- World Report 2024: Eswatini (hrw.org)
In Eswatini, an absolute monarchy ruled by King Mswati III since 1986, the year 2023 started with the brutal killing of Thulani Maseko, a prominent human rights lawyer and opposition activist. More than two years after a series of protests, there has been no accountability for the security forces’ crackdown on pro-democracy protesters. As in past elections where political parties were banned from participating, general elections were held in September with little expectation that they would bring about any meaningful change in the country. Two members of parliament, Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube, who were arrested in July 2021 were found guilty of all charges against them, including murder and terrorism.
- Six nines in pi (Wikipedia)
A sequence of six consecutive nines occurs in the decimal representation of the number pi (π), starting at the 762nd decimal place. It has become famous because of the mathematical coincidence, and because of the idea that one could memorize the digits of π up to that point, and then suggest that π is rational. The earliest known mention of this idea occurs in Douglas Hofstadter’s 1985 book Metamagical Themas…