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Dutch researcher Eva Kaptijn succeeded in discovering -- based on 100,000 finds -- that the Zerqa Valley in Jordan had been successively inhabited and irrigated for more than 13,000 years. But it was not just communities that built irrigation systems: the irrigation systems also built communities... she has been applying an intensive field exploration technique: 15 metres apart, the researchers would walk forward for 50 metres. On the outward leg, they'd pick up all the earthenware and, on the way back, all of the other material. This resulted in more than 100,000 finds, varying from about 13,000 years to just...

While the exact route of the Great Wagon Road has not been preserved, as such, we know that in Virginia and West Virginia, from the Potomac to the Roanoke Valley, it is either under or parallel to Route U.S. 11. Because the highway has been regraded, straightened, widened, and sometimes relocated and sometimes expanded to three and four lanes, it is often hard to know whether you are on, or simply driving parallel to, the Great Wagon Road. Except . . . there are places where you can be relatively certain that you are on the old road. [Pictures]

LOWER HELMAND RIVER VALLEY, AFGHANISTAN (Reuters) – U.S. Marines launched a helicopter assault early on Thursday in the lower Helmand river valley in southern Afghanistan, spokesman Capt. Bill Pelletier said. A Reuters correspondent in the valley saw flares in the sky over the town of Nawa, south of the provincial capital Lashkar Gah. The valley of irrigated wheat and opium fields along the Helmand river is largely in the hands of Taliban fighters who have resisted British-led NATO forces for years. The United States has sent 8,500 Marines to Helmand province in the last two months, the largest wave of...

NORTH HOLLYWOOD -- Two people were shot dead and five others were wounded by gunfire in three separate shootings Tuesday night that had police searching neighborhoods door to door for gunmen, finding one suspect in a backyard. The two fatal shootings were related and took place within three blocks of each other in North Hollywood at about 7 p.m., LAPD's Deputy Chief Michel Moore told reporters. About an hour earlier, a man was shot in Northridge by a gunman riding with a number of men in a car near Wilbur Avenue and Parthenia Street, said LAPD Lt. Bill Maarschalk. His...

More than a dozen suspected members of a ruthless Norteño street gang allegedly responsible for four murders, several attempted murders and assaults in San Jose are behind bars, the result of a 1 1/2-year police investigation. A five-week grand jury proceeding culminated Tuesday with indictments being issued against 13 suspected members of El Hoyo Palmas, described by police as a multi-generation gang that has operated in San Jose for about 30 years.

From Indus Valley to coastal Tamil Nadu T.S. Subramanian Strong resemblances between graffiti symbols in Tamil Nadu and the Indus script Continuity of tradition: Megalithic pots with arrow-work graffiti found at Sembiankandiyur village in Nagapattinam district. CHENNAI: In recent excavations in Nagapattinam district in Tamil Nadu, megalithic pottery with graffiti symbols that have a strong resemblance to a sign in the Indus script have been found. Indus script expert Iravatham Mahadevan says that what is striking about the arrow-mark graffiti on the megalithic pottery found at Sembiyankandiyur and Melaperumpallam villages is that they are always incised twice and together, just...

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA engineers have adjusted the flight path of the Phoenix Mars Lander, setting the spacecraft on course for its May 25 landing on the Red Planet. "This is our first trajectory maneuver targeting a specific location in the northern polar region of Mars," said Brian Portock, chief of the Phoenix navigation team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. The mission's two prior trajectory maneuvers, made last August and October, adjusted the flight path of Phoenix to intersect with Mars. NASA has conditionally approved a landing site in a broad, flat valley informally called "Green Valley."...

FRESNO A Fresno County Superior Court has ruled that the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District's regulation of developers for air-quality impacts is legal and valid. The lawsuit challenging the District's rule establishing development fees for air-pollution mitigation was filed by the California Building Industry Association. The lawsuit claimed that the District had no authority to regulate development and impose fees, and amounted to a tax under Proposition 13. The court disagreed Thursday in its ruling. The Valley Air District was the first in the state to put such a rule into place. other areas are now looking to...

Quintessential Alps and Switzerland. Two views. The waterfall is the Staubbach, about 900 feet high.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 26, 2007 – Coalition forces detained 10 suspects today during operations targeting al Qaeda networks along Iraq’s Tigris River Valley. The forces conducted several operations targeting associates of al Qaeda in Iraq leaders, including foreign terrorist facilitators and planners of car-bombing attacks. During the operations, coalition forces captured two wanted individuals and detained eight suspects. During one of the operations, information gathered from local citizens indicated that terrorists were using a school as a meeting location and safe house. Coalition forces briefly entered the school, but did not do any damage and left the school as it was...

Distributing water DR. T. V. PADMA How did the people of the Indus manage to water their cities? In Indus cities, each house or group of houses had a private well, made with wedge-shaped bricks that slotted together in a cylindrical shape strong enough to withstand the weight of water when the well was full. This is not a simple matter, and required calculation — otherwise a well could collapse once it was full of water. How did the Indus people keep wells and bathing facilities watertight? First, they used bricks that fitted together tightly. Second, they coated the outer...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 27, 2007 – Retired Army Lt. Col. Bruce Crandall was admitted into the Pentagon Hall of Heroes today, one day after President Bush presented him the Medal of Honor for heroism in Vietnam. Retired Army Lt. Col. Bruce Crandall, who was inducted today into the Pentagon Hall of Heroes, said brotherhood and belief in their mission motivated him and his fellow soldiers in Vietnam. Crandall received the Medal of Honor during a Feb. 26 White House ceremony. Photo by Donna Miles  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Army Chief of Staff Peter J. Schoomaker praised Crandall, a...

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Silicon Valley's economy has revved up thanks to plucky Internet and alternative energy startups, according to a new report. Local technology companies created 33,000 jobs last year — the first increase since 2001, a year after the dot-com downturn. The region's median household income jumped to $76,300 last year, representing a 6.5 percent increase from 2005 and the first uptick since 2001. It decreased 13 percent from 2001 to 2004. Researchers from Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network, an alliance of business and community institutions, will discuss the report Friday at the annual "State of the Valley"...

His attorney said Friday that Talal "Ted" Ali Chammout is a U.S. citizen who loves America, adores his children and is a respectable mini-mart owner in Porterville. But federal prosecutor Carl Faller said Chammout, 47, wanted to purchase missiles and rocket launchers and other weaponry to send to terrorists in Iraq, Syria and Jordan. U.S. Magistrate Judge Lawrence O'Neill heeded Faller's advice and ordered Chammout to be detained in the downtown Fresno jail, even though Chammout's relatives were ready to put up $1 million in property as bail until his trial on weapons charges.

McALLEN — Jose Sandoval’s kidnapping has the same hallmarks of most of the other 20 kidnappings reported this year to the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Department: He knew his kidnapper and it was drug-related. And though no one will confirm that Sandoval’s Oct. 20 kidnapping is a sign the drug-related kidnappings in Laredo and Nuevo Laredo have hit the Rio Grande Valley, the Federal Bureau of Investigations in McAllen has joined the investigation. FBI agents cautioned that so far innocent bystanders in the Valley have not been caught in the crossfire. But increased cooperation between the FBI and local law enforcement...

Simi Valley Freedom Walk to Thank TroopsBy Samantha L. QuigleyAmerican Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Aug. 31, 2006 – Simi Valley, Calif. -- home of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library -- is planning a Freedom Walk to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and to show the community’s support for the nation’s servicemembers. “Simi Valley is a very patriotic city,” said Debbie Gregory, one of the event’s planners. “We respect our troops, and we want to show our support, and what a wonderful way to be able to do it.” Gregory is president of Military...

JALALABAD AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, May 10, 2006 – Defying estimates of a low turnout, more than 6,300 patients were treated during a historic six-day medical civic assistance program conducted by the Afghan National Army and coalition forces in Kunar province's Korengal Valley in Afghanistan recently. U.S. Navy Cmdr. Sandra Hearn of the cooperative medical assistance team for Combined Joint Task Force 76, treats an Afghan girl with a head injury during a six-day medial civic assistance program run by Afghan and coalition forces in Afghanistan''s Korengal Valley. More than 6,300 patients were treated. Photo by Capt. Dan Huvane, USMC  (Click photo...

The saga of a young illegal immigrant found living in Apple Valley High School continues, as he is now charged in a violent home invasion – in Boston. Francisco Serrano agreed to return to his native Mexico after a judge denied his attorney’s request to allow him to stay in the United States. Serrano was thought to have boarded a plane bound for Mexico City, but his mother told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that he had not returned. American Airlines confirmed Serrano's ticket had not been used. A Boston woman said Serrano kicked in her apartment door and threatened to attack...

Prescient words, it turned out. Mr. Robertson faced a barrage of withering questions and eventually slunk offstage to mocking laughter from the audience. "I got ambushed," he said afterward. "I didn't know it was a 'Gong Show' thing." Rambunctious technology gatherings in Manhattan? Venture capitalists on the prowl? Geeks having fun at the expense of suits? What was this, 1998? In fact, it was last Tuesday, and the bustle around the New York Tech Meetup, which began with just four attendees a little more than a year ago, is but one bit of evidence that reports of the death of...

