Aristide Buggers Off And Tells Everyone Else (Obama In Particular) To Do The Same – The US did everything except stamp its foot and declare it forbidden, but nothing was going to stop Jean-Bertrand Aristide from leaving Johannesburg on Thursday night. Not the prospect of his mere presence throwing his country into chaos, and certainly not the South African government. Hey, why was Danny Glover there? [Daily Maverick]

US Military Launches Spy Operation Using Fake Online Identities – The U.S. Military has purchased software designed to create and control false online personas in an attempt to use social media and other websites to counter anti-U.S. messaging. The software would let each user control 10 personas, each “replete with background, history, supporting details, and cyber presences that are technically, culturally and geographically consistent.” Unfriend. [Huffers]

Super Full Moon – Mark your calendar. On March 19th, a full Moon of rare size and beauty will rise in the east at sunset. It’s a super “perigee moon”–the biggest in almost 20 years. “The last full Moon so big and close to Earth occurred in March of 1993,” says Geoff Chester of the US Naval Observatory in Washington DC. “I’d say it’s worth a look.” I bet it is. [NASA]

W.Cape Firefighters Continue To Battle Kleinmond Blaze – Western Cape fire officials on Thursday said that they have brought one vegetation fire in the Overstrand area under control, but are still battling the one at Kleinmond. Officials have been using helicopters to water bomb the flames. [EWN]

Alexander Forbes In Guilty Plea Over Stripping – In a plea bargain deal yesterday, Alexander Forbes admitted guilt on criminal charges for its role in facilitating the stripping of surpluses from numerous occupational retirement funds, mainly to the advantage of sponsoring employers. The saga, known as the Ghavalas-Lifecare option, was named after the architect of the surplus stripping, Peter Ghavalas and the Lifecare hospital group, through whose retirement fund the surpluses were allegedly “laundered”. Blind. [IOL]

Kelly Brook Is Pregnant – The 31-year-old model has announced that she is pregnant with her first child with her rugby player boyfriend Thom Evans. She also revealed that she already knows the sex of the baby. She wrote on her Twitter page: “Thom and I are happy to announce we are expecting a baby girl. We are delighted XXXX.” XoXo [News24]

UN Clears Way For Airstrikes In Libya – The United Nations Security Council on Thursday cleared the way for air strikes to halt Muammar Gaddafi’s offensive against embattled rebel forces in Libya, with the first bombing raids possible within hours. Boom! [IOL]

ANC Mulls Ausie-Style Mines Tax – South Africa was thinking about overhauling its minerals royalties regime to cash in on high commodity prices and could use Australia’s controversial resources tax as a template, a minister said on Thursday. “They have taken the wealth, they’ve taken the gold, they’ve taken everything,” South Africa’s deputy minister for economic development said. “The problem is the golden eggs are not being shared. We must be able to catch up with the commodity boom.” [MiningMX]

Anti-Gaddafi Revolt May Help Get SA To Olympics – South African football’s first step towards the London Olympics could be a walkover, thanks to the uprising against Muammar Gaddafi. Libya are slotted as South Africa’s first opponents in the qualifiers for the 2012 Games, but it is now unlikely that they will turn up for next week’s match in Daveyton, east of Johannesburg. [TimesLive]

“No need” To Fly Out South Africans – Though the US has authorised the evacuation of its citizens from Japan – and France and China are about to evacuate “thousands” of citizens from that country – the Department of International Relations said an evacuation of South Africans was “not needed”. There are between 200 and 500 South Africans living in Japan, many in Tokyo. Most of them have been accounted for. [TimesLive]

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