Researched by: Rachel John, Aarthi Ramnath & Anannya Parekh
The arrest of Arvind Kejriwal: The latest update
The Chief Minister was sent to the infamous Tihar jail by a Delhi court—after spending nine days in the custody of the Enforcement Directorate. He’s stuck there for at least two weeks. The court order does not affect the petition filed by Kejriwal’s legal team in the Delhi High Court. That hearing is slated for Wednesday. Indian Express has a detailed report on what his prison stay will look like. ICYMI: this excellent Big Story by Samarth Bansal decoded the evidence presented against Kejriwal. (The Hindu)
War on Gaza: The latest update
Israel struck the Iranian embassy in Damascus—reportedly killing three top commanders. The problem for Tel Aviv: An embassy has diplomatic status—and bombing it violates international conventions. Why this matters:
The strike in Damascus, the Syrian capital, appeared to be among the deadliest attacks in a yearslong shadow war between Israel and Iran that has included the assassinations of Iranian military leaders and nuclear scientists.
Banning Al Jazeera: The Israeli parliament approved a law allowing the government to ban broadcasts of TV channels. The first casualty is likely to be Al Jazeera—which Bibi describes as a “terror channel.” Reminder: The IDF is accused of targeting Al Jazeera journalists—who are among the few reporting from the war zone. (BBC News)
The kind & gentle McKinsey layoffs
The consulting giant is laying off its employees—but being very nice about it. The managers will remain employed, receive their salary—and career coaching—while they look for a job over the next nine months. If they fail to find gainful employment, they have to leave the firm. Reminder: “Last year McKinsey announced Project Magnolia, which cut 1,400 back office jobs, in one of the largest restructurings in the firm’s 98-year history.” The ironic bit: McKinsey is notorious for advising companies to slash employees—and has been described as “maybe the single greatest legitimiser of mass layoffs [of] anyone, anywhere, at any time in modern history.” (Times UK, paywall, Quartz)
In happier news about jobs: According to IT minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Apple is now India’s largest blue-collar job creator—directly employing 150,000 workers at its factories. Another 300,000 are indirectly employed by the company. What’s notable: The majority of these are first-time job seekers in the 19-24 years age group. (Economic Times)
Indians trapped in Cambodia factories
The government has rescued workers trapped in Cambodia—lured there by job listings:
[O]nce they land in Cambodia, they are made to join these companies that indulge in fraud. The companies take away the passports of these men and make them work 12 hours a day. If anybody refuses to do the work that is asked of him, he is tortured by way of physical assaults, electric shocks, solitary confinement, etc.
These are scam factories involved in all kinds of cyber fraud—ranging from money laundering to “so-called love scams, where they pose as lovers online.” There are at least 120,000 workers in Myanmar—and 100,000 in Cambodia—who are forced into operating such schemes. BBC News has more on the rescue. This 2023 New York Times report looks at why these scam factories are protected from prosecution in Cambodia.
Hardik Pandya’s IPL blues
The Mumbai Indians have had a rocky start in the tournament—but things have been far worse for the team’s skipper. Pandya is being punished for the crime of leaving Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad—and kicking Rohit Sharma out of his job in Mumbai. As a result, Pandya is being booed wherever he goes—including his home turf. At the match against Rajasthan Royals in Wankhede stadium, the crowd yelled: ‘Mumbai ka Raja kaun? Rohit Sharma’—and booed Pandya. What’s shocking: The Mumbai police deployed 3,000 plain clothes cops in the dugout and the stands to maintain the peace. Btw, Mumbai Indians lost to Rajasthan Royals by six wickets. (Indian Express)
Get ready for scorching weather
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicts “a harsh and arid summer” for most of the country between April and June. We are likely to experience long heat waves that last 10-20 days. Normal heat waves last 4-8 days. Indian Express has details on specific parts of the country.
Say goodbye to Google Podcasts!
The company’s podcasts app will officially shut shop today. The company is merging its audio service with YouTube Music. The reason for this move: Consolidation will help YouTube become a bigger player in the space—especially since the line between audio and video is now blurred in the podcast biz. Reminder: Spotify cut a deal with Universal Music for video podcasts in the US—and announced trial runs of video podcasts in 11 other markets around the world. (TechCrunch)
Meanwhile, over at X: One of its investors—Fidelity—cut its valuation again. It is now 73% lower than the price paid by Elon Musk back in 2022. Old valuation: $44 billion. The new valuation:about $11.8 billion. The reason for the freefall remains the same: Lack of advertising revenue. (Bloomberg News via Fortune)
Fact: Teenagers smell awful!
According to a new study, teenagers smell bad because their bodies release steroids and compounds called carboxylic acids—which variously smell of sweat, urine, musk and sandalwood, cheese, goat and wax. These are activated by sebaceous glands—that secrete sebum, the stuff that makes your hair shiny. The glands are active just before birth and then mostly go dormant until puberty—and then mingle with sweat to make adolescent kids smelly. Babies, OTOH, smell wonderful—to trick their parents into taking care of them—until they turn into “stinky” teenagers lol! (Scientific American, paywall, The Guardian)
How do we form long-lasting memories?
Why do we remember some things in vivid detail—but forget what we had for lunch? A new study shows that our brain uses a tagging system to choose which memories are important and must be stored—and which can be junked. Research in mice identified a mechanism called ‘sharp wave-ripples’:
They observed that as the mice paused to eat their treats, their brains sparked sharp-wave ripples that were repeated as many as 20 times. The daytime pattern of sharp-wave ripples was replayed during the night, a process that moved the experience into long-term memory. It's during sleep when experiences from waking hours deemed to be important are converted into enduring memories.
Experiences that are not accompanied by these sharp-wave ripples are forgotten. But this is an entirely subconscious process—and cannot be controlled. But, but, but: If you take a pause after an experience—it is more likely to be memorable. This is why we tend to forget TV series that we binge-watch, as opposed to a movie we see in a theatre! (NBC News)
Two things to see
One: The much-controversial and much-debated door (you know the one) from the 1997 blockbuster ‘Titanic’ fetched a whopping $718,750. Apparently it bears a “striking resemblance to the Louis XV-style panel” from the real shipwreck. You can see part of the door frame below. (TIME Magazine)
And here’s the controversial scene from the movie to jog your memory.
Two: Sir David Attenborough’s new series ‘Mammals’ captured a remarkable event on camera for the very first time—leopards hunting at night. Watch the incredible footage below. The Guardian has a review of the series.
