idea a reality.

Trump is looking to create a defense system that he calls the Golden Dome for America. It is envisioned to be a cutting-edge system of space and ground technology, with the goal of defending the U.S. against high-tech missile threats and potential attacks.

Taking cues from Israel’s Iron Dome, defense officials want the proposed shield to stretch from sea to sea, and from the Earth’s surface to space. Makers of aerospace equipment and weapons are already jockeying to grab a piece of the program.

The Pentagon hasn’t released many details about Golden Dome, including its potential cost. Congressional Republicans proposed allocating $25 billion from this year’s budget for the project. The White House said Friday it wants to make a down payment on Golden Dome in an upcoming spending plan.

Military officials say they want to move quickly to advance the program, and one agency involved has said it wants a first round of technologies for it to be demonstrated or delivered by the end of next year.

Developing Golden Dome will be difficult, requiring companies and defense officials to solve tough engineering and logistics challenges. Some current and former Pentagon officials have likened the missile shield to the Manhattan Project and NASA’s Apollo program, two of the government’s most complex and expensive undertakings.

The high-profile project is prompting everyone from longtime defense contractors like L3Harris Technologies to startups including satellite manufacturer Apex to tout what they can bring to the table.

“We are literally ready to go when the starting gun goes off,” Lockheed Martin Chief Executive James Taiclet told investors in April. Executives at the Maryland-based maker of jet fighters, missiles and other military gear said they pitched more than 100 different technologies in response to one Golden Dome information request.

Current and former government officials have long argued the U.S. needs stronger protection against missile threats, including from adversaries fielding high-speed, maneuverable weapons. Parts of Golden Dome hark back to former President Ronald Reagan’s push to deploy missile-defense lasers in orbit, an effort stymied by technical hurdles.

In 2021, China stunned officials in Washington by testing a hypersonic missile that flew at least 20 times the speed of sound during the demonstration. North Korea’s nuclear-weapons capabilities continue to improve each year, despite repeated U.S. and international attempts to thwart their development.

The current race started after Trump in January signed an executive order calling for the project. In February, representatives from 13 Pentagon divisions and more than 180 companies discussed the project in a classified setting in Huntsville, Ala., at an event hosted by the Missile Defense Agency.

Pentagon officials have been surveying industry capabilities, and looking to accelerate existing programs.

“We’re on a pretty fast timeline,” Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, operations chief at the U.S. Space Force, said of Golden Dome at an industry conference in April. “It’d be great to say, ‘I’ve got the perfect solution and I only need 12 to 17 years to develop it.’ Okay, that’s great. Put that over here. Now what can we do in the next two to four years? Let’s talk about that.”

The U.S. already has multiple missile-defense systems in place that rely on a sprawling array of radars, sensors, vehicles and weapons. They involve everything from mobile systems on the ground and Navy ships to satellites that provide early warnings about adversary missile launches.

Trump’s Golden Dome would stitch together many of those systems and deploy what the executive order calls “space-based interceptors,” or devices able to take out hostile missiles shortly after they are launched.

One option for the interceptors: lasers. Studied by the Pentagon for years, those devices use focused beams of energy to disrupt or destroy targets. Another possibility could be dense, solid projectiles often called “rods from God” that would rip through enemy weapons.

Tory Bruno, CEO of rocket company United Launch Alliance, said Golden Dome could incorporate a swarm of satellites near Earth with directed-energy devices, as well as other interceptors to take down maneuverable missiles. The company could offer its new rocket to lift heavier equipment into space for Golden Dome.

“We want a layered defense, where you get more than one shot,” Bruno, formerly a missile-defense executive at Lockheed Martin, said at the industry event in April.

Fielding space-based interceptors capable of taking out a barrage of hostile missiles shortly after launch promises to be one of the project’s toughest elements to develop, defense officials and executives said. Other technologies that could be used in orbit for Golden Dome, including lasers, remain nascent.

Reliably stopping potential attacks on the continental U.S., Alaska and Hawaii could require an enormous number of satellites, people close to the Pentagon said—an expensive proposition.

Traditional defense contractors could benefit from Golden Dome in the near-term, said Todd Harrison, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. That is because many of the missile interceptors that would form the base of the system could be deployed years ahead of more complex systems in space.

“If you want to move fast, you’ve got to buy stuff that’s already been developed,” he said.

Some contractors are opting to bid on elements of the Golden Dome as a group, instead of individually. One team involves SpaceX, Palantir Technologies and Anduril Industries, The Wall Street Journal previously reported. Government officials have reviewed a proposal from the trio to serve some of the Golden Dome program’s goals.

Military officials want to settle on a director to oversee the program before awarding most major contracts, according to people familiar with the matter.

Roger Teague, a former Air Force general who worked on space programs, said setting up clear organizational structures and reporting lines will be key for making Golden Dome successful.

“It’s going to require a whole of government approach, across all elements of national power,” said Teague, now at consulting firm Elara Nova.

FT : Octopus and Revolut signal UK mobile market disruption

Octopus and Revolut signal UK mobile market disruption
Big brands are piling into the telecoms sector by piggybacking on incumbents’ networks

Fresh from disrupting the energy and banking sectors, Octopus and Revolut have turned their sights to the UK’s mobile telecoms market.

Both groups are looking to break into mobile operations, in a move that could pose a threat to the industry’s incumbents, dominated by four — and soon to be three — players.

Revolut announced plans on Wednesday to launch a comprehensive mobile phone plan in the UK and Germany as part of its “superapp”, where a variety of products can be cross-sold in addition to core banking services. It already offers an eSIM that customers can use for overseas roaming, which Revolut says is its most popular non-banking product.

The move by the fintech continues a significant shake-up in the UK’s mobile telecoms market following the news last week that Octopus — the multibillion-pound fund that owns the eponymous energy company — was exploring the launch of a new mobile operator through its subsidiary, Fern Trading.

“In our view, consumers are suffering with traditional network offerings due to a lack of transparency with hidden fees, painful customer experience and old, difficult to navigate [design]. We’re looking to solve all three,” said Hadi Nasrallah, telecoms general manager at Revolut.

It would not be the first fintech to enter the market: US-listed Nubank, which has a $60bn market capitalisation, launched a telecoms service named NuCel in Brazil last year. Others are also considering it. London-based rival Monzo has not ruled out offering a similar product in the future, according to a person familiar with the fintech’s plans.

Both Revolut and Octopus-backed Fern’s offerings would be mobile virtual network operators, or MVNOs, which serve customers, but do not build their own underlying infrastructure.

Instead, MVNOs cut deals to piggyback on to the networks of the four major players — which include BT-backed EE, Virgin Media 02, and the soon to be merged Vodafone and Three — in an effort to save costs. Other well known MVNOs include VM02-backed Giffgaff and Vodafone subsidiary Voxi.

The set-up poses a two-tiered challenge for the incumbent operators, who battle virtual competitors for customers, while simultaneously trying to entice challengers into signing wholesale deals to use their infrastructure.

“The worst thing the major operators ever did was let the MVNOs get a foothold,” said one industry insider.

MVNOs are by no means new: the world’s first was the UK’s Virgin Mobile in 1999. However, the threat posed by virtual operators to established players boomed in recent years, with research from Enders Analysis showing that in 2024, MVNOs had added 1.6mn customers to their networks. 

By contrast, the UK’s four major mobile operators lost 180,000 subscribers; the first year in history they had seen a decline.

James Robinson, senior analyst at Assembly Research said the trend followed well-known brands such as Tesco and Sky launching successful mobile operations, which targeted existing customers with bundled packages that also included services such as broadband.

Robinson believed over a quarter of all consumers could be using virtual providers by 2028 — up from 16.5 per cent in 2024. 

“If [Octopus and Revolut] do launch operations, those big names could accelerate that growth,” he added. 


Karen Egan, Enders’ head of telecoms, said the trend also owed partly to the cost of living crisis, with consumers more likely to use a cheaper mobile alternative — something that many MVNOs claim to offer.

Egan also noted that in addition to consumer competition, an additional battle was also growing between network operators jostling to sign deals to bring virtual operators on to their networks.

“MVNOs are getting increasingly good wholesale deals from the network operators, who are really struggling for other sources of revenue growth and have decent levels of spare network capacity,” she said. 

Assembly’s Robinson said that competition between networks to host virtual operators was likely to increase after the Vodafone-Three merger completes in the coming weeks, as the new company would have added capacity to host MVNOs.

“Now you’ll have three scaled players in the wholesale market able to host operators — when taken together, no wonder [new entrants] are thinking about mobile options,” he added. 

VM02, which hosts MVNOs including Tesco, is buying extra network capacity from the merged Vodafone-Three entity, according to a person familiar with the situation, which VM02 believes will be an added attraction to challengers.


However, the impact of new players was met by scepticism by James Ratzer, analyst at New Street Research who highlighted the already crowded nature of the UK mobile market.

“New brands will increase competitive intensity, but probably only to a limited degree, as it is already a crowded market with a number of other major success stories,” he said. 

Plays for a “superapp” strategy — such as that plotted by Revolut — have also been questioned by analysts, who felt the move would not work in western markets.

Rupak Ghose, a former research analyst at Credit Suisse said that such apps had worked in China because of a lack of incumbents.

“In the west, in most categories from social media to taxis to food delivery, there are existing [dominant players],” he said.

EE still sees value in partnering with MVNOs but believes that many customers would still prefer to opt for an established service with a trusted brand, according to one person familiar with the company’s thinking.

Kester Mann, analyst at CCS Insight said that Revolut’s entrance in particular could prove a challenge to traditional operators due to its well-known brand recognition and convenient offering. 

Octopus, BT, Vodafone, Three and VM02 declined to comment. 

Mann said: “[Revolut] could bring some of the same disruption to mobile as it has to financial services.”

FT : Sugar prices are guided by a sweet invisible hand

Sugar prices are guided by a sweet invisible hand
The market for this curious commodity does not play by the rules

Kids and adults alike love it; US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr calls it poison. For investors, too, sugar has proved more toxic than sweet: raw sugar prices have broadly drifted lower since a surge in the second half of 2023. But as commodities go, it’s a curious one. Like a toddler who has just demolished a packet of Skittles, this market doesn’t play by the rules.

Decent weather and low oil prices, which discourage Brazilian mills from diverting a bigger share of cane into ethanol, are weighing on the white stuff. In Brazil, cane gets diverted into fermentation for fuel once the price of raw sugar drops below around 15-16 US cents.

Price distortions abound. Governments have meddled in the market ever since the Napoleonic wars, when UK boats blockaded sea routes from the Caribbean to France. Trading dynamics have changed since then: France and the UK are now among 100-plus countries producing sugar. Some 70 per cent of global raw sugar supply comes from Brazil.

Europe curtailed its subsidies-and-dump policies in the mid-noughties, although only jettisoned quotas in 2017. Support continues in the US, where sugar prices are roughly double international levels. India, the biggest consumer and number two producer, limits exports.


The sweet stuff has the appearance of a defensive asset: it takes more than even the US president’s chaotic policies to stunt our taste for sweetmeats. Indeed, research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, a UK think-tank, found that Britons’ sugar consumption actually increased during the financial crisis.

More broadly, consumption increases along with economic growth and the number of mouths to feed: India, south-east Asia and sub-Saharan Africa are all on the rise. Getting a precise measure on end demand is tricky, given sugar’s propensity to end up anywhere from ketchup to crisps, but CZ Advise estimates British consumption peaked in the 1960s. India, with wealth and population both growing, is the biggest consumer.

Health and science stand to impede future demand. Ultra-processed foods are falling out of favour. GLP-1 weight loss drugs, which suppress appetites, are likely to reduce consumption. The drugs’ short history demands wariness on long-term effects, but safe to say if there is an impact on consumption, it will be widespread. Kennedy would like to see a US where consumption of added sugar is zero, though even he admits this is far fetched.

A survey last year found one in eight American adults had tried GLP-1s. Lower-cost generics, launching as patents expire next year in China, Brazil and India, will increase take-up. But fret not. Governments’ centuries-old addiction to protectionism will surely limit the bitter aftertaste of any future sugary backlash.

FT : Satellite images reveal Huawei’s advanced chip production line in China

Satellite images reveal Huawei’s advanced chip production line in China
Rapid expansion of Shenzhen facilities designed to break dependence on foreign technologies

Huawei is building a production line for advanced chips as part of a network of semiconductor facilities in Shenzhen that seeks to break China’s dependence on foreign technologies.

The tech giant is the key player behind three manufacturing sites in Guanlan, a district of the southern city where Huawei is based, according to multiple people familiar with the matter and visits near the locations by the Financial Times.

Satellite imagery obtained by the FT shows how the Guanlan factories, built in the same distinctive style, have been rapidly developed after construction started in 2022.

The facilities, details of which have not been reported previously, demonstrate Huawei’s ambitions to become a semiconductor leader, boosting China’s effort to challenge the US in developing technologies such as artificial intelligence.

“Huawei has embarked on an unprecedented effort to develop every part of the AI supply chain domestically from wafer fabrication equipment to model building,” said Dylan Patel, founder of chip consultancy SemiAnalysis. “We have never seen one company attempt to do everything before.”

Huawei operates one of the sites, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who said it would make its 7-nanometre smartphone and Ascend AI processors — the company’s first effort to manufacture its own high-end chips.

Two other sites completed last year are operated by chip equipment maker SiCarrier and memory-chip maker SwaySure. While Huawei denies links with the two start-ups, industry insiders said the company was connected to the groups by helping to raise investment and sharing staff and technology.


The facilities also have financial backing from the Shenzhen government, according to those with knowledge of the sites.

Huawei is involved in projects that aim to develop alternatives to technology from chip designer Nvidia, equipment maker ASML, memory-chip maker SK Hynix, and contract manufacturer Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.

Huawei’s chip efforts accelerated after Washington imposed sanctions in 2019 and cut the company off from critical foreign technology. Its work forms part of a broader government push to localise critical components in the face of US export controls designed to stymie Chinese tech development.

“I thought that Huawei was done once the US went after it,” said a company executive. “But its ambitions have only grown, and the strides it is making have been extraordinary.”


The sites are close to fabrication plants — or foundries — operated by logic-chip makers Pengxinwei (PXW) and Shenzhen Pensun (PST) that the US government alleges are linked to Huawei.

The company has also invested in semiconductor manufacturing facilities in Shanghai, Ningbo and Qingdao, according to those with knowledge of the effort.

Some industry insiders are sceptical that Huawei can realise its lofty ambitions given its relative inexperience in semiconductor manufacturing compared with domestic and international competitors.

“This is a big project that has had a lot of state support,” said a chip investor. “But there are rival companies in China working on the same thing for decades without managing to match ASML and TSMC.”


Guanlan locals referred to sites run by SiCarrier and SwaySure as belonging to Huawei, though the tech giant has denied links to the start-ups. Industry insiders said while the companies had different shareholder bases and structures, they had other close connections.

Huawei provides early support to the start-ups by dispatching management and technical teams, helping with fundraising and, in some cases, transferring technology, according to people familiar with the developments. The association with Huawei, in turn, gives state funds the “confidence” to invest, one of the people said.

This arrangement enables state funds to invest in Huawei’s chip development plans through its network of chip start-ups, without the conglomerate itself having to take on external investment and dilute its shareholder base.

“These companies will be cut off from Huawei once they reach a certain stage of development,” said a person with knowledge of its operations. “During the process, Huawei empowers them through providing personnel, technology and systems. This helps speed up the technology iteration and improves their chances of success.”


SiCarrier was spun out of a Huawei lab with the backing of a Shenzhen state fund, according to people familiar with the matter. It was registered as a company in 2021. Bloomberg previously reported the links between Huawei and SiCarrier.

It maintained a low profile until March, when it unveiled about 30 tools including etch, testing and deposition equipment at the Semicon conference in Shanghai.

SiCarrier has several subsidiaries, including the Shanghai government-backed Yuliangsheng, which specialises in lithography technology. Former Huawei engineers lead Yuliangsheng and are developing a deep ultraviolet lithography machine, according to people with knowledge of the development. SiCarrier has not made its DUV efforts public.

A second site is operated by SwaySure, which supplies Huawei with memory chips for cars and consumer electronics.

Huawei declined to comment on detailed questions related to this article but said: “It is not factually correct to attribute all [these] Shenzhen semiconductor-related activities to Huawei. Furthermore, SiCarrier, SwaySure, UEA, PXW and PST are not affiliated with Huawei.”

SiCarrier and SwaySure did not respond to requests for comment.


The third site is Huawei’s self-operated facility, which will include manufacturing lines for its smartphone and Ascend AI chips, as well as technology related to its autonomous driving business, said two people.

SemiAnalysis said its architectural style matched those of other Huawei-affiliated foundries. Additionally, the so-called wafer bridges connecting buildings on the site’s north side and nearby utilities bear the hallmarks of a chip manufacturing facility.

Construction is due to be completed in the coming months, but it will take at least a year to start operating, as Huawei seeks to use mostly domestically made equipment that is still being tested, according to people with knowledge of the facility.

Huawei’s attempt to manufacture its own chips was prompted by its frustration at the low output of its local fabrication partner, Shanghai Manufacturing Industry Corporation.

The need for Huawei to boost fabrication capacity for the Ascend chip is more urgent after it was exposed last year for using a third-party company to circumvent sanctions to use TSMC to make its AI chips.

Many partners and rivals, including SMIC and Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment have been drawn in to bring critical engineering expertise to Huawei’s project.

An industry insider said Huawei’s political influence meant companies were expected to assist, even when it meant helping a competitor.

SMIC has dispatched engineering teams to assist in setting up the facilities. Meanwhile, SMEE, the leading domestic provider of lithography tools, has been providing support, even after Huawei poached many of its technical staff, said two people. Both companies did not respond to a request for comment.

The US government has targeted the Huawei network. In December, Washington placed SiCarrier and SwaySure on the “entity list”, barring American companies from selling technology to them.

The government alleged they were aiding Huawei’s efforts to build advanced chip technology for military modernisation.

FT : Counterterrorism police arrest Iranian nationals in raids across England

Counterterrorism police arrest Iranian nationals in raids across England
Five individuals were detained on suspicion of preparing terrorist act, police say

British counterterrorism officers have arrested eight men, including seven Iranian nationals, in relation to two separate alleged plots, London’s Metropolitan Police said on Sunday morning.

One of the alleged plots was a planned attack on an unspecified location, police said.

Yvette Cooper, home secretary, said the arrests were “serious events that demonstrate the ongoing requirement to adapt our response to national security threats”. 

She added: “The government continues to work with police and intelligence agencies to support all the action and security assessments that are needed to keep the country safe.”

Five of the men were detained across England on Saturday on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act against a “specific premise”, the Metropolitan police said.

Four of those individuals were Iranian citizens while the nationality of the fifth was still being established, the Met said.

In another counterterrorism operation on the same day, a further three Iranian nationals were arrested in London, the Met said in a separate statement.

The head of Britain’s MI5 domestic security service, Ken McCallum, said in October that his agents and police had tackled 20 “potentially lethal” plots backed by Iran since 2022, most aimed at dissident Iranians living in Britain. 

The spy chief said at the time that MI5 had seen Iran launch “plot after plot . . . at an unprecedented scale”.

The Met said that the first operation involved five arrests in Swindon, west London, Stockport, Rochdale and Manchester with support from officers from Counter Terrorism Policing, Greater Manchester Police and Wiltshire Police.

“As part of the investigation, officers are also carrying out searches at a number of addresses in the Greater Manchester, London and Swindon areas in connection with this investigation,” it said.

The Met said police officers had been in contact with the “affected site” to provide relevant advice and support.

Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, urged the public to “remain vigilant” and pass on any relevant information they might have seen or heard.

“This is a fast-moving investigation and we are working closely with those at the affected site to keep them updated,” he said.

“The investigation is still in its early stages and we are exploring various lines of enquiry to establish any potential motivation as well as to identify whether there may be any further risk to the public linked to this matter.”

In the second operation, the Met said searches were ongoing at the three addresses. The Met said this investigation was unrelated to the arrests of the five men.

The police did not disclose details of the suspected plot, citing operational reasons.

