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While you were sleeping: 17th February 2017
Trump's adviser pick rejects job, ISIL bomb shrine in Pakistan, and Alphabet closer to global internet than anyone thought.
TGIF, 17th February 2017
“A new friend is always a miracle, but at thirty-three years old, such a bird of paradise rising in the sage-brush was an avatar. One friend in a lifetime is much; two are many; three are hardly possible.”
Henry Adams
STORY OF THE DAY
SONA, The Rebound: Battered Zuma bounces back, puts bank collusion in the spotlight
By RANJENI MUNUSAMY
It’s a curious thing. Every year President Jacob Zuma is pummelled by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) before he can deliver the State of the Nation Address (SONA) and then gets walloped for two days by other opposition parties during the debate on his speech. As if strengthened by the beating, he then emerges stronger in his reply to the debate. Zuma’s speech on Thursday showed he at least heard some of the concerns expressed. And he was able to maximise of the news of the day, warning that government is prepared to act against market abuse, price fixing and collusion in the private sector.
WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING
Trump’s next advisor turns down the job
Retired Vice-Admiral Robert Harward has rejected the job offer of National Security Advisor. Tapped to replace now-disgraced Michael Flynn, Harward cited family commitments for his refusal of the job. Speculation is rife, however, that the admiral wanted to bring in his own team. Something which the Trump administration clearly disliked.
Isis suicide bomb blast kills 70
A bomb set off in southern Afghanistan has killed at least 70. The Isis-claimed suicide bomber entered the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, a Sufi Muslim site, where he detonated his explosives. Another 250 are reported to be wounded, 40 of them critically.
Alphabet internet balloons inch closer
Alphabet announced late on Thursday that it is much closer to rolling out global internet-providing balloons than initially planned. Progress in AI-based navigation software has contributed to the balloons’ ability to navigate high altitude winds more efficiently. Global internet service may well be a thing quite soon.
Yahoo fined over trial misreporting
Australian-US media outlet Yahoo7 was fined almost a quarter of a million dollars for pre-emptively reporting information on a murder trial before the jury had seen it. The Australian court accused Yahoo of putting profit before principles, as its journalist Krystal Johnson rushed to publish sensitive information regardless of prejudicial concerns.
IN NUMBERS
50
The number of people involved in a bar brawl in Britain over the last bag of peanuts.
FACTS OF THE DAY
Today in 1933 Newsweek first published its magazine.
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