Asian markets wobble as Trump-Xi talks offset by Musk row

Asian markets stuttered Friday as optimism from “very positive” talks between presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping was wiped out by the stunning public row between the US leader and Elon Musk.The much-anticipated discussions between the heads of the world’s biggest economies fuelled hopes for an easing of tensions following the US leader’s “Liberation Day” global tariff blitz that targeted Beijing particularly hard.However, investors remained wary after an extraordinary social media row between Trump and billionaire former aide Musk that saw the two trade insults and threats, and sent Wall Street into the red.Wall Street’s three main indexes ended down as Musk’s electric vehicle company Tesla tanked more than 14 percent and the president threatened his multibillion-dollar government contracts.Asian equities fluctuated in early business, with some observers suggesting traders were positioning for what could be a volatile start to next week in light of the row and upcoming US jobs data.Hong Kong dropped after three days of strong gains, while Shanghai and Taiwan also retreated.Tokyo, Sydney, Singapore and Wellington rose.Chris Weston at Pepperstone said that while the call with Xi was “seen as a step in the right direction, (it) proved to offer nothing tangible for traders to work with and attention has quickly pushed back to the Trump-Musk war of words”.”It’s all about US nonfarm payrolls from here and is an obvious risk that Asia-based traders need to consider pre-positioning for,” he added.He said there was a risk of Trump sparking market-moving headlines over the weekend given that he is “now fired up and the risk of him saying something through the weekend that moves markets on the Monday open is elevated”. The US jobs figures, which are due later Friday, will be closely followed after a below-par reading on private hiring this week raised worries about the labour market and outlook for the world’s top economy.They come amid bets that the Federal Reserve is preparing to resume cutting interest rates from September, even as economists warn that Trump’s tariffs could reignite inflation.Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management warned that while poor jobs figures could signal further weakness in the economy, a strong reading could deal a blow to the market.”In this upside-down market regime, strength can be weakness. A hotter-than-expected (figure) could force traders to price out Fed cuts. That’s the paradox in play—where good news on Main Street turns into bad news on Wall Street.”- Key figures at around 0230 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.5 percent at 37,730.67 (break)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.3 percent at 23,844.13Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.1 percent at 3,382.06Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1435 from $1.1444 on ThursdayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3567 from $1.3571Dollar/yen: UP at 143.84 yen from 143.58 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 84.27 pence from 84.31 penceWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.3 percent at $63.16 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.3 percent at $65.17 per barrelNew York – Dow: DOWN 0.3 percent at 42,319.74 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 8,811.04 (close)

Syria’s Sharaa: from jihadist to statesman

From wanted jihadist to statesman embraced by world leaders, Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa has undergone a stunning transformation in just six months since ousting longtime strongman Bashar al-Assad.Born in 1982, Sharaa abandoned his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, trimmed his thick beard and swapped fatigues for a suit and tie since his Islamist coalition of forces seized Damascus on December 8.He was proclaimed interim president the following month, and later tasked with leading his country through a five-year transitional period under a temporary constitution that experts and rights groups said concentrates power in his hands.Appearing calm and soft-spoken, Sharaa has sought to shed many of the attributes that once defined him.Gone is the shadowy persona associated with a single mugshot released at the height of the US-led war in Iraq following his capture there by American forces.Videos posted online in recent weeks have shown him, a tall man, playing basketball in a shirt and tie alongside his foreign minister.Others show him driving his car in Damascus, or eating in a working-class restaurant to cheers from passers-by.”I think he has succeeded in his transformation,” said Jerome Drevon, a specialist in Islamist militancy at the International Crisis Group.In a matter of months, Sharaa has visited Europe and been “accepted on the whole in the (Middle East) region — even by countries like the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia that are not at all supporters of Islamists, much less jihadists”, he added.The reception Sharaa has received demonstrates “a real recognition of the new authorities”, he told AFP.- ‘No alternative’ -On Sharaa’s first trip to the West last month, he met French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris.Just a week later during a trip to Riyadh, he shook hands with US President Donald Trump who announced Washington would lift sanctions on Syria, a triumph for the new authorities.Trump described Sharaa as a “young, attractive guy. Tough guy. Strong past. Very strong past. Fighter.”Sharaa remains under United Nations sanctions and a travel ban, and must request an exemption for all foreign trips.Drevon said that Arab and Western countries had made a pragmatic choice by supporting the young leader.”There are still security problems, there are tensions inside the country, but I think that most foreign countries recognise that right now, there is no alternative,” he said.Sharaa has set up in what was once Assad’s presidential palace overlooking Damascus, receiving a steady stream of senior foreign officials.During a Muslim holiday around two months ago, he and his wife Latifa al-Droubi, who now appears with him in public on occasion, welcomed Syrian orphans there.While seeking to distance himself from his guerrilla past, he has sought to extract political capital from his rebel roots.Last week, he presided over a cabinet meeting, saying: “We came to power through revolution — we aren’t used to luxurious palaces.””Until two years ago, I didn’t even have an office. We used to meet in the car, on the street, under an olive tree,” he added, referring to his time in the former rebel bastion of Idlib in northwestern Syria.- ‘Pragmatic radical’ -In January, authorities announced the dissolution of all armed groups, including Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which led the lightning offensive that toppled Assad.HTS was known as the Al-Nusra Front before it broke ties with the Al-Qaeda jihadist network in 2016.Sharaa is “a pragmatic radical”, said Thomas Pierret, a specialist in political Islam.Born in Saudi Arabia, Sharaa is from a well-to-do Syrian family and was raised in Damascus’s upscale Mazzeh district. He started studying medicine but then became associated with underground Islamist circles.Following the US-led invasion of neighbouring Iraq in 2003, he and other Syrians crossed the border to join what they saw as a resistance to foreign occupation.He joined Al-Qaeda there, and was subsequently detained for five years.In March 2011, when the revolt against Assad’s rule erupted in Syria, Sharaa returned home and founded the Al-Nusra Front.A realist in his partisans’ eyes, an opportunist to his adversaries, Sharaa said in May 2015 that he had no intention of launching attacks against the West — unlike his adversaries in the Islamic State jihadist group.In 2017, Sharaa imposed a merger with HTS on rival Islamist groups in northwestern Syria, claiming control of swathes of Idlib province.HTS went on to develop a civil administration in the area, amid accusations of brutal abuses against those who dared dissent.

