Thursday 19 May 2011

Thursday Morning Spice


Camps Bay Voting Station – a real pulse of the nation
Local Government Elections – With just 131 071 votes counted by midnight on Wednesday, the ruling party had 55,76% of the vote for wards and the Democratic Alliance came in at 33,48%. The ANC had 71 847 votes cast so far and the DA had 43 146, across various wards in the country. [mail&guardian]
Mandela Changed His Vote: Cope – “Mandela has voted Cope. I’m convinced,” said Preddy Mothopeng in a text message to Sapa on Wednesday. ”For the first time in his political career he made a secret vote, changing his voting announcement.” He said Mandela voted for his party because its leader Mosiuoa Lekota was still “serving” the cause they both believed in. [timeslive]
Schwarzenegger’s Son With Housekeeper Born Days After Shriver Son - A son fathered by Arnold Schwarzenegger with his housekeeper was born less than a week after Maria Shriver gave birth to another Schwarzenegger son, according to birth records. The mother was Mildred Patricia Baena, who worked for two decades as housekeeper for the Schwarzenegger family. [chicagotribune]
Dominique Strauss-Kahn Resigns – Dominique Strauss-Kahn resigned Wednesday as head of the International Monetary Fund after explosive allegations that he had sexually attacked a cleaning lady in a midtown Manhattan hotel room. Mr. Strauss-Kahn, a former French finance minister, had been expected to declare his candidacy for the French presidency soon. He was seen as the figure most likely to oust President Nicolas Sarkozy. [newyorktimes]
Christine Lagarde Tipped To Replace Strauss-Kahn - Her straight talk has helped burnish Ms. Lagarde’s reputation as one of Europe’s most influential ambassadors in the world of international finance. And now it is helping to make Ms. Lagarde, 55, perhaps the leading candidate to succeed her friend and colleague Dominique Strauss-Kahn (DSK) as head of the International Monetary Fund. [newyorktimes]
Housekeeper Will Testify Against Strauss-Kahn – We must be clear this is in no way connected to Schwarzenegger’s housekeeper. The maid who has accused International Monetary Fund (IMF) head Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault is “scared” but will testify against him, her lawyer says. He said there was “nothing consensual about what took place in that hotel room” in New York on 14 May. [bbc]
Strauss-Kahn ‘Aggressive’ With Callgirls – Dominique Strauss-Kahn was once a client of a notorious New York madam, one of whose call girls complained about his aggressive behaviour, it was claimed last night. Kristin Davis, 35, claims the IMF chief used the services of her Wicked Models escort agency twice in 2006, she told The Times. [dailymail]
Tiger Woods Out Of Top 10 - Woods, whose last win came 18 months ago at the Australian Masters, will drop to at least No. 11 in the next world ranking published Monday. It will be the first time he is out of the top 10 since he was No. 13 on April 6, 1997, the week before he won the Masters for the first of his 14 majors. [stuff]
Photos Capture Dramatic Rescue Of Jilted Bride – Dramatic photos tell the tale: A young woman in China dressed in a wedding gown tried to jump to her death from a high-rise but was saved by people inside the building. The 22-year-old had been recently jilted by her fiance, according to local media. [newser]
Bin Laden Tape Surfaces, Celebrating Revolutions - Al Qaeda released a posthumous audio recording by Osama bin Laden in which the Islamist group’s leader praised revolutions sweeping the Arab world, and called for more “tyrants” to be toppled. Islamists have often been conspicuous by their absence in the uprisings largely led by ordinary citizens angered by autocratic rule, corruption and economic mismanagement. [reuters]
Lady Gaga Is The Most Powerful Person In Entertainment - Move over Oprah! Lady Gaga has lobster clawed her way past the daytime talk show titan to be crowned the Most Powerful Person In Entertainment, topping the annual Forbes Celebrity 100 list. And she can thank Twitter and Facebook for that. [idolator]
LinkedIn Valued At $4.24 Billion - LinkedIn Corp.’s initial public offering roared out of the gates, pricing at $45 a share, the high end of underwriters’ expectations, and giving the professional networking website a value of $4.25 billion. But none of that deterred investors on Wednesday, who gobbled up shares of an offering led by Morgan Stanley, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. [wallstreetjournal]
Obama Selling Birth Certificate T-Shirts – The Obama campaign is selling T-shirts on its website that show Obama’s face on the front along with the words “Made in the USA.” On the back is an image of the president’s long-form birth certificate from Hawaii — the one the White House finally produced in April. [associated]
Sugar Ray Leonard Sexually Abused By Coach - The former boxing champion Sugar Ray Leonard, regarded as one the sport’s greatest exponents, has revealed that he was sexually abused as a teenager by a prominent Olympic coach. Leonard, a stylish fighter who won titles in five different weight divisions, makes the claim against the unnamed coach in his autobiography, to be published next month. [independent]
Queen Refuses Pint Of Guinness - The Queen paid a visit to one of Dublin’s top tourist attractions – the Guinness Storehouse – as part of her state visit to Ireland on Wednesday, but she appeared to refuse the chance to sample a pint of the country’s national drink. [metro]
Egyptian Saif Al-Adel Is New Leader Of Al Qaeda - An Egyptian who was once a Special Forces officer has been chosen “caretaker” leader of al Qaeda in the wake of Osama bin Laden’s death, according to a source with detailed knowledge of the group’s inner workings. Al Qaeda’s interim leader is Saif al-Adel, who has long played a prominent role in the group. [cnn]
Thursday Is “Vote For Table Mountain” Day - Table Mountain is at the bottom of the final 28, in the running to be one of the new seven wonders of nature. Table Mountain needs YOU to vote at least every Thursday. We need 30 million votes to make the final 7.  You can vote on the website or by SMSing the word ‘table’ to 34874 (SMS cost R2). You can vote once on the website and as many times as you want on SMS. come on, gang, let’s do this thing!  [votefortablemountain.com]

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