South Africa, World
While you were sleeping: 11 April 2018
Zuckerberg fends of Congressional hearing with ease, Trump threatens Mueller firing, and Roma upset Barca with style.
Wednesday, 11 April 2018
“Silence is also a form of speaking.”
Herta Müller
STORY OF THE DAY
By PAULI VAN WYK for SCORPIO.
The National Prosecuting Authority’s case against former SARS officials Ivan Pillay, Johann van Loggerenberg and Andries Janse van Rensburg, led by advocates Torie Pretorius and Sello
WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING
Zuckerberg holds court in
Mark Zuckerberg appeared to successfully fend largely softball questions on Facebook. Answering a wide variety of questions from both Democrats and Republicans, Zuckerberg was rarely rattled by senators. Indeed, Republican Senator and sad-face emoji in the Republican primaries, Ted Cruz spent his entire allotted time asking nonsensical questions about specific staff in Zuckerberg’s immensely large operation. In the end, the Facebook head apologised for the Cambridge Analytica brief and, at least on the face of it, vowed to fix the leaky holes in his social media juggernaut.
White House threatens Mueller firing
The White House went to great pains on Tuesday to remind the press that it can and may fire special counsel Robert Mueller. A furious President Donald Trump spent much of his day Tweeting his outrage over his lawyer’s FBI raid, evidently putting the Syria chemical weapons attack crisis on ice for a few hours. If Trump did fire Mueller, a constitutional crisis would erupt within American politics. Political dumpster fires, however, are the president’s forte.
Roma rip apart Barca title hopes
Roma upset the Barcelona applecart on Tuesday night, beating the favourites 3-0. The loss saw Barca exit the Champion’s League with an unreachable margin of away goals working against them. Barcelona’s captain Andres Iniesta summed it up as “very painful because nobody expected it with the lead we had”.
Pharmaceutical waste threatens rivers worldwide
A new study by the Delft Institute for Water Education has found that prescription drug waste threatens rivers worldwide. Pharmaceutical effluence, in other words, analgesics, antibiotics, anti-platelet agents, hormones, psychiatric drugs, antihistamines and many other drugs, have been found in wildlife for whom the river system is a crucial part of their ecosystem. If you thought plastics were the only plague destroying the world’s waterways, clearly flushing your aspirin down the toilet is not exactly great either.
IN NUMBERS
28,524 ft2
The floor space of the star destroyer-shaped house Naomi Campbell’s former boyfriend bought her in Moscow.
FACTS OF THE DAY
Today in 1979 Idi Amin is unseated from power.
There is more calcium in maple syrup than there is in milk.
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