Researched by: Rachel John, Aarthi Ramnath & Anannya Parekh
War on Gaza: The latest update
A big resignation: No, Bibi hasn’t turned in his resignation letter—despite his great unpopularity. Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh quit under pressure from the US and its Arab allies. The reason: This is part of their grand plan to rehaul the Palestinian Authority—so it can take over post-war Gaza. One slight problem: Netanyahu recently laid out an occupation plan for Gaza—and rejected any role for the PA. The other problem: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is extremely unpopular—with 90% of Palestinians now calling for his resignation. The only organisation that seems to have any credibility: Hamas, whose popularity has surged since the Israeli invasion. Wall Street Journal (paywall) and Associated Press have more.
The definition of a ‘ceasefire’: While the US and its allies have been talking about an imminent deal, Netanyahu has vowed to attack Rafah—“with or without a ceasefire.” Biden told reporters: “My national security adviser tells me that we’re close, we’re close, we’re not done yet. My hope is by next Monday we’ll have a ceasefire.” Bibi said of the attack on Rafah: “If we have a deal, it will be delayed somewhat, but it will happen. If we don't have a deal, we’ll do it anyway.” (NPR)
A death in protest: A 25-year-old US soldier set himself on fire to protest US’ support for Israel’s military action in Gaza—outside the Israeli embassy in Washington DC. In footage he recorded before the incident, Aaron Bushnell said:
I will no longer be complicit in genocide. I’m about to engage in an extreme act of protest. But compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonisers, it’s not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal.
He died later of his injuries. (TIME)
Content warning: The following headline contains graphic details of war crimes that could be disturbing to some people.
UN flags war crimes in Sudan
The context: Sudan has been in a civil war since April 2023 thanks to a power struggle between two generals—Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti). Hemedti is supported by a notorious militia known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)—extremist Arabs who target tribes. For more context on the origin of the war, check out this Big Story.
What happened now: A new report by the United Nations has revealed horrific details of the spiralling civil war in the country, which it says constitute war crimes. The report accused both sides of indiscriminately attacking civilians. Women and children have been raped and gangraped and child soldiers have also been recruited by both sides.
The U.N. report found that both sides have detained civilians, including women and children, often torturing those they suspected of collaborating with their enemies. But it said the great majority of sexual assaults appeared to have been carried out by the Rapid Support Forces and affiliated militias, and cited one incident in which a victim was detained and gang raped over 35 days by R.S.F. forces.
But the military is no better: The report flagged one particular incident from last week where Sudanese soldiers paraded the decapitated heads of students who were killed because of their ethnicity.
Why this matters: Unlike in Gaza and Ukraine, the atrocities in Sudan have not been documented widely. It has been much harder to gather evidence from the war zone, and there is little international attention being directed to the country. In fact, the UN appealed for an aid package of $2.7 billion for humanitarian efforts in Sudan—but could only collect 4% of the amount needed. According to figures by NGOs, about 14,600 people have lost their lives in the conflict. But the actual number is expected to be much, much higher. New York Times (splainer gift link) takes an in-depth look at the report.
Three studies that offer dismal news
Well, that's as fair a warning as we can offer:)
Hate speech in India: A report released by a Washington-based NGO India Hate Lab shows that hate speech against Muslims jumped by 62% in the latter half of 2023. They documented a total of 413 such incidents in the last six months—compared to 255 in the first half of the year. In total, there were almost two anti-Muslim hate speech events per day in 2023. Also this: 498 incidents (75%) took place in states governed by the BJP. The worst of the lot: Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
Interesting bit to note: The number of incidents spiked after the attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7. Forty one of them mentioned the war. You can read the full report here. Al Jazeera has a handy summary.
Retirement fund woes: Most white-collar employees rely on provident funds for retirement savings. The government-run program has 290 million subscribers. Alarmingly, there’s been a steep rise in the rejection rate of provident fund claims—from 13% in 2017-18 to 34% in 2022-23. In other words, one in three settlement claims has been rejected. According to officials, the culprit is a new online system—linked to the Aadhaar card:
The system has become such that after a few days, claims are returned citing discrepancies. Many of these discrepancies are nowadays on account of just an alphabet in the name of the member not matching, or different details in Aadhaar. All of this creates a lot of problems for the EPF subscribers.
Indian Express has lots more details.
