20th December 2020
Shorts:
News at a glance
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Elusive, Contagious disease discovered in eluru
-Devansh mishra
General Government Hospital flooded with patients
Source: India Today
A mysterious disease sprung up in the district of Eluru, Andhra Pradesh, earlier this month, and officials are somewhat flabbergasted as to its origin. Close to 500 people have been hospitalised, and one person was reportedly dead too.
Allegedly, people have been experiencing symptoms like giddiness, back pain, vomiting, loss of memory and headache since mid-November, but no actual link was established between these patients. It was only on December 10, when the Andhra Pradesh government appointed a 21-member committee to explore this disease further, was this fact disclosed.
The first documented case of the disease was that of Bantu Mallika, a 32-year-old homemaker. She was said to ‘feel disoriented’ when she called for some help, and the next thing she knew, she ‘found herself on a hospital bed at General Government Hospital (GGH)’. Following this, many other people who were supposedly around Mallika contracted similar symptoms. The solitary death from this disease, that of a 45-year-old man, was reportedly not caused solely by the disease, but ‘because the person fell in the bathroom, and the cause of death was head injury’.
Authorities discern the root of this outbreak stemming from chemical residue in the patients’ bodies, reported AIMS from Delhi. However, exact reasons are yet to be identified, and the authorities plan to check food and water intake over the next few days to zero in on the cause.
Amidst the global coronavirus pandemic, a lightning bolt has suddenly hit the district of Eluru and they have been taken completely by surprise. Even though patients returned a negative for a COVID-19 test, that is still the imminent threat at this moment, and the situation has to be handled with care. Professionals are coming from all over the state to aid the district in fending off this outbreak, and forthcoming steps are still to be determined by the government.
Sources: The Hindu, NDTV, TimesNow
The us issues sanctions against venezuela elections
-Grace Treesa
The United States issued sanctions against two individuals and a company that it claims committed fraud in the recent Venezuela elections that were conducted earlier this month. The president rejected this move and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s statements in a speech recently.
In a statement last Friday, the US treasury said that it had sanctioned a biometrics company for providing material support to the president with “goods and services” to help ease the process. The two people acted for or on behalf of the company, Ex-Cle Soluciones Biometricas CA. They are an Argentinian-Italian national and Venezuelan, and these sanctions prevent them from accessing anything they have in the US. It prohibits any US citizens from communicating with them. Maduro’s alliance won the national assembly elections. They were internationally criticised for fraud and boycotted by the opposition.
The US is insistent on their sanctions and has been heaping them on for years, especially with the Maduro government. These have crippled the economy. But they have been immensely supportive to the opposition, who has tried to overthrow him. The outgoing National Assembly speaker encouraged the public to boycott the elections which he claimed were in favour of Maduro and organised a “popular consultation” vote in replacement and protest.
The Maduro government claims that 5.2 Venezuelans or 31% of eligible voters cast their ballots.
Sources: Reuters
Protesters filling the street going against the Venezuela elections
Source: Anadolu Agency
Cybersecurity hack
-Devansh Mishra
The cybersecurity hack poses a 'grave threat' against the US
Source: AP News
Affecting tens, maybe hundreds of companies worldwide, the ‘SolarWinds Hack’ has come to be known as one of the biggest and largest cybersecurity hacks in the world. Known to have attacked agencies like the US Treasury, Department of Homeland Security and regions of the Pentagon, the sheer scale of the attack is still oblivious to authorities.
First detected by US cybersecurity agency FireEye, the hack targeted more non-governmental firms than governmental ones. The first company to have been affected was SolarWinds, disrupting routinely updating of software, and thus giving way to the name of the hack. FireEye says that the attackers have used skills and techniques which ‘have not been discovered yet’. The reason for the attack was determined to be traditional industrial espionage into the US supply chains.
In a highly controversial statement, Mike Pompeo, President Trump’s Secretary of State, was the first person from the White House to link these attacks to Russia. On ‘The Mark Levin Show’, he said ‘we can say pretty clearly that it was the Russian who engaged in this activity’. FireEye CEO, Kevin Mandia, too wrote in a blogpost that the hack was carried out by a ‘highly sophisticated threat-actor’, and called it coming from a state-owned enterprise, but sidestepped from mentioning Russia at all.
When asked for a response to these attacks, President-elect Joe Biden boldly said ‘a good defense isn’t enough’ and they should ‘deter our adversaries from undertaking significant cyber attacks in the first place’. The US government is trying to determine the full extent of these attacks, and planning to retaliate.
Sources: The Hindu, The Indian Express
The vaccine story
-Akshaj balaji
It’s been more than a year, and finally, countries are starting to approve certain vaccines for the Coronavirus. Covid-19 has been an enormous roadblock to a lot of global events in 2020 like the Olympics and also has severely affected a lot of us in our daily life. The arrival of vaccines which have been approved is a massive step in the right direction for the sorrow-filled year. The most talked-about vaccine for the COVID-19 virus is the one jointly manufactured by Pfizer and BioNTech.
After achieving 90% effectiveness of the vaccine on candidates during phase 3 trials, Pfizer and BioNTech have started striking up deals with several governments to supply this mRNA-based vaccine. Some of these countries include Japan, Canada and the United States themselves along with several other countries. But we need to understand the actual research and effectiveness of the vaccine.
As of now, the vaccine has been better than anything we could have ever asked for; there are no significant side effects, sparing a few allergic reactions in a small section of the population.
In the USA, after being approved on Friday, millions of these Pfizer vaccines have started shipping throughout the country. Finally, for many of us, there is light at the end of the tunnel. To increase public support for this vaccine, many notable present and past political leaders have come forward and have volunteered to be one of the first to take a shot of the vaccine; this includes personalities like Barack Obama and Joe Biden. The government is hoping to vaccinate 20 million of its citizens by the end of this month itself.
In addition to this, there is also a Moderna vaccine which has been quite successful. Some reports are suggesting that taking both these vaccines will need a booster shot after the vaccine is administered. However, this is not official information as if the two contain different versions of the virus; it could prove to be unsafe to the body. Like mentioned, this vaccine is humanity’s best shot at a comeback after a challenging year. Still, we must also be careful with our precautions and information as this is a new virus and a different experience for all of us and we do not know what the vaccine will do to our body compared to others.
Sources: Pfizer, NY Times, The Times of India, National Geographic, The Guardian
A mysterious disease sprung up in the district of Eluru, Andhra Pradesh, earlier this month, and officials are somewhat flabbergasted as to its origin. Close to 500 people have been hospitalised, and one person was reportedly dead too.
Allegedly, people have been experiencing symptoms like giddiness, back pain, vomiting, loss of memory and headache since mid-November, but no actual link was established between these patients. It was only on December 10, when the Andhra Pradesh government appointed a 21-member committee to explore this disease further, was this fact disclosed.
The first documented case of the disease was that of Bantu Mallika, a 32-year-old homemaker. She was said to ‘feel disoriented’ when she called for some help, and the next thing she knew, she ‘found herself on a hospital bed at General Government Hospital (GGH)’. Following this, many other people who were supposedly around Mallika contracted similar symptoms. The solitary death from this disease, that of a 45-year-old man, was reportedly not caused solely by the disease, but ‘because the person fell in the bathroom, and the cause of death was head injury’.
Authorities discern the root of this outbreak stemming from chemical residue in the patients’ bodies, reported AIMS from Delhi. However, exact reasons are yet to be identified, and the authorities plan to check food and water intake over the next few days to zero in on the cause.
Amidst the global coronavirus pandemic, a lightning bolt has suddenly hit the district of Eluru and they have been taken completely by surprise. Even though patients returned a negative for a COVID-19 test, that is still the imminent threat at this moment, and the situation has to be handled with care. Professionals are coming from all over the state to aid the district in fending off this outbreak, and forthcoming steps are still to be determined by the government.
