WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2022- 49

About –the stories of the world this week, 4 December to 10 December: Artemis-I Moon to Earth; Iran and China buckle; Indonesia Rules; Haiti gangs up; India elects and elects; and magic at the Football World Cup, Qatar.

Everywhere

Return to Earth after a Honeymoon Sight-Seeing

NASA’s Artemis I’s Orion spacecraft after having gone further than any ‘Crew Capable Spacecraft’ had gone -the distant retrograde orbit -has left this cold place to return to warmer regions. It’s second main engine burn gave it the thrust to get in to the embrace of the Moon’s gravity. This Monday, Orion did a fly-by the Moon’s surface-just 127 km above-and its main engine fired again, in the longest burn, to kick it back to Earth. Orion’s splash down in the Pacific Ocean is expected on 11th December. Cannot wait for Orion to return safely, open-up, and tell its hidden stories.

Iran & China on the Same Page; Indonesia Opens a Book

Over the past weeks and months ‘one-of-a-kind protests’ raged in Iran and China, which saw brutal crackdowns on dissent. And they seemed to only fester and become unstoppable, on both sides.

Finally, this week, Iran buckled, abolished the ‘Gasht-e Ershad or Guidance Patrol’ – Morality Police- and said it will review the decades old mandatory hijab law, which requires women to cover their heads.

On the same page, China relented, eased COVID-19 lockdown restrictions and testing rules.

Both saw dictatorial regimes bending to the will of the people. When people speak as one, they effect change, and they win.

Iran’s Morality Police was established in the year 2005 under hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to ‘spread the culture of modesty and hijab’ and enforce it across the Country. The roll-back, is a massive victory for Iranian women protesting against the hijab law, which comes after more than two months of demonstrations, sparked by Mahsa Amini’s detention and death in custody over not wearing the hijab properly.

While Iran seems to have learnt some new lessons from old Rules, Indonesia doesn’t seem to be seeing anything at all-too much cloth covering its eyes? Indonesia is not a secular state: atheism is unacceptable – technically, it is compulsory to follow one of six prescribed religions.

This week, Indonesia’s Parliament has approved a new criminal code that bans anyone in the country from having extramarital sex; restricts political freedom, besides other ‘read the fine print Rules’. Sex outside marriage will carry a jail term of up to a year under the new laws, which take effect in three years’ time.

The newly formulated laws appear to be a ‘disaster’ for human rights, and a potential blow to tourism and investment. They apply equally to locals and to foreigners living in Indonesia, or visiting holiday destinations such as Bali. Under the laws, unmarried couples caught having sex can be jailed for up to a year. They are also banned from living together-an act for which people could be jailed for up to six months. Adultery will also be an offence for which people can be jailed.

Sex before marriage was already banned prior to the approval of this new criminal code, but the law was often not enforced. The old law defined adultery as sex between a married man and someone who was not his wife, while the new law bans all sex outside of marriage. The sentencing for those caught has also been increased from nine months to a year. For prosecutions to start, a complaint must be filed by the children, parents, or spouse of the accused couple.

The Gangs of Haiti

The Republic of Haiti is a country located on the Island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles Archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

In size, Haiti is the third-largest country in the Caribbean, and has an estimated population of 11.4 million, making it the most populous country in the Caribbean. The capital is Port-au-Prince, nestled between green hillsides and the blue waters of the sea. Look deeper, and you can see the rot washing-up on its shores.

More than a year ago, on 7 July 2021, Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise, who took office in 2017, was killed during an attack on his private residence. Ever since, there is no Head of State, no functioning Parliament, and the United States (US) -backed Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, who took-over, is unelected and deeply unpopular.

Meanwhile, Gangs of criminals have moved in to fill the space and have taken Haiti hostage. They make their own laws. They kill. They rape. The cruel statistics is climbing every day. About 1377 people have been killed, injured, or disappeared between June and September of this year. There are now an estimated 200 gangs operating across Haiti, and around 95 in the capital, Port-au-Prince, alone. This has resulted in a huge insecurity crisis, with large-scale attacks on communities, politicians and journalists, high levels of violence, mass kidnappings and large-scale forced displacements. And drawing of ‘boundaries of control’. For e.g., in Port-au-Prince you cannot see visible boundaries, but you must know where they are. Your life may depend on it. Competing gangs are carving up the capital, kidnapping, raping, and killing at will. They demarcate their territory in blood. Cross from one gang’s turf to another, and you may not make it back.

In effect the State is missing in action, as the people suffer overlapping crises. Almost half the population is grappling with acute hunger. In the Capital, around 20,000 people are facing famine-like conditions, according to the United Nations(UN). Cholera has made a deadly comeback.

Kidnapping is a growth industry. There were 1,107 reported cases between January and October of this year, according to the UN. For some gangs, it’s a major income stream. Ransoms can run from USD 200 to USD one million. Most victims come back alive – if the ransom is paid – but they are made to suffer.

“Men are beaten and burned with materials like melted plastic,” says Haiti’s Centre for Analysis and Research in Human Rights. “Women and girls are subject to gang rape. This situation spurs relatives to find money to pay the ransom. Sometimes kidnappers call the relatives so that they can hear the rape being carried out on the phone.”

A return to horrific, medieval times?

India’s Elections

The always-in-election-mode-India is back in action. On watch were three Elections: One, the Elections of the Municipality Corporation of Delhi (MCD), in India’s capital; Two, the State Assembly Election of Himachal Pradesh; and three, the State Assembly Election in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat.

After the last vote was cast in the last of the above Elections, the Exit Polls swing into action, and we could imagine the results. An Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) landslide in Delhi, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) comfortable win in Gujarat, and a cliffhanger in Himachal Pradesh.

While on counting day in the MCD Elections, the AAP swept to power, breaking a 15 year stranglehold of the BJP, it wasn’t the predicted landslide. AAP won a majority with 134 seats, the BJP came close with 104 seats, but gained 3% in vote share. This was the first election after a delimitation exercise when three corporations were merged and unified as one MCD. The AAP victory seems to be well-deserved as the BJP had failed in ward-level governance and delivery.

In Gujarat State, the BJP’s win was like a tsunami returning to power for a record-breaking seventh consecutive time, and after 27 years in continuous power. And the best ever win for the BJP garnering 53% of the vote share. The son-of-the-soil PM Modi, is unstoppable in this State.

In Himachal Pradesh it was made out to be a tough fight, and shockingly the Congress prevailed, winning 40 seats, but largely to Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) turncoats who switched over from the BJP to the Congress. They can form a government on their own, with the BJP at 25 seats probably making a good opposition. However, the vote percentage between the Congress at 43.9% and the BJP at 43% was razor-thin. And Himachal Pradesh kept its style of chucking out the incumbent Government at the end of every term.

Whatever, a win is a win. And India’s Grand Old Party, The Indian National Congress, despite being smashed all over the country breathes to live another day!

In India’s ever evolving, noisy but thriving democracy, the people have a say and you cannot take them for granted.

FIFA World Cup, Qatar 2022

Football fever grips the World with the World Cup Football progressing from the Group Matches to the knock-out Round 16 matches, which played through the week.

The Quarter-Final line-up is: Brazil versus (vs) Croatia, Argentina vs Netherlands; Portugal vs Morocco; and England vs France.

In the first Round 16 matches the Netherlands knocked out the US, 3-1 and the second Round 16 match Lionel Messi playing his 1000th game sparkled on the field with some awesome footwork and opened the scoring for Argentina against Australia. And ultimately a 2-1 win took Argentina to the Quarter Finals.

In the first extra-time and penalty shoot-out of FIFA World Cup 2022, a rising Japan, and Croatia tied with a 1-1 score line on regular play, and kept the same in extra time leading to a penalty shootout. The Croatian Goalkeeper became a hero of his country with a hat-rick of saves and Croatia moved to the Quarter-Finals. In another penalty shootout, Spain lost badly to Morocco after a goalless normal and extra playtime.

Late this week the Quarter Finals began, and in the first match, in an unbelievable moment, five-time World Cup Winner Brazil lost to Croatia, on penalty shootouts. Neymar produced Brazilian samba magic to score the first goal in extra time, but Croatia equalised with a Bruno Pitbovic goal, about ten minutes later. It was then over to Penalty Shootouts, which Croatia won 4-2. They move to the semi-finals and have been in this place before. Remember, they lost to France, 4-2 in the FIFA World Cup 2018, held in Russia.

In the second Quarter-Final Argentina raced ahead with a Lionel Messi assisted goal by Nahuel Molina, followed with a penalty goal by Messi himself. But then, Netherlands clawed back with a header goal by Wout Weghorst, and in the dying minutes of the game Denzel Dumfries equalised, taking the game to extra time and then, yet again, on to Penalty shootouts. Argentina won 3-4 scoring four and missing one while the Netherlands missed two. They now meet Croatia in the first Semi-finals.

This World Cup has been full of twists & turns, and we might have a surprise Winner in the Finals.

Far away from the football field awful news came in that the great Pele has been moved to end-of-life palliative care after he stopped responding to chemotherapy. He is the only footballer in history to win 3 World Cups, and an icon of the game at the level of Muhammad Ali in boxing.

Prisoner Swap: A Star is Released

Brittney Griner, the United States’ Women’s National Boxing Association (WNBA) Star was arrested in Sheremetyevo Airport, outside Moscow, in February this year, after the start of the Russia-Ukraine War. She was in Moscow to play yet another season with a Russian league team. A sniffer dog, sniffed cannabis oil in Griner’s carry-on luggage and on checking Russian Authorities found vape cartridges containing cannabis oil. She was then arrested on drug smuggling charges and jailed.

Griner testified she had inadvertently packed the cannabis oil found in her luggage. She was sentenced to nine years in prison in early August and was moved to a Penal Colony in Mordovia in mid-November after losing her appeal.

This Thursday Brittney Griner was released in a one-for-one prisoner swap for Russian international arms dealer Viktor Bout in an agreement, which the United States negotiated with Russia, and was given final approval by President Biden.

Viktor Bout, one of the world’s most infamous arms dealers, called the ‘Merchant of Death’, has been wallowing in an American Prison for over twelve years.

The US proposed a prisoner exchange last July, aware Russia had long sought Bout’s release. The swap happened in Abhu Dhabi in typical ‘Hollywood style’ when the ‘two prisoners’ crossed each other on the Airport tarmac to reach their respective flights to take them home.

More elected stories coming up in the weeks ahead. Swap everything else for World Inthavaaram – No ransom attached.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2022-48

About –the stories of the world this week, 27 November to 3 December: China flares-up; Vulgar comments on a serious Film; a Television Channel changes hands; Word of the Year; World Cup Football; health; and Digital Currency.

Everywhere

There are rumblings of discontent in China with protests erupting, demanding that President Xi Jinping step down from office. Heard that, right? How often do you come across something like this in China? Last heard was Tiananmen Square 1989?

For the first time in decades, thousands of people have defied Chinese Authorities and are protesting: demanding to be freed, not only from incessant COVID19 tests and lockdowns, but strict censorship and the Communist Party’s tightening grip over all aspects of life. This is a rare outpouring of public anger. China’s hardline zero-infections coronavirus strategy is stoking public frustration, with many growing weary of snap lockdowns, lengthy quarantines, and mass testing campaigns.

A deadly fire last week in Urumqi, the capital of northwest China’s Xinjiang region, has become a fresh catalyst for public anger, with many blaming COVID19 lockdowns for hampering rescue efforts.

Protesters are holding blank sheets of white A4 size paper to symbolise lack of freedom of speech-speaking without explicitly saying anything, and a stand-in for all things people cannot say. Some now refer to the protests a White Paper Revolution.

In another development, internet users in China will soon be held liable for liking posts deemed illegal or harmful, in clever plans to control social media like never before. China’s internet watchdog is stepping up its regulation of cyberspace as authorities intensify their crackdown on online dissent. The new rules come into force from 15th December as part of a new set of guidelines published by the Cyberspace Administration of China, which operates under the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission chaired by President Xi Jinping.

