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While you were sleeping: 4 October 2016

Wits digs in for a hard Tuesday, Trump camp prepares for difficult VP debate, and WikiLeaks turns 10.
While you were sleeping: 4 October 2016
John Stupart
By John Stupart
4 Oct 2016
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"I wouldn’t be able to help myself,”

– Adolf Hitler, on whether he would return to war if he had made peace with Soviet Russia.

Story of the Day

TRAINSPOTTER: Adam Habib – the rock, the hard place, and the cruel beauty of an uncaring universe

Last week, University of Witwatersrand Vice-Chancellor Adam Habib made the Hail Mary desperation play of running an SMS poll, asking students and staff if they were willing to return to classes if the security apparatus standing sentinel throughout the campus remained there to keep them safe. It was another attempt to break the deadlock between students and management, following the renewed bout of #FeesMustFall protests that were the result of Minister of Higher Education Blade Nzimande’s recommendation that fee increases for 2017 should be capped at 8%. On Monday, a national higher education imbizo took place, which included all “stakeholders”. In the first of a series of profiles of South Africans working the frontlines of our troubled country, RICHARD POPLAK sits down with the VC, a man who finds himself as the face of Power, while wielding none of it.
Read more

While you were sleeping

Wits puts its foot down

A statement issued by vice chancellor Adam Habib late last night fixed Wits' eyes forward. Forward, and most definitely open. Citing the 77% of students who are for keeping university doors ajar, Wits campus will reopen, but with a heavy security presence to clamp down on any IRA-esque 'closure cells' roaming the university. Things are about to get very tense, and possibly very weird, at Wits. Read More

Trump's VP to snipe from the trenches

Experiencing the fury of a Clinton campaign in full swing, the Trump camp has taken yet another knock ahead of tonight's vice presidential debate. The Donald J. Trump foundation has received a cease and desist order for any fundraising activities. Combined with the possibility that Trump has paid zero income tax for two decades, and the lunatic ship appears a little leaky. Read More

US pulls out of ceasefire talks in Syria

The United States has stopped all attempts to convince Russia to impose a ceasefire on the Syrian regime. Regime forces, backed by Russia, have continued a ceaseless campaign against Aleppo. The target is ostensibly 'jihadists', but as is now the norm in Syria, the victims are generally civilians.Read More

WikiLeaks turns 10

It has been a decade since WikiLeaks registered its domain in 2006. Berlin will host a commemoration event today, with a video message from Julian Assange beamed in as part of the ceremony. A rare balcony-based viewing of Assange from the Embassy of Ecuador in London was cancelled due to 'security concerns'. Read More

In Numbers

800

The number  of languages spoken in New York City.

Facts of the Day

Today is Swedish Cinnamon Roll Day. There is no reason at all why it could not be your own Cinnamon Roll Day either.

The 2014 ALS ice bucket challenge has actively helped create a new form of gene therapy to treat the disease.

Weather

Financial Data

BFN: min: 4° max: 23°, sunny
CPT: min: 16° max: 27°, rainy
DBN: min: 12° max: 21°, cloudy
EL: min: 14° max: 20°, cloudy
JHB: min: 1° max: 23°, cloudy
KIM: min: 7° max: 24°, sunny
NLP: min:7° max: 20°, cloudy
PMB: min: 3° max: 18°, cloudy
PKN: min: 6° max: 19°,cloudy
PE: min: 14° max: 23°, cloudy
PTA: min: 3° max: 23°, cloudy

Oil=$50.67
Gold=$1,311.74
Platinum=$1,006.81
R/$=13.59
R/€=15.24
R/£=17.48
€/$=1.12
JSE All Share=51,658.99
DJIA= 18,235.66
FTSE 100=6,983.52
Source

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FEATURES  

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Photo: Students from University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) protest<br />during the third week of ongoing protests against the cost of higher<br />education, Johannesburg, South Africa, 03 October 2016. EPA/CORNELL TUKIRIEducation imbizo fails, except in highlighting divisions 
By Greg Nicolson
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Photo of Raymond Suttner by Ivor Markman.Op-Ed: Universities crisis – what is the way forward? 
By Raymond Suttner
Photo: Umhlangano, via Instagram‘Make the revolution cute AF’: Will students’ camp campus protests work? 
By Marelise van der Merwe
Photo: An interior view of the MSF Trauma Centre, 14 October 2015,<br />shows a missile hole in the wall and the burnt-out remains of the the<br />building after a sustained attack on the facility in Kunduz, northern<br />Afghanistan.Kunduz, Afghanistan: A South African nurse remembers the day the US bombed a field hospital 
By Simon Allison
Main photo: A local journalist reacts after hearing the results of the<br />peace deal referendum in Bogota, Colombia, 02 October 2016. Colombians<br />voted 'No' to the peace pact signed less than a week ago between the<br />government and the FARC guerrillas, according to official results with<br />99.64 percent of the votes counted. EPA/LEONARDO MUNOZ.Winning Colombia’s Peace: A Great Perhaps? 
By OLUSEGUN OBASANJO, DICKIE DAVIS, DAVID KILCULLEN & GREG MILLS
Photo of a Lesotho man by Michael Williams via Flickr.Lesotho at 50: The Politics of Dysfunction or the Dysfunction of Politics? 
By John Aerni-Flessner
Photo: Education should be free for the poor, but those who can afford<br />to pay must pay, says Equal Education general secretary Tshepo Motsepe.<br />Photo: Ashleigh FurlongGroundUp: Students are aiming at the wrong target, says Equal Education's Tshepo Motsepe 
By GroundUp
Protesters marched from Observatory to UCT's medical school, then onto<br />the M3 highway and onto upper campus where they disrupted classes. Photo:<br />Ashraf HendricksGroundUp: Mayhem at UCT 
By GroundUp
Photo: Many students arrived at UCT expecting teaching to resume but<br />protesters blocked entrances and disrupted classes. Photo: Ashraf<br />HendricksGroundUp: UCT students speak out against disruptions 
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Photo: Fans around the first tee during the singles matches during the<br />Ryder Cup 2016 at the Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota,<br />USA, 02 October 2016. The Ryder Cup 2016 runs from 29 September to 02<br />October. EPA/TANNEN MAURYRyder Cup: What makes American golf fans so distinctly unlikeable? 
By Antoinette Muller
Swiss slackliner Raphael Bacot walks on a 325 meter 'highline' between<br />the two Swiss alps peaks Tour d'Ai and Tour de Mayen, at 2,330 meters above<br />sea level, in front of the Geneva Lake, in Leysin, Switzerland, Saturday,<br />01 October 2016. Balancing the 'slackline' or 'highline' is a training<br />method for climbers to improve their equilibrium sense. To avoid the danger<br />of falling down, the athlete is secured with a rope. EPA/NICOLAS<br />SEDLATCHEKWhile you were sleeping: 3 October 2016 
By John Stupart

OPINIONISTA

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By Mamphela Ramphele
Andrew-Gasnolar.jpgTrapped in a cycle of despair 
By Andrew Ihsaan Gasnolar

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