Former Bolshoi Ballet Dancer Says Company Is A ‘Giant Brothel’ – Russia’s world-renowned Bolshoi Ballet has been thrown into the depths of scandal in recent months with stories of brutal acid attacks and death threats against dancers. In a fresh twist, a former dancer has told the press that dancers in the Bolshoi were forced to sleep with wealthy patrons, and said that the current General Manager of the company turned it into a “giant brothel.” [busins]

R10bn Contract Behind The Dogfight At SAA – The Airbus tender was approved by SAA’s board – but this put it at odds with a distinctly unimpressed ministry. [mail&guardian]

YouTube Now Has One Billion Monthly Users – We all know YouTube is the biggest video sharing site around, but how big is it, exactly, when compared to sites such as Facebook or Twitter? Here’s a hint: YouTube has just hit one billion monthly unique users. [mashable]

Hacked PCs Falsify Billions Of Ad Clicks – Online investigators have exposed a network of hijacked computers that defrauded advertisers by generating billions of fake ad views. [fintimes]

Sarkozy Faces Investigation – Former President Nicolas Sarkozy was informed Thursday that he would face a formal investigation into whether he abused the frailty of Liliane Bettencourt, 90, the heiress to the L’Oréal fortune and France’s richest woman, to get funds for his 2007 presidential campaign. [newyorktimes]

North Korean Elite Beating Sanctions – One Plasma TV At A Time – North Koreans appear to be having little trouble taking home the latest cameras, flat-screen TVs and other items from China despite U.N. sanctions that are supposed to make it harder for the country’s elite to enjoy the good things in life. [reuters]

Not Ideal: A Black Mamba Has Escaped At Pretoria Zoo – Infrared cameras are going to be used to try and find the black mamba that escaped from its enclosure at the Pretoria Zoo, Beeld reported on Thursday. [timeslive]

Saturday’s Lottery Has A Staggering R3 Billion Jackpot Prize – The Powerball lottery has rolled over again and is now $320 million (R3 billion). I will be buying some more tickets online here. Ain’t no way I’m going to fuel that beast and pull out at the last moment! To those of you who haven’t been fuelling it and are just jumping on board now – you’re welcome! [tickets]

Australian Prime Minister Survives Ouster Attempt – Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Thursday survived an effort by a senior lawmaker within her own party to oust her from her job, after her predecessor Kevin Rudd, whom she deposed in a 2010 party coup, unexpectedly declined to run against her. [newyorktimes]

Canadian Man To Sell House For Bitcoin Virtual Currency – Entrepreneur Taylor More listed his two-bedroom Alberta bungalow, asking 405,000 Canadian dollars (R3.7 million) – or the equivalent in Bitcoins. [bbc]

Yoko Ono Tweets Provocative Image Of John Lennon’s Bloodstained Glasses – Yoko Ono has entered America’s gun control debate by tweeting a provocative image of John Lennon’s bloodstained glasses alongside messages calling for peace. [telegraph]

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Former Tennis Star Jennifer Capriati Charged With Battery, Stalking – Former tennis star Jennifer Capriati has been ordered to appear in a Palm Beach County court to answer allegations she sent hundreds of texts to an ex-boyfriend and then punched him four times while he was working out. [orsen]

Scientists Say a Duck Has Fathered a Chicken – The Turducken — a duck stuffed inside a chicken stuffed inside a turkey — is a mythical culinary beast and the dream entree of Thanksgiving obsessives everywhere. And now, science is on its way towards making the Turducken a reality — sort of: a duck has successfully fathered a chicken at the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory in Dubai. [time]

Woman Cites Man’s Penis Size As Reason For Divorce – A Taiwanese couple, a 55-year old man and 52-year old woman, have divorced after four years living in separate apartments following the woman’s wedding night discovery that her new husband’s member appeared to have a severe case of dwarfism. [rocketnews]

French Man Attempts Catch Me If You Can Stunt, Gets Arrested Impersonating Pilot on US Airways Flight – A Frenchman was arrested Wednesday night after he attempted to impersonate a pilot. According to police, the 61-year-old boarded a Florida-bound US Airways flight dressed in an Air France pilot’s uniform and successfully made his way into the plane’s cockpit. [gawker]

40 Percent Of Americans Will Be Freelancers By 2020 – It’s the entrepreneur-age and everyone wants to work for themselves or have enough flexibility in their schedules that it feels as though they’re working for themselves. [busins]

Kim And Kanye’s New Baby Will Be Named… – Kanye West reportedly wants to name his baby with Kim Kardashian “North” because he thinks it sounds good with his last name … so that would make the poor kid North West. Perhaps he’s trying to insinuate that’s where the child was conceived? [yahoo]

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