Time to vote!

We now have four leading contenders as names for our precious pooch: Khabri, Fetch, Bhaskerville (yes, you read that right!) and Anchor. Please vote for your fave right here. He will be forever grateful:)

Google’s $10 billion India plan

CEO Sundar Pichai announced the company’s plan to invest $10 billion over a 5-7 year period—primarily through equity investments and partnerships. The money will be ploughed into four areas:

• Affordable access and information to Indians in their own language
• New products and services tailored to India's unique needs
• Helping Indian businesses make the shift to digital
• Leveraging technology and artificial intelligence for social good in areas like healthcare, education and agriculture.

The global pandemic: A quick update

The US: the virus is now returning to states that had once beaten it back, including California: “It’s not just a matter of more testing. Hospitalizations and, in some places, deaths are rising, too.” Even New York is worried about rising cases. But people are increasingly unwilling to stay home—or wear face masks, making it that much harder to clamp down.  

Disneyland: Hong Kong is shutting down its theme park due to an uptick in cases—even as Disney reopened its Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom parks in Florida. A reporter in Florida flagged lack of social distancing and another news outlet tweeted that an Animal Kingdom ride wasn’t being regularly cleaned and hand sanitizer dispensers were empty.

South Africa: is the hardest hit country in Africa with more than 250,000 cases. The country has imposed a night curfew, made face masks mandatory—and banned alcohol!

Hot weather: There was hope that the virus would recede in the summer. But new models show that temperatures matter only once a large part of the population becomes immune to the virus. One other reason: heat kills the virus on contaminated surfaces, but there is increasing evidence that Covid spreads through the air.

Hollywood dummies: TV series ‘Bold and the Beautiful’ is using mannequins for sex scenes. Its executive producer says: “We’ve had a lot of strange looks and questions like, ‘Do you really want to do this?’ But everyone is game. They are getting their first latex kiss.” Meanwhile, ‘Riverdale’ will deploy them for any shooting that requires crowds.

Made in India drug: Kiran Mazumdar-headed Biocon unveiled “compelling” clinical trial results indicating that itolizumab reduces the need for ventilator support and risk of death in serious cases. The anti-inflammatory drug—typically used to treat psoriasis—may help prevent a cytokine storm. That's when the immune system goes into overdrive, attacking healthy organs and cells. An important caveat: Only 30 patients were tested in these trials.

Student visa row heats up

Nearly 20 tech companies have filed a brief in support of a lawsuit to block the new F-1 visa rules—that force students to leave the country if their universities move all classes online. These include Google, Facebook, Spotify, Paypal and Microsoft. The argument: The ban will "inflict significant harm" on their customer base and make it harder to recruit top talent from universities. 

In related news: 17 states including California and Massachusetts have filed a similar lawsuit against the Trump administration.

In other Trump-related news: A US professor’s model predicts a 91% chance of him winning reelection in November. Helmut Norpoth has accurately predicted 25 out of 27 presidential elections. Norpoth says: "Where I would expect the pandemic to have an affect is on the approval rating of the president, and I don't see any dent in Trump's approval rating… Unless his approval rating collapses, I don't think this will have much bearing on my forecast." 

A treasure from an Air India crash

Cafe owner Timothee Mottin found a treasure trove of old newspapers in the French Alps—preserved in almost pristine condition due to the ice. These are copies of Indian newspapers from 1966 and were probably aboard an Air India Boeing 707 that crashed on the mountain that year. The big front page headline in The Hindu: ‘Indira Gandhi to be Prime Minister’. See photos here.

Kelly Preston dies of breast cancer

The 57-year old actor, best known for her role in ‘Jerry Maguire’, died of breast cancer. She leaves behind her husband, John Travolta, and two children, Ella Bleu and Benjamin. CNN pays tribute to John & Kelly’s love story.