Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe has today told a small news conference that China has agreed to invest approximately R19 billion in investment projects around South Africa. He’s been on a three-day visit to China, and has avoided all mention of the constant South African headache that is deciding whether the Dalai Lama should get a visa or not.
Facebook has finally admitted that it has been watching the web pages its 750 million members visit. The huge privacy breach was simply a mistake, it says. Software that automatically downloaded to users’ computers when they logged in to Facebook “inadvertently” sent information to the company, whether you were logged in or not.
Mark Esterhuysen is the newsreader who was recently fired from Radio 702 for using the F-word 16 times in a news bulletin. You can listen to his moment of madness here. Everything is going according to script so far, with him being fired the following day and then, just last night, he released the following […]
The Indian game show, Bigg Boss, is comprised of celebrity contestants, and uses roughly the same mechanic as Big Brother. You know, with the “Wizard of OZ pay-no-attention-the-man-behind-the-curtain” voice. Because that happens in reality. Jonty is reportedly pretty keen, because his stint in the fifth show in the series means he gets to see model, Poonam Pandey.
The South African and Vietnamese governments have come together and agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding that will seek ways to stop rhino poaching. Ironically, the Vietnamese officials asked that a domestic medical research institute verify that rhino horn had no medicinal properties, and to make this information public.
Two BBC-made documentaries on Florence Nightingale are currently being sold in the UK as teaching aids. A group of academics, however, have called for them to be recalled. They claim these films demean Miss Nightingale by portraying her as “a manipulative, neurotic and sexually repressed woman who inadvertently killed troops during the Crimean War through medical error.”
Last week, news broke that the state of Texas had decided to move away from the practice of offering prisoners condemned to execution any special last meal. Ironically, Brian Price, a former Texas inmate who cooked the final meals for inmates, and author of “Meals to Die For”, had his offer of free meals turned down.
Well hey, that sounds at least a little familiar. Ivan Lewis, shadow culture secretary is presently proposing a licensing scheme for journalists at the Labour party conference in Liverpool, which would have the power to prohibit people from doing any sort of journalism – which would have to include tweeting, blogging, and uploading pictures of stuff.
Eyewitness News radio bulletins will never be the same again after one newsreader lost it last night and f-bombed all kinds of philosophies to anyone that was listening to the 01h00 news. Anarchist and environmentalist, Mark Esterhuysen, probably won’t be reading the news anymore. NSFW, obviously.
With a name like Doña Maria del Rosario Cayetana Alfonsa Victoria Eugenia Francisca Fitz-James Stuart y Silva, 18th Duchess of Alba, one might excuse her for looking like a struck match. Clearly someone does, seeing as the twice-widowed aristocrat is getting remarried to Alfonso Diez, a man 24 years her junior. The news was announced after she bequeathed every penny she owns, to her children.
The Draft Dangerous Weapons Bill, published recently in the government gazette, has been taking heavy criticism this morning. With a bit of luck, the badly worded document, which seeks to ban things like toy guns, will have statements like this removed: “…any object that can cause injury or have the ability to take a person temporarily ‘out of action.'”
As the “Occupy Wall Street” protests enter their ninth day, an increasing number of videos and photos have begun surfacing, showing near-indiscriminate use of tasers, mace and kenneling by the NYPD on demonstrators, who are protesting a financial system that apparently favours the wealthy and powerful over ordinary citizens.
The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that an Australian technologist, Nik Cubrilovic, has discovered that Facebook is tracking the websites its users visit even when they have logged out of the social networking site. Reactions have been mixed, but is this something we should be that surprised about?
Oh, you’ve only heard of it? Not good enough, my friends. This new puppy is getting a few tongues wagging. Questions are being raised, like: Is it awesome? Is it awful? Is it hot, or am I labouring under the burden of car beer goggles? Well, until such time as you get your hands on […]
South African broadcasters are planning to launch their digital terrestrial television (DTT) offering in April next year. All except the SABC, that is. They want R1,6 billion from the government to make it happen, as well as R90 million for “marketing”, and also another R145 million for a “new digital master control centre.” No word yet on when they are actually going to start making decent shows.
