Researched by: Aarthi Ramnath, Anannya Parekh & Aakriti Anand
War on Gaza: The latest update
IDF controls Rafah crossing: The Israelis now control the primary entry point for humanitarian aid into Gaza—and sole exit into Egypt. The immediate effect: “Aid officials in the territory said the flow of aid through the crossing, one of the main supply routes for the effort to avert a famine, had been halted.” Oh, and the IDF is back to attacking hospitals again—this time, the target is Rafah’s Kuwaiti hospital—where 11 were killed overnight. Waiting now for mass graves.
Just to recap the situation—in CNN’s words:
In the almost seven months since, Israel’s military bombardment of Gaza has killed more than 34,600 people, according to the Gaza health ministry, and driven more than 1 million Palestinians to seek refuge in Rafah, a city that the medical NGO Medecins San Frontieres said was absent of the “necessary conditions for survival.”
Palestinians are now being driven out of that ‘refuge’, as well. You can see the location of the Rafah crossing below. (The Guardian)
Also this: Washington wants you to know that “the US president, Joe Biden, pressed Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, not to go ahead with a large-scale offensive.” Just for the record. OTOH: Biden also made an impassioned speech against anti-semitism that “leaves no doubt he’s standing by Israel despite tension with Netanyahu.” Of course, using anti-semitism as a reason to support Bibi’s horrific actions is dubious, to say the least. (CNN)
Meanwhile, in New York: Columbia University has cancelled its main graduation ceremony—slated for May 15—citing security concerns. Reuters has lots more details.
Election 2024: The latest update
Voter turnout: The number of voters showing up at the polling booths has greatly varied—from one state to another. In the latest phase, Gujarat witnessed a turnout of 55%—compared to 70.41% in Karnataka. Turnout has also been sluggish in the Hindi belt. We don’t know what that means—and some pundits have read the numbers as evidence of lack of voter enthusiasm for the BJP. But that may just be wishful thinking.
Karnataka: The Election Commission has finally woken up and told BJP’s state wing to “immediately” take down a hateful animated video targeting Congress and Muslims. It was posted four days ago. The last phase of elections in the state has already been completed. So not speedy—but certainly timely! And yet: “As of May 7 evening, the post had garnered over 90 lakh views, and had not yet been taken down.” Sad. (The Hindu)
Haryana: In the midst of the Lok Sabha election, Independent MLAs in Haryana have thrown a curveball. Three of them have withdrawn support from the ruling BJP government—and thrown their weight behind Congress.
The Assembly math is as follows. There are 90 seats. But the effective total is 88 as two are empty—which makes the majority mark 45. BJP now only has 40 plus three allies—so a total of 43. The Congress has bounced upward to 45—thanks to the newly acquired support of the Independent MLAs.
Why any of this matters: The Assembly election in Haryana is slated for October-November this year. More importantly, the Lok Sabha election is on May 25—i.e. these defections are very “timely” as well. (Indian Express)
Two visa stories of note
Australia: Canberra announced plans to drastically reduce the number of visas issued–to cut the number of migrants by 50% by 2025. The most affected: Students from India, Pakistan, and Nepal. The reason: They are most often “non-genuine students who use student visas as a back door for work and permanent residency.” The government has also introduced stricter visa controls. Data point to note:
Visas granted to Indian students fell by 48% between December 2022 and December 2023, with Nepalese visas granted falling 53% and Pakistani visas falling 55% over the same period.
The unprecedented bit: Some universities have imposed “blanket bans” on Indian students. The Guardian has more on the immigration clampdown.
Sri Lanka: has extended its 30-day visa-free program—introduced in October—for visitors from India and six other countries: China, Russia, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia. That’s nice but Sri Lankans are still pissed off about the decision to hire a company with India links—VFS Global—to process visas to their country. The Indians, in turn, are pissed off at the company for charging a whopping $18.50 service fee plus a $5 convenience fee. (The Hindu)
Attention shoppers: Indians are ghosting malls
According to a new retail report, the number of ‘ghost malls’ in India has jumped from 57 in 2022 to 64 in 2023—across eight major cities. These malls—which have a vacancy rate of more than 40%—are mostly in Delhi, followed by Mumbai and Bengaluru. The only city to report a drop in ghost malls: Hyderabad. What the experts make of this: A-list malls are still doing well. The problem is with the lower end shopping centres—which are losing the battle to online shopping. (Economic Times)
A flurry of AI stories
One: Apple is secretly working on designing its own AI-enabled chips to power data servers. These are not to be confused with the powerful Nvidia chips—used to train large language models like GPT etc. The company is leveraging its experience building chips for its phones, tablets and computers. But no one knows whether the project has been successful:
The server project, which is internally code-named Project ACDC—for Apple Chips in Data Center—will bring this talent to bear for the company’s servers, according to people familiar with the matter. Project ACDC has been in the works for several years and it is uncertain when the new chip will be unveiled, if ever.
Why this matters: Apple is viewed as the slacker in the great AI race. Also: Everyone is trying to break Nvidia’s near-monopoly over AI chips. Wall Street Journal (paywall) has this exclusive. CNBC has a handy summary.
Two: OpenAI unveiled a new tool that can detect 98% AI-generated images created by its DALL-E 3 text-to-image generator. Quartz has more on that story.
Three: Sticking with OpenAI, it has signed a content partnership deal with Dotdash Meredith—which operates more than 40 publications including People, InStyle, and Investopedia. This deal is similar to those inked with Financial Times, Le Monde etc. The content will be used to train OpenAI algorithms—and as material for ChatGPT responses. Axios has more on what this means for news publishing.
An important link between AD and heredity
The context: Since the discovery of Alzheimer’s Disease in 1906, we have not been able to identify its cause—or arrest its progress. While the gene APOE4 plays an important role in determining who develops AD, merely possessing the gene doesn’t cause the disease. We have lots more in this two part series on AD—part one on the mystery of Alzheimer's Disease and part two is on the latest hypothesis that it could be caused by a virus..
What happened now: A new study has found that at least 15% of AD patients ‘inherit’ the disease from their parents. Those who had two copies of the APOE4 gene—from both parents—went on to develop Alzheimer’s. Around 2% of the global population have two copies of this gene—which makes AD the “most prevalent inherited diseases.” Why this matters: Those at risk will now be tested for the APOE4 gene—and treated accordingly. New York Times (paywall) and CNN have more nerdy details.
In other important medical news: Scientists have developed a coronavirus vaccine that will offer immunity against a variety of strains—present and future:
Because the vaccine trains the immune system to target proteins that are shared across many different types of coronavirus, the protection it induces is extremely broad, making it effective against known and unknown viruses in the same family.
It was developed using eight different coronaviruses, including those circulating in bats. But, but, but: It has only been tested on mice so far. (Independent UK)
Two things to see
One: SpaceX unveiled new spacesuits ahead of its Polaris Dawn mission—which will include the first-ever private spacewalk. You can see the design—along with the Star Wars-style 3D printed helmet—in the very sci-fi promo below. (Gizmodo)
Two: Katy Perry never made it to the Met Gala this year. But she posted two AI-generated images of her ‘appearance’ at the event. The most amusing bit: Perry’s AI-designed gown is way cooler and more on-theme than some of the creations at the gala. (NPR)
FYI: Sabyasachi made two appearances at the Met. First as the designer of Alia Bhatt’s underwhelming sari. Second, as the first Indian designer to walk the red carpet. We’re not all that impressed with this one either. (The Hindu)
The Indian whose creativity impressed us the most also got the least attention—Natasha Poonawala.
