No News For You!
On Wednesday, we featured the insanely gorgeous Florasis makeup products on of intriguing things. But while we were rooting about for information, we stumbled on this for the Chinese brand. The first-ever Sapphic commercial for a beauty line? We’re not sure but it’s still pretty awesome.
PERSEVERANCE HAS LANDED! NASA’s Mars rover landed in a deep crater near the planet's equator called Jezero—and will spend the next two years drilling into rocks, looking for evidence of past life (NASA’s interactive map of the location is ). This is the second US rover to land on the planet’s surface. And as we noted previously, Perseverance is carrying a drone called Ingenuity beneath its belly—and when it takes to the skies it will be the first powered flight in another world—marking a "Wright Brothers moment" for Mars. has more on the mission. profiles Swati Mohan, the woman who spearheaded the development of altitude control and the landing system for the rover. Below is the first look of Mars sent by the rover. Note the shadow of its arm in : UNNAO DEATHS SHROUDED IN MYSTERY Bodies of two Dalit girls, aged 13 and 16, were found in the family’s field in this Uttar Pradesh district on Wednesday evening—alongside a 17-year-old who is now in hospital in critical condition. Two of the teenagers were sisters, and the 13-year-old was their cousin. The circumstances of their deaths have become a subject of speculation, suspicion and dispute: * Some of the family members insist the girls were found with hands and/or feet bound: “The hands of the girls were tied to their neck with a chunni when I saw them.” * The police say that the post-mortem on the two girls did not show any injuries that would indicate they had been tied—and could not determine the exact cause of death. * Also this: “A pungent-smelling substance was found in the stomach of the two girls… Doctors suspect it could be a poisonous substance.” * As for the survivor, the local hospital’s Chief Medical Superintendent says: “Clinically, it appeared like a case of organo phosphorous poisoning. The chemical is used in insecticides. Froth was coming out of her mouth and she was gasping for breath. We have intubated her to take water out of lungs.” * The police insist there is no evidence of sexual assault—and they are looking at why the family did not call the cops when the girls were found. * and have the most details on these tragic deaths. OSAKA WALLOPS WILLIAMS IN OZ Naomi Osaka Serena Williams in straight sets (6-3, 6-4) to enter the final of the Australian Open. The match had one —when Osaka to her sister Mari on the camera after the win: The : when Serena Williams left the after-match press conference in tears: In other sports news: Chris Morris became the most expensive player in IPL history when Rajasthan Royals signed him for Rs 16.25 crore at yesterday’s auction. Morris was the happy beneficiary of a fierce bidding war—with Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mumbai Indians and Punjab Kings also vying for his talent. In related happy news: BCCI is confident that Vivo will be back as title sponsors—which is perhaps a better sign of peace on the border than any Army video. has details on Morris. profiles the other Shahrukh Khan who was the Kings’ prize catch. AIR POLLUTION KILLED THE MOST IN DELHI A new study looked at data from 28 cities and found that air pollution claimed 160,000 deaths and cost $85 billion in the five most populated cities: Delhi, Mexico City, Sao Paolo, Shanghai, and Tokyo. Delhi accounted for the most number of deaths (54,000), while Tokyo suffered the greatest financial losses ($43 billion). And this was despite the lockdowns in 2020. () THE GREAT PANDEMIC: A QUICK UPDATE * Move over variants, now we . US scientists may have discovered “a heavily mutated hybrid version of the virus”—formed by the combination of the genomes of the UK variant and one first discovered in California. If confirmed, it will be the first recombinant—and could lead to the emergence of new and even more dangerous variants. * Also: as the list of variants continues to grow, scientists haven’t yet come up with a naming system—and many are just their own nicknames, like Doug or even Pelican. All that creativity, however, may lead to chaos as we rapidly add new variants: “And if you’re gaining all these extra birds, you’re soon going to have a zoo! I mean, you’re not able to remember which one is ‘Kingfisher’ and which one is ‘Pigeon’.” * The UK will soon kick off controversial —where healthy young people are deliberately infected with the virus to test treatments and vaccines. * South Africa may be in trouble. First, it suspended the rollout of the Oxford vaccine because early data showed it offered “minimal protection” against the highly infectious variant spreading across the country. And there is some evidence that the variant reduces the efficacy of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, as well. Now shows that the Pfizer vaccine doesn’t work as well against it either. * Maharashtra 5,427 new cases—the highest daily jump in 75 days. And the government may impose a in at least three cities: Yavatmal, Amravati and Akola. SHUDDH DESI WHATSAPP IS COMING! The government is developing two atmanirbhar messaging apps called Sandes (message) and Samvad (conversation). Sandes is already in beta-testing, and is being used by government employees. According to IT Ministry officials, the biggest advantage of these apps: "we will never have to worry about data being stolen and used for commercial gains by big tech.” True, it will be piped directly to government servers instead. () SIX DESIS MAKE TIME’S LIST The magazine’s list of 100 emerging leaders who are shaping the future includes Bhim Army chief , Twitter’s top lawyer, UK’s Finance Minister , Instacart founder , Executive Director of nonprofit Get Us PPE and founder of nonprofit Upsolve, . You can view the entire list . In other good news: Thiruvananthapuram will host India’s first palm leaf manuscript museum—and include over 100 million artefacts, some of which are written in ancient alphabets such as Vattezhuttu and Malayanma. has more on this story. RIHANNA CREATES WAVES… AGAIN! This time around it isn’t a tweet but a pendant—a Ganesha pendant, to be precise. The problem: She wore it while posing topless (see below) on Insta. FYI: lead image for this story pointedly features Rihanna sporting multiple crosses with a plunging top. And she offended Muslims by including a verse from the Hadith in her fashion show. Rihanna: the equal opportunity offender. PS: VHP and BJP members have multiple police complaints against their favourite punching bags: Twitter and Facebook. Also offending everyone: 22-year-old Rashmi Samant, the first ever Indian woman to be elected president of Oxford Students' Union. She has been forced to resign over older social media posts that were widely criticised as racist, trans-phobic and anti-Semitic. () SUPPORT A SKINCLUSIVE WORLD! Over the last six months, 100 school kids in grades 4-7 worked very hard on a campaign to fight bias against skin colour in India. The result is Skinclude, a wonderful digital resource of picture books, educational videos and merchandise to help spread awareness. We highly recommend you check out and share —and follow them . Another way to support their campaign and bring it to more kids: buy one of the awesome tee-shirts, buttons and notebooks designed in collaboration with . We especially . Full collection . (h/t splainer subscriber Sanyukta Bafna who worked closely with the kids to make this happen)
Russian photographer Kristina Makeeva’s photo shoots are enchanting in the truest sense of the word. She weaves clothing, settings and photoshop to create images that—in her words—“carry the light of beauty into the world.” The lovely video captures some of the magic she creates. You must also browse through galleries of the final product—i.e. her photos— and .
SO YOU WANNA WATCH SOMETHING... : calls this series “Games of Thrones, but with Brexit.” Set in 2074, it paints a future Europe as a medieval dystopia—caused by “a mysterious collapse of technology known as ‘Black December’ that led to a new Middle Ages. Produced by the German team behind the Oscar-winning ‘The Lives of Others’, and Netflix’s first original German series, ‘Dark’, the sci-fi fantasy follows three siblings in possession of a mysterious cube. It drops on Netflix today. : This six part psycho-thriller is based on Sarah Pinborough’s of the same name. It centers around an age-old love triangle—but recast as a suspenseful horror. A divorced single mum has an affair with her married boss and then happens to become besties with his wife. calls it a “gripping thriller that you won't be able to stop watching until its sucker-punch ending hits you.” is upset with its terrible, horrible, no good, very bad ending.” But hey, if the ending is such a big deal to everyone then surely getting there must have been a compelling watch. This one is also available on Netflix. A LIST OF GOOD READS * Nitin Pai in offers an incisive take on the fragile border agreement brokered with China. * offers a thoughtful long read by Ian Leslie on how to have better arguments online. The bit about hostage negotiators is especially intriguing. * investigation into the Hindu hate factory run by Kapil Mishra is truly a revelation. * We greatly enjoyed reading Mrinal Pande’s piece in on Saraswati—the goddess who always has to have the last word:) * We learned a lot about the much-maligned maida (white flour) from of Krish Ashok’s ‘Masala Lab’. * An absolute must-read: This story on medical negligence in India. It is free but requires signing up. * Also highly recommended: This essay on all the women artists lost to history because they changed their surname after marriage.
“Molvi sahab mic on kr k so gaye.” When nature has blessed you with your very own pichkari... Yes, we love gross food clips. And this one is a real winner. Public service announcement: Pandas don’t play nice.
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