LONDON (AP) — Judi Dench has been serenaded by firefighters as she arrived for the London premiere of her latest film.
Dench walked the red carpet in Leicester Square Wednesday for the London Film Festival screening of "Philomena."
The movie tells the true story of an Irishwoman's quest to track down the son she was forced to give up for adoption 50 years earlier.
Members of the Fire Brigades Union, drinking at a pub after a protest march against pension cuts, spotted the 78-year-old star, chanted "We love you Judi" and broke into a rendition of Beatles song "Hey Jude."
The Stephen Frears-directed film also stars Steve Coogan as Martin Sixsmith, a journalist who helped Lee in her search and wrote a book about her story.
Former San Diego Mayor Bob Filner pleaded guilty this week to several charges stemming from allegations against him of sexual harassment. Meanwhile, the mistress of former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has told all to Essence magazine. The ladies of the Beauty Shop weigh in on hot topics of the week.
Ancient Syrians favored buying local to outsourcing production
Public release date: 16-Oct-2013 [
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Contact: Amy Stone a.f.stone@shef.ac.uk 01-142-221-046 University of Sheffield
An archaeologist at the University of Sheffield has found evidence that, contrary to a widely held theory, ancient Syrians made their stone tools locally instead of importing finished tools from Turkey.
The discovery, newly published online in Journal of Archaeological Science, has implications for our understanding of how early cities developed in these regions and how the geographic origins of raw materials affect developing states.
During the Early Bronze Age, around 5300 to 3100 years ago, blades made of chert and obsidian remained important despite the advent of metal tools. Much sharper than bronze tools, the stone blades were used for various cutting and scraping purposes, including agricultural activities, food processing, and crafts such as pottery and textile production.
Dr Ellery Frahm from the University's Department of Archaeology explained: "There is a prevalent idea that these blades were not made locally in Northern Mesopotamia, what is now Syria. It has been widely claimed that the blades were made in specialised workshops in southeast Turkey and then exported to villages and early cities throughout what is now Turkey, Syria, and Iraq."
However, Dr Frahm studied the origins of obsidian tools from various archaeological sites, including Tell Mozan where he has excavated, and showed that their raw materials originated from a variety of geological sources across Turkey, not merely those nearest the proposed workshop sites.
Dr Frahm continued: "This diversity of raw-material sources is inconsistent with export from highly specialised workshops in just one area of Turkey. Some of the artefacts' geological sources were hundreds of kilometres from the supposed blade workshops.
"The diverse obsidian origins, when combined with stone tool debris from the sites, suggests local production. Rather than arriving at the cities as finished blades, obsidian instead arrived as chunks, what are known as cores or preforms, and were brought by visitors either from diverse regions or with diverse itineraries. Instead of distant 'industrial' manufacturing, the materials for the blades reached the hands of the cities' specialists involved in household production principally for the local market."
Dr Frahm likens the situation to modern-day Syria: "Domestic manufacturing has been protected from competition by imports. Unlike its neighbour Jordan, there are no McDonalds or Starbucks, and until recently, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, and other international companies were banned from Syria.
"When our team headed into town for supplies, the shops had locally produced goods. The chemist had locally made pharmaceuticals and personal care products, while the market had local food and drink, paper products, even batteries. The beer was local too, brewed in Damascus and Aleppo."
This study of millennia-old stone tools also relates to contemporary issues of manufacturing and the uneven geographic distribution of raw-material resources around the world.
"The choice of which raw-material sources to use in manufacturing can have broad societal effects," explained Frahm. "Consider the rare earth elements, or REEs, crucial for electronics manufacturing. Your mobile phone and its battery, for example, depend on REEs to function. Until the 1980s, mines in California were the leading producers of REEs.
"Today, however, China supplies 90 percent of the REEs used in manufacturing despite only controlling one quarter of the world's supply. This is due, in part, to Chinese mines using extraction methods banned in the US. China has repeatedly reduced REE exports by as much as 30 percent per year. As a result, manufacturers dependent on these supplies have had to relocate their factories to China, and it is more profitable for China to export finished products instead of raw materials. This, in turn, has led to a range of geo-political consequences, such as recent American surveys for REEs in Afghanistan."
