Researched & collated by: Vagda Galhotra & Elisha Benny
The Russian invasion: The latest update
- Ukraine has urged its civilians to flee the Kharkiv, Donetsk and Luhansk regions—as Russia withdraws from the north and focuses on the east.
- President Biden announced fresh sanctions in response to evidence of alleged war crimes in Bucha—and some of them target President Putin’s daughters and the family of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
- India offered to mediate between the two sides—while it gets ready to vote in the UN General Assembly calling for the suspension of Russia from the Human Rights Council.
- Point to note: India made its strongest statement on Ukraine when it condemned the killings in Bucha and called for an investigation—but did not name Russia. “An official” told The Hindu, New Delhi is unlikely to support the GA resolution as results of an independent probe have not been yet constituted.
- According to a Reuters exclusive, Chinese state firms are refusing to sign new oil deals with Russia despite steep discounts—wary of inviting the wrath of the US—which has now threatened to sanction Beijing if it aids Moscow’s war effort.
- Meanwhile, Hungary is planning to defy the EU and pay for its gas in roubles. Also read: Quartz on why the US effort to supply more gas to Europe will push oil prices sky-high in India.
- InformNapalm—a volunteer initiative that tracks military intelligence—has identified the commander in charge in Bucha: Lieutenant Colonel Azatbek Omurbekov.
Editor’s note: If you need more context, we highly recommend reading our Big Story on the historical roots of the conflict, effectiveness of economic sanctions, return of the Cold War, what is driving Vladimir Putin, India’s “balancing act” and the looming oil crisis.
XE lands in India… or not
Maharashtra authorities announced that they have identified the first case of the recombinant Covid virus—which is a combination of two variations of Omicron. But the union health ministry says it isn’t true—saying its genomic experts are confident that the sample does not match the XE profile. Given there has been no rise in cases, an expert says, “This would suggest that whatever it is, it hasn’t impacted the course of the epidemic.” The WHO warned it is 10% more transmissible than Omicron—but not necessarily more severe. That said, please stay safe, people! (The Telegraph)
A flurry of stories about intolerance
In Bangalore: 301 places of worship including temples, mosques and churches have received notices to comply with the ban on loudspeakers. Point to note: a daily call to prayer is core to only one of these religions. Added point to note: The hijab ban was upheld by the High Court—which also imposed the loudspeaker prohibition—on the grounds that the scarf is not integral to Islamic faith. Can we make up our mind already? What remains to be seen: If enforcement remains even-handed when festival season comes around this winter. (Indian Express)
In Noida: A Sudarshan TV reporter burst into a Haldiram store spewing conspiracy theories about ‘Urdu’ text on its packets. This is actually Arabic text included because Haldiram exports to the Middle East. What’s impressive: The store clerk who refused to give in to the bullying—even as the policeman and her male colleagues did nothing to help. (The Quint)
In Delhi: One of the Muslim journalists who tweeted about being attacked by a Hindutva mob at a recent event has been charged with “promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will.” This is the same event where Yati Narsinghanand was booked for hate speech against Muslims. And where five journalists covering the event were attacked. Also charged: the news website Article 14 for tweeting this:
“5 journalists, 4 of them Muslim,1 on assignment for @Article14live, have been taken by police to the Mukherji Nagar police station in Delhi after a mob at #Hindu #dharamsansad (for which the police had declined permission) discovered their religion, attacked them & deleted videos.”
Speaking of journalists: Columnist and former head of Amnesty India Aakar Patel was prevented from boarding a flight to the US in Bangalore. This is the second such incident in the past month. Journalist Rana Ayyub was similarly stopped in Delhi—but managed to get a High Court order so she could fly out. What’s notable about the Patel case: He had a court order in place allowing him to leave the country. And yet he was stopped due to a CBI notice relating to a government case against Amnesty. Reminder: Amnesty India was charged in 2019 for violating laws on taking foreign funds—and has since been defunct. (Indian Express)
Twitter gets the edit button
Yup, those embarrassing typos can now be fixed in a jiffy. The company announced the long promised ‘edit’ button will be rolled in the coming months. But it really, really wants you to know that it didn’t get the idea from some random guy’s poll (who just happens to be their largest shareholder). That said, it isn’t clear how much time you get to change what you tweet—and if you can simply erase history by doing so. As a Twitter exec noted: “Without things like time limits, controls, and transparency about what has been edited, Edit could be misused to alter the record of the public conversation.” (The Verge)
Ed Sheeran is not a plagiarist
The musician won the lawsuit filed by Sam Chokri—who accused Sheeran of ripping off his song ‘Oh Why’ in the famous track ‘Shape of You’. The trial—which included Sheeran singing various songs in court to show that melody in pop music is rarely original. His response to the verdict:
“‘There’s only so many notes and very few chords used in pop music,’ Mr Sheeran said, adding that, given that, ‘coincidences are bound to happen if 60,000 songs are released every day on Spotify.’”
Two health studies of note
Microplastics: After baby poop and human blood, scientists have now found microplastics deep inside 11 out of 13 samples of lung tissue. Why this matters:
“We did not expect to find the highest number of particles in the lower regions of the lungs, or particles of the sizes we found. It is surprising as the airways are smaller in the lower parts of the lungs and we would have expected particles of these sizes to be filtered out or trapped before getting this deep.”
Nope, we still don’t know how microplastics affect our health. But it is alarming evidence of how ubiquitous plastic is in our life. (The Guardian)
Super-yeast: New research out of India suggests that apples treated with fungicide breed drug-resistant strains of Candida auris—which is a yeast or microscopic fungus. Why this matters:
“Though most people exposed to it don’t become sick, it can cause a severe infection in some, particularly people who are already sick or immunocompromised. That’s made the fungus a serious threat in hospitals and other health care environments. It’s also often resistant to the few antifungals usable against it.”
The key takeaway: using fungicide on fruits can have the same effect as pumping livestock animals with antibiotics. Both breed drug-resistant superbugs. (Gizmodo)
Things banned in America
One: Amazon is not having a good week. First, its workers formed their first union at a facility in New York—making labour history. Now, an investigation by The Intercept shows that the company has introduced an “automatic word monitor”—which automatically blocks certain words on the internal messaging app. The blacklisted words include anything that “could represent potential critiques of Amazon’s working conditions, like ‘slave labor,’ ‘prison,’ and ‘plantation,’ as well as ‘restrooms’— presumably related to reports of Amazon employees relieving themselves in bottles to meet punishing quotas.” (The Intercept)
Two: Abortion in the great state of Oklahoma. Yes, it’s true. The legislature just passed a bill that will make it a felony to have an abortion unless the woman’s life is at risk. Anyone who provides an abortion will face up to 10 years in prison and a $100,000 fine. Aww, Okie makes Texas look good (See: our Big Story on the anti-abortion tide in the US). (Axios)
Something to see
The NGO Handicap International parked a life-sized tank made of colourful balloons outside the UN office in Geneva to protest the bombing of civilians. What’s cool: “Passers-by took turns to write ‘STOP’ in markers on the balloons.” Also: It sits right next to the famous ‘Broken Chair’ artwork—a 12 metre-chair that sits on three legs to symbolise what is lost to land mines. (Reuters)