Look deeper, maybe China feels responsible for having unleashed the coronavirus in to the world? Is it the case of someone who having deeply dirtiest his hands, endlessly scrubs to come clean off the smallest speck of dirt?

India Files

The movie The Kashmir Files on the brutal killings of Hindu Kashmir Pandits by Islamist militants causing their exodus from the State of Jammu & Kashmir created quite a stir when it released in March 2022. It is a well-researched film by Indian filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri and boldly brought to the surface untold sufferings of Kashmir Pandits. Thousands were rendered refugees in their own country, and before this film not many knew about the scale, extent, and depth of agony and hardship. ‘The Kashmir Files’ performed exceptionally well at the box office by earning over Rs 330 crore. And most of India empathised with the Kashmir Pandits.

This week the 53rd International Film Festival of India (IFFI), which was showing in Goa came to an end. At the closing ceremony it was announced that The Golden Peacock Award will go to the Spanish coming-of-age movie, ‘I Have Electric Dreams’. While electric dreams came of age, the comments of an Israeli film director and IFFI Jury chairperson, Nadav Lapid seemed ‘under age’, completely out of frequency, and sparked a furious debate. Most of India was livid and visibly electrified when he said, “All of us were disturbed and shocked by the movie ‘The Kashmir Files’. It felt to us like a propaganda and vulgar movie that was inappropriate for an artistic and competitive section of such a prestigious film festival. I feel comfortable to openly share this feeling with you since the spirit of the festival can truly accept critical discussion which is essential for art and life”.

India’s Information & Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur was on stage when he said that, and it was despicable the he did not challenge the outrageous statement of Nadav Lapid. Then began a flurry of damage control.

After Lapid criticised the film, Israel’s Ambassador to India, Naor Gilon slammed him and apologized for the conduct of his countryman. Israel’s Consul General Kobbi Shoshani described Nadav Lapid’s remarks as a ‘big mistake’, and added that the comments made by the Israeli filmmaker don’t reflect the country’s position on the movie. The IFFI Jury Board issued a statement, saying that whatever Nadav Lapid said about the movie is his ‘personal opinion’ and ‘nothing to do’ with the IFFI Board.

New Delhi Television

Once upon a time, New Delhi Television’s (NDTV) ‘The World This Week’ was a once-a-week, every Friday, ‘hugely awaited’ show on India’s State run television channel, Doordarshan. It was produced by the husband-wife pair of Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy and the news format became a game changer in the year 1988.

NDTV went on to become a 24×7 News Network and independent news broadcaster.

Now, three decades later, this week NDTV changed hands to the Adani Group lead by Gautam Adani, one of the richest men in the world, who bought a controlling stake in the Company.

Another rich man, Mukesh Ambani owns Network 18 one of India’s largest media companies. Incidentally one of the Companies of Mukesh Ambani helped NDTV with a loan when it was struggling to make ends meet and this debt eventually lead to the Adani Group’s entry. Though an independent news network, NDTV has been often been accused of being prejudiced and peddling fake news.

It remains to be seen how the ‘new’ NDTV works from hereon.

Word(s) of the Year

America’s oldest dictionary publisher, Merriam-Webster, has chosen ‘gaslighting’ as its word of the year.

Gaslighting is the act or practice of grossly misleading someone, especially for someone’s own advantage. Said Merriam-Webster, “In this age of misinformation – of ‘fake news’, conspiracy theories, Twitter trolls, and deep fakes-gaslighting as emerged as a word of our time”.

Gaslighting derives its origins from British Novelist and Playwright Patrick Hamilton’s Victoria-era Play, year 1938, ‘Gas Light’, set in London about a middle-class marriage based on lies and deceit. Lead character Jack Manningham seeks to convince his wife Bella that she is going insane – to steal from her – including by saying that she is imagining the dimming of the gas light in their home. The modern usage is driven by the vast increase in channels and technologies used to mislead people.

Other words that were in the run and most looked-up are, oligarch; omicron; codify; LGBTQIA; sentient; loamy; raid, and queen consort. Go ahead and look-up them.

Not to be left behind, Collins English Dictionary’s word of the year is permacrisis – a word describing a feeling of living through a period of war, inflation, and political instability. This reflects Collins’ annual compilation of 10 words or phrases which reflect the ever-evolving English language and the preoccupation of those who use it.

‘Quiet quitting’ almost made the list. And it is the act of doing one’s basic duties at work and no more, either by way of protest or to improve work-life balance. Other words are: Carolean; Kyiv; Lawfare; Partygate; Splooting; Sportswashing; Vibe shift; Warm bank. Again, look them up and discover new words, as your weekend home work.

Recall, last year, the word of the year was ‘Vax’. That’s easy to accept.

FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Play

The Group matches are playing to a close on 3rd December and the first of the Round 16 knock-out matches will be kicking of the same day.

After a horrific start against Saudi Arabia, strong contenders for the Cup, Argentina, got the better of Mexico 2-0 with Lionel Messi opening the goal scoring and keeping Argentina in contention. And they went on to beat Poland 2-0, despite Messi missing a penalty, to top their Group and enter the Round 16. In another Group Match giant rivals Spain and Germany played level with a 1-1 result.

The United States defeated Iran in their Group match and in doing so ensured Iran’s ‘successful’ exit from the World Cup. This was met by cheers and celebrations in Tehran and other Iranian cities this week, as protesters hailed the country’s exit from the tournament as a blow to the ruling regime.

Qatar, the Host Nation was eliminated from the tournament after losing all its Group matches.

Passing on from playing to refereeing, the Germany versus Costa Rica match made news in a different sense. For the first time in the history of the World Cup Tournament an all-female team led by France’s Stephanie Frappart along with assistant referees – Brazilian Neuza Back and Mexican Karen Diaz Medina officiated on-field in a Men’s Tournament at Al Bayt Stadium. And all this is happening in a very conservative Qatar. Some message sure enough!

Meanwhile, though Germany defeated Costa Rica 4-2, Japan, playing in the same group made a surprise win over Spain 2-1 taking it to the top of the Group. Spain squeaked in on better goals to the Round 16 knocking out Germany. That’s disaster for Germany and they need to get back to the drawing board. Recall Japan had beaten them in the Group opening match. Japan is rising and they are on a high.

At the close of the week in a sensational, jaw-dropping play South Korea beat Portugal 2-1 and went in the knock-out Round 16 by the skin of their teeth making Uruguay’s 2-0 win over Ghana irrelevant. In the dying minutes of its game Uruguay suddenly found it had to score one more goal to move to the next round on a better goal score having even-points with South Korea. That was a real heart-break for Uruguay. But that’s football at its very best!

World Health

This week, the United Nations Secretary General reminded the world, on year another World AIDS Day, that the world has promised to end AIDS by 2030 – but we are off track. 1.5 million people acquired HIV last year. And we are just turning the corner on COVID19 with the last battle being fought in the original battleground of China.

In other ‘healthy’ news, Monkeypox an illness caused by the monkeypox virus- a viral zoonotic infection that it can spread from animals to humans – has been named as mpox by the World Health Organization (Who). That’s a big relief to monkeys all over the world – they were being stigmatised, and WHO is kind to them.

India’s Digital Currency

This week, on 1st December, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced the launch of India’s first-ever digital currency, Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). It was a pilot launch for retail Digital Rupee (e₹-R) in a closed user group consisting of customers and merchants. The pilot will initially cover four cities, New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Bhubaneswar, and four Banks will participate, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Yes Bank, and IDFC Bank.

RBI said that the digital currency is being launched with an aim to mitigate the risks and trim costs in the handling of physical currency.

Digital currency is a digital form of paper currency or fiat currency that can be exchanged in transactions for actual currency. It is essentially electronic cash. It cuts out the middlemen in financial transactions – primarily banks – and allows transactions to travel directly from person to person or customer to vendor. It is mainly meant for Retail transactions. The currency is backed by a Central Bank -RBI in India – whose legal tender is also issued and is essentially e-cash that doesn’t need any special indigenous methods of encryption. All online transactions involve digital currency but when money is withdrawn from a bank or an ATM, it is converted into liquid cash. Simply put, digital currency can be used in place of paper currency for all transactions.

Users will be able to transact with e₹-R through a digital wallet offered by the participating banks and stored on mobile phones and other devices. Transactions can be made through QR codes. As in the case of cash it will not earn any interest, while ‘sitting in the wallet’, and can be converted to other forms of money like deposits with banks.

How is it different from Crypto-currency?

Crypto-currency is not backed by the central bank of a country but instead derives its purchasing power from its user community. Technically, they are pieces of code generated by ‘mining’ that are managed via a digital ledger known as blockchain to ensure transparency at every stage of their journey. In other words, they are decentralised virtual currencies as they are not issued by a Country and do not have the status of ‘legal tender’. Its value is independent of central banking authorities and even regional geopolitical problems.

Digital currencies have already been launched in The Bahamas, Nigeria, and the Eastern Caribbean Union. Pilot projects have been launched in by China, Sweden, Jamaica, and Ukraine – for testing. And India joins this list. Other countries working on them are the Eurozone and the United States.

There is a future for Digital Currency.

More digital stories coming up in the weeks ahead. Cash your time for a reading of World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2022-47

About –the stories of the world this week, 20 November to 26 November: onward to the Moon, the ongoing war, a political odyssey in Malaysia, Covid19 hangs on, climate change goals, World Cup Football, population growth, and a python is pulled off.

Everywhere

America’s NASA’s Artemis-I Moon Mission, launched on 16 November is doing just great, and spacecraft Orion – now on its own – has arrived at the Moon, sweeping about 130 kilometres (km) above the lunar surface, as planned. And has been ‘kicked by the Moon’ into a Distant Retrograde Orbit – about 64,000 km away from the Moon, after reaching the end of which it will return to the Moon Space and receive another ‘Moon kick’ to return to Earth. Orion is sending back, to the NASA Mission Control Centre in Houston, Texas, awesome pictures of what it’s seeing.

The Russia-Ukraine war battles on and Ukraine is bracing itself for the coming harsh winter; made terrible by power blackouts, caused by the blistering assault of Russian missiles on utility facilities. The Ukraine people are standing on the ground against the ferocious illegal Russian invasion and this is yet another painful test of their endurance and fortitude. When will all this end?

This week, Malaysia got itself a new Prime Minister. Actually, an old hand who has been relentlessly chasing the job over a remarkable odyssey of 25 turbulent years that saw him jailed twice on sodomy and corruption charges. And charges overturned by the Supreme Court and later pardoned by the King of Malaysia, to fight another day. Veteran opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, 75, was sworn in as PM this Thursday by Malaysia’s constitutional monarch, King Abdullah.

Anwar’s Pakatan Harappan Party (PH) won the largest share of the vote in last Saturday’s Elections, but not enough to form a government on its own. Then, after days of intense negotiations, Anwar cobbled together an agreement with two other Political Groupings giving him the majority he needed. The King was convinced by the numbers and called him in.

Anwar has promised to forgo his PM’s salary and will focus on tackling Malaysia’s rising cost of living, besides combating corruption. His reformist-minded PH has a goal of promoting a more pluralist and inclusive Malaysia.

Anwar Ibrahim entered politics surprisingly joining the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) – Malaysia’s Grand Old Party – and rising through its ranks. And being mentored by Former Prime Minister Mahatir Mohammad, with who he had a love-hate Tom & Jerry relationship through the vicissitudes of his political life. There’s a lot of Malaysian expectations riding on his shoulders, and he should deliver.

In China the coronavirus caused COVID-19 is not letting go easily and is experiencing its worst outbreak in six months. Localised lockdowns have surged over the last couple of weeks. This week, China recorded more than 28,000 new cases in 24 hours, which are in every single provincial-level region. The country maintains a zero-Covid policy, where entire communities are locked down over single cases of the virus, in order to prevent its spread.

COP27

The results are out, and maybe we can look up and breathing slightly easier-find more Oxygen than Carbon di-oxide in the air- in the years to come? At the 27th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties(COP27) in Egypt which concluded on 18th November, almost 200 countries struck a landmark deal to launch a fund to help nations worst-hit by climate change. Applause broke out as the historic fund was approved just before dawn after negotiations ran through the night.

The vulnerability of developing nations to climate impacts has been recognised by the fund for climate loss and damage, but many rich nations will be disappointed about fossil fuels.

New language added in the final political statement includes ‘low emissions’ energy alongside renewable power as the energy sources of the future. That could be used to justify new fossil fuel development, which is exactly what global climate scientists in the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the International Energy Agency (IEA) advise against. It could refer to gas, which is cleaner than oil and coal, but not a renewable fuel like wind or solar.

The summit also seems to have moved the commitment to try to limit the average rise in global temperatures to 1.5 Degrees Centigrade by the year 2100. That’s the crucial temperature threshold scientists say we cannot go above if we are to avoid the worst of climate change. Leaders warned about this from the beginning, and it will be deeply disappointing for rich nations if there is now less global ambition to urgently cut fossil fuel use.

The message is absolutely clear: we have to consciously cut-down on using fossil fuels for energy generation, in whatever manner we can. This has to be inhaled by each one of us on Planet Earth.

FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022

The 22nd edition of ‘Federation Internationale de Football Association’ -FIFA (International Federation of Association Football)-World Cup 2022 began in Qatar, a tiny gas-rich Gulf kingdom, this 20th November: the first to be held in the Arab world, and the second World Cup held entirely in Asia, after the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan.

FIFA World Cup 2022 Qatar, brought with it lots of controversies, which could hold centre-stage and be debated between the goal-posts, more than football. But first, let’s whistle about the game itself.

Football giants Brazil have won the World Cup 5 times, Germany and Italy 4 times each, Argentina, France, and Uruguay 2 times each, and England and Spain 1 time each. The previous World Cup, in the year 2018, was won by France beating Croatia, 4-2 at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia. Now Russia seems so far away and is off the World Cup Guest list. We all know why: Its illegal war in Ukraine, of course.

No Player in the history of the World Cup has won the Golden Ball-Player of the tournament- twice, which was first introduced in the year 1982. The inaugural was won by Italy’s Paolo Rossi and then by Argentina’s Diego Maradona in 1986, Italy’s Salvatore Schillaci in 1990, Brazil’s Romario in 1994, Brazil’s Ronaldo in 1998, Germany’s Oliver Kahn in 2022, France’s Zinedine Zidane in 2006, Uruguay’s Diego Forlan in 2010, Argentina’s Lionel Messi in 2014, and Croatia’s Luka Modric in 2018.

This edition of the World Cup beginning on 20 November 2022 plays up to 18 December 2022. A total of 32 teams, who qualified to reach here, play over 64 games. Two top teams from each group will make the cut for the Round-16 Qualifiers or the Pre-Quarter Finals. There are Eight Groups, A to H, each consisting of four teams.

The Round -16 will be held between 3 December and 7 December, the Quarter Finals, 9 to 11 December, Semi-Finals on 14th and 15 December, 17 December will be the play-off for third place, and the Finals on 18 December at the Lusail Stadium of Qatar’s Al Daayen City.

The Opening Ceremony was held at the 60,000 capacity Al Bayt Stadium 40 km north of Doha and the first kick-off, a Group ‘A’ match between Hosts Qatar and Ecuador, set the ball rolling. Ecuador won easily 2-0 with its skipper Enner Valencia scoring both goals. He missed a hat-rick when another of his goals was disqualified.

Now, rolling over to the controversies part. Qatar is accused of human rights violations, the deaths of migrant workers and being vocally anti-LGBT.

The authorities in Qatar, have always strongly denied that their bid to host the World Cup involved corruption of any kind. Yet, cash seems to have sloshed around. A prominent Qatari appears to have spread largesse, apparently on his own account, but nothing has been conclusively established. FIFA officials overlooked Qatar’s blistering summer heat, which meant the World Cup itself was moved to November, instead of the usual June – July. The legions of foreign construction workers, mostly from India, who built the glitzy new stadiums and other infrastructure were treated like slaves: some have died. Many more were paid paltry wages and forced to stump up exploitative recruitment fees.

Meanwhile, Qatar’s criminalisation of homosexuality may put gay supporters off going to watch. Some players plan to wear rainbow armbands in a stand against discrimination. Murky dealing, exploitation, prejudice: what ought to be a festival of harmony will instead be a showcase of international woes, not least the rise of petro-fuelled autocracy.

Qatar is a conservative Muslim country and it tightly regulates alcohol sales and usage. In September, officials said ticketed fans would be able to buy alcoholic beer three hours before kickoff and for one hour after the final whistle, but not during the match. Organisers had promised it would be available in match venues and in fan zones – and that it would also be reasonable priced.

However just before kick-off, FIFA announced that alcohol will be banned for World Cup fans at grounds in a major and unprecedented volte-face: alcohol will not be sold inside or around the perimeter of stadiums.

The last-minute alcohol ban is emblematic of the contradictions at the heart of this World Cup.

The FIFA World Cup sponsor Budweiser has announced that the alcoholic beer it cannot sell in stadiums in Qatar will go to the winning country of the tournament.

The Winner takes it all: lots of beer to drink.

The week, the Group level games are being played and in a historic upset, Saudi Arabia stunned Argentina with a 2-1 win in their Group match, but only after Argentina’s Messi scored a goal. In another astonishing upset, Japan defeated four-time World Cup winner-the mighty Germany, 2-1. That’s a number to watch?

Coming to high scoring matches of the week, Spain whipped Costa Rica 7-0, and England thrashed Iran 6-2. I guess football fans were overwhelmed by the goals and some dazzling display. I loved the way Spain played clinical football with surgical passes and found myself ‘stitched to my seat’.

Meanwhile, Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo made history as the first man to score in five World Cups; this after he scored in a penalty shot to give Portugal a 3-2 win in its match against Ghana. The goal is significant, as previously only women had done the five goal thing in the FIFA Women’s Football: Marta Vieira da Silva, Brazilian striker is the first footballer of any gender to score at five World Cup editions, a feat matched by Canada’s Christine Sinclair in 2019. That’s the 5 star line-up: Marta – Christine Sinclair – Cristiano Ronaldo.

Population Growth

Over the past months we have heard expansive talks about India’s Economy growing at break-neck speed to become one of the largest in the World, in a few decades’ time. Comparisons with China are inevitable and many say, we are many years behind China’s Economic development. Whatever, there is one area India will surely be overtaking China: easy to guess, population.

You think of population and immediately China pops up in the mind. It has been the world’s most populous country for hundreds of years, but now there is a dead serious challenger. The United Nations (UN) guesses that India’s population will surpass that of China on 14 April 2023. And India’s population on that day is projected to be 1,425,775,850. Watch that bulge!

It’s time India cranks its own counting mechanisms and finds a means of keeping the burgeoning population under control.

Please Yourself

In Australia, a five year old boy survived being bitten, constricted, and dragged into a swimming pool by a 3 m long python snake, about three times his size.

Beau Blake was enjoying a swim at home when the python, which was probably waiting to snap up someone whole for lunch, struck the boy-biting into him- when he was walking around the edge of the pool. The python wrapped itself round the leg of the boy and dragged him inside the pool. But before it hit the bottom, Beau’s 76 year old grandfather, Allan, saw it and without the least hesitation jumped into the pool, pulled out the boy-snake combo and passed it to his son Ben who was also around the pool. Ben then prised free the boy from the python and released it back into the vegetation. Beau is in good spirits and escaped with mild injuries. And the python finds itself something else to coil around, another day!

“Once we cleaned up the blood and told him that he wasn’t going to die because it wasn’t a poisonous snake… he was pretty good actually”, said Ben.

If generations get together the snakes can be outwitted. In Australia, something is always lurking around the corner. And pythons are a fact of life in certain areas.

More ‘hissing’ stories coming up in the weeks ahead. Keep your Dad and Grand-Dad always around; live with World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2022-46

About –the stories of the world this week, 13 November to 19 November: The United States counts, Iran protests fester, India bleeds, G20 meets, mission to the moon, India’s private sector enters Space, and a sequel to a blockbuster movie.

Everywhere

After the counting in the United States (US) Midterm Elections cantered along -on horseback -over the darkness of last week, the results are finally seeing cracks of dawn and spilling over to this week. With all its advancement, the US takes an awful lot of time to draw its guns and get the votes counted. I reckon Americans can sling a rocket to the Moon and back before ‘em votes are shot down.

The Blue Democrats retained control of the Senate (total 100 seats) with 50 seats to the Red Republicans’ 49. This was made possible by Senator Catherine Cortez Masto who was re-elected in the State of Nevada with a ‘hour-glass margin’ of over 6000 votes. A win is a win. A run-off in the State of Georgia December later this year could take the tally to 51-49.

In the House (total 435 seats), the Republicans gained control, just managing to obtain a majority -218 seats against the Democrats’ 210 seats. President Joe Biden may stumble to get Bills passed over the remaining two years of his Presidency.

The nationwide protests in Iran, against the draconian Islamic Dress Code for woman fires on. Iran is facing one of its biggest and most unprecedented shows of dissent and defiance following the death-in-custody of Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish Iranian woman detained by the morality police for not wearing her hijab properly.

A Norway-based Iran Human Rights NGO (IHRNGO) group claims that Iranian security forces have killed at least 326 people since the protests erupted two months ago. It includes 43 children and 25 women, and the number is an ‘absolute minimum’.

Meanwhile, an Iranian court has issued the first death sentence linked to recent protests, convicting an unnamed person of ‘enmity against God’ and ‘spreading corruption on Earth’. Iran’s Revolutionary Court issued the sentence to a protester who set fire to a government building. Now, some fear that more than 1000 others who have been arrested could face similar charges, potentially carrying the death sentence.

It was a bloody week in India, bleeding with news on two counts.

One, the killers of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi were ordered to be released by the Supreme Court of India. This after being found guilty, sentenced to death, then commuted to life, and now freed.I guess you can just about do anything in India and get away with it?

Recall, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in May 1991 by a suicide bomber belonging to the Tamil separatist organisation, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) during an Election meeting in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu. 16 other people died and about 43 were injured in the bombing on that fateful day. In one of the best known manhunts in India’s history and successful tracking-down of the perpetrators, those involved were either killed or caught, arrested, and successfully convicted.

The release of the convicts followed unbelievable, hyperactive rallying by Political Parties in the State of Tamilnadu-mainly the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). They competed with one another in getting them released, on the ground of being Tamilians and unconscionably pandering to Tamil sentiment. And of course, the Court garnishes the reasons with the ‘mandatory’ good-behaviour in Jail.

I was devastated by the release of convicts who killed a Prime Minister of the Country in a carefully executed macabre plot. And consider it a global disgrace. The Supreme Courts in all its sagacity has probably weakened the country. The guilt of the released convicts in the brutal assassination Rajiv Gandhi and many others who were killed, for no fault of theirs, was beyond doubt. Commuting the death sentence to make it a life sentence is mercy. Freeing them is mockery. Worse still giving them airtime, celebrating their release, extracting sympathy bites, is horrific. Why does a ‘bad man’ get all the ‘honour’ a good man should get by default?

Two, the story that hogged the headlines for the greater part of the week was about the gruesome murder of a woman, Shraddha Walkar, by her live-in partner Aftab Poonawala, who after killing her, chopped her body to pieces, bought a refrigerator to store it and slowly disposed off the body parts over a period of five or more months. Shraddha had eloped from her Home in Mumbai, to New Delhi, breaking all daughter ties with her parents, but a concerned father happened to check her out and unable to find her filed a Police complaint, leading to the investigation. The murderer has been arrested and there are no visible traces of remorse on him.

Shraddha has asked Aftab to marry her and one disagreement led to another resulting in the killing.

What are we turning into, savages in the bygone days?

