South Africa, World
While you were sleeping: 9 February 2018
Second Government shutdown looms, CAR fighting erupts, and VR helps in reducing paranoia in pychotics.
TGIF, 9 February 2018
“Until we’re rotten, we cannot be ripe.”
Geoffrey Chaucer
STORY OF THE DAY
Paul O’Sullivan: National Police Commissioner slayer strikes again
By MARIANNE THAMM
It’s insane, really, that a private individual should have played a significant role in ensuring, in a little over 16 years, that two SAPS National Police Commissioners have found themselves in the dock accused of fraud and corruption. As former acting National Commissioner, Khomotso Phahlane, his wife and a Pretoria car dealer appeared in the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes
WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING
Second US government shutdown looms
A midnight deadline for an agreement on a budget is likely to be missed, forcing yet another government shutdown. Critics would be eager to blame Democrats, but it was 2016 Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul who set the nail in the financial coffin. Criticising “out-of-control” government spending in a long speech, Paul’s delay will now probably create a second government shutdown in less than a month.
At least 7,400 people have fled fighting in
Oxfam aid workers in prostitution ring scandal
Senior Oxfam relief workers in Haiti have been accused of hiring sex workers while deployed to the country during the 2010 earthquake. Oxfam’s country director Roland van Hauwermeiren resigned after admitting to the allegations. Oxfam, meanwhile, declined to institute any disciplinary actions against him.
VR could help psychotics – study
The use of virtual reality combined with regular treatment can reduce paranoia and anxiety in those with psychotic disorders. Scientists in the Netherlands conducted trials involving 116 patients using VR exercises to aid in lowering tension relating to social interactions. The result, the study found, was considerably reduced paranoia and anxiety during real-life interactions after simulating similar events in VR.
IN NUMBERS
107
The age of Disney artist and animator Ruthie Thompson. She is alive to this day.
FACTS OF THE DAY
Today in 1986 was the last time Halley’s Comet appeared in the inner Solar System.
Hours before his fatal heart attack, James Gandolfini had consumed a double order of fried king prawns, a pile of foie gras washed down with two pina
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