DNA from 2,000-year-old skeleton may put Indo-Europeans in East Asia

ROME – The legend of Leonardo da Vinci is shrouded in mystery: How did he die? Are the remains buried in a French chateau really those of the Renaissance master? Was the “Mona Lisa” a self-portrait in disguise?

The long-sought aqueduct that delivered fresh, clean water to Rome nearly 2,000 years ago, is found beneath a pig pasture northwest of the Italian city.

A 2,221-year-old silver coin dug up as part of a hoard is the oldest piece of Roman money ever found in Britain.

Primary school children should be taught about obscure religions that believe plants have souls and the dead must be eaten by vultures, according to government guidance.

A Polish priest has installed an electronic reader in his church for schoolchildren to leave their fingerprints in order to monitor their attendance at mass, the Gazeta Wyborcza daily said on Friday.

Labour has introduced 14,300 new offences since taking office in 1997, with Gordon Brown’s administration inventing crimes at a rate of more than one a day.

Thanks to Labour, it is now illegal to swim in the wreck of the Titanic or to sell game birds killed on a Sunday or Christmas Day – eventualities overlooked by previous governments.

The idea of secret banking cabals that control the country and global economy are a given among conspiracy theorists who stockpile ammo, bottled water and peanut butter. After this week’s congressional hearing into the bailout of American International Group Inc., you have to wonder if those folks are crazy after all.

Wednesday’s hearing described a secretive group deploying billions of dollars to favored banks, operating with little oversight by the public or elected officials.

Comparing the Peasants’ Revolt with the Punk Revolution or medieval astrology with the Apollo moon landings might appear unconnected at first, but the British Library’s new interactive website Timelines: Sources from History will allow students to get a sense of change, continuity and chronology when studying historical events. Bringing together material from the Library’s vast collections and using cutting-edge technology, users will now be able to discover historical connections and create links in an exciting multimedia experience.

Scientists from the Tel Aviv, Israel-based company Nucleix have demonstrated that it is possible to create fake DNA samples and plant them as evidence at a crime scene, in a paper published in the journal Forensic Science: International Genetics.

“You can just engineer a crime scene,” said lead researcher and Nucleix co-founder Dan Frumkin. “Any biology undergraduate could perform this.”

The UK Government has unilaterally decided to end the reciprocal health agreement with the Isle of Man – this means that, from April 2010, UK residents visiting the island will no longer be covered for medical care and Manx residents will no longer be covered for medical care should they be taken ill in the UK. Anyone taking a ferry to the Isle of Man will need to have health insurance.

Anyone living in the Isle of Man (many of whom have served in the British Armed Forces or are British Nationals) even if they have paid years of national insurance in the UK, will need to have health insurance if they visit the UK.

If you don’t agree with this and would like to let the British Government know your feelings, sign the official petition on the No.10 website here – http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/HealthcareIOMUK/ and forward this on to as many of your friends as you can.

Rhonda Renata is in no doubt about what caused the death of her daughter Jasmine.

The 18-year-old died last September 22 at her family home in Upper Hutt, apparently in her sleep.

It was six months since she had received the last of the three injections of the cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil.

Rome, 27 Jan. (AKI) – An international team of archaeologists claims to have unearthed the 2000-year-old birthplace of the Roman emperor, Vespasian, north of the Italian capital. Vespasian ruled the Roman empire in the first century A.D. and was behind the construction of the Colosseum, one of Italy’s most popular landmarks.

DUBLIN’S NORTHSIDE is revealing its own Viking past with the first evidence of 11th-century Dubliners choosing to settle on the north shore of the Liffey emerging in the past week.

Drug companies manipulated the World Health Organisation into downgrading its definition of a pandemic so they could cash in on a swine flu outbreak, it is claimed.

An inquiry heard yesterday that the WHO allegedly softened its criteria for declaring a H1N1 flu pandemic last spring – just weeks before announcing there was a worldwide outbreak.

Critics said the decision was driven by pharmaceutical companies desperate to recoup the billions of pounds they had invested in researching and developing pandemic vaccines after the bird flu scares in 2006 and 2007.

An ancient curse of Tara has been unleashed in Ireland by the destruction of the Fairy Forts.

That’s according to anti-highway activist Carmel Divine who says a “modern day Curse of Tara” has been unleashed on Ireland by the “destruction and desecration of the M3 Motorway.”

She said that Seannachaí Eddie Lennihan warned the Irish Government in early 2007 against destroying the Fairy Forts in Ireland’s historic Tara Skryne Valley.

SQUADS of heavily-disguised men brandishing burning torches will snuff out months of hard work tonight when they torch a lovingly-crafted Viking longboat.

The dragon-headed ship’s fate in the Lerwick Up-Helly-Aa festival is always sealed as the sacrificial centrepiece.

An intricate horse head is the latest item from the Anglo-Saxon Staffordshire Hoard to be put on public display.

The solid gold ornament – about two inches tall – is laced with a filigree gold design and very nearly intact.

Police in the UK are planning to use unmanned spy drones, controversially deployed in Afghanistan, for the ­”routine” monitoring of antisocial motorists, ­protesters, agricultural thieves and fly-tippers, in a significant expansion of covert state surveillance.

Documents reveal the partnership intends to begin using the drones in time for the 2012 Olympics. They also indicate that police claims that the technology will be used for maritime surveillance fall well short of their intended use – which could span a range of police activity – and that officers have talked about selling the surveillance data to private companies.

Evidence relating to the death of Government weapons inspector David Kelly is to be kept secret for 70 years, it has been reported.

A highly unusual ruling by Lord Hutton, who chaired the inquiry into Dr Kelly’s death, means medical records including the post-mortem report will remain classified until after all those with a direct interest in the case are dead, the Mail on Sunday reported.