Researched by: Aarthi Ramnath, Anannya Parekh, Aakriti Anand & Raghav Bikhchandani
Splainer is hiring: Assistant News Editor
We are looking for an Assistant News Editor to join our brilliantly talented editorial team. Here are the requirements:
- Impeccable writing, editing, and researching skills.
- 0-1 years of experience.
- A passion to learn how to build something new and unique—and get a front seat view of how a media startup works.
- Familiarity with Canva.
- Willingness to work in a startup environment where we all do a bit of everything—and are eager to take initiative and responsibility.
- A knowledge of and love for splainer is a huge plus—since we’re not the usual news product.
This is a ‘teaching’ newsroom—where learning new things is a big part of the job. We also pride ourselves on a warm, friendly work culture. Please note there is a six-month probation period and the pay will be industry standard. We are an equal opportunity employer and work remotely. Please send your resumes and cover letter to talktous@splainer.in. We will reach out to you if you’re shortlisted.
Mr Netanyahu goes to America
The Israeli prime minister delivered a combative and fiery speech in Congress that lasted nearly an hour—but offered nothing new:
In a fiery speech in the House chamber, Netanyahu called for “total victory” in the nine-month-old war, dashing hopes among some that he would announce progress toward a ceasefire and the return of Israeli hostages before his meetings with Joe Biden at the White House on Thursday. “We’re not only protec ting ourselves. We’re protecting you … Our enemies are your enemy, our fight is your fight, and our victory will be your victory,” Netanyahu shouted, as House and Senate Republicans rose to their feet to applaud the Israeli prime minister.
The Guardian has lots more on his speech. Politico has more on Bibi’s icy reception in Washington.
The Dem boycott: But the real significance of his appearance lay in who was not in the audience: more than 60 Democratic members of Congress—including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and, yes, Vice President Kamala Harris. But she will meet Bibi alongside President Biden today. Netanyahu is then flying to Mar-A-Lago to meet his bestie Donald Trump. (Associated Press)
The anti-war protests: Unsurprisingly, thousands of protesters held noisy demonstrations on Capitol Hill—calling Netanyahu a war criminal. The police used pepper spray to keep them in line. See clip below:
Meanwhile, over the skies of Israel: The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has released drone footage of Israel’s Ramat David airbase. It included images of the Iron Dome air defence system—which Israel relies on to destroy incoming rockets: “It was the third in a series of videos released by Hezbollah which the group has said are meant to demonstrate how far its surveillance of Israel has reached.” You can see the eight-plus minute clip here. New Yorker looks at whether Hezbollah and Israel will go to war.
Meanwhile, in Gaza: The WHO is worried about a potential outbreak of polio—which spreads through faecal matter. Traces of the virus were found in wastewater a month ago. Immunisation rates in Gaza have dropped from 99% to 89% since the war began. A good related read: NBC News reports on how the IDF has devastated all medical facilities in Gaza. (BBC News)
Paris Olympics: The latest update
One: British star Charlotte Dujardin—who has won six dressage Olympic medals—has been banned from the Paris Olympics. The reason: Video footage that shows her whipping a horse. It was taken during a private coaching lesson—a couple of years ago. The complaint was filed by the student—whose lawyer said:
Charlotte Dujardin was in the middle of the arena. She said to the student: ‘Your horse must lift up the legs more in the canter.’ She took the long whip and she was beating the horse more than 24 times in one minute. It was like an elephant in the circus. At that time, my client was thinking this must be normal. She is an Olympic winner. Who am I to doubt? My client asked around and was warned against speaking out in the UK.