School’s out: climate change keeps Pakistan students home

Pakistan’s children are losing weeks of education each year to school closures caused by climate change-linked extreme weather, prompting calls for a radical rethink of learning schedules.Searing heat, toxic smog and unusual cold snaps have all caused closures that are meant to spare children the health risks of learning in classrooms that are often overcrowded and lack basic cooling, heating or ventilation systems.In May, a nationwide heatwave saw temperatures up to seven degrees Celsius above normal, hitting 45C (113 degrees Fahrenheit) in Punjab and prompting several provinces to cut school hours or start summer holidays early.”The class becomes so hot that it feels like we are sitting in a brick kiln,” said 17-year-old Hafiz Ehtesham outside an inner city Lahore school.”I don’t even want to come to school.”Pakistan is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change, with limited resources for adaptation, and extreme weather is compounding an existing education crisis caused mostly by access and poverty.”Soon we will have major cognitive challenges because students are being impacted by extreme heat and extreme smog over long periods of time,” said Lahore-based education activist Baela Raza Jamil.”The poorest are most vulnerable. But climate change is indeed a great leveller and the urban middle class is also affected.” Pakistan’s summers historically began in June, when temperatures hit the high 40s. But in the last five years, May has been similarly hot, according to the Meteorological Department. “During a power outage, I was sweating so much that the drops were falling off my forehead onto my desk,” 15-year-old Jannat, a student in Lahore, told AFP.”A girl in my class had a nosebleed from the heat.”- Health versus learning -Around a third of Pakistani school-age children — over 26 million — are out of school, according to government figures, one of the highest numbers in the world. And 65 percent of children are unable to read age-appropriate material by age 10.School closures affect almost every part of Pakistan, including the country’s most populous province Punjab, which has the highest rates of school attendance.Classes closed for two weeks in November over air pollution, and another week in May because of heat. In the previous academic year, three weeks were lost in January to a cold snap and two weeks in May due to heat.Political unrest and cricket matches that closed roads meant more lost days.In Balochistan, Pakistan’s poorest province, May heatwaves have prompted early summer vacations for three years running, while in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, school hours are regularly slashed. For authorities, the choice is often between sending children to school in potentially dangerous conditions or watching them fall behind.In southern Sindh province, authorities have resisted heat-related closures despite growing demands from parents. “It’s hard for parents to send their children to school in this kind of weather,” private school principal Sadiq Hussain told AFP in Karachi, adding that attendance drops by 25 percent in May.”Their physical and mental health is being affected,” added Dost Mohammad Danish, general secretary of All Sindh Private Schools and Colleges Association.”Don’t expect better scientists from Pakistan in the coming years.”- ‘Everyone is suffering’ -Schools in Pakistan are overseen by provincial authorities, whose closure notices apply to all schools in a region, even when they are hundreds of kilometres (miles) apart and may be experiencing different conditions, or have different resources to cope. Teachers, parents and education experts want a rethink of school hours, exam timetables and vacations, with schools able to offer Saturday classes or split the school day to avoid the midday heat.Izza Farrakh, a senior education specialist at the World Bank, said climate change-related impacts are affecting attendance and learning outcomes. “Schools need to have flexibility in determining their academic calendar. It shouldn’t be centralised,” she said, adding that end-of-year exams usually taken in May could be replaced by regular assessments throughout the year.Adapting school buildings is also crucial. International development agencies have already equipped thousands of schools with solar panels, but many more of the country’s 250,000 schools need help. Hundreds of climate-resilient schools funded by World Bank loans are being built in Sindh. They are elevated to withstand monsoon flooding, and fitted with solar panels for power and rooftop insulation to combat heat and cold.But in Pakistan’s most impoverished villages, where education is a route out of generational poverty, parents still face tough choices. In rural Sukkur, the local school was among 27,000 damaged or destroyed by unprecedented 2022 floods. Children learn outside their half-collapsed school building, unprotected from the elements. “Our children are worried, and we are deeply concerned,” said parent Ali Gohar Gandhu, a daily wage labourer. “Everyone is suffering.”

Suspect in Colorado fire attack on Jewish protest faces 118 counts

The suspect in a Molotov cocktail attack on a Jewish protest march in Colorado appeared in court Thursday facing more than 100 charges over an incident that injured 15 people.Mohamed Sabry Soliman is alleged to have thrown firebombs and sprayed burning gasoline at a group of people who had gathered Sunday in support of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.Prosecutors now say 15 people — eight women and seven men — were hurt in the attack in the city of Boulder. Three are still hospitalized.The oldest victim was 88 years old.Soliman, a 45-year-old Egyptian who federal authorities said was in the country illegally after overstaying a tourist visa, faces 28 attempted murder charges, as well as a bevvy of other counts relating to his alleged use of violence.He also faces a count of animal cruelty for a dog that was hurt, bringing to 118 the total number of criminal counts.Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty told reporters that he could face a centuries-long prison term if convicted.”The defendant is charged with attempted murder in the first degree as to 14 different victims,” he said.”If the defendant is convicted and those sentences run consecutively, that would be 48 years in state prison for each of the 14 victims, which comes to 672 years.”Two of the Soliman’s alleged victims — along with the dog — were at the court on Thursday.Soliman is also expected to be charged with federal hate crime offenses.Soliman’s immigration status has been at the center of President Donald Trump’s administration’s response to the attack.This week his wife and five children were detained by immigration agents as the White House took to social media to taunt them about an impending deportation.”Six One-Way Tickets for Mohamed’s Wife and Five Kids,” the official account posted on X.”Final Boarding Call Coming Soon.” But on Wednesday a judge imposed a temporary restraining order that bars any attempt to remove them from the country.Police who rushed to the scene of Sunday’s attack found 16 unused Molotov cocktails and a backpack weed sprayer containing gasoline that investigators say Soliman had intended to use as a makeshift flamethrower.In bystander videos, the attacker can be heard screaming “End Zionists!” and “Killers!” Sunday’s incident came less than two weeks after the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy staffers outside a Jewish museum in Washington, where a 31-year-old suspect, who shouted “Free Palestine,” was arrested.

Suspect in Colorado fire attack on Jewish protest faces 118 counts

The suspect in a Molotov cocktail attack on a Jewish protest march in Colorado appeared in court Thursday facing more than 100 charges over an incident that injured 15 people.Mohamed Sabry Soliman is alleged to have thrown firebombs and sprayed burning gasoline at a group of people who had gathered Sunday in support of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.Prosecutors now say 15 people — eight women and seven men — were hurt in the attack in the city of Boulder. Three are still hospitalized.The oldest victim was 88 years old.Soliman, a 45-year-old Egyptian who federal authorities said was in the country illegally after overstaying a tourist visa, faces 28 attempted murder charges, as well as a bevvy of other counts relating to his alleged use of violence.He also faces a count of animal cruelty for a dog that was hurt, bringing to 118 the total number of criminal counts.Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty told reporters that he could face a centuries-long prison term if convicted.”The defendant is charged with attempted murder in the first degree as to 14 different victims,” he said.”If the defendant is convicted and those sentences run consecutively, that would be 48 years in state prison for each of the 14 victims, which comes to 672 years.”Two of the Soliman’s alleged victims — along with the dog — were at the court on Thursday.Soliman is also expected to be charged with federal hate crime offenses.Soliman’s immigration status has been at the center of President Donald Trump’s administration’s response to the attack.This week his wife and five children were detained by immigration agents as the White House took to social media to taunt them about an impending deportation.”Six One-Way Tickets for Mohamed’s Wife and Five Kids,” the official account posted on X.”Final Boarding Call Coming Soon.” But on Wednesday a judge imposed a temporary restraining order that bars any attempt to remove them from the country.Police who rushed to the scene of Sunday’s attack found 16 unused Molotov cocktails and a backpack weed sprayer containing gasoline that investigators say Soliman had intended to use as a makeshift flamethrower.In bystander videos, the attacker can be heard screaming “End Zionists!” and “Killers!” Sunday’s incident came less than two weeks after the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy staffers outside a Jewish museum in Washington, where a 31-year-old suspect, who shouted “Free Palestine,” was arrested.

In row with Trump, Musk says will end critical US spaceship program

SpaceX chief Elon Musk said Thursday he would begin “decommissioning” his company’s Dragon spacecraft — vital for ferrying NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station — after US President Donald Trump threatened to terminate his government contracts.”In light of the President’s statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately,” Musk wrote on X.The comments — which the mercurial billionaire later appeared to walk back — came after Trump and Musk’s nearly year-long political alliance imploded in spectacular fashion, with the two trading public insults on social media.SpaceX’s Crew Dragon — a gumdrop-shaped capsule that flies atop a Falcon 9 rocket and splashes down in the ocean — is currently the only US spacecraft certified to carry crew to the ISS under a contract worth more than $4.9 billion. A variant, Cargo Dragon, delivers supplies, as the name suggests.Following Musk’s announcement, NASA spokeswoman Bethany Stevens said on X that the government space agency would “continue to execute upon the President’s vision for the future of space.””We will continue to work with our industry partners to ensure the President’s objectives in space are met,” she said.NASA had hoped to certify Boeing’s Starliner for crewed missions, but that program has faced severe delays. Its most recent test flight last year ended in failure after the spacecraft experienced propulsion issues en route to the orbital lab with its first astronaut crew.The Starliner ultimately returned to Earth empty, while the two astronauts were brought home by SpaceX earlier this year.Crew Dragon’s certification in 2020 ended nearly a decade of US reliance on Russian Soyuz rockets to transport astronauts following the retirement of the Space Shuttle program in 2011.American astronauts still fly aboard Soyuz rockets, while Russian cosmonauts ride on Crew Dragons under a longstanding seat-swap agreement.In addition to NASA missions, Crew Dragon also flies private missions — most recently Fram2, which carried tourists over the Earth’s poles.The next scheduled crew launch is Tuesday’s Axiom-4 mission, which will see a Crew Dragon transport astronauts from India, Poland, and Hungary to the ISS.

Washington sanctionne quatre juges de la CPI, qui proteste

Washington a sanctionné jeudi quatre magistrates de la Cour pénale internationale (CPI), estimant que leurs procédures visant des soldats américains ou l’exécutif israélien étaient “illégitimes” et “politisées”, une initiative immédiatement réprouvée par l’institution de La Haye.Les mesures annoncées – interdiction d’entrée sur le sol américain, gel des avoirs détenus aux Etats-Unis – visent d’ordinaire des criminels ou des dirigeants politiques de pays adverses, plutôt que des magistrats.”Nous n’avons pas pris cette décision à la légère. Cela reflète la menace sérieuse que représentent la politisation et l’abus de pouvoir de la CPI”, affirme le ministère américain des Affaires étrangères dans un communiqué.”Ces quatre personnes participent activement aux actions illégitimes et infondées de la CPI ciblant les Etats-Unis et notre proche allié”, Israël, ajoute le département d’Etat.Les magistrates visées sont Solomy Balungi Bossa et Luz del Carmen Ibanez Carranza, à l’origine d’enquêtes de la CPI sur des crimes de guerre présumés de soldats américains en Afghanistan.Mais aussi Reine Alapini Gansou et Beti Hohler, qui ont autorisé la CPI à émettre des mandats d’arrêt contre le Premier ministre israélien, Benjamin Netanyahu, et son ancien ministre de la Défense, Yoav Gallant.Les juges avaient estimé qu’il y avait des “motifs raisonnables” de soupçonner les deux hommes de crimes de guerre et de crimes contre l’humanité dans la guerre à Gaza.En février, les Etats-Unis avaient déjà pris des sanctions contre le procureur de la CPI Karim Khan, qui avait initié cette procédure contre l’exécutif israélien. Le procureur s’est depuis mis en retrait, car visé par une enquête pour “faute présumée”.Le Premier ministre israélien Benjamin Netanyahu a réagi en remerciant tôt vendredi Donald Trump et son administration pour cette initiative.”Merci au président Trump et au secrétaire d’Etat Rubio d’avoir imposé des sanctions contre les juges politisés de la CPI. Vous avez défendu à juste titre le droit d’Israël, des Etats-Unis et de toutes les démocraties à se défendre contre le terrorisme sauvage”, a écrit le dirigeant israélien sur X.- “Impunité” -“Ces mesures constituent une tentative manifeste de porter atteinte à l’indépendance d’une institution judiciaire internationale qui opère sous le mandat de 125 Etats parties du monde entier”, a rapidement réagi la Cour dans un communiqué.”La CPI soutient pleinement son personnel et poursuivra son travail sans se laisser décourager”, a ajouté l’institution.”Cibler ceux qui œuvrent pour la justice ne contribue en rien à aider les civils pris au piège des conflits. Cela ne fait qu’enhardir ceux qui croient pouvoir agir en toute impunité”, a-t-elle poursuivi.Selon Liz Evenson, de l’organisation de défense des droits de humains Human Rights Watch, les sanctions américaines “visent à dissuader la CPI de désigner les responsables des crimes graves commis en Israël et en Palestine au moment où les atrocités israéliennes se multiplient à Gaza, y compris avec la complicité des Etats-Unis”.”Les sanctions doivent servir à mettre fin à des violations des droits humains, pas à punir ceux qui cherchent à rendre justice pour les crimes les plus graves”, a-t-elle ajouté dans une déclaration transmise à l’AFP.Ni les Etats-Unis ni Israël ne sont membres de la CPI, juridiction permanente chargée de poursuivre et juger des individus accusés de génocide, de crime contre l’humanité et de crime de guerre.Ils ne reconnaissent pas sa capacité à poursuivre leurs ressortissants.Au cours du premier mandat de Donald Trump, la CPI, en particulier sa procureure d’alors, Fatou Bensouda, avait déjà été la cible de sanctions américaines – levées par Joe Biden peu après son arrivée au pouvoir en 2021.

