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While you were sleeping: 31 May 2016

North Korea's missile test a giant failure, Haiti's election should be scrapped, and Djokovic in for a rough week at Roland Garros.
While you were sleeping: 31 May 2016
John Stupart
By John Stupart
31 May 2016
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Tuesday, 31st May
 
“Money can't buy love, but it improves your bargaining position.” 

– Christopher Marlowe

Story of the Day

Al-Maite Fail: When the hole in your head just won’t quit 

We tend not to pay too much attention to the International Relations portfolio. With the Presidency, National Treasury, the Police, Education and others preoccupying the news, we are inclined to think that matters like foreign relations are hunky-dory because, well, we are not at war and Donald Trump would probably have about 23 other countries to bomb first. Judging by Al Jazeera’s interview with International Relations and Co-operation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, clearly our cocksureness is misplaced. If the interview was any reflection on how our diplomatic relations are handled, South Africa is in serious peril. It is Nkoana-Mashabane rather than scenes of violence of social upheaval that needs to be banned from television screens. By RANJENI MUNUSAMY.
Read more

While you were sleeping

North Korean missile launch a failure

South Korean officials have reported a launch on Tuesday of a ballistic missile by the North has failed. Believed to have been a medium-range Musudan missile, with a range of over 2,000km, the North has yet to successfully test the thing. Perhaps they haven't tried switching it off and on again. Read more

Germany to vote on Armenian Genocide

Germany's parliament will vote on Thursday to decide whether the Armenian Genocide really was, well, a genocide. This spectacular waste of resources for the sake of political semantics has raised the ire of Turkey, who warned Germany on Monday of "destroying" its relationship. Read more

Commission recommends scrapping Haiti election

An independent commission announced on Monday that Haiti's election results be scrapped. Corruption and general idiocy were to blame for the failed October elections. In a stunning example of fraud, the commission noted, "the number of votes that could not be traced almost exceeded the number of legitimate votes obtained by politicians".  Read more

Djokovic faces hectic schedule

Assuming rain does not cause another washout at Roland Garros, Novak Djokovic has got one hell of a schedule ahead of him this week. He will face his last-16 tie on Wednesday, quarter-final on Thursday and semi-final on Friday – if there are more delays on Tuesday. "Cramp management" would not even begin to describe Djokovic's week ahead. Read more

In Numbers

30

The amount of potatoes, in tonnes, required to create enough fuel for a German V2 rocket.

Facts of the Day

Today in 1902 the Treaty of Vereeniging was signed that ended the Boer War, gave the British control of South Africa and left bitter resentment all round.

Fact of the day: You can have high blood pressure just in the doctor's office. This condition is called 'white coat syndrome'. 

Weather & Financial Data

BFN: min: 5° max: 20°, sunny
CPT: min: 13° max: 20°, cloudy
DBN: min: 17° max: 25°, sunny
EL: min: 15° max: 27°, cloudy
JHB: min: 6° max: 20°, sunny
KIM: min: 8° max: 21°, sunny
NLP: min: 3° max: 21°, sunny
PMB: min: 7° max: 26°, sunny
PKN: min: 6° max: 21°, sunny
PE: min: 17° max: 27°, cloudy
PTA: min: 6° max: 22°, sunny

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Gold=$1,205.57
Platinum=$970.20
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FEATURED

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Photo: Former Chadian leader Hissene Habre (C) is escorted in to stand<br />trial at the Palais de Justice in Dakar, Senegal, 20 July 2015. EPA/STRHabré’s historic conviction sends mixed messages to African dictators 
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Photo: A young girl cries outside her family shack after a violent<br />service delivery riot near Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa, 11<br />September 2013. Dozens of people were arrested outside Johannesburg as a<br />protest against the government's provision of services turned violent.<br />Millions of poor South Africans are still living in shacks without running<br />water and lights decades after the end of Apartheid. EPA/KIM LUDBROOKIs it time to rethink local government? 
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Photo: Protesters run to attack the media vehicle on a road linking to<br />Islamabad, as they protest the execution of former police guard Mumtaz<br />Qadri, after he was hanged to death in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, 29 February<br />2016. Pakistan on 29 February hanged the ex-police guard who killed a<br />former governor for opposing the country’s controversial blasphemy<br />laws, which impose the death penalty in some cases, officials said. An<br />anti-terror court handed Qadri the death penalty, and his appeal was<br />rejected by the Supreme Court and the president of Pakistan. EPA/SOHAIL<br />SHAHZADICG: Pakistan’s Jihadist Heartland, the Southern Punjab 
By International Crisis Group
Photo: Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari (2-R) meets with rescued<br />girl Amina Ali Nkeki and baby (L) with Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno<br />State (C) at the presidential villa in Abuja, Nigeria, 19 May 2016. Amina<br />Ali Nkeki was found in the Sambisa Forest near the border of Cameroon.<br />Nigerian Military found her carrying a baby and with a suspected member of<br />the Boko Haram Islamist group. 218 girls remain missing after their<br />abduction from Chibok secondary school in north-east Nigeria in 2014.<br />EPA/STRINGERICG: In Buhari’s Nigeria, Boko Haram is off balance but other troubles surge 
By International Crisis Group
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OPINIONS

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By Ivo Vegter
Michael-King.jpgUnion Capture: Would the real elephant in the room blink 
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By Melanie Boehi
John-Matisonn.jpgAge of Uncertainty, 2016: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique… and the US 
By John Matisonn

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