DINNER PARTY INTEL: Tourists turn into rhino killers in Botswana

1. Poacher tourists

Botswana was once a sanctuary for rhinos, mostly from SA. But between 2018 and 2019, 92 were killed by poachers. Botswana has stopped giving information on poached rhinos. Last month, according to London’s The Times, poachers booked into the Khama Rhino Sanctuary, north of Serowe in the Kalahari, where they killed and dehorned two rhinos.

2. Killer captain

The captain of France’s football team in the first Soccer World Cup (held in Uruguay in 1930), Alexandre Villaplane, has been exposed as the leader of a Nazi death squad, according to a new biography. He was executed by firing squad in 1944 after the liberation of France in World War 2, but his memory was suppressed because General Charles de Gaulle, leader of the Free French, wanted to forge the myth that the country had been united in its opposition to Hitler.

3. Fired for no fireworks

Two Hungarian meteorologists were sacked for getting their weather forecasts wrong on a national holiday. They predicted “extreme weather” for August 20, St Stephen’s Day, forcing the cancellation of Europe’s biggest fireworks display. About 40,000 fireworks were due to be set off in Budapest to celebrate the formation of Hungary as a nation.