Facebook Shares Drop Below $20 – Facebook shares crumbled again on Thursday, sending the once-feverishly sought-after name below $20 for the first time as investors scrambled to get out of the way of a potential share deluge in coming weeks. [reuters]

Rebekah Brooks Formally Charged With Phone Hacking – Former News International boss Rebekah Brooks has been formally charged over phone hacking, Scotland Yard has said. Mrs Brooks answered bail at Lewisham police station and will appear before Westminster magistrates on 3 September. [bbc]

Kofi Annan Steps Down As Syria Envoy – Kofi Annan, the UN-Arab League special envoy for Syria, announced he is stepping down at the end of the month, chastising the UN Security Council today for continuing to feud while the bloodshed continues in the battle-scarred country. [cbc]

British Cyclist Bradley Wiggins Celebrated His Gold Medal By Getting ‘Blind Drunk’ – Cyclist Bradley Wiggins hit the town last night after becoming the most successful British athlete in the history of the Olympics by winning his seventh medal. He took to Twitter to confirm that he was ‘blind drunk.’ [bizins]

Chad le Clos Brought Princess Charlene Of Monaco To Tears – Bert Le Clos, father of Olympic gold medallist Chad, wasn’t the only South African in tears at the aquatics centre on Tuesday night. Princess Charlene of Monaco was spotted wiping tears from her face during the playing of Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrica as Le Clos stood proudly on the podium. [timeslive]

Phelps Wins 20th Medal – Michael Phelps stormed to a 20th Olympic Games medal on Thursday. Phelps won the 200m individual medley to become the first man to take the same individual swimming gold at three straight Games. [afp]

Australian Rower Arrested After Shop Front Damaged – An Olympic rower for Australia was arrested by police after a shop front was damaged, officials said today. Yes, he was apparently drinking. [telegraph]

The World’s 7 Highest Paid Female Olympians – Some athletes aspire for gold not only for the glory of winning an Olympic medal but also for a generous monetary reward. However, for a select few, endorsement deals have already funded their trip to London and then some. [savsug]

Companies Scramble To Buy Independent News – Several consortiums and companies are bidding to buy Independent News & Media SA, the publishers of The Star, The Cape Times and other titles. [businessday]

DA Claims There Is Proof Of An ‘ANC Plot’ – Yesterday, Western Cape Premier Zille and Cape Town mayor De Lille lodged a complaint with the police saying an explicit threat was made in a memorandum handed to them last week at a march by the ANC Youth League, the ANC Women’s League and local taxi organisations. [timeslive]

Vince Vaughn And Owen Wilson To Play Google Interns – Wedding Crashers duo Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson will play Google interns who are bossed around by managers half their age in The Internship, a comedy set to premiere in 2013. Yes – I’m in! [mashable]

Pentagon Staff Bust Watching Porn – The Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency warned its employees and contractors last week to stop using their government computers to surf the Internet for pornographic sites, according to the agency’s executive director. [bloomberg]

Did you know you can now listen to 2ov Radio on News24?

 

Jimmy Fallon Might Host The Oscars – Comedian Jimmy Fallon is in talks to host the Oscars in February, with “Saturday Night Live” veteran Lorne Michaels producing, three people with knowledge of the discussions said. [latimes]

Pink Floyd Will Perform At The Closing Ceremony – Pink Floyd will perform with Ed Sheeran at the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games. The A Team hitmaker will take to the stage with the psychedelic legends to perform their track Wish You Were Here when the games close in London on 12 August. [channel24]

Everyone Should Stop Saying The Word ‘Hashtag’ – It’s time to take a stand against the spoken hashtag. You know, that awkward habit some of the Twitter-dicted have of saying things like “hashtag are you kidding me?” Here’s how. [cnet]

Samuel L. Jackson’s Insane Twitter Account Proves He Is Team USA’s Most Enthusiastic Fan – As Team USA slides ever further behind China in the race to acquire the most gold necklaces this Olympics, America’s athletes need a cheerleader. A cheerleader who will root for them with passion that is unbridled, unrivaled, and, at times, unsettling. A cheerleader who loves them more than their parents do. Actor Samuel L Jackson is that cheerleader. [gawker]

Tod’s To Restore Rome’s Collosseum – The $30 million restoration of the Colosseum financed by Diego Della Valle – the founder of luxury leather good maker Tod’s – will begin in December. The restoration of the Colosseum will last two and a half years and the ancient monument, which is one of the most visited sites in the world, will be covered in scaffolding but will be accessible to the public throughout. [luxuo]

Trailer For New Brad Pitt, Ray Liotta, James Gandolfini Movie – The first trailer for Andrew Dominiks ‘Killing Them Softly’ arrived today, with Brad Pitt, Ray Liotta, and James Gandolfini playing vague criminal types all after two idiots who rob a mob poker game. [wwtdd]

CLICK HERE to tune in to the holiday…
Only uses 20Mb an hour of data

COMING UP TODAY

The Premier Show With Seth And Bruce 10h00 to 13h00 – Easing you into your Friday, Seth and Bruce discuss the topics of the day, with a smattering of sport, entertainment and finance. It’s Friday Done Jack’s Way and they will be broadcasting live from the  Bioscope Independent Cinema, in the the Maboneng Precinct, Newtown and screening Ferris Bueller’s Day Off to all the Jack Friday winners. [2ovfm]

Melinda Bam In Studio – the 23 year old, Pretoria-born, Miss SA 2012.  Tune in at 14h00 as Angel and Kamini chat to her about the highs and lows of pageanting, as well as dispelling some of the rumours around why she won’t be representing SA at the Miss World. [2girls1mic]

Deena Naidoo On 2 Girls 1 Mic – The promised R8 million in prizes for MasterChef SA is under speculation. Sponsors go under interrogation as South Africans question the actual value of the winnings. Deena Naidoo, once an IT specialist in Durban, will be talking about the experience, what it feels like to own a MondoVino restaurant and his feelings toward these allegations about the competitions prizes. Tune in at 14h30. [2ovfm]

FRESH PODCASTS

Fives Futbol At The V & A Waterfront – Fives Futbol Waterfront is a way that we can bring this “all weather non stop floodlit action” closer to you. Imagine playing your football at the entrance of one of the busiest tourist attractions in Africa. So whether you want to have a social game with a few buddies or create an entire league for your CBD office, Fives Futbol Waterfront is the place to do it. Mark Bayly chats to Dane from Fives Futbol about all the unique activities they offer for adults and kids. [podcast]

How Do You Measure Your Financial Health? – Most people reach retirement and discover the could not actually afford the lifestyle they’ve been living over the past 20 years. Unless you’re making proper provision for retirement, emergency savings, children’s education and medical cover, you actually cannot afford the luxuries. Income is money coming in every month, and balance sheet is actually your wealth. Wealth is determined by what you own. Listen to The podcast where Maya On Money discusses income versus balance sheet. [podcast]