Elon Musk Is Closing In On A $350 Million Payday – Elon Musk is getting close to the first big payday from his massive stock package. [cnn]

Pope Francis Appoints Woman To Senior Vatican Diplomatic Role – Pope Francis has appointed a female Italian lawyer to a high-ranking role in the Vatican’s diplomatic division, further cementing his credentials as one of the most progressive Holy Fathers in history. [cnn]

Trump’s Impeachment Is Finally Heading To The Senate – House Democrats just voted to send the two articles of impeachment to the other half of Congress. [vice]

US / China Relations Remain In A Worse State Than When Donald Trump Took Office – For a self-declared master dealmaker such as US president Donald Trump, being able to flaunt a trade truce with Beijing may have been the main goal of his long and damaging trade war. For everyone else, it amounts to little more than a hope — and a weak one at that — that things will not get worse. [ft]

Trump Slams Apple For Refusing To Unlock iPhones Of Suspected Criminals – In a tweet, President Donald Trump slammed Apple over whether it should unlock password-protected iPhones used by the shooting suspect at a Navy base in Pensacola, Florida in December. [cnbc]

James Murdoch Slams News Corp And Fox Over Climate Change Denial As Australia Burns – James Murdoch has used a spokesperson to signal his anger over his father’s stable of climate-change-denying journalists and commentators. [7news]

Prince Harry Will Not Fly Back To Join Meghan In Canada Yet As He Stays In UK To Thrash Out Megxit Deal – But breaks cover for first time since summit to announce the ‘story continues’ with next Invictus Games. [dm]

Stephen King Faces Backlash Over Comments On Oscars Diversity – Ava DuVernay and Roxane Gay criticized author after he said he ‘would never consider diversity in matters of art’ [guardian]

Online High School Could Have A Big Impact On SA’s Education Woes – It’s the first week of school and thousands of learners are still waiting to be placed in high schools across the country. Don’t let your child get left behind. [here]

Tough Questions For Delta After Pilots Dump Jet Fuel On Schoolchildren – Angry city officials in Cudahy are demanding to know why a Delta jet making an emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport dropped fuel over a playground, dousing schoolchildren, when federal rules call on pilots to dump fuel in unpopulated areas. [lat]

Capetonians Must Wait At Least Six Months For ‘Broken’ Prasa To Restore Normal Train Services – Three months after the total collapse of passenger train services for the busiest and poorest suburbs of Cape Town, the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa says hundreds of thousands of commuters will have to wait for another six months before they can hope to catch a train ride to work again. [mav]

Heatwave: City Of Cape Town Issues Safety Warning As Numbers At Pools Expected To Swell – Parents and children have been urged to be cautious when swimming to cool off during the heatwave in Cape Town after 14 people drowned over the festive season. [n24]

Klein Karoo’s ‘Caracal’ Taking Bookings From September 2020 – Just two-and-a-half hours out of Cape Town, the cliff-dangling, four-bedroom mountain villa is this year’s dream getaway. [more]

Billie Eilish: Singer, 18, Becomes Youngest Artist To Record James Bond Theme – The 18-year-old is the youngest ever artist to take on the 007 title song – which earned Adele and Sam Smith Oscars. [sky]Vain

Facebook’s Problems Moderating Deepfakes Will Only Get Worse In 2020 – New tools will make deepfakes more accessible and less obviously harmful. [verge]

The Rise Of Japan’s ‘Super Solo’ Culture – From cocktails to karaoke, more Japanese people are going it alone. What’s causing the huge change in the traditionally group-oriented country? [bbc]

Nine Inch Nails, Notorious B.I.G., Whitney Houston Lead Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame 2020 Class – Depeche Mode, the Doobie Brothers, and T. Rex also set to enter the Cleveland institution. [rollsto]

Scientists Deliver, Once Again, A Horrifying Report About How Hot Earth Is Getting – In 2019, parts of the planet were hotter than they’ve ever been before, according to NASA and NOAA’s annual temperature report. And scientists are warning the world won’t be able to reverse the damage. [vice]

WATCH | Inside The R92m Houghton Home That Comes With A Private Night Club, Spa And A Rolls-Royce – An opulent luxury home in Houghton Ridge, Johannesburg, known as Gatsby, is back on the market – this time for a reduced R92m – and to sweeten the deal, the sellers are throwing in a Rolls-Royce. [n24] Nice view.

Meet Patrice Motsepe South Africa’s First Black Billionaire – When it comes to business success, few have a story quite like Patrice Motsepe, South Africa’s first black billionaire. The founder of African Rainbow Minerals sits down with Eleni Giokos for a candid conversation about the value of hard work and taking risks. [cnn]

Petersfield Bookshop Inundated After ‘Tumbleweed’ Tweet – A 100-year-old bookshop has been inundated with orders after tweeting it had a “tumbleweed” day in which it had not sold a single book. [bbc] Lovely little story. 

Women Really Need To See Harvey Weinstein’s A** Nailed To The Wall – Harvey Weinstein does not f*cking get it. Before jury selection even started for his sexual assault trial in New York, his publicist Juda Engelmayer sent New York magazine’s Irin Carmon a 57-page oppo research file on his accusers. Because Harvey Weinstein’s publicist thought that smearing his accusers would help Harvey’s case. [beast]

The Royal Family Has A New MVP – Charles has surpassed his sister Anne as the hardest working royal—but he still can’t match her meme power. [vanfair]

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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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