Corruption in SAfrica gets worse, harms citizens

JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? South Africa is fighting a losing battle against corruption which sucked up nearly 1 billion rand ($111 million) in taxpayers' money last year ? nearly three times the amount lost in 2010, according to a new report called The Real State of the Nation.

"Corruption is rampant," the author of the report, financial forensics expert Peter Allwright, said Friday. "It's out of control ... and the dedicated units that have been created to fight financial misconduct are in essence fighting a losing battle."

Allwright told The Associated Press that while 88 percent of people tried for financial misconduct are found guilty, only 19 percent are dismissed. Forty-three percent get final written warnings.

"Essentially you have a one-in-five chance of being dismissed and the rest remain in the public service and continue with financial misconduct because there are no real consequences," said Allwright, an attorney with law firm Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs.

Others are able "to get off scot-free" by resigning and getting another government job where they can continue to steal, he said. That was because an insufficient investigative capacity in the public service means nearly two-thirds of cases take more than 90 days to investigate. "You can give 30 days' notice and leave, and the public service office then often abandons the investigation," Allwright said.

Only 13 percent of the money lost to corruption is recovered, he said.

South Africa lost 930 million rand ($103 million) to financial misconduct by workers in national and provincial governments in the fiscal year 2011-2012, up from 346 million rand ($38.5 million) in 2009-2010, the report says. South Africa's national budget this year is R1.5 trillion ($167 billion).

The amount missing from public coffers is probably much higher because corruption cases are underreported and the figures do not include local governments, Allwright said. Despite government promises to fight corruption and mismanagement, little has changed since a government report on local governments in 2009 warned that in some cases "accountable government and the rule of law had collapsed or were collapsing" because of corruption, profiteering and mismanagement.

The government report found corruption was the biggest factor in failures to provide basic services, a nagging problem that frequently triggers violent across a country that has Africa's largest economy but millions living in shacks without running water or electricity.

Allwright's report is based on figures from parliamentary committee reports and the Public Service Commission, which has conceded that cases of corruption are probably underreported.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/corruption-safrica-gets-worse-harms-citizens-135353334.html

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Alyssa Milano: Our Bodies Are Not Made for Bikinis

"Our bodies are not made to look good in a string bikini!" the Mistresses star says.

Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/KKIBkZAOkcc/

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Dr. Drew Pinsky Announces End Of ?Celebrity Rehab? (VIDEO)

Dr. Drew Pinsky Announces End Of “Celebrity Rehab” (VIDEO)

Dr. Drew Pinsky has just announced that he will no longer be doing “Celebrity Rehab”. The show has been on the air for five seasons since January 2008 premiere, attempting to help celebrities get help for their drug addictions. Dr. Drew has been criticized for the show, with some cruelly calling him “Dr. Death” after ...

Dr. Drew Pinsky Announces End Of “Celebrity Rehab” (VIDEO) Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2013/05/dr-drew-pinsky-announces-end-of-celebrity-rehab-video/

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CA-BUSINESS Summary

Asian shares fall on fears for health of world economy

TOKYO (Reuters) - Growing doubts over the health of global economies pushed Asian shares lower on Thursday, adding to investor caution before the European Central Bank meeting later in the day that could see interest rates cut to support growth. Investor sentiment has weakened as oil futures and U.S. stocks dropped overnight after the latest U.S. economic data cast doubts about the strength of the world's biggest economy.

TSX drops hard as commodity prices fall

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index fell more than 1 percent on Wednesday, hurt by sluggish economic data from China that yanked commodity prices lower and by weak earnings reports from some of the country's biggest companies. Growth in the manufacturing sector in China, a big consumer of commodities from Canada, slowed unexpectedly in April as new export orders fell, raising fresh doubts about the strength of that economy after a disappointing first quarter.

Bank of Canada's Carney says growth looking better than expected

EDMONTON, Alberta (Reuters) - There appears to be more momentum in the Canadian economy in the first quarter than the central bank had anticipated in its quarterly forecasts last month, Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney said on Wednesday. "Very short-term performance, yeah, there is on average a bit more momentum," Carney told reporters when asked if he saw growth surpassing the bank's forecast of 1.5 percent annualized growth in the first quarter.

Analysis: Wall Street to Best Buy - Now, get out of China

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Best Buy's move to exit Europe has many on Wall Street hoping the big box retailer does the same in China. The company sold its stake in a European joint venture to Carphone Warehouse Group this week for less than half of what it paid five years ago. Despite the loss, investors welcomed the news and sent shares up to their highest level in a year.

Analysis: CIBC's Canada focus raises concerns as growth slows

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce's remake from swashbuckling Wall Street player to low-risk Canada-focused lender has stabilized its earnings, but some shareholders now worry that the bank faces outsized exposure to an uncertain housing market. The bank's homebound approach - which CIBC trumpets as a road to reduced risk - is a direct result of previous U.S. forays that cost the bank billions following the 2001 tech meltdown and the 2008 subprime crisis.

BOJ says monetary base soars to record on new QE scheme

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's monetary base soared to a record in April, the Bank of Japan said on Thursday, as the central bank's more aggressive quantitative easing program boosts the amount of money flowing through the economy. The BOJ unveiled a radical overhaul of monetary policy on April 4 by shifting its policy target to the monetary base from short-term interest rates.

Canada April auto sales rise for Detroit carmakers

(Reuters) - Canadian sales rose for the three Detroit automakers, led by strong sales for pickup trucks. Ford Motor Co was the top-seller in Canada in April, when sales rose 15.5 percent to 27,907 vehicles.

Dish chairman asserts U.S. advantage in Sprint bid

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Dish Network Corp Chairman Charlie Ergen escalated the war of words with Japan's SoftBank Corp over the future of U.S. mobile company Sprint Nextel Corp , saying Sprint's network needed modernization best performed by English-speaking employees from a U.S. company. In an interview on Wednesday with USA Today, the country's third-largest newspaper, Ergen said Dish's American roots gave it an operational edge in the bidding war with SoftBank over Sprint.

China factory growth eases, adds to recovery risk

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's factory-sector growth eased in April as new export orders fell for the first time this year, a private survey showed on Thursday, suggesting the euro zone recession and sluggish U.S. demand may be risks to China's economic recovery. The final HSBC Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) dropped to 50.4 in April from March's 51.6 and was largely in line with a flash reading last week of 50.5. Fifty divides expansion from contraction on a monthly basis.

Brazil's Odebrecht plans $20 billion spend, targets Peru as key investment

LIMA (Reuters) - Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht plans to invest $20 billion globally over the next three years, mostly in Latin America and much of it in Peru, the company's chief executive said on Wednesday. Family-owned Odebrecht, one of Latin America's biggest companies, has businesses in construction, petrochemicals, transportation, oil and gas in 20 countries worldwide.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ca-business-summary-001006025.html

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Peace Corps volunteer dies in Ghana

May 1 (Reuters) - Post position for Saturday's 139th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs after Wednesday's draw (listed as barrier, HORSE, jockey, trainer) 1. BLACK ONYX, Joe Bravo, Kelly Breen 2. OXBOW, Gary Stevens, D. Wayne Lukas 3. REVOLUTIONARY, Calvin Borel, Todd Pletcher 4. GOLDEN SOUL, Robby Albarado, Dallas Stewart 5. NORMANDY INVASION, Javier Castellano, Chad Brown 6. MYLUTE, Rosie Napravnik, Tom Amoss 7. GIANT FINISH, Jose Espinoza, Tony Dutrow 8. GOLDENCENTS, Kevin Krigger, Doug O'Neill 9. OVERANALYZE, Rafael Bejarano, Todd Pletcher 10. PALACE MALICE, Mike Smith, Todd Pletcher 11. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/peace-corps-volunteer-dies-ghana-161855685.html

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'Downton Abbey' hires first recurring black actor

TV

Stuart Kemp The Hollywood Reporter

10 hours ago

BBC.co.uk

Gary Carr in the BBC's "Death in Paradise."

"Downton Abbey" is ramping up its roster of fresh cast, inking a deal with Gary Carr (TV's "Death In Paradise") for the hit British costume drama's fourth season.

Carr will be the show's first recurring black cast member, playing a "charming and charismatic" young jazz singer.

"Downton Abbey" creator Julian Fellowes said in November that it would be ?rather nice to open it up ethnically a bit,? amid criticism from some over the lack of ethnic diversity among the cast.

Carr joins fellow newbie cast members Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Tom Cullen, Julian Ovenden, Nigel Harman, Joanna David and Dame Harriet Walter, who are all set to carry significant roles in season four.

PHOTOS: "Downton Abbey" Season 3: The Dowager Countess meets her match

Production banner Carnival Films and U.K. commercial broadcaster ITV today announced Carr's casting May 1.

