South Africa, World
While you were sleeping: 8 December 2017
School shooting kills two in New Mexico, Senator Franken quits over allegations, and Bitcoin's rise continues unabated.
TGIF, 8 December 2017
“Three o’clock is always too late or too early for anything you want to do.”
Jean-Paul Sartre
STORY OF THE DAY
By PAULI VAN WYK for SCORPIO
Jonas Makwakwa – in charge of SARS’ key revenue generating units – seemingly struggles to manage his own finances. We know this because Scorpio has seen the financial statements of Makwakwa’s primary bank account for the years 2014 to 2016. His expenses often outweighed his income – in three months Makwakwa spent about three times more than the salary he gets from SARS, our analysis of his financials show. Reporting a series of suspicious deposits into this account in 2017, the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) found that Makwakwa had grown a dependency on possibly illegal payments to maintain his lifestyle. In Part Three, Scorpio reveals that the FIC had good reason to be worried.
WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING
A gunman in New Mexico has been killed after a shooting spree at a high school. The shooting occurred at Aztec High School, with police withholding the attacker’s identity for now. Coming just a day after Republicans rammed through relaxed concealed gun control measures, the local community, at least, will have some questions.
Bitcoin’s meteoric rise continues
If someone had told you on Monday Bitcoin would be smashing past $17,000 with no signs of slowing down, you would have told them to check the meds. And yet, the cryptocurrency has continued its rise, showing ridiculous growth even by its own standards. As much as the traditional investor community considers it a bubble, they appear to be propping up its ongoing rise by buying up BTC as much as possible.
US Senator Al Franken announced on Thursday that he would be resigning. Franken has been accused of multiple accounts of sexual misconduct. The Democrat insisted he was a “champion” of women. On his way out Franken made a parting shot at Trump, saying: “I, of all people, am aware that there is some irony in the fact I am leaving while a man who bragged on tape about his history of the sexual assault sits in the Oval Office.”
Industrial heavyweight General Electric will be shedding 12,000 jobs in its power unit. The announcement was part of a turnaround plan for the US, with the majority of the job cuts affecting its non-American staff. European labour union representatives are furious, calling the decision a short-term money grab by GE’s shareholders.
IN NUMBERS
$25,000
The figure William Shatner sold his kidney stone for. He used the money to fund a house construction by Habitat for Humanity.
FACTS OF THE DAY
Today in 1941 US President Franklin D Roosevelt declares war on Japan following the Pearl Harbour attack. His “day of infamy” speech still reverberates today.
A charity-run experiment showed that people were more likely to donate to a sick dog than a sick child.
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Financial Data
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