Why Azad Kashmir is called Azad?

April 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, Apr.27 (ANI): The United Kashmir Peoples National Party arranged a seminar in London, titled: Challenges, Options and Role of Kashmiri Diaspora was attended by around 150 people from all walks of life; and addressed by many important leaders.

Among them were pro-independent prominent Kashmiris, Pakistani leaders, Pakistani analysts, Baloch and Swiss leaders.

The topic was important and all the speakers made a valuable contribution to enrich the debate, but what caught my attention and attention of many other people was the remarks of Baloch nationalist leader and a former provincial minister, Sardar Hyrbayar Mari, the son of Sardar Kher Baksh Mari and a brother of Balaj Mari who was killed by the Pakistani forces after the murder of Nawab Akbar Bugti.

In his speech, Mari paid glowing tribute to the struggle of the Kashmiri people, which was in many ways similar to the struggle of the Baloch people.

He said like Balochistan, Kashmir was also an independent country, but it was soon occupied and now Kashmir is divided and occupied.

He said one part of Kashmir that is occupied by Pakistan is called Azad Kashmir.

He said: “There are hundreds of independent countries in the world, but no country write independent with its name, as it is understood that they are all independent. However, with Kashmir Pakistani authorities have included Azad (independent), it clearly means there is something wrong – daal main kuch kala hai – something sinister is at play; and they have something to hide. This
Word is included to fool people of Jammu and Kashmir, just to give them false sense of independence.

He further said: “All oppressed and occupied people should unite and coordinate their activities to fight forces of occupation. We have no other choice, but to fight for our rights and our national independence.”

One can disagree with the kind of politics promoted by Mari, but no one can dispute that he is very committed to his cause and is sincere nationalist Baloch leader.

Furthermore, his observation on Azad Kashmir truly represents the situation in Azad Kashmir.

Of course Azad Kashmir is not Azad or independent. It is a ‘colony’ of Pakistan, in which they have established a political set up that is more interested in promoting and protecting national interests of Pakistan than the interests of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Those people who become Prime Ministers or Presidents in this set up are not even allowed to travel to other constituent parts of the State of Jammu and Kashmir. For example, no Prime Minister or President of Azad Kashmir is allowed to visit Gilgit Baltistan which is part of the State and which is on the Pakistani side of the LOC. They don’t need a visa or a passport to go there, but they do need NOC (No Objection Certificate) from Pakistani authorities.

The main complaint the people of Gilgit Baltistan have from the leadership of Azad Kashmir is that they left them at the mercy of the Pakistani agencies and bureaucrats who ruled the territory of Gilgit Baltistan with an iron fist; and denied people of their fundamental human rights. Because of lack of communication and people to people contact, distance between people of Gilgit-Baltistan and rest of Jammu and Kashmir, especially Azad Kashmir widened and sense of belonging weakened.

These Pakistanis decide what is good for the people of Azad Kashmir; and subservient Azad Kashmiris leaders happily come back and implement those decisions.

These helpless and impotent rulers of Azad Kashmir have to declare that they will be loyal to Pakistan. (ANI)

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Unique ID project renamed as AADHAAR

April 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Apr 26 (ANI): The Union Government”s ambitious Unique Identity project aiming to give an exclusive 16-digit number to all its citizens was renamed ”AADHAAR”

The new logo was unveiled by Nadan Nilekani, Chairman of the Unique Identity Authority (UIDAI) of India on Monday.

Speaking on the occasion, Nilekani said the biggest challenge the country faces today is of an identity divide.

“Ultimately it all boils down to the lack of effective identity. And this has become a big divide, the identity divide has separated the people from haves and have-nots and therefore this is a huge challenge that we face,” said Nilekani.

The Unique Identification Number project was renamed ”AADHAAR” as an effort to reach out to the common man, who might find the term UID confusing.

Nilekani also informed that the UID project was very critical to address the challenges of inclusive growth and effective government spending.

“Both in terms of the fact that we want to improve and optimise the way we spend money in the government as well as from the point of view of the access for the poor the UID becomes a very very important thing,” he said.

“Now this is becoming more important because we are seeing a lot of migration. We have people coming in from villages into cities. Again they have lack of identity therefore they are not able to access public services,” Nilekani added.

He expressed confidence that the UID would address challenges of inclusive growth and government spending.

“Having identity we believe and having something like a UID (Unique Identity card) is very critical to address these challenges both of inclusive growth and government spending,” Niekani said.

The UID would have both personal and biometric information of a person, such as, name, sex, date of birth, nationality, marital status, current and permanent address, occupation, photo and fingerprints.

