headlines that matter

editor’s note

In our latest Advisory edition… Part one of a MAP Academy series offers a guide to the meaning of mudras—symbolic gestures that are rich with spiritual meaning. Kurush Dalal takes us on the wonderfully diverse history of the Parsi breakfast—including the Portuguese pav, Gujarati farsan, and meaty Persian Aleti Paleti. With Children's Day—and Pandit-ji’s birthday anniversary—round the corner, Neha Kirpal has curated a list of children’s books—by Indian authors—ranging from mythology to travel and activity books. We’ve pulled together the best new tracks and albums globally that dropped over the last month. And as always, curated the best new shows and films to binge-watch this weekend. Read it here.

Kuch hatke desi playlist: Once a month we gather suggestions from the splainer fam to put together an awesome playlist—each with its own theme. For the next edition, we're looking for kuch hatke Indian music—interpret it as you will—just not your mainstream or filmi tracks. We are language agnostic, as always:) Add your picks to this handy short form.

Written by: Aarthi Ramnath, Aakriti Anand & Raghav Bikhchandani

Middle East madness: Anatomy of an Amsterdam riot

The season of football hooliganism took an even nastier political turn when riots broke out between fans of rival teams—the Dutch club Ajax and Israeli side Maccabi Tel Aviv. It seemed to kick off when some Maccabi ‘ultras’ (read: hooligans) chanted anti-Arab slurs and took down Palestinian flags.

What happened next: Ajax fans—who ought to have been celebrating their club’s 5-0 win—took offence instead. Perhaps because many of them are of Moroccan origin. Clips of the ugly scenes show them yelling “free Palestine” and “for the children, m*****f****r”—as they kick a Maccabi fan to the ground.

The fallout: Dutch authorities arrested 63 people—and Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema has banned all protests. Halsema, however, made her own political statement—by labelling the attacks ‘anti-semitic’—with nary a word about the anti-Arab slurs. The Israelis called the incident a ‘pogrom’—showing zero self-awareness, as usual.

Something to note: Journalist Marc Owen Jones’ X thread lays out how the voiceover of a Sky News report changed over the course of hours—reframing the incident as ‘anti-semitic’—while erasing the Israeli identity of the hooligans. CNN has the most comprehensive reporting on the clashes, while Reuters has the Dutch and Israeli governments’ responses. Jacobin offers a sharp rebuke of the football hooliganism that started it all.

Meanwhile in Doha: Acknowledging an exercise in futility, Qatar has suspended its efforts to play mediator between Hamas and Israel—until both parties show “their willingness and seriousness” to end the war. According to Associated Press, the Hamas’ political office in Doha may have to shut shop, as well. (Al Jazeera)

Meanwhile, in Washington: The US Justice Department has revealed an Iranian plot to assassinate Donald Trump—which seems to have remained at the planning stage. (ABC News)

Attention Indian shoppers: Your packaged food is racist!

A new study shows that global companies such as Unilever, Pepsico, Coca-Cola, and Nestlé—sell less healthy packaged food to lower income nations. Researchers assessed products by 30 companies that sell in India—along with Ethiopia, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and others. Judged on a scale used in Australia, products in these countries had a rating of only 1.8—compared an average of 2.3 in higher income markets.

Point to note: Any product rated 3.5 stars or above is considered ideal. In lower income countries, only 16% of Unilever’s products meet this threshold. Yet these markets account for 60% of its revenue. India is the second-largest market for the company—after the US. (Business Today)

Moving on to food delivery: Swiggy and Zomato have been found guilty of violating antitrust laws by the Competition Commission of India (CCI). The problem:

Zomato entered into “exclusivity contracts” with partners in return for lower commissions, while Swiggy guaranteed business growth to certain players if they listed exclusively on its platform, according to non-public documents prepared by the CCI.

We don’t know yet what the punishment for these violations will be. (Reuters)

Sticking with Zomato: The company has rolled out a Food Rescue program—to deal with the 400,000 orders that are cancelled each month. How this works, according to CEO Deepinder Goyal: Any order that has been cancelled within a 3 km radius of you will pop up on your app. You can grab them “at an unbeatable price, in their original untampered packaging, and receive them in just minutes.” The extra revenue will be shared between the original customer who placed the order and the restaurant. Of course, Indian Twitter immediately suggested all the ways this feature can be used to scam free khana. (Moneycontrol)

Meet the Benjamin Button of sea creatures

Scientists have discovered a new species—Mnemiopsis leidyi aka comb jelly—that can reverse its age! The comb jelly can revert to its larval stage—under conditions of extreme stress—such as starvation. As of now, we only know of two other ‘time traveller’ species: the immortal jellyfish—Turritopsis dohrnii —and a species of tapeworm—Echinococcus granulosus. Why any of this is interesting:

Comb jellies are ancient animals—in fact, some research suggests that they might be the first animal to have ever existed, emerging roughly 700 million years ago—leading the researchers to suggest that reverse development might be a primordial ability.

