Contractors building border wall ordered to stop drilling (WATER) wells in drought-stricken New Mexico

MIKELLA SCHUETTLER

AP
Mon, August 3, 2026 


Construction crews drill wells for border wall construction in July 2026, in Luna County, N.M., along the US-Mexico border. (Russell Johnson via AP) (Russell Johnson via AP)

Construction crews drill wells for border wall construction in July 2026, in Luna County, N.M., along the US-Mexico border. (Russell Johnson via AP) (Russell Johnson via AP)

PHOENIX (AP) — The Trump administration has ordered construction crews on a border wall to stop drilling wells in drought-stricken New Mexico after ranchers said pumping groundwater needed to make concrete could threaten their livestock.

The order comes as crews across the southern border race to complete one of President Donald Trump's highest domestic priorities — barriers that span four states and received over $46 billion in federal funding. Controversies have sprouted up in Texas and California, with border-town residents and environmentalists reporting a wide variety of issues with construction.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which oversees border wall construction, has said water is needed to make concrete for roads, wall construction and dust suppression. Cattle ranchers in the area say the drought has already forced them to reduce their herd size.

"It would put us in an immediate catastrophe and having to do something with our livestock. I mean, it could potentially put some people out of business, us included," said Russell Johnson, a cattle rancher whose property runs along the border.

Johnson raised the issue at a public meeting in July after noticing an industrial well, which drilling crews told him would pump 300 gallons a minute, on land he leases for grazing. Johnson has roughly 12 wells across his ranch, which pump between three and seven gallons a minute.

A spokesperson for CBP said on Monday that border wall contractors in New Mexico have been instructed to stop drilling new wells, but did not comment on whether the wells already drilled could be pumped. The agency said they would collaborate with New Mexico and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to develop a groundwater strategy.

"CBP is committed to working collaboratively with local landowners to ensure that construction activities do not adversely impact their water needs," read the statement.

The federal contractors building the wall in New Mexico — Caddell Construction Co. and Fisher Industries — did not respond to emails or phone calls seeking comment. Messages left with receptionists for Barnard Construction and Spencer Construction Co., the contractors building near Johnson's ranch, were not immediately returned.
State agency that monitors wells said contractors drilled illegally

The New Mexico Office of the State Engineer, which monitors and approves wells across the state, said staff have counted eight wells drilled without the office's permission along the southern border, but cautioned there could be more. Staff visited two wells in July and reported they were pumping 200 gallons per minute.

"All non-tribal wells in New Mexico, whether they are drilled on state or federal land, must have permits from the state engineer before they can be drilled or water can be pumped from them," the Office of the State Engineer said in a statement.

The wells for border construction were all drilled on a federally owned strip of land 60 miles (96 kilometers) north of the border called the Roosevelt Reservation. CBP did not respond to follow up questions about whether the federal government has a right to pump groundwater on federal land without state oversight.

Cattle ranchers report culling herds due to water scarcity

Tom Patterson, president of the New Mexico Cattle Growers' Association, says water is the No. 1 concern for ranchers and that if wells start to go dry, it's already too late. During wall construction in Trump's first term, Patterson said, contractors bought water from farms, ranches, or municipalities in the area, which meant the amount of water being pumped from nearby basins didn't increase during construction.

"Why do they need all this water?" said Patterson. "And why can't they buy it as they have in the past from farmers, ranchers, or even from Luna County?"

Johnson said the moratorium on future well drilling is a step in the right direction, but he's still worried after a contractor told him the well near his ranch could eventually be pumped if crews ended up needing the water. Though beef prices are up, Johnson has been forced to reduce his herd to one third its original capacity. He cites the drought, which has left less grass for cattle to graze on, as the main reason for the drop.

Before the first border wall went up, Johnson remembers seeing at least one truck of people crossing his ranch every week. Now, he says illegal crossing hardly ever happens on his ranch. As a former Border Patrol agent, he supports the border wall but doesn't believe it should cost him his livelihood.

So far, half a mile of secondary wall has gone up near Johnson's property.

"They need to stop pumping all of these wells because they were all drilled illegally," Johnson said.
New Mexico politicians scramble to claim credit for deal

Both candidates in the race for a congressional seat that represents this area in New Mexico claimed credit for the moratorium.

Congressional candidate Greg Cunningham, a Republican, said he advocated for the agreement between CBP and border wall contractors and was the first to announce the news over social media on Friday.

"Ranchers, families and local officials brought us their concerns. I raised it with the Trump Administration. They listened. They acted fast," Cunningham said in a post on X.

Congressman Gabe Vasquez, who faces Cunningham in November's midterm elections, spoke about the issue on the House floor earlier this month.

"This illegal drilling by this administration should never have happened, but when it did, I heard our ranchers' concerns loud and clear and immediately raised hell in Washington to get the job done and protect New Mexicans' water rights."

___

Schuettler is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

US House Democrat asks Musk to answer for polluting xAI data centers

A drone view shows the xAI Colossus 2 "Macrohard" data centre in Southaven, Mississippi, U.S., May 30, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Wurm · 

Wed, July 29, 2026

July 29 (Reuters) - U.S. Representative Frank Pallone, the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, on ‌Wednesday demanded documents and answers from Elon Musk ‌about the environmental and public health impacts of his xAI Colossus data ​center operations in Tennessee and Mississippi.


• Pallone sent a letter to Musk seeking information on turbines used at the Colossus 1 and Colossus 2 artificial intelligence data centers, emissions data, permitting ‌records and communications with ⁠government officials.

• Pallone also requested analyses related to the facilities' emissions, power consumption and water usage, ⁠and asked to arrange a visit to the sites with committee staff.

• The New Jersey Democrat said Musk's SpaceX, which owns ​xAI, ​had been unwilling to provide ​sufficient information during a meeting ‌with committee staff last month and accused the company of showing "disregard for the health and well-being of local communities."

• The letter follows growing scrutiny of the energy demands and environmental impacts of AI data centers as technology companies race to ‌expand computing capacity.

• Reuters reported this ​month that Musk's AI company xAI ​had installed 59 ​natural gas turbines for its Colossus 2 project ‌without securing federal clean-air permits, ​according to communications ​between regulators and company representatives. Reuters found the turbines were located near predominantly Black communities and that potential ​emissions exceeded thresholds ‌that would typically require federal permits.

• SpaceX did not ​immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Nichola ​Groom; Editing by David Gregorio)

Musk Touted Data Centers in Space to SpaceX IPO Investors. Peter Zeihan Calls the Idea 'So Many Levels of Dumb'

Daragh Thomas
July 26, 2026

Elon Musk's SpaceX pitched orbital data centers as a central part of its record-breaking IPO, but geopolitical analyst Peter Zeihan says the physics may not cooperate.

