FILE - In this Sept. 4, 2012 file photo, Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx addresses the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C. President Barack Obama on Monday will nominate Foxx as his new transportation secretary, a White House official said Sunday, April 28, 2013. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
FILE - In this Sept. 4, 2012 file photo, Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx addresses the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C. President Barack Obama on Monday will nominate Foxx as his new transportation secretary, a White House official said Sunday, April 28, 2013. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama on Monday will nominate Charlotte, N.C., Mayor Anthony Foxx as his new transportation secretary, a White House official said Sunday.
If confirmed by the Senate, Foxx would replace outgoing Secretary Ray LaHood.
Foxx is Obama's first black nominee among the new Cabinet members appointed for the second term. The president faced criticism early in his second term for a lack of diversity among his nominees.
The official insisted on anonymity to avoid public discussion of the pick before the official announcement.
The official noted that Foxx has led efforts to improve his city's transit infrastructure to expand economic opportunity for businesses and workers. During Foxx's term as mayor, Charlotte has broken ground on several important transportation projects, including the Charlotte Streetcar Project to bring modern electric tram service to the city as well as a third parallel runway at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport. The city has also moved to extend the LYNX light rail system to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, the official said.
Foxx, an attorney who has worked in several positions with the federal government, was first elected mayor in 2009. He also served as a member of the Charlotte City Council.
REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - Iceland's centre-right parties took a commanding early lead in elections on Saturday, staying on course to return to power with promises of tax cuts and debt relief just five years after presiding over the country's spectacular economic collapse.
The Independence and Progressive Parties, which ruled the nation, often in coalition, for nearly 30 years before the 2008 collapse, had collected close to half the votes counted so far, putting them solidly ahead of the ruling Social Democrats and on track to form Iceland's next government.
"People seem to have a very short memory," Halldor Gudmundsson, 44, said after casting his ballot. "These are the parties that got us into the mess in the first place."
With nearly 20 percent of overall votes counted, the Independence Party, which was part of every government between 1980 and 2009, led with 24.9 percent, and the Progressive Party was close behind with 22.7 percent, while the Social Democrats were a distant third with 13.9 percent.
"We've seen what cutbacks have done for our healthcare system and social benefits ... now it's time to make new investments, create jobs and start growth," said Independence Party leader Bjarni Benediktsson, the favorite to become Iceland's next prime minister.
With a population of just 320,000, Iceland became a European financial hub 10 years ago when its banks borrowed money cheaply and lured British and Dutch savers with high returns.
Growing unchecked under a relaxed regulatory regime, the banks expanded to 10 times Iceland's GDP by 2008, then crashed in a matter of days, leaving behind a long trail of debt and bankruptcy and foreshadowing the trouble many other European nations would face.
The Social Democrats stabilized the economy with a package hailed as exemplary by the International Monetary Fund, but a series of policy blunders, tax hikes, leniency towards foreign creditors and inability to deal with soaring household debt cost them their popularity.
"This government has done very little to get things going and have moved us backwards in many ways, so it's about time it steps down," Reykjavik voter Gudrun Gunnarsdottir, 36, said.
"I think we will see more investment and lower taxes, which is what people, families and also companies in this country need," she said after voting.
Both the Progressives and Independence centered their campaign on household debt relief, arguing that households, which suffered a 20 percent fall in both real wages and property prices in 2009, could no longer shoulder the cost of recovery.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The annual gathering not far from the White House brings together journalists, government officials, politicians and media personalities for what's usually an evening of light-hearted banter and celebrity gawking.
Presidents are made fun of and they poke at themselves, too.
But President Barack Obama's scheduled appearance Saturday night at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner was coming at a somber time, nearly two weeks after the deadly Boston Marathon bombing and 10 days after a devastating fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas.
In 1995, in the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing, President Bill Clinton dispensed with the traditional presidential humor to remember victims and praise journalists for their coverage of the explosion.
Coincidentally, this year's dinner entertainer, comedian and late-night TV talk-show host Conan O'Brien, also headlined that 1995 gala.
Obama spent the afternoon on the golf course at Andrews Air Force Base with former U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk and two White House aides.
Six journalists, including Associated Press White House Correspondent Julie Pace, were to be awarded prizes for their coverage of the presidency and national issues.
The New Yorker's Ryan Lizza won the Aldo Beckman Award, which recognizes excellence in the coverage of the presidency.
Pace won the Merriman Smith Award for a print journalist for coverage on deadline.
ABC's Terry Moran was the winner of the broadcast Merriman Smith Award for deadline reporting.
Reporters Jim Morris, Chris Hamby and Ronnie Greene of the Center for Public Integrity won the Edgar A. Poe Award for coverage of issues of national significance.
Let?s be honest, many of you readers probably do not know what Cricket is, and if you do, you might be referring to the little insect. If you are one of those people who actually know the sport called cricket, you may skip the video below. However, if you have no idea what cricket is, follow the instructions.
Step 1: Read about Cricket on Wikipedia (and for your convenience, I am going to post the link:?http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket)
Step 2: Watch this video:
You?re probably thinking, ?Why on earth would you want Cricket in the United States of America when it already has the MLB???Now, if you have read some of my other articles, you probably know I like to divide every idea into three parts:
1. My personal experiences in the Cricket World
2. The facts about Cricket
3. My plans for the NCL ? if it were to exist
Many people probably don?t know I was born in Nepal, the small country cradled by China and India. I watched and played Cricket since I was a little kid. In Nepal, influenced by India and United Kingdom, cricket is one of the major sports, besides Futbol (or Soccer). I remember going to my cousins house and playing cricket with his friends. Of course, we did have the best equipment but we made the best of it. One time, we used tin barrels for wickets. Long story short, my cousin managed to fall on top of it and cut his forehead. Yes, he was ok afterwards. But, even with this horrific accident, we continued to play. In 2001, I moved to New Zealand. During the first couple of months, I usually just played soccer but after a ?while, I got into Cricket even more. ?Eventually, I played for the school (or community, I don?t remember), and I was dubbed the best bowler. It also helped me make more friends and I had a good time. I remember watching most of the games with my dad as we made bets on who would win(some matches took 3 days to complete). Soon, I moved out of New Zealand and I stopped playing Cricket and moved to other sports. I never really thought about cricket like I used to, but every once in a while, I would catch up on it. Lately, I really haven?t watched any cricket; I have forgotten many of the rules, but I still love the sport.
