Researched & collated by: Vagda Galhotra

The Russian invasion: The latest update

First, let’s start with the diplomatic drama that’s unfolding in New Delhi—which is being pressured by the US, UK and Russia at the very same time. Moscow—represented by foreign minister Sergei Lavrov—took the carrot approach and offered oil at a massive discount—of as much as $35 a barrel.  

This may explain why Foreign Minister S Jaishankar sharply called out European nations at a joint presser with UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss:

“If you look at the major buyers of oil and gas from Russia, I think you’ll find most of them are in Europe… When oil prices go up, I think it’s natural for countries to go out into the market and look for what are good deals for them. But I am pretty sure if we wait two or three months and actually look at who are the big buyers of Russian gas and oil, I suspect the list won’t be very different from what it used to be. And I suspect we won’t be at the top 10 of that list.”

Washington took an equally blunt approach with Deputy National Security Adviser Daleep Singh warning: 

“No one should kid themselves—Russia is going to be the junior partner in this relationship with China. And the more leverage that China gains over Russia, the less favourable that is for India. I don’t think anyone would believe that if China once again breached the Line of Actual Control, Russia would come running in India’s defence.”

There you have it folks: oil vs China. Those are the choices. Two excellent reads on Indian foreign policy dilemmas: James Crabtree explains why India is unlikely to make up with China. Rohan Venkat's long and nuanced take on India’s stance on Ukraine.

In other Ukraine news: Here’s a quick roundup of the main developments:

• Russia continued to send mixed signals about its intentions. First, President Putin threatened to cut off gas to European countries who do not pay for natural gas in roubles. 
• But after a phone conversation with Putin, the Italian PM Draghi said that Europe was not “in danger” of being cut off—and Moscow will grant a “concession” to European countries, and that the conversion of payments from dollars or euros into roubles was “an internal matter of the Russian Federation.”
• In happier news, Russia has finally opened a humanitarian corridor to evacuate the residents of Mariupol—where they have been cut off from food, water and electricity for weeks.
• Moscow has ordered 134,500 new conscripts into the army as part of its annual military draft—but insists it has nothing to do with the invasion.
• The US plans to open up its strategic reserve of oil—and release up to 180 million barrels. But OPEC+ will only opt for a modest hike in output.

Editor’s note: If you need more context, we highly recommend reading our Big Story on the historical roots of the conflict and this timely explainer on the effectiveness of economic sanctions, the return of the Cold War, what is driving Vladimir Putin, India’s “balancing act” and the looming oil crisis.

The Thappad: An update

One: The unholy Oscars mess gets messier by the day. The Academy put out a new statement saying that Will Smith refused to leave the ceremony when asked—and that it had “initiated disciplinary proceedings” against him. But “a few individuals with knowledge” told Variety a totally different story: Smith was asked to leave but the show’s producer Will Packer personally asked Smith to stay—which “sources” close to Packer deny. See? A mess. CNN has more on the Academy’s statement and The Hollywood Reporter looks at what the events might mean for Smith’s career. Read our explainer if you managed to miss this melodrama.

Two: Chris Rock, in comparison, is doing much better. The ‘assaultee’ performed at the first show in his comedy tour—and opened with “How was your weekend?” And this is what he said about Smith:

“I don’t have a bunch of shit about what happened, so if you came to hear that, I have a whole show I wrote before this weekend. I’m still kind of processing what happened. So, at some point, I’ll talk about that shit. And it will be serious and funny.”

Excess Covid deaths controversy

This month, the World Health Organisation will release its global estimates of excess deaths caused by the pandemic. This number will both include the uncounted deaths caused directly by Covid—and those that were an indirect result of the pandemic. The WHO global total is expected to be double the official toll of six million. Already unhappy with its numbers: the Indian government—because our total is 4X the official figure of  521,101 deaths. It apparently asked for the estimates to be published “10 years later.” Devex has an exclusive report.

AI-generated faces invade LinkedIn

A Stanford investigation has found more than 1,000 accounts with fake profile photos created by AI. The good news is that these are not troll bots spreading misinformation but business accounts masquerading as a fake person—typically aimed at drumming up sales for companies:

“Accounts.. send messages to potential customers. Anyone who takes the bait gets connected to a real salesperson who tries to close the deal. Think telemarketing for the digital age. By using fake profiles, companies can cast a wide net online without beefing up their own sales staff or hitting LinkedIn's limits on messages.”

So more like LinkedIn spam then? (NPR)

Speaking of AI: Google is integrating its latest machine learning model, MUM, into its search engine to help detect people who may be in crisis—so it can interpret their search queries more accurately. (The Verge)

NASA spots a very distant star

The Hubble telescope has detected the farthest star yet—and it’s 12.9 billion light years away from the Earth. Earendel is estimated to be more than 50 times the size of our sun and a million times brighter: 

“Usually they’re all smooshed together … But here, nature has given us this one star—highly, highly magnified, magnified by factors of thousands—so that we can study it. It’s such a gift really from the universe.”

As you may know, when we look far into the sky we are actually looking back into the past. So this “luminous blue star” which emerged in the first billion years after the Big Bang—a time often called Cosmic Dawn—is already long gone. See the NASA vid below. (PBS)

GoT prequel is coming!

HBO announced the date for the first prequel to the Game of Thrones. The 10-episode series—set two centuries before the GoT series—will drop on August 21—just before Amazon’s prequel to Lord of the Rings which releases in September. Brace yourself for fantasy overload. See the earlier released teaser below. (Variety)

Three things to see

One: In February, Bill Gates visited Pakistan to promote his campaign to combat polio—and had lunch with PM Imran Khan and top officials. Khan tweeted out a photo of the get-together—which was a bit peculiar. Everyone is looking toward one spot at the table—as though it was occupied but is oddly empty. Turns out, its occupant was none other than the new intelligence chief General Nadeem Anjum—who had been air-brushed out of the image. The reason: Anjum has ordered the media not to publish any pictures or videos of him. This one is for when you think our country has gone a little nuts… Read our explainer on Pakistan if you want to know more about Anjum (Bloomberg News via NDTV)

Two: Researchers have found 65 giant sandstone jars at four sites in Assam that are a bit puzzling: “We still don't know who made the giant jars or where they lived. It's all a bit of a mystery.” While they are empty, experts think they likely contained cremated remains. Some 10 sites containing more than 700 jars have been uncovered in Assam so far—and are believed to date back to before 400 BC. (BBC News)

Three: Meet the Cadbury Bunny of 2022—selected as the annual Easter mascot for Creme Eggs. She is an English Doodle named Annie—and will star in her very own  Cadbury Clucking Bunny commercial. Watch the star getting her hair done below lol! Yeah, we know this isn’t news but we couldn’t resist:) (Tasting Table)