FT : Struggle intensifies in Lebanon over IMF-sponsored bank reforms

Struggle intensifies in Lebanon over IMF-sponsored bank reforms
Opponents of clean-up plan target MPs and activists with barrage of media and legal attacks

Lebanon’s push to overhaul its banking system has sparked a furious rearguard action by opponents of the IMF-backed reforms that officials say are essential if the country is to recover from a 2019 financial meltdown.

Resistance to the reforms has taken the shape of repeated media attacks and court cases targeting civil society groups — including non-profit research and advocacy organisations — which have sided with the IMF and say they are the victims of a smear campaign.

Lebanese talk show hosts and news channels have accused reformist policymakers, NGOs and journalists who investigated financial corruption of being part of a George Soros-funded conspiracy to harm Lebanon’s economy.

Independent media outlets have also faced multiple legal complaints in what Human Rights Watch called a “weaponisation of criminal defamation laws”.

Lebanon has so far failed to implement most of the reforms demanded by the IMF since the currency lost more than 90 per cent of its value and bank deposits were wiped out in the 2019 crisis, with losses estimated at more than $70bn, in part because of the hostility of leading businesspeople and financiers.

But Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and President Joseph Aoun — who came to power earlier this year after the previously dominant Hizbollah movement was weakened during the latest conflict with Israel — are under pressure from foreign donors to overhaul the banking system. They have vowed to enact the reforms their predecessors did not.

Diala Shehadeh, a lawyer for Megaphone, one of the media outlets facing allegations, described a “political campaign . . . with the goal of defending the interests of the banker class”.

In a sign that the supporters of reform have momentum, parliament last week changed banking secrecy rules to allow increased transparency, while previous attempts had fallen short of IMF demands.

Salam hailed the decision as a “necessary step towards the desired economic reform which our government has pledged to achieve” and fundamental to “holding perpetrators accountable”.

His message contrasted with that of the leading media outlets that have lambasted civil society: they assailed the banking secrecy law as a “betrayal” of depositors and pushed against a clause in the new legislation allowing records from up to a decade in the past to be revealed.


Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found at https://www.ft.com/tour.

Yet the most contentious reforms are still to come, and the intensifying battle via the media underscores the challenges lying ahead for the new government and its agenda.

To secure a long-sought deal with the IMF, Lebanon needs to pass laws restructuring the banking sector, distributing losses for the 2019 crisis and preparing plans to repay depositors. The polarising question is how much of the burden should be borne by the state versus by commercial banks.

“Specific actors in the banking sector who had the most to lose and the most to hide have been those who are investing more heavily in supporting a certain narrative in the media,” said Ayman Mhanna, executive director of the Samir Kassir Foundation, a Beirut-based media watchdog.

“So far the campaign is not succeeding to actually reach its policy goals. This is why we expect the campaign to continue and to get even more forceful.”

A draft of a banking sector restructuring law has been accepted by the cabinet, and parliament’s finance committee began discussing it this week. But legislation to distribute losses and repay depositors has yet to be approved by either.

The secretary-general of the Association of Banks in Lebanon said this week that the banking sector wanted the draft restructuring law to find “a realistic balance between financial reform and the protection of depositors’ rights”. 

Lebanon’s former central bank governor Riad Salameh — whose policies are widely blamed for the crisis — was arrested last year and charged with financial crimes, including embezzlement, which he denies.

Lebanese banks have long been major advertisers on the country’s television channels, whose business models rely on support from bankers and politicians, according to studies by The Policy Initiative, a Beirut-based think-tank. 

Multiple media outlets have cast MPs who support the clean-up as agents of a foreign agenda. “A true political-economic octopus lurks in Lebanon,” said one report on Lebanese television channel MTV, calling policy advocacy group Kulluna Irada and news providers Megaphone and Daraj agents of US financier Soros, an accusation they deny. Megaphone and Daraj’s websites list the Open Society Foundation founded by Soros among their funders.

Some of the groups named in such reports have in turn filed legal complaints against MTV.

Daraj, Megaphone and Kulluna Irada have in recent months been subject to legal complaints accusing them of undermining the Lebanese state, which HRW described as an effort to “stifle attempts to shed light on” financial malpractices.

One complaint against Daraj, filed in March 2025 by banker Antoun Sehnaoui, accused the outlet of “harming Lebanon’s foreign relations” and “spreading fabricated news to destabilise financial trust”, according to Daraj’s lawyer.

Neither MTV nor Sehnaoui responded to requests for comment.

FT : UK adds just 65 miles of motorway in 10 years

UK adds just 65 miles of motorway in 10 years
Large proportion of additional capacity could be down to statistical anomaly, says transport expert

Britain has added just 65 miles of new motorway in the past decade, with a large proportion of this figure the result of a statistical quirk rather than actual construction.

The length of Britain’s motorways increased from 2,265 to 2,330 miles between 2014 and 2024, equivalent to 65 miles, according to data from the Department for Transport.

Some other European countries have built thousands of miles of new highways during the same period.

But former DfT civil servant Michael Dnes told the Financial Times that only three new stretches of motorway were opened in that period, on the A1(M) to Newcastle, the M8 near Glasgow and the M90/Queensferry Crossing.

The combined length of these sections totals 24 miles, according to Dnes’s calculations, who now works for the consultancy Stonehaven, raising a question over the whereabouts of the other 41 miles.

The discrepancy could be explained by the improved accuracy of Ordnance Survey maps, Dnes said. Great Britain’s national mapping agency can more precisely measure so-called “wiggle” in the roads, which has marginally extended the recorded length of highways.

Dnes said he was making a serious point that the progress in building motorways in Britain was so sluggish that it could be “swamped by literal rounding errors”. 

New motorways are often controversial with environmentalists because of their impact on climate change and on local biodiversity. Yet many drivers are frustrated with Britain’s often-congested roads.

The statistics will raise questions over why the UK has been so slow to build motorways in recent decades, with just 422 miles added since 1990.

In the same 35-year period, Spain has built 6,917 miles, France 3,057 miles, Germany 1,440 miles, Turkey 2,082 miles and Poland 1,545 miles, according to data from the EU.

One DFT official said Britain had not built much motorway in recent years because successive governments had “prioritised enhancements to the existing motorway network”.

Another official said the UK’s motorway system was more “mature” than other much larger European countries, having grown rapidly in the 1950s and 60s and therefore less in need of expansion.

Edmund King, president of the AA motoring organisation, said successive governments had backed “smart” motorways “to the detriment of actually improving the network”.

Smart motorways are sections of road where traffic flow is managed by adjusting speed limits. They are meant to increase capacity by utilising the hard shoulder as a running lane.

But King said that, in practice, “they don’t work as one-third of drivers don’t use the inside lane” for fear of broken vehicles ahead.

He added sudden lane closures could cause more congestion than on a regular highway, where the hard shoulder is available, noting £900mn has been spent upgrading “badly designed” systems.

Despite the government’s pledge to deliver a “record level of spending on fixing the road network” in the Budget, investment in building roads is expected to fall in the coming year by 5 per cent on the current allocation.

Noble Francis, economics director at the Construction Products Association, said: “Anyone who travels on the roads in the UK knows that we need improvements in both the quality of existing roads and new, additional roads to make travelling easier and quicker.”

Asphalt sales volumes have declined in five of the past six years and are now at their lowest in a decade, according to the Mineral Products Association, which represents the heavy materials industry.

Aurelie Delannoy, MPA director of economic affairs, said asphalt producers continue to face “investment strategies beset by delays, cancellations and a shrinking pipeline of new work — alongside worsening budget pressures on local authorities impacting road maintenance”.

>>> Barron’s Weekend Summary

Cover Story:
-Money managers in the US are more bearish now than they have been nearly 30 years, according to Barron's latest Big Money poll. The survey found 32% of respondents are bearish on the outlook for stocks over the next 12 months, the highest percentage since 1997. This is the highest percentage since the dot-com bubble, 9/11, Lehman Brothers collapse, 2008-09 financial crisis, and Covid-19 pandemic. The bulls' ranks are also at historic lows, with just 26% of respondents stating they are bullish on the market's prospects. The change in sentiment largely reflects concerns about the potential impact of the Trump administration's tariffs on corporate earnings and the economy. Despite President Trump's softening stance and willingness to make deals with both allies and China, managers remain concerned about the possibility of a global trade war.

Interview:
-Anduril, a California-based company valued at over $30B, aims to become a prime defense contractor by building weapons systems using advanced technology quickly and at scale. The company aims to put autonomy and software at the core of its products, similar to Tesla's impact on the auto industry. Anduril's core technology is an artificial intelligence brain called Lattice, used in its drone-tracking Sentry tower, Ghost reconnaissance drone, Roadrunner interceptor drone, and autonomous unmanned aircraft Fury. Barron’s spoke to Anduril's Executive Chairman, Trae Stephens, who after college started in the intelligence industry and then had a stint at Palantir Technologies. Stephens said that Anduril has found an opportunity in the market for weapons systems that leverage modern software. The company's strategy involves vertically integrated large-scale manufacturing, with Columbus, Ohio, being the location of Arsenal-1, its first hyperscale factory. This is in competition with the largest technology companies, as the best software and hardware engineers have options for work. Anduril's growth will be based on managing its supply chain, as it must compete with the best technology companies in the world. The company's collaborative combat aircraft, designed to fly alongside the Air Force's F-47 sixth-generation fighter jet, requires a significant increase in engine production from aerospace suppliers.

Tech Trader:
-Microsoft's earnings report revealed that while all four companies reported better-than-expected earnings, the stock reactions following their results highlighted that digital bits win over atoms in a global trade war. Shares of Microsoft and Meta Platforms surged, while Apple and Amazon underperformed. Apple CEO Tim Cook said tariffs would add about $900M to the company's costs for the June quarter, while Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said the company had yet to see significant impact from the levies. Both Apple and Amazon sell many physical products and couldn't provide much clarity about the potential tariff impact for the rest of the year. Beyond tariffs, reports of artificial intelligence's demise have been greatly exaggerated. Microsoft announced it would increase European data center capacity by 40% over the next two years and reaffirmed its prior guidance to spend $80B on data center capacity this fiscal year ending in June.

The Trader:
-Refiners, which convert crude into gasoline and other products, are influenced by the larger supply-demand picture for oil but are more dependent on the balance between the price of oil and the fuels they make. The fuel market appears tighter than the broader oil market, with the difference between the price of oil and the wholesale price of gasoline rising to $27 at the end of April. This gap is due to a fundamental difference between the oil and fuel markets today. The supply of crude oil is rising due to OPEC's increasing crude production, but the supply of fuels is not as much. There aren't enough refineries to turn all that crude into gasoline and diesel. Nearly as many refineries have been shutting down as opening this year, leaving the world in a relative deficit. LyondellBasell shuttered a Houston refinery in February, and Phillips 66
PSXInventories of gasoline are at the low end of their five-year average and have plunged to 12-year lows on the West Coast. Diesel inventories are also low. Fuel demand in both the US and Europe has remained relatively strong, even as gasoline demand is rising in many countries where the USA exports fuel – but unlikely to rise in the USA itself. Stocks of major refiners like Valero and Marathon Petroleum have fallen this year and are down more than 20% over the past year. Analysts see them bouncing back and nearly doubling by 2027.
-The S&P 500 has rebounded from its April lows as markets reflect President Donald Trump's less draconian stance on tariffs. However, the impact of tariffs may not be evident in the hard data until May or June, and the market is only one Trump Truth Social post away from another tumble. Many stocks don't look attractive, especially given the lingering hazards. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) has fallen but remains above 20, suggesting higher-than-average risks. Evercore ISI strategist Julian Emanuel screened for stocks with poor momentum and are buying back more stock than others, indicating management remains confident in a company's earnings potential and wants to support the stock price. Examples include Devon Energy, AES, Trex, and Enphase Energy, which have averaged declines of 11% this year, far more than the S&P 500's 3.6% drop. Pinterest, a $17.6B stock, has been a big repurchaser of its shares, trading at about 4.1 times expected sales for the next 12 months, down from a three-year peak of about 7.6. While it's more expensive than smaller platforms like Snap and Etsy, it is much lower than other fast-growing internet stocks like Airbnb and Booking Holdings, which trade over six times.

Features:
-Market strategists predict an imminent economic recession due to President Trump's tariff policies, while consumer confidence has declined for a fifth consecutive month. Despite last year's 2.8% growth in the US GDP, adjusted for inflation, there are reasons to believe the economy will avoid a recession this year. Hard data, including GDP growth, employment, inflation, and retail sales, doesn't provide a clear picture of economic distress, and consumer data shows continued growth in spending. GDP fell at an annual rate of 0.3% in the first quarter, with most of the decline due to a 41% surge in imports. Inflation-adjusted final sales to domestic purchasers gained 3%, and consumer spending rose 1.8% in the quarter.
-Palantir Technologies CEO Alex Karp expressed enthusiasm at his company's annual AIPCon gathering, stating that the company is thriving and has a strong investor base. However, the company has been the subject of debate on Wall Street, with analysts generally agreeing on its near-term growth opportunity. Analysts expect revenue to grow 36% to $862M, with earnings surging 62%. However, price targets among Wall Street analysts range from $40 to $130, with Palantir recently trading at $118. The uncertainty also affects Palantir's daily moves, with daily average spreads of 5.6 percentage points since going public in 2020. The volatility and debate stem from the company's nontraditional roots, as it grew up in the staid world of national security and defense. A devoted base of retail investors further clouds the company's value.

European Trader:
-Shell, the London-based oil-and-gas company, reported better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter despite falling crude prices. The stock rose and Shell maintained its $3.5B level of quarterly share buybacks, contrasting with rival BP, which scaled back its program. Shell's results show it can perform well even with oil prices at around $60 a barrel amid trade wars and recession concerns. CEO Wael Sawan pledged to increase output, focusing on profitable liquid natural gas operations. First-quarter adjusted earnings came in at $5.6B, better than consensus forecasts and up from $3.7B in the fourth quarter. Adjusted earnings were 92 cents a share, beating the 82 cents median estimate on FactSet. London-traded shares rose 3.4% in early trading, while American depositary receipts added 3.7 before the market opened.

Emerging Markets:
-No update

Commodities:
-The mineral-rights deal signed on April 30 has provided the US with preferential access to resources in Ukraine, including minerals and traditional energy resources like oil and gas. This deal is seen as part of the global race for resources that will intensify over the coming decades. Ukraine likely has an abundance of materials such as lithium, titanium, and rare earth elements, which are used in electronics, lasers, and wind turbines. However, the country doesn't have any commercially viable mines yet. As the US tries to wean itself off imports from China, one critical bottleneck for tech companies is that China is currently the biggest exporter of key minerals. Most of the minerals required to make machines that will power AI in the future aren't that scarce, but they're just not easy to access. Mining these materials is expensive, time-consuming, and can be harsh on the surrounding environment. China is miles ahead of everyone else in this area, with the largest-scale extraction facilities. The US Geological Survey calculates that more than half of the US needs for rare earths are met by imports from China, and 93% of US needs for yttrium, an element used in making LED lights, came from China last year.

