Four gifts for the festive season

Splainer almost never goes on sale except during this time of the year. So we hope you will take full advantage of our big discounts—available until November 7. Here are four wonderful deals for you:

• Gift friends, colleagues and relatives an annual subscription at a whopping discount. It now costs only Rs 1000. Click ‘Gift a friend’ on our ‘subscribe’ page.
• Add 12 months to your own subscription by heading over to the ‘subscribe’ page—and hitting renew.
• Use your magical referral link—available in every daily email and your account page—to offer a free month to anyone you want. 
• That same link also offers that sweet Rs 500 discount on our annual subscription.

Want a bulk Diwali discount? If you plan to gift splainer to a bunch of people in your organisation or family, be sure to email us at talktous@splainer.in.

Team India gets a whooping

First, our batting collapsed thanks to Shaheen Shah Afridi—who ran through the top order. Chasing a modest total of 151 runs proved absurdly easy for Pakistan—who won with 10 wickets to spare. This is a record for both Pakistan and India in the T20 format. The Telegraph lays the blame on team selection. Indian Express offers a colourful account of the match, including a tribute to Captain Cool Babar Azam.

Moments to mark: Indian players kneeling in support of Black Lives Matter before the match. Nope, we have no comment.

Also: Virat Kohli showing great grace as he embraces Mohammad Rizwan after the match:

Finally: Kohli’s reaction when asked if he should have dropped Rohit Sharma for Ishan Kishan in the post-match presser:

In other results: Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh by five wickets. England trounced West Indies, and Australia defeated South Africa.

Aryan Khan arrest: The latest update

There’s been a bizarre twist in the case (which we explained in detail here). An independent witness listed in the Narcotics Control Bureau’s evidence sheet claims that two key people involved in the investigation may have tried to extort money from Shahrukh Khan. 

• Prabhakar Sail is the bodyguard of one of the other independent witnesses, Kiran Gosavi—a shady private detective who’s already raised red flags for tweeting a selfie with Aryan while he was in NCB custody. 
• He says that he was told by his boss to sign 10 blank pages of the evidence sheet as a witness.
• He claims that Gosavi and another man called Sam D’Souza colluded to cut a Rs 18 crore deal—of which Rs 8 crore was to be paid to the man in charge of the investigation, zonal director Sameer Wankhede.
• The two men met with Shah Rukh Khan’s manager Pooja Dadlani for 15 minutes the night of the arrest.
• Sail says Gosavi has gone into hiding, and he now fears for his own life.
• The NCB says Sail should be filing his complaint with the court—and notes that Wankhede has denied the allegation. Wankhede has also written to the Mumbai police seeking legal protection as he is “being framed.”
• Read the details of his affidavit on Indian Express, or watch him tell the entire story to Mirror Now. NewsLaundry offers an eye-opening account of how TV news channels aired false information on Ananya Panday.
• Sail also shared a video of Gosavi making Aryan Khan speak on his phone to someone while in custody. Watch that below.

In other drug-related news: Colombian military forces have arrested Dairo Antonio Úsuga aka Otoniel—described as “the most feared drug trafficker in the world”. (New York Times)

In other Bollywood related news: Director Prakash Jha was assaulted by members of the Bajrang Dal in Bhopal on the set of his series ‘Ashram 3’—which stars Bobby Deol as a corrupt godman. The reason: It “humiliates Hindu Samaj.” NDTV has all the details.

Alec Baldwin shooting: The latest update

Last week, the actor accidentally shot and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins with a prop gun on a movie set. Here’s what we now know about the tragedy:

• The production crew was in a dispute with producers over working conditions—including safety issues. A camera crew walked off the set just hours before the accident.
• An assistant director grabbed the prop gun off a cart and handed it to Baldwin, indicating incorrectly that the weapon didn’t carry live rounds by yelling “cold gun.” In the emergency call made after the shooting, the script supervisor blamed the assistant director.
• OTOH, this wasn’t the first such incident. Baldwin’s stunt double also accidentally fired two live rounds after being told the gun was safe—which was flagged by crew members.
• The Daily Beast also flags issues with the ‘armorer’—the firearms specialist in charge of the set—who once handed a gun to a 11-year old actor without checking it.

