White Blonde FHM Model Wins Miss South Africa – Melinda Bam, a 22-year-old Pretoria University B Comm marketing student and former FHM model has been crowned the new Miss SA in a glamorous event at Sun City. Her first princess is Remona Moodley, 22, and second princess Thuli Sangwini, 21. White, Indian and Black. Tick, tick, tick. [channel24]
Kwazulu-Natal Woman Executed In China – Janice Bronwyn Linden, 35, from KwaZulu-Natal, was arrested in November 2008 for smuggling 3kg of crystal meth. It was confirmed on Monday morning that Linden had been executed, after being allowed to say goodbye to her two sisters. According to Chinese practice, Linden would not have been told of her execution until this morning. Mellow. [timeslive]
Telkom To Issue New 8ta Tender As Deadlines Are Missed – Telkom plans to issue a second multibillion-rand tender to build parts of a network for 8ta, its struggling cellphone company, after the Chinese company that was contracted to do the work failed to meet deadlines. Launched in October last year, 8ta is expected to report an earnings loss of R2,2bn for the year to March. [businessday]
Spoiler Alert: X-Factor Winner Announced – Little Mix have been crowned this year’s X Factor winners – the first group to win the singing contest. The band, made up of Jade Thirlwall, 18, Perrie Edwards, also 18, Jesy Nelson, 20, and Leigh-Anne Pinnock, 19, beat Marcus Collins to take the title. Their first single, a cover of Damien Rice’s Cannonball, will be released digitally from Monday. [bbc]
UN Climate Deal Finally Struck In Durban – After two weeks of chaos, infighting and mistrust, it’s finally happened. All 196 countries cleared the text for a landmark deal at the Climate Summit in Durban. The breakthrough capped 13 days of hectic negotiations that saw high tension and drama between the developed and the developing nations. [ibnlive]
Britain’s Deputy Prime Minister Furious With David Cameron – Britain faces being reduced to the status of a “pygmy” nation after David Cameron’s decision to veto a new EU treaty, Nick Clegg has warned. He issued an angry condemnation of the Prime Minister, laying bare the simmering tensions within the Coalition over Europe. [telegraph]
Warren Buffett Officially Names Farmer Son Howard As Successor – In an interview with 60 Minutes that will air this Sunday, Warren Buffett announces his choice of son Howard – or “Howie”, as he’s known in the family – as his successor at Berkshire Hathaway. The elder Buffett tells interviewer Leslie Stahl that his son will serve as a “guardian” of the company’s “values” rather than a CEO. [abcnews]
Justin Bieber Records Messages For Girl Fans’ Dads – Justin Bieber has filmed a video message aimed at the fathers of his young fans, insisting he is a good influence on their daughters. The Baby pop star has made a light-hearted promotional film for his female fragrance Someday and speaks directly to dads, urging them not to disapprove if their girl has a crush on him. [starpulse]
Mass Protests In Russia – Tens of thousands of people in Moscow and thousands more in cities across Russia demanded an end to Vladimir Putin’s rule and a rerun of a parliamentary election on Saturday in the biggest opposition protests since he rose to power 12 years ago. [reuters]
Putin Sends Blonde Russian Babes To collect Confucius Peace Award – Confucius rolled in his grave yesterday as the media trainwreck surrounding the peace prize given in his name culminated for the year with a quiet ceremony honouring this year’s winner, Russian prime minister (and soon-to-be president) Vladimir Putin. [shanghalist]
Panama Dictator Goes To Jail – Former military dictator Manuel Noriega has returned to Panama to immediately begin serving a 20-year jail term for the murders of opponents during his rule. Noriega, now 77, was toppled in a US invasion of Panama in 1989, has spent the last two decades behind bars, first in Florida and then in France after being convicted of drug trafficking and money laundering during his time in power. [skynews]
Michael Jackson’s Hair Used As Roulette Ball – The gambling website OnlineGamblingPal.com dropped $10,871 for a sample of entombed pop star Michael Jackson’s old hair. Why so much? Because that’s the going market rate for the amount of Michael Jackson hair you can see if you follow the link. Also, they saw the hairball’s potential—as a roulette ball. [gawker]
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