Taliban’s back to its old ways
The days of blood and gore are back again in Afghanistan. First, a senior Taliban leader announced plans to revive its policy of executions and amputations, claiming: “Cutting off of hands is very necessary for security.” And to underline his words, the next day the Taliban shot dead four alleged kidnappers and hung their bodies in public squares in the city of Herat. One video showed a man suspended from a crane with a sign on his chest reading: “Abductors will be punished like this.” (BBC News)
Meanwhile in the US: There have been a flurry of crimes at military bases housing Afghan refugees. The latest involves an alleged assault on a female US soldier by a group of Afghan men. Earlier this month, two men housed at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin were charged with assault and sexual abuse—involving two minor boys at the camp. And another man was charged with attempting to strangle his wife. (CBS)
The crazy petrol crisis in the UK
The country is in the midst of severe fuel shortages—caused by the lack of Heavy Goods Vehicle drivers, which is hitting supply at the local petrol station. There is a shortfall of 100,000 drivers due to the pandemic and Brexit. Adding to the shortage: long lines and panic buying—which government officials are blaming on overhyped media coverage. And they have now hit a possible solution: drafting hundreds of soldiers to drive a reserve fleet of 80 tankers. Also: scenes at petrol stations looked something like this:
Battle of the festival sales
In an amusing me-too drama, Amazon and Flipkart changed the dates for their big shopping bonanzas. First, Flipkart changed the date of its ‘Big Billion Days’ from October 7 to October 3—because Amazon was kicking off its ‘Great Indian Festival’ on October 4. Now, Amazon has changed its date to October 3. Happy news: Now you have more sale days to spend all your hard-earned moolah! FYI: industry experts predict ecommerce companies will clock sales worth $4.8 billion in just the first week. (Mint)
Congress looks for fresh blood
The party is usually in the news for losing its most prominent leaders to the other side. For a change, it made headlines for growing its ranks—with the recruitment of former activists like Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani and former JNU president Kanhaiya Kumar. According to Indian Express, “Some leaders dismayingly see in it the Gandhi siblings’ proclivity to lurch towards the Left.” But The Hindu sees it as reflection of Rahul Gandhi’s new policy:
“There are many people who are not scared [of BJP-RSS], but are outside the Congress. All these people are ours. Bring them in, and those scared within our party should be shunted out. They can go to RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh] people, let them enjoy. We do not want them, they are not needed. We want fearless people.”
Wait, is he still president?
Mamata’s foreign travel woes
The Bengal Chief Minister claims that the External Affairs ministry refused to okay her attendance at a World Peace Conference in Rome—because the government is “jealous” of her. And she may be onto something since she is the only Indian leader from India to receive an invitation. And this:
“Sources later said the state government received a one-line letter from a joint secretary in the external affairs ministry that the event was not commensurate with the status of a chief minister for participation. The Pope, the Grand Imam of al-Azhar of Cairo, the German Chancellor and the Italian Prime Minister are among the other invitees.”
Speaking of travelling netas: Modi-ji returned to India after his trip to attend the UN General Assembly in New York—to a grand welcome that included song-and-dance routines from Punjab, Maharashtra etc. Presumably, this was “commensurate” with his status. Hell, even Lord Ganapathy came out to lay the ‘welcome home’ mat:
The good news about metabolism
Sorry, you can’t blame that pot belly on your birth date. A new study has debunked a widely held truth that metabolism slows down with age—especially once you cross 40. It found that your resting metabolism remains steady from the age 20 to 60—after which it only decreases 1% per year. So why do you feel it is harder to lose weight as you age? Because of other factors that affect your metabolism, such as the level of daily activity. CNN has more, including ways to kickstart your metabolism.
A plastic surgery horror story
Ex supermodel Linda Evangelista has come forward with her horrific experience with something called ‘CoolSculpting’. The procedure freezes small pockets of stubborn fat—think a bulge here or there—to kill the fat cells. Unfortunately, in a small number of cases, it causes a side-effect called “Paradoxical Adipose Hyperplasia” or PAH—which Evangelista says she was never told about. The fat cells expand instead of shrinking—which is referred to as the “stick of butter effect,” because it can look like a stick of butter hidden under the skin. Evangelista says she has been left “permanently deformed.” So she’s suing the company. Why this celebrity story matters: highly invasive treatments like this are sold as an easy-peasy out-patient treatment—so minor you “can go into the CoolSculpting procedure, and then you can hit the gym later that day.” FYI, CoolSculpting is very much available in India. (New York Times)
Some folks are very offended by…
One: A Manyavar ad starring Alia Bhat that challenges the idea of ‘Kanyadaan’ in weddings—which isn’t exactly radical. But a Hindutva group is outraged at this flagrant insult to sanskriti—and they have the support of (who else) Kangana Ranaut who declared: “Humble request to all brands ….. don’t use religion, minority, majority politics to sell things …. Stop manipulating naive consumer with shrewd divisive concepts and advertising…” Dividing whom, exactly? People who live in 2021 and those who don’t? See the ad below. (Deccan Herald)
Two: The highly respected medical journal Lancet is under fire for an article on menstruation that describes women—among other things—as “bodies with vaginas.” The reason: To be inclusive of trans people. Adding to the controversy: Lancet chose to carry that particular quote on its cover—which said: “Historically, the anatomy and physiology of bodies with vaginas have been neglected.” A number of feminists are furious, as are many doctors, especially women: “You can be inclusive without being insulting and abusive. How dare you dehumanise us with a statement like this?” Wherever you fall in this debate, here’s a thought-provoking point made by one of the critics:
“Considering, as the replies highlight, that The Lancet has recently published work on prostates and refer to men, I don’t think the decision to use ‘bodies with vaginas’ is an attempt at inclusive language.”
Netflix India’s big list of projects
At its global fan event—inexplicably named TUDUM after that opening sound you hear at the start of every Netflix offering—the company announced a slate of upcoming Indian releases. The most noteworthy among them: ‘Aranyak’ where Raveena Tandon plays a cop investigating the disappearance of a tourist in the Himalayas—with a big supernatural twist thrown in:
Next: Madhuri Dixit playing a superstar who mysteriously disappears in ‘Finding Anamika’:
And last but not least: Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s first streaming series ‘Heeramandi’:
The Hindu has the full list—with descriptions.
Elon Musk is “semi-separated”
Here’s a new term to add to your dating terminology—thanks to one of the most eccentric billionaires of our time. Musk and his girlfriend Grimes have broken up, but they have a new term for it. He said:
“We are semi-separated but still love each other, see each other frequently and are on great terms. It’s mostly that my work at SpaceX and Tesla requires me to be primarily in Texas or traveling overseas and her work is primarily in LA. She’s staying with me now and Baby X is in the adjacent room.”
If you really care, Vogue has taken the pains to explain the deep meaning of ‘semi separated’.