And the Grammy goes to…

Written by: Aarthi Ramnath, Raghav Bikhchandani & Yash Budhwar

The revised Gaza death count: Grimmer than ever

Now that the rubble in the war-ravaged city has settled, we have a more accurate estimate of how many residents were killed by the Israeli invasion. The new count: 61,709—killed over 15 months. These include 17,881 children—of which 214 were newborn infants. Also killed: 1,155 medical personnel, 205 journalists and 194 civil defence workers. Plus this:

“More than 2 million people have been forcibly displaced, some more than 25 times, under dire conditions lacking basic services,” the official added, noting that 111,588 people have also been injured.

Al Jazeera has more details on the terrible math.

Next target, Tehran: The ceasefire talks are still fragile—with the Israeli rightwing pushing PM Netanyahu to continue fighting (killing?). But Bibi seems to have moved on to Iran. The US now claims to have evidence that Tehran is scrambling to manufacture a crude nuclear bomb—just in time for his trip to Washington. Netanyahu said he and Donald Trump would discuss “victory over Hamas, achieving the release of all our hostages and dealing with the Iranian terror axis” in the Middle East. Do we smell a 'wag the dog' plan to bomb Iran brewing?

A related good read: New York Times via The Telegraph looked at four “emerging governance models” for post-war Gaza. One involves the Israelis taking more territory; the second has Arabs plus foreign contractors running the show; the third hands everything over to the Palestinian Authority—the last involves accepting the current ground reality: The return of Hamas.

Meanwhile in Washington: The White House has undone the little good that Washington does in the world—through USAID. This one line says it all: “Elon Musk, the world’s richest man charged with overhauling the federal government, said President Donald Trump had signed off on shutting the agency down.” CNN has that story.

And the Grammy goes to…

Kendrick, Kendrick, Kendrick: It was the Kendrick Lamar show at the Grammys in Los Angeles on Sunday. The local boy picked up five awards, including Record of the Year and Song of the Year for ‘Not Like Us’—his diss track against rival Drake (ouch!). See him flaunt his five Grammys below (it's also our lead image):

A missed historic moment: Beyonce became the first Black artist to win best country album for ‘Cowboy Carter’. But sadly, the talk was all about Taylor presenting her the award (why is it always about Taylor):

Our fave stage moment: Charli XCX, who scored three Grammys—and celebrated with this on-stage party:

Wildfire tributes: Since this was LA, there was plenty of talk about the wildfires—including an on-stage cameo by the County Fire Department. Among the live performances paying tribute, were Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga nailing ‘California Dreamin’:

Also a cool tribute: Cynthia Erivo and Herbie Hancock soared in their rendition of ‘Fly Me to the Moon’ in memory of legendary record producer Quincy Jones.

Other good/bad moments include: Lady Gaga’s impassioned speech for trans-rights:

This red carpet interviewer from Associated Press dissing producer BabyFace to squawk at Chappell Roan:

Taylor Swift and her dance partner—an excellent bottle of wine:

Kanye West and his perpetually naked partner Bianca Censori:

Hmm, what exactly was Jaden Smith thinking here?

OTOH, we loved Alicia Keys’ over-the-top bling:

BBC News and New York Times have more highlights and lowlights from the awards. The Guardian has the full list of winners. Vogue India has all the red carpet looks you need.

Indian satellite is stuck in space

Our newly launched NVS-02 satellite is stuck in “an unplanned elliptical orbit.” It was launched on January 29 but has been unable to fire its thrusters—to get itself into the correct position. NVS-02 is a new generation of satellites designed to provide navigation data to users in India: “Its launch was also celebrated as the space-faring nation’s first launch of 2025 and its 100th launch overall, but the party didn’t last long.” The Indian space agency is now doing its best jugaad to salvage the situation: “Alternate mission strategies for utilising the satellite for navigation in an elliptical orbit is being worked out.” (Gizmodo)

The great abandonment of sailors

The context: India is the #3 source of sailors on commercial ships—behind the Philippines and China—supplying 12% of the workforce. The number of Indian sailors has jumped by 270% over the past decade. Most of them work in conditions that the UN has called ‘modern day slavery’. They are also simply abandoned when their employers run out of money—leaving them without money, food or support.

What happened now: In 2024, the number of ships abandoned doubled to 230 in a single year. This number broke the record set in 2023. Most cases have been reported from the UAE, Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

FYI, this is what abandonment looks like:

“They’re essentially imprisoned on these vessels,” Helen Meldrum said. “It goes way beyond exploitation.” Abdul Razzaq Abdul Khaliq, a Syrian sailor on board the Sister 12, wrote to AP over WhatsApp that the ship was full of insects and the crew had to use seawater for bathing. Photos and videos he shared show the faucets spewing cloudy brown water, rust blanketing the deck and only a few rotting pieces of produce in the pantry. “(T)here is no food on the ship, there is no water, there is no life,” he wrote.

Among the worst offenders is Friends Shipping—based out of Turkey and Dubai. Nineteen out of Friends’ 22 listed ships have been listed as abandoned. Associated Press has more. Do also check our Big Story on the cruel and unusual abandonment of sailors.

Salty advice: Goodbye sodium, hello potassium!

