In an effort to connect high school students with Israeli history, the Defense Ministry plans to inaugurate a new project on Monday aimed at renovating all of the IDF memorials and monuments erected over the years for soldiers who fell during the 1948 War of Independence.

According to Defense Ministry records, 140 monuments throughout the country commemorate soldiers and units who fought in the 1948 war. At least 60 are in dire need of renovations. The project, which is being overseen by the Defense Ministry's Families and Memorial Department, is being funded in conjunction with the finance and interior ministries.

Hundreds of high school students from across the country are expected to participate in the project. They will be provided with tools to clean the monuments as well as written material on their histories. The Defense Ministry has also published a book containing pictures and descriptions of all the 1948 memorials.

New technologies seem to make almost everyone's job easier, and archaeology is no exception. One of the newest and most exciting tools in the archaeologist's kit is aerial laser scanning, sometimes referred to as Light Detection And Ranging, or LiDAR. It works a bit like radar, but instead of using radio waves, it uses infrared laser pulses. The echoes can "see" through trees and shrubs, revealing the precise contours of the ground surface.

In the April issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science, University of Vienna archaeologist Michael Doneus and colleagues report the results of a LiDAR survey of the Iron Age hill fort of Purbach in eastern Austria.

A new study by anthropologists at the Texas A and M University, suggests that first Americans to come to the country 1,000 to 2,000 years earlier than the 13,500 years ago previously thought.

The team, led by Ted Goebel, an anthropology professor at Texas A and M and associate director of Texas A and M's Center for the Study of the First Americans, said that their theory indicates that the Americas wasn't settled until as late as 15,000 years ago.

He said that their hypothesis, which suggests that the migration from Alaska started about 15,000 years ago, could shift historic timelines.

On the ancient Syrian island of Arwad, which was settled by the Phoenicians in about 2000BC, men are hard at work hammering wooden pegs into the hull of a ship.

But this vessel will not be taking fishermen on their daily trip up and down the coast. It is destined for a greater adventure – one that could solve a mystery which has baffled archaeologists for centuries.

The adventure begins not in Arwad but in Dorset, where an Englishman has taken it upon himself to try to prove that the Phoenicians circumnavigated Africa thousands of years before any Europeans did.

Oblivious to the mud-covered construction machinery rumbling in the background, dirt-smeared archeologists and Songhees Nation members have been chipping away at a 2,850-year-old aboriginal site, one of the oldest to be found on Vancouver Island, experts say.

"This find is quite rare," said Shane Bond, a senior archeologist with Victoria-based I. R. Wilson Consultants, the company leading the archeological work. "I was terribly excited; my adrenalin was jumping."

The researchers have been meticulously sifting through remains of a large below-ground house, clay oven and fire pit unearthed at a housing development, about 200 metres from the Esquimalt Lagoon in Colwood, a Victoria suburb.

Congressman Chris Smith (R-N.J.) likened Google, Yahoo and other Internet companies to the IBM's cooperation with Hitler's Nazi government to help carry out the Holocaust, according to a report in Information Week.
"Did you ever wonder why the Gestapo always had all those very well-laid-out prints of where the Jews lived?" reporter Paul McDougall quoted Smith as saying. "Because IBM made it happen."

Smith's comments about IBM helping to enable the Holocaust referred to investigative author Edwin Black's 2001 book "IBM And The Holocaust," which extensively documents IBM's role in enabling the Nazis to efficiently exterminate over 7 million people, including about 6 million Jews using IBM's technology. IBM has never denied its 12 year highly profitable relationship with Nazi Germany in which it used its information technology--punch cards--to help plan the Third Reich's war against the Jews. This including such campaigns as the census and other identification programs, asset seizures, extermination by labor which matched job skills to useful slave labor details, and the train schedules and factories serving Auschwitz.

Five years on, few Iraq myths are as persistent as the notion that the Bush Administration invented a connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda. Yet a new Pentagon report suggests that Iraq's links to world-wide terror networks, including al Qaeda, were far more extensive than previously understood.

Naturally, it's getting little or no attention. Press accounts have been misleading or outright distortions, while the Bush Administration seems indifferent. Even John McCain has let the study's revelations float by. But that doesn't make the facts any less notable or true.

The redacted version of "Saddam and Terrorism" is the most definitive public assessment to date from the Harmony program, the trove of "exploitable" documents, audio and video records, and computer files captured in Iraq. On the basis of about 600,000 items, the report lays out Saddam's willingness to use terrorism against American and other international targets, as well as his larger state sponsorship of terror, which included harboring, training and equipping jihadis throughout the Middle East.

"The rise of Islamic fundamentalism in the region gave Saddam the opportunity to make terrorism, one of the few tools remaining in Saddam's 'coercion' toolbox, not only cost effective but a formal instrument of state power," the authors conclude. Throughout the 1990s, the Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS) cooperated with Hamas; the Palestine Liberation Front, which maintained a Baghdad office; Force 17, Yasser Arafat's private army; and others. The IIS gave commando training for members of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, the organization that assassinated Anwar Sadat and whose "emir" was Ayman al-Zawahiri, who became Osama bin Laden's second-in-command when the group merged with al Qaeda in 1998.

At the very least the report should dispel the notion that outwardly "secular" Saddam would never consort with religious types like al Qaeda. A pan-Arab nationalist, Saddam viewed radical Islamists as potential allies, and they likewise. According to a 1993 memo, Saddam decided to "form a group to start hunting Americans present on Arab soil; especially Somalia," where al Qaeda was then working with warlords against U.S. humanitarian forces. Saddam also trained Sudanese fighters in Iraq.

The Pentagon report cites this as "a tactical example" of their cooperation. When Saddam "was ordering action in Somalia aimed at the American presence, Osama bin Laden was doing the same thing." Saddam took an interest in "far-flung terrorist groups . . . to locate any organization whose services he might use in the future." The Harmony documents "reveal that the regime was willing to co-opt or support organizations it knew to be part of al Qaeda -- as long as that organization's near-term goals supported Saddam's long-term version."

For 20 years, such "support" included using Fedayeen Saddam training camps to school terrorists, especially Palestinians but also non-Iraqis "directly associated" with al Qaeda, continuing up to the fall of Baghdad. Saddam also provided financial support and weapons, amounting to "a state-directed program of significant scale." In July 2001, the regime began patronizing a terror cartel in Bahrain calling itself the Army of Muhammad, which, according to an Iraqi memo, "is under the wings of bin Laden."...

French explorer Samuel de Champlain - already getting a rough ride in the Canadian media on the 400th anniversary of his establishment of a trading post in Quebec City - doesn't get much respect in his native country either.

Those few French citizens who have heard of the man, sometimes dubbed Canada's founder, don't even consider him the most important native of Brouage, this historic fortified city that draws 400,000 visitors a year.
That title goes to Marie Mancini, King Louis XIV's first true love.

Legend has it that the so-called Sun King, who would be forced to marry Maria Theresa of Spain in 1660 for political reasons, walked up the stone steps to the ramparts surrounding Brouage and wept so powerfully over the forced termination of their romance that a river of tears flowed down the steps.
"The French people prefer this story because it's a lovers' story," explained Loic Guitton, manager of historic sites here that include the Maison Champlain, a $3.3-million museum built in 2004 - jointly funded by the Canadian and local French regional government - in order to heighten the explorer's profile.

On the slow descent into the Tigris valley, steep cliff walls rise 100 metres on both sides at the confluence of seven natural gorges. The winding road continues into the Kurdish heartland of south-east Turkey until the Mesopotamian plain unfolds, revealing the first scattering of rock caves, of which there are thousands in the area. On the southern bank of the Tigris the ancient settlement of Hasankeyf overlooks the scene.

The town’s history dates back at least 7,000 years, with traces of Assyrian, Roman, Byzantine, Artuqid, Ayyubid and Ottoman civilisations. Though dilapidated from years of neglect, Hasankeyf still enchants – fish seem to jump into the nets of fishermen, storks roost on the peaks of ancient minarets. It is fitting that they nest here: Kurdish children learn that storks, leg leg in Kurdish, come from the south, the direction of Mecca and Medina, and so are referred to as hajis – one who has made the pilgrimage – or haji leg leg.

But 80km downstream from Hasankeyf – which means “rock fort” from the Arabic hisn, rock, and keyfa, fort – lies a very serious threat to its future. At the village of Ilisu, a huge dam is being planned and constructed by the Turkish government. When the project is finished, Hasankeyf will be inundated, submerging thousands of years of history.

Iraqi archaeologists have discovered a new Babylonian town 180 kilometers south of Baghdad.

The head archaeologist Mohammed Yahya said the town is more than 20,000 square meters in area and includes administrative quarters, temples and other buildings of “magnificent and splendid design”

Yahya, who is the head of the provincial Antiquities Department in the Province of Diwaniya, where the new Babylonian town was discovered, said he still lacks evidence on the town’s ancient name.

When a noose was found hanging outside of the Nyumburu Cultural Center on the University of Maryland's College Park campus in September, police classified it as a hate crime but never named — or found — a suspect.

It might not have mattered if they had.

Current state law does not specifically list hanging a noose as a crime. The No Nooses Act attempts to change that by adding the hanging of a noose to a list of actions already specifically identified as crimes, including the burning of objects and the defacing of property.

The legislation "creates a whole separate crime," said Delegate Victor Ramirez, D-Prince George's, one of the bill's four sponsors.

The New London (CT) Historical Society has recently discovered it owns an American flag that may be worth millions. It's an antique 13 star banner made of faded white and red silk ribbons hand stitched together. It's been part of the Society's collection for decades and until lately hung over the mantle in the front parlor of the Shaw Mansion in downtown New London. In 2006 it was restored by experts in Rhode Island. Gradually, it dawned on them that it was one of only a very small number of 13 star flags. Not even the Smithsonian has one of these rarities "We have come to conclude it is probably a sort of national treasure," says Edward Baker, executive director of the Society. "It may be worth several million dollars. But there are no plans to sell it."

The Queen created another piece of history for Northern Ireland today with a show of religious and social unity at the Maundy Thursday service in Armagh.

The leaders of the four main churches in Ireland - including Catholic Cardinal Sean Brady - came together at St Patrick's Church of Ireland Cathedral in Armagh, Ireland's ecclesiastical capital, to watch Her Majesty distribute Maundy Money at the traditional pre-Easter religious service.

It was the first time that the historical service, which dates back more than seven centuries, had taken place outside England or Wales.

Germany's Cabinet adopted a plan Wednesday for a $45.5 million museum to commemorate the plight of Germans uprooted from their homes in eastern Europe after World War II.

The program comes after years of heated debate with Germany's neighbors on how best to memorialize the hardship suffered by millions of Germans left homeless after borders shifted westward in 1945, without diminishing the crimes of the Nazis during the war.

The center in downtown Berlin will include a permanent exhibit on the displaced Germans but also will provide information on expulsions of other peoples throughout history and around the globe, said Thomas Steg, a spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel.

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Germany sparks Polish anger with war museum

Two decades after it was felled, Charlie is still at the checkpoint where the Wall stood parting East from West, gloved, hatted and wrapped in an outmoded US army greatcoat, holding the Star-Spangled Banner aloft in the freezing wind.

There’s little for Charlie to check now, but he may still have a point. At a euro a shot for shutterbugs, his act on the sandbags earns him a healthy daily wage. And for five euros more, he’ll emboss your passport with all the visas you no more require to go this way or that. “Original,” he says, as he assumes the concurrent consular authority of many nations present and gone. “Original and totally legal, and you won’t get it anywhere else.”

A 17th-century painting had to be withdrawn from a Christie’s auction after the Polish Embassy in London revealed that it had been looted by the Nazis.

Pieter de Grebber’s Study of a Reading Man will be returned to the family of Abe Gutnajer, an antiques dealer murdered in the Warsaw ghetto in 1942 by the Nazis, who confiscated his property.

... Germany is offering ghetto workers such as [Gisela] Fischer who were denied pensions a one-time payment of 2,000 Euros, about $3,000.

Jewish organizations are alerting the estimated 20,000 survivors in the USA who worked in ghettos. The German government estimates that 50,000 people around the world are eligible for the Ghetto Labor Compensation Fund.

The U.S. Congress and Jewish organizations lobbied Germany after the country denied 90% of the pension applications from ghetto workers, says Volker Schmidt, a lawyer with Bet Tzedek Legal Services. Bet Tzedek, based in Los Angeles, helps survivors file applications.

Germany's national Jewish body said Thursday it has filed suit against YouTube and its parent company Google, demanding a court order for the site to be permanently purged of anti-Semitic videos.

Stephan Kramer, secretary general of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said in Hamburg, "we charge Google with aiding and abetting racial hatred and discrimination on its YouTube video- platform subsidiary.

"We applied this week for an injunction from a court in Hamburg."

Nearly 90 years after Harriet Key asked the U.S. government to mark the grave of her husband, Jonah Key, a tombstone may finally be in the works for the long-forgotten Civil War veteran.

Key, who served with the 4th Regiment of U.S. Colored Troops and was disabled by a Confederate bullet in 1864, lies in an unmarked grave at Freedom’s Oak Grove Cemetery.

That could soon change thanks to Ron Ciani and Pat Riley, two Beaver County men with an interest in history, but no ties to Key.

“This man put his life on the line for his country in the face of slavery and prejudice,” said Ciani, who has been researching Key’s life for 10 years. “Can you imagine what the Confederates would have done if they had captured him?”

Ciani of Freedom and Riley, president of the Legion Ville Historical Society, are working to get Key a military tombstone through the Veterans Administration. Chances are good that they will succeed.

The hillside cemetery here is unlike any other in South Korea. The graves have no headstones. Instead they have identical, meter-long, white wooden stakes, most of them reading "Anonymous" and revealing little else about those lying beneath.

And, in contrast to the Korean tradition of aligning graves toward the south, those here, arranged in neat rows, all face north. In other words, they all look homeward.

Decades after they fell in combat during the 1950-53 Korean War or their postwar espionage missions ended in gunfights with South Korean troops, the Communist warriors buried here still await a trip home. Their remains are unclaimed by their government, which denies sending armed infiltrators into the South.

Iraq War (5 years)-- 3,990
Batan Death March (one week)-- 10,000
Battle of Guadalcanal (186 days)-- 7,099
Battle of Guam (20 Days)-- 3,000
Operation Market Garden (9 days)-- 3,664
Battle of the Bulge (41 days)-- 19,276
Battle of Iwo Jima (39 days)-- 6,821
Battle of Pusan Perimeter (61 days-Korea)-- 6,706

A recent molecular analysis of ancestry across Latin America has revealed a marked differentiation between regions and demonstrated a "genetic continuity" between pre-and post Columbian populations. This study provides the first broad description of how the genome diversity of populations from Latin America has been shaped by the colonial history of the region.

The researchers examined genetic markers across the human genome, in hundreds of individuals drawn from 13 mestizo populations found in seven Latin American countries. The picture obtained is that of a great variation in ancestry within and across regions, linked to and led by the colonization that occurred. It also appears that mostly Native and African women and European men contributed genes to the subsequent generations.

Interestingly, despite the fact that the European colonization occurred centuries ago, Latin Americans still preserve the genetic heritage of the local (in many cases now extinct) Native populations that mixed with the immigrants. This connection with the past has not been erased despite the current high mobility of individuals. Furthermore, it brings to life the "brotherhood" of each Latin American population to the Native populations that currently inhabit different countries.

In addition to providing a window into the past, the authors hope that these analyses will contribute to the design of studies aimed at identifying genes for diseases with different frequency in Native Americans and Europeans.

After more than 300 years, the Connecticut residents accused of witchcraft finally might be vindicated thanks to what began as a school project.

State legislators took up the issue Thursday of Connecticut's witch trials, the result of efforts by 14-year-old Addie Avery and her mother, Debra Avery, descendants of a Hartford woman accused of witchcraft and probably hanged. The judiciary committee discussed a resolution that would absolve the approximately 40 residents accused of practicing witchcraft in the mid- to late-17th century.

Clearing the names of the victims of Connecticut's witch hysteria has been a project of the Averys, who live in Washington, Conn., since they learned a few years ago that they are directly related to Mary Sanford, one of the accused.

Because all but two of those executed were women, the Averys and Cayer also see the resolution as a women's rights issue.
Debra Avery has also said that the topic is close to her because of her family's spiritual beliefs, which she describes as pagan.

If the resolution gains full legislative approval, Connecticut would be the third state — after Massachusetts and Virginia — to clear the accused of wrongdoing.

A Defense Department-sponsored report that examined captured Iraqi documents for indications of links between Saddam Hussein and terrorist organizations is now available online.

The five-volume report affirmed that there was"no 'smoking gun' (i.e., direct connection) between Saddam's Iraq and al Qaeda." But it also said there was"strong evidence that links the regime of Saddam Hussein to regional and global terrorism."

Although the report was publicly released on March 13, the Department of Defense declined to publish it online, offering instead to provide copies on disk. The full five-volume study has now been posted on the Federation of American Scientists web site. See"Iraqi Perspectives Project: Saddam and Terrorism: Emerging Insights from Captured Iraqi Documents," Institute for Defense Analyses, November 2007, redacted and released March 2008:

http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/iraqi/index.html

The study was first reported prior to release by Warren P. Strobel of McClatchy Newspapers. The first of the five volumes was previously posted on the ABC News web site. The latter volumes include hundreds of pages of captured Iraqi documents, declassified and translated into English.

The Defense Intelligence Agency"made every effort to balance national security concerns, requirements of law, and the needs of an informed democracy and focused the redactions to the necessary minimum," the report states.

The Iraqi documents themselves are an eclectic, uneven bunch.

One of them, a fifty-page Iraqi"intelligence" analysis, disparages the austerely conservative Wahhabi school of Islam by claiming that its eighteenth century founder, Ibn 'Abd al Wahhab, had ancestors who were Jews.

In what must be the only laugh-out-loud line in the generally dismal five-volume report, the Iraqi analysis states that Ibn 'Abd al Wahhab's grandfather's true name was not"Sulayman" but"Shulman."

"Tawran confirms that Sulayman, the grandfather of the sheikh, is (Shulman); he is Jew from the merchants of the city of Burstah in Turkey, he had left it and settled in Damascus, grew his beard, and wore the Muslim turban, but was thrown out for being voodoo" (at page 20 of 56).

The analysis, produced by the Air Defense Security System of Iraq's General Military Intelligence Directorate, is not a very reliable guide to Islamic or Jewish history, though it may explain something about Iraq's air defenses.