Woolly Mammoth Skeleton Unearthed Near Paris

The remains of a woolly mammoth that lived between 200,000 and 500,000 years ago have been found near Paris.

Nicknamed Helmut, the skeleton was discovered by accident during the excavation of an ancient Roman site along the Changis-sur-Marne riverbank, 30 miles east of the French capital.

The remains  - which are in a near perfect condition - include four connected vertebrae, jaw bones and a complete pelvis.

Researchers at the National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research said the creature would have been in its 20s when it died.

It may be only the third such specimen of a long-haired woolly mammoth unearthed in France in the last 150 years. Such discoveries are more common in Siberia.

Archaeologists will try to establish the circumstances of the animal's death.

Current theories are that it could have drowned in the River Marne or been hunted by Neanderthal man.

It was a French scientist, Georges Cuvier, who first identified the woolly mammoth in 1796.

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Linkin Park Fan Killed By Gig Scaffolding

A fan of the US rock band Linkin Park has died after an advertising tower collapsed in strong winds before a concert in South Africa.

The falling scaffolding also injured 20 people waiting for the gig outside the Green Point stadium in Cape Town.

Twelve people were taken to hospital, but one woman later died of her injuries.

Cape Town spokeswoman Kylie Hatton said the advertising hoarding had been certified as safe by structural engineers before the event.

All branding had since been taken down, she said, and the commanding officer at the operation centre declared the event site safe shortly afterwards. The concert was allowed to go ahead as planned.

The rock group expressed "deep sadness and concern for those injured and our heartfelt condolences to the family of the fan who died as a result of her injuries".

The band said it was not in any way related to the sponsor advertising on the tower or the company that erected it.

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Anti-Muslim Film Director Jailed Over Probation

The man behind an anti-Muslim film that led to violence in the Middle East has been sentenced to one year in prison.

Mark Basseley Youssef, 55, was jailed for violating probation stemming from a 2010 bank fraud conviction.

US District Court Judge Christina Snyder handed down the sentence after Youssef admitted four of eight alleged violations including obtaining a fraudulent California driver's licence.

Youssef served most of a 21-month prison term in the bank fraud case. Federal authorities wanted Youssef to serve two years for the violations.

After he was released from prison, Youssef was barred from using computers or the internet for five years without approval from his probation officer.

None of the violations had to do with the content of "Innocence of Muslims," a film that depicts the Prophet Mohammad as a religious fraud, paedophile and a womaniser.

However, Assistant US Attorney Robert Dugdale argued Youssef's lies about his identity have caused harm to others, including the film's cast and crew. 

Mr Dugdale said: "They had no idea he was a recently released felon. Had they known that, they might have had second thoughts" about being part of the film.

Youssef's attorney Steven Seiden said his client admits to being the film's scriptwriter but had no other involvement except what he described as being a "cultural adviser".

Federal authorities have said they believe Youssef is responsible for the film, but they have not said whether he was the person who posted it online.

Demonstrators march in Pakistan after release of Youssef's film

The movie sparked violence in Libya and other parts of the Muslim world, killing dozens. Enraged Muslims had demanded severe punishment for him, with a Pakistani cabinet minister even offering $100,000 to anyone who kills him.

After the hearing on Wednesday, Mr Seiden told reporters he had a message to relay from his client.

"The one thing he wanted me to tell all of you is President Obama may have gotten Osama bin Laden, but he didn't kill the ideology," Mr Seiden said.

Asked what that meant, Mr Seiden said, "I didn't ask him, and I don't know."

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Guatemala Earthquake: At Least 48 Dead

A 7.4-magnitude earthquake has struck off the Pacific coast of Guatemala, killing at least 48 people, injuring another 155 and destroying scores of homes.

The quake, which hit at 10.35am in the midst of the work day, caused terror over an unusually wide area, with damage reported in all but one of Guatemala's 22 states.

It also sparked a tsunami alert on the El Salvador coast and evacuations from offices, homes and schools as far north as Mexico City, 600 miles to the northwest.

President Otto Perez Molina, at a news conference, said 40 people died in the province of San Marcos and eight more were killed in the neighbouring province of Quetzaltenango.

He said: "One thing is to hear about what happened and another thing entirely is to see it. As a Guatemalan I feel sad ... to see mothers crying for their lost children."

