Trump’s secret China past
The New York Times continues to make hay with the president’s tax returns—a bounty which it accessed in September 2020. The latest revelations: Trump spent ten years (2008-2018) trying to pursue real estate deals in China—and failed miserably! He still has a Chinese bank account, but has never declared it or its financial dealings publicly. Does this matter? Likely not—but it is an uncomfortable moment for a president who has made a career hating on China. Well, he never did take rejection well. (New York Times)
In a related embarrassment: Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani is in trouble for his, er, cameo in the latest Borat film. This is where Sacha Baron Cohen pretends to be a clueless Kazakh jerk, and punks various people. The sequel includes a fake journalist who invites Giuliani back to a hotel bedroom in the scene. After she removes his microphone, Giuliani reaches into his trousers and, uh, touches himself. Also: Before hitting the bedroom, Giuliani coughed, refused to maintain social distance and agreed to eat a bat. Honestly! (The Guardian)
Pollution is killing Indian babies
A new global report shows that 116,000 infants did not live beyond the first month due to air pollution. The total number of such deaths in the world: 476,000. Hindustan Times has the story, or watch the report below:
The great pandemic: A short update
- A participant in the Oxford vaccine’s stage 3 trials in Brazil has died. But the person was administered the placebo—not the actual vaccine. And therefore the trials will not be suspended.
- We now know that many patients experience symptoms months after recovery. A new study has identified who is at greatest risk of becoming a ‘long haul’ case: people over the age of 50. Also: those who experience five key symptoms: "Somebody who had a cough, fatigue, headache and diarrhoea, and lost their sense of smell—which are all potential symptoms—would be at higher risk than somebody who had a cough alone."
- Yes, flying is safe as long as you mask up. That finding is based on data from five Emirates flights, each of which carried seven or more infected passengers—and yet none of the other passengers caught the disease. The reason: Emirates’ strict masking policy and the plane’s filtration system. NPR has more on the study.
A dismal Hathras update
Two doctors at the Aligarh hospital where the victim was treated have been sacked. One of them contradicted the police’s claim that the forensic report did not show any evidence of rape. The reason: “For concrete finding of rape, one needs to go for a test within four days of the incident and the test conducted after 11 days serves no purpose.” Authorities claim that their removal is “routine.” (Hindustan Times)
Netflix juggernaut slows down
The platform’s pandemic bonanza appears to have petered out. The subscriber numbers released yesterday show that it added 28.1 million this year—but only 2.2 million in the third quarter. The plan to increase users: offering a free trial weekend in India. In related news: Netflix is annoying existing subscribers by axing some of its most popular shows like ‘Away’. The reason: Covid safety protocols have made shooting future seasons very expensive. The virus giveth, the virus taketh away…
Telegram has a ‘fake nude’ problem
Touted as the safer version of WhatsApp, Telegram has run into a different kind of fake news problem. A new AI bot—embedded in the app—is creating and posting fake nude images of women without their knowledge. The total number: 680,000 and counting. What’s really scary:
“Unlike the algorithms that make deepfake videos—including nonconsensual sexual videos—the Telegram bot doesn’t need thousands of images to work. It only needs one, ‘which is really a reason why so many private individuals are attacked, because only one profile picture from Facebook is enough to do this.’”
Speaking of crappy AI: Instagram is under fire for its algorithm that favours skinny people. As in, it allows them to post semi-nude pictures, but takes down everyone else’s pics, claiming that the images violate ‘community standards’. See example below—one is an Australian comic imitating an image posted by a former model. Guess which one got pulled?
In slightly better tech news: Jio has launched a ‘made in India’ browser to take on Google! Mint has that story.
Three cool new findings
One: Our people have been producing cheese since 2500 BC! A new study—that looked at residue on pottery shards from the Indus Valley civilization—has uncovered evidence of the earliest known dairy production in India. More nerdy details here.
Two: Research on hospital nurses shows that just an extra 29 minutes of sleep dramatically improves mindfulness at work. So please set that alarm clock just a little later. BigThink has more.
Three: We all know about the placebo effect—when our brains trick our bodies into responding because we think we are taking a real pill as opposed to a sugar pill. But a new study found that our minds respond to placebos even when we know that they are fake. While they may not work for all illnesses, these ‘non-deceptive placebos’ may significantly reduce emotional distress.
The world’s fastest car is here!
Nope, it ain’t a Bugatti or McLaren. The world’s fastest car is the SSC Tuatara, made by a relatively unknown US company, Richland. Its fastest test speed: 316 mph—way above the previous record of 278 mph. The price: $1.9 million. Watch it below.
