Researched & collated by: Vagda Galhotra
Sri Lanka gets a new PM
Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has been appointed as prime minister for the sixth time—in an effort to bring stability to a nation wracked by a severe economic crisis and violent protests. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa picked him after his brother, Mahinda, resigned. Rajapaksa has also pledged to give up most of his executive powers—though he has refused to step down. Al Jazeera has more on Ranil Wickremesinghe. FYI: Mahinda and 15 others have been banned from leaving the country—while being investigated for deadly attacks on protesters this week.
The bad news about long Covid
A Lancet study on people hospitalised with the disease found that more than half of them still suffer from at least one symptom—even after two years! The most common: fatigue, muscle pain, poor sleep and breathlessness. Some Indian experts say the number of long Covid patients is lower in India—but others point out we just don’t have enough data to know what’s going on. (The Hindu)
Another mosque controversy in UP
First, some context: To build the grand Kashi Vishwanath Temple Corridor, the government razed narrow lanes and more than 250 buildings—including smaller temples. It also left the Gyanvapi mosque—located right next door—more exposed, raising fears of another Babri Masjid-type event. There’s more context in our Big Story on the corridor. You can see the location of the mosque below:
What happened now: Five Hindu women have filed a case demanding the year-long right to worship at a Hindu shrine inside the mosque’s compound. The court has therefore ordered a survey of the compound—but the mosque officials objected to videotaping the interiors. Even that challenge has now been rejected. In its latest order, the Varanasi court has ordered the survey to include the entire mosque, including the basement and the closed rooms. Indian Express has more on the mosque’s history. (Deccan Herald)
A big cryptocurrency crash
More than $200 million was erased from the entire crypto market in a single day—and the price of bitcoin fell below $26,000 for the first time in 16 months. The shares of trading platform Coinbase nosedived by 31% to $50.15. How bad is this: Its first day closing price when it debuted on the stock market in 2021 was $328.28. So bad that CEO Brian took to Twitter to reassure everyone that there is “no risk of bankruptcy.”
Much of this has to do with jitters over galloping inflation and worries about growth. Also worrying: The fall of stablecoin TerraUSD—which is tied to the dollar and is supposed to be more stable. It plummeted to less than 30 cents. (CNBC)
Also in financial trouble: SoftBank’s highly touted Vision Fund which reported a loss of $27.5 billion in the past fiscal year—which is its worst performance ever. One reason: it heavily backed Chinese startups like Alibaba and Didi—which have crashed at the stock market due to Beijing’s regulatory crackdown. Softbank plans to take a “more careful view” of its Chinese investments. (Reuters)
Maybe headed for trouble: Elon Musk. The Securities Exchange Commission has launched a probe into whether he disclosed his stake in Twitter in time. Regulations require an investor to publicly reveal their stake when it passes 5%. In the case of Musk, this happened on March 14—but he kept quiet until April 4—when the stock price immediately spiked. So he had nearly a month to keep buying shares at a lower price—and raising his stake to 9.2%. In any case, none of this is likely to impact his takeover of Twitter. Wall Street Journal (paywall) has the original report, but Forbes has the gist.
In happier news about funds: HSBC launched a $1 billion lending fund to invest in female-owned businesses over the next 12 months. The focus will be in 11 markets—half of which are in Asia, but sadly the list doesn’t seem to include India. (Reuters)
The big unveil of the Pixel watch
Google officially unveiled the competitor to the Apple Watch—after weeks of rumours and leaks. Here’s what we know about the latest shiny wearable—which will be available this fall:
“[T]he Pixel Watch has a circular, domed design and features a ‘tactile’ crown and side button. It’s made of recycled stainless steel and has swappable proprietary bands. It’ll also run on an ‘improved’ Wear OS 3 that features a ‘refreshed UI’ with better navigation and smart notifications. You’ll also have the option to pick a cellular version of the device for standalone connectivity. Software-wise, Google says the Pixel Watch will have the native Google apps you’d expect as well as a shiny new Fitbit integration.”
New tech nerds can watch the reveal below—which walks you through the features. All we’ll say is that it’s waay prettier than its Apple cousin (which prides itself on design). (The Verge)
Also new over at Airbnb: The company announced the biggest changes to its global platform in a decade. And they include:
- ‘AirBnB categories’—a new way to search from among 56 categories “based on their style, location or proximity to a travel activity.”
- ‘AirCover’—i.e. a guarantee that the company will find a suitable alternative or reimburse the customer if the host cancels a booking within 30 days before check-in.
- ‘Split Stays’ allows you to stay longer at a location by splitting your stay between two homes.
CNBC has lots more details.
New at Air India: Campbell Wilson, who has been appointed as the new CEO—after former Turkish Airlines chief Ilker Ayci turned down the job due to political opposition in India. Wilson previously led Singapore Airlines’ low-fare Scoot unit. (Mint)
Hotstar scores big for Disney+
While Netflix is struggling in India, its Indian counterpart is hitting out of the park. Disney+ added 8 million new global subscribers this past quarter—and more than half of them are from India, i.e. Disney+ Hotstar. Meanwhile, Netflix lost 200,000 subscribers in the last quarter and expects to lose another two million in the second quarter. Sad. ICYMI: We did an excellent Big Story connecting Netflix’s numbers to its misplaced focus on Bollywood. (Mint)
A Taco Bell TikTok musical
The company is staging a musical themed around its most beloved item: The Mexican pizza. It was taken off the menu in 2020—sparking great outrage among fans, who included Doja Cat. The pizza is back by popular demand—and to mark the momentous occasion, fans will be treated to “a star-studded production of Mexican Pizza: The Musical, a satirical musical set to chronicle the harrowing story of Mexican Pizza enthusiasts who fought to bring back the menu staple.” The stars include Dolly Parton and, of course, Doja Cat. As a bonus, you can watch the rap she created demanding her beloved pizza below. (Entertainment Weekly)
Three things to see
One: A Tibet airlines plane skid off the runway and caught fire at Chongqing airport in China. Mercifully, none of its 113 passengers and nine crew members were seriously injured. But it sure makes for a scary sight. (NDTV)
Two: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg showed off the company’s new high-end virtual reality device.
Three: Scientists on Thursday provided the first look at the supermassive black hole—called Sagittarius A*, or Sgr A* —at the centre of our Milky Way galaxy. Its mass is 4 million times that of our sun and is located about 26,000 light-years from Earth. (Mint)
