Researched by: Rachel John, Anannya Parekh & Aarthi Ramnath
Splainer’s latest vid explainer: Is ISIS back?
Today, we’re talking about ISIS. Yup, the Islamic State—which everyone had forgotten about until the spectacular attack in Moscow. The rest of the world had moved on—thanks to the pandemic, then Ukraine and Gaza. Islamic terrorism—it all feels so retro! Is this an ISIS comeback? Also: Is it ISIS, IS, ISIL or Daesh?
We will look for answers for these and other pressing questions below. ICYMI: splainer now offers a fun 5-minute wrap of the day’s headlines every day around 7 pm. Be sure to follow us on YouTube and hit the notification button—so you don’t miss out.
War in the Middle East: The latest update
West Bank village attacked: One Palestinian man was killed and 25 injured when thousands of armed Israeli settlers stormed a village in the West Bank. It was one of the largest attacks ever by Israeli settlers:
The settlers attacked the village, raided homes, and fired guns at residents, he said. Videos obtained by CNN show parts of the village burning, with smoke billowing over several buildings and settlers lobbing rocks. Houses and cars are seen completely burned up, with sounds of gunfire and clashes heard in the background.
The Israeli troops watched from the sidelines. The reason for this mayhem: They were supposedly looking for a 14-year-old Israeli boy who had gone missing. Reminder: Settler violence against Palestinians has escalated since the October 7 attacks—so much so that the US and the EU have sanctioned some of them. See the clip of the violence below. (CNN)
Attack on journalists: On Friday, an Israeli airstrike on the Nuseirat refugee camp hit the vehicle of a team of journalists, injuring three of them. Doctors had to amputate the foot of one of the cameramen. The damning bit: The reporters claim that they were wearing their press vests and their car was also labelled as press. Point to note: At least 95 journalists have been killed in Gaza in the past six months. This has been the deadliest conflict for journalists since the Committee to Protect Journalists began gathering data in 1992. (Al Jazeera)
Meanwhile, over in Israel: A number of airlines have cancelled or re-routed their flights due to the escalating conflict between Iran and Israel. And that includes Air India. The Telegraph has that story. (Quartz)
Electoral bonds: Plot mein election twist
The context: The electoral bonds scheme allowed companies and individuals to make secret donations to parties—which violated our constitutional right to know. The Supreme Court ordered the State Bank of India to cough up details on all bonds sold to date—worth a total of Rs 121.55 billion (12,155 crore)—sparking a frenzy of media coverage. Read our Big Story for more.
What happened now: Megha Engineering Group (MEIL)—the BJP’s most generous donor—has been charged with corruption by the CBI. It is accused of bribing officials to land a contract worth Rs 3.14 billion (314.57 crore):
The CBI came across email communications which revealed that payments were made to the accused officials for various favours, including clearance of bills and invoices. The company allegedly prepared fake vouchers in some cases to show that payments were made to labourers. The agency also found details of the amounts which, as decided, were to be given to different officials.
Why this is notable: The BJP is presumably making the point that it did not offer protection in return for money—and chose to make an example of its biggest donor. Sadly for Megha, money can’t buy protection from the PR requirements of election season.
The stats: MEIL was the second-biggest purchaser of electoral bonds. It donated a total of Rs 6.64 billion (664 crore) to the BJP. It also donated bonds for smaller amounts to the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). (The Hindu)
Lancet slams shoddy state of Indian healthcare
The respected medical journal took aim at the Indian government for the deteriorating state of the healthcare system—and its attempt to fudge key data. The government has cut spending on health to a paltry 1.2% of the GDP—even as health care costs for Indians remain extremely high. As for the numbers:
The Lancet took aim at the government’s lack of accurate and timely data, highlighting unexplained delays in the census and surveys on births and deaths. It added that India’s official figures of only 0.48 million deaths related to Covid lacked credibility in the absence of reliable surveys. “Why is the government so afraid of showing the real state of health?” the editorial questioned. “And more importantly, how does the government intend to measure progress when there are no data?
Point to note: The government has long disputed the number of Covid deaths estimated by The Lancet and the World Health Organization. Their number is six to eight times higher than the official numbers released by the government. Unnamed officials vigorously denied the allegations. Times of India has more on the response. Read the editorial here. (Bloomberg News, paywall)
In worrying news about prescriptions: A first-of-its-kind study has found that 45% of prescriptions issued in hospitals do not follow standard treatment guidelines. And 10% had "unacceptable” deviations:
The prescriptions that could lead to drug interactions (reactions between two or more drugs with unwanted results) lack of response, increase in cost, preventable adverse drug reactions and antimicrobial resistance were categorised as “unacceptable”, indicating that one or more drugs mentioned in such prescriptions were harmful or unnecessary for the patients.
The most egregious of the lot: The prescription of the heartburn medicine pantoprazole—which was prescribed for unrelated conditions like upper respiratory tract infections and hypertension. The drug was most often prescribed without accounting for drug interactions. Example: some heart disease drugs don’t work when a person takes pantoprazole. The Print has more details on the study.
Americans heart the Donald again
The latest poll numbers show that Americans have a serious case of political amnesia. Nearly half of them think Donald Trump was good for the country, the economy and—wait for it—law and order. In stark contrast, only 25% think Joe Biden is good for the country—while nearly half say he did a bad job.
If you think this is his die-hard rural white constituency, you’d be mistaken:
Many of Mr. Trump’s key constituencies, such as white voters without a college degree, are particularly likely to have a fond view of his time in office. But a broad swath of the country — including Hispanic voters, voters over 30 and most lower- and middle-income voters — now see Mr. Trump’s years in office as more good than bad.
FYI: Trump will soon appear in court for one of four criminal cases against him. Did we say amnesia? Our bad. (New York Times)
Japan’s spiralling population problem
Its population has plummeted by a record 837,000 over the course of a year—between October 2022 and October 2023. This means the country is losing 2,293 people a day—or just under 96 people an hour. Young Japanese people are increasingly reluctant to have children. As a result, only 11.4% of the population is under the age of 15—and a record 29.1% are over the age of 65. The number of babies born in Japan dropped by 5.1% in 2023—compared to the year before.
The most shocking stat: This is the biggest annual drop in population since 1950—which was five years after the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Financial Times (paywall) has the latest numbers while this older CNN explains why there are no easy solutions to Japan’s woes.
An epidemic of AI-generated plagiarism
According to a report released by Turnitin—an AI detection tool—22 million student papers used AI to generate at least 20% of the writing since April 2023. That’s 11% of the 200 million papers it reviewed across the world—mostly from colleges. Around 3% had at least 80% AI-generated writing—about 6 million.That said, Turnitin has a strong commercial incentive to sound the alarm. So take it as you will. (Quartz)
Bournvita is not healthy!
The iconic staple of Indian childhood: Bournvita! The government has decided that there is no such thing as a “health drink”—since these are not defined by law or monitored by food safety authorities. It has ordered companies to stop making such claims for their beverages. This includes Bournvita—which has been accused of hiding the high amounts of sugar in its products. A good related read: Our two-part series on the clever tricks employed by companies to mislead customers through their food labels and what would ‘good’ labelling look like. (Economic Times)
Arrests in Bangalore terror case
The context: On March 1, there was a bomb blast at the famous Rameshwaram Cafe in Whitefield. Mercifully only nine were injured. The police suspected four known Islamic extremists—Abdul Mateen Taha, Musabir Hussain and one nicknamed ‘Colonel’—who have been active for four years and were previously involved in the cooker bomb blast at Mangalore in November 2022.
What happened now: The police have arrested Shazib—who allegedly planted the bomb—and Taha, who orchestrated the attack. They have been brought to Bangalore from West Bengal—where they have been hiding for the past three weeks. The two men are members of a radical youth group called the Thirthahalli Module—which is inspired by the Islamic State. (Indian Express)
Two things to see
One: The Uttar Pradesh Police has announced a new dress code for cops who manage crowds at the Kashi Vishwanath temple. Instead of the official khaki, these policemen will now dress as sewadars (helpers of the priests). The seriously lame excuse offered for this move: “People don’t mind when the sewadars (helpers of the priests) ask them to move fast and often shout at them… However, the devotees react when the police do it.” The BJP has the most creative election stunts! (The Telegraph)
Two: Say hello to the world’s thinnest watch: Octo Finissimo Ultra COSC from Bulgari. It is just 1.7mm thick—the same as a spaghetti strand! It is a limited edition and only 20 watches will be up for grabs at a whopping $590,000. Dezeen has more on how Bulgari achieved this feat.
