Archive for the ‘World News’ Category
Ancient human remains found in Israel
By DANIEL ESTRIN, Associated Press
Source: Yahoo
JERUSALEM – Israeli archaeologists said Monday they may have found the earliest evidence yet for the existence of modern man, and if so, it could upset theories of the origin of humans.
A Tel Aviv University team excavating a cave in central Israel said teeth found in the cave are about 400,000 years old and resemble those of other remains of modern man, known scientifically as Homo sapiens, found in Israel. The earliest Homo sapiens remains found until now are half as old.
“It’s very exciting to come to this conclusion,” said archaeologist Avi Gopher, whose team examined the teeth with X-rays and CT scans and dated them according to the layers of earth where they were found.
He stressed that further research is needed to solidify the claim. If it does, he says, “this changes the whole picture of evolution.”
The accepted scientific theory is that Homo sapiens originated in Africa and migrated out of the continent. Gopher said if the remains are definitively linked to modern human’s ancestors, it could mean that modern man in fact originated in what is now Israel.
Sir Paul Mellars, a prehistory expert at Cambridge University, said the study is reputable, and the find is “important” because remains from that critical time period are scarce, but it is premature to say the remains are human.
“Based on the evidence they’ve cited, it’s a very tenuous and frankly rather remote possibility,” Mellars said. He said the remains are more likely related to modern man’s ancient relatives, the Neanderthals.
According to today’s accepted scientific theories, modern humans and Neanderthals stemmed from a common ancestor who lived in Africa about 700,000 years ago. One group of descendants migrated to Europe and developed into Neanderthals, later becoming extinct. Another group stayed in Africa and evolved into Homo sapiens — modern humans.
Teeth are often unreliable indicators of origin, and analyses of skull remains would more definitively identify the species found in the Israeli cave, Mellars said.
Gopher, the Israeli archaeologist, said he is confident his team will find skulls and bones as they continue their dig.
The prehistoric Qesem cave was discovered in 2000, and excavations began in 2004. Researchers Gopher, Ran Barkai and Israel Hershkowitz published their study in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.
China’s future first lady already a big star
By Anita Chang, Associated Press
Source: Yahoo
BEIJING – She’s a glamorous singer with big hair, beloved by millions, and a major general in the People’s Liberation Army to boot. He’s a stiff policymaker, a suit with the bland public persona of most Chinese leaders.
Vice President Xi Jinping is in line to take the country’s top post in two years, setting up an unusual scenario: In a system where leaders’ families are kept almost invisible, how will the ruling Communist Party handle a first lady who’s arguably more famous than her husband?
So far, the answer appears to be by making her disappear too. References to Xi’s marriage to Peng Liyuan are being scrubbed from the Internet. She has been given a desk job at her military song-and-dance troupe, reducing her public appearances.
Interest in the couple was renewed last month after Xi was appointed to a committee overseeing the Chinese military, boosting the likelihood he will lead the Communist Party in 2012.
Political wives have long been viewed suspiciously in China — ever since Chairman Mao Zedong’s wife, Jiang Qing, promoted his most radical policies, took part in purging opponents and ultimately made a grab for power. She was arrested and jailed after his death in 1976.
In a world where first ladies from France’s Carla Bruni to America’s Michelle Obama routinely grab media attention, Liu Yongqing, the wife of Chinese President Hu Jintao, is rarely seen except during state visits with the spouses of foreign leaders.
The almost absent Chinese first lady reflects in part the preference of the technocratic, authoritarian leadership for running the rising global power at an impersonal distance.
“On the one hand they have been talking about governance with a human touch and given that (Peng’s) image is positive, what’s the point of trying to eliminate it?” said Dali Yang, a China expert at the University of Chicago. “It’s only making it more mysterious and provides room for speculation.”
By all public accounts, the 47-year-old Peng’s image is squeaky clean.
Many Chinese can recall her almost yearly appearances on state television’s Spring Festival Gala, which draws 800 million viewers, beginning with the inaugural 1982 program. On fog-filled stages dressed in pouffy evening gowns, Peng performed rousing patriotic songs such as “On the Plains of Hope.”
Having a first lady who’s well-known in her own right would likely be a point of pride for many Chinese, who know little about their rulers.
“For him to be in his position and be able to handle the pressure of being with a famous woman, I think that says a lot about him,” said Xu, a 26-year-old real estate consultant taking a cigarette break outside his office in Beijing. He would only give his surname, saying he did not want to be quoted making statements that could be considered critical.
“It’s really no big deal but maybe the high-level officials are extra sensitive,” he said. “Our county’s leaders have an air of mystery. That’s how the system works. Besides their official bio, everything else is blank.”
Xi, who at 57 is a decade older, is said to have been introduced to Peng by a mutual friend in 1986 when he was a vice mayor in the booming coastal city of Xiamen. They have been married for 23 years and have a teenage daughter.
“When they met, she was upset. This guy was such a country bumpkin. And he looked old,” according to a 2007 article in the Zhanjiang Evening News, a southern newspaper.
Xi charmed her, talking about music theory, the article said. “Peng said, ‘At that time, I was very moved. Isn’t this the one I’ve been looking for? He’s unsophisticated but he’s really intelligent.’”
That article was widely reprinted in whole or part, even by the official Xinhua News Agency and the Communist Party’s People Daily newspaper, but has since been removed from their websites.
In a 2001 article, Peng said she felt fortunate for having an understanding husband.
“As a government official he’s very busy, when I visit him in Fuzhou, he has to delay meetings or trips to the countryside in order to find time to spend with me,” the Shanghai Morning Post quoted her as saying. “Every time I go, we’ll try our best to avoid quarrels and enjoy those hard-earned days.”
Those articles and others have been deleted from most websites. While the deletions are not definitely the government’s handiwork, the fact that cached versions of the articles are being erased too conforms to the way China’s Internet censors work.
The State Council Information Office did not respond to a faxed request for comment.
Rebecca MacKinnon, a China expert and senior fellow at the New America Foundation studying Internet issues, said the censorship fits China’s long-standing policy of not reporting details of top leaders’ personal lives.
Reporters and editors may have been more careless when the articles were published, but were apparently now cleaning up since Xi’s political future has become more clear, MacKinnon said.
Peng will likely keep fading from public view as Xi’s political star continues to rise. She hasn’t appeared on the Spring Festival Gala since 2007, just months before Xi was named to the Communist Party’s ruling nine-member Standing Committee.
“Chinese leaders would never let their wives have a high public profile,” said Li Datong, a former state newspaper editor who was removed from his job for reporting on sensitive topics. “Sometimes they might take their wives on a state visit, and you may see them holding hands and even then it just looks so stiff.”
Indonesia volcano shrouds whole villages in ash
By SARAH DiLORENZO, Associated Press
Source: Yahoo
MOUNT MERAPI, Indonesia – One of Indonesia’s most active volcanos began erupting Oct. 26 after four years of dormancy.
The plumes of hot ash and lava flows from Mount Merapi chased villagers living on its slopes from their homes. Ever larger eruptions since then have forced evacuees in camps at the bottom of the mountain to move still farther away. So far, more than 100 people have been killed.
With each eruption, gray ash covers everything like a shroud, suffocating flowers in a vase, freezing a living room in time, covering a dead cow. Places abandoned just days ago look as though no one has been there for decades.
As far as 20 miles (30 kilometers) away, the ash has at times blotted out the sun, forcing drivers to use their headlights in the middle of the day.
Scientists initially said the first eruption alleviated pressure under the cone, but now the signs are more ominous: Pressure is building, not dissipating, and the worst could be yet to come.
A volcanologist who has studied Merapi’s patterns for years says he is at a loss to predict its next move: He has never seen the 9,700-foot (3,000-meter) volcano act like this before.
Draw Muhammad Backlash, Source: Fox News
‘Everybody Draw Muhammad Day’ Advocate Rattled by Death Threats
By Joshua Rhett Miller
Published July 12, 2010
| FoxNews.com
The creator of a now-defunct “Everybody Draw Muhammad Day” page on Facebook fears she may be targeted for death now that the cartoonist who launched the online campaign has been placed on an execution list by a radical Yemeni-American cleric.
The 27-year-old Facebook page creator — a Canadian woman who asked not to be identified due to fears of reprisal — told FoxNews.com that she was visited at her home last week by Royal Canadian Mounted Police officials who advised her to remove her page and not to talk to reporters.
“I’m scared,” she said. “I’m scared that somebody might kill me.”
The woman created her version of “Everybody Draw Muhammad” in late April, days after a Seattle cartoonist launched the online campaign to protest Comedy Central’s censoring of an episode of “South Park,” in which the Prophet Muhammad was depicted wearing a bear costume. The Canadian woman said she will no longer act as the administrator of such a page.
“I just want to be quiet now,” she continued. “I wish I didn’t do this.”
As part of “Inspire,” a 67-page English-language Al Qaeda magazine, Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki — who has been linked to the botched Times Square bombing and cited as inspiration for the Fort Hood massacre and the plot of two New Jersey men to kill U.S. soldiers — targeted the Seattle cartoonist for “assassination,” along with others who have participated in her campaign.
“The large number of participants makes it easier for us because there are more targets to choose from in addition to the difficulty of the government offering all of them special protection,” wrote al-Awlaki, who is an American citizen. “But even then our campaign should not be limited to only those who are active participants.”
He warned that “assassinations, bombings and acts of arson” are all legitimate forms of revenge against the creators of blasphemous depictions of Muhammad.
“Now, with the defamation of Muhammad reaching the shores of America, I wonder whether the patriotic American Muslim will still have the audacity to claim that he enjoys the right to be a Muslim in America?” Al-Awlaki wrote. “Does he understand that this right includes his duty to fight against those who blaspheme his Prophet?”
Al-Awlaki invited Muslims worldwide to “stand up in defense” of Muhammad and for their efforts to “manifest in all appropriate” means.
The Canadian woman told FoxNews.com that she created her page as a way for Facebook users to discuss Islam “openly and honestly” — and that she has lost most of her anger following her initial outrage.
“I was upset at first, but I’m not too upset anymore,” she said. “I kind of got tired of it.”
She said she now realizes her online actions may have put her in jeopardy. Following the recommendation of Canadian authorities, she said she has altered her routines and will consider changing her phone number.
“I have no way of knowing what might happen to me,” she said.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sgt. Pat Flood, citing department policy, would not confirm or deny that police officials visited the woman’s home.
David Gomez, the FBI’s assistant special agent in charge of counterterrorism in Seattle, said authorities consider the threat “very seriously” and confirmed that they contacted the Seattle cartoonist two weeks ago.
“We take the written threat very seriously and we advised her to take appropriate actions,” Gomez said Monday. “We wanted her to lower her profile, basically.”
Gomez said FBI officials felt “obligated to warn” the Seattle woman based on previous attempts by Al Qaeda to target individuals for caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.
“Al Qaeda is a very real organization, they have made attempts on other journalists involved in this type of activity,” Gomez said. “Based on that, we felt obligated to warn her.”
Contacted via e-mail, the Seattle woman declined com
Scientist lives as Inuit for a year to save disappearing language, Source: CNN
Scientist lives as Inuit for a year to save disappearing language
London, England (CNN) — A British anthropologist is setting out on a year-long stay with a small community in Greenland in an ambitious attempt to document its dying language and traditions.
Stephen Pax Leonard will live with the Inughuit in north-west Greenland, the world’s most northernmost people, and record their conversations and story-telling traditions to try and preserve their language.
The Inughuit, who speak Inuktun, a “pure” Inuit dialect, are under increasing political and climactic pressure to move south, says Leonard.
“They have around 10 to 15 years left in their present location, then climate change and politics will force them to move south and they will be assimilated into a different culture, into a broader community, and their way of life will be lost,” Leonard told CNN.
Leonard, who flies out to Copenhagen on Sunday before heading to Greenland, says there are about 1,000 speakers of Inuktun, an undocumented language.
Although most Inughuit are trilingual, also speaking Danish and Greenlandic, their primary language is still Inuktun.
“There is no doubt that this is a major linguistic challenge… they speak a very pure form of Inuit, partly because of their geographic isolation. Their entire culture is based on a story-telling culture.”
Greenland
–Stephen Pax Leonard
Leonard, an anthropological linguist at Cambridge University, England, is under no doubt about the physical and cultural hurdles that face him. The average temperature is minus 25 degrees Celsius, although it can fall to minus 40 degrees Celsius in the winter.
Inughuit, which is the name of the northern Inuits, are hunter-gatherers; they do not have a cash economy and the men can spend weeks away from home hunting for walruses, seals and other mammals. They still use dog sleds in the winter and kayaks in the summer.
Hivshu, an Inughuit who now lives in Sweden, helped Leonard establish contacts with his former community in Greenland.
He has written about the Inughuit way of life on his website: “Even before I went to school I began assisting my father when he was out hunting, summer or winter, no difference. That was the way I heard the stories about my ancestors and their songs told and sung by the old people as it was a tradition to tell the stories and sing the traditional drum songs of Inuit to all of us during the hunting.”
Leonard says he is determined to become a part of their community and plans to hunt with the men if he is allowed.
He is taking solid-state audio recorders that should work in the freezing conditions and plans to produce an “ethnography of speaking.”
That he hopes will be a permanent record that shows how their language and culture are interconnected.
Article Courtesy of CNN at: http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/08/13/greenland.inuit.language/index.html?hpt=Sbin
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