In a recent video, Zeihan argued a one-gigawatt orbital data center would require roughly 500 Starship launches to assemble.
High-end chips cannot survive radiation in space, Zeihan said, so the entire facility would need shielding. That shielding would weigh roughly 20 million pounds.

"There's so many levels of dumb to this," Zeihan said, adding that anyone raising funds on the concept "thinks you're stupid."

Space Is Cold, But It Doesn't Cool

GPUs run extremely hot, and on Earth, data centers use air and water to carry that heat away. Space has neither, so there is nothing to carry the heat off. The only way out is radiator fins, spanning tens of square kilometers. Zeihan estimated those radiators alone would cost $250 billion.

Wall Street analysts are less brutal, but not by much. Energy research firm Wood Mackenzie recently modeled the full cost of a 1 GW orbital data center at roughly $170 billion. Much less than Zeihan's estimates, but still three times the cost for an Earth-based facility.

What SpaceX Actually Promised

Following its February acquisition of xAI, SpaceX pitched itself to IPO investors as a vertically integrated AI company, not just a launch provider.

Its S-1 says orbital AI compute satellites could begin deploying as early as 2028. The company claims these satellites will carry over 100 kilowatts of compute per metric ton, with a long-term target of 100 gigawatts launched per year.

For now, the real money remains on Earth. Anthropic agreed in May to pay SpaceX $1.25 billion per month through May 2029 for capacity at its terrestrial Colossus data centers, a deal either side can end with 90 days' notice.

The filing's own risk factors concede that orbital compute involves unproven technologies, or "technologies that do not exist," and may not achieve commercial viability.

Kalshi traders give a 1-megawatt orbital data center just a 14% chance of going live before January 2029, despite the S-1's 2028 target. Odds rise to only 39% before 2035.

SpaceX plans Texas data center expansion, The Information reports

Work continues on the gigabay at the SpaceX production facility in Starbase, Texas ·

 Reuters

Reuters
July 22, 2026

July 22 (Reuters) - SpaceX is preparing for at least one new large-scale data ‌center in Texas, The Information reported on ‌Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The expansion would ​significantly increase the company's AI computing capacity beyond its existing Memphis-area hub, where it operates two data centers with about 1 gigawatt ‌of compute capacity.

Here ⁠are some details:

• SpaceX has explored several potential data center sites ⁠in Texas in recent months, according to the report.

• The company is considering building multiple ​data centers ​from scratch and ​retrofitting an existing warehouse, ‌the report added.

• SpaceX did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

• The company aims for a Texas expansion on a similar or larger scale than its ‌existing Memphis-area facilities, the ​report said.

• SpaceX has already ​sent some ​existing data center staff to Texas ‌in preparation for the expansion, ​according to ​The Information.

• SpaceX signed AI computing deals with Anthropic in May and Google ​in June, ‌broadening its efforts to monetize its AI ​infrastructure.

(Reporting by Anzar Mehraj in Bengaluru; ​Editing by Tasim Zahid)

Elon Musk is looking for trades workers to build AI data centers — and his (IN) famous 3-bullet-point requirement applies

Natalie Musumeci
Mon, August 3, 2026 

Business Insider 


Elon Musk is looking to hire skilled trades workers for his AI data center buildout.


He said in an X post that SpaceX is hiring talent to build data centers "on & off Earth."


Applicants were asked to email "3 bullet points demonstrating evidence of exceptional ability."

Elon Musk is reviving one of his famed hiring tactics as he recruits skilled trades workers for the AI data center buildout by his rocket company, SpaceX.

Musk, in an X post last week, said SpaceX is hiring "exceptional engineering & skilled trades talent to build & operate the most powerful AI supercomputer clusters on & off Earth."

The "off Earth" reference reflects Musk's vision of placing data centers in space as a potential solution to AI's soaring energy demands.

Interested applicants were asked to email "3 bullet points demonstrating evidence of exceptional ability," along with their resume, to datacenters@spacex.com.

The three-bullet-point requirement has become a hallmark of the world's richest man's recruiting style.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has previously asked potential candidates for white-collar roles at his companies to provide three bullet points "demonstrating evidence of exceptional ability" or three bullet points on the "toughest technical problems" they've solved.

Musk's hiring push for trades workers to build data centers comes as SpaceX plays an increasingly central role in his AI ambitions. Earlier this year, SpaceX acquired Musk's AI startup, xAI, which was rebranded as SpaceXAI.

SpaceXAI now operates Colossus, the massive AI supercomputer campus built in Memphis, Tennessee, that trains the company's Grok AI models.

NASA Chief Jared Isaacman Says 'Never Bet Against' Elon Musk, Adds 'We Can't Do It Without' SpaceX for Moon Base

Badar Shaikh
July 28, 2026 



NASA Administrator and former Shift4 Payments Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) CEO Jared Isaacman has backed Elon Musk and Space Exploration Technologies Corp.'s (NASDAQ:SPCX) goal of establishing space-based compute capacity via orbital data centers.
AI Race Healthy for NASA

During an appearance on the Moonshot podcast on Monday, Isaacman said that the Artificial Intelligence race was "extremely healthy" for NASA. He then said that if "Elon and SpaceX are betting on this [orbital data centers], there is no reason to believe this will not come into existence."


Read Also:Musk Touted Data Centers in Space to SpaceX IPO Investors. Peter Zeihan Calls the Idea 'So Many Levels of Dumb'

Isaacman then said that one should "never bet against an extremely well-capitalized Elon." He also shed some light upon SpaceX's IPO, saying that NASA's partners, like SpaceX, being "extremely well-capitalized" was a good thing and that the engineers at SpaceX, with Musk at the helm, left "no doubt" that orbital data centers will happen.

The NASA administrator also said that SpaceX was crucial in the agency's goal of establishing a permanent presence on the moon. "We can't do it without them," Isaacman said in the podcast. He also called Musk the "greatest entrepreneur and engineer in recent history."
Elon Musk on Orbital Data Centers, Starship

Musk, on several occasions, touted orbital data centers, with the SpaceX CEO most recently saying that the company was preparing to build the technology as soon as next year. SpaceX also revealed its AI1 satellites, which are purpose-built to carry out compute in orbit. The satellites would be a part of SpaceX's Starmind constellation.

SpaceX also carried out the 13th flight test of its flagship rocket, Starship, from the company's headquarters in Starbase, Texas. Musk also said that the launch had much higher acceleration, which was intentional, as SpaceX sought to test the rocket's heat shields.

According to Benzinga Edge Rankings, SpaceX fails to provide a favorable price trend in the Short, Medium and Long term.

