Jair Bolsonaro is in trouble
The Brazilian president’s government is falling apart! He sacked at least five members of the cabinet in one week—including the foreign and defence minister. He’s changed his health minister five times since the beginning of the pandemic. But now all hell has truly broken loose: the three chiefs of the Army, Navy and Air Force have simultaneously resigned in protest! Meanwhile, 43% of Brazilians blame Bolsonaro for the poor handling of the pandemic. And they’re not wrong. Brazil is #2 in both the total number of Covid cases and deaths. (BBC News)
The great pandemic: A quick update
- Totally unsurprisingly, Rishikesh and Haridwar are witnessing a significant surge of cases ahead of the Maha Kumbh Mela—which will kick off today. And that surge is going to keep surging given the crowds seen in this clip. Also: The Taj hotel in Rishikesh has shut down after 76 people tested positive.
- Delhi airport authorities will conduct random Covid tests on passengers—and require anyone who later tests positive to quarantine themselves.
- Brazil has said ‘thanks, but no thanks’ to Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin—after ordering 20 million doses. The reason: “non-compliance with the requirements of Good Manufacturing Practices for Medicines.” Ouch!
- According to new trial data, the Pfizer vaccine is almost 100% effective in kids between the ages of 12-15—even more so than adults.
- Japan’s All Nippon Airways Co. (ANA) has a new luxury in-flight dining experience, the “winged restaurant”. The only catch: This plane stays parked on the runway and costs a whopping $540 for a typical first class meal.
- A good pandemic read: Washington Post has a hall of shame for world leaders who totally mishandled the crisis. The competition is fierce, btw.
In bizarre pandemic-related news: Indian tourists in the Maldives are very unhappy. The reason: Those who test positive on the island nation have to pay for their own quarantine. This can turn a short holiday into an expensive two-week stay at a luxury hotel—but only if you refuse to opt for the far cheaper, government facility. So a lot of them are very upset—and demanding the Indian high commission save them from their own ill-thought travel decisions. Indian Express has more on their “harrowing” experiences. Point to note: 49,322 Indians visited Maldives as of March 6.
India’s shocking gender ranking
India has placed #140 among #156 countries in the World Economic Forum’s annual Global Gender Gap Report. We were #112 among 153 countries last year—so that’s a bit of a slide. The report looks at four main indicators of gender parity: economic opportunity, political power, education and health. Our gender gap increased by 3% this year. The biggest slide was on the political front—where it widened by 13.5% due to a reduction in women Ministers. Also this: the estimated earned income of Indian women is one-fifth of that of men—making us one of the worst-performing nations in the world. FYI: Iceland is the most gender equal country in the world. (The Telegraph)
Added bad news: The report also reveals how 12 months of the pandemic have delivered a terrible setback to women everywhere. Last year, the same report estimated that it would take 99.5 years to close the gender gap. Now that number is 135.6. (Time)
RBI offers auto-pay reprieve
The Reserve Bank pushed back the deadline to implement new guidelines that would require banks to specifically get your explicit consent before executing recurring payments on your credit/debit cards. The reason: no one including banks had the systems in place to execute the new rules—and it would have totally messed up everyone’s payments and life. The new deadline: September 30. You can go back to worrying about your Airtel payments then. (MoneyControl)
Google is worse than Apple
Researchers found that Google accessed 20x more user data via an Android phone like Pixel than Apple does with an iPhone. Even when idle, Google collects about 1MB data every 12 hours while Apple collects around 52 KB. One extra-creepy detail:
“When a user inserts a SIM in either of these smartphones, both Google and Apple are sent details. It was found that iOS sends the MAC addresses of nearby devices to Apple as well as their GPS location. iOS users cannot opt out of this and there seem to be almost no realistic options for preventing this.”
NDTV Gadgets Now has more.
A medical student scam in Philippines
As we know, Indian students will go anywhere in the world to get a medical or engineering degree. Around 15,000 head to the Philippines every year—lured by easier admission criteria and cheaper fees. But many fall victim to agents who take away their passports, and squeeze them for vast amounts of money—which has prompted the Indian embassy in Manila to issue a strong warning. The Hindu explains how these rackets work.
The Oscars’ new plan
The organisers of the Academy awards really, really don’t want people to ‘Zoom in’ their acceptance speeches. First, they required everyone to show up in person in Los Angeles. When that caused a backlash, they’ve now come up with a new plan: ‘hubs’ in London and Paris for European nominees (because who cares about the rest?). But hey if you do show up, they promise to cover your travel costs and an Oscar experience like no other: "We've turned it into kind of a cocktail party, essentially." Wait, it wasn’t one already? (Hollywood Reporter)
A movies-related good read: Indian Express looks at the dire state of movie theatres and the industry—as Bollywood movie-makers are once again forced to postpone their big releases for 2021.
Swiss Army’s new underwear policy
Switzerland is making history in the strangest possible way. Its military will finally issue women’s underwear to its female recruits. Yes, you read that right. Until now, the standard uniform included only loose-fitting men's underwear, often in larger sizes. The Army hopes this great new stride in acknowledging the reality of female anatomy will boost the numbers of women soldiers from 1% to 10%—because who doesn’t want panties that actually fit. As one female soldier puts it, your underwear really “makes a difference whether you have to crawl on the floor with 27 kilograms of luggage or sit quietly on an office chair.” (BBC News)
There’s a new dino in town!
A new fossil find in Argentina has uncovered the existence of a mega-sized dinosaur now dubbed Llukalkan aliocranianus—which lived eighty million years ago. This contender for the next Jurassic Park sequel was a bipedal, meat-eating predator with a “stubby, rugged skull,” could grow to nearly 30 feet long, and had excellent hearing. Gizmodo has more details. Also: it most likely looked like this.
In other animal-related news: Some black bear cubs in California have been seen behaving like overly friendly dogs. For example: one of them walked into a classroom and “sat in the back just like a puppy dog.” But this isn’t a good thing. The reason for this unusual behaviour is an inflammation of the brain caused by a virus—and it makes it impossible for them to survive in the wild. Many have been moved to wildlife shelters. See a bear with a snowboard below. (Business Insider)
