Elon Musk declared he won’t proceed with his $44 billion takeover of Twitter Inc. unless the social media giant can prove bots make up fewer than 5% of its users, casting yet more uncertainty over the deal.

The billionaire tweeted “this deal cannot move forward” unless Twitter provides proof of its claims, reiterating his own view that ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The spectacular plunge and trading halts of the algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD are touching off a debate among lawmakers over whether, and how much, the government should get involved.

As Terra crashed last week, prominent Republicans said the asset class shouldn’t be regulated at all because of its limited reach into ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — Meet Freeway. He's a teenage mischief maker, a land-loving sea lion fishing for freedom.

And now the pinniped, who earned notoriety in January when he shut down a busy San Diego freeway a couple miles from the ocean, is back.

Last month, someone spotted him wandering up a storm drain in Logan Heights, about a half-mile from where...Read more

Elon Musk stoked speculation that he could seek to renegotiate his takeover of Twitter Inc., saying a viable deal at a lower price wouldn’t be “out of the question.”

Twitter shares fell 8.2% at the close of trading in New York. The stock has been dropping on speculation that Musk could walk away from the $44 billion acquisition. That ...Read more

MIAMI — When Hurricane Michael tore through North Florida in 2018 as a Category 5 storm, it left more than 3 million acres of felled trees in its wake.

Those largely untouched trees were the perfect fuel for three simultaneous wildfires that raged through the region in March. The Chipola Complex fires turned the skies smoky and blood red, ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A bout with flesh-eating bacteria can start out with a day at the beach, a hardly worrisome cut and then, in less than 24 hours, a raging infection fought with heavy antibiotics and gruesome scalpel work.

It would be reassuring to know where and when Florida’s coastal waters are ripe with “one of the fastest growing ...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Moments after being taken off life support, an anonymous Bay Area woman gave the most abundant of gifts: 17 different tissues and organs.

Some were transplanted into strangers in need, but many others were rushed off on a unique mission. They were donated for research — contributing to a first-ever detailed “cell atlas,...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — SpaceX sent up another set of Starlink satellites on a Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Saturday.

The launch came one day after a successful Falcon 9 Starlink liftoff from across the country from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California as part of the company’s record pace of launches in 2022.

...Read more

This week, the world got its first-ever look at Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole in the center of our galaxy. The image of a hazy golden ring of superheated gas and bending light was captured by the Event Horizon Telescope, a network of eight radio observatories scattered across the globe.

Feryal Özel, a University of Arizona ...Read more

Elon Musk may not be delivering on the Twitter acquisition he promised after all.

It’s not the first time he’s fallen short, backed out or abruptly changed course after making a big, showy promise of innovation. In fact, it’s not even the first time he’s done that in the last six weeks, during this specific set of negotiations with ...Read more

Elon Musk sowed new chaos into the market over his takeover bid for Twitter Inc. on Friday, first claiming his offer was “temporarily on hold” and then maintaining he is “still committed” to the deal, sending the social media giant into a tailspin.

The billionaire initially sent an early tweet saying the $44 billion deal is pending ...Read more

Even by the white-knuckle standards of the cryptocurrency universe, it was a standout week.

An algorithmic stablecoin called TerraUSD crashed from its dollar peg when the complex mechanism designed to ensure the link suddenly turned against it, sucking even the biggest digital assets into a vortex of panicked selling. Terms like “death ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Clouds and showers are poised to spoil not only another weekend in the Eastern United States, they are likely to ruin one of the year’s most anticipated astronomical events — a total lunar eclipse Sunday night into early Monday.

During the 3½ hours in which Earth’s shadow will cross the moon, starting around 10:30 p.m. ...Read more

VIENNA — Europe and parts of the U.S. are set for a sweltering and dry summer this year, posing risks for crops and boosting demand for energy for cooling at a time when prices of commodities are already running high.

Scientists at the Copernicus Climate Change Service, who published their seasonal outlook on Friday, said hotter and drier ...Read more

Elon Musk sowed new chaos into the market over his takeover bid for Twitter Inc. on Friday, first claiming his offer was “temporarily on hold” and then maintaining he is “still committed” to the deal, sending the social media giant into a tailspin.

The billionaire initially sent an early tweet saying the $44 billion deal is pending ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The weather conditions were unremarkable for coastal Orange County, and even a bit pleasant: Mild temperatures, relatively moist air and a seasonal onshore breeze.

But when firefighters struggled to contain a 50-by-50-foot brush fire on a sere hillside in Laguna Niguel on Wednesday afternoon, officials grew concerned. Within a ...Read more