The ‘toolkit’ conspiracy: The latest developments
The Bombay high court has granted Nikita Jacob—the high court lawyer named as one of the accused—three-week transit bail. This means she cannot be arrested during this time, and will have the opportunity to make her case in front of a Delhi court. Indian Express has more on the arguments presented in court.
In other Jacob-related news: When the Delhi police raided Jacob’s home on February 11, they seized her laptop and phone. The 100GB of data has revealed a “comms package”—a fancy term for a bunch of secure messaging apps including Telegram, Signal, Proton, Cyberghost, and Signal. They also claim to have recovered communications with the now infamous Pieter Friedrich (explained here)—and two new names connected to a 70-person WhatsApp group created to amplify the toolkit. The Hindu has more on this.
Also this: The third named suspect Shantanu Muluk’s family says that two persons claiming to be from the Delhi Police seized a computer hard disk and other items from the house—and they did so without a search warrant or the permission of the family.
On the Disha Ravi front: The Telegraph reports on a social media hate campaign to smear her by claiming that she is a Syrian Christian from Kerala, and her real name is Disha Ravi Joseph.
Meanwhile, in the US: The New York Times published a full-page ad expressing solidarity with the protesting farmers. It was paid for by 75 non-profit organizations primarily focused on human rights. This accompanying video was pushed out on social media:
A wintry disaster in Texas
The United States is experiencing a hellishly cold winter thanks to something called a “polar vortex”:
“Around the North Pole, winter’s ultra-cold air is usually kept bottled up 15 to 30 miles high. That’s the polar vortex, which spins like a whirling top at the top of the planet. But occasionally something slams against the top, sending the cold air escaping from its Arctic home and heading south. It’s been happening more often, and scientists are still not completely sure why, but they suggest it’s a mix of natural random weather and human-caused climate change.”
This polar vortex breakdown is the worst scientists have seen since the 1950s—and unsurprisingly, many blame climate change which is warming up the Arctic. Temperatures in central and southern parts of the country have hit all-time lows. One of the worst-hit is Texas—with Dallas recording lower temperatures than Alaska! So far the freeze has claimed 24 lives.
Adding to the misery: Crippling electricity shortages due to a record spike in demand and drop in supply due to the effects of the snow and ice on supply grids (Read Vox for more detail). More than 4.2 million customers in Texas had lost power as of Tuesday morning, when temperatures dipped as low as -15.5°C. Humans are doing poorly, but so are animals. Monkeys and birds froze to death in a local wildlife sanctuary—while volunteers are scrambling to save cold-shocked sea turtles. Coming up next: water shortages due to bursting frozen pipes.
Amazon India’s shady strategy
A Reuters investigation based on internal company documents show that the company is indeed doing its best to crush small Indian retailers—and giving preferential treatment to a select group of sellers on its platform. The confidential notes show:
- 33 Amazon sellers accounted for about a third of the value of all goods sold on the company’s website.
- Two other sellers accounted for around 35% of the platform’s sales revenue in early 2019—and Amazon has an indirect equity stake in both.
- In all, 35 of Amazon’s more than 400,000 sellers in India accounted for around two-thirds of its online sales.
- The most favoured among the sellers: Cloudtail, a joint venture between Amazon and Narayana Murthy. Reuters lays out how that ‘special relationship’ worked.
Facebook goes nuclear in Australia
The company has been embroiled in a nasty war with the Australian government—which insists that Google and Facebook should pay news outlets a licensing fee to link to their content. FB, OTOH, insists that they are doing publishers a favour by helping their users discover and consume their content.
Now, Google has buckled and cut a deal with Rupert Murdoch-owned News Corp to pay for links to its content—and is apparently in talks with Australian TV networks. But Facebook has upped the ante instead. It announced that no one in Australia—users or publishers—can view or share any kind of news content, be it Australian or international. Read: the blog post explaining the decision. Ars Technica has more context on this slug fest.
Also getting tough: China, which is planning to restrict export of rare-earth minerals that are used in everything from smartphones to fighter jets. Beijing’s target is the US military which uses these in F-35 fighter jets and other high-tech weaponry. It is seen as a way to put a squeeze on the Biden White House which has been talking tough on human rights issues. Point to note: China controls most of the world’s rare earth mining, and accounts for 80% of rare-earth imported to the US. Financial Times (paywall) has the exclusive. Bloomberg News has a summary.
Two studies of note
One: New research suggests that a genetic variant inherited from the Neanderthals may explain why many people only get a mild version of Covid, or remain asymptomatic. They have identified a genetic mutation—found in samples of Neanderthal DNA and 30% of people of European and Asian origin—that reduces the risk of severe infection by 22%. (CNN)
Two: A worrying study shows that coastal cities may be in even greater risk from rising sea levels. The reason: many of them are actually sinking from the sheer weight of development. The study focused on San Francisco, but its author says it likely holds true of many others:
"San Francisco might have sunk as much as 80 millimetres (3.1 inches) as the city has grown over time. Considering the Bay Area is under threat from as much as 300 mm (11.8 inches) of sea level rise by 2050, the extra variation added by slow subsidence is significant enough to be concerning".
Blue dogs of Russia
Stray dogs with bright blue fur spotted in the city of Dzerzhinsk are raising concerns among Animal welfare activists. The reason: they think the “ethereal cobalt tinge” may be the result of exposure to copper sulphate at a nearby abandoned chemical plant:
“The dye on their fur implies they have had direct contact with or even ingestion of potentially toxic or harmful substances. This could result in painful skin burning or itching or internal bleeding and illness that could lead to death, without veterinary intervention.”
And they look like this:
Three fun things
New iPhone emojis: include the mending heart, heart on fire, face exhaling, face in the clouds, face with spiral eyes. Also: in a nod to gender diversity, a woman with a beard. Gizmodo has an entire gallery. Our favourite is this one for feeling absent minded (we think):
Levi’s❤️ Pokemon: The beloved game turns 25 this year and has hooked up with Levi’s to roll out an entire line of Pokemon-themed attire. The standout item: this floral-print Pokémon-themed denim trucker jacket. And it has matching jeans!
A conch-tastic discovery: Researchers have discovered a musical conch that is more than 17,000 years old. It is the oldest known wind instrument of its type—although discovered bone flutes date back even further. Oh, and they asked a professional musician to play it. BBC News has more on this amazing find. Better yet: you can listen to it below: