Tag: New Zealand

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2024-33

About: the world this week, 11 August to 17 August 2024: Ukraine invades Russia; Israel holds; Trump and Musk on X; leaving New Zealand; a horrific rape and murder in India; India-events; mpox is here; Paris Olympics-goodbye.

Everywhere

Ukraine’s Invasion of Russia

Last week, Ukrainian soldiers smashed through the Russian border in a surprise attack aimed at improving future negotiation options, slowing the advance of Russian forces into Ukraine, and disorienting them.

This week, Ukraine’s forces captured the town of Sudzha in Russia’s Kursk region in the biggest foreign incursion into Russia since World War II, putting Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on the defensive. Ukraine, carving out a slice of Russian territory gives it a foothold for further advances, revealing the weakness of Russia’s border defences and prompting it to evacuate at least 200,000 people while it rushed in reserves and imposed a security lockdown. You just cannot go about bombing your own people, can you?

The Ukrainian assault on Russian has dramatically changed the narrative around the two-and-a-half-year-old war. Previously, it was Russia that had been advancing in eastern Ukraine since the failure of Ukraine’s 2023 counteroffensive.

Wonder on which side the dice is loaded?

Israel Holds On

Israeli forces pressed on with operations near the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis amid an international push for a deal to halt fighting in Gaza and prevent a slide into a wider regional conflict with Iran and its proxies.

This week Hamas said it would not take part in a new round of ceasefire talks in Qatar, but mediators are expected to consult with Hamas, afterwards.

On another angle, there is a suspended animation on Iran’s revenge act on Israel, while Hezbollah and even Hamas keep pumping those rockets-a never-ending fire -into Israel. Will Iran dare attack Israel?

Trump and Musk: Birds of a Feather

This week, Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump sat for a friendly two-hour interview with Elon Musk on social media platform X, after technical problems delayed the start of the event for more than 40 minutes. Musk, who has endorsed Trump, was quick to blame the difficulties on a Distributed Denial-Of-Service (DDOS) attack, in which a server or network is flooded with traffic in an attempt to shut it down.

Trump and Musk chatted on X for over two hours. Trump recapped his assassination attempt, promised the largest deportation effort in US history if re-elected, boasted about his relationship with foreign leaders like North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, and the kind. Musk often praised the former President and seemed to even pitch himself as a potential Trump administration official. Their ‘bird chat’ played out as 1.3 million people listened-in at one point, according to an X counter.

Leaving New Zealand

People are leaving New Zealand in record numbers as unemployment rises, interest rates remain high, and economic growth is anaemic, government statistics revealed.

Data released by Statistics New Zealand showed that 131,200 people departed New Zealand in the year ended June 2024, provisionally the highest on record for an annual period. Around a third of these were headed to Australia.

While net migration, the number of those arriving minus those leaving, remains at high levels, economists also expect this to wane as the number of foreign nationals wanting to move to New Zealand falls due to the softer economy. Data shows that of those departing, 80,174 were citizens, which was almost double the numbers seen leaving prior to the COVID19 pandemic.

New Zealand’s economy is struggling after the central bank hiked cash rates 521 basis points in its most aggressive tightening since the official cash rate was introduced in 1999. The economy had an annual growth of 0.2% in the first quarter, unemployment rose to 4.7% in the second quarter, and inflation remains high at 3.3%.

Furthermore, Australia has been recruiting and offering relocation packages in areas such as nursing, policing, and teaching where they have skill shortages attracting New Zealanders, who do not need visas to work there. And with the New Zealand government having undertaken a significant downsizing of its public services, it has left many skilled workers looking for jobs. Well, that’s available aplenty across the border.

India: A Rape and Murder Most Foul

A 31-year-old woman trainee post-graduate Doctor working on night duty, was found dead last Friday at the RG Kar Medical College & Hospital in Kolkatta – a 138 year old premier Medical Institution in the State of West Bengal. In the morning of 9th August, the mauled body was found in the seminar room on the fourth floor of the emergency department building: first spotted by a security guard. Her laptop, bag, and mobile were found nearby. On the fateful night, the Doctor a second-year chest medicine trainee had dinner with her colleagues and later retired to the seminar room for some much-needed rest: there being no separate ‘on-call’ room.

When the incident came to light, the Principal of the College, Dr Sandip Ghosh appeared to shamelessly indulge in victim blaming, calling the death a case of suicide, and attempted to brush aside the incident. The parents of the woman Doctor resisted, leading to the police to investigate and confirm that she had been raped and murdered. Subsequently, the Police arrested a suspect, a civic volunteer, Sanjoy Roy, 33, through electronic footprints at the scene and the Hospital premises. He is an outsider who had free access to the different departments of the Hospital.

Civic Volunteers are a band of about one lakh so-called do-gooders, put together by the State Government. Initially, they were deployed as Traffic Wardens, to manage traffic, during festivals. Over the years, this army of youngsters has been co-opted by the Police who use them liberally, such as to collect legitimate fines (and bribes too?) These Civic Volunteers gradually became a law unto themselves, pitching in with their services for the ruling party, the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC), whenever required. And this is not the first time a Civic Volunteer has been linked to an unnatural death in West Bengal.

The initial autopsy said the woman Doctor was murdered after being sexually assaulted, between 3 am and 6am. Her neck bone was found broken: she was first strangulated and then smothered to death. Her body was found in a half-naked condition with her spectacles broken. Further analysis, such as the amount of semen, suggested the involvement of multiple people. Her entire body bore marks of injury-not a single inch was spared-an examining doctor termed it as the most gruesome he has seen in his entire lifetime.

Doctors in India’s crowded and often squalid government hospitals have long complained of being overworked and underpaid, and say not enough is done to curb violence levelled at them by people angered over the medical care on offer.

Thousands of doctors marched on Monday in Kolkata and the surroundings to denounce the killing at the government-run hospital, demanding justice for the Doctor and better security measures. Hospital services were disrupted in several cities on Tuesday after the doctors’ protest spread nationwide. More than 8,000 government doctors in the western Maharashtra state, home to the financial capital of Mumbai, halted work in all hospital departments except emergency service.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took over the investigation hours after an order by the Calcutta High Court, which came down heavily on Dr Sandip Ghosh, saying it was ‘disheartening’ that he was not ‘proactive’. The court also flagged that the former Principal was given the same role in another college hours after he resigned and said he must be immediately relieved of duties and sent on leave.

The incident brought back memories of Aruna Shanbaug, a junior nurse at King Edward Memorial Hospital, Mumbai who was brutally assaulted by a ward boy, in November, 1973. She was left blind, deaf, and paralysed, and lived on for 42 years on life-support at the Hospital. She was cared for by fellow nurses before she passed away in 2015. He death spurred important legislation on safety and euthanasia in India.

Also, recall the Nirbhaya Case when in December 2012 a 23-year-old woman- a physiotherapy intern-was brutally gang-raped and assaulted in a moving bus in New Delhi, while returning home. The savage brutality of the incident stirred and shook India to the core. The six men involved were caught and convicted, including one juvenile. Four were hanged to death, one died-apparently suicide-in jail. And the juvenile was released after a 3-year jail sentence in a reform facility- maximum for juveniles under law.

Back to Kolkatta. In a further aggravation of the situation, when doctors were peacefully protesting, vandals armed with sticks, bottles, and bricks, usurped the night unleashing about 40 minutes of mayhem. The mob coursed through the campus ransacking critical care units, turning the medicine store room upside down, throwing around life-saving drugs, injections and other supplies. Were they trying to wipe-out evidence? The protesting doctors were forced to run to safety, and the Police were found wanting, yet again. Special forces had to be called-in to quell the violence.

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) called for a 24 hour nation wide stir -withdrawal of services-beginning on Saturday, in support of the woman Doctor and her family, and to highlight the shabby handling of the crime situation by the College Authorities and stalling of the Police investigation after the first day.

Calls for the ‘woman’ Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, who handles the health and home portfolios, to quit, grew shrill. Shockingly, she announced a protest march against ‘her own Government’ pressurising the CBI to ‘complete the investigation on the double and hang the culprit by Sunday!’ Unbelievable that a leader can indulge in politicking and act without empathy.

The incident will remain a devastating memory and a shameful blot on West Bengal. Violence is endemic to the State, long beset by insurgency, social upheaval, mass migration, and violent mobilisation for political control. It has a long, deadly history of political violence, which has persisted over many decades: deeply impacted life and stained the fabric of society in the State, in complex ways. Could this be a turning-point?

Bangladesh Flux

There is cautious optimism as Bangladesh grapples with the aftermath of its student-led protests and the cataclysmic events that led to the exit of former Prime Minister Sheik Hasina from the country. Attacks on Hindus and minorities appear to have climbed down. Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus who lead the interim government used the opportunity to rid himself of most of the cases piled on him by the previous Government. And then began the return in kind. A murder investigation has been opened into Sheik Hasina over the police killing of a man during civil unrest. Six other top figures in the previous government are also being investigated.

Later in the week, Yunus called up India’s PM to assure him of safety of Hindus and minorities in Bangladesh.

India: Melange

India celebrated its 78th Independence Day on 15th August with India’s Prime Minister, in his usual vibrant, colourful head-gear, raising the national flag for the 11th time in a row. He laid down plans for the year in a long speech, from the ramparts of the Red Fort in New Delhi. This time, the PM sported a multi-coloured Rajasthani Leheriya print turban. And the theme of this year’s celebration was Viksit Bharat @ 2047 (a developed India by 2047).

India’s ISRO successfully launched its third developmental flight of Small Launch Vehicle (SSLV) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on Friday and successfully injected a Satellite it was carrying into its exact planned orbit. ISRO only gets better after each adventure into Space.

India’s Election Commission announced Elections in the State of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K)-the first Assembly elections in over a decade – and in Haryana State, which was ending a term. The J&K Elections will be held in three phases on 18th, 25th September, and 1st October, while the Haryana Elections will be on in a single phase on 1st October.

Mpox

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the mpox outbreaks in Congo and elsewhere in Africa a global emergency – Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHIC)- with cases confirmed among children and adults in more than a dozen countries. And a new form of the virus, called ‘clade 1b’ is spreading mainly through sexual networks. Few vaccines are available for treating cases.

This PHIC determination is the second in two years relating to mpox. WHO said that the current upsurge along with the spread of a new sexually transmissible strain of the monkeypox virus is an emergency not only for Africa but for the entire globe. It is caused by an Orthopoxvirus and first detected in 1970 in Africa.

Mpox, previously known as monkeypox has been detected in 13 countries this year, and more than 96% cases and deaths are in Congo. Cases are up to 160% and deaths have swelled up to 19% compared to the same period last year. So far, there have been more than 14,000 cases and 524 deaths.

Unlike the previous mpox outbreaks, the new form causes milder symptoms making it harder to spot. People might also sicken others without knowing they are infected.

Paris Olympics 2024: Goodbye

Hollywood movie star Tom Cruise was chosen as the showstopper of the Closing Ceremony of the Paris Olympics, and he did not disappoint. Maybe it was also a stunt to establish a connection with the next Games. Known for performing all of those dangerous stunts in his movies, he did the same at the closing ceremony, giving it a Hollywood touch. Tom Cruise jumped off the roof of Strate De France, one of the largest stadiums and landed on stage, in a jaw-dropping moment. The audience welcomed him with cheers. And the ladies even manhandled him-landing tons of kisses!

Paris has set new standards for the Olympic Games by hosting most of their games at iconic landmarks such as Place de la Concorde, the Eiffel Tower, the Chateau de Versailles and the Grand Palais. They also brought top celebrities for the grand opening ceremony including Celine Dion and Lady Gaga.

The next Summer Olympics will be held in 2028 in Los Angeles, USA and then in Brisbane, Australia in 2032. India is considering bidding for the 2036 Olympic Games.

It will exciting to see how the Summer Games will be hosted in the City of Angels, LA: its Mayor Karen Bass, who was present said, “will really show the diversity and the international character of our city. And we do have Hollywood, so I expect a lot of magical opportunities, which might begin at the closing ceremony.”

In the final Medals Tally, the United States of America led with 40 Gold, 44 Silver, and 42 Bronze -Total of 126 medals; followed by China, 40 Gold, and 91 overall; Japan, 20 Gold and 45 overall; Australia 18 Gold and 53 overall. The hosts France won 16 Gold, 26 Silver, 22 Bronze, and overall 64.

India won a total of 6 medals: 1-Silver and 5-Bronze. Overall, one medal less than the previous Games.

More sensational stories cruising-in, in the weeks ahead. Stay alert and on stage with World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2023-03

About-the world this week, 15 January to 21 January 2023, a world of ‘Tanks’: Military Tanks Wanted; an Aircraft tanks; and empty tank in New Zealand; Tanks to fill in Davos; India’s unfilled Census Tank; and a Tennis player runs on a full tank at the Australian Open.

Everywhere

Ukraine: Tanks Wanted

The illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine bleeds on and now a hero that could secure a victory for Ukraine seems to be Tanks. Many countries supporting Ukraine have already sent or committed to sending Tanks to Ukraine to defend itself from the Russian onslaught. The pressure is also on Germany to send its Leopard-2 make tanks, which can make a significant difference on the battle-ground.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attempt to destroy the independent existence of a neighbouring country with war crimes, genocidal actions, and relentless targeting of the civilian population, is the closest we have come since 1945 to what Adolf Hitler did in World War-II. And Germany has a unique historical responsibility to help defend a free and sovereign Ukraine. For the rest of the world, Russia should be defeated to deter future aggression by rouge-minded countries, say China, around hot-spot places such as Taiwan; or North Korea, which dances a lot on the border with South Korea.

Meanwhile, there is daily and continuing tragedy in the Russian-Ukraine War. This week, a helicopter crash killed Ukraine’s Interior Minister, Denys Monastyrskyi, his first deputy, Yevhen Yenin, other senior officials, and several children. No area seems untouched by the unbelievable situation in Ukraine.

Nepal Plane Crash: An Aircraft Tanks

Over the years commercial plane accidents have crashed to low levels, and the odd crash does makes high news.

This Sunday, Nepal’s Yeti Airlines’ Flight 691 – a twin-engine ATR 72 Aircraft – flying from Kathmandu with 72 people on board, crashed before arrival at Pokhara, which International Airport was inaugurated on 1 January 2023. All passengers have died. And this is Nepal’s worst air disaster in three decades. The plane came down in a gorge of the Seti River, near the tourist town of Pokhara: the plane rolled sharply as it approached the runway and then hit the ground, just over a kilometre from the airport. The cause of the crash is yet to be determined.

The passenger manifest consisted of 53 Nepalese, 5 Indians, 4 Russians and 2 Koreans, and 1 each from the United Kingdom, Australia, Argentina, and France.

Anju Khatiwada, the co-pilot of the ill-fated flight lost her husband, Dipak Pokhrel, in a plane crash 16 years earlier. Coincidentally, he had also been co-piloting a Yeti Airlines flight-and it was his death that spurred Anju to pursue a career in aviation. Dipak was in the cockpit of a Twin Otter Prop plane, which was carrying rice and food to the western town of Nepal’s Jumla when it came down and burst into flames in June 2006, killing all nine people on board. Four years later, Anju climbed on the path to becoming a pilot, overcoming many obstacles, to train in the United States. Once qualified, she joined Yeti Airlines. A trailblazer, Anju was one of just six women employed by the airline as pilots, and had flown close to 6400 hours. “She was a brave woman”, said an Official.

New Zealand: An Empty Tank

New Zealand’s Prime Minister (PM) Jacinda Ardern, 42, has had enough and is calling it quits. This week, Ardern announced she will resign as PM next month, saying, “I no longer have enough in the tank”, to lead. She choked as she detailed how six challenging years in the job had taken a toll. She had taken time to consider her future, over the summer break, hoping to find what she needed to carry on, but unfortunately she could not, and hence the decision.

Ardern will step down as Labour Party leader around 7th February. Meanwhile, there will be a vote in the coming days to determine her replacement. And New Zealand goes to the polls- a General Election-on 14 October 2023.

Ardern, at 37, became the youngest female head of government in the world when she was elected PM in 2017. And a year later, she became the second elected world leader to ever give birth while in office. She superbly steered New Zealand through the initial part of the Covid19 pandemic (though she could not make a success of it later on) and its ensuing recession, the Christchurch mosque shootings, and the White Island volcanic eruption. Ardern also led her Labour Party to a landslide election victory in 2020. But, in recent months, her domestic popularity has declined, according to opinion polls. She made missteps in the later stages of the Covid19 pandemic, could not get the economy back on track, and was unable to reduce inequalities in New Zealand. Lawless also ‘became common’ and has not been brought under ‘safe control’.

According to the media, Jacinda Ardern was subject to unprecedented hatred and constant abuse during her time in power, which could have inadvertently taken a toll on her and driven her to make the big announcement… and sleep well after a long time!

Some people have that intuition to move on after a job in done – on their calling. Maybe Jacinda Arden discovered that, and now needs to fill her tank with other kinds of fuel.

Money Matters: Tanks to Fill

The Switzerland based international, non-governmental, lobbying, World Economic Forum (WEF) is holding its 53rd Annual Meeting at the mountain resort of Davos in the Eastern Alps region of Switzerland, between 16 and 20 January 2023.

The meeting brings together some top decision-makers from government, business, and civil society to address global issues and priorities for the year ahead.

This includes about 3,000 paying members and selected participants – among whom are investors, business leaders, political leaders, economists, celebrities, and journalists.

This year’s theme is, ‘Cooperation in a Fragmented World’. On the agenda is climate change, The Russia-Ukraine War, food security, energy, and of course, the global economy, which will be discussed across 500 sessions.

Says the WEF, “The world today is at a critical inflection point. The twin triggers of the Covid19 pandemic and the Russian-Ukraine war have rattled an already brittle global system. Economic growth in the world’s largest economies is stalling, while navigating headwinds from rising food and energy prices. For the first time since the 1970s, the world is facing a precarious disequilibrium with growth and inflation moving in opposite directions. Unless systemic and interconnected risks are addressed, the promise of a ‘decade of action; may become a decade of uncertainty and fragility”.

The wisdom is oozing out on the slopes of the Alps, and I hope we get a cool, nice little ’To-Do List’ as an outcome of the ‘Davos Brain-work’.

India’s Measures a Delay: Unfilled Census Tank

In the year 1881, more than 250 million people in India answered a list of questions put to them by hundreds of enumerators, and were counted in British India’s first synchronised census. For the next 130 years, after independence and through wars and other crises, India kept its date with the census. Once a decade, hundreds of thousands of enumerators visited every household in the country to gather information about people’s jobs, families, economic conditions, migration status and socio-cultural characteristics, among other parameters. It’s used to make decisions on everything from allocating Central Government funds to State Governments, and building schools, to drawing constituency boundaries for elections. And India had mastered the craft of taking a census – teaching it to other nations, as well.

“The census is not simply a count of the number of people in a country. It provides invaluable data needed to make decisions at a micro level,” says a development economist who has worked extensively on poverty and inequality.

The exercise generates a trove of crucial empirical data for administrators, policymakers, economists, demographers and anyone interested in knowing where the world’s second-most populous country (set to overtake China this year) is headed. Say, what will it mean when Indians outnumber Chinese.

But for the first time, India’s decennial census, the seventh – which was set to be held in 2021 – has been delayed, primarily due to he Covid19 pandemic, with no clarity on when it will be held. Experts say they are worried about the consequences, which range from people being excluded from welfare schemes to unbalanced resource allocation.

The Government had planned to conduct a population survey to update the National Population Register (NPR) along with the census. Opposition and regional parties have been demanding that the Government should also conduct a ‘Caste Census’ to revisit the ‘caste based quota’ in the country. The State of Bihar has also ordered a caste census in its State.

The Government is chewing on all these issues and looking at the angles. And there is no alternative to a credible national survey such as at the Census. Now, with the General Elections coming-up in mid 2024, the census can probably take place only in late 2024. And would be the first task of the new Government to get cracking on.

Australian Open: A Tank Always Full

The Australian Open Tennis Grand Slam Tournament has opened in Australia and this time Serbia’s Novak Djokovic is back. The 21-time Grand Slam winner began his campaign in style defeating Spain’s Carballes Baena in straight sets.

Defending Champion, Spain’s Rafael Nadal lost to America’s Mackenzie McDonald after sustaining an injury. And so did British Wonder Woman, Emma Raducanu to 18 years old American Coco Gauff. Gauff defeated Raducanu 6-3, 7-6 (4) to go to the third round, in a slow-burning match that saw the intensity and quality rise in the dying seconds.

England’s Andy Murray, a multiple-time runner-up at the Australian Open, played a final-like-match in his first round stunning Italy’s Matteo Berrettini -the 2022 Australian Open semifinalist- as he rolled back the years to reach the second round. Murray needed to display magic to overcome 13th seed Berrettini. He did just that, in 4 hours and 49 minutes, winning the first two sets before going down in the next two and saving a match point in the decider. He won the match by 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-7 (7), and 7-6 (10-6).

Murray has regularly defied the odds since coming back from the hip surgery in 2019, which he thought would end his career. But then, he must not have realised that there was more in store for him. Two days later, Murray did it again with a comeback that ranks as simply extraordinary, even by his standards. He produced another scarcely believable display to fight back from two sets down to beat Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis in yet another epic match. In one of the longest in tennis history, Murray won 4-6 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 7-5 on a night of gruelling physical and mental endurance. The second-round match started at 22:20hrs and lasted 5 hours 45 minutes.

That’s back-to back mighty tough matches. Murray’s Tank is always full, hope it does not get drained to the bottom. He was not allowed to use the toilet during the match, despite making a request – maybe that kept the pressure.

Fight your battles with Tanks, play your game well, keep your tank filled, always. Stay with World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2022-10

About: the world this week, 6 March to 12 March 2022, war grows, Ganga flows, Covid19 again, rains floods, elections and elections, tree driving, and a pig heart.

Everywhere

Ukraine: Fighting Back

“I am prepared to die for my country, for what I love,” said a Ukrainian in perfect English. “Putin doesn’t understand we don’t want his authority-his world. All of us here know what we want-the right to live our lives, the right to choose who leads us. That’s our right, not Moscow’s.” That sums up the steely, courageous mood against all odds, which has invaded Ukrainian minds.

It’s over two weeks since the Russian invasion and Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky is holding-on with his people in the capital Kyiv amidst the mad, relentless attack on his country. He has been on a continuous talking spree to world leaders explaining the situation, and trying to enlist their understanding and support. His speech to the United Kingdom’s (UK) House of Commons received a standing ovation. “We will fight until the end, at sea, in the air. We will continue fighting for our land, whatever the cost,” he said. Brave words, which will go down to the wire.

The city of Kyiv has been transformed into a fortress and from the looks of it, the people are determined to defend the city to the last man standing. Almost 40,000 volunteers joined the Territorial Defense Forces in the first two days after the invasion began. In Kyiv alone, 18000 people picked up weapons when authorities called for volunteers and reservists to do so.

Those who couldn’t join the forces are helping in other ways: making Molotov cocktails, sewing camouflage nets for barricades, distributing food, hot drinks and cigarettes to those standing guard. They are raising money for the military, building more road blocks, and even painting over traffic signs in an attempt to confuse the invaders.

Over the week, Russia bombed a Hospital in the city of Mariupol that injured 17 people, including children, women, and doctors. Three died, among them one child, a girl. Civilians are being increasingly targeted and this is a huge cause of worry, as is the precision of Russian weaponry becoming suspect.

India successfully evacuated nearly all its citizens and students in Ukraine. Many would not budge without their pet cats and dogs, which also earned space in the Operation Ganga flights. One man, an Orthopaedic Doctor chose to be different. He had a pet panther and a jaguar and refused to leave without them. Last heard he was hunting for food to feed them. Another who was shot, during the Russian shelling, was rescued and taken home in an Indian Airforce Plane.

While we talk about Ukraine, think about Afghanistan and Myanmar where its people invaded their country causing endless internal strife. And Taiwan living in constant fear of a Chinese invasion. Another rogue nation North Korea is busy firing missiles into the Ocean, what if they turn and attack South Korea? The possibilities for war is limitless. In Taliban’sAfghanistan it’s Day 175 since girls have been banned from returning to secondary school: teenage girls remain stuck at home, waiting for the Taliban to decide the future of their education. And they are busy lecturing Russia and Ukraine to talk it over and take things cool. Wow!

This week, the US further turned the screws on Russia by banning all imports of Russian Oil, Gas, and Energy. US based companies such as McDonald’s, Starbucks, KFC, Pizza Hut, Coca-Cola, temporarily closed their stores in Russia to show their solidarity with Ukraine. And in return, Russia threatened to seize all these abandoned assets. Well, that’s another front opening in this war!

I often wonder what did the Ukrainian people do to deserve this: homes destroyed, lives shattered, and tens of thousands crossing the Borders into Poland, Romania, Hungary, Poland, Moldova, and Slovakia as refugees.

A third round of talks between Ukraine and Russia was unproductive. And they are still talking. Ukrainian President Zelensky indicated he might not want to join NATO after all-as they are cold towards them. He might also give up in some eastern provinces which Russia recognised as Independent. These maybe the building blocks for further negotiations.

South Korea’s New Unfavourable President

This week, South Korea chose the opposition conservative People Power Party’s candidate, Yoon Suk-Yeol, as the country’s next President following a tightly contested Presidential Election, the closest in its history-with the final count separated by less than 1%. He takes over from the outgoing President Moon Jae-In, who held three summits with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in an attempt to bridge the gap between the Koreas.

Yoon, a political novice, scraped out a victory over the liberal Democratic Party’s Lee Jae-Myung, based on promises to tackle class inequality. Both presidential candidates were considered widely unpopular throughout the campaign. And voters appeared so disenchanted by the frontrunners that local media dubbed the vote as ‘election of the unfavourables’. However, polling day saw a high turn out, with 77% of eligible voters casting their vote. Yoon Suk-Yeol’s victory over his rival Lee Jae-Myung is far from decisive. The razor-thin margin being a sign of just how bitterly divided politics in the world’s tenth largest economy has become.

Except is authoritarian regimes, where we may never know until the very end, most democracies are deeply divided over many factors, with new fault lines and fissures discovered all the time.

New Zealand and The Virus

New Zealand defences against the first two waves of the Covid19 pandemic was the sturdiest, the toughest, and the tightest. Only a few viruses slipped through, which were caught at the borders and mercilessly thrashed. When the world was baffled on how New Zealand did it, the mutated virus -the Omicron fellow- heard, and taking law into its hands invaded New Zealand like never before. Daily infections climbing into Space-as high as over 20,000- which is the highest ever in the country since the pandemic began. However, deaths were insignificant with over 90% of the weakest population vaccinated against the virus. Vaccination works.

The cases are beginning to dip and I’m sure New Zealand would be wiser at the end.

The virus is indeed a great leveller. You cannot take it for granted.

Australia’s Emergency

New Zealand’s big island neighbour had a different kind of problem: unending rain, growing floods; it’s becoming harder to live in Australia. Over the past week, severe rain along the country’s eastern coast has caused some of the worst flooding in Australian history and inundated swaths of two of its largest cities, Sydney and Brisbane. The provinces of New South Wales and Queensland have been pummelled by heavy downpours that have caused floods, and Sydney was hit by widespread flash-flooding.

The situation forced Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison to declared a national emergency this week. It was the first time that a national emergency-a legislative power created after the deadly wildfires in early 2020-had been declared.

Experts say the flooding emergency has been worsened by climate change and a ‘La Nina’ weather phenomenon. A La Nina develops when strong winds blow the warm surface waters of the Pacific away from South America and towards Indonesia. In their place, colder waters come up to the surface. In Australia, a La Nina increases the likelihood of rain, cyclones, and cooler daytime temperatures.

Whoever coined the term ‘Down Under’ probably knew what was coming!

India’s Five State Elections

Finally the last of the five States, Uttar Pradesh, that went to the polls to elect its new Legislative Assembly finished voting in the final phase on 7 March 2022. And once the voting was over that evening, Exit Pollsters started shouting out their kind of voting, and the prediction was that India’s ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), will win in the States of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarkhand, Manipur, and maybe Goa. While Punjab will go to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) presently governing the Union territory of Delhi.

The counting of votes was on 10 March 2022 and the results were generally on predicted lines. The BJP smashed many ceilings in winning 273 (with its allies, 255 on its own) out of 403 seats in India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh where it was the incumbent governing party. The election strategy of pushing for a ‘double-engine’ (Centre and State ruled by one Party) growth seems to have worked, and it fired on all cylinders. The Grand Old Party of India, The Indian National Congress (INC) was decimated in the State winning a miserly 2 seats. Overall, it was mauled at the hustings in other States and left licking its wounds. It had bungled and messed-up big time in Punjab and ‘reaped a bare minimum support’ from the voters.

The BJP went on to record remarkable victories in all other states except Punjab where the AAP, which has the broom as its symbol swept-off every other party including the BJP with a magical, massive, first ever win – 92 out of 117. In Uttarkhand the BJP won 47 out of 70; in Manipur it won 32 out of 60; and in Goa it won 20 out of 40.

The BJP shattered a battery of records in Uttar Pradesh with its present Chief Minister(CM)Yogi Adityanath, nearing 50, becoming a tall leader in his own right. He is the first CM to retain power in 37 years; the first CM to complete a full tenure and be re-elected; the fifth CM to win a second consecutive term; first BJP CM to return to power; first MLA to become CM in 15 years and the first CM to break the Noida Jinx. According to legend, whichever CM visits the city of Noida during his tenure either loses the next election or does not complete his tenure. Many past CM’s used to deliberately avoid this city and those who dared, succumbed to the fate of the Noida Jinx.

The State of Punjab saw an incredible performance by the AAP which won a landslide of 92 seats of a total of 117. There is also a story there.

Maybe this is the year of the Comedy Actors getting their timing right, fighting it out in the world of Politics and leading the charge afterwards. Punjab’s Bhagwant Singh Mann who is the Chief Minister-elect is a comic poet, writer of political satire and competed in the popular Indian TV show, ‘The Great Indian Laughter Challenge’ in 2008. He is currently a Member of Parliament for the AAP and was chosen to lead the Punjab Elections based on a public poll in which 93% wanted him to become the Chief Minister of Punjab. That’s almost an Indian Zelensky!

One ‘handed-down’ lesson from the elections is, ‘never take the voter for granted’.

India’s Tree Scooter

India is the world’s biggest producer of areca nut, with an output of 1.2 million tonnes in the year 2020-21. Much of this is produced in the southern coastal states of Karnataka and Kerala.

The areca nut is the seed of the areca palm and is commonly referred to as betel nut. It is known to be a major ‘cancer causing nut’; as with chewing tobacco, its use is discouraged by preventive efforts. Consumption by hundreds of millions of people worldwide is described as a much neglected global public health emergency.

On the brighter and taller side, 50 years old Ganapathi Bhat farms areca nut in the coastal town of Mangaluru in India’s Karnataka State. He faced a problem: regularly scaling palm trees as tall as between 60 and 70 feet to inspect and harvest his crop. Too old to climb, and unable to find cheap labour, Bhat took it upon himself to invent a device that would make climbing areca nut trees easier.

Starting in 2014, Bhat spent around INR 4 million on research and development. After four years of climbing work, he and his engineer partner came-up with a working prototype of a ‘Tree Scooter’. It consists of a small motor; a rudimentary seat, which straps a person to the seat and to the handlebars in a kind of tree-embrace; a set of climbing wheels, foot-bars; and the handle bar of a scooter with hand-controlled accelerator and brakes, which is revved to swiftly move up and down the tree and brake to a stop where required.

Bhat has sold more than 300 of the ‘tree scooters’, which cost about INR 62,000 each.

Last seen he was effortlessly zipping up and down trees grabbing the fruits of his labour!

Pig Heart

In the United States, 57 years old David Bennett had terminal heart-disease, was confined to a bed, and was given no chance of survival – certain sudden death.

However, in a ground-breaking experiment, Doctors at the University of Maryland Medical Centre, were granted a special dispensation by the US medical regulator to carry out a heart-transplant from a genetically-modified pig. Bennet thus became the first person in the World to receive such a heart, and would otherwise have died sooner.

He underwent the surgery on 7th January, and in the weeks afterwards he spent time with his family, watched the Super Bowl, and spoke about wanting to get home to his dog, Lucky.

But his luck ran out, and his condition began to deteriorate over the past week. And he died this week on 8 March. Bennett knew the risks attached to the surgery, acknowledging, before the procedure, it was ‘a shot in the dark’.

More light stories to dispel darkness coming up in the weeks ahead. Climb with World Inthavaaram.