In Brief 11 March 2012

STAR-STRUCK: South Africa has been propelled into pole position to host the world's largest radio telescope against a joint bid by Australia and New Zealand.

The Sydney Morning Herald revealed yesterday that a confidential report by the Square Kilometre Array Site Advisory Committee had recommended SA as the preferred bidder.

The report said the committee felt one of the advantages of the SA bid was that it would spread the array across eight countries in Southern Africa.

The $2.5-billion project - dubbed the ''experiment of the century" - will reach into the depths of the universe using radio waves, instead of light, and will enable scientists to explore black holes and dark matter. - Staff reporter

THIS ISN'T IT: Coca-Cola and Pepsi are changing their secret formulas in the US to avoid having to display a warning that they contain cancer-causing chemicals.

The state of California now requires that the packaging of food and drink with the additive 4-methylimidazole be clearly labelled with a cancer warning.

To comply with the new law, which was passed following a campaign by consumer rights groups, the two cola firms are switching the type of caramel they use to give the drinks their distinctive brown colour. - ©The Daily Telegraph

LOST LOVER: Police are still searching for the 83-year-old man from Cape Town who went missing after meeting his cyber-lover in Johannesburg.

John Naisby was last seen on security camera footage leaving OR Tambo Airport on February 15 with Zaheera Wookey, whom he met online four months earlier.

Naisby decided to visit Wookey, 51, at her goat farm in Walkerville, south of Johannesburg.

Wookey claimed she only saw Naisby twice and, on the second occasion, left him at a store in Walkerville, as he was travelling to Rustenburg. - Candice Bailey

HOSPITAL PROTEST: A dispute over outstanding pay turned nasty when disgruntled nurses at the Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital held managers hostage and patients were sent home.

Police were called to secure the release of two managers, who were locked in a boardroom for seven hours on Friday at the complex at Mthatha in the Eastern Cape.

The complex consists of three hospitals with a total of 1000 beds.

Some patients were sent home as a mob of nurses stormed through wards.

A patient who was seriously ill had to be transferred to a hospital in East London.

The illegal strike was prompted by pay owed for night shifts dating back as far as 2007.

Eastern Cape Health Department spokesman Sizwe Kupelo attributed the backlog to fraudulent late-shift claims.

He could not say yesterday if the strike had led to any loss of life. - Bienne Huisman

POISON ALERT: A truck hijacked near Heidelberg is carrying a highly toxic load that looks and smells like coffee, police said yesterday.

The truck was hijacked on Friday and was last seen heading towards Vosloorus, said provincial police spokeswoman Lieutenant-Colonel Katlego Mogale.

The load was about to be delivered to a nearby mine and is in canvas bags.

"We have been told that it looks and smells like instant coffee, but under no circumstances should people consume it," said Mogale. - Sapa