headlines that matter

Researched by: Aarthi Ramnath, Anannya Parekh & Aakriti Anand

A big plot twist in the Middle East

The context: Once upon a time, the US, Israel and powerful Arab states had a plan to make a “new Middle East”—no longer divided by rage over Palestine. In fact, Palestine would become irrelevant—and so would Hamas—and Iran would be entirely isolated. First the UAE and Bahrain signed peace accords with Tel Aviv—and the Saudis were getting ready to follow… 

Then Hamas launched the October 7 attacks—precisely to remind the Arabs that there can be no peace (or prosperity) without Palestine (or Hamas). The rest is blood-soaked history. All of this is laid out in greater detail in this Big Story and our YouTube explainer on the history of the region. 

What happened now: As you can imagine, the Saudis are not going to sign a deal with Israel—while they are killing tens of thousands of Gazans. But they are reportedly going ahead with the other part of the plan—a security pact with the US. And they plan to present it as a done-deal to Israel:

Once the US and Saudi Arabia settle their agreement, they would present Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a choice: either join the deal, which would entail formal diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia for the first time, more investment and regional integration, or be left behind. The key conditions for Netanyahu would be no small feat — ending the Gaza war and agreeing to a pathway for Palestinian statehood.

What’s happening here? Washington’s inability to rein in Tel Aviv is alienating the Arabs—and eroding its position in the Middle East. China is waiting to swoop in—having already brokered an understanding between sworn enemies Saudi Arabia and Iran. This deal would put it back in pole position… if Congress agrees to such an agreement—and PM Netanyahu changes his mind on an independent Palestine. Both look unlikely for now. But it does create long-term consequences for Israel if it keeps bombing Gaza. The Guardian has more on the deal. (Bloomberg News via Mint)

A less-pleasant diplomatic bombshell: President Biden raised eyebrows (and likely, tempers) when he described close allies Japan and India as “xenophobic”—along with Russia and China. Ok, he was trying to make a fairly reasonable point: These countries don’t have friendly immigration policies. Their economies would do far better if they let more outsiders in—which has worked very well for the US (and Indians lol). 

But Biden being Biden, he put it in the worst terms possible:

You know, one of the reasons why our economy is growing is because of you and many others. Why? Because we welcome immigrants. We look to – the reason – look, think about it – why is China stalling so badly economically? Why is Japan having trouble? Why is Russia? Why is India? Because they’re xenophobic. They don’t want immigrants.

TikTok’s new deal with Universal

The context: The world’s biggest music company announced that it will be pulling its songs off the platform—after its current deal expired. Universal Music accused TikTok of negotiating in bad faith—proposing “a rate that is a fraction of the rate that similarly situated major social platforms pay.” This was a huge blow to TikTok as UMG controls a third of all music in the world—and is home to some of the biggest artists in the world including Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, Ariana Grande and many more. 

What happened now: Universal and TikTok have signed a new content licensing deal—which promises an “improved” payout and protection from AI plagiarism: “TikTok is also committed to working with UMG to remove unauthorized AI-generated music from the platform, as well as tools to improve artist and songwriter attribution.” (The Verge)

A hidden gender gap in life & death

Data shows that women live longer than men in most Western countries (not in India). But that gender gap is misleading—according to a new study. It found that women do indeed live longer—but have a much poorer quality of life. The reason: They are more likely to contract a debilitating disease—it won’t kill you, but it will ruin your life. Examples: depression, anxiety, bone and muscle disorders, Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, and HIV and AIDS.

Men, OTOH, are more likely to contract fatal diseases that affect the heart, liver, lungs etc. To sum up: 

Females have longer lives but live more years in poor health, with limited progress made in reducing the burden of conditions leading to illness and disability, underscoring the urgent need for greater attention to non-fatal consequences that limit women’s physical and mental function, especially at older ages.

The Guardian has more on this eye-opening study.

LinkedIn’s got game(s)!

Inspired by the New York Times, LinkedIn has hopped onto the puzzle bandwagon. It has introduced three games on its mobile and desktop platforms—completely free of cost. Each of these can be played once a day: 

• Queens: a Sudoku-like game—without numbers—where you have to place queens such that there’s only one in each row and column. 
• Pinpoint: a timed word association game. Users get five clues to get to a word. The fewer clues you use, the better. 
• Crossclimb: A game that combines trivia with wordplay. It’s tricky to explain, but this GIF should help.

Games, why? LinkedIn claims there’s a networking angle:

For now, you can invite your first-degree connections to play a game together, and your status—whether or not you’ve played a game, and how well you fared—can be shared with those connections if you opt in.

More likely reason: LinkedIn wants its one billion-plus users to spend more time on its platform. And maybe get some new ones. LinkedIn has long become annoying—with users confusing the platform for a dating app (or worse, an extension of WhatsApp Uni). Get ready to fend ‘come play with me’ requests from random people you met in a conference five years ago. (TechCrunch)

Less sex please, we’re Hollywood

A new analysis looked at the highest grossing films since 2000 and found that sex scenes in Hollywood have declined by almost 40% in this period. In fact, there are more movies being made with no sexual content at all—from 18% in 2000 to 46% in 2023. According to film-data analyst Stephen Follows, this could be because the audience now prefers films that handle sexual content more subtly, and a more restrictive age rating impacts international releases of films as well. 

But, but, but: The study also found that the sex scenes that do make the cut are more graphic than ever. Also: No other ‘vice’ on screen—violence, drinking, swearing etc.—has seen a similar decline. (Hollywood Reporter)

Two things to see

One: The heatwave scorching most of Southeast Asia is wiping out fish in Vietnam. The scenes at the 300-hectare Song May reservoir are horrific. CNN has more on the drought sweeping the country.

Two: Archaeologists have created a 3D model of the face of a 75,000-year-old Neanderthal woman—named Shanidar Z. Her remains were found in a cave in Iraqi Kurdistan in 2015. The amazing bit: her skull was smashed “as flat as a pizza”—but researchers glued 200 pieces together to recreate her head. The documentary film on the project dropped on Netflix yesterday. You can watch the trailer here. BBC News has more details. See the reconstructed face below.