South Africa, World
While you were sleeping: 29 November 2017
Korea fires biggest ICBM yet, US government shutdown looms large, and Bitcoin moves past $10,000.
Wednesday, 29 November 2017
“I didn’t like anything but the sarcophagus.”
Graffiti carved in the pyramids by ancient Romans
STORY OF THE DAY
Have SITA and SAPS been captured? Scopa to ask questions about R6.1-bn expenditure
By MARIANNE THAMM
The State Information and Technology Agency (SITA) appears to have become a site of capture by private interests, two investigations – by IPID and SITA itself – have revealed. The relationship between SAPS, the agency and Keith Keating, director of FDA and two other companies, Investigative Software Solutions and Risk Diversion Digital, also owned by Keating, and which have collectively, since 2010, raked in around R6.1-BILLION in evergreen procurement deals, will be the focus of a Scopa hearing on Wednesday. Keating was most recently linked to an alleged kickback scandal involving former acting National Commissioner, Khomotso Phahlane, who was previously SAPS Divisional Commissioner of Forensics.
WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING
North Korea fires biggest ICBM yet
Another month, another North Koren missile launched. On Tuesday evening South Korean military officials confirmed that the missile flew east of South Pyongan Province. In response, something termed a “precision strike missile exercise” was conducted, which could potentially be likened to yet more impotent foreign policy bluster from the South. With little recourse, South Korea and indeed the United States may be reduced to repeated sanctions calls.
Trump and Democrats skirmish as shutdown looms
President Donald Trump has yet another problem: he must fashion some form of budgetary compromise with Democratic leaders or face a shut-down in 10 days. Just hours after Trump announced that a funding deal might be reached, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi cancelled critical meetings with Trump, arguing that they would be fruitless. Trump, in true Trumpish fashion, blamed “Chuck and Nancy”. Over Twitter.
Caesar’s British invasion site located
Archaeologists believe they have uncovered what could be Julius Caesar’s invasion site in Britain. Located at a bay on the Isle of Thanet in Kent, the landscape matches Caesar’s account of the topography. Roman weapons and other artefacts have been uncovered, lending credence to the possibility that the 54BC invasion of Britain began there.
Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency your grandpa warned you about, has soared past $10,000 during early Asian business hours. Experts, as usual, have warned that the regulation-free currency is a bubble set to burst any second. Although this has been said for years, the meteoric rise of the cryptocurrency has defied all traditional financial logic.
IN NUMBERS
3
The number of people who have confirmed a sighting of the elusive Australian Night Parrot.
FACTS OF THE DAY
Today in 1992 Atari releases Pong, the first commercially successful video game.
Graffiti is actually the plural of graffito.
FEATURED ARTICLES
Op-Ed: Think about it – What role do you play in normalising violence against women?
BY KWEZILOMSO MBANDAZAYO & RUKIA CORNELIUS
Zimbabwe: Will President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s new cabinet be more representative?
BY SALLY NYAKANYANGA
Weather
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Financial Data
Oil=$63.50
Gold=$1,292.52
Platinum=$947.80
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R/£=18.26
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