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Cornel Hrisca-Munn was born a tiny scrap of a thing in December 1991 with no forearms and a severely deformed right leg. His mother screamed in horror when she saw him. A doctor gave him days to live, so no birth certificate was ever issued. Instead, even before his first feed, he was taken 35 miles away to an institution in the Romanian countryside. There he was dumped in a battered metal cot in a bare room crammed full of other unwanted or disabled babies, given a little milk and left to die.

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Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) councillor Marcia Socikwa said that the mobile operators have sufficient spectrum, and that they need to optimise the network and improve quality of service. World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck called this argument absurd.

Speaking on an SAFM interview, Socikwa said that “this is the way it really is. The cry for additional spectrum by the mobile operators surprises me, because they have sufficient spectrum from where we are sitting”.
“All they need to do is invest in optimising the network and improve quality of service. Then we will have a further conversation about whether they need more spectrum,” said Socikwa.
“For now, we don’t think they do until they can improve on these two parameters.”

Vodacom spokesperson Richard Boorman dismissed Socikwa’s views, arguing that they situation is not so straight forward.
“We have been talking about digital dividend spectrum for years now, and still it has not happened,” said Boorman.
“There is some very attractive spectrum which can be put to good use for the people of South Africa, and just need the regulations to go through and free up the spectrum,” said Boorman.
“We have a natural resource that we are not using at the moment,” said Boorman.

Arthur Goldstuck called Socikwa’s argument absurd. “I would love to hear the basis of suggesting that the networks have enough spectrum when we have seen how they had to jump through hoops to start rolling out LTE.”
“They had to re-farm spectrum designed for 3G to roll out LTE, and ICASA’s argument holds no water whatsoever,” said Goldstuck.
“There is a desperate need for spectrum, and if you want to see where spectrum is not used effectively all you have to do is look at Telkom. They have huge allocations of spectrum which is not being used.”

Socikwa retorted, saying that the only reason why the mobile operators are re-farming spectrum for LTE is because they are not getting extra spectrum.
“If we keep dishing out spectrum to the major operators, it means that we cannot allow new entrants into the market,” said Socikwa.
Socikwa said that they want to see the efficiency measures from the mobile operators before they hand out new spectrum.
“They are not giving us any sense of the value that we are getting from the spectrum which they already have,” said Socikwa.

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It is also a fitting legacy. In many ways, Ferguson’s career — which ended Wednesday as he announced his retirement after more than 26 years in charge at Manchester United — included its own significant portion of Fergie Time. He was initially supposed to retire in 2002 but changed his mind, hung around for another decade and won six more Premier League titles in addition to a European championship.

Finally, though, after the Red Devils secured another title last month, the mercurial Scot decided that he had played on long enough.

“The decision to retire is one that I have thought a great deal about and one that I have not taken lightly,” Ferguson, 71, said in a statement. “It is the right time.”

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Oil, gas tests enrage environmentalists

Johannesburg - Environmentalists are hopping mad following the admission by authorities that preliminary seismic tests had been "quietly" conducted between the Port Elizabeth and Jeffreys Bay shorelines two weeks ago.

The tests follow the granting of a licence to a company prospecting for oil and gas off the Eastern Cape shoreline.

Tests showing possible gas and oil deposits on the sea bed of the entire Eastern Cape coastline have pit economic development against sustainable-environment imperatives.

The discovery of what could be vast gas and oil deposits could forever change the face of the pristine tourism region of the Wild Coast, but also have a huge impact on the Eastern Cape economy and help to reduce South Africa’s reliance on international markets for its energy needs.

Exploration applications are currently being submitted, and the coastline between Port Edward and Jeffreys Bay could become a profitable offshore drilling zone.

But the drilling process will involve blasting on the ocean floor. This worries environmentalists and conservationists, who argue that the huge population of dolphins and whales along this coastline may be destroyed during the blasting process.

The exploration between Port Elizabeth and Jeffreys Bay could be followed by another, including the pristine Wild Coast.

The application to Petroleum Agency SA (Pasa) by Impact Africa aims to extend exploration between Port Alfred and Port Edward.

This area covers more than 45 000km˛, with depths ranging from the shoreline to close to 4 000m deep.

