Afghanistan: The latest update

• The US appears to be getting along a lot better with the Taliban now that it has exited the country. Its top general said it’s “possible” that the Pentagon will coordinate with the Taliban on counterterrorism strikes against Islamic State militants or others. OTOH, no one is sure if and when this new era of cooperation will kick in.
• Also sounding friendly: The Haqqani network—the Pakistan-backed wing of the Taliban. Its top leader said that Kashmir is beyond its “jurisdiction”—and it had no intention of interfering with the region: “We don’t want anyone to think wrong about us. India has helped our enemy for 20 years but we are ready to forget everything.”
• The UN has warned of a severe food crisis—and stocks could run out as soon as this month. More than half of children under the age of five are suffering from extreme malnutrition, and more than one-third of citizens are not getting enough to eat. 
• The Taliban has approved the first-ever cricket test match since their takeover—to be played against Australia in Hobart on November 27. This is a big break from Taliban 1.0 which banned all forms of entertainment. The Guardian has more on Afghan women cricketers who have been abandoned to their fate. 
• There may be hope for the 133 players, staff and families of the Afghan girls football team. The US groups have put together Operation Soccer Balls to help rescue them.

The death of a separatist leader

Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Geelani died at the age of 91 after a prolonged illness—and while under house arrest. The Kashmiri hardliner’s death led the government to immediately clamp down on all public movement and impose a near-total communications blackout in the Valley. His burial was marred by bitter complaints from his son Naseem:

“He said the family had planned to bury him at the main martyrs’ graveyard in Srinagar, the region’s main city, as specified in his will but were not allowed to do so by police. ‘They snatched his body and forcibly buried him. Nobody from the family was present for his burial. We tried to resist but they overpowered us and even scuffled with women’.”

Senior police officials called the allegations “baseless.” Indian Express and Associated Press have more details. Shakir Mir in The Quint explains the significance of Geelani’s death.

Also upset with the government: Leading economists and state government officials who complain that the government is withholding crucial GST information—which makes it impossible to understand the significance of the latest numbers. According to one expert: “With the current details available for GST, there cannot be any kind of analysis except to say the revenues went up or down.” FYI: GST collections have crossed Rs 1 trillion (1 lakh crore) in eleven of the last 12 months—which the government attributes to rapid economic recovery and improved compliance levels. (The Hindu)

Good news about Covid vaccines

Here’s a refreshing break from all that talk of vaccine escape and reinfections. A new UK study found that being fully vaccinated not only cuts the risk of catching it, but also of an infection turning into long haul Covid. But you need to get both doses. Why this matters: Until now, we knew that vaccines prevent serious illness and hospitalisation. This is the cherry on top. (BBC News)

In less happy news: Senior health officials are warning of an imminent third wave after Diwali—sparked by rising numbers. On Thursday India reported 47,092 new infections—the highest in two months and Kerala alone accounted for 70% of them. Mint has more on this. OTOH this: “Seven and a half months into the national vaccination drive, India has got more than half its adult population inoculated with at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.”

Twitter tests a ‘safety mode’

It happens all the time. A single tweet can trigger a mob of haters who hurl abuse at you. Twitter is now testing a Safety Mode that you can ‘switch on’ if your notifications become a nightmare. It will automatically block the nasty responses for seven days—after which it will turn itself off. Here’s how it works:

“In deciding what to screen out, Twitter’s algorithmic approach assesses a tweet’s content—hateful language, repetitive, unreciprocated mentions—as well as the relationship between an account and the accounts replying. The company notes that accounts you follow or regularly exchange tweets with won’t be subject to the blocking features in Safe Mode.”

The feature is still being tested with a small group of users. And we don’t know when it will become available to the rest of us. Mint has more on ‘social privacy’ tools that the company is working on—including the ability to edit your follower lists, hide what you liked etc. (TechCrunch)

Bad news about air pollution

A new US-based study found that air pollution reduces the life expectancy of 40% of Indians—which is about 520 million people. And it can knock nearly a decade off our life expectancy: 

“India’s capital Delhi is also highly polluted. Residents of Delhi could see up to 10 years added to their lives if pollution were reduced to meet the WHO guideline; up to 7 years if pollution met India's national standard.”

Point to note: In 2019, 21 of the world's 30 cities with the worst air pollution were in India. (Reuters)

Big Apple is under water

Unprecedented floods in New York City left 13 dead thanks to the remnants of Hurricane Ida, which brought torrential rains to the Northeast United States. Subway riders and motorists were stranded—as streets turned into rivers. See the crazy scene at the subways below:

Also see: Rescue workers free a cow stuck in a tree thanks to Hurricane Ida in Louisiana:

World rankings of Indian unis

Three Indian universities made it to the top 400 of the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2022. They are: Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore; Indian Institute of Technology Ropar; and JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research, Mysore. While IISc was in the 301-350 cohort; IIT, Ropar and JSS Academy were in the 351-400 cohort. FYI:

“The top seven Indian Institutes of Technology, including the ones at Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kanpur, did not participate in THE rankings for the second consecutive year as they are not convinced with the ranking methodology.”

Mint has more on how the others—including JNU, Jamia Milia etc—fared.

Two studies about animals

One: Researchers have discovered that wild cockatoos use three types of tools as “cutlery” to extract seeds. They crafted tools from tree branches and used them to extract seed matter from sea mangoes. What’s astonishing is the careful use of the right ‘tool’ for the right job: 

“The birds used sturdy, thick twigs to wedge open a fruit and allow access to its inner portion, fine tools to pierce the layer surrounding a seed like a knife, and medium-sized tools to spoon out the inner seed matter.”

Watch them in action in The Guardian report below:

Two: Does your dog know that you did not intend to step on his tail? A new study insists he does. They tested dogs by either deliberately not giving them a treat—or “accidentally” dropping it on the other side of a glass screen:

“Dogs approached the food on the floor quickly when the experimenter failed to give it to them 'by accident.' But when the experimenter had deliberately withheld the treats, the dogs seemed more hesitant. They waited longer before going around the partition to try to eat it.”

Why this matters: It’s actually a big deal for animals to understand human intentions. Of course, other experts (and we) are a bit sceptical about this finding: “At the end of the day, when it [food] hits the floor, the dog’s on it.” (NPR)