Tripura targets journalists
Two Delhi journalists—Samriddhi Sakunia and Swarna Jha—who are employees of HW News Network were first booked by the Tripura police. The two were reporting on the attacks on mosques by Vishwa Hindu Parishad members—and its aftermath. The VHP filed a police complaint which claims that the two reporters delivered an “instigating speech” against Hindus and the Tripura government while meeting Muslims. After Sakunia and Jha left the state, they were later detained by the Assam police—on the request of the Tripura police. And they will be taken back to Tripura for questioning. NewsLaundry and The Telegraph have more details.
Australia win the World Cup
The maiden victory was decisive as the Aussies beat the Kiwis by eight wickets. The man-of-the-match Mitchell Marsh scored 77 runs, and remained not out. Indian Express and the Telegraph have more details.
Future Group’s latest move
- Back in 2019, Amazon inked a deal with Future Group to take a 49% stake in Future Coupons. The plan was to get into the grocery retail business at some point—since Future owns everything from Big Bazaar to Foodhall.
- But then Future went and sold all its retail chains to Reliance—making Amazon mad as hell.
- Amazon went to various courts here and in Singapore to block the deal—and finally got its wish when the Supreme Court recently stepped in to do so.
- Now, independent directors on the board of Future Coupons have written to the Competition Commission of India (CCI) claiming that the Amazon deal should never have been approved because the company made “deliberate misrepresentations” that were “actively misleading” to the CCI.
- Mint has the latest. We explained this entire drama here.
In other biz news: The top ten startups in India—which include companies like Paytm, Oyo, Zomato, Nykaa and Pharmeasy—have generated close to $5.2 billion for their workers through their employee stock option plans (Esop). Top of the list: Zomato. (Mint)
A controversial Madras High Court transfer
A group of 237 lawyers are angry at the Supreme Court for recommending the transfer of Justice Sanjib Banerjee to Meghalaya. They claim this is a “punishment” of a judge known to be “honest and fearless”—especially on matters of “constitutional rights, values of free speech and secularism.” The Telegraph has more details.
Another Facebook India report
Human rights groups insist that the company is deliberately withholding the release of a damning independent report on hate speech in India. How they know about this report: The groups were asked to offer their inputs—which included plenty of examples of dangerous content—to a law firm put in charge of the investigation. These organisations say: “They are trying to kill it.” What FB says: “With a complex project like this, the goal is to be thorough, not to meet an arbitrary deadline.” (Wall Street Journal)
Speaking of social media: According to Twitter’s internal data, the platform favours rightwing views in the US. In six of the seven countries studied, the algorithm also gave a disproportionate boost to lawmakers from conservative political parties. The Economist has more on this story (login required).
A big campaign against meat
The municipal authorities in Vadodara, Gujarat, are on a warpath against any kind of ‘non-veg’. They have issued instructions—verbal but not in an official notice—that ban the “public display” of meat in street stalls and restaurants because it hurts “religious sentiments.” Officials insist the move is “for hygiene reasons” and to avoid “traffic snarls.” But then added this:
“It has to do with our religious sentiments… It may have been the practice for years to sell non-vegetarian food on full display, but the time has come to correct it. The non-vegetarian food should not be seen.”
The latest development: Divya Bhaskar reports that the local officials have seized and destroyed all fish from vendors because “they were selling fish openly without covering them up.” (Indian Express)
Other places to censor meat: Disney+ Hotstar. Dubbed versions of the Marvel film ‘Shang Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings’ have carefully scrubbed references to beef. And the process of censorship is mind-numbingly complex based on what language you pick:
“In the original scene from the film, Shang Chi (Simu Liu) and his friend Katy (Awkwafina) are offered a choice between a vegetarian and beef meal on board a flight. However, in the Hindi dubbed version, the dialogue has been changed to ‘non-veg’ or ‘veg’ and then veg biryani. The Malayalam version has bread omlette and vegetarian, since the chicken is over. The Tamil options are veg biryani or upma since chicken biryani is over. In the Telugu dubbed version, both the characters have chicken since vegetarian options aren't available, and in Kannada the choice is between chicken and paneer.”
Sex on the beach? Hmm, maybe not
Yeah, sex in exotic places is exactly what the relationship counselor ordered. But a new research paper shows that couples getting down and dirty are endangering protected Spanish dunes—which are one of the last remaining shifting dune systems in Europe, and provide a resting spot for birds migrating between Africa and Europe. The humans getting it on at the 56 “sex spots” literally kill animals:
“Tourists trample over the vegetation, remove plants and sand, make their own ‘nests’—even fencing them off—and dump waste including cigarettes, condoms, toilet paper, wipes and cans… What’s more, Gran Canaria giant lizards—a popular sight in the Canary islands—have ‘died after eating condoms left behind by pleasure seekers.’”
Speaking of human hazards: Another study shows that birds in the Amazon forest are changing thanks to climate change: “All 77 species of birds surveyed by the study weigh less on average than they did 40 years ago and nearly 80% of those species also have developed greater average wing-lengths.” Why this matters: These are animals in the remotest parts of the jungle, and even they are not immune to the irreversible effects of human activity. (Smithsonian Magazine)
Speaking of environmental damage: New data shows that half of the sewage waste in the world that ends up in our oceans flows from just a few dozen places. Here’s the key quote from this Scientific American story:
“Half of the watersheds analyzed flushed virtually no sewage nitrogen or pathogens into the oceans. Just 25 watersheds—dispersed across nearly every continent and spanning multiple countries—contributed about 46 percent of wastewater nitrogen. The same number of watersheds contributed 51% of sewage-borne pathogens in the sea. Top sources of sewage nitrogen included the Yangtze River watershed in China, which contributed 11 percent of the total, the Nile River in northern Africa, the Mississippi River in the U.S., the Paraná River in Argentina and the Danube River in Europe.”
A strange standoff over manure
As we explained months ago, Sri Lanka has banned chemical fertilisers to save on foreign exchange as it is broke—and will only accept the organic variety. As part of this new plan, Colombo ordered 99,000 tonnes of organic seaweed-based fertilizer from a Chinese company called Qingdao Seawin Biotech group for $49.7 million. But once the manure reached Sri Lankan shores, local experts flagged a big problem: “Our tests on the samples showed that the (Chinese) fertiliser was not sterile. We have identified bacteria which are harmful to plants like carrots and potatoes.” The result: All that stinky fertiliser is parked offshore while both the Sri Lankan government and the Chinese company trade accusations. (BBC News)
Three things to see
One: The Cumbre Vieja volcano on the Spanish Canary islands has been pouring out lava for over a month. But here is what is truly astonishing: thousands of bees survived the disaster despite being just 600 metres away from the volcano. The native black bees used propolis—a resin-like material—to block any volcanic ash from entering the hives. (Daily Mail)
Two: Need a bit of inspiration if life is getting you down? Julia “Hurricane” Hawkins—a 105-year-old Louisiana teacher became the first athlete in her age category to run a 100-meter dash. Her time: 1:02:95 minutes. Her response after setting the record: “It was wonderful to see so many family members and friends. But I wanted to do it in less than a minute.” (NPR)
Three: Here’s an ‘only in Delhi’ clip. A family put on a full band baaja show to drop their kid off on the first day at school since the pandemic.
