Business
Newsmax settles Dominion election defamation case for $67m
Business reporter, BBC News
Getty ImagesUS TV network Newsmax has agreed to pay $67m (£50m) to settle a defamation lawsuit filed by a voting machine company over false claims it rigged the 2020 US election against President Donald Trump.
Dominion, which filed the case in 2021, had accused Newsmax of broadcasting “verifiably false lies” following President Joe Biden’s victory, causing “devastating economic harm” to the firm.
The conservative network announced on Monday that it had settled, but maintained its coverage was fair and balanced.
Dominion, which had sought £1.6bn in damages, said it was “pleased to have settled this matter”. The Denver-based firm filed similar lawsuits in the aftermath of the 2020 election.
Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis had already ruled in this case that Newsmax did defame Dominion.
But the judge left it to a jury to determine whether Newsmax acted with malice, and how much in damages to award. The trial had been due to begin in October.
Newsmax said it chose to settle because it argued the proceedings were unfair.
“From the very beginning, Judge Davis ruled in ways that strongly favored the plaintiffs and limited Newsmax’s ability to defend itself,” Newsmax said.
The network said a “pattern of judicial rulings” had denied Newsmax due process and “left the company to believe it would not receive a fair trial”.
The Delaware Superior Court declined to comment.
Newsmax said it stood by its coverage of the 2020 election, adding it believed it was “critically important for the American people to hear both sides of the election disputes”.
The TV network also paid $40m last year to settle a defamation lawsuit from another voting machine company, Smartmatic.
In 2023, Fox News agreed to pay $787.5m over similar allegations from Dominion that the network had spread false claims about the vote being rigged against Trump.
Falsehoods about the 2020 vote being stolen from President Trump were widespread following the election.
Trump attacked Dominion after the ballot, falsely claiming that it rigged the election to favour winner Biden.
Accusations ranged from the deletion of votes to inappropriate influence over the company by his political opponents.
Newsmax said payments to Dominion would be made in three instalments, starting with $27m that was paid on Friday.
Some $20m will be paid on 15 January and another on 15 January 2027. The company said it would be paid from its revenue.
Newsmax stock rose around 15% on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday following the filing.
On Monday, Trump said on social media he would move to get rid of mail-in ballots as well as “seriously controversial” voting machines. He did not identify voting machines from any particular company.
Business
UPI transactions hit record Rs 29.53 lakh crore in March; volumes cross 22.6 billion – The Times of India
Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions touched a record high in March, with both value and volume hitting new peaks, driven by festive spending and financial year-end activity, according to PTI.Data released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) showed that UPI transactions totalled Rs 29.53 lakh crore in value during March, up 19 per cent from Rs 24.77 lakh crore in the same month last year.On a month-on-month basis, transaction value rose 10 per cent from Rs 26.84 lakh crore recorded in February.In volume terms, UPI registered 22.64 billion transactions during the month, marking a 24 per cent increase from 18.3 billion transactions a year ago. The volume was 20.39 billion in February.Average daily transactions stood at 730 million, with an average daily value of Rs 95,243 crore, as spending picked up during festivals such as Holi and Eid.“The sustained growth in the digital payment ecosystem in India is an affirmation of the penetration of real-time payment systems in the day-to-day life of the people. UPI processed 22.64 billion transactions worth 29.53 lakh crore in March 2026, marking its emergence as one of the trusted payment systems in the country,” said Anand Kumar Bajaj, MD & CEO of PayNearby.UPI now accounts for around 85 per cent of all digital transactions in India and contributes nearly 50 per cent of global real-time digital payments.The platform is operational in seven countries, including the UAE, Singapore, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, France and Mauritius, with its entry into France marking its first expansion into Europe.NPCI, an initiative of the Reserve Bank of India and the Indian Banks’ Association, operates UPI, enabling real-time peer-to-peer and merchant payments across the country.
But Spencer says his business is being squeezed from every angle – as well as minimum wage, he has had increases in business rates, national insurance, and statutory sick pay. He also expects energy bills to go up because of the war in the Middle East.
Visa Inc. signage on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, US, on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Visa is launching six new tools using artificial intelligence to modernize the process of disputing credit card charges, the company told CNBC exclusively.
The digital payments company said the tools are designed to reduce the costs and frustration of “outdated” dispute processes for multiple entities involved in the payments process: merchants, issuers and acquirers.
“Some of the challenges are these back-office systems are still largely manual,” Andrew Torre, Visa’s president of value-added services, told CNBC. “We really had to think differently about how we approach this at scale.”
In 2025, Torre said, Visa processed more than 103 million charge disputes globally, marking a 35% increase since 2019.
“Our goal is to streamline this as much as possible,” Torre said. “We’d love to be able to see that growth rate come down.”
Visa’s new tools are part of a larger push by major banks and financial institutions to incorporate AI into their businesses — both internally and in consumer-facing applications. JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs have both said they’re already using AI to hire fewer people. BNY spent $3.8 billion on technology in 2025, or about 19% of its revenue.
Visa said three of its six new tools focus on merchants, allowing them to address potential disputes before they escalate, managing disputes with generative AI responses and providing a deeper level of detail on order insights to manage confusion over unfamiliar charges.
For example, Torre said, many disputes are borne out of cardholders not recognizing a specific charge on their statements. With the new tool, Visa will be able to provide further details to financial institutions to show cardholders that data at a deeper level, according to the company.
The other three tools are built for issuers and acquirers, using predictive AI models to aid in case-by-case analysis, analyzing documents for summaries and auto fill and establishing an AI-powered dispute platform to manage the entire process in one location, Visa said.
“We’ll be able to get them insights and data so they can move from being reactive to proactive,” Torre said.
Torre said Visa’s new AI tools are part of a broader host of solutions for consumers, including a subscription manager announced last week that allows cardholders to cancel unnecessary subscriptions directly on the manager.
The automation will save time, money and unnecessary confusion for both parties, he added. Most of the tools will be generally available later this year, the company said.
“We really believe that disputes in this solution makes it much easier to manage and resolve,” Torre said. “We think it has better outcomes for everyone.”
The New Era of Militia Influencers
UPI transactions hit record Rs 29.53 lakh crore in March; volumes cross 22.6 billion – The Times of India
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