By Prachi Mahima
Islamic State bombings shattered the prevailing peace in Syria on Wednesday while the West remained ablaze, and both events claimed hundreds of lives in the previous week. On the side, after similar chaos in Pakistan elections, Imran Khans Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaf won the elections after gaining a majority against Shahbaz Sharifs Pakistan Muslim League. The victory is of interest as Imran Khan has mentioned peaceful relations with India after starting term, besides other nations.
In the entertainment demesne, a new TV series on Netflix faced criticism and protests based on the trailer-release after which around 1,50,000 people called for its cancellation.
Streets blown up in Syria as chaos prevails
Syrias provincial capital Sweida was completely shaken when four IS members blew up vegetable markets and the public square in gruesome suicide bombings causing more than 200 deaths in the area on Wednesday. The series of blasts undermined the Syrian governments claims that the seven-year war was at its end. Despite losing most of their territory in Syria, the IS tried to prove that they can still create chaos even though they own less territory than before. The Sweida region previously remained unaffected during the war.
The casualty included mostly pro-government officials, reports said. Some Islamic militants also targeted villages in the North and East killing numerous civilians. Hassan Omar, a provincial health official reported 204 dead and 180 wounded after the blasts. Analysts believe that more attacks like this are possible in future as well, thus continuing chaos and unrest in Syria.
US States are ablaze as wildfires remain uncontained
2018 continues to be worse than usual as wildfires continue to rage through the states of California, Colorado, Oregon and many more. The percentage of land burnt since 2008 has risen by 11% with 3.9 million acres already destroyed, a NIFC report revealed. At present 13 more states are reporting fires including Alaska. Worst conditions at present prevail in California. The Carr fire sent up a 100-foot wall of fire in Redding, California on Thursday igniting 40,000 acres of land. More than 90,000 evacuations were made mandatory in light of the events. Simultaneously, The Ferguson fire near Yosemite National Park torched more than 45000 acres of land, forcing evacuations, Vox reported.
The states of America are witnessing year-round fires now which are becoming difficult to contain. Air quality is also degrading in the aftermath of the flames ablaze. Moving South, another fire, the Cranston is burning up the San Bernardino National forest which forced more than 3000 evacuations last week. The Substation fire in Portland, Oregon also destroyed 75000 acres of land. Conditions are expected to get worse in the following days as the fire season is raging and engulfing thousands of acres of lands.
Election results declared the new winner in Pakistan
The results for the 2018 Pakistans third consecutive election of the civilian government are finally out declaring the ex-cricketer Imran Khan as the new winner. Khan won the elections with a majority against the Pakistani Muslim League led by Shahbaz Sharif. Nevertheless, he still requires a coalition to form the government as he does not have an outright majority. Khan in this speech mentioned that he will run the country in a way like it has never been done before once he assumed office. Although Khan won overall, Sharif remained victorious in the Punjab province with 127 seats which is important because the Punjab province is the most important province of Pakistan housing 60% of the population.
Khan in a speech after the win mentioned that he wishes to improve relations with India by peacefully discussing the core issue of Kashmir. He also mentioned that the blame game between the two nations needs to stop for prosperity to prevail. Khan talked about the reform in trade relations with India as well in his agenda which moved to its lowest in recent years. Besides the immediate neighbour, he also talked about improving international ties with other nations as well including Iran and Saudi Arabia.
New hope for Scientists on the Red planet
A liquid water lake was detected last week beneath the Southern polar ice cap on Mars. Previously, signs of intermittent liquid water were found, but this is the first significant discovery of a water body on the surface of the Red Planet, BBC reported. This new discovery holds some hope for life on the planet but nothing definite can be said yet. This is first of its kind discovery as previous research on water source on the planet has always yielded ambiguous results. Marsis, a radar instrument onboard the European Space Agencys Mars Express orbiter made the discovery.
An allegedly Fatphobic show of Netflix called to be cancelled
Insatiable, an upcoming teen comedy on Netflix attracted criticism even before release based on its trailer. The show, supposed to air on Aug 10, outlines the story of a fat teen girl who struggles through high school eventually becoming thin and pretty to get her revenge. After seeing the trailer, viewers and critics have anticipated what the show will be all about eventually criticizing it to be fatphobic. They claimed that it forces a regressive line of thought while looking at the stories of fat people, triggers to people with eating disorders and also gives an impression that the only way in life one succeeds is by looking thin and pretty. A petition started on Change.org to stop the show from airing got 1,50,000 signatures last week.
Prachi Mahima is a writing analyst at Qrius