The Big Fusshttps://thebigfuss.com/The stories everyone is talking about, explained in plain words. Politics, world news, food and the internet's strangest moments.enWed, 07 Oct 2026 20:33:07 +0000R12.81 of every R30.25 litre you buy isn't petrol at all. Here is who gets ithttps://thebigfuss.com/en/politics/sa-petrol-price-r30-where-the-money-goes/https://thebigfuss.com/en/politics/sa-petrol-price-r30-where-the-money-goes/Wed, 07 Oct 2026 17:58:01 +0000Amadou SarrTaxes, levies, a fund the Auditor-General keeps flagging, and a court ruling about bribes and the sale of the country's emergency oil. This is what sits inside every litre you pay for, and what nobody has fixed.Why is my bank account negative when I don't have an overdraft?https://thebigfuss.com/en/explained/why-is-my-bank-account-negative/https://thebigfuss.com/en/explained/why-is-my-bank-account-negative/Wed, 07 Oct 2026 14:48:38 +0000Amadou SarrIt happens at FNB, Capitec, Standard Bank, Absa, Nedbank, TymeBank and Discovery Bank. The cause is almost always sitting on your statement. Here is how to find it, fix it and stop it coming back.What is pneumonic plague? How it spreads, how fast it kills and how it is curedhttps://thebigfuss.com/en/explained/what-is-pneumonic-plague/https://thebigfuss.com/en/explained/what-is-pneumonic-plague/Wed, 07 Oct 2026 14:48:38 +0000Claire DuboisIt caused some of the deadliest outbreaks in history. Today a cheap course of antibiotics can stop it. Here is what pneumonic plague is, in plain words, with the facts from the WHO and the CDC.Ramaphosa says no part of South Africa can leave. A majority in the Western Cape still want a vote on ithttps://thebigfuss.com/en/politics/western-cape-independence-capexit/https://thebigfuss.com/en/politics/western-cape-independence-capexit/Wed, 07 Oct 2026 14:48:38 +0000Amadou SarrCape independence was long a fringe idea. Now the president answers questions about it in Parliament, a party with seats has taken in the movement, and its leader is asking Washington for help.Orcas and rare sharks are turning up off Mozambique as a super El Niño buildshttps://thebigfuss.com/en/world/super-el-nino-south-africa/https://thebigfuss.com/en/world/super-el-nino-south-africa/Wed, 07 Oct 2026 14:38:28 +0000Mateo RuizScientists on a Mozambique island went from seeing zero orcas to seeing them every week. Meanwhile forecasters say the Pacific is brewing an El Niño stronger than anything on record.He says he has slept 30 minutes a night for 17 years. Then the cameras stayed onhttps://thebigfuss.com/en/viral/japan-30-minute-sleeper-daisuke-hori/https://thebigfuss.com/en/viral/japan-30-minute-sleeper-daisuke-hori/Wed, 07 Oct 2026 12:10:00 +0000Lucía FerrerSnoring on a massage table, a sudden change of rules, a famous doctor calling it a failure. Now people say he collapsed on day 4. Is he a genius of sleep, or did his body finally win?She spent 500 days alone in a cave and came out sure only 160 had passedhttps://thebigfuss.com/en/viral/beatriz-flamini-500-days-cave/https://thebigfuss.com/en/viral/beatriz-flamini-500-days-cave/Wed, 07 Oct 2026 12:10:00 +0000Claire DuboisShe knitted hats, read 60 books, fought off a swarm of flies and heard sounds that were not there. When her team arrived to end it, she did not want to leave.A co-pilot attacked his captain with an axe at 34,000 feet. The captain's last move saved 174 passengershttps://thebigfuss.com/en/world/flydubai-copilot-cockpit-attack/https://thebigfuss.com/en/world/flydubai-copilot-cockpit-attack/Wed, 07 Oct 2026 12:10:00 +0000Claire DuboisFlight FZ 1073 was two hours out of Dubai when it dropped like a stone. The captain was on the floor, bleeding and half blind. What he did next, and who was sitting in the cabin, is why 174 passengers walked off that plane.He did everything right and FNB still has him at minus R7,000. Now a flood of customers say it happened to them toohttps://thebigfuss.com/en/viral/fnb-negative-balance-customers/https://thebigfuss.com/en/viral/fnb-negative-balance-customers/Wed, 07 Oct 2026 12:10:00 +0000Amadou SarrCustomers with no overdraft say their FNB accounts are going negative, getting fixed, then going negative again. Nobody can tell them why, and the pile of stories keeps growing.He left Hull in 1998 to walk around the world. Now he is 400 km from his mum's front doorhttps://thebigfuss.com/en/viral/karl-bushby-walk-around-the-world/https://thebigfuss.com/en/viral/karl-bushby-walk-around-the-world/Wed, 07 Oct 2026 12:10:00 +0000Mateo RuizHe crossed the frozen Bering Strait, got banned from Russia, swam the Caspian Sea and was refused the Channel Tunnel. His mum already knows what she will say when he reaches her gate.Karoline Leavitt quit the White House to be a mom. Now she's unloading on Democratshttps://thebigfuss.com/en/politics/karoline-leavitt-unfiltered/https://thebigfuss.com/en/politics/karoline-leavitt-unfiltered/Wed, 07 Oct 2026 12:10:00 +0000Amadou SarrShe left the