Friday Briefing: A brutal reality for women in India

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August 23, 2024

	By Justin Porter

Good morning. We’re covering the latest on a brutal killing in India and a case of a new version of mpox in Thailand.

Plus, a look back at the movies of 1999.

A vigil for the murdered woman in Guwahati, India, on Saturday. Anupam Nath/Associated Press

A brutal reality for women in India

The Supreme Court of India this week took up the case of the ghastly rape and murder of a trainee doctor in a Kolkata hospital earlier this month. The case has convulsed the nation and led to doctor strikes and large street protests.

Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud identified a number of breakdowns in the official response to the murder of the woman, whose name may not be published under Indian law. The court also set up a national task force to recommend safety measures to protect medics, who are often subject to violence and abuse.

The police have arrested a 33-year-old man who was a volunteer at a police post at the hospital. Three senior officials there were removed from their posts.

Context: India, by many measures, remains one of the world’s most unsafe places for women. Rape and domestic violence are relatively common, and conviction rates are low. The case of the trainee doctor comes 12 years after a physiotherapy student died after being gang-raped on a bus in New Delhi, leading to national outrage.

Related: The sugar industry is facing pressure to improve oversight after a Times investigation found that women in India work in debt bondage and are coerced into getting hysterectomies.

Thailand is stepping up controls on travelers returning from places known to have mpox outbreaks. Narong Sangnak/EPA, via Shutterstock

Thailand confirms its first case of a deadlier Mpox

Thai health officials have confirmed a case of the version of mpox that prompted the World Health Organization to declare a global health emergency.

The infected person is a 66-year-old European man who worked in an African country with an ongoing outbreak. Officials did not specify which country. The man, who has a home in Thailand, was not reported to have severe symptoms.

It’s the second time that the new and deadlier version of the virus has been found outside Africa. Coupled with the earlier case, discovered in Sweden last week, the announcement in Thailand is likely to stir concerns that the virus is spreading more widely. The outbreak previously had been concentrated in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Details: The new version of the virus has a death rate of 3 percent, much higher than the 0.2 percent death rate observed in a 2022 outbreak.

🇺🇸 U.S. ELECTION 2024

The presidential election is less than 80 days away. This is what we’re watching.

Erin Schaff/The New York Times

The Democratic convention’s final, biggest night

The Democratic National Convention will conclude Thursday night in the U.S., with Vice President Kamala Harris taking the stage to formally accept her party’s nomination to be president. This is a high-profile (and high-stakes) moment for her to speak directly to the nation about her vision for her presidency.

Gaza politics: The United Automobile Workers, a powerful labor union that is supporting Harris, has backed an effort to feature a Pro-Palestinian speaker to address the human cost of Israel’s war in Gaza. Democrat officials had earlier denied a similar request, but the union’s muscle could boost the chances it will happen.

Here’s what else to expect.

Related:

Do you have questions about the election? Send them to us and we’ll find the answers.

Stay up-to-date: Live coverage | Poll tracker | The “Run-Up” podcast | On Politics newsletter

A statue of Vladimir Lenin in Sudzha, Russia, after the Ukrainian counteroffensive. Yan Dobronosov/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Arts and Culture

Sports

Michael Zheng at the U.S. Open qualifying match. Jeenah Moon for The New York Times

The penguins Sphen, right, and Magic at Sea Life Sydney Aquarium. SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium

Sphen, a gentoo penguin whose partnership with Magic, another male penguin at a Sydney aquarium, made them international queer icons, has died at 11.

Gentoo penguins often take a while to pick a mate, but Sphen and Magic courted each other immediately with songs and gifts of pebbles. They fostered and hatched a neglected egg. The aquarium said that it took Magic to see Sphen after he died, and he started singing. The rest of the colony joined in.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times.

Illustration by Tala Safie; Photos: MGM; Sony Pictures; Touchstone Pictures; Spyglass Entertainment Group; Jon Farmer/Touchstone Pictures; Merie W. Wallace/Warner Bros.

The best year for movies, especially for a critic

Our critic Wesley Morris looks back on 1999, a year of cinematic abundance that overwhelmed him as a 23-year-old critic.

It was the year of “The Sixth Sense,” “The Blair Witch Project” and “American Beauty,” which went on to win the Oscar for best picture. “Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace” and “The Matrix” also came out, along with existential identity crackups like “Fight Club,” crass hits like “American Pie” and one of Wesley’s favorites, “The Thomas Crowne Affair.”

“It was the last most-exciting period for American moviegoing,” Wesley writes. “It was the last most-exciting time to write about the movies.” Read his essay.

David Malosh for The New York Times

Cook: Picadillo, a Caribbean and Latin American favorite, is made simple with a slow cooker in this recipe.

Train: Here’s how to exercise during menopause.

Explore: John Liu, who covers China and Taiwan, has queued up these books, movies and albums.

Play: Spelling Bee, the Mini Crossword, Wordle and Sudoku. Find all of our games here.

Have a good weekend, and I’ll see you on Monday. — Justin

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