The Paris Olympics is here!

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The Paris Olympics is here!

The what: Starting from the opening ceremony today until August 11—about 10,000 athletes will compete in the 33rd Summer Olympic Games. It is the first in Paris since 1924. The expected footfall: 10 million.

Reminder: As the New York Times points out, it is only fitting that Paris finally landed the Olympics bid—after being thwarted for many years:

The modern Games are a French invention, after all: a projection of Panhellenic manhood onto contemporary Europe by a romantic educator and “fanatical colonialist” (as Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Games, called himself).

The hatke bit: Paris has not constructed brand new stadiums or facilities—which is typical for an Olympics host. Most of the big events will be conducted in the Stade de France, the country’s largest stadium. The city has mainly blown its budget on the Olympics Village and the aquatics centre on the Seine.

The opening ceremony: will also be held on the river—with athletes and acrobats floating down the Seine. Lady Gaga is set to be one of the star performers. Known as the Parade of Nations, it dates back to the 1908 London Olympics.

The costumes: Organisers decreed that contestants will wear the “athletic costume” of their nation—a rule that has been interpreted with great creativity since. There are also go-to Olympic brands for some nations—like Ralph Lauren for the US and H&M for the Swedes. The Canadians this year will be in Lululemon—which did well for itself:

The Mongolians, of course, have been declared the coolest of them all:

The Haitians are looking seriously good, as well:

India, unfortunately, has not done well for itself:

If it’s any consolation, the supposedly stylish Italians almost always drop the fashion ball on each outing. Their Armani look for 2024 is terribly boring—but it’s a step up from the green-white-red ponchos rolled out for the Beijing Winter Games in 2022:

As for India: Our best hope for a gold is, of course, Neeraj Chopra in javelin throw. He has been on a winning streak since scoring top honours in Tokyo in 2020. Other possible medallists: badminton duo Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, and boxing world champion Nikhat Zareen. Indian Express has a full list.

Worries about security: Since Paris has been a repeated target for terrorists, there is anxiety about a possible attack. And yet, the theme this year is “Games Wide Open”—hence, the decision to hold the ceremony on the Seine and in venues across the city. But all of which makes it harder to establish secure perimeters. That said, there will be 20,000 soldiers and 35,000 police mobilised every day—with support from 2,000 troops and police officers from other countries—including Indian sniffer dogs!

Also, Gaza: The Games are being held in the middle of heightened emotions over the killing of more than 39,000 Palestinians. The Israelis were repeatedly booed at their game against Mali:

More seriously, the Israelis have also received repeated death threats. Also this:

A disturbing video surfaced just days before the Paris Olympics, showing a masked figure issuing ominous threats. The video, which has gone viral on social media, warned of “rivers of blood” in Paris due to France’s support for Israel. The man, dressed in dark clothing and displaying a Palestinian flag, held up a fake severed head. Hamas has denied any involvement.

Scandals, scandals, scandals: The Games have not begun—but there have been controversies aplenty:

The Canadian Olympic Committee has fired its women’s football coach—for using a drone to spy on the Kiwis. But hey, the Canadians beat New Zealand 2-1 at their group stage match yesterday.
Britain’s best hope for gold in dressage has been kicked out, as well. She was caught flogging a horse on video.
The Dutch are under fire for selecting beach volleyball player Steven van de Welde. The reason: he is a convicted child rapist. Also: he barely served a year in prison!

Thank god for breaking: The competitive form of breakdancing is the most-anticipated—and only—new sport at this year’s Games. There are two breaking events, one each for men and women, with 16 dancers each. It looks something like this:

Reading list: The Guardian has the most delightful guide to the Games. Washington Post has more on the various events. New York Times is best on the opening ceremony. Indian Express has more on the most promising prospects for India—and how the Gaza war is playing out in Paris.

A remarkable Russia-China exercise

The two countries conducted a joint air patrol off the coast of Alaska—which lasted five hours. But the four bombers did not enter US airspace—but stuck to the ADIZ—which is a “self-declared buffer zone in international airspace.” It is the first such ‘joint venture’ between the two nations—and a sign perhaps of a second Cold War—pitting old friends against old foes:

Although Beijing and Moscow do not have a mutual defence treaty, they have been training together for almost 20 years. That activity has intensified over the past six years, with the countries’ forces conducting annual joint naval exercises since 2018 and starting joint patrols with bombers in 2019.

