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South Africa, World

While you were sleeping: 16 March 2016

While you were sleeping: 16 March 2016

Clinton & Trump win big on Tuesday, Chicken born with dinosaur feet, and Williams to quarter-finals at Indian Wells.

“Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”

 Martin Luther King Jr.


Story of the Day

State Capture: Hawks up the Gordhan ante while multiple allegations around Guptas remain untested
In another country, as allegations of state capture and corruption by one influential family continue to mount, it would seem apt that its Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) moved swiftly to investigate such serious claims and direct threats to a sovereign democratic state. In South Africa however, the Hawks, as the DPCI is known, have decided that Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan is a more worthy public target. It appears that we have lost all pretence and fallen down the rabbit hole. By MARIANNE THAMM.

While you were sleeping

Trump and Clinton big winners in Florida
The United States presidential election looks set for an orange vs blonde affair. Both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton captured Florida in their respective campaigns last night. In doing so, Trump’s lead resulted in Marco Rubio’s exit from the Republican ball pit. Trump does not, however, appear to have enough votes to secure the Republican nomination outright.
Read More
Go grandmaster defeated by the machines
Go champion Lee Sedol has been defeated in his final match against Google-powered artificial intelligence. AlphaGo has triumphed over Sedol in the fifth and final match. Sedol noted that he would not be eager to repeat the experience.
Read More

Sony to release VR headset in October
PlayStation VR headsets will retail in October for $399. At this price, Sony has effectively slashed the entry price for VR headsets by half when compared to Rift. Oculus, at $599, does not look so great from a price perspective either. Regardless, the future, it seems, is virtual reality.
Read More

Chicken hatched with dinosaur feet
Scientists in Chile have manipulated a chicken embryo to prove an evolutionary link. When intentionally stunted, genetically-speaking, the legs of a chicken appear to revert to its genetic ancestor, a Theropoda dinosaur. Although a humble start, expect a theme park island by the close of the century.
Read More

Serena Williams to quarter-finals
Serena Williams defeated 70th ranked Kateryna Bondarenko 6-2, 6-2 at Indian Wells. Advancing with ease, Williams will now face Simona Halep. This is Williams’ second time appearing in the California desert tournament since she ended a boycott of the event.

In Numbers

1777
The year in which the last attempt to ban coffee happened. Frederick the Great declared that beer was superior to coffee and that the latter’s consumption was causing a downturn on the former.

Facts of the Day

Today in 2014 saw Crimea vote in a referendum to secede from Ukraine.

Fact of the day: Tsar Bomba, the most powerful nuclear bomb in the world, created seismic shocks on its third passage across the earth.

Ride along. By murder rate, Cape Town is the ninth most dangerous city in the world. One of the leading drivers of this violence is the gangs that terrorise the Cape Flats and surrounds. In the pilot episode of this new web series, Chronicle’s Shaun Swingler takes you behind the scenes into the operations of the Cape Town Metro Police Gang and Drug Task Team, to show what it’s like to battle gangsterism, crime and drug abuse in one of the most notoriously violent places on earth.


Weather & Financial Data

BFN: min: 18° max: 25°, rainy
CPT: min: 15° max: 27°, cloudy
DBN: min: 15° max: 31°, rainy
EL: min: 18° max: 26°, cloudy
JHB: min: 15° max: 28°, sunny
KIM: min: 20° max: 29°, rainy
NLP: min: 18° max: 31°, cloudy
PMB: min: 14° max: 29°, rainy
PKN: min: 16° max: 29°, rainy
PE: min: 19° max: 24°, cloudy
PTA: min: 17° max: 28°, rainy
Oil=$38.42 Gold=$1,230.14 Platinum=$957.80
R/$=15.95 R/€=17.71 R/£=22.54 $/€=1.11
JSE All Share=52,253.79 DJIA=17,194.03 FTSE 100=6,139.16 : Source

Now on Daily Maverick

FEATURES
Photo of Pravin Gordhan by Greg Nicolson. State Capture: Hawks up the Gordhan ante while multiple allegations around Guptas remain untested 
By Marianne Thamm
Photo: Atul Gupta, President Jacob Zuma (Sapa) Editorial: An Act of Wilful Sabotage, Part Two 
By Daily Maverick
Photo: Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir addresses supporters
after receiving victory greetings at the Defence Ministry, in Khartoum
April 20, 2012. REUTERS/ Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah Trainspotter: A Thorough Bashing – State tanks on al-Bashir ruling 
By Richard Poplak
Photo:  Vytjie Mentor (Facebook) State capture: Former MP publicly reveals Guptas offered her Ministry 
By Marianne Thamm
Photo: Judge Essa Moosa (Kurdishinfo.com) Parliamentary Diary: The courtship between the Hawks and Judge Essa Moosa 
By Marianne Merten
Main photo: The Manila Hotel by Analie Astorga-Motilla. The Exotic Manila Hotel keeps a watching brief on city’s fortunes 
By Greg Mills
Main photo: Baobabs - Between Land and Sea. Green Screen: Festival films need to eco beyond audiences 
By Marelise van der Merwe
Photo: Nelisa Qongwane, a volunteer tutor at Ikamva helps a grade 9
student in Khayelitsha with his maths. (Pippa Green) IkamvaYouth: Successful students shepherd the next generation 
By Pippa Green
Photo: Maria Sharapova of Russia is seen after losing against Serena
Williams of the US in their quarter finals round on day nine of the
Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 26 January 2016.
Maria Sharapova revealed that she failed a drug test at the Australian Open
at a press conference in Los Angeles, USA, on 07 March 2016. EPA/LUKAS
COCH The athlete’s dilemma: The pressures and pleasures of doping 
By Antoinette Muller
Photo: Pravin Gordon at the press conference on Monday 14 March 2016,
by Greg Nicolson. Analysis: The ringing sound of Pravin’s silence 
By Stephen Grootes
Photo: Judge John Hlophe (Sapa) John Hlophe misconduct: Another NeverEnding story 
By Marianne Thamm
Photo: South African president, Jacob Zuma during the State Of the
Nation Address in Cape Town, South Africa, 12 February 2015. The State of
the Nation address was disrupted by the EFF resulting in the party being
ordered out of the chamber by security forces.  EPA/RODGER BOSCH/POOL Playing by the book: Parliament to review rules for removing a president 
By Marianne Merten
Photo: A black flag used by the the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and
Syria (ISIS), which now goes by the name the Islamic State (IS) hangs at
the entrance of Nineveh governorate in Mosul city, northern Iraq, 25 July
2014. EPA/MOHAMMED AL-MOSULI Exploiting Disorder: al-Qaeda and the Islamic State 
By International Crisis Group

OPINIONS

saul-musker.jpg Government guilt: Al-Bashir and South Africa’s culpabiity 
By Saul Musker
IvoVegterBW An anti-hunting ideologue on a flight of fancy 
By Ivo Vegter
Patrick-Pillay.jpg The Road to My Lai and Sharpeville 
By Patrick Pillay
ian-von-memerty.jpg Throwing success out of the window: DA must learn to choose its battles 
By Ian von Memerty
Pierre de vos Janusz Walu?: A case of poor judgment 
By Pierre de Vos
Mpho-Morolane.jpg Mguptama’s attention seeking and fundraising antics 
By Mpho Morolane
Gallery

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