War on lung cancer: First filthy cigarettes, now filthy air

Written by: Aarthi Ramnath, Raghav Bikhchandani & Yash Budhwar

War on lung cancer: First filthy cigarettes, now filthy air

A Lancet study shows that a surge in lung cancer cases among non-smokers may be caused by air pollution. Polluted air is linked to a specific type of cancer called Adenocarcinoma—detected in 200,000 cases in 2022. It begins in mucus-producing cells—found in the lungs, bowel, pancreas, breast, and prostate. It now accounts for 70% of lung cancer cases among non-smokers.

Big data point to note: Adenocarcinoma is the most dominant of the four main subtypes of lung cancer in both men and women globally. Also this: lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer cases and deaths worldwide. In 2022, about 2.5 million people were diagnosed with the disease.

A clear link to pollution: Here’s what happens. Tiny PM2.5 pollutants—smaller than 5% of a human hair—trigger lung inflammation—and “wake up” dormant cancer-causing mutations. This is terrible news because “99% of the world’s population lives in areas which exceed annual WHO limits for PM2.5.” A study found that a miniscule increase in PM2.5 levels raises lung cancer mortality by 15% to 27%.

The India numbers: are grim. AIIMS “estimates that as many as 20 to 25% of lung cancer patients are non-smokers.” Recent studies show that air pollution resulted in 1.5 million additional deaths in India.

The takeaway? All that hard work cracking down on smoking—and eliminating second-hand smoke—may come to naught. Turns out there isn’t much point preventing humans from polluting their bodies—when they are busy polluting the entire planet. (The Guardian)

China strikes back… sorta

China retaliated against a raging Donald Trump with a series of modest duties on US goods—5% on coal and liquefied natural gas and 15% on agricultural machinery and specific kinds of large vehicles. In all, Beijing has smacked down on $20 billion worth of goods—just 12% of total US shipments to China. And none of these goods strike at the heart of the US economy… for now. Example: China accounts for only 10.9% of total US coal exports. These are highly targeted strikes:

“It’s aiming for finding measures that maximize the impact and also minimize the risk that the Chinese economy may face,” said [senior economist] Gary Ng... “At the same time ... China is trying to increase its bargaining chips.”

Bad news for Google: Unfortunately, some of those “bargaining chips” are US tech companies. Beijing also announced an anti-trust investigation into Google—accusing it of unspecified sins. But it has very limited operations in the country. The agency that made the announcement has also been looking into Nvidia since December. Also in the crosshairs: PVH Group, which owns Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, and the biotech company Illumina. New York Times has more details.

Point to note: While the measures don’t take effect until February 10—giving both sides time to negotiate—experts say the chances of a truce is slim: “The likelihood of [an] agreement to avoid tariffs appears limited. Paths to de-escalation remain narrow and would require significant compromises from both sides.” FYI: The Donald and Xi are expected to speak soon. (Financial Times, paywalled. Associated Press)

The big picture: Trump is relying on a single fact in this war—the US is far less reliant on trade than other Western nations—as you can see below: “Imports and exports make up just a quarter of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), and the United States sources what it does import from a fairly broad set of nations.” The Council of Foreign Relations has a useful set of nine charts that measure the fallout of a trade war.

The battle over leaked audio tapes in Manipur

The key context: The bloody violence in Manipur is the result of a long-standing ethnic conflict between two communities: The dominant Meiteis and the tribal minority Kukis. The latest round of battles was sparked in November—by Meitei attacks on Kuki residents—who accuse BJP CM Biren Singh (who is Meitei) of inciting them. Our previous Big Story has both the history of this conflict—and the reason why it has flared again.

About these tapes: In August 2024, leaked audio tapes appeared to offer damning evidence of Singh’s involvement. For instance: in one clip, the purported Manipur CM recalls a conversation he had with Home Minister Amit Shah: “After [Shah] left, I told [the fighters]; Hoi! Chupke se karna hai, open nahi karna hai” (It should be used covertly, not openly). He is also heard offering protection to those who “snatched” thousands of arms from the state police armoury from arrest. As you can hear below, the recorded conversations are in a mix of Meiteilon and Hindi:

The legal battle: Since the release of the tapes, Kuki organisations have been demanding an official probe into Singh’s role. The appeal is now in front of the Supreme Court.

The verification: The lawyers representing the Kukis commissioned a forensic analysis of the tapes—to verify Singh’s voice as the BJP claims the tape is ‘doctored’. In February, Truth Labs confirmed there is a 93% probability that the voice heard on the tapes is that of Singh. FYI: this is an NGO set up in 2007 by a group of retired Directors of Central and State Forensic Science Laboratories.

What’s next: The Supreme Court, however, now wants confirmation from the sarkaari Central Forensics Laboratory. The bench also directed solicitor-general Tushar Mehta to submit the report in a “sealed cover.” (Any talk of ‘sealed covers’ is not a good sign—since the report is rarely made public).

Reading list: The Wire has the most detailed coverage of the saga—from the initial audio leak to the latest court update. For more on Truth Labs and its findings, check out The Hindu and The Telegraph.

Napalm girl photo: A war over credit

The context: ‘The Terror of War’—also known as ‘Napalm Girl’—is one of the most iconic photos of the Vietnam war. It shows a naked nine-year-old girl named Phan Thi Kim Phuc and four other kids crying and fleeing a napalm attack in South Vietnam. The image was credited to a Vietnamese photographer Nick Ut with Associated Press—on June 8, 1972—and earned him a Pulitzer Prize. See the photograph below:

What happened now: A documentary titled ‘The Stringer’—which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last week—claims that Ut stole the credit from an amateur freelancer—specifically, a Vietnamese driver for NBC named Nguyen Thanh Nghe. He claims to have taken the photo and sold it to Associated Press for $20. The corroborating source: Carl Robinson, a former AP photo editor in Saigon, who says he was forced to change the credits by his then boss Horst Faas (now deceased).

