Trump and Musk - from bros to foes

Their alliance exploded into a public feud on social media.

Get full access to Reuters.com for just $1/week. Subscribe now. Daily Briefing Daily Briefing By Linda Noakes Trump and Musk are set to speak after a spectacular falling out that hammered Tesla shares and put SpaceX government contracts at risk. And as the trade war rages on, we look at how China has weaponized the global supply chain. Today's Top News   Trump's Truth Social account and Musk's X account are seen side by side. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid  Trump-Musk feud White House aides scheduled a call between Donald Trump and Elon Musk for today, after a huge public spat that saw threats fly over government contracts and ended with the world's richest man suggesting the president should be impeached. Tesla shares rose on hopes that the feud will ease, after a 14% fall yesterday saw short-sellers pocket about $4 billion in profits. About $22 billion of SpaceX's government contracts are at risk and multiple US space programs could face dramatic changes.  White House Reporter Trevor Hunnicutt talks about the scramble to contain the fallout on today's Reuters World News podcast.  When Trump met privately with White House officials on Wednesday, there was little to suggest that the president was close to a public break with Musk. We look at how the unlikely relationship imploded.  In other news Russia launched an intense missile and drone barrage at Kyiv and three people were killed, Ukrainian officials said, as powerful explosions reverberated across the country. A federal judge in Boston temporarily blocked Trump from barring the entry of foreign nationals seeking to study or participate in exchange programs at Harvard University. Trump's administration imposed sanctions on four judges at the International Criminal Court, an unprecedented retaliation over the war tribunal's issuance of an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a past decision to open a case into alleged war crimes by US troops in Afghanistan. Israeli air strikes pummeled the southern suburbs of Beirut, sending thousands of people fleeing on the eve of a Muslim feast day and prompting accusations by top Lebanese officials that Israel was violating a ceasefire deal. Thailand's military said it is ready to launch a "high-level operation" to counter any violation of its sovereignty, in the strongest words yet in a simmering border dispute with Cambodia that re-erupted with a deadly clash last week. Business & Markets   Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping confronted weeks of brewing trade tensions and a battle over critical minerals in a rare leader-to-leader call that left key issues to further talks. We look at how China's rare earth weapon has changed the contours of the trade war battlefield. The Reserve Bank of India cut its key repo rate by a larger-than-expected half a percentage point and slashed the reserve ratio for banks as low inflation gave policymakers room to focus on supporting growth amid a volatile global economy. Traders are increasingly confident the European Central Bank will pause its run of interest rate cuts now that the central bank sees itself as well-positioned to deal with global economic uncertainty fueled by US tariff policy. A pair of Federal Reserve policymakers signaled that they believe higher inflation is for now a more pressing risk than a slowing labor market, a view that implies support for keeping monetary policy on hold for longer. Switzerland could be the first big economy to return to negative interest rates to fight a surging currency and falling prices, highlighting how quickly central bankers may be running out of conventional policy tools as a global trade war rages on. The Week Ahead EU trade data for April could offer a reasonably clean read on where things stood as on-off tariffs began to roll out, while investors are hoping any rise in US consumer inflation won't be as severe as feared given Trump's erratic tactics. In China, inflation figures will show if Beijing's efforts to stoke domestic demand are working. Britain, often a prime target for bond vigilantes, has been pushed into these traders' peripheral vision by US budget concerns. The Labour government's first spending review on Wednesday could bring the UK back into the spotlight. Here's a look at what's coming up for world markets. On Ireland's peat bogs, climate action clashes with tradition   School students earn money from their summer job stacking freshly cut turf on a raised bog in Clonbullogue. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne The painstaking work of "footing turf," as the process of drying peat for burning is known, is valued by people across rural Ireland as a source of low-cost energy that gives their homes a distinctive smell. But peat-harvesting has also destroyed precious wildlife habitats, and converted what should be natural stores for carbon dioxide into one of Ireland's biggest emitters of planet-warming gases. Read more In Pictures: Journey to Mecca A pilgrim prays at Jabal al-Rahmah, also known as Mount Arafat. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah The fifth pillar of Islam, the hajj is mandatory once in a lifetime for every able-bodied Muslim who can afford it. View gallery Sponsors are not involved in the creation of newsletters or other Reuters news content. 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