A special appeal: A Diwali gift for us

Written by: Aarthi Ramnath, Aakriti Anand & Raghav Bikhchandani

A special appeal: A Diwali gift for us

Splainer is in the middle of doing lots of new things—both to generate sorely needed revenue and to help serve your needs beyond news. I am particularly excited about the upcoming launch of Souk—a marketplace for small and emerging homegrown brands. Think what we do for news (foraging far and wide for what is valuable and reliable) but for shopping.

But all of this takes money (to make money, what a cliche lol).

We haven’t put out an appeal for funding support since we launched back in 2020/21. But we need your help again now—to navigate splainer to safer shores. To give us room to breathe while we craft a business model that will assure splainer’s long and healthy life. I believe in the value of what we have built. And I believe it deserves to endure—not fall victim to the vagaries of media funding in India—or to a particularly heinous time for the news industry. I know you feel the same.

Please consider becoming a founding member and/or gifting splainer subs to friends, fam and even your organisation. We can figure out a bulk discount if required. It will be the best kind of Diwali gift for us!

Middle East Madness: The latest update

Israel bombs many people: The IDF bombed the same Gaza town for the third time—killing at least 93 people, including 25 children.

Matthew Miller, a U.S. State Department spokesman, called the strike in Beit Lahia “a horrifying incident with a horrifying result” and noted that many of the children reportedly killed had probably fled strikes in other parts of Gaza.

You don’t say? Yesterday’s total across Gaza was 143. On the very same day, Tel Aviv managed to cause another “a horrifying incident with a horrifying result”—killing 77 in south Lebanon in air strikes.

Israel bans refugee organisations: To make amends for all this blood and gore, Tel Aviv has banned the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA)... again. Palestinians rely heavily on UNRWA for aid—which they presumably need right now. Israel has accused UNRWA of being complicit in the October 7 attacks—but without evidence. No, Matthew Miller is not happy with this move either: “U.S. State Department spokesperson… said the administration was “deeply concerned” by the legislation. “There’s nobody that can replace them right now in the middle of the crisis.” You don’t say? (Associated Press via The Hindu)

Hezbollah gets a new chief: The Lebanese militia has a new leader—Naim Qassem. He replaces Hassan Nasrallah who was killed in an Israeli airstrike last month. Qassem is a bit of a plan B choice.

Nasrallah’s cousin Hashem Safieddine was previously viewed as the favourite to take the helm of the Iran-linked Hezbollah, but he died in an Israeli strike on Beirut shortly after his relative.

Hence, Qassem… for now. (Al Jazeera)

Literary boycott of Israel: Sally Rooney, Arundhati Roy and 1,000 other literary luminaries will boycott any publisher, publication or literary fest that is “complicit” in violating Palestinian human rights:

Signatories to the pledge say they will not work with Israeli publishers, festivals, literary agencies and publications that are “complicit in violating Palestinian rights”, including operating “discriminatory policies and practices” or “whitewashing and justifying Israel’s occupation, apartheid or genocide”. Institutions that have never publicly recognised the “inalienable rights of the Palestinian people as enshrined in international law” will also be boycotted.

Speaking of Islamophobia: TV anchor Mehdi Hassan was attacked by Trump surrogate Ryan Girdusky—who said to him: “I hope your beeper doesn’t go off”—implying he was a suicide bomber. Girdusky has been banned by CNN. Watch him in action below:

Speaking of Israel-phobia: Sri Lanka is furious at foreign embassies issuing travel advisories for their citizens. They were triggered by terror threats to Israeli tourists—which were tracked down thanks to Indian intel. The Guardian has the big picture on the incident.

The shocking link between caste and stunting

Around 36% of Indian children under the age of five suffer from stunting—compared to 34% in sub-Saharan Africa. That’s shocking since India is not in the midst of severe and prolonged droughts—unlike the poorest parts of Africa. A new study has uncovered the depressing reason why: caste.

Children from Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe homes are 50% more likely to be stunted than children from the forward castes. But here’s the kicker: India is worse off than sub-Saharan Africa only when you take the total percentage. If we focus only on upper caste kids, only 27% are likely to be stunted—that’s much lower than the African number (34%):

“The Indian enigma does not emerge when we restrict the comparison to non-stigmatised caste groups in India,” the researchers wrote. “The large burden of child malnutrition borne by the stigmatised caste groups is part of the explanation” for India’s high stunting levels.

Reminder: Stunting is an “inter-generational phenomenon”, which means a mother with poor nourishment will give birth to a poorly nourished baby. The Telegraph has more on this important study.

In other dismal data on India: According to a new Lancet report, periods of life-threatening heat are increasing in India: “In 2023, every person in the country was exposed to at least 2,400 hours of heat, equivalent to 100 days, that could have resulted in moderate to serious heat-related diseases, says the report.” Indian Express has the rest.

Invasion of Ukraine: Russia gains ground

We thought it was time to check in on what’s happening in the 2.5-year old war. Ukraine lost its initial advantage last year. It has not recovered despite attacking targets deep inside Russia—and $64.1 billion in US military aid. The latest open-source data shows that Russian troops were advancing at their fastest pace in at least a year. Moscow just claimed two eastern Ukrainian towns. In the week of October 20-27, Russia took 196.1 square km of territory. Russia now controls about a fifth of the country. Reuters has that story.

The latest twist: is the entry of North Korean troops into the fray. The US has said it will not impose new limits on Ukraine's use of American weapons—if the 10,000 North Korean soldiers sent to Russia for “training” end up at the battlefront.

Meanwhile in Kyiv: President Zelensky has presented a new ‘Victory Plan’ to parliament—which seems to rely entirely on a) Joining NATO and the EU and b) getting the green light to launch US missiles deep inside Russia—which would put Washington in direct conflict with Moscow. The US and its European allies have resisted both moves. CNN has more on the so-called ‘plan’.

Canada names Amit Shah

The context: Earlier this month, an unnamed Canadian official told the Washington Post that there is evidence Amit Shah was part of the plans to target Khalistani leaders in Canada. Yes, this has to do with the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar—which is explained in this Big Story. We have the latest brouhaha between Canada and India in this Headlines edition.

What happened now: Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister David Morrison acknowledged he was the unnamed source to Parliament members of the national security committee. That is pretty unprecedented—but hasn’t provoked comment so far. Other senior members also plainly spelled out the allegations against New Delhi:

Nathalie Drouin, Trudeau’s national security adviser, told the committee Tuesday that Canada has evidence the Indian government first gathered information on Indian nationals and Canadian citizens in Canada through diplomatic channels and proxies. She said the information was then passed to the government in New Delhi, which allegedly works with a criminal network affiliated with Lawrence Bishnoi.

Pointing the finger directly at New Delhi is pretty astonishing too. But, but, but: “Morrison did not say how Canada knew of Shah’s alleged involvement”—and it hasn’t shared any other ‘evidence’ in public. New Delhi insists it has not seen any proof of these accusations. (Associated Press).

The grate great cheese heist

A group of imposters stole 950 wheels or roughly 48,500 pounds of cheese—including “£300,000 worth of clothbound Cheddar”. How do you steal that kinda cheesy tonnage? Why, you just get them to deliver it to you:

Patrick Holden, whose Hafod Welsh cheddar was taken, told the BBC that the robbers asked Neal’s Yard to dispatch the cheese to a London warehouse, then collected it and disappeared. He believes they may be trying to sell it in the Middle East or Russia, “because people won’t ask questions there.”

In the UK, however, appeals have been issued—and amateur cheese detectives are already on the prowl. True crime has never been this cheesy. (NPR)

what caught our eye

business & tech

Say hello to Netflix’s Moments, a new feature that allows users to save and share scenes from content that they love, or hate.

sports & entertainment

David Fincher’s next project is… an angrezi version of ‘Squid Game’. Deadline has the exclusive report.
There’s no publicity like bad publicity if you’re Tony Hinchcliffe—Google searches for the roast comedian who told racist jokes at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally have surpassed those of Taylor Swift. Even Jon Stewart likes him!
Variety has a must-read on the state of superhero fatigue at the box office, in light of ‘Venom: The Last Dance’ becoming the latest title to underperform.
One Direction’s albums are seeing a resurgence in global music charts, in light of the tragic passing of Liam Payne.
Another day, another lawsuit against Diddy—this one contains allegations that the disgraced rapper sexually assaulted young boys.
Cometh the hour, cometh the man—baseball’s biggest superstar Shohei Ohtani has caused a record rise in TV viewership for the World Series in his home country, Japan.
The winner of ‘Vishy vs. The World’ is…Viswanathan Anand! The chess grandmaster checkmated 60,000 opponents in an online game within just 24 moves.

as for the rest

Another day, another Elon Musk-related lafda—this time he’s being sued by the Philadelphia District Attorney (DA) for offering to bribe any swing state voter who signs his PAC’s petition with $1 million per day.
Concerning climate change news—Japan’s iconic Mount Fuji has yet to see snow this winter, breaking a 130-year record.
PM Modi has announced the expansion of India’s Ayushman Bharat healthcare scheme for people above the age of 70. But, but, but: Delhi and West Bengal are not included.
Tamil actor-turned-politician Vijay has unveiled the roadmap for his new party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, and said his party would embrace the message of state icon Periyar, but without the ‘anti-God position’.
Scientists have discovered an ancient virus-like element in our DNA which wakes up during pregnancy or times of severe blood loss—to help produce extra blood.
Lonely Planet’s ‘Best in Travel’ list for 2025 has just one Indian entry: Pondicherry.
CNN has a must-read on the unexpectedly devastating impact of Tropical Storm Trami on the Philippines, a country already prone to bouts of extreme weather.

Seven things to see

One: Luxury brands are forever complaining about dupes. In this case, however, Patek Philippe may be the one guilty of dupe-licity. One of the watches in its new collection—the first in 25 years looks identical to one made by a small independent watchmaker. There is only one small difference: Patek Philippe’s version costs between $41,240 and $88,380—while the other is a paltry $300. You can see the almost judwaa watches below. New York Times (login required) has the riveting story.

Two: Marine scientists recorded an octopus—confusingly called big-eyed jellyfish—bouncing away at the depth of 4,800 metres deep in the Pacific Ocean. Ok, this isn’t something headline-worthy—but it is definitely something to see. It looks like a peppy Disney princess—the only thing missing is an Idina Menzel soundtrack. (Science Alert)

Three: Feel free to admire the cool 3D mapping of this 900-year-old “zombie star” in the middle of a supernova explosion. Oddly enough, looks like a strange marine creature as well. Space.com has all the nerdy deets.

Four: If you didn’t get enough of the Amazon Prime series ‘Mirzapur’, get ready for the film version—to be released in 2026. It will likely bring back Pankaj Tripathi, Ali Fazal, and Divyendu. The film will be produced by Amazon and Farhan Akhtar’s Excel Entertainment. (Mint)

Five: Actor Ted Danson and ‘The Good Place’ creator reunite for a feel-good series called ‘A Man on the Inside’—which is based on the 2020 Oscar nominated documentary called ‘The Mole Agent’. He plays a retired professor who is recruited as an undercover spy in a retirement home. The series drops on November 21 on Netflix. (Hollywood Reporter)

Six: Feast your eyes on Digital Eclipse’s ‘Tetris Forever’, an interactive documentary on the iconic blocks stacking game. The cool bit: you can play older versions of Tetris! The documentary and game set releases on November 12 on gaming consoles including Xbox One and PlayStation 4. (Gizmodo)

Seven: We leave you with this fabulous Halloween-appropriate Van Gogh painting titled ‘Head of a Skeleton With a Burning Cigarette’. See? Just that is worth the price of the splainer sub lol!

Takshashila: A doorway to public policy

Editor’s note: We are delighted to partner 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…

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