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Common Ancestry of Askenazi Jews

"NEW YORK Jan 12, 2006 — Some 3.5 million of today's Ashkenazi Jews about 40 percent of the total Ashkenazi population are descended from just four women, a genetic study indicates.

Those women apparently lived somewhere in Europe within the last 2,000 years, but not necessarily in the same place or even the same century, said lead author Dr. Doron Behar of the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, Israel.

He did the work with Karl Skorecki of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and others.

Each woman left a genetic signature that shows up in their descendants today, he and colleagues say in a report published online by the American Journal of Human Genetics. Together, their four signatures appear in about 40 percent of Ashkenazi Jews, while being virtually absent in non-Jews and found only rarely in Jews of non-Ashkenazi origin, the researchers said.

They said the total Ashkenazi population is estimated at around 8 million people. The estimated world Jewish population is about 13 million.

Ashkenazi Jews are a group with mainly central and eastern European ancestry. Ultimately, though, they can be traced back to Jews who migrated from Israel to Italy in the first and second centuries, Behar said. Eventually this group moved to Eastern Europe in the 12th and 13th centuries and expanded greatly, reaching about 10 million just before World War II, he said.

The study involved mitochondrial DNA, called mtDNA, which is passed only through the mother. A woman can pass her mtDNA to grandchildren only by having daughters. So mtDNA is "the perfect tool to trace maternal lineages," Behar said Thursday in a telephone interview.

His study involved analyzing mtDNA from more than 11,000 samples representing 67 populations.

Mike Hammer, who does similar research at the University of Arizona, said he found the work tracing back to just four ancestors "quite plausible… I think they've done a really good job of tackling this question."

But he said it's not clear the women lived in Europe."

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Why I Worry About Flying
"Georgieva then yelled she had a baby named Jesus, that her uncle impregnated her and that "President Bush was behind it all," according to the complaint, which charges her with interference with a flight crew.
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An unruly passenger who allegedly assaulted others while complaining of a presidential conspiracy forced a commercial flight to divert to Salt Lake City on Wednesday.
According to a criminal complaint filed Wednesday in federal court in Salt Lake City, Bogdana A. Georgieva, 35, grabbed another passenger and threw her into the aisle aboard Skywest-United Express Flight 6664 from Eugene, Ore., to Denver.
Georgieva then yelled she had a baby named Jesus, that her uncle impregnated her and that "President Bush was behind it all," according to the complaint, which charges her with interference with a flight crew.
The woman also attempted to remove her blouse and throw things at other passengers, the complaint states. "

And

The Akron-cleveland area is dangerous

"Ohio -- A sex toy landed a local man in court Tuesday. A Summit County jury convicted Excell Bradley, of Barberton, of domestic violence for throwing what the prosecutor called a large sex toy into the eye of a woman with whom he lived, NewsChannel5 reported. Police said Bradley's across-the-room toss of the sex toy caused enough damage to require six stitches to the woman's eye. While bleeding and with blurry vision, she called 911, WEWS reported. Bradley admitted to Barberton police that he threw the toy."