Hafta 96: #NabhaJailbreak, Congress’s Twitter handle hacked and Fidel Castro

The year is winding down, but the pace of news isn’t slowing down any. Join Abhinandan Sekhri, Madu Trehan, Anand Ranganathan, Manisha Pande and Deepanjana Pal as they discuss this week’s headline makers. Six prisoners broke out of Nabha Central Jail, a maximum security facility that magnanimously allows its prisoners to update their Facebook status (it’s hard out there for convicts). While the runaways managed to pull off a plot that belongs in Bollywood movie, there was a tragedy when a young woman was killed accidentally. What’s going on with Punjab Police? Despite Abhinandan insisting that this Hafta, the panel wouldn’t discuss demonetisation, we can’t help but wind back to the topic that’s been making headlines for 24 days (and counting). How is the government going to tell which is inherited gold and what has been stashed away to turn black money, white (or golden)? There’s black comedy with Congress’s social media accounts being hacked and everyone has a lot to say about Mukesh Ambani taking over the news channels to announce Jio’s success. What does this say about the state of Indian media? Also, find out the act of rebellion that Abhinandan and Anand have planned now that the Supreme Court has ordered that all cinemas in the country must play the national anthem before screening a film. Finally, Abhinandan and Anand go head to head as they discuss the legacy of Fidel Castro.

This week, instead of a song, we’ve got some poetry for you. Don’t forget to send us your comments and ideas for #Hafta100 at contact@newslaundry.com.
For reference:

1. A Review of #NLHafta from Aditya Baliga and Ankur Poddar
2. Become a Newslaundry social media ambassador with Newzsocial
3. Buy Newslaundry merchandise here
4. Radiolab‘s podcast: Los Frikis
5. Literary Hub: Who Is The Genius Behind Merriam-Webster’s Social Media?
6. Newlaundry: Dear SC, Thanks For Turning The National Anthem Into A Chore
7. The New Yorker: Ivanka Trump’s Terrible Book Helps Explain The Trump-Family Ethos
8. Newslaundry: #NabhaJailbreak: The One Who Died
9. The Guardian: Fidel Castro funeral presents dilemma for world leaders
10. The Indian Express: Telescope: Where the gods dazzle
11. The Black Book of Communism by  Stéphane Courtois Nicolas Werth Jean-Louis Panné Andrzej Paczkowski Karel Bartošek Jean-Louis Margolin
12. Newslaundry: Castro Is Dead: Viva La Hypocrisy
13. Nature Genetics: Human host range of Mycobacterium tuberculosis
14. Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life by Jon Lee Anderson
15. Time: Huge Numbers Demand the Ouster of South Korea’s President in a Fifth Week of Protests
16. Brain Pickings: Leonard Cohen on Creativity, Hard Work, and Why You Should Never Quit Before You Know What It Is You’re Quitting
17. NDTV: Reliance Jio Speed Plummets After SIM Cards Become Available to Everyone
18. Poems by Pablo Neruda
19. Roberto Bolano’s response to VS Naipaul’s analysis of Argentinian men

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