Mamata’s injured leg
The Bengal chief minister has suffered a hairline fracture above her left heel—and has been advised not to put weight on it. Banerjee—who alleges she was attacked by four-five men—has urged “calm and restraint” and vowed to continue campaigning: “I hope I will be able to return to the field in two-three days… But I might have to use a wheelchair for a few days.”
Meanwhile, local authorities indicate the entire thing may have been an accident:
“‘The report has revealed a group of men from among hundreds who were running behind the chief minister’s car at Birulia market in Nandigram on Wednesday evening to catch a glimpse of her had tripped after hitting a four-feet high concrete pole that stood on the 12-feet wide road and fell on the car’s door that she had left ajar while waving at the mass’, said sources.
The door, which was heavy since it was a bullet-proof vehicle, went and hit the CM even as she was trying to set her left foot on the ground from her seat in the front. This caused severe injury to her left foot,’ an official quoted the preliminary report.”
In other CM-related news: Uttarakhand has a new leader: Tirath Singh Rawat who replaced his predecessor Trivendra Singh Rawat—who was forced out by the BJP party. The reason: He had become highly unpopular and dictatorial. Indian Express has a good explainer on the two Rawats.
‘Bombay Begums’ in trouble
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has asked Netflix to stop streaming the series. The move was triggered by complaints directed toward it on Twitter. One of them tweeted: “From normalization of minors indulging in casual sex we now have a web series showing minors having Cocaine.”
The NCPCR has now sent a notice claiming that “this type of content will not only pollute the young minds…(it) may also result in abuse and exploitation of children at the hands of perpetrators/offenders.’’ Hello, new digital media rules! (Indian Express)
New charges against Suu Kyi
The Myanmar military has now accused the ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi of accepting $600,000 (Rs 4.36 crore) and 11kg of gold in bribes. Meanwhile, a UN human rights investigator has accused the military of committing "crimes against humanity." The number killed during the protests is now 70. (BBC News)
Mexico embraces pot
Lawmakers approved a bill to legalize marijuana—and become the world’s largest market for recreational cannabis. Why this matters:
“Mexico, given its size and its worldwide reputation for being damaged by the drug war, to take this step is enormously significant… North America is heading toward legalization.”
OTOH, it is unlikely to make a dent in those drug wars with cartels now focused on profitable illegal drugs like fentanyl and methamphetamines. New York Times has more on the impact.
The great pandemic: A quick update
- It’s official. As part of the four-nation Quad summit agreement (explained here), India has sealed a deal to manufacture and supply the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine to Southeast Asia and Pacific countries. To which we say: er, what about ghar ki moolis like us?
- Maharashtra and Punjab are most certainly in the middle of a second wave, but experts say a nationwide wave is unlikely.
- Norway, Iceland and Denmark have put the Oxford vaccine on hold to investigate reports of people developing blood clots after being vaccinated. Indian medical authorities too are taking a closer look at deaths and hospitalisations related to such clotting.
- Covaxin has now been authorised for emergency use based on the latest trial data—and can be administered without a person’s consent.
- The International Olympic Committee has struck a happy deal with China—which will supply vaccines to inoculate the athletes participating in the Tokyo summer games.
- A big pandemic trend: ‘Faux commuters’ who take fake trips to work. Clearly, they haven’t experienced Bangalore traffic.
- Wall Street Journal confirms the obvious: Yes, your dog has become fat in the pandemic, as well. But this is not true of cats: “What we are hearing from pet owners is that their dog is at their side, engaging in treat-seeking behavior, while their cat is annoyed they are home.” Hahahaha!
- Last not least, Toronto now has billboards thanking PM Modi for providing vaccines to Canada. They look like this:
Three key discoveries
One: This one is bad news. Thanks to climate change, forests are not able to restore themselves after wildfires—as trees are being replaced instead with shrubs and grass:
“Forest mortality researchers say while this does not mark the end of the forests, it may well be the end of many forests as we’ve known them. Iconic species such as giant sequoias and Joshua trees are succumbing in remarkable numbers. The landscapes of beloved wild places and national parks are, in turn, being transformed. And the changes being observed today—in which slow-growing trees that have survived for hundreds of years are dying in a drought or wildfire—cannot be undone in our lifetimes.”
The problem is especially bad in California—where 129 million trees have died since 2010. (The Guardian)
Two: The study of a woman who was buried 4000 years ago may dramatically reset our ideas of the role of women in ancient Europe. Buried with a trove of ornate jewellery—including a silver diadem (see below)—she appears to have been a powerful ruler of the region now in modern-day Spain. More interestingly: “Other burials of high-status El Argar women also indicate great wealth, but men were never buried with such riches.” This suggests that these Bronze Age communities could have been ruled by women. (National Geographic)
Three: An Indian researcher has discovered why Agadmator—a popular YouTube chess channel—was blocked last year for not adhering to ‘community guidelines’. The reason: the AI used by the platform identifies words like ‘black’, ‘white’, and ‘attack’ — as hate speech. Why this matters:
“If we try to monitor speech, just using AI, without any human moderation, these are some of the potential risks that might happen. This is what we tried to show through the chess example, which is easy to understand for everyone.”
Three artsy things
One: Beeple’s Non Fungible Token (NFT)—a digital collage called ‘Everydays—The First Five Thousand Days’ sold for $69.3 million. Yup, that’s crazy! NPR has the story. Read our explainer if you want to understand this NFT madness. Also, this is what it looks like:
Two: A Ukrainian Rubik’s cube champion has turned into a Rubik’s cube artist—using the toy to construct pop portraits of famous people (see below). Yes, it isn’t exactly high art, but then again, Beeple.
Three: In case you’re thinking of an apartment refresh, according to researchers who research such things, the most Instagrammable paint colour is a deep, dark Hague Blue, as in the rooms below:
