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Robert Zubrin quite literally wrote the book on why humanity should go to Mars — so why has the renowned aerospace engineer soured on Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur leading the charge?In an interview, the 73-year-old founder of the Mars Society delivered a blistering critique, accusing the world’s richest person of undermining the mission through divisive politics and a bleak vision of the Red Planet as an escape from Earth rather than a journey of hope.”On one level, he’s absolutely instrumental in opening up this opportunity to get humans to Mars, both through the development of Starship and also the inspiration that has caused,” Zubrin told AFP, referring to Musk’s prototype rocket.”But for it to succeed, it has to go beyond these — this initiative cannot be seen as a Musk hobbyhorse or a Trump hobbyhorse — it must be seen, at a minimum, as America’s program, or preferably the Free World’s program.”Zubrin’s 1996 book “The Case for Mars,” since updated numerous times, laid out a practical blueprint for reaching and settling the Red Planet using existing technologies and local resources — with the ultimate goal of transforming the atmosphere for long-term human habitation.- Supporter turned critic -The book won praise from Musk himself, who once posed with Zubrin at SpaceX’s Starship facility in Texas and called it “worth reading.”But today, Zubrin — who co-authored the Mars Direct plan in 1990, has published hundreds of papers, and invented several advanced propulsion concepts — sees troubling signs.While he described Musk as a “tremendously talented and forceful person,” he said his success has bred “hubris and arrogance,” comparing him to Napoleon as he thumped his fist for emphasis.He was especially critical of Musk’s embrace of Donald Trump during the 2024 election and his role as the administration’s chainsaw-wielding cost slasher.”This combination of Trump and Musk is not going to persist forever,” Zubrin warned, in an interview conducted before the pair’s relationship imploded Thursday in a spectacular public row.”And if this program is identified as their deal, it will be crushed as soon as opposing forces have sufficient power.”During their fight Thursday, Trump called Musk “crazy” threatened to terminate his government contracts worth billions of dollars.Zubrin also condemned Trump’s efforts to gut NASA’s space science budget — a move he sees as fundamentally at odds with the exploratory spirit of the Mars endeavor. The Mars Sample Return mission — aimed at retrieving specimens collected by the Perseverance rover — is among the biggest science projects on the chopping block.Although the mission, developed with the European Space Agency, has suffered delays and budget overruns, Zubrin said eliminating it entirely rather than reforming it would be a mistake.”This threatens to brand this program with the mark of Cain of original sin — that this program is born with the blood of the murder of Space Science on it.”- Creative outpost -Where Zubrin still sees promise is in Starship — Musk’s massive prototype rocket aimed at making life multiplanetary, though the vessel’s repeated test explosions show there’s a long way to go.He diverges with Musk over how it should be used. Starship is far too large to serve as a Mars ascent vehicle, Zubrin said.The Mars expert has proposed a vessel he calls Starboat — a compact lander that could shuttle between planetary surfaces and orbit, using a fraction of the propellant and surface power.But his sharpest critiques are philosophical. He rejects Musk’s portrayal of Mars as a refuge from a dying Earth — a vision that echoes the works of science fiction writer Isaac Asimov.”We’re not going to Mars out of despair,” Zubrin said. “We’re going to Mars out of hope… to establish new branches of human civilization which will add their creative capacity to that of humanity as a whole.”He sees Mars not as refuge but renewal, where a campaign beginning with robotic missions in the late 2020s and culminating in human landings by 2033 could inspire bipartisan support, showcase American ingenuity and restore national purpose.”If we do the kind of program that I advocated… we will once again, as we did in Apollo, astonish the world with what free people can do,” he said. “We’ll make it clear that freedom, not authoritarianism, is the future of the human race.”

