Tag: FrenchOpen

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2024-24

About: the world this week, 9 June 2024 to 15 June 2024: Israel Rescues; EU Elections; G7 Meets; Terror in India’s J&K; India swears-in new governments; Kuwait fire tragedy; and the French Open Tennis concludes.

Everywhere

Israel’s Operation Arnon

In a heroic rescue mission in the Nuseirat refugee camp, Central Gaza, Israel Defence Forces (IDF) rescued 4 hostages who were kidnapped on 7 October 2023, by Hamas terrorists from southern Israel: Noa Argamani, age 26, Shlomi Ziv, 39, Almog Meir, 22, and Andrey Kozlov, 27. All four are now back and safe in Israel. The stupendous Rescue Operation was renamed ‘Operation Arnon’ after the IDF Officer who was killed during the rescue.

The hostages were held in two residential homes by local civilian families, in Nuseirat, where the IDF does not operate. It is called a camp, but in reality it’s a bustling town. The IDF special forces, YAMAM, entered the neighbourhood, which includes a large market, in civilian vehicles with Gazan registration numbers and raided both houses simultaneously. Meanwhile, the military created confusion by attacking other Hamas locations in the area. Chief Inspector Arnon Zamora was critically injured during the initial raid and later succumbed to his wounds. On the way out, the forces came under heavy rocket and machine gun fire from hundreds of terrorists who swarmed the roofs and streets of Nuseirat. A truck carrying three of the hostages was damaged and became stuck. To rescue the stranded forces, the IDF moved major forces into the market, including helicopters that came under enemy missile fire. The helicopter which rescued the stranded troops and hostages landed near the American pier in Gaza while the trucks, now with armoured escort, reached the sea and were taken back to Israel on more helicopters.

Over 270 Palestinians were killed during the rescue operation, which caused an instant outrage from the world. There are still over 120 hostages, in captivity for over 240 days, waiting to be rescued.

This operation was the third successful hostage rescue operation completed by the IDF since the start of the war, and without doubt the most spectacular one. One of the hostages, Chinese-Israeli Noa Argamani returned just in time for her father’s birthday.

European Union Elections

In the European Union (EU) elections, people in EU countries vote for Members to represent them in the European Parliament (MEPs). Elections take place in all 27 EU countries, every five years. The last elections were held in May 2019. This year, the Elections were held between 6th June and the 9th June. As the only EU institution directly elected by voters across 27 countries, it connects European citizens to the two other big institutions: the EU’s executive branch – the European Commission – and the European Council, which is made up of ministers from governments of EU member countries.

The European Parliament shapes the direction of EU laws and policies by making laws and deciding on international agreements, and the kind. It must endorse the EU’s annual budget, and it can ask the Commission to propose legislation.

MEPs do not sit in Parliament according to nationality. Most of them join ‘Political Groups’ that share similar political values and objectives. A Political Group must have at least 23 MEPs from seven EU countries. Members cannot belong to more than one Group; alternatively they may choose not to join any Group and remain ‘not-attached’.

With this year’s Election results out, the ground beneath the feet of EU leaders has shifted after voting across the EU delivered a clear turn to the right, shaking up governments in member states and leaving mainstream groups at a crossroads.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen claimed victory after her centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) won the most seats of any single group-190 seats out of 720 – tightening its influence in the European Parliament.

Traditionally, the two biggest Groups are the centre-right EPP and the centre-left Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D)- who won 136 seats. But other groups have become increasingly significant, such as the Renew Europe Group with 80 seats, the European Conservatives, and Reformists Group with 76 seats. Until now, the centre-right has tended to work together with the centre-left but the EPP will come under pressure to seek new allies.

Far-right parties having rattled the traditional powers in the European Union, dealing an especially humiliating defeat to French President Emmanuel Macron. Undoubtedly, the star on a stunning electoral night was the National Rally party of Marine Le Pen, which dominated the French polls to such an extent that Macron immediately dissolved the France’s national parliament and called for snap elections. It was a massive political risk since his party could suffer more losses, hobbling the rest of his presidential term that ends in 2027. Le Pen was delighted to accept the challenge. “We’re ready to turn the country around, ready to defend the interests of the French, ready to put an end to mass immigration,” she said, echoing the rallying cry of so many far-right leaders in other countries who were celebrating substantial wins.

With the EU palpably shifting to the right, Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni more than doubled her seats in the EU Parliament.

The move to the right could put the brakes on plans for new climate and sustainability laws and influence social or economic legislation. The EU’s strong backing for financial and military aid for Ukraine could also be affected.

The Group of Seven

Italy is hosting the annual summit of leaders from the Group of Seven (G7) major democracies from 13 June to 15 June. The summit is being held in Borgo Egnazia in the southern region of Puglia – a luxury hotel with a Michelin starred restaurant tucked inside.

The G7 comprises the United States, Japan, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom. The European Union participates in all discussions-represented by the Presidents of both the European Council and the European Commission.

The host country traditionally invites ‘outside guests’ to join some of the sessions. This year, Italy welcomes Pope Francis, the King of Jordan, leaders of Ukraine, India, Brazil, Argentina, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Kenya, Algeria, Tunisia, and Mauritania – which holds the presidency of the African Union.

This Thursday, the G7 agreed on an outline deal to provide USD 50 billion of loans for Ukraine using interest from Russian sovereign assets frozen after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in 2022. This was the centrepiece of the opening day and was attended, for a second successive year, by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He signed a new, long-term security accord with US President Joe Biden after signing a 10-year security accord with Japan, which promised to provide Ukraine with USD 4.5 billion this year -underlining continued strong backing from the West.

Calling the frozen asset agreement a ‘significant outcome’, Joe Biden said it was “another reminder to Russian President Vladimir Putin that we’re not backing down”. The G7 plan for Ukraine is based on a multi-year loan using profits from some USD 300 billion of impounded Russian funds, the bulk of which are blocked in the EU.

The G7 may have a very different complexion next year. Biden faces an uphill battle to win re-election in November, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak looks certain to lose power in a national election next month, while French President Macron dissolved his country’s parliament on Sunday after his party was trounced in the European vote.

However, the display of unity was undermined late in the day, when Macron clashed with the anti-abortion Meloni over a push by Italy to remove any direct reference to abortion rights in the final communique.

The ‘outside guests’ will join the discussions on Friday. Pope Francis is due to speak about the risks and potential of Artificial Intelligence.

India: All Eyes on Reasi

India’s Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) State is returning to peace, for sure, but the sporadic acts of Islamic terror is worrisome and seems to be on an upward trend, especially during Hindu pilgrimages. It’s a tails-up situation for India and perhaps some kind of deadly action is required to prevent further acts of terror.

On 9th June several unidentified terrorists opened fire on a 53-seater Yatri passenger bus carrying Hindu pilgrims from the Shiv Khori cave to Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine in Katra, Reasi, in J&K, causing it to lose control and plummet into a deep gorge. Nine people were killed and 41 were injured. The ambush, by armed terrorists firing between 25 and 30 gunshots indiscriminately, happened at about 6pm in Teryath village. The driver was struck by gunfire leading to the loss of control. Even after the bus fell into the gorge, the firing continued. Ten people, including a two-year-old and a 14-year-old, were killed and 33 were injured. The victims were from Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. At least ten victims had gunshot wounds and empty cartridges were recovered at the scene. The ambush happened about an hour before Narendra Modi took the oath as Prime Minister for a third term.

Two days later, the J&K Police released a sketch of a terrorist involved in the ambush and announced a INR 20 lakh reward for information leading to his capture.

India’s New Governments: Centre & State

India’s new ‘coalition’ Government was inaugurated on the 11th June with Prime Minister Narendra Modi taking oath of office along with his cabinet colleagues. Also during the week, new Governments in the States of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha began work.

N Chandrababu Naidu took oath as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh for the fourth time. Despite having a majority on his own, he gave away the Deputy Chief Minister Post to Pawan Kalyan, the founder of the Jana Sena Party. His is an interesting story.

Pawan Kalyan is an Actor, primarily working in Telugu cinema, known for his unique acting style and mannerisms. He has a large fan base, a cult following, and is one of the highest-paid actors of Indian cinema. Kalyan has been featured in Forbes India’s Celebrity 100 list multiple times since 2013. He is a black belt in Karate and trains in various martial arts, which he depicts in his films regularly. Kalyan is referred to as Power Star by his fans and in the media. He is the founder of the charity, Common Man Protection Force.

Pawan Kalyan entered politics as the youth wing president of his brother, Actor Chiranjeevi’s political venture, Praja Rajyam Party, but he left after it merged into the Congress party. He founded the Jana Sena Party in March 2014.

The Jana Sena Party has contested 140 constituencies in the 2019 Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly elections. Kalyan has contested two constituencies and lost in both to candidates from YSR Congress Party. His party was able to win from only one seat – the first ever in an election.

The Jana Sena Party contested 21 constituencies in the 2024 Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly election, with Kalyan himself contesting in Pithapuram constituency. He won by a margin of more than 70,000 votes; Jana Sena Party won in all the contested 21 constituencies and 2 Lok Sabha seats.

In the state of Odisha, four-time MLA and tribal leader Mohan Charan Majhi, 52, was sworn in as the first BJP Chief Minister of the State in Bhubaneswar. Outgoing Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, 77, who ruled from March 2000 to June 2024, showed up for the ceremony, in a fabulous gesture of smooth transition of power. He was one of the longest serving Chief Ministers in India’s history.

Kuwait Fire Tragedy

This week 49 people, 45 of who were Indians, were killed in a fire tragedy in Kuwait’s Mangaf area. About 50 sustained injuries. The Indians who died were mostly from the States of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh. The others were Pakistanis, Filipinos, Egyptian, and Nepali workers.

The fire originated in a kitchen of a building, housing 195 migrant workers employed by NBTC Group-an engineering and construction firm. The majority of fatalities were caused by smoke inhalation. Some died after jumping from the building, which was on fire. 93 people managed to escape unharmed. Kuwait’s Fire Force has determined that an electrical short circuit was the cause of the fire.

The NBTC Group is partly owned by an Indian, KG Abraham, 69, who is the Managing Director. Established in 1977, the company operates in UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait. Incidentally KG Abraham co-produced a film called ‘Aadujeevitham – The Goat Life ’ that depicted the challenges faced by a worker from Kerala in Saudi Arabia. KGA is also the founder and Chairman of the KGA Group a company that deals in engineering goods manufacturing and exporting. He also owns the Crowne Plaza, a five-star Hotel in Kochi.

The fire is the worst ever Building fire in Kuwait’s history and threw the spotlight on poor safety standards. Calls was made for action on landlords and company owners who violate the law to house large numbers of foreign labourers in extremely unsafe conditions, to cut costs.

The fire is the second largest fire disaster in Kuwait in terms of the death toll. In August 2009 a woman, angry over her husband getting married a second time, had set fire to a wedding tent killing 56 women and children.

Later in the week, the bodies of the 45 Indians were brought back to Kochi, India, by a special Indian Air Force plane and handed over to the families for final rites.

French Open Tennis

The 2024 French Open is a Grand Slam tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was held at the Roland Garros Stadium in Paris, France, from 26 May to 9 June 2024,

The men’s singles title was won by Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, who defeated Germany’s Alexander Zverev in the final to lift his third Grand Slam title. He also became the youngest player to win a Grand Slam across three different surfaces.

World No 1, Poland’s Iga Natalia Swiatek successfully defended her women’s singles title by defeating Italy’s Jasmine Paolini in the final. It was her fifth Grand Slam title and her third consecutive French Open trophy.

Iga Swiatek only recently turned 23 years of age. She hails from Poland that had never produced a singles Grand Slam Champion – until she came along. Young by many standards, and improbable by some others, every vintage of the Polish juggernaut’s tennis is somehow better than the previous. In the finals last Saturday, Swiatek’s dominance bubbled over as she powered past Italy’s Jasmine Paolini, 6-2, 6-1 to become the first woman to win three consecutive women’s singles titles since Justine Henin in 2007.

With the victory, Swiatek becomes the youngest player in history to claim four Roland-Garros women’s singles titles (the only player to do it before turning 25), and the sixth youngest woman in history to claim five Grand Slam singles titles. In 2020, Swiatek won her maiden title in Paris, becoming the lowest-ranked champion in Open era history (at No.54 in the rankings) and the youngest champion since Monica Seles since 1992. Four years later, she continues her reign as the world’s top player – and most formidable on the Parisian clay – by notching her 21st consecutive victory at Roland-Garros. That’s formidable!

More interesting stories playing in the weeks ahead. Watch the world with World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2021-24

About: the world this week, 6th June to 12th June 2021, how a Group of wealthy Nations met, a butcher of people punished, classic Tennis played, the pandemic cornered, and Animals on the Planet drawing our attention, in mysterious ways.

Everywhere

The Group of Seven (G7)

The G7 is an informal group of seven of the world’s wealthiest democracies, which meet annually to discuss the economy, peace, security, climate change, and of course, this year in particular, the coronavirus pandemic.

The Group consists of the United States of America (USA), Canada, the United Kingdom (UK), Germany, France, Italy, and Japan. The Annual Summit is normally held in the country which holds the rotating Presidency and this year it was the turn of the UK to play host. Leaders of four other prominent democracies have also been invited to attend: Australia, India, South Korea, and South Africa.

In a prelude to the main G7 Summit, a meeting of G7 Finance Ministers was held on 5th June, at Lancaster House, London to discuss economic policies, and perhaps reach an agreement on something. They did. The attending Finance Ministers decided on a Global Corporation Tax rate of 15%, which can ultimately be applied by all nations. This creates a new right for countries to tax the profits, of large multinational companies, based on where they make their sales.

The landmark deal, signed last Saturday, is intended to prevent digital companies such as the Google, Amazon, and the Facebook kind, from finding and exploiting tax-avoidance or minimisation loopholes in the national tax system of countries. And also to tackle the huge inequalities between such digital firms, and the rest of the business community, a divide which has grown wider during the ongoing pandemic.

International tax deals are rare, and usually thwarted by countries that either charge low levels of tax, such as Ireland, Hungary, and Cyprus, or that have close ties to tax-havens, such as the UK and the Netherlands.

There are significant details yet to be worked out, and the deal is not sufficient to see the new rules applied globally. For that to happen, it would require support from the Group of 20 (G20) leading economies, which includes China and India, as well as the backing of the 135 countries that have been negotiating the new rules as part of what is known as the Inclusive Framework.

Finance Heads of the G20 countries are due to meet in Venice, Italy, on 9th and 10th July 2021 to make hay on the new G7 tax sunshine.

Taxing large companies is awfully taxing, but that’s where the wealth of nations lie!

Meanwhile, the main G7 Summit is being held this week, between the 11th & 13th June at the Carbis Bay Hotel, Cornwall, United Kingdom, in which leaders of G7 nations are meeting each other, to hold face-to-face discussions. And see, meet, and get to know the better halves-if around, on the sidelines.

The ever-brightly dressed Queen, all of 95 years, sharing her childhood name, Lilibet, with her freshly minted great-grand daughter, posed for a photo with the G7 Kings, and cheekily posed the question, ‘Are you supposed to be looking as if you are enjoying yourself?’ Watch this space.

The Butcher of Bosnia

Bosnia and Herzegovina, often known simply as Bosnia, is a country located within the Balkans in South-East Europe with capital as Sarajevo, its largest city. It is bordered by the countries of Croatia, Serbia, and Montenegro, with a narrow coast to the Adriatic Sea.

Recall that the countries of Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, and Slovenia was once a federation of republics called Yugoslavia, which eventually disintegrated into separate countries, much like the Union Of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) did.

In the year 1992 Bosnian Muslims, called Bosniaks, and Croats voted for independence in a referendum boycotted by the Serbs. The region then descended into an ugly war with the Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats on one side and the Bosnian Serbs on the other, fighting for control over ethnic territory, in what was called the Bosnian War, which lasted four years. Several other former Yugoslav Republics also declared Independence about this time.

Ratko Mladic, a Bosnian Serb Military leader-nicknamed ‘the Butcher of Bosnia’-who was fanatical about ethnically cleansing Bosnaiks from Bosnia, led the Bosnian Serb Army in the war, which left about 100,000 people dead and displaced another 2.2 million. He orchestrated a campaign to slaughter and annihilate more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the mountain Town of Srebrenica, in July 1995, in the worst massacre to have taken place in Europe since the Second World War.

When the Bosnian War came to an end in 1995, Mladic facing an indictment of war crimes, went on the run and for 16 long years evaded capture until his arrest, finally, in May 2011. He was then extradited for trial in the Netherlands.

For years he was offered protection by Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, and the Serbian and Bosnian Serb military and police. Milosevic was himself a master-mind behind ethnic cleansing of non-serbs and when he lost power in October 2000 was sent packing to The Hague War Crimes Tribunal.

Mladic was captured in the village of Lazarevo, near the town of Zrenjanin in northern Serbia, after an anonymous tip-off to police was made by someone who had seen a man who looked like Mladic and was carrying documents bearing that name.

He was put on trial in 2012 at The Hague, Netherlands, for crimes committed during the Bosnian War, with a total of eleven charges including genocide.

In 2017 he was found guilty and convicted to life in prison on one count of genocide and nine crimes against humanity and war crimes by an international criminal tribunal. He was found ‘not guilty’ of one only charge of genocide.

Ratko Mladic had appealed against the ruling and this week he lost. The International United Nations Court dismissed the appeal and upheld his Life Sentence.

Mladic’s behaviour was absolutely reprehensible during the trial. In the 2017 conviction he shouted the choicest and ‘most colourful’ obscenities, gesticulating at the relatives of the victims. This time he scowled and showed little emotion. He was the only person in court not wearing a mask.

He joins his one-time master and boss, former Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadzic who is also convicted and serving a life sentence for being a key architect in ethnic cleansing and civil war that followed the break-up of Yugoslavia.

Ratko Mladic’s name is consigned to ‘the dustbin list’ of history’s most depraved, ruthless and barbaric figures.

French Open 2021

Switzerland’s Tennis ace and Legend, Roger Federer, had a gruelling, clay-grinding time at the French Open given that he is coming-back to the game from two back-to-back knee surgeries in 2020. He played over three hours to defeat Germany’s Dominik Koepfer in a five-set match including three tie-breaks sets, to set up his next encounter with Italy’s Matteo Berrettini for a place in the quarterfinals. Back and Knee breaking for sure.

Federer then proceeded to ‘talk to his knees’ and came out with an unanimous decision to quit the French Open and save his knees for Wimbledon, where he is targeting a 9th Title, later this month, on his favourite grass court surface.

Wimbledon’s Pride, French Open’s Envy? See you in Wimbledon.

Meanwhile, in yesterday’s Men’s semi-final, Tennis fans were enthralled seeing almost perfect clay-court, classic Tennis being played when Serbian Novok Djokovic beat – the until then, undefeatable, 13-time hero of the Roland Garros-Spaniard Rafal Nadal, to reach the Finals in an absolutely gripping four-set match. The third set will go down in History as one for the best ever and should be framed. Djokovic meets Greek Stefanous Tsitsipas in the final, to be played on Sunday, for a possible 19th Tennis Grand Slam Title.

In the Woman’s Final, an unlikely match as been set with unseeded Czech, Barbora Krejcikova reaching the final to challenge Russian, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova for the title. Well, that’s open!

India Looks Up

India is steadily looking up from the second wave of COVID19 with diving daily infections, but there is an alarming increase in deaths as previously unaccounted data is being added. However more lives are being saved and many States have started a process of awfully slow unlocking.

With the Vaccines of Covishield, Covaxin, and Sputnik V already rolled out, India placed an advance order worth Rs 1,500 crore for 300 million doses of Hyderabad, India, based Biological E’s CORBEVAX Vaccine.

Corbevax is a protein subunit vaccine, which comprises only spike proteins that are injected into the body to trigger an immune response. Such vaccines are considered to be one of the safest and time-tested, juxtaposed to mRNA based Vaccines, which is relatively new technology. Further, it does not involve injecting a whole de-activated virus. The Vaccine is currently undergoing Phase-3 trials and is expected to be ready for regulatory authorization and launch in August 2021.

India’s homemade Vaccine, Covaxin, is struggling to get approved abroad as its Phase-3 clinical trials are yet to be published-made public. Recall that India had approved Covaxin for Emergency Use, in January 2021 without waiting for the phase-3 clinical trials. Subsequently interim results were published in April, which showed satisfactory efficacy, justifying their use. More than 29 million doses of Covaxin have already been administered. The manufacturer, Bharat Biotech, Hyderabad, has said the results will be released in a couple of weeks. I’m sure it will pass with distinction.

In the background of a seemingly mangled Vaccination Policy, which the States compounded by acting like Rambo’s, trying to buy Vaccines on their own, India’s Prime Minister rightfully went on national Television to give a new direction to the Vaccination Drive. Enough is enough. He announced that the Centre will, in addition to the 50% it is already buying from the Vaccines manufacturers will also buy out the 25% State quota – a total of 75% production of Vaccines- and give it free of cost to the States, to distribute. The remaining 25% will go to Private Hospitals who can charge a fixed service fee of Rs 150 over the declared cost of the Vaccine. The new plan unfolds from the 21st June.

Lets have our eyes on the needle.

It’s Raining Babies in Africa

In World Inthavaram 2021-19, I talked about a Population Explosion, when a 25 years old woman, Halima Cisse, from Mali, gave birth to nine babies in a single delivery. This challenged the ruling eight-babies world record of Nadya Slueman, California, USA, in the Guinness World Records.

The record did not change heads or stomachs, not yet, as there is a weighty competition from a 37 years old woman in Pretoria, South Africa, Gosiame Thamara Sithole, who this week gave birth to 10 babies-five through natural birth and five through Caesarean section, seven boys and three girls, in a single delivery. In her previous adventure Gosiame Sithole had given birth to twins, who are now six years old.

Wonder where we are heading? Better start getting that flight to the Moon or Mars ready?

Meanwhile, in Nigeria the Town of Igbo-Ora has an unusually high birth rate of twins, where you might think you are seeing double. The Town has one of the highest birth rates of twins in the world.

China, which is struggling with birth rates and recently upgraded itself to a three-child policy, needs to send a team out to Africa in general, and Nigeria in particular, to penetrate the secret that makes the twins-show tick. Beg, borrow, or steal twins-making technology? China Can!

Animal Planet

24,000 Years Under the Ice

Heard of something called Bdelloid Rotifer? I haven’t until today.

They are unique microscopic, multicellular freshwater invertebrates with complex anatomies that are one of Earth’s most radiant-resistant animals. They can withstand extreme acidity, starvation, low oxygen, years of dehydration, and just about any form of torture.

They are solely female, reproduce entirely asexually and have avoided sex for nearly 80 million years. That’s loneliness to the limits. They have a complete digestive tract that includes a mouth and an anus and have the ability to halt all activities and almost entirely arresting their metabolism. At any point in their life cycle they can be completely dried-out and ‘vanish’ in to a sublime dormant state. And can spring back to life – alive and kicking- after tens of thousands of years in deep freeze.

The closest relatives of the Bdelloid Rotifer are the Tardigrades or ‘water bears’, which are impossibly cute animals and perhaps the hardest animals alive and known to survive incredibly inhospitable conditions. That’s toughness written all over them.

This week, Scientists in Siberia discovered Bdelloid Rotifer that have survived 24,000 years frozen in Siberian Permafrost at a time when Woolly Mammoths still roamed the planet. Scientists collected samples by drilling about 11 feet below the surface of permafrost in northeastern Siberia. They found living Bdelloid Rotifers locked in the ancient permafrost, whose average temperature hovers around 14 degrees Fahrenheit. They then successfully ‘revived’ the animal, after all these years of ‘sleep-walking’.

Sleeping Beauty and Snow White could have been ‘distant relatives’? But the Bdelloid Rotifer dwarfs them by thousands of years.

Dinosaurs Down Under

Scientists have confirmed a new dinosaur species in Australia as one of the largest in the Continent, fourteen years after it was first discovered in 2007 when cattle farmers uncovered bones of the animal on a farm in South-West Queensland. Farming can be productive to the bone.

The Australotitan Cooperensis or the ‘Southern Titan’, nicknamed ‘Cooper’ is one among the 15 largest dinosaurs found worldwide, joining an elite group of Titanosaurs previously only discovered in South America. It reaches a height of nearly 6.5 metres at the hip and 25-30 metres in tip-of-nose to tip-of-tail length, making it as long as a basketball court and as tall as a two-storey building.

Cooper, the plant-eating long-necked sauropod lived in the Cretaceous Period between 92 million and 96 million years ago when Australia was attached to, and a part of Antarctica.

The time taken to confirm the find, since the first find, is itself ‘dinosaurian’! Meanwhile Australia continues to amaze us with mind-boggling animals grabbing our attention week after week.

Elephants Get Lost in China

While China is within striking distance of ‘herd immunity’ against the coronavirus, a different kind of herd-15 wild Asian Elephants, including three calves, decided to do the Elephant Dance and steadily marched from China’s South-West province of Yunnan, escaping from the Nature Reserve of Xishuangbanna-near the border with Laos and Myanmar-to the North, Jinning District, on the outskirts of Kunming.

That’s a distance of over 500km: the journey of which began about 15 months ago, early last year. Drone photos showed ‘the gang’ taking a well-deserved, cute rest, sleeping on their sides with calves snuggling to find the cosiest position to curl their young trunks.

The Elephant trek has captivated millions of people who are herding themselves remotely with the Elephants, enjoying the journey, watching their every move – thanks to a ‘herd of drones’ buzzing above them.

Along the way the Elephants have had a whale of a time on land, breaking into Villagers’ homes, eating their food, drinking their water and destroying their crops. They have showed a growing interest in alcohol laden wooden barrels, and last month one of the baby elephants passed-out on trunking one such barrel, and was able to join the herd only the next day. Another broke into a car dealership and obviously couldn’t find itself a seat to drive. On the last count 400 separate incidents of break-in’s and damages were reported on the route costing over a million bucks.

Local Authorities have tried to steer the Elephants in directions away from Villages, Small Towns, and Cities by laying cobs of corn, bananas, and pineapples. They pounced on the corn, but largely ignored the pineapples, and kept the direction.

No-one seems to have any idea why the Elephants left their home. Did they sense an Earthquake or smell a Volcano, or another kind of disease Outbreak? Or did they simply run out of their favourite foods? Maybe the Leader of the Elephant Herd is lacking in experience and led the whole group astray. A loss of head?

Herd yourself for updates and stories in the coming weeks.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2021-23

About: the world this week, 31st May to 5th June 2021, births, digging down into History, Tennis, Hacking, Greek words, and fresh lingering music.

Everywhere

Born in China

China has the largest population in the World with about 1.44 billion…and not growing at all. This was brought about by its One-Child Policy, introduced in 1979, to slow the then burgeoning population. Families that violated the rules faced fines, loss of employment, and sometimes forced abortions. This eventually led to a severe imbalance between the boys & the girls, besides falling birth-rates.

Staring at a ‘blank’ future, ageing workforce, and not enough people to get work done, China scrapped the One-Child Policy in 2016, replacing it with a Two-Child Policy. This failed to lead to a sustained upsurge in births, which consequently pushed them to start thinking about ‘Three’.

The cost of raising children in cities has deterred many Chinese couples from having more kids. And China may have to find ways to incentivise its people to make babies.

China carried out a comprehensive census in late 2020, when some seven million census-takers went door-to-door to collect information from Chinese households. The census, released earlier this month, showed that around 12 million babies were born last year-a significant decrease from the 18 million in 2016, and the lowest number of births recorded since the 1960s. That was alarming.

Acting on the results of the census, China has announced that it will now allow couples to have up to three children.

Of course, it takes two to tango; to make-up their minds, to expand to five. That’s lots of bed-work. If they were not attracted by two, will they fall for three. Guess, the future is pregnant with results. Will China continue its ‘people domination’, on Earth? India is close behind and I do not wish it to overtake China on this count. Let them win!

The Canada Dig

Kamloops (meeting of the waters) is a city in South-Central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of two branches of the Thompson River. It is known as the Tournament Capital of Canada, hosting more than 100 Tournaments each year at world-class sports facilities. It is also a designated ‘Bee City’, with numerous organisations protecting and creating bumble bee habitats in the city.

Traditionally, Kamloops was the land of indigenous people: Secwepemc, Nlaka’pamus, and other North American Indians tribes, who were almost completely wiped-out during the smallpox epidemic of 1862. Thereafter, their lands were gradually taken over and occupied by the colonising invaders from Europe.

The Kamloops Indian Residential school (KIRS) was established in 1893 outgrowing the Kamloops Industrial School, which was first started with the aim of acculturating indigenous children. It was one of the largest in Canada, opened and operated from the late 19th century to the late 1970s, by the Catholic Church until the Government took it over in the late 1960s.

In the year 2015, Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission released a Report detailing the devastating legacy of the country’s residential school system when tens of thousands of mostly indigenous children were separated from their families and forced to attend residential schools. At least 130 schools were in operation across Canada between the late 19th century and 1996, many run by the Catholic Church or the Government.

The Report determined that at least 4,000 children died of disease, neglect, accidents or abuse while at these schools, and detailed decades of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse suffered by children in these schools.

The gruesome discovery took decades to unravel and for some survivors of the KIRS in Canada, the confirmation that children as young as 3 years, were buried on school grounds crystallises the sorrow they have carried all their lives. Imagine, on one school-day morning, never ever seeing your next bench class-mate, and never knowing what happened!

This past weekend, with the help of a ground penetrating radar specialist, the truth of the preliminary findings came to the surface: the confirmation of the remains of 215 children buried in the School, who were students of the KIRS. These missing children were undocumented deaths.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged the truth that Residential Schools were a reality, a tragedy that existed in the country, which has to be owned-up and further investigated.

The further humankind moves ahead and the deeper we dig into our history the more barbaric are the deeds that tumble out. Tales of decimation, genocide, and ruthless subjugation of races are hard truths we need to face, and resolve never to repeat again. We stand on the shoulders of civilizations that went through these cataclysmic times.

America’s Colours: Black & White

In the 1920’s, a glistening city-within-a-city, Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States of America, was home to grocery and retail stores, theatres, restaurants and hotels: all the businesses and services that would cater to Afro-American residents of a segregated state. Greenwood’s streets were lined with the stately mansions of doctors and business tycoons who made the American Dream, as well as the more modest dwellings of domestic workers. It was so prosperous that it became known as ‘Black Wall Street.’

The affluence of Greenwood ‘created a tie-in between Black Tulsans and White Tulsans. But it was mostly about perspective. White Tulsans talked about Greenwood as ‘Little Africa’ or ‘Nigger Land.’

One hundred years ago, on May 31, 1921, that racial animosity became fuel for a horrific massacre, which all of America would like to forget, forever.

A lynch mob formed in downtown Tulsa after a 19 years old Black man was accused of assaulting a White woman. That night, thousands of White Tulsans launched an all-out assault on Greenwood, with rifles, machine guns, torches and aerial bombings from private planes, proceeding to burn, loot and kill until scores were dead and 35 city blocks were destroyed. The rampage lasted into the next afternoon, leaving 10,000 Black Tulsans homeless and their community burned to nothing but ash and rubble.

It’s unknown how many people were killed but it’s estimated as many as 300 lost their lives in the massacre.

One hundred years later, Tulsa is still reckoning with this violent history. As it does, Americans across the country face another truth: Tulsa wasn’t alone.

Between the end of the American Civil War and the 1940s, the destruction seen in Tulsa happened in various ways to communities of colour across the country.

Still, Black Americans created pockets of wealth during the Reconstruction years and into the early 20th century. Yet, where Black Americans created a refuge, White Americans pushed back through political manoeuvring and violence.

This year marks the centennial of the Tulsa Massacre: the heinous attack on the Black enclave of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was one of the worst acts of racial violence in American history. And it was part of a larger pattern of assault.

French Open: Closed Minds

The 2021 French Open Grand Slam Tennis Tournament rolled out this year on the Roland Garros Clay Courts, Paris, on 30th May, after it was postponed by a week due to the pandemic. The Tournament ends on 13th June 2021.

Japan’s superstar Tennis Player Naomi Osaka, 23, Four-time Grand Slam winner and second seed, came into the Tournament saying that she will not participate in the mandatory Press Conferences, especially the post-match interactions, as it concerned her mental health well-being. She said that Athletes are often asked questions that have been asked multiple times before or asked questions that bring doubt into the minds of the athletes. ‘I’m not going to subject myself to people that doubt me’ she said. And added, ‘the whole situation is kicking a person while they’re down and I don’t understand the reasoning behind it’.

Naomi won her first round match against Romanian Maria Patricia Tig, on Sunday and was promptly fined USD 15,000 by the French Open Authorities for not participating in the Press Conference and failing to meet contractual obligations.

Subsequently, Naomi Osaka announced that she’s withdrawing from the French Open so that everyone can get back to focussing on the game and that she did not want to be a distraction.

We see athletes ‘talking through their respective sport’: the questions and the answers are out there, right in front of them. A ‘meet-the-press’ cannot and should not be forced: it should be left to the athlete to freely discuss an ‘invisible’ strategy, a method, a feeling. Not everyone can play the way they play and we have to understand and acknowledge as much.

Hacking: Pipelines and Meat

We live in a digital world with most of our work being done online, on the internet-the world wide web-with data stored in a cloud, and hard paperwork seeing the end of days. When was the last time you visited a Bank to fill a Challan?

Digital life increases our vulnerability to hacking with a minefield of booby-traps out there: you may never know when you accidentally step on one.

Ransomware is a malicious computer virus, which riding ‘maskless’ on the internet finds a way to infect your Computer and threatens to destroy all your files unless you pay a ransom. Ransomware attacks increased by about 300%, last year. And they do not seem to be hitting a lower, slower gear.

In recent times, the United States of America (USA) found itself dancing to the tune of ransomware music. Remember Russia being accused of hacking the US Elections? I really wonder how that could be done-Russians seem to be coldly on top here. Wonder what kind of a Sputnik Vaccine they use to stay safe?

Last month the USA’s Colonial Pipeline, which is about 8,900 km long, and carries 2.5 million barrels a day-about 45% of the East Coast’s supply of diesel, petrol, and jet fuel- was hit by a ransomware cyber-attack which took the pipeline offline. This triggered fears about fuel shortages generating panic buying: prices jumped, pumps ran dry, and people even went to the extent of filling plastic bags with fuel.

How can a pipeline be hacked? Modern operation systems are extremely digital: Pressure sensors, thermostats, valves & pumps are used to monitor and control fuel passing through the hundreds of kilometres of piping. Smart Pigs (Pipeline Inspection Gauge) Robots are used to check pipelines for anomalies. All this is connected to a Central System, controlled by computers. And therein lies the risk. The biggest attacks are through an innocuous looking email when an employee can be tricked into downloading malicious malware.

On another front, hackers compromised the US Agency for International Development’s account with Constant Contact, an email marketing service. And from there, targeted around 3,000 email accounts, affecting over 150 government agencies (including some in the US), think tanks, and Non-Governmental (NGO) Organisations. At least 23 other countries fell victim to the hack.

Now let’s meet the ‘meat’ of it all. A few days ago a ransomware attack caused JBS, the world’s largest meat supplier to close down all of its US Beef Plants. In the USA, JBS processes nearly one-quarter of the country’s beef and one-fifth of its pork.

JBS has more than 150 plants in 15 countries with 150,000 employees worldwide. It was founded in Brazil in 1953 as a slaughtering business by rancher Jose Batista Sobrinho (the JBS comes from his initials). Its customers include supermarkets and fast-food outlet McDonald’s.

Who are the guys doing this? It’s Hacking Groups, many of which are based in Russia. DarkSide, a criminal hacking group, managed to walk away with $4.4 million in ransom money, paid in Bitcoin, after it hacked Colonial Pipeline. Nobelium, a Russian group is suspected to be behind last year’s US Government data breach. And JBS is suspecting criminal Russian hackers too.

What do we do to protect ourselves from hacking?