New WHO guidelines recommend switching to potassium-enriched salt—instead of the usual sodium kind. It greatly reduces the risk of heart disease, stroke and premature death—and (most importantly) tastes just as good: “It looks the same, works for seasoning and in recipes, and most people don’t notice any important difference in taste.” This also means that you are much more likely to continue using it.

Why this matters: People are consuming over over 4.3 grams of sodium a day—above the recommended 2 grams. In fact, the average Indian guzzles down more than 9.8 grams. This is, ofc, disastrous since too much sodium results in high blood pressure, heart disease, and strokes—accounting for 1.9 million deaths each year. (The Conversation)

The great doggy obsession with yellow

An amusing new study of streeties in Calcutta has revealed a bizarre love for the colour yellow. When presented with grey bowls with food and yellow bowls with absolutely nada…. 47 out of 61 doofus dogs ditched the chicken for the empty katoris! One possible reason: these good boys and girls might have developed a soft spot for yellow because of turmeric in Indian food scraps—or so say the experts: “They could smell the chicken and they could see the chicken, but they picked empty yellow bowls. In this situation, they trusted their eyes more than their noses.” FWIW, other animals also have strong colour preferences—such as zebrafish that avoid blue or chimpanzees and gorillas that prefer blue and green. (The Telegraph)

what caught our eye

business & tech

The rupee has slid past 87 against the dollar, raising fears of rising import costs and inflation just days before the RBI’s policy review.
A US Senator raised national security concerns after Elon Musk's representatives were given "full access" to a key Treasury payments system handling trillions of dollars.
Another day, another case of tech bromance—SoftBank and OpenAI have teamed up to launch SB OpenAI Japan, a new joint venture to drive AI services forward.
ChatGPT’s new deep research tool lets Pro users watch the AI work its magic– pulling data step-by-step to answer your questions—complete with citations and a process summary. Call it the DeepSeek effect.
Back with a bang—Shein is back in India, teaming up with Reliance Retail to launch a new fast-fashion app, nearly five years after its ban, just ahead of its upcoming public listing.

as for the rest

WhatsApp has disrupted the Israeli spyware Paragon targeting nearly 100 journalists and civil society members. You can read more on the spyware here.
Trump agreed to delay slapping big fat tariffs on Canada and Mexico until March—until a new deal can be struck. Meanwhile, both countries have promised to beef up border security to stop the flow of drugs, specifically fentanyl. Ofc, none of this has to do with drugs but 🤷‍♀️
Related good read: On the real damage all of this is doing on the US' future as a reliable trade partner—and a member of the global economy.
PM Modi will visit Washington on February 13 to meet President Trump for talks on trade, defense, and more.
The UK will become the first country to criminalize the creation, possession, or distribution of AI tools to generate child abuse content, with penalties of up to five years in prison.
The Telegraph has a good read on Delhi’s upcoming elections, where voters credit AAP for improving services but demand more focus on pollution control, infrastructure, and healing divisions from the 2020 riots.
The Supreme Court called the Maha Kumbh stampede "unfortunate" but rejected a plea for an inquiry, advising the petitioner to approach the Allahabad High Court instead.
Indian Express explains why the announcement for a Makhana Board for Bihar ahead of the state’s assembly elections later this year is a political message.
Gizmodo has all that you need to know about the asteroid that has 1 in 63 shot of hitting Earth in 2032.
The Guardian has a good read on Apollo Tyres Foundation recruiting transgender sex workers to teach truck drivers how to avoid sexually transmitted diseases and HIV.

Four things to see

One: Sixty-nine-year-old Udit Narayan has a kissing problem. He is being slammed for kissing a female fan at a recent live concert. She leaned in to kiss his cheek—and he deliberately turned his head at the exact right moment to catch her lips. More infuriatingly, he later blamed besotted women for the incident: “Fans itne deewane hote hain na. Hum log aise nahi hain, hum decent log hain” (Fans are so crazy, aren’t they? We are not like that; we are decent people). Always those sanskaari uncle-jis! (The Hindu)

Two: Get ready for ‘M3GAN 2.0’. The murderous AI robot is back—and she’s 100% creepier. We don’t know the plot details yet but you can see the AI doll dancing to Chappell Roan‘s ‘Femininomenon’ in the short trailer below. The horror flick hits the theatres on June 27. (Variety)

Three: Here’s a delicious treat for all the Indian Metalheads. Bloodywood dropped this banger of a track called ‘Tadka’—“a metal tribute to Indian food.” The song will be part of their new album titled ‘Nu Delhi’—set to release on March 21. (Consequence)

Four: Another year, another win at Sundance for Indian cinema! Last year, Shuchi Talati’s ‘Girls Will Be Girls’ turned heads by winning the World Cinema Audience award. This time, Marathi filmmaker Rohan Kanawade’s feature debut ‘Sabar Bonda’, has gone one better—winning the World Cinema Grand Jury prize! It’s among the most prestigious honours at the film festival. The film is about a man named Anand who relocates from the city to his rural hometown and rekindles a romantic relationship with his childhood friend Balya. We don’t have a trailer yet but here is Kanawade introducing his film. (The Hindu)