South Africa, World
While you were sleeping: 9th March 2017
CIA launch criminal probe into WikiLeaks, Proteas face resurgent New Zealand, and Barca hail "miracle" performance.
Thursday, 9 March 2017
“If all the world hated you and believed you wicked, while your own conscience approved of you and absolved you from guilt, you would not be without friends.”
Charlotte Brontë
STORY OF THE DAY
Social Grants: Chief Justice takes control, wants dates and names of officials responsible
By MARIANNE THAMM
Minister of Social Development Bathabile Dlamini and senior Sassa officials have managed to string along Parliament’s oversight committee for at least six months about the agency’s readiness to act as paymaster for social grants after March 31, but they will now have to face the music in the Constitutional Court. Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng has directed Sassa to provide the names of officials responsible for any decisions, the dates those decisions were made, reasons why the court was not informed, when it was that Sassa realised it would be unable to act as paymaster on April 1 and when exactly Dlamini was alerted to it all. The fat lady is about to sing.
CIA begin WikiLeaks criminal probe
The knives are out as the CIA begin a criminal probe into the latest WikiLeaks release. The leaks organisation published a massive amount of information on the tools used by the CIA to hack suspects. This included hacking smart TVs and all manner of devices, but did not appear as dramatic as WikiLeaks would have had you believe.
Proteas face resurgent Black Caps
Things are shaping up to be spicy over in Dunedin, where New Zealand restricted South Africa to 308 in their first innings and the hosts are making a steady start at erasing the deficit.
Pokemon helps you achieve thousands of more steps
Researchers in North Carolina have established a rather unsurprising link between extra steps and playing Pokemon Go. During its study, they found those who played the game were more likely to achieve several thousand more steps, over-achieving over 10,000 per day. Nobody, it seems, taped their Pokemon device to a cat or dog to achieve similar results.
Barcelona achieve the impossible
A surprise 6-1 victory by Barca over PSG has been hailed as a “miracle” for the former, but a complete disaster for the latter. Winning three goals in the dying minutes of the game, including two from Neymar, Barca were able to defeat PSG 6-5 on aggregate in the Champions League. With almost 100,000 fans frothing at the achievement in Nou Camp, the hangovers will loom large on Thursday morning worldwide.
IN NUMBERS
4.9
The amount, in millions of rands, paid for a racing pigeon by two South African farmers.
FACTS OF THE DAY
Today in 1959 the Barbie Doll debuted at the American International Toy Fair in New York.
Fist bumps are more hygienic than high fives or handshakes.
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