South Africa, World
While you were sleeping: 30 November 2017
Trump hits back at May, Bitcoin surges past $11,000, and over half of US kids to be obese by 35.
Thursday, 30 November 2017
“Don’t depend too much on anyone in this world because even your own shadow leaves you when you are in darkness.”
Ibn Taymiyyah
STORY OF THE DAY
Analysis: SITA/SAPS Capture – Scopa hearing marks a turning point as massive fraud uncovered
By MARIANNE THAMM.
Wednesday’s Scopa hearing, supposedly into the South African Police Service’s (SAPS) irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure, will go down as a turning point in the public exposure of the deep and disturbing extent of the rot in two of the country’s key institutions, SAPS and the State Information Technology Agency (SITA). It was also a surreal experience as Keith Keating, a former cop and the man at the centre of SAPS/SITA capture allegations, pitched up to sit in on the hearing. It was a day of shocking revelations of death threats to senior SITA officials, collapsed financial controls as well as industrial-scale corruption amounting to billions of rand which, suggested the new National Police Commissioner, Khehla Sitole, posed a threat to national security. After the four-hour grilling, SAPS and SITA vowed to stop or reverse irregular procurements awarded to Keating. It all turned into accountability on steroids.
WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING
Trump hits back at May over tweets
President Donald Trump,
Bitcoin surges past $11,000, drops 18%
Bitcoin surged past $11,000 a day after breaking its own personal high, topping $10,000. The financial establishment’s investment bogeyman, the value of the cryptocurrency soared briefly as major investment organisations indicated a desire to get on board. Its value dropped sharply afterwards, however, losing 18% between the time you hit the hay and the time you’re reading this. That said, the currency is so volatile it may well have changed again by now.
Over half of American kids on track for obesity
A new report published in the New England Journal of Medicine has indicated that over half of America’s children will be obese by 35 if nothing changes. The weight issue is currently costing the US health system $147-billion annually. The study used a simulation model predicting the future’s obesity trends based on data from 41,000 children and adults. South Africa, itself a site of major obesity problems, cannot be too far off this figure.
Still no sign of Argentine submarine
The majority of the region in which Argentina’s ill-fated submarine went missing has now been swept with no trace of her crew. The ARA San Juan reported in its final message that sea water had leaked into the submarine, short-circuiting a battery and starting a fire. Two weeks on, hopes of ever finding the submarine appeared to be rapidly fading.
IN NUMBERS
1,000%
The increase in issued visas to Kazakhstan immediately following Sasha Baron Cohen’s film Borat.
FACTS OF THE DAY
Today is Regina Mundi Day in South Africa. This celebrates the largest Roman Catholic church in the country, situated in Moroka, Soweto.
Spiders can fly in the
FEATURED ARTICLES
The 2017 Child Gauge: How we can turn around R300bn in damage to SA’s children
BY MARELISE VAN DER MERWE
Weather
BFN: min: 17° max 33°, cloudy
CPT: min: 16° max: 24°, cloudy
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Financial Data
Oil=$63.40
Gold=$1,283.59
Platinum=$939.68
R/$=13.65
R/€=16.17
R/£=18.31
JSE All Share=60,418.39
DJIA=23,940.68
FTSE 100=7,393.56
BTC=10,497
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