The front and back covers of Michael Jackson’s forthcoming album This Is It.
Photo: Sony Music Entertainment’s Columbia/Epic

Anka gets half of Michael Jackson’s New Single – After claiming Monday morning that he had co-written Michael Jackson’s new single “This Is It,” songwriter Paul Anka has been granted a 50 percent cut of the song. Anka claimed that Jackson stole the original recordings from his studio back in the ’80s and that his estate would be sued if they did not rectify the situation. Fair enough. [tmz] + [*click here to listen to Michael Jackson’s new single.]

Drug war raging in Medellin, Colombia, has seen almost 2,000 killings this year. Gang leader says violence sparked by power vacuum as old bosses arrested. His gang sells cocaine and marijuana and he rules through violence, but he refuses to say which cartel boss is bankrolling his gang. Read this article – it’s radical and carries a warning. [cnn]

Trevor Manuel gets R1.2million BMW – Manuel’s ministry has joined the ranks of the higher education minister, and Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda, and acquired a BMW 750i as his official car. This luxury car cost the tax payer R1 091 450. The vehicle was fitted with accessories – “standard extras” apparently – worth R99 200. [worldpress]

Pimp My Ride : Golf Cart Edition – The Villages is a retirement community in Central Florida that has set a number of records, including largest gated community in the world and — perhaps more impressively — the longest golf cart parade. Retirees often use the carts as a primary mode of transportation on more than 87 miles of golf cart trails. [wired]

Tom Cruise agrees to let Suri go to Catholic school – Baking! Katie Holmes has won a battle with her Scientologist husband Tom Cruise to enrol their daughter Suri in a Catholic pre-school. Tom wanted three-year-old Suri to be raised a Scientologist. But last week Katie enrolled the toddler at the Catholic Charities Yawkey Centre For Early Education And Learning in Boston. [dailymail] [*warning girls – very cute new pics of Suri]

Fred Hatman is making waves – If you’re not following Fred’s blog yet, do yourself a favour and get in there. I had the fright of my life when a pic of me surfaced on his blog this week. That aside, this 50-something year old blogger has a very unique sense of humour and outlook on life. He hails from Durbs and was involved in Buddhism. That’s all I’m telling you for now! [fredhatman]

12 Hottest Geek Girls – There has been a sharp rise recently of so-called geek girls, and the sad fact is that many, if not most, of these women are nothing near geeky. While the elusive geek girl does, in fact, exist, she’s much less common than most would care to admit. Criteria for a proper geek girl include : she must be geeky, she must be a techie, and she must be hot. [manolith]

Oscar Pistorius won’t be prosecuted – Blade runner Pistorius ,22, had to spend a night in a Boschkop police cell nearly a month ago after being arrested at his house in Silver Lakes in Pretoria. Cassidy Taylor-Memmory claimed that she had been assaulted by Pistorius during a party at his home on September 12. [sport24]

8 Most Outrageous Attacks On Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize – Some observers have made reasoned arguments against giving the Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama. And others just went crazy. Here’s a roundup of the most out-there responses: Help us pick the weirdest! [thehuff]

Powerful Women Use Their Vaginas, Not Their Voices – In the October issue of Cosmopolitan Megan Fox declares, “Women hold the power because we have the vaginas… If you’re in a heterosexual relationship and you’re a female you win.” The editors say keeping your mouth shut works too! [jezebel]

The South African Broadband Market is (apparently) at a Watershed – The South African broadband market has shown consistently significant growth rates of over 30.0 per cent in the last two years. Frost & Sullivan expects this positive trend to continue for the next two years as well. Despite the expense of network infrastructure roll-out, the country’s top operators are still engaged in the crucial activity of increasing broadband penetration in South Africa. [redorbit]

New Bar Refaeli Bikini pics – Right here. Right now. [egotastic]

[thanks heinrich]