The Group of 20

The Group of Twenty is an intergovernmental forum consisting of 19 of the World’s major economies and the European Union which meets annually to tackle major issues related to the global economy. This year they met on 15 and 16 November, in picturesque Bali under the Presidency of Indonesia. Last year it was Italy. And the Presidency passes to India for the year 2023 with Prime Minister(PM) Narendra Modi taking over from Indonesian President Joko Widodo.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, not the best of friends, had some tough talk going between them and sparks flying, over PM Trudeau being a leaking sieve by passing on everything discussed, to the Media. Xi told him it’s no appropriate and that’s not the way a conversation is conducted.

One of the outcomes of G20 Bali-Indonesia was that ‘most’ members condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and came close to using the word ‘war’ to describe what we all know simply as the ‘Russian-Ukraine War’. Wow!There were some murmurs of ‘eschewing’ use of nuclear weapons. And the European Union, Denmark and Norway announced a USD 20 million deal to decarbonise Indonesia’s coal-powered economy.

Return Ticket To The Moon

In ancient Greek mythology, Artemis is the daughter Greek God Zeus- the Sky and Weather God- and the twin sister of Apollo. US’ NASA first put man on the Moon with the Apollo 11 mission on 29 July 1969 and is returning to the Moon with… you guessed it, the Artemis Mission. And, naturally a woman to the Moon.

Artemis is the goddess of hunting, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. She preferred to remain a maiden goddess and was sworn never to marry, and was thus one of the three Greek virgin goddesses-the others being Athena and Hestia.

Tracing the history of man on the moon, a total of 12 men have walked on the moon in six moon landings. This was accomplished with two US pilot-astronauts flying a Lunar Module on each of six NASA missions across a 41-month period starting 29 July 1969, with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on Apollo 11, and ending on 14 December 1972 with Gene Cernan and Jack Schmitt on Apollo 17. Gene Cernan was the last man to step off the lunar surface.

In summary, twenty-four US astronauts have traveled to the Moon; three have made the trip twice, and twelve have walked on its surface. Here are the names.

Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin (Apollo 11), Charles Conrad, Alan Bean (Apollo 12) , Alan Shepard, Edgar Mitchell (Apollo 14), David Scott, James Irwin (Apollo 15) John Young, Charles Duke (Apollo 16), Eugene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt (Apollo 17). Four of America’s moonwalkers are still alive: Aldrin, David Scott, Charles Duke, and Harrison Schmitt.

Moving forward from Apollo, Artemis I is an uncrewed test flight that will provide a foundation for deep space exploration and demonstrate the capability to return humans to the Moon. It will demonstrate the performance of the new Orion Spacecraft and Space Launch System (SLS), and test capabilities to orbit the Moon and return safely to Earth.

The primary objective is to thoroughly test integrated systems before crewed missions, operating Orion in a deep space, testing Orion’s heat shield, and recovering the crew module after re-entry, descent, and splashdown. The flight will pave the way for future missions, including landing the first woman and first person of colour on the surface of the Moon.

The mission team encountered a number of setbacks in the lead-up to this week Wednesday morning’s launch, including technical issues with the mega moon rocket and two hurricanes that have rolled through the launch site. But then, count Artemis to self-heal and comeback.

The SLS carrying Orion blasted off from NASA’s modernised spaceport at the Kennedy Space Centre, Florida, this 16 November. Propelled by a pair of five-segment boosters and four RS-25 (Aerojet Rocketdyne, Liquid-fuel cryogenic) engines, the rocket reached the period of greatest atmospheric force in 90 seconds. The solid rocket boosters then burnt through their propellant and separated after about two minutes, and the core stage and RS-25s depleted propellant after eight minutes. After jettisoning the boosters, service module panels, and launch abort system, the core stage engines were shut down and the core stage separated from the spacecraft, leaving Orion attached to the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) in orbit. As the spacecraft made an orbit of Earth deploying its solar arrays in the process – to build its muscles- the ICPS gave Orion the big push it needed to leave Earth’s orbit and travel towards the Moon. This manoeuvre, called the trans-lunar injection, precisely targets a point about the Moon that will guide Orion close enough to be captured by the Moon’s gravity.

Orion separated from the ICPS about two hours after launch, after which ICPS deployed ten small satellites, known as CubeSats, along the way to study the Moon or head farther out to deep space destinations.

As Orion continues on its path from Earth orbit to the Moon, it will be propelled by a service module provided by ESA (European Space Agency) that will course-correct as needed along the way. The service module supplies the spacecraft’s main propulsion system and power.

The outbound trip to the Moon will take several days, during which time engineers will evaluate the spacecraft’s systems. Orion will fly about 97 kilometres (km) above the surface of the Moon at its closest approach, and then use the Moon’s gravitational force to propel Orion into a Distant Retrograde Orbit (DRO), traveling about 64,000 km past the Moon. This distance is 48,000 km farther than the previous record set during Apollo 13 and the farthest in space any spacecraft built for humans has flown. Orion will also stay in space longer than any human spacecraft has without docking to a space station and return home faster and hotter than ever before.

For its return trip to Earth, Orion will get another gravity assist from the Moon as it does a second close flyby, firing engines at precisely the right time to harness the Moon’s gravity. And accelerate back toward Earth, setting itself on a trajectory to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere.

Once the spacecraft has passed this extreme heating phase of flight, the forward bay cover that protects its parachutes will be jettisoned-crew module separates from service module- Orion’s two drogue parachutes deploy first, at 7600 m, and within a minute slow Orion to about 160 kph (kilometres per hour) before being released. They are followed by three pilot parachutes that pull out the three main parachutes which will slow Orion’s descent to less than 32 kph. The spacecraft will make a precise landing within eyesight of the Recovery Ship off the coast of San Diego in the Pacific Ocean.

Three ‘passengers’ will fly aboard Orion to test the spacecraft’s systems and collect data for future missions with real astronauts.

A suited manikin (model of the human body) named Commander Moonikin Campos occupies the commander’s seat inside Orion to provide data on what crew members may experience in flight. Two additional seats in Orion will be occupied by manikin torsos, called phantoms, manufactured from materials that mimic human bones, soft tissues, and organs of an adult female. Named Zohar and Helga, the torsos will be fitted with more than 5600 passive sensors and 34 active radiation detectors to measure radiation exposure as part of the Matroshka AstroRad Radiation Experiment (MARE), an international effort including the German Aerospace Center, the Israel Space Agency, and NASA.

Zohar will wear a radiation protection vest, called AstroRad, while Helga will not. The study will provide valuable data on radiation levels astronauts may encounter on lunar missions. It will evaluate the effectiveness of the protective vest that could allow crew to exit the storm shelter and continue working on critical mission activities inspite of a solar storm.

The Artemis I Mission duration is about 25 days, 11 hours, 36 minutes. Total distance travelled 1.3million miles. Splashdown will be on 11 December 2022.

Absolutely exciting, what ‘flies ahead’ in the weeks to come.

The Prarambh of India’s Private Space Adventure

India’s Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) wasn’t making any friends to chill out with and was shamelessly engrossed in effortlessly launching Satellites into space. Could get lonely at times. The Government noticed and in June 2020 arranged to open the Space sector to private players so that ISRO could find some partners and have a relationship, Live-in? Maybe? Private players were allowed to use various ISRO resources to make the cut, use, and study Space.

This Friday, India’s first privately built rocket, Vikram-S (named after India’s pioneering Space Scientist Vikram Sarabhai), developed by Hyderabad based startup Skyroot Aerospace successfully blasted off from ISRO’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, creating history. The mission was called Prarambh (the beginning) and Vikram-S will help test and validate 80 % technologies for future suborbital missions especially the upcoming Vikram-I in 2023.

Suborbital? What’s that? Suborbital launch refers to vehicles that travel high enough to travel to the edge of outer space, but do not have the energy to achieve orbit around the Earth. Typically, they reach speeds of 2 to 6 times the speed of sound and curve back to kiss dear Earth. In comparison, an orbital spacecraft has to travel fast enough to orbit the Earth without falling back due to gravity, which involves speeds of about 25 times the speed of sound.

The 6m tall rocket, Vikram-S, is a single-stage solid fuelled, suborbital test launch vehicle, which took about two years to develop. It weighs about 545 kg and, in its maiden flight carried three customer payloads belonging to SpaceKidz India, and BazoomQ Armenia and N-Space Tech India – who all reported that they are happy with the outcome.

The launch also served as a technology demonstration to showcase the capabilities of Skyroot which has used its propulsion system, Kalam 80, and spin stabilisation system for the rocket.

Skyroot eventually plans to pitch itself as a company offering one of the quickest and most affordable rides to Space, and could become part of ISRO’s journey to evolve into a preferred destination for cost-effective launch of satellites. Skyroot expects more than 20,000 small satellites to be kicked into Space in the coming decade and aims to position itself as a serious player through mass producibility and affordability. They are hoping that launching satellites into Space will soon become as easy as booking a cab-quick, precise, and affordable!

Root for the skies, it’s for the asking!

Please Yourself

When the movie Black Panther hit theatres in February 2018, it opened to a stellar USD 202 million weekend. It then went on to make USD 1.3 billion worldwide and garnered multiple Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. The film is considered to be one of the best and biggest blockbusters from the comic book genre and from the Marvel Studios- the most lucrative brand in all of Hollywood, United States.

With this in black and white and in the background screen, the sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever released this week, opened to an estimated USD 180 million in North America – that’s sizeable. This time the film had to do with without star Chadwick Boseman, who passed away in 2020.

The opening is one of the best premieres of the year and makes the superhero film the highest-grossing debut ever for the month of November. The original record belonged to ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,’ which made USD 158 million in November 2013.

Black Panther: Wakanda, stars Letitia Wright and Angela Bassett as the princess and queen of the fictional African country of Wakanda. And appears to be a fitting sequel to one of the most popular films of all time.

More thrilling stories coming up in the weeks ahead. Launch yourself into the Space of World Inthavaaram, forever.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2022-45

About –the stories of the world this week, 6 November to 12 November: a colourful week, Climate Change, War, Elections, Social Media layoffs, Pollution, Blind justice, and a new kind of Blood.

Everywhere

Climate Change is in the news almost every day with its effects eminently visible as heavy incessant rains, floods, storms, rising sea levels, droughts, forest fires, extreme hot or cold temperatures – never before experienced or recorded- and the kind, occurring in some part of the world. We have been bombarded with various degrees of temperature, catastrophic predictions of continuing to use smoky fuels such as coal and oil; about smart methods of harnessing the everyday friendly sunlight, water flow, wind, and even the gusts of traffic in our cities, branding it as clean or green energy and going ga-ga over it.

Tree-planting is becoming a serious hobby, and we hear heart-warming stories of people single-handedly growing a forest starting with one or more tree samplings at a time. People are listening and doing their part in mysterious ways!

What is climate change? We need to refresh our mind on this awfully often used term. Climate is the average weather in a place over many years. Climate change is a shift in average weather conditions we experience every day.

World temperatures have been rising over the years because of human activity such as using oil, gas, and coal for homes, factories, and transport. When these fossil fuels burn, they release what we call greenhouse gases-mostly carbon-dioxide (CO2)- into the atmosphere.

When sunlight reaches Earth, the surface absorbs some of its energy and reradiates it as infrared waves, which we feel as heat. These infrared waves travel up into the atmosphere and will happily escape back into space if unimpeded. Oxygen and nitrogen don’t interfere with these waves-they are not impressed-as they leave, but CO2 does, and falls for it, on first sight. Back Beauty?

Only after the Earth absorbs sunlight and reemits the energy as infrared waves can the CO2 and other greenhouse gases grab and absorb the energy. As CO2 soaks up the infrared energy, it vibrates and re-emits it back in all directions. About half of that energy goes out into space, and about half of it returns to Earth as heat, contributing to the warming ‘greenhouse effect.’ Now that we are re-educated, we can no longer call ourselves ‘green-between-the-ears’.

The world is now about 1.1 C (Degrees Centigrade) warmer than it was in the 19th Century – and the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere has risen by 50%. Temperature rises must slow down if we want to avoid the worst consequences of climate change. Global warming needs to be kept to 1.5 C by 2100. Left unchecked, we will experience catastrophic warming, with worsening droughts, rising sea levels and mass extinction of species.

