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North Dakota Judge finalizes $345 Million judgment against Greenpeace
A North Dakota judge finalized on Friday a $345-million judgment against Greenpeace, in a suit filed by Energy Transfer in response to the environmental group's protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline. The final judgement?by?Judge James Gion is in line with his decision in October in which he reduced by almost half the damages award of $667 million awarded to Energy Transfer in March. Greenpeace said in a press release that it would request a new trial, and if needed, appeal the ruling to the North Dakota Supreme Court. It called the lawsuit "a blatant effort to silence free expression." In a recent statement, Marco Simons said that speaking out against companies who harm the environment should never be considered illegal. In a press release, Energy?Transfer called the decision "an important step in this?legal procedure of holding?Greenpeace responsible for its unlawful and harmful actions against us during construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline." The statement said that it was "analyzing the next steps we could take to ensure they are held accountable." Dakota Access, a project near Standing Rock Indian Reservation, began in 2016 and was completed by 2017. Environmental and tribal advocacy groups protested the construction of the pipeline that transports approximately 40% of oil produced in North Dakota's Bakken area. They alleged it would contaminate the local water supply as well as exacerbate climate changes. Energy Transfer, a Texas-based company, first sued Greenpeace in a North Dakota federal court in 2017. It accused?it?of spreading falsehoods and paying protesters for construction disruption. In March, the North Dakota jury rendered its verdict, which included damages for defamation and trespass, as well as conspiracy. In February, Greenpeace filed a counter-suit in the Netherlands against Energy Transfer under a European Law aimed at reducing lawsuits filed in order to intimidate or silence activists. This litigation is still ongoing. Reporting by Nate Raymond, Boston; editing by Chris Reese
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FedEx customers seek tariff refunds following US Supreme Court ruling
FedEx was sued in federal court on behalf of customers who were seeking refunds after the U.S. Supreme Court decided this month that President Donald Trump had illegally imposed emergency tariffs worth billions of dollar on imported goods. The proposed class-action in federal court in Miami Florida seeks compensation for potentially millions of shippers that paid import duties and other fees on products they claim?should've entered the United States without duty. FedEx issued a statement Friday saying: "If FedEx receives refunds, we will refund the shippers or consumers who initially incurred these charges." The lawsuit filed on Friday alleged that FedEx's promises were not legally enforceable. John Yanchunis is a Miami-based lawyer representing plaintiff Matthew Reiser. FedEx is one of at least 2,000 businesses that have sued the federal government before the U.S. Court of International Trade in order to recover tariffs paid on imported goods. This was done under the International Economic Emergency Powers 'Act (IEEPA). On February 20, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a decision of 6-3, ruled that Trump had overstepped his powers by using emergency powers to impose tariffs. Reiser, who filed the lawsuit on Friday, claimed that FedEx charged him $36 – $21 for IEEPA duties, and $15 for brokerage and clearance fees – after he purchased tennis shoes from a German retailer. In the lawsuit, it was argued that no duty should have been required. Hasbro, a toymaker, joined thousands of other companies in suing the U.S. Court of International Trade for refunds of tariffs. The French beauty group L'Oreal, the British vacuum manufacturer Dyson, and Bausch + Lomb, along with retailers like Costco and J. Crew, have also filed lawsuits. Crew. (Reporting and editing by David Bario, E. Smith, and Mike Scarcella)
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FAA reduces flights at Chicago O'Hare due to increased schedules
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) plans to reduce flights this summer at Chicago O'Hare Airport, claiming major airlines overscheduled their flights. The agency announced on Friday. On March 3, the FAA will convene a meeting with major airlines to discuss reducing flight schedules after United Airlines and American Airlines both announced significant increases. The FAA has plans to reduce flight numbers for the summer season which begins March 29 and ends October 25. According to the FAA, airlines have published a schedule that shows more than 3,080 daily flights on peak days in this summer compared to 2,680 daily flights last summer. The FAA stated that the "increase in operations is significant" and will put stress on the air traffic control system, the terminals, and the runways. According to the FAA, O'Hare currently handles about 100 departures and arriving each hour. This amounts to about 2,800 daily operations. The agency stated that this is manageable, "given the current infrastructure and staff resources." The agency proposes adopting the limit of 2,800 passengers per day throughout the season, "to avoid large-scale disruptions in operations while also allowing airlines to operate within the demonstrated manageable capacity at the airport." United plans to increase its daily flights from Chicago O'Hare from 541 flights in average last year to 780 this month. United has announced that it will increase its mainline departures out of O'Hare this summer by 20%. American Airlines announced in December that it would increase daily departures from O'Hare to more than 75 destinations, a 30% rise compared with 2025. American announced that it would restore pre-pandemic flight levels by March with 500 daily departures 'from O'Hare. FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said in a closed door meeting that the 'agency is concerned about O'Hare being able to function with the extra flights this summer. He also noted that the agency held a meeting last summer to reduce the schedule and reduced flights at Newark.
