Scientists crack the spiders' web code

Melbourne, Australia (SPX)
Jun 03, 2011

Decorative white silk crosses are an ingenious tactic used by orb-weaving spiders to protect their webs from damage, a new study from the University of Melbourne has revealed.

The team, led by Dr Andre Walter and Professor Mark Elgar from the University of Melbourne's Department of Zoology, found that orb-weaving spiders respond to severe damage to their webs by building bigger silk crosses, but if the damage is mild they don't bother adding extra decoration.

Professor Mark Elgar said web damage is costly for spiders as a lot of nutritional resources are required to rebuild a web. "So they evolved this ingenious way to minimize unwanted damage," he said.

"It's much like we mark glass windows with tape to prevent people walking into them," he said.

The team collected a group of orb-weaving spiders and left them to build their webs in the laboratory. Some of the completed webs were severely damaged, others lightly damaged and the remainder left alone. The response of the spiders was then observed.

"The fact that spiders increased their decorating activity in response to severe damage but didn't increase their decorating following light damage suggests that the conspicuous building of silk crosses serves to make webs more visible to animals that might accidentally walk or fly into them," Professor Elgar said.

Adding silk decorations to spiders' orb-webs was first reported over a century ago but why these spiders decorate their webs has been the topic of controversial debate for decades.

"Our study helps unravel this mystery," Professor Elgar said.

Source: Terra Daily.
Link: http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Scientists_crack_the_spiders_web_code_999.html.

Algeria offers new housing units, trading stands

2011-06-02

Some 60,000 newly-built housing units will become available across Algeria before the start of Ramadan, Echorouk reported on Wednesday (June 1st). The project is part of the government's program to build 2 million new homes for the most vulnerable segments of the population, Housing Minister Noureddine Moussa told an assembly of walis in Algiers on Wednesday. The minister also noted that to stem unemployment, 150,000 trading stands would soon be offered to jobless youths.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2011/06/02/newsbrief-06.

Morocco foresees 50,000 green energy jobs

2011-06-02

Morocco will invest 6.6 billion euros in its renewable energy sector to achieve 3,640MW of electricity by 2015, Le Matin reported on Thursday (June 2nd). By 2020, wind and solar power will account for 42% of total production, Energy Minister Amina Benkhadra said Tuesday in Oujda. Some 50,000 new jobs will be opened in the sector, the minister said.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2011/06/02/newsbrief-07.

Medical residents protest in Algiers

2011-06-02

Some 3,000 Algerian medical residents attempted a protest rally in Algiers on Wednesday (June 1st), El Watan reported. While some of them managed to march through the streets of the capital, most were reportedly held up by police at Mustapha Bacha Hospital. According to the spokesperson for CAMRA, the medical residents' independent union that organized the protest, ten people were injured in the confrontation. The demonstration was the latest labor action by Algerian public health professionals demanding better benefits and working conditions.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2011/06/02/newsbrief-04.

Spanish government warns Madrid protesters

Jun 1, 2011

MADRID — Spain's government fired a warning Wednesday at protesters encamped in a major Madrid square, saying they cannot flout the rights of local shops.

Protesters angered by Spain's economic crisis have stretched a huge encampment covered by blue plastic sheets across the central square of Puerta del Sol since May 15, annoying nearby shop-owners.

"It cannot be that some citizens cut off the rights of others," Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba told Cadena Ser radio.

"When there are shopkeepers who complain that they are being deprived of their rights or they have difficult getting by, then you have to find an understanding," he said.

Rubalcaba said police action would be proportionate to avoid making things worse. "For the moment we will see how things develop and continue acting in a proportionate and, I think, intelligent manner."

In Barcelona anti-riot police fired rubber bullets and swung truncheons Friday to disperse protesters in the city's Plaza de Cataluna ahead of celebrations of Barcelona's Champions League victory.

By that same evening, however, at least 5,000 people were back in the square and some had put up tents.

In Madrid activists have been publicly debating whether to maintain their protest camp or reduce it, possibly leaving only an information stand, and discussions were to carry on Wednesday.

Debates at the square frequently stretch on late into the night with thousands of participants.

If just one person objects, the debate goes on.

"All we do is speak about the problems of the encampment but we are incapable of taking a decision," one speaker complained during a general assembly on Tuesday.

Spain's protests began May 15 and fanned out to city squares nationwide as word spread by Twitter and Facebook among demonstrators known variously as "the indignant", "M-15" and "Spanish Revolution".

Although their numbers are down from the peak, Madrid protesters agreed Sunday to stay indefinitely in Puerta del Sol square, saying they were at the vanguard of a movement gaining support in Europe.

Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved.

Libyan rebels arrest three car-bomb suspects related to Gaddafi regime

BENGHAZI, Libya, June 2 (Xinhua) -- A senior Libyan opposition official said Thursday a blast in their bastion Benghazi Wednesday was conducted by the ring loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and three suspects in the case have been arrested.

The blast damaged several cars outside the Tibesti Hotel which was used for important news conference in downtown Benghazi at about 7 p.m. (1700 GMT) on Wednesday. There was no casualty in the incident.

The explosion was caused by some grenades thrown by suspects related to Gaddafi to terrorize the people, said Abdel Hafeedh Ghoga, spokesman of the rebel's National Transitional Council (NTC). But details about the explosives and the suspects were not available.

"The main aim of such acts was to scare us and choice of the location which was the heart of foreign missions, journalists and NTC core members was to threaten the people," Ghoga told a press conference. "The NTC denounces such terrorist acts. We do not think it will divide us, on the contrary, it will unite us."

Security authorities are chasing down the other suspects responsible for the "terrorist attack," said Ghoga, adding that the security measures have been tightened in vital locations such as court houses, hotels, residential areas and main streets.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-06/03/c_13908224.htm.

Jordan Islamists, leftists unite against corruption

By Randa Habib (AFP) – Jun 1, 2011

AMMAN — Opposition Islamists and leftists in Jordan have joined forces in an improbable partnership against corruption, as the government faces a crisis after two ministers resigned over a graft case.

Despite their different ideologies, the Muslim Brotherhood and leftist parties last week formed a National Reform Front (NRF) led by former prime minister Ahmad Obeidat.

"The NRF's priority is to create a national reform strategy to put the country on the right democratic track and to fight corruption, including in political life," said Obeidat, who is well respected by Jordanians.

"Tyranny and corruption are Jordan's main problems. Fighting corruption starts with reforming the regime itself."

Mohammad Masri, a researcher at University of Jordan's Center for Strategic Studies, said "all Jordanians agree on the need to fight corruption, which affects their lives that are already burdened with an economic crisis."

"It was the same situation in Tunisia, Egypt and Syria, where corruption was a key element in creating uprisings," Masri told AFP.

The justice and health ministers resigned last Thursday after top businessman Khalid Shahin, jailed for corruption, was allowed to leave prison for medical treatment in the United States.

Shahin and three others, including a former minister, were sentenced last year to three years in jail over graft payments as part of a $2.1-billion project to upgrade the Jordan Petroleum Refinery Company, which runs the kingdom's sole refinery.

In February, the government allowed Shahin to travel to the United States -- but there was an outcry in Jordan when, in April, he was spotted in a London restaurant.

"The issue of Khalid Shahin has become a symbol of how the government deals with corruption: there is no accountability and the corrupt are protected," Masri said.

On Wednesday, journalist Alaa Fazzaa was arrested for allegedly "undermining the monarchy and the constitution". He had published a report online that accused senior officials of helping Shahin leave the country.

King Abdullah II ordered Fazzaa's release from jail, according to the palace, but it was still unclear if the case against him had been dropped.

"Jordan suffers from squandering public funds and corruption, which are two sides of the same coin," said economist and former minister Samir Tawil.

"The country's foreign debt is now $17 billion (11.8 billion euros), while it was nine billion dollars in 2003, despite revenue of four billion dollars from privatization, and increased taxes."

Tawil added: "People are wondering what happened to the $12 billion. Those suspected of corruption must declare how they acquired their wealth."

For Masri, Jordanians "want to see the corrupt behind bars".

"There are many rumors about corruption. Everything should be investigated by a commission of senior and well-respected judges," he said.

The king urged the government last Wednesday to "protect the innocent victims of slander and hatred", including members of his family.

Prime Minister Maaruf Bakhit said Thursday that "the government will take the necessary legal measures against all those who accuse officials of corruption without proof."

Since January, Jordan has been facing a protest movement demanding political and economic reforms, and an end to corruption.

Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved.