A very important holiday announcement
The splainer team will be taking their annual holiday, starting Friday, December 24. We will be back and raring to go on January 3. We know you will miss getting your daily splainer during this week, but as a founder, I strongly believe in a work culture that encourages mental wellness and work-life balance. We wish you all a joyous and restful holiday with your friends and fam, as well:)
PS: To make up for our absence, we are working on a big holiday advisory for Thursday which we hope will give you lots of fun things to do… other than reading the news lol!
The great pandemic: A quick update
One: A Lancet study shows that the protection offered by Covishield/AstraZeneca significantly declines three months after receiving two doses. Risk of hospitalisation and severe disease starts to increase after that mark: “when compared with two weeks after receiving a second dose, there was approximately a fivefold increase in the chance of being hospitalised or dying from Covid nearly five months after being double vaccinated.”
Two: Indian experts say that a third wave fueled by Omicron is inevitable: “But when it will start, how long it will last and how high it will rise are questions to which no one has answers for now.” The government has asked states to start implementing night curfews and containment zones. Our variant total as of now: 200.
Three: Omicron now accounts for 73% of all new infections in the US—which marks a six-fold increase in just one week. The United States also reported its first known death caused by the variant—an unvaccinated Texan man.
Four: Scientists in South Africa are studying the “highly plausible hypothesis” that links the emergence of new variants to HIV-positive people who are not taking medicines to control the disease. In one case, a woman continued to test positive for Covid-19 for almost eight months—while the virus underwent more than 30 genetic shifts. When immune systems are weak, it allows the virus to linger in the body and keep mutating.
Karnataka tables anti-conversion bill
The proposed law is more stringent than those introduced in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat—imposing a higher minimum punishment and fine. The News Minute takes a closer look at the bill while The Telegraph reports on the opposition it faces in the Assembly. We did an explainer on anti-conversion bills here.
The rupee is doing very poorly
The INR will end the year as Asia’s worst performing currency among emerging markets—expected to drop 4% this year. One big reason: $4.2 billion in foreign funds were pulled out of the Indian stock market. And the rupee’s future does not look rosy: Some financial experts expect it to decline to 78 per dollar by end-March, falling past the previous record low of 76.9088 reached in April 2020. A Bloomberg survey of traders and analysts forecast the rupee will hit 76.50. (Bloomberg News via The Quint)
Also not doing well: Chinese companies—which have entirely dropped out of the global top 10 companies in terms of market capitalization—thanks to the decline of Tencent and Alibaba. (Nikkei Asia)
Government bans 20 YouTube channels
The effects of the new IT rules (explained here) are beginning to show. Twenty YouTube channels and two websites were taken down for infringing on “the sovereignty and integrity of India.” Government officials claim they were carrying “anti-India content”—and were being run by Pakistani intelligence agencies. Why this matters: "This is for the first time that the emergency powers under the IT Rules, 2021 have been cited to ban anti-India propaganda websites.” (The Telegraph)
Speaking of Pakistan: Opening batsman Abid Ali had to be rushed to the hospital while playing the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. He has been diagnosed with a heart condition called Acute Coronary Syndrome. (Hindustan Times)
Himalayan glaciers are melting fast
A new study shows that the vast ice sheets have shrunk 10 times faster in the past 40 years than in the past seven centuries. And they’re melting even faster than large glaciers in New Zealand, Greenland, Patagonia and other parts of the world. But researchers did not offer any reason for this level of acceleration. Point to note: Mountain glaciers are expected to vanish entirely in some regions by 2100. (Wall Street Journal via Mint)
This is the biggest bug ever!