The UID cards will be given to every individual above 15 years, including NRIs and foreigners.

The first UID is expected to be given out in early 2011 and a target to provide 600 million UIDs in the next five years has been set by UIDAI.(ANI)

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Thai “red shirts” defiant after 21 die in clashes

April 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Thai “red shirt” protesters ruled out negotiations with the government on Sunday and said they would not give up their fight for early elections a day after clashes with security forces killed 21 people.

World | Japan

Bangkok was quiet, but with no resolution in sight and the prospect of more violence, the stock market, one of Asia’s most buoyant, is likely to be hit when trading starts on Monday.

“The time for negotiation is up. We don’t negotiate with murderers,” red shirt leader Weng Tojirakarn said.

The red shirts, mostly rural and working-class supporters of ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra who was ousted in a coup in 2006, want Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva dissolve parliament and leave the country, the scene of 18 coups since 1932.

Saturday’s fighting, the worst political violence in the country since 1992 with some of it taking place in well-known tourist areas, ended after security forces pulled back late in the night.

The red shirts, still numbering in the thousands, have occupied two main areas of the capital, a city of 15 million that has been under a state of emergency since Wednesday. They made no attempt to come out of their bases on Sunday and troops did not make any move toward them.

Thaksin, writing on his Twitter account (twitter.com/Thaksinlive), accused the government of “bringing troops from all over the country” to crush the protests.

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thausuban vowed to return order to the streets, although he conceded that troops would not be able to take control immediately after the damage suffered in Saturday’s clashes.

“The government will continue the operation to take back the roads from the protesters because their occupation is unlawful,” Suthep told reporters on Sunday.

Thai political historian Charnvit Kasertsiri said the lack of an outright winner in Saturday’s clashes meant the chance of more fighting was high.

“The public didn’t take it lying down and were responding in kind,” he said. “When the government is no longer the only user of force, then it spirals into anarchy.”

“TOURISM TO BE HIT”

Foreign investors have been plowing money into Thai stocks this year, boosting the market by 7.5 percent, but the outbreak of violence since the middle of last week caused them to pause. The stock market is open on Monday but closed from Tuesday to Thursday for the Thai New Year.

“Tourism will be the very first sector to be hit and the Thai stock market should react negatively on Monday. The heavy foreign buying we have seen in the past month will hold back until the political situation is clearer,” said Kasem Prunratanamala, head of research at CIMB Securities (Thailand).

There was tension outside Bangkok as well.

Thai media said around 500 red shirts again forced their way into the grounds of a Thaicom satellite earth station north of Bangkok, a flashpoint on Friday when the authorities blocked an opposition TV station.

Other reports said an M79 grenade was fired at the headquarters of the army-owned Channel 5 TV station in the northern province of Phayao early on Sunday.

On Saturday, hundreds of protesters forced their way into government offices in two northern cities, raising the risk of a wider uprising against the 16-month-old, army-backed government.

“There is no precedent for something so massive, prolonged and disruptive on the part of the underclasses,” said Federico Ferrara, a political science professor at the National University of Singapore.

THAKSIN ALLIES

The protesters say Abhisit lacks a popular mandate after coming to power in a 2008 parliamentary vote following a court ruling that dissolved a pro-Thaksin ruling party. Thaksin’s allies would be well-placed to win fresh elections.

Thaksin, who was elected twice but has been in self-imposed exile since 2008 when he was sentenced to jail for graft, was despised by many of the Bangkok elite but remains popular with the poor for policies like cheap health care and microcredit grants to villages.

More than 870 people were wounded on Saturday as troops fired rubber bullets and tear gas at thousands of demonstrators, who fought back with guns, grenades and petrol bombs near the Phan Fah bridge and Rajdumnoen Road in Bangkok’s old quarter, one of the two bases for the month-old protest.

Four soldiers were among those killed.

Abhisit expressed regret to the families of the victims and said the army was only allowed to use live bullets when “firing into the air and in self-defense.”

Among those killed was Reuters TV cameraman Hiro Muramoto, a 43-year-old Japanese national. Japan’s Foreign Ministry urged the Thai government to investigate Muramoto’s death.

(Additional reporting by Damir Sagolj, Warapan Worasart, Viparat Jantraprap and Jason Szep in Bangkok, Kevin Krolicki in Tokyo; Writing by Nick Macfie; Editing by David Chance and Michael Roddy)

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WRAPUP 8-Thai “red shirts” defiant after 21 die in clashes

April 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

BANGKOK, April 11 (Reuters) – Thai “red shirt” protesters ruled out negotiations with the government on Sunday and said they would not give up their fight for early elections a day after clashes with security forces killed 21 people.

Bangkok was quiet, but with no resolution in sight and the prospect of more violence, the stock market, one of Asia’s most buoyant, is likely to be hit when trading starts on Monday.

“The time for negotiation is up. We don’t negotiate with murderers,” red shirt leader Weng Tojirakarn said.

The red shirts, mostly rural and working-class supporters of ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra who was ousted in a coup in 2006, want Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva dissolve parliament and leave the country, the scene of 18 coups since 1932.

Saturday’s fighting, the worst political violence in the country since 1992 with some of it taking place in well-known tourist areas, ended after security forces pulled back late in the night.

The red shirts, still numbering in the thousands, have occupied two main areas of the capital, a city of 15 million that has been under a state of emergency since Wednesday. They made no attempt to come out of their bases on Sunday and troops did not make any move towards them.

Thaksin, writing on his Twitter account (twitter.com/Thaksinlive), accused the government of “bringing troops from all over the country” to crush the protests.

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thausuban vowed to return order to the streets, although he conceded that troops would not be able to take control immediately after the damage suffered in Saturday’s clashes.

“The government will continue the operation to take back the roads from the protesters because their occupation is unlawful,” Suthep told reporters on Sunday. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

For full coverage, click on [nTHAILAND] ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Thai political historian Charnvit Kasertsiri said the lack of an outright winner in Saturday’s clashes meant the chance of more fighting was high.

“The public didn’t take it lying down and were responding in kind,” he said. “When the government is no longer the only user of force, then it spirals into anarchy.”

“TOURISM TO BE HIT”

Foreign investors have been ploughing money into Thai stocks .SETI this year, boosting the market by 7.5 percent, but the outbreak of violence since the middle of last week caused them to pause. The stock market is open on Monday but closed from Tuesday to Thursday for the Thai New Year.

“Tourism will be the very first sector to be hit and the Thai stock market should react negatively on Monday. The heavy foreign buying we have seen in the past month will hold back until the political situation is clearer,” said Kasem Prunratanamala, head of research at CIMB Securities (Thailand).

There was tension outside Bangkok as well.

Thai media said around 500 red shirts again forced their way into the grounds of a Thaicom THCOM.BK satellite earth station north of Bangkok, a flashpoint on Friday when the authorities blocked an opposition TV station.

Other reports said an M79 grenade was fired at the headquarters of the army-owned Channel 5 TV station in the northern province of Phayao early on Sunday.

On Saturday, hundreds of protesters forced their way into government offices in two northern cities, raising the risk of a wider uprising against the 16-month-old, army-backed government.

“There is no precedent for something so massive, prolonged and disruptive on the part of the underclasses,” said Federico Ferrara, a political science professor at the National University of Singapore.

THAKSIN ALLIES

The protesters say Abhisit lacks a popular mandate after coming to power in a 2008 parliamentary vote following a court ruling that dissolved a pro-Thaksin ruling party. Thaksin’s allies would be well-placed to win fresh elections.

Thaksin, who was elected twice but has been in self-imposed exile since 2008 when he was sentenced to jail for graft, was despised by many of the Bangkok elite but remains popular with the poor for policies like cheap health care and microcredit grants to villages.

More than 870 people were wounded on Saturday as troops fired rubber bullets and tear gas at thousands of demonstrators, who fought back with guns, grenades and petrol bombs near the Phan Fah bridge and Rajdumnoen Road in Bangkok’s old quarter, one of the two bases for the month-old protest.

Four soldiers were among those killed.

Abhisit expressed regret to the families of the victims and said the army was only allowed to use live bullets when “firing into the air and in self-defence”.

Among those killed was Reuters TV cameraman Hiro Muramoto, a 43-year-old Japanese national. Japan’s Foreign Ministry urged the Thai government to investigate Muramoto’s death.

(Additional reporting by Damir Sagolj, Warapan Worasart, Viparat Jantraprap and Jason Szep in Bangkok, Kevin Krolicki in Tokyo; Writing by Nick Macfie; Editing by David Chance and Michael Roddy)

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Thai “red shirts” defiant after 21 die in clashes

April 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

BANGKOK, April 11 (Reuters) – Thai “red shirt” protesters ruled out negotiations with the government on Sunday and said they would not give up their fight for early elections a day after clashes with security forces killed 21 people.

Bangkok was quiet, but with no resolution in sight and the prospect of more violence, the stock market, one of Asia’s most buoyant, is likely to be hit when trading starts on Monday.

“The time for negotiation is up. We don’t negotiate with murderers,” red shirt leader Weng Tojirakarn said.

The red shirts, mostly rural and working-class supporters of ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra who was ousted in a coup in 2006, want Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva dissolve parliament and leave the country, the scene of 18 coups since 1932.

Saturday’s fighting, the worst political violence in the country since 1992 with some of it taking place in well-known tourist areas, ended after security forces pulled back late in the night.

The red shirts, still numbering in the thousands, have occupied two main areas of the capital, a city of 15 million that has been under a state of emergency since Wednesday. They made no attempt to come out of their bases on Sunday and troops did not make any move towards them.

Thaksin, writing on his Twitter account (twitter.com/Thaksinlive), accused the government of “bringing troops from all over the country” to crush the protests.

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thausuban vowed to return order to the streets, although he conceded that troops would not be able to take control immediately after the damage suffered in Saturday’s clashes.

“The government will continue the operation to take back the roads from the protesters because their occupation is unlawful,” Suthep told reporters on Sunday. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

For full coverage, click on [nTHAILAND] ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Thai political historian Charnvit Kasertsiri said the lack of an outright winner in Saturday’s clashes meant the chance of more fighting was high.

“The public didn’t take it lying down and were responding in kind,” he said. “When the government is no longer the only user of force, then it spirals into anarchy.”

“TOURISM TO BE HIT”

Foreign investors have been ploughing money into Thai stocks .SETI this year, boosting the market by 7.5 percent, but the outbreak of violence since the middle of last week caused them to pause. The stock market is open on Monday but closed from Tuesday to Thursday for the Thai New Year.

“Tourism will be the very first sector to be hit and the Thai stock market should react negatively on Monday. The heavy foreign buying we have seen in the past month will hold back until the political situation is clearer,” said Kasem Prunratanamala, head of research at CIMB Securities (Thailand).

There was tension outside Bangkok as well.

Thai media said around 500 red shirts again forced their way into the grounds of a Thaicom THCOM.BK satellite earth station north of Bangkok, a flashpoint on Friday when the authorities blocked an opposition TV station.

Other reports said an M79 grenade was fired at the headquarters of the army-owned Channel 5 TV station in the northern province of Phayao early on Sunday.

On Saturday, hundreds of protesters forced their way into government offices in two northern cities, raising the risk of a wider uprising against the 16-month-old, army-backed government.

“There is no precedent for something so massive, prolonged and disruptive on the part of the underclasses,” said Federico Ferrara, a political science professor at the National University of Singapore.

THAKSIN ALLIES

The protesters say Abhisit lacks a popular mandate after coming to power in a 2008 parliamentary vote following a court ruling that dissolved a pro-Thaksin ruling party. Thaksin’s allies would be well-placed to win fresh elections.

Thaksin, who was elected twice but has been in self-imposed exile since 2008 when he was sentenced to jail for graft, was despised by many of the Bangkok elite but remains popular with the poor for policies like cheap health care and microcredit grants to villages.

More than 870 people were wounded on Saturday as troops fired rubber bullets and tear gas at thousands of demonstrators, who fought back with guns, grenades and petrol bombs near the Phan Fah bridge and Rajdumnoen Road in Bangkok’s old quarter, one of the two bases for the month-old protest.

Four soldiers were among those killed.

Abhisit expressed regret to the families of the victims and said the army was only allowed to use live bullets when “firing into the air and in self-defence”.

Among those killed was Reuters TV cameraman Hiro Muramoto, a 43-year-old Japanese national. Japan’s Foreign Ministry urged the Thai government to investigate Muramoto’s death.

(Additional reporting by Damir Sagolj, Warapan Worasart, Viparat Jantraprap and Jason Szep in Bangkok, Kevin Krolicki in Tokyo; Writing by Nick Macfie; Editing by David Chance and Michael Roddy)

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Over-50s are now Britian’s biggest drinkers

April 5, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, April 5 (ANI): A survey has found that Britons over 50 are a generation of regular drinkers, with 44 percent of them enjoying a drink a few times a week, compared to just 32 percent of those in their 20s.

The survey found that men were more frequent drinkers than women, with 48 percent drinking often compared to 33 percent of the opposite sex.

And the thirstiest region is the northwest of England where 45 per cent of all people say they drink frequently.

“This really explodes the stereotype of the younger generations being heavier drinkers. Actually, the over-50s enjoy drinking more regularly,” the Daily Express quoted James Endersby of Opinium Research, which conducted the survey, as saying.

According to experts, middle-class and middle-aged drinkers have more disposable income to spend on wine and beer as well as more leisure time in which to drink.

But high prices in pubs have led to many over-50s opting to drink at home where they are tempted to finish a bottle of wine at night.

Occupation gives a clue to drinking habits, the research found, with nearly six in ten people working in media, publishing and entertainment drinking frequently.

More than half of those in the construction trade also drink regularly. (ANI)

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Neo-Nazi to be extradited over Auschwitz heist

March 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment

A court in Sweden has ruled that one of its citizens can be extradited to Poland in connection with the theft of the “Arbeit Macht Frei” sign from the former Auschwitz concentration camp.

The former leader of a Swedish neo-Nazi group, Anders Hogstrom, has been accused of inciting the theft of the metal sign in December.

The sign, which means “Work Sets You Free”, was stolen from above the entrance to the notorious death camp.

It was later recovered, but had been cut into three pieces.

Five Polish men have already been arrested in connection with the theft.

Up to 1.5 million people, mostly Jewish, died at Auschwitz during Nazi Germany’s wartime occupation of Poland. The site became a museum after the war.

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One killed in farmers-police clash in Punjab

September 10, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Chandigarh, Sep 8 (ANI): One person was killed and several others were injured as large number of farmers staging a protest in Chandigarh clashed with the police on Tuesday.

The farmers from across Punjab state were protesting against the recent hike in power tariffs by the state’s electricity regulatory authority and sought better prices for their produce.

The agitating farmers set on fire several vehicles including police vehicles. Police fired tear gas to disperse the violent mob.

“The farmers were protesting outside Sector 16 stadium and started setting the police vehicles on fire and when I started clicking their pictures they attacked me and asked me to leave. They broke my camera and burnt many police vehicles,” said an unidentified reporter.

“I had come here and parked my bike when a crowd set many vehicles on fire including mine,” said Madhur, a youth whose two-wheeler was burnt by the agitating mob.

Farming is the main occupation of the fertile plains of Punjab, the state known as India’s granary.

Farming is subsidized across the country, especially in Punjab, in a number of ways including cheaper seeds, power, fertilizers and pesticides, easy loans and prices guaranteed by the state for farmers’ produce. (ANI)

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Nuke Sub, Aircraft Carrier in Kalam’s vision 2020 for Andamans

September 4, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Port Blair (Andaman and Nicobar Islands), Sep 4 (ANI): Former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam on Friday unveiled a vision document for the strategic development of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands by the year 2020.

Inaugurating a national seminar on ‘Security and Development of the Andaman and Nicobar islands’ here, Dr Kalam said that a 250 mw nuclear power station on one of the islands would form the core of the development programme.

Dr Kalam said the islands being a vital part of the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), the Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) of the Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) would have “enhanced significance” in the next decade.

He further said that the ANC should have bases for static aircraft carrier and a nuclear,

Dr Kalam also called upon the Armed Forces to evolve an effective security plan for underneath the sea, at sea level and in air.

“The security plan which you evolve should ensure that there is no unauthorised occupation of the vacant islands,”said Dr Kalam.

Meanwhile, Commander-in-Chief of the ANC, Vice Admiral Vijay Shankar, said that the location of these islands confers a geostrategic advantage.

“Its economic and forest potential dictates a sound security presence,” he added.

Top defence and security experts, including Deputy National Security Advisor Shekhar Dutt, former Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran and Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India R Chidambaram, are attending the two-day seminar. (ANI)

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13,000 yr old spear tip sheds light on ancient Americans

August 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, August 25 (ANI): Archaeologists have unearthed a rare Clovis point spearhead in the town of Sahuarita, Arizona, US, dating back to 11,000 to 13,000 years, which could help illuminate the way early humans lived in this part of the state.

According to a report in The Sahuarita Sun, the white rock spearhead, roughly two inches long and an inch wide and missing its tip, likely dates back 11,000 to 13,000 years when the earliest well-established human inhabitants of North America fastened objects like it to the end of wood poles and hurled them at mammoths, bears and other large prey.

These Clovis people, as they’re now called, are the predecessors of the ancestors of Native Americans.

They hunted and gathered all over the continent and in the Southwest, they primarily inhabited New Mexico and the San Pedro basin, which runs north from Sonora, Mexico, along the San Pedro River in Southeastern Arizona.

As a result, the bulk of the state’s Clovis points are found at mammoth kill-sites near Naco and Sierra Vista.

But a find in the Tucson basin, which roughly covers the area between the Santa Rita Mountains and north Tucson, could indicate a broader inhabitancy, according to Arthur Vokes, who has curated the Arizona State Museum’s architectural repository for nearly 30 years.

“Human beings have been in this region for about 11,000 years or so. It does reflect the age of regular occupation here,” he said.

By examining the type of rock the point is made out of, Vokes said he could learn about ancient trade and hunting routes.

The spearhead was discovered during a routine archaeological survey on Arizona State Trust land by an environmental consulting company, according to Steve Ross, an archaeologist with the State Land Department.

It’s distinguishable from more contemporary arrowheads because it’s larger and matches a style of tool construction used by ancient people halfway around the world.

“Through research, they’ve traced this type of point-making back to the Asia area,” Ross said. “So as they migrated over the land bridge (between modern-day Russia and Alaska,) they brought this type of point-making with them,” he added.

According to Ross, spearheads like it were eventually phased out, perhaps due to extinction of large animals or even the annihilation of the Clovis people by an environmental event, like a comet. (ANI)

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Archaeologists to explore how prehistoric Italians made their living at end of the Ice Age

August 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, August 25 (ANI): Archaeologists at the University of Bradford are all set to lead an exploration into how prehistoric people made their living in Italy at the end of the Ice Age.

According to a report in Bradford Telegraph and Argus, the research aims to find out how hunter-gatherers in Mediterranean Europe survived before farming became widespread and why the transition to agriculture was a smooth one.

Researchers will use high-precision dating to accurately age occupation layers in archaeological cave sites and identify which animals were being hunted by the prehistoric people by studying bones found at sites. he team will also use isotope analyses to identify if the hunted animals migrated seasonally.

“This project brings together cutting edge scientific analyses and traditional archaeological approaches for understanding in the past,” said lead researcher Dr Randolph Donahue.

“It will assist us in explaining how and why people shifted smoothly towards adopting agriculture in Mediterranean Europe following its introduction from the Near East,” he added.

The work will include a study of the production and use of stone tools discarded at the sites to understand how prehistoric people were using the caves.

The results of these combined methods will evaluate which of two theories best explains the food procurement strategies of hunter-gatherers in Mediterranean Europe during the end of the Ice Age.

The first theory suggests prehistoric people followed herds of animals year round in order to hunt them for food while the second theory suggests people moved around the landscape far less by relying far more heavily on small animals, fish and plants.

The project involves more than 20 researchers at ten universities and research centres in the UK, Italy and Germany. (ANI)

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Archaeologists find evidence of Britain’s earliest Iron Age town

July 16, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, July 16 (ANI): Archaeologists from Berkshire, UK, have discovered evidence of an Iron Age town underneath the remains of a Roman settlement in north Hampshire, which they say could be Britain’s earliest Iron Age towns with a planned layout.

According to a report by BBC News, the discovery was made by the University of Reading’s Archaeology Department, which has been excavating at the Silchester Roman site, Calleva Atrebatum, since 1997.

A street-grid was found to have been in place before the Romans came in AD 43. Archaeologists have also discovered evidence of widespread burning at the site.

They believe this, along with other finds, suggests that the site could have been destroyed at the hands of queen Boudicca, who in AD 60/61 led a major uprising against the occupying Roman forces.

“After 12 summers of excavation, we have reached down to the 1st Century AD and are beginning to see the first signs of what we believe to be the Iron Age and earliest Roman town,” said Professor Michael Fulford, director of the Silchester Town Life Project.

“The discovery of the underlying Iron Age settlement is extremely exciting. While there are traces of settlement beneath Roman Verulamium (today’s St Albans) and Canterbury and close to the site of Roman Colchester, none of these resembles the evidence that we have here at Calleva of a planned town,” he said.

“The completely new street grid implemented later by the Romans could have been a thumbs down on the British arrangement,” he added.

According to Professor Fulford, “We now have evidence that the town was burnt down sometime after AD 50 and before AD 80.”

“The possibility that this was at the hands of Boudicca when leading the largest British uprising during the Roman occupation is hugely significant. It was not thought the revolt passed this way,” he said. (ANI)

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Sympathetic, kind men unlikely to end up as bosses

July 15, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Melbourne, July 15 (ANI): Being sympathetic, kind, co-operative and warm may lower men’s likelihood of becoming bosses, according to a study.

The same may also apply to women to a certain extent, say the researchers behind the study.

According to reports, this study has provided firm evidence of the link between personality and job choice.

“People who aren’t very nice are more likely to become managers,” theage.com.au quoted study co-author Michelle Tan, a researcher in the economics program at the Research School of Social Science, at Australian National University, as saying.

The results further showed that men and women tended to enter different occupations, even when they had similar personality traits and skills.

The findings also revealed that despite having the same occupations, similar men and women took home widely different pay packets.

The study used a sample of 5397 men and women drawn from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey, and sought to understand the extent to which personality determined occupation and whether this could explain the gender pay gap.

The authors say that women were found to report overall higher levels of extroversion, agreeableness, emotional stability, and conscientiousness than did men.

According to them, men reported higher levels of “openness to experience”, and there was no difference in men’s and women’s sense of being able to control the events in their life.

The study also revealed that men’s personality traits closely linked to some occupations: the more “agreeable” men rated themselves on a personality test, the less likely they were to be managers or business professionals; and the more “open to experience” men were, the more likely they were to be in business or education.

The extent to which women were “open to experience” was the main influence on the jobs they held.

Just like their male counterpart, the more agreeable women tended to be the less likely they were to be managers. However, unlike men, extroversion was associated with women entering managerial ranks.

While similar men and women often ended up in different occupations, this did not explain the gender pay gap. (ANI)

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PM arrives in Egypt for XVth NAM Summit

July 15, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt), July 15 (ANI): Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh arrived in Egypt late on Tuesday night to attend the two-day XVth Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit.

Issues like global economic downturn, terrorism, climate change and food security are expected to be on top of the agenda at the Summit.

Other summit themes are international solidarity for peace and development and current economic and financial crisis. It would also focus in comprehensive manner on global regional and sub-regional issues, besides issues relating to development, human rights and social issues.

Dr. Singh will address the plenary session of the NAM Summit, and has already underlined India’s commitment to help revitalise the NAM, which had a renewed role to play in the emerging world order following the end of the Cold War.

On the sidelines of the Summit, Dr. Singh will meet his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani on Thursday morning. He will also have other bilateral meetings.

A NAM First Ladies’ Summit would also take place at the initiative of Egypt in which the Prime Minister’s wife, Gurusharan Kaur, would participate. The theme of this meeting would be Women in Crisis Management – Perspectives and Challenges, Best Practices and Lessons Learned.

Egypt’s First Lady Suzane Mubarak would anchor the meeting that would focus on the role of women in the context of the global economic and food, health and humanitarian crises. Heads of UN Agencies: the FAO, the WFP, the WHO, and the ITU are expected to make brief statements during the two separate sessions of the First Ladies’ Summit.

The NAM is an international organization of states considering themselves not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc.

The movement is largely the brainchild of Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Gamal Abdul Nasser, former president of Egypt and Yugoslav president Josip Broz Tito. It was founded in April 1955 and as of 2007, it has 118 members.

The purpose of the organization as stated in the Havana Declaration of 1979 is to ensure “the national independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of non-aligned countries” in their “struggle against imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism, racism, and all forms of foreign aggression, occupation, domination, interference or hegemony as well as against great power and bloc politics.”

They represent nearly two-thirds of the United Nations’s members and comprise 55 percent of the world population, particularly countries considered to be developing or part of the third world. By Smita Prakash (ANI)

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Hominids’ last supper establishes the times they lived at archaeological sites

July 15, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, July 15 (ANI): An international team of scientists has analyzed the last food that the hominids consumed, in order to establish the length of their occupations at archaeological sites.

As part of the research, the scientists analyzed the dental wear of the fossils of herbivorous animals found in the French cave of Arago, which were hunted by Homo heidelbergensis.

It is the first time that an analytical method has allowed the establishment of the length of human occupations at archaeological sites.

The key is the last food that these hominids consumed.

For many years, the mobility of the groups of hominids and how long they spent in caves or outdoors has been a subject of discussion among scientists.

Now, an international team headed by researchers from the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES) in Tarragona has based its studies on the dental fossils of animals hunted by hominids in order to determine the vegetation in the environment and the way of life of Homo heidelbergensis.

“For the first time, a method has been put forward which allows us to establish the relative length of the human occupations at archaeological sites as, up until now, it was difficult to ascertain the difference between, for example, a single long-term occupation and a succession of shorter seasonal occupations in the same place”, said Florent Rivals, a researcher from ICREA.

In the study, the researchers analyze the dental wear of the ungulates (herbivorous mammals) caused by microscopic particles of opaline silica in plants.

These marks appear when eating takes place and erase the previous ones. This is why they are so useful.

Thanks to the “last supper phenomenon”, the scientists have been able to analyze the last food consumed by animals such as the Eurasian wild horse, the mouflon and the reindeer. “This method allows us to confirm the seasonal nature of the occupation”, Rivals added.

According to the team, the microwear of the teeth is sensitive to seasonal changes in the diet.

The application has allowed the researchers to estimate the length of the occupation of the site from the Lower Paleolithic Age in the cave of Arago (France) by the number of marks on the fossils and, therefore, the variation in the diet of several species of herbivores, as “each season presented food resources which were limited and different in the environment”, the paleontologist clarified.

“With this method, we were able to prove that at the site, which belonged to Homo heidelbergensis, there is evidence of differing mobility, as there were highly mobile groups and others with little mobility”, said Rivals. (ANI)

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Jackson’s death certificate emerges online

July 8, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, July 8 (ANI): A copy of Michael Jackson’s death certificate has emerged online, stating the cause of death as “deferred”.

The document apparently lists “entertainment” as the type of business, and his occupation as a “musician”.

The number of years in this occupation is given as 45, which comes as no surprise considering the King of Pop, who died aged 50, became a world celebrity as early as at the age of five, reports The Sun.

His race is marked as “black”, and the informant, who gave the information for the certificate, is shown as his sister La Toya Jackson.

The certificate also said that Forest Lawn Cemetery was a “temporary” disposition of the body, though final burial is “pending at an unknown location”.

The document emerged on tmz.com just hours after the end of his memorial service at the Staples Center, in Los Angeles on July 7. (ANI)

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Taliban attack makes Attock’s carpet industry bleed

July 8, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Attock, July 7 (ANI): Apart from being responsible for the current dismal security situation of Pakistan, the Taliban has also forced Attock’s famous handmade carpet industry to the brink of collapse.

The carpet industry is suffering from lack of foreign buyers and tourists, leading to a 50 per cent decline in the sales.

The Attock carpets which once sold for around 120 to 150 dollars per square meter, are now unlikely to fetch half that amount.

“At the current price I cannot meet my labour and raw material (wool thread) expenses besides charges for dying and washing the carpets,” said Akhtar Afghani, a carpet trader.

“Over 10000 square meter carpet had been lying in store due to non-availability of buyer, where as middle men not offered actual price of it and want to purchase it less the manufacturing cost,” he added.

Afghani said many of his fellow manufactures have left their inherited carpet manufacturing businesses and moved to other sectors, such as selling dry fruit, shoes, clothes and Chinese made toys and electronic items.

Attock became a hub of carpets industry after thousands of Afghan refugees fled the Russian occupation of Afghanistan to settle there during 1980s.

Earlier, only Afghans living in Attock used to make carpets, but eventually the native locals also entered the business.

Thereafter, big manufacturers based in Lahore and Karachi set up large-scale plants in the region in hope of cashing-in on the skilled labour force here.

The exponential boom of the industry, however, has been hit by the recent security problems.

When Taliban militants started targeting carpet manufacturers, the visitors stopped coming here. Various plants had to be shut down.

The final nail in the coffin came when Taliban started expressly targeting foreigners, and claimed Malakand division. (ANI)

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Farmers protest against acquisition of land for international airport in Kushinagar

July 5, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Kushinagar (Uttar Pradesh), July 5 (ANI): Farmers in Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh have staged a protest against the acquisition of their land for an international airport.

The place is connected by road only. Although it has an airstrip, it is not enough to meet increasing volume of tourists from across the world. The government had hence taken a decision to develop an international airport in the city.

The land required for the airport site is cultivable and the farmers who own the land are not willing to part with it, as it is their only source of livelihood.

Farmers from two villages fear losing their land and homes to the airport site, whereas farmers from six more villages may lose their cultivable land.

Farmers alleged that the compensation that the government is giving is not sufficient to buy land at other places.

The protest was led by former member of state legislature, Radheshyam Singh. He believes that the farmers cannot be deprived of their only asset and left landless.

“We do not oppose the new international airport, or development, but if that makes people landless and homeless, we will fight against it,” he said.

Farmers do not want to part with their land. They fear that not just them but even their children will be left landless and with no occupation in hand.

“This is our ancestors’ land. The land is cultivable. We grow rice, wheat and other crops here. It is the only source of our income. How can we give this land away? We will get monetary compensation but what good is that? We can buy food with it for some time but what are our coming generations going to eat,” said Akhilesh Kumar, a farmer. (ANI)

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