In 2024, Elon Musk promised to give away $1 million a day to a randomly selected registered voter in a swing state. That prompted legal challenges, raised questions about its legality, and drew lawsuits from two Arizona residents claiming the lottery was a fraud. Musk has now agreed to settle the two lawsuits filed in Austin, Texas, though the details of the settlement have not been made public.

The plaintiffs claim that when Musk announced the sweepstakes, he falsely claimed the prizes would be awarded randomly. Philadelphia's District Attorney sued to stop the giveaway, claiming that Musk was running an illegal lottery. During a hearing, …

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Demonstrators across France converged with students Saturday to protest rising living costs, as the country's fiscal crisis deepens.

(Image credit: Emma Da Silva)

After backlash, Meta is updating its terms again to remove language that suggested it could scrape content from sites, including news sites, to train its AI. Specifically, the following language no longer appears on the commercial terms page:

… Meta may use any content from such domains, web pages, or URLs to provide, develop, improve, research, train, and maintain the integrity of, the Meta Company Products, services, and features provided under these Commercial Terms and any other applicable supplemental terms.

Many, including Neiman Lab and James Grimmelmann, a professor of digital and information law at Cornell, interpreted it as an …

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Article URL: https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/policy/article/the-us-federal-budget-deficit-for-2026-just-came-in-its-1992-trillion-191917669.html

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50131440

Points: 94

# Comments: 87

Article URL: https://frozenfractal.com/blog/2026/10/12/around-the-world-34-a-pretty-sky/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50119315

Points: 54

# Comments: 6

Article URL: https://pluralistic.net/2026/10/17/mercenary-spyware/#discover-tech

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50131881

Points: 4

# Comments: 0

The Pope left Rome's Gemelli Hospital Saturday, days after surgery for lung cancer removed the lower lobe of his right lung. He is currently scheduled to travel to Latin America in November.

(Image credit: Andrew Medichini)

If you’re wondering what video game to play this weekend, my colleague Sheena Vasani spotted a discounted Nintendo Switch title with instant digital delivery. Walmart has the digital version of Pikmin 4 for Switch discounted to $39.88, just over $20 lower than its usual price. This version of the game follows the same puzzle formula as previous titles in the series, but adds in a dog companion for an extra layer of complexity and action, and dives deeper into the dark undertones previous games hinted at.

Pikmin 4

Where to Buy:

• $59.99 $39.88 at Walmart

Nintendo recently announced a Switch 2 version of Pikmin 4 will launch on November 12th, 2026. That version features polished visuals, adds in voice commands for your dog companion, plus a new mode called Dandori Academy that adds extra challenges over time. You’ll be able to upgrade to that version for just $10, saving you $20 total over buying the $69.99 Switch 2 Edition outright.

Read our Pikmin 4 review.

It's hard to overstate Jad Abumrad's impact on the podcasting world. He created and hosted Dolly Parton's America and Fela Kuti: Fear No Man, two Peabody Award-winning shows that offered unprecedented looks at the lives of two of the most important music icons of the last century.

Before that, though, he created Radiolab, an experimental NPR show that leaned heavily on creative sound design and eventually helped redefine what a podcast could be. In the early days of podcasting, shows were often just a couple of people talking at each other at a table (some still are), or lazily repackaged radio broadcasts. Radiolab instead told deeply repor …

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