Researched by: Rachel John, Nirmal Bhansali, Aarthi Ramnath & Anannya Parekh
Elections, elections everywhere
Turkey: The entire world is waiting to see if strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan will remain in power—extending his 20-plus years in power. The answer: maybe. The country witnessed a record turnout yesterday. But neither candidate—Erdogan or his rival, the secular liberal leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu—crossed the magic 50% mark. With almost 97% of ballot boxes counted, Erdogan led with 49.39% to Kilicdaroglu’s 44.92%,
What happens next: The country will hold a second round of voting to decide the winner. Point to note: Erdogan appears to have out-performed the pre-election polls—and experts now give him the edge. The Guardian has more on a deeply polarised Turkey. (Reuters)
Thailand: This is an equally momentous election—and could spell the end of nearly a decade of military rule. With more than 80% of the ballots counted, the two biggest opposition parties had garnered well over 50% of the vote. Most notable: The tremendous success of the progressive Move Forward party—fueled by the younger generation’s anger at the military and the monarchy. The final results will likely be declared this week. CNN has more on the convoluted electoral system—rigged by the military. (Washington Post)
A gargantuan drug haul in Kochi
Authorities seized 2,525 kg of methamphetamine valued at Rs 250 billion (25000 crore) off the coast of Kerala. According to officials, this stuff is high-quality meth—unlike they have ever seen before. The shipment originated in Pakistan—sent from a Balochistan port—and was intended for India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Seychelles. This is the third such maritime drug bust in 18 months—all of which are part of a broader Operation Samudragupt. Indian Express has lots more details.
Say hello to Twitter’s new CEO
As many media reports predicted, Elon Musk ceded his job to NBCUniversal advertising chief Linda Yaccarino. As an advertising hotshot, Yaccarino has a lot of experience generating revenue and partnerships with key brands—what Twitter needs to get off life support. And she can help soothe all the feathers ruffled by Musk’s acerbic personality. But, but, but: Musk has no intention of exiting Twitter any time soon:
@LindaYacc will focus primarily on business operations, while I focus on product design & new technology. Looking forward to working with Linda to transform this platform into X, the everything app.
But hey, Yaccarino claims she is inspired by “provocative leadership”—and she’s sure to get plenty of the same. The Washington Post (splainer gift link) has everything you need to know about her.
Imran Khan declares war on the military
On May 12, the former Pakistan prime minister was let out on bail—after being arrested on corruption charges (See: this Big Story). And he immediately took direct aim at the Army: “Without any doubt, the military is behind my arrest,” he said. “Pakistan is now being run by the army chief. The crackdown on us is by the army chief.” Even more astonishing is this quote:
The military is above law; the ISI [military intelligence agency] is above law,” said Khan. “And if you have anyone above the law, then you descend into the law of the jungle. They can pick up people, detain people, disappear people. They try and influence judges; they clamp down on the media. There’s no accountability for the institution. It’s not democratic.
As The Guardian notes, it is hardly unusual to jail opposition leaders in Pakistan. Khan himself threw some of his rivals in jail when he was in power. But such rhetoric targeting the military is unprecedented.
Toyota’s massive user data screw-up
The company admitted that the user data of two million Japanese customers who used its cloud service has been public for a decade! This includes buyers of both Toyota and Lexus cars. Here’s what happened: The T-Connect service AI driving assistance, connection to 24-hour operator services for vehicle management, and emergency support. Apparently, all this info was accidentally set to ‘public’ instead of ‘private’—and nobody noticed until now. FYI: anyone who has access to this data can track the location of the car, as well. Why this matters: all car companies are pushing these kinds of cloud services—which will become even more commonplace as we move toward AI-driven cars. (Reuters)
Premium JioCinema is here!
The streaming platform recently bagged exclusive India rights to HBO and Warner Bros content—and is offering it to customers as part of a premium package. The price of watching ‘Succession’: Rs 999 a year. That’s cheaper than a full-fledged Netflix sub (Rs 7,788)—and Disney+ Hotstar (Rs 1,499) and Amazon Prime (Rs 1,499). But here’s the catch: folks on Twitter point out that unlike Hotstar, JioCinema doesn’t have any of HBO’s legendary legacy content—like ‘The Wire’ or ‘The Sopranos’. (The Telegraph)
The global price of Australian wildfires
A new study suggests that Australia’s catastrophic wildfires of 2019-20 triggered the rare three-year stretch of La Niña (explained here). And as a result of La Niña, this happened:
This episode of La Nina left many parts of the world under extreme conditions, fatal for human life. These conditions include one of the most severe droughts in Africa, that threatened millions of people with starvation. The drought left food prices skyrocketing. The Atlantic Ocean region, meanwhile, experienced some of the worst tropical storms in 2020. Other instances of its effect were the floods in Pakistan in 2022 leaving more than 1,000 people dead and the heavy rains in Canada and Australia.
Researchers say that the wildfire smoke—which scorched 60,000 square miles of land—shifted the cloud and rain belts—causing a domino effect that lasted for years. That’s kind of mind-blowing if you stop and think about it. FYI: we explained the difference between La Niña and El Niño—which is equally unpleasant and coming up next. (Quartz)
Mosquitoes ❤️ squeaky-clean humans
A new study revealed that mosquitoes are attracted to most brands of soaps—which typically have fruity or flowery scents. The reason: they feed on plant nectars when blood isn’t available. That’s why a freshly-bathed human may become a mosquito magnet:
The fact we are taking those flowery, fruity smells and putting them on our bodies means that now the same object smells like a flower and a person at the same time. It would be like waking up and smelling something that was like both coffee and muffins. Very appealing.
A very good thing to know: soaps that smell of coconut repel mozzies—something to keep in mind when you restock the bathroom. (The Guardian)
