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Farmers grew rice in China’s Yangtze Basin 4,000 years ago

September 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, September 18 (ANI): New findings in the form of carbonized rice have indicated that farming in the Yangtze Basin in China existed as early as 4,000 years ago.

According to a report in Epoch Times, excavation in the Xiezi Area of Hubei Province yielded a total of 402 cultural relics, including carbonized rice.

Stone tools, pottery, bronze, jade and porcelain were unearthed, as well as a number of spinning wheels, drop spindles made of clay and other textile tools.

There were also stone mounds and smelting relics such as slag.

A variety of grains and seeds were found, and experts believe there may be carbonized wheat among the plant findings at the site.

The relics were determined to be from the Neolithic Era or New Stone Age at the time of the Shang Dynasty (ca. 1600-1050 B.C.) and Western Zhou Dynasty (ca. 1046-771 B.C.)

The combination of the relics that were found and their stratigraphic age provides valuable information about the diet structure, production methods, and living conditions of the inhabitants of the area during the time of the Shang and Western Zhou dynasties.

Archeological team leader, Luo Yunbin explained that there had been speculation in the past about edible rice production in the Yangtze Basin, but the new findings provide solid physical evidence that there was agricultural development in that area during ancient times. (ANI)

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Three persons detained for stone-pelting on Rahul Gandhi’s train

September 17, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Karnal (Haryana)/New Delhi, Sep 17(ANI): Three persons were detained by the Haryana Police on Thursday for allegedly pelting stones at the train in which Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi was traveling on Tuesday.

The Haryana police had, earlier, launched a massive manhunt for a group of young men who had allegedly pelted stones at the Swarn Shatabdi Express near Gharaunda town in Haryana, which was seen as a major security breach by the intelligence agencies.

“We have detained three suspects in this particular case. We have taken them for corroboration and have detained them for further questioning,” V Kamraj, Inspector General of Police.

Kamraj also informed that the three did not possess a criminal background.

“We have not arrested them, but have detained them. They have no criminal background. They are locals from Gharounda,” said Kamraj.

Gandhi had taken the train while returning from Ludhiana, where he went to attend a party youth workshop. Though no one was injured, windowpanes of C-2, C-4 and C-7 were damaged in the stone pelting.

Gandhi was seated in C-3 coach, which was not affected in the incident. (ANI)

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Megan Fox’s ‘ridiculously bad’ temper

September 17, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New York, September 17 (ANI): Megan Fox, 23, has revealed how she once threatened to kill her on-off boyfriend Brian Austin Green in a fit of anger.

“My temper is ridiculously bad,” the New York Post quoted her as having told Rolling Stone magazine for its October issue.

“I’ve had to say to Brian, ‘You have to go and stop talking to me, because I’m going to kill you. I’m going to stab you with something, please leave.’

“I’d never own a gun for that reason. I wouldn’t shoot to kill. But I would shoot him in the leg, for sure,” she added. (ANI)

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Archaeologists discover gemstone carrying portrait of Alexander the Great

September 17, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, September 16 (ANI): An archaeological team, during excavations in Israel, has discovered a gemstone that has a portrait of Alexander the Great engraved on it.

The excavations at Tel Dor were carried out by an archaeological team, which was directed by Dr. Ayelet Gilboa of the University of Haifa and Dr. Ilan Sharon of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

“Despite its miniature dimensions – the stone is less than a centimeter high and its width is less than half a centimeter – the engraver was able to depict the bust of Alexander on the gem without omitting any of the ruler’s characteristics,” said Dr. Gilboa, Chair of the Department of Archaeology at the University of Haifa.

“The emperor is portrayed as young and forceful, with a strong chin, straight nose and long curly hair held in place by a diadem,” he added.

The Tel Dor researchers have noted that it is surprising that a work of art such as this would be found in Israel, on the periphery of the Hellenistic world.

“It is generally assumed that the master artists – such as the one who engraved the image of Alexander on this particular gemstone – were mainly employed by the leading Hellenistic courts in the capital cities, such as those in Alexandria in Egypt and Seleucia in Syria,” according to the researchers.