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Delta Orders 34 More Airbus A321neo Jets as part of Fleet Renewal Push
Delta Air Lines announced on Friday that it will purchase 34 more Airbus A321neo aircraft as part of a plan to refresh its fleet by purchasing 'aircraft' that burn less fuel and have more premium seats. In 2029, the new planes will be arriving. Delta now has 189 A321neo aircraft on order. Delta already operates 92 A321neo aircraft and has 97 others on order. The airline has options on another 36. This is the third aircraft deal announced by the Atlanta-based carrier this year. In January, the airline ordered 30 Boeing 787-10 jets and then later added an order for 31 Airbus aircraft. Delta, along with other major carriers has added newer jets which are more efficient and offer more seats in the premium cabins. The airline has said that most of the planned growth in seat capacity will come from higher-priced seating, rather than the main cabin. The A321neo will?be a?key part of this strategy on domestic and short international routes. Delta said the aircraft had the lowest operating costs per seat of its narrowbody jets, and carried more "first-class" and "extra-legroom" seats than any other single-aisle aircraft in its fleet. The engines will be Pratt & Whitney GTFs. Reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh Editing Rod Nickel
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Havana is riding a bike boom while the US cuts off fuel to Cuba
Havana residents are repairing threadbare tires on their old bikes and in some cases learning to ride as fuel becomes scarcer in Cuba due to the U.S. taking over Venezuela's oil. Venezuela, which was a "key" ally of Cuba, was the island's main source of fuel and crude oil for over a quarter of a century. That is, until January, when the U.S. captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Cubans are now in a survival mode due to the drying up of this supply. They have to deal with longer blackouts, rising prices for transportation and food as well as?fuel - if it's even available. Recently, fuel shipments from Mexico to Cuba were also stopped after the U.S. threatened to impose tariffs on countries that provide oil to the island. Havana residents are turning more and more to electric cars and installing solar panels on their homes and businesses. Gabriela Barbon (23), was persuaded to ride a bicycle for the first time by her ballooning transportation costs. She said, "Riding a bicycle is not just a hobby for me or something that I wanted to do'sometime in my life. It's a need," during a Citykleta-hosted training in a park in the city. Other adults were also learning how to balance on two wheels. She said, "The Learn to Pedal Campaign came just at the right time. Just when I needed it." Citykleta's organizer Yasser Gonzales expected 100 people to join, but it has drawn nearly four times that number - most of whom are looking for alternative ways to travel around the Cuban capital. He said that there was an "avalanche" of people wanting to learn, while a colleague helped a newbie on a blue bike. Yoandris Herera is no stranger to cycling. He has kept his bike disassembled in his bedroom for over a year. Herrera now pedals his China-made bike to work, and takes his children to school. He said, "Considering that fuel is so costly right now, it would be more convenient to travel by bicycle." Fuel crisis also brought more work to bicycle repairman Pedro Carrillo. He carefully aligned spokes on a wheel in a makeshift workshop?on a Havana street, with bicycle tire hanging?on the wall?behind him. He said, "It has been like a?explosion." He said that the bike boom has also led to a different type of scarcity. Sometimes I can't help because I don’t have the parts. "There are some things I just can't find anywhere." Reporting by Alien Fernandez in Havana, writing by Daina Beth Solon; editing by Ethan Smith
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Cheniere receives $370 million in tax breaks from Trump's IRS for 'alternative Fuel'
Cheniere Energy Inc revealed this week that the 'Trump administration gave it a tax credit of $370 million for burning liquefied gas in their massive 'tankers. Critics argued that such a credit was intended for a 'far smaller boat. In financial disclosures, the company announced on Thursday that it won the IRS tax break for alternative fuels. The tax credit was part of a 2005 law signed by George W. Bush that was intended to subsidize a variety of alternative fuels, including those derived from biomass, coal and natural gas. The credit was intended to be claimed only by those who operate motor vehicles or'motorboats. The IRS doesn't define the size of motorboats, but federal regulations do. They are defined as being smaller than 65 feet (20 m), which is tiny when compared to LNG tankers that can be up to three football fields in length. William Henck said that Cheniere had taken a "very aggressive position" in relation to the tax credit. Does a tanker sound similar to a motorboat? Lukas Shankar Ross, deputy director of the environmental non-profit group Friends of the Earth called Cheniere’s claim of the credit "a new kind of fantastic and incredulous interpretaion of the tax codes that has been rubber stamped by an IRS?whose independence is increasing in question." The Washington Post was the first to report Cheniere's disclosure. Cheniere's CEO Jack Fusco, who donated to Donald Trump 2024, declined to make a comment. The IRS did not respond immediately to a comment request. Cheniere, which exported the first LNG cargo out of the lower 48 state 10 years ago, said a few months earlier that it had invested $50 billion in expanding its two export facilities in Texas and Louisiana. It aims to double production to 100 million tonnes per year by mid-2030s.
