Delhi drama: Mr K steps down

Written by: Aarthi Ramnath, Aakriti Anand & Raghav Bikhchandani

Delhi drama: Mr K steps down

Arvind Kejriwal once again lived up to his rep for unexpected plot twists. He resigned as Delhi’s Chief Minister—just days after the Supreme Court granted him bail in the liquor scam case.

The context: In essence, Kejriwal and other AAP leaders are accused of crafting a favourable excise policy for liquor retailers in exchange for kickbacks—that were used to help AAP win the Punjab elections. This Big Story explains the case—and this Big Story looks at the draconian anti-corruption law used to arrest them.

Getting bail: The Court declared keeping Kejriwal in jail violates his right to personal liberty—especially since the trial is likely to take years. The bail conditions bar him from visiting the CM office in the Delhi Secretariat—and he can’t sign official files unless they are absolutely necessary. Even so, he will need permission from Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor (L-G)—the BJP-appointed L-G who pushed for the investigation and arrest. In other words, Kejriwal has very little room to actually govern.

The resignation: Kejriwal announced his resignation—and called for early Assembly elections. According to him, being voted back to office will give him a “certificate of honesty.” Yup, he made the predictable comparison to Sita’s agnipariksha. And he threw in a Bhagat Singh reference for good measure.

FYI: We don’t know who will serve as an interim CM until the polls—which are slated for February 2025. But Kejriwal wants them to be pushed forward—to be held at the same time as the upcoming Maharashtra elections. Until then, the likely seat-warmers include ministers Atishi, Gopal Rai, and Kailash Gahlot.

A timely reminder: This particular strategy has worked very well for AAP in the past:

After the 2013 Delhi Assembly election, when the AAP made its debut and came to power with the help of the Congress, Mr Kejriwal resigned within 49 days and sought re-election. The AAP returned to power in 2015, winning 67 of the 70 seats in the Delhi Assembly.

The BJP’s response: His resignation is part of a “conspiracy to hide the blemishes of corruption.”

Why resign? A hamstrung Kejriwal will doom the party’s future. According to a party insider:

The party could not have gone on complaining that look our hands are tied because the CM cannot sign files, or hold meetings at his own office. The continuation of existing welfare schemes and launch of new ones will generate goodwill for the party more than anything else. These schemes have made AAP the formidable force that it is today.

All else fails, Arvind Kejriwal is back into the rajneeti fold—and in the headlines—with a dramatic hail mary move that has taken everyone by surprise, especially the BJP.

Reading list: Economic Times has a list of interim CM contenders. The Hindu and The Telegraph have more on the resignation. The Print is best on the political calculations behind the move.

A new assassination attempt on Trump

The ex-president was playing golf in Florida—when the Secret Service spotted a man with a rifle standing at the perimeter of the course. They fired at him. The person fled—leaving behind an AK-47 style rifle along with “two backpacks, a scope used for aiming and a GoPro camera.” He has since been arrested.

The prime suspect: is Ryan Wesley Routh—“a self-employed affordable-housing builder in Hawaii” who has criticised Trump on social media.

What’s notable: While the official FBI doesn’t say Routh actually fired his rifle, Trump emailed this version of the incident to his supporters:

There were gunshots in my vicinity, but before rumours start spiralling out of control, I wanted you to hear this first: I AM SAFE AND WELL!. Nothing will slow me down. I will never surrender”

The main takeaway: It doesn’t seem to be a big deal—but the incident suggests an alarming lack of security in a fraught election. (New York Times, login required, AP via The Telegraph)

And the Emmy goes to…

There are a gazillion Emmy categories. So here’s a quick round-up of the big wins:

The Japan-set historical drama ‘Shōgun’ won Outstanding Drama Series—along with top honours for Best Lead Actor, Actress, and Directing.
‘Hacks’ beat out ‘The Bear’ for Outstanding Comedy. But the latter’s lead star Jeremy Allen White won Best Lead Actor—and his co-stars Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Liza Colon-Zayas won in Best Supporting Actor and Actress—in Comedy.
The controversial ‘Baby Reindeer’ won four awards in the Limited Series category.
Jodie Foster won her first ever Emmy for her ‘True Detective’ turn.
The big picture: HBO’s domination of television may be over. FX owned the day with 36 wins. Netflix followed with 24 total wins—while HBO/Max came in third with 14.

There were several amusing and must-see moments from the awards ceremony as well. Here are our favourites…

One: Father-son hosts Eugene and Dan Levy refuse to make any jokes about ‘The Bear’.

Two: The “other Will Smith” picks up his writing award for ‘Slow Horses’.

Three: US Olympic athletes—including rugby sevens star Ilona Maher—take the stage.

Four: Candice Bergen—who was criticised in 1992 by then-Veep Dan Quayle for her ‘Murphy Brown’ character raising a child as a single mom—compares Quayle to JD Vance.

The Wrap has more on the network wars—while Hollywood Reporter has the full list of winners. The red carpet looks were mostly unremarkable—you can check them out over at BBC News.

Moving on to Coppola: In July, Variety reported on Francis Ford Coppola of inappropriate behaviour on the sets of ‘Megalopolis’. The report claimed the director had forcibly kissed extras on his set—based on a leaked video. He is now suing the magazine—and the reporters Brent Lang and Tatiana Siegel—seeking $15 million in damages. (Associated Press)

Rice is bad for groundwater

A new study shows that growing rice severely depletes groundwater. If farmers in North India were to shift to other crops, they would recover 60 to 100 cubic kilometres of groundwater reserves lost since 2000. This is all the more true during rising temperatures—and prolonged dry periods predicted due to global warming. Reminder: groundwater is also a major source of drinking water. The Conversation has a good related piece on how global warming is heating up groundwater—which is as dangerous as warming oceans. (PTI via Business Standard)

Beware your BFF’s genes!

According to new research, the genetic makeup of your childhood and teenage friends can increase the risk for drug abuse, alcoholism, depression, and anxiety. If they are genetically more prone to these disorders—it is likely you will be, as well. You are 59% more vulnerable to substance abuse, for example.

What’s really eerie about this study:

[T]he association held even if the genetic risk hadn't manifested itself: so, for example, being at school with someone more genetically likely to develop an alcohol issue would affect your own risk, even if that person wasn't actually drinking to excess.

Why this matters: Previous studies have shown that friends are genetically more similar than strangers. But this research suggests there is a group dynamic at a deeper level: "Peer genetic influences have a very long reach. It's not enough to think about individual risk." (Science Alert)

And the Ig Nobel goes to

This parody of the Nobel prize honours the most bizarre and quirky advances in science. This year, the winner of the Ig Nobel Peace Prize was a proposed plan to use live pigeons to guide missiles during World War II. It would have looked something like this:

Also impressive: The Anatomy prize winners “for studying whether the hair on the heads of most people in the Northern Hemisphere swirls in the same direction (clockwise or counter-clockwise?) as hair on the heads of most people in the Southern Hemisphere.” Our personal fave? A group of Japanese scientists proved that some mammals like rats, pigs, and mice can breathe through their anus—like loaches. They are currently running a phase 1 trial in humans. Ars Technica has a list of all the winners.

what caught our eye

business & tech

Brace for layoffs season at Microsoft Xbox—the video games arm is cutting 650 jobs. CNBC has CEO Phil Spencer’s full memo.
Apple’s AirPods Pro will soon serve as hearing aids—the tech giant has got the greenlight from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Android users, say hello to Gemini Live, Google’s new and free voice-powered AI chatbot.
OpenAI has released its greatly anticipated large language model (LLM) o1—which can supposedly reason and think like a human.
Sticking with AI, a new study suggests that AI’s future could…convince conspiracy theorists they’re wrong. Good luck with that lol.
EV two-wheelers are growing in popularity in India and are expected to capture 13% of the market by 2026-27, according to a new report.
Boeing sinks deeper into the PR mire—30,000 factory workers have gone on strike for the first time since 2008. Check out our Big Story coverage of Boeing’s debacles, from Starliner to Alaska Airlines.

sports & entertainment

An update on the horrific murder of Ugandan Olympic runner Rebecca Cheptegei—thousands showed up for her military-led funeral in a remote town on the Uganda-Kenya border.
Hamara Neeraj Chopra has finished second overall in this season’s Diamond League, with just one centimetre separating him from champion Anderson Peters.
In light of the soggy Greater Noida outfield causing the abandonment of Afghanistan’s historic Test match against New Zealand, ESPNCricinfo has a must-read on how the lack of a dedicated home venue hurts Afghan cricket.
The winner of the top audience award at the Toronto film festival is…Mike Flanagan’s ‘The Life of Chuck’!
Get excited, ‘Hot Ones’ fans, for a potential ‘Live’ version of the talk show on Netflix.
Ahead of a retrial on his landmark MeToo rape case, Harvey Weinstein has been indicted on additional sex crime charges.

as for the rest

Port Blair is now…Sri Vijaya Puram, as the government continues its crusade against colonial-era references.
Say goodbye to JNU’s Masters program in Hindi translation—it faces the chop due to a lack of funds.
There will be no further US presidential debates before election day, as far as Donald Trump is concerned.
Speaking of the election, Pope Francis has given his take, labelling both Harris and Trump as anti-life due to their positions on migration and abortion.
In 30 French cities, hundreds protested in support of Gisele Pelicot, who was drugged and raped by 50 men at the behest of her husband Dominique.
Thirty-seven people have been sentenced to death for carrying out an attempted coup in DR Congo in May.
Sticking with the DRC, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has finally approved the MPox vaccine for use there—which is ground zero of the deadly virus. Check out our Big Story from 2022 for more context.
Ever wondered what the furry black caps worn by Buckingham Palace guards cost? Over £2,000 or $2,600 each, according to the UK’s Ministry of Defence.
China’s new retirement age is…63 for men, 58 for white-collar women, 55 for blue-collar women. Reuters has more on the significance of the change.
The Earth will have a ‘mini-moon’ in its orbit for the next two months.
Speaking of the Earth, it mysteriously shook for nine days last year—scientists have only just figured out what exactly happened. Gizmodo has the details.

Two things to see

One: Meet Moo Deng (rough translation: “bouncy pig”). The two-month-old pygmy hippo at a Thai zoo has taken the world by storm—so much so that the zoo has issued warnings to rowdy fans who are crowding her enclosure to get a closer look. FYI: Pygmy hippos or dwarf hippos are native to West Africa. There are only about 3,000 in the wild. (BBC News)

Two: Speaking of baby animals, meet ‘Deepjyoti’—PM Modi’s newest pet—born to a cow at his 7 Lok Kalyan Marg residence. It is very cute. (The Print)