'Viking sunstone' found in shipwreck

 

A clear view of the Sun was not necessary for Vikings to navigate, scientists believe

A crystal found in a shipwreck could be similar to a sunstone - a mythical navigational aid said to have been used by Viking mariners, scientists believe.

The team from France say the transparent crystal may have been used to locate the Sun even on cloudy days.
This could help to explain how the Vikings were able to navigate across large tracts of the sea - well before the invention of the magnetic compass.
However, a number of academics treat the sunstone theory with scepticism.
Viking legends The team from the University of Rennes in France say they found the crystal while examining the wreck of a British ship sunk off the island of Alderney - in the English Channel - in 1592.
An oblong crystal the size of a cigarette packet was next to a pair of dividers - suggesting it was part of the navigational equipment.
It has now been shown that it is of Iceland spar - a form of calcite known for its property of diffracting light into two separate rays.
Testing a similar crystal, the scientists proved that by rotation it was possible to find the point where the two beams converge - indicating the direction of the Sun.
They say it works on cloudy days, and when the Sun has set.
This particular piece of Iceland spar was found on the British vessel long after the Viking heyday in the ninth and 10th Centuries.
But the scientists conjecture that use of sunstones may have persisted for many centuries as a back-up to the often unreliable magnetic compass, which was introduced in Europe in the 13th Century.
There is only a sketchy reference in the old Viking legends to the sunstone.
Vikings were seafarers from Scandinavia who used their longboats to explore and conquer parts of Europe, Greenland, Iceland, Russia and North America.
From BBC

Hugo Chavez and the era of anti-American bogeymen

By Jon Kelly BBC News Magazine, Washington DC

Hugo Chavez is the latest outspoken critic of the US to leave the world stage. Is the era of the anti-American bogeymen at an end?

He floridly lambasted "imperial" American policies, compared George W Bush to Hitler and even warned that exporting Halloween to Latin America amounted to "terrorism".
But now Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez - variously portrayed as a six-times elected champion of the people or a constitution-fiddling demagogue - is dead.
His is not the only voice vociferously opposing the US to have fallen silent.
Recent years have seen the most prominent critics of American power exit the spotlight.
Fidel Castro - who outlasted nine US presidents - relinquished his position as Cuba's president and Washington's irritant-in-chief in 2008.
Osama Bin Laden, arguably the the most potent US bogeyman of all, was killed by US forces.

Axis of Evil

• Initially described as Iran, Iraq and North Korea by George W Bush during his State of the Union address on 29 January 2002
• In May 2002, Bush's Under-secretary of State John Bolton gave a speech entitled "Beyond the Axis of Evil" in which he added Cuba, Libya and Syria to the list
• In 2005, Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice said Cuba, Belarus, Burma and Zimbabwe were also "Outposts of Tyranny"

Saddam Hussein was toppled. Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown. Kim Jong-il succumbed to old age.

Even Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - whose suspected nuclear weapons programme strikes panic in Washington - is due to hand over power in 2013, as he is limited to two terms of office.
These men may have represented a wide range of political ideologies, from socialism to secular Arab nationalism to Islamic fundamentalism.
But all were, in their own ways, icons of a tendency commonly referred to as "anti-Americanism".
The label "anti-American", though, divides opinion.

"Yesterday the Devil came here. Right here. And it smells of sulphur still today”

            Hugo Chavez UN General Assembly, 2006 

 

President George W Bush - who famously referred to Iran, Iraq and North Korea as the "axis of evil" in his 2002 State of the Union speech - saw anti-Americanism as a visceral opposition to what America stands for. America's enemies "hate our freedoms", as he put it.

