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A migrant ship tragedy in Europe
An “extremely fragile” inflatable boat carrying desperate asylum seekers from France to Britain capsized in the English Channel—killing 27 people, including five women and a little girl. This was a tragedy waiting to happen. The flood of migrants trying to enter Britain from France has become a political flashpoint between the two countries—with each accusing the other of not doing enough to stem the tide. Data point to note: 31,500 people have attempted the crossing since the start of the year, and 7,800 people have been rescued at sea—figures which have doubled since August. New York Times and Al Jazeera have more.
A social media campaign against Sikhs
A new report has uncovered 80 fake accounts—on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram—claiming to be Sikhs. Their main purpose: to delegitimise the farmer protests, claiming they had been hijacked by “Khalistani terrorists.” And they were always accompanied by the hashtag #RealSikh. Unlike bot accounts, these were managed by real people—and their posts were often endorsed by verified accounts of public figures. BBC News has more details—or read the author Benjamin Strick’s Twitter thread which offers more examples.
Easter bombings trial begins in Sri Lanka
Back in 2019, bomb attacks killed 267 people—including 40 children—on Easter Sunday. The trial of 25 suspects kicked off on Tuesday—who face 23,000 charges that include “conspiring to murder, aiding and abetting the attacks, and collecting arms and ammunition.” Given the sheer number of charges, the trial is expected to drag on for a decade. The defendants’ lawyers said: “As things are now it is impossible to identify which specific charges match with which suspect.” (Reuters)
Sweden’s first woman PM resigns
On Wednesday, Sweden elected its first ever female leader: Magdalena Andersson, a Social Democrat leader—who was previously the Finance Minister. This despite the fact that 174 members of Parliament voted against her, and only 117 in her support. But according to Swedish rules, a PM candidate doesn’t need a majority, but has to ensure that a majority doesn’t vote against them. In this case, 57 members abstained.
But the drama didn’t end there. Within hours of her appointment, her ally Greens party quit the coalition in protest against her budget “drafted for the first time with the far-right.” Now, she has resigned as well, saying: “I don't want to lead a government whose legitimacy will be questioned.” Sounds like an episode of ‘Borgen’—which, btw is awesome! BBC News has more details.
Meanwhile, in Germany: Olaf Scholz will be the new chancellor, heading a three-party coalition. It marks the end of the 16-year rule of Angela Merkel and her party Christian Democratic Union of Germany. Read our explainer on the German elections here. (BBC News)
The IPL reshuffle: Who’s staying put?
Indian Express offers behind-the-scenes—totally unsourced—goss on who is going up on the block ahead of the big auction in December. Chennai Super Kings is likely to retain captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni for the next three seasons—and hold on to Ravindra Jadeja, Ruturaj Gaikwad and spinner Moeen Ali. Delhi Capitals will retain Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel, Prithvi Shaw and Anrich Nortje. Mumbai Indians will try and hold on to Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah. The big change: KL Rahul who will leave Punjab Kings for the new Lucknow team. (Indian Express)
A list of key studies
One: A new survey shows that at least 33% of Muslims have experienced discrimination in hospitals—compared to 22% of members of Scheduled Tribes. Also notable: “35% of women had to undergo a physical examination by a male doctor without another female person present in the room.” (Scroll)
Two: New research reveals that fasting for 24 hours at least once a week has a significant effect on inflammation levels and has some of the same effects as drugs used to lower blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes. (Inverse)
Three: New data shows that climate change is leading to higher ‘divorce’ rates among albatrosses. The mated-for-life birds would only separate in 1-3% of cases—but that rate is up to 8%. The reason: “warmer waters mean birds are travelling further for food and becoming more stressed, triggering relationship breakdowns.” (The Guardian)
The Grammy nominations are out!
You can read the entire list here, but here’s what caught our eye. One: ABBA bagged the first nomination ever for their song ‘I Still Have Faith in You’. Two: Some of the biggest albums of the year didn’t make the list because they dropped after the cutoff date. Sadly, there won’t be an Adele vs Taylor Swift slugfest to look forward to. (Los Angeles Times)
Want $200K for your face?
A Russian robotics company is offering people $200,000 for complete rights to their face and voice—which will be used “for a humanoid robot-assistant which will work in hotels, shopping malls and other crowded places.” The hitch: You lose your right to your face “forever.” The main criteria for the winning candidate: a “kind and friendly” face. Check out the promo video—it might be you one day lol! (Gizmodo)
A real-life ‘Squid Game’ death sentence
A man smuggled the Netflix show into North Korea, and sold it to students on USB drives. He has since been caught and sentenced to death. One student who bought a copy received a life sentence, while six others were sentenced to five years of hard labor. (Radio Free Asia)
Two stories about crypto
Have no clue about NFTs, blockchains or crypto? Check out our handy explainer—and our latest explainer on a possible ban on all private cryptocurrencies in India.
One: Decentraland is what everyone is calling a ‘metaverse’—essentially an online world where “users can buy land, visit buildings, walk around and meet people as avatars.” Someone has now bought a patch of real estate—in the ‘Fashion Street’ area—for $2.4 million in cryptocurrency. Point to note: This is the most expensive bit of ‘land’ sold in this metaverse. And there has been a slew of such purchases in recent months. Is virtual real estate the new NFT? (Reuters)
Two: The estate of author JRR Tolkein won its bid to shut down a cryptocurrency called JRR Token—for flagrant copyright infringement. But the tokens survive as really tacky NFTs. The Verge has more on this strange ‘Lord of The Rings’-inspired crypto story.
Three things to see
One: Tiffany & Co unveiled its most expensive piece of jewellery—a necklace made of 180 carats of diamonds and set in platinum. Called the ‘The World’s Fair Necklace’, the centrepiece is an 80-carat Empire Diamond. The likely price: anywhere between $20-30 million. (CNN)
Two: The World Wildlife Fund and British Antarctic Survey put out a call asking thousands of ‘walrus detectives’ to scan for the creatures in satellite images. The data collected will give scientists a clearer picture of how each population is doing—without disturbing the animals. The Guardian shamelessly used this story as an excuse to post photos of cute walruses. So shall we. (The Guardian)
Three: In a real-world iteration of Anurag Kashyap’s ‘Choked’, lakhs of rupees flooded out of a water pipe at the home of a government officer—who was raided by the Karnataka police. (The Hindu)