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Egypt's Earliest Agricultural Settlement UnearthedA fragment of a bangle made of a shell found only at the Red Sea suggests possible trade links with the cradle of agriculture in the Near East. (Credit: Copyright UC Regents) ScienceDaily (Feb. 15, 2008) — Archaeologists from UCLA and the University of Groningen (RUG) in the Netherlands have found the earliest evidence ever discovered of an ancient Egyptian agricultural settlement, including farmed grains, remains of domesticated animals, pits for cooking and even floors for what appear to be dwellings. The findings, which were unearthed in 2006 and are still being analyzed, also suggest possible...

Dana Point (KNX 1070 NEWSRADIO) -- In one of the biggest legal settlements in Orange County history, the city of Dana Point has agreed to pay a total of more than $49 million dollars to two women who were made quadriplegics when they were hit by a car while jogging along Pacific Coast Highway. The deal was announced just before the lawsuit brought by 35-year-old Stacy Neria and 42-year-old Carol Daniel (shown on KNX main page) -- both mothers of three who live in San Clemente -- was set to go to trial on Tuesday. They had alleged that the...

Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and the City of Detroit will drop an appeal of a $6.5-million judgement in the whistleblower lawsuit and settle another case before it goes to trial.

2007-08-17 19:38Sardinia's Phoenician settlement New digs on western coast may unearth ancient Othoca (ANSA) - Oristano, August 17 - An ancient Phoenician colony on the western coast of Sardinia may soon yield some of its long-buried secrets during new excavations. Othoca, founded by the Phoenicians some 2,600 years ago, partly evolved into the modern-day town of Santa Giusta but most remnants of the original settlement lie buried under a thick layer of mud at the bottom of a large lake. Experts believe the lake, separated from the sea by a narrow bridge of land, was once the port of Othoca,...

An archaeological study and colonial documents indicate that "Henries Towne" has been found. Construction crews are rebuilding the buildings and fort that made up the colonial village of Henrytowne. (Joe Fudge, Daily Press) Fort Story archaeologists and Virginia officials are building an early colonial town site believed to be Henrytowne, which was founded in 1609 about five miles west of Fort Story in Virginia Beach. Donald Proffett works on the palisade wall. (Joe Fudge, Daily Press) FORT STORY -- Army scientists sifting through a 52-year-old archaeological study and a small but compelling stream of early colonial records have identified a...

8,400-year old settlement unearthed in Ýzmir’s Ulucak Tumulus Monday, September 25, 2006 ÝZMÝR - Turkish Daily News A team of archaeologists working at the Ulucak tumulus, located in Ýzmir's Kemalpaþa district, have unearthed a Neolithic settlement area dating back some 8,400 years, an archaeologist announced last week. Archaeologist Fulya Dedeoðlu of Ege University told the Doðan News Agency that excavations had been under way in the area since 1995. She said they believed their latest discovery could be the oldest settlement dating from the Neolithic period unearthed to date and added that further excavations on the lower levels could reveal...

Archaeologists discover more than 70 ancient settlement areas in Yozgat Thursday, August 24, 2006 ANKARA - Turkish Daily News Archaeologists working at the ancient settlement of Tavium located in what is today Yozgat have discovered more than 70 previously unknown ancient settlements in the area. The Central Anatolian province, mostly famous for the Chalcolithic Period discoveries at its Aliþar Tumulus and the Hittite era artifacts at Kerkenes, is likely to hold much more archaeological wealth than previously believed, and archaeologists say the new studies will shed more light on history. Austrian archaeologist Professor Karl Strobel, who is currently heading surveys...

WASHINGTON - American Indians suing the government over billions of dollars in lost royalties say they are contemplating an offer by members of Congress to resolve their lawsuit for $8 billion. The offer is considerably lower than the $27.5 billion plaintiffs offered to settle for a year ago. But plaintiffs say they are considering it seriously, bringing them closer than ever to ending the lawsuit, which has bogged down the Interior and Justice departments for 10 years. "Eight billion dollars is something I wish was higher, but I'm glad they were able to bring something forward that was equitable," the...

SACRAMENTO - California will have to revamp the way it incarcerates juvenile offenders by using smaller and more modern lockups to replace the warehouse-style prisons it currently uses, according to a court-mandated report from the state corrections department. The report marks a compromise between the state and a nonprofit legal center and is the latest indication of how attempts to solve systematic problems in the state's corrections department will end up costing California taxpayers. The state already faces hundreds of millions of dollars in additional costs to reform its adult prison system and the way it manages inmate health care....

OXFORD ARCHAEOLOGY UNEARTHS SAXON SETTLEMENT IN SOUTHAMPTON by Roz Tappenden 24/03/2006 Excavated 19th century cellar. © Oxford Archaeology An archaeological dig in Southampton’s medieval city centre has unearthed Saxon structural remains and a WWII pharmacy. Archaeologists were called in last November to investigate the 0.5-hectare site in the centre of bustling Southampton after an evaluation by the City Council. The plot, between the city’s High Street and French Street has been earmarked for redevelopment, but the discovery of medieval vaults and structural remains dating from the late Saxon period prompted developers, Linden Homes, to delay building work while investigations take...

Archaeologists unearth 9,000-year-old settlement in Seydiþedir Thursday, March 16, 2006 As a result of four years of painstaking excavation, a settlement dating back 9,000 years was discovered in central Anatolia. The tumulus is unique for the region as it is surrounded by walls ANKARA - Turkish Daily News A settlement dating back 9,000 years was discovered during archaeological excavations in Seydiþehir, a district of the central Anatolian province of Konya. Following a visit to Gökhüyük, where the settlement was unearthed, Konya's Provincial Culture and Tourism Director Abdüssettar Yarar told the Anatolia news agency that excavations have been conducted for the...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Ameriquest Mortgage Co. said on Monday it agreed to pay $325 million in the second largest U.S. consumer lending settlement to clear up claims that its lending practices abused customers in 49 U.S. states. A two-year investigation found that salespeople at the company concealed interest rate and loan costs, pressured appraisers to inflate values of borrowers' homes, and used other high-pressure tactics to close deals, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's office said in a statement on Monday. The agreement requires Ameriquest, one of the largest U.S. mortgage lenders to people with poor credit, to pay...

A Minoan settlement after destruction by earthquakesDig at Fournoi Afiatis on Karpathos uncovers ancient buildings A view of the flat area with the roof knocked down by the earthquake, along with part of the supporting wall and the adjoining wall. By Iota Sykka - Kathimerini Earthquakes were responsible for the destruction of a Minoan settlement on the island of Karpathos. That was the conclusion drawn following excavations conducted last year at Fournoi Afiatis on Karpathos under the direction of Manolis Melas, a professor of archaeology. The dig was part of a research program by the Dimokritio University of Thrace. The...

IDF Attempts to Destroy Homes in Gush Etzion 'Settlement Bloc' 12:54 Jan 11, '06 / 11 Tevet 5766 By Ezra HaLevi Without warning, a small community in the consensus region of Gush Etzion has become the center of the government's demolition efforts. Demolition forces face unexpected opposition. Residents of the community of Sde Boaz, twenty minutes south of Jerusalem, received less that 24 hours' notice that the Civil Administration, on orders from the government, planned to destroy a newly built house, the foundations of a large home and a large stable that were built over the summer. Border police, accompanied...

America Online Inc. agreed to pay customers as much as $25 million to settle claims that it wrongly billed them for some online services and products. America Online, part of Time Warner Inc., the world's largest media company, charged customers for services and products such as an AOL Desk Planner without consumers' consent, plaintiffs in several proposed class-action lawsuits claimed. The plaintiffs also said AOL billed customers for accounts after they tried to cancel them.

Judging by press coverage, the greatest political fund-raising scandal since George Washington bought barrels of whiskey for voters in 1789, is the Abramoff Affair. But it’s not the biggest such scandal in history. It’s not even the biggest this week. I sing you a song of three scandals. One involves some 200 Members of Congress and Jack Abramoff. The second involves Al Sharpton. The largest involves Hillary Clinton. Democrat mouthpieces (excuse me, strategists) like Bob Beckel are trying to hang Abramoff around the necks of the Republicans. The mantra is, “21 of the 23 Members of Congress who accepted Abramoff...

Netflix Class Action Lawsuit Settlement Update: Frank Chavez, the person named in the lawsuit, is getting $2,000, and the lawyers are taking in about $2.5 million for "...fees and costs" (I should have gone to law school). You can read the proposed settlement notice here. If you were a paying Netflix subscriber before January 15th you may be eligible for a free, one-month upgrade in service (an additional DVD out at a time), pending approval from the court.

In 2000, Locke Liddell & Sapp, the Texas legal firm of which Harriet Miers was then co-manager, paid out $22 million to settle out-of-court with investors, many of whom had been defrauded of their life savings in the Austin Forex International currency-trading Ponzi scheme run by former Texas football star Russell Erxleben. Locke Liddell agreed to pay the $22 million restitution to investors because legal representation the firm provided Erxleben figured prominently in the perpetration of the fraud itself. Michael Shaunessy, the Austin attorney who represented the investors in the Locke Liddell settlement, told WND that Erxleben's Ponzi scheme defrauded...

SAN DIEGO – The City Council unanimously agreed Tuesday to begin the process of negotiating a possible settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission over alleged violations of federal securities laws. The city is being investigated by the SEC and other agencies for errors and omissions discovered in its financial disclosures to potential investors related to the debt-ridden pension system and wastewater rates. A settlement with the SEC would not protect individuals under investigation for alleged wrongdoing, but would shield the city from prosecution, city officials said. City Attorney Michael Aguirre said the vote "reflects a real change on the...

Wednesday, September 14, 2005 04:50 IST JNW HEADLINE NEWS Has Washington guaranteed the settlement blocs? By Ryan Jones September 13th, 2005 For more than a year Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told Israelis his plan to uproot the Jews of Gaza and northern Samaria had won Israel unprecedented support from Washington to retain sovereignty over major Jewish settlement blocs in Judea and Samaria. As proof Sharon pointed to an April 2004 letter from US President George W. Bush, in which the American stated it would be unrealistic to expect an Israeli withdrawal to its 1949 borders. But ever since then, US...