She’s calling it an “error of judgement.” (The Guardian)
Two: The Canadian women’s football team is also in trouble—for using a drone to spy New Zealand’s practice session on Monday. The fallout is pretty mild: The coach will be banned from the opening game—and some staff members will be sent home.This is the second time someone has used a drone to snoop on the Kiwis. Also: The Canadians are defending champions—having won gold at the Tokyo Games in 2021—so what’s with all the insecurity? (The Verge)
Three: The football match between Argentina and Morocco ended in chaos. The game ended in a 2-2 tie—when Argentina’s Cristian Medina seemed to score an equaliser. Angry Moroccan fans stormed the pitch—and the audience was ordered to leave the stadium. The goal, however, was later ruled out—and the two teams came back to play two hours later. The final score: 2-1 win for Morocco. See the fan invasion below. (Associated Press)
Kamala Harris rakes in the moolah
Harris has raised more than $126 million in 48 hours—since Joe Biden stepped down. Point to note: Biden was lagging behind Trump between March and June—raising $264 million to Donald Trump’s $331 million. In other bad news for Trump: Elon Musk claims that he never made a pledge to donate $45 million to his campaign—contrary to a Wall Street Journal report. The most damning bit of the denial: “I don’t prescribe to [a] cult of personality”—though Musk still admires Trump’s “great courage” and is more aligned with the Republicans. Fortune has more on Musk—and Washington Post has more on Harris’ historic funding flood.
Good news for India’s OTT economy
A new report predicts streaming will be a $13 billion business in India by 2028—growing 8% per year. The video-on-demand industry generated $1.7 billion in revenues in 2023—which will double by 2028. Why this matters:
The report paints the picture of a sector that is now attracting close to $6 billion a year of local content investment, on a par with South Korea, and demonstrates that India is a top three market in terms of net new subscriber additions and revenue growth for both Amazon and Netflix. The upside is huge. Annual content investment in India is just $4 per head of population. That compares with $80 in Japan, $120 in Korea and $370 in the U.S.
Variety has lots more on the report.
Speaking of streaming: A mid-year report shows that the #1 movie on streaming was ‘Amar Singh Chamkila’ (12.9 million views) in Hindi—closely followed by ‘Murder Mubarak’ (12.2 million views). Indian Express has the full list, and more insights.
CrowdStrike's lame 'review'
The context: Around 8.5 million computers around the world crashed—almost at the same time—affecting half of Fortune 500 companies, train systems, banks, hotels, television stations, and more. The irony: It was caused by an update to a security software called Falcon—made by CrowdStrike. It has been described as “the single worst cyber event in the history of the world.” We have all the details in this Big Story.
What happened now: Yesterday, the company released a “preliminary post incident review” where it identified the problem but gave a very vague explanation:
[T]he ‘undetected error’ in the software had been missed due to a ‘bug’ in its ‘content validator’, which is supposed to check for problems. That bug meant that the faulty update ‘passed validation despite containing problematic content data’.”
But, hey, CrowdStrike has promised to implement new “checks” to prevent future meltdowns. (Financial Times, paywall, ABC News)
Meta’s got a new AI model
Another day, another AI language model. But Meta’s Llama 3.1 405B is special because anyone can download this large language model (LLM) for free and run it on their own hardware—for the very first time. Apparently it’s as good as the advanced versions of ChatGPT and Claude (Anthropic's chatbot) in “general knowledge, steerability, math, tool use, and multilingual translation.” But many experts are sceptical about AI benchmarks. Ars Technica has more nerdy details explaining why.
In other Meta AI news: Its chatbot—which works across WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, and Facebook—will now be available in Hindi and Hindi-romanised script. (The Hindu)
Sticking with Meta: It has removed around 63,000 Instagram accounts in Nigeria linked to sextortion schemes—and thousands of Facebook groups that shared tips on how to target victims. Sextortion involves demanding money from people—by threatening them with the release of compromising photos, either real or faked. A number of minors in the US have died by suicide after being targeted by such scammers. The kids can be as young as seven. (NPR)
The most powerful passport in the world is…
Singapore, according to this year’s Henley Passport Index. The Singaporean passport holder can visit 195 countries without needing a visa. The #2 spot is shared by France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Spain. India is an abysmal #82—with visa-free access to only 58 countries. We are tied with Senegal and Tajikistan. Also noteworthy: US is at #8—but has been sliding down the ranks in recent years. (Indian Express)
That ‘new car’ smell is toxic
The ‘new car’ scent is produced by volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in carpets, upholstery, and other interior materials in newly manufactured cars. But on hot summer days, the levels of formaldehyde and other aldehydes can become dangerously high: “These VOCs can cause a range of health effects, including headaches, inflammation of the eyes, nose and throat, fatigue, irritability, dry cough, lung disease, and disorientation.” The study focused on days when outside temperatures ranged from 25.3°C to 46.1°C. (ScienceBlog)
The placebo effect: Explained
Human brains are good at tricking our bodies into experiencing sensations—without good cause. That’s why placebos are used in trials to test the effectiveness of medicines. But we’ve never understood why they work. Scientists working with mice may have an answer. They have identified a specific brain circuit that plays an important role. What’s interesting: the pathway connects pain-processing neurons to cells in two brain areas with “no previous known role in relieving pain.” Why this matters: It may help us develop less harmful alternatives to opiates. (New Scientist, paywall, Gizmodo)
what caught our eye
business & tech
- Pernod Ricard has once again failed to obtain a licence to distribute alcohol in Delhi. Considering the company makes Chivas Regal and Absolut, this is likely a big deal for Delhi-walas.
