The mother of billionaire tycoon Elon Musk has opened up about the formative years of the world's richest person and told of his influential role within the inner circle of the "benign" US president-elect Donald Trump.
Maye Musk, 76, speaking on the final day of the 1 Billion Followers Summit in Dubai on Monday, said she had encouraged her children to run their own companies from a young age and to always seek to “do good and be successful”.
Ms Musk, a model and dietician who graced the cover of Sports Illustrated's famous swimsuit edition at the age of 74, said Elon and his siblings experienced a nomadic upbringing as her career took her around the world.
She said Mr Musk had bought Twitter, which he rebranded as X, in order to protect the right to free speech in a move she insisted was “good for America”.
The Tesla and SpaceX boss has come under fire in recent weeks for using his social media platform to weigh in on political matters in Europe, including calling for the resignation of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and turning his ire towards UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
The entrepreneur is set to be a key part of the political landscape in 2025, having been appointed by Mr Trump to lead a task force to help rein in US government spending and inefficiency.
Ms Musk, who herself has 1.5 million followers on Instagram, says her son's political role will not deter him from his leadership positions at Tesla and SpaceX.
“So now he will work in Doge (Department of Government Efficiency) but he still will handle all the other companies as he sort out things,” she said.
Turning to her son's purchase of Twitter, she said his goal was to tackle what he believed to be government censorship on the social media network.
Good-humoured Trump
Ms Musk said Donald Trump leans on her son for advice on developments across technology and spoke favourably of the incoming US leader.
“Donald Trump is so benign and he's got a good sense of humour,” she said.
Elon Musk also shares a fascination with space with Mr Trump's teenage son, Barron.
“Trump's son Barron loves planets and he was talking with Elon and he knew everything about planets and Elon does too, so it was really exciting to watch them talking,” she said.
Juggling work and family
Ms Musk released a book in 2019, entitled A Woman Makes a Plan: Advice for a Lifetime for Adventure, Beauty and Success, to share insight into her own achievements and those of her famous family.
She said her children saw up close the value of hard work as she started up her own private practice following her divorce from husband Errol in 1979 and moved from city to city to build her career.
She moved to nine cities in three countries to work as a dietician and said to her children “why didn't you complain” and they said "you wouldn't have listened”, which she said she agreed with.
She said her children had always been a source of support to her and her career.
“Elon was my encyclopaedia, Kimbal would cook for us, Tosca would answer the phone and type the doctors' reports,” she said.
“I always make them do what they want to do,” she said, adding that her advice to them was to “do good and be successful”.
She said their focus was not on merely making money but being good at what they do.
1 Billion Followers Summit – in pictures
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
About RuPay
A homegrown card payment scheme launched by the National Payments Corporation of India and backed by the Reserve Bank of India, the country’s central bank
RuPay process payments between banks and merchants for purchases made with credit or debit cards
It has grown rapidly in India and competes with global payment network firms like MasterCard and Visa.
In India, it can be used at ATMs, for online payments and variations of the card can be used to pay for bus, metro charges, road toll payments
The name blends two words rupee and payment
Some advantages of the network include lower processing fees and transaction costs
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
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The biog
Age: 59
From: Giza Governorate, Egypt
Family: A daughter, two sons and wife
Favourite tree: Ghaf
Runner up favourite tree: Frankincense
Favourite place on Sir Bani Yas Island: “I love all of Sir Bani Yas. Every spot of Sir Bani Yas, I love it.”
Heavily-sugared soft drinks slip through the tax net
Some popular drinks with high levels of sugar and caffeine have slipped through the fizz drink tax loophole, as they are not carbonated or classed as an energy drink.
Arizona Iced Tea with lemon is one of those beverages, with one 240 millilitre serving offering up 23 grams of sugar - about six teaspoons.
A 680ml can of Arizona Iced Tea costs just Dh6.
Most sports drinks sold in supermarkets were found to contain, on average, five teaspoons of sugar in a 500ml bottle.
Read more about the coronavirus
MATCH INFO
World Cup 2022 qualifier
UAE v Indonesia, Thursday, 8pm
Venue: Al Maktoum Stadium, Dubai
How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
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Euro 2020 qualifier
Ukraine 2 (Yaremchuk 06', Yarmolenko 27')
Portugal 1 (Ronaldo 72' pen)
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Director: Navdeep Singh
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
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