Price Action: SpaceX shares were down 1.23% to $112.10 during overnight trading on Monday

SpaceXAI Eyes Texas Data Center Expansion As It Pushes Into AI Cloud Market: Report

SpaceXAI Eyes Texas Data Center Expansion As It Pushes Into AI Cloud Market: Report ·

 Stocktwits
Rounak Jain
July 22, 2026

SpaceXAI is looking to expand its AI computing capacity beyond its existing Memphis hub as it seeks to become a major cloud provider.

The report said a Texas expansion could match or exceed the scale of SpaceXAI's existing facilities, which house around a gigawatt of compute capacity and hundreds of thousands of Nvidia GPUs.

SpaceXAI has also begun sending existing data center staff to Texas and recently posted job openings tied to data center development and construction in the state.


Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SPCX) subsidiary, SpaceXAI, is considering an expansion of its footprint in Texas with at least one new large-scale data center.

According to a report by The Information citing people familiar with the matter, SpaceXAI has explored several potential data center sites in Texas over the past few months.

See what 10M+ investors are talking about. Get the Stocktwits Daily Rip for what retail is watching right now, free to your inbox

SpaceX shares were down 1% in Wednesday's opening trade.

SPCX's AI Cloud Push

SpaceXAI is looking to expand its AI computing capacity beyond its existing Memphis hub as it seeks to become a major cloud provider. The company has recently signed agreements to lease large portions of its compute capacity to customers including Anthropic and Alphabet Inc.'s (GOOG, GOOGL) Google, creating a new revenue stream alongside its Grok AI offerings.

The report said a Texas expansion could match or exceed the scale of SpaceXAI's existing facilities, which house around a gigawatt of compute capacity and hundreds of thousands of Nvidia Corp.'s (NVDA) GPUs. SpaceXAI has also begun sending existing data center staff to Texas and recently posted job openings tied to data center development and construction in the state.

The report added that SpaceXAI is weighing multiple approaches for the expansion, including building new facilities from the ground up and converting existing warehouses into AI data centers, similar to how it repurposed a former manufacturing facility for its first Memphis site.

SpaceXAI, formerly known as xAI, became a SpaceX subsidiary following an acquisition in February this year.
SpaceXAI's Growing Data Center Ambitions

SpaceXAI has significantly expanded its data center workforce over the past year, adding more than 40 hires to its Colossus team, according to the report. Following SpaceX's merger with the AI unit in February, employees from the aerospace company have also been brought in to support data center operations.

The report said the company has explored a Texas expansion for several months while reshuffling leadership overseeing its AI infrastructure. After xAI co-founder Ross Nordeen departed in March, SpaceXAI President Michael Nicolls appointed Jake Palmer to lead physical infrastructure and SpaceX software engineering director Daniel Dueri to oversee compute infrastructure.

To power its growing AI footprint, SpaceXAI has relied heavily on natural gas turbines alongside grid electricity, the report added. The company has installed dozens of mobile turbines in Tennessee and Mississippi and is developing a permanent gas-fired power plant in Mississippi through a joint venture with Solaris Energy Infrastructure.
SPCX In Talks To Power Pentagon's AI Push

According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, SpaceX is in talks with the Defense Department to provide the agency with data center capacity worth billions of dollars.

The report added that SpaceX is also considering plans to compete directly with neocloud providers like CoreWeave Inc. (CRWV), offering AI compute capacity at a lower price.

A Pentagon deal for data center capacity would build on SpaceX's existing deal with the agency to provide access to its AI model. The Defense Department also signed similar deals with six other companies, including Nvidia, Google, Amazon.com Inc.'s (AMZN) AWS, OpenAI, Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), and Reflection AI.

What Retail Traders Think Of SPCX Stock

Retail sentiment on Stocktwits around SpaceX trended in the 'bearish' territory at the time of writing.

SPCX stock is down 18% year-to-date. The Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) and the Invesco NASDAQ 100 ETF (QQQM) are up 26% over the past 12 months.

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.

Rounak Jain has no position in any of the stocks mentioned in this article. StockTwits' news team content is for informational purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. For more, see our editorial policy. This article was originally published on StockTwits.

Musk Denies Report of $52 Billion AI Server Order

Faizan Farooque
July 20, 2026 
This article first appeared on GuruFocus.

SpaceX (SPCX, Financials), the aerospace business led by Elon Musk, disputed claims that it had agreed to buy Nvidia-powered AI servers from Foxconn for billions of dollars. 

Musk slammed the idea as fake news on a post on X. The comment came following rumors that SpaceX was set to install more than 13,000 server racks based on Nvidia's GB300 architecture.

It was not a declared contract price but a value of roughly $52 billion against an estimated cost of about $4 million per rack. 

The project has been reported but not confirmed and neither SpaceX, Nvidia nor Foxconn immediately responded beyond Musk's article. 

The news initially sparked speculation that SpaceX was planning a massive expansion of its AI processing capability, with Foxconn said to be building the devices.

 The deal might also help Foxconn's AI division grow beyond current forecasts, it said.

 But the estimate has been questioned since it was published and it indicates a growing appetite from investors for large-scale AI infrastructure spending as tech companies scramble to get processing power.

Now the focus is on whether SpaceX, Nvidia or Foxconn disclose further specifics that clarify their AI infrastructure plans.

KULTURKAMPF

Right Wingers Claim Rap Music Is Dead Thanks to … Elon’s USAID Cuts

Nikki McCann Ramirez
Fri, July 31, 2026

ROLLING STONE



Ella Langley's mournful country ballad "Choosin' Texas" has broken record after record, sitting atop national and international charts for weeks in a row. The Rolling Stone pick for song of the summer is an easy earworm about love, loss, and the Lone Star State, but some on the right are hearing their own favorite tune: a global conspiracy.

No, the fever swamps of the right are not taking the stance that Langley is a nepo baby, or industry plant, or inflating her streams, — that would be too straightforward. Instead, over the past few weeks, some of the most prominent figures on the cultural right have spread conspiracies claiming that Langley's breakout hit was able to reach such heights because Elon Musk and DOGE defunded the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

The conspiracy asserts that somehow, with its roughly $40 billion annual pre-Musk budget, USAID had been propping up the American rap industry, to the detriment of other, more "American" genres. They claim that by eliminating USAID — the now defunct international humanitarian aid agency — DOGE opened the doors for "American" country artists to once again top the charts — as if rap music is not one of the most quintessentially American cultural creations in the nation's history.

Their evidence? Well, the timing of the DOGE cuts coincides with a resurgence of country music's popularity on streaming charts. Maybe this seems plausible if you squint real hard, ignore actual streaming data, and also common sense. There's also a very blatant element of racism undergirding the whole thing.