Now, on to the facts about cricket. According to many statistics, Cricket is the second most popular sport in the world coming behind none other than Football, or Soccer. If soccer is becoming bigger and bigger in the US, imagine how Cricket would be in ten or twenty years from now. If we compare the 3 major sports of the USA to Football (Soccer) and Cricket, we can see the following:
Courtesy of Google Trends. Note: Football could mean Australian Football League, NFL, Soccer?.
As for popularity, it as popular as NBA, NFL and MLB. Cricket is popular in countries such as United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Indies and many, many more. There are many leagues around the world, but none as great as the ICC, or the International Cricket Council. Similar to the FIFA for soccer, the ICC rules over international cricket plays. Similar to baseball, cricket is an interesting and fun sport once you learn the rules and even play a game. Having experienced both sports, in my opinion, Cricket is a much more demanding sport than baseball. I am a fan of baseball, but it is a slow sport. In Cricket, you have to be constantly moving and aware of your opposition. Cricket requires thinking while baseball, all you really need to do is swing and hit the ball. Not putting down baseball by any means, but cricket is much more complicated and takes more patient. That is the biggest reason Cricket is not as popular in North America than other parts of the world. As humans, we don?t have the greatest patience, which Cricket requires a lot of; Even though Cricket is a sport that requires constant motion, the sport can take hours and hours to finish. However, the best thing about Cricket is that anyone can play it. Most sports in North America are dominated by buff guys who are usually over six feet and 220 pounds. On the other hand, Cricket does not require a ton of muscle strength or being tall and buff. It might sound clich? but all you need is a field, a desire to play and know how to play.?Even though the USA has tried to implement a Cricket league and it was not very popular, there should be a bigger effort to expand it. After all, most of the world plays it anyway. If America wants to be a true melting pot of cultures, it should include a Cricket League. There should be an effort to have recreation Cricket leagues throughout North America, starting out in elementary schools, middle schools, high schools and even universities. As with every other major sports, it will be complicated and frustrating in the beginning, but if it were accessible to all, it would become a major sport in North America.
Lastly, if there were to be a NCL and I were the commissioner, this is what I would do (this is assuming that it gains popularity within the next couple of years):
First of all, as with all professional sports, you need to start out small. If you allow kids to grow into a cricket era, it will gain popularity, much like everything else in our society. So, my plan would be implementing cricket in high schools and community in?each town or city. Expand it to state-wide leagues and add tournaments as it gains popularity. ?Thus, in the cities with the most people, culturally diverse, make cricket leagues. For example, in New York City, make a city-wide league with 10 to 20 teams. Thus, as it gains popularity, it can be changed into a nationwide league. So, each city picks the best of the best and makes a team, similar to any other professional sports. So, I would take cities such as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Antonio, San Diego, Dallas and San Jose (ten of the most populated US cities) and create a season with each team playing each other a certain amount of times. At the end of the season, there could be a tournament including all the cities. As the game gains more fans, more teams would be added, thus allowing the league to add more divisions and conferences. Overall, there would be 30 to 40 teams with 2 conferences and 4 divisions in each conference.
West
East
Northwest
Pacific
Southwest
Midwest
Eastern
Southeast
Atlantic
Central
Seattle
Los Angeles
Phoenix
Oklahoma City
Charlotte (NC)
Miami
New York
Chicago
Portland
Las Vegas
San Antonio
Minneapolis (MN)
Baltimore
Orlando
Boston
Detroit
Denver
San Francisco
Dallas
Kansas City
Philadelphia
Atlanta
Washington DC
Indianapolis
Salt Lake City
San Diego
Houston
New Orleans
Pittsburgh
Nashville (TN)
New Jersey
Cleveland
Vancouver
Sacramento
Austin
St Louis
Toronto
Tampa Bay
Brooklyn
Cincinati
After that is set up, the season could be similar to that of the MLB season. Each team would play each other at least once with teams in the same division and conference playing more games. The playing style would be similar to that of the test matches or ODI (one day international). Assuming cricket gains and maintains the popularity, it could become a huge source of income from tickets, merchandise, sponsorship on merchandise worn during games and such. The playoffs would be the two best teams from each division thus having a 16 team playoff similar to the NBA. The series in the playoffs would be one game elimination, with the loser going home and ultimately one champion.
And that, my friends, is where I leave it to you. What else would you add to the league? Do you have better ideas? Would you make a better commissioner??than me? Comment below your ideas!
