There may be no emails or lolcats later for more than 300 000 people as the FBI shuts off servers used by cyber criminals. The FBI seized the servers in November 2011 during raids to break up a gang of criminals who used viruses to infect more than four million victims.
Ja, and you thought we were joking when we reported earlier this week about the new traffic laws in Cape Town! Turns out that motorists caught using a cell phone in traffic will indeed face a R500 fine, plus have their phone confiscated for a day. Let these stupefied offenders serve as a lesson to you.
Madeleine McCann disappeared when her family went on holiday to Portugal in 2007. Her body has never been found, and her parents are clinging to the belief that she is still alive. This hasn’t stopped a South African man from his mission to find her grave – which he claims he’s just done.
Didier Lombard, the former chief executive of France Telecom, has been indicted by a court in Paris following allegations that he led a “corporate culture of bullying and harassment” which may have lead to more than 30 suicides.
Police are currently on the hunt for a group of thieves that have made of with a box containing about 70 grenades. The grenades were stolen from a delivery bakkie in Hammanskraal near Pretoria. The explosives were being transported from Cape Town.
Lauren Luke, a YouTube personality made famous by offering viewers insightful make-up tips and tutorials, shocked her followers with her latest video in which she appeared bruised and beat-up, the results of domestic abuse. In the video she showed viewers how to effectively hide evidence of a “jealous type of partner.” Click through for the video.
Dozens of men were protesting in Hillbrow, Johannesburg this morning – chanting slogans such as “say no to men abuse.” They claim that they are doing this in a bid to seek protection from their abusive wives, who beat them at home on regular occasions.
A UK man yesterday smashed up an entire cell phone shop in Manchester because they would not give him a refund. Ripping phones from the walls, letting off a fire extinguisher, this guy went all the way. Check him raging against the machine after the jump.
A man has been arrested after his wife was killed with a homemade gun in Springs on the East Rand. The gun was fabricated from legal firearm material, elastic bands, and an iron nail. This is a terrible story, and you have to feel sorry for this guy, but a homemade gun? Really?
The Financial Services Authority (FSA), the regulator of all providers of financial services in the UK, has today confirmed that Barclays was definitely not acting alone, nor was this an isolated case in the authorities’ probe of banks rigging a key interbank interest rate.
Forget the Hawks, we need an exorcist to fight crime in South Africa, although in my opinion, I think the Ghostbusters would do an admirable job. North West human settlements and public safety MEC Nono Maloyi said on Saturday that “Satan has declared war on the people of South Africa.”
I watched this on SKY News this weekend and was truly shaken by it. A millionaire in the states is in court for burning down his own house for insurance purposes. Then, as they tell him he is guilty, he clearly puts something in his mouth and 7 minutes later he collapses and dies. It’s […]
Talking and texting while driving is somewhat of a cultural phenomenon in South Africa. There are those that are law abiding, but there are also those that don’t seem to care, and throw caution to the wind. But now Capetonians will face a R5 000 fine, and have their phone confiscated for a day for transgressing the law, it was reported in the Cape Times this morning.
On the back of news that Barclays bank was punished with a record fine of £290 million by UK authorities for interest rate manipulation, comes the speculation that the crisis, said to involve numerous banks around the world, could help push investors toward South African shores.
Well this is terribly worrying. Yesterday, Barclays bank – one of the biggest banks in the world – was fined a record £290 million for attempting to manipulate the world’s benchmark borrowing rate – the Libor. This is a huge blow to the bank’s reputation and raises questions over the future of chief executive Bob Diamond. Up to 40 other global banks face being named and shamed too.
The Department of Environmental Affairs (read: the South African government) has welcomed (obviously?) the Council of the Global Environment Facility’s approval of R25 million worth of funding aimed at strengthening the current wildlife forensic capabilities in South Africa. The donation will help combat wildlife crimes like rhino poaching.
Earlier this month Vision Of Humanity released its latest Global Peace Index of 158 countries, on it South Africa place 127th. SA dropped 29 places from when it sat at 98 in 2007. Conversely, the world has become more peaceful for the first time in three years.
2oceansViber, Fred, got in contact with us recently about his stolen MacBook Pro, which was grabbed by a thief as Fred confronted him in his bedroom. The thief and the MacBook got away, but Dropbox remained installed. Imagine the surprise when pictures from his stolen Mac started appearing in his DropBox. They tell quite a story. Full (hilarious) gallery inside.
A Cape Town woman has accused four members of New Zealand’s under-20 team, the Baby Blacks, of gang rape at the Southern Sun Hotel Newlands on Friday night.
Judgement was handed down yesterday afternoon in the Cape High Court that means that the application for a warrant sought by the Estate Agency Affairs Board to search the offices of Auction Alliance in Cape Town, Durban, and Johannesburg, was temporarily rejected. The auction house won’t be counting its chicken before they hatch, though.
Fruit and Veg City has been taking a social media lambasting from irate consumers that caught the fresh food retailer selling endangered fish species in a few of their stores. Debate was intense, with both customers and Fruit and Veg City getting in on the action. The retailer has since issued an official statement detailing how they plan to handle the situation of endangered fish “slipping through their nets”.
Somalia’s Defense Minister announced today that a South African man and woman, who were captured by Somali pirates 20 months ago, have finally been released.
Over the weekend, an American aircraft carrier group recovered close to 19 000 pounds of marijuana that had been dumped in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of California.
Lee Dyer, one of six men caught on tape in a violent altercation at the Top Gear festival this last weekend, has approached 2oceansvibe with his version of how events unfolded. Dyer insists that he and a friend, Trevor, the two tattooed men standing in the clearing visible in the video, defended themselves against three drunk men […]
Yesterday, the Western Cape High court handed down a judgement that ruled that National Consumer Commissioner, Mamodupi Mohlala-Mulaudzi, acted outside of her powers when she summoned three Auction Alliance executives, including Rael Levitt, to appear before the National Consumer Commission earlier this year. It’s a notable victory for Auction Alliance, but doesn’t rule out a criminal investigation into possible fraud.
Glow sticks burned brightly all over Canada yesterday as optimistic ravers partied at the thought of being able to pick up doses of MDMA at their local government run ecstasy shops. Dr Perry Kendall said that pure MDMA is “safe” when consumed responsibly by adults.
Things have been less than fun with respect to freedom of speech and freedom of expression in the landlocked central African country of Ethiopia in recent years. And they just got worse. Because now a simple 30-second Skype call could land you in jail.
Within the next few days, every single Facebook user will be met with a request for a verified phone number, which will apparently help users “stay in control” of their accounts. This is partially a response to security breaches at LinkedIn, Last.fm and eHarmony, but it’s also because Facebook wants to know more stuff about you.
This is just insane! Police in Texas have released this video of an 18-month-old girl being flung from a getaway car during a high-speed chase. Luckily she escapes unharmed, stands up, and runs after the vehicle through the broken glass and metal scraps.
Headlines like this make me little bit sick, and leave me worrying about the state of tolerance and transformation in South Africa. Thapelo Makutle, a homosexual and transgender man living in Kuruman, was brutally attacked and beheaded in the Northern Cape. Words fail me.