Latest news with #Rubicon
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Steve Bannon prods Trump to cut off Elon Musk: 'He crossed the Rubicon'
WASHINGTON — It took a little longer than he may have liked, but Steve Bannon eventually triumphed over Elon Musk. In a mid-January interview, the former chief strategist to Donald Trump pledged to get Musk, who he called an "evil guy," booted from the then-incoming president's inner circle within days. Five months later, Musk is out. And a feud between Trump and the world's richest man is under way. Bannon has stoked the tension, which began when Musk, a former special government employee who led Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, called on senators to reject Trump's tax cut bill. The two have traded barbs ever since, with Musk suggesting that Trump be impeached and Trump lamenting to reporters on June 5 that he did not know if he and his former pal would be able to repair their relationship. In print, radio and podcast interviews, Bannon has piled on Musk. He called on Trump to end the SpaceX founder and Tesla co-founder's government contracts. He's also prodded Trump to investigate alleged drug use by the South African-born businessman, as well as his immigration status. "He crossed the Rubicon. It's one thing to make comments about spending on the bill. There's another thing about what he did," Bannon said on NPR's "Morning Edition" program. "You can't come out and say kill the president's most important legislative occurrence of this first term." Musk's claim that Trump is mentioned in undisclosed classified files related to the financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and Musk's affirmative response to a social media post pushing for Trump to be replaced by Vice President JD Vance were too far, Bannon said on NPR, a public broadcasting organization the White House is trying to defund. "It has crossed the line," Bannon said of Musk. "There's no going back." Bannon said in a June 6 podcast he does not consider Musk's ouster a personal victory. "I don't ever look at things like that at all. Right now, it's a national security issue," Bannon said on the UnHerd with Freddie Sayers podcast. He went on to accuse Musk of abusing his position inside the government to try gain access to government secrets to boost his business. DOGE did not deliver on the $1 trillion in savings Musk promised, he said of the government spending-slashing effort. "Where's the money? What was DOGE really doing?" Bannon asked. "We want to make sure DOGE and Elon Musk didn't take any of the data sets for his personal use for his artificial intelligence, which is driving all of his businesses." Bannon's own distaste for Musk dates back to a dispute over temporary visas for highly skilled immigrant laborers. Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who Trump initially tapped to co-lead DOGE, pushed for an expansion of the program as way to attract global talent, irritating immigration hawks in the conservative movement. "We're not going to be some anarcho-libertarian (state) run by Big Tech oligarchs — that's not going to happen," Bannon said on his War Room podcast in December. Bannon told Politico in a June 5 interview that, after the split with Trump, the MAGA movement is now done with Musk. 'I think MAGA is now seeing exactly what he was," Bannon said. 'I'm just saying, 'Hey, told you — knew this was gonna happen, folks. Not a hard one.'' (This article has been updated to correct an error.) This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Bannon prods Trump to cut off Musk: 'He crossed the Rubicon'
Business Upturn
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Upturn
DNP to Take Controlling-Stake in Laxton
TOKYO, Japan: Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. (DNP, TOKYO: 7912) entered into a share transfer agreement on June 17, 2025 to acquire Cayman Islands-headquartered Rubicon SEZC. Rubicon (a holding company of 'Laxton' group) is a global Identity Systems Integrator that provides ID solutions for governments, primarily in developing nations, to register and authenticate personal information. DNP plans to acquire 75% of Rubicon's shares in July and complete the procedures to make the company a Group company. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: Products of Laxton DNP will maximize synergies with Laxton in ID cards and card printers. By expanding to government-related business in Africa, Asia, South America, and other regions, we will further grow our authentication and security business, contributing to a safe and secure Smart Society. [About Laxton] Laxton develops ID authentication services using biometric information, primarily for governments in emerging countries and regions, such as Africa, and has a track record of implementation in over 50 countries and regions around the world. The company provides services that combine mobility, robustness, and security by housing ID registration and authentication devices and card printers in a portable case. Laxton provides one-stop services ranging from consulting to development, implementation, training, and maintenance to meet the needs of governments and other organizations, and has earned a high reputation in countries and regions around the world. [Major Synergies from Laxton Acquisition] Service improvement-driven business expansion Expanding to emerging countries and regions where market growth is expected [Going Forward] DNP will seek to maximize synergies between our two companies through this acquisition, and aims to achieve cumulative sales of 140 billion yen by FY 2030 via ID authentication services for overseas governments. More Details About DNP DNP was established in 1876, and has become a leading global company that leverages print-based solutions to engineer fresh business opportunities while protecting the environment and creating a more vibrant world for all. We capitalize on core competencies in microfabrication and precision coating technology to provide products for the display, electronic device, and optical film markets. View source version on Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with Business Wire. Business Upturn takes no editorial responsibility for the same. Ahmedabad Plane Crash
