Bagman of history
US President Donald Trump, never one to spurn a compliment, was happy to be compared to some of history’s worst tyrants. Trump says a historian told him that he is more powerful than Genghis Khan, Mao, Hitler and Joseph Stalin were. The “historian”, say Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, who interviewed the president, turned out to be Gary Player’s caddie.
SA ‘car’ in combat
An armoured car with strong South African credentials is being used by Ukraine on the frontline in its war against Russia. The Mac Owl infantry combat vehicle is based on the Mbombe 4, developed by the Midrand-based Paramount Group. It has been adapted by Ukrainian engineers and its military, who say it provides “the highest levels of protection against mines and ambushes”.
Beeb’s long goodbye
Last week the BBC switched off its long-wave signal, blaming obsolete technology. The service broadcast coded messages to French resistance fighters in World War 2 and more recently cricket’s Test Match Special on the signal. The Royal Navy’s nuclear submarines used to listen to long-wave broadcasts of the Today programme to confirm Britain hadn’t been annihilated. Now it has other ways to monitor the country’s vital signs.
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