Aromatic sage and mint lined graves found on Israel’s Mount Carmel. Imprints of stems and blossoms stamped into the dirt of ancient graves are the oldest definitive proof of flowers decorating graves—a common practice around the world today—a new study says. Scented flowering plants, such as mint and sage, were imprinted in soft mud after they decomposed some 12,000 years ago in the graves, which are located in a cave […]
Jackson Hole, China (CNN) — Looking for a weekend escape from the city, Annie Liu and her husband fell in love at first sight with a log home in Jackson Hole and bought it for less than $300,000. Five years on, a weekly 90-minute drive from their downtown apartment to the house has long been the norm. They enjoy gardening, barbecuing or simply relaxing in their getaway surrounded by mountains […]
Seoul, South Korea (CNN) — Pyongyang has agreed to South Korea’s offer for working-level talks on reopening the suspended joint industrial complex at Kaesong, the South Korean Unification Ministry said. The talks are scheduled to be held at 10 a.m. Saturday (9 p.m. Friday ET) at Tongilgak, an administrative building on the North Korean side of the neutral border village of Panmunjom. Kaesong, which is a bellwether of North-South ties, […]
The family of an inmate who died after repeatedly cutting himself in prison is taking the Correctional Service of Canada to court, as the system grapples with mentally-ill prisoners and a huge increase in self-harm behind bars. The $10-million lawsuit, which also names the federal public safety minister and top CSC officials, comes in the midst of a high-profile Ontario coroner’s inquest into New Brunswick teenage inmate Ashley Smith, who […]
France’s foreign intelligence service intercepts computer and telephone data on a vast scale, like the controversial US Prism programme, according to the French daily Le Monde. The data is stored on a supercomputer at the headquarters of the DGSE intelligence service, the paper says. The operation is “outside the law, and beyond any proper supervision”, Le Monde says. Other French intelligence agencies allegedly access the data secretly. It is […]
Bolivia filed a complaint at the United Nations on Wednesday over what it called the kidnapping of its president, Evo Morales, whose plane was diverted to Vienna amid suspicions that it was carrying the surveillance whistleblower Edward Snowden. The country’s ambassador to the UN, Sacha Llorenti, said the enforced rerouting to Austria was an act of aggression and a violation of international law. The US admitted that it had been […]
Karnataka’s cattle farmers protest the allotment of 12,000 acres of traditional grazing land for defence, nuclear and other projects. Imran Khan reports Since the time of our forefathers, our cattle have been grazing in these grasslands. But now a high wall prevents us from going there,” laments Ranganna, a 58-year-old cattle farmer in south Karnataka. “Where do they expect us to go in search of fodder?” Ranganna belongs to […]
JOHANNESBURG: A South African court ruled on Wednesday that Nelson Mandela’s grandson must return the bodies of the former president’s three deceased children to their original burial site. The court ruled against grandson Mandla Mandela, who moved the bodies of three Mandela children in 2011 from Mandela’s hometown in Qunu to his birthplace of Mvezo, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) away. The family members claimed Mandla Mandela moved the graves […]
A strong earthquake felled buildings and caused landslides in western Indonesia, killing at least 22 people and injuring more than 200 others. More than 1,500 houses and buildings were damaged across Aceh province. The magnitude-6.1 quake struck on Tuesday afternoon at a depth of just 10 kilometres (6 miles) and was centred 55 kilometres (34 miles) west of the town of Bireun on the western tip of Sumatra island, the […]
Canadian police yesterday announced they had foiled a Boston-marathon-like bomb attack on the British Colombian legislature earlier this week by a Canadian couple “inspired by Al Qaeda ideology.” But experts say that the connection to Al Qaeda is dubious, and that the pair likely have nothing to do with that or any other terrorist group. In a press conference on Tuesday, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police described in brief the […]
