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MIAMI -- The top United Nations human rights watchdog on Tuesday ordered Venezuela to avoid destroying tally sheets and other electoral material as it investigates allegations that President Nicolás Maduro stole this summer's election . The U.N. Human Rights Council announced the opening of the probe in a letter to several Latin American jurists who in October petitioned the U.N. agency to take action in the face of what is said was widespread evidence of electoral fraud that violates the political rights of millions of Venezuelans. Maduro claimed he won the July contest by a large margin and is preparing to start a third, six-year term in January. But electoral authorities have so far refused to publish voting records to back such claims, as they have in the past, amid calls by the U.S., European Union and even leftist allies from Brazil, Colombia and Mexico to do so. Meanwhile, the opposition has published online what appear to be authentic tallies from 80% of polling machines showing that its candidate, Edmundo González , won by a more than 2-to-1 margin. The October petition, made on behalf of a regular Venezuelan citizen, alleges that Maduro officials committed multiple human rights violations by restricting the ability of millions of Venezuelans abroad, publishing false results and blocking any challenges in court. Paulo Abrao, a Brazilian attorney who was among those behind the complaint, said the decision comes as a crucial time, as the Maduro government is seeking to "normalize its nebulous electoral process” in the hopes the rest of the world will move on amid so many other pressing international crises. “We cannot allow that to happen,” said Abrao, the former head of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. “Now there is a formal case being processed in an international body with binding force. Venezuela has the obligation to comply with the decision.” ____ Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-americaArticle content Things got heated between Bill Maher and Neil deGrasse Tyson as the two butted heads over their differing stances on transgender athletes in women’s sports, Scientific American magazine, and the Democrats’ loss in the election. Recommended Videos Maher kicked off Friday’s episode of Real Time with Bill Maher by asking deGrasse Tyson about the recent departure of Scientific American ’ s editor Laura Helmuth, who stepped down after posting a string of attacks on social media about President-elect Donald Trump. “It sure didn’t sound scientific. It didn’t sound like the person I would want to be running Scientific American. It was a rant on Twitter,” Maher said. In part, Helmuth posted: “You know, ‘I apologize to younger voters that my Gen-X is so full of f***ing fascists.” “OK. I’m not for cancelling people on either side, but here’s what I think is the scandal,” the host said. “This is in Scientific American less than a year ago: ‘Inequity between male and female athletes as a result, not of inherent biological differences between the sexes, but of biases in how they are treated in sports.’” Maher ranted: “That’s nuts. And it sure ain’t scientific. And it’s in Scientific American . And that’s why the Democrats lost the election.” Why the Democrats lost the election. pic.twitter.com/wu0K83JgsC Maher was referencing an article published on Nov. 1, 2023, titled “The Theory That Men Evolved to Hunt and Women Evolved to Gather Is Wrong” which explored the biological differences in males and females. Tyson laughed at Maher for linking transgender issues to Vice President Kamala Harris’ loss in the presidential election. “Bill, every 20 minutes on your platform, you come up with another reason why the Democrats lost. You already have the answer. They lost the election,” deGrasse Tyson laughed before Maher interrupted him. The host noted that deGrasse Tyson doesn’t watch his show, so he doesn’t know what Maher says in each episode. “Engage with the idea here,” Maher said. “What I’m asking is Scientific American is saying basically that the reason why a WNBA team can’t beat the Lakers is because of societal bias.” The famed astrophysicist tried to deflect, but Maher continued on the offensive. RECOMMENDED VIDEO “I think a year ago, women still couldn’t beat men in basketball or any other sport, and it wasn’t because of society. You don’t see a problem here?” Maher asked before posing deGrasse Tyson another question: “Why can’t you just say this is not scientific and that Scientific American should do better?” Tyson countered, “Well, does she still have her job?” referring to Helmuth, to which Maher shouted, “Not because of this! I said the scandal is not her tweet... you don’t see a problem here?” Tyson responded: “Long distance swimming, women might actually have the advantage, you look into that.” A baffled Maher replied, “Well, I’m going to file you under ‘part of the problem.’”

NoneCALGARY, Alberta (AP) — A Ukrainian girls’ hockey team is in Canada for a few days of peace and hockey in an arena that doesn’t have a missile-sized hole in its roof. After 56 hours of travel to Calgary, including a 24-hour bus ride from Dnipro to Warsaw, Poland, that required army escort for a portion of it, the Ukrainian Wings will join Wickfest, Hayley Wickenheiser’s annual girls’ hockey festival, on Thursday. The squad of players aged 11 to 13 was drawn from eight different cities in Ukraine, where sport facilities have been damaged or destroyed since Russia started its invasion in February 2022. “They all have a personal story of something awful happening,” said Wickenheiser. “We give them a week of peace and joy here, and I hope they can carry that with them. “We know full well they’re going back to difficult circumstances. It’s tough that way.” Nine players are from Kharkiv, where pictures show a large hole in the roof of the Saltovskiy Led arena where the girls’ team WHC Panthers once skated. “It was our home ice arena, and we played all our national team championships in this ice arena,” said Kateryna Seredenko, who oversees the Panthers program and is the Wings general manager. Ukraine’s Olympic Committee posted photos and wrote in a Facebook post Sept. 1 that Kharkiv’s Sport Palace, which was home to multiple hockey teams, was also destroyed in an attack on the city. Seredenko says the Wings’ arduous journey to Calgary was worth it because it gives the girls hope. “It’s not a good situation in Ukraine, but when they come here, they can believe that everything will be good, everything will be fine, of course we will win soon and we must play hockey. We can’t stop because we love these girls and we will do everything for them,” she said. “So many girls on this Ukrainian team are future players of the national team.” Wickenheiser, a Hockey Hall of Famer , is the assistant general manager of player development for the Toronto Maple Leafs and a doctor who works emergency room shifts in the Toronto area. The six-time Olympian and four-time gold medalist organized her first Wickfest after the 2010 Winter Games. She’s had teams from India, Mexico and the Czech Republic attend over the last decade and a half, but never a team that ran the Ukrainians’ gauntlet of logistics. The Canadian Partnership for Women and Children’s Health took on the task of arranging visas and paying for the team’s travel. “We care about women and children’s health. Sport is such a symbol. When you see a group of girls coming off the ice all sweaty and having worked hard on the ice, it’s a symbol of a healthy girl,” said chief executive officer Julia Anderson. “That’s a healthy kid that’s able to participate in sport. We really believe if we can get girls there, whether they’re in an active war zone, or here in Canada, those girls will change the world.” The Wings aren’t the first Ukrainians to seek a hockey haven in Canada since the war began. An under-25 men’s team played four games against university squads in early 2023 to prepare for that year’s world university games. Ukrainian teams have also twice played in the Quebec City International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament. “It’s the first time in Ukrainian history where a girls’ team is coming to Canada to a very good tournament,” Seredenko said. “They can see how they can play in their future. And they can see how it is to play hockey in Canada.” AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

South Korea's President Yoon declares 'emergency martial law', suspends parliament, opposed by own party leader

QUETTA: All of the educational institutions will remain closed in Balochsitan on Monday due to the call of a province-wide strike against the kidnapping of an 11-year-old student from Quetta. The sit-in committee and traders association have jointly called for the wheel-jam strike on Monday, Nov 25, while several political parties have also supported the call, against the abduction of a minor, son of a tribal elder Haji Raz Mohammad. According to the Department of Education, all public and private educational institutions, including schools, colleges and universities, will remain closed today in the wake of the strike. “The government decided to close educational institutions as a precautionary measure to ensure the safety of students and staff, during the strike” sources said. Read More: PTI protest triggers closure of Rawalpindi, Islamabad educational institutions A strike was also observed on Nov 20 against the failure of authorities in recovery of the student who was abducted when returning home from school in Quetta. During the strike large number of protesters, including family members of the student, staged a protest, demanding authorities to take immediate action to recover the abductee. The Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court has also took notice of the kidnapping while several political leaders criticized the provincial government for failing to recover the child, despite passing 10 days. On the other hand, In light of the ongoing Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) protest, a decision has been made, to close all educational institutions in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi on Monday. According to reports, the Islamabad Private Schools Association announced the closure of schools, citing the current situation as the reason for this decision.

NoneHezbollah fires about 250 rockets and other projectiles into Israel in heaviest barrage in weeks

More than 100 new edtech jobs are set to be created in Birmingham after a software training business announced it was expanding into the city. Wolverhampton-based School of Coding & AI has struck a deal to launch a new hub in Livery Street from where it plans to teach the next generation of tech and digital professionals. It said it expected to create at least 100 new higher education roles over the next three years. Founded in 2017, the company works with schools, colleges and businesses to boost digital skills by delivering courses in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths), computer science, AI and cyber security. It has formed a new partnership with University of Wolverhampton to open a 12,000 sq ft hub in Livery Place in Birmingham’s business district and plans to open five further campuses across the country in 2025. The new higher education centre will contain an AI learning lab and deliver a range of degrees and higher education courses. Around 300 students are set to enrol in January. The business also expanded into India earlier this year with new offices in Hyderabad and Chandigarh where it provides UK students with fully funded placements and the chance to experience a new culture while developing their skills in software development. In a separate announcement, SI Group, which specialises in performance additives, process solutions and chemical intermediates, is creating 15 roles by relocating its European R&D base from Greater Manchester base to Four Ashes, near Wolverhampton. The new facility will focus on the development of new products and the creation of data for existing products, as well as providing analytical support for R&D, manufacturing and supply chain functions. Its move to the West Midlands will create new roles in the fields of chemistry, polymer science and materials science and the lab will also offer summer internships for local students. The West Midlands Growth Company supported both investments by providing School of Coding & AI and SI Group with consultancy ahead of the moves. Manny Athwal, chief executive of School of Coding & AI, said: "We’re extremely excited to be collaborating with the University of Wolverhampton for this next chapter in our growth journey. "From our new Birmingham campus, we look forward to equipping a new generation of students with the specialist knowledge and expertise to embark on exciting and rewarding careers in tech." Cllr Stephen Simkins, leader of City of Wolverhampton Council, said: "Yet again, Wolverhampton is demonstrating it is a leader in digital technology and innovation. "School of Coding & AI is a beacon for the city and SI Group’s lab relocation shows the region is the place to invest when it comes to R&D. "Both companies are making a real difference to our residents and those beyond the city by creating jobs that align with our skills agenda." University of Wolverhampton vice-chancellor Ebrahim Adia said: "This is a very exciting initiative for the University of Wolverhampton and we look forward to continuing to develop our partnership with the School of Coding and AI and in doing so benefiting our students and the wider economy in what is a key growth sector."

Global stocks mostly rose Tuesday, with US and German indices posting records, as markets weighed Chinese stimulus hopes, political tensions in France and the US interest-rate outlook. Germany's blue-chip DAX stock index jumped above 20,000 points for the first time and Paris rebounded even as France braced for new political turmoil. In New York, both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq narrowly rose to finish at records, while the Dow pulled back. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.CNBC's Jim Cramer reviewed the market's reaction to President-elect Donald Trump's latest cabinet pick, hedge fund manager Scott Bessent. Cramer said Wall Street demonstrated a belief that the potential Treasury secretary will be a prudent force in the administration. "What matters is that this treasury secretary designate is a serious person, not unlike Steven Mnuchin before him," he said "And those who believed Trump couldn't get a dollop of rigor in the cabinet — well, they've been proven wrong." CNBC's Jim Cramer on Monday reviewed investors' reaction to President-elect Donald Trump 's latest cabinet pick, hedge fund manager Scott Bessent . His takeaway is that Wall Street believes the potential Treasury secretary will be a prudent force in the administration. "What matters is that this Treasury secretary designate is a serious person, not unlike Steven Mnuchin before him," he said "And those who believed Trump couldn't get a dollop of rigor in the cabinet — well, they've been proven wrong." While the market initially celebrated Trump's win as a step towards corporate deregulation and lower taxes, investors grew concerned at the possibility of high tariffs, Cramer said. But the averages soared on Monday, with both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 hitting new records during the session. Cramer also pointed out that Treasury yields fell , with the 10-year sliding to about 4.28% when investors were worried about it hitting 4.5% a few days ago. According to Cramer, some are impressed with Bessent's qualifications — he worked for billionaire George Soros and ran his own hedge fund — and his three-pronged policy plan. Bessent has advised pursuing a so-called 3-3-3 initiative, modeled after the "three arrows" policy implemented by former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who helped pull Japan's economy out of stagnation . Bessent's plan includes cutting the deficit by 3% of the gross domestic product by 2028, growing the economy at a 3% rate and producing three million additional oil barrels per day. Cramer suggested the deficit reduction plan makes sense, and he called the 3% growth target a "Goldilocks story," that could gradually shrink the deficit without harsh spending cuts. He was fairly skeptical about the oil initiative and called it a "pipeline dream." "Call it the firmament — not Wall Street, but the firmament," he said. "That's where Scott Bessent, the Treasury Secretary designate, comes from, so the fence sitters and skeptics are jumping on the Trump bandwagon as if the president elect said, 'higher stock prices and lower taxes for all.'" Sign up now for the CNBC Investing Club to follow Jim Cramer's every move in the market. Disclaimer Questions for Cramer? Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBC Want to take a deep dive into Cramer's world? Hit him up! Mad Money Twitter - Jim Cramer Twitter - Facebook - Instagram Questions, comments, suggestions for the "Mad Money" website? madcap@cnbc.com

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NoneFederal prosecutors moved to dismiss the criminal charges against President-elect Donald Trump that accused him of plotting to overturn the 2020 election and to abandon the classified documents case against him, citing longstanding Justice Department policy that says sitting presidents cannot face criminal prosecution. The decision by special counsel Jack Smith, who had fiercely sought to hold Mr Trump criminally accountable for his efforts to subvert the 2020 election, represented the end of the federal effort against the former president following his election victory this month despite the election-related cases and multiple other unrelated criminal charges against him. The move, announced in court papers, marks the end of the Justice Department’s landmark effort to hold Mr Trump accountable for what prosecutors called a criminal conspiracy to cling to power in the run-up to his supporters’ attack on the US Capitol on January 6 2021. In court papers, prosecutors said the Justice Department’s position “is that the Constitution requires that this case be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated”. Mr Smith’s team emphasised that the move to abandon the prosecutions, in federal courts in Washington and Florida, was not a reflection of their view on the merits of the cases but rather a reflection of their commitment to longstanding department policy. “That prohibition is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the Government’s proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the Government stands fully behind,” the prosecutors wrote in Monday’s court filing in the election interference case. The decision was expected after Mr Smith’s team began assessing how to wind down both the 2020 election interference case and the separate classified documents case in the wake of Mr Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris. The Justice Department believes Trump can no longer be tried in accordance with longstanding policy that says sitting presidents cannot be prosecuted. Mr Trump has cast both cases as politically motivated and has vowed to fire Mr Smith as soon as he takes office in January. The 2020 election case brought last year was once seen as one of the most serious legal threats facing the Republican as he vied to reclaim the White House. However, it quickly stalled amid legal fighting over Mr Trump’s sweeping claims of immunity from prosecution for acts he took while in the White House. The US Supreme Court in July ruled for the first time that former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution, and sent the case back to US District Judge Tanya Chutkan to determine which allegations in the indictment, if any, could proceed to trial. The case was just beginning to pick up steam again in the trial court in the weeks leading up to this year’s election. Mr Smith’s team filed a lengthy brief in October laying out new evidence they planned to use against him at trial, accusing him of “resorting to crimes” in an increasingly desperate effort to overturn the will over voters after he lost to President Joe Biden.High-flying Sheffield United will continue their quest for promotion when they host strugglers Oxford United at Bramall Lane on Tuesday in their 17th Championship outing. The home team are third with 32 points and their 2-2 draw with Coventry City on Saturday left them level on points from with the team's occupying the league's two automatic promotion spots at the top of the table, while the away side are 18th with 17 points after 16 matchweeks and lost 6-2 against Middlesbrough on November 23. The Blades may have mixed emotions about their draw with Coventry, as while they will be pleased that they avoided defeat considering they were reduced to 10 men late in the first half, they will be disappointed that they conceded an 80th-minute equaliser and surrendered their 2-1 lead. Boss Chris Wilder was satisfied with a share of the spoils, saying: "Definitely a point gained with how the game went. We're 2-1 up, do we go kamikaze and play 4-3-2 and open the game up? We sat in, we have shown that we're prepared to defend by hook or by crook." Wilder's side have been excellent defensively in the Championship this campaign, with their figure of 10 clean sheets the joint best in the division, while their record of nine goals conceded is only bettered by fourth-placed Burnley. The club also boast the league's seventh best offensive record having scored 21 goals this season, and they have netted at least twice in four of their past five matches. Sheffield United have won four times and drawn on one occasion in their five most recent outings, and have in fact been triumphant in nine of their last 13 games. The Blades' home record in 2024-25 is outstanding, with the club unbeaten in their eight fixtures at Bramall Lane, emerging victorious seven times while also keeping six clean sheets in their last six home games. Oxford come into Tuesday's clash deflated after losing in humiliating fashion against Middlesbrough, a match in which the U's led 1-0 after 24 minutes but were trailing 3-1 by half time. Middlesbrough managed to create four big chances and register 12 shots from inside the penalty area, while Oxford only produced one big chance and had six attempts from inside the box. Head coach Des Buckingham will be concerned that his team have conceded 24 times in the Championship, a tally that makes them the league's joint fifth worst defensive club. Buckingham's side are in terrible form having taken three points in just one of their last 11 fixtures, succumbing to defeat in four of their five most recent games. Oxford have lost five and drawn two of their seven away matches in the second tier, and their record on the road is the second worst of the 24 teams in the league when factoring in goal difference. Centre-back Anel Ahmedhodzic was sent off against Coventry for Sheffield United, and he could be replaced in the starting lineup by Jack Robinson . Gustavo Hamer was forced off due to an injury last time out and is a doubt for Tuesday's match, so expect Ryan One to play in an advanced position. Forwards Kieffer Moore and Rhian Brewster are set to miss out, as will midfielder Ollie Arblaster , who is not scheduled to return until late December. Oxford will be without wing-back Joseph Bennett , while attackers Kyle Edwards and Siriki Dembele have been ruled out of action until early next month. Hidde ter Avest and Greg Leigh may start either side of centre-backs Sam Long , Elliott Moore and Ciaron Brown . In the forward line, Buckingham could field Ruben Rodrigues and Tyler Goodrham behind striker Mark Harris . Sheffield United possible starting lineup: Cooper; Gilchrist, Souttar, Robinson, Burrows; Souza, Peck; Rak-Sakyi, O'Hare, One; Campbell Oxford United possible starting lineup: Cumming; Long, Moore, Brown; Ter Avest, Vaulks, Brannagan, Leigh; Rodrigues, Harris, Goodrham Sheffield United have been excellent defensively this term and it is plausible that they keep another clean sheet against Oxford United. The visitors have also been poor away from home, and the hosts should be considered strong favourites on Tuesday. For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here .Seibert misses an extra point late as the Commanders lose their 3rd in a row, 34-26 to the Cowboys LANDOVER, Md. (AP) — Austin Seibert missed his second extra point of the game with 21 seconds left after Washington’s Jayden Daniels and Terry McLaurin connected on an 86-yard touchdown, Dallas’ Juanyeh Thomas returned the ensuing onside kick attempt for a touchdown, and the Cowboys pulled out a 34-26 victory Sunday that extended the Commanders’ skid to three games. Seibert was wide left on the point-after attempt following a bad snap. On the ensuing onside kick attempt, Juanyeh Thomas returned it 43 yards for a touchdown as the Cowboys ended their losing streak at five in improbable fashion. Earlier in the fourth quarter, KaVonte Turpin returned a kickoff 99 yards for a TD. Sam Darnold leads game-winning drive in OT and Vikings beat Bears 30-27 after blowing late lead CHICAGO (AP) — Sam Darnold threw for 90 of his 330 yards in overtime to set up Parker Romo’s game-ending 29-yard field goal, and the Minnesota Vikings outlasted the Chicago Bears 30-27 after giving up 11 points in the final 22 seconds of regulation. Darnold threw two touchdown passes, Jordan Addison caught eight passes for a career-high 162 yards and a touchdown, and T.J. Hockenson had 114 yards receiving for the Vikings, who remained one game behind Detroit in the rugged NFC North. Caleb Williams threw for 340 yards and two touchdowns for the Bears, who lost their fifth straight. Patrick Mahomes and Chiefs win at the buzzer again, topping Panthers 30-27 on Shrader's field goal CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 269 yards and three touchdowns, Spencer Shrader kicked a 31-yard field goal as time expired and the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Carolina Panthers 30-27 to reach double-digit wins for the 10th straight season. The Chiefs bounced back from last week’s 30-21 loss at Buffalo and won at the buzzer yet again in a season of narrow escapes. Noah Brown caught two TD passes and DeAndre Hopkins also had a touchdown catch. Bryce Young finished 21 of 35 for 262 yards and a touchdown for the Panthers, who had their two-game winning streak snapped. No. 1 South Carolina women stunned by fifth-ranked UCLA 77-62, ending Gamecocks' 43-game win streak LOS ANGELES (AP) — Londynn Jones scored 15 points and fifth-ranked UCLA stunned No. 1 South Carolina 77-62. The Gamecocks' overall 43-game winning streak and their run of 33 consecutive road victories were snapped. The Gamecocks, who fell to 5-1, lost for the first time since April 2023. Te-Hina Paopao scored 18 points for South Carolina. The Bruins knocked off a No. 1 team for the first time in school history. The Bruins dominated from start to finish and their defense prevented the Gamecocks from making any sustained scoring runs. AP Top 25: Alabama, Mississippi out of top 10 and Miami, SMU are in; Oregon remains unanimous No. 1 Alabama and Mississippi tumbled out of the top 10 of The Associated Press college football poll and Miami and SMU moved in following a chaotic weekend in the SEC. Oregon is No. 1 for the sixth straight week and Ohio State, Texas and Penn State held their places behind the Ducks. The shuffling begins at No. 5, where Notre Dame returned for the first time since Week 2 after beating Army for its ninth straight win. No. 6 Georgia moved up two spots, No. 7 Tennessee and No. 8 Miami rose three and No. 9 SMU jumped four places. Indiana dropped from No. 5 to No. 10 following its first loss. Thitikul finishes eagle-birdie to win CME Group Tour Championship and claim record $4M prize NAPLES, Fla. (AP) — Down by two shots with two holes to play, Jeeno Thitikul knew exactly what was needed to capture the biggest prize in women’s golf history. And a eagle-birdie finish for the second straight day made it happen. Thitikul claimed the record-setting $4 million first-place check by winning the CME Group Tour Championship on Sunday. It was the biggest money prize in women’s golf history. Thitikul shot a 7-under 65 on Sunday and finished the week at 22 under, one shot ahead of Angel Yin (66). Yin had a two-shot lead walking to the 17th tee, only to wind up settling for the $1 million runner-up check. From Maui to the Caribbean, college hoops' Thanksgiving tournaments a beloved part of the sport College basketball is ready for its Thanksgiving Week closeup. The schedule is full of early season tournaments that could create buzzworthy marquee matchups. And many of those come in warm-weather locations. The Maui Invitational in Hawaii turns 40 years old this year. It opens Monday with a field that includes two-time reigning national champion and second ranked UConn. The Battle 4 Atlantis men's tournament in the Bahamas opens Wednesday. It has a field topped by No. 3 Gonzaga. There are also multiple women's events in the Bahamas featuring ranked teams, including the fourth Atlantis women's tournament. Jannik Sinner leads Italy past the Netherlands for its second consecutive Davis Cup title MALAGA, Spain (AP) — Jannik Sinner clinched Italy's second consecutive Davis Cup title and capped his breakthrough season at the top of tennis by beating Tallon Griekspoor 7-6 (2), 6-2 for a 2-0 win over the Netherlands in the final of the team competition in Malaga, Spain. Matteo Berrettini won Sunday's opening singles match 6-4, 6-2 against Botic van de Zandschulp. The Italians are the first country to win the Davis Cup twice in a row since the Czech Republic in 2012 and 2013. The No. 1-ranked Sinner stretched his unbeaten streak in singles to 14 matches and 26 sets. Netherlands reached the Davis Cup final for the first time. Verstappen still manages to win 4th straight F1 title in one of worst seasons of his Red Bull career LAS VEGAS (AP) — Max Verstappen won an unbelievable 19 races last season that included an incredible streak of 10 in a row in what would arguably go down as one of the greatest years in Formula 1 history. And yet it is this year’s eight-win season — his lowest victory total since 2020 — that Verstappen considers a career-defining campaign. Those eight wins were enough to win him a fourth consecutive F1 championship on Saturday night with his easy drive at the Las Vegas Grand Prix. The championship made Verstappen only the sixth driver in F1 history to win four or more titles. Maverick McNealy birdies the last hole at Sea Island to finally become PGA Tour winner ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. (AP) — Maverick McNealy is finally a winner on the PGA Tour, and it took a shot he won't soon forget. McNealy was part of a four-way tie for the lead when he drilled a 6-iron to 5 feet on the final hole at Sea Island for birdie and a 68. That gave him a one-shot victory over Daniel Berger, Nico Echavarria and Florida State sophomore Luke Clanton. Berger and Henrik Norlander moved into the top 125 to keep full PGA Tour cards for next year. Clanton continued to show his promise. It was his second runner-up finish and fourth top 10 this year.

Russia’s steady gains along much of the Ukraine war’s battlefront have fueled doubts among Ukrainians that their military will ever reclaim significant swaths of lost territory. And as pressure grows to reach a negotiated settlement, they are increasingly resigned that any peace deal will entail giving up much if not all of the land Russia now occupies. According to a Gallup poll published this week, 52% now say Ukraine should be willing to give up territory to end the war. Still, many remain adamant that what is at stake is not just some eastern provinces bordering Russia, but Ukraine’s existence as an independent nation. And the notion remains strong that Ukraine’s acquiescence to Russia on the territorial issue would send a devastating signal around the world that force prevails over the rule of law. “It sounds very good if it could end the war, but the truth is that if you give Russia one meter of territory, they will see that as weakness, and they will not stop until they take everything,” says Yevhen, an engineering student at Mykolaiv’s Black Sea National University. “We Ukrainians know this,” he adds, “but it’s something the world must understand as well.” Standing on the shrapnel-pocked steps of Mykolaiv’s Black Sea National University, second-year engineering student Yevhen ponders the seductive appeal of the formula “land for peace” for ending Russia’s war against Ukraine. And then, like many of his fellow Ukrainians, he firmly rejects the idea. “It sounds very good if it could end the war, but the truth is that if you give Russia one meter of territory, they will see that as weakness, and they will not stop until they take everything,” says Yevhen, who asked that his last name be withheld. “We Ukrainians know this,” adds the student, whose city was blasted and bombed – but never occupied – following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. “But it’s something the world must understand as well.” For months Russia has advanced – slowly and at great cost, to be sure – along much of the war’s battlefront. That has fueled doubts that Ukraine’s military will ever reclaim significant swaths of lost territory. Moreover, Russia’s steady gains have fed resignation that any peace deal will entail giving up much if not all of the 20% of Ukrainian territory Russia now occupies. The impending return of former President Donald Trump to the White House is only the latest element in mounting pressure on Ukraine to reach a negotiated settlement with Russia. Last week German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin about ending the war, the first conversation between the two in nearly two years. The German government said Mr. Scholz expressed full support for Ukraine. Even so, the outreach was panned by some NATO members and widely interpreted as another sign of fading Western interest in sustaining Ukraine’s military effort – and growing interest in a negotiated settlement. Even President Joe Biden’s decision to allow Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied missiles to strike deeper inside Russia is seen by many analysts as an effort to position Ukraine better for the negotiations Mr. Trump is expected to push for, rather than to boost Ukraine’s ability to win the war. Signs of escalation before any negotiations continued Thursday, as Ukraine said Russia had launched an intercontinental ballistic missile armed with conventional warheads at the central city of Dnipro. Russia refused comment, and U.S. officials reportedly said it was more likely an intermediate range ballistic missile. On Wednesday, President Biden authorized supplying Ukraine with antipersonnel mines to thwart Russia’s ground assault. As Russia’s full-scale invasion – what Ukrainians now call “the big war” – reaches 1,000 days, signs are growing that more Ukrainians are shifting in favor of entering negotiations with Russia. Moreover, a growing number appear to have resigned themselves to the once-taboo prospect of ceding territory to reach a deal. A Gallup poll of Ukrainians published this week finds that more than half want to see negotiations start as soon as possible – up from about one-quarter a year ago. And the same proportion, 52%, says the country should be willing to give up territory to end the war. That view is echoed by Black Sea student Yevhen’s friend Andrii, who says Ukraine’s priority now must be ending the loss of life. “There are two sides to this question of giving up land for peace,” he says. “I understand that for some people, giving up land would be dishonoring the soldiers and others who died defending Ukrainian territory,” says the engineering student. “But if by giving up land for peace you save Ukrainian lives, that view has value, too.” Yet even as more war-weary Ukrainians appear ready to accept ceding territory, many remain adamant that what is at stake is not just some eastern provinces bordering Russia, but Ukraine’s existence as an independent nation. Indeed, the notion remains strong that Ukraine’s acquiescence to Russia on the territorial issue would send a devastating signal around the world that force prevails over the rule of law. For many Ukrainians, their country’s long history with the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, and now Mr. Putin’s Russia, offers proof that no deal involving Russian-occupied territory will satisfy Mr. Putin’s real goal: reconstituting the former USSR. “With this war, we are talking about two very different things, either an independent Ukraine that sets its own course and decides its own future, or Ukraine as part of Russia,” says Anastasiia Khmel, dean of the faculty of political sciences at Black Sea National University. As a result, “We have come to the conclusion that part of our territory would not be enough, [that] just the occupied lands would never guarantee peace,” she says. Explaining why “land for peace” is a “false promise,” Professor Khmel says Russia’s real goal – as she says Mr. Putin has made clear – is complete domination of Ukraine. And that, she adds, means more than just territorial control, but “repression of Ukrainian identity and Ukrainian culture as it has occurred throughout the past 300 years” of Russian imperialism. Others agree that ceding land would mean much more than a smaller Ukraine. “In Russia they don’t have a normal conception of national borders; they are thinking in terms of what were the borders of the Soviet Union,” says Mykhailo Ziatin, a Mykolaiv poet and mathematician who has joined a nearby military unit to help repel the invading forces. “That means Russia is not a normal entity you can negotiate with, but an aggressor who would see a land deal as a step and not an end.” And there is another dimension to the land issue that Ukraine is confronting, not just for itself, Mr. Ziatin says. “We Ukrainians don’t want to give up the lands we are responsible for to evil; we are taking a stand that force is not right,” he says. “That is a conviction that should matter to our Western neighbors and to the world.” For the Western democracies that support Ukraine, Mr. Ziatin says, the question is “Are you OK with rewarding the monster who wishes to make our democracy impossible; do we really want to give up anything to that beast?” That Ukrainians do not trust Mr. Putin to abide by any settlement for very long is hardly news, given how he has been seizing Ukrainian territory since 2014. More surprising perhaps is their deep mistrust of any “security guarantees” they anticipate Ukraine’s Western partners would offer as part of a “land for peace” deal. “We already learned the hard way that any deal based on vague security assurances comes with no means to enforce it, and that is the definition of a bad deal,” says Yevhen Hlibovytsky, director of Frontier Institute, a Kyiv think tank. “If Russia is rewarded now for its bad behavior, why should it not return to that bad behavior in the future?” As many Ukrainians are wont to do, Mr. Hlibovytsky refers to the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, under which a newly independent Ukraine gave up the world’s third-largest nuclear arsenal in exchange for assurances from world powers, including Russia, that the “inviolability” of its borders would be respected. The Budapest Memorandum “obviously didn’t work,” Mr. Hlibovytsky notes, leading him to foresee dire global consequences if Ukraine is forced into another accord now. “If Ukraine has to cede territory in exchange for another set of vague security assurances,” he says, “that’s an invitation to broader nuclear proliferation around the globe.” Mr. Hlibovytsky says average Ukrainians carry in their hearts the same basic convictions about the rules for achieving international peace. “People on the street will tell you the same thing, just with more four-letter words than a smooth-talking academic uses,” he says. “They sense that Ukraine is something like a test for what rules and order govern the world going forward.” “If the West is not committed to what it has said are its own standards and values,” he adds, “then they feel they have been fooled, and Ukraine is being betrayed.”

NoneNovember 25, 2024 This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlightedthe following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: fact-checked trusted source written by researcher(s) proofread by John Gowlett, The Conversation In pursuit of knowledge, the evolution of humanity ranks with the origins of life and the universe. And yet, except when an exciting find hits the headlines, paleoanthropology and its related fields have gained far less scientific support and funding—particularly for scientists and institutions based in the African countries where so many landmark discoveries have occurred. One of the first was made a century ago in Taung, South Africa, by mineworkers who came across the cranium of a 2.8 million-year-old child with human-like teeth . Its fossilized anatomy offered evidence of early human upright walking—and 50 years later, in the Afar region of northern Ethiopia that would become a hotspot for ancient human discovery, this understanding took another leap backwards in time with the discovery of Lucy . The part-skeleton of this small-bodied, relatively small-brained female captured the public's imagination . Lucy the "paleo-rock star" took our major fossil evidence for bipedal walking, human-like creatures (collectively known as hominins) beyond 3 million years for the first time. The race to explain how humans became what we are now was well and truly on. Since then, the picture has changed repeatedly and dramatically , shaped by waves of new fossil discovery, technology and scientific techniques—often accompanied by arguments about the veracity of claims made for each new piece of the puzzle. Even the term "human" is arguable. Many scholars reserve it for modern humans like us, even though we have Neanderthal genes and they shared at least 90% of our hominin history from its beginnings around 8 million years ago . The essence of hominin evolution ever since has been gradual change, with occasional rapid phases. The record of evolution in our own genus , Homo , is already full enough to show we cannot separate ourselves with hard lines. Nonetheless, there is enough consensus to thread the story of human evolution all the way from early apes to modern humanity. Most of this story centers on Africa, of course, where countries such as Kenya, South Africa and Ethiopia are rightly proud of their heritage as "cradles of humankind" —providing many of their schoolchildren with a much fuller answer then those in the west to this deceptively simple question: how did we get here? Early apes to 'hominization' (around 35m to 8m years ago) The story of human evolution usually starts at the point our distant ancestors began to separate from the apes, whose own ancestors are traceable from at least 35 million years ago and are well attested as fossils . Around 10 million years ago, the Miocene world was warm, moist and forested. Apes lived far and wide from Europe to China, though we have found them especially in Africa, where sediments of ancient volcanoes preserve their remains. This world was soon to be disrupted by cooling temperatures and, in places, great aridity—best seen around the Mediterranean , where continental movements closed off the Straits of Gibraltar and the whole sea evaporated several times, leaving immense salt deposits under the floor of the modern sea. Widespread drying was reported from around 7 to 6 million years ago, leading to a stronger expression of seasons in much of the world, and changes in plant and animal communities. The divergence from the apes of a lineage—the hominins—that eventually led to us had probably already begun 8 million years ago. But our knowledge of this date depends on molecular comparisons with other animals, rather than fossils. DNA shows we are most closely related to chimpanzees and their sister species, the bonobo. Branching points can be estimated by comparisons with other well-dated events, such as the separation of South American monkeys from other primates about 35 million years ago. Discover the latest in science, tech, and space with over 100,000 subscribers who rely on Phys.org for daily insights. Sign up for our free newsletter and get updates on breakthroughs, innovations, and research that matter— daily or weekly . A surprise from genetic science is that gorillas, the other African great apes, are less closely related to chimpanzees than chimps are to us. A chimpanzee, if it could speak, might tell us: "These gorillas may look like my big brothers, but actually I'm more closely related to you." They seem so similar because they are both tropical forest apes with similar adaptations, which underlines just how much—and how rapidly—the earliest hominins had to evolve to survive in their drier environments. Yet, there is still some debate about whether the chimpanzee is our best model for the starting point: the "last common ancestor" . Better to call it the "best living model" because the chimp has shown many adaptations of its own, especially in its limb proportions and locomotion, but also in its large shearing front teeth. But its social behavior, communication and tool-making have all provided invaluable insights into the processes that we can call "hominization." Earliest hominins (about 7m up to 4m years ago) The earliest hominin fossil yet known is about 7 million years old and comes from the middle of Africa, near Lake Chad. This rare find from 2001 is Sahelanthropus tchadensis , represented by a cranium (nicknamed "Toumaï" by its finders), a femur and teeth—all probably from the same species. Although these finds were limited, they were enough to show a bipedal creature probably still comfortable living in trees, who had teeth with hominin features. Many accompanying fossils of other species show this hominin lived in both woodland and grassland habitats. Then, for over a million years, our record vanishes—other than for some fragmentary remains of Orrorin tugenensis , a different genus of hominin found in the Tugen Hills of Kenya and dating to about 6 million years ago. Hominins appear again in plain sight with a new species dating back around 5.5 million years, Ardipithecus kadabba . The discovery of its partial jawbone and teeth in the Middle Awash region of northern Ethiopia in 1997 shed more light on what may have been the "stem ancestor" leading to all later hominins. Exceptionally thorough investigations have since revealed these creatures in full anatomical detail and in remarkable environmental context, showing Ardipithecus combined characters of both apes and later hominins. A. kadabba's finders emphasized that it was not chimpanzee-like in limb proportions, nor did it have their exaggerated shovel-like front teeth. It also overturned the old theory of hominins coming down from the trees into savannas, and thus being forced to become bipedal. Rather, Ardipithecus lived in thick woodland and supports the idea that bipedalism first arose as an adaptation to walking along tree boughs, perhaps while clasping the branches above. The stem hominin idea may well be correct, but more recent finds suggest there were soon multiple hominin species . While Ardipithecus is known from only one modern country, Ethiopia, there are huge areas of Africa that could have supported similar sibling species but which, for geological reasons, have not given up these secrets as generously as sections of the Great Rift Valley. It is also striking that Ardipithecus' feet remained apelike, with a divergent big toe—a sign that climbing trees was still important. The other, later species of Ardipithecus ( Ar. Ramidus ) lived only half a million years before the famous footprints found in Laetoli, Tanzania in 1976—trails of footprints that displayed fully human characteristics. Evolution would need to have been rapid indeed for those two creatures to be directly related. Even so, Ardipithecus had features that are enormously valuable for showing the general state of hominins at this time. Its pelvis, the oldest known, was short and basin-like as in later hominins, although ape-like in its lower part. And its teeth had enamel that was thicker than in African apes but thinner than in modern humans, suggesting an omnivorous diet. Australopithecines (about 4.3m to 1.4m years ago) More than 4 million years ago, another group of hominins begins to appear on the scene: the genus Australopithecus , named after the "Taung child" whose skull was discovered 100 years ago by workmen in the South African limestone quarry. While the name means "southern ape," the australopithecines were certainly hominins. Fully bipedal, their teeth were arranged in a modern human pattern with their canines reduced—sometimes to an extraordinary degree—and they existed in great diversity. As finds accumulate, at least ten species of this group are now known, indicating "adaptive radiation" —meaning that hominins had become highly successful and were by now adjusting to many different habitats and climates. While the australopithecines were confined to Africa, they extended widely from the south to the east and even towards the west near Lake Chad—close to the find of the older Sahelanthropus . This distribution underlines the argument for hominins having originated in Africa, as had been long suspected from the shared heritage with African apes. The oldest Australopithecus is A. anamensis , found in northern Kenya and dating to more than 4 million years ago, closely followed by A. afarensis in Ethiopia— Lucy's species —and A. prometheus in South Africa. Then, in addition to species such as A. africanus and A. garhi , there is a further group who combined enormous chewing teeth and ape-sized brains—their massive jaws and skulls led to them being dubbed the "robusts." Often officially termed Paranthropus rather than Australopithecus , they occurred as three separate species in southern and eastern Africa , appearing at least 3 million years ago and surviving until about 1.4 million years ago. While microwear studies of their teeth suggest a mixed diet, the huge size of those teeth implies it was of low quality, with grasses and sedges providing the bulk. Indeed, the dominance of these creatures' massive molars meant their front teeth shrank to the extent that their incisors and canines were consistently smaller than ours today. Although the African Rift Valley running down the east side of the continent is often celebrated as the focus of hominin origins, the distribution of australopithecines is just wide enough to show the rift is not necessarily the cradle of humankind—although it is the region where most fossils have been found. South Africa's dolomite caves are strong competitors in importance, while the discovery of A. bahrelghazali in Chad is far west of the rift. Beginnings of Homo (from about 2.8m years ago) It is certain that our own genus, Homo , emerged at some point from within the australopithecines. But exactly how and when is still difficult to ascertain, because cranial remains—skulls—are very scarce in the period between 3 and 2 million years ago. This is a matter of chance; before and after, we have plenty of them. Large numbers of teeth prove that hominins were in eastern and southern Africa during this period, and rare finds of crania such as P. aethiopicus and A. garhi make the point that others could be found at any moment. In later times, Homo is distinguished by its very large brain—about three times the size of a chimpanzee's brain—but this was not so in the beginning. At the start, Homo would have been almost indistinguishable from australopithecines, with just some small anatomical details picking it out, especially the shape of its molar and premolar teeth. Fragmentary jaws and teeth from Ledi Geraru and Hadar in Ethiopia, then from Chemeron in Kenya, trace the early story of our direct ancestors from 2.8 to 2.4 million years ago. As we approach 2 million years, Homo appears much more clearly in famous skull and other fossil discoveries from Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania) and East Turkana (Kenya), and latterly South Africa . As well as at least three species in Africa— Homo habilis , Homo rudolfensis and Homo erectus — Homo of similar age is suddenly found outside Africa, especially at Dmanisi in modern-day Georgia, where the finds are as old as those from Olduvai. Together with first archaeological finds of stone tools and cutmarks on animal bones indicating butchery, these fossils combine to show us that Homo had become highly successful within a million years of its origins, and had spread out far across Asia as far as China. These first arrivals must have been a species of early Homo , but it is only at Dmanisi and Lantien in China that we have early fossil remains. Technology was almost certainly part of the adaptation that allowed this great expansion. Tool-making is the most obvious part of early cultural behavior, and it is preserved as hard evidence by the presence of stone tools. First dates for stone tool-making have moved back in an exciting way. The 2 million-year barrier was broken around 1970, then the 3 million-year barrier just recently with discoveries of stone tools at Lomekwi and Nyayanga in Kenya. We do not know who made these tools, but it means stone artifacts emerged around the same time that early Homo appeared alongside the australopithecines. As "stone age visiting cards"—as the archaeologist Glynn Isaac labeled them—they are hugely useful for telling us where hominins went, and what they were doing. Talking point: Who made the first tools? A generation ago, it would have been axiomatic that the emergence of tools and Homo were linked, and that they signaled a major step forward—the development of early human culture. Now, there is a different perspective, largely owing to detailed studies of living animals . To a striking degree, chimpanzees make a range of tools as well as use them, and so do the small capuchin monkeys of South America. Birds too are in the picture, especially the New Caledonian crow . Their tools may be simple—mainly made from plant materials—but they include stones used for hammering. There are many indications that this animal behavior is cultural , handed on as learned tradition. Granted that we, Homo sapiens , are the most cultural animal of all, there has to be a possibility that all hominins were toolmakers and users, given that all fossil hominins are more closely related to us than to the chimpanzee, which is itself a habitual toolmaker. Having said that, we don't know who made the earliest stone tools. We know that when Paranthropus and other australopithecines eventually disappeared, toolmaking continued—but this does not rule out earlier tool use by some of them. Most early stone artifacts, from about 3 to 1.8 million, are placed in the "Oldowan tradition" —named after Olduvai Gorge where so many tools have been discovered, typically made from carefully selected lava or quartzite rocks. Both heavy core tools such as "choppers" and sharper stone flakes were used for a variety of tasks—certainly including animal butchery, and almost certainly in the preparation of plant foods and shaping of wooden tools (although these did not survive for our discovery until much later ). This toolkit literally gave early Homo species a cutting edge in the struggle for survival in varied environments, and may have been a key factor underlying their ability to expand their niche into new areas, including Jordan , north India and China well over 2 million years ago. Homo erectus (about 1.8m up to 0.5m years ago) After the rapidly expanding australopithecines, it is a relief to find the next 1.5 million years of human evolution looking rather simpler. One hominin— Homo erectus —becomes supreme, and the archaeology is dominated by one great theme: the handaxe or Acheulean tradition . Homo erectus first appeared as long as 2 million years ago, and was living in southern, eastern and northern Africa as well as the Middle and Far East, according to its fossil remains. It was far more human than earlier hominins, with brain size ranging from about 500cc in early examples to more than 1,000cc in later times—around 70% of our modern cranial capacity. Its limb proportions were fairly modern too, showing a striding form of bipedalism, evident both at Dmanisi in Georgia, and in the near-complete skeleton of "Turkana Boy" in Kenya. Homo erectus was wide-ranging and capable, as its tools confirm, having been found all over Africa and most of Asia. The handaxe form emerged around 1.75 million years ago in eastern Africa, probably as a good multi-purpose solution to everyday needs, and again made from lava or quartzite. The handaxe concept spread very widely; indeed, this may have been the first great diffusion of a "package of ideas." Some were so finely worked that they have been deemed the first art —or at least a sign of aesthetic feeling. In fact, Homo erectus may represent a group of similar species that existed in parallel—and that in some locations, could be quite varied. The single site of Dmanisi has offered up as much variety in five skulls as has been found across Africa. Existing finds make a giant "geographical donut," with nothing in the middle across the whole of southern Asia from Georgia to China. While Far Eastern Homo erectus was very similar to the African species, there are anomalies in this part of the story. For example, a remarkable and diminutive hominin species, Homo floresiensis —discovered in 2003 on the remote island of Flores in Indonesia, and often known as "the Hobbit"– had anatomical details, especially of its wrists, to suggest it could have been descended from an earlier Homo than Homo erectus . In southern Africa, meanwhile, Homo naledi was a primitive-seeming species that dates back just 300,000 years, and seems likely to have been a small-brained descendant of an early Homo erectus . It may have lived in gallery forest alongside streams, and survived in splendid isolation. The handaxes, too, were not all the same. The idea of making them seems to have spread far and wide, but not everywhere—they are absent in much of the Far East, for example. While some are now known from China, the famous fossil site of Zhoukoudian near Beijing—where remains of more than 40 Homo erectus individuals have been found—lacks them entirely. In Europe, ice ages and temperate periods alternated many times, so across the last 1 million years much of the early record has been erased by ice sheets. There is no definite evidence of Homo erectus but a probable sister species, Homo antecessor , lived in Atapuerca , northern Spain, perhaps as long ago as 1.4 million years. In this climatically challenging environment, we could wonder how "primitive" humans survived—but at the Arago cave in the Pyrenees, near France's Mediterranean coast, we know they were butchering reindeer 600,000 years ago and so able to endure the most severe cold. There are three main things we can say about the hominins of this long period up to half a million years ago: they were widely dispersed (hence highly adaptable and resilient); technically capable to the point that at least some of them used fire; and were evolving large brains that reflected their highly social nature. Fire seems to have been very important in human adaptation . It fits with ideas about cooking —the need for high-quality food to fuel the brain—and a reordering of the day to provide more social time , especially in the evening. Fire was also a key enabler of other technologies, in time allowing these early humans to begin pottery and metalworking. The origins of fire's "domestication" are far from certain, but are likely to date back at least 1 million years. Opportunistic use probably came before full control, with the ability to kindle fire eventually releasing humans from the need to keep it alight for long periods. Talking point: The benefits of a bigger brain In brain size, Homo erectus was certainly not static. Contrary to a general impression that most of the great brain enlargement in Homo is relatively recent, there was already some overlap with modern humans half a million years ago. Although it is natural to think that to be clever is an end in itself, large brains like ours are costly enough to take 20–30% of our energy, and they have to pay their way. Most species succeed with far less than hominins, and to treble brain size in 2 million years is a remarkable phenomenon. Such an expansion was only possible through a high-quality diet and reduction in the size of other major organs. As the large brain is energetically expensive, it must have had evolutionary drivers. One of the most appealing is the "social brain hypothesis" , whose core idea is that in some environments, ecological survival favored larger groups. We know from regular stone tool transport distances of 5–10 km, and occasional ones of 20–30km, that hominins were ranging much further than apes even 2 million years ago. The social management of such groups is very demanding, and may have been a spur towards developing larger brains. The acceleration in change that is such a feature of modern life seems to have started around half a million years ago. In Africa, Homo erectus gave way to larger-brained descendants such as Homo heidelbergensis , which was also present in Europe. But in archaeology, major developments were seen even before the first early modern human fossils emerged. Two key developments were the appearance of projectile (spear) points and the long-distance transport of materials. The stone spear points indicated that their makers had mastered hafting , and hence had knowledge of fixatives such as glue or twine. In southern Africa, we see the beginnings of these developments as long as 400,000 years ago. With their bigger brains, larger social groups and better weapons, hominins developed and honed their unique hunting techniques , often working by ambush and taking prime animals rather than the old and young. While that pattern may date back more than a million years, in the last 50,000 years this practice may have been so intense that it contributed to the demise of many large animals, including the mammoth, mastodons, and giant marsupials. In all this, there is plentiful evidence of high skill. In the Levallois technique , which few can reproduce today, the maker prepared a stone core by careful flaking, and had to "see" the artifact before releasing in one blow. Such skills could approach art . Numbers of ancient pieces including some of the handaxes would qualify as art by modern definitions, although we know little about the past intent. Such finds suggest the basic abilities for art were in place as much as a million years ago, but its projection into non-utilitarian forms gives another level to the evidence of human intellect. Modern humans (from around 300,000 years ago) Many people look at human evolution chiefly to explain us, Homo sapiens . But we are the culmination of a long process of evolution—no more than 5% of the whole hominin story by time spent on this planet. Until the 1980s, our species was thought to have first appeared around 40,000 years ago in a "human revolution"—an explosion of creativity marked by the flowering of cave art and sophisticated tools. However, many events in this analysis were incorrectly concertinaed together by a ceiling in radiocarbon dates , which the rapid decay rate of carbon-14 limited to a maximum age of about 40,000 years. Since then, new dating techniques based on other radioisotopes and new finds have expanded the timescale for the existence of Homo sapiens by almost a factor of ten. In fact, the first early modern humans , closely resembling us, appeared about 300,000 years ago in northern and eastern Africa. This drastic change of timescale alters our perspective in ways that are still being explored. For a start, we now know that for a long period, the earliest modern humans were not alone. They existed alongside Homo neanderthalensis , the Neanderthals—the people of the north, ranging from western Europe to Siberia—for hundreds of thousands of years. To the east, DNA studies have recognized a probable sister group of the Neanderthals, the Denisovans —best known from Denisova cave in the Altai mountains of Siberia—while to the south, Homo naledi was still there, and the Kabwe skull from Zambia is evidence for at least one other species. Astonishing progress in genomic research has shown that the Neanderthals and Denisovans were separate species , but so closely related to our H. sapiens ancestors that interbreeding was possible. Does the ability of these species to interact imply the existence of language? As with fire, language origins have been one of the major debating points within palaeoanthropology. Small clues are enigmatic. More than 2 million years ago, a mutation reduced the power of the chewing muscles in human ancestors. That may indicate they were doing more food preparation, but also possibly making more controlled use of their mouths . Expanded nerve outlets in the thoracic vertebrae appeared in Homo erectus , indicating the millisecond control of breathing that is necessary for language. And later, 400,000-year-old Homo heidelbergensis remains from Atapuerca in northern Spain had perfectly preserved ear canals which were tuned to the frequencies used in human language. As these Atapuerca hominins were probable Neanderthal ancestors, there is a good chance that at least a simple form of language was very widespread at this point, if not earlier. Paintings first appeared—or were preserved—around 50,000 years ago, but beads and ornaments can be traced back much earlier. The oldest so far are shell beads from Es-Skhul cave on Mount Carmel in Israel, dating back about 130,000 years. They mark out personal identity, and hence the idea that one person can appreciate these signals in another. Shell beads occurred again at Blombos in South Africa about 70,000 years ago, along with a piece of engraved ochre. Burials have a similar antiquity: both Neanderthal and early modern burials occurred from about 130,000 years ago—although older finds such as the numerous human remains in one cave at Atapuerca, or cutmarks on a skull at Bodo in Ethiopia, may indicate there was already a special interest in human bodies. The burials suggest that early humans had a strong idea of the needs of others. Some burials—both of early moderns and Neanderthals—had red ochre smeared on the bodies. This is likely to have carried symbolic significance. "Symbolism" has played a crucial part in all modern human behavior, underpinning language, religion, and art. However, studying its origins presents pitfalls, because other animals seem capable of using symbols, as when a chimpanzee offers a clipped leaf to another. The line between such "signs" and symbols is easily blurred. But the projection of symbols into the outside world in the form of material objects is a measurable step, so long as they survive. The beads and burials are among the earliest evidence of behavior which may, in fact, have had much deeper origins. The great breakout (about 100,000 years ago) More than 100,000 years ago, the early modern humans began to expand outside Africa, leading to the greatest diaspora in human history. Variation in modern human DNA preserves geographic signals that tell us something about past population movements. Even better, fossil DNA can be isolated from bone specimens up to about 50,000 years old in cool climates, and sometimes even older. The results confirm that the Neanderthals were a truly separate species, with their ancestors separating from ours between 500,000 and 700,000 years ago, and living on until about 40,000 years ago. Some of the clearest genetic signals come from parts of the genome that do not recombine each generation—that is, the Y-chromosome and mitochondrial DNA. These have allowed scientists to assemble "family trees" which show that all modern humans ( Homo sapiens ) are related within about 150,000 years. They also indicate, along with the archaeological evidence, that modern humans surged out of Africa after that date, sweeping around the world and eventually completely replacing other hominins such as the Neanderthals and Denisovans—although some of their genes survived in us, thanks to rare past matings between species. In essence, this was a great population expansion rather than a migration. Populations remained in Africa and along the way, but this astonishing wave of advance headed east across Asia, then north into Europe, and ultimately to all parts of the world. The start was necessarily from north-east Africa, offering a land route into the Middle East and, at times of low sea-level, a likely southern one to Arabia . Climate changes almost certainly played a major part: each time "green Sahara" became desert Sahara in the rhythmic changes of the ice ages, this would pulse people out into the Levant . Modern humans are visible there around 130,000 years ago—but Neanderthals succeeded them around 80,000 years ago as conditions became colder again. Probably by then, the great move east had already happened: early modern humans had covered the 12,000 kilometers to Australia as long as 70,000 years ago. At least 45,000 years ago, they were in north-east China , perhaps arriving by a route north of the Himalayas. From there, it was 6,000km to the Bering landbridge that would lead to Alaska. By 14,500 years ago, modern humans were in Monte Verde, Chile after an astonishing 15,000km journey down the Americas. The severe cold of the last glacial maximum , 20,000 years ago, must have slowed down this progress. Sea levels dropped more than 100 meters, and northern populations were rolled back by the ice advances. Many American archaeologists still believe the first settlement in their continent began after this, but footprint trails in New Mexico dated to the 20,000s BCE are part of growing evidence for earlier dates. Such debates do not alter the big picture: at times, our direct ancestors were progressing about a kilometer every five years; at others, they were shooting forward great distances. Some of them, at least, had become adventurers, with something like the wanderlust characteristic of modern explorers. They traveled both inland and along the coasts, by foot and certainly by boat. They covered high and low terrain, in warm and cold, wet and dry—all the while, living by the ancient and enduring adaptation of hunting and gathering. Last of the Neanderthals (about 40,000 years ago) Historically, studies in human evolution greatly emphasized Europe. While the balance has rightly been redressed to a global perspective in the last 50 years, Europe remains important in our record—both because northern climates better preserve organic remains including DNA, and because this rich record has been studied intensively for more than 150 years. Amid the great diaspora of early modern humans, a newer perspective is that, by the time the last Neanderthals were gone from Europe, fully modern humans had already dispersed through Australia and throughout the Far East. But these events remain puzzling because the Neanderthals had held their own with early modern humans for hundreds of thousands of years across a fluctuating frontier, and were dominant in the Middle East as late as 60,000 years ago. The Neanderthals have an enduring fascination because they are so like us and yet so different. They were stocky and strong, and had a brain size as large as ours. Their abilities have been debated for more than a century, but there is strong evidence that they are an alternative humanity rather than an inferior humanity. They had full control of fire, made bone tools, and used pigments as well as burying their dead. Their replacement by modern humans was completed between 50,000 and 40,000 years ago. What gave the moderns the edge? It could be that a known series of rapid climate fluctuations destabilized the Neanderthal populations. There is evidence that they were living in small groups, under stress and with significant inbreeding , and a consensus now is that demographic factors were a main cause of their disappearance. Talking point: Art and technology In Europe, the traditional idea of a "creative revolution" was highlighted by the disappearance of the Neanderthals around 40,000 years ago, and the arrival of new populations with new toolkits—the Upper Paleolithic with its blade tools, bone tools and artwork. Elsewhere, such advanced traits often appeared earlier. At the moment, the earliest known cave art comes from Karampuang Hill on Sulawesi, Indonesia, where there are representations of humans and animals dated to 51,000 years ago. European art is considerably later, except for some markings which could have been made by Neanderthals, who certainly used pigments. From around 40,000 years ago, there began to be other representations, including one of exceptional importance: a small statue of mammoth ivory found in a cave in what is now southern Germany. It combines the head of a lion with a human body , showing the artist's ability to morph a 3D form which may have had religious significance. By the time of the 20,000s BCE, we see many signs of new technologies and skills: basketry in the Gravettian phase of central Europe; the first pottery in China ; polished axes in Australia and New Guinea ; and specialized use of marine resources in South Africa, Indonesia and elsewhere. Probably, there were also the first domesticated dogs , who became well-documented in Europe about 15,000 years ago. After the ice (about 20,000 years ago) Following the glacial maximum, there came a steady return to warmer conditions, culminating in the period we call the Holocene . Ice sheets retreated to the north, temperate vegetation appeared and the sea came up, with profound effects on coastal settlement around the world. Along with new environmental stresses, around 12,000 years ago came the next major shift in human adaptation: the agricultural revolution . The domestication of plants and animals soon led to vast increases in population numbers. Villages, towns and civilizations followed, ultimately made possible by the control of food supplies that hunters and gatherers could never have, but also dependent on technological advances and complex social behavior. It is easy to take for granted that we are human. But knowing the human evolutionary story, even if at times from only a few fossil fragments, shows it could easily have been otherwise. Had climate patterns been slightly different, Neanderthals might have survived. They or the Denisovans could be carrying the flag of progress, in a different way and at a different pace. Today, we are still not on top of things. The greatest changes in the world are humanly created, and they stem above all from our vast numbers. For at least 99.5% of the time of Homo , our ancestors lived as hunters and gatherers, with global numbers no more than a few million. Yet now, over a single human lifespan, the global population has grown fourfold, from 2 billion to 8 billion. The story of human evolution is about more than bones and stones. It helps us to see our many strengths and limitations. The strengths include an ability to manage rapid cultural change, especially in technology—the key to our survival over a very long period, and vital for coping with environmental change. But this ability is also having many unforeseen consequences to our planet and its biodiversity, and to our own human societies. It is a triumph that most of the 8 billion humans alive today are living relatively happily and, thanks to modern medicine, for longer than ever before. But it is all part of a high-risk species strategy that has characterized the story of human evolution from its earliest origins nearly 8 million years ago. Throughout this story, success has regularly thrown up new sets of problems. Our ancient ancestors had no choice but to forge forwards into the unknown, adapting to survive. Many times over, they surmounted challenges at least as great as those we face today. Provided by The Conversation This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. 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