Elon Musk makes an appearance

Written by: Aarthi Ramnath, Aakriti Anand & Raghav Bikhchandani

The Big Q: Why did Kota Fall?

Welcome to our new news show titled ‘The Big Q’. In each episode, we take up one big question and look for answers. As with splainer, we try to understand the world a little bit better—and have a good laugh. In this episode of ‘The Big Q’, splainer Editor Lakshmi Chaudhry looks for answers for a mystery in Rajasthan: the sudden decline of India’s coaching mecca—Kota. Why is it haemorrhaging students? What does this say about the future of exam prep in India—the one dhanda guaranteed to make you moolah.

Watch the new episode below—and be sure to follow us on YouTube to catch the next instalment—which is on Rahul!! Also: check out the first episode on the US election—and the queen of memes: Kamala.

Middle East madness: The latest update

Today is the one year anniversary of the October 7 attacks. As of now, 97 hostages are being held by Hamas—though no one knows how many are still alive. BBC News has the details of each one of them.

Hezbollah deja vu: Let’s start with the least surprising bit of news. Israel and Hezbollah continue to clash on the Lebanese border—while Beirut endured its “most violent night” on Saturday, as Israel conducted over 30 overnight air raids. The successor to Hasan Nasrallah—the Hezbollah chief killed by an Israeli air strike—is MIA. Yup, he’s probably dead:

But the lack of contact with Safieddine also proves that there is an intelligence breach within the group, “allowing Israel to locate and attack one leader after another,” Al Jazeera political analyst Marwan Bishara said. [Georgetown professor] Nader Hashemi.. says losing contact with Nasrallah’s successor is “another serious and significant setback for Hezbollah”. “The wording that they’ve lost contact with him is an attempt to prepare Hezbollah supporters with the coming announcement that he has been confirmed dead.”

Macron’s little bomb: No one saw this one coming. French president Emmanuel Macron has called a halt to all weapons supplies to Israel: “I think that today, the priority is that we return to a political solution, that we stop supplying weapons to lead the fighting in Gaza.” He also clarified that Paris is not sending any arms to Tel Aviv—“indirectly turning the spotlight on the US, Israel’s main arms supplier.” Bibi was predictably mad. Will it move the needle in Washington? Probably not. (The Guardian)

Fog of war: Facts are the first casualty of any conflict—lost in the rhetoric of propaganda. When Iranian missiles rained on Israel last week, Tel Aviv insisted there were no casualties—and minimal damage. But a Wall Street Journal investigation suggests otherwise:

Satellite images of a target on Tuesday—the Nevatim air base in southern Israel, home to its F-35 jet fighters—show that as many as 32 Iranian missiles managed to land within the base’s perimeter…“Thirty-two missiles is a lot of missiles. We have exaggerated ideas about the effectiveness of air defences. We have this pop-culture idea that missile defenses are much more effective or available than they actually are.”

We suggest you read the rest over at WSJ (splainer gift link). Vox has a related must-read on how Bibi’s neverending war has remade the Middle East.

Israel’s bonkers ban: Tel Aviv has banned United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres from entering the country. The reason:

[T]he decision to declare Mr. Guterres “PNG” (persona non grata) was taken because he hadn’t “unequivocally condemned” Iran’s missile strikes on Israel earlier in the week, and thus the UNSG does not “deserve to set foot on Israeli soil”.

The Israelis also claim he did not condemn the October 7 attacks. All of which is untrue. FYI, no country has ever banned the UN Secretary-General. The closest precedent: The US banned Kurt Waldheim long after he left his post—and became the Austrian President—when it emerged that he had been a Nazi sympathiser during World War II. (The Hindu)

A bit of Ireland: We end with a more upbeat story of the 347 Irish soldiers on the Lebanese border. They are part of the UN peacekeeping force. What’s more astonishing: The Irish have been serving in Lebanon since 1978—so long that some of their Lebanese compatriots sound like this:) FYI: Israel has asked the UN soldiers to move out but they have flatly refused. Irish Times has that story.