Former president George W. Bush, wipes a tear after his speech during the dedication of the George W. Bush presidential library on Thursday, April 25, 2013, in Dallas. Left is President George H.W. Bush. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Former President George W. Bush, accompanied by his wife former first lady Laura Bush, flashes the "W" sign after his speech during the dedication of the George W. Bush presidential library on Thursday, April 25, 2013, in Dallas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
From left, former President Bill Clinton, his wife, former first lady and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, former President Jimmy Carter, and his wife, former first lady Rosalynn Carter listen during the dedication of the George W. Bush presidential library on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Thursday, April 25, 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Former president George W. Bush speaks during the dedication of the George W. Bush presidential library on Thursday, April 25, 2013, in Dallas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Former president George W. Bush speaks during the dedication of the George W. Bush presidential library on Thursday, April 25, 2013, in Dallas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Former president George W. Bush waves with his wife Laura speech during the dedication of the George W. Bush presidential library on Thursday, April 25, 2013, in Dallas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Former President George W. Bush, center, shares a laugh with his wife, former first lady Laura Bush and father, former President George H.W. Bush during the dedication of the George W. Bush presidential library on Thursday, April 25, 2013, in Dallas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Former President George H.W. Bush wears pink socks as he is seated in a wheelchair with, from left, first lady Michelle Obama, President Barack Obama, former first lady Barbara Bush, and former President George W. Bush, at the dedication of the George W. Bush presidential library on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas on Thursday, April 25, 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama watch as former first lady Barbara Bush gives the thumbs up to guests during the dedication of the George W. Bush presidential library on Thursday, April 25, 2013, in Dallas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
President Barack Obama laughs as he sits between his wife, first lady Michelle Obama and former first lady Barbara Bush after his speech during the dedication of the George W. Bush presidential library on Thursday April 25, 2013, in Dallas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
President Barack Obama laughs with former first lady Barbara Bush during the dedication of the George W. Bush presidential library on Thursday, April 25, 2013, in Dallas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Former President George W. Bush, right, talks with his father, former President George H.W. Bush during the dedication of the George W. Bush presidential library on Thursday, April 25, 2013, in Dallas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Former President George W. Bush waves after speaking at the dedication of the George W. Bush presidential library on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Thursday, April 25, 2013. From left are, first lady Michelle Obama, President Barack Obama, and his mother, former first lady Barbara Bush, and his wife, former first lady Laura Bush. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Former president George W. Bush, left, shakes hands with former president William J. Clinton during the dedication of the George W. Bush presidential library on Thursday, April 25, 2013, in Dallas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Former president George W. Bush, left, shakes hands with former president William J. Clinton during the dedication of the George W. Bush presidential library on Thursday, April 25, 2013, in Dallas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
President Barack Obama speaks during the dedication of the George W. Bush presidential library on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Thursday, April 25, 2013. Seated, from left are, former first lady Barbara Bush, former President George H.W. Bush, former President George W. Bush, and his wife, former first lady Laura Bush. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
From left, President Barack Obama, former president George W. Bush, former president William J. Clinton former President George H.W. Bush and former president Jimmy Carter arrive for the dedication of the George W. Bush presidential library on Thursday, April 25, 2013, in Dallas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
From left, President Barack Obama, former first lady Barbara Bush, President George H.W. Bush, former first lady Laura Bush, former president William J. Clinton, former first lady Hillary Clinton and former president Jimmy Carter applaud former president George W. Bush during the dedication of the George W. Bush presidential library on Thursday, April 25, 2013, in Dallas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
President Barack Obama embraces former President George W. Bush after he spoke at the dedication of the George W. Bush presidential library on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Thursday, April 25, 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
From left, First Lady Michelle Obama, former first lady Laura Bush, former first lady Hillary Clinton, former first lady Barbara Bush, former first lady Rosalynn Carter arrive for the dedication of the George W. Bush presidential library on Thursday, April 25, 2013, in Dallas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
From left, President Barack Obama, former first lady Barbara Bush, former president George H.W. Bush and Laura Bush applaud former president George W. Bush after his speech during the dedication of the George W. Bush presidential library on Thursday, April 25, 2013, in Dallas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
First lady Michelle Obama, left, stands with, from second from left, former first ladies: Laura Bush; Hillary Rodham Clinton; Barbara Bush; and Rosalynn Carter; at the dedication of the George W. Bush presidential library on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Thursday, April 25, 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
From left, First Lady Michelle Obama, former first lady Laura Bush, former first lady Hillary Clinton, former first lady Barbara Bush and former first lady Rosalynn Carter arrive for the dedication of the George W. Bush presidential library on Thursday, April 25, 2013, in Dallas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
From left, President Barack Obama, former president George W. Bush, former president William J. Clinton former President George H.W. Bush and former president Jimmy Carter arrive for the dedication of the George W. Bush presidential library on Thursday, April 25, 2013, in Dallas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner (R-Ohio) arrives for the dedication of the George W. Bush presidential library on Thursday, April 25, 2013, in Dallas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) and wife Mary Pat arrive at the dedication of the George W. Bush presidential library on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Thursday, April 25, 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Republican strategist and former White House senior adviser Karl Rove arrives at the dedication of the George W. Bush presidential library on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Thursday, April 25, 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
The Senate has been hogging the spotlight on immigration over the past few months, starting in February with an agreed-upon set of principles from a bipartisan ?Gang of Eight? senators and ending this week with a fully drafted bill and at least 11 hours of hearings.
Now it?s the House?s turn, starring the enigmatic Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., an immigration attorney and 20-year veteran of Congress who assumed the helm of the committee this year. Goodlatte matters a great deal ?in this debate, but it still isn't clear exactly what he will do. And that's fine with him.
We learned a tad more about Goodlatte?s approach to immigration at a press conference Thursday. The committee is unveiling two small immigration bills this week as discussion pieces for House members?one creating an agricultural visa program and one requiring employers to use an electronic verification system.
Those bills aren't all, Goodlatte assured. More proposals are coming, and they will address all of the big areas, including the 11 million to 12?million undocumented immigrants currently in the country. The message to the anxious immigration-reform advocates who fear a ?piecemeal? approach is this: Don?t freak out. We just have to do this our own way.
