Author: Kumar Govindan

I am the first Graduate - an Engineer - in the family; the first to be employed in the Government Sector, India; the first to go overseas for work - USA; the first to throw it all and become an Entrepreneur (and fail); the first to get back to work - this time with the Tata Group, India - after 4 years of chasing 'business dreams'; and, the first to pick-up the Entrepreneur thread again. I now run a Women's Apparel design and styling Boutique - Mavira Designs - along with my wife. The objective of my Blog is to tell my story, intermingled with news stories from all corners of the World, with wit and pun - to squeeze a few laughs, perhaps a smile. I'm sure you will enjoy the reading.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2024-18

About: the world this week, 28 April 2024 to 4 May 2024: an extraordinarily generous proposal; India’s Elections and a sex scandal; Old Beauty; and a lifetime in the movies.

Everywhere

The Hostage Situation

The ever going-on behind-the-scenes diplomatic drive to bring at end to the Hamas-Israel war saw booming activity this week. Hamas was urged to swiftly accept Israel’s latest proposal, called an ‘extraordinarily generous’ one by the negotiators, for a Gaza truce and to secure release of the hostages. Israel offered a deal to accept the release of fewer than 40, of the 130 hostages, still held in captivity, in exchange for freeing Palestinians jailed in Israel, and a second phase of truce consisting of a ‘period of sustained calm’. Hamas has been insisting on a permanent cease-fire. And there is no word from them, as yet, on the decent proposal.

Meanwhile, the unrest in University Campus’ of the United States continued with woke, pro-Palestine students creating ruckus’ and preventing Jewish students from entering Colleges. The Police swung into action, making arrests and getting tougher with the protesters.

India’s Elections: the Gowdas

The heat around India’s ongoing long General Elections only grows hotter almost every week. And most often, a new match lights a new fire, which rages on until it gets doused on its own, and then forgotten – until the next fire story burns the headlines.

Over the past week, a massive sex scandal has shaken the southern State of Karnataka. The grandson of ‘accidental’ former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda and a sitting Member of Parliament (MP) from Hassan, Prajwal Revanna, 33, is in the eye of the storm, of a horrendous scandal. He is accused of sexual harassment and abuse of numerous women, over many years, going by leaked videos of the man himself, in action. A former car-driver of the MP, who leaked the videos, has confessed that he handed over a pen-drive containing the videos to a Party leader.

Prajwal Revanna’s father, HD Revanna, is Deve Gowda’s elder son and a former minister, also the Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from the State’s Holenarsipura. Revanna’s mother Bhavani Revanna was a member of the Hassan Zilla Panchayat. His brother, Suraj Revanna, is a Member of the Legislative Council (MLC). Prajwal Revanna is the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)-of which the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is a part – candidate in the Hassan Lok Sabha constituency, which went to polls, in the second Phase, on 26th April.

Prajwal graduated in mechanical engineering from Bangalore Institute of Technology in 2014. He joined a master’s degree programme in Australia but discontinued to join politics. In 2019, he was appointed as the State General Secretary of the Janata Dal (Secular) Party – JD(S).

The accusation is that girls and women from various backgrounds – government officials, TV anchors, models, minors, maids-have been sexually exploited, with graphic details of the acts recorded on video – shot by Prajwal himself. Apparently the faces of the victims are shown, while Prajwal remains hidden in most of the scenes. Why would an MP do this?It turns out that he not only molests women but also enjoys recording their humiliation on camera, going by media reports of thousands of videos circulated through pen-drives in Karnataka. By some estimates, there are at least 3,000 video clips in circulation. It is hard to say how many women feature in the videos, but the number is estimated to reach hundreds.

A 47-year-old woman who worked as a house-help at Prajwal Revanna’s residence has accused him and his father of sexually assaulting and harassing female workers. She claimed that women would be summoned the storeroom where they would be touched inappropriately, and sexually assaulted by removing their sari pins (allowing the sari to fall). “After four months of joining, Revanna kept calling me to his room. There were six women workers in the house and everyone said that they were scared when Prajwal came home. The male workers in the house also alerted the women workers to be careful,” She said.

There are women of all ages, from teenagers to those in their 60s. What they have in common is that they are mostly vulnerable and largely defenceless. The molestations seem to be a symbol of Prajwal’s power over them. In one video, an elderly woman is heard begging him not to assault her, saying that she has served his family for years and has even fed his father.

The JD(S) has suspended Prajwal from the party until further investigation. His uncle and former Chief Minister of Karnataka, HD Kumaraswamy has distanced himself from the MP. The Government in Karnataka has formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the allegations of sexual abuse.

The case is yet another example of the moral bankruptcy of politicians and abuse of their positions. The disgrace and horror is heightened when it involves democratically elected representatives like MPs and MLAs, whom people approach with their grievances expecting resolution. The selective outrage of political parties and their leadership against crimes against women is equally abhorrent. Prajwal Revanna is perhaps the sleaziest MP in the history of India.

All over the country, men abused, molested, hurt, raped, and killed women because they thought they could get away with it — and most of them did. The Indian justice system is so lax that they rarely faced the retribution they deserve. And politicians do nothing to make the streets safe.

The Gowda family is not new to controversy. Recently, Prajwal Revanna’s mother, Bhavani Revanna hit the headlines for taking on a biker for crashing into her luxury Sports Utility Vehicle. She told him, “If you want to die, you should have gone under a bus but not under my car. It costs INR 50 lakh to fix the damage. Will you give it ?” The Gowda family later had to clarify her behaviour, calling it a ‘post-surgery stress’. Wow, innovative things only politicians can come up with!

In the year 2006, the then 19-year-old Nikhil Kumarasamy son of HD Kumaraswamy created a ruckus in a Bengaluru Hotel for not serving him and his gang of friends food late at night, when they came riding-in. His father was then the CM of the State. Nikhil threatened the hotel with, “I am the CM’s son, I will get this hotel blown up”.

Now, let’s blow onto something cooler!

Old Beauty

Alejandra Marisa Rodriguez, a 60-year-old lawyer from Argentina, emblazoned her name in the history books, after she was crowned Miss Universe-Buenos Aires. With this, she became the first woman of her age to win such a prestigious beauty title. She contested with 34 others, ranging from 18 to 73 in age, to win the beauty pageant that was held on 24th April.

Next, Alejandra begins preparations to represent Buenos Aires in the upcoming national selection for Miss Universe Argentina title in May 2024, which takes her to the Miss Universe 2024 Title Competition to be held in September in Mexico. Mexico has hosted the pageant four times in the past: 2007, 1993, 1989, and 1978.

In September 2023, the Organisers of the Miss Universe Pageant announced that there would no longer be age limits for contestants. And starting in 2024, every woman over the age of 18 can participate: in the past, only women aged between age 18 and 28 could contest.

Alejandra is from La Plata, the capital city of Argentina’s Buenos Aires Province. After completing high school, she embarked on a career in journalism before pursuing a law degree. Later, she transitioned into a role as a legal advisor for a hospital.

Nothing much is known about her family – for the moment, she is single and stunningly beautiful for her age.

Alejandra believed she had long aged-out of the worldwide beauty pageant, but when the rules changed in 2023 she thought she had a chance.

She credited her lifestyle to her appearance. Alejandra keeps her diet, and works-out three times a week; does intermittent fasting and includes copious amounts of fruits and vegetables in her diet.

“The basic thing is to have a healthy life, eat well, do physical activity. Normal care, nothing too extraordinary and a little genetics.” She said. “What I try to do is intermittent fasting, I think that helps a lot. Then I try to eat organic foods, a lot of fruit, a lot of vegetables, and use good creams.”

Will this take her to the Miss Universe Title? Why Not?

A Lifetime in the Movies

Late last week, on Saturday, Hollywood legends gathered to celebrate Actress Nicole Kidman, 56, receiving the American Film Institute (AFI) Lifetime Achievement Award at the 49th Gala Tribute, Hollywood, California.

She is the first Australian to receive the Award. Previous winners, which the AFI calls the ‘highest honour in American cinema’, include Meryl Streep, Julie Andrews, Denzel Washington, Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese, George Clooney, Morgan Freeman, and Steven Spielberg.

Actress Meryl Streep presented the Award and praised Nicole Kidman’s formidable talent and stunning range of work.

During the ceremony, Kidman teared up as her husband, singer Keith Urban, who came-up on stage, said she showed him “what love in action really looks like” when his substance abuse problems emerged soon after they married in 2006. “Four months into our marriage, I’m in rehab for three months,” Urban said, addressing Kidman and their two teenage daughters, Sunday Rose, 15 and Faith Margaret,15 who joined their mother on the red carpet for the first time. “Nic pushed through every negative voice, I’m sure even some of her own, and she chose love. And here we are 18 years later.”

Australian actors Russell Crowe, Hugh Jackman and Cate Blanchett also gave video tributes to the first actor from their country to win the award.

Nicole Kidman appeared on stage looking regal in a glamorous custom Balenciaga gown, from the Fall ’24 Collection. The fitted gown was embroidered with gold sequins and featured a long gold train. Her long strawberry-blonde hair was made in a side part with loose waves framing her face. And she looked irresistible, in a vision of gold.

Kidman was married to Tom Cruise from 1990 to 2001 with who she shares two children, Isabella and Connor. She married Keith Urban in 2006.

Nicole Kidman won an Academy Award for Best Actress in ‘The Hours’ (was nominated for ‘Moulin Rouge’, ‘Rabbit Hole’, and ‘Being the Ricardos’). In addition, she won two Prime-time Emmy Awards, six Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Awards and a BAFTA Award. She also won a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Nicole Kidman’s breakthrough in the world of movies came with lead roles in ‘Dead Calm’ and the Australian mini TV series, ‘Bangkok Hilton’, both in the year 1989.

Pure Gold!

More old and new beautiful stories coming in the weeks ahead. Wear gold, win awards with World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2024-17

About: the world this week, 21 April 2024 to 27 April 2024: the world’s war-front; India’s Charged Elections; an Ex-President’s Woes; and India’s moves in World Chess.

Everywhere

On the World’s War-front

Israeli strikes intensified across Gaza in some of the heaviest shelling in weeks, and the Israeli army ordered fresh evacuations in the north, warning civilians they were in a dangerous combat zone. Non-stop bombardments also continued in the Central and Northern parts – mostly strikes by air and shelling from tanks on the ground.

Meanwhile, the Hamas psychopaths published a new propaganda video of a hostage, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, showing the 23-year-old Israeli-American saying he has been held captive for nearly 200 days. Hersh is seen in the video missing one of his hands. It was blown off from the elbow down when terrorists lobbed grenades into a shelter, where he and others who tried to escape the 7 October 2023 Nova party massacre., were hiding.

On another front, Israel’s military is poised to evacuate Palestinian civilians from Rafah and assault Hamas hold-outs in the southern Gaza Strip city, despite international warnings of a humanitarian catastrophe. Israel is clearly moving ahead with a ground operation. Israel’s Defence Ministry bought 40,000 tents, each with the capacity for 10 to 12 people, to house Palestinians relocated from Rafah in advance of an assault.

In a new streak of ever-growing wokeism in America, mass chaos broke out at college campuses across the United States of America as pro-Palestine protests intensified. Columbia, Harvard, University of Southern California, University of Texas at Austin, and others were swarmed by protesters. Harvard Yard was also been taken over by pro-Palestine protesters who set-up camp after the university threatened to take action. Police had a tough time managing the footloose, unruly, university students as protests turned violent.

Their support should naturally be for Israel and a shout-out to release the over 130 hostages in the captivity of the terrorist Hamas.

In the other warfront in Europe, far from the trenches, at orderly new centres across Ukraine, civilian recruiters armed with laptops and info packs offer patriotic volunteers opportunities to join the war. As Ukraine’s efforts to conscript enough men to fight Russia are stymied by public scepticism, defence officials and military units are embarking on a multi-pronged charm offensive to recruit a citizens’ army to resist the invasion. Candidates can select their precise unit and roles suiting their skills, as well as how long they will serve.

On city streets, billboards of Ukrainian soldiers implore citizens to join up and defend their homeland, offering QR codes for convenience. For e.g., online, the 93rd Mechanised Brigade assures countrymen that ‘everyone can do it!’ in a glossy video campaign showing civilians, such as a chef and tractor driver, switching to analogous army roles as battlefield cook and tank driver.

On another front in Iran, the same day it launched its first ever direct attack on Israel, it embarked on a less-noticed confrontation at home. Police were ordered in several cities to take to the streets to arrest a growing number of women accused of flouting its strict Islamic dress code. Under Iran’s sharia, or Islamic law, women are obliged to cover their hair and wear long, loose-fitting clothes. Offenders face public rebuke, fines, or arrest.

India’s Super-charged Election

This week, on 26th April, India passed the second phase of General Elections-Lok Sabha Elections 2024 -to elect a new Government at the Centre for the next five years. A total of 88 constituencies across 13 states and a Union Territory voted in this phase. The votes were cast in all 20 Lok Sabha seats of Kerala, 14 of the 28 seats in Karnataka, 13 seats in Rajasthan, 8 seats each in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, 6 seats in Madhya Pradesh, 5 seats each in Assam and Bihar, 3 seats each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, and one seat each in Manipur, Tripura and Jammu & Kashmir.

This week the high-pitch, ever-decibel growing election campaign revolved around the Congress Party’s wild thinking of introducing ‘Inheritance Tax’ in India. This on the lines of that in America, where the children inherit 45% of the family wealth, on the death of the family wealth creator, and the Government grabs the balance 55%. This comes in the backdrop of the Congress Party’s Election Manifesto talking about tackling growing inequalities in wealth and income through suitable change in policies. Also as a prelude, economic and institutional surveys along with a caste census would be conducted to ‘redistribute’ wealth.

We all know growth is the only way to reduce inequality, but the Congress seems to have other ideas.

Surely a regressive kind of thinking, and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seized the opportunity to take the Grand Old Party of India to the cleaners. The Congress was forced to ‘disown’ a statement made by its overseas In-charge. But I reckon no one was listening – with people looking at safeguarding their wealth.

Another talking point was former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh having said in the year 2009, that ‘minorities, especially poor Muslims, should get priority when it comes to the nation’s resources’. Haunting times for the Congress, indeed.

With five more phases to go we can expect more fireworks in the days to come.

This week the Supreme Court of India rejected a plea for 100% verification of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) Slips with the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM). This comes in the background of the various parties in India – especially the opposition – crying for a return to the old Paper Ballot and Manual Counting System. It also rejected a plea to allow the voter to take the VVPAT slip and deposit it in a ballot box. And it rejected the plea to revert to Paper Ballot Voting.

The Supreme Court added some strictures such as the sealed containers of the Symbol Loading Units should be kept in storerooms with the EVMs for least 45 days post-declaration of results. And gave some futuristic ideas such as, exploring the possibility of machine-counting of VVPAT slips.

Once a voter presses the vote button on the EVM- Ballot, a printed slip is generated in the adjacent VVPAT machine. This shows the choice of the voter, and as is visible for 7 seconds – after which it drops down into a sealed compartment. This enables the voter to confirm that his vote has been recorded correctly.

EVM’s were first used in the State of Kerala in 1982 and progressively used all over India, starting in the late 1990s. The VVPAT was added in 2013 to confirm that electronic voting is accountable and reliable. The EVM was developed for the Election Commission of India by the Government owned Electronics Corporation of India and Bharat Electronics. EVMs are standalone machines built with ‘write once read many (WORM)’ -information once written cannot be modified- are self-contained, battery powered and do not need any networking capability. They do not have any wireless or wired internet components and interface. Hence, impossible to hack or manipulate.

Donald Trump’s Woes

In America, The US Supreme Court weighs Ex-President Donald Trump’s bid for immunity from prosecution. The Supreme Court’s conservative justices signaled support on Thursday for US Presidents having some level of protection from criminal charges for certain acts taken in office as it tackled Trump’s claim of immunity from prosecution for trying to undo his 2020 election loss.

Trump, seeking this year to regain the White House, appealed after lower courts rejected his request to be shielded from four election-related criminal charges. This was on the grounds that he was serving as President when he took the actions that led to the indictment.

With a colourful variety of cases piled-up on him, Donald Trump is spending a lot of time in the Courts. And seems to be enjoying it.

World Chess and India’s Moves

These days hardly a move is made in the world of Chess without an Indian being behind it. This week, India’s 17-year-old Grandmaster Gukesh Dommaraju became the youngest player to win the men’s chess tournament after a draw against his opponent Hikaru Nakamura, in the final day of the 2024 Candidates Tournament held in Toronto, Canada, from 3rd April to 22nd April. It’s an eight-player chess tournament, held to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship 2024. The event was held alongside the Women’s Candidates Tournament.

Gukesh effectively wrapped up victory in the tournament after American Fabiano Caruana blundered a winning position against Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi to be held to a draw.

The previous youngest winner of the men’s Candidates Tournament was Garry Kasparov, who was 20 when he prevailed in 1984, a year before winning the world champion title against fellow Russian Anatoly Karpov.

Gukesh, who was one of three Indian players in the tournament, will face China’s Ding Liren for the title later this year. World No 1 Magnus Carlsen, a five-time classical chess world champion, relinquished his title last year, citing a lack of motivation.

Gukesh became a Grandmaster at the age of 12, the third youngest person to have done so. If he beats Ding Liren this year, he will become India’s second world chess champion after Viswanathan Anand who won the title five times.

China’s Tan Zhongyi dominated the women’s tournament and will face her compatriot Ju Wenjun for the world title.

Gukesh lives in Chennai, Tamil Nadu studying at the Velammal Vidyalaya school, Mel Ayanambakkam, Chennai. His father, Dr Rajinikanth, is an Ear, Nose, and Throat surgeon, and his mother, Dr Padma, is a microbiologist.

Gukesh won the Under-9 section of the Asian School Chess Championships in 2015, and the World Youth Chess Championships in 2018 in the Under-12 category. He also won five gold medals at the 2018 Asian Youth Chess Championships, in the U-12 individual rapid and blitz, U-12 team rapid and blitz, and the U-12 individual classical formats. He completed the requirements for the title of International Master in March 2017 at the 34th Cappelle-la-Grande Open.

On 15 January 2019, at the age of 12 years, 7 months, and 17 days, Gukesh became the then second-youngest grandmaster in history, only surpassed by Sergey Karjakin with 17 days. Since then the record was beaten by Abhimanyu Mishra, making Gukesh the third youngest.

More fighting stories coming in the weeks ahead. Make your moves with World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2024-16

About: the world this week, 14 April 2024 to 20 April 2024: Israel & Iran; knives out in Australia; UAE goes underwater; India begins voting; and keeping a Princess & Future Queen safe.

Everywhere

Israel – Iran

In an insane move and probably a serious miscalculation, Iran attacked Israel launching over 300 drones and missiles into Israel. But, in an unbelievable military defence operation almost 99% of them were knocked-out by the combined might of the United States (US), United Kingdom(UK), and Israel. Actually, it was a multinational coalition consisting of, among others-a huge surprise-Jordon and Saudi Arabia!

Obviously, Iran’s action is a follow-through on its vow to avenge Israel’s attack on a ‘building next to it Consulate in Damascus, Syria’, which had resulted in the killing of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps Commander and his deputy.

Iran’s strike began with over 100 ground-to-ground missiles being fired from Iran into Israel. Simultaneously, drones and ballistic missiles were fired from its partners-in-crime, Yemen, Iran, Iraq, and Syria.

Tens of Israel fighter jets were immediately scrambled, which included F15, F16, and F35 planes. The Israeli planes flew deep into the airspace of the Middle East and began hunting the missiles and drones, detonating them one after the other. In parallel, fighter jets from the US and UK, along with other countries also took off from various Bases, and began to ‘hunt down’ the missiles. Whatever survived the fighter jet attacks and managed to reach Israeli airspace were immediately taken out by Israel’s Air defence systems including the Iron Dome, Hetz (Arrow) 2, Hetz 3, and more.

Israel and its allies mostly shot down all the missiles and drones and there were no deaths, but Israel says it must retaliate to preserve the credibility of its deterrents. Iran says it views the matter as closed but will retaliate again if Israel does.

What Israel will do next is yet to be seen, but the Iranian regime was humiliated that night, and to top that off, they are now waiting in fear to see how badly Israel punishes them.

Then late in the week, Israel carried out a surprise attack deep inside Iran’s territory, hitting an Iranian military base at Isfahan. The base is used by combat aircraft and military transport planes, likely with air defence systems – which seems to have been ‘defanged’ by the surgical strike. It is also close to a major Iranian nuclear facility for uranium enrichment. This strike was symbolic, sending a message that Israel is capable of targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities or anywhere in Iranian soil.

Israel had a point to make and it made it. What next?

Australia: Knives Out

Last Saturday in Australia, a knife-wielding man went on a stabbing rampage at the Westfield Shopping Centre in Bondi Junction, in Sydney’s Eastern suburbs, before a woman police inspector shot him dead after he turned and raised a knife.

The attacker identified as 40-year-old Joel Cauchi, was known to police in the neighbouring state of Queensland. Cauchi, wearing shorts and an Australian national rugby league jersey, ran through the Westfield Mall with a knife. He fatally stabbed six people and injured at least 12 before he was killed by Inspector Amy Scott who ran into the shopping centre by herself, confronted the terrorist and killed him. Incredible heroism on display.

The man first stabbed a mother and her baby. The mother Ash Good, 38, died from her injuries while her baby who was also stabbed has undergone surgery and is in serious condition. The knife rampage lasted 15 minutes.

It was revealed that police knew the attacker and was and on their radar. He had mental health issues in the past and there is no indication ideology was a motive in the attack.

Quick on the heels of the knife attack on Monday another stabbing incident took place at a Sydney church, which Police have declared as religiously motivated and a terrorist act. A 16-year-old boy attacked a Bishop, a priest and churchgoers during mass at the Assyrian Christ The Good Shepherd Church, which was being streamed online.

Four people suffered ‘non-life-threatening’ injuries. The attacker was also hurt. Police arrested the boy after the stabbing at the Church that injured Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, 53, and a priest. Both are expected to survive.

The video online showed the Bishop being repeatedly stabbed in the head and upper body during the service. He sustained lacerations to his head after being lunged at. And underwent surgery. A 39-year-old man also sustained cuts and a shoulder injury while attempting to intervene.

Ordained by the Assyrian Orthodox Church in 2011, Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel is seen as a popular and a controversial figure. His sermons have received millions of views on social media. But the Bishop has had a turbulent relationship with the Assyrian Church, reportedly being suspended for disobeying canons and forming a breakaway church. In 2021, Mar Mari Emmanuel became a vocal opponent of Covid-19 restrictions, describing lockdowns in Australia as slavery and arguing that vaccines were futile.

The teenage boy arrested after the stabbing attack inside the Sydney church was placed on a good behaviour bond after facing Court for a knife crime just three months ago. Police know the identity of the 16-year-old boy, but have chosen not to publish his name. The boy was charged with a range of offences, including possessing a knife, in November last year after an incident at a Sydney train station involving other teenage boys. The boy was found in possession of a flick knife and charged with being armed with a weapon with intent to commit an indictable offence, stalking and/or intimidation and recklessly destroy or damage property. He was on bail until his last court appearance in January, where his case was ‘proven’ but dismissed with a good behaviour bond.

Police said the suspect’s comments pointed to a religious motive for the attack.

“We’ll allege there’s a degree of premeditation on the basis that this person has travelled to that location, which is not near his residential address, he has travelled with a knife and subsequently the Bishop and the priest have been stabbed,” Police said. “They’re lucky to be alive”.

Dubai: Desert Storm

How many times we have heard this often repeated line – almost a cliche-‘The whole year’s rain came down in a single day’. The rain, tired of conquering the seas, the costal areas, and fertile hills and valleys turned its sights on the Desert and United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Dubai, and Oman ‘came under its wing’.

This week the UAE was drowned in unprecedented rains brought by a storm that brewed over the desert, the heaviest experienced by the country in the 75 years. It brought much of Dubai to a standstill and caused significant damage. The storm hit neighbouring Oman on Sunday and then pounded the UAE on Tuesday, with 20 reported dead in Oman and one in the UAE.

While some roadways in hard-hit communities remain flooded, delivery services across Dubai, whose residents are used to ordering everything at the click of a mouse, slowly began returning to the streets.

Rains are rare in the UAE and elsewhere on the Arabian Peninsula, which is typically known for its dry desert climate. Summer air temperatures can soar above 50 degrees Celsius. Following Tuesday’s rains, questions were raised whether cloud seeding-a process of manipulating clouds to increase rainfall- that the UAE frequently conducts, could have caused the heavy rain. A UAE government agency that oversees cloud seeding denied conducting any such operations before the storm. But climate experts blame global warming for such extreme weather events.

Researchers anticipate that climate change will lead to heightened temperatures, increased humidity and a greater risk of flooding in parts of the Gulf region. Countries like the UAE where there is a lack of drainage infrastructure to cope with heavy rains can suffer the most.

Dubai, a city in the desert proud of its modern gloss, faced the towering task of clearing its water-clogged roads and drying out flooded homes. Dubai International Airport, a major travel hub, struggled to clear a backlog of flights and many roads were still flooded in the aftermath of Tuesday’s deluge.

Inking India’s Finger

This week, Friday 19th April, marked the beginning of the biggest Festival of Democracy the world has seen. The first phase, of the seven-phase polls, decides 102 seats in 21 Indian States for India’s 543 member Lower House of Parliament, the Lok Sabha. And after meandering through the rest of April and May concludes on 1st June 2024.

An average of 60% of voters in various States got their finger inked with indelible ink – to mark that they have voted. The aggregate voter turnout till 9pm was 62.37 % with the highest percentage in Tripura at 80.17%. In the previous Elections in 2019 the aggregate was 69.43% in the first Phase.

The process was by and large peaceful, except for incidents in the State of Tamil Nadu, and others, that names have been left out of the Voters List despite having a valid Voter Identification. The Election Commission of India needs to get its tails-up to resolve this problem. Violence was reported in some parts of West Bengal and Manipur and the voter turnout fell from the figure in the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections.

Tough being a Princess and a Future Queen

The Netherlands, a country of 18 million people, has low rates of violent crime – a safe country. Its royal family are sometimes called ‘the bicycle monarchy’ for their informal approach to royal duties. But there is a problem. Princess Amalia, 20, the future Queen of the Netherlands, has been living outside her country for the past year over security concerns. Amalia is the eldest daughter of the Dutch King Willem-Alexander and his Argentine-born wife Queen Maxima and will one day ascend the throne as the country’s next monarch.

However, the young Princess has been forced to leave the Netherlands due to kidnapping threats. This is based on intelligence reports indicating Amalia was mentioned in communications by organised crime groups, sparking fears she could be a target of attacks. Amalia has been living in Madrid, Spain for the past year but recently relocated to the palace after new measures were taken to ensure her safety. She made a rare appearance at a state banquet at the royal palace in Amsterdam with her parents in honour of the Spanish royal family.

In September 2022, the Princess began studying at the University of Amsterdam and briefly lived on campus with other students as she pursued a bachelor’s degree in politics, psychology, law and economics. However, soon afterwards the royal family said she had been forced to leave her student housing, citing similar concerns for her safety, and she moved back into the palace and became a virtual recluse. “She can’t live in Amsterdam, and she can’t really go outside (the palace),” Queen Maxima told journalists at the time. The Netherlands needs a Princess Shield.

More Princess stories coming in the weeks ahead. Build your Palace with World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2024-15

About: the world this week, 7 April 2024 to 13 April 2024: War Vows; EU immigration; a brand new young Prime Minister; a Swiss Victory; corrupted in Vietnam; and a total eclipse of the sun.

Everywhere

Israel, Hamas, and Vows

This week the terrorist Hamas rejected yet another ceasefire proposal made by Israel, at talks in Egypt. Israel and Hamas sent teams to Cairo for talks that included Qatari and Egyptian mediators as well as CIA Director William Burns.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “We are constantly working to achieve our goals, first and foremost the release of all our hostages and achieving a complete victory over Hamas. This victory requires entry into Rafah (Gaza’s last refuge for displaced Palestinians) and the elimination of the terrorist battalions there. It will happen – there is a date”. However, a date was not specified.

Meanwhile, it’s becoming deadly clear that most of the Israeli hostages taken on 7 October 2023 have been murdered in captivity and Hamas is unable to ‘produce them’. Hamas acknowledges it lacks ‘sufficient living Israeli hostages’ for a deal – that confirms that most hostages are deceased. Hence, Hamas delays negotiations fearing exposure of its deceit about the captive status. Officials believe hostages who are still alive are being used as human shields surrounding the Hamas leadership, hidden deep in the tunnels of Gaza.

Towards the end of the week, Israel got into a high alert mode, on a possible attack by Iran, who have vowed to avenge Israel’s attack on a ‘building near its Consulate’ in Syria. Amid these fears, the United States in its turn, vowed support for Israel.

Poland and Immigration

This week more than 250 illegal migrants from Africa and the Middle East tried to storm the Polish border from the Belarus side. Polish riot police and the Army managed to push them back into Belarus. This comes in the backdrop of Russia and Belarus – who are great friends – using weaponised migration as a form of hybrid warfare.

In recent times, Poland has taken in the largest number of Ukrainian refugees since Russia’s invasion of the country in 2022.

European lawmakers voted this Wednesday on a revamp of the European Union’s (EU) migration policy: to cut the length of time for security and asylum procedures, and increase returns of migrants to reduce unwanted immigration from the Middle East and Africa, a high priority on the EU’s agenda.

The EU Asylum and Migration Pact has been in the works since 2015, and following its approval by the European Parliament, it will come into force in two years’ time. It will require EU member states to share responsibility for asylum seekers. The EU’s 27 countries will be required to either take in thousands of migrants from ‘frontline’ countries such as Italy, Greece, Spain, or provide extra funding or resources instead, called ’solidarity payments’.

The EU’s migration pact has become a highly charged political issue in Poland. Poland’s Prime Minister, Donald Tusk said his government would not accept any relocated asylum seekers under the EU’s proposed new migration pact and is opposed, in general, to the introduction of such a system.

Poland does not accept refugees from Muslim countries – from Africa or the Middle East: it accepts refugees from Christian countries.

Ireland’s New Prime Minister

In March this year, Irish Prime Minister (PM) Leo Varadkar, 45, in an unexpected shocking decision, resigned as the leader of his party, Fine Gael, and as PM. And Ireland’s Government had to scramble its lawmakers to find a replacement.

This week Simon Harris, 37, was elected as taoiseach (Irish PM), by members of the Dail (Irish Parliament). He is also the new Fine Gael party leader and becomes the youngest person to lead the Republic of Ireland. Simon Harris was elected after a vote in which 88 Dail members supported him while 69 voted against him. He was officially installed as taoiseach this Tuesday, after meeting President, Michael D Higgins, to receive the Seals of Office. Harris was the only candidate to seek the party leadership, after Varadkar’s decision to quit.

Simon Harris grew up in the coastal town of Greystones, in County Wicklow. He is the eldest of three children, the son of a taxi driver and a special needs assistant. His younger brother Adam is autistic – a fact which Harris said kickstarted his own involvement in political campaigning when he was just 16.

In 2009, he became a Councillor in Wicklow obtaining the highest individual vote of any candidate in the County. When Fine Gael swept to power in 2011, to lead a new coalition government, Harris won a parliament seat for the party in Wicklow. He entered the 31st Dail in 2011 at the age of 24 – the youngest member and the ‘baby of the house’. Since then, he has had a rapid rise through the party ranks, landing his first cabinet role before his 30th birthday, in 2016. He took on the prestigious but difficult role of Health Minister. The following summer he married his long-term girlfriend, children’s cardiac nurse, Caoimhe Wade, and is now father to two children. As minister for health, he oversaw Ireland’s vote to overturn its abortion ban and was in-charge of the country’s initial response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

A Swiss Victory

This week, in a stunning verdict The European Court of Human Rights’s (ECtHR) ruled that the Switzerland government had violated the human rights of its citizens by failing to do enough to combat climate change. The case was brought by more than 2000 Swiss Women, known as KlimaSeniorinnen, all aged over 64.

The decision will set a precedent for future climate lawsuits and is expected to resonate in court decisions across Europe and beyond, and to embolden more communities to bring climate change cases against governments.

But in a sign of the complexities of the growing wave of climate litigation ECtHR rejected two other climate-related cases on procedural grounds. One of these was brought by a group of six Portuguese young people against 32 European governments, and another by a former mayor of a low-lying French coastal town.

The KlimaSeniorinnen said their government’s climate inaction put them at risk of dying during heatwaves. They argued their age and gender made them particularly vulnerable to such climate change impacts. In the ruling, the Court President said the Swiss government had failed to comply with its own targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions and had failed to set a national carbon budget.”It is clear that future generations are likely to bear an increasingly severe burden of the consequences of present failures and omissions to combat climate change,” the President said.

The verdict in the Swiss case, which cannot be appealed, will have international ripple effects, most directly by establishing a binding legal precedent for all 46 countries that are signatories to the European Convention on Human Rights.

It indicates Switzerland has a legal duty to take greater action on reducing emissions.

If Switzerland does not update its policies, further litigation could follow at the national level and courts could issue financial penalties.

Switzerland has committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030, from 1990 levels. The country had proposed stronger measures to deliver the goal, but voters rebuffed them in a 2021 referendum as too burdensome.

Vietnam and Corruption

A court in Vietnam sentenced real estate tycoon Truong My Lan to death over her role in a 304 trillion dong (USD 12.5 billion) financial fraud case, the country’s biggest on record. Vietnam imposes the death penalty not only for violent offences but also for economic crimes. The country has executed hundreds of convicts, in recent years, mainly by lethal injection.

Lan’s trial, which began on 5th March and ended earlier than planned, was one dramatic result of a campaign against corruption, which the leader of the country’s ruling Communist Party, Nguyen Phu Trong, has pledged for years to stamp out.

Lan, the chairwoman of real estate developer Van Thinh Phat (VTP) Holdings Group, was found guilty of embezzlement, bribery, and violations of banking rules at the end of the trial in the business hub of Ho Chi Minh City. Her’s is a story of rising-up, from selling perfumes to the world of high finance.

Lan started as a cosmetics trader at the central market in Ho Chi Minh City, helping out her mother. She later founded her real estate company VTP in 1992, the same year when she got married.

Lan was found guilty, with her accomplices, of siphoning off more than 304 trillion dong from Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank, or SCB, which she effectively controlled through dozens of proxies despite rules strictly limiting large shareholding in lenders. From early 2018 through October 2022, when the state bailed out SCB after a run on its deposits triggered by Lan’s arrest, she appropriated large sums by arranging unlawful loans to shell companies. The bank is currently propped up by the central bank. And faces a complex restructuring under which authorities are trying to establish the legal status of hundreds of assets that were used as collateral for loans and bonds issued by VTP. The bonds alone are worth USD 1.2 billion. Some of the assets are high-end properties, but many others are unfinished projects.

Before her fall from grace, Lan had played a key role in Vietnam’s financial world, getting involved in the previous rescue of troubled SCB more than a decade before she contributed to the bank’s new crisis.

She was found guilty of having bribed officials to persuade the authorities to look away, including paying USD 5.2 million to a senior central bank inspector, Do Thi Nhan, who was sentenced to life in prison.

Vietnam’s graft crackdown, dubbed ‘Blazing Furnace’, has seen hundreds of senior state officials and high-profile business executives prosecuted or forced to step down. Corruption is so widespread that in some provinces many people say they pay bribes just to obtain medical services in public hospitals, according to a recent survey by the United Nations Development Programme, and other organisations.

Total Eclipse of the Sun

Throngs of skywatchers spread across North America gazed upward at a blackened sun in the midday dusk this Monday, celebrating with cheers, music, and matrimony the first total solar eclipse to darken the continent in seven years.

From a Mexican beach resort, close to where the eclipse made landfall, to the banks of the Ohio River, and farther north beyond the roaring cascades of Niagara Falls at the US-Canadian border, spellbound crowds reacted to the sight of ‘totality’ with jaw-dropping expressions of awe and joy.

Where clear skies prevailed, observers along the direct path of the eclipse were treated to the rare spectacle of the moon appearing as a dark orb creeping in front of the sun, briefly blocking out all but a brilliant halo of light, or corona, around, the sun’s outer edge.

It was first total eclipse to sweep across a large swath of North America since 2017, and will be the last one visible from the contiguous United States until 2044.

Mexico’s beachside resort town of Mazatlan was the first major viewing spot for totality. Thousands in solar-safe eyewear perched in deck chairs along the coastal promenade, and an orchestra played the ‘Star Wars’ movie theme as skies darkened under the approaching lunar shadow.

More jaw-dropping stories coming in the weeks ahead. Join forces and vow to stay with World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2024-14

About: the world this week, 31 March 2024 to 6 April 2024: Israel fights; Turkey spins; Taiwan Shakes; Finland shoots; Scotland speaks; India dances; and the Oldest Man in the World leaves.

Everywhere

Israel Fights

No country in the World would like to be in the situation Israel is in today. 130 of its people are being held hostage for over 180 days by the terrorist Hamas following the savage barbarism of 7 October 2023, with no end in sight, of their release. The ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, to outgun Hamas, and to find and bring home the hostages is only getting deadlier – on the scale of destruction and death of people. At home, Israelis are demonstrating that the Government is not doing enough to rescue their loved ones; abroad people are demonstrating for a cease-fire, so that the people of Gaza can get food, supplies, and medical aid. What about the hostages? Releasing them is the sanest solution to this madness.

This week, Israeli forces left the Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City after a two-week intensive operation by its special forces. They left behind a wasteland of destroyed buildings, wrecked infrastructure of the facility, with rubble and dead bodies strewn all over. Hundreds of suspected Palestinian militants were detained and terrorists flushed out – as claimed by Israel. Documents recovered by Israeli forces showed the hospital was used as a base to control the northern section of the Gaza Strip, which has largely been destroyed since the start of the ground invasion in October. The Hospital had been turned into a major operating centre by the Palestinian armed groups – Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.

In summary, more than 32,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza. In the 7th October attack, Hamas killed 1,200 people and took 253 people hostage. Israel has lost 257 soldiers in the combat, with the Israeli military publishing the names of those killed in action in the Gaza War.

Then during the week the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) accidentally killed seven foreign aid workers, including a dual US/Canadian citizen, three Britons as well as team members from Poland and Australia, and their Palestinian driver. They were travelling with a convoy that had just unloaded more than 100 tonnes of food aid brought from overseas, working for the aid charity, World Central Kitchen (WCK). Israel’s military voiced ‘sincere sorrow’ over the incident, which ratcheted up international pressure for steps to ease the disastrous humanitarian situation in Gaza.

In another attack elsewhere, suspected Israeli warplanes bombed a ‘building next to Iran’s Consulate’ in Syria killing the Revolutionary Guards Corps commander Mohammad Reza Zahedi and his deputy at an Iranian diplomatic mission in Syria – reviving fears of a wider regional conflagration, and setting a dangerous precedent in targeting diplomatic premises.

By the end of the week the United States of America literally threw Israel under the bus, asking it to work on a ceasefire-fire and make a ‘measurable’ plan for ensuring that aid workers and civilians are not harmed in any way.

One thing is sure, by the end of the Israel-Hamas war, Israel would be the masters of ‘Urban Warfare’ given their precise fighting methods; using high-end technology, and keeping loss of civilian life to the barest minimum – a fact not given the respect it truly deserves.

Turkey Spins

Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan has been having a fairly untrammelled run of his presidency, over almost two decades. That looks to be in jeopardy when this week Turks dealt President Erdogan and his party their biggest electoral blow in a nationwide local vote. It reasserted the opposition – Republican Peoples Party (CHP)-as a political force and reinforced Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu as the President’s chief rival, being re-elected as Mayor by a landslide 51% votes. In capital Ankara, CHP candidate Mansur Yavas, were re-elected by yet another landslide of 60%.

It marked the worst defeat for Erdogan and his AK Party (AKP) in all their years in power, and could signal a change in the country’s divided political landscape. Erdogan called it a ‘turning point’. He and the AKP fared worse than opinion polls predicted due to soaring inflation, dissatisfied Islamist voters and, in Istanbul, Imamoglu’s appeal beyond the CHP’s secular base, analysts said.

Taiwan Shakes

This week, Taiwan was struck by a 7.4 magnitude Earthquake, rocking the whole island and causing several buildings to collapse. The city of Hualien, nearest the epicentre of the earthquake, on the east coast of Taiwan sustained significant damages. Nine people died, more than 900 were injured and about 50 went missing.

The quake hit at a depth of 15.5 km just as people were headed for work and school, setting off a tsunami warning for Southern Japan and the Philippines, that was later lifted.

A magnitude about 7 is considered a major earthquake. And this is Taiwan’s strongest earthquake in at least 25 years.

Finland Shoots

After the long Easter weekend, children had just returned to classes at Viertola School in Vantaa, outside Helsinki, Finland. The school has 800 students from 1 to 9 grade in ages ranging from 7 to 16. Then, in a 6th grade classroom, a 12-year-old boy, of the school, suddenly opened fire with a handgun, killing one and wounding two others. He fled the scene, by walk, but was later caught by the police. The suspect had a gun licensed to a close relative. Police were quick to arrive at the scene and took charge of the situation. Investigations by the Police revealed that the boy said he was a target of bullying, which was the motive for the attack.

In Finland, children over 15 can obtain licenses to use other people’s firearms. In 2008, an 18-year-old student shot dead six students, the school nurse, and his head teacher in the small town of Jokela; and the following year, another student shot dead nine students and a teacher with a semi-automatic rifle at a polytechnic in the western town of Kauhajoki.

Finland is widely known a country of hunters and gun enthusiasts and has 430,000 license gun owners in a population of about 5.6 million. There is no limit to the number of guns one can own.

Scotland Speaks – No Hate

This week a new law against hate speech came into force in Scotland, United Kingdom. The legislation was passed by Scottish Parliament three years ago but was delayed by wrangling over its implementation.

The law makes it an offence to stir up hatred with threatening or abusive behaviour, on the basis of characteristics including, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, and transgender identity. The maximum sentence is seven years in prison.

Critics ague that the new Law will have a chilling effect on free speech making people afraid to express their views. ‘Harry Potter’ Author J K Rowling slammed the new Law calling it ‘ludicrous’. The rights of trans women should not come at the expense of those who are born biologically female. “Biological sex is not included as a protected characteristic in the Law despite women bing one of the most abused cohorts in our society”, she wrote in a newspaper article.

India Dances – Democracy

The great India summer, with its blistering heat, in ruling this time of the year, in the backdrop of the Festival of Democracy being celebrated across the country. In the run-up to General Elections -the world’s largest electoral exercise -beginning on 19 April and ending on 1 June 2024, the campaigning is on a high-pitch. Opinion polls have improved their scores to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) giving it almost 400 Members of Parliament (MPs – along with partners) out of a possible 543, in a third consecutive win. The BJP’s slogan for the coming election is ‘Abki baar, 400 paar’ (this time, above 400). Recall the BJP’s own tally is 303 in the outgoing Parliament – the 17th Lok Sabha – and with Allies it is 350.

In contrast, the opposition is fragmented, harried by central investigating agencies – suddenly catching-up on their crimes. And seems unable to stitch together a coherent narrative on key issues like unemployment, electoral bonds and farmers’ discontent, which could put the Government on the mat.

Late in the week the Congress, which has a hopeless chance of returning to power, released its Election Manifesto, which was described as only capable of doing two things: one, break India on caste lines; and two, bankrupt India on freebies.

The Southern States of India, which send 130 MPs are the laggards in joining the BJP’s dance party, but new winds seem to be blowing strongly, especially in the State of Tamil Nadu. The BJP’s State President, K Annamalai, 39, an Engineer, a former Indian Police Service Officer, and an Indian Institute of Management graduate is creating waves with his blunt straight talk and aggressive posturing. People find him relatable and are coalescing around him, for a change from the parochial control of the regional Dravidian Parties.

In New Delhi, the Chief Minister of the Union Territory, Arvind Kejriwal, was arrested after failing to appear for 9 summons by the Enforcement Directorate, and thrown into jail for being complicit in a liquor scam. He joins two other Leaders of his own Party – one is a Deputy Chief Minister- already languishing in jail for almost a year on money laundering charges. He is doing his best to rule from Jail while his wife, wearing a sombre look on national television, is trying to make him appear like a freedom fighter, while the Law looks on. In India, heat is generated from multiple sources and in Indian Politics the wife has a right-of-way once the hubby heads to jail. Then a remote-control begins working from behind bars. Call it the ring and dance of Indian democracy?

World’s Oldest Man Quits

This week, on 4 April, the world’s oldest man, Juan Vicente Perez Mora, of Venezuela, died aged 114 – two months before what would have been his 115th birthday.

Guinness World Records (GWR) confirmed stating: “After living through both World Wars, seeing the invention of Television, and witnessing the landing of a man on the moon, Juan Vicente also survived Covid-19 in 2020.” GWR had awarded Perez Mora the title of the Oldest Man, on 4 February 2022, when he was 112 years and 253 days. This after the previous oldest man, Saturnino de la Fuente Garcia died weeks earlier.

Perez Mora was born on 27 May 1909 in Venezuela, to Euquitio Perez and Edelmira Mora and was living in the Sate of Tachira – bordering Colombia – when he died. He had 11 children-six sons and five daughters– with his wife Ediofina del Rosario Garcia. They were married for 60 years until her death in 1997. He has 42 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren, and 12 great-great-grandchildren.

The next oldest man living is expected to be 112-year-old Gisaburo Sonobe of Japan, pending confirmation of his birth-date before the title can be awarded, according to the Gerontology Research Group.

Mora credited his longevity to, ‘working hard, resting on holidays, going to bed early, drinking a glass of aguardiente (a distilled alcoholic beverage that contains 29-60% alcohol and made from sugarcane -common in South America) every day, loving God, and always carrying him in his heart’.

GWR’s Editor-in-Chief had this to say: “It’s been an honour to recognise and celebrate the incredible long life of Venezuela’s first ever fully authenticated supercentenarian man. Not only was Sr Perez Mora his country’s oldest citizen and the first South American recognised by GWR as the oldest living man, he is now history’s fourth-oldest male whose age has been officially ratified.” He added, “How remarkable to think that we’ve just said goodbye to a man born before Louis Bleriot flew across the English Channel!”

More solid stories coming in the weeks ahead. Live long with World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2024-13

About: the world this week, 24 March 2024 to 30 March 2024: Terror in Russia; the UN finds the ceasefire button; a bridge collapses in Baltimore; the golden boy of crypto heads to jail; and Miss Universe Saudi Arabia.

Everywhere

Last week on Friday night, about 6,200 people had gathered inside the Crocus City Hall, in Moscow’s Krasnogorsk suburb to listen to a rock concert by veteran Soviet-era band Picnic. Then, all of a sudden, four men strode across the concourse and opened fire on the public, before re-arming and entering the hall. Crowds of people began screaming and running in panic as the gunmen burst in, began firing indiscriminately inside the auditorium, and set it alight. Many took cover behind their seats. At least 133 people were killed and more than 140 injured. Later, the dead toll rose to 139, with 182 people wounded. This is the deadliest attack inside Russia, in two decades. The Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the gruesome act.

President Vladimir Putin pledged to track down and punish those behind the attack. And the next day, Russia arrested all four gunmen suspected of carrying out the shooting. The four men of Tajik origin were remanded in custody on terrorism charges at Moscow’s Basmanny District Court. Three others, also of Tajik origin, were remanded in custody on suspicion of complicity. “We know that the crime was carried out by the hand of radical Islamists with an ideology that the Muslim world has fought for centuries,” Putin said. He did not directly mention the Islamic State, and repeated his previous assertion that the assailants had been trying to flee to Ukraine, saying there were ‘many questions’ to be examined. He tried his best, though unsuccessfully, to link the terror act to Ukraine.

Later in the week, adopting a belligerent tone, Putin said that Russia has no designs on any NATO country. And will not attack Poland, the Baltic states, or the Czech Republic, but if the West supplies F-16 fighter aircraft to Ukraine, then they will be shot down by Russian forces.

This week, for the first time, after many failed attempts, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the immediate, unconditional release of all hostages. Votes in favour were 14, none against, and the United States (US)abstained. Israel stood-up to its stand that the 7 October barbarism of Hamas has not been condemned by the Security Council. On its part, the US seemed to find a fence to sit on – probably the effect of the upcoming Presidential Elections. Israel then offered a deal for a ceasefire linked to release of hostages and swapping of Palestinian prisoners, which was rejected by Hamas. And the stalemate continues, with an attack on Rafah, in Southern Gaza, imminent. How does the UN Resolution get implemented?

This week, a 289 metre long Singapore-flagged Container Vessel, Dali, heading out of Baltimore Harbour in the US, ploughed into a support pylon of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, over the mouth of the Patapsco River, causing the Bridge to collapse. The Vessel was fully-loaded and bound for Sri Lanka, A trestled section of the 2.6 km span almost immediately crumpled into the icy water, sending vehicles and people into the river. The ship reported a power failure before impact, and had radioed for tugboat help, which enabled officials to stop traffic on the bridge before the collapse. On experiencing a momentary loss of propulsion, Dali had immediately dropped anchors as part of emergency procedures.

Six workers were missing and presumed dead, forcing the closure of one of the busiest ports on the US Eastern Seaboard. All 22 crew members aboard the vessel were accounted for. With dive teams facing increasingly treacherous conditions in the darkened, wreckage-strewn waters, active search-and-rescue operations were suspended about 18 hours after the accident. However, later on Wednesday, divers recovered the remains of two of the six workers missing since the crumbling bridge tossed them into the water.

The Baltimore bridge serves as the main thoroughfare for motorists driving between New York and Washington seeking to avoid downtown Baltimore. It is one of three ways to cross the harbour, with a traffic volume of 31,000 vehicles per day. Experts say that the Scott Key Bridge built in 1976, as a traffic artery over the Harbour, lacked structural engineering redundancies common to newer spans, making it more vulnerable to a catastrophic collapse.

Besides impacts on auto shipments, the closure of Baltimore Port could force shippers to divert Baltimore-bound cargo from containers to bulk material. It could create bottlenecks and increase delays and costs on the Eastern seaboard. The economic fallout could be staggering. The Port handles more automobile and farm equipment freight than any other in the country, as well as container freight and bulk goods ranging from sugar to coal. The US Transportation Department said the 8,000 jobs are ‘directly associated’ with port operations, which generate USD 2 million a day in wages. Still, economists and logistics experts doubted the port closure would trigger a major US supply chain crisis or significant spike in the price of goods, due to ample capacity at rival shipping hubs along the East Coast. The collapse has created a traffic quagmire as well for Baltimore and the surrounding region.

The Baltimore Bridge disaster could be the worst US bridge collapse since 2007, when the I-35W bridge (Bridge 9340) in Minneapolis collapsed into the Mississippi River, killing 13 people. The I-35W Bridge was not hit by a container ship, but experienced a catastrophic failure during the evening rush hour due to a design flaw in the bridge.

The Baltimore Vessel, Dali, has some history, being involved in an incident in the port of Antwerp, Belgium, in 2016, hitting a quay as it tried to exit the North Sea container terminal. Old habits die hard?

Estimates on rebuilding the Francis Scott Key Bridge could be anywhere from 18 months to several years, while the cost could be at least USD 400 million, or twice as much.

This week, a US Court Judge sentenced crypto’s former golden boy, Sam Bankman-Fried, (SBF) to 25 years in prison for defrauding investors. A jury found SBF guilty last year of stealing over USD 8 billion from FTX – Futures Exchange cryptocurrency, founded by SBF – customers to pay for his other crypto company, Alameda Research. Sam Bankman’s sentencing is far shorter than the 40 to 50 years prosecutors asked for. Still, this marks an end to one of the largest fraud cases in US history…for now. SBF plans to appeal, but said, “at the end of the day, my useful life is probably over now”.

This marked the culmination of the former billionaire wonder-kid’s dramatic downfall from an ultra-wealthy entrepreneur and major political donor, to the biggest trophy, to date, in a crackdown by US Authorities on malfeasance in cryptocurrency markets.

A Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate, Sam Bankman-Fried rode a boom in the values of Bitcoin and other digital assets to a net worth of USD 26 billion, according to Forbes magazine, before he turned 30.

SBF became known for his mop of unkempt curly hair and commitment to a movement called ‘effective altruism’, which encourages talented young people to focus on earning money and giving it away to worthy causes. He was one of the biggest contributors to Democratic candidates and causes, before the 2022 US Midterm elections. SBF also donated to Republicans through ‘straw’ donors to hide his involvement.

The judge called SBF’s efforts to present himself as a ‘good guy’ an act, adding, ‘the goal was power and influence’. SBF has been detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since August 2023, when the Judge revoked his bail after finding he likely tampered with witnesses at least twice. The Judge said he would recommend Sam Bankman-Fried be sent to a prison close to San Francisco.

In a historic first, Saudi Arabia is sending a 27-years-old model and social media influencer Rumy al-Qahtani to participate in the Miss Universe Beauty Pageant to be held in Mexico this September. This is a pathbreaking step and the conservative, ‘fully covered’, Kingdom moves towards opening-up on more reforms of women’s rights. It was indeed a revelation to see photos of the model in a strapless sequinned gown. I would say Saudi Arabia is exporting raw ‘desert heat’.

Rumy al-Qahtani is only the second woman from the Gulf region to participate in the pageant, following in the footsteps of Miss Universe Bahrain, Lujane Yacoub, who took part in the event in 2023.

Qahtani is a beauty pageant veteran who actively shares her journey with her over one million followers. She was crowned Miss Saudi Arabia in 2021 and also won the Miss Middle East and Miss Arab World Peace titles. She has a degree in dentistry and speaks fluent Arabic, French, and English. And she surely has those hot looks!

Over the past five years, woman’s rights have blossomed in Saudi Arabia: allowing them, to drive, to become ambassadors, bank directors, university administrators and even astronauts. Saudi Scientist Rayyanah Barnawi took part in a mission to the International Space Station in May last year.

In April 2018, women were allowed to attend a concert – the first gender mixed event; in June 2018, Saudi lifted the long-standing ban on women driving; in the same year Saudi relaxed the dress code for women, removing the mandate to wear the abaya – a long loose garment that usually has a black headscarf or niqab – in public. It also removed the discriminatory practice of firing women from their workplace for pregnancy. In 2019, a law was passed, that longer required women to get male permission to travel or obtain a passport. That’s a lot of beautiful things done to women!

Overall, Saudi Arabia is beginning to climb out of its abysmal record of protecting and promoting women’s rights. But, looking at stories across the world, sometimes you wonder whether many other countries are becoming more Saudi Arabia, while Saudi Arabia itself is becoming less Saudi Arabia!

More stories will be un-covered in the weeks ahead. Stay beautiful and drive fearlessly with World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2024-12

About: the world this week, 17 March 2024 to 23 March 2024: Israel still in Gaza; Russian Elections; Ireland’s PM resigns; Indonesia’s new President; India Elections announced; Princess of Wales; happy in Finland; Intermittent Fasting; and Pygmy Hippos.

Everywhere

Israeli Forces raided Gaza’s Al Shifa Hospital early on Monday killing more than 80 terrorists, and ran into a stockpile of weapons. Israeli military’s soldiers and special forces conducted a ‘precise operation’ based on intelligence that the hospital was being used by senior Hamas leaders. And hospitals continue to be used by Hamas as hideouts and godowns for storage of military hardware. During the raid, a senior leader of the Islamic Jihad and a Major Commander in al-Qassam of Hxmas were captured.

United States (US) Secretary of State Antony Blinken continues his globe-trotting efforts, especially to the Middle East, to bring the warring parties to hold fire. He told Qatar that they must give Hamas an ultimatum to either deliver on a hostage and ceasefire deal or expel their senior leaders stationed in Qatar. What took him so long?

Late this week, Russia and China vetoed a US resolution in the United Nations (UN), Security Council calling for a ceasefire in Gaza tied to a hostage release deal.

This week, the world – Ukraine in particular – got more of Russian President Vladimir Putin, 71: another six years to keep doing whatever he is doing.

The Russian Election Results were out on Sunday and Putin won a landslide re-election in, what is said to be, a predetermined vote, with over 87% in his favour. He basked in a victory that was never in doubt, easily securing a fifth term after facing only token challengers and harshly suppressing opposition voices. The outcome means Putin is set to embark on yet another term that will see him overtake Russian Dictator Josef Stalin and become Russia’s longest-serving leader, in more than 200 years – if he completes the term. Communist candidate Nikolai Kharitonov finished second, newcomer Vladislav Davankov third, and ultra-nationalist Leonid Slutsky, fourth.

Putin then made a victory speech saying the results showed Russia had been right to stand up to the West and send its troops into Ukraine in, what he has all along been calling, a ‘special military operation’. And that the operation would strengthen Russia’s military. “We have many tasks ahead. But when we are consolidated – no matter who wants to intimidate us, suppress us – nobody has ever succeeded in history, they have not succeeded now, and they will not succeed ever in the future,” thundered Putin. He warned the West that a direct conflict between Russia and the United States led NATO military alliance would mean the planet was one step away from World War III, but said hardly anyone wanted such a scenario.

The United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, and other nations said the vote was neither free nor fair, due to the imprisonment of political opponents and censorship. Hard to bottle Russia?

Meanwhile, Poland and Germany announced that they are creating an ‘international armoured vehicle coalition’ for Ukraine. The United Kingdom, Italy, and Sweden have said that they will join it too. Looks like Ukraine will get a new batch of tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and armoured personnel carriers, to keep-up the fighting.

This Wednesday, Indonesia’s Election Commission formally announced Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto as President-elect, having won 59% of the votes in last month’s Presidential Elections. He is a three-time Presidential candidate who finally made it. Outgoing President Joko Widodo’s son Gibran Rakabuming Raka was the running mate and is set to become Vice-President.

In a shocking, unexpected turn of events, Ireland Prime Minister (PM) Leo Varadkar, 45, announced his resignation on ‘personal and political reasons, but mainly political reasons’. That’s another ‘New Zealand Jacintha Arden’ signature tune.

In a candid statement he said, “After 7 years in office I don’t feel I’m the best person for the job anymore”. He first resigned as President and leader of his Party, Fine Gael, with immediate effect. Leo Varadkar is of Indian origin and became Ireland’s youngest and first openly gay PM in 2017.

He will be remembered for his efforts to liberalise Ireland, easing the country’s strict anti-abortion laws. Varadkar had been grappling with several controversies. Early this month his government lost two referenda to change what it called ‘sexist’ language in the Constitution. He also faced severe backlash over Ireland’s housing crisis and soaring immigration numbers. In foreign affairs, Leo Varadkar was one of the harshest critics of Israel of any European Country. And Irish support for the Palestinians runs high.

Late last week on 16th Saturday, India’s Election Commission announced the schedule for the General Elections 2024 for electing 543 Members of Parliament to the Lower House of Parliament – Lok Sabha. It is a mammoth schedule, starting on 19th April and ending on 1st June, running in seven phases across the States of India. Counting of votes will be on 4 June 2024. Many States would be voting in a single phase whereas others would be having up to seven phases. Approximately 960 million, out of a population of 1.4 billion, are eligible to vote in the upcoming elections.

India’s Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar rambled for about an hour before announcing the schedule, which immediately kicked-off the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) – a set of guidelines issued to regulate political parties and candidates prior to elections. Among other things, the Code bars the government, at the State and Centre, from announcing new policy decisions, new projects or schemes that can influence voters. The MCC also states that political parties must also avoid advertising at the expense of the public exchequer or using official mass media for publicity on achievements to improve their chances of victory in the elections.

Opinion Polls give the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Government lead by Prime Minister Narendra Modi a third term, with over 350 seats. While the BJP has confidently set itself a target of 400 plus, to make path-breaking changes.

In the United Kingdom, it’s a royal mess over the ‘Missing Princess of Wales’ with ‘Kate-spiracies’ and the wildest possible rumours exploding on the Internet and conspiracy theories flourishing. Kate Middleton has long been a magnet for unproven rumours, and it’s only getting better!

Finally toward the end of the week the Princess announced that she is suffering from cancer and in the early stages of a course of preventive chemotherapy. The diagnosis was a huge shock. The Royal Family has rallied around her.

Kate was last seen on Christmas. ‘Di another day?’

Finland remains the happiest Country in the world for the 7th straight year. And is quickly followed by Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Israel, Netherlands, Norway. India was ranked 126. This, according to a United Nations sponsored World Happiness Report. Afghanistan rightfully stays at the bottom. It was an awful surprise to see countries such as Pakistan, Ukraine, ‘State of Palestine’, Myanmar, above India making one wonder about ‘what and who’ is speaking here!

The findings showed that younger generations are happier than older peers. Happiness ranking is based on individuals’ self assessed evaluation as well as GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity, and corruption. A close connection to nature and a healthy work-life balance were key contributors to happiness.

Intermittent fasting has grown in popularity over the years, thanks in part to celebrities. But there’s bad news.

New research by the American Heart Association says people who restrict their eating to an eight-hour window could be 91% more likely to die from a cardiovascular disease. Still, the researchers said more work needs to be done to understand why restricted eating can lead to cardiovascular disease. Intermittent fasting, a diet pattern that involves alternating between periods of fasting and eating, can lower blood pressure and help some people lose weight, past research has indicated.

But an analysis presented this Monday at the American Heart Association’s scientific sessions in Chicago challenges the notion that intermittent fasting is good for heart health. Instead, researchers from Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine in China found that people who restricted food consumption to less than eight hours per day had a 91% higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease over a median period of eight years, relative to people who ate across 12 to 16 hours. It’s some of the first research investigating the association between time-restricted eating (a type of intermittent fasting) and the risk of death from cardiovascular disease. The analysis — which has not yet been peer-reviewed or published in an academic journal — is based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey collected between 2003 and 2018. The researchers analysed responses from around 20,000 adults who recorded what they ate for at least two days, then looked at who had died from cardiovascular disease after a median follow-up period of eight years.

A rare and endangered Pygmy Hippopotamus has been born in Athens’ Attica Zoological Park for the first time in 10 years, delighting conservationists. This was on 19 February. A lack of male pygmy hippos in captivity had complicated breeding efforts, so zoo staff were ‘absolutely thrilled’ the baby was a boy. “This is the first birth in the zoo in 2024, and what a birth. Every captive birth of pygmy hippos is extremely important. We’re very happy to see this baby grow into a healthy adult hippo, and hopefully one day reproduce,” said a Zoo Official.

Pygmy hippos are native to swamps and rainforests in western Africa, mainly confined to Liberia, with small numbers in the neighbouring countries of Sierra Leone, Guinea, and the Ivory Coast. They are listed as an endangered species and it is estimated only about 2,000 to 2,500 are still live in the wild. Weighing 7 kilograms the male calf – whose name will go to a vote – joins his parents Lizzie and Jamal as the only pygmy hippos at the zoo. The hippo, solitary and nocturnal by nature, will remain with its mother for a couple of months until it ventures into the outdoors enclosure.

At first glance, the pygmy hippopotamus looks like a mini version of its larger relative, the hippopotamus-also known as the river or common hippopotamus. But it differs in behaviour and physical characteristics. A common hippo typically weighs about 10 times as much as a pygmy hippo. The pygmy hippo has adaptations for spending time in water, but is much less aquatic than the hippo. Its nose and ears close underwater just like a hippo’s do, but its head is rounder and narrower, its neck is proportionally longer, and its eyes are not on the top of its head. The pygmy hippo’s feet are less webbed and its toes more free than those of the hippo, and its legs are longer. Its teeth are also different: it only has one pair of incisors, while the hippo has two or three. The top layer of a pygmy hippo’s greenish-black skin is smooth and thin to help it stay cool in the humid rainforest. However, the thin skin could cause the hippo to dehydrate quickly in the sun, so its skin oozes out a pink fluid that looks like beads of sweat and gives the hippo a shiny, or wet, appearance. This fluid, called blood sweat, helps to protect a pygmy hippo’s sensitive skin from sunburn. Wish we humans had built-in sunscreen. And pink is cool!

The pygmy hippo eluded Western science until 1840. Even today, little is known of its habits in the native habitat. Although they are able to make noises—from a low grunt to a high-pitched squeak—pygmy hippos are usually silent. Body language is important in hippo culture. Signs of submission include lying prone and urinating while slowly wagging the tail. If alarmed, the hippo releases its breath with a loud huff. A pygmy hippo calf can nurse from its mother on land or underwater. And Whales are the closest living relatives to hippos. That’s company!

More hippo-ish stories coming-up in the weeks ahead. Live on land and underwater with World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2024-11

About: the world this week, 10 March 2024 to 16 March 2024: Israel in the Gaza; Germany’s strikes; Nigeria’s ransom; India’s heat & dust; SpaceX, and Kairos; Japan on same-sex marriage; Miss World 2024; and Oscars 2024.

Everywhere

Israeli has said that it would press forward with its military campaign into Rafah, southern Gaza, amid rising international pressure. An ever-growing chorus of voices is calling for Israel not to enter Rafah, one of the last standing safe areas, where 1.5 million people have bundled themselves to shelter from the ongoing war. “We will finish the job in Rafah, while enabling the civilian population to get out of harm’s way,” roared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. With over 130 hostages still held captive by Hamas, there are hardly any other options left for Israel. And the solution -from the Hamas side- is, simply release the hostages.

The highly industrialised country of Germany is facing one of its most challenging times, with strikes on several fronts: train drivers and airport workers walked off the job, causing chaos for millions of travellers and adding to the country’s economic woes at a time of a looming recession.

This week, the German Trade Union, Verdi, called a near-nationwide public transport strike for the second time this month, raising pressure on employers in a dispute over pay and working conditions. Train drivers began a fifth round of strikes in a long-running dispute, after a walkout in the cargo division started this Wednesday.

The strikes are the latest in a wave of industrial actions to hit Germany, where high inflation and staff bottlenecks have soured wage negotiations in key parts of the transport sector, including national rail, air travel, and public transport. Industry has warned about the costs of such strikes, after Europe’s largest economy contracted by 0.3% in 2023 and the government warned of a weaker-than-expected recovery. Just sample this, ‘a one-day nationwide rail strike costs around 100 million Euros in economic output’.

Gunmen who kidnapped 286 students and staff from a school in northern Nigeria last week have demanded a total of USD 620,432 for their release. The school children, some older students, and members of the school staff were abducted on 7th March in the town of Kuriga, northwestern Kaduna State. They gave an ultimatum to pay the ransom within 20 days, effective from the date of the kidnap, and that they will kill all the students and the staff if the ransom demand is not met.

In India the week generated a lot of heat & dust over the Government notifying the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) 2019, which primarily speed-tracks citizenship of persecuted minorities in neighbouring countries. The Act excludes Muslims who are a majority in these nations. Muslims can anyway become citizens in the normal process.

Another heat & dust moment was the release of the names and amounts of the Electoral Bonds Scheme – declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court-released by the State Bank of India. Political parties were at each other’s throats on the funds received. In summary, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party with 303 Members of Parliament (MP) received INR 6,000 crore and the Opposition with 242 MPs received INR 14,000 crore!

This week, a SpaceX Starship rocket, launched on its third test flight from SpaceX’s spaceport, named Starbase, on the Gulf of Mexico in Boca Chica, Texas, United States, achieved multiple milestones – according to the Company – before likely breaking apart. The 120 metre rocket weighs about 5,000 tonnes when fully fuelled.

The deep-space rocket went through nearly an hour-long integrated flight test, for the first time flying around the globe, but contact was lost during the final stages of the test, just as it re-entered Earth’s atmosphere. The spacecraft was expected to splash down in the Indian Ocean, putting the gargantuan vehicle in a position to move on to more complex test flights and, eventually, carry NASA astronauts to the moon’s surface. But after re-entry, the team lost two key pieces of communication at the same time. The team then made the call that the ship has been lost, hence no splashdown.

SpaceX also never intended to recover Starship after this flight test. And the Starship spacecraft made it much farther into flight than during two previous tests in 2023. The company routinely frames failures during these early test flights as normal: the goal being to gather crucial data, so that engineers can go back and tinker with the Starship, improving it for future missions. SpaceX considers the Starship system crucial to its founding mission: to carry humans to Mars for the first time. And critically, NASA has chosen Starship as the landing vehicle that will ferry its astronauts to the lunar surface on the Artemis III Mission, slated to take off in September 2026.

In smaller space news, on 13th March, Kairosa rocket, made by a Japanese Company, Space One, exploded just seconds after its inaugural launch. It had blasted off from the Company’s Launch Pad, Spaceport Kii, in the Kii Peninsula on the island of Honshu, Wakayama region of western Japan, carrying a small government test satellite. Space One was hoping to become the first Japanese company to put a satellite in orbit.

Kairos is a small, 18 metre long, solid-fuel three-stage and liquid propellent upper stage rocket. The name KAIROS means Kii-based Advanced & Instant Rocket System. The name also borrows from an Ancient Greek mythological concept of time, where Kairos means ‘chance’ or ‘opportune time’. Looks like this time, opportune time wasn’t on their side.

Japan is a relatively small player in the Space launches. And the setback for Space One and the rocket industry in Japan comes as the Government and investors ramp up support for the sector amid a national security buildup and skyrocketing demand for commercial satellites.

Tokyo-based Space One was established in July 2018 by a consortium of Japanese companies, the major ones being: Canon Electronics, IHI Aerospace, Shimizu Corporation, and the Development Bank of Japan.

“The rocket terminated the flight after judging that the achievement of its mission would be difficult” said Space One. It did not specify what triggered the self-destruction after the first-stage engine ignited – or when the company would launch the next Kairos – only pledging an investigation into the explosion.The company said that the launch is highly automated, requiring only about a dozen ground staff, and that the rocket self-destructs when it detects errors in its flight path, speed, or control system that could cause a crash that endangers people on the ground.

Continuing with Japan, a high court on Thursday said the country’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional, ruling on a matter that has divided lower levels of the judiciary and put the conservative government at odds with shifting public opinion. Japan is the only member of the Group of Seven industrialised nations that doesn’t offer legal protection for same-sex unions. Rights groups say the omission is discriminatory and hurts its appeal as a global business centre. There is a growing risk that Japan will be left behind by international trends and excluded from being an option as a place to work; and whether Japan will become a society that accepts diversity.

Late last week, the World got a new Miss World. Besting 112 of her fellow titleholders from across the globe, Krystyna Pyszkova of the Czech Republic, a 23 years old law student and model, was crowned Miss World 2024. This year, the International pageant, the 71st, was held on Saturday in Mumbai, India.

Pyszkova replaces the outgoing Miss World, Karolina Bielawska, of Poland, whose reign dates to March 2022. The Miss World 2023 was not held due to scheduling issues. The three runners-up are: Yasmina Zeytoun of Lebanon, Ache Abrahams of Trinidad and Tobago, and Lesego Chombo of Botswana. India’s Sini Shetty, the winner of the Femina Miss India Title and India’s participant, bowed out after a top-eight finish.

Across a series of events during the preliminary competition, including fitness, beauty, talent, and public speaking, several contestants won ‘fast track’ places in the top 40, a cohort announced at the start of the show. Thereafter, the field was quickly slashed to top 12 and then top 8, at which point the contestants participated in the classic Question & Answer round, addressing topics discussed at the most recent G20 Summit. Asked to shed light on an issue impacting women’s health care specifically, Pyszkova spoke about removing the stigma and shame surrounding menstruation, saying that ‘being a woman is a gift’ and that periods should not be a taboo subject.

In the final, four contestants were left to ‘pitch their purpose’ – or philanthropic platform- to a trio of business moguls from ‘Shark Tank India’. Pyszkova pitched for making it a lifelong mission to providing quality education to unprivileged children, given that there are over 240 million children out of school, worldwide. A proper education would enable a child to realise his/her dream.

Shark Tank is as American Business Reality TV series which shows entrepreneurs making business presentations to a panel of five venture capitalists, called ‘sharks’, on the program, who decide whether to invest in their companies.

The 96th Academy Awards 2024, the Oscars, were announced this Sunday at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation, Hollywood, honouring movies released in the year 2023.

Host Jimmy Kimmel kicked off the show by welcoming ‘these beautiful human actors’ in attendance after a hard year of strikes. He called out Academy members for not nominating Greta Gerwig for best director (Barbie), made a joke about Robert Downey Jr’s troubled (battle with drugs) history, calling the night ‘one of his highest points’, the length of ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ (a meaty run-time of 206 minutes) and Actor Bradley Cooper’s habit of taking his mother to Awards shows.

Later in the night, Kimmel read a Truth Social post from Donald Trump attacking his role as host and asking ABC to replace him. “Isn’t it past your jail time,” he joked.

Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster biopic Oppenheimer triumphed at the Oscars taking home seven awards including best picture, best actor, and best director.

The drama, telling the story of the ‘father of the atom bomb’, lost the box office battle to Barbie during last summer’s Barbenheimer showdown, but has now won the awards war with Greta Gerwig’s Barbie winning just one Oscar for best original song!

The ceremony brought back an old practice where a group of previous winners present acting Oscars, which allowed for actors such as Lupita Nyong’o, Sam Rockwell, Ben Kingsley, and Jennifer Lawrence to pay tribute to friends and co-workers.

Cillian Murphy was named best actor for his Oppenheimer performance beating out the likes of Paul Giamatti and Jeffrey Wright. This is his first Oscar from his first nomination, is also the first ever Irish-born winner in his category. “I’m a little overwhelmed,” he said before dedicating his award “to the peacemakers everywhere”.

Robert Downey Jr was named best supporting actor, up against Robert De Niro and Ryan Gosling. He won his first Oscar after being nominated twice before for ‘Chaplin’ and ‘Tropic Thunder’. “I’d like to thank my terrible childhood and the Academy in that order,” he said, before later adding: “I needed this job more than it needed me.”

Nolan picked up his first best director Oscar, after being nominated previously for Dunkirk, beating out Martin Scorsese and Jonathan Glazer. When speaking about cinema in his speech he said: “We don’t know where this incredible journey is going from here but to know that you think I’m a meaningful part of it means the world to me.” The film also won for editing, cinematography, and score.

Actress Emma Stone pulled a surprise, beating out favourite Lily Gladstone to be named best actress for her role in Yorgos Lanthimos’ off-beat period comedy, ‘Poor Things’. It’s the actor’s second, best actress Oscar after previously winning for ‘La La Land’. “It’s not about me, it’s about a team that came together to make something greater than the sum of its parts,” she said during an emotional speech. But ‘poor thing’ she suffered a wardrobe malfunction when the back of her strapless Louis Vuitton Gown split open. And did not reveal any rich thing. Looking hard, behind this season, might well have become a nude Oscar ceremony!

Jonathan Glazer’s German and Polish-language Holocaust drama ‘The Zone of Interest’ was named best international feature, the first-ever British film to win in this category. The film also won for sound. It’s about a Nazi commandant and his wife who live with family in a home in the ‘Zone of Interest’ next to the Auschwitz Concentration Camp.

Da’Vine Joy Randolph won the best supporting actress Oscar for her role in 70s-set comedy-drama ‘The Holdovers’ after winning every major precursor award on her way to the stage. “For so long, I’ve always wanted to be different and now I realise I just need to be myself,” a tearful Randolph said in her speech.

Barbie won just one award from its eight nominations, taking home the best original song Oscar for Billie Eilish’s, What Was I Made For? Eilish, winning with brother and collaborator Finneas, received a standing ovation earlier in the evening after performing the song on stage. The pair previously won for, ‘No Time to Die’.

Oscars 2024 ceremony took a wild turn when American Professional Wrestler and Actor, John Cena, walked on stage nude to present the Best Costume Award. Jimmy Kimmel introduced Cena as the presenter of the category, by hinting that he will appear nude on stage. However, Cena appeared hesitant to walk out with no clothes. Kimmel, tried to convince him and eventually forced him out of the wings to present the award. Cena covered his modesty with the envelop featuring the winner of Best Costume. After announcing the category, the presentation cut to the nominations. In the brief space, Kimmel draped him with a massive curtain. Relieved with the ‘cover-up’, Cena then presented the Best Costume award to ‘Poor Things’.

Beautiful stories coming-up in the weeks ahead. Crown yourself with World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2024-10

About: the world this week, 3 March 2024 to 9 March 2024: Airdropping; Abortion Rights; Kidnapping School Children; Indelible Election Ink; Possible Presidents; a Prime Minister; Gone Neutrality; Murder and Drugs; and sand Star Dunes.

Everywhere

Last week, the United States of America, probably under Home Election pressure, decided to airdrop food and other essential supplies into the Gaza. This in the backdrop of the United Nations (UN) saying that more than half a million people in the Gaza were one step away from famine. And airdropping seems to be the best choice given that delivery by trucks, on the ground ran into stampede problems or Hamas grabbing them easily. Israel acknowledged the plan, but sealed its lips. People in Gaza are eating animal feed and cactuses to survive, and children are dying in hospitals from malnutrition and dehydration. Experts say the measure is well-intentioned but unwise, and won’t solve the problem. And towards the end of the week, 5 people died, and many sustained injuries on being hit by the airdropped packages.

Meanwhile, hopes for a ceasefire ahead of the Muslim festival of Ramzan faltered. Israel demanded clear answers from Hamas on key issues as well as a list of the surviving Israeli hostages who could be released. Hamas says, “Practically, it is impossible to know who is still alive because of continuing Israeli bombing. They are in different areas with different groups. We have asked for a ceasefire to collect that data”. That’s a typical Catch-22 situation, but smirks of complete indifference to the plight of the over 130 hostages held in captivity for over 145 days, and ‘bargaining tool’.

Israel intends to push on with its offensive against Hamas, especially into the southern Gaza city of Rafah. On a completely different front, Israel announced new housing plans in the West Bank, expanding its settlements in the area, slowly dashing hopes of an independent Palestinian State.

In Nigeria gunmen kidnapped more than 200 school students in the northern town of Kuriga this Thursday, in the biggest mass abduction from a school since 2021. Kidnappings for ransom by armed men have become endemic in northern Nigeria, disrupting daily lives and preventing thousands of children from attending school. The last major reported abduction involving school children was in July 2021 when gunmen took more than 150 students in a raid. The students were re-united months later with their families after they paid ransoms.

This Monday, France approved a historic bill, with 780 for and 72 against, to enshrine Abortion Rights permanently in the country’s Constitution, becoming the first country in the world to do so. France said, “the message we are sending to all women is, your body belongs to you and no-one can decide for you”. That’s indeed a powerful and significant step in respecting a woman’s unalloyed right to her body.

India is gearing for the quinquennial Parliamentary Elections to the Lower House, Lok Sabha – Members of Parliament directly elected by the people- to be announced in the coming weeks. The General Elections are expected to be held during April-May 2024. The Party winning the majority of seats in Parliament forms the Government, with its designated Prime Minister, and has a term of 5 years to unleash its magic, if any.

When people vote at the allotted booths in their area, indelible ink is applied on the left forefinger of a person as proof that he or she has cast the vote. In case a voter has the left forefinger missing, the ink is applied to any other finger on the left hand. And there are rules, laid down by India’s Election Commission, for other conditions, including the extreme of having no hands at all. The indelible marking is also to prevent electoral fraud and double-voting.

Typically, the indelible ink stain stays on the skin for 72–96 hours, lasting 2 to 4 weeks on the fingernail and cuticle area. The ink makes a permanent mark on the cuticle area, which only disappears with the growth of the new nail. It can take up to 4 months for the stain to be replaced completely by new nail growth. Electoral ink stain typically contains a pigment for instant recognition, a silver nitrate, which stains the skin on exposure to ultraviolet light. This leaves a mark that is impossible to wash off and is only removed as external skin cells are replaced. Industry-standard electoral inks contain between 10% and 18% silver nitrate solution, depending on when the mark must be visible.

The indelible ink used in India’s elections is manufactured and supplied by only one Company, in the whole of India: Mysore Paints and Varnish Ltd. (MPVL) working out of the State of Karnataka. The indelible ink used in India was first developed by the Council of Industrial Research-National Physical Laboratories (NPL), New Delhi in 1962, and has been used ever since.

It is estimated that India would require 26.55 Lakh vials of the marker, at a cost of INR 55 crore. One vial of 10 mg can be used for 700 voters. Each vial costs INR 174. MPVL says that 70% of the production is done and the remaining will be completed by 15 March 2024.

MPVL also exports the ink to Cambodia, Fiji Islands, Sierra Leone, and a host of countries are now lining up to order, to mark their voters.

Last heard, MPVL is working on a marker pen to replace the glass vials. That seems to be an easy and practical way of marking, and wonder what is taking them so long?

This week,Nikki Haley, a former Ambassador to the United Nations, decided to end her presidential campaign. A decision that will almost certainly ensure that Donald Trump wins the Republican nomination and once again faces Democratic President Joe Biden in the November 2024 Presidential Elections. Haley called it quits after Super Tuesday as Biden and Trump swept to victory in respective statewide nominating contests across the country.

Trump is sailing into battle against Biden powered by anger over the two policy issues that have driven his comeback campaign so far: immigration, and the economy.

This week, Pakistan’s ‘elected’ Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif took oath as PM on 4th March – his second stint in Office. He assured his folks that he would not allow Pakistan to become part of some ‘great game’ and would maintain cordial relations with neighbours based on the principles of equality. India’s PM offered facilitations, and Indian folk are ‘equally’ watching what unfolds across the border.

This week Sweden dropped its decades – over 200 years – of cultivated Neutrality and joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as its 32nd member, almost two years after first applying. Of course, the war in Ukraine prompted a security re-think and behold, there they are now ‘safely’ ensconced in NATO. Swedish PM, Ulf Kristerson, handed over the final documentation to the United States Govt, the last step in a drawn-out process to secure the backing of all members to join the military alliance.

Sweden’s famous neutrality dates to as far back as 1812 when they lost territory to Russia during the Napoleonic Wars. In the year 1834, King Karl XIV declared the country’s neutrality, urging other countries particularly Russia and Britain to respect Sweden’s wish to stay out of their conflicts. They steadily kept up the neutrality during the two World Wars and the Cold War, but gradually, since 2009, entered in to mutual defence treaties with the European Union and other Nordic countries. That’s telling of our times, is it not? From neutrality to taking sides; from peace to war?

In India’s Union Territory of Puducherry, in the South, a nine-year old girl, Aarthi, a Class 5 student in the local Government School, was playing outside her house in Muthialpet, when she went missing on 2nd March. The parents, one of them a driver at the local Primary Health Centre promptly made a Police complaint, when the girl could not be traced after hours of searching. Two days later, a sack was found floating in a drain near their house. On hauling it out and opening, the Police found the girl dead, with hands and feet tied with ropes. Investigations revealed that she was kidnapped, raped and then murdered. Police were quick to nab four suspects, including three minors, and began their investigation.

When one of the accused, a 19-year old boy, Karunas, from the same area, was being interrogated when he suddenly took out a blade, that he had on him, and began cutting his arms and legs. His behaviour convinced the police that he was seriously into using drugs. He also confessed to the killing. The suspect had taken the girl to the terrace of his house and began to sexually harasses her. And was joined by a 56 year old man, Vivekanandan, who insisted that he would be the first to be upon her. And when both tried to rape her, the girl screamed. They beat her up heavily to silence her, resulting in her death. They then tied the girl’s hands and feet with ropes, put her in a sack, and dumped her into the nearby drain canal.

The horrific incident has shaken the soul of Puducherry. The Authorities promised to act on curbing the drug menace using the ‘proverbial iron hand’ and would look-in any lapses by the Police force.

This happened at a time with swirling news of multiple incidents of drug-busting by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in the neighbouring State of Tamil Nadu was occupying the headlines, over the past weeks.

More than a week ago, a joint team of the NCB and the Delhi Police busted an international drugs trafficking network and arrested three persons, all from the State of Tamil Nadu. They seized 50 kg of pseudoephedrine – a narcotics making chemical – that was being sent to Australia and New Zealand by concealing it in mixed food powder and desiccated coconut. The trail led to the mastermind, a Chennai-based Film Producer, Jaffer Sadiq, who is also a leader of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) Party which rules the State of Tamil Nadu. Since the incident, Jaffer Sadiq has gone absconding, and the DMK quickly threw him under the bus – suspended him from the party. Later, the NCB conducted searches at Jaffer Sadiq’s house in Chennai following information received from New Zealand customs authorities.

Soon many other stories of drug-busting in Tamil Nadu broke to the surface, and suddenly it became a minefield of them out there. Investigations are underway to throw light on the dark state of the now-visible drug-menace in the State.

They are among the wonders of the deserts of the world: star dunes, the vaguely pyramid-shaped sand formations up to about 300 meters tall with arms stretching out from a central peak to give them a star-like appearance when viewed from above.

This week, Scientists, unveiled the first in-depth study of a star dune, revealing the internal structure and showing how long it took for one of them to form – more quickly than expected, but still a process unfolding over many centuries.

The study focused upon a star dune in eastern Morocco called Lala Lallia, meaning ‘highest sacred point’ in the local Berber language. It is situated within the Sahara Desert in a small sand sea called Erg Chebbi about 5 km from the town of Merzouga, close to the border with Algeria.

Lala Lallia rises about 100 metres above the surrounding dunes and is approximately 700 meters wide, containing about five and a half million metric tons of sand. The researchers used ground-penetrating radar to peer inside the dune and employed luminescence dating to determine how long Lala Lallia has taken to form, a method based on the amount of energy trapped inside the grains of sand. The answer: about 900 years, accumulating roughly 6,400 metric tons annually as wind relentlessly blows sand through the desert. They also determined that Lala Lallia is moving westerly at a speed of 0.5 meters annually.

Star dunes make up just under 10% of the dunes in Earth’s deserts and are the tallest ones, surpassing other types such as crescent-shaped barchan dunes and straight and lengthy linear dunes. They also have been spotted on Mars and on Saturn’s large moon Titan. Star dunes are formed in areas with complex wind regimes, which means winds blowing from different directions, and net sand accumulation, points within the desert where big piles of sand can be blown around to form giant dunes.

While many star dunes are known today, only a single ancient one has been found preserved as sandstone in a geological record, dating to about 250 million years ago, in Scotland, United Kingdom.

Earth’s largest star dunes are found in the Badain Jaran desert in western China. Star dunes are also found in places including the Namib Sand Sea in Namibia, large sand seas in Algeria such as the Grand Erg Oriental and Grand Erg Occidental, and Rub’ al Khali in Saudi Arabia. In North America, Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado contains a series of them.

“They form extraordinary and awe-inspiring landscapes. From the ground they can be intimidating, mobile mountains of sand”, said a Scientist.

More sand stories coming-up in the weeks ahead. Stay star-struck with World Inthavaaram.

This is my Blog where I essay stories on life about and around me, on subjects that stir and shake me up, as I turn, and make life's pages count: hoping to inspire you to live your own story!

Everywhere

The Hostage Situation

India’s Elections: the Gowdas

Old Beauty

A Lifetime in the Movies

Everywhere

On the World’s War-front

India’s Super-charged Election

Donald Trump’s Woes

World Chess and India’s Moves

Everywhere

Israel – Iran

Australia: Knives Out

Dubai: Desert Storm

Inking India’s Finger

Tough being a Princess and a Future Queen

Everywhere

Israel, Hamas, and Vows

Poland and Immigration

Ireland’s New Prime Minister

A Swiss Victory

Vietnam and Corruption

Total Eclipse of the Sun

Everywhere

Israel Fights

Turkey Spins

Taiwan Shakes

Finland Shoots

Scotland Speaks – No Hate

India Dances – Democracy

World’s Oldest Man Quits

Everywhere

Everywhere

Everywhere

Everywhere

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