Elon Musk makes an appearance

We ignore most of Musk’s antics—since they’re usually more bark than bite. But his cameo at Donald Trump’s rally was truly remarkable. The event marked Trump’s return to Buttler, Pennsylvania—three months after the assassination attempt (see our Big Story). Musk’s presence was supposed to make it more special—except he seemed to have missed his meds that day.

First, the entry: We were treated to this strange ‘bunny hop’ entry on stage—which gave us this instantly meme-worthy photo:

Or if you need to see it in action:

Then, the speech: He opened with this line: “As you can see, I’m not just MAGA, I’m dark MAGA”—which is a reference to this:

More of a meme than a political slogan, Dark MAGA is a post-alt-right aesthetic that promotes an authoritarian version of Trump in dystopian, Terminator-like images. In some, the Trump Tower is painted entirely in black and the former president is seen piercing through the screen with blue laser eyes… Dark MAGA supporters are calling for a ruthless, unforgiving version of Trump to take revenge on his political enemies at the 2024 election — though the movement hasn't been recognized or endorsed by Trump in any form.

Believe it or not, it went further downhill from there—with Musk claiming if people don’t come out for Trump “this will be the last election. That’s my prediction.” You can see the rest below. (New York Times)

KJo’s studio is in trouble

Karan Johar’s company—Dharma Productions—is desperately looking for investors. Its finances have been precious for a while. Its post-tax profit in FY2023 was a measly Rs 27.1 crore—and dropped even further to Rs 10.7 crore in FY2024. One reason for its woes is a string of flops—including ‘Kill’, ‘Bad Newz’, ‘Yodha’ and ‘Mr & Mrs Mahi’. That's why there is a lot riding on the Alia Bhatt-starrer ‘Jigra’—to be released this week.

A potential suitor: The music label Saregama—which is in serious talks to acquire a majority stake. The company is looking to make an aggressive content play—and struggling independent studio like Dharma is an ideal acquisition:

Given that nobody other than Jio Studios is really green-lighting new films right now, it is a good time for a new player to partner with producers with equity to roll out some cost-effective films. Thanks to Dharma’s reputation, they will also find OTT buyers for post-theatrical deals easily.

Mint (paywall) has more details.

Advanced chatbots: Getting better at BS

A recent study shows that newer—and larger—AI models are getting better and better at lying. Whether it is Open AI’s ChatGPT, Meta’s LLaMA, or BigScience’s BLOOM, the machines pretend to have answers to every question—like your know-it-all uncle:)

New research suggests that this smarter crop of AI chatbots are actually becoming less trustworthy, because they're more likely to make up facts rather than avoiding or turning down questions they can't answer.

Yes, each generation is indeed smarter—and gives more accurate answers—but they are also better at pretending to be smart. And that’s not good for humans who rely on them. FYI: ChatGPT is the king of BS artists. Ars Technica has a nerdy and detailed report. (Futurism)

In related news: While everyone is getting worked up over Silicon Valley AI giants, ByteDance is hoovering up everything—copyright be damned. Its data scraper ByteSpider is scraping web data about 25 times faster than OpenAI’s web scraper, GPTbot. Before we get worked up about the Chinese, this what the Zuck had to say about all of this: “I think individual creators or publishers tend to overestimate the value of their specific content in the grand scheme of this.”—i.e most of your stuff is trash anyway—so you might as well let us scrape it. (Quartz)

A National Award shame

Believe it or not Telugu cinema choreographer Shaik Jani Basha was given interim bail—so he could be honoured at the National Film Awards. The reason he was in jail: He is accused of raping a woman—when she was only 16 years old. The invitation has been cancelled—and he will presumably stay behind bars. But here’s the really enraging bit: the award organisers are now pretending they never knew about the arrest. Indian Express has lots more on the case. (The Hindu)

