* Apartheid is no longer on the statute books in South Africa, but many black South Africans continue to live in townships that are far from the country's thriving centers of commerce and jobs. Susan Hanong, 67, works as a maid in Johannesburg, a two-hour commute from where she lives in the township of Soweto; she makes the equivalent of about $160 a month. (The New York Times) Now that soccer's World Cup 2010 is coming to Johannesburg, cities throughout the country are taking steps to improve transportation in expectation of crowds from all over the world. One such improvement is the new Bus Rapid Transit system, which is making the trip to work a faster, more affordable, and more dignified experience for people like Hanong, who used to ride to work on a rickety, rowdy minibus taxi.
* In California, a bill has just been introduced in the state senate that would require animal abusers to be listed in an online registry that would include their addresses and places of employment.
* Anthem Blue Cross of California just raised its premiums by 39 percent, sparking public outrage and bolstering President Obama's efforts to popularize his proposal to give the federal government the power to block excessive rate increases by health insurance companies. The proposal is meant to fill in a gap left by the two different health care bills adopted by the House and the Senate late last year. Congressional Democrats and Republicans are scheduled to have a bipartisan exchange of ideas later today; after Anthem's increases, Republicans--who for the most part have protested a possible "government takeover" of health care and prefer to leave such decisions up to existing state regulators--will face the task of not appearing to support "profiteering" insurers.
* China opened its first state-owned gay bar on Dec. 20, 2009; the bar receives government funding. Chinese officials hope to improve outreach efforts to individuals with HIV/AIDS. Until 2001, homosexuality was classified as a mental illness in China. Also, China's one-child policy results in pressure from parents on their only child to marry and have a child.
* In the savanna grasslands of Senegal, an anthropologist observed a male chimpanzee performing what appeared to be a special fire dance next to a large blaze. Chimps have also been seen dancing during rainstorms. The researcher, Jill Pruetz of Iowa State University in Ames, reported that the dominant male chimp faced the fire with "a really exaggerated slow-motion display," turned and repeated the display for a group of chimps taking shelter underneath a nearby baobab tree, and engaged in "barking vocalizations" not heard before during 2,000 hours of monitoring the group.