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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: AP
SOURCE: AP (9-10-08)
Archaeologists in Peru say they have discovered the jawbone
of a fetus among the remains of a sacrificed woman in a pre-Inca tomb,
suggesting the Lambayeque culture practiced the atypical sacrifice of
pregnant women and their children.
The remains of the woman and unborn child were found in a tomb with three other sacrificed women and several sacrificial llamas, lead archaeologist Carlos Wester La Torre told The Associated Press.
In all, Wester La Torre's team reported finding the remains of seven women in two tombs at the Chotuna Chornancap archaeological site, each showing signs of having been cut at the throat.
Thursday, September 11, 2008 - 16:51
Comments
SOURCE: AP (9-10-08)
New excavations at an ancient cemetery in northern Greece have yielded gold jewelry, copper and iron weapons and pottery.
Archaeologists digging in part of a vast burial ground near Pella, the ancient Macedonians' capital, have unearthed 43 new graves dating from 650-279 B.C., the Greek Culture Ministry said in a statement Wednesday.
Archaeologists digging in part of a vast burial ground near Pella, the ancient Macedonians' capital, have unearthed 43 new graves dating from 650-279 B.C., the Greek Culture Ministry said in a statement Wednesday.
Thursday, September 11, 2008 - 00:24
SOURCE: AP (9-8-08)
DOTHAN, Alabama: Larry Blumberg is looking for a few good Jews to move to
his heavily Christian corner of the U.S. South.
Blumberg is chairman of the Blumberg Family Relocation Fund, which is offering Jewish families as much as $50,000 to relocate to Dothan, an overwhelmingly Christian town of 58,000 that calls itself the Peanut Capital of the World. Get involved at Temple Emanu-El and stay at least five years, the group's leaders say, and the money doesn't have to be repaid.
More Jews are living in the southeastern U.S. than ever — about 386,000 at last count in 2001, according to Stuart Rockoff, historian at the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life in Jackson, Mississippi. But young Jews are leaving small places like Dothan in favor of big southern cities like Atlanta and Birmingham, Rockoff said, and dozens of small-town synagogues have closed in the so-called Bible Belt, an area of predominantly Christian southern states.
"A lot of the older people have died, and not many of the younger ones have stayed," said Thelma Nomberg, a member of the Dothan temple who grew up in nearby Ozark, where she was the only Jewish student in public school in the 1940s."We are dying."
Wednesday, September 10, 2008 - 22:41
SOURCE: AP (9-9-08)
The latest design for the Sept. 11 memorial entrance pavilion has a facade that evokes the World Trade Center's twin towers, and builders still hope the memorial will open by the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks.
The three-story, asymmetrical glass and steel building is the last piece of the 8-acre memorial plaza at ground zero, a redesign of a building first introduced as a much larger museum space three years ago.
Craig Dykers, architect for the Norwegian architectural firm Snohetta, said the reflective steel facade was inspired by the World Trade Center towers. He said natural light will hit the building at different points of the day and change its appearance.
"At times, you'll see yourself in the building," Dykers said Tuesday at the design unveiling.
The building, surrounded by oak trees between the footprints of the destroyed towers, features a sloping atrium that will shine light down a staircase leading to the Sept. 11 museum. Two trident columns that formed the base of the face of the original towers will stand by a stairway that stood above ground from Sept. 11, 2001, until it was moved last year.
The pavilion, ranging from 57 to 72 feet high, includes ticketing services for memorial museum programs, space for a security area for visitors, a 180-seat auditorium, a cafe and a private room for Sept. 11 victims' family members.
One-fourth of the space will include rooms for mechanical equipment serving the complex, including an adjacent transit hub and the memorial plaza.
The ongoing construction of the multibillion-dollar transit hub and the memorial has become central to the re-evaluation of the budget and schedules of all projects at ground zero. An underground mezzanine for the hub overlaps with part of the tree-covered memorial plaza.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the 16-acre site, is issuing new budget estimates and deadlines by the end of the month for five office towers, a performing arts center, the transit hub and the memorial.
Memorial foundation president Joe Daniels said work on that mezzanine would have to be finished by July 2010 to allow the memorial to open by the 10th anniversary of the attacks. He said opening by Sept. 11, 2011, "is both possible and essential."
The three-story, asymmetrical glass and steel building is the last piece of the 8-acre memorial plaza at ground zero, a redesign of a building first introduced as a much larger museum space three years ago.
Craig Dykers, architect for the Norwegian architectural firm Snohetta, said the reflective steel facade was inspired by the World Trade Center towers. He said natural light will hit the building at different points of the day and change its appearance.
"At times, you'll see yourself in the building," Dykers said Tuesday at the design unveiling.
