Yes, Alexei Navalny was poisoned!
Last month, in a plot worthy of a Tom Clancy novel (explained in colourful detail here), the Russian opposition leader suddenly collapsed while aboard a plane. He was rushed to a hospital and then out of the country—and now lies in a coma at a German hospital. Russian authorities denied all accusations that he was poisoned. But now the German doctors have confirmed that they have "unequivocal proof" that a deadly nerve agent Novichok was used in what is now officially an assasination attempt.
Why this matters: Chancellor Angela Merkel personally called out Moscow, and demanded answers. The EU and the US are huddling to figure out a response. Also, timing matters. Russia has been in the news yet again for trying to interfere in the upcoming US elections—as confirmed by US intelligence officials. Also, Facebook and Twitter said they took down a disinformation campaign launched by a Kremlin-backed group. New York Times has more.
In other US election news: Joe Biden launched a new initiative to attract Hindus called, what else, ‘Hindu Americans for Biden’—this is on the heels of his rival rolling out ‘Hindu Voices for Trump’. Point to note, for all the hullabaloo over NRIs for Trump, Indian Americans overwhelmingly vote Democrat.
Climate change will be harder on India
According to a new study, global warming will affect poorer countries that are closer to the equator far more than others. India is ranked as the fifth most-vulnerable country—with 600 million people at risk from climate change, which could push 45 million Indians into extreme poverty. IndiaSpend decoded the details.
The Indian pandemic: A quick update
- First, the numbers. Total number of cases: 3,845,059. Total deaths: 67,415. Total daily cases added: 83,029. Yeah, it isn’t getting any better.
- Acknowledging the hemorrhaging job loss numbers, the government plans to extend the rural employment program MGNREGA to cities—where it will target migrant workers. It will offer guaranteed employment for at least 100 days a year at a daily wage of Rs 202 for work like digging roads, wells etc.
- An NDTV exclusive shows that Indian authorities have pivoted sharply toward using rapid antigen tests as opposed to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests: Two months ago, 98% of all tests were PCR, but that number has now dropped to 56%. Why this matters: rapid tests have a likelihood of throwing up a false negative—which is a matter of huge concern when the numbers are rising this quickly.
- A new survey of techies shows that they really, really hate working from home. A whopping 90% miss going to the office. In Delhi/NCR that number is a staggering 98%.
- Airlines can now fly at 60% of their capacity within the country as per new guidelines. International flights remain suspended until September 30.
John Boyega rips Disney apart
The man best known for playing Finn has taken the company to task for introducing non-white characters—and then later sidelining their story arcs—in the Star Wars reboot. He told GQ:
“Like, you guys knew what to do with Daisy Ridley, you knew what to do with Adam Driver,” he says. “You knew what to do with these other people, but when it came to Kelly Marie Tran, when it came to John Boyega, you know fuck all. So what do you want me to say? What they want you to say is, ‘I enjoyed being a part of it. It was a great experience...’ Nah, nah, nah. I’ll take that deal when it’s a great experience. They gave all the nuance to Adam Driver, all the nuance to Daisy Ridley. Let’s be honest. Daisy knows this. Adam knows this. Everybody knows. I’m not exposing anything.”
Sexual harassment at Times Group
A senior executive at “a top media house” has been charged with sexually harassing a senior journalist, according to Indian Express.
"In her complaint to the police, the journalist said the accused had touched her inappropriately and demanded sexual favours. When she refused to comply, the complainant said, she was sacked. The complainant further said she was sexually harassed from April 2008 to August 2020."
The Express is oddly coy about mentioning which media house—even though it would readily do so for any other private company in the same situation. It’s even sillier since the Times Network put out a statement attacking… no, not the executive but the journalist—dismissing the complaint as “frivolous and malicious allegations.” RTI activist Saket Gokhale has put out a long Twitter thread where he claims the person is a fat cat at Times Now.
A new and shiny thing...
From IIT Delhi: A brand new ‘School of Artificial Intelligence’ that will kick off its PhD program in January 2021.
From Mercedes: it's a very pretty 2021 S-Class.
Two Netflix things
One: Meghan & Harry have signed a Netflix deal to create a slate of programs “that informs but also gives hope”—which will include “inspirational family programming.”
Two: If you can’t wait to watch ‘Bad Boy Billionaires’, too bad, you’ll have to wait some more. “The investigative docuseries [that] explores the greed, fraud and corruption that built up—and ultimately brought down—India’s most infamous tycoons” has been blocked by a Bihar court after a lawsuit filed by Sahara founder Subrata Roy. And the Supreme Court is refusing to intervene.
Our heroine of the day
A California lawmaker on maternity leave was forced to do this when a last-minute bill came up for vote. The reason: Her request to vote by proxy—in the middle of a pandemic with a one-month-old baby—was denied. But a girl’s gotta legislate, when a girl’s gotta legislate...