Streetwise:
-Walt Disney is set to report its quarterly financial results on Wednesday, following two significant milestones. The live-action Snow White remake has surpassed $200 million in worldwide box office receipts, but ticket sales have been low after six weeks in theaters. Disney has halted Tangled, a live-action remake based on the Rapunzel story. Netflix has also surpassed Disney in stock market capitalization, becoming the most valuable media company in 2018. Disney plans to use Thunderbolts, a superhero team-up, for theater redemption. However, McDonald's has reported its biggest same-store sales decline since the Covid-19 lockdown. Disney+, which launched in the U.S. in 2019, has seen its subscriptions increase from $6.99 without ads to $9.99 with ads, ranking third in subscribers behind Netflix and Amazon.com's video kick-in for Prime subscribers.

Barron's : Buy This Beer Stock. It’s a Solid Buffer Against Tariffs.

Buy This Beer Stock. It’s a Solid Buffer Against Tariffs.
Dutch brewer Heineken, the fastest-growing premium brand in the industry, has limited exposure to the U.S. and trade wars.

Heineken is the world’s second-largest brewer, giving it advantages of scale and a large number of diverse revenue streams outside the U.S.
Heineken’s premium brand is growing quickly, and commands higher prices.
The stock has gotten too cheap, despite steady earnings growth.
The stock market is still trying to recover from a tariff hangover. Heineken might be a hair-of-the-dog solution.

Netherlands-based Heineken is the world’s second-largest brewer after Anheuser-Busch InBev. It has operations in more than 70 countries and, along with its eponymous beer, owns popular brands like Amstel, Dos Equis, Lagunitas, Red Stripe, and Tiger. It also gets less than a third of its business from the U.S.—good news at a time when Americans are drinking less and a potential trade war has clouded the picture.

All of that adds up to a recipe for broad-based, ongoing earnings strength, even in the face of an economic downturn.

“With all the back and forth on tariffs, one outcome is that people are going to be a lot more interested in European investments as they look outside the U.S. for opportunities,” says Brian Krawez, president and lead portfolio manager at Scharf Investments. “Heineken has very little exposure to the U.S., and it’s trading cheaply compared to where it has historically, even though we believe it still has decent growth going forward.”

He also likes the fact that some 40% of the company’s sales come from premium brands in developed markets that have strong pricing power. The Heineken brand itself is the fastest-growing premium brand in the industry.

Although surveys show that in the U.S., Gen Z and younger millennials are drinking less than prior generations, that is somewhat offset by older drinkers, so it will take time for demographics to turn against alcohol. Heineken is also pushing into new categories like low-alcohol and nonalcoholic beverages, which are growing double digits; its Heineken 0.0 was one of the first major brands in the space.

Morgan Stanley analyst Sarah Simon recently noted that she preferred brewers to spirits makers, given that “beer is better positioned in the context of moderation trends,” as evidenced by increasingly popular low-alcohol and nonalcoholic brews. (Zero-proof liquors exist, too, but are a smaller market.)

Heineken’s growing emerging markets business, which accounts for nearly two-thirds of its profits, can shine as well, given that many are seeing rising alcohol consumption trends that are likely to hold up relatively well throughout economic cycles.

“I think it is the best-traveling beer brand there is in the world,” says Roger de Bree, managing director of Tweedy Browne. “In emerging markets, alcohol is a relatively low-ticket way to feel good about yourself in good times and bad. It’s a lot cheaper than a BMW.”

Investors may be concerned about Heineken’s ability to navigate a global economy burdened with a trade war. Yet even if one materializes, it’s worth noting that management has handled worse in recent years. Although the pandemic weighed on profits, Heineken’s 2021 earnings per share had already rebounded to nearly 85% of its 2019 levels; by 2022, it had already surpassed prepandemic earnings. The founding family also remains heavily involved in the businesses, which research has found is beneficial for shareholders.

Nor do Heineken’s American depositary receipts, which trade under the ticker HEINY, look very pricey. They change hands for 15.4 times forward earnings, compared to a five-year average of close to 20 times. (There are also ADRs for Heineken Holding, which is a separate stock more closely linked to the controlling family.) Heineken also stands at less than 10 times enterprise value to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, or Ebitda. That’s a discount to its own history and the midteens EV/Ebitda of SABMiller when it was acquired by AB InBev.

In April, Heineken delivered upbeat organic volume and revenue updates for its first quarter, and maintained its full-year fiscal 2025 guidance, despite currency headwinds and the unknown fallout from tariffs, which caused peer Diageo to withdraw its forecast.

De Bree argues that Heineken has been underearning in the postpandemic period. “You have heavy investments in the brands, heavy cost-cutting, relentless growth of your premium product, and premiumization. I’ve been sitting here for two years thinking the profits will explode sometime—not that they need to.”

Indeed, consensus already calls for Heineken to report EPS of $2.80 this year, a nearly 10% increase, and another 9% jump next year. The average analyst price target just over $52 implies more than 15% upside from Tuesday’s close of $44.15.

That said, Heineken isn’t without risk. Along with fluctuations in foreign-exchange rates, which the company noted was a headwind, the company’s premium brands could see slower growth in a recessionary environment in which people trade down.

Still, there are a lot of hopeful signs: The company has been bringing down its net-debt-to-Ebitda ratio, which is now below its five-year average; analysts have been tweaking their 2025 and 2026 EPS estimates higher in recent months; and Heineken has been actively buying back shares.

“If we could own more stocks like this, we would,” says de Bree.

We’ll drink to that.