The first stone calendar #egypt

The first stone calendar

In the Sahara Desert in Egypt lie the oldest known astronomically aligned stones in the world: Nabta. Over one thousand years before the creation of Stonehenge, people built a stone circle and other structures on the shoreline of a lake that has long since dried up. Over 6,000 years ago, stone slabs three meters high were dragged over a kilometer to create the site. Shown above is one of the stones that remains. Although at present the western Egyptian desert is totally dry, this was not the case in the past. There is good evidence that there were several humid periods in the past (when up to 500 mm of rain would fall per year) the most recent one during the last interglacial and early last glaciation periods which stretched between 130,000 and 70,000 years ago.
During this time, the area was a savanna and supported numerous animals such as extinct buffalo and large giraffes, varieties of antelope and gazelle. Beginning around the 10th millennium BC, this region of the Nubian Desert began to receive more rainfall, filling a lake. Early people may have been attracted to the region due to the source of water. Archaeological findings may indicate human occupation in the region dating to at least somewhere around the 10th and 8th millennia BC.

Central African Republic in Massacre against #Muslims

(RNS) Churches in Central African Republic are caring for thousands of Muslims who have been trapped in a cycle of revenge attacks, perpetrated by a pro-Christian militia.

Since December, Anti-Balaka militias have been emptying Muslim quarters and avenging earlier attacks by the Seleka, an Islamist militia. The Seleka rampaged through the country in early 2013, terrorizing Christians and ransacking churches, hospitals and shops.

Now that the Muslim president Michel Djotodia has stepped down, Seleka is being forced to withdraw from its strongholds, as the center of power shifts, amid a mass exodus and displacement of Muslims.

In Baoro, a town in the northwest, a Roman Catholic parish is caring for more than 2,000 Muslims who can’t flee. A group of Catholic sisters in the town of Bossemptele is sheltering more than 500 Muslims, providing food, water and medicine.

“Now is the time for [people] of good will to stand up and prove the strength and quality of their faith,” the Rev. Xavier Fagba, a priest in Baoro, told the BBC.

One reason Muslims are able to take shelter in churches is because the country’s religious leaders believe this is a nonreligious conflict, said the Rev. Nicolas Guerekoyame-Gbango, president of the Alliance of Evangelical Churches in the Central African Republic.

“We have been traveling to the provinces telling people to understand this is not a religious conflict,” said Guerekonyame-Gbango. “This is contributing some tolerance, although many people, including Christians, have taken up arms. This is regrettable.”

 

Roman Catholic Archbishop Dieudonne Nzapalainga of the Bangui Archdiocese has welcomed Imam Omar Kobine Layama, president of the country’s Islamic Community, to live with him in the church compound.

“I live alongside him and I ask Christians to do likewise,” Nzapalainga said in a statement Tuesday (Feb. 18) for Caritas, the international relief organization. “Love should be a characteristic of Christians. You can’t call yourself a Christian if you kill your brother. You can’t call yourself a Christian when you hunt him down.”

Last week, CAR interim President Catherine Samba-Panza said she was “going to war” with the Anti-Balaka, who she described as having replaced a “sense of their mission” with warfare and killings.

#Ukraine Kiev's Maidan Square in surreal 'Before & After' images

The blackened ruins and gaping windows of Ukraine’s landmark Independence Square have left Kiev looking like a warzone for the first time since WWII. The square has always served as a main stage for Ukrainian politics – but not a literal battleground.

Featured on every postcard, the grandiose post-war complex of monuments has been the true – if slightly touristy – heart of Kiev.

But now, the square is divided by ad hoc barricades built from paving stones, wooden debris, and tires. The iconic Trade Union building, which has served as the protesters' headquarters, was set on fire earlier this week and is now just a shell, after its floors and walls collapsed one by one.

In contrast to the normal, everyday hustle and bustle, the square is currently filled with hastily-appointed leaders deciding who mans the entrances and who is responsible for food and barricade building. But regardless of security measures, people in the area are an easy target for snipers lurking in the buildings that surround the square from all sides.

Police dressed in riot gear are stationed several blocks away, taking turns between sitting in their vehicles and patrolling the perimeter. Journalists with the world 'PRESS' written on their jackets float between the two sides, but find themselves in the crossfire once skirmishes begin.

Once the conflict ends, the square will have to be rebuilt. It may be more difficult to do the same with the country that surrounds it.

Five Reasons Why I Love #Egypt

With a string of bad news coming out of my beloved homeland (from bombings to fatal road accidents and lost mountain climbers), I have fallen into a bout of depression.

That depression then turned into anger (I got mad, I got very mad!).  Overwhelmed with emotions that I didn’t know how to digest, I decided to try and look at the bright side and remind myself of all the things I love about Egypt.

The Egyptian Smile

There is no other smile out there that is as genuine as that of an Egyptian. The radiating goodness and positivity you feel, even in these hard times, comes off as so genuine that it becomes contagious. Enough to turn your day around.

Egyptian Chivalry

Egyptians band together in times of trouble. If they know you or not, they will have your back regardless. Very recently, I had a very bad car accident on the way to Hurgahda (the car flipped three times). Complete strangers came to our rescue, flipped the car over and came running with their first aid kits.

As we were only two girls on the road, one truck driver took it upon himself to make sure we were taken care of, getting us into an ambulance. We thought that would be the last of us seeing him, but to our surprise we found him waiting for us at the Ras Gharib hospital and he made sure to take all the administrative work off our hands so we could concentrate on getting checked up.

I don’t know if God sent us an angel or if, like they say, “chivalry is not dead,” but this man will always leave an ever lasting, amazing impression of my fellow countrymen.

We Have the Beach All Year Round

Not everyone is as lucky as us to be able to go lay by the beach in December or party on the sand in April. With temperatures that would make an eskimo jealous, I have to say we are blessed with unrivaled beaches and gorgeous temperatures.

Egyptian Creativity

Leave it to us Egyptians to come up with the most absurd inventions possible, from some that are outright genius (check video below) to some that get their job done but are a bit ridiculous.

Since the onset of Egypt’s revolution we’ve seen unbelievable inventions come out, like the pan hat that was used as a protective helmet in Tahrir.

Long live the Egyptian man’s mind – you put a smile on my face every day.

Egyptian Humor

Leave it to us that in times of dire tragedy we find the humor in everything. When everyone wants to escape Egypt and is looking for a safe haven abroad we of course have to turn it into a joke. It is probably a psychological ailment we all suffer from, deferring our real issues through humor, but hey, it definitely makes us smile when everything else is so grim!

The Syrian child refugee whose photo hit a nerve online #Syria

It is an everyday occurrence at border crossings out of Syria, but for four-year-old Marwan, it must have been terrifying.

After being temporarily separated from his family at the remote Hagallat crossing on Sunday, he was found by staff from the UN's refugee agency.

Andrew Harper, the head of the UN refugee agency UNHCR in Jordan, took the picture and posted it on Twitter, where it hit a nerve with many users.

It was widely reposted online.

But however heartbreaking the picture was, Mr Harper said, it was not unusual in the "chaos and confusion" of refugee border crossings.

Most refugee groups were headed by mothers bringing several children and all their possessions out of Syria, he said.

When the gates open, there is a crush as desperate refugees surge forward. Every day, children get lost.

With UNHCR staff searching for them when the surge abates, they typically do not spend too long on their own.

Mr Harper said Marwan was taken across and reunited with his mother about 10 minutes after this picture was taken.

On Tuesday, he posted another photo on Twitter that shows Marwan was at the back of a group of refugees when he was met by UNHCR staff.

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The inset image shows Marwan was not far behind his family when met by UNHCR staff

"He is separated - he is not alone," Mr Harper added.

Crossing the border is a nervous time for the children and their families - one more trauma in the hellish journey from destroyed lives in Syria to an uncertain future as refugees in a foreign land.

Most of the refugees crossing at Hagallat - which lacks even a proper road - came from Homs and al-Quaryatayn, and it was likely Marwan was from there too, said Mr Harper.

He was just one of about 1,000 people who crossed into Jordan on that day alone.

There are now 600,000 Syrian refugees registered with the UNHCR in Jordan, part of an estimated 2.4 million across the region as a whole.

A short distance inside Jordan, the mood of the children improved

Malala Yousafzai visited the border as part of her campaign for children's education

It is not clear what the future holds for young Marwan.

But with the mood of other refugee children one of relief once they cross the border, it is hoped that he, too, might look forward to a brighter future.

Malala Yousafzai, the teenager who survived a Taliban assassination attempt in Pakistan and has become a global campaigner for children's education, was also at the border on Sunday.

She witnessed emotional scenes at the border and, with her father, helped several refugees cross the no-man's land that separates the two nations.

The Malala Fund is teaming up with local Jordanian and Syrian organisations to help Syrian children get an education.

Asteroid 2000 EM26 to Pass Near Earth

 asteroid three times the size of a football pitch and travelling at 27,000 miles per hour will pass close to Earth tonight.

The 'potentially hazardous' object, named 2000 EM26, will come within about 1.6 million miles (2.6 million km) of Earth at 9pm EST (2am GMT February 18).

Despite its ominous-spouding classification, scientists claim the near-Earth asteroid 2000 EM26, which is about 885ft (270m) in diameter, poses no threat of hitting the planet.