United Nations (UN) climate summits are held every year, for governments to meet, discuss, and hopefully agree on steps to limit global temperature rises. They are referred to as COPs (Conference of the Parties). The parties are the attending countries that signed up to the original UN Climate Agreement in the year 1992. COP27 is the 27th annual UN meeting on climate being held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, from 6 November to 18 November.

A report by the independent Climate Action Tracker Group in the year 2021, calculated that the world was heading for 2.4 C of warming by the end of the century. If nothing is done, scientists think global warming could exceed 4 C in the future, leading to devastating heatwaves, millions losing their homes to rising sea levels, and irreversible loss of plant and animal species.

In a warmer world, land animals will also find it harder to find the food and water they need to live. For example, polar bears could die out as the ice they rely on melts away, and elephants will struggle to find the 150-300 litres of water a day they need. Scientists believe at least 550 species could be lost this century if action is not taken.

The UK and Europe will be vulnerable to flooding caused by extreme rainfall. Countries in the Middle East will experience extreme heatwaves and widespread drought. Island nations in the Pacific region could disappear under rising seas. Many African nations are likely to suffer droughts and food shortages. Drought conditions could occur in the Western US, while other areas will see more intense storms. Australia is likely to suffer extremes of heat and increases in deaths from wildfires.

Major changes need to come from governments and businesses, but scientists say some small changes in our daily lives can limit our impact on the climate, such as, taking fewer flights; living car-free or using an electric car; reducing consumption of meat and dairy products; reducing energy use; buying energy-efficient products; improving home insulation; switching from a gas heating system to an electric heat pump in home heating.

We’ll wait for the outcome of COP27 and the new climate change goals, on 18 November 2022.

War: Red to White

After several days of quiet on the Russia-Ukraine war-front, there was noise made this week of a mighty turn: Russia formally announced retreat from strategic city of Kherson. It was just over 5 weeks ago that Russia ‘annexed’ Kherson as its territory and now it leaves the city with its tail firmly tucked between its legs.

Big setback for Putin. What’s going on? Stuff of future military history!

US Midterm Elections: Red and Blue

The Legislative Branch of the United States consists of the House of Representatives (House)and the Senate, which have the sole authority to enact legislation, declare war, confirm or reject Presidential appointments, beside holding substantial investigative powers.

The House is made up of 435 elected representatives divided among the 50 States in proportion to the total population. In addition, 6 are non-voting representatives of countries which are part of the US, but not wholly, such as Puerto Rico. Representatives are elected every two years.

The Senate is composed of 100 senators, 2 from each State with six year terms staggered so that one-third of the Senate is up for re-election every two years. That’s US Democracy in a nutshell!

This year, Midterm Elections for 35 seats of the 100 seats in the Senate and all 435 House seats were on the ballot. Additionally, 36 out of 50 states will elect new Governors.

In the House, the ‘Blue’ Democrats currently control 220 out of 435 and the’Red’ Republicans 212, with three vacancies. In the Senate is a 48 – 48 score.

The counting of the votes is underway – seems to be going on furiously, in a never-ending manner -and on the last Count, in the Senate it is Blue-48, Red-50 and in the House, Blue- 200 and Red 211. We may have to cross over to the next week to see who has control of the Senate and the House.

The Colour Blue

The microblogging and social networking service Twitter after being swallowed like a worm through the beak of its new Owner – the ‘far too brilliant’ US entrepreneur Elon Musk – is making all kinds of news. Employees are being uprooted like trees – sacked in truck loads -accounts that impersonate others are being permanently suspended unless they identify themselves as ‘parody.’ And there is a plan to charge USD 8 for a blue tick, on a verified Twitter Identification.

The little Blue Bird is ruffled and does not seem to know what to do. Done with migration?

Meta: Blue, Red Purple, Green

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has announced that it will cut 13% of its workforce. About 11,000 employees – from a worldwide headcount of 87,000 – were fired in industry’s biggest layoff and Meta’s first mass lay-off in its history.

Mark Zuckerberg said the cuts were, “the most difficult changes we’ve made in Meta’s history. It is due to macroeconomic downturn, and increased competition, which caused revenue to be much lower than expected. I got this wrong, and I take responsibility for that”.

The news follows major lay-offs (the colour blue, above) at Twitter, and other tech firms.

India’s New Delhi: Colour Blind

Over the past weeks pollution in India’s capital, New Delhi, reached invisible levels and people began searching for each other including themselves in the thick air. The Government decided to keep kids locked-out of school to breathe perhaps slightly better air at Home. The main reason for the poor air quality is blamed on reasons outside New Delhi, with the obvious culprit being stubble-burning by farmers in the neighbouring state of Punjab.

In a shocking decision, India’s Supreme Court freed three men sentenced to death for the brutal, rape and murder of a 19 years old girl in 2012 – the conviction and sentencing of which was made by lower courts. The Supreme Court has said that the prosecution failed to prove the charges beyond reasonable doubt, leaving the court with no alternative but to acquit the accused, though involved in a very heinous crime. The Court pointed out several procedural lapses during the case trial, due to which the convicts were acquitted of the charges by giving them a ‘benefit of doubt’.

Known as the Chhawala Gang Rape Case, three men – Ravi Kumar, Vinod, and Rahul – kidnapped a girl at Qutub Vihar Phase-II in Delhi on February 2012, when she had just returned from work at about 8.30pm. She was then taken to a mustard field about 30 kilometres away in the Haryana village of Rodhai where they took turns to rape and brutalise her. They mutilated and poured acid into the girl’s eyes, inserted a broken liquor bottle into her vagina and abandoned her in the mustard field to die.

In February 2014, a Delhi Court convicted the three men to death after finding them guilty. On August, 2014, the Delhi High Court upheld the death punishment, declaring that the accused were ‘predators’ roaming the streets and ‘looking for prey’.

The girl, Kiran Negi, was from Pauri Garhwal in Uttarakhand, living in Qutub Vihar, Phase II, Dwarka in Southwest Delhi, with her parents and two younger brothers. She wanted to become a teacher and was pursuing a graduate course in a Delhi College. And worked part-time in Gurugram’s Cyber City as a data input operator to augment the family income.

The incident took place about 10 months before the Nirbhaya Incident that shook India, but it did not attract media attention to the extent that the latter did. The girl’s family reported the kidnapping on the very same night. The grieving father of the girl was taken aback by the apathy displayed by the police personnel who had come there to investigate the kidnapping. “Get us a car and then we will follow the kidnappers,” one of the police officials had scoffed at the girl’s father”.

The victim’s father ran pillar-to-post seeking justice. He approached the then Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit, but was shunned away saying, “such incidents keep happening”. Officials at the Chief Minister’s Office handed him a cheque of Rs one lakh and asked him to leave. Apart from this, no other assistance or compensation of any kind was given to him.

The parents of the girl, yearning for justice, were heartbroken by the verdict delivered by the Supreme Court this week. “Where do we go?” No one killed Kiran Negi?

The Colour Red: Blood to Bank Upon

This week, researchers announced that lab-grown blood has been transfused into people for the first time ever. Scientists in the United Kingdom (UK) have been able to manufacture blood from donor stem cells. And have infused two people with about two teaspoons of the lab blood to see how it behaves in the body. If the UK trial is a cool success, manufactured blood cells could help people with rare blood types or disorders, who often need transfusions. There’s also a possibility that the blood can be stored longer, compared to standard donor blood. The two people who have been infused have not reported any adverse reactions. And at least eight others will also receive transfusions over the next few months. More trials are needed before it can be used clinically. If you are running out of blood, that’s something to bank upon in the future.

More colourful stories coming up in the weeks ahead. Transfuse yourself with World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2022-44

About –the stories of the world this week, 30 October to 5 November: endless war, un-covering women, not educating girls, a shooting, firing missiles, political comebacks – left & right, crowding tragedies, and a marriage of beauties.

Everywhere

The Russia-Ukraine War fires-on, with Russia pounding the Ukraine capital Kyiv and mostly hitting civilian targets, perhaps to break the steely resolve of the people. And Ukraine continues fighting back, in a war that seems to be ‘marching slowly into an unclear future’.

The protests in Iran, against the severe, restrictive Islamic Dress Code for Women, continue. Is it possible for Iran return to the more uncovered times of the Rule of the Shah of Iran when, some say, a woman was much more respected if she was not covered from head to toe? In the United States (US) more than 2,000 academics from universities across the country wrote to President Joe Biden urging him to do more to support the anti-government protesters. Many of these protesters are coming out of Iranian universities and schools, as young Iranians take to the streets and face off against Iran’s brutal security services.

In next-door Afghanistan, it’s 410 days since the Taliban banned teenage girls from school and continues to remain the only country in the world preventing girls from getting an education – for the singular reason that they are of the female gender. That’s outrageous: clothes can cover the body, but if your mind is clouded and cloaks your thinking, how do you uncover that? Meanwhile, Opium cultivation in Afghanistan has jumped 32% during this year 2022 despite the ruling Taliban’s ban on narcotics, according to an annual report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. What does one make of this?

Moving into Pakistan, ousted Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan survived a gun attack on his convoy while holding an anti-government protest in the eastern city of Wazirabad, Pakistan. He was shot in the leg, and seven other people were also hurt, and one killed, when a burst of gunfire hit the container-mounted platform-towed by a lorry- from which he was making a speech. Moments later the suspected shooter was wrestled to the ground by a bystander. And the shooter made a confession saying he acted alone and intended to kill Imran Khan. Khan was rushed to a hospital in Lahore and was declared to be safe and not in any life-threatening condition.

Recall former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated at a public rally in 2007. The chaos continues, but after a very long time Pakistan is seeing the emergence of a popular leader in Imran Khan. Could the powerful Pakistan Army, who fire the shots from behind, finally be tamed?

Swinging across to East Asia, North Korea thinks only missiles and nothing much else. And this week they went about launching a dozen of them – including an Intercontinental Missile that apparently failed. This comes at a time when the United States and South Korea are staging their largest-ever joint air drills, which North Korea has strongly criticised as ‘aggressive and provocative’. North Korea launched a ballistic missile over Japan – the first time it has done so in five years. And it fired some into the seas bordering South Korea, which actually crossed the delicate Northern Limit Line (NLL), a disputed maritime border between the Koreas. This time South Korea got its tail up and returned in kind, firing three missiles about the NLL. There is a slow fire brewing there.

Brazil: Lula’s Comeback – Left

Presidential Elections held in Brazil early this October were bitterly divisive and saw one of the most abrasive campaigns in recent times. And without an outright victory for any of the contesting candidates, it led to a run-off on 30th October to decide the winner.

Recall, Ex-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (Lula) secured 48.4% of the vote to incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro’s 43.2% and a third candidate Simone Tebet obtained 4.2%, in the Elections. The run-off became necessary as no candidate crossed the threshold of the mandatory ‘at least 50%’ of the vote.

This Sunday the run-off Election was held and Lula beat Bolsonaro by a razor-thin margin winning 50.90% of the votes, while the latter won 49.10%. This marks Brazil returned to left-wing politics.

It’s a stunning comeback for the lathe-machine-metal-worker-turned-politician Lula, who could not run in the last presidential election in 2018 because he was in jail and banned from standing for office. Lula was President of Brazil for two terms, from 2003 to 2006, and 2007 to 2011, where he led the country through a commodities boom that helped fund huge social welfare programs and lift millions out of poverty. Those were the times when BRICS was a famous term used for the five emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

Lula left office with a 90% approval rating, but this record was tarnished by Brazil’s largest corruption probe, dubbed ‘Operation Car Wash’, which led to charges against hundreds of high-ranking politicians and businessmen across Latin America. Lula himself was convicted for corruption and money laundering in 2017, but a court threw out his conviction in March 2021, clearing the way for his political rebound. By the time, Lula had spent 580 days in jail.

“They tried to bury me alive, and here I am,” said the 77 years old Lula, kicking off his victory celebrations. He made the right noises of the importance of unity and moving Brazil upwards. However, his rival, Bolsonaro, has not unambiguously conceded defeat and could dampen Lula’s victory.

Israel: Bibi’s Comeback – Right

This week, if Brazil swung to the Left, balance in the World was restored by Israel swinging to the Right!

Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition headed to victory in Israel’s parliamentary elections-the 5th in less than 4 years. With his ongoing bribery and corruption trial running in the background the win may provide Netanyahu a means of staying out of jail. But he is not the Election’s biggest winner. That honour goes to Israel’s Religious Zionism party led by neo-Kahanist Itamar Ben-Gvir, who have moved from the fringes to the mainstream, winning 14 seats in the 120 member Knesset. He achieved what his hero, Meir Kahane – the assassinated extremist rabbi who was banned from Israeli electoral politics – only dreamed about. Ben-Gvir may become the minister of public security, in charge of the country’s police – as already demanded of Netanyahu. That means the hard right would have a guiding hand on the country’s internal security apparatus. “It’s time to be the landlords of this country again”, said Ben-Gvir when he sighted victory.

The coalition of Netanyahu’s Likud, the Jewish nationalist Religious Zionism/Jewish Power Bloc, Shas and United Torah Judaism would, on paper, be the most right-wing government in Israel’s history, winning 64 seats – a comfortable majority.

Current Prime Minister Yair Lapid and his allies won 51 seats. An Arab alliance called Hadash-Taal won 5 seats, and is unlikely to support either Netanyahu or Lapid to lead the country.

The final election results confirm that Bibi can now build a stable majority government with his ultra-nationalist and ultra-Orthodox Jewish allies, this will also end nearly four years of an unprecedented political stalemate.

Tragedy, Tragedy

South Korea: a Street too Narrow

Late last week and early this week we saw two absurd and avoidable man-made disasters which killed over 300 people who were just going about their lives in South Korea and in India.

In South Korea, during most weekends the narrow alleys of Itaewon, the neon-lit nightlife district in the capital Seoul, are busy with partygoers and tourists. Now it’s the site of one of the country’s worst disasters.

Last Saturday night, tens of thousands of people flooded into the area in central Seoul to celebrate Halloween, but panic erupted as the crowds swelled and surged into a narrow alley. It became hard to breathe in the crowd, which precipitated a stampede in which mostly young people became trapped and crushed, killing at least 151 people and injuring over 80 others. The casualties were young, mostly in their teens and early 20s. Among the 151 dead were 19 foreign nationals, with victims from Iran, Norway, China, Thailand, and Uzbekistan.

Saturday night marked the first Halloween since the country lifted various restrictions including that related to the pandemic – lending it particular significance for many eager participants in Seoul, as well as international visitors, foreign residents, and tourists.

Hotels and ticketed events in the neighbourhood had been booked solid in advance, and large crowds were expected. Itaewon in particular is popular among backpackers and international students.

It’s hard to pinpoint what might have triggered the crush, but authorities would have anticipated high numbers, before Saturday night. There is a responsibility on the part of the authorities to be monitoring crowd volume in real time, so they can sense the need to get people out. Standing out, is the failure by the Police to manage and control the surging crowds.

India: a Bridge too Old

In the 1600’s Morbi, in India’s present day Gujarat State, was founded as a princely state and rule by the Jadeja clan of Rajputs who bore the title ‘Thakur Sahib’ until the last ruler, Sir Waghji, gave himself the title ‘Maharaja’. It became a British protectorate in 1807, during British rule in India.

To reflect the progressive and scientific nature of the rulers of Morbi, Sir Waghji built a 1.25 metre wide 230 metre span suspension bridge across the Machchu River, which is similar to the Ram and Lakshman Jhulas across the Ganga in Uttarakhand. It used the latest technology available in Europe in those days, and material for the construction of the bridge was sourced from England.

The bridge served to connect the Darbargadh Palace and the Nazarbag Palace, which were the residences of the royal families. It was first inaugurated in 1879, by then British Governor of Mumbai. And was ‘kept alive’ as a heritage bridge, all these years, becoming a tourist spot to hang-out on.

The bridge was entrusted to a company called Oreva for operation and maintenance under a 15 years contract. In March, this year, it was closed to the public for renovation and reopened on the Gujarati New Year Day, celebrated on October 26.

A tragedy occurred late this Sunday when the heritage bridge collapsed packed with tourists and city residents at around 6.30 pm, killing about 135 people. Prima facie, the bridge gave away as too many people in the mid-section were trying to sway it from one side to the other. About 200 people were on the bridge, at the time of collapse. And it was actually meant to hold about 125 people at a time.

The Oreva Group is a company which once described itself as the ‘world’s largest clock manufacturing company’, before foraying into making lighting products, battery-operated bikes, home appliances and TV sets. With no background in ‘maintaining heritage bridges’ one wonders how they won the contract in the first place.

It’s also learnt that the bridge had not received a thumbs-up Fitness Certificate from the local Municipality, after completion of the renovation work.

One can see a clear failure to ‘understand the bridge’ and carefully regulate the people on the bridge, given its heritage nature. The investigation should be able to reveal the actual reasons.

Going back in time, in 1979 the Machchu-2 Dam across the same river collapsed sending a wall of water through the town of Morbi, killing more than 2000 people is one of the greatest dam-burst tragedies of all time.

The Machchu-2 Dam is an earthfill dam meant to serve as an irrigation scheme. Considering the long history of drought in Saurashtra region, the primary consideration at the time of design was water supply, not flood control. It consisted of a masonry spillway of 206 metres with 18 sluice gates across the river section and long earthen embankments on both sides. The failure was caused by excessive rain and massive flooding, leading to the disintegration of the earthen walls of the four kilometre long dam. The actual observed flow following the intense rainfall reached about three times above the flow the dam was designed for, resulting in its collapse. 762 metres of the left and 365 metres of the right embankment of the dam collapsed. Within 20 minutes the floods of 3.7 to 9.1 m height inundated the low-lying areas of Morbi industrial town located 5 km below the dam.

The Machchu-2 Dam failure is listed as one of the worst dam bursts in the Guinness Book of Records

Please Yourself

There is a new power couple in Town: a tale of picture perfect love – literally.

A former Miss Argentina and a former Miss Puerto Rico shocked and awed fans by announcing their surprise marriage on Instagram. Mariana Varela and Fabiola Valentin met at the 2020 Miss Grand International Competition in Thailand, where they represented Argentina and Puerto Rico, respectively. After making it to the pageant Top 10, the two beauty queens remained close friends on social media and secretly dated.

The pair posted matching Instagram Reels showing moments from their relationship, including romantic walks on the beach, candid cuddles, champagne toasts, and a proposal with gold and silver balloons saying, “Marry me?”

The pair did just that and married on 28 October at the City Courthouse in San Juan, Puerto Rico. “After deciding to keep our relationship private, we opened the doors on a special day”, said the two beauties – in one frame!

More delightful and beautiful stories coming up in the weeks ahead. It’s alright to stay married to World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2022-43

About –the stories of the world this week, 23 October to 29 October 2022: unpredictable Britain, deadly Myanmar, unusual China, surgical ISRO, spectacular Indian Cricket.

Everywhere

Unpredictable Britain

In recent times British politics as become unpredictable and in keeping with the trend, the United Kingdom (UK) inaugurated its first British-Asian Prime Minister (PM), which is a truly significant historical moment. And we thought only the weather is unpredictable in London. Talent, if used wisely has a way of climbing to the top, no matter what race one belongs to, or religion one follows, or country one originated from. For the moment, it has stopped at No. 10.

Speaking outside 10, Downing Street, Britain’s newly-appointed PM, Rishi Sunak said on Tuesday that he has been elected (as the leader of his Party) to fix some of the mistakes made by his predecessor. He promised to place economic stability and confidence at the heart of his government’s agenda; he would confront the profound economic crisis-that the country is facing-with compassion; and lead a government of integrity, professionalism, and accountability. And the work begins immediately.

The 42 years old devout Hindu, formally took charge as Britain’s first Indian-origin Prime Minister, after an audience with the freshly minted King Charles III, this Tuesday, a day after he was elected the leader of the Conservative Party. The investment banker-turned politician is the youngest British PM in 210 years.

Rishi Sunak was born in Southampton, UK, to Indian-origin parents who migrated to the UK from East Africa in the 1960s, and before that from India. Sunak’s grandparents were born in the Punjab Province, British India. He is the eldest of three siblings: brother Sanjay is a psychologist and sister Raakhi Williams works in New York, as Chief of Strategy and Planning at the United Nations Global Fund for Education in Emergencies. Sunak’s father Yashvir Sunak was a General Practitioner with the National Health Service and his mother Usha Sunak runs a local Pharmacy. Yashvir and Usha Sunak were born in Kenya and Tanzania respectively. That’s a whole lot of countries in the bag!

Sunak was educated at Winchester College, studied philosophy, politics and economics at Lincoln College, Oxford, and earned an MBA from Stanford University as a Fulbright Scholar. While at Stanford, he met his future wife Akshata Murty, the daughter of Narayana Murthy – Indian billionaire and founder of the Indian software Company, Infosys – Fortune had listed Narayana Murthy among the ‘12 Greatest Entrepreneurs of Our Time’ in 2012.

After graduating, Sunak worked for Goldman Sachs and later as a partner at the hedge fund firms, The Children’s Investment Fund Management and Theleme Partners.

Sunak was first elected as an MP in 2015 – for Richmond in North Yorkshire – but rose quickly, and was made Finance Minister /Chancellor of the Exchequer, in February 2020, under former PM Boris Johnson.

Wife Akshata did a fashion designing diploma from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles, which followed a short work stint at Deloitte and Unilever. Thereafter, she went on to pursue her MBA at Stanford where apparently ‘Rishi Sunak was waiting to meet’ her!

Sunak and his wife are one of the richest people in Britain, with a combined fortune of GBP 730 million as of 2022. The couple have two teenage daughters, Krisna and Anoushka; and a family dog, Nova – a fox red Labrador Retriever. The story goes that the daughters met Boris Johnson’s dog Dillyn and immediately fell in love with it, and begged their father for a pup of their own.

“British Indian is what I tick on the census, we have a category for it. I am thoroughly British, this is my home and my country, but my religious and cultural heritage is Indian, my wife is Indian. I am open about being a Hindu,” Sunak said in an interview in 2015.

I’m sure the United Kingdom is in a good pair of brown hands.

Deadly Myanmar

Myanmar has been under draconian military rule since February 2021, when an elected government was overthrown in a bloody coup.

This Sunday, over 60 people were killed in military airstrikes at a celebratory event in Myanmar’s mountainous Kachin State drawing international condemnation of the ruling military junta’s actions.

The victims were attending an event organised by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) to mark the 62nd anniversary of the armed ethnic rebel group’s political wing, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO). KIO personnel were in attendance, not as military personnel, but as entertainers helping welcome guests and performing.

The military junta said it was hunting down the KIA and was not deliberately targeting civilians. Hard to believe, but that’s the word!

Unusual China

This week the President of China, Xi Jinping was re-elected as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party for a norm-breaking third term of paramount leader, which is unusual.

This Sunday, a day after the close of the five-yearly Communist Party Congress, Xi announced a new leadership team of six men loyal to him: Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang and Li Xi, to stand alongside him as members of the Politburo Standing Committee- China’s top ruling body.

Events of the day were briefly interrupted by an unexpected scene when Xi’s immediate predecessor Hu Jintao, who is 79 years old and has been in frail health in recent years, was escorted out of the Great Hall of the People from his seat next to Xi, for reasons that were not immediately clear, though Hu appeared initially reluctant to leave. Of course, the Chinese Press came out with a statement that he was unwell and ‘needed to be lifted-up and shown the way out’.

The sweeping reshuffle of the Standing Committee came after the departure of key party leaders not in Xi’s inner circle – Premier Li Keqiang and Wang Yang, head of China’s top advisory body. Both have been retired despite being one year below the party’s unofficial retirement age of 68 and eligible to serve another term. Xi, at 69, is one year above that informal limit. That’s again unusual.

Also absent is a clear successor to Xi Jinping.

