Researched by: Rachel John, Aarthi Ramnath, Anannya Parekh & Aakriti Anand
Say hello to headlines in five
Have you checked out our excellent daily news wrap ‘What the F*** Happened Here?’. It tells you what happened during the day—in around 5 minutes. As always, we are here to make it easier to know what’s up—without noise, negativity or that existential feeling of despair. The Tuesday pm edition is below. Follow us on YouTube to get your daily dose.
Elections 2024: The latest update
Muslims, Muslims everywhere: The Prime Minister seems to be on a roll these days. On Sunday, he declared Congress plans to redistribute wealth “among those who have a large number of children… and among the intruders.” On Tuesday, he said Congress tried to create a separate reservation quota for “their special vote bank”, by cutting into the quota for Dalits and backward classes.
But here’s the interesting bit. Modi was also recently in Aligarh taking credit for championing Muslim women. He said, “The government took an important decision by allowing Muslim women to go for the Haj without a male companion. I am getting blessings of hundreds of such women.” So no intruders here, then.
Point to note: The NDA has lost its only Muslim MP. Choudhary Mehboob Ali Kaiser left BJP ally Lok Janshakti Party to join the Rashtriya Janata Dal. No more intruders in the NDA, either. (Indian Express)
Speaking about Muslims: The government coincidentally appointed Naima Khatoon as the Vice-Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University—the first in 123 years. The appointment had to be cleared with the Election Commission first—as per Model Code of Conduct. The ECI agreed but insisted “no publicity shall be there and no political mileage may be derived from it.” Yet, her appointment was front page news yesterday. Hmm. NDTV has more on the new V-C. (The Print)
You’re such a SWEETEY: Here’s a more upbeat election story—about a dragonfly named Sweetey. It is the election mascot for Wayanad—which is also Rahul Gandhi’s seat. Sweetey belongs to a dragonfly species called Epithemis Wayanadensis—or the less tongue-twisting Red-rumped Hawklet. It was discovered in Wayanad back in 2022—hence the name.
And Sweetey is spelled S-W-E-E-T-E-Y—for Spreading Wayanad’s Election Enthusiasm through Epithemis Wayanadensis. Her job is to encourage people to vote. In case you think this is strange, appointing odd election mascots isn’t unusual. This year, the South 24 Parganas district in West Bengal has Tiger ‘Baghu’—while Coochbehar’s election ambassador is a turtle.
FWIW, Wayanad’s mascot in the 2021 Assembly elections was a robot called Vote Kunjappan—inspired by the Malayalam film, Android Kunjappan. So the dragonfly is a step up—as you can see below. (The Hindu)
A long flight to Rwanda
The context: In 2022, the Boris Johnson government inked a deal which turned Rwanda into a dumping ground for migrants seeking asylum in the UK. These refugees would be sent on a one-way ticket to Rwanda—where they can apply for asylum to live in… Rwanda! Since 2022, legal experts have said the plan would violate both domestic and international law. Both protect the right to seek asylum. Our Big Story has more.
What happened now: The UK has approved the bill that will send all asylum seekers to Rwanda. The policy has already been nixed by the Supreme Court. And yet, here we are.The law will likely be buried in court challenges—and no one expects it to go into operation. But good old Rishi Sunak is upbeat as ever about what he calls a “game changer.” The UK PM declared: “These flights will go, come what may.” Ah, the can-do spirit of Indian immigrants everywhere! (BBC News)
War on Gaza: Mass graves in hospitals
The United Nations is calling for an investigation into mass graves discovered at Al Shifa and Nasser hospitals. Palestinian authorities say they discovered 283 bodies on the grounds of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis: “[S]ome of the bodies found in Khan Younis were handcuffed, shot in the head or wearing detainee uniforms.” But Israel insists its troops only “exhumed bodies that were buried by Palestinians” when trying to locate hostages. Tel Aviv hasn’t said anything about Al Shifa—at least 381 bodies have been exhumed in its vicinity. Reminder: Israel has been conducting extended and brutal raids on hospitals—which is a clear violation of international law.
Meanwhile, over at Google: The company fired another 20 employees protesting against its business dealings with Israel It has a $1.2 billion cloud computing contract with Tel Aviv called Project Nimbus—which it shares with Amazon. That brings the total to 50. They are being penalised for participating in sit-ins at the office last week:
After the protests, Google CEO Sundar Pichai told workers in a memo not to “fight over disruptive issues or debate politics,” and added that Google parent Alphabet “is a business, and not a place to act in a way that disrupts coworkers or makes them feel unsafe, to attempt to use the company as a personal platform.”
SpaceX is hazardous to employee health
The context: Last year, a Reuters revealed at least 600 SpaceX workers suffered injuries between 2014 and 2022. Of these, 29 had broken or dislocated bones. Nine suffered head injuries, including a skull fracture and a traumatic brain injury. There were eight amputations and even one death. However, neither SpaceX or Elon Musk publicly addressed the issue.
What happened now: A new analysis of 2023 data published by the US agencies shows that the situation has grown worse in some instances:
[I]njury rates at some SpaceX facilities grew worse than those the company had reported in 2022. At its manufacturing-and-launch facility in Brownsville, Texas, for instance, SpaceX reported 5.9 injuries per 100 workers, surpassing its rate of 4.8 injuries in 2022 and topping a space industry average of 0.8… At a unit that retrieves rocket boosters in the Pacific Ocean, SpaceX last year reported 7.6 injuries per 100 workers, more than nine times the industry rate.
Why this matters: According to experts, high injury rates could be "an indicator of poor production quality”—which should concern NASA—which has contracts worth $11.8 billion with SpaceX. (Reuters)
The government vs foreign journos: Here we go again
The South Asia bureau chief of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC News) says the Indian government refused to extend her visa. The reason given: Avani Dias’ reporting “crossed a line.” Specifically, New Delhi was irked by this report:
At the heart of the journalist’s exit is a 29-minute video story, titled ‘Sikhs, Spies and Murder’, on the Sikh separatist movement in Punjab, and the early life of Hardeep Singh Nijjar – a pro-Khalistan activist who was declared a terrorist by India in 2020 – in the Bhar Singh Pura village before he fled to Canada.
Her video report was also blocked by the Indian government on YouTube. Reminder: Canadian PM Justin Trudeau accused India of orchestrating the extrajudicial killing of Nijjar in September 2023. So this is an especially touchy subject.
Point to note: Dias’ visa was extended by two months—after the Australian embassy intervened. An External Affairs ministry official says it was renewed on April 18—weeks before she left the country. A group of foreign correspondents, however, released an open letter, saying “though technically not expelling her, Indian authorities have effectively pushed out a foreign correspondent on the eve of an election”. NewsLaundry has lots more details.
Apple India stores are rockstars!
In just their first year of operations, the two flagship stores in Delhi and Mumbai have earned Rs 1.9 billion (Rs 190 crore) and Rs 2.1 billion (Rs 210 crore), respectively . What’s interesting: These stores don’t offer discounts typical of resellers. The emphasis is on customer experience—which Indians seem to value more than a good deal. Now, that’s shocking in itself:)
What’s next: Apple is planning to set up stores in Pune, Bangalore and Noida.
Why this matters: Apple sales in China have dropped almost 20% in the first quarter of this year. India has already become important to Apple as an alternative to China in manufacturing. It may emerge as the next big market, as well. (Economic Times)
Meanwhile, at Samsung: Users are complaining about a persistent, bright green line that appears across the screen. It is most likely linked to a security patch in their latest software update. The line doesn’t affect functionality—but is annoying to look at. To make nice, Samsung India is offering a free one-time screen replacement for select models of the Galaxy S20 series, Note 20 series, S21 series, and S22 Ultra smartphones—but only if they were bought in the past three years. Reminder: OnePlus had the same green line issue last month. You can see what it looks like below. (Indian Express)
Zomato's gonna cost ya!
Zomato has increased its platform fee by 25% to Rs 5. The flat charge per order will come into effect in the major cities: NCR, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Lucknow. The rate hike doesn’t seem like much—but it has jumped rapidly since August 2023—when it was introduced. First, it was Rs 2—then it jumped to Rs 3 in October. And then it ticked up to Rs 4—just in January. FYI: you pay a platform fee on top of the delivery fee.
To be fair, Swiggy already charges five bucks for the privilege. And a small platform fee has worked miracles on Zomato’s bottomline. The company has reported three consecutive quarters of profit ever since it introduced the platform fee. Think of it this way, Zomato services around 2.2 million orders each day. Just an increase of one rupee adds up to big fat earnings. (Economic Times)
The “disaster prone” continent of 2023
That honour belongs to Asia—according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization. The region experienced the most severe floods, storms, and heatwaves—which inflicted the greatest damage. Surface temperatures over Asia were a scorching 1.87°C higher than the average—and sea surface temperatures in the region warmed 3X times faster than the global average.
The news was especially bad for India:
It also showed that sea level rise in the Bay of Bengal off India’s eastern coast was the second-highest in the region last year, being nearly 30% above the global average. The rise of temperature in eastern and northern India had been highest in India, according to the document.
Down to Earth has lots more data from the report.
Say hello to “horizontally recycled” diapers
A Japanese company is now selling “horizontally recycled” diapers for both babies and adults. The term “horizontally recycled” means that a product has been recycled to make more of the same—like recycling paper to make more paper. So, these are made from, umm, used diapers. But worry not:
Unicharm said it has used sterilisation, bleaching, and deodorising technology involving ozone to ensure that the recycled nappies were free from unpleasant smells and bacteria.
Oddly enough, these are more expensive than the unrecycled variety. Why this is still good news: The single use diapers market—worth $71 billion a year—is among the largest contributors to landfill waste in the world. FYI: The Japanese market is heavily skewed towards adult diapers due to its rapidly ageing population—and plummeting birth rates. (The Guardian)
Speaking of recycling: According to a new UN report, global electronic waste has hit a new record high of 62 million metric tons in 2022. And we recycled only 22.3% of it—which is quite literally a waste. In 2022, electronic trash contained $92 billion worth of metals like copper, gold, and iron.
Point to note: Aluminium and copper are two of the most recyclable metals and yet only 60% is recycled from waste—even as demand for copper in the tech industry is at an all-time high. (Quartz)
Two things to see
One: Authorities in Nanjing proudly unveiled the design for a highly anticipated high-speed railway station. It was supposedly inspired by the Yangtze River—and Nanjing’s famous plum blossoms. Too bad most citizens saw a… sanitary pad. Cue jokes about the station “leaking” passengers—and protecting against the “heavy flow” of crowds. Haw. Well, at least it doesn’t resemble a tampon. (CNN)
Two: A newly discovered portrait by Gustav Klimt—best known for ‘The Kiss’—is up for sale for an estimated $32 million. Titled ‘Portrait of Fräulein Lieser’, it was painted in 1917—but disappeared from public view after a 1925 exhibition. But here’s the big mystery: No one knows who this Fräulein Lieser is.
The riddle reflects its troubled history—as art stolen from desperate Jewish families in Austria during the Holocaust. New York Times (paywall) and Observer have loads more on the questions surrounding the gorgeous painting—which you can see below:
If you suspect we shoved this item in just to include a pretty Klimt painting… you would be correct. So here’s another Klimt—this one titled ‘Lady With A Fan’—which fetched $104.3 million in auction last year. Sigh. So lovely.