Follow the age-old advice: Do not open suspicious email attachments or links to unsolicited emails; back-up your data in an external storage; and keep your software patches up-to-date. Also contact an expert when you are under attack.

A Prime Minister Marries

Last Saturday, Britain’s Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, 56, married partner Carrie Symonds,33, in London’s Westminster Cathedral in a ceremony attended by 30 friends and family, planned in strict secrecy.

Johnson had divorced his first wife, Allegra Mostyn-Owen, in 1993, and divorced his second wife, Marina Wheeler, in November last year. This is the third marriage for Boris Johnson and the first for Carrie Symonds.

Boris Johnson is only the second British Prime Minister to marry while in office, the first being Robert Jenkinson’s wedding to Mary Chester in 1822.

Earlier, the couple had announced their engagement in February 2020, followed by the announcement of the birth of their first child-a son, Wilfred, in April 2020, and now, the Wedding has been announced and secretly sealed.

Somethings work backwards, for sure. History being made in many dimensions.

WHO goes Greek

Viruses constantly change through mutation to better their prospects of climbing onto humans and increasing the ‘slave-trade’.

A Variant Of Concern (VOC) is a virus, which has done its homework well and where there is strong evidence of increase in transmutability and infection. A Variant of Interest (VOI) is one just beginning to learn the ropes of infection from its Big Brother VOC, and is closely watched by the Scientific Community, while in school hoping that it never graduates.

This week, The World Heath Organization (WHO), opened its Greek Dictionary and went on a (re) naming spree of SARS-CoV-2 Variants, to prevent stigmatising the countries in which they were first discovered. Rightfully so. I never liked the term ‘Indian Variant’ being used, or for that matter, ‘The UK Variant’, or the ’South-African Variant’. Let’s kill them. And now lets spin the Greek alphabet.

The current VOCs are: The B.1.1.7 Variant first detected in the United Kingdom in September 2020 and designated on 18 December 2020, is now called Alpha; the B.1.351 first detected in South Africa in May 2020, and designated on 18 December 2020, is called Beta; the P.1 first detected in Brazil in November 2020 and designated on 11th January 2021, is called Gamma, and B.1.671.2 first detected in Indian in India, in October 2020, and designated on 11th May 2021, is called Delta.

The current VOIs are: B.1.427/B.1.429 first detected in the United States of America in March 2020 and designated on 5th March 2021 is Epsilon, and B.1.617.1, first detected in India in October 2020, and designated on 4th April 2021 is Kappa

Zeta, Eta, Theta, Iota, are other VOI’s first found in Brazil, multiple Countries, Philippines, and the USA respectively.

In summary, we are now living with 4 VOCs and 6 VOIs, as on 31st May 2021. Better start learning Greek?

India Gets on Top – One More Time

India shrugged off what appeared to be its initial deer-caught-in-the headlights stage and waged a tenacious battle to bring down COVID-19 infections. This week the score plunged to lower levels matched only by the quixotic rise of the previous weeks. Many Locked-down States took baby-steps to begin to re-open, again.

At the same time India is going all out to establish a steady supply of Vaccines for all its people. The Government came out with a promise to get all Indian adults vaccinated by December 2021.

I’m confident it can be done. India has already done 22.41 crore vaccinations as on 4th June, and is jabbing at the rate of near about 3 million per day.

Please Yourself: The Sound of Olivia

My music playlist has not been updated in a very long time: I’m kind of an oldies guy, still Staying Alive with the Bee Gees, Imagining with John Lennon, calling Fernando with ABBA, Waiting for a Girl Like You with Foreigner, trying to Fearlessly and Swiftly ‘Taylor’ a Bridge Over Troubled Waters with Simon & Garfunkel, and Getting Old (The Older I Get) with Alan Jackson, when I chanced upon the refreshing music of American Actress, Singer, and Songwriter, Olivia Rodrigo.

Olivia is 18 years old and is just getting started in her musical career, but she’s already off to one of the best starts anyone has ever enjoyed in the history of America’s Billboard Charts. Her debut album Sour reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with one of the largest opening’s in recent memory.

Sour has enjoyed incredible success and three tracks that were released ahead of the album as promotional cuts debuted inside the top 10 on the Hot 100 List, with two opening in first place. Both ‘Drivers License’ and ‘Good For You’ debuted at the top of the list, while second cut ‘Deja Vu’ rose to No. 8.

It’s very likely that due to the superb first-week performance of Sour and all of its songs, the entire track list may make its way to the Hot 100. When Billboard refreshes that List Olivia may dominate like nobody else.

I listened to all the eleven songs of Sour, and it was anything but sour-made me ‘happier’ than I thought it would. The lyrics are vibrant and linger. And I particularly fell in love with ‘jealousy, jealousy (co-comparison is killing me slowly. I think too much ’bout kids who don’t know me) and ‘hope that you’re okay’ (Nothing’s forever, nothing’s as good as it seems. And when the clouds won’t iron out. And the Monsters creep into your house. And every door is hard to close).

Olivia has written most of the songs. “I’m a very in-the-present songwriter,” she said in an interview. “I write songs when I’m in the depths of my emotions.”

Go ahead, listen to Olivia and fall in love, deeply, with her songs-I just did.

More depth-of-the-emotion stories coming up in the weeks ahead. And I promise they won’t be sour.