From the Earth trembling as two of its biggest alpha males fall out to Korean leaders doing battle with toilet brushes, your weekly roundup of offbeat stories from around the world.- ‘Sad, so sad’ -It has been a bruising week for the world’s richest man and his former friend, the world’s most powerful one.First Elon Musk turned up in the Oval Office with a black eye he said he got from “horsing around with lil’ X” — his five-year-old son whose full name is X Æ A-Xii.”I said, ‘Go ahead punch me in the face,'” and the boy duly obliged, the 53-year-old tech billionaire told reporters when asked how he got the shiner as President Donald Trump thanked his “friend” for his “great work” for the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).Six days later the two were at each other’s throats, with Musk saying that the president should be impeached, that “without me Trump would have lost the election”, and mocking the US leader’s connections to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, saying the president is “in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public.”Trump took time out from welcoming German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to the White House — telling him D-Day “was not a pleasant day for you” — to hit back hard.”I’m very disappointed in Elon. I’ve helped Elon a lot,” he said, before taking to his own social network to call Musk “crazy”, saying that he had sacked him and that he could save “billions and billions” by cancelling Musk’s government contracts and subsidies.The falling out — sparked by Musk criticising Trump’s “big, beautiful” spending bill as an “abomination” — sent markets into a spin with Musk’s Tesla electric car marker losing $100 billion in share value in a few hours.Trump, however, appears to have made a new friend from the spat, Ashley St Clair, the mother of Musk’s 14th child, who is suing him for child support.”Let me know if u need any breakup advice,” said the rightwing writer, reaching out to the president on her ex’s X social network.- Trust the Dutch -With friends falling out, the world needs love — though possibly not of the kind depicted on an early prophylactic which has gone on display in the venerable Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.The 19th-century condom made from a sheep’s appendix is adorned with an erotic scene involving a nun and three gentlemen of the cloth displaying parts of their person better kept under their cassocks.The very rare printed piece from around 1830 “embodies both the lighter and darker sides of sexual health”, said the museum, whose curators believe it was a souvenir from a brothel.- Lavatorial politics -To South Korea, where broadcasters outdid themselves on election night with wacky graphics to illustrate the battle for votes between the liberal challenger Lee Jae-myung and conservative Kim Moon-soo.Eye-catching CGI that channelled hit TV show “Squid Game” also included the pair battling to unblock a WC with a toilet brush. In the end it was Lee who mounted the throne after winning a thumping election victory.”Can we go this far with people who might become the president?” wondered journalist Son Hyoung-an from broadcaster SBS, which is famous for its cheeky graphics. Too late now…burs-fg/jxb
From the Earth trembling as two of its biggest alpha males fall out to Korean leaders doing battle with toilet brushes, your weekly roundup of offbeat stories from around the world.- ‘Sad, so sad’ -It has been a bruising week for the world’s richest man and his former friend, the world’s most powerful one.First Elon Musk turned up in the Oval Office with a black eye he said he got from “horsing around with lil’ X” — his five-year-old son whose full name is X Æ A-Xii.”I said, ‘Go ahead punch me in the face,'” and the boy duly obliged, the 53-year-old tech billionaire told reporters when asked how he got the shiner as President Donald Trump thanked his “friend” for his “great work” for the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).Six days later the two were at each other’s throats, with Musk saying that the president should be impeached, that “without me Trump would have lost the election”, and mocking the US leader’s connections to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, saying the president is “in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public.”Trump took time out from welcoming German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to the White House — telling him D-Day “was not a pleasant day for you” — to hit back hard.”I’m very disappointed in Elon. I’ve helped Elon a lot,” he said, before taking to his own social network to call Musk “crazy”, saying that he had sacked him and that he could save “billions and billions” by cancelling Musk’s government contracts and subsidies.The falling out — sparked by Musk criticising Trump’s “big, beautiful” spending bill as an “abomination” — sent markets into a spin with Musk’s Tesla electric car marker losing $100 billion in share value in a few hours.Trump, however, appears to have made a new friend from the spat, Ashley St Clair, the mother of Musk’s 14th child, who is suing him for child support.”Let me know if u need any breakup advice,” said the rightwing writer, reaching out to the president on her ex’s X social network.- Trust the Dutch -With friends falling out, the world needs love — though possibly not of the kind depicted on an early prophylactic which has gone on display in the venerable Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.The 19th-century condom made from a sheep’s appendix is adorned with an erotic scene involving a nun and three gentlemen of the cloth displaying parts of their person better kept under their cassocks.The very rare printed piece from around 1830 “embodies both the lighter and darker sides of sexual health”, said the museum, whose curators believe it was a souvenir from a brothel.- Lavatorial politics -To South Korea, where broadcasters outdid themselves on election night with wacky graphics to illustrate the battle for votes between the liberal challenger Lee Jae-myung and conservative Kim Moon-soo.Eye-catching CGI that channelled hit TV show “Squid Game” also included the pair battling to unblock a WC with a toilet brush. In the end it was Lee who mounted the throne after winning a thumping election victory.”Can we go this far with people who might become the president?” wondered journalist Son Hyoung-an from broadcaster SBS, which is famous for its cheeky graphics. Too late now…burs-fg/jxb