Point to note: Six months before the release of the documentary, Associated Press conducted its own investigation—and concluded that there was “no reason to believe anyone other than Ut took the photo.” The woman in the original photo also says: “I have no doubt that Nick Ut is the person who saved my life.” FYI: Nick Ut plans to sue the filmmakers. Variety has the long story while The Guardian has a summed up version.

AI makes Doomsday Clock tick louder

The Doomsday Clock is a symbolic representation of how close humanity is to being wiped out—symbolised by 12 am. Thanks to climate change and nuclear war, it has long been close to midnight. The Ukraine invasion moved it up by a second. Now, it’s moved another second thanks to AI—from 11:58:30 to 11:58:31—as you can see below:

The reason: AI adds to an already "deadly cocktail" of threats—like we weren’t effed already:

The integration of AI into military operations has emerged as a particular concern. Das warns about AI's potential to disrupt nuclear command and control systems, drawing parallels to historical scenarios like the Cold War-era Soviet "Dead Hand" system of automated response that could launch retaliatory nuclear strikes without human intervention. "Imagine if AI is in charge of this kind of system. It's very much a Dr Strangelove and the Doomsday Machine type of scenario," Das said.

Of course, a machine in charge of nuclear weapons may be a safer option to Trump—whose potential to unleash global apocalypse has oddly been ignored. FYI: The Doomsday Clock began ticking in 1947—at seven minutes to midnight. We’ve come a long way, baby! (The Telegraph)

what caught our eye

business & tech

Trump just signed an executive order to launch a US sovereign wealth fund—one he says could help buy TikTok.
Target is being sued by shareholders for its diversity initiatives—which allegedly led its stock to crash last year. Get ready for a new kind of activist Investor.
Alphabet stock tanked over 7% after Q4 revenue came in at $96.5 billion—a 12% increase year-on-year but not enough to meet Wall Street’s expectations.
Priyanka Gill—best known as cofounder of the flailing Good Glamm Group—is out of Kalaari Capital in just a year. She’s now diving into the lab-grown diamond game.
India plans to roll out its own AI foundational model in 10 months and a homegrown GPU within four years—or so unnamed government sources claim.
Anthropic, the maker of AI assistant Claude, wants job applicants to go fully human—no AI help allowed in applications. Ah, the irony!

sports & entertainment

French filmmaker Christophe Ruggia has been shockingly sentenced to only four years—two under house arrest, two suspended—after a Paris court found him guilty of sexually assaulting actor Adèle Haenel when she was between 12 and 15 years old.
Saif Ali Khan made a smiling return to the spotlight at a Netflix event in Mumbai.
NDTV has a good read on India’s U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup triumph, showcasing the star players who led the team to an unbeaten victory and a second consecutive title.
Manipur is hoping its second Eikhoigi Imphal International Film Festival, set for February 6-9, will offer relief after more than a year of ethnic conflict.
Himanshu Sangwan revealed how he dismissed Virat Kohli during the recent Ranji Trophy match. He took the advice of his team bus driver: “you need to bowl at the fourth-fifth stump line to Virat Kohli, and then he will get out.”

health & environment

MP CM Mohan Yadav is set to release five cheetahs into the wild at Kuno—just as the park welcomes two new cubs.
Mongabay analyses whether the craze over Moo Deng has helped the conservation of wild pygmy hippos around the world.

as for the rest

Over 1.56 crore electors will vote in 70 Delhi Assembly seats today.
205 Indian undocumented migrants were sent back on US military planes.
Greenland just banned foreign political funding—an election-year move to block any Trump-fueled takeover dreams.
In an unprecedented and controversial new deal, El Salvador has agreed to jail violent American convicts and receive deportees of any nationality.
Rajasthan is tabling a new anti-conversion law, in which all offences will be non-bailable and carry a maximum sentence of ten years.
Between 23% to 38% of faculty posts in seven “fully operational” AIIMS are lying vacant—part of a broader crisis in medical education.
Cybercrime in India has shot up by 900% in the last four years—victims were scammed to the tune of Rs 33,165 crore (Rs 331.65 billion) during this time.
Fighting between rebel groups and the military in DR Congo is over for now—rebel group M23 has unilaterally declared a ceasefire.
Bhopal is following in the footsteps of Indore by issuing a ban on begging and giving alms.
Mumbai is planning to build its own version of the London Eye—a giant Ferris wheel offering a bird’s eye view of the city. Because that’s exactly what Mumbaikars need.
Al Jazeera has a must-read primer on the US’ long history of tariff wars with Canada and the rest of the world.

Three things to see

One: The Donald’s eldest failson—Donald Trump Jr—has been accused of illegally killing a ‘protected’ bird—a rare ruddy shelduck—during a hunting trip at a lagoon near Venice. A local councillor released a damning video—shot for a lifestyle magazine and filmed in a special conservation area. Full Salman Khan vibes. You can see the vid below. (The Guardian)

Two: Aam Aadmi Party continued its colourful attempts to woo Delhi voters—this time with a Harry Potter-themed AI video starring Arvind Kejriwal as Harry Potter and Amit Shah as Voldemort. We have no words. (Indian Express)

Three: Netflix India has announced its slate for 2025—and we are excited! The highlights include ‘Delhi Crime Season 3’, a quirky Rajkummar Rao comedy titled ‘Toaster’, and ‘Jewel Thief’—a heist movie starring Saif Ali Khan and Jaideep Ahlawat. See the entire lineup in the teaser below.

A special shoutout: to series titled ‘The Bad***s of Bollywood’—which marks the directorial debut of SRK’s son Aryan Khan. The trailer is promising: