The Afghan civil war: The latest update

The Taliban have taken control of two key cities: Herat and Ghazni—which is just 145 km (90 miles) south of Kabul. Only four major cities remain in government control. Some US officials fear the Afghan government will implode within 30 days. And the Pentagon is moving thousands of Marines into position for a possible evacuation of the US Embassy and American citizens in Kabul.

A new proposal: In the midst of this chaos, the Afghan government has proposed a new power-sharing deal in return for an end to the fighting—and has given it to Taliban negotiators in Qatar. The proposal is being described as a “government of peace”—but the details are unknown. For more context, read our two key explainers on the return of the Taliban here and here.

Twitter vs Congress: A growing jhagda

Last week, Rahul Gandhi met with the parents of a Dalit child killed in Delhi (explained here)—and tweeted a photo of that meeting. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) complained to Twitter—asking the platform to take action against Gandhi for potentially revealing the identity of a minor victim. Twitter locked his account—and it remains blocked to this day. 

The escalation: But the fight spread beyond Gandhi when Twitter also locked the official handle of the Congress party. And its spokesperson claimed that over 5000 party leaders and organisations were similarly shut out across the country. The party is now raising the banner of “lock-tantra”—insisting that the company is giving into government pressure. Various instances of double standards and selectivity were cited—including BJP spokesperson Amit Malviya revealing the identity of the Hathras victim on Twitter, and the fact the Scheduled Castes Commission also shared photos of the Delhi victim’s family. 

Twitter’s response: has been to put out a standard reply to all media queries: 

“The Twitter Rules are enforced judiciously and impartially for everyone on our service. We have taken proactive action on several hundred Tweets that posted an image that violated our Rules, and may continue to do so in line with our range of enforcement options. Certain types of private information carry higher risks than others, and our aim is always to protect individuals’ privacy and safety.”

Indian Express also cites unnamed company sources who clarified that Twitter has blocked everyone who shared the image—not just Congress handles. And it was not done in response to any kind of legal notice:

“If you see the tweets withheld, they have a notice saying they are not as per Twitter’s guidelines. If there was a legal notice, the withheld tweet would have said that it was being done in response to a legal notice.”

A dreadful wildfire in Siberia

Yes, there is yet another massive wildfire, this time in Siberia—the biggest of the century, and the third largest in recorded history. There are 170 fires spread across the region—the largest is 5,800 square miles and growing in the coldest territory in Russia. The area destroyed is the size of Greece. And for the first time ever, the smoke has spread to the North Pole. The reason, of course, is climate change: The temperatures in Russia have been rising at a rate 2.5 times more than the global average. (Times UK)

In other bad weather news: Sicily, Italy, reached a sizzling 48.8°C—Europe’s hottest temperature on record—thanks to an anticyclone named ‘Lucifer’. Anticyclones are areas of high atmospheric pressure where the air is sinking and can cause temperatures to spike—or in this case, trigger a scorching heatwave. And yes, Italy is battling wildfires too. (BBC News)

Worrying Pfizer data

A new preprint study shows that the vaccine was only 42% effective against infection in the month of July—in Minnesota where the Delta variant is running amok. Moderna fared far better at 76%. It's unclear whether the results signify a reduction in effectiveness over time, a reduced efficacy against Delta, or a combination of both. The lead authors conclude:

“The Moderna vaccine is likely — very likely — more effective than the Pfizer vaccine in areas where Delta is the dominant strain, and the Pfizer vaccine appears to have a lower durability of effectiveness.”

Zoom focuses on kids

The video conference platform has introduced a new feature for school children called ‘Focus mode’. It allows the teacher to decide whether or not students can share screens and/or see each other:

“When Focus Mode is enabled, students in a virtual class on Zoom will not be able to see their peers. However, this doesn't mean that students will only be able to see their teachers as they will still be able to see their own videos as well as the names and emoji reactions of other students attending the same class. They will also be able to hear other students when unmuted.”

In other words, you can’t make silly faces at your mate when the teacher isn’t looking. Now that’s just wrong! (NDTV)

Three animal things 

One: Scientists have discovered that chimpanzees and bonobo monkeys appear to say ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’ to each other. It is in the form of certain kinds of physical contact—like “touching each other, holding hands, and butting heads”—and locking of gazes between individuals. And just like humans, they are less ‘polite’ with close friends—i.e. the greetings and departures were briefer. (Gizmodo)

Two: Official data from Kerala shows that as many as 411 wild elephants and 55 in captivity died between 2018 and 2021—which is about 7% of the total population in the state. In 2019 alone, 133 died, which is the highest ever in a year. The biggest threat is not poaching but disruptions to their habitat due to development—for example, tourist resorts in places like Munnar. Point to note: The union government is planning to carry out a nationwide elephant census similar to the one conducted to count tigers. (Times of India)

Three: Wally the walrus is greatly beloved and known to wander for thousands of miles off the coast of Western Europe—with stops in the UK and France and as far south as Spain. And as a semi-aquatic creature, he tends to clamber onto boats when he needs a bit of land to rest—usually destroying them entirely. Activists are pushing to construct floating pontoons for him to rest. His latest landing place: this boat belonging to a distillery in Ireland:

Four things to see

One: Meet the world's newest carnivorous plant. Western false asphodel or Triantha occidentalis was first documented back in 1879—and it was never considered rare or exotic. But scientists just discovered that this pretty little white flower has a voracious appetite for insects. NPR has more on the discovery. See the deceptively sweet bloom below:

Two: A deep sea expedition off the Eastern coast of the United States has discovered a new species of jellyfish. It was found swimming at a depth of 2,297 feet—and looks absolutely spectacular. 

Three: Cottons Jaipur decided to do its bit for national integration and launch an Onam collection. Except its ad shows two women wearing white-and-gold salwars eating dosai and idli. If you don’t know what’s wrong with this picture, we suggest you consult your sure-to-be-annoyed Malayali friend lol:

Four: The Vice President of Public Policy of Amazon India shared this portrait of our Prime Minister—created by Amazon Vice President, Patrick Copeland on his iPad. It is allegedly “in the style of Claude Monet’s self portrait (1886).” To which we only ask: Why? Twitter had far ruder things to say.