Beijing has proposed banning exports of the technology used to make next-generation solar cells, a move that could complicate United States technology guru Elon Musk’s plan to expand into space solar power. The ban, which covers production technology for perovskite and tandem solar cell modules, is part of a proposal by China’s Ministry of Commerce […]

The post China next-gen solar tech curb to impact SpaceX AI computing plan appeared first on Asia Times.

The $48bn giveaway comes amid concerns about the tech and as the company prepares for a stock market listing

Anthropic has said it will commit 5% of its shares to a fund for the “public good”, as the AI developer behind the Claude chatbot seeks to bolster its appeal before its stock market listing.

The company announced it would commit the shares, worth around $48bn (£36bn) at its latest valuation in May, subject to shareholder approval. It will add a further 2% of its stock to the fund for every 50% increase in its value above an undisclosed baseline.

• Elon Musk says he'll give a SpaceX share to every child in the US next year.
• That would be a $10.5 billion gift based on SpaceX's stock price and roughly 72 million recipients.
• Musk said this would be the "first of many" SpaceX share giveaways but didn't offer further details.

Elon Musk says he'll give every child in the US a piece of his space company, a gift worth around $10.5 billion today.

"Next year, I will give one of my SpaceX shares to every kid in America," Musk wrote in an early Monday post on X. "This will be the first of many."

There are roughly 72 million children in the US based on 2025 census data, and SpaceX stock closed at $146 on Friday. If Musk donated 72 million shares right now they would be worth around $10.5 billion.

Musk didn't provide any further details on how the giveaway would work, such as eligibility criteria or specific timing, or whether the shares will be transferred to Trump Accounts.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO is the world's richest person, with an estimated net worth of $904 billion as of Friday's close, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

SpaceX — the company behind Falcon rockets, Starship launch vehicles, Starlink satellites, the AI chatbot Grok, and X — went public this summer and has a market capitalization of about $2 trillion.

Excluding restricted shares and options, Musk owns 4.77 billion SpaceX shares for about a 36% stake, worth just under $700 billion at Friday's close. The rest of his fortune largely comprises his stakes in his other companies, including Tesla, Neuralink, and The Boring Company.

Donating 72 million shares would reduce Musk's number of SpaceX shares by 1.5%. If, as indicated in his X post, he follows that up with further giveaways, his stake could shrink significantly.

Musk's pledge is part of a broader trend of gifting shares to America's children, aimed at ensuring they all own a piece of the stock market and reap its gains over time, and benefit from a lifetime of compounding wealth.

The Trump administration launched Trump Accounts — tax-advantaged investment accounts — for eligible children this summer, with those born between 2025 and 2028 receiving a $1,000 federal seed deposit. Numerous companies have agreed to contribute to them as well.

Michael and Susan Dell contributed $250 to 25 million American children's Trump Accounts earlier this month, a gift totaling $6.25 billion that was allocated first to those in the lowest-income ZIP codes.

SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell and her husband pledged in July to give shares of SpaceX to more than 2 million children.

Musk shared his SpaceX gift idea after Anthropic pledged to commit 5% of its shares to a public benefit fund.

"I recommend giving shares directly to the public," he replied on X. "This is what I will be doing."

Another X user described Anthropic and Musk's pledges as "the beginning of universal basic income." Musk corrected him, writing *universal high income."

Musk has predicted that advances in AI, robotics, and other technologies will usher in an age of abundance in which everyone can have "whatever stuff they want."

He's recommended people stop saving for retirement in 10 or 20 years as their nest eggs will be "irrelevant," and has proposed government checks for all as the best response to job losses from AI.

Correction: October 19, 2026 — An earlier version of this story incorrectly described SpaceX as a private company. It went public in June 2026.

• Anthropic is pledging billions worth of shares to a "public benefit fund."
• That sounds great — but not everyone is a fan.
• Elon Musk is among those who say the money should go directly to Americans.

Anthropic's announcement that it will commit at least 5% of its shares to a "public benefit fund" is drawing a mix of enthusiasm and skepticism. Many questions about how the fund would work remain unanswered, but the company said it would create a separate corporation with the shares to make donations.

Here's what people are saying.

Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceXAI

Musk, whose SpaceXAI is a competitor of Anthropic, made some news about his own plans in an X post reacting to Anthropic's statement.

"I recommend giving the shares directly to the public," he wrote. "This is what I will be doing."

Palmer Luckey, Anduril cofounder

The Anduril Industries cofounder expressed concern about what Anthropic might fund.

"The problem is that their definition of 'public good' is helping everyone else, not the American public," he wrote on X.

"If they would commit to helping America and Americans, that would be one thing, but this reeks of USAID 2.0, just another way to funnel billions out of our own economy."

Andrew Curran, AI analyst

The prominent AI analyst zeroed in on a line in Anthropic's statement in which it said it might explore "direct distributions to specific populations." Curran wrote on X.

"It sounds to me like they are planning their own form of self-directed global UBI," he wrote referring to universal basic income, which some have said will be necessary if AI drastically reduces employment.

"About half of Anth employees are also donating shares into this fund," Curran added. "They foresee a transformative future."

Brad Gerstner, CEO of Altimeter Capital

Gerstner praised Anthropic for what he called its "philanthropic commitments," calling it "an extraordinary gift" — but he also sounded a note of caution about "foundation wealth concentration."

Like Musk, he wrote, "I hope a meaningful portion of AI's wealth is a direct dividend."

Sam Hogan Heutmaker, CEO of Inference

The CEO drew a comparison between Anthropic's plan to create a charity and OpenAI, which began as a nonprofit before going commercial.

"This will come to be known as 'the reverse OpenAI'" he wrote on X. "start as C corp, raise lots of money > once successful, start 'independent' non profit > start concentrating value into this new entity, which you and your homies control."

"It's genius," he added.

Gary Marcus, professor at NYU

Marcus cast the announcement as a PR gambit.

"Anthropic is playing games here," he wrote on X. "Trying to curry public favor while still holding control and resisting disclosure is annoying. And reeks of desperation."

Patrick Moorhead, CEO of Moor Insights and Strategy

Moorhead was among those raising questions about whether Anthropic would have too much control over where the funds go.

"If it's dedicated entirely the 'public benefit' why don't they just give it to the public and citizens where they can directly benefit? Seems like the public would know what to do with the money better than bureaucratic institutions," he wrote on X.

David Sacks

Venture capitalist and the Trump administration's former AI czar, David Sacks, responded to a post from Anthropic cofounder Jack Clark, who said the public benefit pledge would mean around 20% of Anthropic's equity would be "dedicated to the public good."

"You've put 20% of your equity in an LLC. Whether it serves the public good remains to be seen," wrote Sacks on X.

Sacks has previously been a fierce critic of Anthropic, attacking the company's proposal that the world's top AI labs should implement a global pause on the technology and accusing Anthropic of attempting to "kneecap" open-source rivals.

Travis Kalanick

"Behold, the EA infinite money glitch…" Uber cofounder Travis Kalanick wrote, quote-tweeting Anthropic's blog post.

EA refers to effective altruism, a philosophy popular in some corners of Silicon Valley (and unpopular in others) that holds that people should use their money and careers to maximize long-term benefit to humanity.

Several of Anthropic's cofounders and early investors have ties to effective altruism, although the company and its top executives, Dario and Daniela Amodei, have distanced themselves from the movement.

Kevin Roose

Kevin Roose, a former New York Times tech columnist and the author of "The AGI Chronicles," wrote on X that Anthropic's pledge could be the "largest commitment of philanthropic capital ever made."

Roose estimated that the share pledge could be worth $200 billion if Anthropic goes public at a $1 trillion valuation.

"By my count, if Anthropic and OpenAI each go public at $1 trillion (again, probably conservative), that's roughly $460 billion, or 5 Gates Foundations, earmarked for philanthropy-shaped things," he said.

Ukraine’s Zelenskyy expects Trump to lift more sanctions against Russia. What we know on day 1,698

US secretary of state Marco Rubio has said that US President Donald Trump’s waiver of sweeping sanctions and tariffs on Russia would be a 60-day pause to “analyse” their impact on the global economy. Rubio said also no one at the White House ordered the slow down of the speed of Ukraine’s access to Starlink to prevent it from being used on drones flying faster than 100mph, referring to Starshield, the military version of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet network.

“The president wants to take the 60-day period of time to sort of analyse what imposing both sanctions and tariffs will mean to the global economy and even to the US economy,” Rubio said, noting that the economic restrictions involved a number of countries, not just Russia. Pointing to high energy prices and the Iran war, “we need that period of time to sort of study all this and figure out what the right combination is,” he said.

Trump’s abrupt decision to waive sanctions on Russia days before they were to take effect drew outrage Saturday from members of Congress, which had overwhelmingly passed the legislation. Republican Senator Rick Scott said it was clear Russia was the aggressor, and said the US had “to do everything we can to put economic pressure on Russia”. On social media, fellow Republican Thom Tillis described the move as “beyond irresponsible” and a capitulation “to a Russian dictator who illegally invaded Ukraine”.

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy expects the Trump administration to lift more sanctions against Russia in the future and has called for Europe to establish its own negotiations with Moscow as the US has sought better ties and business deals with the Kremlin. “Unfortunately, the lifting of sanctions will continue, and I believe that the ‘diesel deal’ is the first step,” said Zelenskyy on Saturday. “Unfortunately, it seems to me that this cannot stop Putin; on the contrary, he feels joy and happiness that he has such support.”

Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s lead negotiator, Rustem Umerov, had met Friday with US presidential envoy Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law. Zelenskyy said the US was working to arrange a three-way meeting involving him, Trump and Putin, potentially in the Middle East, Europe or the US.

Russian air defence ⁠units intercepted and destroyed nearly ⁠200 Ukrainian ⁠drones ​headed for Moscow on Saturday, ⁠Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram. Sobyanin, ⁠in a long ​series ‌of ‌online posts, noted ‌that 195 drones had been destroyed since midnight, with emergency crews examining debris on ‌the ground. Russia’s civil aviation authority, ​Rosaviatsia, said two Moscow airports – Domodedovo and Vnukovo – had ⁠suspended flight operations.

Romania said Saturday it shot down two Russian drones over the Black Sea, the latest in a spate of incidents believed to be spillover from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Ships have been attacked in recent days by drones in the Black Sea off the coast of Romania and Bulgaria.

• Elon Musk is giving reams of cash to Republicans.
• Most of that dough is ending up in Texas, according to financial disclosure forms.
• In Texas, Ken Paxton is running a tight race against James Talarico.

Elon Musk is forking over generational wealth to Republicans facing tough midterm elections this cycle.

Over two donations in September, Musk gave a combined $158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with Senate Republicans, which has, in turn, given reams of cash to funds supporting the Republican candidate in Texas.

The money, shown in new federal disclosure forms, cements Musk as a major player in Republican politics over a year after he publicly split with President Donald Trump over the latter's handling of the Epstein files (though the two have since reconciled).

Republicans are facing serious headwinds over the Iran war, rising inflation, and sky-high gas prices. Polls show that American voters are largely dissatisfied with Trump's leadership and handling of the economy.

All told, Musk has given about $276 million since July. Much of Musk's political donations have ended up in Texas, according to federal disclosure forms, where embattled Attorney General Ken Paxton is engaged in a mudslinging battle for the Senate with state representative James Talarico.

One day after Musk notched a $75 million donation to the Senate Leadership Fund, the Super PAC gave a $75 million donation to the Texas PAC, a group aligned with Paxton.

Then, also in September, another $83 million donation by Musk was matched the next day by an identical donation to the Texas PAC, according to federal disclosure forms.

Talarico's campaign, meanwhile, has raised about $129 million.

Musk's companies are already investing billions in the Lone Star State, as the business magnate builds SpaceX's terafab semiconductor facility outside Houston.

In 2024, Musk announced that he was moving SpaceX's headquarters from California to Texas in response to Gov. Gavin Newsom's policies on gender identity.

Representatives for Paxton and Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Saturday.

Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, said last year that he had probably "done enough" political spending, though he left the door open.

"Well, if I see a reason to do political spending in the future, I'll do it. I don't currently see a reason," he told Bloomberg at the time.

Il 23 settembre scorso, in Polonia, villaggio di Wola Kabroska, viene incendiata una stazione Starlink, in grado di fornire servizi internet in Ucraina. Il governo di Varsavia ritiene che sia stato l’ennesimo atto di “guerra ibrida” ispirata dalla Russia. A 24 ore di distanza, dopo aver vagliato i risultati degli accertamenti, il ministro per gli affari digitali, Krzysztof Gakowski, dichiara senza mezzi termini: “Il modus operandi è chiaramente russo”. Il 10 ottobre, in Germania, i reparti speciali tedeschi arrestano due cittadini turchi: Umit E. 38 anni, e Müslüm T., 34 anni, alla stazione di Neurtingen (Baden-Württemberg); una terza persona, che avrebbe fatto da autista secondo la ricostruzione del quotidiano tedesco Bild, è stata fermata a Berlino.

I cronisti di Der Spiegel si concentrano sulle personalità dei due arrestati, giungendo ad una conclusione: Umit e Müslüm farebbero parte della gang criminale turca Dalton. I giornalisti scrivono: “La notizia è stata confermata da fonti indipendenti di diversi paesi”. Il capo dell’organizzazione criminale, Berat Can Gokdemir, poco meno di 30 anni, in patria è ricercato per scontare una condanna a due ergastoli per omicidio plurimo, istigazione all’omicidio, rapine, aggressioni a mano armata. Nel 2024, Can Gokdemir è stato arrestato in Russia. Ankara ha chiesto a Mosca di estradarlo, ma non ha ottenuto soddisfazione. Come spesso accade, il dramma della guerra Ucraina si intreccia con avvenimenti collaterali. Dopo l’arresto dei due turchi, il ministro Siemoniak ha detto al quotidiano di Varsavia Gazeta Wyborcza: “Non abbiamo dubbi che i servizi segreti russi siano dietro questo atto di sabotaggio: e vale la pena aggiungere che i servizi segreti russi si avvalgono sempre più spesso di persone legate alla criminalità organizzata. Non si servono mai dei propri cittadini”.

A provare in modo inappellabile la connessione tra i due arrestati, l’attentato alla stazione Starlink, e la loro appartenenza alla gang turca, dovranno essere investigatori e magistrati. Certamente l’approfondimento di Der Spiegel apre uno scenario fino a questo momento inedito e riporta l’attenzione sui nuovi clan cresciuti sul Bosforo, che diversi media hanno ribattezzato: “I gangster della generazione Z”. Di questa corrente una figura apicale è quella di Berat Can Gokdemir, la cui locazione non è certa. Dopo la richiesta di estradizione da parte della Turchia, non è chiaro se Gokdemir sia rimasto in Russia. Alcuni giornalisti tedeschi che sono entrati in contatto con un “portavoce” della banda, avrebbero avuto conferma che Gokdemir si trova in Russia e da una località non specificata continua a coordinare le attività del suo gruppo che non sono concentrate solo in Turchia, ma hanno avuto una forte espansione anche in Germania – oltre Polonia e Grecia – dove si sono specializzati in estorsioni ed altri reati.

La possibile connessione tra la criminalità turca e le attività dei servizi segreti russi ha attirato l’attenzione non solo dei giornalisti tedeschi. I Verdi hanno approfondito il tema con il documento “Risultati dell’indagine del governo federale sulla cooperazione della Russia con la criminalità organizzata in Germania e in Europa” presentato il 26 marzo 2026, e Konstantin von Notz, deputato dello stesso partito e responsabile della supervisione dei servizi segreti, ha lanciato un monito riguardante i governi autoritari che utilizzano gruppi criminali per portare a termine sabotaggi.

L'articolo Attentato a Starlink in Polonia, la pista verso il clan turco Dalton e il suo capo: mai estradato dopo l’arresto in Russia proviene da Il Fatto Quotidiano.

Trump-boosting billionaire was sued over promise to give away $1m per day to random signatories of petition

Elon Musk and his ⁠America Pac political action committee said recently that they agreed to settle two ⁠proposed class ⁠actions ​alleging the billionaire entrepreneur defrauded residents in closely contested states before the ⁠2024 US election by promising voters a lottery-style daily $1m giveaway.

The plaintiffs, Musk and America Pac ​told the ‌judge overseeing the two ‌related lawsuits in federal court in Austin, Texas, ‌on Thursday that they have reached settlements subject to court approval.

Pensavate che le auto volanti fossero solo fantascienza? E invece eccoci qua. Dopo nove anni di rinvii e promesse disattese, Elon Musk ha deciso di forzare il confine ingegneristico che separa il settore automobilistico da quello aerospaziale. Durante un evento organizzato nella notte italiana presso il centro di collaudo di SpaceX a McGregor, in Texas, il magnate ha svelato la seconda generazione della sportiva Tesla Roadster. “In sostanza, può volare come un razzo”, ha dichiarato il miliardario presentando la vettura come il frutto della collaborazione tra “la miglior Casa automobilistica e la miglior compagnia di razzi spaziali”.

Per supportare le affermazioni, Musk ha allestito un’esibizione dal vivo, eseguita dalla vettura in modalità autonoma per rigorose ragioni di sicurezza. Equipaggiata con dieci micro-razzi a gas freddo sviluppati con SpaceX, la Roadster è salita su una rampa curva, ha spiccato il volo, ha saltato cinque veicoli parcheggiati eseguendo una piroetta a mezz’aria, per poi atterrare in modo controllato.

L'articolo “Ecco la prima auto volante, può sfrecciare come un razzo”: l’annuncio choc di Elon Musk e la dimostrazione delle acrobazie in aria della Tesla Roadster – VIDEO proviene da Il Fatto Quotidiano.

• Tesla has unveiled the next-gen Roadster twice: in 2017 and again on Thursday.
• We list the differences between the two versions.
• Range: down. Price: unknown. Flying: way up!

Tesla just unveiled the revived Roadster.

Sound familiar? It certainly should.

On Thursday, CEO Elon Musk took the covers off the latest version of Tesla's halo sports car and said the EV maker is eyeing production in 2028.

It's the second time the company has unveiled a prototype vehicle that it says will carry on the Roadster nameplate. In 2017, Musk unveiled a smoother-looking and very different type of Roadster.

The 2017 version simply drove onto a stage next to Elon, then spun its tires and raced away. The 2028 version — on a track placed a safe distance away from spectators — drove up a vertical wall, hung upside down, hovered in the air, and did a "kick flip" over a line of other Teslas.

Turns out, a lot can change in nine extra years of product development.

A lot of the nuts and bolts powering the Roadster changed — and so did the car's metrics. So, we put together a chart comparing Tesla's old Roadster promises with the new ones.

Here's what we found:

There is still over an hour before the protagonist appears, but the line already wraps around the block. Dozens of people wait patiently for their turn to see the man who has become the great hope of the Democratic left wing. When he begins to speak, pandemonium breaks out: “My name is Abdul El‑Sayed and I am going to be your next senator in Washington.” Over the next hour, the hundreds gathered in this venue will applaud, laugh, and cheer every word from the mouth of the new star of American politics, who has already made a fitted black T‑shirt and jeans his trademark look. We are in Lansing, Michigan’s capital, where one of the most gripping battles of the midterm elections — just over two weeks away — is being fought.

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Most of the planet with incomes equivalent to €5,000 a month (nearly $5,600) by 2100. Average temperatures only 1.8 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. Less meat, industry and mining. More health care and education. And who would lose out? The world’s Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellisons and Elon Musks. A tiny group of billionaires representing 0.001% of the population would see their share of global wealth fall from the current 6.4% to 0.05%, while the poorest 50% of the planet would rise from holding just 2% to 30%.

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