A young man from Mexico who was found squatting at Apple Valley High School a year ago is apparently on the lam after failing to board a plane in the Twin Cities to return to his homeland. Francisco Javier Serrano, 22, whose story made news around the world, had been ordered by a judge to leave the United States because he was here illegally. Serrano first made news Jan. 7, 2005, when a custodian discovered him sleeping in the Apple Valley High School auditorium. He said he'd been camping there for three weeks because he wanted a warm place to...

WASHINGTON - After a series of reports warning of the growing economic threat from China and India, ``competitiveness'' has become the latest catch-word of Silicon Valley's high-tech industry. President Bush elevated the issue for the nation Tuesday, announcing a decadelong ``American Competitiveness Initiative'' that would pour $136 billion into scientific research and the promotion of math and science education. --snip-- High-tech leaders praised the proposal Tuesday night. ``I was heartened by the amount of time he spent talking about competitiveness,'' said Carl Guardino, head of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group. ``To hear him focus on math and science, especially in...

Did you hear about the two California Valley Girls who froze to death in a drive-in movie? They went to see "Closed for the Winter." *************** Why did the California Valley Girl resolve to have only 3 children? She heard that one out of every four children born in the world is Chinese *************** Did you hear about the near-tragedy at the mall? There was a power outage, and twelve California Valley Girls were stuck on the escalators for over four hours. ***************** A California Valley Girl was driving home after a game and got caught in a really bad...

I've got several questions about Valley Forge, both during Revolutionary times and now, and I was hoping you folks could help me out.

DAVENPORT --- A developmentally disabled man riding the Ferris wheel Tuesday at the Mississippi Valley Fair in Davenport slipped out of his car and dropped between the wheel's spokes before being rescued by six employees of Evans United Rides, which operates the ride. Caleb Hill, 31, a slightly built man, was one of 120 clients of Davenport's Handicapped Development Center attending the first day of the fair called "Special Needs Day" at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds. He was not seriously injured. The dramatic incident was captured live by KWQC-TV6 in Davenport during its noon telecast, where the station was located...

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday created a task force charged with improving the economy and quality of life in California's San Joaquin Valley, a quickly developing region beleaguered by high unemployment, suburban sprawl and some of the nation's dirtiest air. The California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley establishes a 26-member panel that includes government representatives and those from the private sector. "I want to make this task force a model for how state governments can work together more effectively with local governments and the regional economy," the governor said. "The valley is home to the...

BOISE, Idaho - Sun Valley is used to hosting hundreds of thousands of visitors annually, but a planned Sept. 11 visit by the Dalai Lama could draw 100,000 for one event - and that has law enforcement and tourism officials scrambling. Details such as visitor housing and security loom large. The Nobel Peace Prize-winning spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists will visit the famous mountain resort community on the fourth anniversary of the terrorist attacks that rocked America. Walt Femling, the sheriff of rural Blaine County, met visit organizers Wednesday, accompanied by officials including his disaster services coordinator. He said he...

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - California's vast San Joaquin Valley has long been compared to the nation's Appalachian region for its levels of poverty, unemployment and lack of public funding for roads, schools and health care. In fact, according to preliminary data from a congressional report released Tuesday, the valley suffered from a higher poverty rate in 2000 than the Appalachian region - 20.5 percent compared to 13.6 percent - yet received 21 percent less federal money per capita. It's a contradiction valley congressional members say needs to be reconciled. "We, I think, have always felt for many years that the...

Principal Steve Degenaar has received 150 to 200 e-mails and phone calls about the former student who camped out in Apple Valley High School for two weeks. About 70 percent were "very supportive," he said. Many asked how they could help 21-year-old Francisco Serrano, and at least five families "have offered to open their homes," he said. "Some of them are not in communities" served by the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan school district. In addition, he said, many students and staff members have said they are willing to donate cash to help Serrano. But the rest of the callers have raised what...

It seems that some people either have too much time on their hands or too much hate in their hearts these days for George W. Bush and the sight of several large "Bush/Cheney '04" signs strewn throughout the Victor Valley of Southern California, but now of which are mysteriously "disappearing" one by one—at the expense, by the way, of volunteer dollars not reimbursed by the California Republican Party, the Bush/Cheney campaign, or by anybody else for that matter. These signs are expensive, so excuse me for taking all of this a bit personally. I was one of the grass roots...

