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From established players to up-and-coming firms, Canada’s pharmaceutical company landscape is diverse and dynamic.

Canadian drug companies are working to discover and develop major innovations amidst an increasingly competitive global landscape. Rising technologies such as artificial intelligence are playing a role in the landscape as well.

Read on to learn about what’s been driving the share prices of the best-performing Canadian pharma stocks.

1. Cipher Pharmaceuticals (TSX:CPH,OTC:CPHRF)

Year-over-year gain: 48.2 percent
Market cap: C$330.79 million
Share price: C$12.33

Cipher Pharmaceuticals is a specialty pharma company with a diverse portfolio of treatments, including a range of dermatology and acute hospital care products. The company has out-licensed some of its offerings as well. Cipher began trading on the OTCQX Best Market under the symbol CPHRF in early 2024.

In addition to its current portfolio, Cipher has acquired Canadian rights to CF-101, a dermatology treatment for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis is currently expected to undergo Phase III clinical trials. The company is also conducting proof-of-concept studies on DTR-001, a topical treatment for removing tattoos.

In 2024, Cipher announced it had signed a definitive asset purchase agreement with ParaPRO for its US-based Natroba operations and global product rights, and the news caused Cipher’s share price to spike significantly.

During its Q1 results reporting in May 2025, the company announced a US$15 million debt repayment.

2. HLS Therapeutics (TSX:HLS)

Year-over-year gain: 42.03 percent
Market cap: C$154.95 million
Share price: C$4.90

HLS Therapeutics focuses on drugs for cardiovascular and central nervous system problems, often through partnerships. The company specializes in acquiring and commercializing pharmaceuticals that address unmet needs. Key commercial products include Vascepa, Clozaril for treatment-resistant schizophrenia and cholesterol-lowering therapies NEXLETOL and NEXLIZET.

Additionally, the company generates revenue from a diversified portfolio of royalty interests on various products marketed by third parties.

3. Medexus Pharmaceuticals (TSX:MDP,OTC:MEDXF)

Year-over-year gain: 23.25 percent
Market cap: C$92.9 million
Share price: C$2.81

Medexus Pharmaceuticals specializes in bringing drugs to treat rare diseases to North America. The company manages the entire process through its fully integrated operations, from acquiring and developing drugs to marketing and selling them. Some of its key products include treatments for hemophilia B and rheumatoid arthritis, as well as a line of drugs for autoimmune diseases like lupus and allergy treatments.

In November 2024, Medexus Pharmaceuticals announced it had successfully negotiated with the pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance to make treosulfan, which Medexus commercialized in Canada under the name Trecondyv, available to publicly funded drug programs and patients. Trecondyv is indicated as part of conditioning treatment prior to bone marrow transplants in patients with certain types of blood cancers.

In addition to Canada, Medexus has the exclusive commercialization rights to treosulfan in the US, where it received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in January 2025.

4. Satellos Bioscience (TSXV:MSCL,OTC:MSCLF)

Year-over-year gain: 18 percent
Market cap: C$102.26 million
Share price: C$0.59

Satellos Bioscience is a Canadian pharmaceutical company expanding treatment options for muscle disorders. The company has focused specifically on Duchenne muscular dystrophy, developing therapies to regenerate and repair muscle tissue by targeting the specific biological pathways involved. Its lead candidate SAT-3247 targets a protein called AAK1, which regulates the activity of stem cells that activate and differentiate new muscle fibers.

The company began enrolment for a multiple-ascending-dose arm of the Phase 1 study for SAT-3247 last November after no drug-related adverse events were reported in the single-ascending-dose group.

In May of this year, Satellos announced results from its Phase 1b trial, reporting SAT-3247 has shown positive safety and pharmacokinetic data and encouraging early functional results, clearing the path for a planned Phase 2 trial.

5. NurExone Biologic (TSXV:NRX,OTC:NRXBF)

Year-over-year gain: 1.41 percent
Market cap: C$44.18 million
Share price: C$0.72

NurExone Biologic is the biopharmaceutical company behind ExoTherapy, a drug delivery platform that uses exosomes, which are nano-sized extracellular vesicles, to create treatments for central nervous system disorders, spinal cord injuries and traumatic brain injuries. It is a less invasive alternative to cell transplantation, which requires surgery and carries the risk of rejection.

NurExone’s first nano-drug, ExoPTEN, uses a proprietary sIRNA sequence delivered with the ExoTherapy platform to treat spinal cord injuries. ExoPTEN received orphan drug designation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in October 2023, meaning it has been recognized as a potential treatment for rare medical conditions. The designation makes it eligible for incentives such as market exclusivity and regulatory assistance aimed at accelerating its development and approval.

The company released preclinical results from animal testing evaluating the efficacy of its nano-drug ExoPTEN in restoring lost vision at the end of 2024. In July 2025, preclinical studies indicated that ExoPTEN could improve walking quality in patients with spinal cord injuries.

Securities Disclosure: I, Meagen Seatter, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

This post appeared first on investingnews.com

Investor Insight

With high-quality, drill-ready assets with world-class discovery potential, Piche Resources is a compelling business case for investors looking to leverage a bull market for uranium and gold.

Overview

Piche Resources (ASX:PR2) is an ASX-listed mineral exploration company focused on uranium and gold exploration in Tier-1 jurisdictions: Western Australia and Argentina. The company holds 100 percent ownership of all of its projects and is supported by a highly experienced board and technical team.

Targeting globally significant discoveries in Tier-1 mineral provinces

Piche’s portfolio includes the advanced-stage Ashburton uranium project in Western Australia and two large-scale exploration projects in Argentina: the Cerro Chacon gold-silver project and the Sierra Cuadrada uranium project. These projects have delivered high-grade exploration results and are drill-ready, positioning the company to unlock significant shareholder value through systematic exploration programmes.

Piche has an internationally recognized board focused on creating long-term shareholder value, and an in-country technical team in Argentina with a proven track record of taking projects from discovery through to development.

Company Highlights

  • Flagship Ashburton uranium project in Western Australia with recent high-grade drilling results over wide intercepts.
  • Sierra Cuadrada uranium project in Argentina showing extensive near-surface mineralisation with assays up to 2.86 percent U₃O₈.
  • Cerro Chacon gold-silver project with high-grade surface results (up to 11.65 g/t gold and 333.7 g/t silver) across a 14 km mineralised corridor.
  • Fully permitted and EIA-approved for drilling at Cerro Chacon (Chacon South and Middle).
  • Large, 100-percent-owned tenement package across all projects (Ashburton: 335 sq km; Cerro Chacon: 414 sq km; Sierra Cuadrada: 1,310 km²).
  • Board of directors includes former leaders of Peninsula Energy, Orano, Rio Tinto Uranium and Barrick Gold.
  • Upcoming drill campaigns planned at Cerro Chacon and Ashburton to test multiple high-priority targets.

Key Projects

Gold: Cerro Chacon, Argentina

Cerro Chacon interpreted geology and tenement holding

Cerro Chacon is a large-scale, early-stage gold-silver exploration project located in the Chubut Province of Argentina. The project is situated within a region known for hosting world-class low-sulphidation epithermal systems, including Cerro Negro and Cerro Vanguardia. With multiple gold-bearing structures confirmed over a 14 km corridor, Cerro Chacon is emerging as a highly promising and underexplored precious metals system with substantial scale and grade potential.

Project Highlights

Location: ~40 km southwest of Paso de Indios, Chubut Province

Tenure: 414 sq km across multiple tenements

Highlights:

  • A 14 km-long mineralised corridor has been delineated across Chacon Grid, La Javiela and Toro Hosco prospects.
  • High-grade geochemical results include:
    • 11.65 g/t gold and 120.3 g/t silver at Toro Hosco
    • 333.7 g/t silver, 9.48 percent lead, and 8.57 percent zinc at La Javiela South
  • Maiden RC drilling programme of 57 holes (7,905 m) scheduled across three main targets:
    • Chacon Grid: 45 holes (5,590 m)
    • La Javiela: 8 holes (1,740 m)
    • Toro Hosco: 4 holes (575 m)
  • EIA approvals for Chacon South and Chacon Middle were received in May 2025, enabling drilling to proceed.
  • Vein systems range from 2 to 6 km in strike length and up to 50 m in width; hosted within structurally controlled low-sulphidation epithermal veins (LSEV).

Uranium: Ashburton Project, Australia

The Ashburton project is Piche’s flagship uranium exploration asset in Australia, situated in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Located within a historically underexplored but highly prospective unconformity-related uranium district, the project provides the company with strong leverage to the growing global demand for uranium. The project is geologically analogous to world-class Proterozoic uranium systems, with multiple confirmed mineralised zones and a regional corridor of 60 km.

Project Highlights

  • Location: Pilbara region, ~1,150 km north of Perth
  • Tenure: 335 sq km following the recent application for tenement E52/4461 (214 sq km), adding to the existing 122 sq km holdings.
  • Highlights:
    • 2024 RC and diamond drilling confirmed high-grade uranium mineralisation at multiple stratigraphic levels.
    • Best intercepts include:
      • 3.45 m @ 5,129 ppm eU₃O₈ from 137.62 m (ARC006)
      • 10.48 m @ 1,412 ppm eU₃O₈ from 114.30 m (ADD005)
      • 2.42 m @ 2,681 ppm eU₃O₈ from 155.10 m (ADD003).
      • 7.86 m @ 2,266 ppm eU₃O₈ from 105.42 m (ADD006)
    • The company has outlined a 60 km structural corridor hosting multiple uranium occurrences including Angelo A & B, Canyon Creek, Ristretto and Atlantis.
    • Atlantis prospect: historical drilling returned up to 7,400 ppm U₃O₈ over 2.2 m; rock chip samples have returned up to 37 percent U₃O₈.

Uranium: Sierra Cuadrada, Argentina

Sierra Cuadrada is Piche’s primary uranium asset in Argentina, covering a vast area within the San Jorge Basin. This large-scale project has demonstrated strong surface uranium mineralisation with multiple drill-ready prospects. With mineralisation confirmed across extensive zones and supported by historical radiometric and geochemical data, Sierra Cuadrada has the potential to host multiple Tier-1 uranium deposits in a cost-effective, near-surface setting.

Teo 5 and 6 prospect 2024 auger drill programme

Project Highlights:

Location: San Jorge Basin, ~200 km north of Comodoro Rivadavia

Tenure: 1,310 sq km across multiple licences

Highlights:

  • The project area contains broad, flat-lying mineralisation at multiple stratigraphic levels.
  • High-grade uranium assays include:
    • 28,650 ppm U₃O₈ (2.86 percent) from rock chip sampling at Teo 8
    • 24,017 ppm U₃O₈ from channel sampling
    • 2,772 ppm U₃O₈ over 0.5m from auger drill sample
  • Mineralised zones extend over a strike of 60 sq km, with confirmed targets on the majority of tenements.
  • 2024 auger drilling and sampling confirmed uranium continuity across a sandstone and conglomerate sedimentary package with 14 samples exceeding 200 ppm U₃O₈.
  • Rock chip sampling has returned 114 samples >200ppm U₃O₈
  • RC drilling is planned to follow up on anomalies identified in the auger and channel sampling programmes.

Management Team

John (Gus) Simpson – Executive Chairman

John Simpson has over 37 years of experience in mineral exploration, development and mining. Previously the executive chairman and founder of Peninsula Energy Limited (ASX:PEN), a USA uranium producer.

Stephen Mann – Managing Director

Stephen Mann is a geologist with over 40 years of experience in exploration, discovery and development of mining projects, including 20 years in the uranium sector. Formerly the Australian managing director of Orano, the world’s third-largest uranium producer.

Pablo Marcet –Executive Director

Pablo Marcet is a senior geoscientist with 38 years of experience in exploration, discovery and development of mineral deposits. Currently an independent director of lithium producer Arcadium Lithium (NYSE:ALTM) and previously a director of Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) and U3O8 (TSX:UWE).

Clark Beyer – Non-executive Director

Clark Beyer is an internationally recognized nuclear industry executive with over 35 years of experience. Formerly the managing director of Rio Tinto Uranium and currently principal of Global Fuel Solutions, providing strategic consulting to the international uranium and nuclear fuels market.

Stanley Macdonald – Non-executive Director

Stanley Macdonald is a nationally recognized mining entrepreneur, founding director and instrumental in the success of numerous ASX-listed companies, such as Giralia Resources, Northern Star and Redhill Iron. He is currently a director of Zenith Minerals.

This post appeared first on investingnews.com

When Canadian-Russian programmer Vitalik Buterin penned a white paper in 2013 outlining a new kind of blockchain platform, few could have predicted the seismic impact it would have on the world of finance, technology, and beyond.

Today (July 30), Ethereum turns 10 years old, marking a milestone that represents a decade of one of the most influential blockchain platforms and a testament to the growing pains, triumphs, and resilience of the decentralized movement.

How did Ethereum go from a white paper drafted by a 19-year-old to a billion-dollar ecosystem that reshaped global finance?

Read on to find out more.

What is Ethereum and who invented it?

Co-founder Buterin said in a 2016 interview that Ethereum was born out of admiration for Bitcoin’s decentralized structure and frustration at its limited capabilities.

“I thought [those in the Bitcoin community] weren’t approaching the problem in the right way. I thought they were going after individual applications; they were trying to kind of explicitly support each [use case] in a sort of Swiss Army knife protocol,” Buterin said, summarizing his motivation to build something more adaptable.

From this foundational idea, Ethereum emerged as a decentralized, programmable blockchain — a “world computer” that would host smart contracts and decentralized applications (dApps), cutting out middlemen and enabling new forms of coordination.

The foundation of the fledgling project was laid between 2013 and 2014. After releasing his white paper in late 2013, Buterin attracted a handful of co-founders, including Gavin Wood, Charles Hoskinson, Joseph Lubin, Anthony Di Iorio, Jeffrey Wilcke, Mihai Alisie, and Amir Chetrit. Together, they spearheaded a crowdfunding campaign in mid-2014 that raised over US$18 million, one of the earliest and most successful Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) in crypto history.

Despite this momentum, the Ethereum blockchain didn’t launch until July 30, 2015. That release, dubbed “Frontier,” was a basic, raw, and developer-focused version of Ethereum designed for building the infrastructure that would follow.

ETH, Ethereum’s native coin, initially traded for under a dollar. The early months saw little market movement as ETH hovered between US$0.70 and US$2.00, supported mainly by enthusiasts and developers interested in dApp potential.

When was Ethereum’s first major peak?

Ethereum’s first major price rally came during the 2017 crypto bull run, when rising global interest in blockchain technology and the initial coin offering (ICO) boom brought ETH into the mainstream.

After beginning the year at just barely US$8, Ethereum surged to a then-record high of around US$1,400 by January 2018, capping off one of the most explosive price increases in the history of digital assets. This more than 17,000 percent rise was driven by a combination of speculative demand and the emergence of Ethereum as the preferred platform for launching new tokens via ICOs.

By early 2018, however, the market began to reverse. A sweeping crypto correction saw Ethereum’s price fall back below US$100 by the end of that year. The drawdown exposed Ethereum’s technical bottlenecks, such as high gas fees and slow confirmation times during network congestion.

What was the DAO Hack, and how did it influence Ethereum’s trajectory?

Ethereum’s ethos of decentralization was also tested early on. In 2016, an experiment in decentralized governance — the Decentralized Autonomous Organization or DAO — raised about US$150 million in ETH from the community. The idea was to create a venture capital fund governed entirely by smart contracts and token-holder votes.

But just weeks after launch, a vulnerability in the DAO’s code that allowed for recursive call exploit was discovered, draining 3.6 million ETH or about a third of the fund.

At just ten months old, Ethereum was now facing a crisis that tested its fundamental principles, chief among them the immutability of the blockchain and the inviolability of smart contracts.

Three primary responses were debated. One option was to do nothing, honoring the hacker’s actions as legitimate under the rules of the code and accepting the theft. Another was to implement a “soft fork” that would blacklist the child DAO’s address, effectively freezing the stolen funds.

The most radical option was a “hard fork” that would roll back the ledger and return all stolen Ether to the original investors, which would undo the hack entirely.

Ultimately, the hard fork went ahead, and Ethereum split into two chains: the main Ethereum chain (ETH), where the funds were returned to investors, and a new chain called Ethereum Classic (ETC), which preserved the original ledger including the DAO hack.

How has Ethereum performed post-2020?

Ethereum price performance July 30, 2015 – June 30, 2025.

Chart via TradingView.

Ethereum reached its all-time high price of US$4,878 on November 10, 2021, during the peak of the 2020–2021 crypto bull run. The rally was driven by a convergence of factors: institutional adoption of crypto, a massive expansion of decentralized finance (DeFi), and explosive interest in NFTs, most of which were built on Ethereum’s ERC-721 standard.

By late 2021, Ethereum was settling billions in daily transaction volume and powering thousands of decentralized applications, cementing its position as the leading smart contract platform.

However, the peak was short-lived. Inflation fears and global risk aversion in early 2022 triggered a sharp correction across risk assets, including crypto. Ethereum’s price dipped below US$1,000 in June 2022 amid cascading liquidations and platform collapses like Terra and Celsius.

Still, even through the drawdown, Ethereum remained the backbone of DeFi, NFT markets, and layer-2 innovation, setting the stage for its long-planned transition to proof-of-stake later that year.

In the years that followed the fork, Ethereum faced growing pressure to scale and reduce its environmental impact, particularly as DeFi and NFT activity surged.

These challenges set the stage for a major protocol overhaul: Ethereum’s transition from Proof-of-Work (PoW) to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) was considered to be one of the most ambitious technical feats in blockchain history. Officially known as “the Merge,” the upgrade combined Ethereum’s execution layer (the mainnet) with the Beacon Chain, which introduced staking-based consensus.

The Merge took place in September 2022 and the environmental impact was immediate: Ethereum’s energy consumption dropped by over 99 percent.

While the Merge had little short-term effect on price, it marked a crucial moment for Ethereum’s long-term viability. At the time of the upgrade, ETH was trading at around US$1,600, which was a sharp decline from its all-time high of US$4,891 in November 2021 during the height of the crypto bull market.

That price peak had been driven by unprecedented network demand as NFTs and decentralized finance exploded in popularity, both largely built on Ethereum. By mid-2022, however, macroeconomic tightening, rising interest rates, and a series of high-profile crypto failures, including the collapse of TerraUSD and the insolvency of major lending platforms, had triggered a broad downturn.

After the Merge, ETH remained volatile. It already lost ground by as much as 70 percent against crypto leader Bitcoin since the Merge, and the introduction of EIP-1559 in 2021 had already created a more deflationary pressure on ETH supply through base fee burns.

Despite this setback, ETH showed relative resilience compared to many altcoins. In 2023, Ethereum hovered mostly between US$1,200 and US$2,100, with price movements closely tracking investor sentiment toward regulatory developments, Bitcoin’s performance, and broader market liquidity. Institutional interest in Ethereum also grew during this period, with more funds launching ETH products and staking services expanding.

Entering 2024, Ethereum gained momentum amid improving macroeconomic conditions and renewed optimism about real-world applications for blockchain technology. The network saw moderate success in sectors like tokenized assets, layer-2 infrastructure, and decentralized identity.

ETH briefly reclaimed the US$4,000 level in early March 2024 before retreating again due to renewed regulatory scrutiny in the US. Despite the pullback, Ethereum remained the second-largest cryptoasset by market capitalization and retained the majority share of developer activity across all chains.

The 2025 Swing

Ethereum 1-year price performance, July 28, 2024 – July 28, 2025.

Chart via TradingView.

Ethereum, as well as the rest of the crypto landscape, saw a full positive swing in 2025 as regulatory clarity dominated the first half of the year.

In June, the US Senate approved the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act with bipartisan support. President Donald Trump, now serving his second term, publicly backed the bill, calling it “a win for American innovation and financial leadership.”

The GENIUS Act establishes a regulatory framework for US-pegged stablecoins, requiring full reserve backing, independent audits, and federal licensing for large issuers. It also clarifies that qualifying stablecoins are not securities, pulling them out of the SEC’s jurisdiction and instead aligning oversight with banking regulators like the OCC and Federal Reserve.

Crucially, the law defines “payment stablecoins” as a new category of digital cash, and Ethereum has emerged as one of the largest beneficiaries of this policy shift. The majority of dollar-backed stablecoins, which include USDC, USDT, and newer entrants like PayPal USD, are issued and transacted on Ethereum.

The GENIUS Act’s legal recognition of stablecoins has given institutional players more confidence to engage with Ethereum-based infrastructure.

As a result, capital inflows into Ethereum have accelerated, with analysts noting a sharp uptick in demand for ETH as a “platform asset” powering tokenized dollars and digital settlement rails.

ETH’s price also soon followed. Following the Senate’s approval of the GENIUS Act in June 2025, ETH jumped over 25 percent in two weeks, briefly reaching US$3,824 — outperforming Bitcoin and breaking out of a multi-month consolidation range.

The act has also prompted strategic shifts among financial institutions. BlackRock, Fidelity, and JPMorgan have expanded their Ethereum-based offerings, including on-chain fund administration, tokenized treasuries, and collateralized lending protocols that rely on smart contracts.

Several US banks are also piloting internal payment rails using tokenized dollars on Ethereum rollups.

What’s next for Ethereum?

Buterin himself has acknowledged that Ethereum’s current roadmap is not the end. Speaking in late 2022 before the Merge, he noted that “Ethereum is 55 percent complete.”

The long-term vision includes greater privacy features, zero-knowledge proofs for secure scalability, and expanding the reach of dApps to a billion users.

As of mid-2025, Ethereum currently trades around US$3,400, buoyed by strong institutional adoption, continued growth of layer-2 networks like Arbitrum and Base, and early signs of real-world asset tokenization gaining traction among banks and fintech firms.

While Ethereum’s price remains well below its 2021 peak, its performance since 2020 reflects growing maturity, with fewer speculative surges and more interest anchored in a more crypto-friendly environment.

Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

This post appeared first on investingnews.com

July 29 (Reuters) – Union Pacific said on Tuesday it would buy smaller rival Norfolk Southern in an $85-billion deal to create the country’s first coast-to-coast freight rail operator and reshape the movement of goods from grains to autos across the U.S.

If approved, the deal would be the largest-ever buyout in the sector and combine Union Pacific‘s stronghold in the western two-thirds of the United States with Norfolk’s 19,500-mile network that primarily spans 22 eastern states.

The two railroads are expected to have a combined enterprise value of $250 billion and would unlock about $2.75 billion in annualized synergies, the companies said.

The $320 per share price implies a premium of 18.6% for Norfolk from its close on July 17, when reports of the merger first emerged.

The companies said on Thursday they were in advanced discussions for a possible merger.

The deal will face lengthy regulatory scrutiny amid union concerns over potential rate increases, service disruptions and job losses. The 1996 merger of Union Pacific and Southern Pacific had temporarily led to severe congestion and delays across the Southwest.

The deal reflects a shift in antitrust enforcement under U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration. Executive orders aimed at removing barriers to consolidation have opened the door to mergers that were previously considered unlikely.

A Norfolk Southern freight train passes through Homestead, Pa.Gene J. Puskar / AP file

Surface Transportation Board Chairman Patrick Fuchs, appointed in January, has advocated for faster preliminary reviews and a more flexible approach to merger conditions.

Even under an expedited process, the review could take from 19 to 22 months, according to a person involved in the discussions.

Major railroad unions have long opposed consolidation, arguing that such mergers threaten jobs and risk disrupting rail service.

“We will weigh in with the STB (regulator) and with the Trump administration in every way possible,” said Jeremy Ferguson, president of the SMART-TD union‘s transport division, after the two companies said they were in advanced talks last week.

“This merger is not good for labor, the rail shipper/customer or the public at large,” he said.

The companies said they expect to file their application with the STB within six months.

The SMART-TD union‘s transport division is North America’s largest railroad operating union with more than 1,800 railroad yardmasters.

The North American rail industry has been grappling with volatile freight volumes, rising labor and fuel costs and growing pressure from shippers over service reliability, factors that could further complicate the merger.

Union Pacific‘s shares were down about 1.3%, while Norfolk fell about 3%.

The proposed deal had also prompted competitors BNSF, owned by Berkshire Hathaway BRKa.N, and CSX CSX.O, to explore merger options, people familiar with the matter said.

Agents at the STB are already conducting preparatory work, anticipating they could soon receive not just one, but two megamerger proposals, a person close to the discussions told Reuters on Thursday.

If both mergers are approved, the number of Class I railroads in North America would shrink to four from six, consolidating major freight routes and boosting pricing power for the industry.

The last major deal in the industry was the $31-billion merger of Canadian Pacific CP.TO and Kansas City Southern that created the first and only single-line rail network connecting Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.

That deal, finalized in 2023, faced heavy regulatory resistance over fears it would curb competition, cut jobs and disrupt service, but was ultimately approved.

Union Pacific is valued at nearly $136 billion, while Norfolk Southern has a market capitalization of about $65 billion, according to data from LSEG.

(Reuters reporting by Shivansh Tiwary and Sabrina Valle, additional reporting by Abhinav Parmar, Nathan Gomes and Mariam Sunny; Reuters editing by Sriraj Kalluvila, Pooja Desai, Dawn Kopecki and Cynthia Osterma)

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS

Thailand and Cambodia reached a ceasefire deal ‘through trade,’ President Donald Trump announced Monday, ending a burgeoning conflict that displaced 260,000 people. 

The declaration from Trump comes after he said over the weekend that he had spoken to the leaders of Cambodia and Thailand, urging a ceasefire, adding the U.S. would not get back to the ‘trading table’ with the southeast Asian countries until fighting stops. 

The fighting began Thursday after a land mine explosion along the border wounded five Thai soldiers. Both sides blamed each other for starting the clashes that have killed at least 35 people and displaced more than 260,000 people on both sides. 

‘Numerous people were killed and I was dealing with two countries that we get along with very well, very different countries from certain standpoints. They’ve been fighting for 500 years intermittently. And, we solved that war … we solved it through trade,’ Trump told reporters during his trip to Scotland. 

‘I said, ‘I don’t want to trade with anybody that’s killing each other.’ So we just got that one solved. And I’m going to call the two prime ministers who I got along with very, very well and speak to them right after this meeting and congratulate them. But it was an honor to be involved in that. That was going to be a very nasty war. Those wars have been very, very nasty,’ Trump also said. 

‘By ending this War, we have saved thousands of lives. I have instructed my Trade Team to restart negotiations on Trade. I have now ended many Wars in just six months — I am proud to be the President of PEACE!’ Trump added in a post on Truth Social.

As part of the ceasefire deal, military commanders from both sides will begin to hold talks Tuesday to defuse tensions while Cambodia will host a border committee meeting on Aug. 4, according to Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. 

He added that the foreign and defense ministers of Malaysia, Cambodia and Thailand have also been instructed to ‘develop a detailed mechanism’ to implement and monitor the ceasefire to ensure sustained peace. 

It is ‘time to start rebuilding trust, confidence and cooperation going forward between Thailand and Cambodia,’ Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said during a press conference in Malaysia alongside Thai Acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X that the U.S. ‘applauds the ceasefire declaration between Cambodia and Thailand announced today in Kuala Lumpur.’ 

‘President Trump made this happen. Give him the Nobel Peace Prize!’ added White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. 

