Researched by: Nirmal Bhansali & Anannya Parekh
A bloody attack in Iran
Two bombs claimed the lives of 95 people at the death anniversary of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani. He headed the Quds Force—the foreign arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards—and led military operations across the Middle East. He is also an extremely popular figure in Iran. No one has claimed credit—and Tehran isn’t naming names for now. This is the deadliest such attack in Iran in 42 years.
Why this matters: The terrorist attack comes just a day after a top Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri was taken out by Israelis in Lebanon. Attacks on Iran and its allies—the most aggressive critics of the Israeli invasion of Gaza—is yet another reason to worry about a broader war. Al Jazeera has more on the destabilising effects of the Hamas leader assassination. BBC News has lots more on the bombing. You can see a clip of the bombs going off below.
A happy Supreme Court ruling for Adani
The context: A report issued by Hindenburg in January 2023 accused the Adani Group of stock manipulation. A followup investigation published in September by an international consortium of journalists confirmed Hindenburg’s allegations. The Supreme Court set up a committee to investigate whether there was a failure to monitor and investigate Adani Group’s activities. Separately, the Court also asked SEBI to investigate if Adani was involved in manipulation of stock prices. The committee’s conclusion: it is impossible to figure out what happened—and basically let SEBI off the hook. Lots more in this Big Story.
What happened now: Petitions filed in the Supreme Court demanded an independent investigation into Hindenburg’s allegations—arguing that SEBI had failed to do its job. Those petitions were dismissed yesterday—and gave the stock market regulator a ‘clean chit’. The ruling said the Court could not “substitute its wisdom” for that of SEBI—nor is there any indication of wrongdoing. And it asked SEBI to submit the results of its investigation asap.
The Court dismissed media investigations of Adani: "A report by a third party organisation without any attempt to verify the authenticity of its allegations cannot be regarded as conclusive proof." The Court went even further and directed SEBI and other law enforcement agencies to investigate Hindenburg. Gautam Adani is already claiming victory: “The Hon’ble Supreme Court’s judgement shows that: Truth has prevailed. Satyameva Jayate.” (The Hindu)
Virtual rape in metaverse
The UK police are investigating the case of a 16-year-old whose avatar was sexually assaulted in a VR game—operated by Meta called Horizon Venues. The police are trying to figure out how to prosecute the suspects. This is not the first time this has happened, researcher Nina Patel had a similar experience in 2022:
Recalling the experience, Ms Patel told the same programme that she was "surrounded by three to four male-sounding and male-representing avatars, who started sexually harassing me in a verbal sense and then sexually assaulting my avatar". She said they had used misogynistic language and "continued to touch my avatar in a way that can only be described as a sexual assault of my avatar".
Why this matters: Most definitions of rape require physical contact. But virtual rape can cause almost as much trauma—but we don’t have laws that recognise the impact of technology. (BBC News)
A worrying polar bear death
The very first polar bear has died of the highly contagious bird flu virus—H5N1. It is a worrying sign of the spread of a global epidemic that began in 2021—and has killed millions of wild birds, bears, wolves and more. The spread to polar bears is new and unprecedented: “It’s been in Antarctica and now it’s in the high Arctic in mammals — it’s horrifying.” Something else to worry about: Scientists have warned that the highly contagious virus could bring ‘one of the largest ecological disasters of modern times’ if it reaches the remote penguin populations.” We did a Big Story on the bird flu epidemic—which has lots more context. (The Guardian)
India has a cancerous problem
According to a new Lancet study, India has the second highest number of cancer cases in the world. In 2019, we recorded 1.2 million new cancer cases and 930,000 deaths. China came in at #1 with 4.8 million new cases and 2.7 million deaths. The leading types of cancer: tracheal, bronchus, and lung (TBL). A big reason why the top 5 are dominated by Asian countries is the prevalence of tobacco use—and of course air pollution. (The Hindu)
In related news: Thousands of junior doctors have walked off the job in the UK—in a strike that’s expected to last six days! They are furious about low wages: “The union says newly qualified doctors earn 15.53 pounds ($19.37) an hour—the U.K. minimum wage is just over 10 pounds an hour—though salaries rise rapidly after the first year.” Quartz has loads more.
Hollywood’s ‘performance’ of diversity
Two studies released by the University of Southern California show that tinseltown makes a lot of noise about being more inclusive—but does very little about it. In fact, for all the drama over ‘Barbie’ and Greta Gerwig, things are going south. In 2023, women accounted for just 16% of directors in the 250 top-grossing films—down from 18% in 2022. Also: Only 6% of the top-grossing flicks between 2007 and 2023 were directed by women. The stat that killed us: “75% of the top-grossing films employed 10 or more men in key off-camera roles, while just 4% employed 10 or more women.” The Guardian has loads more.
Two things to see
One: According to the BJP handle on YouTube, this is how “how the people of Lakshadweep welcomed the PM”—on his visit to the islands. But we’re not sure who these very cheesy people were. (Hindustan Times)
Two: Get ready for ‘Killer Soup’—a crime thriller starring Manoj Bajpayee and Konkona Sen Sharma. The cast is promising but we’re not sure what to make of the trailer. Still, we’re waiting for January 11 when it drops on Netflix. (Indian Express)
