The geoglyph is etched on the sloping face of a hill at Pisco Bay on the Peruvian coast. The design has been cut into the soil to a depth of two feet with stones, possibly from a later date, placed around it. The figure is 181 meters tall, large enough to be seen as far as twenty kilometers out at sea.
The Paracas Candelabra is generally attributed to the Paracas Culture of the first millennium BCE, based on pottery discovered in the area that was radiocarbon dated to 200 BC. The pottery likely belonged to the Paracas people, although it has never been confirmed whether they were involved in the creation of the geoglyph.
The overall shape of the geoglyps is that of a trident—possibly representing the lightning rod of the god Viracocha, a mythological figure in South America— the branches split out further into more smaller branches. Some say it looks more like a cactus.
Frank Joseph, an author obsessed with alternative theories, have found likeness of a hallucinogenic plant called jimson (Datura stramomium) in Paracas Candelabra. His theory is that prehistoric inhabitants of the Paracas region travelled north to California to collect the plant, and the geoglyph was used to help navigate home. The idea that the geoglyph was used as a navigational aid is an old one though. Locals believe it was used by sailors to identify the peninsula.
Paracas Candelabra is certainly an enigma. Together with the Nazca lines it shows how little we currently understand about these sites and pre-Colombian cultures in general.
A Mexican model andvolunteer was crowned Miss World at a glitzy event. Miss Mexico Vanessa Pance de Leon, 26, has a degree in international business, volunteers for " Migrates en el Camino" and is on the board of directors of rehab centre for girls. She was crowned as 68th Miss World by last year's winner, Manushi Chhillar of India, in the coastal city of Sanya. The colorful ceremony included US group Sisters Sledge performing their 1979 disco anthem "we are family" First runner up was Thailand's Nicolene, a 28-year -old studying business administration . Miss Belarus, Miss Jamaica and Miss Uganda were also among the final five.
It is the eighth time te Miss World final has been held in Sanya, which first hosted the pageant in 2003. At the finals three years ago controversy erupted as officials in Hongkong stopped Miss Canada, Anastasia, from boarding a plane for Sanya, telling her she would not receive a visa.
The 25-year-old actress claimed the decision was due to her stance on China's human rights record, including its prosecution of Falun Gong, a Chinese spiritual group of which she is a practitioner.
Syeda Fatemi, an assistant director at ministry of foreign affairs, along with her husband died of asphyxiation after a gas leakage in their hotel room in Hunza. The couple was on their honeymoon after they tied knot on November 29. The couple's postmortem at Civil Hospital Hunza confirmed the cause of death to be suffocation. Fatemi was from 42nd training program and had been stationed at common diplomacy section of foreign office. She hadjust completed training course from France and originally belonged to Attock. Fatemi was also a position holder at the special diplomacy course.
Thousands of vulnerable women and girls from northern Myanmar are being trafficked to China and forced to marry. China has around 33 million fewer women than men due to the decades- long one child policy. To plug the gap, tens of thousands of poor women from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam are sold asbrides each year , some going willingly, while others are tricked or trafficked. One report revealed that nearly 7,500 women from war -torn Kachin and northern Shan states have fallen victim to forced marriage in China. Scores of people who escaped and returned to Myanmar. and others still in China, the study found that the majority of those trafficked were also forced to carry a child for their husbands.
Women leave Myanmar because " conflict, displacement and poverty", while the male-female sex imbalance in China, especially in rural areas means demand for a wife is high.
Women leave Myanmar because of “conflict, displacement and poverty” said report author W Courtland Robinson, while “the male-female sex imbalance in China, especially in rural areas” means demand for a wife is high.
One woman told researchers that she was trafficked into China three times, and each time “pushed into giving birth”, said Moon Nay Li of Kachin Women’s Association Thailand, who led the field research in Kachin and Shan states.
“Because of political instability, conflict and land confiscation … security for women is a big challenge,” she said.
Marriages are often arranged and brokered by the women’s own families and village elders, with brides-to-be unable to refuse as they are at the bottom of the social hierarchy.
The youngest women command higher prices of up to US$10,000 – US$15,000.
Their matches in China are typically to older, sick, or disabled men in rural areas – people considered undesirable to the Han Chinese – while the women’s lack of documentation plunges them into a legal limbo.
The study found that women were often “hired” to bear children for their husbands and then forced out or sold on to new husbands to recoup money.
Some women have successful marriages and the issue of consent is complex and varies case-by-case, Robinson said.
But all unions should be entered into without “threat, menace or penalty”, he added.
Often daughters “can’t say no to their parents”, said Moon Nay Li, and feel compelled to go ahead with the marriage once “traffickers and agents have given money to their parents”.
Researchers called for Myanmar to end the conflict in Kachin and Shan states, which has displaced tens of thousands of women, and to train anti-trafficking officials to enforce the law and recognise the women as victims.
