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Mumbai Indians win… again!

Anyone looking for a break from the usual suspects was disappointed. Delhi Capitals failed to follow through on their debut outing in the IPL finals. OTOH, MI clinched their fifth victory—with Rohit Sharma becoming the first captain to do so. Sharma was also in full form with 68 off 51 balls—so we’re guessing that his hamstring injury has magically resolved itself, long before the Aussie series. The winning score: 157 for 5 (in 18.4 overs).  

EU sues Amazon

First, Google was slapped with an antitrust lawsuit in the United States (explained here). Now, it’s Amazon’s turn. The core allegation:

“...Amazon had abused its dual role as both a store used by scores of vendors and a merchant that sells its own competing goods on the platform. The authorities accused Amazon of harvesting nonpublic data from sellers who use its marketplace to spot popular products, then copy and sell them, often at a lower price.”

Basically, Amazon as a competing seller is screwing over the others who sell on Amazon the platform. (New York Times)

Closer to home…: The company was forced to pull underwear, doormats etc with Hindu symbols such as ‘Om’ or Lord Ganesha from its international sites—due to backlash in India. (Reuters)

The US election: A quick update

• Donald Trump has put the country in a bizarre situation. His officials are acting as though he won the election—but his campaign is not taking any legal action to challenge its results. 
• For example: Defense Secretary Mike Pompeo assured reporters that “there will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration."
• Key agency chiefs are threatening staff, telling them to "play until the whistle blows" and firing anyone who refuses.
• And while the Trump campaign isn’t suing anyone, the US Attorney General has asked prosecutors to look into “voter irregularities.” See how this works?
• When Biden won, Boris Johnson tweeted out a simple congratulatory message on a white-on-black Twitter card. His lazy staff had just altered the exact same message first prepared for Trump. Now, they have been caught.

An unhappy Armenia inks a peace deal

For six weeks, Armenia and Azerbaijan have been in a war over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. The region is internationally recognised as belonging to Azerbaijan but has been controlled by ethnic Armenians since 1994. Russia has stepped in and now forced a three-party peace deal—which essentially hands victory to Azerbaijan—allowing it to hold on to areas seized during the war. BBC News has more.

The great pandemic: A quick update

• The news of a potentially successful Pfizer vaccine (explained here) sparked absurdly heavy trading in the global stock markets. A jaw-dropping $2 trillion exchanged hands in trades around the world. The number for the US: $500 billion. Over in Europe: $120 billion.
• Meanwhile in India, a Pune company, Gennova Biopharmaceuticals, is working on a similar mRNA vaccine, and is still waiting on approval for human trials.
• There’s also good news in the area of Covid treatment. US regulators have approved the emergency use of a drug cocktail developed by Eli Lilly—which if administered to newly infected patients prevents them from developing serious symptoms. What’s amusing everyone: its name, bamlanivimab.
• Not good news: A new study that reveals one in five patients are diagnosed with some form of psychiatric disorder within 90 days of recovering from the illness. Another key finding: people with a pre-existing mental illness were 65% more likely to be diagnosed with Covid. Reuters has more.
• Human trials of the Chinese vaccine Sinovac in Brazil have been suspended after a “severe adverse incident”—i.e. one of the participants died, though it isn’t yet clear if the vaccine is to blame. As BBC News explains, much of this may also have to do with a political tug-of-war in Brazil.

In pandemic-related news: An exclusive Guardian analysis shows that many countries desperate to revive post-pandemic economies are throwing climate change concerns to the side. The worst of the lot: China. Only 0.3% of its recovery package—about $1.4 billion—is slated for green projects. India’s planned spend on sustainable development: $830m. The best of the lot: The Biden plan (if he ever gets to be President or pass any legislation).

Two useful health studies

One: In a surprising reversal of decades-old advice, a new study found that late-night eating does not make you fatter: "We did not see any difference in weight loss for those who ate most of their calories earlier versus later in the day. We did not see any effects on blood pressure either." In other words, it is what you eat not when you eat it. So no, this is not a free pass for those midnight ice cream runs. (Insider)

Two: Popping multivitamins will not make you any healthier. That’s the conclusion of a UK study that found zero difference in the physical health of those who took the pills and those who did not. But there was one difference: those who took multivitamins were more likely to rate their overall health as good, very good, or excellent. (MSN)

And the word of the year is…

Lockdown, of course! The Collins English Dictionary picked the L-word “because it is a unifying experience for billions of people across the world, who have had, collectively, to play their part in combating the spread of Covid-19.” Their accompanying gif is kinda fun—more so than the experience itself.

A Hindu temple in Abu Dhabi

Local Hindu groups released the final design for the first-ever temple in the United Arab Emirates. It will fuse traditional Hindu and Middle Eastern motifs, and combine sandstone from Rajasthan with marble shipped in from Italy. See the official video below. Gulf News has the details.