Biodiversity enhances ecosystems global drylands -- Ben-Gurion U researchers

Public release date: 30-Jan-2012
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Contact: Andrew Lavin
andrewlavin@alavin.com
516-353-2505
American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Study suggests that plant biodiversity buffers negative climate change effects and drylands desertification

BEER-SHEVA, Israel -- An international team of researchers including Dr. Bertrand Boeken of the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev suggest in a new study that plant biodiversity preservation is crucial to buffer negative effects of climate change and desertification in drylands.

The study titled, "Plant species richness and ecosystem multi-functionality in global drylands", published in the prestigious journal Science is the outcome of a five-year research effort involving more than 50 researchers from 30 institutions in 15 different countries, including Dr. Boeken of the BGU Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research. Dr. Boeken and Dr. Eli Zaady of the Gilat Research Center, the Volcani Institute - Agriculture Research Organization contributed research data from two long-term ecological research sites in the northern Negev.

The results of this study indicate that the ability of ecosystems in drylands worldwide to maintain multiple functions, such as carbon storage and buildup of nutrient pools (multi-functionality) is enhanced by the number of perennial plant species, mainly shrubs and dwarf-shrubs, whereas increased average annual temperature reduces this ability.

While small-scale controlled experiments have provided evidence of the positive relationship between biodiversity and multi-functionality over the years, this study is the first in explicitly evaluating such relationship among real ecosystems at a global scale.

The fieldwork of this study was carried out in 224 dryland ecosystems from all continents except Antarctica, where direct measurements of plant diversity and other biotic and abiotic features of the ecosystem were taken. To assess ecosystem multi-functionality, researchers assessed more than 2,600 soil samples for 14 ecosystem functions related to carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycling and storage.

The functions measured deliver some of the fundamental supporting and regulating ecosystem services (e.g. soil fertility and climate regulation), and are also used to identify the onset of desertification processes.

Drylands constitute some of the largest terrestrial biomes, collectively covering 41 percent of earth's land surface and supporting over 38 percent of the global human population. They are of paramount importance for biodiversity, host many endemic plant and animal species, and include about 20 percent of the major centers of global plant diversity and over 30 percent of the designated endemic bird areas. However, dryland ecosystems are also highly vulnerable to global environmental change and desertification. "This study provides empirical evidence on the importance of biodiversity to maintain and improve ecosystem multi-functionality in drylands.

Dr. Boeken says, "Our results also suggest that the increase in average annual temperature predicted by climate change models will reduce the ability of dryland ecosystems to perform multiple functions, which are crucial to support life on earth. Plant biodiversity enhances this ability, therefore, maintaining and restoring it can contribute to mitigating the negative consequences of global warming and to promoting the resistance of natural ecosystems to desertification."

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American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev plays a vital role in sustaining David Ben-Gurion's vision, creating a world-class institution of education and research in the Israeli desert, nurturing the Negev community and sharing the University's expertise locally and around the globe. With some 20,000 students on campuses in Beer-Sheva, Sede Boqer and Eilat in Israel's southern desert, BGU is a university with a conscience, where the highest academic standards are integrated with community involvement, committed to sustainable development of the Negev. For more information, please visit http://www.aabgu.org.

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 30-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Andrew Lavin
andrewlavin@alavin.com
516-353-2505
American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Study suggests that plant biodiversity buffers negative climate change effects and drylands desertification

BEER-SHEVA, Israel -- An international team of researchers including Dr. Bertrand Boeken of the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev suggest in a new study that plant biodiversity preservation is crucial to buffer negative effects of climate change and desertification in drylands.

The study titled, "Plant species richness and ecosystem multi-functionality in global drylands", published in the prestigious journal Science is the outcome of a five-year research effort involving more than 50 researchers from 30 institutions in 15 different countries, including Dr. Boeken of the BGU Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research. Dr. Boeken and Dr. Eli Zaady of the Gilat Research Center, the Volcani Institute - Agriculture Research Organization contributed research data from two long-term ecological research sites in the northern Negev.

The results of this study indicate that the ability of ecosystems in drylands worldwide to maintain multiple functions, such as carbon storage and buildup of nutrient pools (multi-functionality) is enhanced by the number of perennial plant species, mainly shrubs and dwarf-shrubs, whereas increased average annual temperature reduces this ability.

While small-scale controlled experiments have provided evidence of the positive relationship between biodiversity and multi-functionality over the years, this study is the first in explicitly evaluating such relationship among real ecosystems at a global scale.

The fieldwork of this study was carried out in 224 dryland ecosystems from all continents except Antarctica, where direct measurements of plant diversity and other biotic and abiotic features of the ecosystem were taken. To assess ecosystem multi-functionality, researchers assessed more than 2,600 soil samples for 14 ecosystem functions related to carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycling and storage.

The functions measured deliver some of the fundamental supporting and regulating ecosystem services (e.g. soil fertility and climate regulation), and are also used to identify the onset of desertification processes.

Drylands constitute some of the largest terrestrial biomes, collectively covering 41 percent of earth's land surface and supporting over 38 percent of the global human population. They are of paramount importance for biodiversity, host many endemic plant and animal species, and include about 20 percent of the major centers of global plant diversity and over 30 percent of the designated endemic bird areas. However, dryland ecosystems are also highly vulnerable to global environmental change and desertification. "This study provides empirical evidence on the importance of biodiversity to maintain and improve ecosystem multi-functionality in drylands.

Dr. Boeken says, "Our results also suggest that the increase in average annual temperature predicted by climate change models will reduce the ability of dryland ecosystems to perform multiple functions, which are crucial to support life on earth. Plant biodiversity enhances this ability, therefore, maintaining and restoring it can contribute to mitigating the negative consequences of global warming and to promoting the resistance of natural ecosystems to desertification."

###

American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev plays a vital role in sustaining David Ben-Gurion's vision, creating a world-class institution of education and research in the Israeli desert, nurturing the Negev community and sharing the University's expertise locally and around the globe. With some 20,000 students on campuses in Beer-Sheva, Sede Boqer and Eilat in Israel's southern desert, BGU is a university with a conscience, where the highest academic standards are integrated with community involvement, committed to sustainable development of the Negev. For more information, please visit http://www.aabgu.org.

---

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/aabu-bee013012.php

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France mulls Afghan move as Karzai visits (AP)

PARIS ? France's president is expected to announce whether he will order an accelerated pullout of French troops from the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan after a meeting with the Afghan leader.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai was holding a long-scheduled Paris meeting with Nicolas Sarkozy Friday ? a week after a Taliban infiltrated the Afghan army and shot dead four French troops in eastern Afghanistan.

Sarkozy's government has been under political pressure to withdraw French troops before the United States' pegged timetable ends in 2014. France holds presidential elections this spring.

After the shootings, France halted its training programs for the Afghan military and threatened to withdraw its 3,600 troops ahead of schedule ? a move that could pressure NATO.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_re_eu/eu_france_afghanistan

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Ex-Ohio death row inmate says not guilty to threat (AP)

OTTAWA, Ohio ? A Scotsman released from an American prison after spending two decades on Ohio's death row pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges that he threatened a judge who prosecuted his original case.

Ken Richey appeared in a northwest Ohio court on charges of retaliation and violating a civil protection order. Richey sat in a chair with his hands clasped in his lap and didn't speak during the hearing.

Authorities say the 47-year-old Richey left a threatening phone message on New Year's Eve at the courthouse in Ottawa, where he was sentenced nearly 25 years ago to death.

The Putnam County prosecutor said the message to Judge Randall Basinger included, "I'm coming to get you." Richey didn't identify himself but investigators were able to track the call to him, the prosecutor said.

The prosecutor said sentencing guidelines could prompt a sentence ranging from no time to six years in prison if Richey is convicted.

He spent 21 years on death row after being convicted of setting a fire that killed a 2-year-old girl in 1986 at an apartment complex. Prosecutors said he started the fire to get even with a former girlfriend who lived in the same building.

Richey denied any involvement. His new defense team contended that investigators mishandled evidence used to convict Richey and that experts used nonscientific methods to determine that gas or turpentine started the fire.

A federal court determined his lawyers mishandled the case and overturned his death sentence. County prosecutors initially planned to retry him, but Richey was released four years ago under a deal that required him to plead no contest to attempted involuntary manslaughter in exchange for his freedom.

His attempt to overturn his conviction generated limited interest in Ohio, but his name was a familiar one in Britain, where there is no death penalty. Before his release, he had drawn support from members of the British Parliament and Pope John Paul II.

Richey returned to Scotland but came back to the U.S. soon after. He has been in trouble with the law several times, including being accused of assaulting his son.

He had been living in Tupelo, Miss., and was arrested there last week on the Ohio charges.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_re_us/us_death_penalty_overturned

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Ex-South Africa player stabbed to death in club

Associated Press Sports

updated 11:35 a.m. ET Jan. 21, 2012

JOHANNESBURG (AP) -Police say a footballer who played five times for South Africa was stabbed to death in a nightclub.

Jeffrey Ntuka was killed in the early hours of Saturday.

Michael Hughes, a representative of Ntuka's agent, Stella Africa, told football website Kickoff.com the player was killed in the central South African town of Kroonstad.

The 26-year-old defender had been in the squad of local giants Kaizer Chiefs for two years but was without a club this season after his contract with Supersport United expired.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Balotelli lifts Man City

Mario Balotelli scored a stoppage-time penalty kick Sunday to give first-place Manchester City a 3-2 victory over Premier League title rival Tottenham.

Mike Hewitt / Getty Images

Hat trick

Clint Dempsey became the first American to score a hat trick in England's Premier League, helping Fulham rally from a halftime deficit to rout Newcastle 5-2 Saturday.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/46081918/ns/sports-soccer/

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Should Queen Elizabeth be a 'have-yacht' among have-nots?

Reports that a British government official proposed that the royal yacht for Queen Elizabeth be funded with public money has stirred up anger in a time of austerity.

It?s the other big boat story this week: Does Queen Elizabeth need or deserve a new royal yacht to mark her 60th?year on the throne? The debate is hotting up, with Prime Minister David Cameron sailing into rough seas of opinion after supporting the idea, despite an epic year of job loss and austerity in the United Kingdom.

Skip to next paragraph

Cameron?s Liberal Democrat coalition partner Nick Clegg, who has been pushing ?tax the rich? schemes of late, told reporters it was a debate about ?haves and have-yachts.?

In a memo this fall, Education Secretary Michael Gove floated the idea of funding a?$125 million yacht with Britain's public funds.?Mr. Gove,?a staunch monarchist,?was worried that her majesty?s Diamond Jubilee could be overshadowed by the 2012 Olympic Games to be held in London.?

The proposed vessel would replace the former royal yacht Britannia, whose decommissioning in 2006 caused a famous tear from Queen Elizabeth.?

The notion of using public funds to buy a yacht for one of the world?s richest women in the midst of a dire economic climate was quickly scotched by Mr. Cameron, who favors private financing for the idea.?

British newspaper The Guardian broke the story?about Gove's suggestion that public funds be used for the gift and later reported that Prince Charles and a prominent rear admiral supported the plan. (In an article today headlined?"Britannia CAN rule the waves!" The Daily Mail ???a major proponent of the project and often of the monarchy ??rejected the claims that Gove had proposed public funding.)

Since the Guardian broke the story and the government made strong reassurances that the project would not receive public funding, the charity behind the plan has set out to campaign for private donations instead.

Plans for the yacht to be turned into a self-financing training and instructional vessel are in the works, should the proposal pan out.?However, potential donors say it is still unclear how much of the upkeep, security, staff, and other often hidden expenses of large vessels will cost the public.?

Queen Elizabeth is still going strong in her Diamond Jubilee year, and has achieved a singular level of popularity among ordinary Brits that is helping the monarchy and the damaged reputation of the royal family, says Nick Spencer of Theos, a public theology think tank.

?But this is very badly timed,? says Mr. Spencer.

Get daily or weekly updates from CSMonitor.com delivered to your inbox.?Sign up today.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/ocjTmyJxy3k/Should-Queen-Elizabeth-be-a-have-yacht-among-have-nots

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Is Camille leaving 'Real Housewives of Beverly Hills'?

Tibrina Hobson / Getty Images

According to Radar, Camille Grammer might not be back on "RHOBH."

By Anna Chan

Fans of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" have watched Camille Grammer go through some trying times on the hit?Bravo reality show. And now, Radar Online is reporting that the reality personality may not return next season.

"Producers are asking Lisa Vanderpump, Adrienne Maloof and Kyle Richards if any of their wealthy female friends would be interested in appearing on the show," a network insider reportedly told the website. "It's an open secret that Camille most likely won't be back for a third season."

A source close to the show told us that casting decisions have not yet?been made.

Bravo had no comment on Camille's rumored exit on Friday.

Would you miss Camille if she left? Who do you think should leave the show? Take our poll, and share your thoughts on our Facebook page.

{"contentId":"10201860","totalVotes":"14985"}

If one person had to leave 'RHOBH,' who should it be?

?

Related content:

Dana Wilkey	? 29.9% (4,479 votes)
Kim Richards	? 26% (3,903 votes)
Taylor Armstrong	? 18.6% (2,791 votes)
Brandi Glanville	? 15.2% (2,274 votes)
No one should leave. The cast is great!	? 4.4% (656 votes)
Camille Grammer	? 2.4% (366 votes)
Kyle Richards	? 1.9% (287 votes)
Adrienne Maloof	? 0.8% (127 votes)
Lisa Vanderpump	? 0.7% (102 votes)

Source: http://theclicker.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/20/10201860-is-camille-leaving-real-housewives-of-beverly-hills

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This Early Investor In Skype Regrets Not Investing In Square And ...