Dr Frahm sees parallels between REEs for electronics and obsidian for stone blades. The residents of ancient Syrian cities, he notes, imported raw materials like obsidian and locally produced the tools, rather than importing finished objects from distant workshops. He explained: "Knowing where these stone blades were produced allows us to start answering questions regarding the social relations linked to their production and distribution.
"Was there large-scale production under government control, or were the blades made by entrepreneurs working out of their homes? Who had the skills to made the blades, and where did they live and work? There were also effects on activities linked to these blades. Was agricultural output dependent on shipments of tools made by distant labourers, or were the tools made by the farmers themselves during the off season?"
Dr Frahm concluded: "Archaeological research can demonstrate that there are broad societal effects due to our choices regarding which raw-material sources to use and where our goods are produced."
With nearly 25,000 of the brightest students from 117 countries coming to learn alongside 1,209 of the world's best academics, it is clear why the University of Sheffield is one of the UK's leading universities. Staff and students at Sheffield are committed to helping discover and understand the causes of things - and propose solutions that have the power to transform the world we live in.
A member of the Russell Group, the University of Sheffield has a reputation for world-class teaching and research excellence across a wide range of disciplines. The University of Sheffield has been named University of the Year in the Times Higher Education Awards 2011 for its exceptional performance in research, teaching, access and business performance. In addition, the University has won four Queen's Anniversary Prizes (1998, 2000, 2002, 2007), recognising the outstanding contribution by universities and colleges to the United Kingdom's intellectual, economic, cultural and social life.
One of the markers of a leading university is the quality of its alumni and Sheffield boasts five Nobel Prize winners among former staff and students. Its alumni have gone on to hold positions of great responsibility and influence all over the world, making significant contributions in their chosen fields.
Research partners and clients include Boeing, Rolls-Royce, Unilever, Boots, AstraZeneca, GSK, Siemens, Yorkshire Water, and many more household names, as well as UK and overseas government agencies and charitable foundations.
The University has well-established partnerships with a number of universities and major corporations, both in the UK and abroad. The White Rose University Consortium (White Rose) is a strategic partnership between 3 of the UK's leading research universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York. Since its creation in 1997 White Rose has secured more than 100M into the Universities.
For further information, please visit http://www.sheffield.ac.uk
Contact
For further information please contact:
Amy Stone
Media Relations Officer
The University of Sheffield
0114 222 1046
a.f.stone@sheffield.ac.uk
[
| 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.
Ancient Syrians favored buying local to outsourcing production
Public release date: 16-Oct-2013 [
| E-mail
| Share
]
Contact: Amy Stone a.f.stone@shef.ac.uk 01-142-221-046 University of Sheffield
An archaeologist at the University of Sheffield has found evidence that, contrary to a widely held theory, ancient Syrians made their stone tools locally instead of importing finished tools from Turkey.
The discovery, newly published online in Journal of Archaeological Science, has implications for our understanding of how early cities developed in these regions and how the geographic origins of raw materials affect developing states.
During the Early Bronze Age, around 5300 to 3100 years ago, blades made of chert and obsidian remained important despite the advent of metal tools. Much sharper than bronze tools, the stone blades were used for various cutting and scraping purposes, including agricultural activities, food processing, and crafts such as pottery and textile production.
Dr Ellery Frahm from the University's Department of Archaeology explained: "There is a prevalent idea that these blades were not made locally in Northern Mesopotamia, what is now Syria. It has been widely claimed that the blades were made in specialised workshops in southeast Turkey and then exported to villages and early cities throughout what is now Turkey, Syria, and Iraq."
However, Dr Frahm studied the origins of obsidian tools from various archaeological sites, including Tell Mozan where he has excavated, and showed that their raw materials originated from a variety of geological sources across Turkey, not merely those nearest the proposed workshop sites.
Dr Frahm continued: "This diversity of raw-material sources is inconsistent with export from highly specialised workshops in just one area of Turkey. Some of the artefacts' geological sources were hundreds of kilometres from the supposed blade workshops.
"The diverse obsidian origins, when combined with stone tool debris from the sites, suggests local production. Rather than arriving at the cities as finished blades, obsidian instead arrived as chunks, what are known as cores or preforms, and were brought by visitors either from diverse regions or with diverse itineraries. Instead of distant 'industrial' manufacturing, the materials for the blades reached the hands of the cities' specialists involved in household production principally for the local market."
Dr Frahm likens the situation to modern-day Syria: "Domestic manufacturing has been protected from competition by imports. Unlike its neighbour Jordan, there are no McDonalds or Starbucks, and until recently, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, and other international companies were banned from Syria.
"When our team headed into town for supplies, the shops had locally produced goods. The chemist had locally made pharmaceuticals and personal care products, while the market had local food and drink, paper products, even batteries. The beer was local too, brewed in Damascus and Aleppo."
This study of millennia-old stone tools also relates to contemporary issues of manufacturing and the uneven geographic distribution of raw-material resources around the world.
"The choice of which raw-material sources to use in manufacturing can have broad societal effects," explained Frahm. "Consider the rare earth elements, or REEs, crucial for electronics manufacturing. Your mobile phone and its battery, for example, depend on REEs to function. Until the 1980s, mines in California were the leading producers of REEs.
"Today, however, China supplies 90 percent of the REEs used in manufacturing despite only controlling one quarter of the world's supply. This is due, in part, to Chinese mines using extraction methods banned in the US. China has repeatedly reduced REE exports by as much as 30 percent per year. As a result, manufacturers dependent on these supplies have had to relocate their factories to China, and it is more profitable for China to export finished products instead of raw materials. This, in turn, has led to a range of geo-political consequences, such as recent American surveys for REEs in Afghanistan."
Dr Frahm sees parallels between REEs for electronics and obsidian for stone blades. The residents of ancient Syrian cities, he notes, imported raw materials like obsidian and locally produced the tools, rather than importing finished objects from distant workshops. He explained: "Knowing where these stone blades were produced allows us to start answering questions regarding the social relations linked to their production and distribution.
"Was there large-scale production under government control, or were the blades made by entrepreneurs working out of their homes? Who had the skills to made the blades, and where did they live and work? There were also effects on activities linked to these blades. Was agricultural output dependent on shipments of tools made by distant labourers, or were the tools made by the farmers themselves during the off season?"
Dr Frahm concluded: "Archaeological research can demonstrate that there are broad societal effects due to our choices regarding which raw-material sources to use and where our goods are produced."
With nearly 25,000 of the brightest students from 117 countries coming to learn alongside 1,209 of the world's best academics, it is clear why the University of Sheffield is one of the UK's leading universities. Staff and students at Sheffield are committed to helping discover and understand the causes of things - and propose solutions that have the power to transform the world we live in.
A member of the Russell Group, the University of Sheffield has a reputation for world-class teaching and research excellence across a wide range of disciplines. The University of Sheffield has been named University of the Year in the Times Higher Education Awards 2011 for its exceptional performance in research, teaching, access and business performance. In addition, the University has won four Queen's Anniversary Prizes (1998, 2000, 2002, 2007), recognising the outstanding contribution by universities and colleges to the United Kingdom's intellectual, economic, cultural and social life.
One of the markers of a leading university is the quality of its alumni and Sheffield boasts five Nobel Prize winners among former staff and students. Its alumni have gone on to hold positions of great responsibility and influence all over the world, making significant contributions in their chosen fields.
Research partners and clients include Boeing, Rolls-Royce, Unilever, Boots, AstraZeneca, GSK, Siemens, Yorkshire Water, and many more household names, as well as UK and overseas government agencies and charitable foundations.
The University has well-established partnerships with a number of universities and major corporations, both in the UK and abroad. The White Rose University Consortium (White Rose) is a strategic partnership between 3 of the UK's leading research universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York. Since its creation in 1997 White Rose has secured more than 100M into the Universities.
For further information, please visit http://www.sheffield.ac.uk
Contact
For further information please contact:
Amy Stone
Media Relations Officer
The University of Sheffield
0114 222 1046
a.f.stone@sheffield.ac.uk
[
| 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.
SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - Former San Diego Mayor Bob Filner, who resigned from the helm of California's second-largest city after a string of sexual harassment allegations, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to charges of false imprisonment and battery involving three women.
A former Democratic congressman who served only a brief mayoral tenure after being elected last year, Filner was charged with felony false imprisonment and two misdemeanor counts of battery for placing one woman in a headlock and kissing or groping two others, prosecutors said. Filner will serve three months of home confinement.
"This conduct was not only criminal, it was also an extreme abuse of power," said state Attorney General Kamala Harris, who filed the complaint against Filner. "This prosecution is about consequence and accountability. No one is above the law."
According to court papers, the felony count against Filner was filed because he used "greater force than was necessary." The misdemeanors included kissing a woman on the lips at a "Meet the Mayor" event and grabbing another woman's buttocks as she posed for a picture with the mayor at another public event.
Filner resigned in August as part of a settlement with the city over how to handle a lawsuit filed by a former press secretary, Irene McCormack Jackson, who was among at least 18 women who accused the 71-year-old politician of making unwanted sexual advances. She is so far the only one to sue him.
The first Democrat elected to lead the relatively conservative Southern California city in years, Filner's fall from grace raises questions about which party voters will favor in a special election to choose his successor, set for next month.
Under the terms of a plea agreement with prosecutors, Filner will serve three months of home confinement and will be on probation for three years, the attorney general said in a statement. Details of the conditions of his confinement will be determined by probation officials, a Harris spokesman said.
Filner is also prohibited from ever again seeking elected office.
APOLOGY
After Tuesday's hearing, Filner's lawyer said the former mayor saw the plea agreement as an opportunity to move on from a scandal that threatens to overwhelm his legacy as a 10-term Congressman who fought for civil rights and veterans.
"Mr. Filner profusely apologizes to each person he might have harmed," lawyer Jerry Coughlan said. "He admits he is guilty. ... He is a much more humble man now. He did not realize his behavior was as bad as it was."
Filner had previously apologized to San Diego residents but said no sexual harassment allegation against him had been proven.
In addition to his sentence to home confinement and probation, Filner will not be able to vote, serve on a jury or own a firearm while he is on probation. He will be required to undergo mental health treatment, Harris said.
Filner also will not earn a public pension for the time between the commission of the felony, which Harris said was March 6, 2013, and the date of his resignation, August 23.
In the race to replace him, City Councilman Kevin Faulconer is now considered the presumptive Republican nominee. Former U.S. Marine Nathan Fletcher, who was a moderate Republican before switching parties after finishing third in the 2012 mayoral primary, is the presumptive Democratic nominee.
(Reporting by Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento and Marty Graham in San Diego; Writing by Sharon Bernstein; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Gunna Dickson)
Audio for this story from Morning Edition will be available at approximately 9:00 a.m. ET.
House Republicans were expected to announce their own plan Tuesday to end the partial government shutdown and avert a default on the national debt. But House Speaker John Boehner came to the microphones and kept things very vague.
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton, left, and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif share a light moment at the start of the two days of closed-door nuclear talks on Tuesday.
Fabrice Coffrini/AP
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton, left, and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif share a light moment at the start of the two days of closed-door nuclear talks on Tuesday.
Fabrice Coffrini/AP
Iran's proposal for easing the standoff over its nuclear program seems to be getting initial positive reviews at Tuesday's start of multiparty talks in Geneva.
A spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the Iranian delegation had made a PowerPoint presentation outlining their plan at the beginning of the two-day session. The spokesman said the plan had been received with "cautious optimism," but gave no further details of the close-door meeting, describing the proceedings as "confidential."
Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said there'd been a "good" first reaction to Tehran's proposals, according to Reuters.
"The discussions bring together Iran officials and representatives of the "P5+1 group", made up of Britain, China, France, Russia and the US plus Germany.
In a Facebook entry posted at the weekend, [Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad] Zarif said the talks were the 'start of a difficult and relatively time-consuming way forward.'"
The talks are the first since moderate President Hassan Rouhani was elected four months ago. Since then, Rouhani has ratcheted down the bombastic rhetoric of his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. As The Associated Press writes, the talks are seen as "a key test of Iran's overtures to the West."
Foreign Policy says: "While there is little optimism that this week's talks will resolve the matter of Iranian nuclear weapons development entirely, U.S. officials have hinted that progress made could result in immediate relief from U.S. imposed sanctions."
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