A crewed mission to Mars would rank among the most complex and costly undertakings in human history — and US President Donald Trump has vowed to make it a national priority.That political momentum, coupled with SpaceX chief Elon Musk’s zeal, has breathed new life into a cause long championed by Red Planet advocates — even as major obstacles remain, including Trump and Musk’s latest feud.- Why go? -As NASA writes in its Moon to Mars blueprint, “exploration of the cosmos remains a great calling for humanity.”A mission to Mars would pursue scientific objectives like determining whether Mars ever hosted life and charting the evolution of its surface, as well as answering broader space physics questions — such as the history of the Sun through studying Martian soil.Geopolitics also looms large, as Trump has pledged to “plant the American flag on the planet Mars and even far beyond,” invoking the “unlimited promise of the American dream.”Critics, however, say cuts to NASA’s science budget and the cancellation of key projects — including the return of rock samples collected by the Perseverance rover — are undermining the research mission.”The purpose of exploration is not just to go somewhere,” Nobel-winning astrophysicist John Mather told AFP. “This is not a tourist thing. This is a fundamental knowledge thing.”- Getting there – Musk is betting SpaceX’s future on Starship, the largest rocket ever built, despite fiery failures in its nine test flights.He’s aiming for an uncrewed launch by late 2026, timed with the next favorable Earth-Mars alignment. But the timeline is widely seen as optimistic: Starship has yet to land its upper stage or demonstrate in-orbit refueling — both essential for deep space travel.Some experts believe the system is fundamentally sound, while others say it’s too soon to judge.”A lot of the pertinent and relevant technical information… is not known to us,” Kurt Polzin, chief engineer for NASA’s space nuclear propulsion project, told AFP.He backs Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP), which uses fission to heat hydrogen and generate thrust. NTP delivers “a lot of power in a very small package,” Polzin said, eliminating the need for orbital refueling or fuel production on Mars.Astronauts would spend seven to nine months in a cramped spacecraft, exposed to intense space radiation beyond Earth’s magnetosphere. Ideas to improve radiation shielding range from passive methods, like using dense materials, to active concepts such as plasma fields that deflect radiation, while drugs are being developed to reduce cell damage.Without a system to simulate gravity — such as rotational spin — crews would also need grueling exercise routines to counteract muscle and bone loss.Mental health is another concern. Growing plants aboard — more for morale than sustenance — has proved beneficial on the ISS.Communication delays further complicate matters. On the station, real-time data has helped prevent an average of 1.7 potentially fatal incidents per year, said Erik Antonsen, chair of NASA’s human systems risk board — but such communication will not be possible en route to Mars.- Life on Mars -Once on the surface, the uncertainties grow. Probes and rovers have found hints — organic molecules, seasonal methane — but no definitive signs of life. If it ever existed, it likely died out long ago.Still, Earth’s own “extremophiles” offer intriguing clues — from fungi that harness Chernobyl’s radiation for energy, to microbes that survived 500,000 years in frozen stasis.”If they can survive here in extreme environments, we have every reason to suspect they can be on Mars,” said NASA astrobiologist Jennifer Eigenbrode at the recent Humans to the Moon and Mars Summit.And while NASA has decided nuclear fission will power surface operations, other choices — from crop selection to habitat design — remain open.”Mars has a 24-hour, 39-minute day — that small difference creates strain, increases stress, and reduces sleep quality,” said Phnam Bagley, a space architect who designs for comfort and crew well-being — critical factors in preventing conflict.The first trip would be around 500 days on the surface, but long-term colonization raises deeper questions.For instance, scientists don’t yet know whether mammalian embryos can develop in low gravity — or what childbirth on Mars would entail.”I think it’s really important to take that seriously,” said NASA’s Antonsen. “Even if you don’t plan on it happening, people are still going to have sex, and somebody might get pregnant. Then it becomes a medical issue.”

With one tweet linking Donald Trump with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, Elon Muskreignites a long-running conspiracy theory beloved of the US president’s far right supporters.The tech billionaire — who exited his role as a top White House advisor just last week — alleged Thursday that the Republican leader is featured in secret government files on rich and powerful former Epstein associates.The Trump administration has acknowledged it is reviewing tens of thousands of documents, videos and investigative material that his “MAGA” movement says will unmask public figures complicit in Epstein’s crimes.”Time to drop the really big bomb: (Trump) is in the Epstein files,” Musk posted on his social media platform, X, as a growing feud with the president boiled over into a vicious public spat.”That is the real reason they have not been made public.”Supporters on the conspiratorial end of Trump’s base allege that Epstein’s associates had their roles in his crimes covered up by government officials and others.They point the finger at Democrats and Hollywood celebrities, however, not at Trump himself, and no official source has ever confirmed that the president appears in any of the material.Musk did not reveal which files he was talking about, and offered no evidence for his claim.White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt on Thursday called Musk’s behavior “an unfortunate episode” adding the Tesla tycoon is “unhappy with the One Big Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted.”But the allegation prompted fresh demands for a release of the material — this time from Democrats keen on turning a MAGA conspiracy theory back on its proponents.Epstein died by suicide in a New York prison in 2019 after being charged with sex trafficking.Trump has denied spending time on Little Saint James, the private redoubt in the US Virgin Islands where prosecutors alleged Epstein sex trafficked underage girls.The president said ahead of his election last year that he would have “no problem” releasing files related to Epstein.The administration has made public over 63,000 pages tied to the JFK assassination, but Trump has not fully followed through on the Epstein files pledge.- ‘Terrific guy’ -PolitiFact investigated Trump’s denials and concluded that the president had flown on Epstein’s jet at least seven times, and noted that the pair attended the same parties in the 1990s. But it also said there was no evidence Trump visited Epstein’s island.”Terrific guy,” Trump, who was Epstein’s neighbor in both Florida and New York, said in an early 2000s profile of Epstein.”He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”One of Epstein’s victims, Virginia Giuffre — who died by suicide in April, according to her family — filed a lawsuit saying he had flown her to sexual encounters with royals, politicians and others when she was underage.Thousands of pages of records from the case were released in 2019, and more in 2024, but they offered scant evidence of wrongdoing by famous figures.Lawmakers in the opposition Democrats jumped on Musk’s allegation to renew their calls for the release of more detailed files. “I called for the full release of the Epstein Files a month ago because of my suspicion that (Attorney General Pam Bondi) was concealing the files to protect Donald Trump,” New York congressman Dan Goldman posted on X. “Now my suspicion has been confirmed.”His fellow House Democrat Ted Lieu of California said Musk’s accusation had confirmed his own belief that Trump is “all over the Epstein files.””I urge the Department of Justice to release all the Epstein files. What is the Trump Administration hiding?” he said.Tim Miller, a former Republican National Committee spokesman turned fierce Trump critic, echoed the call.”The American people deserve to know if our president is a pedophile,” he posted on X.

Donald Trump’s late night proclamation blocking Harvard’s new international students has sparked fear and anger among existing students left in limbo amid the escalating showdown between the US president and their university.Alfred Williamson, a Welsh-Danish physics and government student in his second year at Harvard, said he was “clinging onto the hope that Harvard will win this fight and that I will get to return next semester.”Harvard had won a reprieve from a judge who paused an earlier bid by Trump to revoke the university’s ability to sponsor the school’s large international student population — 27 percent of the total.”Then the Trump administration does whatever it can to crush those dreams,” Williamson, 20, told AFP of Trump’s proclamation Wednesday alleging that “Harvard’s conduct has rendered it an unsuitable destination for foreign students and researchers” and also threatened existing international students with visa cancellations.”This represents another authoritarian instance of executive overreach, which punishes international students for attending a university that refuses to bow down to the administration,” said Williamson who is vacationing outside the United States.He said “Trump is targeting Harvard because it has the integrity to stand up to his unlawful and un-American demands.”Harvard has been at the forefront of Trump’s campaign against top universities after it defied his calls to submit to oversight of its curriculum, staffing, student recruitment and “viewpoint diversity.” The government already cut around $3.2 billion of federal grants and contracts benefiting Harvard and pledged to exclude the Cambridge, Massachusetts, institution from any future federal funding while threatening its tax-exempt status.- ‘Campaign of retaliation’ -On Thursday, Harvard added the latest measure to legal action against the Trump administration, arguing in a court filing that “this is not the Administration’s first attempt to sever Harvard from its international students.” It called it part of a “campaign of retaliation.”A graduate student at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government from India who declined to be named said: “I just read this latest news. We have not received anything from Harvard yet, but this isn’t surprising — albeit concerning.” “I knew it was going to be a long summer.” One international student who declined to be named for fear of retribution raised the plight of international students who had moved their lives to Harvard, leaving for the summer break, and now faced uncertainty following Trump’s order.”What about students who went home for the summer? There’s a risk they won’t be able to come back,” said the student who is currently seeking to renew their own visa.Legal experts said Harvard would need to explore a range of options to protect its foreign students alongside the legal action.”(They) need to act quickly on an administrative level to explore options for its international student population which could possibly include program deferrals, transitions to online instruction, or other alternatives to ensure academic continuity,” said attorney Khensani Mathebula, who works with the Laura Devine Immigration firm.”Staying informed and proactive is essential in protecting (students’) academic and immigration status.”A US Harvard student of government going into her fourth year who is friends with many international students, Olivia Data, said “this news is heartbreaking and scary.” “Our friends and classmates are being used as collateral in a dictator’s grab for power, and none of us know where it will end or whether our university can protect its students in our current political system,” she said.

Harvard on Thursday added Donald Trump’s proclamation barring new foreign students at the university from entering the United States to existing legal action against the administration, which it accuses of “retaliation” action.A proclamation issued by the White House late Wednesday declared that the entrance of international students to begin a course at Harvard would be “suspended and limited” for six months and that existing foreign enrollees risked having their visas terminated.”Harvard’s conduct has rendered it an unsuitable destination for foreign students and researchers,” the order said.In an amended complaint filed in federal court, Harvard said “this is not the Administration’s first attempt to sever Harvard from its international students.””(It) is part of a concerted and escalating campaign of retaliation by the government in clear retribution for Harvard’s exercising its First Amendment rights to reject the government’s demands to control Harvard’s governance, curriculum, and the ‘ideology’ of its faculty and students.”Wednesday’s announcement came after the Trump administration’s earlier efforts to terminate Harvard’s right to enroll and host foreign students were stalled by a judge.- ‘Government vendetta’ -Harvard quickly filed a lawsuit against that effort on May 23, expanding the action Thursday to include the latest legal push.The government already cut around $3.2 billion of federal grants and contracts benefiting Harvard and pledged to exclude the Cambridge, Massachusetts, institution from any future federal funding.Harvard has been at the forefront of Trump’s campaign against top universities after it defied his calls to submit to oversight of its curriculum, staffing, student recruitment and “viewpoint diversity.” Trump has also singled out international students at Harvard, who accounted for 27 percent of total enrollment in the 2024-2025 academic year and are a major source of income.In its filing, Harvard acknowledged that Trump had the authority to bar an entire class of aliens if it was deemed to be in the public interest, but stressed that was not the case in this action.”The President’s actions thus are not undertaken to protect the ‘interests of the United States’ but instead to pursue a government vendetta against Harvard,” it said.Since returning to office Trump has targeted elite US universities which he and his allies accuse of being hotbeds of anti-Semitism, liberal bias and “woke” ideology.Trump’s education secretary also threatened on Wednesday to strip Columbia University of its accreditation.The Republican has targeted the New York Ivy League institution for allegedly ignoring harassment of Jewish students, throwing all of its federal funding into doubt.Unlike Harvard, several top institutions — including Columbia — have already bowed to far-reaching demands from the Trump administration

