Ex French prez goes to jail
Nicolas Sarkozy and his then wife Carla Bruni were once the most glamorous first couple in the world. Now, Sarkozy is divorced and will end up spending at least a year in jail—or more likely, under house arrest. The reason: He was found guilty of trying to bribe a senior magistrate to illegally obtain information on a judicial investigation into his campaign finances. Point to note: Sarkozy still faces a number of other serious charges, including the claim that he illegally took money from Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi to finance his election run. (CNN)
The great pandemic: A quick update
- Indians with certain underlying health conditions are now eligible for the vaccine—but experts say the list is too narrow. With the focus on severe illnesses, equally dangerous conditions like hypertension have been left out.
- Japan has asked China to stop using anal swabs to tests its citizens for Covid as it “caused a great psychological pain.”
- A new survey shows that 60% of Russians don’t want to take the Sputnik V vaccine—and 64% think the virus was created as a biological weapon.
- Vox comes bearing good news: Meeting people and doing things outdoors still works as an excellent safety measure against even the nastiest of variants.
- The Wire uncharitably notes that PM Modi is the only world leader to put his image on the Covid vaccine certificate.
Indian working women have it worst?
In a LinkedIn survey of working women in the Asia-Pacific region, Indian women reported experiencing the greatest levels of gender bias:
“On reasons for being unhappy with opportunities to advance in their careers, 22% working women in India said their companies exhibit a favourable bias towards men at work, compared to the regional average of 16%. In India, 85% of working women claim to have missed out on a raise, promotion, or work offer because of their gender, compared to the regional average of 60%.”
Also: men appear to be far less aware of the bias than women: 37% of the women say they get fewer opportunities than men, while only 25% men agree. And the same gap is clear on the matter of salary gap between women (37%) and men (21%). (Mint)
A New York-sized iceberg!
A giant chunk of ice—measuring 490 square miles (1,290 square km)—has broken off the Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica. And it may be the first of a series of such breakaways or ‘calvings’ in the coming weeks. The event wasn’t a surprise and no, for once, it doesn’t have anything to do with climate change. BBC News has all the nerdy details, USA Today offers more context. See animation of the break below:
Honouring Tiger Woods
A great number of top golfers wore his trademark red shirt in solidarity with Woods who is recovering from a serious car accident. He said in response:
"It is hard to explain how touching today was when I turned on the tv and saw all the red shirts. To every golfer and every fan, you are truly helping me get through this tough time."
A very ancient trophy ‘car’!
Archaeologists are very excited over the discovery of an almost-perfectly preserved ceremonial chariot near Pompeii in Italy. Given its ornate carvings, it likely belonged to a wealthy family, and was used for special occasions. One expert said:
"Many of the vehicles I'd written about before ... are your standard station wagon or vehicle for taking the kids to soccer. This is a Lamborghini. This is an outright fancy, fancy car."
Also: It looks like this:
The very meh Golden Globes
There were no big surprises at the Globes this year—and the fact that they were held virtually didn’t help the enthusiasm. Though the in-home venues did allow for some excellent seat-fillers. Here are a few highlights if you missed them:
The winners and losers: Vox has the full list. But we personally are very happy that ‘Soul’ won best animated feature—which marked the debut of Black filmmaker Kemp Powers—and Chloé Zhao became the second female director to score the top award for ‘Nomadland’. Meanwhile, organisers received backlash for not allowing ‘Minari’, a film on a Korean American immigrant family, to compete in the best picture awards. It won Best Motion Picture (Foreign Language).
Best and worst moments: are over at New York Times, but our vote goes to the speech by Chadwick Boseman’s widow, Taylor Simone Ledward—who accepted his best actor award for ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’. Though everyone’s talking about Jane Fonda too.
Best looks: Yeah there was no red carpet, but people still dolled for their Zoom moment at home. The Cut has the full list. Our favourite is Cynthia Erivo, but everyone is also talking about Jason Sudeikis’s hoodie: