Neighborhoods: African-American history and more in Harlem

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Indian tribal dancers dressed in costume pose as they prepare to perform a traditional ‘tiger dance’ on the occasion of International Tiger Day in Kolkata yesterday. International Tiger Day which came into being at the Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit in 2010, is held annually on July 29, to give worldwide attention to the reservation of tigers and it is both an awareness day as a celebration. — AFP

Hermes to probe, punish ‘cruelty’ to crocs used for handbags

ermes said yesterday it was probing claims able to feel pain,” PETA said. “The investigator saw The bag has since become a celebrities’ of cruelty at crocodile and alligator farms alligators continuing to move their legs and tails favorite, beloved of Victoria Beckham, Kim Hthat supply the French fashion house with in the bleed rack and in bloody ice bins several Kardashian and characters in the popular “Sex skins for its luxury handbags and accessories. minutes after their attempted slaughter,” it added. and the City” television series, among others. The British singer Jane Birkin on Tuesday asked Hermes said it was investigating the farm in crocodile version, which costs at least 33,000 Hermes to remove her name from the iconic croc- Texas. “Any proven negligence will be corrected euros ($36,000), is one of Hermes’s best-known odile skin Birkin bag after rights group PETA pub- and punished,” Hermes said, highlighting that it products, along with its silk scarves and purses lished an expose on “cruel” treatment of the ani- does not own the farm and that the alligator skins named after Grace Kelly. The handbag, which also mals at farms in Texas and Zimbabwe. “Hermes are not used to make the Birkin bag. The manu- comes in cow, calf or ostrich leather, is made respects and shares her emotion and was also facturer added that it imposed the “highest stan- entirely by hand in France. Each bag takes 18 to shocked by the recently published images,” the dards in the ethical treatment of crocodiles” on its 25 hours to complete. — AFP company said in a statement. partners. Hermes also said Birkin’s request did not PETA filmed disturbing images of crocodiles in affect “the friendship and trust” between her and Zimbabwe and alligators in Texas-whose skin is the house. The bag was designed for Birkin in An employee holding a 129,000 used to make watch-straps-in which they live 1984, after a chance meeting of the singer and USD crocodile-skin Hermes crammed into barren concrete pits before being the then president of Hermes, Jean-Louis Dumas. ‘Birkin’ bag for the press to see, “cruelly hacked” to death. “At just one year old, A young mother at the time, she complained she during a private opening for the alligators are shot with a captive-bolt gun or could not find a bag that was both elegant and new Hermes store on Wall crudely cut into while they’re still conscious and practical. Street. — AFP photos Clues in the ruins where Britain’s empire was born

rchaeologists said Tuesday they have identified imported elite at the ultimately ill-fated settlement Beside them were Sir Ferdinando Wainman, thought the remains of four men who were among the south of Washington, the current US capital city. to be the first of ’s elite to be buried in the Aleaders of an early English settlement in And their lives coincided with a crucial time for the Americas, and Captain William West. ’s Jamestown. It took years for scientists to settlement which was near failure due to disease, West was killed in a battle with the local identify the poorly preserved bones belonging to an hunger and war. “With the discovery of four burials in indigenous tribe. About a third of their remains had Anglican priest and three military officials. They were the chancel of the church, we looked forward to the not decomposed, the scientists said, adding that their found in what is believed to be the oldest Protestant challenge of identifying these individuals by name,” burial near the church choir indicated their high church in the modern-day United States. The 1608 said Smithsonian forensic anthropologist Douglas social status. “Going to a colony in the new world for church was the location of tobacco grower John Owsley. “The skeletons of these men help fill in the any European was a very risky business, very danger- Rolfe’s marriage to Pocahontas, a daughter of the local stories of their lives and contribute to existing knowl- ous,” Horn said. “Starvation, Indian attacks and disease indigenous chief who was made famous by a Disney edge about the early years at Jamestown.” were the three major killers for these men. And this is epic. not unusual that none of them would go beyond Humid and low-lying Jamestown is where Britain’s Painstaking ID process forty.” Archaeologists also said they had found a small world-changing empire began. “It’s a major discovery. A combination of archaeology, skeletal analyses, silver box atop Archer’s coffin. CT scans of the sealed These are the earliest English leaders to be discovered chemical testing, 3-D technology and genealogical box revealed that it is likely a Catholic reliquary with in America,” director Jim Horn research combined to make identification a real possi- pieces of bone and holy water inside. Despite told AFP. At a briefing, he told reporters: “After being bility. In this case, it was success times four. Only about colonists’ efforts to convert locals to , lost to history for more than 400 years, their discovery 30 percent of each skeleton had been recovered. they said this discovery made it appear that at least reveals new clues about life, death and the impor- Reverend Robert Hunt, the colony’s first Anglican one of the colonists kept his Catholic faith, perhaps tance of religion in one of England’s most critical set- priest, and Captain Gabriel Archer, were part of the secretly. — AFP The bones of four of the early leaders of ’ Jamestown settlement are displayed at tlements.” The people whose remains were found first settlement campaign in 1607. It was led by the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC. — AFP photos ranged in age from 24-39. They were part of the Captain , who was helped by Pocahontas.

The bones of four of the early leaders of Virginias’ Jamestown settlement are Bones, from one of four of the early leaders of Virginias’ Jamestown settle- A skull from one of the early leaders of Virginias’ Jamestown settlement is dis- displayed at an archeological dig in Jamestown, Virginia. ment, are seen near a silver box believed to be a Catholic reliquary resting on played. top of Capt Gabriel Archer’s coffin.