The MacArthur ‘genius’ grant goes to…

…Dalit scholar Shailaja Paik! The professor at the University of Cincinnati has been recognised for her work on the struggles of Dalit women. The grant offers $800,000 (around Rs 6.7 crore) spread over five years, with no strings attached—to support, well, geniuses. What caught our interest: Her latest book ‘The Vulgarity of Caste’, Paik looked at the women performers of Tamasha: “a popular form of bawdy folk theatre that has been practised predominantly by Dalits in Maharashtra for centuries”. Times of India has a short bio of Paik while NPR has a must-read interview with her.

what caught our eye

business & tech

Gamers, get hyped—Disney will be expanding its presence in Epic Games’ ‘Fortnite’ with more iconic playable Disney characters. The Verge has more.
Demand for home cleaning and at-home salon services has hit an all-time high amid the festive season, according to industry executives.

sports & entertainment

An update on the Women’s T20 World Cup—after being thrashed by New Zealand by 58 runs on Friday, India edged out Pakistan by six wickets in a low-scoring affair on Sunday.
We will return to Anne Hathaway’s Genovia after almost 20 years—Adele Lim of ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ fame has signed on to direct the third ‘Princess Diaries’ film.
Country music giant Garth Brooks has been sued by his makeup artist and hairstylist, who alleges that he raped her at a Los Angeles hotel in 2019.
An update on Diddy’s arrest—Tupac Shakur’s family has hired an attorney to investigate a potential link between Diddy and Shakur’s murder in 1996.

as for the rest

Cheaper versions of the “gamechanger” HIV prevention drug lenacapavir will be available in 120 more countries, manufacturer Gilead has announced.
At long last, after months of delays, DR Congo has begun its first vaccination campaign against MPox. Check out our Big Story for more on the virus.
The massive asteroid that crashed into the Earth over 65 million years ago and eradicated the dinosaurs was not a one-off, scientists say.
Tragedy strikes two Vietnam zoos—a bird flu outbreak has killed nearly 50 tigers and other big cats.
An update on the Gisele Pelicot mass rape case in France—a judge in the trial has allowed the public to see some of the video recordings of the alleged rapes, which took place after her husband Dominique repeatedly drugged her.
The average tropical storm or hurricane kills between 7,170 and 11,430 people, a new study has revealed amid the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene in the southeastern US.
Nearly 20 years after India and the US signed a landmark nuclear deal, New Jersey-based Holtec International has proposed to realise this deal—by a public-private partnership using their flagship small reactor.
If you’re a staunch vegetarian, look away now—your thalis just got 11% more expensive amid the festive season.
A new study shows that the changing pattern of the jet stream may have played a big role in the bubonic plague epidemic that devastated Europe in the 14th century. The bad news: the jet stream is shifting again.
The Guardian has a good read on Cañada Real—Europe’s largest shanty town located on the margins of Madrid—that has been without electricity since 2020.
Economic Times has a must-read on the dating life of therapists—do their dates look out for, or fear, a free session?
Also in Economic Times: the post-pandemic hunger of big corporations—from the Tatas to the Ambanis to the Birlas—for restaurant business.
Associated Press has a cool breakdown of what happens to the shipping containers that are lost at sea.

Three things to see

One: Meta rolled out its AI video generator called Meta Movie Gen. Much like OpenAI’s Sora, it creates a video based on a text prompt—and includes “AI-generated sound effects, ambient noise and background music.” The clips can be 16 seconds max. The demo video below was created from the prompt: “Thunder cracks loudly, with an orchestral music track.” TBH, it looks like a 1970s Star Trek set lol. (New York Times, login required)

Two: Antarctica is becoming greener by the day thanks to climate change. There was less than 1 sq km of green cover in 1986—which increased to 12 sq km in 2021—with the spread of moss accelerating by 30% between 2016 and 2021. What this means: “fundamental changes to the biology and landscape of this iconic and vulnerable region.” You get a sense of the astonishingly ‘green’ Antarctica in the photo below. (The Guardian)

Three: Paris Fashion Week with a show put on by the French house Coperni at Disneyland Paris—which included a surprise runway appearance by Kylie Jenner. Full version here. (USA Today)