On a recent road trip down to the heart of the Sillicon Valley VC scene, Sand Hill Road, I stopped by Howard Hartenbaum's office at August Capital.

I learned that he regrets not putting his money in Square, and found out more about his early investment in Skype. He also explained why he likes his portfolio companies, who are still in stealth mode, to keep their mouths shut.?He thinks too many startups are press hungry, when they should be focused on building a product.

Check out our video here:

Source: http://articles.businessinsider.com/2012-01-19/tech/30642120_1_skype-sand-hill-road-startups

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Cougars extinct in East? No, say those who spot them

Department of Energy and Environmental Protection

This June 2011 photo by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection shows a worker examining a dead mountain lion, or cougar, at the Sessions Woods Wildlife Center in Burlington, Conn. Tests determined that the cat, which was struck by a car, had traveled all the way from South Dakota.

By Jim Gold, msnbc.com

Cougar sightings persist in the East nearly a year after the big predators were declared extinct in the region, a determination that some don't believe. Others want to make cougars' presence a big reality.

Just this month Gary Sanderson, sports editor at the Greenfield, Mass.-based Recorder newspaper, reported?cougar sightings on a farm near the Vermont border, by an Amtrak engineer who claimed his train's video captured images of the creatures?near Leverett, and from readers in the region who claim to have pictures of cougars.

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"I've been besieged" with sightings ever since writing a column 10 years ago about hunting with a trapper who became a believer in?cougars' presence?after finding a footprint way too large to be a bobcat in Conway, along the Deerfield River, Sanderson told msnbc.com.

Sanderson said?he has since written 50 columns devoted to cougar sightings and has been told by wildlife officials he was irresponsible to promote the notion of their presence.

With rare exception, there is?no credible evidence of cougars living in the wild?east of the Mississippi River, government and private researchers told msnbc.com.

In Connecticut this week, a CBS radio report and a Greenwich Time newspaper story both cited the growth of cougar sightings since last spring. That's when a cougar first spotted in Greenwich on June 5 was killed by a car six days later in nearby Milford. NBC Connecticut reported at the time that scientists studying the 140-pound animal's DNA concluded the?cougar had?wandered about 1,800 miles east, all the way from the Black Hills of South Dakota through Minnesota and Wisconsin before finding its way to Greenwich, about 70 miles outside New York City.

Even though he is a?state away, Sanderson said, "I felt vindicated" when the news emerged about the cougar in Milford. "I didn't think they would admit that it was wild."

A Connecticut group called Cougars of the Valley?has an online petition with about?250 signatures asking the state General Assembly to hold a hearing on cougars, also known as mountain lions, pumas and panthers. The group's website also hosts a map of Connecticut cougar sightings and comments from readers?claiming authorities disparaged their reports about seeing cougars.

No evidence?
Mark McCollough, an endangered species specialist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Orono, Maine, field office, was the lead scientist in the agency's study declaring the Eastern cougar extinct. (See full study report here.)

McCollough told msnbc.com that there is no scientific evidence that Eastern cougars have somehow survived?150 years after being driven from the region. The last known real Eastern cougar was shot dead in 1938 in Maine, he said.

"That's not to say they don?t show up from time to time," McCollough said of cougars, but most reports of sightings are misidentfications, such as coyotes or bobcats, which are about one-fourth the size of cougars.

Officials have documented 110 cougars loose?in the Eastern United States and Canada since 1900, he said.?They come from two main sources:

• Escaped pets: At least 1,000 cougars are known to be held in captivity in the East, he said, and many that have turned up loose have been genetically traced to South American ancestry, indicating they were part?of?the exotic pet trade. "They didn?t walk here," McCollough said.
• Dispersers: Like the wandering cougar killed in Connecticut, some head east from the West and north from Florida, home to about 150 panthers.?Cougars?regularly?show up?on?trail cameras set up privately across the country, McCollough said, but they're not on cameras in the East.

One cougar from Florida, where about 150 panthers live in the wild, was killed in Georgia in 2008. That same year, police shot?a cougar that wandered into Chicago's North Side.

But there is no scientific evidence, no scat (droppings), no confirmed sightings that cougars are establishing homes and breeding east of the Mississippi and?north of Florida, McCollough?said.

Courtesy of The Cougar Network

Green: established populations
Blue = Class I Confirmation
Red = Class II Confirmation

A map by The Cougar Network, a non-profit research group,?shows only a few?confirmed sightings of cougars in the?East since 1990.

"We just don't take those kinds of sightings seriously anymore," said Mark Dowling, a leader of the network. Pictures turn out to be house cats or even golden retrievers.

Cougars couldn't go undetected, he said. "They betray their presence readily," he said, by becoming road kill or chasing people's pets.

The Midwest is seeing a resurgence, he said, including?new populations?in South Dakota, North Dakota and Nebraska. Individual dispersing animals have been seen?in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and Louisiana.

Christopher Spatz, a southern New York resident who is president of the Cougar Rewilding Foundation, told msnbc.com that?wandering cougars are young males looking for females and needing to get away from their fathers' territories before their fathers kill them.

"Young cats out on their own are troublemakers," said Spatz, an advocate for reintroducing cougars into the wilds of the East.

"We need them everywhere. Big predators help regulate ecosystems,"Spatz said.

After wolves were reintroduced at Yellowstone National Park in 1995, elk?stopped?eating cottonwoods and aspens, Spatz said. Vegetation came back, and biodiversity, including beavers, birds and fish, expanded.

Without cougars and other predators, there is an overabundance of whitetail deer in the East, resulting in lack of understory.

Live Poll

Should cougars be recolonized in the East?

• 173858

  Yes, they will help the ecosystem; we can learn to coexist with the cats.

  77%

• 173859

  No, the predators are too dangerous to people, pets and livestock.

  17%

• 173860

  Not sure.

  5%

VoteTotal Votes: 3288

"Cougars' presence would change the way deer browse," Spatz said. "They would keep moving; you would see regeneration of your understory."

Cougars are not a threat to people, pets and livestock, he said. California, where there are an estimated 5,000 to 6,000?cougars and no hunting allowed, proves "we can coexist."

McCollough, the wildlife biologist, and Dowling, from the Cougar Network, which doesn't take a stand on repopulation, said chances of recolonization efforts in the East?are remote, as people likely won't want large predators living near them.

Cougars, which can leap 30 feet and reach speeds of 50 mph, are carnivores whose usual diet consists mainly of deer, elk, turkey rabbits porcupine, coyote and other small mammals, according to The Cougar Fund, a non-profit trying to protect cougars. But the animals?do prey on people, pets and livestock. Since 1890, "only 20 people"?have been killed by cougar attacks, says the group, which also offers tips on how to fight off cougars and guidelines to keep children and pets safe. Several non-fatal mauling attacks on people are reported yearly.?

'They are here'
But one cougar advocate, Bill Betty of Matunuck, R.I., said people in the Northeast already coexist with cougars, because, he said, they are present and?breeding.

"Every state in the East will eventually acknowledge?they are here," Betty told msnbc.com. He said he has?had 14 daytime encounters as close as 10 feet with cougars -- and nine family members have had 30 encounters.

"I've chased mountain lions away from kids," he said.

Betty lectures all over the country about mountain lions and has a 90-minute slideshow and other show-and-tell items such as a skull, scat samples and photos. He said he knows what a cougar looks like.

At a lecture in Somers, Conn., he said, 37 people raised their hands when asked if they'd seen a cougar.

"They are here," he said. "Those who say they are not are lying."

"Mature, responsible adults and schoolchildren?can tell the difference between a cougar and?a big yellow dog," he said.

Officials say they still don't believe Betty and that he does not use scientific data in his presentations.

Click here to follow Jim Gold on Facebook?

More content from msnbc.com and NBC News

Source: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/21/10195024-cougars-extinct-in-east-no-way-say-those-who-claim-sightings

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Dynamite targets bridge in oil-rich Nigeria delta (AP)

LAGOS, Nigeria ? Police say unknown bombers detonated locally made dynamite near an important bridge in Nigeria's oil-rich southern delta overnight, though no one was injured.

The blast happened Friday night in Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa state, the home of President Goodluck Jonathan. Bayelsa state police spokesman Eguavoen Emokpae said the bomb targeted a bridge, but caused little damage.

The blast occurred as Bayelsa state is under increasing political pressure over an upcoming gubernatorial race in the state. The winner of the race will control a state budget that's larger than some nations surrounding oil-rich Nigeria. Violence remains common in elections in Nigeria, a nation of more than 160 million people and a top crude oil supplier to the U.S.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/energy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120121/ap_on_re_af/af_nigeria_oil_unrest

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Adzuna Raises New Funding To Make Job Ads Fully Social

Adzuna, a startup with something it calls the next-generation job search engine, has raised a round of funding from Index Ventures, The Accelerator Group and existing investors including Passion Capital. The latest funding follows a seed round last year. It's landed ?500,000, taking its total funding to ?800,000 (?300,000 from Passion Capital in July). Launched in July 2011, Adzuna is aiming to be a global search engine for classified job ads, effectively aggregating ads, then putting a social layer over them. Yes, I know similar things have been tried before but here's how they'll do it.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/nOU5pGDFPZU/

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Pro-fighter Gina Carano goes "Haywire" in movie debut (omg!)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Retired female mixed martial arts fighter Gina Carano may be a household name to those in the sporting world, but the 29-year old beauty is now broadening her horizons to include acting.

Carano, a pioneer in the world of female competitive fighting, makes her big screen debut in Steven Soderbergh's action thriller "Haywire," in U.S. theaters on Friday. She plays a framed government agent who must prove her innocence and find out who betrayed her, all the while warding off assassins.

Carano sat down with Reuters to talk about her first film and making the transition from fighting to acting.

Q: You've never starred in a film before. What was that like?

A: "I feel like I went to Film School 101 on 'Haywire' because I never experienced anything like this. I've never read lines with an actor and I got Michael Fassbender for my very first actor in Dublin. I was sitting there in awe. I was like, 'Okay, this is what's he's doing, so I just gotta keep up.' He actually became a mentor to me for the majority of the movie."

Q: Any take-away moments for you during this first experience?

A: "Every single day in this movie is ingrained in my heart. You have certain firsts in your life but this whole movie was a first -- my first time acting, my first day of filming in Dublin with Michael Fassbender. Steven Soderbergh is my first director. It was my first time in Barcelona, my first time in New Mexico."

Q: The film was designed to showcase your strengths as a fighter. That must have made your experience much less daunting.

A: "Any day I was physical, I was really happy. That's where my confidence came from - from the running to the fight scenes. I think that's why Steven kept me active in the film, so I wouldn't get into my head too much."

Q: What was the most challenging thing?

A: "Reading lines and acting, but that soon became an every day thing...But I learned how vulnerable a person has to be, how open they have to be. You have to let yourself go and be ridiculous and let go whatever walls you have up. That's not incredibly easy for me."

Q: What do you consider yourself now - an actor or a fighter?

A: "I'm definitely between worlds. The fighting world is like, 'Wow, she left us,' or 'She was one of us, we respect her for that.' And the acting world is like, 'Who is this? Who is this stranger?' (laughs) So it's like starting over."

Q: So you want to continue with acting?

A: "Fighting is always my first love and my passion. With acting, I got to express myself in a different way...I didn't have to hurt anybody or get hurt doing it, but I could still be physical. I would love to do that again."

Q: So what's next for you then? Are producers and studios lining up to meet with you?

A: "I think a lot of people have been reserved on this. They don't know what to expect yet. I have little projects here and there that are on hold because people have been waiting for the film to come out first. Of course I've got a little anxiety, like, 'What's next?'"

Q: You've paved the way for so many young female fighters and now you're kicking butt on the big screen. Do you feel like a role model?

A: "If you're inspired, God bless you and keep being inspired by as many people you can...Because if you can see it in me, you can see it in yourself. But don't build anybody up too high because they'll just let you down. I've done so many things wrong in my life and I've done so many things right, but I'm real and you can talk to me and if I inspire you, I'm glad. But be you."

Q: How does a middle child of three sisters end up a fighter?

A: "I was the boy my dad never had - the darker one with dark eyes, dark hair and big bones. So I played that role my whole life. I got in street fights because I was never good at talking."

Q: So even as a kid you fought?

A: "I definitely did. I had a lot of street fights growing up in Las Vegas. Not ones that I instigated, but I would not back down. My mom and dad both told me: punch a bully in the nose and they'll go away. You don't have to be pushed around. That's something I hope I can access more as I get older"

Q: Punching bullies in noses?

A: "No, life. Punch life in the nose if it starts pushing you around. You gotta face it. You can't run from it."

(Editing By Jill Serjeant)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_pro_fighter_gina_carano_goes_haywire_movie_debut210042276/44221696/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/pro-fighter-gina-carano-goes-haywire-movie-debut-210042276.html

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Tuareg rebels attack towns in north Mali (AP)

BAMAKO, Mali ? A new Tuareg rebel group, whose members include former pro-Gadhafi fighters, says they have launched attacks in several towns in northern Mali. One eyewitness said heavy weapons were being fired and Mali military helicopters have engaged the rebels.

The National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad (NMLA) said Tuesday the main fighting is ongoing around the town of Menaka.

Moussa Ag Acharatoumane, one of the leaders of the NMLA, told The Associated Press by telephone from Paris: "Our aim is to liberate these towns." He said he had no information about casualties.

The Malian Defense Ministry and the presidency had no immediate comment.

Members of the Tuareg ethnic group live in several nations in northwest Africa.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120117/ap_on_re_af/af_mali_rebels

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Is Social Media the New Small Business PR?

We hear a lot these days about the importance of social media in small business success. But how can social media be used most effectively in your small business? We look at the answer to that question and much more in this Small Business Trends roundup. Enjoy!

Social Media

Social media: the new PR? Well, maybe. But the fact is that social media is many things to many different practitioners. There are certainly some no-no?s in terms of business use of social media, but more important is learning how the tool works best for you. FixCourse

How much does it cost? What if you had to pay $20 every time you appeared on social media? You don?t, of course, but it?s a helpful exercise when thinking about how much social media marketing really costs and how much time you devote to it. M4B Marketing

SEO

Google rating stars. If you?re developing an online presence this is probably something you should know. Here?s more on the Google rating star, what it is and how to use it in your online marketing efforts. Don?t Do It Yourself

Why your online presence needs video. Online video is more than simply a?popular medium that attracts and entertains?visitors. It is a powerful Search Engine Optimization tool that will help your Website rank better with Google and the other search engines than it might hope to do otherwise.?Step By Step Marketing

Management

A non-boring approach to cash flow projections. Don?t panic! This cash flow projection discussion will not put you to sleep. Like it or not, cash is still king and understanding cash flow is the key to keeping your business afloat. Leap TV

Mastering the five C?s. What if there were a simple little formula out there that made success in small business easy. Well there is?sort of?and getting the hang of this simple little five step approach can be the first step in improving your business success. Open Forum

Sales

The basics of cold calling. You may have heard that cold calling is dead, but it remains a quick and simple method of getting a customer interested, if done right. Here?s how to approach the simplest tool in your sales arsenal. Inc.com

Success Stories

From jobless to self-employed. There are many stories coming out of the troubled economy about people deciding to take their destiny into their own hands and following a dream to create a business. This is another inspiring example of determination that paid off. CNN Small Business

More Tips

Sign, sign, everywhere a sign. One way to keep your momentum going after the beginning of the year is with some reminders. You might be surprised how much this tip can help you stay focused not just now but throughout the year. The Solopreneur Life

Expert or entrepreneur? You?ve probably heard it said that part of personal branding for entrepreneurs is to establish yourself as an expert in your field. But is an expert necessarily an entrepreneur or are there differences to be considered? Into which category do you fit? Small Business Trends

Source: http://smallbiztrends.com/2012/01/is-social-media-the-new-small-business-pr.html

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Win $5000 business grants | business, small, firms - The Orange ...

Office equipment maker Brother International Corp. has launched a $25,000 program to provide five small businesses with $5,000 grants each to help those firms grow and succeed.

The grants will be awarded to the five most creative and original business plans, according to StartupNation, a website for entrepreneurs.

"Despite economic barriers to obtain start-up capital, small-business owners remain resolute and enthusiastic in their pursuit (of) doing more with less and living out their dream," said Brother Vice President John Wandishin. "This grant program signifies an opportunity to help entrepreneurs rise above financial challenges and demonstrates the commitment Brother has to better understanding and addressing the concerns of American's small-business owners."

The size of the grant was determined by an online survey that found that 61% of small-business owners started their firms with less than $5,000 in capital.

Deadline is Marc 2. Winners will be announced March 26 on www.startupnation.com.

Click here to for complete rules and to apply for one of the $5,000 grants.

Want the latest on small business? Text OCRSMALLBIZ to 56654 to get free news alerts for small businesses.

Other business stories...

Source: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/business-335845-small-firms.html

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'Words With Friends' Game Saves Australian Man's Life (VIDEO)

When Beth Legler began playing the popular Scrabble-like mobile game Words With Friends with Georgie and Simon Fletcher from Queensland, Australia, little did she know, it would end up saving a man's life.

While playing the game, Georgie contacted Beth through the game's internal chat function to tell her that Simon was ill and described his symptoms, according to KCTV 5.

Luckily for Simon, Beth shared the information with her husband, Larry, who is a doctor. After hearing of the symptoms, Larry told Simon to head to a hospital immediately.

When he got to the hospital, doctors told Simon he had a 99 percent blockage near his heart and, had he not come to the hospital that day, he most likely would have died.

"He definitely saved my life," Simon Fletcher told Australia's Ten Queensland News. "I was days away from not being here."

Georgie, Simon's wife, also expressed her gratitude for the life-saving medical advice.

"It was almost like I was meant to, you know, pick Beth as a random opponent," Georgie told the station. "... She saved me from being a widow."

Though it may be the most inspirational, this isn't the first time the popular game has made headlines.

Last month, actor Alec Baldwin was booted off of an American airlines flight after he reportedly refused to stop playing the game during the plane's departure.

WATCH:

"; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/13/words-with-friends-game-s_n_1205688.html

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Thai police claim Bangkok bomb plot called off (AP)

BANGKOK ? Police in Thailand say an alleged terrorist plot aimed at Bangkok has been thwarted, though one of the men who prompted urgent terror warnings from the United States and Israel remains at large.

Police Chief Gen. Priewpan Damapong said Saturday that the alleged bombing plot had been called off by the alleged plotters ? both Lebanese men said to be linked to pro-Iranian Hezbollah militants.

One man has been in custody for questioning, and the other remains at large.

The U.S. Embassy had circulated a warning Friday that there was a "real and credible" terrorist threat against Americans in Bangkok, and Israel issued a similar warning. Thai authorities say they are pursuing the missing suspect.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120114/ap_on_re_as/as_thailand_terror_threat

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A revolution to end traffic jams in Egypt

A rise in car ownership and bad traffic leads young Egyptians to create social media and web-based networks to ease road congestion.

? A local, slice-of-life story from a Monitor correspondent.

Skip to next paragraph

The complaint in Cairo is that zahma, Arabic for traffic, has become atrocious in recent years and is only getting worse.

Some point to ever-expanding population growth or easy loans leading to more car ownership or ongoing political instabilities as reasons behind the bottlenecks that weigh down daily life here.

Some young people who are fed up ? and those emboldened by a wave of social responsibility since the country?s Arab Spring revolution ? are doing something about it. They hope social media and mobile and Web-based tools will help ease road congestion.

A group of young professionals troubled by their long work commutes launched EgyptCarpoolers.com (in English), which allows users to offer and request rides. They say it saves gas and helps the environment. There are plans to add content in Arabic.

In another effort from Egypreneur, a network of young entrepreneurs, founder Abdelrahman Magdy says the public will be involved in finding solutions in their upcoming, multifront ?Za7ma? campaign. Mr. Magdy, who listens to audio books while stuck in traffic, says they?re developing a portal where people can post ideas, videos, and tech expertise to create a one-stop-shop app that addresses traffic concerns. They?re also planning a social-media blitz and organizing off-line dialogue events around the issue.

They call it a grass-roots movement. ?It?s about the public thinking differently and believing that they can make a difference,? Magdy says.

Get daily or weekly updates from?CSMonitor.com?delivered to your inbox.?Sign up today.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/gAEz_Hjk-3o/A-revolution-to-end-traffic-jams-in-Egypt

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Did 300 Workers at an Xbox 360 Factory Threaten Mass Suicide? (Mashable)

Three hundred Chinese factory workers who manufacture Microsoft Xbox 360s threatened mass suicide last week, according to unconfirmed reports. The Foxconn employees threatened to throw themselves off of a factory roof due to a payment dispute, according to Record China and Want China Times. According to these reports, the incident began when employees asked for raises on Jan. 2 and were asked to either quit with compensation or keep their jobs without a raise.

[More from Mashable: Comcast App for iPad Lets Users Watch Live TV]

Most of them chose to quit, but did not receive the promised compensation.

Microsoft could not confirm whether the mass suicide incident took place at Foxconn Technology Park in Wuhan, China. A spokesperson declined to confirm whether the factory is even a manufacturer of Xbox 360s, saying that the company does not disclose which specific products are manufactured by which suppliers.

[More from Mashable: Meme Machine: 5 Hilarious Viral Topics Trending Right Now]

"Microsoft takes working conditions in the factories that manufacture its products very seriously, and we are currently investigating this issue," a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement to Mashable. "We have a stringent Vendor Code of Conduct that spells out our expectations, and we monitor working conditions closely on an ongoing basis and address issues as they emerge.

"Microsoft is committed to the fair treatment and safety of workers employed by our vendors, and to ensuring conformance with Microsoft policy."

Foxconn Technology Group, the world's largest electronics contract manufacturer, counts Apple, Dell and HP among its clients -- most famously producing the iPhone. But despite the employee talent shows, sports tournaments and training programs in its promotional material [PDF], the company has a lousy track record when it comes to employee suicide. Wired calculated in its March 2011 issue that 17 Foxconn workers have killed themselves in the past five years.

Some of Foxconn's factories are surrounded by anti-suicide nets, and employees have reportedly been asked to sign a "no suicide" pact. After interviewing 120 Foxconn workers, authors of a May 2011 report [PDF] by Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour found significant instances of labor abuse at the factories.

"Workers always have excessive and forced overtime in order to gain a higher wage," says the report. "Workers are exposed to dust from construction site and shop floor without adequate protection. Even worse, they are threatened by potential harm of occupational diseases in various departments. Additionally, military-styled management is still in practice, characterized by 'military training' for new workers."

In June 2011, Apple sent its then-COO Tim Cook and a team of independent suicide prevention experts to review Foxconn's factory in Shenzhen. According to an Apple report released in February 2011: "The investigation found that Foxconn?s response [to the suicides] had definitely saved lives.?

If the current reports are true, however, the response may not have been enough.

Graphic courtesy M.I.C. Gadget

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personaltech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/mashable/20120110/tc_mashable/did_300_workers_at_an_xbox_360_factory_threaten_mass_suicide

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NKorea to pardon convicts; generals back young Kim (AP)

SEOUL, South Korea ? North Korea said Tuesday it will issue special pardons for convicts, a rare move that appeared to be aimed at boosting the popularity of young new leader Kim Jong Un as he attempts to fill his late father's shoes.

Efforts to show Kim is firmly in control have provided a drumbeat of news reports in state media since his father, Kim Jong Il, died Dec. 17. On Tuesday, North Korea's state television showed top military officers again swearing fervent pledges of loyalty, vowing to become human "rifles and bombs" to defend Kim Jong Un, who was recently appointed supreme commander of the armed forces.

The amnesty, to be issued beginning Feb. 1, is to commemorate what would have been Kim Jong Il's 70th birthday in February and the 100th anniversary in April of the birth of his father, North Korea founder Kim Il Sung.

The North's Korean Central News Agency did not say what sorts of crimes would be pardoned or how many inmates would be freed.

The pardons will be the first such dispensations in more than six years.

The measure appears aimed at winning public confidence for Kim Jong Un as the country struggles to revive its troubled economy, said Kim Kwang-in, a researcher at the Seoul-based North Korea Strategy Center.

A U.N. envoy on human rights in North Korea said last year that the country is estimated to hold up to 200,000 people in political prison camps. The North has denied the existence of gulags.

North Korea occasionally marks significant holidays by granting amnesties, and Pyongyang has promoted this year's Kim Il Sung centenary as a significant milestone in the country's history. North Korea last conducted such a special pardon in August 2005 to mark the 60th anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule, according to South Korea's Unification Ministry.

Soldiers and top military officers, meanwhile, pledged to "live or die" with Kim Jong Un and shouted slogans such as "Devoted defense of Kim Jong Un," state television showed. Later Monday, troops later marched outside Kumsusan Memorial Palace, where Kim Il Sung's body lies in state, as thick haze blanketed the plaza.

Neither Kim Jong Un nor senior ruling party officials were seen at the rally.

"We will build a 10,000-fold bulwark for protecting the supreme commander and become rifles and bombs to serve as Kim Jong Un first-line lifeguards and Kim Jong Un first-line death-defying corps," Ri Yong Ho, chief of the military's general staff, said, his voice resonating across the plaza as thousands of troops stood in neat columns.

A large signboard standing from the troops read, "Let's unite, unite and unite around dear comrade Kim Jong Un," the footage showed. In a well-choreographed joint pledge of allegiance, nine troops from army, air force and navy stood in a row and vowed "merciless retaliation" should their enemies attack.

North Korea has staged a series of rallies nationwide vowing to unite around Kim Jong Un and uphold his father's "military-first policy." During a massive public memorial for the elder Kim on Dec. 29, North Korea declared Kim Jong Un "supreme leader" of the ruling Workers' Party, the military and the country.

For the second time since Sunday, state television replayed a documentary focused on Kim Jong Un's military experience that shows him in the cockpit of a tank, galloping by on horseback and poring over documents at night.

North Korea is seeking to extend the Kim dynasty into a third generation as North Korea grapples with chronic food shortages and remains locked in a long-running standoff over its nuclear program.

Pyongyang and Washington recently met for talks on food aid and how to restart nuclear disarmament talks, but those discussions were suspended after Kim Jong Il's death.

The Korean peninsula remains in a state of war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. About 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea to deter potential North Korean aggression.

___

Associated Press writers Park Il-hwan and Sam Kim contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120110/ap_on_re_as/as_nkorea_kim_jong_un

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Could a Transaction Tax Be Part of European Debt Solution?

French president Nicolas Sarkozy has gotten agreement from Germany?s chancellor, Angela Merkel, for a tax on financial transactions. The reaction from Britain, Europe?s financial center, is decidedly chilly. The US government has also come down against transaction taxes.

Sarkozy has long supported the tax, which ? if it followed European Commission recommendations ? would add 0.1% of the value of an equity or bond transaction and 0.01% of every derivative transaction to the EU?s coffers.

The argument against such a tax is that unless it is adopted universally, the uneven playing field would send investors to countries where such taxes are not imposed. The UK?s prime minister stated the case against the tax succinctly:

The idea of a new European tax, when you are not going to have that tax put in place in other places, I don?t think is sensible. So I will block it unless the rest of the world all agreed at the same time that we were all going to have some sort of tax.

While such a tax could raise up to ?55 billion in the EU, Bloomberg News notes that consulting firm Ernst & Young believe that such a tax would ultimately cost Europe as much as ?116 in lost economic activity and reduced taxes from other sources.?

Do they think that firms will not have an interruption transacted business from such a tax?? Capital seeks nations that treat it the best, and in many cases this is the equivalent of an incentive tax because it taxes investors and trading firms whether they make money or lose money.

Paul Ausick

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/RyNm/~3/CfDiSgOhHWE/

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Insight: On uneasy ANC centenary, a call for cleansing (Reuters)

BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa (Reuters) ? A black bull bellows and snorts in its death throes, sacrificed with a ceremonial spear in an age-old African cleansing ritual to ward off evil spirits and appease the souls of ancestors.

South African President Jacob Zuma led the purification ceremony at the weekend at the site where the ruling party he leads, the African National Congress (ANC), was born 100 years ago. The birth launched decades of exile, protest and armed struggle that finally ended apartheid white-minority rule In 1994, when elections ushered in a multi-racial democracy.

"It's important that it be cleansed," said Baba Ndungane, a Zulu "sangoma" or traditional healer, speaking near the Waaihoek Wesleyan Church.

The brick, tin-roofed building where a century ago Africa's oldest liberation movement was formed in a black township in the city of Bloemfontein is now dwarfed by the looming towers of a disused power station.

Ndungane, in a beaded headband and a leopard-print robe, said the area needed cleansing because it may have witnessed robberies, rapes and violence over the years.

As the ANC celebrated its 100th birthday on Sunday in a 100 million rand ($12.3 million)commemoration that included a huge banquet for invited heads of state and guests, a splurge of celebrity music shows and even a golf tournament, many were clamoring for the party itself to clean up its act after nearly 18 years at the head of Africa's most powerful economy.

Under such legendary leaders as Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Oliver Tambo, who endured persecution and imprisonment, the ANC gained near-mythical status. Once the yoke of apartheid was thrown off, it began ruling South Africa in a blaze of international goodwill that idolized it as moral beacon for a troubled continent and world.

Close to two decades later, this image has dimmed as critics inside and outside the country and movement accuse ANC leaders of indulging in the spoils of office, squandering and raping mineral resources and engaging in vicious power struggles.

Even as party leaders rallied in Bloemfontein at the weekend cloaked in self-congratulatory slogans such as "Unity in Diversity" and "100 Years of Selfless Struggle," in the nearby farming town of Thaba Nchu, two anti-apartheid veterans in their 80s seethed at what they saw as the betrayal of their ideals.

"Selfless rule, my foot!" spluttered 84-year-old Sally Motlana, widow of the late Dr. Nthato Motlana, an anti-apartheid activist who was Mandela's doctor.

"WHERE IS THE RAINBOW NATION?"

Speaking to Reuters in the house of one of the earlier presidents of the ANC, James Sebe Moroka, she and Moroka's daughter-in-law Gladys Moroka, 80, railed against Zuma and his government, criticizing the power struggle that forced out president Thabo Mbeki and attacking the self-enrichment "gravy train" that they said tarnished the top echelons of the party.

"The only thing that makes me proud of the ANC is the liberation of the people of South Africa. But the present government has nothing that makes me proud," said Motlana, who was a prominent anti-apartheid activist in her own right. "The anger in me could kill a human being."

She and fellow ANC stalwart Moroka believe the party, which still commands huge support and respect, has lost its way, neglecting the broad democratic consensus that was one of its biggest strengths against apartheid and straying from Mandela's vision of a "rainbow nation" uniting all, regardless of race.

"Where is the rainbow nation at this (centenary) conference?" said Motlana, a lifetime vice-president of the South African Council of Churches who was imprisoned in the 1970s under apartheid. A missionary-educated Anglican, she accused Zuma and his ruling group of espousing narrow factionalism and blasted the Zulu rituals - such as the cleansing - with which he likes to surround himself.

"I didn't go to jail for that," Motlana said, adding she was not sure she would even continue to vote for the ANC.

Although there is no question that emotional support for the ANC, its history and its ideals remains high among a majority of South Africans, anger at the luxury lifestyles and conspicuous consumption of many of the ruling elite and their business backers burns strongly.

So does a widespread sense that the ANC has not delivered on its post-apartheid promise to provide "a better life for all."

SOME IMPROVEMENTS

"I'm a staunch member of the ANC, but I don't want to go to Bloemfontein," said Rebecca Motsele, a feisty, diminutive 76-year-old resident of Soweto township, just outside Johannesburg.

She complained the government was not doing enough to help the poor and hungry and create jobs for the some 40 percent of South Africans who are jobless, most of them young.

"They should come and have a look at our houses," said Motsele, stabbing the air for emphasis with her umbrella. "I grew up with the ANC, I'm very disappointed," she said.

"We are still struggling, people are not getting jobs, people are still suffering. (The ANC) must come and deliver for us," said Soweto resident Mzwandile Sifile, 29, who said he was trying to set up his own gardening and cleaning business.

Sifile said his approaches to local authorities for contracts for his business were met with requests for bribes. Others say applications for housing also require bribes to be successful in a pervasive atmosphere of graft where nearly all transactions demand cuts and kickbacks.

Such practices have spawned a class of "tenderpreneurs" - politicians and their business allies who make a living from taking commissions for awarding government contracts.

Nevertheless, Soweto, a township that was the site of an uprising in 1976 that galvanized resistance to apartheid, has seen undeniable progress since the ANC took power.

A gritty dust still blows down from the old mine dumps that surround the township, but housing has improved, pavements and parks have been built, modern shopping malls have gone up and tourists visit iconic locations of the anti-apartheid fight.

Such improvements can been seen in similar townships across the country, such as Batho Location in Bloemfontein, a settlement of modest but solid mostly brick houses that boasts solar-powered street lighting.