Carnival Films managing director Gareth Neame said: "His (Carr's character) addition will bring interesting twists to the drama which we can?t wait for viewers to see in (season four)."

As well as filming an eight-part fourth season, "Downton Abbey" will return Christmas 2013 with another feature-length episode.

The new season will see the return of Shirley MacLaine as Martha Levinson alongside series regulars Hugh Bonneville, Maggie Smith, Michelle Dockery and Jim Carter.

Downton Abbey's executive producer Gareth Neame also confirmed Tuesday that show will soon be expanding its franchise with the launch of clothing, furniture and homewares lines. In an interview with CNBC, Neame said, ?We?ll be working across an entire range of products coming out this year. From fashion, apparel and homeware and furniture to wallpapers, beauty products and stationery.?

PHOTOS: "Downton Abbey": Hugh Bonneville, Joanne Froggatt celebrate season 3's U.S. premiere

The launch of product lines loosely modeled on the show's handsome period costumes and set decoration had long been anticipated. Neame explained that the show's slow move into merchandising was part of an ?extremely cautious? strategy. ?No one wants to launch products if the show?s going to be a flop,? he added.

Those concerns have now been decidedly assuaged. In the U.K., "Downton Abbey's" third season was the most watched drama of 2012, averaging 11.9 million consolidated viewers, while the show also broke records in the U.S. recently with season three's finale beating all broadcast and cable competition to become the highest rated show on American television that evening.

The show, which aired on "Masterpiece" on PBS, averaged 11.5 million viewers. The finale averaged 12.3 million viewers.

Downton Abbeyis a Carnival/Masterpiece co-production.

Carnival is a division of NBC Universal.

Written by Oscar winnerFellowes, "Downton Abbey" is executive produced by Neame, Fellowes and Liz Trubridge.

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/downton-abbey-adds-first-recurring-black-character-season-4-6C9708418

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This week's sidebar poll: What's your Android keyboard of choice?

We spend more time using the keyboard than many other apps. Which one is your favorite?

One of Android's killer features is the ability to change system applications if we come across one that's better for us than what came with our phone or tablet. Things like messaging apps, or launchers or lock screens. That's some powerful stuff, and makes the word customized actually mean something. To me, this is especially important when we're talking about the input method we use to communicate with the world from our phones. Of course, I'm talking about the keyboard.

There are some really great keyboard replacement apps out there. SwiftKey has an uncanny prediction engine that learns as you use it (even BlackBerry users agree) combined with the "Flow" swipe-to-type feature. Swype, the original swipe-to-type keyboard, now has a fine prediction engine and dictionary set-up of it's own. A quick look through Google Play will show you that there are plenty of others out there that offer unique functions and layouts, too. No matter what you're looking for from your keyboard, you'll probably find one to suit you.

So we ask, what is your keyboard of choice on your Android device? There's a poll on the sidebar to the right, and it's also embedded after the break. Let us know which keyboard you're using, and feel free to tell us why in the comments.

A look at last week's poll results:

Which U.S. carrier will you be getting the Samsung Galaxy S4 on?

A nice, even spread with Verizon taking a slight lead as expected. More importantly -- a lot of people are picking up a Galaxy S4. And we can see why.

read more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/UPstVx-4IeQ/story01.htm

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Substances in honey increase honey bee detox gene expression

May 1, 2013 ? Research in the wake of Colony Collapse Disorder, a mysterious malady afflicting (primarily commercial) honey bees, suggests that pests, pathogens and pesticides all play a role. New research indicates that the honey bee diet influences the bees' ability to withstand at least some of these assaults. Some components of the nectar and pollen grains bees collect to manufacture food to support the hive increase the expression of detoxification genes that help keep honey bees healthy.

The findings appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

University of Illinois professor of entomology May Berenbaum, who led the study, said that many organisms use a group of enzymes called cytochrome P450 monooxygenases to break down foreign substances such as pesticides and compounds naturally found in plants, known as phytochemicals. However, honey bees have relatively few genes dedicated to this detoxification process compared to other insect species, she said.

"Bees feed on hundreds of different types of nectar and pollen, and are potentially exposed to thousands of different types of phytochemicals, yet they only have one-third to one-half the inventory of enzymes that break down these toxins compared to other species," Berenbaum said.

Determining which of the 46 P450 genes in the honey bee genome are used to metabolize constituents of their natural diet and which are used to metabolize synthetic pesticides became a "tantalizing scientific question" to her research team, Berenbaum said.

"Every frame of honey (in the honey bee hive) is phytochemically different from the next frame of honey because different nectars went in to make the honey. If you don't know what your next meal is going to be, how does your detoxification system know which enzymes to upregulate?" Berenbaum said.

Research had previously shown that eating honey turns on detoxification genes that metabolize the chemicals in honey, but the researchers wanted to identify the specific components responsible for this activity. To do this, they fed bees a mixture of sucrose and powdered sugar, called bee candy, and added different chemical components in extracts of honey. They identified p-coumaric acid as the strongest inducer of the detoxification genes.

"We found that the perfect signal, p-coumaric acid, is in everything that bees eat -- it's the monomer that goes into the macromolecule called sporopollenin, which makes up the outer wall of pollen grains. It's a great signal that tells their systems that food is coming in, and with that food, so are potential toxins," Berenbaum said.

Her team showed that p-coumaric acid turns on not only P450 genes, but representatives of every other type of detoxification gene in the genome. This signal can also turn on honey bee immunity genes that code for antimicrobial proteins.

According to Berenbaum, three other honey constituents were effective inducers of these detoxification enzymes. These components probably originate in the tree resins that bees use to make propolis, the "bee glue" which lines all of the cells and seals cracks within a hive.

"Propolis turns on immunity genes -- it's not just an antimicrobial caulk or glue. It may be medicinal, and in fact, people use it medicinally, too," Berenbaum said.

Many commercial beekeepers use honey substitutes such as high-fructose corn syrup or sugar water to feed their colonies. Berenbaum believes the new research shows that honey is "a rich source of biologically active materials that truly matter to a bee."

She hopes that future testing and development will yield honey substitutes that contain p-coumaric acid so beekeepers can enhance their bees' ability to withstand pathogens and pesticides.

Although she doesn't recommend that beekeepers "rush out and dump p-coumaric acid into their high fructose corn syrup," she hopes that her team's research can be used as the basis of future work aimed at improving bee health.

"If I were a beekeeper, I would at least try to give them some honey year-round," Berenbaum said, "because if you look at the evolutionary history of Apis mellifera, this species did not evolve with high fructose corn syrup. It is clear that honey bees are highly adapted to consuming honey as part of their diet."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. W. Mao, M. A. Schuler, M. R. Berenbaum. Honey constituents up-regulate detoxification and immunity genes in the western honey bee Apis mellifera. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2013; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1303884110

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/anM5Z0t_hQM/130501132051.htm

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casca news: CASCA: Job postings/Offres d'emploi

(English follows)

Les offres d'emploi suivantes viennent d'?tre ajout?es ? notre banque.

-HISTORICALLY UNDERREPRESENTED DISSERTATION FELLOW - ANTHRO
SUNY Oneonta

-Assistant / Associate Professor in Sociology or Anthropology
UvA

-Lecturer in Sociology of Gender and Sexuality
UvA

-Assistant / Associate Professor in the Anthropology of Health
UvA

-Visiting Assistant Professor of Medical Anthropology
Haverford College

-Indigenous Community Engagement/Aboriginal Education - Canada
Research Chair Tier II
Vancouver Island University

-Social Welfare and Social Development - Assistant Professor
Nipissing University

-Sciences humaines - Professeur (Sociologie)
Universit? Sainte-Anne

Consultez-les ou voyez toute la liste en visitant notre site Web:

www.cas-sca.ca

Merci

**********

The following job postings have just been added to our job page:

-HISTORICALLY UNDERREPRESENTED DISSERTATION FELLOW - ANTHRO
SUNY Oneonta

-Assistant / Associate Professor in Sociology or Anthropology
UvA

-Lecturer in Sociology of Gender and Sexuality
UvA

-Assistant / Associate Professor in the Anthropology of Health
UvA

-Visiting Assistant Professor of Medical Anthropology
Haverford College

-Indigenous Community Engagement/Aboriginal Education - Canada
Research Chair Tier II
Vancouver Island University

-Social Welfare and Social Development - Assistant Professor
Nipissing University

-Sciences humaines - Professeur (Sociologie)
Universit? Sainte-Anne

See them and others on our website:

www.cas-sca.ca

Thank you

Source: http://casca-news.blogspot.com/2013/05/casca-job-postingsoffres-demploi.html

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