A big reminder about the Splainer AMA
ICYMI, the guest speaker at our second edition will be the wonderful Madhavi Menon, Director, Centre for Studies in Gender & Sexuality, at Ashoka University—often referred to as the ‘historian of desire’. Get ready to ask questions about the history of sex and sexuality in India, be it in the Mahabarata or in the movies. Read: a review of her book here, and a wide-ranging interview here. Time/Date: 6 pm on Saturday, May 15, via Zoom. Sign up: for one of the limited slots here ASAP since they are running out—and the deadline is 5 pm today! We will be sending a Zoom invite this evening to everyone who has signed up. So hurry!
Israel initiates ground war
The conflict between Israel and Palestine escalated as Israel announced its troops have entered the Gaza Strip. People are evacuating their homes in the northeastern part, while Hamas warned of a "heavy response" to any attempt to send ground troops. Israel has also greatly increased the number of air strikes, with one Palestinian journalist reporting:
“From our colleague on the ground in Gaza: ‘My children are completely panicked. It feels like more than 200 bombs are going off at once. The houses are shaking. Buildings are collapsing on people. The sound of their screams is terrifying.’"
See a clip of buildings collapsing in Gaza below:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “I said we would extract a very heavy price from Hamas...We are doing that, and we will continue to do that with heavy force.” Meanwhile, Egypt is trying to negotiate a truce between both sides.
The civil war: While the two countries have clashed before, what makes this battle exceptional are the accompanying riots within Israel. Mobs of Jews and Arabs have been engaged in violent clashes across the country—resulting in burning cars, destruction of property and businesses and violent attacks on individuals. And many worry that the civil war will be harder to stop than the conflict with Palestine. Washington Post and The Guardian have more on riots. Watch a clip of Arab businesses being attacked below. This thread has more clips of the violence.
The politics of war: The confrontation with Hamas is well-timed for Netanyahu who is currently being tried for corruption—while having failed to achieve a majority in the recent election. The clash began just as Netanyahu was about to be ousted from power. And the opposition coalition—which includes both Arab and rightwing Jewish parties—is unlikely to reach a consensus while there’s rioting on the streets, and rockets in the air. New York Times has more on the bid to get rid of Bibi.
Meanwhile on social media: Instagram censored all images of the Al-Aqsa mosque because its content moderation system put the mosque in a category reserved for terrorist organisations. The error has since been corrected. Meanwhile, cricketers like Irfan Pathan and Rashid Khan have been speaking out against civilian deaths in Gaza on Twitter. Last but not least: Here’s this Indian genius—with an Adolf Hitler DP—expressing his support for Israel.
The great pandemic: A longish update
- First, the numbers: We recorded 328,435 lakh new cases and 3,700 deaths. Of those testing positive: 50 of Bharat Biotech’s employees.
- The horror story of oxygen shortage continues in Goa. Fifteen people died in a single ward when oxygen pressure suddenly dropped. This is after 26 died at a hospital in recent days. The new peril in hospitals: constant fluctuations in oxygen pressure that can prove fatal if they happen in the middle of the night.
- Maharashtra’s new lockdown rules limit the number of people in a truck to two—and both must carry Covid negative certificates if they cross state borders. All of which will create more red tape that will slow down supply chains.
- The government says that a staggering 2.16 billion doses will become available in India between August and December.
- But vaccine shortages are expected to continue for another three months. So it’s a first famine, then feast situation.
- New vaccine guidelines suggest a 12-16 week gap between Covishield jabs—following the UK’s cue. The previous recommended gap: 4-6 weeks. The good news: this latest move is actually backed by science. And research shows that ensuring more people get at least one jab actually saves lives.
- Also: People who have recovered from an infection have been asked to wait six months to get their vaccination.
- New research shows that mixing two different vaccines leads to stronger side-effects like fatigue and headaches.
- Ohio is turning its vaccination campaign into a lottery: five lucky residents who have received at least one jab will get $1 million each.
- Related good read: Entrackr reports on grief and despair among India’s gig workers. The News Minute has a guide for those who want to adopt children who have lost their parents to Covid. MIT Technology Review offers five reasons why you shouldn’t panic about variants. Vox has the story of a billionaire who donated $1 billion in Covid relief to India. The catch: it was all in cryptocurrency.
- Going viral: This striking and unusual image taken at a crematorium.
- Also going viral: This Print video of an interview with a very angry RSS supporter railing at the government:
The $5 million fuel price tag
As you may know, one of the largest pipelines delivering fuel to the East Coast was recently hacked—which affected its IT systems. The company that owns the pipeline shut it down, and that in turn triggered a mad rush to hoard petrol. Mercifully, Colonial Pipeline has restarted its operations, but has reportedly paid $5 million in ransom to the hacker group known as DarkSide—and did so within hours of the attack. And apparently they got off cheap, according to experts:
“Ransom is usually around $25 million to $35 million for such a company. I think the threat actor realized they stepped on the wrong company and triggered a massive government response.”
Why this matters: It offers incentive for more such attacks in the future. (The Verge)
Disappointing news about ovarian cancer
The world’s largest screening trial—with 200,000 participants—has failed. It aimed to use rising levels of a chemical CA125 released by ovarian tumours for early detection. Why this matters: ovarian cancer is extremely difficult to detect as it mimics symptoms—bloated stomach, frequent urination etc.—of far less serious diseases. (BBC News)
Two bits of health news
One: New research shows that eating lots of carbs does not in fact lead to weight gain. Conventional wisdom holds that carbs in foods spike insulin levels, which in turn boost appetite and triggers the storage of fat. The study that put mice on high-carb diets found that they actually ate fewer calories, gained less fat and had lower body weight. And other human studies show similar results. What this likely means: People on low-carb diets lose weight simply because they eat fewer calories—which may be the key to any diet. (Eating Well)
Two: A new study reaffirms the close two-way relationship between mental health and exercise. It found that people with a strong purpose in life tend to exercise more in their old age—which in turn gave more purpose to their lives in the later years. (New York Times)
Three odd bits of celeb news
One: Madame Tussauds has yanked the wax figures of Harry and Meghan from the display of the royal family—and plonked them in the ‘Awards Party Zone’ next to George Clooney, David Beckham etc. Well, if you were looking for visual metaphors…
Two: Russia has entered into an odd kind of space race with the US. Tom Cruise is scheduled to film Mission Impossible with director Doug Liman on the International Space Station in October. Now, the Russians are planning to send actor Yulia Peresild and director Klim Shipenko in the very same month—perhaps in the very early days of October to beat Cruise. (The Guardian)
Three: The former Miss Myanmar has taken up arms to fight the military. In a Facebook post, she is seen in combat fatigues with a high-powered gun. The accompanying message said: “We all protested peacefully and were brutally shot. It’s time to take action, as the saying goes, to fight back.”
