China, India meet in Moscow

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar are headed out to Moscow—where they will meet not just senior Russian officials, but also their Chinese counterparts. What will come of this no one knows. The Russian Foreign Minister insists there will be no bilateral talk at these meetings. 

• The Hindu reports on the ongoing buildup at Lake Pangong in the midst of all this talking. And if you need it: our explainer on what the Chinese are doing in different parts of the Ladakh border.
• Also holding border talks: senior military commanders from both sides. 
• Indian Express has a good explainer on the role of Russia as a mediator.

Apple unveils a new operating system

And it’s called Big Sur. The release is being dubbed as the biggest redesign in 20 years. The end-result is that your MacBook will look and behave a lot more like your iPhone. Others say that it now has a lot of the same functionalities as Android. Also getting a major reboot: Safari, which is now 50% faster than Chrome. Verge has more on its functionalities on a laptop. Cnet looks at how the operating system works on your iPhone—making it easier to organize and faster to access your apps. Plus: here’s a list of MacBooks compatible with Big Sur.

The Indian pandemic: an update

The number of cases: 440,215. Number of deaths: 14,011. The number added in one day: 14,933. 

• Watch BBC’s excellent report that explains why coronavirus deaths are under-reported in India. 
• Times of India shows how Tamil Nadu keeps its Covid count low by heavily testing districts that have fewer cases—and steering clear of areas where the numbers are climbing.
• New York Times has the horror story of how Delhi hospitals refused to admit a pregnant woman in labour. She later died, as did her baby. This is an essential read and a reminder of the wider toll of Covid on all of us. 
• Quartz explains in five charts why India stands to lose much more than China in a trade war. 
• Daily Mail rounds up reports that China is altering the course of the Galwan river.
• Nepal meanwhile has made new territorial claims on its border with Bihar.
• Scroll reports on the hidden lockdown effect: new development projects fast-tracked in protected forest reserves in Assam, Uttarakhand and Goa.
• 57 girls at a children's shelter home in Uttar Pradesh have tested positive for COVID-19—and five of them are heavily pregnant. Officials claim that they were pregnant when they arrived at the shelter. Related read: Hindustan Times’ report on sexual abuse in shelter homes.
• Two Indian companies—Cipla and Hetero Labs—will roll out generic versions of Remdesivir—which is now widely used to treat serious infections. Price per vial: Rs 5,000-6,000—which isn’t cheap but certainly more affordable than the original. With three other companies poised to enter the fray, the prices could fall further.

The Global pandemic: an update

Global cases have raced past 9 million thanks to a huge surge in India and Brazil. Reuters reports: "The first case was reported in China in early January and it took until mid-May to reach 4.5 million cases. It has taken just five weeks to double to 9 million cases.”

Croatia: Grigor Dimitrov became the first top-ranking tennis player to announce that he has tested positive—followed soon after by Borna Coric who played a match against Dimitrov over the weekend at an exhibition tournament in Croatia. The tournament was organised by Novak Djokovic—who, as Scroll notes, has totally lost the plot on virus, often peddling wild theories. Point to note: “Throughout the weekend, Djokovic, Dimitrov, Alexander Zverev, Dominic Thiem and other players were pictured hugging, shaking hands and dancing together at a club.”

Brazil: is losing an entire generation of indigenous leaders, elders and traditional healers to Covid-19—many of whom are too afraid to go to a hospital. The pandemic is likely to inflict irreparable damage on tribal knowledge of history, culture and natural medicine. One leader puts it bluntly: “We are facing extermination.” The country’s death toll has soared past 50,000.

Germany: The country’s R number—which indicates how many people one Covid case will infect—has soared from 1.79 on Saturday to 2.88. In order to contain the spread, countries must get their R number down to one. The likely culprit: “an outbreak at a meat processing plant infected hundreds of workers.”

France: meanwhile has reopened with a vengeance. Outside seating at restaurants and cafes was expanded at the end of the lockdown to ensure social distancing. This is what it looks like now.

A flurry of MeToo allegations

• Justin Bieber denied one allegation of rape by producing hotel receipts—but has not commented on another charge of sexual assault. Vulture has details of both cases.
• Cole Sprouse—along with other members of the Riverdale cast—has also been accused of groping a woman at a party. He too has issued a strong denial.
• Ansel Elgort—the star of ‘The Fault in Our Stars’—was accused of sexual assault by a Twitter user named Gaby, who said he attacked her when she was 17. Elgort claims they had "a brief, legal and entirely consensual relationship."
• Also making news: Late night host Jimmy Kimmel for being a complete d**k in this 2009 interview with Megan Fox. Watch his reaction when she talks about being sexualised by director Michael Bay on a movie set—as a 15-year old! Buzzfeed has more details.

A new kind of Hollywood rating

UK broadcaster Sky has found a way to flag movies for offensive content—without taking them down a la ‘Gone With the Wind’. The solution: a disclaimer that reads, “This film has outdated attitudes, language and cultural depictions which may cause offence today.” Movies that get this special treatment: 'Jungle Book', 'Breakfast at Tiffany’s' and 'The Last Samurai'.  In related-BLM news: There are no cop cars in Fortnite any more. 

Deepika takes a stance

Padukone is one of the rare Bollywood stars who never issued a statement on Sushant Singh Rajput’s death. But she took a stance in her own quiet way on the Insta account of a Bollywood photographer—who posted a photo of Rajput’s body being carried from the hospital to the crematorium. The caption read: “Please note my images and videos cannot be posted on any platforms without my written consent.” Deepika response in the comments section: “Right. But it is OK for you to take this video and not only post it but also probably monetise it without his or his family’s written consent?” The post appears to have been deleted, but you can see a screenshot here.

RGV strikes again

Ram Gopal Varma is talking up his upcoming flick 'Murder’—which tells the story of a gruesome caste killing in Telangana. Pranay Perumalla was hacked to death by henchmen hired by his father-in-law. The reason: Perumalla was a Dalit. RGV is selling this as “a heart wrenching story based on the Amrutha and Maruthi Rao saga of the DANGERS of a father LOVING a daughter too much…” And when he was called out on Twitter, he just made it worse: 

“MURDER film meanders between 3 moral dilemmas 1. on limit of a father’s control over his child 2. should a daughter be ignored even if she’s presumably ignorant about what’s good for her? 3. Can it be justified to take someone’s life in order to better someone else’s life?”