Splainer FREE: End of Love
Aaj ki khabar includes the end to the Trump-Musk bonhomie, an update on the RCB stampede debacle & a breakthrough in finding an HIV cure. Our fave bit: Ed Sheeran’s latest made-in-India song!
Hello, splainer FREE subscribers! We launched a paid version of our daily headlines in January. Our splainer LITE subscribers will get: One: Extended headlines every day (For example: deets on the ugly Musk-Trump breakup, today). Two: A deep dive on a big story each month—so be sure to read our free Big Story on the Architecture biennale underway in Venice. Three: A fab pop culture explainer that keeps you clued-in and nerdy cool (For example: this explainer on the colourful history of the Cannes Film Festival). All this for Rs 99 per month only! Be sure to sign up here—and gift the sub to friends & fam.
La Biennale di Venezia: Architecture of the world
The TLDR: In this week’s Big Story, we take a look at one of the most prestigious and influential architecture events in the world that is underway in Venice. In a city that may well disappear under rising seas as global temperatures soar, it is fitting that this edition’s theme is climate resilience. It marks a rare beautiful and hopeful moment in the relentless doomsday discourse of climate change.
Written by: Aarthi Ramnath, Raghav Bikhchandani & Yash Budhwar
The very ugly breakup of the Trump-Musk bromance
Everyone saw this one coming. Any relationship between two (sorta unhinged) white guys with way too much power and ego was never going to last. After months of cootchie cooing in the Oval office, the two have finally broken up. It’s every bit as ugly and public as you’d expect.
How it started: Last July, Elon Musk endorsed Donald Trump for president—and donated vast sums of money to get him elected. For which he was rewarded with the position of ‘first buddy’. Perks included jetting around on Air Force One, sleepovers at the White House—and sitting on highly sensitive national security meetings.
DOGE, baby, DOGE: Musk was also put in charge of DOGE—Department of Government Efficiency—to cut government spending. All of which led to ketamine-fuelled stage appearances with a chain saw—and mass firings of employees—including ‘useless’ air traffic controllers. Sadly, he never reached his target of $1 trillion in cuts—there is only evidence for a measly $32.5 billion.
The first signs of trouble: Last week, Donald went and pissed on months of Elon’s hard work. He rolled out “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act” that will add $5.2 trillion to US debt—and will increase the budget deficit by $600 billion in the first fiscal year. To which, Elon politely said: “I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful. But I don't know if it can be both”—and announced his departure from “public duty” soon after. The breakup seemed amicable:
In a departing news conference at the White House, Trump and Musk showered each other with praise, and the president gave the tech tycoon a large golden key in a wooden box. Although according to the president, Musk is "not really leaving" and will continue to be "back and forth" to the White House.
Umm, maybe not.
Shots fired: On Saturday, Trump launched the first assault—aimed squarely at Musk’s pocket. He junked the plan to make Musk’s buddy Jared Isaacman—an avid customer: of SpaceX—the next NASA administrator. Crony capitalism suffered its first great setback that day. By Tuesday, Musk had downgraded his assessment of Trump’s spending bill to a “disgusting abomination.” The very next day, he declared war on it: “KILL the BILL.” Yes, he dared to use all caps—a privilege reserved for the orange emperor.
Cue the ‘yo momma’ phase: Thursday started on a mild note. When asked about Musk at a press conference, Trump merely said: “I’m very disappointed in Elon. I’ve helped Elon a lot.” But things got ugly when the brawl moved to social media. Musk claimed credit for electing Trump—and accused him of “ingratitude.” The two traded more charges—Musk even referred to Trump’s links to the dead pedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein. He also suggested he should be impeached.
Funniest bits: The top trending topic on X was “THE GIRLS ARE FIGHTING.” Soundtrack of choice: “Get Him Back!” by Olivia Rodrigo—which is all about a guy with “an ego and a temper and a wandering eye.” The best comment—Dem spokesperson Josh Sorbe who tweeted: “This messy Trump-Musk breakup is truly the gayest thing about pride month.”
Finally, the money bombs: As with all rich folks, it ain’t serious until both sides start talking paisa. Trump threatened to cut all of Musk’s federal contracts:
He mused on Truth Social that the “easiest way to save money in our Budget” would be to wipe out Mr. Musk’s government subsidies and contracts. “I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!” Mr. Trump added.
Ah, such a deliciously ironic DOGE revenge. Musk came bouncing back with threats to decommission SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft asap—which would be super-mean to NASA:
If SpaceX were really to decommission its Dragon spacecraft, presumably the company would still bring back the one currently docked at the International Space Station and not strand the four astronauts it took to orbit. But without Dragon, NASA would find itself in an immediate bind because it does not have other readily available alternatives to carry astronauts, food or supplies to the space station.
Peacemakers #fail: Neither side listened to wise counsel of MAGA elders—like Kanye West who tweeted: “Broooos please noooooo.”
Where we are now: Musk appeared to walk back his NASA bombshells—maybe because his Tesla shares tanked by 15% in the aftermath. The share price graph looks like this:
Trump will 100% end the subsidies for EVs—which will further dent Tesla’s falling sales.
But, but, but: Feuding with one of the richest men in the world isn’t going to be a cakewalk:
Mr. Musk, who spent about $275 million helping elect Mr. Trump in 2024, had promised to give $100 million to groups controlled by the president’s team before the 2026 midterms — funds that have yet to be delivered and are now very much in doubt. Mr. Trump not only must confront the choking-off of election support; he now must contend with the wrath of an ally-turned-foe who appears determined to undermine his standing on the right.
Reading list: The most unbelievable bit about this story is that it is the top headline round the world. Quite frankly, we wouldn’t have done this item otherwise. CNN and BBC News offer a good overview. New York Times reports on the damage to Tesla shares—and the timeline of the fallout. We leave you with the best Trump vs Musk memes—ranging from the obvious:
To the truly clever (this is a reference to an iconic Soviet-era image of the ‘The Vanishing Commissar’—a man airbrushed out of a photo with Stalin):
2/10 RCB stampede: Criminal charges, sackings et al
The context: In case you managed to miss it, a planned victory parade for the Royal Challengers Bangalore sparked a stampede—when 200,000-300,000 fans rushed into the Chinnaswamy stadium—which can only accommodate 32,000.…
3/10 Brilliant breakthrough promises HIV cure
Aussie researchers took a huge step toward finding a cure for HIV—which has remained impossible for decades. As of now, HIV-positive patients can only manage their condition. The key reason:…
For more in splainer LITE…
Gaming your brainwaves to kill pain
A rare portrait of the Mahatma
Just married: Mahua Moitra and Pinaki Misra
A NYC mayoral candidate video in Hindi
The trailer for the sequel to ‘Wicked’ is out
A new 007… video game
Ed Sheeran’s latest made-in-India song ‘Sapphire’
what caught our eye
business & tech
Reddit vs Anthropic continues: The social network company sued Anthropic claiming that it accessed its platform more than 100,000 times since July 2024—after Anthropic allegedly blocked its bots from doing so.
Amazon’s gearing up to have humanoid robots deliver your packages.
Coming soon to ChatGPT: meeting recordings for business users, connectors for Google Drive, Dropbox and more. TechCrunch has the story.
Microsoft stock just hit a record high—riding the wave of its AI gold rush and Wall Street’s soaring expectations.
Google is partnering with Chile to deploy a trans-Pacific undersea cable connecting South America with Asia and Oceania.
sports & entertainment
The French Open women’s final will be contested between Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka, after they defeated local rookie Lois Boisson and heavy hitter Iga Swiatek respectively.
India’s upcoming Test series away to England will be Shubman Gill’s first as the new captain. ESPNCricinfo has the takeaways from his first press conference.
health & environment
A new study has found that smoking weed and eating edibles—consuming cannabis—comes with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
New research reveals that dehorning of rhinos by veterinarians has reduced poaching by 78% in eight wildlife reserves in southern Africa. FYI: rhino horns grow back, like fingernails.
Wall Street Journal (splainer gift link) has a must-read on how ‘inflammaging’—chronic, low grade inflammatory pain associated with aging—drives a high number of cancer cases in people over 50.
meanwhile, in the world
The Donald has suspended foreign student visas at Harvard—citing “national security concerns”—less than a day after a US judge had blocked a previous attempt by the Department of Homeland Security to ban international students.
Politico reviews German chancellor Friedrich Merz’s first meeting with the Donald—in which blowups were avoided but the Donald moved away from his many promises to end Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Members of the UN’s nuclear agency are drafting a resolution accusing Iran of non-compliance with its so-called safeguards obligations for the first time in 20 years.
The Netherlands is still supporting the supply chain of Israel’s version of the F-35 fighter jet, more than a year after a court banned direct Dutch exports of the jet’s parts to Israel.
Israel launched several attacks on Beirut’s southern suburbs. It’s the fourth attack on the Lebanese capital since the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah last November.
The Trump administration has slapped sanctions on four International Criminal Court (ICC) judges over the tribunal’s investigation into Israeli war crimes in Gaza.
The ‘Madleen’—an aid ‘flotilla’ en route to Gaza with Greta Thunberg among its crew—has rescued refugees of the Sudanese war.
The New Zealand parliament has suspended three MPs for performing a ‘haka’ in protest against a controversial bill.
A second attempt at a moon landing—by Japanese firm ispace—has likely ended in failure. The Guardian has more.
Wall Street Journal (splainer gift link) has a must-read on how the Yemeni Houthis rattled the US navy and transformed maritime war.
New York Times (splainer gift link) looks at the gruelling pilgrimage made by thousands of Hindus in Pakistan to Balochistan’s Hinglaj Devi temple for an annual, 3-day festival.
meanwhile, in India
Indian students are deleting their social media posts and accounts en masse to better their chances of securing US visas, but experts say that could raise red flags.
Tata Advanced Systems and Dassault have inked a deal for a manufacturing facility in Hyderabad—to produce the main body of Rafale fighter aircraft by 2027-28.
BBC News has an investigative report on people in Assam who were accused of being illegal immigrants and forcibly sent to Bangladesh—despite claiming they are Indians.
Islamabad will either chair or co-chair three anti-terrorism bodies at the UN Security Council—much to New Delhi’s unease.
Featuring interviews with journalists, Washington Post (splainer gift link) looks at how misinformation overtook Indian newsrooms amid the conflict with Pakistan.
Sticking with Operation Sindoor, Newslaundry details the diplomacy failures of India’s seven all-party delegations that were tasked with shoring up global support for India and seeking accountability for Pakistan.
Need an immediate pick-me-up? We have all you need to keep you sane.
One: The lesser-known asana called "draw me like one of your French girls”.
Two: Tired of being a bird? Pigeons: “Yes”.
Three: To get you in the Friday state of mind…
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