"It was shacks before," said Godswill Sefotlhelo, 39, a local ANC member who is anxious that visitors recognize the party's achievements in government. "Slowly but surely, the ANC is doing its best. You can't help everyone in one day, but it is getting there," he said.

But he acknowledges people want more, and they want it faster. "The most important thing is service delivery - electricity, homes, water, schools and clinics."

STOPPING THE ROT

And he too sees the threat of corruption from within the party. "People are looking at their own interest first, that's the corruption happening now. Everyone is trying to make what they want before their term finishes," Sefotlhelo said. "As the ANC, we must root out all the wrong elements."

"That thing called money, it crucified Christ," said Motlana

in her indictment of the ANC's current malaise.

ANC officials say President Zuma has moved to tackle graft. In October, he fired two cabinet ministers and suspended the national police chief after they were named in a government corruption report.

But even allies say Zuma has done too little. South Africa has slid to 64th in the world in Transparency International's latest index of perceived corruption, from 38th in 2001.

Although Zuma says the ANC will rule "until Jesus Christ comes," observers say it risks a slow erosion of support unless it addresses its internal divisions, cuts out corruption and listens to popular grievances.

Recent elections have seen the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) chipping away at the ANC's dominance, although it could still take decades for an opposition party to win power.

While dutifully congratulating the ANC on its centenary, the DA did not miss the chance to criticize. "This historic event also calls for introspection and reflection. Without the values articulated by Nelson Mandela, the ANC also risks becoming a rudderless vessel," DA leader Helen Zille said in a statement.

At the centenary gala dinner in Bloemfontein on Saturday, there was little mention of the rot within the movement as speaker after speaker - from African allies of the anti-apartheid struggle such as former Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda to surviving ANC veterans - hailed the heroes and sacrifices that ended white minority rule.

"April 1994 brought us dignity in South Africa," Ahmed Kathrada, a former political prisoner who like Mandela spent years in apartheid jails, told the official celebration.

"INCOMPLETE REVOLUTION?"

In an outward show of unity, Mbeki, whose public appearances have been rare since he was humiliatingly ousted as ANC leader in a turbulent 2007 party conference, and Winnie Mandikizela-Mandela, the combative estranged wife of Nelson Mandela, attended the gala dinner along with more than a dozen African heads of state.

But such gestures cannot paper over the divisions, most visibly the power struggle between supporters of Mbeki, the moodily cerebral two-term president who spent most of his life under apartheid in exile and is from the Xhosa ethnic group, and Zuma, South Africa's most prominent Zulu politician and a former ANC intelligence chief who served time in jail with Mandela on Robben Island.

Stephen Ellis, a historian at the African Studies Center at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands who has written about the ANC, says that in the decades before it took power "anti-apartheid ... was the glue" that gave the movement political coherence.

With apartheid gone, more material considerations hold sway. "The glue that holds them together now is that they're in government, and so have enormous powers of patronage," Ellis told Reuters.

He says that when Mandela negotiated the transition from apartheid with South Africa's white rulers, his former jailers, what was agreed was a historic compromise aimed at avoiding a race war. "This was hailed as the negotiated Revolution, the miracle, and Mandela nailed his colors to that mast."

But this compromise also involved the modification and postponement of some of the redistributive socialist goals of the ANC - enshrined in a 1955 Freedom Charter and especially cherished by a communist-dominated exile group of the party that had sheltered for years in the dusty compounds of the Zambian capital Lusaka and in other African capitals.

Ellis says that, after nearly 18 years of largely market-oriented economic policies that have helped keep South Africa as the economic powerhouse of a restive continent, there are now calls from some parts of the party to finish what many see as the "incomplete revolution."

"FIREWORKS" SEEN BEFORE LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE

One of those who has most energetically espoused the pursuit of more revolutionary goals is the ANC's notorious "bad boy" and now-suspended Youth League leader Julius Malema. His defiant demands for the seizure of white-owned land and nationalization of the mines, coupled with a barrage of mocking personal invective against Zuma and his presidency, earned him a five-year suspension by the ANC's disciplinary committee in November.

He is appealing the suspension, aware that his populist pitch has struck a chord among South Africa's restive, poor unemployed youth, many of whom seem willing to overlook his penchant for flashy clothes and expensive cars and watches sit awkwardly with his rhetoric of revolutionary redistribution.

Heeding party calls not to rock the centenary boat, Malema kept a relatively low profile at the Bloemfontein event, making public calls for ANC unity and addressing some local rallies.

While older ANC cadres tut-tut over his verbal incontinence and open disrespect for the senior leadership, not all see him in a completely negative light.

"I don't say that small boy (Malema) is right all the time, but he can certainly pinpoint mistakes," chuckles ANC veteran Motlana, who knows a thing or two about defiance campaigns.

So while unity slogans filled the air at the Bloemfontein events, few doubt that a bitter leadership battle will brew this year leading up to the party's conference to elect a leader in the same "city of roses" in December.

Most analysts think that amid the current in-fighting, Zuma is still likely to obtain a second term, heading off challenges from followers of Malema and disgruntled Mbeki backers.

But the uplifting days of "Unity in Diversity" seem over.

"It's certainly more uncertain than it's been since 1994," said historian Ellis.

Motlana added: "There's going to be fireworks."

($1 = 8.1456 South African rand)

(Additional reporting By Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120108/wl_nm/us_safrica_anc_centenary

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v1: Argentine President Fernandez 'did not have cancer'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-latin-america-16456040

Version 1 of 2.

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner did not have cancer after all, the presidential spokesman has said.

Ms Fernandez underwent an operation last Wednesday aimed at treating suspected thyroid cancer.

Supporters gathered in vigil at the hospital amid huge public interest.

But post-operative tests had definitively ruled out the presence of cancerous cells in removed nodules, spokesman Alfredo Scoccimarro said.

The news was greeted with cheers of astonishment and relief when it was announced to supporters outside the Austral University Hospital in Pilar, some 60km (40 miles) from the Argentine capital Buenos Aires.

With the new diagnosis, Ms Fernandez's medical team "considers that the surgical treatment undertaken is sufficient and the administration of radioactive iodine is no longer necessary", Mr Scoccimarro said.

Popular leader

He said the president was thankful for the affection and concern for her health she had received.

She has been released from hospital and is convalescing at her official residence, he added.

Ms Fernandez, 58, won re-election with a landslide 54% of the vote in October, and is popular among Argentines who agree with her generous welfare programmes.

She had been believed to be suffering a papillary thyroid carcinoma, but doctors say it can be difficult to test definitively for the presence of the cancer without removing the thyroid gland in its entirety.

She was one of several Latin American leaders diagnosed with cancer in recent times.

President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Paraguayan leader Fernando Lugo, and former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva have all been operated on in the past year.

Source: http://www.newssniffer.co.uk/versions/830518

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