The great pandemic: A quick update
- South Africa is already past its Omicron peak—and the number of hospitalisations are falling. The reason: vaccines and high levels of prior exposure to the virus.
- Not doing as well: The United States with 120,000 daily new cases and 1,300 daily deaths.
- Also worried: the UK, which reported 12,000 new cases of Omicron on Sunday. The overall case tally is 37,101—with at least seven reported deaths.
- India’s Omicron count is now 153. This includes a 29-year-old man with travel history to the US—and who had received three doses of Pfizer. Thankfully, he is asymptomatic.
- The Netherlands began a snap lockdown on Sunday and will last until January 14. All restaurants, hairdressers, gyms, museums and other public places will remain closed.
Srikanth settles for silver
Kidambi Srikanth’s glorious run at the 2021 BWF World Badminton Championships ended in a 15-21, 20-22 loss to Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew in the final. The Telegraph has more on the match. The Hindu explains why Srikanth still has plenty of cause to celebrate his return to form.
Speaking of tennis: Chinese player Peng Shuai made global headlines when she accused former Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli of sexual assault in a social media post—which she has now retracted in her first interview after disappearing from public view. She said: “First, I want to stress a very important point—I never said or wrote that anyone sexually assaulted me…There may have been misunderstandings by everyone.” A reminder: Top tennis players and associations have been expressing concern about Shuai’s welfare for weeks. (New York Times)
Speaking of cricket: NewsLaundry has an alarming report on a proposal to use surveillance devices to prevent match-fixing—which is being considered by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)
Typhoon wreaks havoc in Philippines
At least 146 have died after Typhoon Rai made landfall on Thursday—with sustained winds of up to 195 kilometres per hour and gusts of up to 270 kilometres per hour. At least 227 cities lost electricity—and 300,000 had to evacuate their homes. See the devastation below. (Associated Press)
An exposé of US air wars in the Middle East
The New York Times investigation—based on Pentagon papers—reveals 1,300 civilians were killed due US airstrikes. Their deaths were caused by “deeply flawed intelligence, rushed and often imprecise targeting.” A telling example:
“In November 2015, after observing a man dragging an ‘unknown heavy object’ into an ISIS ‘defensive fighting position,’ American forces struck a building in Ramadi, Iraq. A military review found that the object was actually ‘a person of small stature’ — a child — who died in the strike.”
Also this: “Not a single record provided includes a finding of wrongdoing or disciplinary action. Fewer than a dozen condolence payments were made, even though many survivors were left with disabilities requiring expensive medical care.”
Read the complete report over at New York Times or the key details at Agence France Presse via NDTV.
The Amazon-Future Group war: The latest update
The background: If you don’t know why these two companies are fighting, we recommend checking out our explainer. In sum: Amazon owns a stake in one of the Future Group companies—and insists that Future’s sale of its retail assets to Reliance violates that agreement. The two companies have been filing lawsuits and complaints against one another—here in India and with an arbitration tribunal in Singapore.
The latest twist: The Competition Commission of India (CCI)—India’s antitrust body—has now concluded that Amazon “suppressed the actual scope” of its deal with Future Group—and made “false and incorrect statements” while seeking regulatory approval. The deal has now been suspended—essentially clearing the way for the sale to Reliance. Adding insult to injury, the CCI has imposed a Rs 2 billion (200 crore) penalty. Why this matters: The government appears to have intervened in favour of Reliance—and it may affect how other global companies’ view their investments in the country. (Economic Times)
Speaking of antitrust actions: Apple has asked the CCI to throw out an antitrust case that accuses the company of misusing its market power—specifically, forcing developers to pay 30% in fees to use its AppStore. Apple’s comeback: Google’s Android operating system accounts for 90-100% of the Indian market. Ergo: “Apple is not dominant in the Indian market ... Without dominance, there can be no abuse." (Reuters)
Speaking of Apple: 250 workers at the Foxconn factory in Tamil Nadu—which manufactures iPhones—fell ill due to severe food poisoning. And hundreds of workers held a protest claiming it was caused by food provided at the company hostel—and that Foxconn failed to provide proper medical treatment. (The News Minute)
Chris Noth has been canceled
Over the weekend, Hollywood Reporter published brutal sexual assault allegations leveled by two women—one in Los Angeles in 2004 and the other in New York in 2015. Then a third woman came forward with a similar account. Noth’s agency has now dropped him—and Peloton has pulled the viral video made after his character Big died on ‘And Just Like That’. Question: how will the series deal with Carrie grieving over Big—played by an actor accused of being a monster?
#MeToo in metaverse: In Horizon Worlds—rolled out by the company formerly known as Facebook—up to 20 avatars can get together at a time to explore, hang out, and build within the virtual space. And recently, an avatar of a beta tester was groped by a stranger on the platform. She later posted on Horizon’s Facebook page:
"Sexual harassment is no joke on the regular internet, but being in VR [virtual reality] adds another layer that makes the event more intense. Not only was I groped last night, but there were other people there who supported this behavior which made me feel isolated."
The company’s response: She should have activated the “Safe Zone” tool—that makes sure no one can touch, talk or interact with users within this zone until it is lifted. MIT Technology Review has more on why sexual harassment is going to be a problem in metaverse.
In related news: Scotland police is under fire for saying they will record rapes by “offenders with male genitalia” as being committed by a woman if the attacker “identifies as a female”—even if they have not legally changed their gender. (Times UK)
India is spam call central
According to the Truecaller’s Global Spam Report, India jumped up from #9 to #4 on the list of countries with the highest spam calls. Users of Truecaller received an average of 16.8 spam calls per month. And one single spammer made over 202 million spam calls in a year! Also: “[S]ales related calls accounted for 93.5% of all incoming spam calls, financial services related spam calls were 3.1%, nuisance calls accounted for 2%, while the remaining 1.4% were by scamsters.” But we’re still doing better than Brazil which is #1. (Business Standard)
Two stories of the weird
One: The Delhi police investigation of a recent bomb blast at the Rohini district court has revealed an unexpected suspect: a 47-year-old Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) scientist. He had been engaged in an ongoing war with one of the lawyers—who was his former neighbour:
“Bhushan searched for Vashisht and found him sitting in the back row of the courtroom. He placed the bag containing the IED behind Amit Vashisht and triggered the IED from a safe distance using a remote.”
The Print has more on this only-in-Delhi story.
Two: Conspiracy theorists are convinced that 5G technology will bombard them with radiation. So they’re wearing anti-5G necklaces to protect themselves. Except Netherlands nuclear officials warned that these “negative ion products” actually emit radiation—and the Dutch government has now banned them. Duh! (Gizmodo)
