China vs the UK

• The UK upped the pressure on Beijing—with Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab accusing it of "gross and egregious" human rights abuses against its Uighur population. Raab isn’t ruling out imposing sanctions. 
• TikTok has reportedly nixed its plans to shift its headquarters to London—a move designed to distance itself from the Chinese government, and therefore avoid a ban in the US. 
• The reason: “the wider geopolitical context.” Translation: This is Beijing’s retaliation against the UK’s ban on telecom giant Huawei. It’s also threatening to take aim at a number of UK companies operating in China, including GlaxoSmithKline and Jaguar Land Rover. 
• Interesting counterpoint: According to The Observer, Brit officials privately told Huawei “that it was possible the decision could be revisited in future, perhaps if Trump failed to win a second term and the anti-China stance in Washington eased.”
• Worth your time: The Economist’s cover story takes a clear-eyed view of the escalating trade war with China—which has left the world trade order in shambles. Quartz looks at what Mumbai has to do to replace Hong Kong as a global financial hub.

Also watch: This leaked footage of hundreds of shackled and blindfolded Uighurs being led by the police. 

India under water

More than 2.75 million people in Assam have been displaced by three waves of floods since late May. The death toll: 79. An additional 300,000 have been displaced in Bihar. More importantly, there will be no respite from heavy rains which is expected to continue for another three days. Read: Hindustan Times on the added peril of Covid-19 at relief camps; NPR on the devastation at the Kaziranga sanctuary—95% of which is under water; Indian Express on the traditional role of floods in preserving Kaziranga’s eco-system, and how climate change is disturbing that balance.

The monsoon also created chaos and claimed two lives in Delhi. See the insanity below:

The link between kids and Covid

Children are testing positive: A whopping 31.1% of kids under 18 who tested for Covid in Florida came up positive. The overall rate for the state: 18.1%. One likely reason: children are only tested when they show symptoms of the disease, and therefore are more likely to be infected. The good news: they only constitute 1.6% of hospitalizations in Florida.

Spreading the disease: A significant contact tracing study shows that 10-19 year olds are more likely than any other age group to spread the virus within their household. Why this matters: This has a huge impact on the decision to reopen schools. 

Related India update: Delhi and Bihar want to reopen schools in August. Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have not made up their mind. Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala want to wait until September.

The Indian pandemic: A quick update

End is near? IIT Bombay researchers say the pandemic will come to an end across most of the country by October. The prediction is based on something called the Levitt's model which is explained in detail here.

Fudging death rates? Washington Post took a closer look at India’s death rates, and points to some troubling anomalies. Example: Vadodara’s cases have increased by more than 2,000 since the start of June. But the official number of deaths has barely risen from 57 to 60. But one hospital’s records show more than 100 Covid-related deaths.

Yes on ‘community transmission’: Two sets of medical experts are calling on the government to stop denying the obvious. One: The Indian Medical Association spoke up on Sunday:

"This is now an exponential growth. Every day the number of cases is increasing by more than around 30,000… There are so many factors connected with it but overall this is now spreading to rural areas. This is a bad sign. It now shows a community spread." 

Also: Three experts in charge of India’s pandemic strategy have accused the government of hiding data. They claim that health ministry officials blocked evidence of community transmission in 36 districts in early April (!). Why this matters: “16 of those 36 districts, covering areas in Calcutta, Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai among others, have emerged among places hit the hardest by Covid-19 in India.”

In related news: The Tirupati temple will remain open even though 140 of its employees have tested positive. 

So who hacked Twitter?

Last week, hackers gained access to Twitter’s internal system, and sent tweets soliciting bitcoins from its most famous handles—including Elon Musk, Barack Obama and Kim K. So whodunnit? The answer: “a group of young people—one of whom says he lives at home with his mother.” Point to note: these guys targeted 130 accounts, tweeted from 45 of them, and downloaded data from eight. (New York Times)

WFH is hurting working mothers

A new US study shows that mothers have cut back their working hours four to five times more than fathers. Conclusion: Working from home has put an undue burden on women with children under 13, and created a huge gender gap in work hours. The reason isn’t clear, but the lead authors speculate “that part of the issue may be that ‘when a child needs help, they go to mommy first,’ and over days and weeks, that has a cumulative, undermining effect.” (New York Times)

Say hello to Khabri!

Yup, our doggo finally has a name thanks to all of you. FYI: Khabri edged out Bhaskerville by a wet nose. A for effort goes to Anchor which scored 20% of the votes. 

Also: Khabri is a very good and happy boy!