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A gunman killed at least 25 people in a Baptist church near San Antonio, Texas. The suspect has been identified as a 26-year-old Texas man. [The New York Times]
A midnight blitz of arrests ordered by the crown prince of Saudi Arabia ensnared Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, one of the world’s most prominent investors, who holds large stakes in Twitter, Lyft and Apple. With the sweeping arrests, Mohammad bin Salman appears to have established control of the Saudi military, internal security services and national guard. [Theodore Schleifer / Recode]
Russian billionaire Yuri Milner’s big pre-IPO investments in Facebook and Twitter have been tied to the Russian government, according to a leaked trove of confidential documents called the “Paradise Papers.” Milner helms DST Global, which received $191 million from the Kremlin-owned VTB Bank — part of which was used to obtain a large stake in Twitter. Reminder: For two years, Milner automatically invested in every company that came out of startup factory Y Combinator. In an open letter, Milner argues that he’s being unfairly scrutinized because he’s Russian: "Only a worldview that sees my nationality as inherently suspicious could find such a fairy-tale compelling." [Johana Bhuiyan / Recode]
Here’s a list of all the questions that Facebook, Google and Twitter told Congress they would get around to answering later, after facing hours of tough grilling from Congress last week. And here’s Recode’s expanded list of news organizations that unknowingly cited tweets and information from Russian trolls in their reports. Meanwhile, the Associated Press has a step-by-step investigation into how Russians hacked the Democratic Party and disrupted the U.S. presidential contest. [Bloomberg]
Digital local news is crucial, and readers understand its value, says John Ness, a former editor in chief at DNAinfo, the online neighborhood news operation that was suddenly shut down last week by its billionaire owner Joe Ricketts shortly after its employees voted to unify. Hours after they were laid off, some DNAinfo New York reporters started receiving Venmo payments from their fans; DNAinfo Chicago’s fans donated more than $1,000 to the newsroom’s bar tab. [John Ness / Recode]
SoftBank’s Masa Son, who is neogiating to buy a stake in Uber, says he may invest in rival Lyft instead. Maybe he means it. Maybe he’s looking for leverage. [Theodore Schleifer / Recode]
Top stories from Recode
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This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
