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While you were sleeping: 5 October 2017

While you were sleeping: 5 October 2017
John Stupart
By John Stupart
5 Oct 2017
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Shooter's partner speaks out, Google unveils new earbuds, and plague hits Madagascar.





Thursday, 5 October 2017


"Every society honours its live conformists and its dead troublemakers." 
Marshall McLuhan




 



 















With just 10-and-a-half weeks to go until the ANC conference in December, the air is thick with predictions. Some believe Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa has built sufficient momentum and that his train will keep on rolling on. Others, sometimes with very little evidence, believe that there is simply no way President Jacob Zuma can lose, and so Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is a shoo-in. In the middle are the predictions that the ANC will tear itself apart, or that a judge will have to make a final decision, or that the organisation will come to its senses and install a compromise candidate. It is important to consider what evidence we have before making predictions, because, as the banking adverts put it, “past performance is no guarantee of future results”. 





 



 



 









Vegas shooter's partner 'had no idea' about planned massacre



Marilou Danley, the partner of Las Vegas mass murderer Stephen Paddock, stated late on Wednesday that she had no clue about his motives or intention to carry out the attack. Speaking in public for the first time, Danley described Paddock as a "quiet, caring man". As FBI investigators unravel the detailed planning Paddock put into action to carry out his attack, it seems as though Danley had been sent - paid ticket and all - quite literally packing.





 





Google unveils live-translation earbuds



Google unveiled a new design of its Pixel smartphone on Wednesday night. Along with the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL cam the Pixel earbuds offer a real-time translation of conversations in various languages. Inching closer to the Babel Fish, Google's new earbuds synchronise with the second generation phone and translate conversations in 40 languages. Towel likely not included with purchase.





 









Thirty dead in Madagascar plague



A deadly combination of bubonic and pneumonic plagues has spread through Madagascar, killing 30 so far: 194 confirmed cases have also been reported by health officials in the country. With outbreaks almost yearly since 1980, this is sadly nothing new for locals. Public gatherings have been banned in the capital as a measure to curb the spread of the disease.





 





Eight soldiers dead in US-Niger ambush



Five Nigerien soldiers and three US Special Forces troops were killed in an ambush in Niger. The American contingent had been conducting a training and assistance mission with local soldiers when the group came under attack near the border with Mali. Although no one organisation has been blamed, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has been known to operate in the area.





 









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IN NUMBERS


15



The number of knife thrusts Paolo Sarpi, a scientist and statesman, survived in an assassination attempt ordered by Pope Paul V.





 









FACTS OF THE DAY



Today is World Teacher's Day. Hopefully that taught you something already.


More was spent buying Central Park than in the purchase of Alaska.





 
















 









FEATURED ARTICLES






















































































































OPINIONISTAS







































South Africa: The Rambo Nation


A column by MICHAEL FRIDJHON



 










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