The answer to your first question is yes and no.
The ultimate goal of iMODO is to provide real websites on your domains that you can promote, but while US traffic is still seeing a standard parking page this is not really viable yet with the premium templates.
If you're interested in link building, you're still welcome to use the legacy templates to do so with your own Adsense, and transition over to the premium templates in a few months when more options are available.
Question (2), you can specify keywords to build a news site under the premium templates if you have access to them. It is a different format than the 1plus news template, but you can still specify the "Domain Keyword" and the news stories will be pulled for that keyword accordingly.
BTW, I'm excited to announce iMODO has a new partner support system in place as of today! It has trackable trouble tickets, live support chat (when available), and a knowledgebase that will be growing with time.
RJ