Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Dies At 58 – A deeply divided Venezuela is mourning its late leader and preparing to pick a new president to replace him. [cnn]
Obama On Chavez: US Supports Venezuelan People – President Barack Obama is affirming American support for the Venezuelan people and a constructive relationship with their government after the death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. [huffpo]
Sean Penn on Hugo Chavez’s Death: ‘I Lost a Friend’ – “Today the people of the United States lost a friend it never knew it had. And poor people around the world lost a champion,” says Penn in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. “I lost a friend I was blessed to have. My thoughts are with the family of President Chavez and the people of Venezuela.” [hollyrep]
Free State: Our Website Budget Was Audited – The Free State has defended the more than R40-million allocated for its website revamp, saying the budget was assessed by the auditor general. [mail&guardian]
FNB Launches dotFNB In Cape Town – First National Bank (FNB) expanded its dotFNB branch footprint by opening its first store in Cape Town at Cavendish Square on Monday. [news24]
Dow Hits All Time High – Almost four years after the bear-market low, the Dow Jones Industrial Average pierced through levels last seen in 2007 to close at a record high of above 14,200 on Tuesday, boosted by an upbeat ISM non-manufacturing index and amid ongoing monetary support from the Federal Reserve. [cnbc]
Microsoft’s Windows Phone Platform To Get BBC’s iPlayer – The BBC has announced it is to bring iPlayer to the Windows Phone platform. [bbc]
China Sets 7.5 % Growth Target – China on Tuesday said it had set a lower 7.5 per cent growth target for 2013, setting its priority on changing its development model and improving the quality of growth rather than achieving a high growth rate. [thehin]
North Korea Vows To Cancel Korean War Cease-Fire Amid Talk Of New Sanctions, Continued U.S. Military Drills – North Korea’s Korean People’s Army Supreme Command made the statement Tuesday amid reports that Washington and North Korean ally Beijing have approved a draft of punishing resolutions that is expected to be circulated among U.N. Security Council members this week. [cbs]
Ghostwriter Turns To Kickstarter To Fund Kim Jong-Il Autobiography – North Korea’s Kim Jong-Il may have died last year, but his life was covered in dozens — if not hundreds — of books produced by the country’s propaganda machine. That’s the source material that professional ghostwriter Michael Malice wants to turn into the world’s first unauthorised autobiography of the Dear Leader. [wired]
Could Dennis Rodman’s North Korea Trip Affect US Policy? – The tale of Dennis Rodman’s bizarre visit to North Korea got a little stranger on Monday, when the former NBA star’s visit to Pyongyang became a topic at both the White House and the State Department. [time]
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Duchess’s Slip Of The Tongue May Have Given Away Baby’s Sex – It was the merest slip of the tongue, but the Duchess of Cambridge may just have given away the sex of her baby as she chatted to a member of the public on a visit to Grimsby on Tuesday. [telegraph]
Playboy Is Launching a Hebrew Language Edition – Big week for Israel: First came news about Palestinian only buses and now an exciting announcement about a Hebrew edition of Playboy. [gawker]
Whitney Houston: FBI releases 128-Page File (+Video) – Whitney Houston’s FBI file includes letters from fans that Whitney Houston found threatening, as well as an attempted extortion attempt that the FBI investigated. [csm]
Ships To Sail Directly Over The North Pole By 2050, Scientists Say – Melting sea ice will allow ice-strengthened vessels to sail directly over the pole, and normal ships to take the ‘northern sea route’ [guardian]
Taylor Swift Has Words for Tina Fey and Amy Poehler – “You know, Katie Couric is one of my favorite people,” Taylor Swift tells Vanity Fair. “Because she said to me there’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women.” [vanityfair]
Fossilised Giant Camel Bone Found In High Arctic – Ancient beast stood almost three metres tall at the hump, about a third higher than its modern descendant. [guardian]
Pearl Jam’s McCready, Guns N’ Roses’ McKagan Form New Band – Rockers team with Screaming Trees’ Barrett Martin for unnamed group. [rollingstone]
Interracial Sex Still Taboo for Many Porn Stars – When it comes to things they won’t do on camera, a surprising number of adult-film stars draw the line at interracial sex. [dailybeast]
Aston Martin Creates $3,000 Luxury Baby Pram [Pics] – Luxury car manufacturer Aston Martin has teamed up with pram company Silver Cross to unveil the ‘world’s most exclusive pram’. [luxuo]
Mr CT, Dylan Moore On 2oVfm – Dylan joins The Bailey Schneider Show from 14h00-15h00 today to chat about the art of blogging in Cape Town. Be sure to tune in! [2ovfm]
Bob’s Weekend Getaways– Tune in to The Mid Week Weekend with bob Skinstad and Dan Green from 15h00-17h00 today where they’ll be running their weekly Kia Weekend getaway competition, treating one listener to a divine weekend away, just 2 hours outside of Cape Town or Johannesburg. Tune in to find out how you can win! [kiaweekendgetaway]
FRESH PODCASTS
Digby & The Lullaby Acoustic Set – Darren and Rochelle, of Digby and The Lullaby fame, joined Josie in studio for an incredible acoustic set this past Monday.The two tell us of how they met, which was via a very lucky set of events in PE, and three years later the pair are still making beautiful music together. They describe their sound as an honest form of folk music- but prefer to keep the story behind their name a secret! In between some stunning acoustic songs, they tell us about their most memorable gigs and where they are heading to in the future. Don’t miss out on what is one of our favourite acoustic sets in the 2oV studio, by the most romantic married couple! [podcast]
