New York City Lawmakers Pass Bill Banning Foie Gras – New York City lawmakers have passed a bill that bans restaurants and grocery stores from selling foie gras, the fattened liver of a duck or goose. [cnbc]

Twitter Drops All Political Ads In Shot At Zuckerberg – Twitter will no longer run political ads, CEO Jack Dorsey announced on Wednesday in a shot across the bow at Facebook, which faces rising heat over its policy of allowing candidates to lie in their campaign messaging. [politico]

Alleged Fraudster With Ties To DiCaprio And Paris Hilton Settles With US For $700M – The alleged mastermind of a multibillion dollar corruption scandal that rocked Malaysia has struck a $700 million deal with the US government to end a legal case against him. [cnn]

Australia’s ‘Backpacker Tax’ Ruled Illegal By Court – Australia has used a so-called “backpacker tax” to illegally tax foreign workers from eight countries, according to a landmark ruling. [bbc]

Trump Cheers On MAGA Teen Nick Sandmann As Libel Suit Against Washington Post Proceeds – A federal judge ruled that “justice requires” further review of a portion of the student’s claims. [huff]

Thai King Fires Royal Guards For ‘Adultery’ As Purges Continue – Purges, which come after royal consort was stripped of her titles, offer rare glimpse into the palace. [guardian]

SoftBank’s Son Speaks To An Almost Empty Room at Saudi Summit – The hall was nearly empty when Masayoshi Son, the chief executive officer of SoftBank Group Corp., took the stage at Saudi Arabia’s biggest and glitziest business forum. [bloom]

72 Female MPs Sign Open Letter Condemning ‘Colonial’ Media Coverage Of Meghan Markle – 72 female politicians in the UK have written an open letter to Meghan Markle pledging their solidarity with her as she and Prince Harry take a stand against several British media outlets. [mash]

Former Eskom Boss Drafted R43m Gupta Contract ‘Under Duress’ – Former Eskom corporate affairs boss Chose Cheou told the state capture inquiry on Wednesday that he drafted a R43m contract between the power utility and Gupta-owned newspaper The New Age (TNA) under duress. [tlive]

Mboweni Claims Winter Is Over — But The Political Games Definitely Are Not – South Africa’s debt is ‘increasing at an unsustainable pace’, said Finance Minister Tito Mboweni, but the tough decisions to arrest this have been kicked into touch. It’s a sign the political contestation in the ANC is far from settled. [mav]

Octopus Fishers In False Bay Lose Jobs After Getting Entangled In Whale Controversy – Four months after Environment, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Barbara Creecy put a temporary halt on octopus trapping in False Bay following an online petition and local condemnation of the industry, fishers in the area have been retrenched and a company is up for sale. [mav]

Washington Nationals Defeat Houston Astros To Clinch First World Series – The Washington Nationals have clinched their first World Series title after defeating the host Houston Astros 6-2 in Game 7 on Wednesday night at Minute Maid Park. [cnn]

‘No Problem At All’: New Zealanders Praise England’s Response To All Blacks Haka – Māori commentators lament that more rugby teams don’t come up with ways to challenge the traditional dance. [guardian]

Cape Town Woman Scammed Of R844k By Catfish She Met On Tinder – A Cape Town woman was allegedly scammed of R844,000 by a person she believed to be the love of her life after meeting on the dating app Tinder, the Hawks said on Wednesday. [tlive]

Tanzania Billionaire Mohammed Dewji Told Kidnapper To Shoot Him – Tanzanian billionaire Mohammed Dewji has said that he asked his kidnapper to shoot him six days into being held captive. [bbc]

Apple Quietly Changed The Charging Case That Comes With Its New AirPods Pro – Here’s how it compares with the original [busins]

Five Basic Principles That Many Wine Drinkers Get Wrong – You don’t need to be a sommelier, but nobody wants to be accused of drinking wine like a noob. Here are some basic principles to work on. [here]

Meg Ryan And John Mellencamp Reportedly Break Up, End Engagement – It’s reportedly over for Meg Ryan and John Mellencamp. [p6]

Ricky Martin Welcomes A Son, Renn, With Husband Jwan Yosef – The two-time Grammy winner announced his adorable new arrival Tuesday on Instagram. [huff]

‘I Did The First Nude In Vogue’ – Marisa Berenson on being a blazing star of the 70s and beyond. [guardian]

What Happened To Thora Birch? – We talked to the once-elusive star of ‘Now and Then,’ ‘American Beauty,’ and ‘Ghost World’ to find out why she backed out of the limelight and where she is in 2019. [vice]

Rainn Wilson Recalls An Early Scene In ‘The Office’ That’s So Funny The Cast Fully Broke – Anyone who’s watched The Office knows that it’s funny as hell — so funny that sometimes the actors couldn’t even make it through a scene without breaking character to laugh. [mash]

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DON’T SAY WE DIDN’T TELL YOU…

There are a number of ongoing deals set up at our various exclusive partners. Here they are – just for you;-)

Buy Any Product From Websites That ‘Don’t Ship To SA’ – One of our most exciting partners offers you a PO Box in US, UK or Hong Kong, for you to deliver overseas online purchases to. Postbox Courier handles it from there – getting the package to you in under a week. [more]

There Is Only One Company When It Comes To Import Export Logistics – Your freight forwarding / shipping partner is probably more important than the actual products you want to move from country to country. Choose the wrong guys and you can get stung in so many ways. Be smart, use 2ov’s partners, Berry & Donaldson. [here]

It’s Time You Treat Your Pet To The Finer Things In Life – It’s all good and well posting pictures of your furry friends on social media, but you don’t want people talking about how you’re skimping on the treats. Do better. [petculture]

First Month Storage Space 50% Off At Stor-Age – Whether you need a locker for a bicycle or a garage for your house contents, Stor-Age has the space you need. And they’re offering a special ‘50% off the first month’ deal – no strings attached! You can take your stuff out after one month – no problem! [check it out]

Everyone’s Talking About Streaming These Days – There’s a world of entertainment out there, but if you want to get with the program then there’s no better place to start than Showmax. [here]

Affordable Cane Furniture – If you’re buying cane or wicker furniture anywhere else, you’re wasting a lot of time and money. These guys import directly from Malawi. Hand-Made cane furniture – buy online and have it delivered! [check it out]

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