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While you were sleeping: 17

While you were sleeping: 17
John Stupart
By John Stupart
17 Mar 2017
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White House blames Britain for hacking, Namibia takes Germany to court and a fluorescent frog is found.





TGIF, 17 March 2017


“One day there will be no borders, no boundaries, no flags and no countries and the only passport will be the heart.”
Carlos Santana




 



 














On Friday, the Constitutional Court delivers a crucial ruling setting out how over 17-million social grants will be disbursed from April 1. This will provide much-needed clarity on the issue after bungling and gross incompetence by the Minister of Social Development Bathabile Dlamini and the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa). In Parliament on Thursday, President Jacob Zuma declared there was no crisis. On Wednesday, Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng said in no uncertain terms that this was a crisis. The stark contrast in perspectives by the heads of the executive and the judiciary demonstrate their different understandings of political responsibility and the state of our nation.





 



 



 









White House targets GCHQ in hacking claims



The White House took a break from stripping the State Department of its funding to blame British signals GCHQ for the Obama-era hacking. Yet to show any iota of evidence, the Trump administration accused the British of doing the spying for Obama to eliminate "American fingerprints". GCHQ in reply rubbished the allegations, calling them "nonsense, utterly ridiculous and should be ignored". Considering that GCHQ rarely, if ever, comments confirming or denying allegations in the media, they clearly feel strongly about this one.





 





Namibia sues Germany over genocide



The Herero and Nama people, killed in the tens of thousands by Germany between 1904 and 1908, have seen their day in court. A class action suit was filed against Germany in a US court, claiming compensation for "incalculable damages". Germany's government has yet to concede that a genocide occurred, despite several MPs admitting as much.





 









First fluorescent frog found by fluke



The world's first naturally fluorescent frog has been discovered. Argentine and Brazilian scientists at the Bernardino Rivadaiva Natural Sciences Museum studied more than 200 frogs under a UV light, eventually discovering the properties in a relatively common South American tree frog. Ordinarily brown in colour, the frog's true colours shone through under UV light. The discovery is not trivial, as it could lead to understanding new scientific properties of additional fluorescent compounds.





 





Proteas stuck in tough first innings



South Africa was 218-6 at tea today. By the time you read this the Proteas may well have finished their innings or, hopefully, caught up with the New Zealand total of 268. Either way, there is not much between the two in this Test.





 









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IN NUMBERS


80%



The decrease in immigration of Mexicans to the United States since 2000.





 









FACTS OF THE DAY



Today in 1992 a referendum to end apartheid was passed by a two-thirds majority.


All members of Congress are sent copies of Hustler each month. This has been done since 1983 by the magazine's owner.





 









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