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Empire Expansion: Elon Musk’s SpaceX Combines With xAI at $1.25 Trillion Valuation (Bloomberg)
Elon Musk is combining SpaceX and xAI in a deal that values the enlarged entity at $1.25 trillion, as the world’s richest man looks to fuel his increasingly costly ambitions in artificial intelligence and space exploration.
The deal brings together
two of the largest closely held companies in the world. XAI raised funds at a $230 billion valuation in January, while SpaceX was set to go ahead with a share sale in December at a valuation of about $800 billion, Bloomberg reported, and is exploring a possible IPO.
Bloomberg
News
earlier reported on the discussions. SpaceX is planning an initial public offering that could raise as much as $50 billion, Bloomberg News has reported. It also discussed a possible merger with Tesla.
Higher Ed Fight: Trump Says He’s Seeking $1 Billion From Harvard University
(Bloomberg)
President Trump said he’s seeking $1 billion in “damages”
from Harvard University after the New York Times reported that his administration had backed off demands for $200 million to satisfy accusations of wrongdoing by the Ivy League institution.
In an article published earlier Monday at 5 PM, the Times reported that administration officials had dropped their demands for the $200 million “amid sagging approval ratings for Trump, and as he faces outrage over immigration enforcement tactics and the shooting deaths of two Americans by federal agents in Minnesota.”
At 11:20 PM, Trump posted: "We are now seeking one billion dollars in damages and want nothing further to do into the future with Harvard University."
This Week in Turkey: US and Iranian Officials to Meet as Trump’s Threats Loom (New York Times)
Senior US and Iranian officials are expected to meet in Istanbul on Friday for talks aimed at de-escalating the crisis between their countries, according to two current regional officials and a former one who were familiar with the planning.
The talks, they said, aim to bring together Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s Middle East envoy; Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law; and Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister, the officials said. Also expected to attend are senior officials from Turkey, Qatar and Egypt.
Detainees Revealed: Children Were Arrested in Iran’s Brutal Crackdown on Protests (New York Times)
Iran said for the first time Friday that children were among those arrested in a crackdown on nationwide protests in recent weeks. Rights groups monitoring unrest in Iran say at least 300 children, adolescents and students were detained.
Mideast Watch: Gaza Crossing to Egypt Reopens in Step Forward for Fragile Ceasefire (New York Times)
The sole border crossing between Gaza and Egypt reopened on Monday after being largely closed for 20 months, a step forward in Israel’s ceasefire with Hamas.
The reopening of the crossing, in the Rafah area of southern Gaza, will for the first time allow some Gazans who fled during the two-year war to return, but only in limited numbers for now. It is also expected to expedite the exit of thousands of sick and wounded people waiting for medical treatment abroad.
The hope is that the reopening of the Rafah crossing will be a move toward gradually improving conditions for Palestinians in Gaza.
Mineral Shield: Trump to Launch $12 Billion Critical Mineral Stockpile to Blunt Reliance on China (Bloomberg)
President Trump is set to launch a strategic critical-minerals stockpile with $12 billion in seed money, a bid to insulate manufacturers from supply shocks as the US works to slash its reliance on Chinese rare earths and other metals.
The venture — dubbed Project Vault — is set to marry $1.67 billion in private capital with a $10 billion loan from the US Export-Import Bank to procure and store the minerals for automakers, tech firms and other manufacturers.
French Gov't Prevails: France Adopts Budget After Premier Survives No-Confidence Votes (Bloomberg)
France’s parliament adopted a budget for 2026
after Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu survived two no-confidence votes Monday, bringing the curtain down on months of political upheaval that’s rattled investor confidence in the country.
Today at the White House: Colombia’s President, an Outspoken Trump Critic, Heads to the White House (New York Times)
The meeting between the two leaders — arranged after Trump threatened Colombian President Gustavo Petro with military action — is meant to de-escalate tensions, diplomats said. It is also meant to address topics such as “the fight against transnational organized crime, especially on the border,” according to Colombia’s foreign ministry.
Data on Hold: January US Jobs Report Will Be Delayed Due to Shutdown, BLS Says (Bloomberg)
The Bureau of Labor Statistics will not release the January jobs report on Friday as scheduled due to the partial government shutdown.
BLS is housed within the Labor Department,
which, along with some other government agencies, was only funded through Jan. 30. While the Senate has voted to extend funding, the bill still needs to pass the House of Representatives. House Speaker Mike Johnson said he hopes the House will pass the measure today.
Minnesota Latest: Federal Agents to Use Body Cameras in Minneapolis, Noem Says (Bloomberg)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said
that “every officer” in the field in Minneapolis will wear a body camera after a national outcry over the killings of two US citizens in the city, potentially easing the path to passing a government funding deal.
Latest on the Epstein Files: Clintons Back Down, Agree to Testify in House Epstein Inquiry (Bloomberg)
Former President Bill Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, will appear before a congressional committee investigating the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, their lawyers said Monday.
A full House vote had been planned this week to hold the Clintons in criminal contempt if they continued to defy subpoenas in its inquiry into Epstein and his activities.
Emails Aftermath: Wall St. Lawyer Brad Karp Says He Regrets Epstein Interactions (New York Times)
Brad
Karp, chairman of the giant law firm Paul Weiss,
said on Monday that he regretted his social interactions with Jeffrey Epstein, after a series of emails revealed that the prominent lawyer had socialized with the disgraced financier and, at one point, asked him for help landing his son a job on a Woody Allen movie.
Southern Freeze: Fear and Anger Grow as Thousands Remain Without Power in the South (New York Times)
By Sunday, the weeklong paralysis from the storm across Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana had given way to weariness, anger and fear about how much longer thousands would be struggling to stay warm and fed without power. At least three dozen people have died across the three states in connection with the storm, officials have said.
Anger was continuing to boil over toward the leadership
of the Nashville Electric Service. The utility has struggled for days not only to restore power across the city and surrounding county, but also to accurately communicate to customers the scope of the repairs and the timeline needed to complete them.
Inflation Bowl: Rising Food Prices Squeeze Super Bowl Parties (Axios)
Your favorite Super Bowl foods keep getting more expensive. Grocery prices were up roughly 2.4% in December compared to a year earlier, weighing on household budgets even as overall inflation held steady.
Prices for meat, poultry, fish, eggs, fruits, veggies, alcohol and soft drinks all rose over the past year, according to federal data.
Total Super Bowl spending could climb around 9% this year compared to last, hitting a record $20.2 billion, driven largely by food and drinks, the National Retail Federation predicts.
The bottom line: Consider cutting back on wings and soda for the game on Sunday, Feb. 8, between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots.
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Investigation in Arizona: Officials Investigate ‘Possible Kidnapping’ of ‘Today’ Host’s Mother (New York Times)
The authorities in Arizona who have been searching for the mother of Savannah Guthrie, the “Today” show anchor, said on Monday that they believe she was taken from her home “against her will” over the weekend.
Nancy Guthrie, 84, was last seen at her home in Tucson, Ariz., at around 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, Chris Nanos, the Pima County sheriff, said at a news conference Sunday night. She was reported missing around noon on Sunday.
Kevin Adger, a public information officer with the sheriff’s office, said on Monday evening that “investigators believe she was taken from her home, against her will, possibly in the middle of the night. Now detectives are looking into a possible kidnapping or abduction.”
Five Top Tables: The Best Restaurants in New York City Right Now (Bloomberg Pursuits)
New York is both easy and hard when you want to go out to eat. There are an estimated 18,000 restaurants across the five boroughs, so no matter what you’re craving, someone
is doing a good job of making it. Whether it’s quality Indian food — the Big Apple’s is better than London’s, experts say — or a flaky Jamaican patty or a not-too-pricey steak, New York’s got it. Yet finding the best places is not easy in a city so vast.
To
help needy diners out, Bloomberg Pursuits has compiled a list
of five top places to eat right now around town, a few with deep roots. There’s Danny’s, a clubby new dining room in the Flatiron pouring top-notch dirty martinis alongside a raw bar and an addictive tortilla salad; in the East Village, Bánh Anh Em, a Vietnamese standout, excels at everything from pho to grilled pork chops at notably reasonable prices. And down in Soho, Raoul’s, a 50-year-old landmark, gets the equivalent of a strong BUY rating on the Bloomberg Terminal’s DINE Index.
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