San Marcos bore the brunt of the quake

The mountain town of San Marcos, where more than 30 homes collapsed, bore the brunt of the quake's fury.

It was some 80 miles from the epicentre.

More than 300 people, including firefighters and policemen, tried to dig through half a ton of sand at a quarry in the commercial centre of San Marcos in a desperate attempt to rescue seven people believed buried alive.

Among those under the sand was a six-year-old boy who had accompanied his grandfather to work.

Mr Perez flew to San Marcos to view the damage in the lush mountainous region of 50,000 indigenous farmers and ranchers, many belonging to the Mam ethnic group.

More than 30 homes collapsed in San Marcos

The president said the government would pay for the funerals of all victims in the poor region.

Hundreds of people crammed into the hallways of the small town hospital waiting for medical staff to help injured family members, some complaining they were not getting care quickly enough.

Mr Perez said more than 2,000 soldiers were deployed from a base in San Marcos to help with the disaster.

The quake, which was 20 miles deep, was centred 15 miles off the coastal town of Champerico and 100 miles southwest of Guatemala City.

It was the strongest earthquake to hit Guatemala since a 1976 trembler that killed 23,000.

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Australia: Humpback Whale Rescue Abandoned

Attempts to free a young humpback whale entangled in ropes off the Australian coast have stalled after wildlife officers ruled it was too risky.

The operation, near Sydney, became unsafe after an accompanying adult whale became protective.

The whale calf was swimming near its mother when a rope connected to three buoys wrapped around its tail.

Tourists travelling on a whale-watching cruise said they saw the animal thrashing around.

"It was just going like up and down, pretty fast. Usually they dive for like three to six minutes," said one tourist, getting off a boat.

Jonas Leibschner, of Whale Watching Sydney, said: "The whale was entangled in a fish trap, which we do see pretty much every day out there."

The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) had sent out a crew in a boat to try and free the calf.

But, when a third whale joined the mother and calf and started showing erratic and defensive behaviour, rescue attempts were halted.

Officers said disentangling a rope around a whale's tail is a difficult operation and they were not sure they could complete it before nightfall.

The three whales were moving at a normal speed as the entanglement did not seem to be slowing the calf down, according to reports.

"In all likelihood, we'll get an aircraft up in the morning to assess the current status of the animal and its location," said Geoff Ross, of NPWS.

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Gabrielle Giffords To Attend Gunman Sentencing

Former US congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords will join other victims of an Arizona mass shooting to see gunman Jared Loughner sentenced.

The 24-year-old is facing life in prison after pleading guilty three months ago to 19 federal charges, including murder and attempted assassination.

The plea deal means he will avoid the death penalty.

The sentencing hearing will be the first time victims will confront Loughner in court about the January 2011 massacre at a Ms Giffords' political event outside a supermarket in Tucson, Arizona.

Gabrielle Giffords' husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, is expected to address the court on her behalf, before US District Judge Larry Burns sentences Loughner.

Jared Loughner pictured in high school

Ms Giffords has made a remarkable recovery from the traumatic head injuries she suffered, but has since retired from her political post.

Under the terms of his plea agreement, Loughner will most likely see out his life in a prison psychiatric unit, with no possibility of parole.

He was originally judged to be mentally unfit to stand trial and diagnosed as schizophrenic.

But he then underwent months of forced medication and treatment to restore his competency at a federal prison hospital in Missouri.

Psychologists eventually decided he could be tried, just before the plea deal was finalised.

The sentencing will mark the end of the federal case against Loughner, but he could still be tried for murder and other crimes in the Arizona state court.

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Assad Vows To 'Live And Die' In Syria

Syrian President Bashar al Assad has told Russian TV he will "live and die in Syria".

Earlier this week, Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron suggested that Mr Assad could be allowed safe passage out of the country if it would guarantee an end to the nation's civil war.

But appearing on the Russian Arabic-language channel Rusiya al Yaum, Mr Assad said he was not a puppet of the West. "I am Syrian, made in Syria, and I will live and die in Syria," he said.

"I think that the cost of a foreign invasion of Syria - if it happens - would be bigger than the entire world can bear ... this will have a domino effect that will affect the world from the Atlantic to the Pacific," he said.

"I do not believe the West is heading in this direction, but if they do, nobody can tell what will happen afterwards," he said. 

Excerpts of the interview were posted on the TV station's website with an Arabic voiceover.

The Syrian president is seen casually talking and later walking with a reporter outside a house, wearing a grey suit and tie. It was not clear where the interview took place. The full interview will be broadcast on Friday, the TV station said.

Russia has remained one of Syria's most loyal and powerful allies, shielding Damascus from strong international action at the United Nations Security Council.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in remarks posted on his ministry's website on Thursday that Moscow would not support any resolution that would threaten the Syrian regime with sanctions.

He criticised the West for supporting the opposition, saying foreign powers should try to force both sides to stop fighting.

:: The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Thursday that humanitarian conditions in Syria have worsened to an extent that the agency is unable to cope with the growing needs of civilians.

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Hu Jintao's Legacy: Critics Lament Lost Years

As Hu Jintao steps onto the stage of the Great Hall of the People his party will seek to portray him as having presided over a "golden decade" for China.

When the Communist Party made him the leader 10 years ago, China's economy was only a little bit bigger than Italy's.

It is now the world's second largest economy and may take over as economic superpower of the world during the political life of China's next president.

China has a seat at the top table of decision-making - the power of veto on the UN Security Council. 

China is seen by America as the only power in the world which can threaten it militarily.

China has held its first manned space flight and its first Olympics and there are plans to try to put a man on the moon.

Mr Jintao (R) is applauded by Premier Wen Jiabao (L) in 2011

China boasts the largest number of internet and mobile phone users worldwide and is the strongest global magnet for foreign investment.

China is undoubtedly the rising power of the world. 

Yet as Hu Jintao takes a bow there are some critics who privately say even with such achievements his period in office was the "lost decade".

Perhaps because culturally, socially and politically China has not moved forward an inch.

Surely China can never become a true global superpower when its people have no say in who runs their lives.

Mr Jintao (L) hugs his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin

As one blogger told me: "In China you can get rich and get famous, you can do anything you want as long as you don't try to subvert the leaders."

Within 24 hours of Barack Obama being re-elected for another four years in office, China is changing its political guard.

Barack Obama still likes to paint America as the place where you can live the dream. If you want it you can get it in the US.

In Chinese Communism the ideology is lost and confused. But you CAN live the dream.

Just remember not to criticise the Communist Party or ask for political choice as you drive round in the Mercedes.

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Hu Jintao Hails China's 'Golden Decade'

Xi, China And The Communist Party

Updated: 4:19am UK, Thursday 08 November 2012

By Mark Stone, China Correspondent

It would not be an embarrassment to admit to not having ever heard of Xi Jinping.

Indeed, the vast majority of people in China know little about the man who is almost certain to be their leader for the next 10 years. Why?

China operates what can be called a black-box system of government. It is closed to its subjects. It is extremely hard to see how it operates and who is pulling the leavers. 

The Communist Party runs or contributes to almost every facet of life in China.

Its 80 million or so members make it the largest political party in the world.  But China is so large, they represent just 6% of the country's population.

It is that 6% who have some say over who in their village, town, city or province rises up each of the thousands of different party organisations.

With a pyramid effect fewer and fewer people endorse those who will sit above them.

Over the next week, just a handful of men will announce their endorsement of the new top man: Mr Xi.

And that is why very few people know who Mr Xi is, what he is like, what he stands for and in what direction he will take the world's most populous nation.

Despite that though, Xi Jinping, 59, has been touted as a possible heir-apparent for over a decade.

The Communist Party is almost unique in its desire and ability to control the ascent of its leaders.

Potential candidates are groomed for the top jobs for years.

This week's leadership transition is not a single event but the result of years of careful planning and power-jockeying.

Look at articles and books written more than 10 years ago and you will see Mr Xi's name mentioned as a possible contender for the 2012 top job.

China's New Rulers, for example, written before the last leadership change in 2002, has a whole chapter on Mr Xi and the man expected to be his deputy, Li Keqiang.

In the 10 years since that book was written, the Communist Party has been moulding those men and controlling everything they can to ensure that it is they who take over as leaders today. It has worked.

So who is Mr Xi?

With a bit of research it is relatively easy to find out quite a bit about the man, but together it all amounts to little more than a series of facts rather than any degree of substance about his views.

Mr Xi is a "princeling": the son of one of the founding members of the Communist Party, Xi Zhongxun.

He was a Communist guerrilla commander who went on to form the Communist Party alongside Chairman Mao.