Financial Times (splainer gift link) has more on the significance of this ‘test’ flight.

US elections: The latest update

One: Kamala Harris edged past Donald Trump in the latest poll—ahead by just 1%. But polling guru Nate Cohn says the numbers reflect “major shifts”:

In fact, her ratings have increased even more than Mr. Trump’s. Overall, 46% of registered voters have a favorable view of her, up from 36% when we last asked about her in February. Only 49% have an unfavorable view, down from 54% in our last measure. As important, her favorable rating is higher than Mr. Biden’s.

Also notable: The Double Haters—who hate both candidates—has dropped to 8%—from 20% just weeks ago. There’s a lot more enthusiasm on both sides. Also, a rare consensus among Americans: A whopping 87% agree Joe Biden made the right call to step down. The New York Times (splainer gift link) has lots more analysis.

Two: Harris tried to thread the needle on Palestine. She slammed instances of “despicable acts” and “dangerous hate-fueled rhetoric”—of some protesters at a pro-Palestine rally in DC. They were targeting Benjamin Netanyahu—who is visiting the US. OTOH, she also had “frank” talks with Netanyahu:

“Israel has a right to defend itself. And how it does so matters,” Ms. Harris told reporters after the meeting. She said she raised her serious concerns about the scale of human suffering in Gaza. “I made clear my serious concern about the dire humanitarian situation there,” she said. “I will not be silent.”

Three: Harris also released her first campaign ad and—mercifully—it’s not about “being brat.” The soundtrack is Beyoncé’s ‘Freedom’ from her 2016 album ‘Lemonade’—and clearly targets the Democratic base. (The Guardian)

The super rich are getting richer

The annual Oxfam report offers this snapshot of the state of global inequality: “[T]he world's richest 1% have amassed a staggering $42 trillion in wealth over the past decade—nearly 34 times greater than the combined wealth of the poorest 50% of the global population.” In actual numbers, the average wealth per super-rich person increased by $400,000 in the last 10 years—compared to $335 per person—or less than nine cents per day—among the poorest 50%.

Point to note: Billionaires around the world are taxed on less than 0.5% of their wealth. FYI: The Ambanis spent on their youngest son’s wedding a mere Rs 5,000 crore (50 billion)—which is coincidentally only 0.5% of Mukesh Ambani’s worth. (Mint)

OTOH, speaking of the poor: In 2015, 191 UN member countries pledged to end world hunger by 2030. A new report shows we’re never making that deadline. Around 582 million people will still remain undernourished at that time. One reason—governments aren’t putting in the money required. Current figures show that only $76 billion a year is being spent towards the cause, which is 0.07% of the world’s annual economic output. In 2023, 733 million people faced acute hunger, which translates to 1 in every 11 people globally. As for India: An average of 13.7% of India’s population was undernourished, between 2021 and 2023. The Wire has an in-depth analysis of the India angle. NDTV has a big picture view.

Speaking of the upwardly mobile: They aren’t doing all that well, either. A new Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) report shows that seven in 10 day traders suffered losses in FY2023. One reason: many of them are young (and possibly foolish): “In FY2023, traders under the age group of more than 60 years had lowest loss-makers (53%), while those under 20 years of age had the highest proportion of loss-makers (81%).” Key point to note: Intraday trading has increased by over 300% in the last five financial years. (NDTV Profit)

Say hello to SearchGPT

The OpenAI rival to Google Search is here! The company launched a prototype that it says will give users “fast and timely answers with clear and relevant sources.” CEO Sam Altman says it allows you to “search in a more natural, intuitive way” and ask follow-up questions “just like you would in a conversation.” It will eventually be integrated into its chatbot ChatGPT.

