How the U.S. government came to rely on the tech billionaire—and is now struggling to rein him in. The meddling of oligarchs and other monied interests in the fate of nations is not new. During the First World War, J. P. Morgan lent vast sums to the Allied powers; afterward, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., poured money into the fledgling League of Nations. The investor George Soros’s Open Society Foundations underwrote civil-society reform in post-Soviet Europe, and the casino mogul Sheldon Adelson funded right-wing media in Israel, as part of his support of Benjamin Netanyahu. But Musk’s influence is more brazen and expansive. There is little precedent for a civilian’s becoming the arbiter of a war between nations in such a granular way, or for the degree of dependency that the U.S. now has on Musk in a variety of fields, from the future of energy and transportation to the exploration of space. SpaceX is currently the sole means by which NASA transports crew from U.S. soil into space, a situation that will persist for at least another year. The government’s plan to move the auto industry toward electric cars requires increasing access to charging stations along America’s highways. But this rests on the actions of another Musk enterprise, Tesla. The automaker has seeded so much of the country with its proprietary charging stations that the Biden Administration relaxed an early push for a universal charging standard disliked by Musk. His stations are eligible for billions of dollars in subsidies, so long as Tesla makes them compatible with the other charging standard. In the past twenty years, against a backdrop of crumbling infrastructure and declining trust in institutions, Musk has sought out business opportunities in crucial areas where, after decades of privatization, the state has receded. The government is now reliant on him, but struggles to respond to his risk-taking, brinkmanship, and caprice. Current and former officials from NASA, the Department of Defense, the Department of Transportation, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration told me that Musk’s influence had become inescapable in their work, and several of them said that they now treat him like a sort of unelected official. One Pentagon spokesman said that he was keeping Musk apprised of my inquiries about his role in Ukraine and would grant an interview with an official about the matter only with Musk’s permission. “We’ll talk to you if Elon wants us to,” he told me. In a podcast interview last year, Musk was asked whether he has more influence than the American government. He replied immediately, “In some ways.” Reid Hoffman told me that Musk’s attitude is “like Louis XIV: ‘L’état, c’est moi.’ ”

A Fayette County man is facing charges after state police say he attacked a teenager who did not make him a sandwich.

The number is significant in that "wages" increasingly have been recognized as a driving force in inflation. It's price increases by greedy companies not wages that increase inflation.

The leader of Spain’s soccer federation left a sour taste on the country’s Women’s World Cup victory after kissing a player on the lips during the medal ceremony, drawing criticism for inappropriate conduct in a sport that has struggled to overcome sexism. The Spanish government and the world players’ union condemned the behavior of Luis Rubiales on Monday, a day after Spain’s 1-0 win over England. The soccer federation led by Rubiales sought to downplay the incident through a statement it attributed to the player he kissed. Immediately after Spain’s victory, Rubiales grabbed his crotch in a victory gesture — seemingly oblivious to 16-year-old Princess Infanta Sofía standing nearby. He later kissed player Jenni Hermoso on the lips during the medal and trophy ceremony on the field, drawing unwanted attention away from the celebration and marring the country’s biggest day for women’s soccer. The kiss was shocking given the sport’s long-standing allegations of sexual misconduct by male soccer presidents and coaches against female players on national teams. Two of the 32 World Cup teams, Haiti and Zambia, had to deal with the issue while qualifying for the tournament co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

Platform’s users voice concern as it removes pictures and links on posts made before December 2014

The suspect made "disparaging remarks" about the rainbow flag before shooting the victim, police said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Before I can reply, DeSantis sticks his hand in my face. I hadn’t seen him approaching and, caught off guard, I shake it. He turns on the heel of his signature black, heeled cowboy boots and steps on my toe. He doesn’t hear me yelp as he leans in for a selfie with a supporter. “I wonder how often he steps on people with those boots and doesn’t even notice,” says a man next to me.

Los Angeles area mutual aid groups are worried city and county officials are not moving fast enough to prepare those who live on the street for Hurricane Hilary, which could bring heavy rain and winds, and flooding, to the Southern California region. Groups like Palms United Mutual Aid, West Valley Homes Yes, and LA Street Care are scrambling to gather supplies and get the word out to unhoused communities about Hurricane Hilary, which has been increasing in intensity rapidly, and is anticipated to be a tropical storm when it is projected to hit Los Angeles starting around Sunday. Mutual aid groups have been contacting elected officials to get specifics on what shelters are being stood up, and asking if supplies and free transportation are being made available to the unhoused. They are also asking about whether evacuations are being considered. Erin Mauffray, with Palms Unhoused Mutual Aid, said that she expects communities and churches will be putting in the bulk of the aid, but she is hoping to see more specifics from elected and government officials. “We should be in overdrive right now,” she said.