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One person is killed and 40 injured when a tram derails in Milan's central area
A spokesperson for the local firefighters reported that a tram in central Milan derailed on Friday. One person died and 40 were injured, including one who was in a critical state. The tram, 'one of the latest models in operation in Milan', crashed into a window of a store in Vittorio Veneto Street, one of Milan's most important downtown arteries, according to Vittorio di Giacomo, the spokesperson. According to local emergency services, 13 ambulances are on the scene. According to an eyewitness, civil protection teams have set up a tent to help the injured. ATM, the Milanese transport company, released a statement in which it expressed "deep shock" at the accident. It also expressed sympathy to all those who were affected and said that it was working closely with the judicial authorities to try to determine what caused it. Reporting by Elvira Pollina, Daniele Mascolo and Kevin Liffey, with editing by Gianluca Smeraro, Gavin Jones and Kevin Liffey
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TSA officers receive fractional pay during the government shutdown
As the partial government shutdown continues, airport security screeners in the U.S. will receive a fraction their normal pay. This could lead to more officers calling in sick, taking second jobs or even quitting. The funding for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security expired on February 13, after Congress failed in its efforts to reach an agreement on immigration enforcement reforms requested by Democrats. This halted the funding of several government agencies including the Transportation Security Administration. The current shutdown is less severe than the 43-day event in October and November that shut down numerous government departments. TSA agents could lose even more money if the shutdown continues. This would have ripple effects, including absences, departures and bottlenecked lines in airport security. Philip Glover, vice president of district 3 of the American Federation of Government Employees who represents TSA employees at 19 airports in Delaware and Pennsylvania, said: "People will get discouraged much quicker this time." EXPECT MORE REGISTRATIONS Local AFGE officials expect a rise in TSA resignations, while some TSA workers are still paying off debts from last year's?shutdown. Ha Nguyen McNeill told Congress in this month's session that approximately 1,110 Transportation?security Officers (TSOs), a 25 percent increase over the same period in 2024, left the TSA between October and November 2025. McNeill, speaking of the shutdown last year, said that officers were sleeping in their cars to save on gas and selling their blood plasma to get by. They also took on second jobs in order to survive. The TSA will be increasing staffing for spring break, World Cup, and summer travel in March, May, and April. The TSA officer who requested anonymity at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas said that the two shutdowns back to back are forcing her to reconsider her career with the agency. The 34-year old said, "I would like to stay in this job for the medical benefits at least. But sometimes I feel I'd be better off abandoning ship and reinvesting myself elsewhere." Local AFGE officials said that workers are having to work odd jobs in order to pay their bills and fill up their gas tanks for the?second time within four months. The agency is putting more pressure on employees to be present, while some have called in sick to do odd jobs. Darrell English, the president of AFGE Local 777 which represents TSA employees in Illinois and Wisconsin, said that officers are considering other options to maintain stability. "This is a 'backlash' that will come from these 'continuous shutdowns'." Neal Gosman is the treasurer for AFGE Local '899 in Minnesota. He said that many of his colleagues who had high levels of seniority retired shortly after the shutdown began. He said, "It could be a coincidence that these older people have been in the area for a long time but they somehow decided to pull out the trigger this past week." (Reporting from Doyinsola Oladipo in New York, with additional reporting by David Shepardson at Washington)
Bolivian military plane crashes near La Paz capital in El Alto
LA PAZ, February '27 - According to TV media reports, a Bolivian Air Force Hercules crashed into a busy street in El Alto on Friday night, amid bad weather.
Local media Unitel reported that the aircraft was carrying new banknotes into the interior of Bolivia, citing the Bolivian Ministry of Defense.
Social media footage shows a chaotic scene with?people rushing to the crash site to collect?money strewn across the ground. Local authorities were using water hoses to keep people away from the accident site. I was unable identify the images.
The authorities have not confirmed any injuries or deaths. Bolivia's central banks was scheduled to speak with reporters on Friday evening.
In a press release, Boliviana de Aviacion, the national airline, said that the El Alto International Airport was temporarily closed after the crash. The aircraft involved did not come from the airline's fleet. Local media broadcasted video showing that the aircraft was severely damaged as well as a number of vehicles along the street where the accident took place. (Reporting and writing by Daniel Ramos, Inigo Alexander, Editing by Brendan O'Boyle).
(source: Reuters)