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.
The Eli Lilly logo appears on the company’s office in San Diego, California, U.S., Nov. 21, 2025.
Mike Blake | Reuters
Eli Lilly on Monday said it is lowering the cash prices of single-dose vials of its blockbuster weight loss drug Zepbound on its direct-to-consumer platform, LillyDirect, building on efforts by the company and the Trump administration to make the medicine more accessible.
The announcement also comes weeks after chief rival Novo Nordisk unveiled additional discounts on the cash prices of its obesity and diabetes drugs.
Starting Monday, cash-paying patients with a valid prescription can get the starting dose of Zepbound vials for as low as $299 per month on LillyDirect, down from a previous price of $349 per month. They can also access the next dose, 5 milligrams, for $399 per month and all other doses for $449 per month, down from $499 per month across those sizes.
Zepbound carries a list price of roughly $1,086 per month. That price point, and spotty insurance coverage for weight loss drugs in the U.S., have been significant barriers to access for some patients.
Eli Lilly’s announcement comes just weeks after President Donald Trump inked deals with Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk to make their GLP-1 drugs easier for Americans to get and afford. The agreements will cut the prices the government pays for the drugs, introduce Medicare coverage of obesity drugs for the first time for certain patients and offer discounted medicines on the government’s new direct-to-consumer website launching in January, TrumpRx.
But Eli Lilly’s deal with Trump centers around lowering the prices of a different form of Zepbound – a multi-dose pen – after it wins Food and Drug Administration approval.
That means Eli Lilly’s Monday announcement around cutting prices on the existing single-dose vials could allow more patients to get discounted treatments more quickly.
“We will keep working to provide more options — expanding choices for delivery devices and creating new pathways for access — so more people can get the medicines they need,” said Ilya Yuffa, president of Lilly USA and global customer capabilities, in a statement.
Eli Lilly’s stock, which has climbed more than 36% this year, fell nearly 2% on Monday. Its meteoric rise due to the success of Zepbound and its diabetes injection Mounjaro vaulted it to becoming the first health-care company to hit a $1 trillion market value last month. Though cutting prices means lower revenue per medication sold, Eli Lilly’s sales — and shares — have continued to soar through past pricing announcements as demand balloons.
With single-dose vials, patients need to use a syringe and needle to draw up the medicine and inject it into themselves. Eli Lilly first introduced that form of Zepbound in August 2024.
It’s unclear how many patients are currently using single-dose vials of Zepbound. But Eli Lilly previously said that direct-to-consumer sales now account for more than a third of new prescriptions of Zepbound.
Novo Nordisk earlier this month lowered the price of its obesity drug Wegovy and diabetes treatment Ozempic for existing cash-paying patients to $349 per month from $499 per month. That excludes the highest dose of Ozempic.
The company also launched a temporary introductory offer, which will allow new cash-paying patients to access the two lowest doses of Wegovy and Ozempic for $199 per month for the first two months of treatment.
The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has approved a fresh increase in the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), raising the cost for both domestic consumers and commercial users.
According to the notification issued, the LPG price has been increased by Rs7.39 per kilogram, setting the new rate at Rs209 per kg for December. As a result, the price of a domestic LPG cylinder has risen by Rs87.21, bringing the new price to Rs2,466.10.
In November, the price of LPG stood at Rs201 per kg, while the domestic cylinder was priced at Rs2,378.89.
The latest price hike is expected to put additional pressure on households already grappling with rising living costs nationwide.
New Delhi: The taxable value of all supplies under GST surged by a robust 15 per cent during September-October this year, compared to the same period in 2024 due to sharp increase in consumption triggered by the tax rate cuts on goods across sectors that kicked in from September 22, according to official sources.
The growth in the same two-month period last year was 8.6 per cent. “This surge in taxable value during ‘Bachat Utsav’ demonstrates strong consumption uplift, stimulated by reduced rates and improved compliance behaviour,” a senior official said.
He pointed out that the growth has especially been strong in sectors where rate rationalisation was implemented, such as FMCG, pharma goods, food products, automobiles, medical devices and textiles. In these sectors, the taxable value of supplies has seen significantly higher growth, confirming that lower GST rates translated directly into higher consumer spending.
“It vindicates our strategy that reducing rates on essentials and mass-use sectors would create demand-side buoyancy — a Laffer Curve–type demand uplift,” he explained.These trends confirm that GST next-gen reforms have not disrupted revenue stability, and that consumption-side buoyancy has begun to translate into higher taxable value in key sectors.
This growth is in value terms which means that since GST rates were lower, the growth in volume terms will be even higher. It is clearly visible that while the Next Gen Reforms resulted in significant Bachat — increased consumption, industry has been very proactive in passing on the GST savings to the final consumers and ensuring that there is no supply side deficiency.
As GDP private consumption data will be released much later, GST taxable value serves as the most reliable real-time proxy for consumption, and the current numbers clearly indicate sustained demand expansion, the official added.
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