‘Nothing Left’ Of R500,000 Pinnacle Point Membership Fee – The owner of Cape Point Vineyards, Sybrand Van Der Spuy, told the insolvency inquiry into JSE-listed group Pinnacle Point in Cape Town on Tuesday that he and 120 other investors paid R500 000 each to become a platinum club member, which gave them exclusive use of a motorised yacht and complimentary food and beverages at the group’s luxury resorts. [mail&guardian]

Virgin Active Defends Brand In Racism Row – Two complaints of racism at Virgin Active gyms in Johannesburg have been dealt with, Virgin Active SA said on Tuesday. “I have taken personal responsibility to review the facts and whether any further course of action is required,” managing director Ross Faragher-Thomas said. This new scandal comes not long after gay sexual assault claims were made following an incident in a Virgin Active gym involving a Supersport presenter. [news24 + sport24]

Top Durban ANC Names In Fraud Report – Ethekwini’s former mayor, Obed Mlaba, former municipal manager Michael Sutcliffe, several department heads and many employees have been named in a probe into corruption. [businessday]

California’s Same-Sex Marriage Ban Deemed Unconstitutional – A U.S. federal appeals court on Tuesday declared California’s same-sex marriage ban to be unconstitutional, putting the bitterly contested, voter-approved law on track for a likely appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. [cbc]

Rooney Mara Keeps Nipple Pierced – Rooney Mara is keeping her nipple pierced — for practical reasons. “I don’t want to re-pierce that, should we do the other two films,” the Best Actress nominee for “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” said at yesterday’s Oscar nominee luncheon at the Beverly Hilton. [thedaily]

Google Unveils “Solve For X” – “The Solve for X gathering, which we co-hosted with Eric Schmidt, is a place to celebrate a concept we champion internally and that we believe will inspire many others: technology moonshots. These are efforts that take on global-scale problems, define radical solutions to those problems, and involve some form of breakthrough technology that could actually make them happen.” [google]

The Bush Administration’s Secret Link To North Korea – Communicating with the Hermit Kingdom is never easy, and often requires ‘track two’ diplomacy. The Bush administration sometimes used an informal envoy with an unusual pedigree. [dailybeast]

Indonesia Pilot Tests Positive For Crystal Meth – Lion Air’s slogan “We make you fly” came a bit too close to home this weekend when one of the Indonesian airline’s pilots tested positive for crystal meth after being arrested just hours before he was due to take off. [msnbc]

Harry Potter Slept With Numerous Groupies – Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe is continuing on his quest to shed his squeaky clean image. The British actor has implied he engaged in one-night stands with groupies, despite declaring his love for girlfriend Rosie Coker. Daniel, 22, said he is nervous of sleeping with groupies because of the insipid pillow talk that usually follows afterwards. [dailymail]

US Drone Kills Eight In Pakistan – U.S. drone-fired missiles hit a house in Pakistan’s northwest tribal region near the Afghan border Wednesday, killing eight people, Pakistani intelligence officials said. The U.S. does not publicly discuss details of the covert CIA-run drone program in Pakistan. [associated]

Madonna Announces World Tour – Madonna has announced a world tour in support of her new album, MDNA. The pop icon will kick off the tour with a concert in Tel Aviv, Israel on May 29th, and from there will move on Abu Dhabi and Istanbul before making her way through Europe. She will eventually arrive in North America and conclude that leg in Miami, though specific dates have not yet been revealed. [rollingstone]

Last World War 1 Veteran Dies – A woman thought to be the world’s last known surviving service member of World War I has died aged 110. Florence Green, from King’s Lynn, Norfolk, served as a mess steward at RAF bases in Marham and Narborough. [bbc]

French Director Detained In Israel – Claude Lanzmann, director of the famed Holocaust documentary ‘Shoah,’ was detained at Ben-Gurion Airport after allegedly trying to hug and a kiss a female employee. Not ideal. [dailybeast]

Amanda Knox Appeals Slander Conviction – Lawyers for Amanda Knox, who was cleared of murder in October by an Italian court, on Monday asked an appeals court there to overturn her slander conviction as well, a spokesman said. [reuters]

Greenpeace Rates Google Best – On Tuesday, the big-name environmental-rights outfit unveiled its annual ranking of the tech giants working hardest to combat climate change and shift their operations to renewable energy sources. It’s called the “Cool IT Leaderboard,” and this year’s leader is Google, which scores a mere 53 points out of 100. Cisco, last year’s leader, dropped to second, with 49 points. [wired]

The Superbowl Served A Record 2.1 Million Live Streams – More than 2.1 million viewers watched Super Bowl XLVI via live streams. While this paled in comparison to the game’s record-breaking 111.3 million broadcast viewers, it still set a viewership record for online sporting streams. [mashable]