Farmer protests: A quick update
Minister of Agriculture Narendra Singh Tomar and Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food Piyush Goyal held a press conference—and urged farmers to consider the government’s proposal (explained here). Union leaders in turn held a press conference where they demanded a “concrete proposal”—and insisted they remain open to dialogue. The Telegraph has more on Goyal’s claim that the laws are intended to promote trade—which did not earn him any fans among the farmers.
Meanwhile in Haryana: Political trouble is brewing for the ruling BJP government—which is in power thanks to the Dushyant Chautala-led JJP’s 10 seats. Now, some JJP MLAs are openly talking about withdrawing their support. The reason: farmers are the party’s core constituency. (Indian Express)
The great pandemic: a quick update
- The Oxford vaccine may get immediate clearance for emergency use in India the moment it is greenlit by UK authorities.
- A South African company Renergen has patented cryogenic cases—which use helium to store vaccines in ultra-cold temperatures for 30 days. Why this matters: Pfizer has to be stored in minus 70°C.
- The government has okayed human trials for an Indian mRNA vaccine—similar to Pfizer and Moderna. The Telegraph has details.
- AstraZeneca’s vaccine trial results were a bit odd. Two full doses were only 62% effective, but a half dose followed by a full dose appeared to be 90% effective. At the time, the company attributed the more effective regimen to a mistake. The Oxford University scientists who developed and tested the vaccine now insist this ain’t so. They say a manufacturing issue resulted in one batch with an excess of the vaccine. So they “toned it down” to avoid giving people too much. But this lower dosage may not be approved because it was only administered to 2,000 people—all of them under the age of 55.
- The Gates foundation is pitching in an additional $250 million toward the fight against Covid. Its total funding is now $1.75 billion.
- US officials are embroiled in a tu-tu main-main jhagda with Pfizer—each blaming the other for the fact that the government has not bought enough of its vaccines. And it may not be able to buy more in 2021 at least. NPR explains this blunder.
- Chinese officials have told flight attendants to wear diapers to avoid using the plane bathroom on routes to countries with high rates of infections.
- Plastic surgeons around the world are reporting a “Zoom boom” in their business: “Many workers are spending more time on Zoom, which isn’t the most flattering of mirrors. They’re also realizing they won’t have to return to an office anytime soon, which will make recovery, and keeping surgery private, easier. Those who choose facial surgery can cover postoperative swelling with a mask when in public.”
A related good read: Quartz reports on how Indian airports and airlines are gearing up to distribute vaccines.
Airbnb has a blockbuster IPO
Coming out the gate with a valuation of just over $100 billion, it is the biggest US stock market debut of 2020. The shares priced at $68 hit a high of $165 and later closed at $144.71. The reason for such buoyancy: Most people are opting for private rentals over hotel rooms thanks to the pandemic—and for extended workcations in other cities. (Bloomberg News)
US election results challenged… again!
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a suit with the Supreme Court challenging the results in four states that delivered the Joe Biden victory—Wisconsin, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Michigan. The lawsuit is backed by 17 other Republican-led states. What they want: The court to block the electors from these four states from voting for Biden in the electoral college. Oh, and Paxton was recently accused of bribery, abuse of office and other potentially criminal offenses by his own top aides—which is now pretty standard for any Trump supporter. CNN has more.
In more bad news for Biden: His son Hunter’s taxes are being investigated in relation to his business dealings with China.
Also being investigated: Thieves who broke into and stole technical equipment from the Russian government’s Doomsday Plane—a top-secret military aircraft designed to serve as an air command for the president during a nuclear war. Vice has this odd story.
Two year-that-was reports
One: According to Google’s ‘Year in Search’ report, ‘Coronavirus’ was the single most searched term around the world. Most popular actor: Tom Hanks. Most popular movie: ‘Parasite’. Oddly enough in India, ‘Indian Premier League’ claimed the top search spot, beating out the virus. Priorities, priorities… Check out the entire list here.
Two: Netflix’s year-end list reveals that 80% of its Indian users watch movies on its platform—far more often than any other nation in the world. Viewership of Korean series jumped by 370% this year (really?). The platform has not released a top ten list, but instead flagged popular titles in different categories. The list is here.
Mukesh-bhai is a grandpa
His eldest son Akash and bahu Shloka are proud parents of a baby boy. Yes, this is the very same adored bahu who was the recipient of this Disney-themed birthday greeting from the fam last year. Sadly, all we have for this happy occasion is dada-ji’s beaming photo.
Raven babies are super-smart
A new study reveals that four month old ravens do just as well as chimpanzees and orangutans across a broad array of tasks designed to measure intelligence: “Across a whole spectrum of cognitive skills, their intelligence is really quite amazing.” One important caveat: These were captive birds in close contact with humans—which may explain why they excelled in primate-like skills. Scientific American has more. See one of the experiments below:
A Big Apple yatra: A humpback whale was spotted checking out the Statue of Liberty in the city’s harbour. BBC News has the story and pretty photos. See clip below.
Armpit advertising is a thing
Australia’s T20 tournament, the Big Bash League, will introduce many unique innovations—including three new rules. What we are most astonished by: “The umpires are carrying the branding of a popular deodorant brand underneath their armpits which the world will get to see every time they signal a six or a wicket or a bye.” It’s not quite as bad as it sounds when you see it in action. (Scroll)
In other sports news: Barcelona footballer Antoine Griezmann has quit his job as Huawei’s ambassador. The reason: the company’s role in developing facial recognition tools that can track Uighur Muslims—millions of whom have been thrown into detention camps by Chinese authorities.
