First Thing: Musk-led group bids $97.4bn for control of OpenAI

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the offer will not be accepted. Plus, $500m of food aid could spoil amid USAid cuts. Good morning. Elon Musk leads a consortium of investors that on Monday submitted a bid of $97.4bn for “all assets” of the nonprofit that controls OpenAI, with Musk escalating his feud with OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman. Altman posted on X that the bid would not be accepted. OpenAI, which operates ChatGPT, was co-founded as a nonprofit in 2015 by Altman and Musk. It has been working to restructure itself away from its original nonprofit status.

Musk, the world’s richest man, left OpenAI in 2019 and started his own AI company, xAI. He has since tussled with Altman over the direction of the company: he sued OpenAI over the company’s restructuring plans last year, dropped the suit, then refiled it. What did the bidders say? “If Sam Altman and the present OpenAI, Inc. board of directors are intent on becoming a fully for-profit corporation, it is vital that the charity be fairly compensated for what its leadership is taking away from it: control over the most transformative technology of our time,” said Marc Toberoff, the attorney representing the investors.

How did Altman respond? Altman posted on X: “no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74bn if you want.” Musk bought Twitter in 2022 for $44bn and renamed it X. After nearly 10 years of Liberal rule in Canada, a deepening cost of living crisis had soured public support for Justin Trudeau and pollsters predicted the Conservative party, led by Pierre Poilievre, would seize a convincing majority of seat. But since Donald Trump suggested the US might take over Canada – with threats ranging from “economic coercion” to outright annexation – the mood has shifted, and Canada has seen a groundswell of visceral patriotism. One poll, from Ipsos, found that the Conservatives had shed roughly 12 points of support within two weeks, and another found that 40% of Canadians felt Mark Carney – a Liberal and the former governor of the Bank of England – was best suited to face off against Trump, with only 26% saying Poilievre.

What are analysts saying now? “Now the election isn’t going to be about Trudeau,” said Éric Grenier, a political analyst at the Writ. “It will most likely be about the next four years – and who is best able to deal with Trump.”. Donald Trump has warned that if all the Israeli hostages held in Gaza are not returned by Saturday at noon he would propose canceling the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and let “all hell break loose”.

Speaking to reporters, the president also said he might withhold aid to Jordan and Egypt if those countries do not take Palestinian refugees being relocated from Gaza. Trump’s comments came after Hamas said it was delaying the release of hostages indefinitely over “violations” of the ceasefire deal, prompting Israel’s defence minister to put the country’s military on alert with orders to prepare for “any scenario in Gaza”.

What did the president say? “But as far as I’m concerned, if all of the hostages aren’t returned by Saturday 12 o’clock – I think it’s an appropriate time – I would say cancel it and all bets are off and let hell break out,” Trump said. What does it mean for the ceasefire? Hamas, Israeli and Arab officials have already warned that the ceasefire is at a breaking point, and Trump’s radical intervention could stoke fears that Washington does not have any intent to continue with the phased deal.

Israeli police raided the leading Palestinian-owned bookshop in occupied East Jerusalem and detained two owners, in arrests that rights groups and intellectuals condemned for fostering a “culture of fear” among Palestinians. Under orders from Trump, billions of gallons of irrigation water were laid to waste in California’s thirsty agricultural hub this month, a move that left water experts shocked.

A bus carrying more than 70 passengers veered off a highway bridge in Guatemala City, killing at least 55 people. The performer in Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl show who was ejected after unfurling a pro-Sudanese and -Palestinian flag will not face legal charges, police said, but he is banned for life from NFL events. A couple in London won a refund on a $40m mansion, after suing the property developer over a moth infestation.

Nearly half a billion dollars of food aid is at risk of spoilage following the decision of Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s “Doge” agency to make cuts to USAid, according to an inspector general report. The decision has already caused chaos and devastation, such as in Malawi, one of the most aid-dependent countries. Weed? Moss tied in thread. Crack? Organic shea butter. Cocaine bricks? Shrink-wrapped foam blocks. Designers reveal the secrets of faking drugs onscreen. Breaking Bad’s production designer said the fake meth was so realistic, it sometimes got stolen from set.