Netanyahu is out!
Despite his best efforts—and four elections that returned a split verdict—Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been ousted after 12 straight years in office. His Likud party will be replaced by an unlikely alliance between far-right Israeli politician Naftali Bennett and secular opposition leader Yair Lapid. Bennett will be PM for the first two years, followed by Lapid. But they still need to get an assortment of other smaller parties to get on board. But with such huge ideological differences within the coalition, it is unlikely that the new government will tackle a peace accord with the Palestinians. The Guardian has more details. Also: read our explainer on Israel’s electoral merry-go-round.
The great pandemic: A longish update
First, the numbers: India added 153,663 new cases and 3,134 deaths on Sunday. The weekly number of fatalities dipped for the first time in 12 weeks. Among those who died:
Maharao Pragmalji III, the last Maharaja of Kutch. Indian Express has more on him and the royal family.
Speaking of deaths: Family members were caught on video (clip here) immersing a body in a river in Uttar Pradesh—and have since been arrested. The government has announced a new scheme called (what else) ‘PM-Cares for Children’, which will create a Rs 10-lakh fund for each child orphaned by Covid—to be disbursed as a monthly stipend after they turn 18. The Telegraph has a devastating must-read on the plight of Covid orphans.
About those vaccines: On Friday, Bharat Biotech explained that it takes four months for a Covaxin dose to go from production to rollout—and cited various complex processes and steps involved. OTOH, journalist Sridhar V explains why this is a whole bunch of mumbo jumbo. Also, given the shortages and prospect of a third wave, India will soon test mixing different vaccines to boost their effectiveness. What may be very effective: nasal spray vaccines because “immunising through the respiratory tract may be the best way to have the immune response in the right place to respond to an infection when it comes.”
About that lab leak theory: A new study—conducted by British professor Angus Dalgleish and Norwegian scientist Dr Birger Sorensen—claims that the virus was created in a lab and has “no credible natural ancestor.” They claim that scientists took a natural coronavirus “backbone” found in Chinese bats and spliced a “new spike” onto it, creating Covid-19. Business Standard has more. Also: read our explainer on the lab leak theory. A very good counter-read: a skeptical Wired essay that argues the hypothesis is an example of “weaponized uncertainty.”
A new variant: found in Vietnam combines the “characteristics of the two existing variants first found in India and the UK.” and its health minister calls it “very dangerous.” Also: “[He] said laboratory cultures of the new variant showed the virus replicated itself very quickly, possibly explaining why so many new cases had appeared in different parts of the country in a short period of time.”
Good news for broccoli haters: A new study found that ‘supertasters’—the kind who hate bitter-tasting foods like broccoli, cabbage and brussel sprouts—are less likely to be infected. FYI: “Supertasters are more sensitive to bitter flavors because they have up to four times as many taste buds on their tongue.” National Geographic has more on this research. What still needs more research: how Covid affects women’s periods given anecdotal evidence that it changes our cycles. The Lily has that story.
Covidiot alert: Talk about the wrong priorities! The Culture minister Prahlad Patel has written a strongly worded letter to the Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal complaining about… flags:
“For last few days,I was watching CM Arvind Kejriwal's press conferences & noticed that green stripe of flags behind him are enlarged. It's not in accordance with rules on depiction of national flag. I've written a letter to him, to maintain decorum of flag.”
See an offending example below 🙄:
Boris Johnson is a married man!
Maybe third time's the charm? The UK Prime Minister got hitched to his fiancée Carrie Symonds in a small secret wedding at Westminster Cathedral—becoming the first PM to get married in office in nearly 200 years. This is the third trip down the altar for Johnson. BBC News has more. FYI, we love Boris strikin’ a pose!
China censors ‘Friends’ reunion
Beijing cut Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga from the version of the special that aired in China. The reason: Gaga met with the Dalai Lama and Bieber visited Japan's controversial Yasukuni Shrine in 2014—which he apologised for. The site honors Japan's war dead, including some convicted war criminals (who committed their war crimes in China during World War II). Moral of this story: It takes very little to be canceled in China. (CBS News)
Ambani upsets English country clubbers
Mukesh-bhai bought the 300-acre Stoke Park, which includes a Georgian mansion and a golf course for £57 million—and promptly announced that he plans to shut the club down for two years. This has pissed off the 2,500 members who shell out £4,000 in annual fees. Said one grumpy member: “A lot of rich people just want their personal plaything. He’ll probably come over here for a couple of months a year and have the golf course to himself.” Their greatest fear: Mukesh-bhai will turn the club house into his private home. But his spokesman insists that the plan is to “restore the club to its former glory.” (Telegraph UK)
Hot tub soaking = running?
Researchers have found that “regular sauna or hot tub bathing can indeed bring about some similar health benefits to that of low to moderate intensity aerobic exercise, such as walking, jogging and cycling.” The level of heat raises your core body temperature, improves blood flow—which in turn can lower blood pressure, control blood sugar and reduce inflammation. But no, you won’t lose weight or build muscle just chilling in a tub (boo!). The Guardian has a short fun take, while The Conversation offers a deep dive into the research.
Four amazing things to behold
A very fancy car: Rolls Royce has unveiled the world’s most expensive car—the Boat Tail convertible grand tourer which costs an eye-watering $28.3 million. It was custom made for an anonymous billionaire couple and is “the first of a trio of highly personalised, nautically inspired hand-built Rolls-Royce cars”—taking four years to design and manufacture. More on what it looks like and how it was built below. (Times UK)
Stunning stained glass: After hanging in an obscure church for over 100 years, a beautiful stained glass window designed by Tiffany’s will be put on display in a Chicago museum. The Hartwell Memorial Window is a 23 x 16 ft depiction of a lush New Hampshire landscape—made up of soldered 48 layered-glass panels. Smithsonian magazine has more details. Also, it looks like this.
A chocolate frog: A new species of frog has been discovered in New Guinea—called Litoria mira: “We named the new frog Litoria mira because the word ‘mira’ means surprised or strange in Latin.” What makes this frog especially unique: its glossy brown skin. Also it looks like this (cute!):
An excellent deepfake: A “scarily authentic-looking” video of a fake Tom Cruise talking about industrial cleaning has gone insanely viral. Watch it below:
