Kim Jong-Un Absent During Important Anniversary Tribute

SEOUL – North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was absent Friday from a tribute to his father and his grandfather on the anniversary of the ruling Workers Party, fueling speculation that Kim may be ill as he has not appeared in public in more than a month.

In a report on the event, state news agency KCNA did not include the name of the “Supreme Leader” on the list of authorities who visited the Kumsusan Sun Palace early Friday to pay tribute to the embalmed bodies of the two former leaders of the country, Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung.

The ceremony served to kick start events to mark the 69th anniversary of the founding of the Workers Party, one of the most important dates on the North Korean political calendar.

Kim has not been seen at a public event since September 3.

During last year’s anniversary celebrations, Kim offered his respects to the embalmed bodies of his grandfather and founder of the country, Kim Il-sung, and his father, Kim Jong-il, and placed flowers at the feet of their bronze statues.

Kim Jong-un’s mysterious absence from public life has generated intense speculation about his state of health as he is known to suffer from gout and other health problems although nothing more is known due to the regime’s extreme secrecy.

Kim Jong-un, whose age is estimated to be around 30, appeared limping noticeably at a public event broadcast on North Korean television showing that he was suffering from a “malaise”, although senior members of the regime later denied his health problems.

The Workers Party, one of the two pillars of this totalitarian state along with the Popular Army, was founded on this day in 1945 and has been governing North Korea since its founding in 1948

Thousands of Mexicans Demand Justice for Victims of Police Abuse

MEXICO CITY – Thousands of Mexicans have protested around the country to demand justice for the dozens of students who went missing after an altercation with police in the southern state of Guerrero late last month.

The national protest was called by the families of the 43 youths whose whereabouts remain unknown after being attacked in Iguala city, where at least six people died and 25 were injured in the incident.

In Guerrero’s capital Chilpancingo, 10,000 demonstrators according to police estimates, and 50,000 according to the organizers, demanded the return of the 43 students from the Normal Rural School of Ayotzinapa.

They also demanded explanations from authorities for the deaths of the six people killed in the incident and the resignation of Guerrero Governor Angel Aguirre.

Students from nine Normal Rural Schools, which train aspiring teachers, from Ayotzinapa and from other Mexican localities participated in the protest, along with the students’ families, trade union members, peasants, human rights activists and members of various social groups.

Department of Education workers announced that they would remain permanently gathered in the capital’s main square until the 43 young people were found.

In Mexico City, around 10,000 people, led by families of the missing students, marched from the iconic Angel of Independence to Zocalo Plaza seeking justice.

With large banners, posters and flags, the demonstrators, mostly youths, marched through the central avenues of Mexico City.

“They took them alive, we want them alive!”; “Ayotzinapa, we are with you!”; “If there is no peace for the people, there is no peace for the government!” and “We want justice for Ayotzinapa!” were some of the slogans shouted by the demonstrators.

There were posters with photographs of the 43 missing students and Mexican flags dyed black.

The Mexican federal government this week took over the investigation of the violent events in Iguala and took control of the town’s security after the discovery of six clandestine graves with 28 bodies which could be some of the students.

In the attacks on the night of Sept. 26, police opened fire on students who had hijacked several buses and the six people were killed.

The police were seen taking away dozens of the students who have not been seen again.

Authorities have so far arrested 30 people allegedly involved in the incident, including 22 policemen who reportedly have links to a local organized crime group.

Ancient village found at Arizona's Petrified Forest

Amy B Wang, The Republic | azcentral.com4:24 p.m. MST October 9, 2014

(Photo: National Park Service)

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The sandstone slabs peeking from the dusty dunes were the first clues something promising lurked underfoot.

Fanned out over the Petrified Forest National Park, a team of 10 archaeologists painstakingly walked in straight lines all summer and noted, acre by acre, anything that seemed unusual to the naked eye. A ceramic shard here. Some yards away, a fragment of a stone tool.

Back in the office, they pieced together the GPS coordinates they had marked each day. As the weeks passed, they watched as the collective picture formed by their notes grew larger.

And larger. Until they knew they had struck upon something significant.

"You're out in the sun, walking around. They're long days," said Amy Schott, a seasonal archaeologist with the park. "But it's exciting, too, because you get finds like this."

Archaeologists were looking at an ancient village, estimated to be 1,300 to 1,800 years old. It's a discovery that not only bodes well for future archaeological projects at Petrified Forest National Park, but one that hints at what life was like for Arizona's earliest settlers.

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The cluster of "pit houses," early sandstone dwellings, is similar in age and composition to one found last summer, park superintendent Brad Traver said. Vertical sandstone slabs created the lower portion of each pit house. Branches, grasses and other organic material would have covered the upper part of each structure.

The 50 to 70 pit houses were organized in rings, indicating anywhere from 100 to 150 people had chosen to live together in that area.

"There's evidence of people having been there because they're found in sand dunes where there are no sandstone slabs, so they must have been moved there," Traver said. "It's the time when civilization in our area is starting to gather in villages — not individual hunters and gatherers anymore. It is the transition between the nomadic existence of a hunter-gatherer and starting to settle down into villages."Archaeologists believe both villages are from the Basketmaker Era, a "pre-pottery" period between the Archaic and Puebloan civilizations. In addition to the pit houses, some traces of stone tools and early ceramics were found around the sites, giving officials a clue they lasted until the early Pueblo era. The people who lived there would have used the pottery for carrying water, cooking and eating.

Although pit house villages are not unique, this particular village is notable for its size, about 66 acres. The one found last summer was about 14 acres.

"To the untrained eye they might actually look fairly unimpressive," Schott said. "We find sites that have (pit houses) pretty much all over the place, but usually there's only a few structures in one spot. These are a little more unique because they're so much larger and there's so many in one spot."

It's unclear who settled the villages. Several tribes in the area have cultural affiliations to Petrified Forest National Forest land, including the Hopi, Zuni and Navajo. However, the sites predate the Navajos' arrival in the area, and the artifacts found so far are not distinctive enough to be linked to a particular tribe.

"It's hard to tell if the cultural artifacts can be closely enough tied to the Hopi or the Zuni as we know them," Traver said.

Hindu boy "beat over religion "

41 children killed in Syria school bombings

Ambulances ferried wounded fighters for treatment in Turkey amid mortar fire, with some rounds falling very close to the border.

Oct 1 6:03 PM 5,471 Views  29 Comments

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Image: AP/Press Association Images

KURDISH FIGHTERS BACKED by US-led coalition air strikes were locked in fierce fighting today to prevent a key Syrian border town falling into the hands of Islamic State group jihadists.

It came as 41 children were reported dead in twin bombings that hit a school in the government-controlled central city of Homs, which has been devastated by the three-year civil war.

Anti-jihadist air strikes and heavy clashes in the besieged town of Ain al-Arab on the border with Turkey killed at least 18 people – nine militants and nine Kurdish fighters, monitors said.

Ambulances ferried wounded fighters for treatment in Turkey amid mortar fire, with some rounds falling very close to the border, an AFP correspondent on the Turkish side reported.

The twin blasts in Homs farther south hit a neighbourhood inhabited mainly by the Alawite community of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad which has been frequently targeted by rebels and jihadists.

One attacker carried out both of the bombings, planting a bomb at one location before blowing himself up at another spot, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

It said the dead children were among at least 39 people killed.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

About 191,000 people have been killed since an uprising against Assad erupted in 2011, escalating into a several-sided war involving pro-government forces, hardline jihadists and more moderate rebels.

Near the Turkish border, Kurdish forces have been on the defensive for more than two weeks in the face of a jihadist assault that sent tens of thousands of refugees streaming across the frontier.

With IS fighters less than three kilometres (two miles) from the town, the US-led coalition carried out three air strikes in the area on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Pentagon said.

The raids destroyed an IS armed vehicle, an artillery piece and a tank, US Central Command said, bringing to seven the number of raids around Kobane since Saturday.

‘Thrown into the air’ 

At least eight jihadist fighters were killed when a tank was hit, according to the Observatory, a Britain-based monitoring group.

“Kurdish fighters on the front lines saw the bodies literally being thrown into the air” by the force of the blast, Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said.

One refugee from the fighting told AFP that the light weapons available to the town’s defenders meant that they could only engage the jihadists at close quarters.

Ruling against Navajo candidate in language case

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. (AP) - A tribal hearing officer has ruled against a presidential candidate on the nation's largest Indian reservation in a battle over whether he is fluent in Navajo.

It wasn't immediately known whether Chris Deschene will appear on next month's ballot since he can still appeal.

The tribe's chief hearing officer, Richie Nez, announced his decision Thursday after viewing a videotaped deposition of Deschene. The candidate declined to answer questions in Navajo at the deposition and in court Thursday, saying they unfairly singled him out.

Two of Deschene's primary opponents filed a grievance against him under a Navajo law that requires anyone seeking the tribe's top elected post to speak fluent Navajo. It's the first time a candidate has been challenged under the law.

The Navajo Supreme Court weighed in last month, saying the language is sacred and cannot be disregarded as a qualification for the presidency.

Guatemalans' carjack 91 year old man

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