Rubber bullets, ear worms, the embarrassing opportunism of trade unions, Shakira’s trademark hip swivel and a little baby called Fifa. The Daily Maverick rounds up the week’s global media reporting on what’s been happening off the field.

After a long search, Eskom finally has a chief executive officer to take it to new, happier hunting grounds. As always, we have some nuggets of wisdom to impart. Okay, maybe just nuggets of common sense, but hey, it's what's been lacking for the longest time.

Remember Mark Perryman? If not, we’ll remind you: he’s the guy we interviewed in May, before he was internationally famous. Turns out he was right: England fans are behaving and he is having a whale of a time.

Stallion says it cancelled security contract itself; Khune suspension upheld; Argentina drill South Korea; Nigeria self destructs against Greece; Mexico triumphs over France; Aussie sisters watch 87 hours of soccer, in a row.

The first mistake Sepp Blatter, his spin doctors and marketing team made was going on Twitter. The rest are equally damning. Local social media mavens tell “Team Blatter” how to stop making twits of themselves.

The company that gave the globe the biggest manmade environmental disaster is notching up a few new records. BP is fast becoming the world’s most disliked brand. The company’s gaffe-prone CEO has become America’s public enemy number one. And the corporation’s handling of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill will go down as a case study of how not to manage a disaster.

With some of the sexiest stadiums in the world, and almost every seat spoken for (at least according to Fifa, that is), one of the biggest challenges facing spectators intent on experiencing the action of the 2010 Soccer World Cup live is actually getting to the venues. This week, we suggest three sets of wheels that should get fans there in style – and on time.

The US Federal Trade Commission has prepared a discussion document that looks at the question (and thereby the possibility) of state subsidies for newspapers. Some leading commentators support the idea, but Dan Gillmor says taxpayer-funded, high-capacity broadband is the answer.

Bavaria outwits Fifa in ambush marketing wars; Nehawu demands the repayment of departmental funds spent on tickets; New Zealand squeak home with a 1-1 draw against Slovakia; Ivory Coast and Portugal game ends in goal-less draw; Brazil beats plucky North Korea 2-1; Brazilian website sells voodoo soccer effigies.

The Star, The Daily News, Cape Times, Pretoria News, Cape Argus and most other titles in the Independent News & Media (INM) stable literally took their tabloids online as an added-value proposition for subscribers. The result is an exact page-by-page replica of the print title that is both cumbersome and unwieldy to navigate or read. Experts describe the move as “outdated”, “confused” and a “recipe for disaster”.

Security walkout at Green Point; Denmark self-destruct against The Netherlands; Cameroon lose to Japan; Italy draw with Paraguay; Blatter gives his Tweet of approval to vuvuzelas; Indian fan wants Germany to win so he can dig up the whisky buried in his garden. Really.

For the second year in a row, The Mo Ibrahim Foundation has decided not to award its signature prize to an African ruler who was democratically elected and then agreed to – and actually did – leave office without being nudged by bayonets.

The New York Times is reporting (and everyone else is now climbing aboard) that enormous deposits, perhaps worth a trillion dollars, of key minerals and metal ores have been discovered in – you guessed it – Afghanistan.

Eskom recently announced its interim results for the financial year ending 31 March 2010. Chris Yelland asked Eskom finance director Paul O’Flaherty the big questions about the parastatal’s operations. How much does Mozal pay for electricity, really? What’s up with the Kusile funding plan? And will the first phase of Medupi actually come online in 2012? O’Flaherty answered some of them but was a little reticent on Eskom’s future plans. We hope this isn’t because there aren’t any.

Roadsters aren’t necessarily top of our list when it comes to choosing a car. They’re generally just too compromised to make up for those rare moments when good weather and spectacular scenery conspire to make driving topless an enjoyable enterprise. But Nissan’s latest ragtop is one of the few that gets most things right, regardless of what you do with the roof.

Nic Dawes, editor of the Mail & Guardian, must be feeling pleased with himself these days, and so should local media. The newspaper won not one, but two significant legal battles related to the freedom of access to information in as many weeks.

As of Tuesday morning, South Africa is finally represented on the Street View map. Who says we’re not benefiting from the World Cup? Now we’ll be able to explore the stadiums (in 3D nogal), without leaving ikhaya.

The operating consortium will be grateful that it was so boring. On its first day of public operation carrying fare-paying passengers, the Gautrain worked pretty much as advertised. And the small glitches were nicely papered over by the fact that virtually nobody was using it.

As their predestined defeat at the opening match of the World Cup draws ever closer, the delusional Mexican delegation on Monday continued to insist that its team stands a chance of at least a draw. Maybe it’s just as well that they get their celebrations over and done with now, because by Friday night it will all be tears.

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, hasn’t been doing his brand any favours of late. His privacy measures have angered users worldwide, even if the recent Facebook suicide campaign didn’t make a dent in his user-base. Could an open-source, privacy-aware social network pose a bigger threat?

First BP spilled a whole lot of oil in the ocean, destroying marine life and damaging the offshore drilling sector. Then an anonymous tweeter created @BPGlobalPR. The oil company is still trying to clean up the mess; the Twitter account is faring rather better, having generated its very own Internet meme.

On Thursday the South African government handed over more power to Fifa, this time 56 special courts that will operate for the duration of the World Cup (and just happen to have cost taxpayers R45 million). What master wants, master gets, and be warned: Fifa is relishing having the police and justice system at its disposal, all in aid of making the tournament successful, of course.

The latest issue of the New Yorker magazine contains an in-depth and first-of-a-kind feature on the inner working of WikiLeaks, the Website that publishes the most confidential documents of your friendly government or bank. But is this stamp of approval from mainstream society necessarily a good thing? 

All the cool kids in Europe are taking up liquid mountaineering (that’s walking on water if you’re unfamiliar with the craze). There’s only one snag to attaining prophet-like superpowers: it seems you’ll need a pair of Hi-Tec shoes first.

It was inevitable. The new BMW 5-Series was always going to be bigger, better engineered and more advanced than its predecessor. But does that make it a superior product? And to what extent is it encroaching on the territory occupied by the flagship 7-Series?

Shopping list: 108 2-litre bottles of Coke Zero, 638 Mentos. Just add two mad scientists and you have (most of) the ingredients you need to propel a rocket car.

CNN, which turns 30-years-old this year, appears to have an identity crisis – and Larry King is at the heart of it. How does the news network regain its place atop the ratings when it doesn’t sell sex or opinion?

The last financial year was kind to Eskom. Partially thanks to the recession and lower demand, and partially thanks to no longer getting screwed by BHP Billiton, it turned a nice little profit. Which is utterly dwarfed by even the interest payments on the debt it is taking on. Something has got to give, it warns, and it isn’t wrong.

Ever notice how South African political debate focuses on points-scoring or name-calling, with hardly anyone mentioning the people who foot the bill for corruption and excess? People like you and me who pay for politicians' salaries, cars, first-class travel and other assorted luxuries? Well, the Taxpayers' Movement is aiming to change that. 

Surprise. Surprise. After South Africa was sold the promise of gold at the end of the Fifa rainbow, economists say it is unlikely we’ll get any sustained financial benefit from hosting the Soccer World Cup. But hey, we’ll be happier for a little while.