The building, surrounded by oak trees between the footprints of the destroyed towers, features a sloping atrium that will shine light down a staircase leading to the Sept. 11 museum. Two trident columns that formed the base of the face of the original towers will stand by a stairway that stood above ground from Sept. 11, 2001, until it was moved last year.
The pavilion, ranging from 57 to 72 feet high, includes ticketing services for memorial museum programs, space for a security area for visitors, a 180-seat auditorium, a cafe and a private room for Sept. 11 victims' family members.
One-fourth of the space will include rooms for mechanical equipment serving the complex, including an adjacent transit hub and the memorial plaza.
The ongoing construction of the multibillion-dollar transit hub and the memorial has become central to the re-evaluation of the budget and schedules of all projects at ground zero. An underground mezzanine for the hub overlaps with part of the tree-covered memorial plaza.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the 16-acre site, is issuing new budget estimates and deadlines by the end of the month for five office towers, a performing arts center, the transit hub and the memorial.
Memorial foundation president Joe Daniels said work on that mezzanine would have to be finished by July 2010 to allow the memorial to open by the 10th anniversary of the attacks. He said opening by Sept. 11, 2011, "is both possible and essential."
Wednesday, September 10, 2008 - 10:02
SOURCE: AP (9-8-08)
BANDELIER NATIONAL MONUMENT, N.M. (AP) — Inside the dark, cliffside cave
last occupied by the people of Frijoles Canyon some 500 years ago is
evidence of more recent human activity: graffiti proclaiming"2008" and"I
love you" carved into a wall.
"Oh, man," art conservator Larry Humetewa muttered as he bent to inspect the damage in the" cavate," a large, cave-live room.
Vandalism is just one of many threats to the fragile archaeological sites that are the heart of national parks and monuments in the arid West.
They're hammered by sun and rain, freezes and thaws, wind and the abrasive sand it carries. They're invaded by pests and human visitors who can't resist touching.
In short, the ruins are in ruins.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008 - 15:06
Name of source: BBC
SOURCE: BBC (9-11-08)
Local historians in Surrey have confirmed evidence that baseball was played in the UK more than 20 years before American independence.
A diary that documents a game being played in Guildford in 1755 has been verified by Surrey History Centre.
William Bray, a Surrey diarist and historian from Shere, wrote about the game when he was still a teenager.
Major League Baseball, the governing body of the game in the US, has been informed of the discovery.
A diary that documents a game being played in Guildford in 1755 has been verified by Surrey History Centre.
William Bray, a Surrey diarist and historian from Shere, wrote about the game when he was still a teenager.
Major League Baseball, the governing body of the game in the US, has been informed of the discovery.
Thursday, September 11, 2008 - 16:48
SOURCE: BBC (9-10-08)
Politics, religion and marching can be a dangerous combination but on this occasion - a special service to remember the soldiers who died in the Troubles in Northern Ireland - they came together with great dignity.
At a time when critics say the Army no longer receives the recognition it deserves, people from all parts of the UK came together at St Paul's Cathedral to pay their respects.
In particular, they honoured the 763 servicemen and women killed as a direct result of violence in Northern Ireland.
Known as Operation Banner, it was the longest campaign in British military history, from 1969 to 2007.
At a time when critics say the Army no longer receives the recognition it deserves, people from all parts of the UK came together at St Paul's Cathedral to pay their respects.
In particular, they honoured the 763 servicemen and women killed as a direct result of violence in Northern Ireland.
Known as Operation Banner, it was the longest campaign in British military history, from 1969 to 2007.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008 - 16:01
SOURCE: BBC (9-10-08)
A US appeals court has overturned the conviction of a former Ku Klux Klansman jailed last year over the deaths of two black teenagers in Mississippi in 1964.
James Ford Seale, 72, was serving three life terms on charges of kidnapping and conspiracy over the deaths.
The court agreed with arguments by Mr Seale's lawyer that a legal time limit for prosecuting the case had lapsed.
Dozens of black people were killed in the 1950s and 1960s by white people wanting to preserve racial segregation.
Former policeman Mr Seale's case is one of many recently revived by US prosecutors hoping to punish unsolved crimes from the era of the civil rights movement.
Charles Eddie Moore and Henry Hezekiah Dee were both aged 19 when they were killed.
They were said to have been kidnapped and forced into a vehicle owned by Mr Seale before being tied up and drowned in the Mississippi river.
Their bodies were found months later during a search for three well-known civil rights activists - Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney - who had disappeared in the area.
The investigation into the campaigners' disappearance was dramatised in the 1988 Hollywood film, Mississippi Burning.
James Ford Seale, 72, was serving three life terms on charges of kidnapping and conspiracy over the deaths.
The court agreed with arguments by Mr Seale's lawyer that a legal time limit for prosecuting the case had lapsed.
Dozens of black people were killed in the 1950s and 1960s by white people wanting to preserve racial segregation.
Former policeman Mr Seale's case is one of many recently revived by US prosecutors hoping to punish unsolved crimes from the era of the civil rights movement.
Charles Eddie Moore and Henry Hezekiah Dee were both aged 19 when they were killed.
They were said to have been kidnapped and forced into a vehicle owned by Mr Seale before being tied up and drowned in the Mississippi river.
Their bodies were found months later during a search for three well-known civil rights activists - Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney - who had disappeared in the area.
The investigation into the campaigners' disappearance was dramatised in the 1988 Hollywood film, Mississippi Burning.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008 - 09:58
SOURCE: BBC (9-9-08)
A bid to save Britain's computing heritage has been given a $100,000 (£57,000) boost by a joint donation from US hi-tech firms IBM and PGP.
The donation will help curate and restore exhibits at the National Museum of Computing in Bletchley Park, Bucks.
The two firms said they hoped the money would kick-start further donations from the technology industry to make up an estimated £7m needed to run the museum.
Exhibits include Colossus, thought by many to be the world's first computer.
Andrew Hart, head of privacy and security services for IBM in the UK and Ireland, told the BBC that the technology held at Bletchley was a crucial part of the UK's national heritage.
The donation will help curate and restore exhibits at the National Museum of Computing in Bletchley Park, Bucks.
The two firms said they hoped the money would kick-start further donations from the technology industry to make up an estimated £7m needed to run the museum.
Exhibits include Colossus, thought by many to be the world's first computer.
Andrew Hart, head of privacy and security services for IBM in the UK and Ireland, told the BBC that the technology held at Bletchley was a crucial part of the UK's national heritage.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008 - 13:44
SOURCE: BBC (9-9-08)
A dark-haired handsome cameraman is seen standing on a diving board filming a diver from behind as he jumps.
In other shots he is shown carrying a rubber boat next to an empty pool that he used to film the swimming competition and patiently fitting a small camera in a rowing boat seat.
These are just some pictures of the 1936 Berlin Olympics uncovered for the first time, providing a rare glimpse into how Olympia, the film depicting the Games, was made.
The film, one of the most impressive sports films of all times, was the cornerstone of Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels's efforts to show the splendour of the new German Reich.
The cameraman appearing in the pictures is Hans Ertl, better known as Hitler's photographer, and the right-hand man and lover of Olympia's director, Leni Riefenstahl.
In other shots he is shown carrying a rubber boat next to an empty pool that he used to film the swimming competition and patiently fitting a small camera in a rowing boat seat.
These are just some pictures of the 1936 Berlin Olympics uncovered for the first time, providing a rare glimpse into how Olympia, the film depicting the Games, was made.
The film, one of the most impressive sports films of all times, was the cornerstone of Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels's efforts to show the splendour of the new German Reich.
The cameraman appearing in the pictures is Hans Ertl, better known as Hitler's photographer, and the right-hand man and lover of Olympia's director, Leni Riefenstahl.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008 - 09:06
SOURCE: BBC (9-9-08)
North Korea is celebrating its 60th anniversary with reports of a large military parade in Pyongyang.
Reclusive leader Kim Jong-il was expected to attend, and his appearance was set to be closely watched because of speculation about his health.
However, a report from the Japanese news agency Kyodo said he failed to make an appearance.
The anniversary comes amid an impasse in international efforts to urge North Korea to abandon its nuclear programme.
So far the North's official media has made no mention of the parade, but on Monday, state-run television channel KRT showed footage of the North's cabinet holding a large indoor gathering to mark the anniversary.
Reclusive leader Kim Jong-il was expected to attend, and his appearance was set to be closely watched because of speculation about his health.
However, a report from the Japanese news agency Kyodo said he failed to make an appearance.
The anniversary comes amid an impasse in international efforts to urge North Korea to abandon its nuclear programme.
So far the North's official media has made no mention of the parade, but on Monday, state-run television channel KRT showed footage of the North's cabinet holding a large indoor gathering to mark the anniversary.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008 - 09:04
Name of source: International Herald Tribune
SOURCE: International Herald Tribune (9-11-08)
A district court in The Hague on Wednesday turned down a compensation claim by two families who lost relatives in the 1995 massacre of Bosnian Muslims at Srebrenica by Bosnian Serbs.
The families argued that Dutch United Nations peacekeepers at Srebrenica should have protected their relatives, some of whom worked on base.
The court ruled that the government could not be held responsible because the peacekeepers were under a United Nations mandate.
The families argued that Dutch United Nations peacekeepers at Srebrenica should have protected their relatives, some of whom worked on base.
The court ruled that the government could not be held responsible because the peacekeepers were under a United Nations mandate.
