Olympic Runner Auctions Ad-Space On His Body – Olympian Nick Symmonds, a vocal critic of what he calls track and field’s needlessly restrictive logo and sponsorship regulations, is auctioning advertising space on his body to raise money — and awareness. Symmonds, currently the U.S. national champion in the 800 meters, will wear the winning bidder’s Twitter handle on his left shoulder for the duration of the 2012 season, which starts next month and includes events in Sydney and the 2012 Olympic Games in London. [wired]
Beyonce And Jay Z Welcome Baby Girl – Blue Ivy Carter – BABY-ONCÉ finally has a name — Blue Ivy Carter. Music royalty Beyonce and Jay-Z welcomed the baby girl in a private wing of Lenox Hill Hospital, the E! network reported Sunday. The baby’s name was originally reported by E! as Ivy Blue. [nydailynews]
SA Broadband Price Drop Expected – Consumers can look forward to even cheaper broadband prices, with many new undersea cables set to come online within the next 18 months. It is unclear how much of a decrease is likely, but talk in the industry is of a 10% to 20% drop in local prices, which are regarded as being among the highest in the world. [mail&guardian]
Investigators Confirm Body On Queen’s Estate Is Missing Girl – Alisa Dmitrijeva’s remains were spotted by a dog walker in woods on farmland near Anmer, about a mile from the main gate to Sandringham House. Following forensic tests, police identified the victim, who went missing from her home in August. [dailymail]
Zuma’s “Lack Of Detail” Leaves Analysts Unimpressed – President Jacob Zuma relived the African National Congress’s (ANC’s) proud past in his keynote speech yesterday but critics said he failed to outline a vision for the ruling party, plagued by internal divisions that threaten to dent its credibility. Mr Zuma’s address, as the ANC turned 100 yesterday, had been expected to map out a vision for the future. Instead he focused mainly on the anti-apartheid struggle. [businessday]
BP Accidentally Include Protesters In Latest Commercial [Video] – It might be lesson one of putting together any ad spot: scrub away anything that might make your company look bad. Especially if your company already looks bad. But in its latest ad, which promotes the company’s continuing cleanup efforts after the Gulf Coast oil spill, BP apparently missed the shot that shows a group of anti-BP protesters picketing against the oil company. [time]
Mandla Mandela In More Hot Water – Fresh on the heels of a bigamy case against him, Chief Mandla Mandela’s woes are set to intensify. His first wife, Tando Nodayimane-Mandela, has instructed lawyers to file a contempt-of-court charge against him for proceeding with his latest wedding to Mbalenhle Makhathini over the festive season despite a court order barring him from doing so. [timeslive]
Study Insists Men Will Always Cheat – A provocative new study shows that men who don’t cheat are setting themselves up for ‘socially-compelled sexual incarceration.’ Men who cheat, however, gives them the best of both worlds, sociologist Eric Anderson says. And most of them who do still want to stay with their partner – they just want to have more sex on the side. [dailymail]
Kate Turns 30 With Low Key Celebrations – The Duchess of Cambridge is planning a low-key celebration for her 30th birthday today after a rather busy year. In the past 12 months Kate Middleton has married a prince, joined him on a royal tour of Canada, met world leaders and spent Christmas at Sandringham with the Queen. On the final day of her 20s, the Duchess attended her first film premiere as a royal – braving the rain on the red carpet for the opening of Steven Spielberg’s War Horse in London. [skynews]
Malema Accused Of Land Fraud – Businessman Matane Mphahlele has opened a criminal case against Malema, lawyer Maboku Mangena, Clifford Motsepe, the head of Limpopo’s housing department, as well as senior municipal officers, City Press reported. According to Mphahlele, Malema illegally transferred the plot into his own name in 2007 and resold it the following month for more than three times the price. Not great. [timeslive]
London Gets Europe’s Biggest-Ever Wi-Fi Hotspot – Mobile operator O2 said it’s setting up the public network at no cost to British taxpayers. The deal to provide the service was struck between between O2, the Westminster City Council and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to “ensure that the millions of visitors that come to the city have the best experience possible and can make the most of what London has to offer.” [mashable]
New Zealand Hot Air Balloon Accident Kills 11 – New Zealand police are investigating why a hot air balloon hit electrical wires and crashed in flames two days ago, killing 11 people. After flames erupted, a male and a female jumped from the basket to their deaths and the craft made a sharp ascent before crashing to the ground and killing those still on board. [businessweek]
More Consumers Watching TV Online – For consumers, “watching television” no longer means sitting in front of a traditional television set. A full 20 percent of consumers have either dropped a paid television subscription, also known as “cutting the cord,” or are prepared to do so because they “can watch all or most of [their] favorite TV shows online,” according to Deloitte’s recently published State of Media Democracy survey. [thedaily]
Kallis Climbs Back To Second Spot In ICC Rankings – Jacques Kallis has climbed back to second position in the world rankings for batsmen and all-rounders, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on Sunday. Kallis (36) had dropped to fourth among batsmen and fifth in the all-rounders’ list, but a magnificent effort in his 150th Test saw him rising in both tables. [mail&guardian]
Rare 1c Coin Sells For Over $1 Million – Talk about a lucky penny. It was actually worth $1 million. That was the final bid by an unknown buyer for the one-cent copper coin minted in 1793, the first year the United States produced its own coins. Its sale was one of the biggest deals at the coin show and annual convention of the Florida United Numismatics at the Orange County Convention Center. [bosher]
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