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Trump steps into skilled-work visa clash, saying they’re ‘great’Berlin: Tech billionaire Elon Musk caused uproar after backing Germany’s far-right party in a major newspaper ahead of key parliamentary elections in the Western European country, leading to the resignation of Welt am Sonntag’ s opinion editor in protest. Germany is to vote in an early election on February 23 after Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party governing coalition collapsed last month in a dispute over how to revitalise the country’s stagnant economy. Elon Musk has involved himself deeply in US politics - now he’s turned his attention to Germany. Credit: AP Musk’s guest opinion piece for Welt am Sonntag — a sister publication of POLITICO owned by the Axel Springer Group — published in German over the weekend, was the second time this month he supported the Alternative for Germany, or AfD . “The Alternative for Germany (AfD) is the last spark of hope for this country,” Musk wrote in his translated commentary. He went on to say the far-right party “can lead the country into a future where economic prosperity, cultural integrity and technological innovation are not just wishes, but reality”. The Tesla Motors chief executive also wrote that his investment in Germany gave him the right to comment on the country’s condition. The AfD is polling strongly, but its candidate for the top job, Alice Weidel, has no realistic chance of becoming chancellor because other parties refuse to work with the far-right party. An ally of US President-elect Donald Trump, the technology billionaire challenged in his opinion piece the party’s public image. “The portrayal of the AfD as right-wing extremist is clearly false, considering that Alice Weidel, the party’s leader, has a same-sex partner from Sri Lanka! Does that sound like Hitler to you? Please!” Musk’s commentary has led to a debate in German media over the boundaries of free speech, with the paper’s own opinion editor announcing her resignation, pointedly on Musk’s social media platform, X. “I always enjoyed leading the opinion section of WELT and WAMS. Today an article by Elon Musk appeared in Welt am Sonntag . I handed in my resignation yesterday after it went to print,” Eva Marie Kogel wrote. Eva Marie Kogel, the editor who quit in protest after her paper ran an Elon Musk opinion piece. Credit: Martin U. K. Lengemann The newspaper was also attacked by politicians and other media for offering Musk, an outsider, a platform to express his views, in favour of the AfD. Candidate for chancellor, Friedrich Merz, of the Christian Democratic Union, said on Sunday that Musk’s comments were “intrusive and presumptuous”. He was speaking to the newspapers of the German Funke Media Group. Supporters of the far-right Alternative for Germany political party hold a placard that reads: “Germany First!” at an AfD campaign rally in Thuringia. Credit: Getty Images Co-leader of the Social Democratic Party, Saskia Esken said that “Anyone who tries to influence our election from outside, who supports an anti-democratic, misanthropic party like the AfD, whether the influence is organised by the state from Russia or by the concentrated financial and media power of Elon Musk and his billionaire friends on the Springer board, must expect our tough resistance,” according to the ARD national public TV network. “In Elon Musk’s world, democracy and workers’ rights are obstacles to more profit,” Esken told Reuters. “We say quite clearly: Our democracy is defensible and it cannot be bought.” Musk’s opinion piece in the Welt am Sonntag was accompanied by a critical article by the future editor-in-chief of the Welt group, Jan Philipp Burgard. “Musk’s diagnosis is correct, but his therapeutic approach, that only the AfD can save Germany, is fatally wrong,” Burgard wrote. A general view of The Reichstag, which houses the German lower House of Parliament or Bundestag. Snap elections are scheduled for February 23. Credit: Getty Images Responding to a request for comment from the German Press Agency, dpa, the current editor-in-chief of the Welt group, Ulf Poschardt, and Burgard — who is due to take over on January 1 — said in a joint statement that the discussion over Musk’s piece was “very insightful. Democracy and journalism thrive on freedom of expression.” “This will continue to determine the compass of the “world” in the future. We will develop “ Die Welt ” even more decisively as a forum for such debates,” they wrote to dpa. AP, Reuters Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here .
