Donald Trump has made some additional cabinet choices. South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley was nominated as US envoy to the UN and Betsy DeVos as education secretary. DeVos is a wealthy Republican who was critical of Trump, calling him an “interloper”. Not so critical, apparently, she would refuse a cushy cabinet post.

A cooling tower platform at a power plant construction site has collapsed in China, killing at least 22. Massive concrete slabs crashed to the ground at the Fengcheng site, leaving an unknown number of people trapped underneath the rubble.

Warring factions of Seleka rebels clashed violently on Wednesday night 400km north of Bangui. Renaissance of the Central African Republic (FPRC) and the Union for Peace in Central Africa (UPC) are both fighting over taxation rights of local herdsmen. Sixteen people have been killed in the clashes thus far.

An Australian zoo is celebrating the birth of three echidna babies from three separate mothers. Known as ‘puggles’, they are the first such newborns in 30 years at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo. The spiky cross between a hedgehog and an anteater is notoriously difficult to breed in captivity. At least you can go forth today knowing that a ‘puggle’ is an actual thing.

Weather
BFN: min: 20° max: 28°, rainy
CPT: min: 15° max: 23°, cloudy
DBN: min: 21° max: 30°, PM rain
EL: min: 19° max: 26°, cloudy
JHB: min: 17° max: 26°, rainy
KIM: min: 21° max: 31°, cloudy
NLP: min: 18° max: 30°, rainy
PMB: min: 16° max: 34°, rainy
PKN: min: 18° max: 29°, PM rain
PE: min: 16° max: 23°, cloudy
PTA: min: 17° max: 27°, rainy

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