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SATURDAY, 21 MARCH 2026, 17:51

South Africa

South Africans urged to embody values of Constitution

Today at 14:00 PM, via SAnews

South Africans urged to embody values of Constitution

President Cyril Ramaphosa has issued a rallying call to all South Africans to embody the spirit of the Constitution through “action, thought, word and deed”.

The President delivered the keynote address at the national celebrations of Human Rights Day held in Kimberley.

This year marks 30 years since the Constitution was adopted...

World

Iran war enters its fourth week with no clear end in sight

Today at 11:43 AM, via NPR

As the war in the Middle East enters its fourth week, President Trump says the U.S. is considering “winding down” military efforts, as it also seeks to ease the energy crisis by lifting sanctions on Iranian oil stranded at sea.

Education

Should the bank of mum and dad pay university debts?

Today at 13:00 PM, via The Guardian

Those planning for uni in England and Wales this autumn can apply for student loans from Monday. Here are the options for families worried about debt

Our child is heading to university soon – should we try to pay their tuition fees upfront so they are not saddled with a debt for decades?

Our child is a recent graduate and their student loan debt is ballooning – should we help pay off some or...

Education

‘Something I’ve never felt since Covid. It was scarier’: the shock and pain of Kent’s meningitis outbreak

Today at 08:00 AM, via The Guardian

How infections linked to a nightclub escalated into a public health incident requiring a national response is a puzzle experts are still grappling with

Tyra Skinner had already been violently sick three times when doctors at Kent’s William Harvey hospital realised something was badly wrong. The 20-year-old was rushed into critical care, racked with a pounding headache, a stiff neck and...

Science/Tech

SystemD Adds Optional ‘birthDate’ Field for Age Verification to JSON User Records

Today at 17:34 PM, via Slashdot

“The systemd project merged a pull request adding a new birthDate field to the JSON user records managed by userdb in response to the age verification laws of California, Colorado, and Brazil,” reports the blog It’s FOSS. They note that the field “can only be set by administrators, not by users themselves” — it’s the same record that already holds metadata like realName, emailAddress, and...

Science/Tech

Jeff Bezos Seeking $100 Billion to Buy Manufacturing Companies, ‘Transform’ Them With AI

Today at 16:34 PM, via Slashdot

Jeff Bezos “is in early talks to raise $100 billion,” reports the Wall Street Journal, “for a new fund that would buy up manufacturing companies and seek to use AI technology to accelerate their path to automation.” “The Amazon.com founder is meeting with some of the world’s largest asset managers to raise funding for the project.”A few months ago, [Bezos] traveled to the Middle East to discuss...

Science/Tech

‘I’ve seen the devil’: Brazil’s UFO capital marks 30 years since ‘alien encounter’

Today at 14:00 PM, via The Guardian

Sightings in Varginha in 1996 have been dismissed as hoax, but saga continues to draw people from around world

The skies over this far-flung coffee-growing hub went charcoal black, the heavens opened and one of Brazil’s greatest mysteries was born.

“It really was something unique,” recalls Marco Antônio Reis, a zoo director, who was at his ranch outside Varginha one stormy day in January...

Health

David Botstein, Gene-Mapping Pioneer, Dies at 83

Yesterday at 23:25 PM, via New York Times

His method of locating genes in human DNA allowed researchers to find disease-causing genes, and later to map the entire, sprawling human genome.