Amazon plays dirty in India
A Reuters investigation—based on thousands of internal Amazon documents—shows that the company did two underhanded things. One: Its private-brands team in India secretly exploited internal data from Amazon.in to copy products sold by other companies, and then offered them on its platform. Two: It manipulated search results so that its own products would appear “in the first 2 or three … search results.” Why this matters: Jeff Bezos gave sworn testimony in front of the US Congress that his company does not engage in any such practice. We highly recommend reading the Reuters piece for yourself.
Invesco vs Zee: The latest update
We did yesterday’s Big Story on a maha yudh between Zee’s largest shareholder—the US fund Invesco—and its founder Subhash Chandra. Chandra’s son and Zee CEO Punit Goenka recently revealed that Invesco is upset because he rejected a merger with a large Indian group—which he didn’t name. Invesco has now revealed the identity of the mystery company: Reliance! But the fund also insisted: “The role of Invesco, as Zee’s single largest shareholder, was to help facilitate that potential transaction and nothing more.”
As for Reliance: The company also spoke up, admitting it had held direct talks with Goenka—which fell apart because the founding family wanted to up its stakes using preferential warrants (explained here). The big question industry watchers are asking:
“If such a transaction was being negotiated by the promoters of Zee with Reliance executives, isn’t it the fiduciary duty on the part of the promoters of Zee to have tabled this proposal with the board of Zee? After all, the board of Zee could have looked at forming a committee to look into the proposed transaction?"
Meanwhile at Dish TV: Subhash Chandra’s other big television company Dish TV has rejected the demand of its largest shareholder Yes Bank for an extraordinary shareholder meeting. Expect another Invesco-type showdown soon. (Mint)
Brace for a new IT law
Months after introducing highly restrictive rules for digital news and social media (explained here), the government is getting ready to introduce a brand new information technology law—which will replace the existing IT Act. One big reason: The government feels the current law offers way too much protection to social media platforms—which don’t bear liability for the content posted on them.
Point to note: The new rules have been stayed by various courts because they violate the current IT Act. So why not just pass a brand new one, right? (Indian Express)
ISIS finance chief arrested
Iraq claims that it has captured Sami Jassem al-Ajuz who is described as “the chief financial and economic official for the Islamic State.” Why this matters: al-Ajuz is a “potential intelligence gold mine” and his arrest is set to be a major blow to the terror organisation—just as it struggles to revive itself. (New York Times)
Strange killings in Norway
A man armed with a bow and arrow killed five people and injured two. He was walking around shooting at shoppers downtown. He has since been arrested, but authorities have not released any information on his motive. (Associated Press)
The mystery of wisdom teeth solved!
Scientists have finally figured out why we grow these highly inconvenient teeth only as adults. The reason: Our jaws grow very slowly because we live longer than most animals. But we also have shorter faces:
“And that means your jaw needs to be developmentally ready to have teeth all the way at the back of our mouths nearest the joint. If wisdom teeth emerged earlier, the molars could actually damage the jaw they’re growing out of.”
Of course, this doesn’t tell us why we need to grow wisdom teeth—unless it is to finance the field of dentistry. (Popular Science)
Four stories about gender & inclusivity
One: The head of the academy that awards the Nobel prizes in science has firmly ruled out gender or ethnicity quotas. Goran Hansson acknowledged the vast inequity--which he blames on “unfair conditions in society”—but insisted that “we will give the prize to those who are found the most worthy.” (BBC News)
Two: OTOH, Lego is making a big move towards gender neutrality—and will stop labelling its toys as “for girls” or “for boys.” It is a response to results of a global survey conducted by the company—which found that both parents and children are still clinging to gender stereotypes: “Let the kids decide what they want to play, how they want to play with it and how they want to express themselves.” (Washington Post)
Three: Same sex marriage has been legal in the Netherlands since 2001—but everyone assumed that it didn’t apply to its royal family. Now, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has made it clear that the Dutch crown princess could marry a woman and still be queen. (NBC News)
Four: A 13-year old girl in China has apologised for impersonating a boy in order to join a bootcamp for budding boy band stars. She was found out by an internet user. While the discovery has mostly sparked amusement—and comparisons to Mulan—she has vowed to quit the entertainment industry for good. Aww:( (BBC News)
‘Squid Game’ posts crazy numbers
Netflix has confirmed that the South Korean series is officially its biggest show—viewed by 111 million people worldwide! And it has toppled ‘Bridgerton’ which only managed 82 million views. (Mashable)
Deciphering the ‘slut’ in Steinbeck
The word ‘slut’ is scrawled at the end of the manuscript for John Steinbeck’s epic novel The Grapes of Wrath. It was a big mystery for experts who wondered if someone had defaced the document. But Swedish scholars have finally cracked the mystery: “It is the Swedish expression for ‘the end’, used on the last page of all kinds of books, especially children’s books.” As you can see below, it is a rather large and impressive slut lol! (The Guardian)
Three things to see
One: Ok, this is seriously creepy—and a sacreligious use of dogs. The maker of military robots Ghost Robotics unveiled an image of an unmanned sniper rifle strapped on to its four-legged robot. Futurism has more.
Two: For a happier use of technology, check out three Gustav Klimt masterpieces recreated by AI. The paintings were burnt by the Nazis at the end of World War II—to prevent them from falling into Russian hands. Google Arts & Culture explains how they did it.
Three: A wildlife team in Colorado successfully removed a tire that was stuck around the neck of a 600-pound bull elk—which has been lugging it around for two years! The downside: They had to chop his antlers off to do it. But at least he is not wandering around looking like this. (CNN)