Breaking News
Follow Breaking News updates on RSS and Twitter
This page features brief excerpts of news stories published by the mainstream media and, less frequently, blogs, alternative media, and even obviously biased sources. The excerpts are taken directly from the websites cited in each source note. Quotation marks are not used.
Highlights
Breaking News
This page features brief excerpts of news stories published by the mainstream media and, less frequently, blogs, alternative media, and even obviously biased sources. The excerpts are taken directly from the websites cited in each source note. Quotation marks are not used. Because most of our readers read the NYT we usually do not include the paper's stories in HIGHLIGHTS.
Name of source: Times (of London)
SOURCE: Times (of London) (4-22-07)
A previously undiscovered cache of poems written by Bonnie Parker, half of the 20th century’s most notorious criminal couple, have shown the depth of her love for Clyde Barrow, her partner in crime.
Parker apparently wrote the nine poems while briefly imprisoned in 1932 at the age of 22, two years after meeting Barrow and being seduced into a life of robbery.
Few other poems by Parker have emerged and experts did not realise she had written so much...
The notebook containing the poems is being sold by the family of JW Tidwell, a guard Parker is believed to have befriended in prison. It is expected to raise £15,000-£25,000 in an auction at Bonhams [in New York] in June.
The poems, written in the popular ballad style of the 1920s and 1930s, celebrate hobos, prostitutes and, above all, her fugitive lover.
Parker apparently wrote the nine poems while briefly imprisoned in 1932 at the age of 22, two years after meeting Barrow and being seduced into a life of robbery.
Few other poems by Parker have emerged and experts did not realise she had written so much...
The notebook containing the poems is being sold by the family of JW Tidwell, a guard Parker is believed to have befriended in prison. It is expected to raise £15,000-£25,000 in an auction at Bonhams [in New York] in June.
The poems, written in the popular ballad style of the 1920s and 1930s, celebrate hobos, prostitutes and, above all, her fugitive lover.
Monday, April 23, 2007 - 16:12
Comments
SOURCE: Times (of London) (4-22-07)
Speaking ill of the dead could become a lot more expensive. The [UK] government is to consider extending the laws of defamation so that even the deceased -- or at least their representatives -- can sue for libel.
Under current laws, litigants need to be alive for a court action to be pursued claiming someone has wrongly damaged their reputation. The government is now discussing proposals that could eventually mean reputations -- from newspaper tycoon Robert Maxwell’s to Victorian prime minister Lord Gladstone’s -- could be defended beyond the grave.
The review was first announced in a Home Office paper on preventing criminals from profiting from their crimes. It highlighted concerns that murder victims could be slandered by their killers with no redress for their families.
The Department for Constitutional Affairs is expected to release a consultation paper later this year that will include the option of extending libel laws to the dead. It would primarily be intended to protect the reputations of homicide victims, but it is likely to prove impractical to restrict it to one specific group.
Under current laws, litigants need to be alive for a court action to be pursued claiming someone has wrongly damaged their reputation. The government is now discussing proposals that could eventually mean reputations -- from newspaper tycoon Robert Maxwell’s to Victorian prime minister Lord Gladstone’s -- could be defended beyond the grave.
The review was first announced in a Home Office paper on preventing criminals from profiting from their crimes. It highlighted concerns that murder victims could be slandered by their killers with no redress for their families.
The Department for Constitutional Affairs is expected to release a consultation paper later this year that will include the option of extending libel laws to the dead. It would primarily be intended to protect the reputations of homicide victims, but it is likely to prove impractical to restrict it to one specific group.
Sunday, April 22, 2007 - 01:58
SOURCE: Times (of London) (4-21-07)
On a crisp spring morning in 1973 a pale and emaciated man made his way slowly across the Lo Wu bridge from China into Hong Kong. A British soldier at the frontier post saluted him as he approached. This was, the man later reflected, “the first act of dignity shown to him in 20 years”.
His name was Jack Downey. He was a CIA agent, and since 1952 he and a colleague, Richard Fecteau, had languished in a Chinese prison, often in solitary confinement, secret hostages in the Cold War between the US and China.
The capture, imprisonment and eventual release of these two CIA agents is one of the most extraordinary and poignant tales in the history of espionage. Some of the material relating to their captivity remains classified but 34 years after Downey stumbled to freedom the CIA has finally allowed an official agency historian access to its most secret files.
The Downey-Fecteau case, revealed last week in the CIA’s Journal of the American Intelligence Professional, is a story of suffering, endurance and ordinary individuals trapped and manipulated by geopolitics...
His name was Jack Downey. He was a CIA agent, and since 1952 he and a colleague, Richard Fecteau, had languished in a Chinese prison, often in solitary confinement, secret hostages in the Cold War between the US and China.
The capture, imprisonment and eventual release of these two CIA agents is one of the most extraordinary and poignant tales in the history of espionage. Some of the material relating to their captivity remains classified but 34 years after Downey stumbled to freedom the CIA has finally allowed an official agency historian access to its most secret files.
The Downey-Fecteau case, revealed last week in the CIA’s Journal of the American Intelligence Professional, is a story of suffering, endurance and ordinary individuals trapped and manipulated by geopolitics...
Saturday, April 21, 2007 - 17:04
SOURCE: Times (of London) (4-21-07)
Decades of controversy over the right to one of the grandest aristocratic titles in the British Isles has finally been settled, after the Lord Chancellor ruled in favour of a gardener instead of a builder.
Paul Fitzgerald, the Californian head of a construction company, claimed that he was the rightful 9th Duke of Leinster, an Irish title granted by George III in 1766. But Lord Falconer of Thoroton decided that the title should remain with Maurice FitzGerald, whose father inherited the title in 1976.
The title brings a great deal of history but no wealth. The Leinster family built Maynooth Castle, the Palladian mansion at Carton in Co Kildare, and Leinster House, now the home in Dublin of the Irish Parliament. But the family’s vast estates, granted at the time of the Norman invasion, and its stately homes were sold, some to pay the gambling debts of Edward, the 7th duke, who was declared bankrupt three times.
The dispute arose after the death of the 8th duke, Gerald FitzGerald, in 2004. Maurice, his eldest son, lodged a claim with the Crown Office to prove his succession.
But Paul Fitzgerald, the 40-year-old pretender to the title from San Francisco, lodged a competing claim based upon his assertion that the 5th duke’s middle son, Desmond, had not died in the First World War, as previously thought. He had emigrated to Canada, where he established a new line of the family, and was entitled to inherit when his elder brother died in 1922.
Paul Fitzgerald, the Californian head of a construction company, claimed that he was the rightful 9th Duke of Leinster, an Irish title granted by George III in 1766. But Lord Falconer of Thoroton decided that the title should remain with Maurice FitzGerald, whose father inherited the title in 1976.
The title brings a great deal of history but no wealth. The Leinster family built Maynooth Castle, the Palladian mansion at Carton in Co Kildare, and Leinster House, now the home in Dublin of the Irish Parliament. But the family’s vast estates, granted at the time of the Norman invasion, and its stately homes were sold, some to pay the gambling debts of Edward, the 7th duke, who was declared bankrupt three times.
The dispute arose after the death of the 8th duke, Gerald FitzGerald, in 2004. Maurice, his eldest son, lodged a claim with the Crown Office to prove his succession.
But Paul Fitzgerald, the 40-year-old pretender to the title from San Francisco, lodged a competing claim based upon his assertion that the 5th duke’s middle son, Desmond, had not died in the First World War, as previously thought. He had emigrated to Canada, where he established a new line of the family, and was entitled to inherit when his elder brother died in 1922.
Saturday, April 21, 2007 - 03:17
Name of source: New York Times
SOURCE: New York Times (4-23-07)
Boris N. Yeltsin, the burly provincial politician who became the first freely elected leader of Russia and a towering figure of his time when he presided over the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the demise of the Communist Party, has died at the age of 76, the Russian government said today.
A Kremlin spokesman confirmed Mr. Yeltsin’s death but gave no details about the circumstances or cause. The Interfax news agency quoted an unidentified medical source as saying the former president had died of heart failure.
In office less than nine years and plagued by severe health problems, Mr. Yeltsin added a final chapter to his historical record when, in a stunning coup at the close of the 20th century, he announced his resignation, and became the first Russian leader to relinquish power on his own in accordance with constitutional processes. He then turned over the reins of office to his handpicked successor, Vladimir V. Putin.
Mr. Yeltsin left a giant, if flawed, legacy...
A Kremlin spokesman confirmed Mr. Yeltsin’s death but gave no details about the circumstances or cause. The Interfax news agency quoted an unidentified medical source as saying the former president had died of heart failure.
In office less than nine years and plagued by severe health problems, Mr. Yeltsin added a final chapter to his historical record when, in a stunning coup at the close of the 20th century, he announced his resignation, and became the first Russian leader to relinquish power on his own in accordance with constitutional processes. He then turned over the reins of office to his handpicked successor, Vladimir V. Putin.
Mr. Yeltsin left a giant, if flawed, legacy...
Related Links
Boris Yeltsin full coverage (Yahoo News)
Monday, April 23, 2007 - 15:27
SOURCE: New York Times (4-23-07)
BAGHDAD -— Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki said Sunday that he was ordering a halt to construction of a controversial wall that would block a Sunni neighborhood in Baghdad from other areas, saying it reminded people of “other walls.”
The announcement, which he made in Cairo while on a state visit, appeared intended to allay mounting criticism from both Sunni Arab and Shiite parties about the project.
“I oppose the building of the wall, and its construction will stop,” Mr. Maliki told reporters during a joint news conference with the secretary general of the Arab League, Amr Moussa. “There are other methods to protect neighborhoods.”
A spokesman for the American military, Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, said the military would remain “in a dialogue” with the Iraqi government about how best to protect citizens. The military did not say whether the wall’s construction would be halted.
Mr. Maliki did not specify in his remarks what other walls he referred to. However, the separation barrier in the West Bank being erected by Israel, which Israel says is for protection but greatly angers Palestinians, is a particularly delicate issue among Arabs.
The announcement, which he made in Cairo while on a state visit, appeared intended to allay mounting criticism from both Sunni Arab and Shiite parties about the project.
“I oppose the building of the wall, and its construction will stop,” Mr. Maliki told reporters during a joint news conference with the secretary general of the Arab League, Amr Moussa. “There are other methods to protect neighborhoods.”
A spokesman for the American military, Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, said the military would remain “in a dialogue” with the Iraqi government about how best to protect citizens. The military did not say whether the wall’s construction would be halted.
Mr. Maliki did not specify in his remarks what other walls he referred to. However, the separation barrier in the West Bank being erected by Israel, which Israel says is for protection but greatly angers Palestinians, is a particularly delicate issue among Arabs.
Monday, April 23, 2007 - 01:53
Name of source: All Headline News
SOURCE: All Headline News (4-21-07)
THE HAGUE -- Germany has signed the papers that will allow the unsealing of an archive of Nazi concentration camp documents for scholarship. The archive of 30 million to 50 million pages is managed by the International Tracing Service, part of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The documents must be ratified by 11 nations to take effect. So far, in addition to Germany, the nations agreeing to the move include the United States, Israel, Poland, the Netherlands and Britain.
Approval is now pending for Belgium, France, Italy, Greece and Luxembourg.
Germany's approval was crucial because of its connection with the Nazi regime and the location of the archives in the German town of Bad Arolsen.
The documents must be ratified by 11 nations to take effect. So far, in addition to Germany, the nations agreeing to the move include the United States, Israel, Poland, the Netherlands and Britain.
Approval is now pending for Belgium, France, Italy, Greece and Luxembourg.
Germany's approval was crucial because of its connection with the Nazi regime and the location of the archives in the German town of Bad Arolsen.
Monday, April 23, 2007 - 04:12
Name of source: Houston Chronicle
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle (4-20-07)
Glaucus and Scylla, a 1841 oil on wood by J.M.W. Turner that the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth returned to the heirs of British collectors John and Anna Jaffé last summer, is back at the Kimbell —- which paid $5.7 million for it at auction.
The painting had been in the Kimbell's collection for 40 years until Alain Monteagle, a Jaffé descendant, proved it had been unlawfully seized by France's pro-Nazi Vichy government in 1943.
The gold and russet Turner shows a lovestruck sea god, Glaucus, pursuing Scylla, an ocean nymph. It dates from the last decade of the English artist's life, when he was experimenting with different formats. It sold several times before its original acquisition by the Fort Worth museum in 1966.
Monday, April 23, 2007 - 04:10
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle (4-20-07)
The attack on Mexican troops at the Battle of San Jacinto came at just the right time and place 171 years ago today, leading to a "Texian" victory that secured independence from Mexico.
If re-enacters wanted to replicate the battle today on the same ground, they'd have to wade through a reflecting pool at the base of the towering San Jacinto Monument. Officials now want to restore the landscape of the San Jacinto Battleground State Historical Park to resemble the way it was at that day, April 21, 1836.
"The landscape plays a major role" in the battle, said Earl Broussard, of Austin, a landscape architect whose firm is overseeing the battleground's restoration.
If re-enacters wanted to replicate the battle today on the same ground, they'd have to wade through a reflecting pool at the base of the towering San Jacinto Monument. Officials now want to restore the landscape of the San Jacinto Battleground State Historical Park to resemble the way it was at that day, April 21, 1836.
"The landscape plays a major role" in the battle, said Earl Broussard, of Austin, a landscape architect whose firm is overseeing the battleground's restoration.
Monday, April 23, 2007 - 01:58
Name of source: Telegraph
SOURCE: Telegraph (4-23-07)
BERLIN -- A building in Berlin that was once a headquarters of the Hitler Youth is to re-open as a British-owned members' club for the rich and famous.
The imposing eight-storey former department store near the German capital's trendy eastern districts has been unloved and crumbling for decades.
But now it has been snapped up by the owners of Soho House, London's fashionable media hang-out, and will be transformed into an exclusive club with a swimming pool, cinema and fitness centre...
The building was owned by Jewish business partners in the 1920s before being taken over by the Nazis and handed to the leadership of the Hitler Youth.
After the war, it underwent a political reverse as the East German Communist Party made it their headquarters. It continued to be used by the communist regime in the east until the fall of the Berlin wall, when it was abandoned.
The building was eventually restored to the descendents of the original owners, but they had struggled to find any buyers for it until Soho House stepped in.
The imposing eight-storey former department store near the German capital's trendy eastern districts has been unloved and crumbling for decades.
But now it has been snapped up by the owners of Soho House, London's fashionable media hang-out, and will be transformed into an exclusive club with a swimming pool, cinema and fitness centre...
The building was owned by Jewish business partners in the 1920s before being taken over by the Nazis and handed to the leadership of the Hitler Youth.
After the war, it underwent a political reverse as the East German Communist Party made it their headquarters. It continued to be used by the communist regime in the east until the fall of the Berlin wall, when it was abandoned.
The building was eventually restored to the descendents of the original owners, but they had struggled to find any buyers for it until Soho House stepped in.
Monday, April 23, 2007 - 04:06
SOURCE: Telegraph (4-22-07)
It spends less on new acquisitions than almost any other major museum in the world and is currently £2 million in the red. Yet the British Museum has been able to find tens of thousands of pounds to send its 23-strong team of trustees and top managers on a series of foreign trips.
The museum, home to the Elgin marbles and the Rosetta Stone, has dispensed with the tradition of holding its annual meeting of trustees at its London headquarters and has instead begun holding them overseas...
Amsterdam was the chosen location for the museum board's most recent annual general meeting last October. Seventeen trustees...spent two days at the five-star Radisson SAS Hotel...
The British Museum, which receives £40 million of government funding every year, said it had spent £16,500 on accommodation in Amsterdam and return flights -- an average of £834 for each trustee who attended.
The museum, home to the Elgin marbles and the Rosetta Stone, has dispensed with the tradition of holding its annual meeting of trustees at its London headquarters and has instead begun holding them overseas...
Amsterdam was the chosen location for the museum board's most recent annual general meeting last October. Seventeen trustees...spent two days at the five-star Radisson SAS Hotel...
The British Museum, which receives £40 million of government funding every year, said it had spent £16,500 on accommodation in Amsterdam and return flights -- an average of £834 for each trustee who attended.
Sunday, April 22, 2007 - 02:47
SOURCE: Telegraph (4-22-07)
In her lifetime, the novelist Dame Muriel Spark's own story was one of intrigue, punctuated with family estrangements, a bitter divorce and enigmatic relationships. In death, it seems, she has left another untold story.
A long-awaited biography of the distinguished author [by Martin Stannard of the University of Leicester] will not be published for at least another two years, it can be revealed, and may never appear at all.
Dame Muriel, probably best known for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, found fault with the biography, in particular revelations about her private life, and withheld permission for it to be published.
Now, from beyond the grave, she has made sure its publication is still not assured. Her lifelong companion, the artist Penelope Jardine, to whom Dame Muriel controversially left her £3 million estate, has right of approval and she, too, is apparently concerned that the biography does not depict the "true story" of the novelist's life...
Dame Muriel, 88, died last year in Italy where she had shared a Tuscan farmhouse with Miss Jardine for 40 years. She always denied suggestions that they had a lesbian relationship, preferring to describe her feelings for the artist as "old-fashioned friendship"...
Ion Trewin, at Stannard's publisher, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, revealed that publication had once again been postponed, claiming the biography would be available in 2009. But Stannard himself is less optimistic, merely saying that it will"probably" be published. He insists that Dame Muriel never told him that she disliked what he had written about her family or her private life."No objective biographer, however, could omit such a discussion," he said.
A long-awaited biography of the distinguished author [by Martin Stannard of the University of Leicester] will not be published for at least another two years, it can be revealed, and may never appear at all.
Dame Muriel, probably best known for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, found fault with the biography, in particular revelations about her private life, and withheld permission for it to be published.
Now, from beyond the grave, she has made sure its publication is still not assured. Her lifelong companion, the artist Penelope Jardine, to whom Dame Muriel controversially left her £3 million estate, has right of approval and she, too, is apparently concerned that the biography does not depict the "true story" of the novelist's life...
Dame Muriel, 88, died last year in Italy where she had shared a Tuscan farmhouse with Miss Jardine for 40 years. She always denied suggestions that they had a lesbian relationship, preferring to describe her feelings for the artist as "old-fashioned friendship"...
Ion Trewin, at Stannard's publisher, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, revealed that publication had once again been postponed, claiming the biography would be available in 2009. But Stannard himself is less optimistic, merely saying that it will"probably" be published. He insists that Dame Muriel never told him that she disliked what he had written about her family or her private life."No objective biographer, however, could omit such a discussion," he said.
Sunday, April 22, 2007 - 02:14
Name of source: Los Angeles Times
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times (4-23-07)
MALYY GORODOK, Russia —- The painting exudes the sweet softness of idyllic village life: A mother, towel wrapped around her head, braids her daughter's hair while a young woman draws a red comb through her own tresses. A girl in a dark dress carries a samovar for tea, a little girl drinks from a white cup, and a cat makes its presence known.
Yuri Kugach, 90, still remembers the inspiration for one of his most famous paintings. He was visiting the home of a fisherman when he saw the women of the house making themselves up after a visit to the banya, or Russian-style steam bath.
"I said to myself, 'This is a painting,' " he recalled four decades later.
Today, his works and those of other Soviet painters who produced technically skilled art in the happy-worker style often dubbed Socialist Realism are riding a wave of new popularity. In a development that bygone communist leaders might not have found amusing, wealthy Moscow capitalists are sharply bidding up prices -— as high as $200,000 —- as they scramble to acquire pieces.
Yuri Kugach, 90, still remembers the inspiration for one of his most famous paintings. He was visiting the home of a fisherman when he saw the women of the house making themselves up after a visit to the banya, or Russian-style steam bath.
"I said to myself, 'This is a painting,' " he recalled four decades later.
Today, his works and those of other Soviet painters who produced technically skilled art in the happy-worker style often dubbed Socialist Realism are riding a wave of new popularity. In a development that bygone communist leaders might not have found amusing, wealthy Moscow capitalists are sharply bidding up prices -— as high as $200,000 —- as they scramble to acquire pieces.
Monday, April 23, 2007 - 04:04
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times (4-21-07)
FRESNO, Calif. — Rick Norsigian discovered the object of his obsession one sunny Saturday seven years ago at a garage sale.
A painter for the Fresno school district by day and inveterate antique buff the rest of his waking hours, Norsigian was combing through suburban castoffs when he came across a time-weathered wooden box. The crate was heavy with old glass-plate photographic negatives.
Frozen in early 20th century black and white were sharply detailed shots of Yosemite landmarks, the San Francisco waterfront, Carmel's historic mission and scenic Point Lobos.
Norsigian bought the five dozen negatives for about 75 cents apiece. They were a nice bit of memorabilia, he figured, nothing more.
Still, over the months that followed, when he gingerly pulled the delicate plates out of faded manila envelopes to show friends and relatives, nearly everyone said the same thing: These old glass negatives look like the work of Ansel Adams.
A notion slowly took hold of Norsigian: Perhaps this was a misplaced collection of the American photographic legend's early work. Maybe he had turned up a lost treasure...
A painter for the Fresno school district by day and inveterate antique buff the rest of his waking hours, Norsigian was combing through suburban castoffs when he came across a time-weathered wooden box. The crate was heavy with old glass-plate photographic negatives.
Frozen in early 20th century black and white were sharply detailed shots of Yosemite landmarks, the San Francisco waterfront, Carmel's historic mission and scenic Point Lobos.
Norsigian bought the five dozen negatives for about 75 cents apiece. They were a nice bit of memorabilia, he figured, nothing more.
Still, over the months that followed, when he gingerly pulled the delicate plates out of faded manila envelopes to show friends and relatives, nearly everyone said the same thing: These old glass negatives look like the work of Ansel Adams.
A notion slowly took hold of Norsigian: Perhaps this was a misplaced collection of the American photographic legend's early work. Maybe he had turned up a lost treasure...
Saturday, April 21, 2007 - 17:17
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times (4-21-07)
ROME —- Limbo has been in limbo for quite some time, but is now on its way to extinction.
A Vatican committee that spent years examining the medieval concept published a much-anticipated report Friday, concluding that unbaptized babies who die may go to heaven.
That could reverse centuries of Roman Catholic traditional belief...
The Vatican's International Theological Commission issued its findings —- with the approval of Pope Benedict XVI —- in a document published by the Catholic News Service...
A church decision to abolish limbo has long been expected. Benedict and his predecessor, the late Pope John Paul II, expressed misgivings about the concept. Benedict, when he was still Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and the church's top enforcer of dogma, said he viewed limbo as a mere "theological hypothesis." Never part of formal doctrine because it does not appear in Scripture, limbo was removed from the Catholic catechism 15 years ago.
From the Latin "limbus," for hem or edge, limbo refers to a "state of natural happiness" outside heaven, a destination for the souls of babies who were not baptized and certain virtuous people, such as faithful Jews who lived before the time of Christ.
In the 5th century, St. Augustine declared that all unbaptized babies went to hell upon death. By the Middle Ages, the idea was softened to suggest a less severe fate, limbo.
In his Divine Comedy, Dante characterized limbo as the first circle of hell and populated it with the great thinkers of ancient Greece and Rome, as well as leading Islamic philosophers.
The document published Friday said the question of limbo had become a "matter of pastoral urgency" because of the growing number of babies who do not receive the baptismal rite. Especially in Africa and other parts of the world where Catholicism is growing but has competition from other faiths such as Islam, high infant mortality rates mean many families live with a church teaching them that their babies could not go to heaven.
A Vatican committee that spent years examining the medieval concept published a much-anticipated report Friday, concluding that unbaptized babies who die may go to heaven.
That could reverse centuries of Roman Catholic traditional belief...
The Vatican's International Theological Commission issued its findings —- with the approval of Pope Benedict XVI —- in a document published by the Catholic News Service...
A church decision to abolish limbo has long been expected. Benedict and his predecessor, the late Pope John Paul II, expressed misgivings about the concept. Benedict, when he was still Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and the church's top enforcer of dogma, said he viewed limbo as a mere "theological hypothesis." Never part of formal doctrine because it does not appear in Scripture, limbo was removed from the Catholic catechism 15 years ago.
From the Latin "limbus," for hem or edge, limbo refers to a "state of natural happiness" outside heaven, a destination for the souls of babies who were not baptized and certain virtuous people, such as faithful Jews who lived before the time of Christ.
In the 5th century, St. Augustine declared that all unbaptized babies went to hell upon death. By the Middle Ages, the idea was softened to suggest a less severe fate, limbo.
In his Divine Comedy, Dante characterized limbo as the first circle of hell and populated it with the great thinkers of ancient Greece and Rome, as well as leading Islamic philosophers.
The document published Friday said the question of limbo had become a "matter of pastoral urgency" because of the growing number of babies who do not receive the baptismal rite. Especially in Africa and other parts of the world where Catholicism is growing but has competition from other faiths such as Islam, high infant mortality rates mean many families live with a church teaching them that their babies could not go to heaven.
Saturday, April 21, 2007 - 03:57
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times (4-21-07)
WASHINGTON —- It was the year 2000, and Rep. George P. Radanovich was on his way to the Capitol, expecting the House to pass a long-debated resolution he was sponsoring to recognize the Armenian genocide almost a century ago.
But just as the Republican from Mariposa prepared to step onto the House floor, Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) called off the vote because President Clinton personally had warned him that the symbolic but emotion-charged resolution could damage national security. Turkey, an important U.S. ally, long has insisted that the deaths of about 1 million Armenians in the waning days of the Ottoman Empire were not acts of genocide.
Seven years later, however, with Congress in the hands of Democrats, the resolution's backers believe they stand their best chance yet of winning passage —- even though the Bush administration, like previous Democratic and Republican administrations, is working hard to kill it.
Radanovich is predicting that the resolution's fate once again will come down to a phone call between the president and the House speaker. This time the speaker is Democrat Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, who as a member of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues has been a passionate supporter of the genocide resolution.
But there's a rub...
But just as the Republican from Mariposa prepared to step onto the House floor, Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) called off the vote because President Clinton personally had warned him that the symbolic but emotion-charged resolution could damage national security. Turkey, an important U.S. ally, long has insisted that the deaths of about 1 million Armenians in the waning days of the Ottoman Empire were not acts of genocide.
Seven years later, however, with Congress in the hands of Democrats, the resolution's backers believe they stand their best chance yet of winning passage —- even though the Bush administration, like previous Democratic and Republican administrations, is working hard to kill it.
Radanovich is predicting that the resolution's fate once again will come down to a phone call between the president and the House speaker. This time the speaker is Democrat Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, who as a member of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues has been a passionate supporter of the genocide resolution.
But there's a rub...
Saturday, April 21, 2007 - 03:44
Name of source: Reuters
SOURCE: Reuters (4-20-07)
HANOI -- Internationally renowned Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh on Friday led larger-than-expected crowds in a ceremony intended to heal wounds of the Vietnam war that ended 32 years ago this month.
In a sermon near Hanoi, Nhat Hanh advised thousands of monks and lay people to pray equally for those who fought and died on both sides, the communist north and the U.S.-backed south.
"We know that you fought courageously for our nation," said Nhat Hanh, a resident of France who gave similar sermons in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, in March and in the central city of Hue in early April.
"And we are proud of you. We will not distinguish between north and south or discriminate by race, religion, party or ideology," the 80-year-old told the crowds at the Non pagoda.
In a sermon near Hanoi, Nhat Hanh advised thousands of monks and lay people to pray equally for those who fought and died on both sides, the communist north and the U.S.-backed south.
"We know that you fought courageously for our nation," said Nhat Hanh, a resident of France who gave similar sermons in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, in March and in the central city of Hue in early April.
"And we are proud of you. We will not distinguish between north and south or discriminate by race, religion, party or ideology," the 80-year-old told the crowds at the Non pagoda.
Monday, April 23, 2007 - 02:46
SOURCE: Reuters (4-21-07)
TOKYO -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said Tokyo feels"responsible" for forcing women to work in brothels during World War II, Newsweek magazine has reported.
Abe's remark appears to be an effort to deflect U.S. criticism over comments he made last month that there was no proof the government or the military had forced the women, mostly Asian and many Korean, to serve Japanese soldiers in the brothels.
"We feel responsible for having forced these women to go through that hardship and pain as comfort women under the circumstances at the time," Abe was quoted as saying in the interview, published in the magazine's April 30 issue.
Abe also expressed sympathy for the" comfort women", as they are known in Japan, and reiterated that his administration stood by a 1993 Japanese statement that acknowledged official involvement in the management of the brothels.
Related Links
'We bear responsibility' (Newsweek)
Sunday, April 22, 2007 - 02:06
SOURCE: Reuters (4-20-07)
LONDON -- A bronze statue of Nelson Mandela is to be erected in front of the Houses of Parliament after a five-year row over where it should stand.
The nine-foot high statue of South Africa's first black president will take its place in Parliament Square alongside some of Britain's greatest statesmen like Winston Churchill and Benjamin Disraeli.
London Mayor Ken Livingstone had campaigned for years to have the statue on the north terrace of nearby Trafalgar Square but Westminster Council always insisted it would be an obstacle to public events.
Related Links
Photo: sculptor Ian Walters with statue model
Friday, April 20, 2007 - 17:44
Name of source: WPDE-TV (Myrtle Beach-Florence, S.C.)
SOURCE: WPDE-TV (Myrtle Beach-Florence, S.C.) (4-21-07)
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Members from the largest neo-Nazi group in the United States, the National Socialist Movement, the Ku Klux Klan and the Aryan Nation gathered in on the steps of the Capitol in Columbia on Saturday to cover issues of race and their stance on illegal immigration.
They were met in opposition by the Coalition Against Bigotry, a group promoting peace.
The Nazi group sported uniforms branded with swastikas and repeatedly yelled praises to Adolf Hitler as they spoke to a crowd of some people who shared their views and others who strictly opposed them.
Both groups had permits and were given permission to rally at the Statehouse prior to the gathering. South Carolina State Troopers, Columbia police, SLED agents and SWAT teams were in high volume throughout the afternoon.
They were met in opposition by the Coalition Against Bigotry, a group promoting peace.
The Nazi group sported uniforms branded with swastikas and repeatedly yelled praises to Adolf Hitler as they spoke to a crowd of some people who shared their views and others who strictly opposed them.
Both groups had permits and were given permission to rally at the Statehouse prior to the gathering. South Carolina State Troopers, Columbia police, SLED agents and SWAT teams were in high volume throughout the afternoon.
Monday, April 23, 2007 - 02:30
Name of source: Novinite/Sofia News Agency
SOURCE: Novinite/Sofia News Agency (4-21-07)
A completely intact Thracian chariot was unearthed by the Bulgarian archaeologist Vesselin Ignatov on Friday, Darik News reported.
The chariot was found near a burial barrow close to the central Bulgarian town of Nova Zagora. Ignatov and his team have already dated the finding to 2 century BC. The chariot has two wheels with its roof made of heavy bronze in the form of eagle heads and a folding iron chair, where the driver sat. The chariot was aimed to be pulled by three horses.
The uniqueness of the finding is that it is completely intact, with all its parts on place except the wooden ones, and now we can calculate its precise size and how exactly it was placed in the tomb, Ignatov said. He believes a second chariot will be found as the excavations continue.
The chariot was found near a burial barrow close to the central Bulgarian town of Nova Zagora. Ignatov and his team have already dated the finding to 2 century BC. The chariot has two wheels with its roof made of heavy bronze in the form of eagle heads and a folding iron chair, where the driver sat. The chariot was aimed to be pulled by three horses.
The uniqueness of the finding is that it is completely intact, with all its parts on place except the wooden ones, and now we can calculate its precise size and how exactly it was placed in the tomb, Ignatov said. He believes a second chariot will be found as the excavations continue.
Monday, April 23, 2007 - 02:19
Name of source: EITB24 (Basque News & Information Channel)
SOURCE: EITB24 (Basque News & Information Channel) (4-22-07)
This year is the 70th anniversary of the bombing of the Basque town of Gernika [or Gernika-Lumo] in the Basque Country. On 26 April, 1937 Gernika was targeted for aerial bombing during the Spanish Civil War. In response to the atrocity artist Pablo Picasso painted his famous work by the same name, Guernica. But controversy now surrounds where this work should be kept.
The National Museum of Art Reina Sofia in the Spanish capital Madrid contains many of the world's most influential paintings and art works of modern times. One painting, however, is attracting a good deal of attention at the moment...
The historical importance of Gernika has led to frequent calls for the Guernica painting to be shown in Gernika, or at least to be moved temporarily to the Basque country.
Head of painting conservation at the Reina Sofia Art Museum, Jorge Garcia, has led an investigation into the condition of the painting. He says his findings show that the painting should not be moved...
But historian in Gernika, Jose Angel Etxaniz, is a firm believer that if the painting is to come out of Madrid it should go directly to Gernika.
The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, also in the Basque Country, was widely thought to have been the suitable destination for the Guernica painting if it was ever to leave the Spanish capital.
The National Museum of Art Reina Sofia in the Spanish capital Madrid contains many of the world's most influential paintings and art works of modern times. One painting, however, is attracting a good deal of attention at the moment...
The historical importance of Gernika has led to frequent calls for the Guernica painting to be shown in Gernika, or at least to be moved temporarily to the Basque country.
Head of painting conservation at the Reina Sofia Art Museum, Jorge Garcia, has led an investigation into the condition of the painting. He says his findings show that the painting should not be moved...
But historian in Gernika, Jose Angel Etxaniz, is a firm believer that if the painting is to come out of Madrid it should go directly to Gernika.
The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, also in the Basque Country, was widely thought to have been the suitable destination for the Guernica painting if it was ever to leave the Spanish capital.
Related Links
Travails and travels of 'Guernica' since 1937 (Wikipedia)
Monday, April 23, 2007 - 02:16
Name of source: AP
SOURCE: AP (4-19-07)
WARSAW -- The last surviving leader of the Warsaw ghetto uprising placed yellow daffodils on a granite memorial Thursday to commemorate the 64th anniversary of the start of the ill-fated, armed resistance.
Marek Edelman, shivering on a chilly spring day, walked arm-in-arm with his granddaughter from the stark monument for heroes of the uprising in downtown Warsaw to several other sites within the Nazi-era ghetto for Warsaw Jews.
On one of Edelman's stops, a group of teenagers sang Yiddish songs that roused the fighters who rose up on April 19, 1943 against Germany's attempts to liquidate the ghetto...
In a separate ceremony, Poland's President Lech Kaczynski and other officials placed wreaths at the monument to those killed in what was the first major act of civilian resistance against the Nazis in Poland during World War II.
Marek Edelman, shivering on a chilly spring day, walked arm-in-arm with his granddaughter from the stark monument for heroes of the uprising in downtown Warsaw to several other sites within the Nazi-era ghetto for Warsaw Jews.
On one of Edelman's stops, a group of teenagers sang Yiddish songs that roused the fighters who rose up on April 19, 1943 against Germany's attempts to liquidate the ghetto...
In a separate ceremony, Poland's President Lech Kaczynski and other officials placed wreaths at the monument to those killed in what was the first major act of civilian resistance against the Nazis in Poland during World War II.
Monday, April 23, 2007 - 01:45
SOURCE: AP (4-22-07)
TALLINN, Estonia -- The life-size statue of a Red Army soldier stands at a crossroads in this Baltic capital, fist clenched and head bowed, marking the spot where Soviet war dead are buried.
But the statue is engulfed in bitter debate over the Soviet army's place in European history, which could come to a head this week if the Estonian government goes ahead with plans to dig up the tomb and move the statue to a park outside Tallinn.
Russians are appalled, and the Kremlin has warned of "irreversible consequences" for relations with Estonia.
Estonia is not alone. These days, throughout formerly Soviet-controlled eastern Europe, a battle of symbols and memories is being waged -- over statues, street names, the hammer and sickle, even Auschwitz. Now firmly entrenched in the West through NATO and European Union membership, many countries are showing renewed eagerness to erase the more visible vestiges of communism.
But the statue is engulfed in bitter debate over the Soviet army's place in European history, which could come to a head this week if the Estonian government goes ahead with plans to dig up the tomb and move the statue to a park outside Tallinn.
Russians are appalled, and the Kremlin has warned of "irreversible consequences" for relations with Estonia.
Estonia is not alone. These days, throughout formerly Soviet-controlled eastern Europe, a battle of symbols and memories is being waged -- over statues, street names, the hammer and sickle, even Auschwitz. Now firmly entrenched in the West through NATO and European Union membership, many countries are showing renewed eagerness to erase the more visible vestiges of communism.
Related Links
Baltic states' turbulent century
Sunday, April 22, 2007 - 18:26
SOURCE: AP (4-22-07)
PHNOM PENH -- The first history book written by a Cambodian author about the Khmer Rouge will soon be available in the country, in a step toward educating Cambodian youths about the murderous regime, a leading genocide researcher said Sunday.
Khamboly Dy's A History of Democratic Kampuchea" will be released on April 25, said Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, an independent group documenting the Khmer Rouge crimes. Cambodia was named Democratic Kampuchea during the 1975-1979 Khmer Rouge rule.
"Cambodians are at last beginning to investigate and record their country's past," he said, adding that books about Cambodian history have been written almost exclusively by foreigners...
Cambodian schools currently teach very little about the Khmer Rouge, mainly because the subject is so sensitive among Cambodian political groups and high-profile individuals who used to be associated with the now-defunct communist movement.
Khamboly Dy's A History of Democratic Kampuchea" will be released on April 25, said Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, an independent group documenting the Khmer Rouge crimes. Cambodia was named Democratic Kampuchea during the 1975-1979 Khmer Rouge rule.
"Cambodians are at last beginning to investigate and record their country's past," he said, adding that books about Cambodian history have been written almost exclusively by foreigners...
Cambodian schools currently teach very little about the Khmer Rouge, mainly because the subject is so sensitive among Cambodian political groups and high-profile individuals who used to be associated with the now-defunct communist movement.
Sunday, April 22, 2007 - 15:01
SOURCE: AP (4-21-07)
NEW YORK -- Mass public shootings have become such a part of American life in recent decades that the most dramatic of them can be evoked from the nation's collective memory in a word or two: Luby's. Jonesboro. Columbine.
And now, Virginia Tech.
Since Aug. 1, 1966, when Charles Whitman climbed a 27-story tower on the University of Texas campus and started picking people off, at least 100 Americans have gone on shooting sprees.
And all through those years, the same questions have been asked...
And now, Virginia Tech.
Since Aug. 1, 1966, when Charles Whitman climbed a 27-story tower on the University of Texas campus and started picking people off, at least 100 Americans have gone on shooting sprees.
And all through those years, the same questions have been asked...
Sunday, April 22, 2007 - 02:32
SOURCE: AP (4-20-07)
BISMARCK, North Dakota -- Republicans in this northern state want to turn an abandoned nuclear missile silo into a tourist attraction named after former President Ronald Reagan.
Historic preservationists have been pushing the Legislature for $250,000 (€184,000) to acquire the site of the silo and a nearby launch center in east-central North Dakota.
The Air Force will demolish the site by year's end if the state does not want to take it over, said Merl Paaverud, superintendent of the State Historical Society of North Dakota.
The state Senate passed a bill Thursday appropriating the money for what would be called the "Ronald Reagan Peace Through Strength Missile Silo Historic Site." The bill now goes to the House...
Paaverud believes the launch center near Cooperstown —- a surface building and a control center buried deep underground —- has the potential to attract tourists from around the country.
Historic preservationists have been pushing the Legislature for $250,000 (€184,000) to acquire the site of the silo and a nearby launch center in east-central North Dakota.
The Air Force will demolish the site by year's end if the state does not want to take it over, said Merl Paaverud, superintendent of the State Historical Society of North Dakota.
The state Senate passed a bill Thursday appropriating the money for what would be called the "Ronald Reagan Peace Through Strength Missile Silo Historic Site." The bill now goes to the House...
Paaverud believes the launch center near Cooperstown —- a surface building and a control center buried deep underground —- has the potential to attract tourists from around the country.
Friday, April 20, 2007 - 17:47
SOURCE: AP (4-19-07)
It has been nearly 70 years since German and Italian fighter planes backing the fascist forces of Gen. Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War leveled this historic Basque town on April 26, 1937.
Myths and misinformation have shrouded the bombing from the outset, starting with the death toll, which historians have been gradually revising downward for decades. But Guernica has come to be seen as a foretaste of the aerial blitzes of World War II, immortalized in Pablo Picasso's "Guernica," one of the most iconic paintings of the 20th century.
But while the images of destruction are etched indelibly in the world's consciousness — and in the minds of a dwindling number of survivors — the 70th anniversary is causing barely a ripple in Spain itself. Little is planned to mark the event on a national level, and no major Spanish politicians are expected to attend a Mass, concert and wreath-laying ceremony for the dead in Guernica's town cemetery.
It is symptomatic of a country that has never come to grips with its Civil War past. Spain has become a cultural and economic powerhouse in recent years, but critics say its success has been built — quite literally — over the ruins of its greatest disaster.
Myths and misinformation have shrouded the bombing from the outset, starting with the death toll, which historians have been gradually revising downward for decades. But Guernica has come to be seen as a foretaste of the aerial blitzes of World War II, immortalized in Pablo Picasso's "Guernica," one of the most iconic paintings of the 20th century.
But while the images of destruction are etched indelibly in the world's consciousness — and in the minds of a dwindling number of survivors — the 70th anniversary is causing barely a ripple in Spain itself. Little is planned to mark the event on a national level, and no major Spanish politicians are expected to attend a Mass, concert and wreath-laying ceremony for the dead in Guernica's town cemetery.
It is symptomatic of a country that has never come to grips with its Civil War past. Spain has become a cultural and economic powerhouse in recent years, but critics say its success has been built — quite literally — over the ruins of its greatest disaster.
Related Links
Town's bombing foreshadowed WWII horrors
Friday, April 20, 2007 - 17:30
SOURCE: AP (4-20-07)
When astronauts return from space, what they talk about isn't the brute force of the rocket launch or the exhilaration of zero gravity -- it's the view. And it's mankind's rarest view of all, Earth from afar.
Only two dozen men -- those who journeyed to the moon -- have seen the full Earth view. Most space travelers, in low orbit, see only a piece of the planet -- a lesser but still impressive glimpse. They have seen the curvature of Earth, its magnificent beauty, its fragility, and its lack of borders.
The first full view of Earth came from the moon-bound Apollo 8 during the waning days of a chaotic 1968. Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders put it in perspective in a documentary: "We came all this way to explore the moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth."
Some of the photos Anders took were used on posters and pins on the first Earth Day in 1970. They've been "an environmental staple of Earth Days ever since," said Denis Hayes, the first Earth Day coordinator.
Only two dozen men -- those who journeyed to the moon -- have seen the full Earth view. Most space travelers, in low orbit, see only a piece of the planet -- a lesser but still impressive glimpse. They have seen the curvature of Earth, its magnificent beauty, its fragility, and its lack of borders.
The first full view of Earth came from the moon-bound Apollo 8 during the waning days of a chaotic 1968. Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders put it in perspective in a documentary: "We came all this way to explore the moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth."
Some of the photos Anders took were used on posters and pins on the first Earth Day in 1970. They've been "an environmental staple of Earth Days ever since," said Denis Hayes, the first Earth Day coordinator.
Friday, April 20, 2007 - 17:29
Name of source: Christian Science Monitor
SOURCE: Christian Science Monitor (4-23-07)
YEREVAN, Armenia -- Gevork Melikyan, aged 94, stares off into the distance with cloudy eyes. His daughter-in-law says he has trouble remembering what happened last week, but he remembers with startling clarity the day when his family fled Turkey –- right down to the name of the dog they left behind...
Mr. Melikyan is one of the last remaining survivors of the mass killing and expulsion of ethnic Armenians from Turkey that took place between 1915 and 1917, which is widely recognized as the first genocide of the 20th century. Turkey disputes that characterization, however, saying there was no organized campaign to kill Armenians and that the deportations took place in the context of war. As the last witnesses reach the twilight of their lives, the question of how to judge what happened in those years remains center stage in the region's complex politics.
The international campaign for universal recognition of the massacres as a genocide has been generally led by the Armenian diaspora, many of whom are descendants of families scattered from 1915-17. While the Armenian government and most Armenians support the campaign, there is also a growing recognition within the country that Armenia pays a heavy price for continued tensions with Turkey.
Mr. Melikyan is one of the last remaining survivors of the mass killing and expulsion of ethnic Armenians from Turkey that took place between 1915 and 1917, which is widely recognized as the first genocide of the 20th century. Turkey disputes that characterization, however, saying there was no organized campaign to kill Armenians and that the deportations took place in the context of war. As the last witnesses reach the twilight of their lives, the question of how to judge what happened in those years remains center stage in the region's complex politics.
The international campaign for universal recognition of the massacres as a genocide has been generally led by the Armenian diaspora, many of whom are descendants of families scattered from 1915-17. While the Armenian government and most Armenians support the campaign, there is also a growing recognition within the country that Armenia pays a heavy price for continued tensions with Turkey.
Sunday, April 22, 2007 - 18:55
Name of source: Toronto Star
SOURCE: Toronto Star (4-21-07)
The leader of an aboriginal blockade that paralyzed rail traffic between Toronto and Montreal for more than 30 hours promised this morning there will be more “economic disruptions” like the protest ended ahead of schedule...
Those targets are the railway, provincial highways and the town of Deseronto, Brant said as he puffed on cigarettes at the gravel quarry that is the heart of the dispute...
Condominiums are planned using gravel from the quarry for an area known as the Culbertson Land Tract, which is on a section of land given to the Six Nations in 1793. The Mohawks contend they never relinquished any part of it...
Federal Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development Jim Prentice...says he understands the frustration of First Nations who’ve watched unsettled land claims balloon from about 250 cases in 1993 to more than 800 now...
Friday also marked the one-year anniversary of a police raid on another aboriginal occupation —- in the southwestern Ontario town of Caledonia, which has been marred by violence in the past...
Those targets are the railway, provincial highways and the town of Deseronto, Brant said as he puffed on cigarettes at the gravel quarry that is the heart of the dispute...
Condominiums are planned using gravel from the quarry for an area known as the Culbertson Land Tract, which is on a section of land given to the Six Nations in 1793. The Mohawks contend they never relinquished any part of it...
Federal Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development Jim Prentice...says he understands the frustration of First Nations who’ve watched unsettled land claims balloon from about 250 cases in 1993 to more than 800 now...
Friday also marked the one-year anniversary of a police raid on another aboriginal occupation —- in the southwestern Ontario town of Caledonia, which has been marred by violence in the past...
Sunday, April 22, 2007 - 02:50
Name of source: Washington Post
SOURCE: Washington Post (4-22-07)
At the end of the peaceful neighborhood street, past the tidy prewar cottages and just beyond the snack bar offering ice cream on a cool spring day, looms what's left of the Nazi concentration camp.
It's 10:07 a.m. and birds are trilling in the treetops, the voices of happy schoolchildren echo from a nearby playground at recess. But that's outside the gates of the Sachsenhausen camp. Inside, except for the sound of the rushing wind, it's as quiet as a tomb...
It's 10:07 a.m. and birds are trilling in the treetops, the voices of happy schoolchildren echo from a nearby playground at recess. But that's outside the gates of the Sachsenhausen camp. Inside, except for the sound of the rushing wind, it's as quiet as a tomb...
Sunday, April 22, 2007 - 02:35
Name of source: CBC
SOURCE: CBC (4-21-07)
An 18-line poem written by William Shakespeare is being published for the first time since it was discovered by American scholars. [It was apparently read Saturday on BBC Radio 4's"Today" program by actor Geoffrey Streatfeild.]
"To the Queen by the Players" is believed to have been written for a performance at the court of Queen Elizabeth in 1599.
The poem was actually unearthed 30 years ago by Americans William Ringler and Steven May, who were searching through collections of British court poetry. It's an epilogue to one of his plays that the Bard appears to have written quickly but then discarded.
However, it was inexplicably left out of the last Complete Works of Shakespeare, published in 1986. Editors of the new edition describe it as a"precious addition" to the canon just published by Macmillan.
"When plays were put on at court, it was a requirement that there should be a prologue and an epilogue tailor-made for the occasion," Jonathan Bate, co-editor of the new edition, told the Daily Express newspaper...
Scholars believe Shakespeare may have delivered the poem himself on Feb. 20, 1599, when his troupe was known to have performed for the Queen, Elizabeth I.
The poem has been compared to the epilogue to A Midsummer Night's Dream, with the same metre and similarities in language.
"To the Queen by the Players" is believed to have been written for a performance at the court of Queen Elizabeth in 1599.
The poem was actually unearthed 30 years ago by Americans William Ringler and Steven May, who were searching through collections of British court poetry. It's an epilogue to one of his plays that the Bard appears to have written quickly but then discarded.
However, it was inexplicably left out of the last Complete Works of Shakespeare, published in 1986. Editors of the new edition describe it as a"precious addition" to the canon just published by Macmillan.
"When plays were put on at court, it was a requirement that there should be a prologue and an epilogue tailor-made for the occasion," Jonathan Bate, co-editor of the new edition, told the Daily Express newspaper...
Scholars believe Shakespeare may have delivered the poem himself on Feb. 20, 1599, when his troupe was known to have performed for the Queen, Elizabeth I.
The poem has been compared to the epilogue to A Midsummer Night's Dream, with the same metre and similarities in language.
Sunday, April 22, 2007 - 01:55
Name of source: Independent
SOURCE: Independent (4-21-07)
SYDNEY -- The Australian War Memorial has unearthed what it believes is only the footage of Anzac Cove during the Gallipoli battle of World War One, an iconic event in Australian history that is commemorated each year on Anzac Day.
Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) forces landed at Gallipoli in April 1915, part of a British-led campaign to confront Turkey and open up a sea route for Russia. Although the campaign was a disaster, with the two sides suffering more than 300,000 casualties, it has become central to the national identity in Australia and New Zealand.
The two countries remember their war dead on April 25th, the anniversary of the landings. And as they prepare to mark Anzac Day next Wednesday, the military museum in Canberra has announced the chance find of grainy black and white film showing the shoreline at Anzac Cove, and British troops massing down the coast at Suvla Bay...
Although [the war correspondent, Ellis] Ashmead-Bartlett was critical of the campaign itself, his colourful and stirring accounts of the bravery of Australia soldiers helped to forge the Anzac legend. To some Australians, their country, a former British penal colony, came of age during the battle for control of the Gallipoli peninsula.
[The War Memorial’s film and sound curator, Stephanie] Boyle said: “Because we have so little authentic footage, everything we can add to this counts as a major discovery, a possibility for new study.”
Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) forces landed at Gallipoli in April 1915, part of a British-led campaign to confront Turkey and open up a sea route for Russia. Although the campaign was a disaster, with the two sides suffering more than 300,000 casualties, it has become central to the national identity in Australia and New Zealand.
The two countries remember their war dead on April 25th, the anniversary of the landings. And as they prepare to mark Anzac Day next Wednesday, the military museum in Canberra has announced the chance find of grainy black and white film showing the shoreline at Anzac Cove, and British troops massing down the coast at Suvla Bay...
Although [the war correspondent, Ellis] Ashmead-Bartlett was critical of the campaign itself, his colourful and stirring accounts of the bravery of Australia soldiers helped to forge the Anzac legend. To some Australians, their country, a former British penal colony, came of age during the battle for control of the Gallipoli peninsula.
[The War Memorial’s film and sound curator, Stephanie] Boyle said: “Because we have so little authentic footage, everything we can add to this counts as a major discovery, a possibility for new study.”
Saturday, April 21, 2007 - 17:22
Name of source: Preservation Online
SOURCE: Preservation Online (4-11-07)
PITTSBURGH -- On Jan. 3, Pennsylvania state-funded construction crews entered Pittsburgh's Point State Park and began burying a 250-year-old bastion to make way for concert and festival grounds.
The Fort Pitt Music Bastion, one of the only remnants of the French and Indian War's Fort Pitt, built in 1759, is now covered with 10 feet of demolition debris and sand. This spring, while work continues on a $35 million construction project in downtown's state park, a group of historians and citizens is determined to unearth the bastion.
"Without Fort Pitt, we would probably all be speaking French right now," says Will Rouleau, co-founder of SaveFortPitt.org.
The odds are against Rouleau's group, however.
"There are no current plans to uncover the bastion; however, it was filled and protected in a way that is reversible, so it can be uncovered at a future date," says Jane Crawford, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, in an e-mail.
Fort Pitt served as a refuge for 600 men, women, and children in 1763, the last year of the French and Indian War. Until recently, all that remained of the fort was the Block House, built in 1764, and two of the five original bastions. The Monongahela Bastion currently houses the Fort Pitt Museum, and the Music Bastion is no longer visible.
The Fort Pitt Music Bastion, one of the only remnants of the French and Indian War's Fort Pitt, built in 1759, is now covered with 10 feet of demolition debris and sand. This spring, while work continues on a $35 million construction project in downtown's state park, a group of historians and citizens is determined to unearth the bastion.
"Without Fort Pitt, we would probably all be speaking French right now," says Will Rouleau, co-founder of SaveFortPitt.org.
The odds are against Rouleau's group, however.
"There are no current plans to uncover the bastion; however, it was filled and protected in a way that is reversible, so it can be uncovered at a future date," says Jane Crawford, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, in an e-mail.
Fort Pitt served as a refuge for 600 men, women, and children in 1763, the last year of the French and Indian War. Until recently, all that remained of the fort was the Block House, built in 1764, and two of the five original bastions. The Monongahela Bastion currently houses the Fort Pitt Museum, and the Music Bastion is no longer visible.
Saturday, April 21, 2007 - 17:02
SOURCE: Preservation Online (4-3-07)
Closed for more than half a century, a 73-year-old building on Ellis Island's long-abandoned south side opened to the public [April 2] after a seven-year restoration.
Twelve million immigrants passed through the art deco Ferry Building, built in 1934 by the Public Works Administration before the Ellis Island Immigration Station shut down in 1954. Now, after a $6.4 million project funded by a 1999 Save America's Treasures matching grant of $1,145,975, the restored Ferry Building is a museum.
"We won’t just be opening the building; we will be premiering the exhibit, which focuses on the hospital and the larger Ellis Island stories," says Judy McAlpin, president of the nonprofit Save Ellis Island.
The Ferry Building is located on the part of Ellis Island that is owned by New Jersey, which also helped fund the restoration. Two-thirds of the immigrants who passed through Ellis Island took ferries to New Jersey from the Ferry Building, and the rest went to Manhattan.
Twelve million immigrants passed through the art deco Ferry Building, built in 1934 by the Public Works Administration before the Ellis Island Immigration Station shut down in 1954. Now, after a $6.4 million project funded by a 1999 Save America's Treasures matching grant of $1,145,975, the restored Ferry Building is a museum.
"We won’t just be opening the building; we will be premiering the exhibit, which focuses on the hospital and the larger Ellis Island stories," says Judy McAlpin, president of the nonprofit Save Ellis Island.
The Ferry Building is located on the part of Ellis Island that is owned by New Jersey, which also helped fund the restoration. Two-thirds of the immigrants who passed through Ellis Island took ferries to New Jersey from the Ferry Building, and the rest went to Manhattan.
