Dear Express Explained reader, The high-stakes, high-tension standoff in eastern Europe continues. At the heart of the crisis is a giant economic asset in which Russia and several northern European countries led by Germany are heavily invested - a 1,200-km, $11-billion, undersea gas pipeline called Nord Stream 2. The United States sees the pipeline, owned by the Russian state enterprise Gazprom, as dramatically increasing Moscow's leverage with Europe, which President Vladimir Putin would inevitably use as a strategic weapon. Nirupama Subramanian connected the dots of geopolitics to explain why Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz travelled to Russia and Ukraine this week, and why he feels it is "damned duty" to prevent war. As Uttarakhand prepared to vote in the Assembly election, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said that if the BJP is returned to power, the state would have its own uniform civil code. While this was to a large extent political signalling to the BJP's base on the eve of polling, we asked Prof Faizan Mustafa, who has written earlier on issues related to the uniform civil code, to revisit some of the questions around Dhami's promise, and to put the core debate in its legal and historical perspective. The autonomous body under the University Grants Commission that extends accreditation to institutions of higher education in India has relaxed its eligibility criteria for provisional listing. Sourav Roy Barman explained why accreditation matters, and why the rules have been changed. Finally, the death of Bappi Lahiri, the gamechanging Bollywood composer, has spotlighted the medical condition known as obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), in which a person suffers from a stop-start pattern of breathing while asleep. Anonna Dutt wrote about OSA, the widely prevalent but frequently undiagnosed disorder that can lead to a heart attack or stroke. concern. Stay safe and stay aware. Do subscribe to The Indian Express online for the best of our explainers. Sincerely, Monojit (monojit.majumdar@expressindia.com) If you received this newsletter as a forward, you can subscribe to it here | Do read our Explained articles here | 
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