First, the India numbers

Total number of cases: 380,532. Total number of deaths: 12,573. Speaking of Covid deaths, be sure to read this IndiaSpend deep dive by Rukmini S on why it is difficult to estimate accurate mortality rate—and what we can do to fill the gaps. Also worth your time: Indian Express explains how Bangalore has kept its Covid count relatively low. The TLDR: “If I have to summarise the Bengaluru model in one sentence, it is the retrospective tracing of contacts."

An explosive new book on Trump

His former security adviser—John Bolton—has penned a tell-all of his time at the White House. Vox details the seven most disturbing allegations, and the Washington Post has the original excerpts. Here are the worst of the lot:

• Trump asked Chinese President Xi for help… to win reelection: “He then, stunningly, turned the conversation to the coming U.S. presidential election, alluding to China’s economic capability to affect the ongoing campaigns, pleading with Xi to ensure he’d win.”
• At the same one-on-one meeting, he said this about detention camps for Uighyur Muslims: “According to our interpreter, Trump said that Xi should go ahead with building the camps, which Trump thought was exactly the right thing to do.” Point to note: These have been described as “concentration camps” by almost everyone, including the Pentagon. 
• Angry about media leaks from the White House, he told Bolton: “These people [journalists] should be executed. They are scumbags.”
• On a less serious note: Trump had no idea that the UK has nuclear weapons, and asked his chief-of-staff if Finland was part of Russia.
• Point to note: Bolton sat on all this information—refusing to cooperate with Trump’s impeachment—until he had a book to sell.

An FIR against a Scroll journalist

The lockdown was not kind on millions of Indians. Executive Editor Supriya Sharma filed a ground report on one such tragedy: residents of a village in eastern UP who were starving because they did not have ration cards. This was despite the fact that the UP government had announced “every needy person should not go hungry”—and the fact that the village had been adopted by the PM himself. 

Now, Sharma has been charged with a variety of crimes—including printing “defamatory matter”, and a “negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life.” The FIR is based on a complaint filed by one of the women interviewed by Sharma. She now claims: “During the lockdown, neither me or anyone in my family faced any problems… By saying that me and children went hungry, Supriya Sharma had made fun of my poverty and caste.” Scroll is standing by its story and Sharma.

This case is getting a lot of attention—likely because Sharma is an English-language journalist of a leading publication. But a recent report shows that at least 55 other journalists have been booked, arrested and threatened for their Covid reporting. None of this is new or exceptional—and that’s shocking!

Say hello to Audio Twitter

Now, you can literally shout at people on Twitter. The platform is rolling out ‘audio tweets’ that allow people to say silly, angry and self-righteous things—instead of having to manually type them out. Exactly what we need to promote impulse control! FYI: it’s only available for iOS users right now. If you want to get started, this Twitter blog post explains how.

The pandemic effect: a quick update

What about malaria? The all-consuming focus on Covid-19 will reverse decades of progress in fighting other diseases—like TB, HIV, Malaria and polio. These diseases are staging a scary comeback. One reason: people have skipped routine vaccinations due to the lockdown and fears about going to the hospital. The other reason: All the money and research is being diverted toward Covid—including that of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that has suspended its fight against malaria. 

India is in the negative: The influential Fitch Ratings has downgraded its India ratings  from ‘Stable’ to ‘Negative'—the lowest investment grade. All three major global ratings agencies—Moody’s, Fitch and Standard & Poor’s—now have the exact same assessment of the Indian economy. 

No procession in Puri: For the first time in 284 years, Lord Jagannath will not be rolled out for the traditional yearly rath yatra. The Supreme Court has nixed the 10-day festival, saying, “Lord Jagannath will not forgive us if we allow it." 

Cheap cars ahoy! Carpooling and taxis are likely to lose popularity due to fears of infection. And most folks will not be flush with money—all of which is going to make cheaper, second-hand cars very, very popular. Another likely winner: self-drive rental companies like Rev and Zoomcar.

Football is plotting a full recovery 

Right now, Premier League teams are playing to the equivalent of laugh tracks on sitcoms—recorded audio of roars and chants that are streamed over loudspeakers in the stadium. But that may change as soon as September. As per UK’s Football Association: “We’re looking at loads of options; we’re even getting people to map out what traffic flows [of spectators] look like in stadia, explore what it could look like with one-metre, two-metre social distancing and so on.” Plans could include “digital passports” via an app for fans who test negative. (The Guardian)

Covid jerks of the day

A 46-year-old man jumped to his death from the fourth floor of his apartment in Gurgaon. He had recently brought his wife—who had been diagnosed with Covid-19—back from the hospital. He did not die when he fell to the ground—but lay there crying in agony for 30 minutes. But no one tried to help. And after he died, his body remained untouched at the spot for five hours—because paramedics were afraid of infection. One building resident said: “In the absence of an emergency set-up at the society for a situation like Covid, no one attended to him.” In the absence of a single shred of humanity… (Times of India)