Since it became clear after last year?s elections that immigration was going to be a top issue in Congress, Goodlatte has been resolutely unwilling to make declarations about where he stands. That is no small feat as stakeholders and reporters clamor for any tidbits that might inform the chances for the legislation.
Does he support legalization of the current undocumented population? Will his committee vote on a comprehensive bill being drafted by a House Gang of Eight that does not include him? That will all be worked out, he told me cheerfully in February as I chased him on the way out of a hearing.
Goodlatte was slightly more informative on Thursday, indicating a willingness to look at all proposals on immigration and emphasizing the need to include Democrats in the legislative process.?
But there are no committee votes scheduled and no promises of anything more than lots of hearings. It sounds a lot like delay tactics if not for the intensity with which he describes how the current immigration system is broken and needs to be fixed.
Goodlatte is starting from the beginning with his own caucus. He has already briefed 100 House Republicans on basic immigration law and the areas that need improving, and he will continue to hold small sessions to explain the basics. He is encouraging Democrats to do the same.?
Despite the vagueness, there were three important nuggets of information gleaned Thursday?from this sometimes frustratingly opaque lawmaker. They are:?
The undocumented population won?t be left out.?Goodlatte opened his press conference referring to ?11 million people who live in the shadows.? They are real people with real problems trying to find a better way to help their families.? Asked specifically whether he supports legalization of this group, as the Senate gang has proposed, he said that in order to deal with immigration reform generally, ?You have to get to that point.?
Goodlatte reiterated statements from other conservative Republicans working toward a broad immigration overhaul in saying that he does not favor ?a special path to citizenship? but is open to ?some kind of legal status.?
Like many Republicans involved in crafting a bigger immigration package, Goodlatte stressed that his own support for a path to citizenship is dependent on a real commitment to shoring up enforcement on the border and at United States worksites.
"Piecemeal" approach not set in stone.?Rumors have been swirling all year that the House would be unwilling to take up a major immigration bill, with lawmakers preferring to pass a series of smaller bills on isolated issues. Many House Republicans are insisting on a separate border-security bill that doesn?t include unpopular provisions for their party, like the Dream Act for undocumented youth or probationary legalization for the broader unauthorized population.
The "piecemeal" strategy has been considered by advocates to be the death knell of the reform effort.
Goodlatte isn?t adopting a piecemeal approach, at least we don't think so. He?is?taking a piece-by-piece approach in analyzing immigration, but he made it clear Thursday?that when it comes down to actual committee votes, border security by itself ?does not have to be addressed in one separate bill.?
Dream Act eligibles could be given dispensation.?Asked specifically about the Dream Act, the easiest legalization piece of immigration reform for many conservatives to accept, Goodlatte indicated that kids brought to the country illegally by their parents should be considered separately.
?It should be obvious to most people that children brought here by their parents are in a different status ? than people who willfully violated immigration laws,? he said.
Going further, Goodlatte said there may be many different ways of dealing with unauthorized immigrants. ?You don?t have to consider the 11 million as one body of people. There are a number of different categories.? Criminals, for example, would not be given any legal status, he said.
The bottom line for Goodlatte and Immigration Subcommittee Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., is that the House will work in its own way on its own schedule even as the Senate scrambles to pass an immigration bill this summer. Goodlatte will make sure they don?t look idle, but what actually happens on his side of the Capitol is still anyone?s guess.
Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., a die-hard advocate of a path to citizenship, was encouraged by Goodlatte's proclamations, even though some questions remain unanswered. "Today's press conference confirms what I have been saying publicly and privately about the new tone and new interest among Republicans. They want to solve the immigration-policy issue and not just exploit it for partisan politics," he said in a statement.
Archeologists unearth new information on origins of Maya civilizationPublic release date: 25-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Takeshi Inomata inomata@email.arizona.edu 520-621-2961 University of Arizona
A new paper in the journal Science challenges the two prevailing theories on how the ancient civilization began
This release is available in Japanese.
The Maya civilization is well-known for its elaborate temples, sophisticated writing system, and mathematical and astronomical developments, yet the civilization's origins remain something of a mystery.
A new University of Arizona study to be published in the journal Science challenges the two prevailing theories on how the ancient civilization began, suggesting its origins are more complex than previously thought.
Anthropologists typically fall into one of two competing camps with regard to the origins of Maya civilization. The first camp believes that it developed almost entirely on its own in the jungles of what is now Guatemala and southern Mexico. The second believes that the Maya civilization developed as the result of direct influences from the older Olmec civilization and its center of La Venta.
It's likely that neither of those theories tells the full story, according to findings by a team of archaeologists led by UA husband-and-wife anthropologists Takeshi Inomata and Daniela Triadan.
"We really focused on the beginning of this civilization and how this remarkable civilization developed," said Inomata, UA professor of anthropology and the study's lead author.
In their excavations at Ceibal, an ancient Maya site in Guatemala, researchers found that Ceibal actually predates the growth of La Venta as a major center by as much as 200 years, suggesting that La Venta could not have been the prevailing influence over early Mayan development.
That does not make the Maya civilization older than the Olmec civilization since Olmec had another center prior to La Venta nor does it prove that the Maya civilization developed entirely independently, researchers say.
What it does indicate, they say, is that both Ceibal and La Venta probably participated in a broader cultural shift taking place in the period between 1,150-800 B.C.
"We're saying that the scenario of early Maya culture is really more complex than we thought," said UA anthropology graduate student Victor Castillo, who co-authored the paper with Inomata and Triadan.
"We have this idea of the origin of Maya civilization as an indigenous development, and we have this other idea that it was an external influence that triggered the social complexity of Maya civilization. We're now thinking it's not actually black and white," Castillo said.
There is no denying the striking similarities between Ceibal and La Venta, such as evidence of similar ritual practices and the presence of similar architecture namely the pyramids that would come to be the hallmark of Mesoamerican civilization but did not exist at the earlier Olmec center of San Lorenzo.
However, researchers don't think this is the case of simply one site mimicking the other. Rather, they suspect that both the Maya site of Ceibal and the Olmec site of La Venta were parts of a more geographically far-reaching cultural shift that occurred around 1,000 B.C., about the time when the Olmec center was transitioning from San Lorenzo to La Venta.
"Basically, there was a major social change happening from the southern Maya lowlands to possibly the coast of Chiapas and the southern Gulf Coast, and this site of Ceibal was a part of that broader social change," Inomata said. "The emergence of a new form of society with new architecture, with new rituals became really the important basis for all later Mesoamerican civilizations."
The Science paper, titled "Early Ceremonial Constructions at Ceibal, Guatemala, and the Origins of Lowland Maya Civilization," is based on seven years of excavations at Ceibal.
Additional authors of the paper include Japanese researchers Kazuo Aoyama of the University of Ibaraki, Mito and Hitoshi Yonenobu of the Naruto University of Education, Tokushima.
"We were looking at the emergence of specific cultural traits that were shared by many of those Mesoamerican centers, particularly the form of rituals and the construction of the pyramids," Inomata said. "This gives us a new idea about the beginning of Maya civilization, and it also tells us about how common traits shared by many different Mesoamerican civilizations emerged during that time."
###
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?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Archeologists unearth new information on origins of Maya civilizationPublic release date: 25-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Takeshi Inomata inomata@email.arizona.edu 520-621-2961 University of Arizona
A new paper in the journal Science challenges the two prevailing theories on how the ancient civilization began
This release is available in Japanese.
The Maya civilization is well-known for its elaborate temples, sophisticated writing system, and mathematical and astronomical developments, yet the civilization's origins remain something of a mystery.
A new University of Arizona study to be published in the journal Science challenges the two prevailing theories on how the ancient civilization began, suggesting its origins are more complex than previously thought.
Anthropologists typically fall into one of two competing camps with regard to the origins of Maya civilization. The first camp believes that it developed almost entirely on its own in the jungles of what is now Guatemala and southern Mexico. The second believes that the Maya civilization developed as the result of direct influences from the older Olmec civilization and its center of La Venta.
It's likely that neither of those theories tells the full story, according to findings by a team of archaeologists led by UA husband-and-wife anthropologists Takeshi Inomata and Daniela Triadan.
"We really focused on the beginning of this civilization and how this remarkable civilization developed," said Inomata, UA professor of anthropology and the study's lead author.
In their excavations at Ceibal, an ancient Maya site in Guatemala, researchers found that Ceibal actually predates the growth of La Venta as a major center by as much as 200 years, suggesting that La Venta could not have been the prevailing influence over early Mayan development.
That does not make the Maya civilization older than the Olmec civilization since Olmec had another center prior to La Venta nor does it prove that the Maya civilization developed entirely independently, researchers say.
What it does indicate, they say, is that both Ceibal and La Venta probably participated in a broader cultural shift taking place in the period between 1,150-800 B.C.
"We're saying that the scenario of early Maya culture is really more complex than we thought," said UA anthropology graduate student Victor Castillo, who co-authored the paper with Inomata and Triadan.
"We have this idea of the origin of Maya civilization as an indigenous development, and we have this other idea that it was an external influence that triggered the social complexity of Maya civilization. We're now thinking it's not actually black and white," Castillo said.
There is no denying the striking similarities between Ceibal and La Venta, such as evidence of similar ritual practices and the presence of similar architecture namely the pyramids that would come to be the hallmark of Mesoamerican civilization but did not exist at the earlier Olmec center of San Lorenzo.
However, researchers don't think this is the case of simply one site mimicking the other. Rather, they suspect that both the Maya site of Ceibal and the Olmec site of La Venta were parts of a more geographically far-reaching cultural shift that occurred around 1,000 B.C., about the time when the Olmec center was transitioning from San Lorenzo to La Venta.
"Basically, there was a major social change happening from the southern Maya lowlands to possibly the coast of Chiapas and the southern Gulf Coast, and this site of Ceibal was a part of that broader social change," Inomata said. "The emergence of a new form of society with new architecture, with new rituals became really the important basis for all later Mesoamerican civilizations."
The Science paper, titled "Early Ceremonial Constructions at Ceibal, Guatemala, and the Origins of Lowland Maya Civilization," is based on seven years of excavations at Ceibal.
Additional authors of the paper include Japanese researchers Kazuo Aoyama of the University of Ibaraki, Mito and Hitoshi Yonenobu of the Naruto University of Education, Tokushima.
"We were looking at the emergence of specific cultural traits that were shared by many of those Mesoamerican centers, particularly the form of rituals and the construction of the pyramids," Inomata said. "This gives us a new idea about the beginning of Maya civilization, and it also tells us about how common traits shared by many different Mesoamerican civilizations emerged during that time."
###
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
(Reuters) - Cloud computing software maker Citrix Systems Inc reported a lower-than-expected first-quarter profit, hurt by higher expenses and weak IT spending by its customers.
Net income fell to $59.7 million, or 32 cents per share, from $68.3 million, or 36 cents per share, a year earlier. Excluding items, it earned 62 cents per share. Revenue rose 14 percent to $672.3 million.
Analysts on average had expected earnings of 63 cents per share on revenue of $676.9 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Citrix's cloud computing software allows customers to access applications remotely from a central server, and reduces costs by eliminating the need to upgrade and install software on each individual computer on site.
(Reporting by Sayantani Ghosh and Supantha Mukherjee in Bangalore; Editing by Don Sebastian)
SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co sold a record 69.4 million smartphones in the first quarter, boosting its market share to an all-time high of 33.1 percent, data from research firm Strategy Analytics showed on Friday.
Apple Inc, which sold 37.4 million iPhones in the March quarter, took 17.9 percent of the market, it said.
LG Electronics Inc grew to the third biggest on 10.3 million unit shipments, followed by China's Huawei.
(Reporting by Miyoung Kim; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Richard Pullin)
This undated photo provided by the Illinois State Police shows Rick Smith, 43, of rural Morgan County in Illinois. Smith has been identified as the suspected gunman in the shooting deaths of five people, two women, one man and two young boys, in Manchester, Ill., early Wednesday morning, April 24, 2013. Smith died later after a car chase and gunfire exchange with police. (AP Photo/Illinois State Police)
This undated photo provided by the Illinois State Police shows Rick Smith, 43, of rural Morgan County in Illinois. Smith has been identified as the suspected gunman in the shooting deaths of five people, two women, one man and two young boys, in Manchester, Ill., early Wednesday morning, April 24, 2013. Smith died later after a car chase and gunfire exchange with police. (AP Photo/Illinois State Police)
Police tape is seen around a house in Manchester, Ill., Wednesday, April 24, 2013, where the bodies of five people were found slain early Wednesday in the tiny southwestern Illinois town. Authorities said a suspect was injured and taken into custody. (AP Photo/Regina Garcia Cano)
Police officials investigate the scene at a house in Manchester, Ill., where five people were found slain in the tiny southwestern Illinois town early Wednesday, April 24, 2013. Illinois State Police said the suspect died after a car chase and an exchange of gunfire with law enforcement. (AP Photo/The State Journal-Register, Ted Schurter)
Illinois State Police Lt. Col. Todd Kilby addresses the media gathered in Manchester, Ill., after five people were found slain at a house early Wednesday, April 24, 2013. Authorities said the suspect died after a car chase and an exchange of gunfire with law enforcement. (AP Photo/The State Journal-Register, Ted Schurter)
Illinois State Police process the scene Wednesday, April 24, 2013, near Winchester, Ill., where a suspect that was wanted in the deaths of five people in nearby Manchester, Ill., was wounded after a car chase and an exchange of gunfire with law enforcement. The suspect, who was driving the white sedan, died later at a hospital. (AP Photo/The State Journal-Register, Ted Schurter)
MANCHESTER, Ill. (AP) ? The nephew of a small-town Illinois mayor shot and killed five people, including two boys, before leading police on a chase that ended in an exchange of gunfire that left him dead, authorities said Wednesday.
Illinois State Police said they believe Rick O. Smith, 43, entered a Manchester home through the back door and shot the victims at close range with a shotgun, leaving two women, one man and the boys dead. Two people were found in a bedroom, two in a second bedroom and the man in the hallway. A sixth victim, a 6-year-old girl, was injured and taken to a Springfield hospital.
"The offender took the 6-year-old out of the residence and put her in the hands of a neighbor," State Police Lt. Col. Todd Kilby said.
Officials have not revealed a motive for the killings. Police said the victims are related. Authorities believe Smith and the victims were acquainted, but they didn't provide details of the relationships.
A bystander called police and told them that Smith fled the home in a white sedan. A car chase ensued, leading authorities to the nearby town of Winchester, where Smith and officers exchanged gunfire. Officers shot Smith, and he later died at a hospital.
Police said they found a rifle, shotgun and large hunting knife in Smith's car.
Coroner officials said they plan autopsies on the victims Thursday morning in Bloomington and identities would be released at that time.
Scott County State's Attorney Michael Hill said Smith, of rural Morgan County, had previous convictions for reckless homicide, drugs and bad checks.
Manchester Mayor Ronald Drake confirmed that Smith was his nephew, saying he hadn't spoken to Smith in two years, but he believed his nephew was unemployed. Drake said the last time Smith contacted him was to borrow tools.
In Manchester, yellow police tape surrounded the small one-story brick home where the victims were found. Manchester is a village of about 300 residents located about 50 miles west of Springfield.
"It's a close-knit community," Drake said. "Everybody talks to everybody. ... We enjoy that goes on (in) town. This is just a tragedy for (the) whole town."
The last homicide in Scott County was 20 years ago, in 1993.
Manchester resident Julie Hardwick, 48, said she lives in the same county housing authority complex as the victims. Authorities told her she couldn't return to her home yet because of the investigation, she said.
"The kids were really nice," Hardwick said of the family. "You couldn't ask for better kids."
The Rev. Robin Lyons of Manchester United Methodist Church, one of two churches in the community said, "this shows tragedy can happen anywhere."
Two area school superintendents said they received calls from county sheriffs before 6 a.m. informing them that five people had been shot to death at a house in Manchester and that a suspect was at large.
Superintendent David Roberts of the Winchester School District and Les Stevens of the North Greene Unit District No. 3 both said they immediately canceled classes when they were told of the shootings and that other school districts did the same.
Roberts said the wounded girl is a student at Winchester Grade School and her teacher was with her at the Springfield hospital.
The school will use its own counselor, nurse and other staff members to help students who need to talk, Roberts said. Other area districts have offered to help too.
Roberts said he also will call on area ministers to be available on campus. "I've found that to be helpful in the past," he said.
___
Associated Press writers Don Babwin and Jason Keyser in Chicago and David Mercer in Champaign, Ill., contributed to this report.
The Podcasts app for iPhone and iPad can aggregate all your favorite podcasts in one place for you to enjoy whenever you'd like. However, if you subscribe to quite a few, sorting them the way you'd like may be important. Luckily, you have a few options.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? After weeks of threatening rhetoric from the North, South Korea on Thursday promised its own unspecified "grave measures" if Pyongyang rejects talks on a jointly run factory park shuttered for nearly a month.
The park in the North Korean border town of Kaesong is the most significant casualty so far in the recent deterioration of relations between the Koreas. Pyongyang barred South Korean managers and cargo from entering North Korea earlier this month, then recalled the 53,000 North Koreans who worked on the assembly lines.
South Korea's Unification Ministry on Thursday proposed working-level talks on Kaesong and urged the North to respond by noon Friday, warning that Seoul will take "grave measures" if Pyongyang rebuffs the call for dialogue.
In a televised news conference, spokesman Kim Hyung-suk refused to say what those measures might be. Some analysts said Seoul would likely pull out the roughly 175 South Korean managers who remain at the complex.
Kim said South Korea set a Friday deadline because the remaining workers at Kaesong are running short of food and medicine. He said the companies there are suffering economically because of the shutdown.
To resolve deadlocked operations at Kaesong, Kim said North Korea should first allow some South Koreans to cross the border to hand over food and medicine to the managers.
North Korea didn't make an immediate response Thursday, according to the Unification Ministry.
The demand for talks follows a lull in what had been a period of rising hostility between the Koreas. Pyongyang has recently eased its threats of nuclear war and expressed some tentative signs of interest in dialogue. Its demands, including dismantling all U.S. nuclear weapons, go far beyond what its adversaries will accept, but Washington, Seoul and Beijing have also pushed for an easing of animosity.
The Kaesong complex is the last major symbol of cooperation remaining from an earlier era that saw the Koreas set up various projects to facilitate better ties.
The factory park has operated with South Korean know-how and technology and with cheap labor from North Korea since 2004. It has weathered past cycles of hostility between the rivals, including two attacks blamed on North Korea in 2010 that killed 50 South Koreans.
More than 120 South Korean companies, mostly small and medium-sized apparel and electronics firms, operated at Kaesong before North Korean workers stopped showing up on April 9. Raw material came from South Korea, with finished goods later sent back south. Last year, the factories produced goods worth $470 million.
Impoverished North Korea objects to views in South Korea that the park is a source of badly needed hard currency. South Korean companies paid salaries to North Korean workers averaging $127 a month, according to South Korea's government. That is less than one-sixteenth of the average salary of South Korean manufacturer workers.
Pyongyang also has complained about alleged South Korean military plans in the event the North held the Kaesong managers hostage.
South Koreans remaining at Kaesong are free to leave, but have been staying to protect their companies' equipment and products. Their food, which had been brought in before North Korea closed the border, is dwindling, and there has been a daily trickle of managers returning home.
On Wednesday, South Korean President Park Geun-hye said the country won't seek to resolve the Kaesong standoff by making concessions to the North. That was a reference to past liberal governments that were accused of providing the North with almost unconditional financial assistance to promote reconciliation.
"How the Kaesong issue is handled will be a touchstone for whether South-North relations will be predictable and sustainable," Park told South Korean journalists, according to her office. "I want the issue to be resolved quickly, but I would say there should not be a solution like funneling" aid, as has happened in the past.
Kim, the spokesman, said: "It's very regrettable for North Korea to reject (taking) the minimum humanitarian measures for our workers at the Kaesong industrial complex."
In Pyongyang, tens of thousands of people ? families, soldiers and students ? visited Kumsusan palace to celebrate the founding anniversary of the country's military. The plaza outside has been transformed into a park with gardens and fountains.
__
AP writer Jean H. Lee in Pyongyang, North Korea, contributed to this report.
As part of our tour through Verizon's Waltham, Ma.-based Innovation Center this week, we were able to see a brief demo of the Thinx 4G LTE video monitor -- a product that was briefly teased at CES, but we've heard precious little about since. Essentially, this is a rather sophisticated 1080p video monitor, designed for small businesses that would prefer that their monitors do more than just capture reels of archived footage. Thinx's solution throws in an admin panel and a smartphone app; users can install the camera and then define hot zones for the sensor to keep tabs on. If and when a specific event occurs (e.g. 50 individuals cross a virtual line), owners can be alerted via SMS -- and, of course, they can then view only the footage pertaining to said event with merely a click.
The aforementioned apps (available for iOS and Android) will allow owners to look in live at any time, with recorded video automatically stored on the included 4GB SD card, a personal NAS or a cloud storage facility like Dropbox. Better still, the control panel supports multiple cameras for those trying to cast eyes over an entire office complex, and there's room for a 12V battery that'll keep it humming along "for a few hours" should the power cut out. Tom Thomasson, vice president of marketing at Thinx, told us that the product is slated to go on sale in the US during the third quarter of this year, and it's one of "over 30" new products that Verizon will help launch during the 2013 / 2014 time frame.
BOSTON (AP) ? Lawmakers are asking tough questions about how the government tracked suspected Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev when he traveled to Russia last year, renewing criticism from after the Sept. 11 attacks that failure to share intelligence may have contributed to last week's deadly assault.
Following a closed-door briefing on Capitol Hill with the FBI and other law enforcement officials on Tuesday, Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said it doesn't appear yet that anyone "dropped the ball." But he said he was asking all the federal agencies for more information about who knew what about the suspect.
"There still seem to be serious problems with sharing information, including critical investigative information ... not only among agencies but also within the same agency in one case," said committee member Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.
Lawmakers intensified their scrutiny as funerals were held Tuesday for an 8-year-old boy killed in the bombings and a campus police officer who authorities said was shot by Tsarnaev and his younger brother days later. While family said that the older Tsarnaev had been influenced by a Muslim convert to follow a strict type of Islam, brother 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev remained hospitalized after days of questioning over his role in the attacks. Tsarnaev, 26, was killed in a shootout with police last week.
Conflicting stories appeared to emerge about which agencies knew about Tamerlan Tsarnaev's six-month trip to Russia last year how they handled it. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told the Senate Judiciary Committee on immigration legislation that her agency knew about Tsarnaev's journey to his homeland.
But Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said the FBI "told me they had no knowledge of him leaving or coming back."
Information-sharing failures between agencies prompted an overhaul of the U.S. intelligence system after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
Meanwhile, evidence mounted that Tsarnaev had embraced a radical, anti-American strain of Islam. Family members blamed the influence of a Muslim convert, known only to the family as Misha, for steering him toward a strict type of Islam.
"Somehow, he just took his brain," said Tamerlan's uncle, Ruslan Tsarni of Montgomery Village, Md., who recalled conversations with Tamerlan's worried father about Misha's influence.
Authorities don't believe Tsarnaev or his brother had links to terror groups. However, two U.S. officials said that Tsarnaev frequently looked at extremist websites, including Inspire magazine, an English-language online publication produced by al-Qaida's Yemen affiliate. The magazine has endorsed lone-wolf terror attacks.
Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly.
A memorial service was scheduled Wednesday for Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer Sean Collier, 26, who authorities said was shot to death by the Tsarnaev brothers three days after the bombings. Vice President Joe Biden was expected to speak.
Funerals were held Tuesday for Collier and 8-year-old Martin Richard. Martin, a schoolboy from Boston's Dorchester neighborhood, the youngest of those killed by blasts near the marathon finish line, was laid to rest after a family-only funeral Mass.
"The outpouring of love and support over the last week has been tremendous," the family said in a statement. "This has been the most difficult week of our lives."
The Richards family said they would hold a public memorial service for Martin in the coming weeks.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's condition was upgraded from serious to fair Tuesday as investigators continued building their case against him.
He could face the death penalty after being charged Monday with joining forces with his brother in setting off shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bombs. Three people were killed and over 260 injured. About 50 were still hospitalized.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured hiding in a tarp-covered boat in a suburban Boston backyard on Friday.
In Washington, Senate Intelligence Committee member Richard Burr, R-N.C., said after his panel was briefed by federal law enforcement officials that there is "no question" that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was "the dominant force" behind the attacks, and that the brothers had apparently been radicalized by material on the Internet rather than by contact with militant groups overseas.
The brothers' parents are from Dagestan, a predominantly Muslim province in Russia's Caucasus, where Islamic militants have waged an insurgency against Russia.
Family members reached in the U.S. and abroad by The Associated Press said Tamerlan was influenced by a Muslim convert known only as Misha.
After befriending Misha, Tamerlan gave up boxing, stopped studying music and began opposing the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to family members, who said he turned to websites and literature claiming that the CIA was behind 9/11.
"You could always hear his younger brother and sisters say, 'Tamerlan said this,' and 'Tamerlan said that.' Dzhokhar loved him. He would do whatever Tamerlan would say," recalled Elmirza Khozhugov, the ex-husband of Tamerlan's sister. He spoke by telephone from his home in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
The brothers, who came to the U.S. from Russia a decade ago, were raised in a home that followed Sunni Islam, the religion's largest sect, but were not regulars at the mosque and rarely discussed religion, Khozhugov said.
Then, in 2008 or 2009, Tamerlan met Misha, a heavyset bald man with a reddish beard. Khozhugov didn't know where they met but believed they attended a Boston-area mosque together.
Napolitano said Tuesday that her agency knew of Tamerlan Tsarnaev's trip to Russia. She said that even though the suspect's name was misspelled on a travel document, redundancies in the system allowed his departure to be captured by U.S. authorities in January 2012.
Meanwhile, a U.S. Embassy official said U.S. investigators traveled to southern Russia to speak to the brothers' parents, hoping to learn more about their motives.
In other developments:
? A lawyer for Tamerlan Tsarnaev's wife, Katherine Tsarnaeva, said his client "is doing everything she can to assist with the investigation," although he would not say whether she had spoken with federal authorities. Another lawyer for Tsarnaeva said the 24-year-old deeply mourned the loss of innocent victims in the bombings.
? The Massachusetts state House turned aside a bid by several lawmakers to reinstate the death penalty in certain cases, including the murder of police officers. In a 119-38 vote, the House sent the proposal to a study committee rather than advance it to an up-or-down vote.
? In New Jersey, the sisters of the suspects, Ailina and Bella Tsarnaeva, issued a statement saying they were saddened to "see so many innocent people hurt after such a callous act." Later, in brief remarks to several news outlets, Ailina described her elder brother as a "kind and loving man." She said of both brothers: "I have no idea what got into them" and also that "at the end of the day no one knows the truth."
? Phantom Fireworks of Seabrook, N.H., said Tamerlan Tsarnaev bought 48 mortar shells at the store in February. Company Vice President William Weimer, however, said the amount of gunpowder that could be extracted from the fireworks would not have been enough for the Boston bombs.
? Boylston Street, where the blasts occurred, was scheduled to reopen to the public at 3 a.m. Wednesday. It had been closed since the bombings.
? A fund created to benefit the victims of the Boston Marathon attacks has generated $20 million. Mayor Thomas Menino said more than 50,000 donors from across the world have made donations to One Fund Boston.
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Dozier reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Bridget Murphy and Bob Salsberg in Boston, Lynn Berry in Moscow, and Adam Goldman, Eric Tucker, Matt Apuzzo, and Eileen Sullivan in Washington contributed to this report.
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Public release date: 25-Apr-2013
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