Daily Maverick
Dailymaverick logo

South Africa

South Africa, World

While you were sleeping: 15 December 2017

While you were sleeping: 15 December 2017
John Stupart
By John Stupart
15 Dec 2017
Facebook
0
Net neutrality rolled back, school bus crash in France kills 4, and Airbus lands massive order with Delta.





TGIF, 15 December 2017


“Look... to go through life and call it yours - your life - you first have to get your own pain. Pain that's unique to you. You can't just dip into the common bin and say 'That's enough!'...” 
Peter Shaffer




 



 















One hundred and six years of history have nudged the African National Congress towards this moment, their very own Battle of Helm’s Deep, where all of the organisation’s internal contradictions – to say nothing of the terrible legacy of South Africa itself – will play out over the course of five long days (if we’re lucky). South Africans have been in the midst of this war for so long that perspective is nearly impossible – the ruckus has stolen our brains. At the core of this melee is the Congress’s failure to construct a cohesive, comprehensive nation out of the ruins of apartheid. And in the middle of the molten jumble, we find Jacob Zuma, post-apartheid South Africa’s emblematic figure. (You thought that was Nelson Mandela? Nah.) What happens to Zuma and his faction this weekend determines not just the future of the party, but of the country. 





 



 



 









WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING










Net Neutrality dies a slow, lobby-infested death



A proposal by Republican Ajit Pai to roll back Obama-era restrictions on what ISPs can do to the internet in America has been passed. With net neutrality now dead on the floor, ISPs have zero incentive not to throttle, degrade, paywall or generally screw with their consumers. Pai published perhaps the single-most condescending video in reaction to the rollback, showing if anything that American liberties seem to be dying not with a bang, but with a disappointing, turpid whimper.





 





Train collision with school bus in France killed four



Four children have been killed and 20 injured in a tragic accident in southern France. A train collided with the rear of a school bus in Milas, near the Spanish border. Severed in two, 95 rescue workers rush to the bus' wreckage. Both bus and train driver are being questioned, tested for alcohol and drugs, and an investigation was launched immediately.





 









Similar solar system discovered by AI



An artificial intelligence has discovered a solar system with as many planets as our own. NASA's Kepler telescope and the AI uncovered the eight planet system orbiting a star named Kepler 90, 2,545 light years away. It is not expected that any of the planets would be habitable.





 





Delta makes massive Airbus order



Delta Airlines has ordered 100 Airbus A321neo aircraft in a deal worth over $12 billion. The order for the new aircraft, to be delivered from 2020-2023, looks set to ruin rival Boeing's day. Boeing had previously launched a trade dispute with Delta, quite possibly souring the aerospace milk in the process.





 









 — 











IN NUMBERS


1



The number of submarines sunk while submerged by another submarine.





 









FACTS OF THE DAY



Today is International Tea Day. Unless you live in Boston.


Wild rats still enjoying running wheels.





 










FEATURED ARTICLES






















































































































OPINIONISTAS















Business must participate in national renewal


A column by BONANG MOHALE



 







































Goodbye 2017: The Other News Awards


A column by MARELISE VAN DER MERWE



 










 — 










Weather
BFN: min: 14° max 32°, cloudy
CPT: min: 15° max: 26°,  sunny
DBN: min: 17° max: 22°, cloudy
EL: min: 17° max: 24°, cloudy
JHB: min: 12° max: 24°, cloudy
KIM: min: 19° max: 34°, cloudy
MHK: min: 17° max: 31°, sunny
PMB: min: 14° max: 24°, cloudy
PE: min: 12° max: 28°, cloudy
PTA: min: 14° max: 28°, cloudy








Financial Data
Oil=$62.79
Gold=$1,254.16
Platinum=$881.50
R/$=13.48
R/€=15.88
R/£=18.11
BTC/$=16,849
JSE All Share=57,845.57
DJIA=24,576.01
FTSE 100=7,448.12

Categories:

Tags: