North Korea launched a missile

North Korea has tested a new cruise missile which travelled up to 1,500 km—and is capable of hitting most of Japan. It is the country's first long-range missile that could possibly carry a nuclear warhead. Now, UN sanctions don’t apply to such cruise missiles, but to ballistic missiles. The reason: The ballistic kind can carry bigger and more powerful payloads, have a much longer range, and can fly faster. 

So Pyongyang hasn’t violated those rules as such, but it is still serious, as experts point out: “This would be the first cruise missile in North Korea to be explicitly designated a ‘strategic’ role. This is a common euphemism for nuclear-capable system.” What we don’t know: If North Korea has developed the technology to manufacture smaller nuclear bombs for these missiles. (BBC News)

Speaking of nukes: Iran dialed back its defiant stance and struck a last-minute deal with the International Atomic Energy Agency—which will allow inspectors to reset monitoring equipment which will track the activity of its nuclear program. This is the minimum requirement to resume talks on the nuclear deal with the US and its allies—which Donald Trump broke, and imposed sanctions on Tehran. Iran resumed enriching its uranium ever since—and is estimated to be only a month away from having enough material for a bomb. So there’s hope that both sides can still come back to the negotiating table—especially since President Biden is keen on restoring the agreement. (New York Times)

Supreme Court stands firm on Pegasus

The Court is currently hearing a number of petitions demanding an investigation into the use of the Israeli snoopware to spy on citizens (explained here and here). And the government has now flatly refused to file an affidavit to clarify whether or not Pegasus was deployed—insisting that revealing such details “will not serve national interests.” But the Chief Justice was not impressed by the argument, and told the government to stop “beating around the bush,” adding:

“We are again reiterating that we are not interested in any manner or in any way to know the issues which are concerned about the security or the defence or any other national interest issue. We are only concerned, in the face of allegations that some software was used against some particular citizens, journalists, lawyers etc, to know whether this software has been used by the government, by any method other than permissible under the law.”

And it has given the government three days to file an affidavit as ordered. If the Centre misses the deadline, the apex court could form a special investigation team (SIT) to conduct a court-monitored probe into allegations of illegal snooping. The Telegraph has more details on the order, while Indian Express has details of the arguments presented in court. 

A hunger crisis in Afghanistan

The United Nations convened a high level conference to deal with an impending humanitarian crisis—where million of Afghans are at the risk of starvation:

“Nearly 10 million girls and boys depend on humanitarian assistance just to survive…At least one million children will suffer from severe acute malnutrition this year and could die without treatment.”

The Taliban has taken power in the midst of a drought—where 40% of all crops have been lost. The UN says it has secured $1 billion in pledges from a number of nations—which do not, however, include India. (New York Times)

Yet another (insane) billionaire space flight

Not to be outdone by Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk is getting ready to send an all-civilian crew into outer space on September 15. The flight will be piloted by a 38-year-old billionaire Jared Isaacman—who is allegedly an “experienced pilot” and has bought all four seats on the flight for the hefty price of $200 million. So it will be the first orbital space tourism flight that doesn't have an astronaut to guide the passengers through launch and landing. And Inspiration4 will orbit 360 miles above Earth, higher than the International Space Station—and they will stay up there for three days! Umm, yay? ABC News has all the crazy details.

A single jab for Covid+flu?

Moderna announced it is developing a one-dose vaccine booster shot—called mRNA-1073—that will protect people against Covid and the seasonal flu. And it will be starting human trials soon. But Moderna isn’t the only one in the two-for-one game. Novavax announced a similar trial recently. (Deseret News)

A surprising vaccine-related fact: A lot of the anti-vaxxer information comes not from rightwing loonies but wellness influencers—the kind who focus on natural remedies, holistic health and new age spirituality. And here’s the really interesting bit: It isn’t the social media mega-celebs who do the most damage:

“Still, it’s those with anywhere between 10,000 and 50,000 followers—sometimes known as ‘microinfluencers’—who are believed within the marketing industry to have an especially outsized impact on their followers. In a post last year for a blog owned by the Association of National Advertisers, Lesley Vos wrote that social media users ‘don’t trust celebs or experts with more than 100,000 followers anymore.’ Micro-influencers, on the other hand—and their even more niche cousins, nanoinfluencers, with fewer than 10,000 followers—can seem less sold-out and more authentic, approachable or relatable.”

Jet Airways is coming back!

The airline plans to resume domestic operations by the first quarter of 2022—and will begin short-haul international flights by the third and fourth quarter. This is after shutting shop in 2019 due to bankruptcy. The airline is aiming for a fleet of more than 50 aircraft in three years and over 100 in five. Two good related reads: Indian Express on what can go wrong with Jet 2.0, and Quartz on how the new incarnation will be different from the old one. (Mint)

Kerala nuns vs bigotry

Four nuns walked out of a prayer service in Kuravilangad when the priest launched into an anti-Muslim rant. According to them, “[the] priest in the speech said that things like vegetables should not be bought from Muslims and asked the congregation not to travel in the autorickshaws they drive.” The same nuns had previously staged a protest against Bishop Franco who was accused of rape. This comes on the heels of a prominent bishop raging against “love and narcotic jihad”—accusing Muslim men of targetting Christian women “after trapping them in love, exploiting and misusing them for destructive activities like terrorism.” (The News Minute)

In other women-related news: Ola’s new factory aims to build 10 million two-wheelers annually, or 15% of the world's electric scooters by 2022—and it will be operated and managed entirely by women! (NDTV)

Best cities in the world

Time Out magazine held a global survey to determine which cities really excelled in the midst of a pandemic. The winner: San Francisco (really?)—followed by Amsterdam, Manchester and Copenhagen. Tokyo was  #10, Shanghai came in at #17 and Hong Kong at #20. No sign of Singapore in the top 20. Colour us a wee bit unconvinced. Check out the full list over at Time Out.

Highlights of the MTV awards 

ICYMI, Lil Nas X took home the top honour at the Video Music Awards, shouting during his acceptance speech: “First I wanna say thank you to the gay agenda. Let's go gay agenda!” Check out the complete list here. And a lot of the big moments marked a flashback to the 80s. Madonna kicked off the action with this very Madonna moment:

Cyndi Lauper gave a big shout out to women’s rights—as did Billie Eilish: 

The award for best outfit on the red carpet went hands down to Billy Porter:

Best outfit for an acceptance speech: Doja Cat forever!

Puppy with the upside down paws

Siggi the spotted rat terrier was born with an unusual defect: her front paws were the wrong way around. Like so:

According to veterinarian surgeons: 

“Siggi’s problem looked like it was in the paws, but it was actually in her elbows… For reasons not fully understood, these patients’ elbows come out of joint early in life and the result is severe rotation of the lower front limbs and an inability to walk. At most, they might muster a crawl that seems most uncomfortable and is poorly suited for a dog's life.”

The good news is that they were able to successfully fix her paws—which marked only the second time such a surgery has been performed. And Siggi is all happy and running around! (CNN)