Researched & collated by: Prafula Grace Busi
The Russian invasion: So it begins…
President Vladimir Putin announced a military operation in Ukraine—and warned other countries that any attempt to interfere will lead to “consequences you have never seen.” While he claims the attack is necessary to “protect civilians” in east Ukraine, Putin also announced his intention to “demilitarise” Ukraine—and bring those who committed crimes [against civilians] to justice. US President Joe Biden condemned the “unprovoked and unjustified attack,” and promised that the US and its allies “will hold Russia accountable.” (Associated Press)
Also this: there are already reports of explosions in major cities in Ukraine—and footage of one in the capital city Kyiv.
Meanwhile in Ukraine: President Zelensky declared a state of emergency and began to mobilise 36,000 reserve troops—adding to its 200,000 standing army. Its intelligence predicted an attack on Wednesday night—which had not materialised. But satellite images show new deployments on the Belarus border with Ukraine. Axios has more on the defiant mood on the ground in Kyiv.
Something to watch: President Putin had a cranky moment with the head of Russia's foreign intelligence service during a televised security meeting. Watch the BBC News report.
Nawab Malik has been arrested
The Enforcement Directorate has arrested the senior Nationalist Congress Party leader and Maharashtra state minister—who led the charge against Sameer Wankhede, the investigating officer in the Aryan Khan drug case (we explained it here). The allegation: illegal money transactions with infamous don Dawood Ibrahim that involves land bought by Malik (details here).
The ruling Shiv Sena-led coalition says Malik will not resign—and called it “an attempt by the Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP] to destabilise the MVA government.” Indian Express has the full list of Maharashtra ministers under investigation by central government agencies.
A big win for women’s football
After a six-year battle for equal pay and treatment, the US team has reached a $24 million settlement. The money will be given to several dozen former and current players—and is a tacit acknowledgement that compensation for the men’s and women’s teams had been unequal for years. And the deal includes an agreement to remove that gap moving forward. But there’s a big hitch: The US soccer federation wants a single bargaining agreement that covers both men and women—which will require this:
“[T]he men’s players will have to agree to share, or surrender, millions of dollars in potential World Cup payments from FIFA, world soccer’s governing body. Those payments, set by FIFA and exponentially larger for the men’s World Cup than the corresponding women’s tournament, are at the heart of the equal pay divide.”
There’s been no comment from the men’s side. (New York Times)
Speaking of lawsuits: Another former Tesla employee has sued the company alleging he was fired for reporting safety violations and racist harassment. There are already a number of such race-related lawsuits in the courts. (Mint)
The BharatPe saga: Madhuri is out!
The company has sacked founder Ashneer Grover’s wife, Madhuri, without offering an official reason.“Sources” claim Madhuri was sacked over alleged “misappropriation of funds”—and claims that she used company moolah to pay for family trips to the US and Dubai etc. In response, she tweeted a bizarre series of clips of office parties—where employees are seen partying—with a message for the current CEO and two other co-founders: “Now you may indulge in your ‘drunken orgies’ without having to wait for me (righteous lady) to leave office. Slow clap !!” (There’s lots more of this kind of stuff on her timeline if you want to check it out.) Meanwhile, Grover has accused the board chairman of bias. If you have no clue what this is about, be sure to check out our explainer. (Indian Express)
Meet the new Indian chess genius!
Sixteen-year-old Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa is now the youngest chess player ever to defeat the world champion Magnus Carlsen. They faced each other in an online tournament with 16 top players—and Praggnanandhaa was coming off three losses, while Carlsen was on a winning streak. When asked if he planned to celebrate, Pragg said: “It's about just going to bed, because I don't think I will have dinner at 2:30 in the morning.” See the winning moment below. (NPR)
Hijab ban: The latest update
Kannada film actor Chetan Kumar has been arrested for criticising one of the High Court judges presiding over the hijab petition. His tweet took aim at Justice Krishna Dixit—who was widely criticised for granting anticipatory bail in a 2020 rape case, claiming the victim’s statement was not credible. At the time, the statements triggered outrage, and were later deleted from the order.
Kumar cited that case and said: “Now this same judge is determining whether #hijabs are acceptable or not in govt schools. Does he have the clarity required?” He has now been arrested for “intent to incite a class or community to commit offence” and “intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace.” FYI: Kumar is a US citizen and a Fulbright scholar—and is known as “a firebrand Dalit rights activist.” (BBC News)
Two fascinating studies of note
What we see: A newly published paper reveals that everything we see right now is actually an amalgamation of the past. Instead of processing every single visual snapshot our eyes record, what we actually see in any given moment is an average of what we saw in the past 15 seconds:
“In other words, the brain is like a time machine which keeps sending us back in time. It’s like an app that consolidates our visual input every 15 seconds into one impression so that we can handle everyday life. If our brains were always updating in real time, the world would feel like a chaotic place with constant fluctuations in light, shadow and movement. We would feel like we were hallucinating all the time.”
Without this kind of stabilisation, here’s what it would look like. The white circle on the right shows potential eye movements, and the blurry blob on the left reveals the jumpy visual input in every moment. Isn’t that amazing? For more, read the researchers’ piece in The Conversation.
When we die: Scientists were studying the brain waves of an 87-year-old epilepsy patient for seizures using an electroencephalography (EEG) device—when the person had a heart attack. The EEG allowed them to record 15 minutes of their brain activity as they died. Here’s what they found: an increase in brain waves known as “gamma oscillations”—which occur when we dream or retrieve memories. What it suggests:
“[T]he brain may be playing a last recall of important life events just before we die, similar to the ones reported in near-death experiences…Something we may learn from this research is: although our loved ones have their eyes closed and are ready to leave us to rest, their brains may be replaying some of the nicest moments they experienced in their lives.”
The Oscars get a trim
Responding to viewer fatigue triggered by the endless parade of awards, the Academy is eliminating eight categories from the live ceremony: documentary short, film editing, makeup/hairstyling, original score, production design, animated short, live-action short and sound. They will be presented in a separate event just before the show. One reason for the big cutback: the 2021 show was the lowest ever rated in Oscars history. What may be controversial: Organisers won’t cut the length of the show—but plan to use the time to offer “more time and opportunity for audience entertainment and engagement through comedy, musical numbers, film clip packages and movie tributes.” (Hollywood Reporter)
Ashley is ruining Spotify
That’s the name of one of the bots that have hijacked people’s public playlists that are open to everyone. Ashley has been invading these lists and adding songs—as have other bots named Emma and Elsie. No one is sure what’s going on but the popular theory is that these are promotional accounts created to boost the listening stats of an artist by adding them to as many public playlists as possible. Spotify users are so frustrated that they are adding angry messages to their playlists: “F*** you Ashley stop adding songs.” FYI: Ashley is also known to delete entire playlists—so it may not be wise to piss them off. But you can delete each added song and block Ashley—or make your list private. (Mashable)
Something to see
Third-ranked Alexander Zverev was thrown out of the Mexican Open for smashing his racket on the umpire's chair moments after losing a doubles match. He did twice in a row—and then got back up, yelling at the umpire that he “destroyed the whole f***ing match.” (The Hindu)