It may have been one of the most predictable break-ups in history. But for a few brief months US President Donald Trump and tech tycoon Elon Musk were inseparable.Here are some key moments before the marriage of two huge egos imploded over Musk’s criticisms of Trump’s “big, beautiful” budget mega-bill.- Jumping on stage – The world’s richest man literally jumped for joy when he first stumped for Republican candidate Trump on the campaign trail on October, 5 2024. The South African-born Musk leapt in the air like one of his Space X rockets as he joined Trump on stage in Butler, Pennsylvania, where Trump escaped an assassination attempt three months earlier.”As you can see, I’m not just MAGA, I’m dark MAGA,” Trump told the crowd, tipping his all-black “Make America Great Again” hat.He would go on to become the campaign’s biggest donor, spending nearly $300 million.- ‘Lil’ X’ -Trump sprung a surprise on reporters when he brought Musk into the Oval Office for his first appearance before the media since his arrival in Washington.Even more surprising was that Musk brought his young son, named X Æ A-Xii but more widely known as “Lil’ X” — later putting him on his shoulders.”This is X and he’s a great guy,” said Trump, as the boy picked his nose while his father boasted about his cost-cutting exploits with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).- Tensions? What tensions? -There were already rumors of tensions between the hard-charging Musk and other members of Trump’s administration when the tycoon attended his first cabinet meeting in February.But Trump moved to squish any suggestions of trouble in paradise. “Anybody unhappy with Elon? If they are, we’ll throw ’em out of here,” said Trump, jumping in after AFP asked Musk whether the reports of strains were true.The rest of the cabinet then erupted into a round of applause for Musk — just as they would do three months later when it emerged he was stepping back from the role.At another meeting, Musk proudly wore a “Trump was right about everything” baseball hat.- Sleepovers -The president and the tech magnate seemed to spend most of their time together in the first feverish weeks of Trump’s return to power. They traveled together on Air Force One and his Marine One helicopter. Musk slept over at the White House, where he boasted of once eating a whole tub of ice cream.In a display of macho bonding, they also attended mixed martial arts fights together.Musk meanwhile proclaimed his loyalty on his social media platform, X. He declared himself the “First Buddy” and said: “I love @realDonaldTrump as much as a straight man can love another man.”- Tesla showroom -Musk’s Tesla car company took a major hit from his bromance with Trump. Trump, knowing that a threat to Musk’s businesses could drive him out of his role, decided to help out.The president turned the White House South Portico into a pop-up Tesla showroom for Musk, with a Cybertruck and a Model S parked outside. Trump even said he had purchased one. Two of Trump’s press aides were seen posing in the gleaming red car as recently as last week. After the spectacular break up it was still sitting in the White House parking lot on Thursday.

A key witness took the stand in the federal trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs Thursday, giving graphic detail of choreographed sexual encounters with the music mogul that were allegedly coercive, testimony that’s core to the prosecution’s case.The woman, who is speaking in court under the pseudonym Jane, began delivering testimony that is expected to last for days and which so far mirrors descriptions provided by another marquee witness against Combs, his ex-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura.Combs, 55, faces upwards of life in prison if convicted of racketeering and sex trafficking crimes. Both Jane and Ventura are key witnesses to the latter charges.Jane took the stand after some courtroom drama: the judge threatened to remove Combs after he was “looking at jurors and nodding vigorously” while a different witness testified.Calling Combs’s behavior “absolutely unacceptable,” Judge Arun Subramanian said “it cannot happen again.”Communications between a defendant and a jury are strictly prohibited.The court had been hearing testimony from Bryana Bongolan, a friend of Ventura’s who had alleged that Combs dangled her from a 17th-story balcony before throwing her against furniture.Combs’s gestures to the jury took place as Bongolan was under tense questioning from his defense team, who sought to cast her as an unreliable witness who abused drugs.- ‘Hotel nights’ -Jane’s testimony was highly anticipated: she began by detailing how she had met Combs through a friend who was dating him at the time. But he came on strongly to Jane, she said, and when her friend got engaged to someone else, she began seeing Combs romantically.Their relationship began in earnest during a whirlwind five-day date at a Miami hotel, she said, describing Combs — as many others during the trial have — as “larger than life.””I was pretty head over heels for Sean,” she told jurors.Several heady months followed, including a romantic trip to Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas in February 2021.She said Combs first gave her illicit drugs on that trip. When the vacation ended, he wired her $10,000 because she had been unable to work — at the time she was creating content for brands on social media — and was a single mother.Jane silently collected herself and held her face in a tissue as she described how her blissful early days with Combs took a sharp turn in May 2021, when he began talking about his fantasies of seeing her with other men.She acquiesced because she wanted to make Combs happy, she said, and to her surprise he arranged for another man she dubbed Don to meet them at a hotel that very night.Jane thought the experience was a one-time thing — but she said instead it became “a door I was unable to shut.”The “hotel nights” became a regular feature of their relationship, Jane told jurors, even when she said she didn’t want it.”He was just dismissive,” she said, saying that approximately 90 percent of their relationship became a pattern of her having sex with other men under Combs’s direction.