Theft and defacing of lawn signs has become a standard part of American politics. But this juvenile behavior took an ugly turn in Golden Valley in recent weeks when at least 17 families with lawn signs supporting John Kerry received hate-filled diatribes that were inserted in greeting cards. The mailings were addressed to "Doltocrat." In the envelopes, recipients found greeting cards with perky messages ranging from "Happy Rosh Hashanah" to "Get Well Soon." When the cards were opened, three pages of typewritten hate oozed out

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - An environmental group is accusing California farmers of not paying back a $1 billion interest-free loan used in the 1930s to build a large irrigation project that supports much of California's farm industry. The Natural Resources Defense Council, a congressman and others are also attacking contract renewals for the Central Valley Project, whose 20 reservoirs deliver river water to more than 3 million acres of farmland, including those in west San Joaquin Valley. The Bush Administration is attempting to push the deal through quietly and swiftly, according to the group, while millions of taxpayers' dollars used...

Small class sizes in kindergarten through third grade are a big hit with parents and teachers alike. Some school districts need added security measures. And students don't want to give up electives such as art and music. But with the state facing an $8 billion to $10 billion budget deficit in the next year, at least half a dozen Silicon Valley school districts are asking residents to tax themselves in the November election to help their schools avoid drastic cuts that directly affect learning. The parcel tax initiatives range from $50 a parcel annually in the East Side Union High...

Valley job market has rebounded. "The Valley's job market rebounded mightily during the past year from the post-Sept. 11, 2001, recession, driven by stepped-up construction activity trying to keep pace with a surging population, a new federal report shows. The Phoenix-Mesa market led all metropolitan areas except Washington, D.C., in year-over-year increases in employment during the 12 months that ended June 30, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics." (Edward Gately, "Valley job market flourished over the past year," East Valley Tribune, 7/30/04)Arizona jobs gains at top of list. "The Phoenix area shed some seasonal...

State health officials are working with local animal control agencies to collect and dispose of dead birds in an effort to track and contain the spread of West Nile virus in California. The California Department of Health Services Web site (www.westnile.ca.gov) reports that there has been one case of a bird infected with West Nile in San Joaquin County, a dead barn owl found north of Stockton. Lodi Animal Shelter workers say they receive an average of three calls a day about dead birds. They refer the callers to the state health department's hotline (877-968-2473) to determine if the bird...

'Descendants of the Dragon' confirmed at the Liaohe River ValleyIn thousands of years, the Chinese people have been deeming themselves as "the descendant of the dragon" though there is no enough solid proof to support the statement. But in this year, with continually findings of dragons in archeological work at the Liaohe River Valley, the statement that the Chinese people are "the descendant of the dragon" is further confirmed. In thousands of years, the Chinese people have been deeming themselves as "the descendant of the dragon" though there is no enough solid proof to support the statement. But in this...

Portland metro area braces for deep freeze 03:19 PM PST on Monday, December 29, 2003 By ABE ESTIMADA and JIM PARKER, kgw.com Staff The Willamette Valley could jump from the snowy depths into treacherous ice as overnight temperatures drop into the mid-20s. Melting snow left over from Monday morning’s storm could quickly turn into frozen slush as day passes into night, said KGW meteorologist Bruce Sussman. Already, Oregon Department of Transportation crews are preparing for the worst. Between 50 and 75 ODOT personnel are ready to move out and target potential problem areas, said spokesman Shawn Uhlman. Those problem...

For the first time in two years, both the national and Silicon Valley economy appear poised to grow faster than expected, primarily fueled by the most massive government stimulus in the postwar era. The question is no longer when the economy will recover. Instead, it might be: Has the amount of government intervention stimulated activity today at the expense of problems later? Bush administration officials have taken credit for the revival of economic growth, arguing that their tax cuts have helped stimulate the economy. But they recognize that the loss of jobs remains a problem.

...3.7 Earthquake was just felt 17 miles west of San Fernando under the California Fires.

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (AP) - With wind-driven flames threatening the densely populated San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, firefighters dug in Tuesday for another brutal day battling one of the most destructive and deadly wildfire outbreaks in California history. At least 17 deaths were blamed on the fires, 15 in Southern California and two in Mexico, as separate blazes were scattered along an arc from the suburbs northwest of Los Angeles to Ensenada, about 60 miles south of the border. More than 1,100 homes had been destroyed in California. More than 500,000 acres of brush, forest and homes - or...

Ancient cities discovered in Yangtze Valley By David Keys, Archaeology Correspondent 03 August 2003 China's Yangtze River was once home to an ancient civilisation, just as the Nile, the Tigris-Euphrates and the Indus rivers were, according to new archaeological research. A series of 13 walled towns and cities have so far been discovered. Dating from around 3000BC these ancient urban centres - excavated by Chinese and Japanese archaeological teams over the past decade - appear to have had populations of up to 10,000. The largest cities had up to three miles of defensive walls. The discoveries show that exactly the...

COTABATO CITY PHILIPPINES— Lawmen uprooted thousands of full grown marijuana plants in Central Mindanao yesterday, the second haul in four days. South Cotabato’s provincial police discovered the marijuana farm in Barangay Katol, a hinterland town in Tiboli, South Cotabato, with the help of local officials and religious leaders. The alleged owner of the prohibited plants, a certain Sinulim Gawad, eluded arrest after sensing that policemen, backed by civilian volunteers, have started surrounding his farm. The uprooting of marijuana plants in Tiboli came less than a week after operatives of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) police burned some P20...

<p>Talin Kaloustian was shocked when she heard she had competition from three other buyers for a 752-square-foot one-bedroom condominium in Mountain View.</p> <p>There are plenty of houses and condos for sale in Santa Clara County. But Silicon Valley home sales boomed in June and are still going strong, according to local real estate experts, and there's often competition for the best-priced, most desirable homes.</p>

<p>D ESPITE the 200,000 jobs lost, the pain of long-term unemployment, the shuttered companies and the shattered confidence of tech investors, Silicon Valley remains the epicenter of an industry that accounts for about 10 percent of the U.S. economy.</p> <p>That puts Valley business leaders in an extraordinary position, both in the United States and globally. It gives them the clout and the opportunity to play a leading role in helping restore confidence in corporate America.</p>

Syria-ous TroubleBy Donnel Jones, May 19, 2003 It is probably a commonplace, after September 11th, to note the realism and sheer believeability of black satire. How hilarious, now, is the topsy-turvy madness of Monty Python when "Baghdad Bob" announces the imminent ruin of American forces just as Baghdad itself is falling to them? Does Joseph Heller's pitiless novel, Catch 22, hold anything more heart-breaking yet numbingly bizarre than Saddam's children's prisons? What can compare in the real world to the lurid recesses of perversion and cruelty found in David Lynch's suburban settings? How about the blood libel taught to...

<p>Silicon Valley technology stocks, the source of much pain for investors during the past three years, finally may be breaking out of their slump and rising fast enough to spark the sluggish tech economy back to life.</p> <p>Sound implausibly optimistic?</p>

<p>SACRAMENTO -Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer unveiled an A-list of Silicon Valley leaders Wednesday who have lined up to support her re-election in 2004, including at least three Republican campaign contributors.</p> <p>Among the bipartisan group of 18 is eBay president and chief executive Meg Whitman and Cisco chief executive John Chambers, who six years ago backed Boxer's Republican opponent, Matt Fong.</p>

<p>Updated state figures released Friday show just how devastating the downturn has been in Silicon Valley: Nearly one in five jobs in Santa Clara County has vanished since the height of the boom in December 2000.</p> <p>The data also confirms what job-seekers have felt for months: The county's unemployment rate last year was worse than previously estimated, in some months almost a full percentage point higher. The revised rate was more than 8 percent for nearly all of 2002. In January, unemployment was 8.6 percent.</p>

<p>There's been more than a little dark, bottom-of-the-cycle muttering in recent weeks -- some in the pages of this newspaper -- suggesting Silicon Valley is broken, that the engine of entrepreneurial growth has conked out.</p> <p>The Internet and telecommunications boom of the late 1990s, the pessimists contend, was entirely a bubble and everything we gained has disappeared.</p>

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 February 18 Candor and Ophir Chasmata Credit: Viking Project, NASA Explanation: First imaged by the Mariner 9 spacecraft, Valles Marineris, the grand canyon of Mars, is a system of enormous depressions called chasmata that stretch some 4,000 kilometers along the Martian equator. Looking north over the canyon's central regions, Candor chasma lies in the foreground of this spectacular view with the steep walls of Ophir chasma near...

Home   Mexico City dig reveals diversity of pre-Columbian people     Mexico City, Jan 29, 2003 (EFE via COMTEX) -- Recent archaeological excavations in Greater Mexico City suggest the Aztecs, far from being a homogeneous people, were an aggregate of diverse groups who conquered their enemies without wiping out their languages and traditions.    Source:  Agencia EFE Date:  01/29/2003 15:58 Price:  Free Document Size:  Very Short (less than 1 page) Document ID:  FE20030129590000063 Subject(s):  Efe; Expansion; Explosion; Mexico; Population; Regulations; Utilities; Water; Yield Mexico City dig reveals diversity of pre-Columbian people Story Filed: Wednesday, January 29, 2003 3:58 PM EST Mexico...