Story of the Day
Bathabile Dlamini says only Parliament can hold ministers accountable, not courts
By Marianne Thamm
In a written submission to the Constitutional Court on Monday, former Minister of Social Development, Bathabile Dlamini, said it would be unconstitutional for the courts to hold government executives to account by mulcting them in personal costs orders for legal action. The “remedy”, she argued, lay in the parliamentary and electoral processes. It is an interesting argument considering Dlamini’s parliamentary AWOL record.
While You Were Sleeping
Final Palestinian violence death toll reaches 55
Worldwide condemnation has been resoundingly against Israel’s killing of 55 Palestinian protesters on the Gaza border. Aside from Israel itself, which defended its right to defend its borders, and the United States, who blamed Hamas for the deaths, the majority of global reaction was critical of the violence by Israeli forces. Hamas, meanwhile, has vowed to continue the protests today, risking an even higher number of deaths.
SA recalls Israeli ambassador over killings
With almost three score Palestinians killed by Israeli security forces on Monday, South Africa took the decision to recall its Israeli ambassador. The decision was made on the eve of Tuesday’s nationwide protests expected to kick off in support of Palestine. Department of International Relations spokesperson Ndivhuwo Mabaya slammed the “indiscriminate” killings, repeating a call for an independent inquiry into the Gaza border violence.
Facebook suspends hundreds of apps for misuse
An estimated 200 apps have been suspended on Facebook for misusing user data. The suspensions were a result of a massive internal investigation by the social media giant into how third-party apps pillage your data. One such app, myPersonality, harvested psychometric data on users who took a personality survey. If you ever filled in a page trying to identify what kind of forest creature you would be, be assured that your data was probably utterly abused.
Cameron Bancroft has found a new format to resurrect his career: Western Australian club cricket. The 25-year-old ball tampering batsman was serving his nine-month suspension from state and international cricket. Although automatically banned from club cricket, a meeting of the country’s Western Australian teams decided to let Bancroft play. If the decision was taped, rest assured Bancroft has a copy.
In Numbers
10,000
The estimated number of lives saved by K9 units in the US military.
Facts of the Day
Today is 1658 the Treaty of Westphalia is signed.
It was illegal in Nazi Germany for monkeys to give the “Hitler” salute.
Weather
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