Saturday, April 21, 2007 - 16:58
Name of source: Guardian
SOURCE: Guardian (4-21-07)
Winston Churchill We shall fight on the beaches June 4 1940
John F Kennedy Ask not what your country can do for you January 20 1961
Nelson Mandela An ideal for which I am prepared to die April 20 1964
Harold Macmillan The wind of change February 3 1960
Franklin Delano Roosevelt The only thing we have to fear is fear itself March 4 1933
Nikita Khrushchev The cult of the individual February 25 1956
Emmeline Pankhurst Freedom or death November 3 1913
Martin Luther King I have a dream August 28 1963
Charles de Gaulle The flame of French resistance June 1940
Margaret Thatcher The lady's not for turning October 10 1980
Jawaharlal Nehru A tryst with destiny August 14 1947
Virginia Woolf A room of one's own 1928
Aneurin Bevan We have to act up to different standards December 5 1956
Earl Spencer The most hunted person of a modern age September 6 1997
John F Kennedy Ask not what your country can do for you January 20 1961
Nelson Mandela An ideal for which I am prepared to die April 20 1964
Harold Macmillan The wind of change February 3 1960
Franklin Delano Roosevelt The only thing we have to fear is fear itself March 4 1933
Nikita Khrushchev The cult of the individual February 25 1956
Emmeline Pankhurst Freedom or death November 3 1913
Martin Luther King I have a dream August 28 1963
Charles de Gaulle The flame of French resistance June 1940
Margaret Thatcher The lady's not for turning October 10 1980
Jawaharlal Nehru A tryst with destiny August 14 1947
Virginia Woolf A room of one's own 1928
Aneurin Bevan We have to act up to different standards December 5 1956
Earl Spencer The most hunted person of a modern age September 6 1997
Saturday, April 21, 2007 - 16:09
SOURCE: Guardian (4-20-07)
Incitement to racial hatred and xenophobia is to become a crime across the EU, although the long-fought agreement avoids singling out Holocaust denial and was watered down after differences between member states.
Six years of often fractious negotiations ended in Luxembourg yesterday with a compromise that struggled to balance freedom of expression with a tough stance on anti-semitism and other forms of racism and prejudice.
Justice ministers from all 27 EU countries agreed to punish incitement to hatred or violence against a group or a person that is based on colour, race, national or ethnic origin, by a sentence of between one and three years' jail.
[The Times (of London) led its story on the legislation with"Condoning or 'grossly trivialising' genocide will become a crime punishable by up to three years in prison across Europe..."]
Friday, April 20, 2007 - 02:23
Name of source: AFP
SOURCE: AFP (4-21-07)
Archaeologists in northeastern Greece have unearthed eight tombs containing the remains of men and women who lived more than 2,000 years ago, along with jewellery, weapons and agricultural tools.
The tombs, dating from the fifth to third centuries BC, were dug into rock, were probably covered with stone slabs and may have lain beside an ancient road, the Culture Ministry said.
They were discovered between Salonika and Edessa during road construction.
The tombs, dating from the fifth to third centuries BC, were dug into rock, were probably covered with stone slabs and may have lain beside an ancient road, the Culture Ministry said.
They were discovered between Salonika and Edessa during road construction.
Saturday, April 21, 2007 - 03:27
SOURCE: AFP (4-19-07)
ABLAIN SAINT NAZAIRE, France -- The gravestones of 52 French Muslim soldiers have been daubed with Nazi slogans in a military cemetery in northeastern France, officials said on Thursday.
Swastikas and slogans such as "Heil Hitler" were also painted on Wednesday night on the ossuary of the Notre Dame de Lorette cemetery, the biggest military graveyard in the country, said the local prosecutor.
A hundred gendarmes were scouring the site on Thursday for clues about the perpetrators.
The cemetery, near the town of Arras, contains the graves of many thousands of soldiers who died in World War I.
Swastikas and slogans such as "Heil Hitler" were also painted on Wednesday night on the ossuary of the Notre Dame de Lorette cemetery, the biggest military graveyard in the country, said the local prosecutor.
A hundred gendarmes were scouring the site on Thursday for clues about the perpetrators.
The cemetery, near the town of Arras, contains the graves of many thousands of soldiers who died in World War I.
Friday, April 20, 2007 - 19:44
SOURCE: AFP (4-19-07)
LONDON -- Two Italian Renaissance masterpieces which had been missing since the 19th century fetched 1.7 million pounds ($3.4 million) at an auction in southwest England on Thursday.
The two works of art, painted by an Italian monk known as Fra Angelico in 1439, were only found late last year after the pensioner who bought the pair for 200 pounds in the 1960s, and had little inkling of their significance, showed them to an art historian.
According to Duke's auction house in Dorchester, Dorset, the winning bidder was an anonymous European buyer, who beat out the Italian government, which had hoped to take the paintings back to Italy.
The two small portraits of saints are the missing panels from the altarpiece of the church and convent of San Marco in Florence, central Italy.
Broken up during the Napoleonic wars, six of the eight paintings that surrounded the main panel had been found and the whereabouts of the last two has been described as one of art's greatest mysteries.
They were found in November at the home of retired academic Jean Preston in Oxford, southern England, hanging behind a door in a spare room.
Preston died last year aged 77, having only recently discovered the paintings' importance.
The two works of art, painted by an Italian monk known as Fra Angelico in 1439, were only found late last year after the pensioner who bought the pair for 200 pounds in the 1960s, and had little inkling of their significance, showed them to an art historian.
According to Duke's auction house in Dorchester, Dorset, the winning bidder was an anonymous European buyer, who beat out the Italian government, which had hoped to take the paintings back to Italy.
The two small portraits of saints are the missing panels from the altarpiece of the church and convent of San Marco in Florence, central Italy.
Broken up during the Napoleonic wars, six of the eight paintings that surrounded the main panel had been found and the whereabouts of the last two has been described as one of art's greatest mysteries.
They were found in November at the home of retired academic Jean Preston in Oxford, southern England, hanging behind a door in a spare room.
Preston died last year aged 77, having only recently discovered the paintings' importance.
Friday, April 20, 2007 - 19:18
SOURCE: AFP (4-19-07)
NEW YORK -- A collection of more than 30 Old Masters looted from a Dutch dealer by the Nazis during World War II and returned to his heirs last year fetched almost $10 million at auction Thursday.
The 31 lots sold for a total of $9.7 million, Christie's auction house said, with a river landscape by Salomon van Ruysdael the top-selling lot, bought for $2.2 million, well below its estimate of three to five million.
The lots were part of a collection of 200 artworks looted by the Nazis in 1940 and restituted to Marei von Saher, the daughter-in-law of Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, by the Dutch government last year.
Other works from the collection, which features Dutch Old Masters from the 15th to 19th centuries as well as works from 16th century Germany and 18th century France, are to go on sale in London in July and Amsterdam in November.
The 31 lots sold for a total of $9.7 million, Christie's auction house said, with a river landscape by Salomon van Ruysdael the top-selling lot, bought for $2.2 million, well below its estimate of three to five million.
The lots were part of a collection of 200 artworks looted by the Nazis in 1940 and restituted to Marei von Saher, the daughter-in-law of Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, by the Dutch government last year.
Other works from the collection, which features Dutch Old Masters from the 15th to 19th centuries as well as works from 16th century Germany and 18th century France, are to go on sale in London in July and Amsterdam in November.
Friday, April 20, 2007 - 19:15
SOURCE: AFP (4-19-07)
ROME -- The city of Rome has approved plans to create a museum sector encompassing the Colosseum, the Imperial Forums and the Campidoglio to rival Paris's Louvre, press reports said Thursday.
Covering an area of six hectares (15 acres), the "Great Campidoglio" will be achieved by converting several buildings into museums. One of them will house collections currently at the Museum of Roman Civilisation, located far from Rome's historic centre.
"We will free some important buildings to turn them over to the archaeological and cultural life of the city," said Mayor Walter Veltroni, whose urban planners on Wednesday finalised the plan, dubbed the "new Louvre" by the press.
"The sites and monuments involved will cover a total area of 61,250 square meters (659,050 square feet) while the Louvre in Paris covers 70,000," Veltroni said.
Covering an area of six hectares (15 acres), the "Great Campidoglio" will be achieved by converting several buildings into museums. One of them will house collections currently at the Museum of Roman Civilisation, located far from Rome's historic centre.
"We will free some important buildings to turn them over to the archaeological and cultural life of the city," said Mayor Walter Veltroni, whose urban planners on Wednesday finalised the plan, dubbed the "new Louvre" by the press.
"The sites and monuments involved will cover a total area of 61,250 square meters (659,050 square feet) while the Louvre in Paris covers 70,000," Veltroni said.
Friday, April 20, 2007 - 02:23
Name of source: USA Today
SOURCE: USA Today (4-18-07)
They're calling it "the unkindest cut of all." As Shakespeare fans prepare to celebrate the Bard's 443rd birthday Monday, researchers for a non-profit group say fewer colleges appear to require students to study the influential author.
Just 15 of 70 institutions studied require English majors to take a course on Shakespeare, says a report by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, a Washington-based group that promotes academic quality. At least six of those schools dropped or weakened requirements since 1996, when the group did a similar study.
Earning a bachelor's degree in English without the study of Shakespeare"is tantamount to fraud," says Anne Neal, president of the group.
The report examines requirements of English majors at U.S. News & World Report's top 25-ranked national universities and liberal arts colleges, schools in the Big 10 college athletic conference, and a selection of California and New York colleges, along with schools in Washington, D.C., where the Bard is being honored with public events...
The Bard is required by only one Ivy League school, Harvard. Among top liberal arts colleges, only Middlebury, Smith and Wellesley have such a requirement.
Just 15 of 70 institutions studied require English majors to take a course on Shakespeare, says a report by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, a Washington-based group that promotes academic quality. At least six of those schools dropped or weakened requirements since 1996, when the group did a similar study.