Oh, and Alphabet shares fell 3%. One reason: Its highly touted AI Overview—which summarises answers to search queries on Chrome—has proved to be a dud. But AI hopes springs eternal on the Google campus. It just released the fastest version of its AI model Gemini—which is free. (CNBC)

In other Google news: According to 404 Media (login required), Google is the only search engine that works on Reddit—thanks to a $60 million deal that lets the tech giant train its AI models on its content. Why this matters: Reddit has recently blocked Bing, DuckDuckGo and others—”making one of the web’s most valuable repositories of user generated content exclusive to the internet’s already dominant search engine.” OTOH, Reddit points out that other companies want to use its content for free. (The Verge)

Bad news about avian flu

A new study has confirmed the mammal-to-mammal spread of bird flu in the US—between cows, and from cows to cats and a raccoon. This is worrying because it shows the virus is mutating. And scientists are worried future mutations may enhance human-to-human transmission—triggering a new pandemic. Right now, the virus mostly causes a mild infection—only after prolonged exposure.

How it would work: Influenza viruses are highly changeable—and are prone to undergoing big shifts called reassortments:

Reassortment is like something out of science fiction: When two influenza viruses infect the same cell in the same host, they can trade entire chunks of their genomes with each other, yielding a variety of Franken-flus.

This is what would happen if pigs—which can contract both the human and avian flu—get infected with both: “Should these two viruses meet inside these animals, they might swap parts, producing an avian flu that can more easily infect mammals.” Phys.org has more on the latest study. This Big Story lays out the threat posed by the bird flu epidemic.

Moving on to breast cancer: A large study shows that a double mastectomy does not offer added protection from remission—once cancer has been detected in one breast:

A study has concluded that there is no survival advantage to having the other breast removed. Women who had a lumpectomy or a mastectomy and kept their other breast did just as well as women who had a double mastectomy… the researchers added that most women did very well — the chance of cancer in the other breast was about 7% over 20 years.

But this doesn’t hold true for women who carry certain genes—BRCA1 or BRCA2—that increase their cancer risk. A double mastectomy is probably a safer option for them. (New York Times)

what caught our eye

business & tech

Rupert Murdoch plans to give control of his empire to fave beta Lachlan—which has triggered a ‘Succession’-style war (splainer gift link). When fiction imitates life—which then imitates fiction.
CRED has launched a free personal finance manager for its users.
CrowdStrike offered $10 UberEats cards to customers affected by the global outage. The kicker: They don’t work.
Elon Musk’s Starlink opened an internet bubble in a Gaza hospital.

sports & entertainment

Real Madrid is the first club in the world to report €1 billion in revenue.
NBA inked a $76 billion TV deal with ESPN, NBC and Amazon.
Washington Post (splainer gift link) comes bearing bad news: Hello Kitty isn’t even a cat.

as for the rest

Associated Press had to factcheck a rumour that JD Vance had sex with a couch.
Various halls at the Rashtrapati Bhavan have been renamed (because why just ruin our streets?). ‘Durbar Hall’ and ‘Ashok Hall’ are ‘Ganatantra Mandap’ and ‘Ashok Mandap’, respectively.
More than 190 are missing after a refugee boat capsized off the coast of Mauritania.
According to a new study, chimpanzees communicate with each other using gestures—just like us!
The Times (splainer gift link) has an eye-opening and depressing profile of a ‘trad wife’—and her eight kids. These are (mostly white) women influencers who embrace “traditional” feminine roles.

four things to see

One: It’s monsoon—which means it must be mayhem in Mumbai—and Pune. Heavy rains have flooded roads and waterlogged entire neighbourhoods. (The Telegraph)

Two: Spider-Man was arrested in Delhi for riding on the bonnet of a moving car on a busy road. You can watch his antics in this video. Our fave bit: the chappals! (Indian Express)

Three: Say hello to Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan—in James Mangold’s biopic ‘A Complete Unknown’. Yes, he will be singing—as this trailer reveals. Well, Dylan has a terrible voice so 🤷🏾. The film is set to hit theatres in December 2024. You can watch the trailer here. (Variety)

Four: The Netflix thriller, ‘Haseen Dillruba’ is getting a sequel—titled ‘Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba’. Taapsee Pannu and Vikrant Massey reprise their roles—and Sunny Kaushal completes the love triangle. The film drops on Netflix on August 9. You can watch the eerie trailer here. (Hindustan Times)

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:)

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