- Higher user development fees have kicked in at Bengaluru, Kochi, Ahmedabad–and 13 other airports. Example: Patna passengers now pay Rs 660—a 223% jump.
- Apple’s first foldable iPhone is slated to arrive in 2026—and will most certainly cost several vital organs.
as for the rest
- The man who stabbed Salman Rushdie has been charged with supporting Hezbollah.
- A Delhi court has summoned YouTube news-fluencer Dhruv Rathee in a defamation case—where he is accused of calling a BJP leader a “violent and abusive” troll.
- Sunday was Earth's hottest day on record.
- A new study found that weight loss drugs like Ozempic may boost brain power.
One explosive thing to see
A spectacular hydrothermal explosion had visitors at the Yellowstone National Park in the US fleeing in fear. (NPR)
Splainer is making changes
Last week, we ran a two-part series (Part 1 and Part 2) on the dismal state of the news industry—and how minnows like splainer are finding novel strategies to survive. Starting this week, we are putting some of those new ideas to work:
- The first big change is that we will drop most of our sections in a single edition on Monday: Big Story, the quiz, good reads and curious facts. Much of this used to be spread across the week.
- Headlines That Matter will be sent in a separate email from here on out—Monday through Friday—so you can read it in your inbox or on the app/site.
- Please note: you will get two email notifications on Monday—the big story and headlines editions. It’s annoying but it only happens on that day. A tech fix requires moving way too much furniture on the back end.
- For the rest of the week, you will only receive the headlines edition. As you can see, we have a new, expanded format to make sure you stay updated through the week:)
Be sure to send questions, complaints and advice to me at lakshmi@splainer.in. Always happy to hear from you.
feel good place
One: Obama vs Trump… we’re going to give this one to Donald lol!
Two: Modi & Trump: This is true jugalbandi. (FYI: this is a Malayalam song called ‘Nagumo’ from the movie ‘Chithram’.)
Three: One last round of fetch for this good bat-girl.
Takshashila: A doorway to public policy
Editor’s note: We are delighted to unveil our partnership with Takshashila Institution. It is one of India’s foremost think-tanks on public policy. They also run valuable courses that teach students how to tackle complex policy challenges—bringing together academic experts and policy practitioners from across the world. We will be showcasing their courses and community in splainer. Please note: This is not paid content.
Over to Takshashila… The doors to knowledge and innovation in public policy are now wide open for everyone. Takshashila Institution, the pioneer in public policy education in India invites you to join OpenTakshashila, a free space for learning, exploring and engaging with the public policy community.
What’s happening on OpenTakshashila? Educate Yourself: Our "Open Course in Public Policy" is a free, self-paced online course designed to equip you with the fundamentals of public policy. It's your foundation for understanding, analysing, and influencing policy decisions.
Join the Conversation: Participate in "Open Mic" sessions where nuanced discussions on current policy issues thrive. It's your chance to voice your thoughts, listen to diverse opinions, and engage in debates that matter.
Dive into Books: Our "Books & Banter" book club invites you to share your latest reads, discover new insights, and discuss ideas that can transform society. It's a space where policy enthusiasts and book lovers unite.
Have Fun Learning: "OffBeat" offers a unique blend of events and fun games focused on public policy. This is where learning meets play, allowing you to grasp complex concepts through engaging and interactive activities.
Explore Open Takshashila—and sign up here.