Earning a bachelor's degree in English without the study of Shakespeare"is tantamount to fraud," says Anne Neal, president of the group.
The report examines requirements of English majors at U.S. News & World Report's top 25-ranked national universities and liberal arts colleges, schools in the Big 10 college athletic conference, and a selection of California and New York colleges, along with schools in Washington, D.C., where the Bard is being honored with public events...
The Bard is required by only one Ivy League school, Harvard. Among top liberal arts colleges, only Middlebury, Smith and Wellesley have such a requirement.
Saturday, April 21, 2007 - 02:57
Name of source: BBC News
SOURCE: BBC News (4-20-07)
A 76-year-old professor who was killed while protecting his students during the Virginia Tech shooting has been buried in Israel, his adopted home.
Romanian-born Holocaust survivor Liviu Librescu was hailed a hero for holding the gunman at bay as his class escaped.
Romania awarded Mr Librescu its highest medal and officials attended the burial in the central Israeli town of Raanana...
Jewish human rights organisation the Simon Wiesenthal Centre has highlighted the"unbelievable" irony that he died saving others on the annual Holocaust memorial day.
Mr Librescu is thought to have saved the lives of a number of students by using his body to barricade a classroom door before he was gunned down by Cho Seung-hui.
His heroism has been recounted by e-mails from students in the aftermath of the killings.
Related Links
Hell comes to Bath (story of the worst mass killing at a school, in Bath, Mich., 1927)
Friday, April 20, 2007 - 20:51
Name of source: U.S. European command press release
SOURCE: U.S. European command press release (4-20-07)
STUTTGART ARMY AIRFIELD, Germany —- A survivor of seven Nazi labor and concentration camps made good on a promise he made years ago to fellow prisoners when he gave the closing prayer at a Holocaust mass grave here April 15.
Benjamin Gelhorn, 86, said he was the “most happiest man” to give the Kaddish prayer at the placement of gravestones ceremony for 34 Jewish victims at the former World War II forced labor camp known as KZ (concentration camp) Echterdingen...
The 86-year old, who received his “142906” tattoo at the Auschwitz camp in Poland, said there was a pact among the laborers that if one of them was alive they would give the final prayer at “the real funeral.”
Benjamin Gelhorn, 86, said he was the “most happiest man” to give the Kaddish prayer at the placement of gravestones ceremony for 34 Jewish victims at the former World War II forced labor camp known as KZ (concentration camp) Echterdingen...
The 86-year old, who received his “142906” tattoo at the Auschwitz camp in Poland, said there was a pact among the laborers that if one of them was alive they would give the final prayer at “the real funeral.”
The remains of 34 Jewish forced laborers were discovered on the U.S. airfield in September 2005 during a construction project to upgrade the access control point. The remains were re-interred Dec. 15, 2005, during a ceremony attended by Rabbis from many countries, including Israel. On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, or Yom HaShoa, the gravestones of the unidentified victims were dedicated according to Jewish tradition.
In all, 211 Jewish prisoners died at this camp during the winter of 1944 to 1945.
The solemn ceremony concluded as more than 200 mourners participated in the Jewish tradition of placing stones on the gravestones. Gelhorn, who spent three months at the KZ Echterdingen camp in 1939, placed a stone from the former Buchenwald Concentration Camp in east-central Germany, where he was liberated by U.S. forces in April 1945.
The ceremony was arranged by the Israelite Religious Community of Württemberg (IRCW) and supported by the State Ministry of Baden-Württemberg and the Filderstadt and Leinfelden-Echterdingen communities.
Unveiled to the public for the first time, each grave marker features the Star of David on top and a Hebrew inscription on the bottom. The middle of the gravestones is blank, because the identities of these victims are unknown.
Friday, April 20, 2007 - 20:42
Name of source: New York Times 'The Lede' blog
SOURCE: New York Times 'The Lede' blog (4-20-07)
American forces, struggling to improve security in Baghdad, are turning to an approach with a 4,500-year history in the region: They are building a three-mile wall around the heavily Sunni neighborhood of Adhamiya.
A news release said the project, which soldiers jokingly called “the Great Wall of Adhamiya,” was “one of the centerpieces of a new strategy by coalition and Iraqi forces to break the cycle of sectarian violence.”
By limiting entry points to the neighborhood, and then setting up checkpoints at those points, the plan is to let “residents and people with legitimate business in, while keeping death squads and militia groups out.”
In the district, “any semblance of normal life vanished more than a year ago,” The Times’s Alissa Rubin wrote on April 26.
A news release said the project, which soldiers jokingly called “the Great Wall of Adhamiya,” was “one of the centerpieces of a new strategy by coalition and Iraqi forces to break the cycle of sectarian violence.”
By limiting entry points to the neighborhood, and then setting up checkpoints at those points, the plan is to let “residents and people with legitimate business in, while keeping death squads and militia groups out.”
In the district, “any semblance of normal life vanished more than a year ago,” The Times’s Alissa Rubin wrote on April 26.
Friday, April 20, 2007 - 20:35
Name of source: UPI
SOURCE: UPI (4-20-07)
The Council of Europe awarded its Europe Museum Prize for 2007 to Geneva's International Museum of the Reformation, which is housed on the spot where the city's citizens voted to adopt the Protestant Reformation in 1536. The president of the Council's parliamentary assembly, Rene van der Linden, presented museum director Isabelle Graesslé with a bronze statuette by Catalan artist Joan Miro, a diploma and a check for 5,000 euros at a ceremony in Strasbourg on Tuesday.
The award jury praised the museum's international outlook, its demonstration of religious tolerance, and its "especially daring" interactive display presenting theological ideas, Presbyterian News Service reported Thursday.
The museum, inaugurated in 2005, uses original books, manuscripts, paintings, and engravings to trace the history of Protestantism initiated in Geneva by Jean Calvin in the 16th century. It is planning a special exhibition in 2009 to mark the 500th anniversary of Calvin's birth, which is also celebrated by the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, a grouping of 216 churches with roots in Calvin's Reformation. The alliance brought together 50 representatives for an April 15-19 meeting in Geneva to plan the Calvin Jubilee.
The award jury praised the museum's international outlook, its demonstration of religious tolerance, and its "especially daring" interactive display presenting theological ideas, Presbyterian News Service reported Thursday.
The museum, inaugurated in 2005, uses original books, manuscripts, paintings, and engravings to trace the history of Protestantism initiated in Geneva by Jean Calvin in the 16th century. It is planning a special exhibition in 2009 to mark the 500th anniversary of Calvin's birth, which is also celebrated by the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, a grouping of 216 churches with roots in Calvin's Reformation. The alliance brought together 50 representatives for an April 15-19 meeting in Geneva to plan the Calvin Jubilee.
Friday, April 20, 2007 - 20:19
Name of source: Wabaunsee County Signal-Enterprise
SOURCE: Wabaunsee County Signal-Enterprise (4-20-07)
ALMA, Kansas -- Commissioners have indicated interest in a proposal to give a small reward to those who work to restore stone fences.
In their Monday meeting, [Waubaunsee] County Attorney Norbert Marek, Landowner Paul Miller and Extension Agent Matt Pfeifer brought a draft of a policy that would provide a $1 per rod incentive for restoration of Wabaunsee County’s historic stone fences. [A rod is 16.5 feet.]
“This creates a program that sets a bounty to encourage maintenance and rebuilding of stone fences in your county,” Marek said.
He said the bounty, while minimal, might at least a form of reward for those who go out of their way to restore the landmarks.
In their Monday meeting, [Waubaunsee] County Attorney Norbert Marek, Landowner Paul Miller and Extension Agent Matt Pfeifer brought a draft of a policy that would provide a $1 per rod incentive for restoration of Wabaunsee County’s historic stone fences. [A rod is 16.5 feet.]
“This creates a program that sets a bounty to encourage maintenance and rebuilding of stone fences in your county,” Marek said.
He said the bounty, while minimal, might at least a form of reward for those who go out of their way to restore the landmarks.
Friday, April 20, 2007 - 19:50
Name of source: CTK (Czech News Agency)
SOURCE: CTK (Czech News Agency) (4-19-07)
BRATISLAVA, Slovakia -- A touring exhibition on the Holocaust of Romanies and Sintis during World War II and on racism in the present Europe was today opened at Bratislava Castle in the Slovak capital...
"The Romany Holocaust issues were tabooed and concealed for years not only in Slovakia and facts on the extermination of this minority are today unknown for a majority society, and unfortunately also for many Romanies," said Dusan Gabor, manager of the Council of Romany Communities' NGOs.
He said it is important to inform the public of this topic also due to the rise in extremist, racist and xenophobic symptoms primarily among the young generation, also with regard to the over 10-million strong Romany community in Europe...
Part of the exhibition in Bratislava, which was also prepared by the Slovak National Museum, focuses on the Romany Holocaust during the wartime pro-Nazi Slovak state in 1939-1945.
"The Romany Holocaust issues were tabooed and concealed for years not only in Slovakia and facts on the extermination of this minority are today unknown for a majority society, and unfortunately also for many Romanies," said Dusan Gabor, manager of the Council of Romany Communities' NGOs.
He said it is important to inform the public of this topic also due to the rise in extremist, racist and xenophobic symptoms primarily among the young generation, also with regard to the over 10-million strong Romany community in Europe...
Part of the exhibition in Bratislava, which was also prepared by the Slovak National Museum, focuses on the Romany Holocaust during the wartime pro-Nazi Slovak state in 1939-1945.
Friday, April 20, 2007 - 19:41
