Researched and collated by: Sara Varghese, Ayaan Malhotra & Divrina Dhingra
Trump gets a big legal break
Former US president Donald Trump is in legal jeopardy over highly classified documents that he took with him when he left the White House. Boxes of these were recovered last month in an FBI raid. But Trump’s lawyers went to court and asked for an “independent master” to review the materials—a request that has now been granted.
The judge also temporarily barred the Justice Department from using the seized materials for any “investigative purpose” connected to its inquiry of Trump—until the review is done. FYI: the judge is a Trump appointee. If the government appeals the decision, it will be heard by a bench of 11 justices, of whom six are Trump appointees. See how this works? (New York Times)
Israel admits guilt in journalist’s death
In May this year, Palestinian-American reporter Shireen Abu Akleh was shot in the head as she was covering an Israeli raid in the West Bank (See: our Big Story). The cold-blooded killing sent shockwaves around the world. Though Israel blamed the Palestinians, an Army investigation has now concluded: "There is a high possibility that Ms Abu Akleh was accidentally hit by IDF (Israel Defence Forces) gunfire that was fired toward suspects identified as armed Palestinian gunmen.”
Also this: “When they fired in her direction they didn't know she was a journalist, it was a mistake, they thought they were firing at terrorists shooting at them.” FYI: Abu Akleh was wearing a bulletproof vest prominently marked "Press" and a helmet. A fellow journalist who was with her at the time said that Israeli soldiers “did not stop firing even after she collapsed. I couldn’t even extend my arm to pull her because of the shots. The army was adamant on shooting to kill.” (AFP via Yahoo News)
Indian communists vs Ramon Magasaysay
The Ramon Magsaysay award is often referred to as “Asia’s Nobel Prize.” This year, the foundation had planned to honour CPM leader KK Shailaja for her laudable work as health minister during the pandemic and the Nipah outbreak in Kerala. But she was told to reject the award by the party because of the following reasons:
“This is a collective effort of the Left Democratic Front government and the Department of Health in the state. So this is not the result of an individual effort. Besides, the Magsaysay Award has not been given to any active politicians so far. Shailaja is a member of our Central Committee, which is the highest decision-making body of our party. She is also still active in politics. Also, this award is in the name of Magsaysay, who has a history of brutal oppression of the Communists in the Philippines. So considering all these factors together, she has refused the award.”
Point to remember: the CPM party has been cracking down on some of its strongest women leaders in recent times. It denied Shailaja a place in the cabinet despite her stellar performance. FYI: previous Magasasay awardees in India include Satyajit Ray, RK Laxman, Arvind Kejriwal and MS Subbulakshmi. The News Minute has a good overview of the controversy and The Week has an interview with Shailaja.
A new Amnesty report on Kashmir
Amnesty International released a scathing 31-page report accusing the government of “drastically intensified repression” over the past three years—the period since J&K lost its special status. There were at least 60 instances of journalists and human rights activists being “subjected to interrogations, criminal investigations, arbitrary arrest, detention, and surveillance.” And a total of 27 journalists have been detained since 2019. The state also reported the highest number of killings during ‘police encounters’ in the country during the same period. Additionally there has been a 12% jump in the use of draconian anti-terror laws like Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). The Wire has more highlights and you can read the entire report here.
An ugly Wikipedia row in cricket
Bowler Arshdeep Singh dropped a critical catch during the recent India vs Pakistan match at the Asia Cup. An unregistered user promptly got on Wikipedia and replaced the word ‘India’ with ‘Khalistan’ in multiple places. Although the changes were undone within 15 minutes by the platform’s editors, the government has summoned its executives to a high panel meeting—to explain how this happened. And it may even issue a show cause notice to Wikipedia. The reason: “The Centre believes this disinformation could disturb communal harmony and also lead to a law and order situation for the cricketer's family.” Singh’s parents said:
“Everyone wants their team to win. When it does not happen, fans take out their anger on players through their words. We are taking this all in a positive manner. The match was pretty nice.”
The lockdown effect on primates
Humans weren’t the only ones who were transformed by the isolation imposed by the pandemic. Zoo residents—like bonobos, chimpanzees, baboons, and gorillas—also changed their behaviour when visitors disappeared. Olive baboons, for example, had more sex and demonstrated more dominant behaviour. Chimpanzees ate more while gorillas rested more often. That said, researchers can’t say whether lockdown experiences were good, neutral, or bad for individual species—but the chimpanzees and baboons did seem a lot more excited to see the humans return. (Times UK)
Amazon’s new troll-fighting weapon
Prime Video has quietly imposed a 72-hour delay on all user reviews to prevent “review bombing”—where trolls deliberately flood a show with negative ratings. How it works: there is a 72-hour delay for all user reviews posted to the platform after a particular release. During this time “each critique is then evaluated to determine whether it’s genuine or a forgery created by a bot, troll or other breed of digital goblin.” The measure was first put in place back in August 12 to protect the release of ‘A League of Their Own’—but only caught people’s attention when ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ dropped. As The Verge notes, it hasn’t stopped the trolls from flooding other sites. The series has a rating of 34% on Rotten Tomatoes while 24.7% of reviewers on IMDb gave it one star. (Variety)
Speaking of streaming: Netflix's highly anticipated ad-supported plan will now launch on November 1. The initial plan was to roll it out in 2023—but the company was forced to move quickly once Disney+ announced its December launch of a similar ad-supporterted tier. No, it’s not coming to India as of now. The plan will be first rolled out in the US, France, Germany, Australia and Canada. (Cnet)
Meanwhile, in India: We all know that Bollywood movies are struggling at the box office—while South Indian films are on a hot streak. More interesting is the fact that other regional movies are also showing signs of recovery—and doing better than their Hindi counterparts. Example: the Marathi film ‘Daagdi Chawl 2’—which made Rs 20.5 million (Rs 2.05 crore) in its opening weekend—beating the Kangana Ranaut-starrer ‘Dhaakad’ (Rs. 1.96 crore). Point to remember: these films have tiny budgets in comparison, unlike the South Indian blockbusters. In other words, Hindi-language movies are the only ones that are lagging behind. (Mint)
A related study for movie buffs: A new study has figured out why we hate spoilers. Uncertainty about near-future events stimulates an area of our brain called the lateral orbitofrontal cortex (LOFC). And it kicks into high gear during that moment of suspense: “The climax or the twist holds the maximum uncertainty. If I already know what’s going to happen, I’ll be bored instead of being excited by what is to come.” Oddly enough, this is also the same mechanism that makes us dread exam results. Ah, the thin line between pleasure and pain. (The Telegraph)
Two things to see
One: Bangalore is under water for the second time in a week thanks to insane amounts of overnight rain. The latest visuals show folks using an excavator to get around, in certain parts of the city. Worse, drinking water supply in various parts of the city will be affected because pumping stations were flooded. The News Minute has a handy list of areas that are going to be hit. FYI, we did a Big Story about why the monsoons just don’t seem to be leaving anytime soon. (The Hindu)
Two: Actor Brendan Fraser received a six-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival. He was at the festival for the premier of ‘The Whale’—a movie that marks his comeback after a long hiatus:
“‘The Mummy’ movies took a great physical toll on him, and he received multiple surgeries as a result of stunt work he did for the franchise. He underwent a laminectomy (a procedure to remove vertebrae from the spine), a partial knee replacement and vocal cord repair.”
He hasn’t been in a lead role since 2013. You can see Fraser moved to tears in the clip below. A related read: Nicholas Barber in BBC Culture simply says 'Brendan Fraser deserves an Oscar' for the movie. (NPR)
