Free Republic

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk said Tuesday he plans to invest up to 30 billion dollars to develop his ambitious Starlink satellite internet service. Starlink plans to deploy thousands of low-orbit satellites to provide high-speed internet to isolated and poorly connected areas. It has so far deployed over 1,500 satellites and by August it will be able to provide coverage everywhere in the world except the North and South Poles, Musk told the Mobile World Congress, a telecoms industry conference underway in Barcelona, by video. The Tesla chief said he expects to invest "at least five billion dollars, and maybe as...

President Donald Trump’s tougher immigration enforcement has reduced the flow of people heading north across the U.S.-Mexico border, but it has had no effect on the amount of money heading in the opposite direction. In fact, Mexico is on pace to receive more remittances from abroad in 2017 than it ever has before, according to World Bank estimates released Tuesday. Mexico, which takes in more remittances than any other Latin American country by a wide margin, will likely receive $30.5 billion from the Mexican diaspora living abroad — 6.5 percent more than it did in 2016. About 95 percent of...

General Motors awaits auditors’ verdict as losses exceed $30bn Christine Seib in New York General Motors (GM) lost almost $10 billion (£6.9 billion) in last year’s final quarter and nearly $31 billion over the whole of 2008, the stricken car company reported yesterday as it awaited advice from its auditors on whether it remained a going concern. Rick Wagoner, the chief executive of the American carmaker, met members of President Obama’s automotive task force yesterday to discuss how to save the company, which has said that it needs about $30 billion in government aid to survive. GM said in a...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush urged Congress on Wednesday to authorize an additional $30 billion to fight AIDS in Africa over five years, doubling the current U.S. commitment. The money would provide treatment for 2.5 million people under the President's Emergency Program for AIDS Relief, White House press secretary Tony Snow said. Through March 31, the program has supported treatment for 1.1 million people in 15 countries, including more than 1 million in Africa, Snow said. The program's original five-year mandate, which called for spending $15 billion, expires in September 2008. Snow said the specific goals for the next five...