Researched and collated by: Rachel John & Ayaan Malhotra
Behold the plunging currencies
The pound: The British currency hit an all-time low of 1.03 to a US dollar yesterday—before bouncing back to 1.08. The reason: the new UK Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng announced the biggest tax cuts in 50 years. Experts have long warned that the cuts will only make Britain’s problem of runaway inflation worse. And the dipping pound won’t help:
“If the pound stays at low levels against the dollar, imports of commodities priced in dollars, including oil and gas, will be more costly. Other imported goods could also become considerably more expensive, further pushing up inflation which is already at its highest rate for decades.”
The rupee: continued its downward spiral—touching Rs 81.67 to a dollar. Yes, it is an all-time low. Experts predict it will fall further to Rs 82. (The Hindu)
Cuba legalises same-sex marriage
A historic referendum has approved laws to allow queer couples to marry and adopt children. About 67% of voters—nearly 4 million—voted in favour of the measure, while 33% opposed it. President Miguel Díaz-Canel celebrated the victory, saying “love is now the law”—which is remarkable in a country that once sent homosexuals to work camps. FYI: “The law also allows for surrogate pregnancies, includes measures against gender violence and encourages couples to equally share the load with housework.” (New York Times)
iPhone 14 to be ‘made in India’
Apple announced that it has already started manufacturing the newest model of its phone in India—just weeks after the new iPhone 14 was announced. This is far earlier than with previous generations. Why this matters: while Apple has been assembling smartphones in India since 2017, these were mostly older generation handsets. The move is triggered by pandemic shutdowns in China—and growing worries about Beijing’s tension with Taiwan—where most Apple devices are manufactured. Yes, the hope is that this shift will help bring down the local price of iPhones, which often cost $700 more to buy at home. The bigger picture: analysts predict that Apple will turn India into a global manufacturing hub by 2025—and other companies like Google may soon follow suit. (Techcrunch)
Not helping matters: While smartphone companies may want to shift shop to India, the government is busy giving them the jitters. It now wants them to include a homegrown navigation system called NavIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation)—along with the US-created Global Positioning System (GPS). The shift would entail higher costs and disruptions as it requires hardware changes. That said, China, the European Union, Japan and Russia have their own global or regional navigation systems. (Reuters)
Two key studies about Indians
Living with pain: The first-ever nationwide pain-mapping exercise revealed that 37% of Indians over the age of 45 live with chronic pain. Of these, 15% experience pain five or more times a day. West Bengal has the highest number in the country. Why this matters:
“Pain causes distress to people and imposes costs on households and on the economy, but it hasn’t drawn as much attention in public health practice or research in India as it should have. There is at present little information about pain management costs or the costs resulting from pain mismanagement.”
What we still don’t know: the reasons why so many Indians are in pain. (The Telegraph)
Drowsy pilots: A new survey of Indian pilots revealed that 66% fell asleep during a flight—and at least 54% suffer from severe excessive daytime sleepiness. The reason:
“While earlier, pilots had to fly 30 hours a week, now, they have to fly back-to-back once every week. That has resulted in added stress on the workforce resulting in more fatigue. The most common causes of falling asleep in the cockpit were overwork and having to fly back-to-back morning flights, which required getting up as early as 2am.”
A bizarre Hollywood #MeToo case
Director Paul Haggis is being sued on rape charges—based on a 2017 lawsuit filed by a publicist. Haleigh Breest alleges that Haggis raped her after a movie premiere in 2013. Haggis claims the entire case is a Church of Scientology conspiracy to destroy him for speaking out against it. He left the church in 2009 over its opposition to gay marriage—and has since become one of its most prominent critics.
FYI: The church is also embroiled in another rape case involving actor and church member Danny Masterson–who is facing three criminal rape charges. In that case, the complainants claim that the church “stalked and harassed them after they reported Masterson to the LAPD.” (Variety)
A horror military training course in Australia
A soldier is suing the military over a course designed to help troops resist enemy interrogation—alleging it has caused extreme trauma and PTSD. According to Damien De Pyle, the course titled Conduct After Capture Level C deliberately inflicts torture-like conditions on Australian soldiers for more than 72 hours.
In the final “humiliation phase” of the program, he was forced to violate his Christian faith by mastrubating on a bible and do this to a doll:
“It was a little girl and basically he told me to simulate raping the doll with this dildo … he grabbed my hands and started doing the motion himself with my hands with a dildo and the doll.”
He was made to believe that other soldiers would be killed if he did not comply. What’s notable: a Senate inquiry five years ago had revealed other such instances of extreme abuse—and ordered reforms. (The Guardian)
Three things to see
One: A spacecraft designed by NASA successfully collided with an asteroid named Dimorphos—marking the first ever test of planetary defence technology. In other words, the next time some object comes hurling at Earth, we won’t have to go all Bruce Willis on it. Dimorphos is around 7 million miles away and poses no threat to the planet. And no, we didn’t blow it up: "This really is about asteroid deflection, not disruption. This isn't going to blow up the asteroid”—similar to "running a golf cart into the Great Pyramid." (NPR)
Two: Images of women protesting in Iran continue to go viral. This clip shows a grieving sister cutting her hair off at the grave of her brother—who was killed by security forces during the protests. The latest available death count is 41. (The Quint)
Three: The Spanish city of Sadabell unveiled a new mascot for its transit system. The name? Bussi, of course. But for someone who “wants to bring the little ones closer to public transport,” he looks like a cross between a freaky clown and a large white bug. (Newsweek)