In May, far-right social media poster and would-be musician Steve Frassen put out a call to his followers on social media. "ATTENTION PROUD WHITES:Everyone who hated rap in the 1990's and 2000's is VINDICATED," he wrote. "Rap isn't music.It's government PISS that was funded by USAID to dumb down Middle America. Take a victory lap, proud Whites who didn't fall for it!"

Within weeks, the claim made it onto the podcast of the perpetually credulous Joe Rogan, who spread it to his millions of listeners. "There's some people that believe that gangsta rap when it came about in the 1980s [… was popularized by] some faction, the government, some faction, some intelligence agencies wanting to create more crime," Rogan said — referencing older, also debunked conspiracies.

"People are pointing out that right now is like one of the rare times where no rap music is on the charts, and they're saying, 'Well, how does this coincide with USAID [being defunded]?' Was USAID like actively promoting rap music?" he went on. "Was that one of the reasons why rap music was so possible? Popular? Is that real? That can't be real."

Rogan's engagement with the conspiracy, which up until that point had been contained to the more extreme cesspools of social media, brought it to the front door of the right-wing creator economy.

Podcaster Tim Pool told his listeners in late July that "Maybe it was the USAID."

"Rap music just vanished from the Billboard Top 40 for the first time in 35 years. Strange, a couple of months — so this would have been about four months after the shuttering of USAID — rap disappears from the Billboard Hot 100. Interesting," he added.

While Langley has held the top spot for an impressive 40 weeks, the genre has not "disappeared" from the charts for that same amount of time, as some right wingers are claiming. On July 31, Drake, Lil Baby and Young Miami all held spots in the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100. Mac Miller, Ty Dolla $ign, Don Toliver, BabyChiefDoit, and a slew of other artists made the list.

Pool, who seems to be stuck in the perpetually embittered aesthetic of a 2000s Hot Topic teen, went on to suggest that the Black Eyed Peas somehow benefited from this government intervention. "I want you to think about that Oprah performance — the Black Eyed Peas are there — and there's a big crowd, and on camera, it looks like everybody loves this band, and the song is played on the radio, and it's put in the playlists, and you will listen to what they tell you to listen," Pool complained, possibly in reference to a 2009 Oprah show kickoff party.

Click slop creator Benny Johnson claimed on Thursday that "libtards" had no response to Langley and were "in shambles" over Langley's success. To be clear, there is no discernable backlash to Langley or her music, and she has not spoken publicly about her politics.

Johnson described the hit as a song about "loving Texas," an example of the manner in which many of these creators are incapable of actual cultural comprehension and are instead simply regurgitating slightly remixed versions of formulaic culture war skirmishes for clicks.

"We were suppressed and our culture was manipulated and psy-opped by our own tax dollars and intel agencies, and Elon Musk shut it all down with USAID," Johnson said. "Libs have no answer to it. So produce another piece of mumble rap garbage, please, CIA, and tell us that we're going to like it."

He repeatedly emphasized that Langley's song had broken records set by Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey, two Black female artists, and added that the "queens of pop music" had been "traded for true American culture."

Country music is absolutely seeing a resurgence in popularity, with artists like Kacey Musgraves, Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs, and Stella Lefty all scoring major hits. As previously reported by Rolling Stone, R&B and hip-hop still remain the most popular streaming force in the first half of 2026 when taken as a whole, even as other genres gained steam. Latin, K-pop, and other foreign-language artists have also seen exponential growth.

The decline in rap and hip-hop's presence on the charts can at least partially be attributed to a controversial rule change that Billboard made in October of last year. The outlet decided to weigh paid subscription streams more heavily than ad-supported ones, setting the stage for the Hot 100 singles chart to not feature a single rap or hip-hop artist in the top 40 spots for the first time since 1990. In response to the change, YouTube pulled out of its data-sharing agreement with Billboard in December, writing that the new policy "doesn't reflect how fans engage with music today and ignores the massive engagement from fans who don't have a subscription." (Billboard and Rolling Stone are owned by the same company, Penske Media.)

It's far more likely that the genre's chart troubles have more to do with these factors, and broader ups and downs in listening patterns, than the defunding of a government agency focused primarily on health and development aid abroad. But right-wingers are not interested in the nuances of streaming data and genre growth. They see an opportunity to continue fomenting racist, nativist grievances on the back of a young artist who has done nothing to court a position as the right's latest culture war obsession — except perhaps produce a chart-topping single in the genre she loves.


Country Songs Take All Five Slots in the Billboard Hot 100’s Top 5 for the First Time in Chart History

Chris Willman
Mon, August 3, 2026

VARIETY



Country music is ruling the roost like never before, at least when it comes specifically to the Billboard Hot 100. For the first time in history, country songs are claiming all five of the top five slots on the Hot 100. That's thanks to Ella Langley and Morgan Wallen, who currently stand at No. 1 on the singles and albums charts, respectively… and to Taylor Swift's return to country for a hit soundtrack… and to newcomer Stella Lefty officially joining the ranks of hitmakers.

To no one's surprise, Langley's "Choosin' Texas," the biggest single of 2026 so far, maintains its No. 1 perch in chart results reported by Billboard on Monday. Wallen's new single, "Been by Now," premieres at No. 2. Taylor Swift's "I Knew It, I Knew You" gets pushed down one spot on this week's chart, now landing at No. 3. In the fourth position is a duet between Langley and Wallen, "I Can't Love You Anymore." And coming in at No. 5 is Lefty's career-making "Boston," down two slots from last week, but still with plenty of room to grow.

So many statistical anomalies are included in this top 5, it's hard to know where to begin, although the aforementioned stat about this congregation of songs establishing a collective chart record is a good place to start.

The headline any other week might be about Langley's ongoing winning streak at the top of the chart. This is the 16th week at No. 1 with "Choosin' Texas," which puts Langley in ever-more-rarefied territory. "Texas" is now tied for a historic fourth place for the number of weeks spent at No. 1. The three singles it is tied with for that sweet 16 number are Wallen's "Last Night," Mariah Carey's and Boyz II Men's "One Sweet Day" and the Luis Fonsi/Daddy Yankee/Justin Bieber monster "Despacito."

So, what are the next thresholds for "Choosin' Texas" to cross? If Langley holds on to No. 1 for just one more week — which is a highly likely prospect — then she will still be in fourth place on the all-time streak chart, just no longer tied for it. The next tier for her would be meeting or surpassing the two songs that are tied for second, at 19 weeks each — Shaboozey's "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" and Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus' "Old Town Road." If she gets to 20 weeks at No. 1, she will hold the record for the most weeks for a non-holiday song. Then, the final frontier would be whether she could beat Mariah Carey's annual perennial "All I Want for Christmas," which, at 22 nonconsecutive weeks, is a tough one for anyone to beat. Tagging on seven more weeks to the current 16 to claim the all-time record sounds impossible, but the song has surpassed so many expectations already that it might be foolish to bet against it.

Looking at the top 10 for this week, country has six out of those 10, since Langley's second-most-popular track, "Be Her" is in at No. 9.

The non-country songs rounding the top 10 this week are Tame Impala and Jennie's "Dracula" at No. 6, Olivia Dean's "So Easy (To Fall in Love)" at No. 7, Ariana Grande's "Hate That I Made You Love Me" at No. 8 and Dean's "Man I Need" at No. 10.

Dean having two songs in the top 10 and Langley having three (one of them a Wallen collaboration) may provide a glimpse of what the Grammy competition holds in store a few months from now. Voters in the four general categories have turned up their noses at country contenders for years, but Langley will provide the true test of whether the Recording Academy can really keep snubbing country or whether her dominance will mean it's time to cry uncle.

As Europe migration debate rages, Bologna businessman's death highlights human cost

By Claudia Cristoferi
Mon, August 3, 2026 

REUTERS

People march behind a banner calling for justice for Moroccan businessman Abderrahim Fakir during a demonstration in Bologna, Italy, July 26, 2026. REUTERS/Michele Lapini

BOLOGNA, Italy, Aug 4 (Reuters) - When tens of thousands of would-be migrants crossed from Morocco into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta last week, Italy's right-wing prime minister Giorgia Meloni promptly said she would suspend a free-movement accord with Spain, even though Ceuta is excluded from the pact.

And when a distressed Moroccan businessman who feared repatriation despite having lived in Italy ‌for 36 years died after being stopped by police two weeks ago in Bologna, with viral footage showing two officers sitting on him to restrain him, the government jumped to the law ‌enforcers' defence.

Right-wing media depicted the man as another disorderly migrant causing trouble, highlighting drug convictions in his youth, while opposition politicians accused the government of racism and condoning police brutality.

What few did, in public at least, was ask who Abderrahim Fakir really was, and what might ​have caused his distress – something that sociologists and refugee agencies say reduces an immigration debate sweeping Europe to a caricature that prevents a more constructive response.

POLITICS AND 'DEHUMANISATION'

"The political agenda of many politicians requires the dehumanisation of migrants," said Maurizio Ambrosini, who teaches the sociology of migration at Milan's Statale University.

"If we don't see them as people in flesh and blood but as an abstract phenomenon, it becomes easier to tackle the issue without too much fuss or human considerations."

In the months before his death on July 19, Fakir, the 42-year-old owner of a small metalworking firm, appeared to those around him much as he always had: warm, sociable and quick to smile.

Yet underneath, he was trying to hold ‌together a carefully built life that seemed to be slipping inexorably out of ⁠control.

Videos shot by neighbours that day showed two police officers pinning him to the ground face-down, helped by a resident, and remaining on him for several minutes as he cried for help.

They had responded to reports of a man roaming around, yelling incoherently, kicking garage doors and banging on a car with its driver inside.

The next day, after ⁠the videos showing Fakir's last moments had circulated online, Bologna's centre-left mayor Matteo Lepore called a rally to demand accountability and in support of his family.

It drew thousands of peaceful citizens but turned violent when a small group marched towards police headquarters, hurling objects and injuring dozens of officers.

Government supporters demanded the mayor resign, the opposition blamed Meloni's tough law-and-order policies - and Fakir himself faded quickly from the picture.

AWAITING RESULTS OF INVESTIGATION AND AUTOPSY

But whatever the results of a pending autopsy, and investigations ​into ​the officers who subdued him and four Red Cross volunteers who looked on before trying to revive him, Fakir was nothing ​like any politician's caricature of an immigrant.

Interviews with his relatives, lawyer and friends reveal ‌a man trying to keep up appearances while struggling with problems in the business he had built and the extra stress of fearing expulsion to Morocco, having lived in Italy almost all his life.

His older sister Khadija said he had recently grown withdrawn and often skipped family gatherings, but no one suspected how anxious he was inside.

"He wanted to protect us. He would call to ask how I was and how the children were doing, and say everything was fine," she told Reuters.

Barbara Spinelli, Fakir's lawyer, had been helping him try to regain an Italian residence permit he had relinquished due to an extended stay in Morocco after his mother died in 2021.

"We were very close to resolving his situation, but in June the judge assigned to his case was suddenly transferred," Spinelli said. "He panicked, even though I reassured him it would soon be resolved."

At around the same ‌time, immigration authorities summoned Fakir, requesting verification of his status despite a court order allowing him provisionally to remain in Italy.

"He ​was terrified of being sent back to Morocco," Spinelli said.

WARNING SIGNS OF DISTRESS

On June 12, police found Fakir wandering, confused, in Castello ​d'Argile outside Bologna. The incident ended without complications, mayor Alessandro Erriquez told state-owned broadcaster RAI.

A few days ​later, he showed up at a Bologna hospital with a self-inflicted injury and asked for psychiatric help, family lawyer Fabio Anselmo said. Records of the incident described him as ‌depressed, but calm - a poor signal of the internal turmoil that would shortly burst ​into the open.

Fakir had come to Italy from Morocco ​at the age of six, and had lived in Bologna since 1995. Friends described him as outgoing and rooted in the local community.

"He was lively, always present in class, and was a great football player," said Riccardo, a former schoolmate who declined to give his surname.

After two convictions for drug offences committed as a teenager, Fakir had a series of jobs before setting up his own firms, ​first in logistics and most recently his metalworking business, which was facing difficulties.

Having ‌to lay off eight of his 12 employees had distressed him, his lawyer Spinelli said, yet Fakir hid his anguish from his family.

"He was always joking," recalled his 23-year-old niece Yossra. "His ​nieces and nephews were like his own children."

Unlike Yossra, Fakir's sister Khadija had been unable to watch the videos of her brother's final moments.

"My family trusts the Italian justice system and ​the police," she said. "We expect the truth to emerge."

(Writing by Claudia Cristoferi; editing by Gavin Jones and Kevin Liffey)

Monoskop.org

https://monoskop.org/images/9/95/Hardt_Michael_Negri_Antonio_Empire.pdf

EMPIRE - Monoskop 

4.3 The Multitude against Empire. 393. Notes. 415. Index. 473. Page 11. PREFACE. Empire is materializing before our very eyes. Over the past several decades, as ...

Rebels-library.org

http://rebels-library.org/files/multitude.pdf

MULTITUDE - Rebel Studies Library 

Page 1. MULTITUDE. WAR AND DEMOCRACY. IN THE AGE OF EMPIRE. MICHAEL HARDT ... Empire calls on war for its legitimation, the multitude calls on democracy as its ...

Newleftreview.org

https://newleftreview.org/issues/ii120/articles/empire-twenty-years-on.pdf

EMPIRE, TWENTY YEARS ON | New Left Review 

Just as today's. Empire was formed in response to the insurgencies of the multitudes from below, so too, potentially, it could fall to them, as long as those.

The Iran war already has a winner: The world’s largest shipbroker notching record earnings from the ‘exceptional volatility’ in the Strait of Hormuz

Disrupted traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has benefited firms such as Clarksons. · Fortune · Majid Saeedi—Getty Images

Sasha Rogelberg
Mon, August 3, 2026 

FORTUNE

As traffic in the Strait of Hormuz continues to be disrupted during the monthslong Iran war, one company is benefiting from the global trade chaos.

Clarksons, the world's largest shipbroker, reported its best-ever operating profit of £64.8 million ($87 million) for the six months ending June 30, a more than 55% increase from a year ago. The U.K.-based company founded in 1852 saw a nearly 40% increase in revenue to £413.5 million ($555.5 million).

CEO Andi Case attributed the jump to worldwide changes in supply chains as a result of the Iran war, increasing demand for companies like Clarksons. Shipbrokers are third-party firms that liaise between shipowners, such as Maersk, and cargo-holders, like retailers.

"Clarksons delivered a record first half performance, reflecting both the investment into our underlying business and the exceptional volatility caused by the disruption to global trade from global conflict including the situation in the Strait of Hormuz," Case wrote in a statement on Monday. "We expect the full year performance of the Group to be materially ahead of market expectations."

He added that the disruptions have "created a pronounced shock across global shipping markets" that have reshaped trade routes and caused a "period of operational dislocation" followed by an increase in both freight rates and hedging activity.

Since the onset of the war in February, traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has dwindled from its prewar rate of more than 100 ships per day passing through the chokepoint to about 33 today, according to maritime data tracker Kpler.

Despite President Donald Trump signaling the resumption of peace talks after canceling a renewed offensive against Iran, disruptions in the area look to continue, with Tehran expanding the war across the Gulf region.

That includes Yemen's Houthi movement blockading Saudi Arabian maritime traffic near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Ukraine's drone attacks on Russia have also suspended shipping to Black Sea ports and trade corridors key for grain exports.

These supply-chain upheavals have mounted pressures on certain industries like aviation, where jet fuel costs have soared, and agriculture, which has dealt with shortages of key chemicals used in fertilizers as a result of Strait of Hormuz closures. But as those sectors try to cope, companies like Clarksons thrive.

"In any market, any disruptions, obviously, create some kind of a zero-sum game," Jean-Paul Rodrigue, a professor of maritime business administration at Texas A&M University at Galveston, told Fortune. "That is, some actors are losing and the others are gaining the equivalent loss."

Why Clarksons is winning big in times of geopolitical chaos

According to Rodrigue, the shipbroker's record-breaking earnings are a matter of simple supply and demand: With fewer ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, the need increases for third parties like Clarksons, which can help connect retailers to ships actually able to transport goods.

Like any broker, companies like Clarksons receive a share of the transactions between the two parties. So when the cost of shipping increases, a brokerage's share likewise increases.

"When you have geopolitical instability, of course, it disrupts the market," Rodrigue said. "It creates uncertainty. It creates a lack of knowledge because nobody knows what the hell is happening. Uncertainty, therefore, actually increases the importance of such firms because people are getting a bit more desperate."

But uncertainty doesn't always mean winning big. In March 2025, ahead of the Trump administration's steep tariffs and amid continued conflict between Ukraine and Russia, Clarksons said the trade tensions would have an adverse impact on revenues.

The Iran war, however, has had the opposite effect. Sea freight routed near the Strait of Hormuz nearly quadrupled in the first two months of the conflict, according to data from the International Rescue Committee, primarily as a result of steep insurance premiums associated with navigating the region. The higher demands and costs of doing business presented a strong opportunity for companies like Clarksons.

"They just behave rationally," Rodrigue said. "Market positions change…and when the market position changes, obviously supply and demand change, and those who are at the right end of the stick are going to benefit."

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

India's 'cockroach' protesters have wounds consistent with pellet-gun fire, say experts

Geeta Pandey - BBC Correspondent, Delhi
Mon, August 3, 2026 


The face and body of Sahil Lochab, who appeared with opposition leader Rahul Gandhi at a press conference, are peppered with tiny holes [Congress Party]

Independent ballistic experts have told the BBC that injuries sustained by some Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) supporters during last week's protest in the Indian capital were caused by pellet guns.

Warning: This story contains images some might find distressing

Central Delhi witnessed overwhelming violence on 20 July when tens of thousands of protesters tried to march to the parliament to seek education reforms and the resignation of the education minister.

Police and paramilitary personnel were seen brutally attacking the crowds with wooden sticks, batons and tear gas. Delhi Police said 60 protesters and 118 of their personnel were injured. CJP said the number of injured protesters was a lot higher than the official count.

In the days following the crackdown, the government has not confirmed media reports that pellet guns were used on protesters.

But the BBC has been able to confirm at least four cases where protesters have been treated at hospitals for wounds that experts say are caused by pellet guns.

Shotguns designed for bird hunting are sometimes referred to as pellet guns. They fire cartridges, known as "birdshot", containing 200 to 400 small metal pellets. When used against crowds, the pellets spread out in a wide arc, striking people indiscriminately. These guns are banned in several countries.

We have spoken to two of the injured men who believe they were hit by pellet guns fired by security forces. We have also shown photographs and videos of them and a third man to two independent armament and forensic experts. A senior official at a hospital has confirmed a fourth man who also received treatment for pellet wounds.

The experts say the dozens of tiny round punctures are tell-tale signs of injuries caused by birdshot.

"The injuries depicted are definitely from a pellet gun," UK-based ballistics forensic scientist Philip Boyce told the BBC, adding that the weapon used is "a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun".

"These pellet injuries can actually be quite devastating, especially at close range. The injuries I see [in Delhi] are not at close range, they're at least 50 feet. But they can actually still be devastating and potentially life-threatening even from 100 feet," he said.

NR Jenzen-Jones, director of Armament Research Services (ARES) in UK, told the BBC that "images and video from the protests show the police using shotguns for crowd control" and photos of "injuries are strongly consistent with the use of birdshot".

"While shotguns are a common tool in the less-lethal arsenals of many states, Indian law enforcement agencies have a long history of employing shotgun cartridges loaded with small lead pellets - known as 'birdshot' - in crowd-control scenarios. When loaded with birdshot cartridges, shotguns are sometimes referred to as 'pellet guns'," he added.

"But these pellets are not safe. They can result in life-changing or, occasionally, life-threatening injuries. They also pepper the body with toxic lead, which can sometimes be difficult to remove safely," he said.

That's why many countries have either banned them or restricted their usage. In the UK, Boyce says the guns are widely used for shooting birds and they're fairly freely available. But, he's "not aware" of any instance when they've been used for crowd control.

Shaikh Irshad Mansoori said scans showed he had more than 40 pellets in his body [Shaikh Irshad Mansoori]

In Indian-administered Kashmir - where pellet guns have been used since 2010 - official data, compiled by Human Rights Watch, shows they have injured several thousand people, killed at least 17 and blinded dozens.

If it's confirmed that the forces used pellet guns in Delhi, this would be the first time that India would have used them on its citizens in its capital city.

Two of the young men we spoke to told us they were injured in Connaught Place - a major hub near parliament - after 4pm local time on 20 July.

Mohit (name changed) said when he saw a security personnel aim his gun at him, he turned around and began running in the opposite direction.

"Two-three seconds later, I felt a burning sensation on my right arm and back," the 28-year-old journalist told the BBC.

Mohit said he kept running as a searing pain coursed through his body until he reached a café, bought a bottle of water and washed his wounds. "That's when I saw the tiny circular holes on my arm and upper back. I was completely freaked out."

An X-ray taken at Safdarjung hospital, where he was treated for his wounds, shows tiny objects embedded in his arm and upper torso. Medical records that he has shared with the BBC show he has 26 pellet wounds on his right elbow and four on his upper right back. The notes include a diagram showing where the objects are lodged in his body.

Mohit said the doctors told him that surgery could worsen his situation, but he worries about the damage "they can do in future since they remain lodged in my body or whether the ugly scars would ever go away".

"But after seeing photos of other victims who've been hit in the face, I'm feeling fortunate," he says.

Shaikh Irshad Mansoori, who works at a Gurugram-based firm, was not so fortunate.

He was walking from Connaught Place to Jantar Mantar, the main CJP protest venue, when "the police and RAF [Rapid Action Force, a paramilitary force] personnel began beating the crowd with sticks and firing tear gas, causing a stampede-like situation and panic".

"I was with a group of protesters and we were raising slogans when an RAF personnel pointed his gun at us. We didn't think he would fire, but then I suddenly heard a cracking sound nearby and pellets hit me on my left eyebrow and my chin."

Some protesters tried to stem his bleeding with items of clothing, hailed a passing vehicle and took him to Lady Hardinge hospital.

He said scans showed he had more than 40 pellets in his body, including three embedded deep in his neck, left eye muscle and under his nose that doctors told him needed to be taken out.

"Surgeons next morning removed seven pellets, but they had to leave the one in the neck as it was too risky to be taken out. They told me it's now part of your body. They've assured me that it would not cause any danger in future."

More than 10 days later, Irshad says he's "still in some pain".

A senior hospital official told the BBC that Irshad's injuries were caused by "pellet-type small particles", but would not say whether they were fired from a gun. "That's for the forensics to say once they've examined these pellets," they said.

When the first claims of pellet gun use emerged last week, Delhi police called it "completely false and misleading". They said they did not even possess pellet guns.

Since then, Indian media has reported that the shots were fired by the RAF, which reports to the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). The BBC has reached out to CRPF chief Gyanendra Pratap Singh and also sent him questions on email. He's yet to respond.

A 28-year-old journalist, who did not want to be named, has shared his photos and X-ray with the BBC [User generated]

On Wednesday, government minister Jitendra Singh said in parliament that no "bullets" were fired and only tear gas was used. But he did not comment on the use of pellet guns.

He was responding to allegations by Rahul Gandhi, Congress party MP and leader of the opposition in the lower house, who demanded that Home Minister Amit Shah be sacked since both the Delhi police and CRPF report to Shah.

Last Saturday, Gandhi addressed a press conference accompanied by Sahil Lochab, a 19-year-old Delhi University student, who may lose an eye to pellet injuries.

One side of Sahil's face and the back of his right arm are peppered with tiny holes. Gandhi lifted his T-shirt to reveal dozens more wounds on his underarm and body.

In a video chat with Gandhi and in media interviews, Sahil said he supported the CJP protest, which centred around the issue of repeated paper leaks of key exams, because he wrote an exam to join the police force last year which was cancelled because of the same issue.

He had gone to the protest with three friends but got separated in the chaos when police charged the crowd with batons. He was shot while marching towards the security forces with other protesters.

"I couldn't see who fired the pellet gun but it came from the side where the forces were," he said. "My right eye was swollen so much that it felt it had popped out of my face, I couldn't raise my right arm. I was bleeding profusely and some of the protesters took me to the hospital."

His family, he told Gandhi, had tried to dissuade him from going to the protest, but "I couldn't stop myself".

"I want justice. Whoever did this to me doesn't deserve to be in power," he said.

Follow BBC News India on Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.

Clarification - 1 August: This story was updated to remove a reference to shotguns - or pellet guns - being widely used in the UK to shoot birds of prey, which is illegal.


'What was my fault?': How India's exam paper leak ended young lives

Soutik Biswas - BBC India correspondent
Mon, August 3, 2026 


Three days before his rescheduled exam, 17-year-old Kahaan Patel took his life [Reuters]


Three days before he was due to sit India's rescheduled medical entrance examination, 17-year-old Kahaan Patel jumped from the sixth floor of his family's apartment building in the western city of Ahmedabad.

When his family entered his bedroom after his death in the early hours of 18 June, it looked as though he might return at any moment.

His laptop was still open. Text books, notebooks, pens and markers lay scattered across his bed and study table. He was wearing his headphones when he jumped. In one corner stood his electric guitar, plugged into an amplifier. On the shelves were Harry Potter novels, a book on Elon Musk, a collection of Goosebumps horror novels and board games. There was a trophy for "consistent academic performance".



"The only thing missing," his father, Prashant Patel, says quietly, "was Kahaan."


Kahaan was one of at least 21 students who died by suicide, allegedly upset after this year's National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) was cancelled because of a question paper leak, forcing nearly two million candidates to take the examination again.

Their deaths became the emotional core of an extraordinary youth uprising that spilled onto the streets of Delhi in July, where thousands demanded accountability for repeated exam failures. After days of protests led by the satirical Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), education minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned.

But behind the politics were families like Kahaan's – left trying to understand how an examination scandal had become a matter of life and death.

For Prashant Patel, the story begins not with his son's death but with a dream.

After scoring well in school leaving exams, Kahaan announced that he wanted to become a doctor. There were no doctors in the family. His parents reorganised their lives around that ambition.

