Tale of two Afghan conferences
Both India and Pakistan are hosting high-level conferences to discuss the way forward in Afghanistan. The Indian meet—currently underway in Delhi—is slated as a regional summit, but was snubbed by China and Pakistan. But the Russians have showed up to keep India on board on issues such as terrorism, drugs and migration. But the really big meeting—and the one that will decide the future of Kabul’s foreign relations—will be held in Islamabad on Thursday. That summit will be attended by all the big boys: Russia, China, US and Afghanistan. (The Hindu)
A tourist ‘scare’ for Ambani
The police arrested a 40-year-old man merely because he and another man asked a taxi driver for the address of Mukesh Ambani’s home, Antilia. The driver promptly called the cops—flagging the fact that the men were each carrying “a large bag.” The police have now figured out that these are just hapless tourists, but plan to “fully question him to rule out any possible threat.” Oh, and security around the Ambani ghar has been heightened thanks to this “incident.” (NDTV)
Big moves to address ‘bubble fatigue’
The big T20 World Cup losses have had an immediate effect. The BCCI—specifically, secretary Jay Shah—and team coach Rahul Dravid will now make the call on which players to rest. This call was typically made by national selectors:
“The BCCI will decide on which player needs to be rested depending on how much cricket is being played. We are aware of the fatigue issue. The player who has been rested will get his place back in the team even if the replacement does well.”
Those to be rested asap include Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja—who will not play the upcoming T20 series against New Zealand at home. Point to note: “Keeping the television broadcaster in mind, the teams fielded for a series will not be second-string sides.” Indian Express and The Telegraph have more details.
Speaking of cricket: Check out Arjun Srinivas’ excellent data analysis in Mint of who makes money in the IPL. Spoiler alert: most of the wealth is concentrated in the hands of the franchises and a handful of star players. Example: “Virat Kohli alone earned 20% of Bengaluru’s ₹85-crore purse in 2020. The bottom 10 players accounted for just 3.5%.”
UK greenlights Covaxin
Yes, the world is slowly coming around to recognising the made-in-India vaccine. The latest is the UK—which made the move soon after the WHO okayed the emergency use of Covaxin. (Quartz)
In less happier Covid-related news: The disease is spreading like wildfire from humans to deer in Iowa. A study found a whopping 80% of deer sampled between April 2020 and January 2021 are infected. (New York Times)
A migrant disaster on the Belarus border
There are at least 2000 migrants who are stuck on the border between Belarus and Poland. It is part of Belarus president Lukashenko’s strategy to put pressure on the EU—which has imposed sanctions on him due to human rights violations (which includes diverting a plane to kidnap an activist, explained here). Belarus is ferrying these migrants—from the Middle East and Africa—and shoving them into EU countries. Poland in response has assembled troops to keep them out. But the fight has left the migrants stranded:
“Migrants have described how Belarusian authorities seized their phones and pushed them towards the border fence. Overnight temperatures at the border have slumped below zero and several people have already died in recent weeks...
‘There’s no way to escape...Poland won’t let us in. Every night they fly helicopters. They don’t let us sleep. We are so hungry. There’s no water or food here. There are little children, old men and women, and families.’”
BBC News has more details.
Malala got married!
The 24-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner got hitched to Asser Malik—who works for the Pakistan Cricket Board. No one knows how long they have been dating but they’ve been ‘Instagram official’ since 2019. Or at least that’s all HollywoodLife has been able to dig up—since the couple have not shared any details. Irony alert: Yousafzai recently told Vogue, “I still don't understand why people have to get married. If you want to have a person in your life, why do you have to sign marriage papers, why can't it just be a partnership?" See suitably lovey dovey pics below. (BBC News)
The magical time for bed
A new UK study has identified the best time to go to sleep: between 10 and 11 pm. That optimal window helps reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Sleep any later than that and your body will miss the cues such as early morning daylight, which resets your body clock every day. And if that happens over a long period, then “that misalignment of behaviours and the circadian clock increases inflammation and can impair glucose regulation, both of which can increase risk of cardiovascular disease.” (The Guardian)
Nobody trusts Meta?
Facebook’s big rebrand may not have worked as well as it wanted. The company’s consumer trust scores fell from 16% to 5.8% after a barrage of media exposes. The numbers crawled up to 11%—and then crashed again to 6.2% soon after Mark Zuckerberg announced the new name. (Fast Company)
Speaking of social media: Clubhouse will also allow audio recordings of your sessions now—much like Twitter Spaces. Mint explains how it will work.
Four key animal stories
One: Over 80 demoiselle cranes have died of a viral disease in Jodhpur. They were killed by the Ranikhet disease—also known as Newcastle disease in the west—which affects the respiratory system of birds and is highly lethal. Veterinarians are scrambling to stop the spread and treat the sick birds. (Mint)
Two: A new study suggests that more whale potty can help fight climate change. Whale poop contains iron which feeds carbon-absorbing phytoplankton that “form the base of ocean food-webs.” So more the defecating whales, happier the ocean: “These are animals the size of a Boeing 737, eating and pooping far from land in a system that is iron-limited in many places.” (USA Today)
Three: Speaking of whales, we now officially have a new species called Ramari’s beaked whale—which lives 6,000 feet below the water surface, measures 17 feet long and weighs over a ton. Its most recognizable feature: “its sloped head and a large tusk that points from the lower jaw up past its upper jaw, helping it feed on its favorite food: squid.” (The Hill)
Four: The New Zealand sea lion or rāpoka—is one of the rarest sea lions in the world with a population of only 12,000. But the species is now thriving in the oddest of places as the seals move inland—taking over hiking trails, golf courses etc. Experts are trying to predict their movements to avoid human-animal conflict. But unlike other such stories, this isn’t about a loss of habitat. These seals are merrily expanding their territories, humans be damned—like the one in the swimming pool below. (Gizmodo)
A heartbreaking IVF mix up
Two California women ended up giving birth to each other’s babies due to an accidental swap at an IVF clinic. They raised the babies for three months until DNA tests confirmed one couple’s doubts. The children have been restored to their biological mothers. But the emotional toll of bonding with one child—and losing out on birthing your own—has been high. Of course, the parents are suing the clinic. But here is one upside: “all four parents have since made an effort to stay in each others’ lives and “forge a larger family… They were just as much in love with our biological daughter as we were with theirs.” (The Guardian)
Four things to see
One: This clip of Leonardo DiCaprio, Jeff Bezos and his girlfriend Lauren Sánchez at a big gala event went viral yesterday. You have to first watch it to understand what happened next:
Now, Bezos decided he had to say something about all the jokes about Leo and his bae. So he shared this photo, tweeting “Leo, come over here, I want to show you something…” (Vice)
Oh, the insecurity of obscenely rich men.
Two: Here’s a snippet of the speech Ravi Shastri gave to the cricket team as he hung up his coaching shoes. (NDTV)
Three: In the lead up to the Uttar Pradesh elections, the Samajwadi Party has unveiled a… new line of perfume (???). It is made out of 22 natural scents—and also this: “when people use it, they will smell socialism in it.” Truth is always stranger than fiction in Indian elections. (News 18)
Four: Heinz rolled out its latest product: A ‘Marz Edition’ made with tomatoes grown in “the same harsh conditions as found on Mars.” And it took two years of research to achieve this feat. The ketchup isn’t available for consumers, but, hey, they made a promo that makes a fairly good pitch for what looks like kooky experimentation. (Space)
Dine With Data: All About 1stDibs 🛍
Editor's Note: Here is DWD’s weekly installment of one cool, innovative or just plain quirky startup from around the world.
Company: 1stDibs 🛍
About: The store of the World's most beautiful and unique things, 1stDibs is a marketplace for high-end furniture, fine art and jewelry, which connects 4,000 dealers in 28 countries with both individual collectors and interior designers. The site attracts more than 5 million visitors each month and their average order value is almost $3,000!
Food for thought: The Luxury collectibles industry may seem niche and inaccessible but it’s actually a $400 billion business globally! Christie’s and Sotheby’s alone do over $12 billion combined annually, and they are only a tiny part of the industry. 🥧
DWD Take: The age of digitisation has spared no industry and it's only a matter of time before we start resorting to the web from the smallest to the most monumental of purchases. 1stdibs was the first one to identify this operational shift and digitised the luxury collectibles market as early as 2001!
Link: https://www.1stdibs.com/
About DWD: Dine With Data🍴 sends you a short summary on one new startup every day, delivered straight to your Whatsapp Inbox!