Branson Aims To Beat Bezos To Orbit In Final Stretch Of Billionaire Space Race – Two billionaires are neck and neck in the final sprint to the Kármán line, but Richard Branson may clinch it with a July 11 flight on a Virgin Galactic spacecraft, narrowly beating out Jeff Bezos’s planned July 20 trip aboard a Blue Origin New Shepard capsule. [techcrunch] 

‘No One Has Waited Longer’: Trailblazing Female Pilot Wally Funk Will Go To Space With Bezos – Funk, who was denied the job of astronaut in the 1960s over her gender, will be the oldest person ever to travel into space. [guardian]

Tourism: SA Will Be Among The Hardest Hit, Says UN Report – And It Won’t Be Better Soon – The virtual disappearance of cross-border tourism will have huge economic effects across the world into 2023, according to a new report from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad). And few places will suffer those effects as badly as South Africa. [busins]

Global Tax Overhaul Backed By 130 Countries – Officials from 130 countries have agreed to overhaul the global tax system to ensure big companies “pay a fair share” wherever they operate. [bbc]

Bill Cosby Ruling Shows Why Ghislaine Maxwell Should Be Freed, Her Lawyer Says – The attorney of Ghislaine Maxwell, the associate of deceased convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, has said that the case against her should be thrown on on the same legal grounds as those used to free accused rapist Bill Cosby. [nw]

Trump Organization Charged With ‘Sweeping’ Tax Fraud Crimes In NYC – The Trump Organization’s top financial executive was walked into a Manhattan courtroom in handcuffs on Thursday and charged with a laundry list of crimes that implicate the former president’s family business in what prosecutors described as an “audacious” tax fraud scheme that spanned nearly two decades. [dn]

Robinhood’s IPO Filing Reveals Dogecoin Helped Its Revenue Skyrocket In 2021 – The moment that some of you have been waiting for is here — Robinhood’s S-1 filing to go public has been revealed, laying bare the kind of secrets you only learn when a company is legally obligated to reveal them. [verge]

Boy Scouts Reach $850 Million Settlement With Sex Abuse Victims – The Boy Scouts of America has reached an $850 million settlement with groups representing tens of thousands of men with sexual abuse claims, a major step toward addressing a deluge of accusations that sent the organization into bankruptcy. [reuters]

A Word Of Caution About That SARS Auto Assessment – Tax season is officially upon us, and in order to simplify and speed up the process, SARS will be actioning auto assessments. Before accepting, there are a few things to consider. [here]

Kim Jong Un Says Pandemic Has Caused ‘Great Crisis’ In North Korea – Shedding a rare light on his own country, Kim criticized “senior officials in charge of important state affairs.” [nbc]

SA Passport Bid: Home Affairs Tells ‘Fugitive’ Atul Gupta To Take A Hike – ‘I am advised and respectfully submit that our courts have held for nearly a century that a fugitive from justice has no standing to approach a South African court’ — Home Affairs DG Livhuwani Tommy Makhode. [dmav]

Uber’s Centimillionaire CEO Provokes Backlash After Moonlighting As Courier – Dara Khosrowshahi logged five and a half hours as an Uber Eats courier over the weekend and posted his earnings, prompting some complaints on social media. [forbes]

12-Year-Old Abhimanyu Mishra Becomes Youngest Grandmaster In Chess History – At just 12 years of age, Abhimanyu Mishra has become the youngest grandmaster in chess history. [cnn]

Gap To Close All Stores In UK And Ireland – Gap will close all 81 of its stores in the United Kingdom and Ireland by the end of September and go fully online, as the brand adjusts to changes in shopping habits following the pandemic. [cnn]

Google’s iOS App Has A Secret Pinball Easter Egg Now – The Google app on iOS appears to have gotten a new Easter egg: a rather entertaining little pinball app hidden away in the “Tabs” menu. [verge]

Tennis-Wimbledon Ends In Tears For Injured Serena – Tennis great Serena Williams limped out of Wimbledon in tears on Tuesday after an ankle injury forced her retirement early in a first-round match against unseeded Belarussian Aliaksandra Sasnovich. [mav]

Marilyn Manson Sued By Ex For ‘Malevolent’ Behavior, Human Trafficking – Ashley Morgan Smithline, a former girlfriend of the singer, filed a complaint against him this week, saying she wants him to “be held accountable once and for all.” [huffhuff]

James Franco Agrees To Pay $2.2M To Settle Sexual Misconduct Lawsuit Filed By Former Students – James Franco has agreed to pay $2.2 million to settle a sexual misconduct lawsuit brought against him by his former acting students. [usat]

Amelia Hamlin, 20, Works Up A Sweat At Pilates In A Nude Sports Bra With Matching Leggings – After Lisa Rinna’s ‘what the f***?!’ reaction to new Scott Disick, 38, relationship. [dm]

Amber Heard Secretly Welcomes Baby Girl Oonagh Paige Via Surrogate – The actress, 35, is celebrating the birth of a baby girl — months after ex-husband Johnny Depp lost his libel case involving her. [nyp]

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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]

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]