Certainly this past week saw several key stories in the aviation world.
First came the story that Spirit Airlines could be liquidated at any moment, only to be followed later in the week by reports that the budget carrier had asked the Trump administration for an emergency bailout.
Then, of course, came the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz late in the week, which sent jet fuel prices in New York sharply lower and airline stocks soaring...
It now appears that American Airlines has rejected United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby's idea to merge the two carriers. Kirby recently pitched President Trump on the tie-up.
American told The New York Times in a statement that it was "not engaged with or interested" in the merger idea pitched by CEO Kirby.
"While changes in the broader airline marketplace may be necessary, a combination with United would be negative for competition and for consumers, and therefore inconsistent with our understanding of the administration's philosophy toward the industry and principles of antitrust law," American said, adding, "Our focus will remain on executing on our strategic objectives and positioning American to win for the long term."
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters earlier this week that the merger was "not something the president or the White House has an opinion on or is weighing in on at this time."
Wells Fargo analyst Christian Wetherbee told clients that the American-United merger was unlikely, but on his radar was "an opportunity for United and Delta."
"This idea furthers our belief that the fuel shock presents an opportunity for United and Delta to emerge better positioned, potentially suggesting upside to out-year estimates," Wetherbee said.
He noted a potential merger between United and American could be too large, as the combined carrier would control around 40% of domestic capacity without divestitures.
As an alternative, Wetherbee suggested JetBlue could emerge as a smaller, more realistic target if American rejected United, giving United valuable assets in New York and Florida with less regulatory fallout.
Some analysts have already described the airline industry as highly consolidated and a classic oligopoly.
On our radar next week: Spirit's meeting with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, along with the carrier's uncertain fate as creditors could pull the plug at any moment. Attention will also shift to United and whether, after being rejected by American, it makes a move toward Delta. Meanwhile, jet fuel prices in New York are plunging, a welcome development for airlines after four weeks of soaring prices that led some carriers to hike bag fees and ticket prices to offset fuel costs.
Tyler Durden Sat, 04/18/2026 - 13:25Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,
New ultra-precise measurements have confirmed the cosmos is expanding faster than models based on the early universe predict, while a separate study has dramatically shortened estimates of how long the universe itself will last.
Astronomers have long observed a mismatch in the universe’s expansion rate depending on how it is measured. Local observations of nearby galaxies point to a faster rate, while data from the early universe, such as the cosmic microwave background, suggest a slower pace. This longstanding puzzle is known as the Hubble tension.
A major international collaboration, the H0 Distance Network (H0DN), has now produced one of the most accurate local measurements yet. The team combined decades of independent distance measurements—including observations of red giant stars, Type Ia supernovae, and different galaxy types—into a unified “Local Distance Network.” Their result: the Hubble constant stands at 73.50 ± 0.81 kilometers per second per megaparsec, with precision just over 1 percent.
James Webb just uncovered a serious problem with our understanding of the universe.
New data from the James Webb Space Telescope confirms a major discrepancy in the universe's expansion rate, suggesting our current understanding of physics may be fundamentally incomplete.
For… pic.twitter.com/x5sWtyHDI7
“This isn’t just a new value of the Hubble constant,” the collaboration notes, “it’s a community-built framework that brings decades of independent distance measurements together, transparently and accessibly.”
The findings, published April 10, 2026, in Astronomy & Astrophysics, strengthen the case that the discrepancy is not due to a simple measurement error.
“This work effectively rules out explanations of the Hubble tension that rely on a single overlooked error in local distance measurements,” the authors conclude. “If the tension is real, as the growing body of evidence suggests, it may point to new physics beyond the standard cosmological model.”
Dr Kathy Romer of the Dark Energy Survey commented, “The universe is not only expanding, but it is expanding faster and faster as time goes by.” She added, “What we’d expect is that the expansion would get slower and slower as time goes by, because it has been nearly 14 billion years since the Big Bang.”
Dark Energy May Be WeakeningSeparate research using the largest-ever 3D map of the universe from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) has produced hints that dark energy—the force accelerating cosmic expansion—might not be constant but could be weakening over time.
The DESI team mapped nearly 15 million galaxies and quasars. When combined with cosmic microwave background data and supernova observations, the results fit better with an evolving dark energy model than the standard assumption of a fixed force.
Dr Willem Elbers, a researcher from the Institute for Computational Cosmology at Durham University, said: “For decades, we have relied on a standard model of the universe, but our new data suggests that dark energy might be evolving over time. If this is true, it will change everything we thought we knew about the cosmos.”
Professor Will Percival, co-spokesperson for DESI and an astronomer from the University of Waterloo, added: “We’re guided by Occam’s razor, and the simplest explanation for what we see is shifting. It’s looking more and more like we may need to modify our standard model of cosmology to make these different datasets make sense together—and evolving dark energy seems promising.”
Dr Andrei Cuceu, a researcher at Berkeley Lab who worked on the study, noted: “We’re in the business of letting the universe tell us how it works, and maybe the universe is telling us it’s more complicated than we thought it was.”
Paul Steinhardt, Director of the Princeton Center for Theoretical Science, observed that if dark energy becomes weak enough, scientists say the universe could be pulled together into a Big Crunch “remarkably quickly.”
UNIVERSE MAY END IN BIG CRUNCH
New data suggests dark energy is weakening, letting gravity eventually collapse the universe.
Expansion will reverse billions of years from now, ending everything in a single point.
Source: NewsForce
Host: @MacyGunnell pic.twitter.com/PxUdo1l9Sg
A related theoretical model led by physicist Henry Tye from Cornell University and collaborators from China and Spain explores one possible scenario. Their calculations suggest the universe has a total lifespan of about 33.3 billion years. With 13.8 billion years already passed, roughly 19.5 billion years would remain. In this model, expansion continues for another 11 billion years before slowing, stopping, and reversing into collapse.
New research suggests our universe might not expand forever as we once thought. Instead, it could eventually collapse in on itself in a “reverse Big Bang,” a scenario scientists call the Big Crunch.
For years, astronomers believed the universe would keep growing, driven by a… pic.twitter.com/Fk8wx9Nvbw
These independent lines of inquiry highlight ongoing gaps in our understanding of the universe’s expansion rate and the behavior of dark energy. Future observations from next-generation telescopes are expected to test whether new physics is required to reconcile the data.
Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.
Tyler Durden Sat, 04/18/2026 - 12:50* * *
WAR will Resume?Not good, amid reports Pakistan peace talks could also resume, Monday perhaps:
US OFFICIAL TELLS AXIOS WAR MAY RESUME IF NO BREAKTHROUGH
🚨🇺🇸🇮🇷President Trump convened a White House Situation Room meeting on Saturday morning to discuss the renewed crisis around the Strait of Hormuz and negotiations with Iran, according to two U.S. officials. My story on @axioshttps://t.co/jElAytN5LF
— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) April 18, 2026 Reaction by IndiaNew Delhi has summoned the Iranian ambassador to condemn the IRGC Navy's attack on one of its tankers earlier in the day:
US Prepares to Board Iran-Linked Ships GloballyAccording to the latest headlines there was a second tanker incident: a Container ship reportedly hit by 'unknown projectile' in second incident while other traffic stalls.
Meanwhile on Saturday the Pentagon is signaling yet another major escalation in the latest effort to reassert US leverage over the Hormuz crisis. It is preparing to expand the fight not just to the Hormuz/Persian Gulf regions, but broadly to the high seas.
"The U.S. military is preparing in coming days to board Iran-linked oil tankers and seize commercial ships in international waters, according to U.S. officials, expanding its naval crackdown beyond the Middle East," WSJ reports. This means the American military will pursue vessels around the world that are helping Iran, as it steps up 'Economic Fury' as an extension of 'Epic Furty'. WSJ comments further:
The planning comes as the Iranian military continues to tighten its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, attacking several commercial vessels on Saturday as it declared the waterway was being “strictly controlled” by Iran. The developments sent shipping companies scrambling a day after Iran’s foreign minister said the strait was fully open to commercial traffic—an announcement that was welcomed by President Trump.