Mr Xi's father and Mao fell out and he was tortured and placed in jail for several years. 

During the Cultural Revolution, when millions of Chinese died under Mao's leadership, the Xi family were sent to live in communes as peasants along with so many others.

In recent and rare interviews Xi Jingping talks about this difficult time in his life which he refers to as a "struggle" which helped develop him into a stronger man.

Mr Xi and those around him now represent the first generation of leaders to experience, first-hand, the difficulties of being a child through the Cultural Revolution.

Many speculate that his could mould his leadership especially in terms of how he deals with the widening gap between rich and poor in China.

After the chaos of the Cultural Revolution, Mr Xi moved back to Beijing to continue his education.

He was educated into Communist Party and quickly rose through the ranks, first in Hebei Province and then in Fujian Province.

In 2000 he was made governor of Fujian Province followed by acting governor of Zhejiang in 2002.

He built economies in those two provinces which have become larger than both Hong Kong and Taiwan.

He has a daughter who studies at Harvard and a wife who is more famous than he is.

Peng Liyuan is a famous folk singer, fluent in English and a major-general in the People's Liberation Army.

She is, by all accounts, a beautiful woman. Her name even means "beautius beauty".

Peng will be far more of an American-style first lady when compared with her elderly and recluse predecessor, Hu Jintao's wife.

"Reform" is the buzzword for China's next 10 years. Many had believed that following the country's economic reforms in the 1990s, political and social reform would come under Mr Hu and his deputy Wen Jiabao. It did not happen. 

China is now at a crossroads. Mr Hu and Mr Wen lifted the country economically beyond all expectations; it is now the world's second largest economy.

But its economic explosion coupled with a downturn in exports to the West has produced a long list of explosive problems.

The wealth gap is wider than ever. Corruption is rife. The cities are the most polluted in the world. Factory production is slowing.

Now mix all that in with an increasingly restive population which is more technologically connected and geographically mobile than ever: this is the China Mr Xi must lead.

He has never revealed whether he is a reformer or a hardliner. The direction he chooses will determine China's fate.

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Sandy Victims Suffer As New Storm Hits US Coast

By Nick Martin, Sky News Correspondent, in New York City

A second storm has battered the northeast coast of the United States, adding to the misery felt by many after superstorm Sandy.

Heavy snow and strong winds hit parts of New York and New Jersey, which brought down power lines and caused traffic delays.

In New Jersey, utility companies reported 400,000 power cuts early Thursday, with 20,000 of these being new.

In New York City and Westchester, more than 70,000 customers were without power, while on Long Island, more than 200,000 were affected.

However, roads in New Jersey were clear for the morning commute, and rail lines into Manhattan were running smoothly, despite snow still coming down heavily in some areas.

Police went to low-lying neighbourhoods with loudspeakers, urging residents to leave.

But New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg did not issue mandatory evacuations, and many people stayed.

"We haven't and won't order the kind of large-scale evacuation that we did in advance of Hurricane Sandy," he said.

Major airlines cancelled flights in and out of the New York City area

"But if you experienced significant flooding during Sandy, then you should consider taking shelter with friends and family at a safer spot or using one of the city's storm shelters."

However communities hit by superstorm Sandy are struggling amid the bad weather.

In Staten Island, one of the areas most affected, the task of clearing up debris was made more difficult and a government aid station was forced to close.

Hundreds of residents who were displaced last week had to spend Wednesday night in shelters run by state officials.

Lorraine Orobello left her home in the middle of the storm because she had run out of food.

The 54-year-old said she had been turned away from the federal food station and had turned to another aid centre for help.

She said: "It's hard. All I want is some soup or a peanut butter sandwich.

"I shouldn't be coming out in this weather, but I have nothing back home - just a few tins of tuna and a small heater to keep warm.

"But I'm an American, you know, we get on with things. We'll get through this."

Major airlines cancelled at least 1,300 flights in and out of the New York City area ahead of the storm, causing a new round of disruptions that rippled across the country. Sandy last week led to more than 20,000 flight cancellations.

New York City also closed all parks, playgrounds and beaches, and ordered all construction sites to be secured.

Sandy started as a hurricane and killed dozens of people in the Caribbean. At least 120 people died in the US and Canada.

Around $32m (£20m) has been raised so far to help victims after around 10,000 donations came in from across the US.

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