A month after Adams supporters were indicted over illegal donations, a CITY investigation has turned up other instances of questionable contributions that his campaign submitted for public matching funds.

Asylum seekers say "Pastor Darwin" has recruited them to sell electronics of unclear origins. Many don't know he's a registered child sex offender.

An arrest warrant has been issued for Christopher Worrell, a Florida Proud Boy convicted on seven counts stemming from his actions during the Jan. 6 riot.

Russian officials say air defences shot down the drone and its debris landed on the city's Expo Center.

The 33-year-old is convicted of killing babies at the hospital neonatal unit where she worked.

The allegations mirror previous revelations of alleged police brutality and racist policing by several of the Antioch officers, who sent text messages between each other using the N-word and bragging about brutalizing criminal suspects, documents obtained by this news organization show. But the batch of texts detailed in court papers released Thursday largely centered on the use of Amiri’s police dog, Purcy, who bit dozens of people while under the oversight of Amiri, the indictments alleged. Via text, the indictment says, the trio egged each other on to use violence and swapped photos of people they had injured. In one text, Wenger wrote “we need to get into something tonight bro!! Lets go 3 nights in a row dog bite.” Later that night in August 2020, Amiri and Wenger pulled somebody out a car, took them to the ground, and Amiri later texted Wenger pictures of that injured person. The next day, Amiri raided a homeless camp with an officer from a neighboring agency and sicced Purcy on a man inside a tent, court records say. He later texted that the man was “laying in bed acting like he was asleep” and that Amiri stood there and “game planned how to f— him up,” then proceeded to unleash his dog. “You would have loved it,” he later texted Wenger. “(The officer from another agency) agreed to keep cameras off,” a reference to police body worn cameras. “F— that nerd! That’s what f—ing happens when you run, you acquire a tax,” Wenger replied. “His tax was paid properly. Good s— bro.”

The NYU professor and public speaker said a mutual friend told him Elon felt "unfairly attacked" by him, but Scott Galloway declined a meeting.

The former New York City Mayor owes a 7-figure sum to his team of lawyers.

It's an exact replay of DeSantis' fellow Floridian Marco Rubio's 2016 strategy. How did that work out for Rubio?

Dua Lipa's latest Instagram photo dump features a stringy white outfit with an open back.

Fifty years on, the 1973 coup in Chile still haunts politics there and far beyond. As we approach its anniversary, on 11 September, the violent overthrow of the elected socialist government of Salvador Allende and its replacement by the brutal dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet are already being marked in Britain, through a period of remembrance scheduled to include dozens of separate exhibitions and events. Among these will be a march in Sheffield, archival displays in Edinburgh, a concert in Swansea, and a conference and picket of the Chilean embassy in London. Few past events in faraway countries receive this level of attention. Military takeovers were not unusual in South America during the cold war. And Chile has been a relatively stable democracy since the Pinochet dictatorship ended, 33 years ago. So why does the 1973 coup still resonate? In the UK, one answer is that roughly 2,500 Chilean refugees fled here after the coup, despite an unwelcoming Conservative government. “It is intended to keep the number of refugees to a very small number and, if our criteria are not fully met, we may accept none of them,” said a Foreign Office memo not released until three decades afterwards. The Chileans came regardless, partly because leftwing activists, trade unionists and politicians including Tony Benn and Jeremy Corbyn created a solidarity movement – of a scale and duration harder to imagine in our more politically impatient times – which helped the refugees build new lives, and campaigned with them for years against the Pinochet regime. Some of these exiles settled in Britain permanently; veterans of the solidarity movement are involved in this year’s remembrance events, as they have been in earlier anniversaries. The left’s reverence for old struggles can sometimes distract it or weigh it down, but it is also a source of emotional and cultural strength, and an acknowledgment that the past and present are often more linked than we realise.

G’day shipwrecks. New images have been released from the site of South Australia's oldest known European shipwreck…