“This new discovery is evidence that local elites in secondary centers, such as Tel Dor, appreciated superior objects of art and could afford ownership of such items,” they added.

The significance of the discovery at Dor is in the gemstone being uncovered in an orderly excavation, in a proper context of the Hellenistic period.

This tiny gem was unearthed by a volunteer during excavation of a public structure from the Hellenistic period in the south of Tel Dor, excavated by a team from the University of Washington at Seattle headed by Prof. Sarah Stroup.

Dr. Jessica Nitschke, professor of classical archaeology at Georgetown University in Washington DC, identified the engraved motif as a bust of Alexander the Great.

This has been confirmed by Prof. Andrew Stewart of the University of California at Berkeley, an expert on images of Alexander and author of a book on this topic.

Alexander was probably the first Greek to commission artists to depict his image – as part of a personality cult that was transformed into a propaganda tool. (ANI)

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Early man used crude version of ‘sat nav’ system to navigate across England

September 15, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, September 15 (ANI): In a new research, a scientist has found that prehistoric man navigated his way across England using a crude version of a satellite navigation system, which was based on stone circle markers.

According to a report in the Telegraph, the research, by historian and writer Tom Brooks, shows that Britain’s Stone Age ancestors were “‘sophisticated engineers” and far from a barbaric race.

Brooks studied all known prehistoric sites as part of his research.

He found that the prehistoric man was able to travel between settlements in England with pinpoint accuracy, thanks to a complex network of hilltop monuments.

These covered much of southern England and Wales and included now famous landmarks such as Stonehenge and The Mount.

New research suggests that they were built on a connecting grid of isosceles triangles that ‘point’ to the next site.

Many are 100 miles or more away, but GPS co-ordinates show all are accurate to within 100 metres.

This provided a simple way for ancient Britons to navigate successfully from point A to B without the need for maps.

“To create these triangles with such accuracy would have required a complex understanding of geometry,” said Brooks.

“The sides of some of the triangles are over 100 miles across on each side and yet the distances are accurate to within 100 metres. You cannot do that by chance,” he added.

“So advanced, sophisticated and accurate is the geometrical surveying now discovered, that we must review fundamentally the perception of our Stone Age forebears as primitive, or conclude that they received some form of external guidance,” he further added.

Brooks analyzed 1,500 sites stretching from Norfolk to north Wales. These included standing stones, hilltop forts, stone circles and hill camps.

Each was built within eyeshot of the next.

Using GPS co-ordinates, he plotted a course between the monuments and noted their positions to each other.

He found that they all lie on a vast geometric grid made up of isosceles ‘triangles’. Each triangle has two sides of the same length and ‘point’ to the next settlement.

Thus, anyone standing on the site of Stonehenge in Wiltshire could have navigated their way to Lanyon Quoit in Cornwall without a map.

According to Brooks, many of the Stone Age sites were created 5,000 years ago by an expanding population recovering from the trauma of the Ice Age.

“The triangle navigation system may have been used for trading routes among the expanding population and also been used by workers to create social paths back to their families while they were working on these new sites,” he said. (ANI)

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Four giant stone-age axes found in African lake basin

September 14, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, September 13 (ANI): A team of archaeologists has found four giant stone hand axes from the dry basin of Lake Makgadikgadi in the Kalahari Desert in Africa, dating back to the Stone Age, which suggests that the region was once much drier and wetter than it is today.

The discovery of the axes is part of the finding of thousands of stone tools on the lake bed, which sheds new light on how humans in Africa adapted to several substantial climate change events during the period that coincided with the last Ice Age in Europe.

Researchers from the School of Geography and the Environment at the University of Oxford are surveying the now-dry basin of Lake Makgadikgadi.

Their research was prompted by the discovery of the first of what are believed to be the world’s largest stone tools on the bed of the lake.

Although the first find was made in the 1990s, the discovery of four giant axes has not been scientifically reported until now.

Four giant stone hand axes, measuring over 30 cm long and of uncertain age, were recovered from the lake basin.

Equally remarkable is that the dry lake floor where they were found is also littered with tens of thousands of other smaller stone-age tools and flakes, according to the researchers.

According to Professor David Thomas, Head of the School of Geography and the Environment at the University of Oxford, “Many of the tools were found on the dry lake floor, not around its edge, which challenges the view that big lakes were only attractive to humans when they were full of water.”

“As water levels in the lake went down, or during times when they fluctuated seasonally, wild animals would have congregated round the resulting watering holes on the lake bed,” he said.

“It’s likely that early human populations would have seen this area as a prolific hunting ground when food resources in the region were more concentrated than at times when the regional climate was wetter and food was more plentiful and the lake was full of water,” he added.

The research team has investigated islands on the floor of the lake – remnants of former sand dunes – which suggest the region’s climate has also been both windier and markedly drier than it is today.

“The interior of southern Africa has usually been seen as being devoid of significant archaeology. Surprisingly, we have found and logged incredibly extensive Middle Stone Age artefacts spread over a vast area of the lake basin,” Professor Thomas said. (ANI)

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Janet Jackson finally speaks up after MJ’s death

September 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, September 11 (ANI): Singer Janet Jackson has finally broken her silence following the death of her brother and King of Pop Michael Jackson.

She revealed that she hasn’t watched TV news since the pop legend’s demise.

The ‘Nasty’ hitmaker said that continuous coverage in the US, “will drive you crazy”, adding: “Not everyone is stone.”

Janet mentioned that she was “really proud” of her niece Paris for speaking on the public memorial of her father.

The pop star added that that she had met her brother six weeks before he died.

“We had so much fun that day. We kept calling each other after and saying how great it was,” the BBC quoted her as telling Harper’s Bazaar magazine.

Janet was working on a film in Atlanta when Michael died of cardiac arrest in Los Angeles on June 25. (ANI)

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Pre Inca citadel found in Zana River’s upper basin in Peru

September 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Lima (Peru), September 11 (ANI): Peruvian archaeologist Walter Alva has confirmed that a pre-Inca citadel has been found in Zana river’s upper basin, between the departments of Lambayeque and Cajamarca in Peru.

According to a report in ‘Living in Peru’, it would be an archaeological complex belonging to the Cajamarca culture, from the early Christian era.

Alva, who discovered the royal tombs of the Lord of Sipan, said that so far, there are only remains of stone buildings in the vegetation.

“An expedition will return to the scene in November, to investigate more. This culture is poorly studied by the moment, but will surely generate many archaeological projects,” said Alva.

A group of researchers and archaeologists, biologists traveled through Zana River Upper Basin a few weeks ago, during the eight days, and are now warning that regional cultural richnesses are being threatened by deforestation and mining. (ANI)

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Europe’s first farmers were migrants who settled about 7,500 years ago

September 4, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, September 4 (ANI): The analysis of ancient DNA from skeletons suggests that Europe’s first farmers were not the descendants of Stone Age hunter-gatherers in the region, but were probably migrants who came into major areas of central and eastern Europe about 7,500 years ago, bringing domesticated plants and animals with them.

The research involved the analysis of DNA from hunter-gatherer and early farmer burials, and compared those to each other and to the DNA of modern Europeans.

They conclude that there is little evidence of a direct genetic link between the hunter-gatherers and the early farmers, and 82 percent of the types of mtDNA found in the hunter-gatherers are relatively rare in central Europeans today.

The team from Mainz University in Germany, together with researchers from UCL (University College London) and Cambridge, found that the first farmers in central and northern Europe could not have been the descendents of the hunter-gatherers that came before them.

Humans arrived in Europe 45,000 years ago and replaced the Neandertals. From that period on, European hunter-gatherers experienced lots of climatic changes, including the last Ice Age.

After the end of the Ice Age, some 11,000 years ago, the hunter-gatherer lifestyle survived for a couple of thousand years but was then gradually replaced by agriculture.

The question was whether this change in lifestyle from hunter-gatherer to farmer was brought to Europe by new people, or whether only the idea of farming spread.

The new results from the Mainz-led team seem to solve much of this long-standing debate.

“Our analysis shows that there is no direct continuity between hunter-gatherers and farmers in Central Europe,” said Prof Joachim Burger. “As the hunter-gatherers were there first, the farmers must have immigrated into the area,” he added.

The study identifies the Carpathian Basin as the origin for early Central European farmers.

“It seems that farmers of the Linearbandkeramik culture immigrated from what is modern day Hungary around 7,500 years ago into Central Europe, initially without mixing with local hunter gatherers,” said Barbara Bramanti, first author of the study.

The new study confirms what Joachim Burger’s team showed in 2005; that the first farmers were not the direct ancestors of modern European.

According to Burger, “We are still searching for those remaining components of modern European ancestry. European hunter-gatherers and early farmers alone are not enough. But new ancient DNA data from later periods in European prehistory may shed also light on this in the future.” (ANI)

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New discovery hints ancient Egypt and Israel had ties during Early Bronze Age

September 2, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Jerusalem, Sept 2 (ANI): The discovery of a rare, four-centimeter-long stone fragment at the point where the Jordan River exits Lake Kinneret, has suggested a link between ancient Egypt and Israel around 3,000 BCE during the Early Bronze Age.

According to a report in the Jerusalem Post, Tel Aviv University (TAU) and University College London archeologists found the fragment.

The piece, part of a carved stone plaque bearing archaic Egyptian signs, was the highlight of the second season of excavations at Tel Bet Yerah (Khirbet el-Kerak). he site lies along an ancient highway that connected Egypt to the wider world of the ancient Near East.

The dig, carried out within the Beit Yerah National Park, was completed there last week by a joint team headed by TAU’s Raphael Greenberg and David Wengrow from England.

Earlier discoveries, both in Egypt and at Bet Yerah, have indicated that there was direct interaction between the site – then one of the largest in the Jordan Valley – and the Egyptian royal court.

The new discovery suggests that these contacts were of far greater local significance than had been suspected.

The archeologists noted that the fragment, which depicts an arm and hand grasping a scepter and an early form of the ankh sign, was the first artifact of its type ever found in an archaeological site outside Egypt.

It has been attributed to the period of Egypt’s First Dynasty, at around 3000 BCE.

Finds of this nature are rare even within Egypt itself, and the signs are executed to a high quality, as good as those on royal cosmetic palettes and other monuments dating to the origins of Egyptian kingship.

This year’s excavations also provided new insights into contacts between the early town and the distant north, when large quantities of “Khirbet Kerak Ware” (a distinctive kind of red/black burnished pottery first found at Tel Bet Yerah) were found in association with portable ceramic hearths, some of them bearing decorations in the form of human features.

“The hearths are very similar to objects found in Anatolia and the southern Caucasus, and most were found in open spaces where there was other evidence for fire-related activities,” noted Greenberg.

“The people using this pottery appear to have been migrants or descendants of migrants, and its distribution on the site, as well as the study of other cultural aspects, such as what they ate and the way they organized their households, could tell us about their interaction with local people and their adaptation to new surroundings,” he added. (ANI)

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Oasis’ ‘Live Forever’ voted Greatest Song Of All Time

September 1, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Sept 1 (ANI): English rock band Oasis might be going through a rough patch, but its popularity is reaching new heights – one of their early singles has been named the greatest song of all time in a new poll.

The rock band’s 1994 track ‘Live Forever’ has topped the greatest songs of all time list, with three of their songs figuring in the top four.

It’s ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ and ‘Wonderwall’ songs also made it to the third and the fourth spot in the poll, reports the Telegraph.

The Killers’ single Mr Brightside – which only made it to number 10 in the UK charts in 2004 – was number two in the vote.

Joy Division’s ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ came at the fifth spot.

The poll was conducted by countdown broadcast by radio station Xfm.

Xfm teamed up with radio stations from around the world, including KROQ (Los Angeles) and Triple J (Sydney) to put together the international chart.

The Top 10 are:

1. Live Forever – Oasis

2. Mr Brightside – The Killers

3. Don’t Look Back In Anger – Oasis

4. Wonderwall – Oasis

5. Love Will Tear Us Apart – Joy Division

6. I Am The Resurrection – The Stone Roses

7. Smells Like Teen Spirit – Nirvana

8. There Is A Light That Never Goes Out – The Smiths

9. Bitter Sweet Symphony – Verve

10. Plug In Baby – Muse (ANI)

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2,500-pound machine strapped around Flintoof’s knee to save his cricket career

August 30, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Aug 30 (ANI): England all rounder Andrew Flintoff is praying that the 2,500 pound machine strapped around his knee will save his cricket career.

The Lancashire all-rounder has to strap himself to the contraption for eight hours every day as he starts his gruelling rehabilitation from his latest operation.

The state-of-the-art Continuous Passive Motion equipment was prescribed by surgeon Andy Williams and is designed to bend the 31-year-old Ashes hero’s knee up to 1,500 times a day, News of the World reported.

“I had a choice of either using this machine or doing three sets of 500 knee bends a day, so I thought the machine might be the way forward. I strap my leg into it for eight hours a day. It bends my knee up and down all the time and makes sure the movement is controlled,” Flintoff revealed.

“I will have the machine on most of the time, even when I’m sleeping. The hard part is getting used to having your leg strapped into a machine for most of the day. It’s designed to help with the healing but, inevitably, my right leg is going to waste away a bit and the muscles are going to disappear. There’s not a lot I can do about it because I can’t bear any weight on my right leg for six to eight weeks.”

Flintoff underwent keyhole surgery in London on Monday night – just a day after helping England beat Australia at the Oval to regain the Ashes.

It was the second op on his troublesome knee and the ninth of his career, following four on his left ankle, two for hernias and another on his back.

Flintoff announced his retirement from Test cricket during the Ashes after admitting his 16-stone body could no longer cope with five-day cricket.

“I have set myself a target of returning for the tour to Bangladesh, which is from mid-Febuary to the middle of March, but whether that’s realistic or not, I’m not sure,” admitted Flintoff.

“There is a possibility I may not play again. It’s something I’m going to have to be prepared for in case the operation is not as successful as I hope. There will be a question mark in my mind about whether I have played my last game until I know how the operation has turned out.

“I’d be lying if I said it hadn’t crossed my mind, but the success rate for an operation like this is pretty good,” the paper quoted him, as saying. (ANI)

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Prime Minister’s daughter releases her book on history

August 30, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Kolkata, Aug 30 (ANI): Upinder Singh, daughter of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and a professor of history in the Delhi University, released her book on Indian history in Kolkata.ddressing the gathering, Upinder Singh attributed her success to the support she received from her family.

“The fact that he (Manmohan Singh) has an academic background and the academics are valued in our family. Both had certainly made a difference to a kind of person I am today,” she said.

She added that her book would help the reader to visualize and understand the rich and varied remains of the Indian subcontinent’s ancient past.

Upinder’s new book ‘A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India from Stone Age to the 12th Century’ is a comprehensive book meant for students and general readers.

The book had taken five years for her to complete and offers an exhaustive overview of the subject. The book has over 350 photographs, maps, drawings and sketches. (ANI)

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Fake currency flowing in from Dubai, Bangladesh: Mumbai police

August 29, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Mumbai, Aug 29(ANI): Mumbai police on Saturday said that counterfeit currency was flowing into Mumbai from Dubai and Bangladesh.

Speaking on the sidelines of laying the foundation stone of a Police Academy here, Mumbai’s police commissioner D. Shivanandan said: “Much of the money (fake currency) is coming from Dubai or from Calcutta (Kolkata) from Bangladesh side. We are coordinating with the Calcutta (Kolkata) police on this.”

Several cases of fake currency notes being pumped into the country have been reported across the country.

The Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), earlier in the day, arrested a key operative of a fake currency racket and seized counterfeit notes with a face value of 2,807 dollars. (ANI)

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Rajasthan Government demands lion’s share in Cairn project

August 29, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Barmer (Rajasthan), Aug.29 (ANI): The Government of Rajasthan on Saturday demanded a lion’s share of the value added tax (VAT) that would be generated from the extraction of crude oil from the Mangala Processing Terminal ( MPT) here.

According to sources, the issue will be settled later when state government representatives meet the officials of this Cairns Energy India-ONGCjoint venture.

ONGC Chairman R.S. Sharma said that it would take at least four years to meet this demand of the Rajasthan Government, which was made by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. Sharma said that the approach of the state government would determine the way forward on the issue of revenue sharing.

Officials attached with the joint venture said they are leaving no stone unturned in doing their bit for the local people.

The media contingent accompanying the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, on the inaugural visit to the project site were shown the entrepreneural centre where various social projects for local people are showcased.

Cairn India CEO Rahul Dhir emphasised the point that the maximum number of labourers are locals, and added that out of the 700 contractors, a majority are local people.

Inaugurating the project, Dr. Singh said the present venture is an indication that foreign investment in the country will grow and that the Indian Government will honestly provide all facilities to attract foreign investment.

He also congratulated the technical personnel for successfully finding oil reserves.

It maybe recalled that the Dutch firm Shell had abandoned the search for oil in this desert area. cairn india then stepped in, and after four years of continuous labour, was able to discover oil. arlier, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora described the activation of the Mangala Processing Terminal ( MPT) as a historic achievement, as the crude oil production from this block will meet about 20 percent of the nation’s current crude oil production.

He said this will enable the country to save seven percent of the crude oil import bill and reduce import dependence.

Deora also emphasised the need for stabilising crude oil prices for ensuring the sustained economic growth of the country, Deora said the MPT find is a significant step towards achieving this goal.

Cairn has invested about Rs.10000 crores in the area.

The total investment in this project will be more than Rs. 20000 crores. The government will get Rs. 46000 crores as profit petroleum revenue over the life of the project and will provide job opportunities for more than 6000 people.

According to company sources, the supply terminal to the Mangala field, the second largest oil discovery in the country in two decades, will be a giant step towards curtailing the country’s oil import bill.

With an initial 30,000 barrels capacity per day (bpd), Cairn India plans to add another 1,00,000 bpd over the next 18 months.

Mangala oil field officials are confident of reaching the target of producing 1,75,000 bpd in the next 20 months.

The project would contribute more than 20 per cent of India’s domestic crude oil production by 2011, the company sources said. By Pankaj Chaudhary (ANI)

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”Moon rock’ given to Holland by Armstrong, Aldrin just ‘petrified wood’

August 29, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Aug 29 (ANI): A piece of rock from the moon which Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin had gifted to Holland is claimed to be fake.

Curators at Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum say that the “lunar rock”, valued at 308,000 pounds, is in fact just a petrified wood.

“It’s a good story, with some questions that are still unanswered. We can laugh about it,” the Telegraph quoted Xandra van Gelder, who oversaw the investigation as saying.

In fact, researchers at Amsterdam’s Free University knew it wasn’t moon rock at the first look. They say that their speculation was later confirmed by tests.

Frank Beunk, a geologist involved in the investigation: “It’s a nondescript, pretty-much-worthless stone.”

Now, the United States Embassy in The Hague is carrying out an investigation into the affair.

Armstrong, Michael Collins and Aldrin had given the rock to Willem Drees, a former Dutch leader, during a global tour after their landing in moon almost 50 years ago.

It is one of the moon rocks given to more than 100 countries following lunar missions in 1969 and the 1970s.

Former American ambassador to the Netherlands J. William Middendorf had presented it to Drees, which was donated to the Rijksmuseum after his death in 1988.

Middendorf said: “I do remember that Drees was very interested in the little piece of stone. But that it’s not real, I don’t know anything about that.” (ANI)

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Pak announces governing body of Baba Guru Nanak International University

August 29, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Amritsar. Aug.28 (ANI): In a step to give shape to a proposed Baba Guru Nanak International University (BGNIU) the Government of Pakistan has announced the name of its members of the governing committee for project management unit on Friday.

The first meeting of the governing committee is likely to be held in Islamabad in September this year. The Chairman of the PETPB would head the Committee.

The then Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz assured a delegation of the Sikh Diaspora headed by Dr. Pritpal Singh, convener American Gurdwara Parbhandhak Committee (AGPC), to set up set up a university on Sikh religion and culture at Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of Guru Nanak.

Besides the chairman of PETPB, Mian Imran Masood as a executive director, Zafer Saeed Padhiar, MNA, Rai Shah Jehan Bhatti, MPA, President PSGPC, Dr. Pritpal Singh, USA, Manmohan Singh, UK, Azhar Ehsan Advocate, Tahir Azam, Faqir Syed Saif Uddin, Sham Singh Former president PSGPC, Bishan Singh and Mastan Singh are the members of the committee.

In 2007, in a meeting with heads of the various Sikhs organizations, including Avtar Singh Makkar, president of SGPC, PS Sarna the president of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Managemnet Committee (DGGMC) and Bishan Singh President of Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee were asured by PETPB Chairman that the proposed university would have the best architecture, curricula and research center on Sikh and other religion and culture.

It is pertinent to mention that none of the members was taken from India, neither from the SGPC, the premier body of the Sikhs or from DSGMC. However, DSGMC chief Sarna said: “I am happy that the work is on progress to build the University and it makes no difference to me whether they have not gave any representation in the committee.”

He said that whatever duties they give us we will do voluntarily.

Makkar registered his anguish and said that it is unfortunate that PETPB has not given any representation to the SGPC in the governing body.

He said that the SGPC not only represents Sikhs living in India, but also embodies all Sikhs living around the world and that includes Pakistan. He said that without the representation of the SGPC the governing committee could not be called a complete body.

According to sources, the university would be constructed in 2500 acres of land in Nankana Sahib. The foundation stone of the university would be laid in the month of September or November this year.

Talking to ANI, Dr. Pritpal Singh said that the AGPC would bear all the expenses occur on establishing the course related to Gurmat Sangeet facility.

He said that we would invite scholars from all over the world to join the university. It will be planned University that to be modelled on the great universities of Oxford and Cambridge and te University will allow to get Admissions for the Students of all over the world. By Ravinder Singh Robin (ANI)

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Lovelorn lady gorillas at London Zoo go wild over new guy

August 28, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, August 28 (ANI): Just like posters showing football ace David Beckham stripped to his briefs leave his women fans drooling, lovelorn lady gorillas at London Zoo were also found to have a similar reaction to pictures of a continental hunk.

The keepers of Mjukuu, 10, Effie, 16, and Zaire, 34-who have lacked male attention since the death of their silverback mate Bobby in December-recently gave the girls their first glimpse of 20-stone Yeboah, 12, who is due to arrive from France within weeks.

Judging by their reaction to the pictures, they hope that sparks should fly when the new boy arrives at London Zoo.

According to them, Zaire was the most appreciative, as she carefully wedged her pictures into the bark of tree to show them off to best effect.

Teenager Effie was found to tenderly clutch one of the photos to her bosom, but she later ate it.

Youngster Mjukuu also appeared to be delighted at the prospect of a new boyfriend, for she threw her head back and roared with joy.

“It would be nice to think they’ll recognise him. I wouldn’t be surprised if the penny drops when he arrives,” the Daily Express quoted keeper Tracey Lee as saying.

The newspaper further revealed that German-born Yeboah was being shown pictures of the girls by staff at La Boissiere Du Dore zoo in the Loire, so that he would feel at home when they meet.

