Good evening. Here’s the latest at the end of Monday.
Elon Musk takes on OpenAIAn epic fight between two tech titans began today at a courthouse in Oakland, Calif. There, the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, is demanding that OpenAI, a leading artificial intelligence firm that he co-founded, pay tens of billions of dollars in damages and oust its chief executive, Sam Altman. The legal battle, our tech reporter Cade Metz told me, is part of a “personal spat between two of the wealthiest and most powerful people in Silicon Valley.” Musk is accusing Altman of tricking him into handing over money to start OpenAI as a nonprofit, only for Altman and his allies to later put commercial interests over the public good. Altman, of course, denies that. More broadly, the trial — with a who’s who of tech executives set to testify — could shift the course of the global A.I. race. “Musk is seeking monetary damages and other remedies that could cripple OpenAI,” Cade said. On the other hand, an OpenAI win could permit Altman to run the company more freely. In related news:
California man charged with attempting to assassinate TrumpThe Justice Department formally charged Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old from Torrance, Calif., with attempting to assassinate President Trump. Allen is accused of sprinting past a security perimeter at Saturday’s White House correspondents’ dinner and firing a gun. (Read the full criminal complaint here.) Allen, who did not enter a plea, came to Washington with a pump-action shotgun, a handgun and three knives with the intent to carry out a political assassination, prosecutors said. Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, said that investigators believed Allen fired the shotgun. The authorities said that Allen had written a note in which he described administration figures as his top targets, according to a copy of the roughly 1,000-word document. People who taught and studied with Allen, who worked as a tutor, are struggling to reconcile the man they knew with the accusations against him. Here’s what we know about him. For more:
Trump hosts King CharlesKing Charles III and Queen Camilla arrived in Washington today for a four-day state visit arranged to celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence. Some British officials hope that the trip will help smooth over strains in Anglo-American relations, as some previous royal visits have. Trump hosted the king and queen for an afternoon tea, and showed off the White House beehive. Tomorrow, Charles will address Congress, before heading to New York on Wednesday. In other news from Washington:
The rise of obesity drugs pushes experts to look at ‘food noise’Many people who struggle with their weight describe having relentless thoughts about eating. The concept, known as “food noise,” is suddenly of interest to obesity experts because new weight-loss drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic seem to effectively silence the internal buzz. Researchers, who had previously done little to study food noise, are now trying to better understand its cause. Some believe the answer lies in an elusive concept called the set point — a weight the body gravitates toward. Read about it here. More top newsMiddle East War
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The best books of the year (so far)We are nearly a third of the way through 2026, and my colleagues at The Book Review have already written about hundreds of books. They wanted to take this moment to highlight six novels and seven nonfiction titles that stand out above the rest. Check out their list and find your next great read. Personally, I’m eyeing “The Boundless Deep.” One new release of note: The music journalist Bob Spitz delivers a colorful and authoritative biography of the Rolling Stones.
What led to the greatest day in marathon historyA decade ago, many runners and sports scientists doubted that a human could run a marathon in under two hours. Yesterday at the London Marathon — for the first time in a record-eligible race — Sabastian Sawe broke that barrier. Then, 11 seconds later, Yomif Kejelcha, who had never run a marathon before, did as well. The astonishing record was a result of many factors, including impeccable training, fast fellow competitors, ideal weather conditions and specially engineered running shoes. Look back: In 2016, The Times did a deep dive into the science that was pushing runners toward the two-hour mark. That was also the year the maximalist “supershoes” era began.
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