Sources: The Hindu, NDTV, TimesNow
Sports news
The humiliation:
Ind Vs. aus
-Devansh mishra
In an embarrassment that was the first Test, India were handed defeat on a silver platter by the Aussies. Following a 53-run lead after the first innings, India’s second innings fell like a pack of cards in front of the formidable Aussie pace trio of Hazelwood, Starc and Cummins, as the first Test Down Under ended two days early.
India won the toss and chose to bat on a flat wicket, and posted a competitive 244 in their first innings. Indian skipper Virat Kohli top-scored with 74, while vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara played a supporting role of 40-odd each. Starc got his best bowling figures against India ever of 4/53. In response, the Aussies were losing the plot at 111/7, but skipper Tim Paine played a fighting knock of 73* to keep Australia in the hunt. India’s overnight score that day was 7/1, with Shaw back in the hut. What followed on Day 3 could have been no one’s guess, as the Men in Blue were bundled out for a mere 36, while Shami retired hurt. In the end, the Indian team lost eight wickets for a miserly 29 runs given away. Hazelwood was the pick of the bowlers with a 5-fer, but it was Cummins who got the early big wickets and ended with 4/21. The rest of the match was a mere formality, as the Aussies completed the chase of 90 runs within 25 overs, and the game was over on the third day itself.
This is the lowest innings score for India in Test matches ever, and 8th across all teams. One wouldn’t expect the formidable batting line-up of Virat Kohli, Pujara and Rahane would come out with such a meekly performance. In a rare occasion, Kohli will not have an international century to his name in 2020, as he goes off for the birth of his first child after the first Test.
With Ajinkya Rahane taking over captaincy, the Men in Blue will hope to come out all guns blazing in the second Test. Will they emerge victorious, or will the Aussies do another number on them?
Ten Greatest sportspeople of modern india
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-n. Shriman kumarappan
When the list of the 10 greatest sports people in a Cricket-dominated country like India is discussed, one may as well write down the names of ten cricketers. Although, it is important to understand that cricket is not the most-watched sport worldwide and is played by only a handful of countries.
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1. Sachin Tendulkar - If cricket is your religion, then he is your God.
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2. M.S. Dhoni/ Virat Kohli - It can't get moe ironic that I write this article a day after India post a 36 all out, but one can questions whether things would be the same if MSD were still in the team. As for Kohli, there's no question that he in his own right is a brilliant player.
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3. Vishwanathan Anand- To be world no. 1 in a sport the whole world plays is no meant feat, and Vishy Anand put us on the world stage in terms of Chess.
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4. P.V. Sindhu - Badminton was not very popular until Padukone and Gopichand won the All England Open. It shot to fame when this sportswoman took silver at the Olympics.
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5. Sania Mirza - The Queen of Tennis. She's beaten the best on her day and was arguably one of the best doubles players in the world when she played.
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6. Sushil Kumar - The only reason he's not higher up the list is because wrestling is no longer the extremely popular sport in India it used to be.
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7. Dhanraj Pillay - If this list was one of all time, only Tendulkar would be on it and instead the likes of Dhyan Chand would have featured. Though if we are talking about the God of modern hickey in India, there isn't much of a discussion.
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8. Saina Nehwal - This was a hard one, but she'd have been much higher up if not for the inherited bronze in London. Although no can deny her sheer skill and capability.
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9. P.T Usha - Atheltics accounts for a lot of the sports scene in India, so this one is self-explanatory.
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10. Ah, this was a very hard choice to make. Whether I must go for a cricketer or another hockey player....then I just looked at what sports have the highest fanbase in India, and to my surprise Motorsport has 3.6 crore followers. That means that Narain Karthikeyan occupied the final spot on this list. Although no list can do justice to the talent that the likes of Leander Paes, Sunil Chettri, or Mary Kom have to offer.