Prashant Patel moved his family to Ahmedabad so that his son could go to a better school and prepare for his exam [Reuters]

They moved from Surat, a diamond and textile hub, to Ahmedabad, Gujarat's largest city, so Kahaan could attend a better school and prepare seriously. His father, a lawyer, bought a flat close to both the high court and Kahaan's school, commuting between the two cities while Kahaan lived with his mother Veena and younger brother Rihaan.

"He took that decision himself," his father says. "We only supported him."

Kahaan wasn't the sort of teenager consumed only by textbooks.

He played football for his school team, devoured Harry Potter and Percy Jackson novels, loved science-fiction films and spent hours teaching himself hard-rock guitar riffs. He had recently secured a US visitor visa and was excited about returning to Disneyland after the exam, revisiting a place he had first seen on a family holiday 12 years earlier.

He had already tasted success.

After the 2024 paper leak, he took NEET as a practice attempt. His performance convinced both him and his teachers that he was on track.

On 3 May, he emerged from the exam convinced he had done enough and called his father.

"Daddy, I am so happy. I am feeling free, relaxed. I'm going for dinner with my friends. I'm enjoying."

After scoring well in school leaving exams, Kahaan announced that he wanted to become a doctor [BBC]

Prashant Patel remembers telling him: "This is your time. Enjoy."

Then came news that the paper had been leaked.

His parents tried to shield him from the reports, but it was impossible. Friends from his coaching classes were already discussing them. He rushed back from a farmhouse holiday with friends, scrambling to retrieve the notes and textbooks he had already given to younger students in case he had to sit the exam again.

Within days the government announced a retest.

"That was when he became angry," his father recalls.

"He kept asking me: 'Is this a system? Is this how it works? What is my fault? What is the fault of students who gave the exam honestly? Why is the government taking it so casually?'"

His father tried to reassure him. "I told him, 'This is the system. What can we do?'"

Now he wonders whether his words sounded like comfort or resignation.

"Maybe he was disappointed. Maybe he was suffering inside."

Nothing suggested a crisis.

On the evening of 17 June, the day before he died, Kahaan chatted cheerfully with his grandfather, who had just landed in Melbourne to be with his daughter, on a video call. Kahaan asked him to bring back Puma football boots, Levi's jeans and jackets.

Later that evening, he spoke to his father. As the call ended, his father offered one final reassurance: "I told him, 'You proved yourself once. You don't have to prove yourself again.'"

Babita Kumar holds a photograph of her brother, Pradeep Kumar, who took his own life before the NEET retest [Reuters]

Hours later, he was dead.

Only afterwards did friends tell his father how deeply the examination scandal had unsettled him.

"He kept asking why the people responsible couldn't take the right decisions," his father says. "He used to say, 'Is this a joke for our ministers to conduct examinations like this?'"

Kahaan's family was not alone in asking those questions.

Some 770km away, in Rajasthan's Jhunjhunu district, another family was trying to understand an equally unimaginable loss.

Pradeep Kumar was 23.

His father, Rajesh Kumar, is a small farmer in a village where Pradeep was the only student preparing for NEET.

Rajesh, 45, had left school as a child. His wife had never been to school. Becoming a doctor would have made Pradeep one of the first in the family to climb into the professional middle class.

"He would tell me, 'I want to serve people so much that they will remember me,'" Rajesh says.

To finance that dream, he sold land and borrowed more than a million rupees ($10,480; £7,804) from a bank. Coaching in Sikar, one of India's biggest hubs for entrance exam coaching, cost a fortune.

Rajesh Kumar sold land and took a bank loan to finance his son, Pradeep's, education. [Reuters]

In 2022, Pradeep moved to Sikar for coaching, sharing a rented room with his older sister, Babita Kumari who was preparing for police recruitment exams. Two NEET attempts steadily improved his rank, bringing a government medical college within reach.

Then came his third attempt in May this year. The paper was leaked, the examination was scrapped and a retest ordered – meaning Pradeep would have had to sit NEET for a fourth time.

By then, his life was a relentless 16-hour cycle: up at 4.30am, coaching, self-study until 9pm, sleep, and repeat. Everything else was stripped away.

Pradeep refused to own even a mobile phone.

"I'll buy one after I'm selected," he would tell his father. "Phones distract me."

His only indulgence was a collection of about 10 inexpensive wristwatches, bought from roadside shops on trips between Sikar and home.

After sitting the exam on 3 May, he emerged smiling.

"This time my selection is guaranteed," he told his father.

The family planned to leave Sikar, return to their village and celebrate. Instead, the paper leak surfaced.

"We'll have to prepare again," Pradeep told his father stoically.

On the morning of 15 May, Rajesh did what he had done almost every day for four years. He sent milk and homemade curd to Sikar on the morning bus.

Pradeep phoned to say it had arrived.

Pradeep Kumar's only indulgence was a collection of inexpensive wristwatches, bought from roadside shops [Reuters]

He bought fresh okra from a roadside vendor and told his sister, "Go and have your bath. When you come back, we'll cook."

When she returned half an hour later, the room was locked. In the time she had been away, her brother had taken his own life.

"He never told me anything," Rajesh says. "He seemed happy."

His voice hardens when he speaks about the leak.

"I sold my land to educate him. Those who have money buy question papers. Those who study honestly are left behind."

Then he says something that has consumed him ever since.

"The government snatched away my son. If the paper had not leaked, Pradeep would be alive today. He would have been celebrating."

Kahaand and Pradeep came from different Indias.

One was the son of a lawyer who split his week between two cities. The other was the son of a farmer who mortgaged his future for his child's education. One dreamed of Disneyland after NEET. The other postponed buying a mobile phone until he became a doctor.

Yet both fathers are left asking the same question: how did children who believed they had earned their future lose faith in the very system meant to reward them?



Prashant Patel (left) joined the students' protest in Delhi after his son's death [BBC]

For weeks after Kahaan's funeral, Prashant Patel struggled to emerge from grief.

What finally drew him out was the students. He travelled to Delhi twice to join their protests in July.

"I wasn't there for compensation," he says. "I wanted accountability."

Weeks of protests forced education minister Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation on 25 July. The government expressed sympathy for the families of students who died by suicide and promised "maximum compensation in accordance with the rules and regulations".

But for Prashant Patel, the real legacy of the movement lay elsewhere.

He had watched students return to the streets after police action on 20 July.

"I wanted to thank them because they had become Kahaan's voice. If these children can come back after being beaten and still fight for justice," he says, "that gives me strength."

His son never found that voice.

"Kahaan didn't speak out," he says. "Instead, he took his own life."

He pauses.

"The other children spoke."

Then he says the words he wishes every parent – and every government – would hear.

"Our duty is to hear the voices of the young before they fall silent."