This seismic survey was conducted by New African Global Energy between February and March, following permission from the department of energy in December 2011.

Pasa chief executive Nontsikelelo van Averbeke said the results of this survey would not be made public immediately.

The Wildlife and Environment Society of SA (Wessa) agreed with Pasa that the withholding of such information from the public at this stage was normal practice, as it could affect the price of oil and gas, among other things. But Wessa is nevertheless opposed to the drilling, saying aquatic life, including dolphins and whales, will be adversely affected.

It said the blasting would interfere with these species’ navigation, and could also damage their lungs and cause hearing problems.

"Their bodies could also be damaged by the strong noise and vibration," said Wessa spokesperson Morgan Griffiths.

One conservationist, who declined to be named, said the massive shock waves sent by dynamite shot from air guns during undersea blasting would disturb, or even kill, aquatic life.

Owners of holiday resorts along the coast also said the oil and gas surveys would affect their establishments, and cause huge damage to both the environment and the tourism industry. Another concern is the possibility of oil spills.

Claire Alborough, the spokesperson for Environmental Resources Management, the consultancy that conducted the environmental impact assessment, said if it was agreed to start drilling, based on the survey results, they would enter into the process of public participation and conduct another impact assessment.

Impact Africa declined to comment on the growing controversy surrounding its application.

But it did say that, if given permission to prospect, their exploration would commence next year and it would take about three years to get results.

Claire Kockott, spokesperson for the Wild Coast Jikeleza Association, said: “The problem is always that organisations do not tell the truth and come clean on the negatives. They are only after profits.”

Another row is brewing between environmentalists and developers, coincidentally along the same stretch of Eastern Cape coastline. Government has approved plans to build a nuclear plant at Thyspunt, near Jeffreys Bay.

How drilling is done

During the exercise, more than 50 raw samples will be taken from the ocean floor across this vast area.

The process involves the use of 2-D and 3-D surveys followed by the use of air guns.

The latter are towed by seismic vessels that will shoot dynamite direct on the sea bed, causing high-level, low-frequency sounds and explosions.

It is almost the same as shale gas fracking, where water, spiced with chemicals, is pumped at very high pressure into rock crevices under the sea to break them open and release the gas trapped inside.

This process is what environmentalists are worried about as it kills aquatic life.

Morgan Griffiths of Wessa says: "Of course, people might argue that the death of sea birds and fish does not matter when it comes to creating jobs and wealth.

"But it is all these incidents and such attitudes that have led to the serious decline in our planet’s ability to sustain us."

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Earlier this month we reported on the three men who were ejected from Saudi Arabia by religious police for being “too handsome”.

A local newspaper explained the men had been targeted amid fears “female visitors would fall for them”, and they were swiftly deported to Abu Dhabi.

Now Jezebel claims to have lifted the veil on one of the trio, and we reckon those religious police were onto something…

Without further ado, meet Omar Borkan Al Gala, a photographer, actor and poet from Dubai.



Though he has not yet confirmed he was indeed one of the infamous three, Al Gala has modestly posted a link to the original news report on his Facebook page, along with such musings as: "The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides." Sigh.

We’ve messaged Al Gala to ask what it’s like to be so “really, really ridiculously good-looking” that you're thrown out of a country, and we’ll get back to you if he responds (and once we've had a lie down…)

Speculation initially highlighted by Sky Dancing Blog suggested Al Gala was attending Riyadh's annual Janadriyah Festival when the incident occurred.

Emirates 24/7 states the three men in question were delegates at a stand promoting the UAE, which had attracted the attention of the religious police due to the unexpected presence of a female Emirati artist.

A spokesman for the UAE delegation issued a statement confirming: “Her visit to the UAE stand was a coincidence as it was not included in the programme which we had already provided to the festival’s management.”

Arabian Business, which has also fingered Al Gala as being one of the trio, points out the strictly conservative Sunni Muslim society prohibits women from interacting with unrelated males.

Out of pure journalistic curiosity we're looking forward to checking out the other two chaps too.

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“All of these knives were found on suspicious-looking people and/ or was abandoned. Some of them are exhibits.

“We believe that people in possession of a knife will at some point commit a crime such as robbery, intimidate and even commit murder. We want to prevent this from happening.”

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