Women actors in Hollywood: A new report shows that 2023 marked ‘historic low’ for women in leading film roles—among the 100 top-grossing films:
Researchers... found a major regression in terms of representation, with only 30 movies featuring women and girls in lead and co-lead roles. That figure marks a sharp downturn from 2022, which tallied 44 films, and a number identical to that in 2010.
It is especially surprising given that 2023 was touted as the “year of the women”—thanks to ‘Barbie’. (Variety)
Say goodbye to passenger trains
The context: Passenger train fares are among the cheapest—and are critical for the least affluent Indians. They are cheap because they are slower than express trains and stop at almost every station. Back in 2020—during the pandemic—the government announced plans to convert over 500 of these trains to express due to low demand.
What happened now: According to The Hindu, the Indian Railway has gotten rid of passenger trains entirely—converting them into express specials—and therefore doubling their fares:
For instance, the cost of travelling from Chennai to Tirupati in passenger or DEMU train was Rs 35 before the COVID-19 pandemic. But after the COVID lockdown, the fare increased to Rs 70. Similarly, the cost of ticket from Chennai Beach to Vellore and Chennai Egmore to Puducherry which were Rs 30 and Rs 45 have increased to Rs 65 and Rs 80 respectively, the sources said.
Point to note: These ‘express specials’ have the same number of coaches and stops—and their speed also has not changed. But the fares have become unaffordable for most Indians. The Hindu has more on the fallout. A related good read: We did an excellent Big Story on the rising financial woes of the Indian Railways.
In related news: A 53-carriage freight train travelled about 84 km from Jammu’s Kathua station—without a driver. The reason: Engineers forgot to pull the brake before going on their chai break:
The train began moving because the station is at a slope, and the gradient continues for miles, which meant the 53 wagons and the two diesel locomotives gathered enough momentum to reach what officials estimated was close to 100km/hr.
The train was eventually moved to a different track and brought to a halt. Thankfully, no one was injured. This is a classic ‘only in India’ story. (Hindustan Times)
A cooling cure for cities: Botanical gardens
A new study confirms the value of green space in urban areas. The most effective are botanical gardens, which reduce temperatures during heatwaves by an average 5°C. Bigger the park, the greater the effect. FYI: Botanical gardens are establishments where plants are grown for scientific study, conservation, display and education.
Other green spaces like wetlands are slightly less effective—reducing the temperature by 4.7°C. The good news: more modest measures like green walls, trees on the street and playgrounds can bring temperatures down by at least 3°C. (The Guardian)
Odysseus has landed—on its side!
NASA’s lunar lander touched down on the Moon’s surface—but tripped and fell on its side. The good news: it ended up less than a mile from its planned landing site near the south pole. And it sent back a bunch of pictures taken during its descent. Like this one of the surface—taken “as the spacecraft descended straight down toward the moon, its fixed landing legs poised for touchdown.” You have to imagine you are looking straight down at the surface—to make sense of the image:
After all this excitement, Odysseus will soon go to sleep—as the night descends, and there is no sunlight to power its solar panels. (CBS News)
Sticking with NASA: The agency is looking for four volunteers to spend a year in their 3D Mars simulator in Houston. What it entails:
Starting in spring 2025, participants will undergo some of the trials and tribulations of life on the Red Planet, "including resource limitations, equipment failures, communication delays, and other environmental stressors," NASA said. Crew members will additionally have to do spacewalks, operate robots, exercise, grow crops and maintain the facility, known as the Mars Dune Alpha.
Sadly, this is only open to US citizens between the ages of 30 and 55 years old with professional STEM experience. You can see what the simulated habitat looks like below. (NPR)
Two things to see
One: India beat England in the third test by eight wickets in Dharamshala and clinched the five-match series by 3-1—with a match to spare. The Hindu has the match report. We love this awesome pic of the team tweeted by Sachin Tendulkar below. His message: The score is 3-won!
Two: Archaeologists in Iran have unearthed the “oldest-ever lipstick.” The intricately carved stone vial is 4,000 years old, it is an The ‘lipstick’ likely belongs to the powerful Marḫaši civilization—who ruled what is now East Iran. The paste inside “bears a striking resemblance to the recipes of contemporary lipsticks.” Also timeless: The colour of the lipstick. Yup, it’s red:) Smithsonian Magazine has lots more.