Standing Committee lineups prior to the Xi era have included younger members as potential successors. But with the youngest member now 60 years old, there’s no stand-out name in the mix – a potential sign Xi is not planning to step down anytime soon.

That’s again unusual.

With neighbour Russia already having a President for life, is China following suit? The signs are out there for all to read.

Surgical ISRO

Early this week, precisely on Sunday, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) kicked-off the Diwali celebrations in India with a faultless, efficient launch of its heaviest payload ever of 5,796 kilograms in a maiden commercial mission of its launch vehicle LVM3-M2. The 43.5 metre rocket lifted-off from the second launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh State. Its payload consisted of 36 broadband communication satellites belonging to OneWeb. And ISRO perfectly placed all satellites in Low Earth Orbits (LEO) – about 600km above the Earth’s surface – four at a time. Imagine injecting 36 Satellites into LEO without allowing them to come too close together in the crucial 48 hours from injection. The satellites will be slowly pushed up to a final LEO of about 1000 km.

The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV)-Mark III developed and built by ISRO has been renamed as Launch Vehicle Mark 3 (LVM3). It is designed to carry 8,000 kgs of payloads into LEO (and 4,000 kg of satellites into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit – that’s about 35,000 km above the Earth). ‘M2’ refers to the fact that this is the second operational launch of LVM3.

The mission was undertaken as part of a commercial arrangement between New Space India Limited (NSIL) and OneWeb.

NSIL is the commercial area of ISRO which owns and builds satellites, provides launch vehicles and launch services, space-based services, satellite building and technology transfer to Indian Industries. Since inception in 2019, this is NSIL’s first commercial mission.

OneWeb (legally called Network Access Associates Ltd), is a communications company that builds and offers broadband satellite Internet services. It is building an advanced satellite constellation, consisting of 648 satellites, moving around Earth, in the LEO, to connect businesses, telecoms, and government partners with high-speed, low-latency, internet connectivity.

This is OneWeb’s 14th launch, bringing the constellation to 462 satellites representing more than 70% of its planned 648 satellite fleet. And has only four more launches to go. While 36 satellites were launched on Sunday, another batch of satellites was expected to be placed in the orbit by early 2023. And ISRO will be doing one more 36 satellite launch, as per its contract with OneWeb.

OneWeb is the world’s second biggest satellite operator – after Elon Musk’s Starlink, operated by SpaceX. OneWeb is headquartered in London, and has offices in Virginia, US and a satellite manufacturing facility in Florida – OneWeb Satellites – that is a joint venture with Airbus Defence and Space. In 2020, OneWeb was acquired by the UK Government and India’s Bharti Global, and has since welcomed leading satellite communications operator Eutelsat on board, as well as additional investment from SoftBank, Hughes Network Group, and Hanwha. That’s a lot of spin. With also those satellites hugging dear Earth, will it not be hard to find gaps for future rockets to fire?

Spectacular Indian Cricket

Though I like cricket, I had given up watching tournaments a long time ago except for crossing the boundary when someone comes over to pitch-in and watch a match at home. This Sunday I did just that when a cousin whose monsoon-rain leaking house was under renovation came over to watch the India-Pakistan ICC T20 Cricket match playing at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) Australia. Little did I know there would be a fireworks display of cricket to announce Diwali being celebrated across India and the World, the next day. An India-Pakistan cricket match is always pregnant with possibilities of fierce competition and wild sensationalism. And I was not disappointed.

I lazily got into the match with India winning the toss and electing to bowl. Pakistan started badly, losing wickets, but gradually lit the first sparks, fired-up the stadium, and smoked-out with 159 runs on the board at the end of 20 overs.

India then entered the arena, with 160 runs to fire in 20 overs: expectations, as always, were as high as the Himalayas. A few quick wickets falling and the run rate going below that required for India to win on a trot brought the usual sighs: oohs, aayes, and aahs! With the score at 31 with 4 wickets down in 6 overs, India was in tatters and my cousin was crestfallen and gave-up, but I said I’m an incorrigible optimist and believed India can always hit six sixes – if required- in the last over to win a match.

Former Indian Cricket Captain and awfully out-of-form Virat Kholi was at the crease with Hardik Pandya – known for sending rockets to the spectator stands. And today it was packed with more than 90,000 of them.

Once upon a time, Kohli was a mean run-machine and arguably peaked in 2016, the year in which he scored a masterclass 82 runs of 52 balls again Australia in Mohali in the 2016 T20 World Cup. As the Covid pandemic hit the world, the crowds vanished, and so too Kholi’s form with cheap dismals becoming the norm. Kholi could not find a vaccine to boost his performance until this Sunday. Maybe he held on to self-belief and talked to all those tattoos on his body.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man, goes the tired old saying. Virat Kohli smashed an unbeaten 82 off 53 balls including four massive sixes, and in what could be called the innings of a lifetime to put India within reach of a stunning victory off the final ball. The winning runs were hit by the just-arrived-at-the-crease Ashwin Ravichandran.

Going back to how it all unfolded: after 15 overs, India had a score of 100 runs with the loss of 4 wickets; Virat Kohli was on 42 and Hardik Pandya on 32. And after the 18th over India needed 31 runs off 12 balls, to win; and well into the 19th over it became 28 runs to win off 8 balls. When poised at this stage, Virat hit two bold sixes in succession to bring the score to 144, with 16 runs to win in the last over off 6 balls.

Let me try to bring the intensity and the edge-of-the-seat twist & turns of the thrilling last over – the 20th.

In the first ball, Hardik mistimes a shot and it rises up for any easy catch. Now, it’s 16 runs off 5 balls. In walks wicket-keeper batsman, old warhorse, Dinesh Karthik who has been in this ‘India situation’ many times before. He manages to needle the ball and takes a single run to bring Kohli to bat. Now it’s 15 runs off 4 balls. Kohli hits the next ball and takes two quick singles to bring it to 13 runs off 3 balls. After gathering his breath and surveying a possible Kingdom to capture, Kohli whacks the next waist-high ball for a super six and it is called a No-Ball with a free-hit (add one run and an extra ball). Now it’s 6 runs required off 3 balls. The free-hit ball is bowled and ricochets off the stumps for three runs behind the stumps making it 3 runs off 3 balls and bringing Karthik to face the bowling. Karthik is stumped when he tries to go after the next ball and misses, and it becomes 2 runs off 2 balls. He leaves the field to send spin-bowler Ashwin Ravichandran, who cooly and cleverly leaves alone the last but one ball – judging it to be a wide. It becomes 1 run required of just 1 ball. And a watchful Ashwin hits the last ball to the boundary to win a thriller of a match for India. King Kohli looks on from the other end, sitting on a Throne. A commentator thought he saw a tear in the corner of the King’s eyes. Take a bow, Virat Kohli.

More free-hitting stories will be surgically launched in the weeks ahead. Connect with World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2022-42

About –the stories of the world this week, 16 October to 22 October 2022: dangerous Pakistan, schooling the Taliban, dressing-up Iran, taxing cow burps, a lettuce outlasts a Prime Minister, grand-old party elections, jungle raj, and the science of the most beautiful woman in the world.

Everywhere

United States President Joe Biden seemed to suddenly wake up from a deep slumber and come alive to say that ‘Pakistan may be one of the most dangerous nations in the World, which holds nuclear weapons without any cohesion’. Ask any grown-up, and he would have said that without blinking an eye or stumbling over the stairs.

In Afghanistan, it’s near about 400 days since the Taliban banned teenage girls from school. Afghan girls have been forced to contemplate a life without formal education, locked out of their classrooms only because of their gender – being female. The World is still unable to collar the Taliban on education. And we have to work harder to find a way to open schools to girls.

Meanwhile, in Iran, protests against the Islamic Dress Code continues unabated and last week yet another young girl, with dreams in her eyes, was killed. This was when Iranian Security Services raided the Shahed Girls High School in Ardabil, on 13 October, and demanded a group of girls sing a pro-regime song: 16 years old Asra Panahi was beaten to death in her classroom for refusing to sing.

School girls have emerged as a powerful force, in the current protests across the country, to bring the regime in Iran to understand their freedom concerns.

If you thought Australia is funny, New Zealand is getting there, when last week New Zealand’s Prime Minister (PM), Jacinda Arden unveiled plans for the world’s first levy on agricultural gases and biogenic methane, which mainly comes from burps produced by the country’s estimated 6 million cows and 26 million sheep. Tax on burping? What next, tax on breathing?

Close behind New Zealand’s creative taxing, is the United Kingdom with British politics trying to emulate Australia’s style of politics. Following a disastrous economic policy roll-out, unfunded tax cuts, and energy price guarantees, the 45 days old, new Prime Minister Liz Truss resigned this week as Leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister. Earlier, the PM had sacked the Chancellor of the Exchequer over the controversial economic plan. A new PM is expected to fill the space by next week and figure out how to take Britain forward.

Counting her ‘net days’ as PM, a lettuce on the shelf outlasted her – as many went about predicting her downfall. The dice was loaded against her from the start!

The British Government is in shambles and rolled us to a ‘deja-vu’ of the Boris Johnson times. A day earlier, a ‘brave’ Home Secretary quit over a ‘security mistake’ – the second fall after the Finance Minister. And before others could even stir, the PM found the door out of 10 Downing Street wide open.

Liz Truss’ is the shortest serving period of Prime Ministership in the history of the UK. And if I were a four months old baby I would have lived through four Chancellors, three Home Secretaries, two Prime Ministers and two Monarchs. The UK will now see its fifth PM since the divisive 2016 Brexit Referendum, intensifying calls for an early general election.

Maybe a dose of ‘reverse colonisation’ would do Britain enormous good. Last heard, India’s Prime Minister is expanding his 56 inch war chest!

Grand Old Party, Grand Old Elections

This week, after 24 years, India’s Congress Party finally held an election to the top post of President: the acting President was Mom Sonia Gandhi after son Rahul Gandhi resigned taking responsibility for a string of Election defeats, which have since only got worser. Conveniently, only two Congressmen contested: one, the stylish Shashi Tharoor, who has a way with words, and two, old warhorse Mallikarjun Kharge. The latter entered the fray after the Congress’ Rajasthan Chief Minister (CM) tried to whack the Presidency and also keep the Chief Ministership of his State. But then, in walked a rule which said one-person-one post, enforced by the now Bharat Jodo Yatra walking Rahul Gandhi, and the CM decided to stay-put in Rajasthan. The Election was tacitly sealed with the Gandhi family backed Kharge invisibly declared elected. But then, the hand of Elections must be visible to show ‘democracy at work’: enter Sashi Tharoor, who played his role to perfection – to the little finger in the hand.

The Election results were announced on Wednesday this week, and as widely predicted Mallikarjun Kharge won. He polled 7897 votes (84.14%) against Shashi Tharoor’s 1072 votes (11.42%). And the 137 years old Congress Party finally has a 80 years old President as it 98th President. If only age means wisdom, in the true sense, we can see fireworks in the coming months and years!

Kharge is a senior Congress Party politician from the State of Karnataka. He had contested the 2019 General Elections (which kept the ruling BJP in the Government at the Centre) in Karnataka’s Gulbarga Lok Sabha constituency and lost to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate by over 95,000 votes. Later in the year 2020, Kharge was elected to the Rajya Sabha, from Karnataka. And in February 2021 was appointed Leader of Opposition in India’s Parliament’s Upper House, the Rajya Sabha, which position he held until his election as Congress President.

Will an old hand be able to revive the nose-diving fortunes of the Congress. My only wish is he tries to do a Narashima Rao to the Congress Presidency!

P V Narashima Rao (PVNR) was a die-hard Congress loyalist who lost almost all his hair and most of his teeth ( I can still recall that rare toothless smile) ploughing along with the various leaders of the Congress Party. When in his sunset years and into retirement, he was called to fill-in as PM at the age of 70, on the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. He went on to become one of the best PMs, the Congress Party could offer India. His path-breaking economic reforms of 1991, with Dr Manmohan Singh as his Finance Minister, dismantled India’s strangulating Licence Raj, broke the shackles of the Indian Economy, and unleashed a never-before seen growth in India. I do not know whether this helped, but PVNR could speak 17 languages – 9 Indian and 8 foreign.

In my opinion, the Gandhi Family and the Congress Party failed to give PVNR the respect he deserved – having done better than anyone of them!

Return of the Jungle Raj: wanted a Tarzan

The state of Bihar was once known for its lawlessness had earned the epithet, ‘Jungle Raj’ (law of the jungle) under former Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav who was subsequently found guilty of stealing fodder meant for cattle, convicted and sent to prison. The present Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Yadav was ruling with the support of the BJP and in a Tarzan style vine swing, jumped away from the BJP tree, resigned as Chief Minister, joined hands with Lalu’s Party tree, and swung back as Chief Minister. Tarzan would have been proud. Well, that smelt of the forest, and armed robbers and thieves who had became trees in the jungles of Bihar retuned to normal life and like America’s Wild-Wild-West stopped a train – the Delhi -Kolkata Duronto Express- near the Capital Patna and looted the passengers off their valuables, at gun-point – leaving only the life inside them. This is a swinging return to the bad old times in Bihar!

The Science of Beauty

Long ago, Greek Philosopher Plato said, ‘beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder’, which made beauty subjective. Then English Poet John Keats came along and said ‘A thing of beauty is a joy for ever’. We all agreed. But what if ‘(any) lies told by the eyes’ are pinned down and there is an objective science to beauty? Scientists have been working on finding the magic ever since.

British Actress, Jodie Comer, has been declared the most beautiful woman in the world, according to Science – scientifically. Singer Beyonce and reality-show star Kim Kardashian also made it to the top ten. Actor and model Deepika Padukone is the only Indian on the list of the 10 most beautiful women in the world.

The list has been declared by a scientist, who used the latest computerised mapping strategy to apply an ancient Greek technique called ‘Golden Ratio of Beauty’ to decide the world’s most beautiful women.

The Golden Ratio of Beauty, also called Phi, is a mathematical method, in which formulas are applied to determine physical perfection. According to the ancient Greeks, beauty can be measured by specific ratios on one’s face and body, and in the numerical form, the closer the ratios are to 1.618, which equals Phi, the more desirable a person is said to be.

Jodie Comer is the world’s most beautiful woman as her facial elements equaled the perfect ratio. Other contenders, such as actor Zendaya and model Bella Hadid, met the physical qualifications and were placed on the second and third spot, respectively.

Jodie Comer was a clear winner when all elements of the face were measured for physical perfection. She had the highest overall reading for the positioning of her nose and lips, with a score of 98.70%, which is only 1.30% away from being the perfect shape. Jodie also had the highest score for her nose width and length and she was near the top for the shape of her lips and the position of her eyes. Apart from Jodie, the Golden Ratio scores of other celebs on the list are: Zendaya – 94.37%, Bella Hadid -94.35%, Beyonce – 92.44%, Ariana Grande 91.81%, Taylor Swift 91.64%, Jourdan Dunn 91.39%, Kim Kardashian 91.28%, Deepika Padukone-91.22%, and HoYeon Jung – 89.63%. Go ahead and google to learn more about their shapes and sizes.

Jodie Marie Comer is an English actress, born and raised in Liverpool.

In addition to this ‘beauty award’, she has received two British Academy Television Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award; nominations for two Golden Globe Awards, two Critics Choice Awards and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

More scientifically beautiful stories coming up in the weeks ahead. Make friends with Tarzan and stay alive with World Inthavaaram.

Happy Diwali: light-up your life with the goodness of humanity, we are all beautiful in our own way.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2022-41

About –the stories of the world this week, 9 October to 15 October 2022, a bridge gets attention, uncovering head-covering, trying to get to the moon, multiple news in India, and dwindling wildlife on Earth.

Everywhere

Bridge Over Troubled Waters

Long before the present round of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia had ‘captured Ukraine’s Crimea’ in 2014 and officially annexed it in 2015. The Russians then quickly got to work and built what’s called the Crimean bridge, or Kerch Bridge, across the Kerch Strait linking Crimea’s Kerch to Russia’s Taman Krasnodar Krai. It is a 19 kilometres long bridge with a pair of parallel bridges, one for a four-lane road and one for a double-track railway. The bridge became one of the longest in Europe.

President Vladimir Putin himself personally opened the Kerch bridge by driving a truck across it in 2018, hailing it as the ‘construction of the century’. The Rail part was inaugurated in 2019 – and there were no reports of Putin having driven a train this time. The bridge connecting Russia to the Ukraine mainland, through Crimea, is an easy means of moving military equipment, ammunition, and troops during the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

Late last week -early Saturday- an explosion severely damaged parts of the road and rail bridge. The explosion originated at the road bridge, and the blast started a fire on a fuel train on the overhead rail bridge: it is not clear whether it originated above the bridge deck, or below. The blast caused one span to rupture at its middle. The adjacent span on the Crimean side remained intact, but was pulled off and also collapsed into the sea. A third span on the Russian side remains standing, while the next span fell off. But the Russians recovered, got cracking, and brought the bridge back to safe mode in double-quick time.

The bridge plays a strategic role in the ongoing war, and Ukraine has said it is a legitimate target, as they vow to retake the peninsula. They responded with a thinly veiled approval to the explosion, but have not indicated that their forces were behind the attack.

Meanwhile, Putin in a display of brutality and vengeance unleashed a streak of missile attacks on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, blaming Ukraine for the attack on the bridge, calling it an ‘act of terrorism’, Wow!

In this modern era it is unbelievable that we allow a rouge county to effortlessly pull-off attacking another sovereign country and seemingly get-away with it. And we are all reduced to ‘rubble spectators’. The Ukrainians are trying their best to go about their business as usual, and one has to admire their tenacious spirit in building bridges to a normal life.

Uncovering Iran

The protests in Iran over the Islamic Dress Code continues. Dozens of protesters have been killed since the unrest began last month following the death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, in custody when she was detained by the morality police for not covering her hair properly. Another incident uncovered the hijab further, when 16 years old Nika Shakarami, last seen standing on a dumpster and burning her headscarf, as others chant slogans against the Islamic Republic, disappeared after telling a friend she was being chased by police. She was found dead ten days later.

“Under authoritarianism it’s not easy to voice your opinion. Even though their courage is extraordinary, their demands are not. They’re asking for equality, to be able to have dignity, justice, not to be judged on what they wear” said award-winning British-Turkish Novelist & Activist Elif Shafak.

School students participating in street protests are being detained and taken to mental health institutions. And referred to what are called ‘psychological institutions’, where the students are reformed and re-educated to prevent ‘anti-social’ behaviour. They are then released into the education stream, after they’ve been reformed!

That’s another revolution happening in Iran.

NASA’s Honey Moon

After many forces, technical and natural, challenged America’s NASA’s Artemis Moon Mission and succeeded in keeping it grounded, NASA is finally breaking free. The target for the next launch attempt for the Artemis-I Mission is 14th November 2022. And I look forward to seeing Artemis-I ‘honey the moon’ and comeback with sweet stories for launching the Man & Woman Mission, Artemis-II – I hope.

India Melange

In a gruesome and shocking suspected incidence of human sacrifice in Elanthoor, Pathanamthitta District, Kerala State, two women, Rosly and Padman were killed in a horrific manner. And it is believed that cooked body parts were eaten that would enable ‘the sacrificers’ to preserve their youth, besides achieving financial prosperity.

The prime accused is a history-sheeter, sexual pervert and psychopath, Muhammad Safi, 52, who along with Laila, 59, and her husband Bhagaval Singh, 68 – a traditional healer and masseur – carried out the brutal act that stunned India this week. Safi had befriended the couple through a Facebook profile in the name of ‘Sreedevi’, and later masquerading as Godman Rasheed influenced them to do his bidding. Police cracked the case while probing the missing Padman – based on a complaint by her son- and the three suspects were arrested. One of the victims was lured with money for acting in a pornographic video while the other was promised sex work. The bodies of the victims were cut into pieces and thrown away, and Police recovered 61 packets of body parts.

Absoultely disgusting that such cannibalism and antediluvian beliefs exist in these modern times.

Elections are always happening in India, throughout the year, and the end of season announcements were made this week: the State of Himachal Pradesh with 68 Assembly seats will go the polls in a single phase on 12th November. The counting will be on 8th December. The elections in the Prime Minister’s home State of Gujarat, which is always seen as test of his grip on the voters-is expected to be announced soon.

A former Delhi University Professor, Saibaba – in Jail for about 7 years – was acquitted and ordered to be released by the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court. This was following his conviction in March 2017 for links to the banned Maoists and indulging in activities amounting to waging war against the country. ‘Urban Naxalism’ is the modern term used to describe such behaviour. It springs from the Naxalbari uprising in India where tribals fought landlords as well as the Government to protect their rights over land ownership, means and way of living.

India’s highly entertaining, fitness-minded, scion and Prince of the Grand Old Party of India -The Indian National Congress- Rahul Gandhi pounced upon an idea to boost the dwindling popularity of his Party, in the tempest of Election set-back after setback. And while still searching for that elusive President of the Congress Party of which his Mom is the acting President. The election of a real President is finally in progress after a very long time, with two candidates in the fray, trying to show which ‘hand’ is the best.

On 7th September, Rahul embarked on a Bharat Jodo Yatra (Unite India March) – a padayatra (walk by foot)- that began in the southern-most tip of India, Kanyakumari in Tamilnadu State, and is scheduled to end in Srinagar in the northern State of Jammu & Kashmir. It covers 12 States in a distance of nearly 3500 kilometres over a duration of about 150 days. This weekend it will be day 37. And while Rahul is trying to make people to ‘overcome hatred’ and come together to strengthen India, he is certainly strengthening his muscles: doing push-ups on the road; tying his Mom’s shoe laces; marching his old Party colleagues to young fitness levels; and growing a beard.

Hope to see a strong and united India to match the 56-inch chest of India’s Prime Minister.

Please Yourself

The World’s leading conservation organisation, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) released its Living Planet Report 2022 and the situation is deadly alarming.

According to the report, wildlife populations – mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and fish – have seen a devastating 69% drop on average since 1970. The report highlights the stark outlook of the state of nature and urgently warns governments, businesses, and the general public to take transformative action to reverse the destruction of biodiversity.

“We face the double emergencies of human-induced climate change and biodiversity loss, threatening the well-being of current and future generations. WWF is extremely worried by this new data showing a devastating fall in wildlife populations, in particular in tropical regions that are home to some of the most biodiverse landscapes in the world,” said the Director General of WWF International.

More wild and natural stories coming up in the weeks ahead. Wake-up to the task of conserving Planet Earth and all that it holds. Stay 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

Return to Earth after a Honeymoon Sight-Seeing

Iran & China on the Same Page; Indonesia Opens a Book

The Gangs of Haiti

India’s Elections

FIFA World Cup, Qatar 2022

Prisoner Swap: A Star is Released

Everywhere

India Files

New Delhi Television

Word(s) of the Year

FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Play

World Health

India’s Digital Currency

Everywhere

COP27

FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022

Population Growth

Please Yourself

Everywhere

The Group of 20

Return Ticket To The Moon

The Prarambh of India’s Private Space Adventure

Please Yourself

Everywhere

War: Red to White

US Midterm Elections: Red and Blue

The Colour Blue

Meta: Blue, Red Purple, Green

India’s New Delhi: Colour Blind

The Colour Red: Blood to Bank Upon

Everywhere

Brazil: Lula’s Comeback – Left

Israel: Bibi’s Comeback – Right

Tragedy, Tragedy

South Korea: a Street too Narrow

India: a Bridge too Old

Please Yourself

Everywhere

Unpredictable Britain

Deadly Myanmar

Unusual China

Surgical ISRO

Spectacular Indian Cricket

Everywhere

Grand Old Party, Grand Old Elections

Return of the Jungle Raj: wanted a Tarzan

The Science of Beauty

Everywhere

Bridge Over Troubled Waters

Uncovering Iran

NASA’s Honey Moon

India Melange

Please Yourself

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