Fox News’ Brie Stimson and the Associated Press contributed to this report. 

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

A federal judge in Boston on Monday blocked the Trump administration from ending federal Medicaid reimbursements for Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide, ruling that the effort is likely unconstitutional and in violation of the group’s First Amendment protections. 

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, an Obama appointee in Boston, granted Planned Parenthood’s request for a nationwide preliminary injunction. ‘Patients are likely to suffer adverse health consequences where care is disrupted or unavailable,’ she said in her order on Monday.

‘In particular, restricting members’ ability to provide healthcare services threatens an increase in unintended pregnancies and attendant complications because of reduced access to effective contraceptives, and an increase in undiagnosed and untreated STIs,’ she added.

Judge Talwani said Monday that Planned Parenthood had sufficiently demonstrated to the court that they were ‘likely to succeed on the merits’ of their lawsuit— one of the ways in which judges evaluate emergency requests for injunctive relief—citing the harm that patients and clinics would likely suffer as a result of the lost Medicaid funding.

Attorneys for Planned Parenthood had sued over the Medicaid cuts earlier this month, which were enacted under a provision of the ‘one big beautiful bill’ narrowly cleared by the Republican-led Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4. 

Plaintiffs argued in their filing that the cuts would cause ‘grave’ health risks to as many as one million patients nationwide. 

They also pointed to possible increases in cancer and in undetected sexually transmitted infections, especially in low-income communities.

Many areas could also see an increase in unplanned pregnancies as a result of the lost contraception access their clinics provide, they noted.

Judge Talwani’s order is expected to apply to the nearly 600 health centers operated across the country by Planned Parenthood. It is almost certain to be appeared by the Trump administration, which could even ask the higher courts to grant it an administrative stay in the interim while lower court battles continue to play out.

The administration has also found success in filing emergency orders to the Supreme Court. As of earlier this month, the high court has ruled in Trump’s favor in the majority of cases filed via the ‘shadow docket’ or via emergency application.

Fox News’s Ashley Oliver contributed to this report. 

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

Senate Republicans have received marching orders from President Donald Trump to ram through his remaining nominees, but Democrats are slow-walking the process over some key nominations.

Some of the nominees giving Senate Democrats the most heartburn include Jeanine Pirro, Emil Bove, Mike Waltz and Paul Ingrassia, all of whom Trump tapped for key roles in his administration.

Most of them have all slowly moved through the process, but they are just a few of many other, less controversial figures that are being held up by delay tactics.

There are now over 140 pending ‘civilian’ nominations for positions across the gauntlet of federal agencies, ambassadorships and judgeships. While the Senate has moved at a blistering rate over the last six months to confirm nominees — they’ve clocked nearly 100 so far — Trump has called on Republicans to stay in town rather than leave Washington for a roughly month-long break.

Republicans are trying to hammer out a deal with Democrats to see that more low-hanging fruit nominees, like ambassadors, get the green light for a faster process on the Senate floor, and are willing to keep lawmakers in town over the weekend if their counterparts don’t relent.

‘Democrats want to get out of here for August recess, then fine, give us a certain amount of en blocs that we can go through with non-controversial nominees,’ Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said.

Bove, who currently works at the Justice Department but previously served as Trump’s personal attorney, has been a particular target for Democrats. Trump nominated him to serve a lifetime appointment to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and he is nearing the end of his confirmation process.

Democrats have accused Bove of being unfit for the role, and listed whistleblower allegations that he suggested the Trump administration could ignore judicial orders, among other sticking points, as reason enough to try to subvert his appointment to the bench.

‘I have never advised a Department of Justice attorney to violate a court order,’ Bove said during his confirmation hearing.

He’s also become a prime target of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and other Democrats, including Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who staged a walkout in protest of his nomination during a recent hearing.

‘He’s the extreme of the extreme,’ Schumer said. ‘He’s not a jurist. He’s a Trumpian henchman. That seems to be the qualification for appointees these days.’

Pirro, a former Fox News host who was tapped to be the top federal prosecutor in D.C., has similarly faced resistance — Senate Democrats walked out of the same meeting discussing her and Bove’s nominations — but not near the degree that Bove has.  

Still, she was advanced out of committee on a party-line vote, coming another step closer to taking over the position she holds in the interim on a permanent basis.

Trump tapped Waltz to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, the last cabinet position to be filled by the administration.

Waltz stepped away from his original role as national security advisor following ‘Signalgate,’ a highly publicized blunder that saw him add a journalist to a group chat on the messaging app Signal that included Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance and others discussing the plans and execution of a strike against Yemen. He also advanced out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Ingrassia’s nomination as special counsel, a position that would see him lead the government watchdog Office of the Special Counsel, was derailed last week when his name was pulled from a list of other nominees slated to have a hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Ingrassia has come under scrutiny for his connections with Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist, and his limited career as a lawyer — he graduated from law school three years ago.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Senate panel for comment on Ingrassia’s hearing cancellation. 

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The Senate confirmed its first nominee of the week ahead of what is expected to be a jam-packed schedule to ram through as many of President Donald Trump’s picks as possible.

David A. Wright, Trump’s pick to lead the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a five-year term, was confirmed in the upper chamber on a 50to 39 vote on Monday. It’s not Wright’s first time as chair of the commission, having first served in the role beginning in 2020.

Trump had previously tapped Wright during his first term, and again selected him to lead the NRC earlier this year. His new term is set to end in 2030.

The NRC is an independent regulatory agency tasked with regulating commercial nuclear power plants, reactor licensing and renewal and other elements related to protecting public health and safety when it comes to nuclear energy. Wright’s confirmation comes on the heels of Trump’s announcement that the U.S. and European Union were entering a trade deal that would see the bloc purchase $750 billion of U.S. energy over the next three years. 

While the commission is independent from other arms of the government, Senate Democrats have balked at recent attempts to make the regulatory body, in their view, more partisan.

Earlier this year, Trump signed an executive order that demanded the agency consider making its safety standards less stringent, shortening the timelines for environmental reviews and a quadrupling of the nation’s nuclear power capacity by 2050: all part of the president’s quest to ensure America’s energy dominance. 

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.V., argued that over the last seven years that Wright has been a part of the commission, first as a commissioner beginning in 2018 and then as chair, he would fulfill the president’s wishes. 

‘Achieving this will require experienced and highly qualified Commissioners who are empowered to lead the Agency through a period of high expectations,’ she said in a statement. ‘Well, David Wright meets that mark.’

Then Trump fired a Democratic member of the commission last month, and a staffer from the president’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was reportedly detailed from the Department of Energy to the regulatory agency.  

That prompted Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, to warn of a ‘hostile takeover’ of the commission by the Energy Department.

The move hurt what began as bipartisan support for Wright’s nomination — Whitehouse initially backed him but changed his position.

‘I hoped to see Chairman Wright rise to the occasion, but circumstances right now at the NRC continue to deteriorate,’ he said in a statement. ‘I cannot presently support his renomination.’

Still, Wright’s confirmation is a win for both Senate Republicans and the White House after Trump called on the Senate GOP to ram his nominees through blockades set up by Senate Democrats.

There are now over 140 pending ‘civilian’ nominations for positions across the gauntlet of federal agencies, ambassadorships and judgeships. The Senate has moved at a blistering clip over the last six months to confirm nominees—they’ve clocked nearly 100 so far — the president has called on Senate Republicans to consider canceling the forthcoming August break to get more done. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., warned that if his colleagues across the aisle continued to slow walk the process in the upper chamber for the slew of remaining ‘uncontroversial’ nominees, or be prepared to stick around Washington. 

‘Or they can rein in their reflexive anti-Trump sentiment and allow some of his rank-and-file nominees to proceed by unanimous consent or voice vote — just as Republicans did when the roles were reversed,’ he said. ‘And I’d remind my colleagues about the dangerous and ugly precedent that they’re setting here. But the choice is theirs. But whether it’s the slow way or the fast way, we’re getting President Trump’s nominees confirmed.’

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The Department of Justice has filed an official complaint alleging misconduct by US District Court Chief Judge James Boasberg. Fox News has reviewed the complaint which was written by Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Chief of Staff Chad Mizelle and addressed to the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Sri Srinivasan.

Fox News has learned that the complaint was written and filed at the direction of Attorney General Pam Bondi.

‘The Department of Justice respectfully submits this complaint alleging misconduct by U.S. District Court Chief Judge James E. Boasberg for making improper public comments about President Donald J. Trump to the Chief Justice of the United States and other federal judges that have undermined the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary,’ says Mr. Mizelle.

Judge Boasberg is presiding over a high-profile case involving the deportation of several migrants to El Salvador and has talked about holding DOJ lawyers in contempt because of his assertion that his order to turn airborne planes around was not followed. President Trump has also made critical comments about Judge Boasberg.

The complaint details two occasions on which Judge Boasberg made comments the Justice Department alleges undermine the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary.

‘On March 11, 2025, Judge Boasberg attended a session of the Judicial Conference of the United States, which exists to discuss administrative matters like budgets, security, and facilities. While there, Judge Boasberg attempted to improperly influence Chief Justice Roberts and roughly two dozen other federal judges by straying from the traditional topics to express his belief that the Trump Administration would ‘disregard rulings of federal courts’ and trigger ‘a constitutional crisis.’ Although his comments would be inappropriate even if they had some basis, they were even worse because Judge Boasberg had no basis—the Trump Administration has always complied with all court orders. Nor did Judge Boasberg identify any purported violations of court orders to justify his unprecedented predictions.’

‘Within days of those statements, Judge Boasberg began acting on his preconceived belief that the Trump Administration would not follow court orders. First, although he lacked authority to do so, he issued a temporary restraining order preventing the Government from removing violent Tren de Aragua terrorists, which the Supreme Court summarily vacated.

Taken together, Judge Boasberg’s words and deeds violate Canons of the Code of Conduct for United States Judges, and, erode public confidence in judicial neutrality, and warrant a formal investigation.’ 

The DOJ is asking Chief Judge Srinivasan to refer the complaint to a special investigative committee as an inquiry is essential to determine whether Judge Boasberg’s conduct constitutes ‘conduct prejudicial to the effective and expeditious administration of the business of the courts.’ The complaint also asks that Judge Boasberg be taken off the case involving Venezuelan migrants who were deported to El Salvador, ‘to prevent further erosion of public confidence while the investigation proceeds.’

The case in question is J.G.G. v Trump.

This is the second time the Bondi DOJ has filed an official complaint against a federal judge. In late February, the DOJ filed a complaint about US District Judge Ana Reyes, concerning what the DOJ calls Judge Reyes’ ‘misconduct’ during the proceedings in Nicolas Talbott et al. v. Donald J. Trump et al., which is a case brought by two LGBTQ groups challenging the Trump Administration’s Executive Orders barring transgender individuals from serving in the US military.

News of the complaint comes at a time when the Trump administration has excoriated dozens of so-called ‘activist’ judges who have blocked or paused some of Trump’s sweeping executive orders from taking force in his second White House term.

Judge Boasberg in particular found himself at the center of Trump’s ire and attacks on so-called ‘activist’ judges this year, following his March 15 temporary restraining order that sought to block Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to quickly deport hundreds of Venezuelan nationals to El Salvador.

Boasberg had ordered all planes bound for El Salvador to be ‘immediately’ returned to U.S. soil, which did not happen.

His emergency order touched off a complex legal saga that ultimately spawned dozens of federal court challenges across the country – though the one brought before his court on March 15 was the very first – and later prompted the Supreme Court to rule, on two separate occasions, that the hurried removals had violated migrants’ due process protections under the U.S. Constitution.

Boasberg, as a result, emerged as the man at the center of the legal fallout. 

Trump administration officials have repeatedly excoriated Boasberg both for his order and his attempt to determine whether they acted in good faith to comply with his orders, and Trump himself has floated the idea that Boasberg could be impeached earlier this year – prompting Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to issue a rare public warning. 

The complaint, focused on months-old behavior and allegations surrounding Judge Boasberg— first tapped as a judge by then-President George W. Bush in 2002, comes at a time when he could again have a say in a major class action case brought by lawyers representing the former CECOT migrants. 

Lawyers for the ACLU and others in the class asked Judge Boasberg earlier this month to reopen discovery in the case, citing allegations from a United Nations report regarding custodial status of migrants at CECOT, and the recent decision to remove the 252 migrants sent from the U.S. to El Salvador to Venezuela under the prisoner exchange.

Asked at a status hearing in court last week whether the Justice Department would comply with the court’s orders, DOJ lawyer Tiberius Davis said they would, ‘if it was a lawful order.’

They also said they would likely seek an appeal from a higher court.

In April, Judge Boasberg also ruled that the court had found ‘probable cause’ to hold the Trump administration in contempt for failing to return the planes to U.S. soil, in accordance with his March 15 emergency order, and said the court had determined that the Trump administration demonstrated a ‘willful disregard’ for his order.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit stayed his original motion in April, and has yet to move on the matter.

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When the ambulance arrived in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia two years ago, an angry EMT got out and barked at the crowd, ‘Who called this in?’ 

Standing next to my cameraman and above the prone body of a shirtless soul bedecked in boils and not moving, I said, ‘I did.’ He didn’t say a word, he looked at me, then down the street at the dozens of strung out bodies, then back at me as if to say, ‘Look at all this, what do you want me to do?’

I had no answer.

Last week, President Donald Trump did answer that question with a much-welcome executive order (EO) intended to bring back civil commitment, in other words, the ability to put people who are a danger to themselves or others in institutions, even against their will.

Civil libertarians are in a tizzy over the EO. They insist this is an abuse of due process and harkens to the bad old days, when hundreds of thousands of Americans were committed to mental institutions, sometimes for dubious reasons.

But in examining and judging Trump’s proposed policy here, it is important to understand and accept what the status quo on the ground is right now, and it is nothing short of horrific.

I’ve traveled to homeless encampments all over America, from tucked-away Manhattan underpasses to the sprawling chaos of San Francisco’s Tenderloin, a place you literally smell a block before you enter.

In these encampments, your gag reflex is challenged by needles sticking out of necks and mountains of human detritus, but the real soul-crushing, existential sadness comes from knowing that these human beings are just being left to die.

For decades now, Democrats have spent endless dollars on fruitless efforts to fix the homeless problem. In California alone, Gov. Gavin Newsom has spent $20 billion on failing to fix it, and only recently admitted the encampments have to go.

In these encampments, your gag reflex is challenged by needles sticking out of necks and mountains of human detritus, but the real soul-crushing, existential sadness comes from knowing that these human beings are just being left to die.

What the Trump administration realizes is that Democrats refuse to accept is that homelessness is, actually, two very distinct problems. One is financial, the other is a matter of addiction and mental health.

Financial homelessness is fairly easy to address. The evicted mother living in her car can be given temporary housing and job assistance. She really does just need a hand up.

Homelessness related to mental illness and addiction, however, isn’t really a homelessness problem at all, it’s an addiction and mental illness problem, and shockingly, just letting people in tents shoot up in what was once a thriving commercial district doesn’t solve it.

As I have wandered the streets of these hellscapes in city after city, my question hasn’t really been if these people would be better off in an institution, but rather, if they weren’t in a de facto open-air institution already.

What does it matter if these places lack walls and locks? They are cages nonetheless, cruel prisons whether voluntary or not.

As I have wandered the streets of these hellscapes in city after city, my question hasn’t really been if these people would be better off in an institution, but rather, if they weren’t in a de facto open-air institution already.

Opponents of civil commitment insist you cannot take away people’s freedom! But freedom to do what? Shoot fentanyl every day until they die on a curbside, pockets rifled by another desperate junkie?

If it was your child on these broken and brutal streets of death, would you want them to be left in freedom to waste away, or would you want them taken somewhere where they could be protected and helped?

Opponents will say that civil commitment can be abused. They will point to the 1950s when homosexuals were sent to institutions, but it’s not 1950. We aren’t going to institutionalize gay people, and we cannot be paralyzed by a bigoted past when trying to save lives today.

Could there be abuses or mistakes made regarding civil commitment? Sure, but people are dying in the streets right now, and we must trust ourselves to actively help them, without stepping over the line.

Annoyed with me, or not, that day in Kensington, the EMT revived the man at my feet, who, it turns out, wasn’t dead, after all. Instead, he was angry, because the Narcan that woke him up also negated the high he had paid for.

There are really only two sides to be on here: the side that says we are going to do everything we can to save that man’s life, even against his will, or the side that condemns him to an open-air prison of his own making.

President Trump has chosen wisely, and if local governments take heed, it is going to save a lot of lives across America.

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