Audio of the Indian oil tanker Sanmar Herald pleading with Iranian forces to stop shooting at it in the Strait of Hormuz this morning. pic.twitter.com/7Y5n7Jb7o0
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) April 18, 2026The past days have seen both sides try and declare and assert control over the vital waterway and their own blockade based on rival 'conditions' for ship passage. But all of this has meant a continued effective closure. US Central Command (CENTCOM) has cited that the US Navy has already turned back at least 23 ships after they were at Iranian ports. In the meantime Trump is still claiming Iran agreed to hand over its enriched uranium - or nuclear 'dust' - but Tehran has made clear it will never do so, dismissing this as a made-up fantasy.
Meanwhile...
Iranian Forces Open Fire On TankerThe UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reports that a tanker was "approached by 2 IRGC gunboats, with no VHF challenge, and then fired upon."
UKMTO did not provide any further details about the two Iranian vessels that fired on the tanker or the type of weapons used in the maritime incident, which was reported to have occurred 20 nautical miles northeast of Oman.
Assume that President Trump is about to become absolutely furious on Truth Social. One can also assume that backchanneling and behind-the-scenes talks are not going well if an incident like this occurred ahead of the U.S.-Iran weekend negotiations.
Hormuz Closed (Again)The Trump administration’s "baffle 'em with bullshit" methodology has been on full display, as the reopening of the Hormuz chokepoint on Friday drove a broad risk-on in markets: US equities soared, crude collapsed, and Treasury yields declined, based on the assumption that disruption to global energy flows had eased. However, as of early Saturday morning, those moves may prove premature.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the world’s most important maritime chokepoint is once again closed to commercial transit.
About 20 ships waiting to enter the Persian Gulf through the maritime chokepoint have turned back toward Oman after Iran’s military declared the waterway closed again, amid a U.S. blockade of Iranian ports.
And rejected: the two tankers taking the neutral route, Minerva Evropi and Nissos Keros, have turned around; the Sanmar Herald which appears to be taking the Iran-sanctioned Larak island route is proceeding. https://t.co/aceBI7ki0B pic.twitter.com/gmkM37iA1U
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) April 18, 2026The OSINT community on X is reporting a Hormuz closure as well...
A bit of chaos in Hormuz this morning as nearly all of the outbound tankers have abruptly turned around.
Follows an announcement by Iranian military leadership that the Strait has "reverted to its previous state of strict military control." pic.twitter.com/XSc6lvxwJo
MERCHANT VESSELS RECEIVE RADIO MESSAGE FROM IRANIAN NAVY SAYING STRAIT OF HORMUZ SHUT AGAIN, NO SHIPS ARE ALLOWED TO PASS THROUGH, SHIPPING SOURCES SAY
— *Walter Bloomberg (@DeItaone) April 18, 2026The vessels had reportedly been prepared to pay $2 million in tolls to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards to pass through, but radio warnings indicated the strait was closed.
WSJ notes:
They are now turning back because the Revolutionary Guards are sending radio messages that the strait is closed, according to one Hong Kong owner with a container ship waiting to transit the strait.
Overnight, Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, wrote on X that President Trump's "false" claims won't help in US-Iran negotiations...
Earlier, President Trump said peace talks with Iran are making progress and will continue over the weekend.
“We had some pretty good news 20 minutes ago, but it seems to be going very well in the Middle East with Iran,” Trump told reporters traveling to Washington on Air Force One, according to MS Now. “We’ll know over a little period of time. We’re negotiating over the weekend.”
Trump said one main issue is recovering material from Iran’s nuclear program, which he said the U.S. would remove after any agreement is signed.
“Maybe I won’t extend it, but the blockade is going to remain. But maybe I won’t extend it, so you have a blockade, and unfortunately, we’ll have to start dropping bombs again,” Trump said.
Polymarket odds of the Hormuz chokepoint returning to normal status by the end of April have been on a rollercoaster ride over the last 24 hours, peaking at 64% on Friday morning after Iran announced the waterway was open, but dropping to 32% following Iran's announcement that the maritime chokepoint was closed early Saturday.
//--> //--> Strait of Hormuz traffic returns to normal by end of April?Here are the latest headlines from the Middle East:
Strait of Hormuz Status
Shipping Activity
US-Iran Negotiations
Market Activity
Friday's US-Iran Wrap
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Tyler Durden Sat, 04/18/2026 - 12:40