It appears that Oprah Winfrey’s influence isn’t just restricted to books and talk shows, as her much-hyped first tweet on Friday has given a tremendous boost to the web traffic on Twitter, according to an analyst firm Hitwise.

According to the analyst company, web traffic to the micro blogging website rose substantially by 43 percent as compared to the previous Friday.

Additionally on 17th April, when Oprah posted her first tweet on the website, around 37 percent of the total visitors to the blogging website were new visitors, and Twitter’s share of total US internet visits increased considerably by 24 percent, the company added.

In spite of being a new online platform, Twitter’s share in internet visits is growing massively, with the website nearly gets around 32 percent new visitors every day; however, Hitwise also notified that the Facebook only managed to attract 8 percent new users in March.

The company further claimed that the search term “oprah twitter” was ranked as the 35th most searched term with the word Twitter last week, and considering that the search data is weekly and the show was only aired on Friday, this seems to be an impressive figure.

After the high-profile win of Ashton Kutcher, it’ll be interesting to see how long Oprah will take to gather 1 million followers.

Richard Branson, the founder of just about all things Virgin, doesn't seem too worried about the global tourism slowdown. Jaunted.com (a partner to Portfolio.com) offers up a photo of Branson kite surfing off Necker Island, his private island in the British Virgin Island with naked model Denni Parkinson hanging off his back.

In another photo in the series, Branson appears in a white buttondown in the forest while Parkinson stands behind him au naturale. She also happens to be the photographer's girlfriend, according to the Daily Mail, but the British tabs aren't giving Richard a free pass on this, even though he claims his children were watching from the shore. In the same week, Branson also reportedly clashed with Virgin-sponsored Formula 1 driver Jenson Button over his paying too much attention to Button's girlfriend, Japanese-Argentine underwear model Jessica Michibata. No wonder Branson's next trip was to a surprise birthday party for his dad in Scotland -- nothing untoward-looking about that.

Branson has a relatively new blog called, coincidentally, Branson Stripped Bare. The blog is a place where Branson can write about his travels (today, he writes about the Grand Prix in Shanghai), makes pitches for Virgin Atlantic products (a round-the-world airfare was for sale, using many of the airlines in Branson's portfolio), and asks users to submit videos with their own product pitches that can then be shown on Virgin Atlantic's inflight entertainment system.

There's something oddly calming to know that as the world deals with a global economic crisis and airline executives wring their hands over lost revenues, at least one industry leader knows how to have a good time.

Tuesday 1.45pm - A LOUTH golfer is heading to Scotland in May to play in the US Kids Golf European Championships.
More than 400 players from some 30 nations will be competing in the event which is Europe's premier junior tournament.

They will battle it out for the title of US Kids Golf European Champion – and the chance to win a coveted place in the US Kids Golf World Championships at Pinehurst Golf Club, North Carolina, in August.

The event – to be held across five of Scotland's historic golf courses in East Lothian in May - sees boys and girls split into different gender and age categories.

Amongst the young players representing the Lincolnshire Golf Union will be Ashton Turner, 13, from Alford and a member at Kenwick Park Golf Club, where he plays off a handicap of four.

He won last year's BBC Lincolnshire Young Sportsman Of The Year award and plays for the U14 and U16 Lincolnshire County teams.

In 2008, Lewis Hamilton fulfilled a lifetime’s ambition – and successfully carried the hopes of a nation – to win the Formula 1 drivers’ championship. Now, as he tells Sport, he can’t wait to begin his quest to retain it...

Fast Facts
Lewis Hamilton
Born January 7 1985
Birthplace Stevenage
Lives Geneva, Switzerland
Height 5ft 8ins
Team McLaren
F1 debut Australian GP, March 2007
Races 35
Wins 9
Podiums 22
Career points 207
World titles 1

It’s a cool, clear spring morning at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, and Sport is sitting next to the MP4-23, Lewis Hamilton’s 2008 championship-winning car, nervously waiting for the man himself to arrive. The 24-year-old has been doing media work all morning and faces a schedule that runs well into the evening – so it’s somewhat of a surprise, and perhaps a measure of the man he is, that Hamilton arrives with an infectious smile and a strong handshake. With his people already glaring at their watches, though, Sport senses it might be time to get started...

You’ll be starting your third season with a third different pressure; no longer the rookie or champion in waiting, you now have to defend your title. How tough will that be?
“Just to win last year was unbelievably hard, so I don’t think the next one will be any easier. With the new regulations, it’s going to be tough to win the championship again. We’ve had less time in the car before Melbourne – only seven days of testing – but I think as a team we are in a position to pull together and make a difference in another way.”

Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve, two talented racers, only won one title each. After missing out on one championship and only just scraping home last year, do you worry that, well, that might be it?
“That’s never ever been a worry for me, because records are not something I focus on. I don’t particularly care about those things. I’m only in my third year in Formula 1. I’ve got a long way to go and I have no doubts in my mind that I’ll have more opportunities to win more titles. I’m in a great team, which is the best it’s ever been, so I have to make sure I make the best use of that – and work as hard as I can to ensure we win more championships.”

But, as reigning world champion, you have to feel some pressure going into the season – or don’t you?
“I don’t think so, no. I feel more relaxed going into the season simply because I’m coming into it off the back of a great season. It’s like when you go from race to race; when you win one race, it gives you extra confidence going into the next one. I feel I have reset my goals and my targets back to when I started in F1. I just want to be world champion. I don’t sit here saying I am world champion; I sit here saying I want to be world champion.”

Lewis Hamilton's super circuit

After years of dreaming about becoming champion, you finally achieved your goal last year. Do you wake up thinking about exactly that every morning?
“I haven’t really thought about the last race that much. I did as much analysing then as I did after the first race of the season – thinking about where we could improve – and then I just put it behind me and started preparing myself for this season. Over the winter I relaxed and completely put racing out of my mind – yeah, I was able to live life normally.”

You mentioned that you want to cut out some of the mistakes you made in the 2008 season – can you tell us how do actually go about doing that?
“Not really, no! I really can’t! I analysed the mistakes I made last year and... take Montreal last year, for example, with the pit lane light. Every time I go down the pit lane now, I am always looking out for the light. You just have to learn from your previous experiences. I am sure the oldest man in the world is still learning today. You just have to make sure you try to prepare yourself in advance, and try and avoid any mistakes.”

What impact do you think the new regulations will have on your role as a Formula 1 driver?
“The role we play is still important. You’ve got to go out there and extract the most that you can from the car, and bring back all this information, but now it’s just squeezed down into a much smaller space of time. We only had seven days in the car before the first Grand Prix. We had to do a lot of simulations, sit in the office and go over a lot more data, and try and extract the most from that. It might be that some people gain a bigger advantage from that than others.”

From what you’ve seen in testing, are you confident the car will be competitive?
“Every lap we do, we are learning more about the car and bringing out more performance. But, until we all get on the track in Melbourne on Friday, it’s impossible to say how everyone else is doing.”

The season starts quite late this year. Is that a good thing, taking into account the new regulations, or a bad thing because you’re so eager to get going?
“To be honest, it’s only a couple of weeks later than last year, so it isn’t something I’ve really thought about. We are working to a target rather than thinking about when that target is, if you see what I mean. However, I am always eager to go racing. I seriously have what I consider to be the best job in the world – every time I get in the car, I’m sitting there under my helmet with a grin on my face!

JOHANNESBURG, April 20 (Reuters) - A new generation of South African voters with little memory of apartheid doubts Wednesday's election will meet hopes of change in a country where some leave high school unable to use a computer.

With its credentials still strong for ending white minority rule, the African National Congress (ANC) is set to keep power. Party leader Jacob Zuma, who spent 10 years in jail with Nelson Mandela, is to be named president.

But the youth vote will be a test of how long Africa's oldest liberation movement can keep its hold when it has to deliver on concerns such as stopping violent crime, ending poverty and fighting AIDS.

"I do not really care about the years they spent in exile. Right now I want results, said Shaun Rabany, 20. "What they did was great but they must not hide behind that."

Reuters interviews with 108 young South Africans revealed widespread discontent and apathy ahead of the fourth election since apartheid ended. Some of those voting now were only three when Mandela won the first democratic election in 1994.

Mandela is still admired by South Africa's youth, but there is less praise for Zuma, who until earlier this month faced corruption charges that were only dropped on a technicality.

South Africans are more likely to look abroad for heroes such as new U.S. President Barack Obama.

"I will only vote when someone like Obama who knows how to connect to youth starts a party here," said Lungiswa Booi, who has just become eligible to vote at 18. High school student Lesego Kenalepe, 16, said her hero was American actor Nicolas Cage.

"I just like him. I don't know why," she said.



LITTLE EXCITEMENT

Even among first-time voters there is little excitement -- a far cry from the enthusiasm of 1994 when millions stood in snaking lines until everyone had the chance to vote.

"Sometimes I feel like I am obliged to vote for the ANC because of the struggle. But the truth is that was then, and I do not really identify myself with the struggle. As youth we are left alone to try and survive," said Dineo Langa, 20, a student.

Of 23.1 million registered voters, 6.4 million are between 18 and 29 -- nearly one third.

Still full of energy and charm at 67 and equally comfortable in expensive business suits or his traditional tribal wear, Zuma made an appeal to younger voters at the last election rally.

"We learnt from you that it is 'cool' to be in the ANC and that the ANC 'rocks'!," he said.

But the language of liberation, and Zuma's anthem "Umshini wami" (Bring Me My Machine Gun), may have less appeal.

"Political parties need to motivate us if they want us to get involved. We are on Facebook and on MXit (a mobile-based instant messaging service). They must talk to us with the language we understand," said Zukiswa Mlanjwa, 20, a student who will vote for the first time.



PROMISES

And what young South Africans want to hear is how Zuma plans to deliver a future free of rampant crime, poverty and an AIDS epidemic -- problems the ANC has promised to tackle since 1994 without much success.

Millions of poor black South Africans still live in grim townships in a country that has one of the world's highest rates of violent crime. Around 1,000 people die every day from AIDS-related illnesses.

Disappointment, not wealth, trickles down to the young in places like Alexandra township, not far from glitzy malls which symbolise economic growth that has mostly benefited whites and black millionaires linked to the ANC.

At the Alexandra High School, student leaders spoke of the long list of things they don't have enough of -- computers, books, laboratories. Students scramble for desks to avoid standing all day long. Toilets overflow in the bathrooms.

Newspaper clippings with maps of Africa are pinned up on walls because there are no proper maps.

"It's disgraceful that students will leave the school not knowing how to log on to a computer," said Colleen Setlhodi, who is in charge of buying school supplies.

Xolani Kunene, an articulate 17-year-old, wants to be a chemical engineer. But he must tame his dreams.

"The teachers say they are still getting paid in any case so they don't care if you learn or not," he said.

Many never leave the township, a sea of corrugated iron and cinder block huts. Two men fixing a car listened to music, one of the few escapes from raw sewage and piles of garbage.

"We've got it going now," say the lyrics of the song. "You are the future." (Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Giles Elgood)

The father of 9-year-old Rubina Ali allegedly tried to sell his daughter into illegal adoption.



The young kids from "Slumdog Millionaire" proved to be the feel-good story of the 2009 awards season, as the indie film about poor Indian youth went on to dominate the Oscars and Golden Globes. Now a story of a much more disturbing nature has to come to light: allegations that one of those young actors was put up for sale by her father.

According to the British tabloid News of the World, the father of 9-year-old Rubina Ali, who played the young Latika in the film, attempted to sell his daughter into illegal adoption for millions of rupees (about $290,000).

"This is an Oscar child!" Rafiq Qureshi, Rubina's father, reportedly told reporters who were posing as a wealthy family from Dubai.

According to a tipster, Rubina's family felt slighted by the filmmakers. "Despite the film doing so well and their pretty daughter becoming so famous, they are still living in such rough conditions," the source said.

"We live in one room — seven of us sleep on the floor," Rafiq reportedly said. "I earn £2 to £3 a day. I have to consider what's best for me, my family and Rubina's future."

Police in Mumbai are now investigating the allegations. Rubina's uncle told Reuters that the reports are false. "This is just an attempt to malign her name," he said. "After all, she has become world famous now, hasn't she?"

This is not the first time that the young "Slumdog" cast has been swept up in controversy. In January, several of the actors' parents spoke out to protest their lack of financial remuneration from a film that has grossed over $327 million at the international box office.

Director Danny Boyle and producer Christian Colson quickly defended arrangements for the young actors, saying the will be of "lasting benefit to them over and above the payment they received for their work." The children were said to be attending school for the first time and that resources for their education until the age of 18 had been made.

Rubina herself remained unaware during the News of the World sting operation. When she went with her family to meet the undercover reporters at a suite in a luxurious hotel, Rubina reportedly asked one person, "Can I stay in your bedroom? I've never seen a bed like this in real life. I've seen one like it in films, though."

At press time, representatives for Fox Searchlight, which distributed the film, had not responded to MTV News' request for comment.

London (PTI): A young footballer from Goa will begin the first Gary Linekar Football Scholarship on Thursday.

15-year-old Lesten Martins will travel to the United Kingdom to train with Leicester City and sample the life of a professional footballer in this country.

The scholarship, sponsored by Air India, is part of the Leicester India Football Link, an initiative to forge links between Leicester and India by Milan Mandaric, Chairman of Leicester City Football Club, the British High Commissioner to India Sir Richard Stagg and Keith Vaz, MP for Leicester East.

It follows a hugely successful tour to Goa in October last year by a group of Under 14 footballers from Leicester.

During the tour, Lesten was identified by coaches that accompanied the touring party as possessing great ability, and they chose him to receive this once in a lifetime opportunity.

In addition to training with the club, Lesten will attend the Foxes final home game of the season against Scunthorpe and meet with Leicester City legend Gary Lineker, in whose name the scholarship is awarded.

Keith Vaz said, "It's wonderful to be able to welcome this talented young man to Leicester. The players from Leicester enjoyed a fantastic tour last year and I'm delighted that the link between the two communities can be further strengthened through Gary Linekar scholarship."

Lesten said, "I can't wait to get to England and train with Leicester City. I can't believe I'm going to train with a professional team."

While some Brockton and area residents have applied as individuals to carry the Olympic torch when it passes through Walkerton on Monday, Dec. 28, local youth groups have yet to register.


RBC is running a Carry the Torch contest, which
is open to teachers, coaches and school
leaders who, with their students, are being asked
to submit a team pledge through the Canadian Olympic School Program (COSP).

Team pledges should chronicle how each group is going to
improve its community, be more environmentally-friendly, or live healthier lifestyles.


Sixteen teams of 20 students, ages 13 and over, and their teachers will be named Olympic torch bearers. Each team will collectively carry the Olympic flame for one kilometre during a local leg of the 2010 Olympic Torch Relay.


As of last week, local RBC manager Christine Maxwell said teams from the Brockton area have yet to apply.


Teachers and school leaders can log on to www.olympicschool.ca/torchrelay to learn more about the program. The COSP contest runs until May 12, with winners being announced the week of June 22.


The 2010 Olympic Torch Relay will begin its journey to Vancouver on Oct. 30, when the flame arrives in Victoria, BC following the traditional lighting ceremony in Olympia, Greece. The flame will then travel from coast to coast to coast through every province and territory in Canada - spanning 45,000 kilometres and 1,020 communities over 106 days. It will end up back in Victoria on Feb. 12, 2010, with the lighting of the Olympic Cauldron, signalling the start of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games.