Pandora Papers: The latest update

Here are the latest revelations published by Indian Express—based on leaked financial documents on offshore holdings of prominent Indians. If you need more context on Pandora, be sure to check out our explainer here. 

One: There is evidence that multiple offshore entities owned two IPL teams—Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab. And both the people involved—Dabur family scion Gaurav Burman and a businessman named Suresh Chellaram—are linked to the league’s founder Lalit Modi. Read the rest here.

Two: Speaking of Modis, there is also evidence that infamous jeweller Nirav Modi’s sister set up an offshore company just one month before he fled the country.  

Three: The documents also reveal a worrying involvement of military bigwigs, specifically former Lt General Rakesh Kumar Loomba—who was the Director General of Military Intelligence (DGMI). He set up a company in Seychelles along with his son.

Point to note: The government has now promised to probe the evidence revealed by the Pandora Papers.

India is running out of coal

The government warned that 135 thermal power plants have only four days of coal stocks—down from the 13 days of supply they had back in early August. Power Minister RK Singh said avoiding shortages will be a “touch and go affair” for the next five to six months. One reason is that the prices of coal imports have been soaring lately—due to high demand from China. So power plants have been cutting back on buying foreign coal. But domestic production has failed to keep pace thanks to heavy September rains. One likely fallout of this shortage: large-scale power cuts, higher electricity prices—and damage to the power sector’s bottomline. (Financial Times)

Also facing blackouts: Kabul. The reason: The Taliban government hasn’t paid the electricity bill. The country does not have a national grid and thus imports half of its electricity from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. But the Taliban are seriously short of money since foreign assistance was yanked the moment they took power. How bad this is:

“The consequences would be countrywide, but especially in Kabul. There will be blackout and it would bring Afghanistan back to the Dark Ages when it comes to power and to telecommunications. This would be a really dangerous situation.”

And the Nobel prize goes to…

Two US scientists—David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian—are the joint winners of this year’s prize in medicine. They were recognised for their work describing the mechanics of how humans perceive hot, cold, touch and pressure through nerve impulses. And the starting point for their research was… chili peppers! CNN has more on their work.

In other medical news: A collaboration between 22 doctors from five countries—including India—has uncovered a new illness called ‘Zaki’. For years, doctors couldn’t figure out why some children had severe mental retardation, poor growth and unusual facial features. They have now figured out it is a very rare genetic disorder that affects the brain and other vital organs, leaving children disabled for life—and identified the specific gene. (The Telegraph)

Also this: The government launched the first drone-enabled delivery of Covid vaccines to remote parts of the Northeastern states. (The Telegraph)

A massive oil spill in California

More than 120,000 gallons of oil has spilled into the Pacific Ocean and reached the Southern California coastline. The source is being investigated but is likely an offshore oil rig. The oil slick is threatening the nearby wetlands that are home to several endangered species—and dead birds and fish are washing up ashore. Local officials are calling it a “potential ecological disaster.” (CNN)

‘Squid Game’ is bad for the internet

A South Korean internet service provider has sued Netflix—demanding the company pay the costs for increased network traffic and maintenance work created by the wildly popular show. Netflix is the country's second-largest data traffic generator after YouTube—but the two do not pay network usage fees, unlike Amazon, Apple and Facebook. The streaming service argues that its job is to create content—and delivering it is the internet provider’s responsibility to its customers. Point to note: “In the United States, Netflix has been paying a fee to broadband provider Comcast Corp for over seven years for faster streaming speeds.” (Reuters)

Speaking of ‘Squid Game’: Korean viewers say that the English translation offered in its subtitles is mostly wrong. For example: “I'm not a genius, but I still got it work out. Huh.” is actually: “I am very smart. I just never got a chance to study.” Esquire has more on what you may be missing out.

Are Glassdoor reviews true?

New research out of Harvard shows that anonymous employee reviews of a company on the website are pretty good at predicting corporate misconduct. The study used AI to parse the comments—and found a number of keywords that act like red flags. Examples: bureaucracy, compliance, discouraging, favoritism, harass, hostile, meritocracy and strict. (Wall Street Journal via Mint)

Two mostly naked men

One: A perfect copy of Michelangelo’s statue of David—made of resin using laser scans and 3D printing—is on display at the Dubai Expo. It is startlingly like the original—so much so that organisers of the exhibit have covered his crotch because it caused “enormous embarrassment.” An Italian who worked on the project said: “We even considered putting underpants on him, or changing statue but it was too late.” As a result, the 17-foot sculpture has been encased in a column—and only his head and shoulders are visible to visitors. (Times UK)

Two: Playboy’s October issue will feature a scantily clad man for a change—23-year-old influencer, Bretman Rock in lingerie and heels. To be clear: This isn’t a first for the magazine. Both founder Hugh Hefner and singer Bad Bunny have had the honour before. See him below. (Fox News)