Hello and welcome to the Intelligence from the Economist.

In London, I'm Jason Palmer.

And in New York, I'm John Fassman.

Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

Between 2000 and 2018, 60,000 miners under the age of consent were married in America.

We speak with one of them and ask why there's so little appetite for reform to child marriage

laws.

And one astronaut has compared fixing panels on the International Space Station to doing

car repairs while riding a skateboard and wearing heavy oven mitts.

Space suits are cumbersome and can weigh up to 300 pounds.

A better alternative may be one small step away.

After weeks of intrigue, cryptic messages and corporate jockeying, Elon Musk, the boss

of SpaceX and Tesla, has struck a deal to buy Twitter.

Free speech advocates will like Mr. Musk's plan for the social media platform.

Earlier this month, at this year's TED conference, he hinted at his plans.

Well, I think it's very important for that to be an inclusive arena for free speech.

Twitter has become kind of the de facto town square.

Not everyone is thrilled with the idea of a less restrictive Twitter.

Many worry that less moderation will mean more hate speech, misinformation, trolling.

And as White House spokesperson Jen Psaki hinted, after news of the deal broke, governments

and regulators around the world will have their say on just how free the speech can be.

No matter who owns or runs Twitter, the president has long been concerned about the power of

...