But Max Paul Friedman, history professor at American University, dismisses it as "a term that's been used to characterise almost any disagreement with US policy of the day".
America's bogeymen have tended to be cast as "not only undemocratic, but also fierce defenders of their own nationalist narratives", he says. At the same time, he notes the "anti-American" label was widely applied to liberal democracies such as France when they opposed the war in Iraq.
Where Chavez belonged on this spectrum was, of course, hotly debated.
Russell Berman of Stanford University, meanwhile, says it is possible to "distinguish between the visceral anti-Americanism of explicit stereotypes and criticism that may be legitimate".
He argues that in much of the Arab world a "combination of anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism" is open to exploitation by populist leaders, and points to the killing of US Ambassador Christopher Stephens in Benghazi, Libya in 2012 as one tragic outcome.

 

Anti-US feelings remain strong in much of the Muslim world

It's not immediately clear where the next generation of bogeymen will come from to take Chavez's place alongside Kim Jong-un and whoever is elected to replace Ahmadinejad.

"On use of military force, religion, and individualism, Americans and Europeans continue to disagree”

           Pew Research Global Attitudes Project 

 

The Arab Spring has left few leaders with the popular authority to act like traditional demagogues.

Cuba's communist regime remains intact, but under the presidency of Fidel Castro's brother Raul - a dour figure less given to incendiary rhetoric, who has announced he will retire in 2018.
Latin America has plenty of leaders still prepared to challenge US interests - Bolivia's Evo Morales, Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega and Ecuador's Rafael Correa, for instance.
But none display quite the pantomime flamboyance of Chavez, who once told a UN General Assembly that George Bush was "the devil himself" and that he had left a "smell of sulphur" in the Assembly chamber.
Even the low-level anti-Americanism detected by US leaders among opponents of the Iraq war in Western Europe - "old" Europe in Donald Rumsfeld's phrase - is in full retreat.

 

 Obama's election in 2008 coincided with a change in attitudes towards the US

A Pew survey released in December 2012 found support for the US had soared in Europe following Barack Obama's election as president - even though a significant "values gap" remained over attitudes towards cultural and religious issues.

Psy apologised for his attack on "Yankees"

Bush's "cowboy demeanour" made it easier to meld distaste for American culture and society with opposition to US foreign policy, says Brendon O'Connor of the University of Sydney and author of The Rise of Anti-Americanism.
Oddly, the most recent international figure to have been accused of anti-Americanism is the South Korean pop star Psy, best known for his global hit Gangnam Style.
The rapper apologised after it emerged that in 2004 he had performed a song that described killing "Yankees" who had tortured Iraqi prisoners and killing their families "slowly and painfully".
This may have been going too far even for Hugo Chavez.
From BBC

Foul Play On Kenyan Election?

 Raila Odinga camp says vote 'doctored'

The BBC's James Copnall reports from Nairobi where he says the allegations are "strong" but "relatively wooly"

The ballot count in Kenya's presidential elections has been rigged, says Kalonzo Musyoka, the running mate of Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

"We have evidence the results we have received have been doctored," he said.
He said the vote count should be stopped but added that his comments were not a call for protest.
Mr Odinga has been trailing behind his rival, Uhuru Kenyatta. There have been severe delays in counting as the electronic system has crashed.
The head of the electoral commission has warned it may be Friday or even Monday before there is an official result, the BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse reports from the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
The credibility of the count is crucial to avoiding further bloodshed, our correspondent says.
More than 1,000 people were killed in the violence which broke out in 2007-08 after Mr Odinga claimed he had been cheated of victory by supporters of President Mwai Kibaki, who is stepping down after two terms in office.

Raila Odinga vs Uhuru Kenyatta

Uhuru Kenyatta

• Son of Kenya's first President Jomo Kenyatta
• Due to stand trial at ICC in April accused of organising violence in last election
• His running mate, William Ruto, also accused
• Both deny the charges
• From Kikuyu ethnic group - Kenya's largest at 22% of population and powerful economically
• Kikuyus and Ruto's Kalenjin community saw fierce clashes after 2007 poll
• Currently deputy prime minister

Raila Odinga

• Son of first Vice-President Jaramogi Oginga Odinga
• Distant relative of Barack Obama
• Believes he was cheated of victory in last election
• From Luo community in western Kenya - 11% of population.
• Some Luos feel they have been marginalised by central government
• Third time running for president
• Currently prime minister under power-sharing deal to end violence last time

Mr Kenyatta, who backed Mr Kibaki, is due to stand trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) next month, accused of organising attacks on members of ethnic groups seen as supporters of Mr Odinga. He denies the charges.