Starting today, praying in the streets of Paris is against the law. The French interior minister warned that police will use force if anybody disobeys the new rule to keep the French capital’s public spaces secular. However, people have been defying the law all morning.
While the world fusses over another American execution, Iran has publicly hanged a 17-year-old boy for stabbing to death their “strongest man”. The boy begged for forgiveness and professed he had done it in self-defence, but not even an 11th-hour plea by Amnesty International for a stay of execution could stop it.
The October issue of Playboy Magazine is on its way and. Readers will be happy to know that yet another South African celebrity features on the cover. It is none other than Eve, South Africa’s unofficial Minister of Domestic Affairs. This awesome image of the cover was posted on journalist Gus Silber’s blog earlier today.
Stellenbosch-based start-up investment firm, World of Avatar, headed by South African online media up-and-comer, Alan Knott-Craig Jnr, has reportedly bought MXit for an undisclosed amount (that some are speculating could be as much as R500 million).
South Africans have one-upped the Aussies again. Brewing giant, SABMiller, has flexed its muscles and laid claim to the iconic Australian brand, Foster’s. The takeover of the Australian beer maker should be complete by the end of the year, and the price tag has been confirmed at $10,2 billion, with a bit of change for some dividends.
I know what you’re thinking. How can such a heavenly beverage be contributing to the current debt crisis? The answer is simple: people are still drinking beer, but they’re doing it from the comfort of their credit card bought couches. Problem is, 73 percent of jobs associated with the European beer industry are in bars and restaurants. BEEEEEER.
In an abrupt turnaround, the Metropolitan police have dropped their attempt to order the Guardian to reveal confidential sources for stories relating to the phone-hacking scandal. They’d hoped to force reporters to reveal confidential sources for articles disclosing information about the murdered teenager, Milly Dowler, whose phone was hacked on behalf of the News of the World.
No longer will we have to utter the words, “you know the area where Beluga / Weylandts / Waterfront Studios and Waltons are?” Because from now on we can simply say “The Foundry.” That is the name that has been given to this neat little neighbourhood which falls within the greater Green Point suburb. “The […]
We enjoy playing the game “just the tip” here at 2oceansVibe. And that’s why I’ve given a few of those tips in the latest issue of Destiny magazine. So if you’re an aspiring blogger and you’re looking for just the tip to get you earning a bit of cash, get this issue. It’s got DJ […]
Independent and Evening Standard owner, Alexander Lebedev showed up in an interview on Russian TV with fellow super-rich-Russian, Sergei Polonsky last night. Apparently Polonsky came off threatening, because midway through the interview, Lebedev’s KGB training kicked in, at which point he proceeded to beat the Russian oligarch.
As GQ’s Best Dressed Man, I would like to put my full support behind this new initiative by SA’s Most Stylish Men’s magazine – GQ’s Best Dressed Reader, 2011! What a great opportunity for the slickest of the slick GQ readers to throw their vibe out there. Are you as slick as you think you are? […]
As South Africa’s free, online money-managing tool, moneysmart will revolutionize the way South Africans manage their finances. The idea behind this fresh and exciting new brand is to shift financial control to you. moneysmart presents a unique platform that provides an innovative approach to aggregating financial data and enables individuals to take control of their […]
A European Union trade pact that dictates that the name “port” may only apply to fortified wines from Portugal will mean that the word will disappear entirely from bottle labels in this country by the beginning of January next year. The move has been on the cards since 2000, when the South African government agreed to stop using it.
A probe into the SABC has revealed that the national broadcaster has been paying for its employees’ M-Net and DStv subscriptions. You can’t really blame the SABC’s employees for preferring non-SABC programming. But it does seem a little silly for the national broadcaster to be forking out for its own staff’s subscription television “privileges”. Especially when online TV is cheaper.
Zurich-based bank, UBS is in the toilet after a very, very naughty little boy or girl engaged in a spot of skullduggerous, unauthorised, and apparently not entirely skillful trading. The cost? A cool $2 billion, and an additional drop of 10% in its share price over the course of today’s early trading alone. UBS had better clench its buttocks. This is going to be a wild ride.