Dana Hull | (TNS) Bloomberg News Jared Birchall, Elon Musk’s money manager and the head of his family office, is listed as the chief executive officer. Jehn Balajadia, a longtime Musk aide who has worked at SpaceX and the Boring Co., is named as an official contact. Related Articles National Politics | Biden will decide on US Steel acquisition after influential panel fails to reach consensus National Politics | Biden vetoes once-bipartisan effort to add 66 federal judgeships, citing ‘hurried’ House action National Politics | A history of the Panama Canal — and why Trump can’t take it back on his own National Politics | President-elect Trump wants to again rename North America’s tallest peak National Politics | Inside the Gaetz ethics report, a trove of new details alleging payments for sex and drug use But they’re not connected to Musk’s new technology venture, or the political operation that’s endeared him to Donald Trump. Instead, they’re tied to the billionaire’s new Montessori school outside Bastrop, Texas, called Ad Astra, according to documents filed with state authorities and obtained via a Texas Public Information Act request. The world’s richest person oversees an overlapping empire of six companies — or seven, if you include his political action committee. Alongside rockets, electric cars, brain implants, social media and the next Trump administration, he is increasingly focused on education, spanning preschool to college. One part of his endeavor was revealed last year, when Bloomberg News reported that his foundation had set aside roughly $100 million to create a technology-focused primary and secondary school in Austin, with eventual plans for a university. An additional $137 million in cash and stock was allotted last year, according to the most recent tax filing for the Musk Foundation. Ad Astra is closer to fruition. The state documents show Texas authorities issued an initial permit last month, clearing the way for the center to operate with as many as 21 pupils. Ad Astra’s website says it’s “currently open to all children ages 3 to 9.” The school’s account on X includes job postings for an assistant teacher for preschool and kindergarten and an assistant teacher for students ages 6 to 9. To run the school, Ad Astra is partnering with a company that has experience with billionaires: Xplor Education, which developed Hala Kahiki Montessori school in Lanai, Hawaii, the island 98% owned by Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison. Ad Astra sits on a highway outside Bastrop, a bedroom community about 30 miles from Austin and part of a region that’s home to several of Musk’s businesses. On a visit during a recent weekday morning, there was a single Toyota Prius in the parking lot and no one answered the door at the white building with a gray metal roof. The school’s main entrance was blocked by a gate, and there was no sign of any children on the grounds. But what information there is about Ad Astra makes it sound like a fairly typical, if high-end, Montessori preschool. The proposed schedule includes “thematic, STEM-based activities and projects” as well as outdoor play and nap time. A sample snack calendar features carrots and hummus. While Birchall’s and Balajadia’s names appear in the application, it isn’t clear that they’ll have substantive roles at the school once it’s operational. Musk, Birchall and Balajadia didn’t respond to emailed questions. A phone call and email to the school went unanswered. Access to high quality, affordable childcare is a huge issue for working parents across the country, and tends to be an especially vexing problem in rural areas like Bastrop. Many families live in “childcare deserts” where there is either not a facility or there isn’t an available slot. Opening Ad Astra gives Musk a chance to showcase his vision for education, and his support for the hands-on learning and problem solving that are a hallmark of his industrial companies. His public comments about learning frequently overlap with cultural concerns popular among conservatives and the Make America Great Again crowd, often focusing on what he sees as young minds being indoctrinated by teachers spewing left-wing propaganda. He has railed against diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, and in August posted that “a lot of schools are teaching white boys to hate themselves.” Musk’s educational interests dovetail with his new role as Trump’s “first buddy.” The billionaire has pitched a role for himself that he — and now the incoming Trump administration — call “DOGE,” or the Department of Government Efficiency. Though it’s not an actual department, DOGE now posts on X, the social media platform that Musk owns. “The Department of Education spent over $1 billion promoting DEI in America’s schools,” the account posted Dec. 12. Back in Texas, Bastrop is quickly becoming a key Musk point of interest. The Boring Co., his tunneling venture, is based in an unincorporated area there. Across the road, SpaceX produces Starlink satellites at a 500,000-square-foot (46,000-square-meter) facility. Nearby, X is constructing a building for trust and safety workers. Musk employees, as well as the general public, can grab snacks at the Boring Bodega, a convenience store housed within Musk’s Hyperloop Plaza, which also contains a bar, candy shop and hair salon. Ad Astra is just a five-minute drive away. It seems to have been designed with the children of Musk’s employees — if not Musk’s own offspring — in mind. Musk has fathered at least 12 children, six of them in the last five years. “Ad Astra’s mission is to foster curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking in the next generation of problem solvers and builders,” reads the school’s website. A job posting on the website of the Montessori Institute of North Texas says “While their parents support the breakthroughs that expand the realm of human possibility, their children will grow into the next generation of innovators in a way that only authentic Montessori can provide.” The school has hired an executive director, according to documents Bloomberg obtained from Texas Health and Human Services. Ad Astra is located on 40 acres of land, according to the documents, which said a 4,000-square-foot house would be remodeled for the preschool. It isn’t uncommon for entrepreneurs to take an interest in education, according to Bill Gormley, a professor emeritus at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University who studies early childhood education. Charles Butt, the chairman of the Texas-based H-E-B grocery chain, has made public education a focus of his philanthropy. Along with other business and community leaders, Butt founded “Raise Your Hand Texas,” which advocates on school funding, teacher workforce and retention issues and fully funding pre-kindergarten. “Musk is not the only entrepreneur to recognize the value of preschool for Texas workers,” Gormley said. “A lot of politicians and business people get enthusiastic about education in general — and preschool in particular — because they salivate at the prospect of a better workforce.” Musk spent much of October actively campaigning for Trump’s presidential effort, becoming the most prolific donor of the election cycle. He poured at least $274 million into political groups in 2024, including $238 million to America PAC, the political action committee he founded. While the vast majority of money raised by America PAC came from Musk himself, it also had support from other donors. Betsy DeVos, who served as education secretary in Trump’s first term, donated $250,000, federal filings show. The Department of Education is already in the new administration’s cross hairs. Trump campaigned on the idea of disbanding the department and dismantling diversity initiatives, and he has also taken aim at transgender rights. “Rather than indoctrinating young people with inappropriate racial, sexual, and political material, which is what we’re doing now, our schools must be totally refocused to prepare our children to succeed in the world of work,” Trump wrote in Agenda 47, his campaign platform. Musk has three children with the musician Grimes and three with Shivon Zilis, who in the past was actively involved at Neuralink, his brain machine interface company. All are under the age of five. Musk took X, his son with Grimes, with him on a recent trip to Capitol Hill. After his visit, he shared a graphic that showed the growth of administrators in America’s public schools since 2000. Musk is a fan of hands-on education. During a Tesla earnings call in 2018, he talked about the need for more electricians as the electric-car maker scaled up the energy side of its business. On the Joe Rogan podcast in 2020, Musk said that “too many smart people go into finance and law.” “I have a lot of respect for people who work with their hands and we need electricians and plumbers and carpenters,” Musk said while campaigning for Trump in Pennsylvania in October. “That’s a lot more important than having incremental political science majors.” Ad Astra’s website says the cost of tuition will be initially subsidized, but in future years “tuition will be in line with local private schools that include an extended day program.” “I do think we need significant reform in education,” Musk said at a separate Trump campaign event. “The priority should be to teach kids skills that they will find useful later in life, and to leave any sort of social propaganda out of the classroom.” With assistance from Sophie Alexander and Kara Carlson. ©2024 Bloomberg News. Visit at bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine needs to strengthen its air defences to protect people after its air defence units shot down 50 of 73 Russian drones launched overnight over many regions. "An air alert has been sounded almost daily across Ukraine this week,"Zelenskyy said on Telegram on Sunday. Over the past week Russia used more than 800 guided aerial bombs , about 460 attack drones, and more than 20 missiles of various types, Zelenskyy said. "Ukraine is not a testing ground for weapons. Ukraine is a sovereign and independent state. But Russia still continues its efforts to kill our people, spread fear and panic, and weaken us," he said. The Ukrainian military said earlier on Sunday that air defence units had destroyed more than 10 Russian drones that were targeting Kyiv in an overnight attack. 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Reuters witnesses heard explosions in Kyiv in what sounded like air defence units in operation. "The UAVs ( unmanned aerial vehicles ) were flying in different directions towards Kyiv," said Serhiy Popko , head of Kyiv's military administration. "The air raid alert in the city lasted for more than three hours." There was no immediate comment from Russia about the attack. (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel )
Mission will be the first RCMP detachment in B.C. to roll out the use of body-worn cameras, beginning the week of Nov. 25. It's the first of the six initial rollouts and will be followed by Ucluelet, Tofino (including Ahousaht), Prince George, Cranbrook and Kamloops, B.C. RCMP said during a news conference in Surrey Thursday (Nov. 21). In total in B.C., 3,000 officers in 144 detachments serving 150 municipalities will be using body-worn cameras. RCMP did not provide specific dates yet for the first six rollouts, but said a release would go out from each detachment to inform the public. B.C. RCMP commanding officer Dwayne McDonald said this represents the "largest and most ambitious rollout of body-worn cameras in the province." He said the body-worn cameras is "expected to promote transparency, to strengthen accountability and to enhance officer and public safety." "Basically how this works is that when one of our members responds to a call for service and begins to engage with a person, the camera is activated and you will see frontline officers wearing the cameras in front of their vests on a regular basis." RCMP is not the first to rollout body-worn cameras in B.C. The Delta Police Department, in the Lower Mainland, has been using the technology for more than two years. At a news conference in January 2024, the department anticipated it would have about 37 body-worn cameras in operation. More to come.Russia uses Bitcoin for international payments – ReutersLook at the numbers, and it’s easy to assume Iowa State did whatever it wanted in its matchup against Colorado a month ago. Certainly in one sense, the Cyclones did just that while routing the Buffaloes 99-71 in both teams’ final game of the Maui Invitational on Nov. 27. CU head coach Tad Boyle, he of the defense-first ethos, typically is the last person who will defend a shoddy defensive effort by his club. Yet in that instance, it was the Buffaloes’ inability to protect the ball that led to their defensive demise. CU will get another shot at the opportunistic Cyclones on Monday, as the Buffs host No. 3 Iowa State in the Big 12 Conference opener. “You look at giving up 99 points and what they shot against us. But to be honest, it wasn’t our half-court defense,” Boyle said. “It was the 37 points off our turnovers, and the 14 points off second chance on offensive rebounds. You put those together, and it’s 51 of their 99 are a result of us not boxing out and getting our (butts) kicked on the boards, or not taking care of the ball on offense. And Iowa State, that’s what they feed on. They feed off of turning turnovers into layups and easy baskets. “When our half-court defense got set, we weren’t that bad. I’m not saying we were great defensively. But we weren’t as bad as the score would indicate.” Not only did CU surrender a season-high point total, but a defense that hasn’t allowed any other opponent to shoot 50% surrendered opponent season-highs in field goal percentage (.603), 3-point percentage (.440), made free throws (18) and assists (18) against the Cyclones. While CU has averaged just 12.6 turnovers in the past eight games after committing a whopping 55 through the season’s first three games, one glaring exception to the recent run occurred against the Cyclones. The Buffs committed 18 turnovers against ISU, and the Cyclones took advantage of just about every one of them, finishing with 37 points off turnovers. That, by far, is the highest total of points off turnovers by a CU foe this season. The next highest mark was 20 points by Northern Colorado in the second game of the season, and that was a double-overtime game. The Buffs surrendered a relatively modest seven offensive rebounds against the Cyclones but, again, ISU took advantage of all of them, finishing with 14 second-chance points. That’s also the most by a CU foe this season. Boyle reiterated a common theme of his after practice on Sunday that he would prefer a five-second call as opposed to wild, bail-out passes, given the Cyclones’ ability to turn live-ball turnovers into optimal looks in transition. ISU leads the Big 12 in forced turnovers (16.0) and turnover margin (plus-6.5). “Obviously we’ve got to stay in front of the ball a lot better this game,” CU forward Bangot Dak said. “Their guards were able to create a lot for others last time I feel like. And just overall, all five guys were able to beat us off the bounce. We’ve got to be a way better help team. And the big key is just really taking care of the ball. They had 37 points that we basically gave to them. We just have to take care of the ball, no second-chance points, and it will be a better game.” TIPOFF : Monday, 7 p.m., CU Events Center TV/RADIO : CBS Sports Network/KOA 850 AM and 94.1 FM RECORDS : Iowa State 10-1; Colorado 9-2. COACHES : Iowa State — TJ Otzelberger, 4th season (80-36, 179-99 overall). Colorado — Tad Boyle, 15th season (307-185, 363-251 overall). KEY PLAYERS : Iowa State — G Keshon Gilbert, 6-4, Sr. (16.5 ppg, 5.2 apg, 3.2 rpg, .545 FG%); G Curtis Jones, 6-4, Sr. (16.0 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 3.1 apg, 2.7 rpg, .392 3%); F Milan Momcilovic, 6-8, So. (11.6 ppg, 3.5 rpg, .455 3%); F Joshua Jefferson, 6-9, Jr. (11.5 ppg, 8.4 rpg, .542 FG%); C Dishon Jackson, 6-11, R-Sr., (11.0 ppg, 5.2 rpg, .656 FG%); G Tamin Lipsey, 6-1, Jr. (10.1 ppg, .494 FG%). Colorado — G Julian Hammond III, 6-2, Sr. (13.1 ppg, 3.5 apg, .429 3%); C Elijah Malone, 6-10, Gr. (12.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg, .662 FG%); F Andrej Jakimovski, 6-8, Gr. (11.2 ppg, 4.7 rpg); F Trevor Baskin, 6-9, Gr. (8.7 ppg, 6.5 rpg, .509 FG%); G RJ Smith, 6-3, R-So. (7.5 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 2.5 apg, .606 3%); F Bangot Dak, 6-11, So. (6.4 ppg, 3.0 rpg); F Assane Diop, 6-8, So. (3.6 ppg, 4.8 rpg). NOTES : This will be Iowa State’s first visit to Boulder since Feb. 11, 2011 during the Buffs’ final season of their previous stint in the Big 12. Prior to CU leaving the Big 12 for the Pac-12, the Cyclones lost their last six games at the Events Center and nine of their last 10. ... This will be the 150th meeting between the teams, with ISU leading the series 79-70. ... CU guard Javon Ruffin is expected to be available after missing the nonconference finale against Bellarmine due to a back issue. ... Hammond recorded 12 assists the past two games with only two turnovers. Hammond enjoyed a strong game offensively against ISU last month, going 6-for-11 from the field and 6-for-6 at the free throw line. ... Smith has matched a career-high with 11 points in each of the past two games. ... Iowa State has been idle since routing Morgan State 99-72 on Dec. 22. ... The Cyclones suffered their only loss of the season in their opener at the Maui Invitational last month against No. 2 Auburn. ISU then defeated Dayton and the Buffs the next two days. ... CU faces its first Big 12 road game on Saturday against former Pac-12 rival Arizona State (4 p.m. MT, ESPN+).
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