The maha-yudh vs Donald Trump: An update
- House Democrats formally introduced an article of impeachment on Monday, charging Trump with inciting an insurrection. The measure has 200 co-sponsors and the House will vote on it on Wednesday. The justification: The President has "demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security, democracy and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office”.
- The FBI has issued a warning of potential violence at 50 state capitals in the run up to Joe Biden’s inauguration. Also: “An identified armed group has said it plans to travel to Washington on January 16 and vowed an uprising if attempts are made to remove Trump from office.”
- The Pentagon has authorised 15,000 National Guard troops to be deployed to protect the inauguration.
- Far right networks are already planning armed protests in multiple cities—including a march on Washington DC.
- Not worried about a thing: President elect Joe Biden's pooch Major who is getting an "Indoguration" of his own—as the first ever rescue dog to move into the White House. Also this: participants can nominate their pups to be part of Major's Cabinet as the ‘Secretary of Rescue Dogs.’
- This shocking clip shows the mob dragging and pummelling a police officer—beating him with a flag pole. Washington Post has more on this story.
- In better news, some of the biggest companies have suspended all campaign contributions to members of Congress who challenged the election results. Hallmark is asking for its money back.
- In even happier news, a number of the rioters have been arrested—including Jacob Chansley, the infamous young man in a fur hat and horns. His mom is very unhappy because “he hasn’t eaten since Friday because the detention facility won’t feed him all organic food.” Aww, poor baby!
- Last but not least: This delightful montage of the arrests set to ‘Layla’.
The vaccines are rolling out the door
The government has finally signed a purchase agreement with Serum Institute of India for 11 million doses of Covishield—the Indian variant of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. The price per dose: Rs 200. The first phase will target 30 million frontline and healthcare workers—with the union government bearing the costs. The states don’t know what the arrangement will be in subsequent stages.
Also this: Three trucks carrying 478 boxes rolled out of the Serum factory and headed for Pune airport. And they are getting armed escorts to keep them safe. Times of India has more on this angle.
In other pandemic related news:
- Despite widespread vaccination campaigns, the WHO warns that the world will not achieve herd immunity in 2021. So social distancing is here to stay for at least another year.
- Pfizer says its vaccine is effective against the highly-infectious variants discovered in the UK and South Africa—and has promised to release confirming data soon.
- The likelihood you are willing to get the jab is somewhat linked to your politics. According to a new survey, 49% of BJP supporters said they will take the vaccine compared to 46% of those who support the Congress party. The good news: Only 6% are anti-vaxxers. Also interesting: 50% said they would wait to see reports about the effectiveness of the vaccines before they take it. Mint has more details and charts on the results.
Indian cricket has a big day
Yes, the third test match in Sydney ended in a draw—but it sure felt like a big win for Indians. Despite a spate of injuries, racial attacks and the early loss of captain Ajinkya Rahane’s wicket, we batted 131 overs to score 334/5. Four batsmen—Cheteshwar Pujara, Rishabh Pant, Hanuma Vihari and Ravi Ashwin—played 100-plus deliveries to save the day. Indian Express explains why this was a true victory irrespective of what the scoreboard says. The Telegraph has more on Rahane’s comments after the match.
Not having a good day: The Australians who didn’t exactly cover themselves in glory, thanks mainly due to their awful attitude. Steve Smith tried to erase Pant’s batting guard marks from the crease—to trick him into getting run out. And captain Tim Paine spent a great amount of his time sledging Ashwin—including maybe putting on a fake Indian accent:
In other off-the-field good news: Indian skipper Virat Kohli and Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma had a baby girl! Kohli announced it here.
Google cracks down on lending apps
The company has kicked out four Indian money lending apps from its Play Store. These are among ten apps flagged by a Reuters investigation as predatory lenders:
“Some of these apps apply steep processing fees, as high as 2,000 rupees ($27) on loans of less than 10,000 rupees with tenures of 30 days or under, according to the 15 borrowers. Together with other charges including one-off registration costs, borrowers can pay, in real terms, interest rates as high as 60 percent per week, their loan details show.”
FYI: Indian banks typically offer personal loans with annual interest rates of 10-20 percent and they usually do not have to be repaid in full for at least a year. (Reuters via Al Jazeera)
Also in the hall of shame: Indian students taking Graduate Record Examination (GRE) online from their homes—which has been red-flagged by the largest Indian franchise of US-based The Princeton Review. Indian Express has uncovered their modus operandi:
“According to people who witnessed cheating first-hand, a person would enter the room from an angle he/ she is not visible to the online proctor, take pictures of all questions in the particular section — verbal reasoning or quantitative reasoning — as the exam taker scrolls up and down through it. The person then leaves the room to solve these questions with the help of collaborators outside. He would enter the room with a piece of paper with all answers.”
Cancer cells can hibernate
In a bit of spooky news, new research has revealed that cancer cells—when faced by the threat of chemotherapy—can simply go ‘dormant'. Key quote from researchers: “The tumour is acting like a whole organism, able to go into a slow-dividing state, conserving energy to help it survive.”
Two gender things
One: South Koreans are furious at government guidelines for pregnant women. For example:
“Hang the clothes you wore before you were pregnant in a place where they are easy to see as that will motivate you to keep your weight under control and go back to the same weight you were before you gave birth.”
But the final straw in our mind:
“As they near their due date, women should clear their fridge of items that are about to go off and prepare three to four meals, such as curry and soup, that their husbands, ‘who are unaccustomed to cooking,’ can simply heat up while they are fending for themselves.
The guidelines also say women must make sure to leave enough changes of clothes for three days for their husband and children.”
Two: What do you get when you cross chi-chi Gucci with a well-known outdoors apparel company North Face. Answer: priceless images of women hiking hills in heels. Daily Mail has more on the backlash.
Sex and the City is baaack!
Seventeen years after its last episode, the iconic ‘single girl’ series is returning on HBO Max—but sadly without our very favourite character: Samantha. The ten-episode series will be titled ‘And Just Like That’. We’d be worried, but the last SATC flick was so bad (remember the tourism ad for Abu Dhabi pretending to be a movie?), anything will be an improvement. Here’s the teaser below—which features only the city and none of the sex or the women allegedly having it.
In other entertainment news: The folks who brought you a very uplifting Vicky Kaushal flick ‘Uri: The Surgical Strike’ are getting ready to bless us with ‘The Immortal Ashwatthama’ (yes, as in the Mahabharata). It is being billed as a “futuristic science fiction VFX-laden extravaganza.” Variety has details. All we can say is that the posters certainly look cool:
Oral sex may give you cancer
We share this with a heavy heart. Giving lots of oral sex is closely related with contracting human papillomavirus (HPV)—which in turn increases the odds (by 4.3 times) of getting HPV-related cancers. Also this:
"Those who give oral sex before engaging in intercourse for the first time are at an increased risk of becoming infected with HPV. Reason being that, according to researchers, an initial exposure to HPV via the genitals results in a “robust immune response”, thus preparing a person’s body for when the virus is introduced orally. Those who go straight for oral sex lack this immune response, and are therefore at a higher risk of infection."
Say hello to the ‘sperm king’
The pandemic has created an odd kind of shortage of—nope, not toilet rolls, but sperm! Apparently, the baby-making urge has kicked in big time thanks to these end-of-days times. And sperm banks in the US are running low on, well, sperm. The result: a burgeoning industry of unofficial and unregulated sperm donor groups on Facebook. One big risk: Unlike sperm banks, here the donor is known. What is really strange (and very American), due to the sheer demand, there are now men complaining: “I really didn’t come on here to be a pez dispenser style donor.” And there are women who are “known sperm donor” influencers. New York Times has more on this very odd story.