Ancient city of Troy rebranded itself after war

EVEN ancient cities knew about rebranding. Troy was destroyed by war about 3200 years ago - an event that may have inspired Homer to write the Iliad, 400 years later. But the famous city rose again, reinventing itself to fit a new political landscape.

Troy lies in north-west Turkey and has been studied for decades. Pottery made before the war has a distinct Trojan style but after the war its style is typical of the Balkans. This led archaeologists to believe that the locals had been forced out and replaced by populations from overseas.

But when Peter Grave at the University of New England in Armidale, Australia, and his colleagues examined the chemical make-up of the pottery, they realised that both pre and post-war objects contained clay from exactly the same local sources, suggesting the same people were making the pots.

"There is substantial evidence for cultural continuity," says Grave. So if the Trojans never left the city, why did their pottery style change?

Before the sack of Troy, the city looked east towards the powerful Hittite Empire. But this political powerhouse collapsed around the time that Troy was destroyed. Grave says the post-war pottery is Balkan in style because the Trojans were keen to align themselves with the people there, who had become the new political elite in the region (Journal of Archaeological Sciences, doi.org/js8).

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Football: Benitez promises handshake with old rival Warnock

COBHAM, England: Chelsea interim manager Rafael Benitez insists he is willing to shake hands with Leeds United boss Neil Warnock at Wednesday's League Cup quarter-final in a bid to end their simmering feud.

Benitez has clashed with Warnock on several occasions in the past, with the most high-profile incident coming in 2007 when the Spaniard sent out a weakened Liverpool team against Fulham.

Fulham went on to beat Liverpool and in the process pushed Sheffield United, then managed by Warnock, closer to eventual relegation from the Premier League.

Warnock said that he would "never forgive" Benitez and he poured more fuel on the fire this week when he revealed the pair's last contact came shortly after that incident when he received an email from the Spaniard's lawyers warning of possible legal action were he to continue to criticise their client.

But with their latest touchline showdown looming on Wednesday, Benitez tried to draw a line under the issue at his pre-match press conference on Tuesday.

Asked if he would shake hands with Warnock ahead of the match, Benitez said: "I saw that he said he has an email from me threatening to sue him. It's true, but I didn't remember it.

"I will concentrate on my job and hopefully we can talk about football, which is best for the fans and everyone. We need to leave things on the pitch.

"I'm professional so I won't have any problem (shaking Warnock's hand). There will be a lot of people watching us, so we have to behave.

"Every person has their ideas of each other. I will try to do my job and won't be involved in anything, but what I will say is that the league is 38 games and not just one match."

Warnock also seems keen to move on, although he stopped short of agreeing to a pre-match handshake.

"Enough water's passed under the bridge," Warnock said. "It's one of those things that disappoints you in life and you have to get on with it really.

"You get disappointments in every walk of life and I've made my feelings clear over the last few years -- and nothing will change that.

"I think it (the email) had his name on, I think it was his solicitor (lawyer) who was threatening legal action and I've got it in a scrapbook at home."

Meanwhile, Benitez wouldn't be drawn on the future of Frank Lampard, who is likely to captain Chelsea at Elland Road but looks set to leave the club by the end of the season.

Lampard, who is out of contract in June and has yet to sign a new deal, could even be sold during the January transfer window, with QPR and Monaco linked with the England midfielder.

"Frank is fully committed in every training session and every game. He's an important player for us," Benitez said.

"But I can't say too much about what he feels or doesn't feel. He's doing well and I'm happy about his attitude."

- AFP/fa

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Gay-love text gets sender 3 years in jail

One text in Cameroon can put you in a cell.

(Credit:
Josh Miller/CNET)

This story will move only those who have a heart.

The remainder -- well, perhaps they man the judicial system in Cameroon.

Jean-Claude Roger Mbede, 32, wanted to express his love by text. He sent this: "I am very much in love with you."

The only problem is that Mbede lives in Cameroon. There, as the Associated Press reports, homosexual conduct is illegal. And Mbede sent the text to another man.

The police arrested him on suspicion of homosexuality. His phone, to them, confirmed it.

So he was sent to jail for three years in 2011.

Reason appeared to have prevailed in July. After Mbede had spent 18 months locked up for a text, his lawyer secured him a provisional release. This was, however, only on medical grounds.

Yesterday, his lawyer formally appealed the sentence. The appeal was dismissed. Mbede must go back to jail.

Mbede told the AP:

I am not sure I can put up with the antigay attacks and harassment I underwent at the hands of fellow inmates and prison authorities on account of my perceived and unproven sexual orientation. The justice system in this country is just so unfair.

Amnesty International and other organizations have been fighting on Mbede's behalf.

Sadly -- appallingly -- Cameroon isn't the only country with such laws. Liberia, Uganda, and Nigeria are taking steps to make their antigay laws even more strict, even more unconscionable.

Of Cameroon, Neela Ghoshal, a researcher in the LGBT Rights Program at Human Rights Watch, told the AP: "Usually people are convicted on the basis of allegations or denunciations from people who have claimed to law enforcement officials that they are gay."

More Technically Incorrect

In this case, it was a text that seems to have been held up as evidence.

When we consider our first world problems, we talk about sexting. We talk about the thing we call "freedom of speech." We mean it to be freedom of speech in public.

We can freely express our feelings by text (or in any other way) to someone we love. Even if we've fallen out with them. Even if they can't stand us today or for the rest of time. Even if they're of the same sex. Even if they're a judge in Cameroon.

We think this is something fundamental -- so fundamental that we take it for granted.

Why shouldn't we tell those we love how we feel about them?

Think of what one text of love has meant to Jean-Claude Roger Mbede.

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GRAIL Mission Goes Out With a Bang

Jane J. Lee

On Friday, December 14, NASA sent their latest moon mission into a death spiral. Rocket burns nudged GRAIL probes Ebb and Flow into a new orbit designed to crash them into the side of a mountain near the moon's north pole today at around 2:28 p.m. Pacific standard time. NASA named the crash site after late astronaut Sally Ride, America's first woman in space.

Although the mountain is located on the nearside of the moon, there won't be any pictures because the area will be shadowed, according to a statement from NASA' Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.

Originally sent to map the moon's gravity field, Ebb and Flow join a long list of man-made objects that have succumbed to a deadly lunar attraction. Decades of exploration have left a trail of debris intentionally crashed, accidentally hurtled, or deliberately left on the moon's surface. Some notable examples include:

Ranger 4 - Part of NASA's first attempt to snap close-up pictures of the moon, the Ranger program did not start off well. Rangers 1 through 6 all failed, although Ranger 4, launched April 23, 1962, did make it as far as the moon. Sadly, onboard computer failures kept number 4 from sending back any pictures before it crashed. (See a map of all artifacts on the moon.)

Fallen astronaut statue - This 3.5-inch-tall aluminum figure commemorates the 14 astronauts and cosmonauts who had died prior to the Apollo 15 mission. That crew left it behind in 1971, and NASA wasn't aware of what the astronauts had done until a post-flight press conference.

Lunar yard sale - Objects jettisoned by Apollo crews over the years include a television camera, earplugs, two "urine collection assemblies," and tools that include tongs and a hammer. Astronauts left them because they needed to shed weight in order to make it back to Earth on their remaining fuel supply, said archivist Colin Fries of the NASA History Program Office.

Luna 10 - A Soviet satellite that crashed after successfully orbiting the moon, Luna 10 was the first man-made object to orbit a celestial body other than Earth. Its Russian controllers had programmed it to broadcast the Communist anthem "Internationale" live to the Communist Party Congress on April 4, 1966. Worried that the live broadcast could fail, they decided to broadcast a recording of the satellite's test run the night before—a fact they revealed 30 years later.

Radio Astronomy Explorer B - The U.S. launched this enormous instrument, also known as Explorer 49, into a lunar orbit in 1973. At 600 feet (183 meters) across, it's the largest man-made object to enter orbit around the moon. Researchers sent it into its lunar orbit so it could take measurements of the planets, the sun, and the galaxy free from terrestrial radio interference. NASA lost contact with the satellite in 1977, and it's presumed to have crashed into the moon.

(Learn about lunar exploration.)

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Threat Closes Newtown Elementary School

Local officials closed a Newtown, Conn., elementary school following a threat on what would have been the first day of classes since a shooting rampage at nearby Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Classes at Head O'Meadow Elementary School were scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. ET, but as parents and students arrived at the school they encountered police who turned them away.

Principal Barbara Gasparine sent an email to parents telling them that school would be closed rather than locked down due to the threats, the nature of which was not specified.

CLICK HERE FOR A TRIBUTE TO THE SHOOTING VICTIMS

"As was predicted by the police that there would be some threats, the police were prepared and have us in lockdown, which is our normal procedure. Due to the situation, students will not come to school today. Please make arrangements to keep them home," Gasparine wrote parents in an email obtained by ABC News.

Newtown police would not specify the type of threat, calling the school closure a "precautionary measure" in the wake of last week's shooting that left 20 children and six adults of Sandy Hook dead.

Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting: Victims Laid to Rest Watch Video

Gun Control Debate Resurfaces After Sandy Hook Shooting Watch Video

Sandy Hook Shooting: What Was Wrong with Adam Lanza? Watch Video

Reporters at the school to cover the arrival of Newtown students on the first day since the massacre were pushed back by police a quarter of mile away from the school.

Sandy Hook Elementary and Head O'Meadow are 4.5 miles away from each other, and in the same district.

Sandy Hook is classified an active crime scene and will remain closed "indefinitely," according to authorities.

Officials are moving furniture and supplies from Sandy Hook classrooms to a former middle school in nearby Monroe, Conn. A start date for those students has yet to be determined.

It was a somber day for many parents who sent their students back to school. Green and white ribbons adorned the grilles of Newtown school buses this morning.

There was a heavy police presence atthe schools-- 15 police departments had been called in to help with security and there were several units at each school, an officer said.

At Hawley Elementary, families walked their children to school. One tearful mother told ABC that the time is right to go back to school for her fourth grader. Another father told us that this is "a day of great sadness" but that "it will be good to get back into a routine." He addressed concerns of a premature return, saying that "There's no rulebook for this...is there ever a right day?"

At Newtown Middle School, lines of parents waited to drop off their kids. One teacher hugged a student as he exited the car. Children in school buses waved at reporters as they drove by.

And at Reed Intermediate, a memorial has been set up in the center island. Encircling the flag pole are three wreaths, bouquets of flowers, a host of green and white balloons, and what appears to be notes.

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What leaked IPCC report really says on climate change

A draft of a major report on climate change, due to be published next year, has been leaked online.

Climate sceptics immediately claimed it contains an admission that much of global warming is a result of the sun's variability, not greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, the report says nothing of the sort. It does, however, show that our understanding of the climate is shifting. And while some future threats now seem less likely, others loom larger.

The report is the latest from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which releases detailed assessments of climate science every few years. Its last major report came out in 2007, and the next is scheduled to be published, section by section, from September 2013 onwards.

A draft version was leaked online by Alec Rawls, a US blogger who signed up to be an expert reviewer of the next report – something anyone can do.

Rawls highlights a paragraph on page 43 of chapter 7, which he claims undermines the report's main conclusion – that human activity is the main driver of climate change.

The key sentence examines evidence of the link between the sun's activity and climate. It concludes that the link is slightly stronger than previously thought. This suggests positive feedbacks within the climate must make the sun's influence a little larger to fully explain how it affects Earth's climate. Rawls interprets this as an admission that the sun is actually a significant driver of climate change.

Climate scientists are lining up to debunk this claim. "They're misunderstanding, either deliberately or otherwise, what that sentence is meant to say," says Joanna Haigh of Imperial College London, who studies the effect of solar activity on the Earth.

The sun has little effect on global temperatures over human timescales, she says, although – perhaps confusingly – it does have a relatively strong effect on some regions, particularly Europe (New Scientist, 25 September 2010, p 10).

Rawls's would-be revelations actually draw attention away from some much more interesting and surprising conclusions in the draft report.

For one thing, the IPCC has changed its 2007 prediction on droughts. Then, it concluded that a world beset by more intense droughts was "likely". But the authors of the new report have taken heed of recent criticisms that the statistical measure of drought favoured by climatologists is unreliable.

The draft quotes studies that show recent "decreasing trends in the duration, intensity and severity of drought globally".

Another common expectation of a warmer world also bites the dust: more frequent tropical cyclones. In 2007, the IPCC said there had been a "likely" increase in tropical cyclones since 1970, which was "more likely than not" due to global warming raising sea temperatures.

But the new report backtracks. "The [previous] assessment needs to be somewhat revised," it says. After a review of past cyclone counts, it concludes that "tropical cyclone data provides low confidence that any reported long-term changes are robust". There is evidence, however, that the average intensity of cyclones will rise in the years ahead.

Elsewhere, the report reassures us that the ocean circulation, and with it the Gulf Stream, is "unlikely" to collapse in the coming centuries – a doomsday scenario that was "too early to assess" in 2007.

However, it is pessimistic about Arctic sea ice, which hit a record low in September. The IPCC says the Arctic may see ice-free summers by 2100. Even that is too rosy a picture for many climatologists, who expect ice-free summers before 2050.

Other conclusions are also more sobering. The IPCC is predicting greater sea level rise than it did in 2007, as it now includes models of ice sheet movements. And we now have a gloomier picture of the extent to which smogs and other human-made aerosols in the atmosphere shade us from the worst of global warming. This is still a big uncertainty in temperature forecasting. The draft says their cooling effect is 40 per cent less than thought in 2007, suggesting this positive side effect of air pollution has been overstated.

The report says it is "very likely" that the past three decades have all been warmer than any time in the past 800 years; that we could see almost 9 °C of warming by 2300; and that "a large fraction of climate change is largely irreversible on human timescales".

The details of the picture may have changed, but it is still largely bleak.

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

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Obama meets top Republican on fiscal cliff talks

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama held fresh talks with top Republican lawmaker John Boehner at the White House on Monday, in their latest effort to reach a deal to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff.

"The president and Speaker Boehner are meeting at the White House to continue their discussions about the fiscal cliff and balanced deficit reduction," the White House said in a statement.

The meeting lasted about 45 minutes, said a statement from Boehner, the speaker of the House of Representatives, adding that there would be no news release about the face-to-face encounter.

It was the latest in a serious of meetings between the two men as they seek to forge a compromise aimed at preventing tax hikes and federal spending cuts from kicking in beginning January 1.

Congressional economists say tumbling over the fiscal cliff could send the US economy back into recession.

Republicans at least publicly have refused to go along with Obama's call to raise taxes on all US households earning more than $250,000 per year as part of his plan to raise $1.6 trillion in new tax revenues over the next decade.

Boehner has offered $800 billion in new revenue through the closing of loopholes and the elimination of tax deductions, but not by raising tax rates on the rich. Obama has dropped his revenues request to $1.4 trillion.

In a concession on Friday, Boehner sweetened his offer, reportedly agreeing to back tax hikes on those making more than $1 million per year provided spending cuts to entitlement programs like Medicare are part of the deal.

If no agreement is reached by year end, taxes rise on all Americans on January 1, followed by some $110 billion in spending cuts in 2013, split evenly between military and civilian programs.

- AFP/fa

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Yahoo, Jack Black's production firm ink deal on new Web series

Yahoo Screen is getting a new Web series in the spring.

Electric Dynamite Productions, a production company owned by actor Jack Black, has inked a deal with Shine America to deliver a Web-based comedy series named "Ghost Ghirls" to Yahoo Screen, the companies announced today. Shine America is best known as the production company behind popular shows, "The Biggest Loser" and MasterChef," among several others.

Yahoo Screen is the online company's Web-based video portal. The company offers online videos from third parties, as well as original comedy programming, like "Burning Love" and "Sketchy." Comedy has proven desirable to Yahoo Screen's viewership.

"Our users come to Yahoo Screen for their daily dose of comedy, and we're excited to bring them 'Ghost Ghirls,'" Yahoo's vice president and head of video and originals, Eric McPherson, said today in a statement. Speaking to Ad Age in an interview published today, McPherson said that Yahoo Screen's original comedy "Burning Love" was the top referral search term to Yahoo in June.

Yahoo's search for original programming comes as Google-owned YouTube is also trying to establish itself as a destination for non-user-generated videos. That company has invested $100 million in the development of a broad array of original programs for its service.

Actually succeeding at original programming, however, has proven troublesome for many of the companies YouTube partnered with. Looking ahead, YouTube will reportedly only continue to fund 30 percent to 40 percent of the original programming created by providers.

"Ghost Ghirls," which Black called "the funniest idea for a TV show that we've seen" since founding the production studio, follows two female ghostbusters played by actresses Amanda Lund and Maria Blasucci. The characters are charged with solving paranormal issues, but must also convince their clients that what they're doing is legit.

"Ghost Ghirls" started production earlier this month, and will deliver 12 episodes to Yahoo Screen. The first episode will air sometime in the spring.

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The Bloody Truth About Serbia's Vampire

Garlic sales are up. Wooden crosses are a hot commodity. That can only mean one thing: Vampire on the loose!

But this isn't part of a movie script or book. It's a real-life event in the Serbian town of Zarozje (map), where last month the local council issued a public health warning that the resident vampire, Sava Savanovic, may be on the prowl. (See "Pictures: Toothless 'Vampire' Skeleton Unearthed in Bulgaria.")

The vampire scare was sparked by reports that an old mill where the vampire allegedly lived has collapsed. According to ABC News, the town's mayor Miodrag Vujetic said: "People are worried, everybody knows the legend of this vampire andthe thought that he is now homeless and looking for somewhere else [to live] and possibly other victims is terrifying..."

Then again, how frightened should you be of a vampire who, as the story goes, can turn into a butterfly? To find out, we spoke with Mark Collins Jenkins, the author of Vampire Forensics, and forensic archeologist and anthropologist Matteo Borrini.

Is this vampire alert an effort to draw tourists or a modern-day manifestation of ancient superstitions?

MCJ: I have no idea, but I would suspect the former. I would approach the story very warily. Vampire belief might be deeply rooted in the Balkans, but I doubt you'll find any "ancient superstition" even there that hasn't been thoroughly tainted by modern vampire lore. Fangs and blood-drinking are generally not present in the oldstories. Victims were usually beaten up or suffocated.

Is it crazy that the town council issued a public health warning?

MCJ: Historically speaking, it's not that crazy. In past centuries, outbreaks ofvampire hysteria, especially in Central and Eastern Europe, often coincided with outbreaks of tuberculosis and deadly plagues. Peasants had no other way of explaining why everyone was dropping dead but by blaming it on witches and vampires or other supernatural creatures. In 19th-century New England, tuberculosis wasted entire families, one after another. Superstitious people believed that the first to die was somehow feeding on his surviving family members. (See "'Vampire of Venice' Unmasked: Plague Victim & Witch?")

Why did people begin believing in vampires?

MB: Especially between the 16th and 18th centuries, little was known about what happens to the body after death. During plagues and epidemics, mass graves were continually reopened to bury new dead. People sometimes exhumed the bodies of the diseased to look for possible causes. Reports about vampires describe exhumations weeks or months after death, during the body's decay.

MCJ: Bodies weren't embalmed back then. They rot, to be quite frank, in grossly different ways. If a bunch of people in the village started dying in mysterious ways, they'd dig up the first one to die, see that his corpse didn't look quite right, assume that was blood flowing down those cheeks (it's called purge fluid in modern forensics, a natural byproduct of decomposition, but it's not blood), and generally burn the body. End of vampire.

Savanovic supposedly survived in spirit as a butterfly. Are there other twists on the classic vampire story?

MB: Sometimes it was thought that the body turned into a wolf or dog because near the grave of the vampire, there were footsteps of these animals. Actually, the earth had been disturbed by stray and hungry dogs attracted by the smell of the decomposing body.

Why is garlic anathema to vampires?

MCJ: People used to believe that strong-smelling stuff like garlic was apotropaic, meaning able to ward off evil spirits. But the specific garlic-vampire connectionwas popularized by 19th and 20th century novels and movies. A kind of [Romany] vampire, for example, is instead deterred by burning turmeric. Garlic won't bother them.

How do modern interpretations of vampires differ from older ones?

MB: Ancient reports speak about vampires as bloated corpses of ordinary people with blood around the mouth. In the movies, the dead are charming, seductive, often aristocratic, or with superhuman powers.

MCJ: The modern fascination with vampires is fueled by books and movies. Sincethe early 19th century, that has turned on illicit romance. Forbidden love. It was somehow thrilling to cross the line and love a vampire, or to be seduced by one. Hardly any of that is in the folklore, though. (See "Vampire Expert Digs His Fangs Into 'True Blood,' 'Twilight.'")

Has there ever been any proof that a vampire existed?

MB: No. All the old reports about vampires talk about real events and real exhumation of bodies of suspected vampires. But they are misinterpretations ofthe transformative phenomena of corpses: Every exhumed vampire was actually a normal, decomposing body.

Why does this belief in vampires hang on?

MCJ: Fear of the dead. The same reason that people, deep down, are still afraid of ghosts. A vampire is a dead body brought back to life, so to speak, perhaps by the devil or an evil spirit.

MB: I think it's connected to two deep aspects of human thought: death and blood. Death is our inevitable destiny. Blood is our life fluid. The vampire connects these two aspects in a paradoxical way—it is a corpse who escapes death by drinking blood.

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Newtown Couple Vow to Live for Dead Daughter

The parents of Jessica Rekos, a 6-year-old girl who died during the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., said they are committed to keeping their daughter's memory alive despite their pain.

"We will talk about her every day, we will live for her," Krista Rekos told ABC News. "We will make sure her brother knows what an amazing person she was."

Richard and Krista Rekos say that talking about Jessica, who loved horseback riding and whom they called the CEO of their family, brings tiny moments of comfort.

CLICK HERE for full coverage of the massacre at the elementary school.

"Jessica loved writing, and she would often leave us little notes all over the house," Rekos said. "They would just say, 'I love you so much.'

"She was a ball of fire, she ruled the roost," Krista Rekos said.

When the call came Friday morning that Sandy Hook Elementary was on lockdown, Krista Rekos rushed in disbelief through the town where she and her husband were raised, a place they had always felt safe.

"I was running, and I kept thinking, 'I'm coming for you honey, I'm coming,'" she said, choking up.

CLICK HERE to read about the "hero teacher," the principal and 20 children who lost their lives.

First Sandy Hook Shooting Victims to Be Buried Watch Video

Adam Lanza: Who Was Elementary School Shooter? Watch Video

Richard Rekos said they initially had little information on what had happened.

"We had no idea at that point," he said. "We thought, OK, the reports are that one or two people may have been injured and taken to hospitals. There was still hope, that the children were hiding, there was still so much hope at that point."

The couple said that they walked around the firehouse, thinking that maybe Jessica had been taken there.

"I knew exactly what she was wearing, and I was hoping to see her little ponytail run around the corner, and her jacket and her black glittery Uggs that she had on that morning," Krista Rekos said.

Finally, around 1:15 p.m., everyone was asked to sit down, and a police officer said 20 children had been killed.

"We couldn't get a straight answer," Richard Rekos said. "There's so much panic and confusion when that announcement was made, the life was just sucked out of the room. And you know, I just point-blank found a state trooper and said, 'Are you telling me that standing here as a parent that my daughter is gone?' And he said, 'Yes.'"

The Rekoses were asked to stay at the firehouse to identify their daughter's body but, overcome with grief, they left in disbelief. The couple went home, and got into their daughter's bed, staying there until about 1 a.m., they said.

At that point there was a knock on the door and a police officer said that Jessica was dead.

"It just confirmed the nightmare, it's not real," Krista Rekos said. "It's still not real that my little girl who's so full of life and wants a horse so badly, and who was going to get cowboy boots for Christmas, isn't coming home."

The couple said the pain is just settling in. But equally strong is their commitment to keeping their daughter's memory alive.

The parents said that their 6-year old family powerhouse, with an enormous heart, will forever be their angel who left behind love notes that are still being found.

"This morning I found a little journal, and it was exactly what I needed, because it says, 'I love you so much momma, love Jessica,'" her mother said.

"It was like she was telling me she was watching us and she knows how hard this must be for us, and she wants us to know she loved us, and she knows how much she was loved."

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