A lawsuit that could bankrupt Greenpeace

Written by: Aarthi Ramnath, Raghav Bikhchandani & Yash Budhwar

A lawsuit that could bankrupt Greenpeace

The context: Greenpeace has been at loggerheads with oil and natural gas firm Energy Transfer for nearly a decade—over its Dakota Access Pipeline. The planned $3.7 billion will be 1,900km long and transport some 470,000 barrels of crude oil a day across four states. The problem: It passes near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in South Dakota and North Dakota border—where tribal leaders claim it will contaminate drinking water and damage sacred burial sites. The location has been a protest site—bringing together thousands of tribal and green activists—ever since the project was approved in 2016. See the planned route below:

What happened now: Energy Transfer has sued Greenpeace for $300 million in damages. The NGO is accused of concocting an “unlawful and violent scheme to cause financial harm to Energy Transfer, physical harm to its employees and infrastructure, and to disrupt and prevent Energy Transfer's construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline”.

Why this is a big deal: Energy Transfer’s previous lawsuit was thrown out—but this one is going to trial… a jury trial in the blood-red state of North Dakota. Greenpeace has warned that it will be forced to declare bankruptcy if it is directed to pay $300 million—a figure that exceeds the organisation’s annual budget by 10X. While Greenpeace has counter-sued the company in Amsterdam—to recover “all damages and costs it has suffered as a result of ET's back-to-back, meritless lawsuits”—any ruling could come too late. (New York Times, login required, BBC News)

French firm charges Mumbai metro of corruption

The context: Back in 2020, MMRDA put out a call for a general consultant for several metro lines. The French engineering firm Systra won the Rs 90.76 crore (Rs 907.6 million) contract in 2021. Everything ran smoothly—until the MMRDA leadership changed in August 2023.

What happened now: Systra has charged Mumbai’s metro authority— MMRDA— with corruption. It claims officials have been trying to shake it down: “Officials began soliciting financial favors, subtly framed as directives from superiors, including the metropolitan commissioner.” Authorities then delayed payments—to the tune of Rs 30 crore (Rs 300 million)—when these “undue favours” were not granted.

Seeking foreign intervention: Systra sought help from the French embassy—which has written to the resident commissioner of Maharashtra—who represents the state in Delhi. CM Devendra Fadnavis says no one has complained to him yet. For its part, MMRDA has denied all allegations—and axed Systra’s contract:

The agency has issued a termination notice to Systra, citing security and operational shortcomings, and described the situation as a commercial disagreement that Systra is improperly escalating into a diplomatic issue.

Systra has taken the fight to the Bombay High Court—which ruled in its favor, calling the cancellation “arbitrary, unfair, and unreasonable.” It is now looking at claims of corruption. (Business Standard)

Physicists question Microsoft’s quantum dhamaka

The context: Last week, Microsoft unveiled Majorana 1—the latest salvo in quantum chips, hot on the heels of IBM and Google. The company claimed to have created a new technique that allows Microsoft to pack in eight “topological qubits” on a single chip using something called a Majorana particle—a feat never been done before. If true, it would mean an astonishing breakthrough in the field.

What happened now: Alongside the big announcement, the company published its research in Nature—which has now come under scrutiny of fellow scientists. For starters, the paper’s claims are far more modest than the Microsoft press release. The authors do not claim to have successfully created the elusive Majorana particle—the building block of its novel architecture:

In the scientific paper, Microsoft researchers described conducting an experiment which showed signs of the existence of particles called Majoranas on a superconducting ‘nanowire’ device made of indium arsenide. However, the paper also reportedly states that the experiments “do not, by themselves” guarantee that the nanowire hosts Majorana particles.

More tellingly this: “In addition, the data Microsoft presented to a meeting of scientists this week in support of the research was preliminary and not conclusive evidence that this advance has been achieved.”

What Microsoft says: Co-author Chetan Nayak said that the Nature paper “wasn’t intended to show proof of the particles”—but indicated they were “95% likely.” All of which is a bit wishy-washy.

Point to note: Microsoft isn’t the first company to claim the feat. Two Nature papers on the proof of topological qubits—published in 2017 and 2018—were later retracted. And a 2020 paper—involving Microsoft researchers—is still under review. (Wall Street Journal, paywalled, Indian Express)

Once upon a time in Mars… "vacation-style" beaches!

According to a newly published study by Chinese scientists, Mars had a massive ocean—and gorgeous beaches—more than 4 billion years ago. This hypothetical ocean has been dubbed Deuteronilus. The planet then looked something like this:

The evidence was collected by China’s Zhurong rover—which found proof of “coastal sedimentary deposits formed by ancient ocean waves and possibly composed of sand and pebble gravels transported by tidal currents.” Well, looks like Elon Musk does indeed have the right idea… except a few billion years too late. (Axios)

Sticking with space: NASA has unveiled a new small but powerful telescope called SPHEREx. The goal of its two-year mission: to create the most colourful map of the cosmos ever. Here’s how it’s supposed to work:

It is an infrared telescope designed to take spectroscopic images – ones that measure individual wavelengths of light from a source. By doing this it will be able to tell us about the formation of the universe, the growth of all galaxies across cosmic history, and the location of water and life-forming molecules in our own galaxy.

And the map will 100% look gorgeous—which is the main reason we look at space images lol! The Conversation has lots more.

what caught our eye

business & tech

Reuters has a good read on how young Indians in smaller cities are diving into crypto trading to boost their income, as jobs and pay hikes fail to keep up with the country’s booming economy.
Double-engine sarkar indeed: Ambani & Adani will both pump Rs 50,000 crore (Rs 500 billion) into Assam, betting big on energy, AI, and infrastructure.
Microsoft quietly cancelled data center leases after pledging $80 billion for AI, with analysts flagging an "oversupply" problem—another sign of Big Tech getting jittery about its AI gamble.
Apple shareholders shut down a proposal to scrap DEI efforts, backing the company’s stance that diversity is “critical” to its success.
Business Insider has a good take on how AI is shaking up coding—entry-level engineers are getting squeezed as AI writes more code, but experienced devs who can think creatively are more valuable than ever.
In an exclusive, Reuters has the deets on Chinese tech giants Tencent, Alibaba, and ByteDance snapping up Nvidia’s H20 chips as demand for DeepSeek’s AI models skyrockets.
Continuing AI-related updates, Anthropic drops Claude 3.7 Sonnet, the first “hybrid reasoning” AI with “extended thinking” for step-by-step problem-solving—plus a new coding agent for devs.

sports & entertainment

Indian Express has the take on how India’s "neutral venue" in Dubai feels anything but, with pitches tailor-made for their game.
Zara has shut down its iconic Flora Fountain store in Mumbai after eight years, despite spending Rs 35 crore (Rs 350 million) on renovations, citing economic unfeasibility.
Drake and PartyNextDoor dethrone Kendrick Lamar as ‘Some Sexy Songs 4 U’ debuts at #1 on the Billboard 200.
Karla Sofia Gascon is heading to the Oscars despite backlash over old racist and Islamophobic tweets—no word on whether she’ll walk the red carpet though.
More than 1,000 artists dropped a silent album protesting UK plans to let AI train on their work without permission—because if musicians get nothing, why should AI?

health & environment

Breast cancer cases in India could nearly triple by 2050, with deaths rising 200%—a stark warning for urgent early screening and diagnosis.
No choreography, no training—just dancing however you want can be as good for your health as conventional exercise, a new study finds.
Your morning cup of tea isn’t just a caffeine fix—it might also be filtering out toxic contaminants like lead from your water.
Stanford researchers have found a low-cost way to make ordinary rocks absorb CO2 faster.

as for the rest

Israel and the US are pushing Hamas to extend the cease-fire, delaying talks on ending the war as the US’ middle-east envoy heads to the region for negotiations.
Trump scrapped Biden’s rule tying US arms sales to human rights, reversing a policy aimed at curbing civilian casualties in Gaza.
Also in tune with the Donald, he plans to replace investor visas with a $5 million "Trump Gold Card," offering a fast track to US citizenship for the ultra-wealthy. Of course!
Up next on his auction block: Taiwan. New York Times reports on rising fears in Taipei.
Sticking with Taiwan, the island nation has detained a Chinese-crewed cargo ship after an undersea cable in the Taiwan Strait was damaged—authorities aren't ruling out an "intentional sabotage" move by Beijing.
Starmer is slashing the UK's aid budget to fast-track a military spending boost, raising defence to 2.5% of GDP by 2027—three years ahead of schedule—amid concerns over Trump’s stance on European security.
More proof that Modi-ji is a global trendsetter! Trump White House will only speak to reporters it likes.
One of which will definitely not be Associated Press after a judge upheld the White House’s ban on it from the press pool after the outlet refused to call the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.”
It is finally ending! Millions have already gathered at Triveni Sangam for the final holy dip of Maha Kumbh on Mahashivratri, marking the end of the 45-day spectacle that apparently drew over 64 crore pilgrims.
More women are shifting from unpaid domestic work to paid jobs in India, with female workforce participation rising to 25% in 2024 from 21.8% in 2019, according to a government survey.
CBSE plans to hold Class X board exams twice a year from 2026, giving students a second shot at improving their scores.
The US has sanctioned four Indian companies for allegedly helping Iran move oil via a shadow fleet, part of Trump’s crackdown on Tehran’s energy trade.
Wired has a fascinating, in-depth look into the Zizians—brilliant young tech minds who set out to change the world but spiraled into chaos, crime, and death.
Al Jazeera has an in-depth look at Pakistan’s new anti-extremism policy—bold on paper, but experts say it’s just old wine in a new bottle, unlikely to curb rising armed attacks.
North Koreans have reportedly endured up to a decade of forced labour on Chinese fishing vessels, facing abuse and brutal conditions—despite UN sanctions meant to stop Pyongyang’s overseas workforce.
Asteroid 2024 YR4 is giving Earth a pass—NASA now pegs the impact odds at 1 in 26,000, so we can all go back to worrying about problems closer to home.

Two things to see

One: On Monday, following Donald Trump’s directive to federal workers, employees of the Department of Housing and Urban Development returned to office—and to this fabulous AI-generated video displayed on internal television monitors. The hacked display of Trump kissing Elon Musk’s feet ran for a full five minutes—scorching that image into the brains of HUD workers forever. Fair warning: We think they ought to sue HUD for unsafe working conditions. (NBC News)

Two: Say hello to the World Nature Photography Awards 2025 winners! The top honour went to Slovenian photographer Maruša Puhek—for this incredible shot of deer prancing through a vineyard:

We are also in love with these stunning lanternflies—photographed by Khaichuin Sim—which fetched the first prize in the Animal Portraits category.