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World

While you were sleeping: 11 January 2016

While you were sleeping: 11 January 2016

Golden Globes sees Damon and Winslett win out. Trump rants again, and Tesla to slow down on autopilot.

“A hungry mob is an angry mob.”
Bob Marley
WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING
 

The Golden Globes are currently underway. Thus far Kate Winslet has won best supporting actress for her role in ‘Shocks’. Matt Damon picked up best actor for ‘The Martian’, and Ricky Gervais has remained his unapologetic self. All in all, your usual shenanigans at a Golden Globes awards show.

Rolling Stone Magazine has defended the ethics of its Sean Penn interview with Joaquín Guzmán Loera, commonly known as ‘El Chapo’. Penn  interviewed the drug kingpin in October, with the final 10,000 word story released on Saturday. Penn’s visit to the notorious criminal has been sharply rebuked worldwide for the ethical questions around interviewing a known criminal, particularly one as violent as El Chapo. 

Volkswagen has found a solution to the carbon emissions scandal currently rocking the company. CEO Matthias Mueller believes that a new catalytic converter, to be installed on 430,000 affected VW vehicles, could bring the cars back in line with emissions regulations. Nothing, however, will bring back the company’s reputation from the emissions fog.

Elon Musk has announced new limitations for the autopilot feature on the Tesla. The autopilot mode had been praised for its innovative effectiveness and criticised for being released too early. Essentially hands-on will be required for residential roads and roads without a centre divider. No announcement was made on whether a ‘Knight Rider’ theme track could be installed. Yet.

Donald Trump has taken a break from his racist, xenophobic idiocy to touch on modern American Football. In an era where medical investigations have exposed rampant cover-ups relating to head injuries and general lifelong cranial trauma in the NFL, the orange menace called the game “soft”. Trump, it appears, would rather see players drooling from the mouth and concussed the rest of their lives than have to watch modern football.

 
FINANCIAL INDICATORS

Oil=$33.55 Gold=$1,104.15 Platinum=$879.05
R/$=16.30 
R/€=17.86 R/£=23.67 $/€=1.09
JSE All Share=48,104.68
 DJIA=16,346.45 FTSE 100=5,912.44Source

IN NUMBERS

0.3

The estimated percentage GDP raise that refugees will contribute to Europe’s economy by 2017.


Today in 1879 saw the beginning of the Anglo-Zulu war. 

Fact of the day: When it comes to sleeping on the job, South Africa is top of the world. We spend an average of 570 minutes a day sleeping.

Weather: 

Bloemfontein: min: 19° max: 32°, sunny
Cape Town: min: 19° max: 34°, sunny
Durban: min: 22° max: 26°, cloudy
East London: min: 19° max: 22°, rainy
Johannesburg: min: 17° max: 29°, rainy
Kimberley: min: 21° max: 34°, rainy
Nelspruit: min: 17° max: 29°, cloudy
Pietermaritzburg: min: 15° max: 26°, rainy
Polokwane: min: 17° max: 28°, rainy
Port Elizabeth: min: 21° max: 31°, cloudy
Pretoria: min: 18° max: 30°, rainy
 
NOW ON DAILY MAVERICK

ANC at 104: “The year of advancing people’s power”

The ANC’s slogan for 2016 could be something of a dare to the people of South Africa. People’s power could sweep the ANC towards another decisive victory at the polls, or it could cause real trouble for the ruling party through popular protest action and ground-level campaigns. The ANC’s 104th birthday celebrations in Rustenburg show that the party still popular and has massive organisational and campaign power. The year 2016 will be a test of whether history, state power, organisational muscle and the ANC brand is sufficient to maintain its electoral dominance or whether this will be its year of reckoning. By RANJENI MUNUSAMY.

Racism, Rustenburg and the ANC’s 2016 challenges

Not even two weeks into 2016 it has already been a hot year in politics. After the ANC celebrated its birthday this weekend, the temperature will keep rising leading up to the elections. By GREG NICOLSON.

Op-Ed: Zuma’s ‘Chairman Mao’ moment

Hearing of South African President Jacob Zuma’s exhortations to the ANCYL, J. BROOKS SPECTOR recalls how a former leader of another BRICS country, Mao Zedong, also challenged the youth to push aside the powers that be in China during the Cultural Revolution.

Africa in 2016: The stories we are watching

From contentious elections to concerning economies, 2016 promises to be another turbulent year in Africa. SIMON ALLISON looks at the stories that are likely to dominate the continental headlines.

Video: Evita’s Free Speech – Episode 16

Leading up to the 2016 South African Municipal Elections and the 20th year celebration of her theatre in Darling, Evita se Perron, Tannie Evita has committed herself to broadcasting a Sunday recap of the week’s news, with the accent on Free Speech. Here’s the Episode 16. By PIETER-DIRK UYS.

Venezuela: The Light at the End of the Tunnel?

For the first time since 1999, Venezuela’s revolutionary socialist regime faces an opposition parliament. But rather than seeking some form of “cohabitation” with its political adversaries, the government has chosen the path of outright confrontation, raising once again the prospect of serious political violence in this nation of 30 million people. By Phil Gunson for the INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP.

Sean Penn meeting, silver screen dreams help Mexican drug lord’s downfall

A secretive meeting that Hollywood star Sean Penn orchestrated with Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman in a jungle hideout late last year helped Mexico’s government catch the world’s most wanted drug lord, sources said. By Lizbeth Diaz and Simon Gardner for Reuters.

Ismail Lagardien: I believe in government

There really is no such thing as a free market, there never has been, nor can there ever be such a thing. The very concept of an economy that is independent of government and political institutions, is a stark utopia. It is unrealisable, and efforts to bring it into being are doomed to fail, and inevitably have dystopian consequences.

Mmusi Maimane: Dear Penny Sparrow and others

As a human being, and the Leader of the Democratic Alliance, I’m angry. Recently you called me a monkey, in your argument you said that there were some blacks you could tolerate, but those at the beach that day who littered, were monkeys. This angers me.

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