Fall in rejected ballots "We as a coalition take the position the national vote-tallying process lacks integrity and has to be stopped and re-started using primary documents from the polling stations," Mr Musyoka said on Thursday.
"It is not a call to mass action. We are committed as a coalition to the principle of the rule of law."
Following glitches with hi-tech voting and counting systems earlier this week, the vote-tallying process was started again from scratch, and by hand, on Wednesday.
Results were only being announced after the ballots had been physically delivered to election headquarters in the capital, rather than being filed electronically.
The latest figures indicate Mr Kenyatta has maintained his lead over Mr Odinga, with 2.5m (53%) votes to 1.9m (42%) - as originally indicated.
However, the new figures show that the number of rejected ballots, which has been a major issue, has sharply come down.
In the initial count, some 300,000 votes - about 6% - were disqualified for various reasons.
This figure has now come down to about 40,000. While the reason for the drop remains unclear, some observers said that election officials were being too strict first time round.
Mr Kenyatta's camp had rejected calls for some of these ballots to be included, as requested by Mr Odinga's allies.
The winning candidate must get more than 50% of the total votes cast and at least 25% of votes in half of the 47 counties - the latter was a requirement introduced in the new constitution to make sure the new president wins with wide support rather than only with the backing of voters in his regional and ethnic strongholds.
If there is no clear winner, a second round of voting will take place, probably on 11 April.
From BBC

January signings give hope for future

Posted by Kristian Walsh

 

Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC/Getty ImagesNew arrival Philippe Coutinho has settled in nicely at Liverpool and is helping the Reds solve their attacking conundrum.

Football is often a game of untruths. The best team does not always win the league, for injuries, suspensions and luck are rarely accounted for. Football is not necessarily a funny old game, especially when compared to lacrosse. A ball can never be hit too well, no team is too good to go down and San Marino would suggest there certainly are easy games in international football.

At the DW Stadium on Saturday, another untruth was lampooned by two players with three touches of a football. Philippe Coutinho flicked his head up and instantly saw the run of Luis Suarez ahead. Pass, touch, goal. In a game of such mercilessness from Liverpool, this was the perfect goal to epitomise it all, carried out by two players who make football seem so easy.

And to think it has been said there isn't value in the January transfer window.

It is far too early to herald the 20-year-old Brazilian a success, of course, after a mere handful of appearances since his January move from Internazionale. He impressed against Swansea and had the man-of-the-match award against Wigan pickpocketed from him by Suarez's sublime intervention, but Anfield has witnessed this all before. Expectation and pressure are never kind welcoming gifts to young players, particularly those adapting to a new culture both on and off the field. The hope is those guilty will learn. They never do.



In fairness, Coutinho is someone to get excited about: The nationality, the name, the curly velvet on his head. There is also the relationship he's already struck with Suarez -- a player who can, unconditionally, be labelled a January transfer success. With each passing game, with each trick or flick that prompts a disbelieving shriek of child-like glee, the 22.7 million pounds paid to Ajax seems another million too short.

Ignoring the renaissance of Stewart Downing -- something many will be keen to do having written him off so strongly in his 18-month Liverpool career -- the front three of Suarez, Coutinho and Daniel Sturridge is a full rebuttal to those who claim January is the footballing equivalent to vultures swooping for scraps on a vast, barren desert.

Liverpool have historically worked the January market well anyway, mind-bending, face-melting panic buy of Andy Carroll aside. Daniel Agger, Martin Skrtel and Alvaro Arbeloa have all performed for the club at the highest level, while Maxi Rodriguez's arrival in 2010 was ultimately as well-timed as his surges to the far post. January 2005 brought Fernando Morientes; a year later, Robbie Fowler brought closure on his Anfield career.

But there was never as much pressure for the club to perform in January as there was this year. For a club that has not performed well under pressure in recent years, and a manager inexperienced in dealing with such burden, that's quite the weight to contend with.

After a summer which prioritised yet more bloodletting of Liverpool's squad, and a concerted effort to rid extortionate wages from the club's payroll, the squad was so stretched it was almost see-through. Slapstick attempts to lowball Fulham over Clint Dempsey saw the American move to Tottenham, making this squad one strapped to a torture rack of administrative ineptitude, each game another agonising turn of the wheel. It barely survived four months; another five would surely see it snap.

The younger members of the squad also had their elasticity tested. With a lack of options from the first team available, Brendan Rodgers called upon Raheem Sterling, Suso and Andre Wisdom. All three impressed to begin with; all three, by November, looked like players who had been used far too much, far too early. They were.

The problems were not just physical, but mental. Once the carrot has been snatched and gnawed at from such a young age, motivation becomes difficult. Sterling not only became weary from playing so much football but from an on-going contract situation; for Suso, overconfidence and motivation after was a far bigger opponent than most Premier League defenders.

How quirky fate can prove; how things can work out for the best. Few at Liverpool would have thought so at the time.

Dempsey has been quiet at White Hart Lane, though the spotlight naturally gravitates towards Gareth Bale regardless. The money saved from that deal helped fund the signing of Sturridge early in January. His arrival relieved the burden upon Suarez; the later addition of Coutinho felt a luxury, an adornment to what has started to look a fearsome front line.

Clive Brunskill/Getty Images.The January additions have given Brendan Rodgers a chance to rest key players.

Their arrival has had an effect throughout the squad since January departed. Not only does the pair provide genuine quality, but their presence simply makes the squad bigger and gives Rodgers far more options to choose from.

It also allows him to give those needing a rest ample opportunity to have it. In the club's under-21 fixture against Manchester United on February 26, Wisdom, Suso and Sterling all started; the efforts to dim the dizzying, glaring limelight shone upon them have been necessary and welcome. Earlier in the season, Sterling missed just 30 minutes of league football in 16 games. Since the turn of the year, he's played just 170 minutes in the league. Suso last appeared against Sunderland on January 2, while Wisdom has not been seen since the 2-2 draw with Arsenal in January.

All of this cannot be laid at the feet of Sturridge and Coutinho, of course. The re-emergence of three players written off by many -- including the manager -- has swelled the squad. Downing, Jordan Henderson and Jose Enrique are three players growing increasingly comfortable with what is expected of them, and now appear three players capable of being called upon.

With the squad originally so small at the start of the season, the feeling was that somebody, anybody, in January would have done for Liverpool. That Sturridge is a goal-scorer who possesses pace and strength is a bonus for the squad; so too that Coutinho appears to be a mercurial talent -- no bad thing given the meagreness of excitement in that position over the years.

There is a growing feeling the attacking conundrum has finally been solved with these two signings. That this season would become their best goal-scoring season since 1996-97 after 28 games seemed a prediction worthy of a sectioning after that arid afternoon against Arsenal, a day after the morale-sapping transfer window slammed shut on Liverpool's fingers.

Too often poor seasons are filed under ones of transition. Such judgments should not be cast towards Liverpool and Rodgers until the end of the season, at least. But that three talented young players in Sterling, Suso and Wisdom have been integrated into the squad and now have motivation to stay there is a surprise, welcome titivation to the season.

The next step for Liverpool is to replicate January's business in the summer. This time, it will be the defensive positions that require scrutiny. But for now, while the brute of injury keeps quiet, Liverpool's squad seems in a favourable position for the first time in a long while.

Some will say this has all proven a bit fortuitous for Liverpool, others will say this is a by-product of learning from mistakes. Liverpool have a chance to prove it was judgment, rather than luck, this summer.

That is something they must do properly if they want to continue their goal of Champions League football within the next few seasons.

