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1,800-year-old artifact unearthed during routine construction 'a complete mystery'

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1,800-year-old artifact unearthed during routine construction 'a complete mystery'

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A “pale object” that looked like a large, bland stone was unearthed by chance during a routine construction project in the United Kingdom.

Then the digger, Greg Crawley, saw a face. At the time, he had no idea that he had stumbled upon an 1,800-year-old artifact that dates to the first or second century. 

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After careful study and cleaning, experts said Crawley found the head of an ancient Roman sculpture. Two weeks later, a marble bust was found at the same construction site. 

“I had a real shock as the digger bucket rolled over what I thought was a big stone to reveal a face,” Crawley said in a statement this month from the Burghley Estate. “When I picked it up, I realized it was a head of a statue. I couldn’t believe it when they told me it was a Roman marble statue. It was an amazing feeling to have found something so old and special, definitely my best ever discovery.”

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During a construction project in England, Greg Crawley found a statue of the head of a Roman woman that experts say is about 1,800 years old. (Burghley Treasures)

The stone head was discovered last spring during work on a parking area at a centuries-old historical countryside landmark called the Burghley House, about 90 miles north of London.

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Since then, the woman statue’s head and the pedestal have been cleaned and reattached. It’s now on display inside the historic building, the Burghley Estate.

“This type of adaptation was often carried out by Italian dealers in antiquities during the late 18th century to make excavated ancient fragments more attractive to aristocrats traveling in Italy on what was known as the Grand Tour,” the Estate said in a statement. 

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“It is believed that it was during one of the ninth Earl’s two tours to Italy in the 1760s, when he purchased many antiquities, that he brought the sculpture back to Burghley.”

That explains what it is, but how it ended up in the park where it was found and how long it’s been there remains “a complete mystery,” according to the Estate.

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“Explanations range from a bungled burglary to someone simply discarding the statue and it later being covered by soil.”

A mysterious artifact that’s almost 2,000 years old was found in England during a routine construction project.  (Burghley Treasures)

Both the head and pedestal were taken to Burghley’s curator before being sent to a professional conservator, who was able to “carefully clean” and consolidate the figure. 

The find was also reported to the British Museum, which maintains a database of these types of discoveries. 

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The Burghley Estate includes the historic Burghley House, vast farmland, woodland and a “significant property portfolio” that includes eight municipalities. 

It’s centered in the town of Stamford in Lincolnshire and spreads to the outlying villages of Pilsgate, Barnack, Collyweston, Easton on the Hill, Barrowden, Wakerley and Morcott, its website says.

It was built by William Cecil in the 1500s “as a country home for the dynasty that he founded and as a demonstration of his wealth and power,” according to the historical overview on the site. 

The Burghley Estate includes the historic Burghley House, vast farmland, woodland and a “significant property portfolio” that includes eight municipalities.  (The Burghley Estate )

The Burghley House is still the home of Cecil’s descendants over 500 years later. 

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Miranda Rock and her family are the current residents. Rock, who works as the house director, looks after the house and collections on behalf of the Burghley House Preservation Trust, a charitable trust set up by her grandfather, the 6th Marquess of Exeter.

The estate displays a vast collection of Italian Old Master paintings, among other historic works of art, and acts as a venue for special events, such as weddings, and operates a number of hotels. 

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Google puts AI agents at heart of its enterprise money-making push

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Google puts AI agents at heart of its enterprise money-making push
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai is deepening a push into enterprise software, signaling to investors at Google’s annual ​cloud conference that AI agents — human-like digital assistants — are a lynchpin of its strategy to monetize artificial intelligence.
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Landlords allegedly posting ‘Muslim-only’ apartment ads in violation of country’s equality act: report

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Landlords allegedly posting ‘Muslim-only’ apartment ads in violation of country’s equality act: report

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Some landlords in England are apparently advertising “Muslim-only” apartments online, according to a local media report.

An investigation by The Telegraph found that alleged listings posted in London on Facebook, Gumtree and Telegram feature phrases such as “only for Muslims,” “for 2 Muslim boys or 2 Muslim girls,” and “Muslims preferred.”

Other ads appeal to Punjabi and Gujarati speakers, while some job vacancies on the platforms are advertised for men only.

Some listings specify “Hindu only,” in addition to posts that likely use religious subtext by stating: “The house should be alcohol and smoke-free.”

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On Facebook, a company called Roshan Properties posted dozens of listings stating “prefer Muslim boy,” “one double room is available for Muslims,” and “suitable for Punjabi boy.” A Meta spokesman told Fox News Digital that Facebook then removed the company’s page “for violating the platform’s policies on discriminatory practices.”

Apartment buildings in Westminster, London, U.K. (John Keeble/Getty Images)

The ads run afoul of Britain’s Equality Act 2010, which prohibits discrimination based on religion or belief, race and other protected characteristics.

“These adverts are disgusting and anti-British. It goes without saying that there would be a national outrage if the tables were turned,” Robert Jenrick, Reform UK’s economic spokesman, told The Telegraph. “All forms of racism are unacceptable, and no religious group should get a special exemption to discriminate in this way.”

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Houses and properties line Cheyne Walk in Chelsea, London, U.K. Some landlords in the city are illegally advertising for “Muslim only” tenants across the city, an investigation by The Telegraph has found. (Richard Baker/In Pictures via Getty Images)

One landlord told The Telegraph to “go away” when asked about an ad for a “Muslims only” room for $1,150, and whether it was available to renters of other faiths.

A spokesperson for Gumtree told the newspaper that the company has clear policies in place that prohibit unlawful discrimination.

On Facebook, a company called Roshan Properties posted dozens of listings stating “prefer Muslim boy,” (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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“We take reports of inappropriate listings very seriously,” the spokesperson said. “The ads referenced appear to relate to private rooms within shared homes, where existing occupants may express preferences about who they live with. This is different from renting out an entire property, which is subject to stricter rules under the Equality Act.”

Telegram did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

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Is Europe too late to the metal recycling game?

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Is Europe too late to the metal recycling game?

Europe’s critical raw materials crisis has a partial answer sitting in the waste stream — but the continent has been too slow to see it.

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Dorota Włoch, CEO of Eneris Surowce, was direct: recycling is no longer optional.

Unlike plastics, metals can be recovered and reused indefinitely, making urban mining — the recovery of raw materials from existing products and waste — increasingly valuable, particularly for batteries.

“From recycling, we recover metallic aluminium and so-called black mass, which is a concentrate of metals, mainly cobalt-nickel. These are some of the most valuable battery metals. And batteries are crucial today, not only in the automotive sector, but also in storing energy from renewable sources such as wind and solar,” she said.

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‘Europe is 25 years late’

Włoch put the scale of the problem plainly. “Deposits are critical — any machine can be bought, but natural resources are not. They are non-transferable and non-renewable. If we use them, they simply disappear,” she said.

Europe’s belated recognition of that reality has cost it dearly.

“The regulation of critical raw materials came 25 years after other regions of the world had invested heavily in deposits. Europe was too passive. Today we are catching up, but the regulations are often so demanding that countries like Poland have difficulty implementing them.”

Who benefits most from extraction?

Poland holds significant reserves of raw materials critical to the modern economy, such as copper, coking coal, nickel, platinum group metals, helium, rhenium, lead and silver.

But the minerals needed most for the energy transition, such as lithium, cobalt and graphite, exist only in limited quantities, forcing imports.

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Arkadiusz Kustra, dean of the faculty of civil engineering and resource management at AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków, told a panel at the European Economic Congress that awareness of the full supply chain, and who profits from it, was now essential.

He pointed to Serbia as a case study.

“Serbia has lithium deposits and is already in talks with Mercedes or Stellantis,” he said. Belgrade is using that leverage to attract investment in battery factories and car plants, keeping more of the value chain at home.

The goal, Kustra argued, should be regional supply chains that retain added value locally.

“You can earn the least at the beginning and the most from the end customer,” he said.

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The bigger obstacle is Chinese dominance.

“Margins in critical raw materials largely go to the Chinese, who control more than 90% of processing and trading, even though they do not own most of the deposits,” he said.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo — among the world’s most resource-rich countries — Chinese entities control around 90% of deposits.

The panel also pointed to growing interest in new supply partnerships, with Poland eyeing assets in the Congo region and the Americas.

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