briefing room in August saying her kids came first. Since then she has told Hannity viewers that Democrats want to end America, signed with Fox News and split the internet in two.The man who saw 2008 coming says the stock market is in denial, and he gave it 9 monthshttps://thebigfuss.com/en/world/michael-burry-crash-warning/https://thebigfuss.com/en/world/michael-burry-crash-warning/Wed, 07 Oct 2026 12:10:00 +0000Mateo RuizHe bet against the housing market before 2008 and made his investors $700 million. He has also called crashes that never came. Now he has put a timer on this one.Stop eating and your body starts eating itself. One man won a Nobel Prize for proving ithttps://thebigfuss.com/en/food/ohsumi-autophagy-fasting/https://thebigfuss.com/en/food/ohsumi-autophagy-fasting/Wed, 07 Oct 2026 12:10:00 +0000Lucía FerrerYoshinori Ohsumi starved yeast cells and watched them eat themselves. Now millions of people skip breakfast hoping to switch on the same cleanup crew. Here is what the science says.Not plague at all? The chilling theory about what really killed the Irkutsk lab workerhttps://thebigfuss.com/en/world/rand-paul-irkutsk-not-plague/https://thebigfuss.com/en/world/rand-paul-irkutsk-not-plague/Wed, 07 Oct 2026 12:10:00 +0000Amadou SarrRussia has almost certainly read the germ's genetic code, says MIT's Kevin Esvelt. So why won't it name it? Here is the theory, the words behind it, and why a senator who spent years chasing lab leaks is paying attention.Somebody in Ontario is sitting on a $40 million lottery ticket, and it dies on 28 Octoberhttps://thebigfuss.com/en/viral/unclaimed-40-million-lotto-max/https://thebigfuss.com/en/viral/unclaimed-40-million-lotto-max/Wed, 07 Oct 2026 12:10:00 +0000Mateo RuizThe ticket matched all seven numbers in October 2025. Nobody has come forward, the lottery says it has no idea who bought it, and the clock runs out on 28 October.America just told its citizens in Russia to get out, and this time the warning names the plaguehttps://thebigfuss.com/en/world/us-embassy-leave-russia-plague/https://thebigfuss.com/en/world/us-embassy-leave-russia-plague/Wed, 07 Oct 2026 12:10:00 +0000Claire DuboisBehind closed doors in Washington, officials are racing to work out what killed a Siberian plague lab worker. Russia is not saying much. The embassy's message to Americans is short and blunt.SpongeBob, Batman, Harry Potter and CNN now have the same boss. Meet Skydancehttps://thebigfuss.com/en/viral/warner-bros-paramount-merger-skydance/https://thebigfuss.com/en/viral/warner-bros-paramount-merger-skydance/Wed, 07 Oct 2026 12:10:00 +0000Lucía FerrerThe famous Warner Bros water tower already carries a new name. Fans want to know what happens to HBO Max, their favourite shows and their monthly bill, and the new owners are not saying much yet.Tennessee gave her two lethal doses. A week later, Christa Pike is awake and talkinghttps://thebigfuss.com/en/viral/christa-pike-survived-execution/https://thebigfuss.com/en/viral/christa-pike-survived-execution/Wed, 07 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000Mateo RuizWitnesses heard her singing, then snoring, as Tennessee's execution fell apart. Now the state's prison chief has quit, executions are frozen, and nobody knows if the law lets them try again.A CIA officer invented secret missions and walked away with nearly $200 millionhttps://thebigfuss.com/en/viral/cia-gold-bars-200-million-fraud/https://thebigfuss.com/en/viral/cia-gold-bars-200-million-fraud/Wed, 07 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000Mateo RuizHe made up classified programs, approved them himself and turned government money into gold bars, Rolexes and Florida mansions. On Tuesday the former CIA officer admitted it in court.Inside the Siberian plague lab where a 28-year-old technician diedhttps://thebigfuss.com/en/world/inside-irkutsk-plague-institute/https://thebigfuss.com/en/world/inside-irkutsk-plague-institute/Wed, 07 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000Claire DuboisMarmots, mountain steppes and hundreds of plague strains. This is the institute Darya Shipilova worked for, and the questions it still has not answered.Ebola reaches Kenya as a sick man flies home to Nairobi and dies two days laterhttps://thebigfuss.com/en/world/kenya-first-ebola-case/https://thebigfuss.com/en/world/kenya-first-ebola-case/Wed, 07 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000Claire DuboisA Kenyan man who had lived in DR Congo for seven years flew home already sick and died in Nairobi. Here is how far Congo's outbreak has spread, and how worried the rest of us should be.Man City's rivals want their titles wiped and a ban that lasts yearshttps://thebigfuss.com/en/sport/man-city-guilty-punishment/https://thebigfuss.com/en/sport/man-city-guilty-punishment/Wed, 07 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000Mateo RuizAn independent panel found Manchester City guilty of 114 of 115 charges. City have appealed, but rival boardrooms are already pushing for stripped titles, transfer bans and a points deduction spread across several seasons.Is that really Megan Fox? The "unrecognizable" clip that has fans crying surgeryhttps://thebigfuss.com/en/viral/megan-fox-unrecognizable/https://thebigfuss.com/en/viral/megan-fox-unrecognizable/Wed, 07 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000Mateo RuizA year-old clip of Megan Fox talking about her favourite movies landed this month, and the comments got so wild the account switched them off. The truth behind it is more interesting than the rumours.Messi cried on the bus, then scored his last goal for Argentinahttps://thebigfuss.com/en/sport/messi-last-game-argentina/https://thebigfuss.com/en/sport/messi-last-game-argentina/Wed, 07 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000Mateo RuizLionel Messi wept before kickoff, had a hand in all three goals against Benin, and closed 21 years in the sky blue and white with goal number 126. Here is how the night unfolded and what he does next.Should you be worried about the plague in Russia? Straight answers to what everyone is askinghttps://thebigfuss.com/en/world/plague-should-you-worry/https://thebigfuss.com/en/world/plague-should-you-worry/Wed, 07 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000Claire DuboisA young lab worker is dead, nearly 200 people were put under observation and Moscow won't use the word plague. Microbiologists answer the questions people keep typing into Google.In 1979 Moscow blamed bad meat for a deadly anthrax leak. That is why nobody believes "pneumonia" nowhttps://thebigfuss.com/en/world/russia-outbreak-cover-ups/https://thebigfuss.com/en/world/russia-outbreak-cover-ups/Wed, 07 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000Claire DuboisFrom an anthrax cloud over Sverdlovsk to smallpox on the Aral Sea, the Soviet Union spent decades hiding outbreaks. Here is why the Irkutsk death set off alarms, and what would actually calm them.A young lab worker died inside a Siberian plague institute, and Russia won't call it plaguehttps://thebigfuss.com/en/world/russia-plague-scare/https://thebigfuss.com/en/world/russia-plague-scare/Wed, 07 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000Claire DuboisDarya Shipilova worked with some of the world's deadliest bacteria. Russia says she died of pneumonia of unknown origin. Here is what is confirmed, what is rumour, and how worried anyone should be.Trump says he will call Putin about plague, and Russia says there is no plaguehttps://thebigfuss.com/en/world/trump-putin-plague-call/https://thebigfuss.com/en/world/trump-putin-plague-call/Wed, 07 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000Claire DuboisThe US is preparing a formal request for Russia's data, the WHO is asking about a second sick worker, and the call could land on Putin's 74th birthday. Here is where it all stands.His father-in-law was shot in front of his family. Now this farmer says the world is ignoring South Africa's farmershttps://thebigfuss.com/en/politics/south-africa-farm-attacks-leon-lotz/https://thebigfuss.com/en/politics/south-africa-farm-attacks-leon-lotz/Wed, 07 Oct 2026 07:00:00 +0000Amadou SarrLeon Lotz survived three attacks on his farms and lost his father-in-law to another. His story has reignited the fight over farm violence in South Africa, and over who is counting the dead.The wildest parts of John McAfee's life were real. A few weren'thttps://thebigfuss.com/en/viral/john-mcafee-life-true-story/https://thebigfuss.com/en/viral/john-mcafee-life-true-story/Tue, 06 Oct 2026 17:00:00 +0000Mateo RuizA murder investigation, a jungle escape, a faked heart attack and two runs for president. Most of the John McAfee legend is true. Some of it he invented himself.Your daily coffee may be slowing down how fast you agehttps://thebigfuss.com/en/food/coffee-slows-aging/https://thebigfuss.com/en/food/coffee-slows-aging/Tue, 06 Oct 2026 15:30:00 +0000Lucía FerrerResearchers pooled more than 50 studies covering close to 3 million people and found about 1.8 extra years of healthy life. The timing of your cup may matter even more.Five strips of coastline could become the most valuable land on Earth after AIhttps://thebigfuss.com/en/world/mediterranean-climate-land-after-ai/https://thebigfuss.com/en/world/mediterranean-climate-land-after-ai/Tue, 06 Oct 2026 13:00:00 +0000Claire DuboisCalifornia, central Chile, the Mediterranean, the Western Cape and southern Australia share one rare climate. If AI makes work optional, the money may follow.Lucky people aren't born that way. Science says they do these things differentlyhttps://thebigfuss.com/en/viral/how-to-make-your-own-luck/https://thebigfuss.com/en/viral/how-to-make-your-own-luck/Tue, 06 Oct 2026 11:00:00 +0000Mateo RuizA psychologist spent ten years studying people who call themselves lucky. The difference wasn't fate. It was a few habits anyone can copy.