A ‘primordial ability’ that tech bros have sadly failed to acquire—despite their best bio-hacking attempts. (Science, paywalled, Gizmodo)

what caught our eye

business & tech

Peter Thiel’s Palantir is positioning itself as the go-to generative AI for the US military—aided no doubt by his buddy Donald.
Ahead of the Air India-Vistara merger, Singapore Airlines announced an added investment of Rs 3,195 crore ($378.6 million).
Economic Times has a good read breaking down the reasons why we have 100,000 new crorepatis—minted in the past three years.
Brace yourselves—Trump Tower is expanding beyond Mumbai and Gurgaon to six more destinations—including Bangalore, Noida, and Hyderabad.
TechCrunch has a must-read on Mozilla’s efforts to restore its flagship product Firefox to its former glory, as the browser turns 20.
Gizmodo has a funny read about cops in Detroit freaking out over iPhones mysteriously rebooting themselves and locking out.

sports & entertainment

May the force be with you (again). Get ready for another ‘Star Wars’ trilogy—because we really, really need more Star Wars films.
Argentinian authorities have arrested three people in connection with the death of Liam Payne—who fell off a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires.
Presenting…the 2025 Grammy Award nominations! Beyoncé leads the way with 11. Also: keep your eye out for The Beatles’ AI-restored ‘Now and Then’—nominated in two categories.
Variety explains why Netflix lost the prestige adaptation of ‘Wuthering Heights' to Warner Bros—and why it spells trouble for streaming-only platforms like it.
The winner of the WTA finals is…Coco Gauff! The American beat out China’s Zheng Qinwen 3-6 6-4 7-6 (2) to become the year-ender tournament’s youngest winner since Maria Sharapova in 2004.

as for the rest

A three-month old elephant calf separated from its herd in Bandhavgarh died just days after it was rescued by forest authorities—bringing the elephant death toll in the sanctuary to eleven.
In order to protect women from’ ‘bad touch’, the UP Women’s Commission has proposed barring male tailors and gym trainers for women.
Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and the case of the missing samosas—five cops face potential disciplinary action for consuming fried savoury goodness meant for the Himachal Pradesh CM.
The Guardian has a must-read on the bitter political fallout over Spain’s floods—deleted tweets, missed warnings, and calls for the ‘hangman’.
Just 46 minutes of extra sleep every night can work wonders for your well-being, helping you experience greater gratitude and resilience.
A world-first, new stem-cell treatment significantly improved eyesight in four patients with damaged corneas.
Replanting rainforests destroyed by man-made activity is not a good idea, a new study suggests. Much better to allow them to grow back on their own.

Seven things to see

One: A railway porter Amar Kumar Rao in Bihar was trapped between the buffers of a train that unexpectedly reversed. He was crushed to death—while the engine driver allegedly absconded. The images below are horrific but we include them as a necessary reminder of our extreme privilege. (Indian Express)

Two: Ask not for whom the bells of Notre Dame toll… They toll for ecstatic Parisians—in celebration of its restoration. Reminder: a devastating fire ravaged the cathedral in 2019. The eight bells of the iconic monument rang out for a full five minutes in perfect harmony on Friday. It will be open to the public in December. AFP via France24 has lots more.

Three: Check out the spectacular winner of the Weather Photographer of the Year awards—given out by the Royal Meteorological Society. Taken by Wang Xin, it is titled ‘Sprites Dancing in the Dark Night’—capturing “large-scale electrical discharges that shoot upward from thunderstorm clouds.” We think they look more like flying jellyfish… albeit the very pretty kind.

Also stunning: Angelina Widmann’s ‘Rain Aria’ of an open-air performance of Madame Butterfly in Austria—amid pouring rain.

PetaPixel has more winners across categories—or you can check out the awards website.

Four: Schmidt Ocean Institute's submarine—named SuBastian—has captured footage of incredible species on the seabed off the Chile coast. They offer a lovely reminder that we live in a pretty special place—despite all the seeming misery. (Science Alert)

Five: Check out the trailer for ‘Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairytale’—an upcoming docu series that offers an inside look into the life of the South Indian actress. The series is set to release on Netflix on November 18. (The Telegraph)

Six: Ice Age fans, rejoice! A sixth instalment of the beloved ‘Ice Age’ films is finally in the works—starring Ray Romano, Queen Latifah, and John Leguizamo—who shared the news in this sweet vid. The film is slated for release sometime in 2026. (The Hindu)

Seven: Marvel fans, get hyped! The trailer for ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ just dropped—with Anthony Mackie in the lead role—plus Harrison Ford as the US President Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, and Danny Ramirez as the new Falcon. It releases on Valentine’s Day. (Variety)