Thursday, September 11, 2008 - 13:38
SOURCE: International Herald Tribune (9-11-08)
Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein has dubbed Germany a "fourth" Reich, drawing fire from Jewish groups who accused him of trivializing Nazi crimes, and stoking already-tense relations between the two countries.
The prince, Liechtenstein's head of state, made the comments in a letter to the Jewish Museum in Berlin explaining why he would not make a painting available to an exhibition of artworks stolen by the Nazis.
"I would really have liked to support the exhibition, as our collection was itself a victim of art theft during World War II and afterwards, if only it wasn't in Germany," he said in the letter published Thursday by the Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger.
He added: "As far as German-Liechtenstein relations are concerned, we are waiting for better times, which I am hopeful for, as we have already survived three German Reichs in the past 200 years and I hope we will also survive a fourth one."
The Jewish Museum received the letter in June. In it, the prince told the museum's director, Michael Blumenthal, that he would not loan the museum "Portrait of a Man," a painting by the 17th-century Dutch artist Frans Hals, because Germany had shown itself to be "less and less inclined to abide by basic principles of international law."
The prince has waged numerous legal battles in Germany to recover artwork he claims was looted from his family by the Nazis during World War II.
The prince, Liechtenstein's head of state, made the comments in a letter to the Jewish Museum in Berlin explaining why he would not make a painting available to an exhibition of artworks stolen by the Nazis.
"I would really have liked to support the exhibition, as our collection was itself a victim of art theft during World War II and afterwards, if only it wasn't in Germany," he said in the letter published Thursday by the Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger.
He added: "As far as German-Liechtenstein relations are concerned, we are waiting for better times, which I am hopeful for, as we have already survived three German Reichs in the past 200 years and I hope we will also survive a fourth one."
The Jewish Museum received the letter in June. In it, the prince told the museum's director, Michael Blumenthal, that he would not loan the museum "Portrait of a Man," a painting by the 17th-century Dutch artist Frans Hals, because Germany had shown itself to be "less and less inclined to abide by basic principles of international law."
The prince has waged numerous legal battles in Germany to recover artwork he claims was looted from his family by the Nazis during World War II.
Thursday, September 11, 2008 - 13:36
SOURCE: International Herald Tribune (9-10-08)
It was one of the legends of the Cold War: a Bulgarian dissident writer, Georgi Markov, dying in a London hospital of a mysterious fever after being injected with a poison pellet from a specially adapted umbrella as he walked to work across Waterloo Bridge.
A prominent novelist in his native land when he defected to the West in 1969, Markov had become a journalist at the BBC's Bulgarian service and an unflinching critic of communist rule and Bulgaria's longtime leader Todor Zhivkov.
His death received lurid coverage in the West, offered up as further proof of the nefarious acts of Soviet bloc secret services. Markov had told a colleague four days before he died that he felt a sharp pain in his leg as he walked to work, then turned around to see a stranger picking up an umbrella from the sidewalk.
Now, exactly 30 years later, fresh mystery swirls around the death, Markov's suspected assassin (a Dane of Italian origin) and the prospect of ever bringing clarity and closure to the alleged crimes of communism.
A Bulgarian journalist, Hristo Hristov, is releasing a book - "The Double Life of Agent Piccadilly" - that he says demonstrates how the communist regime eliminated one of its most eloquent opponents.
Based on the first outside look at previously classified state security documents, Hristov concludes that Markov was killed by one Francesco Gullino, a sometime smuggler arrested twice in Bulgaria and given the choice of jail or becoming an agent.
A prominent novelist in his native land when he defected to the West in 1969, Markov had become a journalist at the BBC's Bulgarian service and an unflinching critic of communist rule and Bulgaria's longtime leader Todor Zhivkov.
His death received lurid coverage in the West, offered up as further proof of the nefarious acts of Soviet bloc secret services. Markov had told a colleague four days before he died that he felt a sharp pain in his leg as he walked to work, then turned around to see a stranger picking up an umbrella from the sidewalk.
Now, exactly 30 years later, fresh mystery swirls around the death, Markov's suspected assassin (a Dane of Italian origin) and the prospect of ever bringing clarity and closure to the alleged crimes of communism.
A Bulgarian journalist, Hristo Hristov, is releasing a book - "The Double Life of Agent Piccadilly" - that he says demonstrates how the communist regime eliminated one of its most eloquent opponents.
Based on the first outside look at previously classified state security documents, Hristov concludes that Markov was killed by one Francesco Gullino, a sometime smuggler arrested twice in Bulgaria and given the choice of jail or becoming an agent.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008 - 23:01
Name of source: Tehran Times
SOURCE: Tehran Times (9-11-08)
The 7000-year-old mound of Pardis in the Qarchak region is currently being bulldozed by a factory for brick production.
The mound is located in an area owned by individuals using the earth from the mound for producing bricks in their nearby factory, an informed source who preferred to remain anonymous told Tehran Times on Wednesday.
The upper strata of the ancient site have been seriously damaged and ruins of artifacts are visible nearby, said the source, who has recently visited the site located near the city of Varamin in southern Tehran.
Meanwhile, the director of the Archaeology Research Center of Iran (ARCI) warned cultural officials of the illegal excavations at the site during an interview with the Persian service of CHN published on Wednesday.
The excavations have completely destroyed about 70 percent of the site, said Mohammad-Hassan Fazeli Nashli. However, he declined to give more details about the excavations.
“Despite the unique character of the site and its potential to become a site specific museum, the Tehran Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Department has no plans for the site, which is in danger of destruction,” he added.
“Based on the third season of archaeological excavations carried out at Pardis, the site could shed light on the nature and the date of many important developments that occurred in the central Iranian Plateau,” explained Fazeli Nashli, who is also the director of the archaeological team currently working at the site.
The mound is located in an area owned by individuals using the earth from the mound for producing bricks in their nearby factory, an informed source who preferred to remain anonymous told Tehran Times on Wednesday.
The upper strata of the ancient site have been seriously damaged and ruins of artifacts are visible nearby, said the source, who has recently visited the site located near the city of Varamin in southern Tehran.
Meanwhile, the director of the Archaeology Research Center of Iran (ARCI) warned cultural officials of the illegal excavations at the site during an interview with the Persian service of CHN published on Wednesday.
The excavations have completely destroyed about 70 percent of the site, said Mohammad-Hassan Fazeli Nashli. However, he declined to give more details about the excavations.
“Despite the unique character of the site and its potential to become a site specific museum, the Tehran Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Department has no plans for the site, which is in danger of destruction,” he added.
“Based on the third season of archaeological excavations carried out at Pardis, the site could shed light on the nature and the date of many important developments that occurred in the central Iranian Plateau,” explained Fazeli Nashli, who is also the director of the archaeological team currently working at the site.
Thursday, September 11, 2008 - 12:00
SOURCE: Tehran Times (9-10-08)
Once again, the Tehran City Council may abandon the plan to name a Tehran street after Mohammad Mosaddeq, the former prime minister who is viewed as an icon by many Iranians for his decision to nationalize the oil industry.
“The investigations carried out by the council show that Dr. Mosaddeq does not have the qualifications for being discussed in the council’s Naming Committee because his views and thoughts are not acceptable to Iranian officials,” committee director Masumeh Abad told the Persian service of CHN on Monday.
However, she said that a group of experts is still studying the matter.
According to Abad, such a proposal can be made by district councils, municipality districts, legal entities, and individuals.
The proposal to rename Tehran’s Kaaj Street after Mosaddeq was put forward by a group of reporters in early August.
A proposal to name a street near Tehran’s Kalej Crossroad Mosaddeq Street was rejected by Tehran’s first city council, which was in office from 1999 to 2003.
“The investigations carried out by the council show that Dr. Mosaddeq does not have the qualifications for being discussed in the council’s Naming Committee because his views and thoughts are not acceptable to Iranian officials,” committee director Masumeh Abad told the Persian service of CHN on Monday.
However, she said that a group of experts is still studying the matter.
According to Abad, such a proposal can be made by district councils, municipality districts, legal entities, and individuals.
The proposal to rename Tehran’s Kaaj Street after Mosaddeq was put forward by a group of reporters in early August.
A proposal to name a street near Tehran’s Kalej Crossroad Mosaddeq Street was rejected by Tehran’s first city council, which was in office from 1999 to 2003.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008 - 10:07
SOURCE: Tehran Times (9-10-08)
The nails found around ancient skeletons at a newly discovered cemetery of Tahluj have puzzled the team of archaeologists working at the 3000-year-old site.
The cemetery dating back early Islamic era was discovered during the rescue excavation, which has begun at the site near the village of Mirar-Kola in northern Iran in late August.
The Tahluj site, home to several sites dating back from Iron Age to early Islamic era, will be completely submerged under water and mud when the Alborz Dam becomes operational. Tahluj is located in the Savadkuh region of Mazandaran Province.
The team has discovered ten skeletons, all belonging to children or youth. The bodies were buried with one nail beside their knees, one nail beside their left shoulders, and bunch of nails over and under their heads and feet, team director Mehdi Abedini told the Persian service of CHN on Monday.
The cemetery dating back early Islamic era was discovered during the rescue excavation, which has begun at the site near the village of Mirar-Kola in northern Iran in late August.
The Tahluj site, home to several sites dating back from Iron Age to early Islamic era, will be completely submerged under water and mud when the Alborz Dam becomes operational. Tahluj is located in the Savadkuh region of Mazandaran Province.