Cole: Liverpool move was a mistake

By ESPN staff

Joe Cole admits his decision to join Liverpool in 2010 was a mistake, claiming his only other option was an unthinkable move to Tottenham.

GettyImages Joe Cole never found his feet at Liverpool

Cole, 31, spent two-and-a-half years as a player at Anfield but failed to become a regular in the first team, being sent out on loan to Lille last season before rejoining his boyhood club West Ham in January.
The England international says he never felt comfortable at Livepool but was forced to take up the only offer that appealed to him.
"I can only play for teams that I'm passionate about and I think that's what went wrong for me at Liverpool," Cole said. "I didn't feel a connection with the club or the place that I had at Chelsea and West Ham.
"I had seven great years at Chelsea but the club wanted to go in a certain direction and I wasn't involved. So I was left with two real options - Liverpool or Spurs.
"Spurs was probably the best option because they were offering me a five-year deal and it meant I could stay in familiar surroundings.
"But I just couldn't do it, I just couldn't see myself pulling that Spurs shirt over my head. With the rivalry between Spurs and West Ham and Chelsea, it felt a bit mercenary."
Cole believes the mentality at Liverpool made it difficult for him to settle in, with their insistence on being known as the "biggest club in the country" catching him off guard.
"When I joined, the guy interviewing me said 'you've joined the biggest club in the country' and reeled off the trophies they'd won," he said. ""I just said 'yeah, if you put it like that, I suppose you're right' and Liverpool used that as the headline to the interview.
"I didn't want to upset anyone so I just went along with it. But obviously they're not the biggest club in the country any more. How do you judge how big a club are? Nottingham Forest won the European Cup twice but they're not a bigger club than Chelsea."
Although issues with match time plagued Cole at Chelsea, he seemed more motivated to break into the Blues' line-up than he did at Liverpool.
"I rolled in at Chelsea on my first day thinking 'I'm going to be a big part of this club'," he added. "Then Sebastian Veron walks through the door with about five agents. Same position as me, costing three or four times as much.
"As soon as I signed, (former owner Ken) Bates said to me: 'Congratulations, son, you've joined to sit on our bench'. I just thought 'I'll show you' and a year later I was playing regularly and Veron was off."
And his decision to return to Upton Park was not only buoyed by an unhappy stint with the Reds.
"I was missing London and my family and I had a personal tragedy in December when my brother-in-law died. I got an opportunity to go back to West Ham and I don't want to move any more."

How do you give a polar bear a 'medical'?

By Steven McKenzie BBC Scotland Highlands and Islands reporter

One of the polar bears, Arktos, required root canal treatment last year

The only polar bears on public display in the UK are at the Highland Wildlife Park near Aviemore. Looking after them is massive job and they need regular medical check-ups. How do you give polar bears a health check? And why does it require speaking German?

Walker is four, tips the scales at 463kg (72st 12lb) and has been at the park since November 2010, after being introduced from a Dutch zoo.
Arktos is five-years-old, weighs 474kg (74st 12lb) and arrived in April last year from a zoo in Hannover, Germany.
Potentially, the bears could each weigh more than 800kg (125st 12lb) when they become adults.
Since arriving in the Scottish Highlands, both males have required treatment for problems with teeth that, in the wild, could have been fatal.
The dental issues were picked up during regular check-ups.

Play fights

Head keeper Una Richardson is responsible for keeping track of the health of these huge animals.

In a kitchen area at the wildlife keepers' base, she is spiking hotdogs and pate with big purple pills.
The medication is for Arktos, who has the skin complaint contact dermatitis on a few scratches picked up in play fights with Walker.
It took staff a few experiments before coming up with a combination of food and pills Arktos would eat without turning his nose up at it.
Another member of staff pops in to collect some chunks of meat for a family of lynx. Opening the door to a walk-in freezer, she jokes that it is a chance to warm up from the cold outside.
In a sink of boiling water, a bottle of washing-up liquid is thawing out after the contents froze overnight in a gritty, green slush. Outside under the morning's clear blue sky, there is snow on the ground and the temperature is -8C.

 
Arktos' medication is hidden in treats to make sure he takes it

Una puts her tray of treats in a red plastic sledge and does the rounds.
When she gets to the polar bears, Walker is at the fence with his nose in the air trying to catch a whiff of what is in the sledge.

"The other day they were sliding down the snow on their stomachs”

            Una Richardson Head keeper

"We've noticed quite a big difference in the bears' appetite between summer and winter-time," Una says.

"Through the autumn they are packing on a lot of fat for winter and can carry an extra 11.5cm (4.5ins) of fat around their abdomen. Coming into winter, their appetite cuts right down."
The bears share a large open space with a pond. In one corner is a covered area which doubles as a shelter and a safe area for the keepers to examine the pair up close.
Arktos is hand-fed his medication-filled treats and he munches them up.
Una next lobs in their breakfast. Arktos makes a beeline for some big salmon, but Walker spies a prized slab of fat, snatches it from under Arktos's nose and runs off.
Una says: "They have very different personalities.

"We got Walker at a younger age and he's more used to us and very calm and relaxed around us.

"Arktos is a little bit more wary at times and nervous of doors and things like that, but the two of them get on brilliantly. We couldn't have hoped for better."
Root canal After her morning break, Una returns to the enclosure with another keeper, Robbie. It is now time for the bears' check-up.
Plastic bottles of smelly, yellow cod liver oil and tinned mackerel entice the bears down to the covered area.
Una starts talking to Arktos in German.

 
The polar bears respond to words, hand gestures and "targets"

On command, the big bear opens his mouth, sits, stands and then lies down with his legs and their dinner plate-sized paws sprawled out. His nose wrinkles as he fishes a morsel of mackerel from Una's fingers.
Una says: "Arktos came to us already with training - in German. He responds to words and hand signals."
"They are not tricks we are asking them to do. The training that we do with the bears is basically for a simple amount of behaviour that allow us to look at them close up and lets us know if there are any problems with them."

 
Arktos and Walker playing with a plastic barrel

Walker responds to "targets" which are made from lengths of wood and blue plastic.
He opens his mouth as if yawning and, when instructed to stand, he rears up to more than three metres (11ft) on his back legs.
The training to open their mouths was key to staff spotting a rotting upper left canine bothering Arktos last year and a damaged tooth that troubled Walker in 2011.
Arktos required root canal work and Walker an extraction.
At the time of his dental work, Walker was still small and light enough to be operated on an improvised table made from planks of wood laid on straw bales.
For Arktos, however, much thicker planks and builders' scaffolding were needed to take his weight.
Standing, sitting and lying down allows keepers to examine the bears' bodies.
After completing the tasks, the bears lap up the cod liver oil.
Robbie also hefts two big blue empty plastic barrels next to the enclosure's pond.
Arktos and Walker run to their new toys and handle them like a couple of competitors in the World's Strongest Man contest.
Walker rolls his barrel on to the frozen pond and without a moment's hesitation launches himself after it. His body crashes through the ice into the cold water below.
"They love the winter weather," says Una.
She adds: "The other day they were sliding down the snow on their stomachs."
From BBC

I Did Not Order The Killing of My Ex Girlfriend

Bruno testifies about ex-girlfriend's death

By Associated Press

SAO PAULO -- Former Flamengo goalkeeper Bruno has acknowledged for the first time that he knew about the death of his ex-girlfriend, but denies ordering her killing.
Bruno said during his trial in Minas Gerais on Wednesday that a friend hired someone to kill model Eliza Samudio, who allegedly was dismembered before her remains were fed to dogs.
Bruno said he "was not the one who ordered" the killing but "in a way" feels "guilty" for her death.
Bruno was captain of the Flamengo team that won the Brazilian championship in 2009. That year, Samudio made the first allegations to police that she was pregnant with Bruno's child, and that the player and others kidnapped her and tried to force her to terminate the pregnancy.
He is facing charges he ordered her killing.