While you were sleeping: 14 March 2016

Bombings hit Ankara and Ivory Coast, humans triumph over computers, and Blitzbokke pipped at the post by New Zealand 7s.

By John Stupart

14 Mar 2016

"If there is a God, he will have to beg my forgiveness."

– Inscription in a concentration camp cell of a Jewish prisoner.

Story of the Day

Gordhan vs. Ntlemeza: A proxy battle in a war over control of the state
Somebody wants Pravin Gordhan to blink. It’s not that they want him to leave the Finance portfolio – that would cause too much political and economic turmoil to contain. They want Gordhan to realise his place in the political pecking order and to follow the instructions given to him. Hawks boss Berning Ntlemeza is pumping up the pressure against Gordhan so that he commits in writing to what he did and did not know about the alleged spy unit at the South African Revenue Service (SARS). The belief is that this will corner Gordhan and then he will play nicely. Gordhan clearly has other plans. But this is not just a high noon shootout between Gordhan and Ntlemeza. By RANJENI MUNUSAMY.

While you were sleeping

Ankara blast kills 34
A car bomb in central Ankara has killed 34 and injured 125. No group has claimed responsibility yet, but with twin threats of ISIL and Kurdish rebel groups both enemies of Turkey, the odds are on one of these groups.
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Sixteen dead in Ivory Coast bombing
An al-Qaeda affiliate has bombed a beach resort 40km east of the capital. Attackers wielding assault rifles and grenades hit the Grand-Bassam resort, killing 14 civilians and two Special Forces soldiers in the attack. al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has since claimed responsibility.
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Humans beat machines at Go
A Korean Go grandmaster has defeated a computer at Go. Although he had been thrashed three times before, Lee Se-Dol returned to the fourth match in style, beating the Google-powered AlphaGo after five hours. Having now won, humans have won the right to stave off the machine apocalypse for a few more years.
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New Zealand triumph over Blitzbokke
The New Zealand sevens rugby team defeated South Africa 19-14 in a pitched final battle in Vancouver. The tournament result now sees South Africa just one point behind Fiji, and the top of the log.
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In Numbers

300

The maximum number of joints mailed per month to four medical patients in the United States. They were the subjects of an experiment in 1976.

Facts of the Day

Today is Pi Day. Celebrated on 3/14 each year, this should not be confused with Pi Approximation Day.

Fact of the day: Hitler, Stalin, Trotsky Tito and Freud were all residents of Vienna, Austria, in 1913.

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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.

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