- Full-time job -Jane’s descriptions of the “hotel nights” — her provocative attire that Combs requested, red mood lighting, heavy drug use and copious baby oil — closely tracked with the testimony that Ventura gave on the stand of what she called “freak-offs.”Jane said that the amount of time she spent getting ready for hotel nights with Combs, which he demanded at a moment’s notice and sometimes flew her to, meant she did not work.Money from Combs and child support from her previous relationship were essentially her only income, she said. That testimony echoed Ventura’s, who had said her freak-offs with Combs came to feel like a full-time job. Combs put Jane up in a home in Los Angeles for $10,000 a month, she said, and when she spoke against hotel nights, he would bring up that point.”My feeling of obligation really started to stem from the fact that my partner was paying my rent,” she said.Jane told jurors their relationship continued up until Combs’s arrest in September 2024.Prosecutors say he ran a criminal enterprise of high-ranking employees and bodyguards who enforced his power with illicit acts including kidnapping, bribery and arson. Along with Ventura and Jane, witnesses have included former employees of Bad Boy Enterprises, Combs’s company.Jane’s testimony will continue Friday. The trial is epxected to last at least another month.

Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s unlikely bromance imploded in spectacular fashion Thursday as the US president and his billionaire former aide tore into each other in a very public, real-time divorce.Trump said in a televised Oval Office diatribe that he was “very disappointed” with criticisms from his top donor of a “big, beautiful” spending bill before Congress, before threatening to tear up the tycoon’s multi-billion-dollar US government contracts.The South African-born Musk hit back live, saying that the Republican would not have won the 2024 election without him and slamming Trump on his X social media platform for “ingratitude.”As the spat got increasingly bitter, Musk also posted that Trump “is in the Epstein files,” referring to US government documents on disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, who committed suicide in jail while awaiting trial for sex crimes.Shares in Musk’s Tesla electric vehicle manufacturer plummeted about 15 percent as the astonishing row escalated — wiping off more than $100 billion of the company’s value.Questions had long swirled about how long the extraordinary alliance could last between the world’s richest person and the most powerful.The world got the answer from Trump in a 10-minute rant after he was asked about Musk calling his tax and spending mega-bill a “disgusting abomination.””I’m very disappointed in Elon. I’ve helped Elon a lot,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, as visiting German Chancellor Friedrich Merz looked on.”Look, Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore.”His comments came less than a week since Trump held a grand Oval Office farewell for Musk as he wrapped up his time leading the cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).A wistful-sounding Trump took reporters through the break-up with Musk on live television Thursday, in what at times sounded more like a therapy session than a meeting with a foreign leader.The Republican suggested that Musk had “Trump derangement system,” missed working at the White House and had become “hostile” after his departure. – ‘Such ingratitude’ -Tesla and Space X boss Musk, who has criticized Trump’s bill on the grounds that it would raise the US deficit, hit back in a series of rapid-fire social media posts. He branded Trump’s claims “false” before doubling down on the sensitive issue of Trump’s election win. Musk was the biggest donor to Trump’s 2024 campaign, to the tune of $300 million.”Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,” said Musk.”Such ingratitude.” Musk then posted a poll on whether he should form a new political party — a possible threat to Republican support, even if the foreign-born tycoon himself is barred from becoming president under the US Constitution.As the row moved to social media, Trump doubled down by threatening Musk’s massive government contracts, including for launching rockets and for the use of the Starlink satellite service.US media have put the value of the contracts at $18 billion.”Elon was ‘wearing thin,’ I asked him to leave,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform, adding that Musk had gone “crazy” about a plan to end electric vehicle subsidies in the spending bill.He then dropped the bombshell: “The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts.”Trump’s decision to tap Musk to head DOGE was one of the most controversial of his second presidency. Musk’s young “tech bros” cut tens of thousands of government jobs and slashed US foreign aid.Trump and Musk’s whirlwind relationship initially blossomed, with the tech tycoon appearing in the Oval Office with his young son on his shoulders, flying with Trump aboard Air Force One and staying at the White House and Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.But the 53-year-old lasted just four months on the job, becoming increasingly disillusioned with Washington’s slow pace, while clashing with some of Trump’s cabinet members.The only winner from the public Trump-Musk spat? Germany’s Merz. Merz, who sat mutely while Trump bashed Musk, had prepared to avoid a repeat of the ambushes that Trump unleashed on the Ukrainian and South African presidents in the Oval Office. But in the end it was Musk who took the president’s fire.

Weeks after a military crisis, India and Pakistan have dispatched top lawmakers to press their cases in the United States, where President Donald Trump has shown eagerness for diplomacy between them.After crisscrossing the world, the delegations descended this week at the same time on Washington, which played a key mediatory role in a ceasefire after four days of fighting between the nuclear-armed adversaries in May.In strikingly similar strategies, the rival delegations are both led by veteran politicians who have been critical of their countries’ governments and are known for their ease in speaking to Western audiences.Pakistan has embraced an active role for the Trump administration while India, which has close relations with Washington, has been more circumspect and has long refused outside mediation on the flashpoint Himalayan territory of Kashmir.”Just like the United States and President Trump played a role in encouraging us to achieve this ceasefire, I believe they should play their part in encouraging both sides to engage in a comprehensive dialogue,” said Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the scion of a political dynasty whose Pakistan People’s Party says it belongs neither to the governing coalition nor opposition.”I don’t quite understand the Indian government’s hesitance,” he told AFP. “I’m the first to criticize the United States for so many reasons, but where they do the right thing, where they do the difficult task of actually achieving a ceasefire, they deserve appreciation.”India’s delegation is led by one of its most prominent opposition politicians, Shashi Tharoor, a former senior UN official and writer.He said he was putting the national interest first, despite disagreements domestically with Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Tharoor said he heard “total support and solidarity for India” during his meetings with US lawmakers and a “complete understanding of India’s right to defend itself against terrorism.”- ‘No equivalence’ -Gunmen on April 22 massacred 26 tourists on the Indian-administered part of Kashmir, most singled out as Hindus, in the deadliest attack on civilians in decades in the scenic region that has seen a long-running insurgency.India accused Pakistan of backing the assailants and launched strikes on Pakistani territory. More than 70 people were killed in missile, drone and artillery fire on both sides.”There can be no equivalence between a country sending terrorists and a country having its civilians killed — holiday-makers, tourists, men shot down in front of their wives and children after being asked their religion,” Tharoor told a news conference.He said he was “puzzled” by those who believe denials of responsibility by Pakistan, pointing to how US forces found Osama bin Laden in the country.Tharoor also noted that former Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari — Bilawal’s father — had advocated peace with India but was in power during the siege of Mumbai on November 26, 2008.”If they can’t control what they’re doing to us, why bother to talk to them?” said Tharoor, who pointed to the outsized role of the military in Pakistan.- ‘A new normal’ -Trump has repeatedly credited his administration with averting nuclear war and said the United States had negotiated an agreement to hold talks between the two sides at a neutral site, an assertion that met India’s silence.Pakistan had cool relations with Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden, whose aides bitterly resented Islamabad’s role in the Afghanistan war, but Pakistan has quickly worked to woo Trump including with the arrest of a suspect in a deadly 2021 attack that killed more than 170 people, including 13 US troops, during the withdrawal from Kabul.Bilawal — recalling how his mother, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, was killed in an attack — said Pakistan was ready to discuss terrorism with India but that Kashmir as a “root cause” also needed to be on the table.He said that India was establishing a dangerous new precedent in South Asia where whenever there is a terrorist attack in any country, “you go straight to war.””I think that the fate of 1.7 billion people and our two great nations should not left in the hands of these nameless, faceless, non-state actors and this new normal that India is trying to impose on the region,” he said.The two delegations have no plans to meet in Washington.

The US Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a $10 billion lawsuit by the Mexican government accusing American gun manufacturers of fueling drug cartel violence.In a unanimous 9-0 opinion, the top court said a federal law — the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) — shields the gunmakers from liability.”Mexico’s lead claim — that the manufacturers elect to sell guns to, among others, known rogue dealers — fails to clear that bar,” said Justice Elena Kagan, author of the opinion.”Mexico’s complaint does not plausibly allege that the defendant manufacturers aided and abetted gun dealers’ unlawful sales of firearms to Mexican traffickers.”Gunmaker Smith & Wesson and gun distributor Interstate Arms had sought dismissal of the Mexican government’s suit, which has been winding its way through US courts since 2021.Mexico, which is under pressure from President Donald Trump to curb drug trafficking, had accused the firearms makers of aiding and abetting illegal gun sales because they allegedly know that some of their products are being unlawfully sold to the drug cartels.A federal judge tossed out the case in 2022 saying Mexico’s claims failed to overcome the protections of the PLCAA, which was passed by Congress in 2005 and shields US gunmakers from liability for criminals misusing their products.An appeals court revived the case, citing an exception to the law, and Smith & Wesson and Interstate Arms sought relief from the Supreme Court.In a statement, Mexico’s foreign ministry said it “strongly disagrees” with the Supreme Court’s dismissal of the suit.The Mexican government “will continue to do everything in its power to curb illicit arms trafficking, exhausting all available legal and diplomatic remedies,” it said.The National Rifle Association gun rights group welcomed the ruling as a “huge legal win” while Smith & Wesson CEO Mark Smith celebrated what he called an end to “this ridiculous lawsuit against our company.”- ‘El Jefe’ -A majority of the justices on the conservative-dominated top US court had appeared to side with the firearms companies during more than 90 minutes of oral arguments in March.Mexico maintains that 70-90 percent of the weapons recovered at crime scenes have been trafficked from the United States.The southern US neighbor tightly controls firearms sales, making them practically impossible to obtain legally.Even so, drug-related violence has seen more than 480,000 people killed in Mexico since the government deployed the army to combat trafficking in 2006, according to official figures.Catherine Stetson, representing the Mexican government before the Supreme Court, said 600,000 US guns are illegally trafficked into Mexico every year and some companies are even “designing certain guns to target the Mexican market,” giving them Spanish names such as “El Jefe.”The case comes against a backdrop of US-Mexico trade tensions with Trump threatening tariffs on imports from Mexico, citing a lack of progress in stemming the flow of drugs such as fentanyl into the United States.Democratic Senator Dick Durbin said the Supreme Court decision does not address the “crisis” of gun trafficking from the United States to Mexico.”Lawless gun manufacturers, international criminals, and drug cartels are weaponizing our lax gun laws in America to facilitate violence, traffic drugs, and wreak havoc across the globe,” Durbin said in a statement.”Our fight for common sense gun safety reform continues,” he said, urging his fellow senators to back his “Stop Arming Cartels Act.”