Scientists have discovered the fossil of a giant millipede in England. It was as long as a car—and weighed 50 kg! It was spotted by fluke by a former doctoral student in a block of sandstone that fell off a cliff. The 326 million year old creature lived over 100 million years before the rise of the dinosaurs. We’d show you the fossil, except it just looks like a chunk of stone. (The Guardian)
Navi has your number
The digital lending company—owned by Sachin Bansal—has been spamming people with text messages that include their full name—and PAN! A typical message reads: “Dear XYZ, Congratulations!! Your PAN [full 10 digits] is eligible for a pre-approved personal loan of Rs 5 lakh from Navi. Apply now.” Yikes! This when even income tax authorities mask the PAN in all their communications. After a big outcry on social media, Navi has finally stopped scaring the wits out of everyone—but won’t say how it got its paws on our private information. Best guesses: either a home loan application, EMI payment or credit score evaluation with some company—which then sold the information to Navi. (Moneycontrol)
South Indian movies kick Bollywood’s ass
Trade experts estimate that movies from the South will have chalked up way more at the box office than Hindi films—thanks to hits like ‘Master’, ‘Vakeel Saab’, ‘Love Story’ and the latest ‘Akhanda’ and ‘Pushpa: The Rise-Part One’. The total estimated revenue: Rs 10 billion (1,000 crore) compared to Bwood’s Rs 4.5 billion (450 crore). Bollywood can only boast of one genuine blockbuster in 2021: ‘Sooryavanshi’—with hopes still pinned on ‘83’. One reason for the gap: theatres opened faster in the South. (Mint)
Speaking of North vs South: The Swiggy 2021 data shows that the top orders in North Indian and Maharashtrian cities were vegetarian—with the exception of Lucknow—while chicken biryani scored high in Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad. Biryanis were the most popular item—with over 115 biryanis ordered per minute—but the chicken version is way ahead of its vegetarian cousin. The most binged snack: samosa. The biggest mystery: Veg Pizza McPuff coming in at #2 on Delhi’s list. Indian Express has more details and a city-specific breakdown is here.
Two Big Story updates
One: Back in July, we covered a huge oil spill caused by a Japanese ship running aground a coral reef off the coast of Mauritius. The captain Sunil Kumar Nandeshwar has been found guilty—along with his first officer. He admitted to “drinking moderately during a birthday party onboard”—and then was given orders to approach closer to the coast so the crew could get mobile reception to call home. Point to remember: 1,000 tonnes of fuel leaked into the water, sparking an ecological crisis. (BBC News)
Two: In March, we looked at Dubai’s royal house of horrors—which included a bitter divorce dispute between its ruler Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum and his wife Haya. She fled Dubai fearing for her life, and has since accused him of trying to kidnap her. A UK court has finally ordered a settlement that could reach £554 million—making it the biggest divorce case in British history. BBC News and The Guardian have more details.
Kosovo will host Danish prisoners
In an unusual international deal, Kosovo has agreed to rent out 300 prison cells at an annual fee of £12.8 million—to help ease overcrowding in Denmark’s jails. The prisoners will not be Danish citizens, but criminals from non-EU countries who will be deported soon after their jail term is done. (BBC News)
Drake slows you down
A new (not very scientific) study looked at the running times clocked by runners listening to different artists. It found that anything by Drake added 21 seconds per kilometre, while his music extended a three-mile run by one minute and 45 seconds. OTOH, Beyoncé‘s music shaved off 33 seconds per kilometre—and two minutes and 45 seconds off a three-mile run. Now, we generally prefer our Bee in pjs and a gallon of wine, but this doesn’t surprise us at all. (NME)
Speaking of popular musicians: Eric Clapton is not aging well at all. He has successfully sued a German woman who tried to sell a bootleg CD of his music on eBay for around $11. She will now have to pay $3,500 to cover his court costs. This is part of a pattern with Clapton—who has recently revealed himself as a notorious anti-vaxxer. But what surprised us is this revelation from his past: In 1976, Clapton declared at a concert:
“This is England, this is a white country, we don’t want any black wogs and coons living here. We need to make clear to them they are not welcome. England is for white people, man. We are a white country.”
Two things to see
One: Illustrator Chidiebere Ibe created an image of a black pregnant woman—and the foetus inside her womb—as a comment on the lack of representation in medical literature. It went viral, and he is now selling it as an NFT, of course. (Bloomberg News)
Two: Speaking of viral foetuses, a TikTok video uploaded by a doctor shows a rare ectopic pregnancy—where the fetus is growing inside a woman’s liver. The case is actually from 2006. The doctors could not save the fetus but the rest of the operation was “uneventful.” (USA Today)