South Africa, World
While you were sleeping: 12 February 2018
Weinstein & Co face New York lawsuit, bomb closes London City Airport, and Rio's samba parade gets political.
Monday, 12 February 2018
“Men, their rights, and nothing more; women, their rights, and nothing less.”
Susan B Anthony
STORY OF THE DAY
Monday, Monday: A Sunday countdown to the NEC meeting on ‘the matter’ of Cde Jacob
By CARIEN DU PLESSIS
ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa could have been announcing the end of Jacob Zuma’s Presidency when he stepped into Madiba’s shoes of 28 years ago on the Grand Parade in Cape Town on a hot Sunday afternoon, but he didn’t. Instead, he kept South Africa in the holding pattern of the past week, telling them to wait another day and promising it would all come to a close in the next 24 hours.
WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING
New York sues Weinstein Company
The state of New York has taken Harvey Weinstein and his company to court. New York is arguing that the Weinstein Company failed to protect employees from years of Harvey Weinstein’s sexual misconduct. The state filed the lawsuit on Sunday for fear of an imminent declaration of bankruptcy by the company, thereby leaving victims without redress.
A Saratov Airlines An-148 aircraft crashed near Moscow on Sunday. The plane went down just minutes after taking off, killing all 71 people on board. The crash is one of Russia’s worst in recent history. To make matters worse, heavy snowfall severely hampered rescue efforts, forcing responders to get to the wreckage via snowmobiles or on foot or monitor it via drones.
Rio samba parade gets political
Rio de Janeiro’s samba event kicked off on Sunday. Held in the aptly-named Sambodromo, 72,000 spectators watched as finalists in a long-standing samba contest paraded through. This year, however, several samba schools – which are apparently a thing in Brazil – were using the platform to rail against rampantly corrupt and incompetent leaders in Brazil. Sadly, no similar samba parade is planned for South Africa’s leadership.
London airport closed after old bomb found
An unexploded bomb from World War ll has been discovered in London City Airport, prompting its closure. An exclusion zone had been set up around the bomb, which had been found close to the airport’s runway. The bomb will be disposed of, but it has delivered a potent reminder to commuters that the dangers from the Blitz still linger today.
IN NUMBERS
39%
The percentage reduction in motorcycle assassinations in the city of Medellin after banning male passengers from riding on the back.
FACTS OF THE DAY
Today is Darwin Day. Celebrate your evolutionary success by not swallowing Tide pods today (or ever).
The dot over an i or j is called a “
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