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While you were sleeping: 1 December 2017

While you were sleeping: 1 December 2017
Argentina gives up sub crew hunt, Zimbabwe's military creep gets creepier, and scallops have lots of eyes.





TGIF, 1 December 2017


“How many observe Christ's birthday! How few, His precepts!” 
Benjamin Franklin




 



 













STORY OF THE DAY


amaBhungane & Scorpio #GuptaLeaks: How family hijacked (and then lost) a Lesotho diamond mine


By AMABHUNGANE, MNN CENTRE FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM and SCORPIO





In August 2014 Lesotho Prime Minister Tom Thabane appointed Atul Gupta as an “economic investment envoy”. Thabane said ANC President Jacob Zuma had introduced him to the Gupta family and he had enlisted them “to help scout for investment” for the country. Now new evidence is emerging that the main “investment” the Guptas were touting – apart from in Thabane himself – was their takeover of a Lesotho diamond mine. 





 



 



 









WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING










Argentina calls off submarine hunt



The Argentine navy has ended the search for survivors from the missing submarine. Officials argued that the 44 crew members have been searched for for more than twice the time they would have been expected to survive. Argentina's naval forces will now rather continue the search for whatever wreckage may be found.





 





Zimbabwean officers now cabinet ministers



President Emmerson Mnangagwa has appointed two senior military officers to his cabinet. Dropping former Mugabe-era individuals, Mnangagwa appointed as foreign affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo, or the ZDF's face of the coup on state television, and Perence Shiri as land and agriculture minister. The military's grip on Zimbabwean politics appeared to be well in tune once more.





 









Saudi Arabia intercepts second Yemeni missile



Saudi Arabia has intercepted and destroyed a second ballistic missile launched from Yemen. The missile was launched on Thursday and targeted the southern city of Khamis Mushait. An ongoing mix of Houthi and loyalist insurgents in Yemen has created a hotbed of violent extremism in the country. North Korea's neighbours, however, should probably take notes on how to bring down ballistic missiles.





 





Scallops have eyes, lots of them



The world's single most delicious shellfish, scallops, may have a bit more going on than meets the eye(s). Researchers have established that the delicacies have 200 eyes that work pretty much like a telescope. The number and nature of scallops' telescopic eyes were established using a microscope to peer into the creature's mosaic of eyeballs. Eyeballs that remain delicious, one must remember.





 











IN NUMBERS


92



The number of Russians who died in WWII for every one American.





 









FACTS OF THE DAY



Today in 1834 slavery is abolished in the Cape Colony.


Humans are the only mammals that develop breasts that are permanently enlarged.





 















 










FEATURED ARTICLES



















OPINIONISTAS
















Eddie Daniels (1928-2017) – A man of integrity


A column by PAUL TREWHELA



 

















The Other News Round-Up: ‘Tis the Season to be Brawly


A column by MARELISE VAN DER MERWE



 










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