National Post
3 days ago
- Business
- National Post
DNP to Take Controlling-Stake in Laxton
Article content Maximizing synergies to accelerate the global expansion of biometric info-driven government authentication and security business Article content TOKYO — Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. (DNP, TOKYO: 7912) entered into a share transfer agreement on June 17, 2025 to acquire Cayman Islands-headquartered Rubicon SEZC. Rubicon (a holding company of 'Laxton' group) is a global Identity Systems Integrator that provides ID solutions for governments, primarily in developing nations, to register and authenticate personal information. DNP plans to acquire 75% of Rubicon's shares in July and complete the procedures to make the company a Group company. Article content Article content DNP will maximize synergies with Laxton in ID cards and card printers. By expanding to government-related business in Africa, Asia, South America, and other regions, we will further grow our authentication and security business, contributing to a safe and secure Smart Society. Article content [About Laxton] Article content Laxton develops ID authentication services using biometric information, primarily for governments in emerging countries and regions, such as Africa, and has a track record of implementation in over 50 countries and regions around the world. The company provides services that combine mobility, robustness, and security by housing ID registration and authentication devices and card printers in a portable case. Laxton provides one-stop services ranging from consulting to development, implementation, training, and maintenance to meet the needs of governments and other organizations, and has earned a high reputation in countries and regions around the world. Article content [Major Synergies from Laxton Acquisition] Article content [Going Forward] Article content DNP will seek to maximize synergies between our two companies through this acquisition, and aims to achieve cumulative sales of 140 billion yen by FY 2030 via ID authentication services for overseas governments. Article content More Details Article content About DNP Article content DNP was established in 1876, and has become a leading global company that leverages print-based solutions to engineer fresh business opportunities while protecting the environment and creating a more vibrant world for all. We capitalize on core competencies in microfabrication and precision coating technology to provide products for the display, electronic device, and optical film markets. Article content Article content Article content Article content Media contact Article content Article content Article content
Business Wire
3 days ago
- Business
- Business Wire
DNP to Take Controlling-Stake in Laxton
TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. (DNP, TOKYO: 7912) entered into a share transfer agreement on June 17, 2025 to acquire Cayman Islands-headquartered Rubicon SEZC. Rubicon (a holding company of 'Laxton' group) is a global Identity Systems Integrator that provides ID solutions for governments, primarily in developing nations, to register and authenticate personal information. DNP plans to acquire 75% of Rubicon's shares in July and complete the procedures to make the company a Group company. DNP will maximize synergies with Laxton in ID cards and card printers. By expanding to government-related business in Africa, Asia, South America, and other regions, we will further grow our authentication and security business, contributing to a safe and secure Smart Society. [About Laxton] Laxton develops ID authentication services using biometric information, primarily for governments in emerging countries and regions, such as Africa, and has a track record of implementation in over 50 countries and regions around the world. The company provides services that combine mobility, robustness, and security by housing ID registration and authentication devices and card printers in a portable case. Laxton provides one-stop services ranging from consulting to development, implementation, training, and maintenance to meet the needs of governments and other organizations, and has earned a high reputation in countries and regions around the world. [Major Synergies from Laxton Acquisition] Service improvement-driven business expansion Expanding to emerging countries and regions where market growth is expected [Going Forward] DNP will seek to maximize synergies between our two companies through this acquisition, and aims to achieve cumulative sales of 140 billion yen by FY 2030 via ID authentication services for overseas governments. More Details About DNP DNP was established in 1876, and has become a leading global company that leverages print-based solutions to engineer fresh business opportunities while protecting the environment and creating a more vibrant world for all. We capitalize on core competencies in microfabrication and precision coating technology to provide products for the display, electronic device, and optical film markets.