• Time Magazine looks at how Halyna Hutchins' death could lead to safety reforms on Hollywood sets.
• BBC News has a good explainer on a prop gun and lays out why it is dangerous.

Matchbox prices are soaring

A regular box of matches will double to Rs 2 starting December 1. The reason for this escalation: Big hikes in price of ingredients, including red phosphorus which has jumped from Rs 425 to Rs 810. Why this is notable news: “The price of the matchbox was last hiked in 2007 from 50p to Rs 1. Earlier, the cost of matchbox was increased from 25p to 50p in 1995.” (Hindustan Times)

A bizarre sex racket

A young Ghaziabad couple was arrested for a scam that involved a website called Stripchat—which charges Rs 234/minute for sex talk:

“The couple then lured these men to share their mobile numbers, on the pretext that it would be cheaper. WhatsApp video calls were then made to the victims and they were lured to strip, masturbate and indulge in other sexual activities. The accused then blackmailed them with the recorded videos to extort money.”

What’s remarkable: This was a full-fledged operation with 30 female employees who extorted Rs 20 crore from 300 people. (The Print)

Ethical AI is very racist

An experimental AI system called AskDelphi is designed to help people navigate tough ethical decisions. But when tested, the bot turned out to be horribly racist. For example, it said “being a white man” is more morally acceptable than “being a black woman.” And it condoned all sorts of unethical behaviour including war crimes. Futurism explains why many experts are worried about this use of AI.

A setback for space tourism

A lot of media hype was generated by Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson and Elon Musk’s SpaceX’s recent flights. But an upcoming SpaceX flight had to be canceled due to the lack of takers—because “the mix of price, timing and experience wasn’t right.” Translation: We couldn’t find enough filthy rich billionaires with money to waste. Why this matters: space tourism may still be a very distant dream. (Futurism)

A ‘Squid Game’ ripoff

In case you think only Bollywood is capable of shameless plagiarism, the Chinese streaming service Youku outdid everyone by unveiling a game show titled ‘Squid Victory’—slated as a “game and social networking show” that features “children’s game.” Even the posters looked, umm, familiar. The backlash was immediate. Youku’s solution: It has changed the name to ‘Game Victory’. (South China Morning Post)

An increase in tuskless elephants

Elephants in Mozambique have been relentlessly slaughtered by poachers for their ivory—and the population fell by 90% during the civil war from 1977 to 1992. But the poaching had an unexpected long-term effect. There has been a rise in the number of females without tusks—which now account for 50.9% of the reserve’s elephants. Scientists say such a quick evolutionary response in such a large animal is truly “remarkable.” The downside: This puts the tusked males in greater danger than ever. (Popular Science) 

Four things to see

One: Italy’s national airline Alitalia recently went bankrupt, and its staff have either been hired on crappy terms by the new airline ITA airways—or laid off. In protest, 50 former airline attendants staged a quintessentially Italian protest: They showed up in Alitalia uniforms and then stripped down to their underwear. (CNN)

Two: Indian and US troops held joint exercises in Alaska. No, not the military kind, but the peaceful yogic variety. (ANI)

Three: The notoriously elusive Shelley’s eagle owl has been photographed for the very first time in the rainforests of Ghana. Ecologists are giddy with excitement, calling it “a sensational discovery.” (Huffington Post)

Four: As we noted last week, several starving dogs had been stranded for weeks on the island of La Palma—cut off from the rest of the world due to molten lava after a volcanic eruption. A team of rescuers were planning an audacious operation using drones to evacuate the dogs. The very first of its kind. But then the dogs disappeared! All that remained was a sign that read: “The dogs are fine”—signed by “The A Team.”  (NPR)