New Delhi, Oct 25 : Latest archaeological studies have shown that inscribed animal bones and jade pieces unearthed in Changle County of eastern Shandong Province in China, are the earliest examples of Chinese characters, dating back to 4,500 years.

The discovery broke the record for the previous earliest known examples of Chinese characters, the inscribed animal bones and tortoise shells, known as the oracle bones, of the Shang Dynasty (1600 BC-1100 BC), by more than 1,300 years.

The oracle bones were major discoveries at the Yinxu in Anyang of central China’s Henan Province.

The Shandong discovery was first made in 2004 by Xiao Guangde, the Changle Culture and History Committee director and an amateur collector.

Sydney - The Australian Rugby League players will wear black armbands at Sunday's World Cup match against New Zealand as a mark of respect for the uncle of Johnathan Thurston, who died after being assaulted in a Brisbane park on Saturday.

Rugby league player Thurston's uncle, 38-year-old Richard Saunders, was one of three persons attacked at Ewing Park in Brisbane's southern suburb of Woodridge on Saturday, reports Australian Associated Press news agency.

Pittsburgh, Oct 25 : A woman who lied about being attacked because of the McCain bumper sticker on her car will face charges of filing a false report.

Police now have the answer to the most important question behind a 20-year-old McCain campaign volunteer’s claim that she was attacked by a robber who carved a “B” into her cheek when he saw a McCain bumper sticker on her car.

It was a hoax, FOX News reported.

London, Oct 25: North Korea is clamping down on mobile phones and long distance telephone calls to prevent the spread of news about a worsening food crisis, the United Nations investigator on human rights for the isolated communist country has said.

Thai law professor Vitit Muntarbhorn, in a report to the UN General Assembly, said that its government is using public executions as a means of intimidating the population, and using spies to infiltrate and expose religious communities, The Times reported.

His report came two days after the World Food Programme said that two thirds of North Koreans do not have enough to eat, in the country’s worst crisis since as many as three million people died of famine a decade ago.

Washington, Oct 25 : State and local officials are investigating if state and law-enforcement computer systems were illegally accessed when they were tapped for personal information about “Joe the Plumber”.

Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher became part of the national political lexicon on October 15 when Republican presidential candidate John McCain mentioned him frequently during his final debate with his rival Democrat Barack Obama.

Washington, Oct 25 : A research into excavated pagan Viking burials has provided new revelations into the way the early Norse led their lives and their attitude towards mortality.

According to a report by Media Newswire, the research was led by Professor Neil Price, Chair of Archaeology, University of Aberdeen, who explored thousands of excavated graves known from the Viking world, which revealed that no two of these burial monuments were the same.

The research also showed that Viking funerals involved complex elements of mortuary theatre – ritual plays which were literally performed at the graveside.