Time of India
4 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Democracy under siege: Trump's war comes home to Los Angeles
Debashis Chakrabarti is a political columnist, Commonwealth Fellow (UK), and internationally recognized academic whose career bridges journalism, policy, and higher education leadership. A former journalist with The Indian Express, he brings the precision of investigative reporting to his political analysis and scholarly work. He has served as Professor and Dean at leading institutions across the UK, India, Africa, and the Middle East, with expertise in media studies, political communication, and governance. LESS ... MORE When the bootsteps of US Marines echo through the streets of Los Angeles—not in defence of the nation, but deployed against its own people—history shudders. What we are witnessing is not merely a flashpoint in American politics, but the tremor of a collapsing democratic compact. President Donald Trump has crossed a Rubicon, not in service of security, but in a calculated, authoritarian bid to redefine dissent as insurrection. This is not a drill. This is not merely political brinkmanship. A constitutional reckoning is underway—and the world is watching. The tanks are not just rolling—they are redrawing the map of American power In a stark echo of history's most troubling precedents, US Marines and National Guard troops now patrol not distant battlefields, but the streets of American cities. The pretext: a crackdown on protests following mass immigration raids, executed with mechanical cruelty. But peel back the rhetoric about 'national sovereignty' and 'foreign lawlessness,' and what remains is a naked attempt to militarize policy failure and crush democratic expression. In Los Angeles, over 2,000 troops, including 700 active-duty Marines, were stationed in proximity to protest sites. Their stated mission: to 'protect federal property.' But their real function was symbolic—the projection of raw power, of martial discipline, of command from above. Curfews were imposed, hundreds arrested, and images of troops 'accompanying' ICE agents into Latino neighborhoods sent a singular message: Dissent will be policed at gunpoint. Law and constitutional precedent: A republic rewritten This moment marks a historic constitutional rupture. Trump's move to federalize the California National Guard without the governor's consent defies established precedent and strikes at the core of American federalism. Governor Gavin Newsom's lawsuit, Newsom v. Trump, invokes the Tenth Amendment and the Posse Comitatus Act, which forbids the military from enforcing civilian law. And yet, federal troops roam Los Angeles with semi-automatic precision. What was once unimaginable—federal armed forces embedded in US cities amid peaceful protests—is now fait accompli. Legal experts warn this deployment could set a precedent as dangerous as it is durable, allowing future presidents to invoke vague notions of 'sovereignty' to sidestep governors, mayors, courts—even Congress. This is not law enforcement. It is executive imperialism. Political theatre masquerading as public safety President Trump's apocalyptic tone—accusing protesters of waving 'foreign flags' and bringing 'third-world lawlessness'—is less a diagnosis than a dramaturgical strategy. In invoking militarism while invoking patriotism, Trump is staging a pantomime of leadership for his base, wielding the US military not as a shield of the republic, but as a prop of the presidency. Let's be clear: the majority of protests were peaceful. Community leaders, clergy, and concerned citizens chanted 'peaceful protest' with their hands raised. But Trump did not seek de-escalation. He sought a show. Marines in flak jackets, helicopters buzzing overhead, police with rubber bullets—it is not governance. It is political theatre, laced with menace and intent. This is not about public order. It is about performance authoritarianism. Military strain: Morale collapses under orders Behind the stoic faces of America's uniformed services lies a brewing crisis. Soldiers have privately expressed alarm at their use against civilians. Reports from Seal Beach and downtown staging areas describe low morale, chaotic logistics, and profound unease about what they are being asked to do. The mission, ambiguously defined, leaves many service members caught in a legal and ethical limbo. Are they defenders of the nation, or enforcers of a presidency? Are they protecting property, or intimidating political opposition? We must ask: How long can the military endure being cast in this role before the institution itself begins to fray? Democratic erosion: The No Kings moment In a fiery, televised address, governor Newsom declared, 'Democracy is under assault.' It was not rhetoric—it was a tocsin. Across the nation, protests have erupted under the banner 'No Kings Day,' symbolically timed with Trump's birthday and echoing the Founding Fathers' rejection of monarchy. What we are witnessing is not a partisan rift. It is a populist, cross-ideological resistance to the corrosion of democratic norms. When the military is used to quell dissent, when judges are ignored, when governors are threatened with arrest, when immigrants are hunted and their allies imprisoned—what remains of the democratic edifice? A republic does not fall in a single day. It erodes—curfew by curfew, raid by raid, arrest by arrest. A global reckoning The United States has long cast itself as a global beacon of democratic liberty. But today, images of troops confronting children of immigrants, of curfews enforced by men in camouflage, of governors suing their president to defend basic rights—these are not the hallmarks of democracy. They are the symptoms of a failing one. From Paris to Pretoria, New Delhi to New York, global observers must now confront an unthinkable reality: the world's oldest constitutional democracy is no longer immune to authoritarian drift. The contagion of militarized populism has reached home. The final question This moment will enter history books—but how it is remembered will depend on what comes next. Will the courts restore balance? Will the military resist politicization? Will the people demand their republic back? The world must not look away. Because if America forgets itself—if it allows tanks in the streets to become the new normal—then the idea of democracy itself is at stake. This is not Los Angeles's crisis alone. This is everyone's fight. 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