Washington sanctionne quatre juges de la CPI, qui proteste

Washington a sanctionné jeudi quatre magistrates de la Cour pénale internationale (CPI), estimant que leurs procédures visant des soldats américains ou l’exécutif israélien étaient “illégitimes” et “politisées”, une initiative immédiatement réprouvée par l’institution de La Haye.Les mesures annoncées – interdiction d’entrée sur le sol américain, gel des avoirs détenus aux Etats-Unis – visent d’ordinaire des criminels ou des dirigeants politiques de pays adverses, plutôt que des magistrats.”Nous n’avons pas pris cette décision à la légère. Cela reflète la menace sérieuse que représentent la politisation et l’abus de pouvoir de la CPI”, affirme le ministère américain des Affaires étrangères dans un communiqué.”Ces quatre personnes participent activement aux actions illégitimes et infondées de la CPI ciblant les Etats-Unis et notre proche allié”, Israël, ajoute le département d’Etat.Les magistrates visées sont Solomy Balungi Bossa et Luz del Carmen Ibanez Carranza, à l’origine d’enquêtes de la CPI sur des crimes de guerre présumés de soldats américains en Afghanistan.Mais aussi Reine Alapini Gansou et Beti Hohler, qui ont autorisé la CPI à émettre des mandats d’arrêt contre le Premier ministre israélien, Benjamin Netanyahu, et son ancien ministre de la Défense, Yoav Gallant.Les juges avaient estimé qu’il y avait des “motifs raisonnables” de soupçonner les deux hommes de crimes de guerre et de crimes contre l’humanité dans la guerre à Gaza.En février, les Etats-Unis avaient déjà pris des sanctions contre le procureur de la CPI Karim Khan, qui avait initié cette procédure contre l’exécutif israélien. Le procureur s’est depuis mis en retrait, car visé par une enquête pour “faute présumée”.Le Premier ministre israélien Benjamin Netanyahu a réagi en remerciant tôt vendredi Donald Trump et son administration pour cette initiative.”Merci au président Trump et au secrétaire d’Etat Rubio d’avoir imposé des sanctions contre les juges politisés de la CPI. Vous avez défendu à juste titre le droit d’Israël, des Etats-Unis et de toutes les démocraties à se défendre contre le terrorisme sauvage”, a écrit le dirigeant israélien sur X.- “Impunité” -“Ces mesures constituent une tentative manifeste de porter atteinte à l’indépendance d’une institution judiciaire internationale qui opère sous le mandat de 125 Etats parties du monde entier”, a rapidement réagi la Cour dans un communiqué.”La CPI soutient pleinement son personnel et poursuivra son travail sans se laisser décourager”, a ajouté l’institution.”Cibler ceux qui œuvrent pour la justice ne contribue en rien à aider les civils pris au piège des conflits. Cela ne fait qu’enhardir ceux qui croient pouvoir agir en toute impunité”, a-t-elle poursuivi.Selon Liz Evenson, de l’organisation de défense des droits de humains Human Rights Watch, les sanctions américaines “visent à dissuader la CPI de désigner les responsables des crimes graves commis en Israël et en Palestine au moment où les atrocités israéliennes se multiplient à Gaza, y compris avec la complicité des Etats-Unis”.”Les sanctions doivent servir à mettre fin à des violations des droits humains, pas à punir ceux qui cherchent à rendre justice pour les crimes les plus graves”, a-t-elle ajouté dans une déclaration transmise à l’AFP.Ni les Etats-Unis ni Israël ne sont membres de la CPI, juridiction permanente chargée de poursuivre et juger des individus accusés de génocide, de crime contre l’humanité et de crime de guerre.Ils ne reconnaissent pas sa capacité à poursuivre leurs ressortissants.Au cours du premier mandat de Donald Trump, la CPI, en particulier sa procureure d’alors, Fatou Bensouda, avait déjà été la cible de sanctions américaines – levées par Joe Biden peu après son arrivée au pouvoir en 2021.

Trump et Musk se déchirent en public

Leur alliance était spectaculaire et intense, leur rupture l’est tout autant: Donald Trump et Elon Musk se sont déchirés publiquement jeudi, s’accusant de “folie” pour l’un, “d’ingratitude” pour l’autre.Le président américain a assuré sur son réseau Truth Social qu’il avait mis fin à la mission budgétaire d’Elon Musk, selon lui “devenu fou” à cause d’une décision défavorable aux véhicules électriques.”Le plus simple pour économiser des milliards et des milliards de dollars dans notre budget serait d’annuler les subventions et contrats gouvernementaux” du patron de Tesla et SpaceX, a-t-il menacé dans un autre message.Sur son réseau X, Elon Musk a déclaré en réponse que SpaceX “commencera immédiatement à mettre hors service son vaisseau spatial Dragon”, utilisé notamment par la Nasa pour acheminer des astronautes vers la Station spatiale internationale (ISS).Il a semblé, quelques heures plus tard, faire marche arrière, écrivant: “Bon, nous n’allons pas mettre Dragon hors service.”Entre-temps, la joute a envoyé par le fond l’action Tesla, qui a perdu des dizaines de milliards de dollars de capitalisation à Wall Street, clôturant à -14,26%.Depuis que l’homme le plus riche du monde a lancé la semaine dernière un tir de barrage contre un mégaprojet de loi budgétaire de Donald Trump, ce n’était sans doute qu’une question de temps avant que le divorce ne soit véritablement consommé.C’est pendant une réunion dans le Bureau ovale avec le chancelier allemand Friedrich Merz, réduit au rôle de figurant muet, que le président a acté jeudi la rupture.Pendant un échange avec les journalistes, retransmis en direct, Donald Trump s’est dit “très déçu”. “Elon et moi avions une bonne relation. Je ne sais pas si c’est encore le cas”, a-t-il lancé à propos de son ancien “conseiller spécial”, qui a quitté vendredi dernier la mission de réduction des dépenses publiques qu’il menait à la Maison Blanche.- “N’importe quoi” -“N’importe quoi”, a écrit Elon Musk en commentaire d’une vidéo de Donald Trump affirmant, déjà, que sa colère était due à la perte de subventions pour les véhicules électriques.”Faux”, poste-t-il ensuite au-dessus d’un extrait dans lequel le président américain assure que l’entrepreneur connaissait par avance le contenu du texte. Une “grande et belle loi” selon Donald Trump, une “abomination” pour les finances publiques selon Elon Musk.Le multimilliardaire, qui a très généreusement financé la campagne du républicain en 2024, assure que “Trump aurait perdu l’élection” sans lui et l’accuse d'”ingratitude”.Il n’a pas hésité à frapper sous la ceinture, affirmant, sans apporter de preuve, que le nom du président se trouvait dans le dossier Jeffrey Epstein, ce financier américain au coeur d’un vaste scandale de crimes et d’exploitation sexuels qui s’est suicidé en prison avant d’être jugé. En réponse, la Maison Blanche s’est contentée de qualifier ces attaques de “regrettables”.Dans le Bureau ovale, Donald Trump a dépeint son ancien allié en amoureux éconduit: “Il disait les choses les plus belles à mon propos”.”Les gens quittent notre gouvernement, ils nous aiment, et à un certain moment cela leur manque tellement… Et certains d’entre eux deviennent hostiles”, a poursuivi le républicain.- “Nouveau parti politique” -Dès l’entrée tonitruante d’Elon Musk dans la campagne de Donald Trump l’an dernier, les doutes ont surgi sur la longévité de la relation entre ces deux hommes impulsifs et affamés d’attention.L’idylle a d’abord semblé parfaite. Donald Trump avait défendu son allié face aux critiques et a même organisé une opération de promotion pour la marque Tesla à la Maison Blanche.Elon Musk avait lui qualifié le président de “roi” le jour de son investiture, et porté une casquette siglée “Trump avait raison sur tout” au conseil des ministres.Mais les tensions ont grandi entre le multimilliardaire très impopulaire et les ministres ou conseillers du président.Pour certains experts, ce qui pourrait avoir scellé le sort d’Elon Musk ne s’est pourtant pas passé à Washington, mais dans le Wisconsin, où il a fortement soutenu un juge conservateur dans une élection récente à la Cour suprême locale. Mais c’est la candidate des démocrates qui l’a emporté, largement.Donald Trump, qui déteste être associé à la défaite, a forcément suivi avec attention cette première aventure politique en solo d’Elon Musk.Lequel n’a visiblement pas été dégoûté. Le natif d’Afrique du Sud, qui ne peut devenir président puisqu’il a été naturalisé, a demandé jeudi s’il n’était pas “temps de créer un nouveau parti politique” aux Etats-Unis.