Written by: Aarthi Ramnath, Raghav Bikhchandani & Yash Budhwar
Middle East after Assad: A match report
This is part two of our Big Story series on the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Irrespective of what happens in Syria, the startling fall of President Bashar al-Assad comes at a climactic moment for the Middle East. The three nations most damaged by this unexpected event: Iran and Russia. The two opportunists hoping to profit from their misery: Israel and the United States. The true dark horse and clear winner: Turkey.
PS: In part one, we explained the fall of Assad—and the rise of the near-unknown Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and its former/present jihadist leader Abu Mohammad al-Jolani.
Arrested: UnitedHealthcare CEO shooter
The context: On December 4, UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed as he left his hotel in New York City. It was a ‘targeted killing’—straight out of the plot of a detective series. He was killed just before a big investor meeting—scheduled to kick off that morning. UnitedHealth is the biggest medical health insurance company in the United States. Also: His wife said Thompson had told her about receiving death threats—for denying insurance coverage.
What happened next: The tragedy soon turned into farce. There were memes galore, shooter lookalike contests—amid a wave of sympathy for him. He was recast as a vigilante hero taking on the villainous healthcare industry—intent on denying coverage to ordinary Americans. In fact, the police were worried that people would actively stymie the manhunt. There was even talk of revolution:
“Are pitchforks and guillotines returning?” Frances Chiu, a historian and editor, wrote in a Medium piece titled, “Party Like It’s 1789?” She noted the parallels between the French Revolution and the reaction to Thompson’s death, including comeuppance, vindication, and a “carnivalesque, topsy-turvy whiff to the news as the CEO is deprecated and the shooter celebrated.”
What happened now: The grand chase has come to an abrupt end with a whimper. The police have arrested 26-year-old Luigi Mangione. He was picked up while eating at a McDonald’s in a small town in Pennsylvania. He had a 3D-printed black pistol, a 3D-printed silencer and a loaded magazine with six rounds of 9mm ammunition. So most definitely armed and dangerous—but there is no indication that he put up a fight.
What’s notable: Mangione is not some down-on-his-luck guy—lashing out at those with power:
He attended a private, all-boys high school in Baltimore, called the Gilman School, according to school officials. Mr Mangione was named as the valedictorian, which is usually the student with the highest academic achievements in a class. A former classmate, Freddie Leatherbury, told the Associated Press news agency that Mr Mangione came from a wealthy family, even by that private school's standards.
Mangione also has both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Computer Science from University of Pennsylvania—an Ivy League school.
As for motivation: It isn’t entirely clear but the police found some kind of ‘manifesto’ in his possession:
Police say he was also found with three pages of handwritten documents in which he seemed to express "ill will towards corporate America". The document also said "These parasites had it coming" and "I do apologize for any strife and trauma, but it had to be done", a senior law enforcement official told the New York Times.
BBC News has most on Mangione—while CBS News has more on the arrest. You can see the arrest pic below.
Golden Globes 2025: Payal Kapadia makes history!
Her widely acclaimed film ‘All We Imagine As Light’ made the cut for ‘Best Motion Picture’ in the foreign film category. That’s nice, right? But here’s something even better: Kapadia has been nominated for Best Director!! She is the first Indian filmmaker to receive the honour. Not on the list: ‘Laapata Ladies’—India’s official submission to the Oscars. As always: well done!
Moving on to the rest: French filmmaker Jacques Audiard’s musical crime comedy ‘Emilia Pérez’ leads the way with ten nominations—including ‘Best Director’ and the foreign language film category. Also: Brady Corbet’s epic period film ‘The Brutalist’ secured seven noms, including ‘Best Director’. To be honest: both films have higher name recognition and a better shot at winning than ‘All We Imagine As Light’. But hey, Kapadia is already a hero to all of us.
Reminder: The 82nd edition of the Golden Globes will be held in Los Angeles on January 5. Hollywood Reporter has the full list of nominations, while The Guardian looks at the main contenders.
Rape allegations against Jay Z
The context: Over the course of the year, Sean “Diddy” Combs has been accused of multiple crimes—including rape, assault and human trafficking. They span the entirety of his 30-year career and involve up to ten lawsuits. Most of these crimes occurred during special parties called ‘freak offs’—where women were drugged and assaulted by guests. Diddy was arrested on September 18 and his bail was denied for the third time last month.
What happened now: A new lawsuit has accused Jay-Z of raping a 13-year-old girl in 2000—at one of these parties—in the company of Diddy:
Carter removed her clothes, held her down and raped her while Combs and an unnamed female celebrity watched. She says Combs also raped her as Carter and the woman looked on. The suit says that she was able to resist being forced to perform oral sex on Combs by hitting him in the neck and that he “stopped.”
The survivor was first served a spiked drink—as in other cases. FYI: This marks the first time a high-profile celebrity has been named in connection with Combs’ offences.
What’s notable: The original lawsuit listed only Diddy—and was refiled on Sunday to include Jay-Z. Also interesting to note: The complaint was filed by a Texas-based lawyer Tony Buzbee—who has filed several of the other lawsuits. Jay-Z has denied these allegations in a lengthy statement calling them “idiotic”. NBC News has the exclusive.
The spam call tsunami: It’s bad, really bad!
The context: Since August, telecom companies have started to crack down on spam calls—spurred by stricter government regs. As part of this effort, Airtel announced that it would use AI to detect and flag spam calls for its subscribers.
What’s happened now: Airtel has now released data collected by its AI spam-buster—and they’re eye-opening. The tool flagged a staggering 8 billion spam calls and 800 million spam messages within just 2.5 months of its launch. It identified nearly 1 million spammers everyday—with an accuracy rate of 97% for calls and 99% for SMSes. The worst-hit of the lot: Delhi—where 252 million unique customers received spam calls. The bad news: There is only a 12% drop in users answering spam calls—it’s not clear why. Reminder: These are calls made to Airtel phones–so the tip of the proverbial iceberg. The Hindu has a breakdown of the numbers. Indian Express explains why AI isn’t a magic bullet.
what caught our eye
business & tech
- RBI’s new Governor: Sanjay Malhotra, the current revenue secretary in the Union Ministry of Finance who will take over the reins from tomorrow.
- Say hello to Famm Connect, a LinkedIn-like platform for the LGBTQ+ community founded by a queer married couple.
- Quartz has a cool cheat sheet on all things Reddit—from its founding in 2005 to its IPO last month, and everything in between.
- Reddit is jumping on the AI bandwagon with its own chatbot, prepped with summaries of Reddit conversations and relevant posts.
sports & entertainment
- Max Verstappen continues to dominate the F1 drivers’ championship, but his team Red Bull failed to win the constructors’ championship—that honour has gone to McLaren.
- The Delhi High Court has been tasked with figuring out whether horses ought to be categorised as “athletes” or “equipment” in equestrian sports.
as for the rest
- The post-pandemic visa rebound is well and truly over—January to September this year saw a 38% drop in US student visas issued to Indians compared to last year.
- The Telegraph has a fascinating read on how Kolkata became India’s scientific research powerhouse—featuring insights from neuroscientist Sumantra Chattarji.
- Tokyo thinks it has found another route to boost record-low fertility rates—a four-day workweek! Check out our Big Story for more on the global ‘baby bust’.
- Another day, another alarming climate change stat—permanently arid lands now make up 40% of the planet, excluding Antarctica.
- Bloomberg News has a fascinating read on the success of the early stage trials of MaaT Pharma’s human gut-related product for cancer care.
Six things to see
One: Pope Francis unveiled a nativity featuring baby Jesus nestled in a keffiyeh in Vatican City on Saturday. Enuf said. (Huffington Post)
Two: In case you missed it: The finals of the FIDE World Chess Championship has turned into a cinematic thriller. After a fantastic win in Game 11 on Sunday, Indian challenger Gukesh lost his lead over China’s defending world champion Ding Liren on Monday. The scores are now tied at 6-6. Although Gukesh was devastated by the loss—see below—hope is not lost. The next match is on Wednesday. (The Guardian)
Three: Finally, some happy wildlife news! AI cams near railway tracks in the Rourkela forest in Odisha have saved at least 28 elephants from being hit by goods trains. How it works: “AI camera captures & zooms into the elephants approaching the railway line, sending alerts to the control room for stopping the train.” Watch the cams in action below. (Indian Express)
Four: SNL has done it again! Move over Barbenheimer, this Wicked-Inspired Gladiator II Musical trailer has us in fits! Also who knew Paul Mescal could sing this pretty?! (The Independent)
Five: We finally have the official trailer for ‘Baby John’—the Hindi remake of the hit Tamil film ‘Theri’—starring Varun Dhawan as the hero and Jackie Shroff as the villain. The movie is slated to release on Christmas Day. (The Hindu)
Six: The fantasy epic series ‘The Wheel of Time’ is back for a third season. The new season drops on Amazon Prime on March 13. (Deadline)
feel good place
One: Mission paw-ssible!
Two: A dummy’s guide to hiding sticks lol!
Three: APT Ah pattu sarees! (This is awesome.)