Lee said: “We think Yeboah will go for Mjukuu first because she’s very pretty and she’s a big flirt.” (ANI)

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Fashion may have emerged 80,000 years ago in form of shell beads

August 28, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, August 28 (ANI): A new study by an international team of researchers from France, South Africa, Germany, Israel and the UK has confirmed that 80,000-year-old shell beads found in caves in North Africa represent some of the earliest evidence of the use of personal ornamentation, which also points to the dawn of modern human behaviour.

According to a report carried out by the Planet Earth Online, the beads provide evidence that the people alive at the time were acting much like modern humans.

“There is a problem with linking anatomically modern humans with behaviourally modern humans,” said Professor Nick Barton of the University of Oxford UK, and one of the authors of the study. “These people may have looked like us, but were they behaving the same?” he added.

The presence of the beads suggests the people who made and wore them behaved in ways we would recognize.

Using symbolic items like shell beads to communicate ideas about the wearer requires skills found only in modern humans, including a well-developed language and the ability to use abstract concepts.

The researchers analyzed 25 beads from four sites in North Africa from the Middle Palaeolithic period.

The beads, consisting of the shells of sea snails called Nassarius, had been transported some distance from the marine environment in which they’re usually found, and showed evidence of deliberate alterations.

“We found evidence they had been strung together as in a necklace or bracelet,” said Barton.

The shells had been deliberately perforated using stone tools and the researchers found distinctive wear patterns which suggested they had been rubbing together.

Wear marks around the perforations indicated the shells had been threaded on a string.

Several had also been covered with a pigment called red ochre and one shell showed evidence of heating, possibly to alter its colour.

As to what purpose the coloured beads served, Barton said, “What they were signalling, we’re not entirely sure. Possibly, they were an insurance policy, if you had shared access to certain resources and wanted to identify yourself to members of another group.”

The beads may also have let wearers identify members of the same social group, preventing unnecessary conflicts.

Alternatively, the beads might have provided personal information about the wearer, such as the wearer’s position in the social hierarchy, or that they had passed through puberty and into adulthood.

These beads might have also represented the origins of today’s fashions. (ANI)

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Archaeologists unearth 5,000-year-old “cathedral” in Britian

August 26, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, August 26 (ANI): A team of archaeologists has unearthed a Neolithic “cathedral” – a massive building of a kind never before seen in Britain, which go back nearly 5,000 years, easily predating the Egyptian pyramids.

According to a report in The Press and Journal, the “cathedral”, at 82 ft long and 65 ft wide, is placed between two of Orkney’s most famous Neolithic landmarks, the Ring of Brodgar and the Stones of Stenness.

Even the Ring of Brodgar and the Stones of Stenness would have seemed quite small in the presence of the cathedral-type building, which would have stood on the spot that has now been excavated.

Nick Card, from the Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology, who is leading the dig, said the building was effectively a cathedral for the north of Scotland.

“It’s spectacular,” he said. “There were hints at the end of last season that we had an enormous building here and now we are able to define it more,” he added.

What is interesting is that the shape and size of the building are visible, with the walls still standing to a height of more than three feet.

They are 16 feet thick and surround a cross-shaped inner sanctum where the excavation team have found examples of art and furniture created from stone.

It seems that the building was surrounded by a paved outer passage. This could have formed a labyrinth that would have led people through darkness to the chamber at the heart of the building.

“This is architecture on a monumental scale and the result is the largest structure of its kind anywhere in the north of Britain. It’s one of those finds of a lifetime,” Card said.

The building probably served as some kind of temple, maybe for remembering the dead. It may have been a place where sacrifices, even human sacrifices, were offered up.

Other buildings, over 50ft long and 30ft wide, have also been discovered.

According to Dr Colin Richards, a leading expert on the period, the building would have stood at the heart of Neolithic Orkney.

“A structure of this nature would have been renowned right across the north of Scotland – and is unprecedented anywhere in Britain,” he said. (ANI)

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