Bay of Pigs Fiasco

April 17 marks 56 years of one of the biggest fiasco in the history of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). In 1961, President John F. Kennedy had authorised an attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro of Cuba, in what was called Operation Zapata. Fidel Castro was the Secretary of the Communist party and had adopted a leftist anti-imperialist approach to politics, which did not suit the government of America. Operation Zapata is known in history as the ‘Bay of Pigs invasion’.

About 1,400 anti-Castro exiles had invaded the Cuban coast but were defeated by the 20,000 Cuban soldiers who captured and put them behind bars. The exiles, who expected help from the US, were not provided with any. A series of misfortunate events were the reason for the same, a CIA report cited.

The direct result of this was that the Cold War between US and Russia, who is allied to Cuba, heightened. This led to the Cuban missile crisis. The prisoners of war were later exchanged with the US for $53 million in food and medicine. The CIA blames the Kennedy government for the failure. But, the ‘Bay of Pigs Fiasco’ is still remembered as a crucial failure in the history of CIA.  

With Love, Your DNA Test

A couple in Jackson, Mississippi were in for a huge shock when they went for a fertility test. The pair that prefers to remain anonymous could not conceive naturally, which is when they thought of going to an IVF clinic. But when they got the results from the doctor, they were shocked to find out that they were twins.  

The lab assistant who was trying to get their genetical backgrounds through DNA, had noticed a striking similarity between the two. This prompted him to investigate further. It was then revealed that they shared the same birthdates in 1984, which made it more likely for them to be related. Initially, the doctor thought that the pair could be first cousins, but the DNA test revealed that they were siblings.

“It was a difficult subject to raise” the doctor said. “They burst out laughing when I asked them if they were twins”.  When they did realise the truth, the wife kept insisting that the doctor was joking.  "I wish that I was, but they had to know the truth," he added.

The two individuals were separated as infants, when they were adopted by different families, after their parents died in a car crash. Due to problems in filling, the adoptive families were not aware that their child had a sibling. Later, the couple met each other in college and fell in love. They revealed that they connected really well, and eventually fell in love, due to their similarities.

The husband disclosed that “a lot of people remarked on the fact that we shared the same birthdays and looked similar to each other, but we presumed it was just a funny coincidence and that we were definitely not related”. The law against incest in Mississippi can be up to 10 years of prison or $500 fine. Because the case is different, the couple is likely to be exempted. The couple, who have been together for years, is now reconsidering their relationship.

  

April in April

The news on Saturday morning in the town of Harpursville was that April, the giraffe was finally in labour. April is a Somali giraffe who arrived at the Animal Adventure Park in Harpursville, New York in 2015. April became famous in February due to the news of her pregnancy.

She now has a Twitter handle. And it has 30.7k followers. She also has a Wikipedia page. The zoo has announced an online competition to name the calf. April also has a GoFundMe page which has apparels for purchase.

On Saturday, when the news came in, thousands of people logged in to watch the baby being born.  The hooves of the calf were seen early in the morning, which created an excitement on social media, as it is an important sign of going into labour. April was overdue by two months and her pregnancy was the talk of the town. When the live streaming started, 1.2 million people viewed it on YouTube, while 750K watched it on Facebook.

Panda Diplomacy

Netherlands just welcomed two giant panda cubs from China. Xing Ya, who is a male panda and Wu Wen, who is a female arrived at the Amsterdam Airport Schiphol today. The 3-year-olds from China would now be preparing for a new life in Netherlands.

After arriving at the airport, the panda cubs were placed on display outside the airport. They would now be going to a zoo in Rhenen, central Holland. As a part of the nature conservation project, the pair would stay in Ouwehands Zoo for 15 years. There is a giant Chinese themed enclosure in the zoo that would be a home for the cubs. It contains indoor and outdoor areas, along with a refrigerator to stock up bamboos.

The national mascot of China, nearly 1,864 pandas have been loaned to its friendly countries. China takes as much as $1 million every year for the each panda, who is loaned by a country for 10-15 years. The pandas are a huge crowd puller for the zoos. And as hosting partners of Xing Ya and Wu Wen, Netherlands has definitely given the panda cubs a warm welcome!

United Will Never Be Overbooked

Two days after a video of United Airlines went viral, the CEO of the company has finally come out with a public apology on Tuesday. Oscar Munoz, president and CEO of United Airlines on Twitter emphasised on one main point: “I’m sorry. We will fix this”.

In a public statement on Monday, Munoz had issued an apology “for having to re-accommodate the customers”. There was no apology for the brazen action — where an Asian passenger was dragged out of his seat — that took place on Flight 3411. This outraged a lot of people, including clients and celebrities who threatened to stop using the airlines. After the public shaming, in another tweet that came out on Wednesday, Munoz apologised to David Dao, the veteran doctor who had been dragged off the flight.

“It’s never too late to do the right thing”, remarked Munoz.  But it may be too late. Because by Tuesday, the video that went viral, had already caused a 4.4 per cent drop in the shares of the airlines.  By closing time, the stock had recovered, to end at a 1.13 per cent loss, which led the to airlines losing $255 billion. United also lost many of their loyal clients, as Twitter raged with #BoycottUnited trending for the third day.

On Wednesday, lawyers of Dao, who is a Vietnamese-American doctor, asked a court in Illinois to preserve all the important documentation related to the case. This would involve surveillance footage and voice recordings from the cockpit, among other things. United has announced the refund of tickets of all passengers on Flight 3411.

Munzo, in a statement, remarked “That is not who our family at United is. This will never happen again on a United flight. That’s my promise.”

The Airlines has also announced that it would not be asking the police to remove passengers from full flights after this. One of the daughters of Dr Dao is to hold a press conference in Chicago Thursday.