The team has discovered ten skeletons, all belonging to children or youth. The bodies were buried with one nail beside their knees, one nail beside their left shoulders, and bunch of nails over and under their heads and feet, team director Mehdi Abedini told the Persian service of CHN on Monday.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008 - 10:05
Name of source: History Today
SOURCE: History Today (9-11-08)
‘I married and lived happily ever afterwards’ (Winston Churchill)
For the 100th anniversary of Winston Churchill’s marriage, the Churchill Archives Centre at the University of Cambridge has launched an appeal for information on lost photographs from the wedding. Following a brief engagement the previous month, Winston Churchill and Clementine Hozier were married on September 12th, 1908 in St Margaret’s Church, Westminster. According to recent research by the author Tom Norgate, photographs were undoubtedly taken by the photographer John William Righton, notably of the wedding breakfast at 52 Portland Place in London. The images are believed to include shots of wedding guests such as the future Prime Minister David Lloyd George and Churchill’s cousin the Duke of Marlborough, and of presents, including a gold-topped walking stick from King Edward VII. In celebration of the anniversary and alongside their appeal, the Churchill Archives Centre has also created a number of displays from their collection, which houses Winston and Clementine’s personal correspondence and photographs. Other celebratory events include a gala at the Churchill Centre’s 25th International Churchill Conference in Boston, USA, and a celebratory dinner hosted by David Coffer, the current owner of 52 Portland Place.
For the 100th anniversary of Winston Churchill’s marriage, the Churchill Archives Centre at the University of Cambridge has launched an appeal for information on lost photographs from the wedding. Following a brief engagement the previous month, Winston Churchill and Clementine Hozier were married on September 12th, 1908 in St Margaret’s Church, Westminster. According to recent research by the author Tom Norgate, photographs were undoubtedly taken by the photographer John William Righton, notably of the wedding breakfast at 52 Portland Place in London. The images are believed to include shots of wedding guests such as the future Prime Minister David Lloyd George and Churchill’s cousin the Duke of Marlborough, and of presents, including a gold-topped walking stick from King Edward VII. In celebration of the anniversary and alongside their appeal, the Churchill Archives Centre has also created a number of displays from their collection, which houses Winston and Clementine’s personal correspondence and photographs. Other celebratory events include a gala at the Churchill Centre’s 25th International Churchill Conference in Boston, USA, and a celebratory dinner hosted by David Coffer, the current owner of 52 Portland Place.
Thursday, September 11, 2008 - 11:59
SOURCE: History Today (9-11-08)
A 19-metre statue of a Buddha believed to date from the third century has recently been discovered in central Afghanistan close to the site of the famous Bamiyan Buddhas. Two other Buddhas carved into the mountainside at Bamiyan were destroyed by the Taleban in 2001. Archaeologists have recently begun work on a decade-long project to restore the largest of the original Buddhas.
Thursday, September 11, 2008 - 11:34
Name of source: Times (UK)
SOURCE: Times (UK) (9-11-08)
New excavations at a rich ancient cemetery in northern Greece have yielded gold jewellery, copper and iron weapons and pottery. Archaeologists digging in part of a vast burial ground near Pella, the ancient capital of Macedonia, have unearthed 43 new graves dating from 650-279BC, a Culture Ministry statement said.
The dead included 20 warriors who had been buried in the Archaic period, between 580 and 480 BC, with copper helmets, left, and iron swords, daggers and spearheads. Ornaments of gold foil – especially made for funerary use – covered their mouths, eyes and chests.
A total of 915 graves have been excavated over the past eight years at the site of Arhontiko, about 330 miles (530km) northwest of Athens.
Archaeologists estimate that this represents 5 per cent of the cemetery. “The settlement flourished in wealth and population mainly during the Archaic period,” the ministry said.
The dead included 20 warriors who had been buried in the Archaic period, between 580 and 480 BC, with copper helmets, left, and iron swords, daggers and spearheads. Ornaments of gold foil – especially made for funerary use – covered their mouths, eyes and chests.
A total of 915 graves have been excavated over the past eight years at the site of Arhontiko, about 330 miles (530km) northwest of Athens.
Archaeologists estimate that this represents 5 per cent of the cemetery. “The settlement flourished in wealth and population mainly during the Archaic period,” the ministry said.
Thursday, September 11, 2008 - 09:50
SOURCE: Times (UK) (9-9-08)
Google has taken another step towards its stated goal of indexing the world’s information by scanning newspaper archives and making them searchable on the internet.
The company that leads the way in cataloguing online information has been stepping up efforts to digitise material created before the advent of the internet. Google Books has been gradually scanning millions of books from publishers and libraries, making the text as easily searchable as that of a website.
The newspaper-scanning project announced today will begin with a handful of North American newspapers, including the Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph, considered to be the continent’s oldest newspaper.
Large newspapers including The Times and The New York Times have already digitised their archives and opened them to readers, but smaller publications do not have the resources to embark on the labour-intensive process of scanning thousands of editions.
Google’s intention is that billions of articles from the past 250 years will eventually be brought online.
“We’ll be bringing online generations of writers,” Marissa Mayer, Google’s vice president of search products told the TechCrunch 50 conference in San Francisco. “We’re adding newspapers to the broader sweep of offline material we’re bringing online.”
Google will pay for the cost of scanning the archives of any newspaper publisher willing to allow the stories to be shown free on Google's website. Participating publishers will receive an unspecified portion of the revenue generated from advertising displayed next to the stories.
The company that leads the way in cataloguing online information has been stepping up efforts to digitise material created before the advent of the internet. Google Books has been gradually scanning millions of books from publishers and libraries, making the text as easily searchable as that of a website.
The newspaper-scanning project announced today will begin with a handful of North American newspapers, including the Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph, considered to be the continent’s oldest newspaper.
Large newspapers including The Times and The New York Times have already digitised their archives and opened them to readers, but smaller publications do not have the resources to embark on the labour-intensive process of scanning thousands of editions.
Google’s intention is that billions of articles from the past 250 years will eventually be brought online.
“We’ll be bringing online generations of writers,” Marissa Mayer, Google’s vice president of search products told the TechCrunch 50 conference in San Francisco. “We’re adding newspapers to the broader sweep of offline material we’re bringing online.”
Google will pay for the cost of scanning the archives of any newspaper publisher willing to allow the stories to be shown free on Google's website. Participating publishers will receive an unspecified portion of the revenue generated from advertising displayed next to the stories.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008 - 13:44
Name of source: San Francisco Chronicle
SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle (9-8-08)
Sarah Palin's unexpected burst onto the national scene has piqued sudden interest in Alaska, but few people know that Northern California and the 49th state have been tied together in hundreds of ways in a relationship going back nearly 200 years.
For much of that time, Alaska, having few people and no industry, was virtually an economic colony of San Francisco.
There was also a literary connection: Alaska and the north country launched the career of Jack London, the author who was born in San Francisco, raised in Oakland and lived in Sonoma's Valley of the Moon.
The first contact between Alaskans and what became the San Francisco Bay Area, came when Russian and Aleut native fur hunters decimated the fur seal population on the Farallon Islands just off the Golden Gate starting about 1810.
For much of that time, Alaska, having few people and no industry, was virtually an economic colony of San Francisco.
There was also a literary connection: Alaska and the north country launched the career of Jack London, the author who was born in San Francisco, raised in Oakland and lived in Sonoma's Valley of the Moon.
The first contact between Alaskans and what became the San Francisco Bay Area, came when Russian and Aleut native fur hunters decimated the fur seal population on the Farallon Islands just off the Golden Gate starting about 1810.
Thursday, September 11, 2008 - 00:19
Name of source: http://www.whsv.com
SOURCE: http://www.whsv.com (9-9-08)
Construction workers have made an unusual find inside the wall of a Charles Town home: a live ten-pound Confederate artillery round.
American Public University System, which operates an online college primarily for the military, recently bought the home and construction crews found the ordnance while replacing siding and insulation. American Public facilities director Joseph Sladki says it was sitting on a sill plate.
Sladki says the round was given to the Jefferson County Museum, which plans to disarm it.
Jefferson County Historical Society board member Jim Glymph says the shell likely hit the house and stuck during a fight October 18, 1863, when Confederate Gen. John Imboden's artillery fired on the Jefferson County Courthouse.
American Public University System, which operates an online college primarily for the military, recently bought the home and construction crews found the ordnance while replacing siding and insulation. American Public facilities director Joseph Sladki says it was sitting on a sill plate.
Sladki says the round was given to the Jefferson County Museum, which plans to disarm it.
Jefferson County Historical Society board member Jim Glymph says the shell likely hit the house and stuck during a fight October 18, 1863, when Confederate Gen. John Imboden's artillery fired on the Jefferson County Courthouse.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008 - 23:04
Name of source: Telegraph
SOURCE: Telegraph (9-10-08)
Analysis of animal remains found near to Stonehenge has shown that cattle were brought to the area from as far away as Wales or even the Scottish Highlands.
Scientists tested the chemical fingerprint of cattle teeth found at Durrington Walls, a Neolithic monument built 500 years before Stonehenge.
They found that far from being local, the animals could only have been reared in areas of Wales or Scotland, which have high levels of the chemical element strontium in the soil.
Scientists tested the chemical fingerprint of cattle teeth found at Durrington Walls, a Neolithic monument built 500 years before Stonehenge.
They found that far from being local, the animals could only have been reared in areas of Wales or Scotland, which have high levels of the chemical element strontium in the soil.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008 - 23:03
SOURCE: Telegraph (9-9-08)
Ryszard Siwiec's name may mean little to many Poles since any coverage of his dramatic act was suppressed by the communist authorities.
The Polish accountant and teacher wrote a series of letters and tape recordings expressing his disgust over the crushing of the Prague Spring and the subsequent Warsaw Pact in which Poland was complicit.
Then, on September 12, 1968, he set himself alight in front of 100,000 spectators, political dignitaries and foreign ambassadors during a showpiece communist spectacle in Warsaw's national stadium.
A remarkable film taken at the stadium shows horrified onlookers using coats to beat out the flames engulfing Mr Siwiec's body, while later footage shows him calmly addressing the crowd despite his appalling burns.
Led away by the police, the father-of-five died three days later in hospital from his injuries.
Acutely embarrassed by Mr Siwiec's self-sacrifice, Poland's authoritarian government imposed a 20-year news blackout saying nothing other than that he had been suffering "from a mental illness".
The secret police made certain that any talk of Mr Siwiec became taboo, and his name became largely forgotten.
His act was also overshadowed by that of the Czech Jan Palach, who committed self-immolation in protest against the Soviet invasion four months afterwards.
But in an attempt to raise awareness of a man still largely unknown in his native land, this week Poland's media has run a series of series of stories and programmes commemorating Siwiec's death.
The Polish accountant and teacher wrote a series of letters and tape recordings expressing his disgust over the crushing of the Prague Spring and the subsequent Warsaw Pact in which Poland was complicit.
Then, on September 12, 1968, he set himself alight in front of 100,000 spectators, political dignitaries and foreign ambassadors during a showpiece communist spectacle in Warsaw's national stadium.
A remarkable film taken at the stadium shows horrified onlookers using coats to beat out the flames engulfing Mr Siwiec's body, while later footage shows him calmly addressing the crowd despite his appalling burns.
Led away by the police, the father-of-five died three days later in hospital from his injuries.
Acutely embarrassed by Mr Siwiec's self-sacrifice, Poland's authoritarian government imposed a 20-year news blackout saying nothing other than that he had been suffering "from a mental illness".
The secret police made certain that any talk of Mr Siwiec became taboo, and his name became largely forgotten.
His act was also overshadowed by that of the Czech Jan Palach, who committed self-immolation in protest against the Soviet invasion four months afterwards.
But in an attempt to raise awareness of a man still largely unknown in his native land, this week Poland's media has run a series of series of stories and programmes commemorating Siwiec's death.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008 - 09:24
SOURCE: Telegraph (9-10-08)
The line is to be cut up and sold in pieces in an internet auction that is expected to attract millions of bids.
The hallowed strip from the old Wembley Stadium has been the subject of decades of debate thanks to Geoff Hurst's controversial goal.
His shot famously crashed into the underside of the crossbar and cannoned straight back down - prompting protests from Germany's players.
They insisted the ball didn't actually cross the line - but Swiss referee Gottfried Dienst and Russian linesman Tofik Bakhramov said the goal should stand.
Hurst's strike - the second in a hat-trick - proved crucial as England went on to claim a 4-2 win and the only World Cup triumph in the nation's history.
The hallowed strip from the old Wembley Stadium has been the subject of decades of debate thanks to Geoff Hurst's controversial goal.
His shot famously crashed into the underside of the crossbar and cannoned straight back down - prompting protests from Germany's players.
They insisted the ball didn't actually cross the line - but Swiss referee Gottfried Dienst and Russian linesman Tofik Bakhramov said the goal should stand.
Hurst's strike - the second in a hat-trick - proved crucial as England went on to claim a 4-2 win and the only World Cup triumph in the nation's history.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008 - 09:21
SOURCE: Telegraph (9-7-08)
Speculation has recently grown again that Kim, who is 66 and has not been seen in public for more than three weeks, is unwell. Some media have long thought that Kim, a former smoker and heavy drinker, was ill but Seoul intelligence officials say they believe he has diabetes and heart problems, but those are not serious enough to affect his job.
But a book by Japan's Professor Toshimitsu Shigemura at Japan's respected Waseda University says Kim died in the autumn of 2003 and a series of stand-ins have since taken his place at official state event.
Prof Shigemura says Kim was not seen in public for the 42 days after September 10, 2003, and in his book "The True Character of Kim Jong Il" claims the man that North Koreans refer to as the "Dear Leader" died of diabetes.
"In the years before he died, Kim took some really big decisions on North Korea's relationships with the outside world," says the professor, pointing to the historic June 2000 summit with South Korean President Kim Dae Jung, a visit from Russian leader Vladimir Putin the following month and then US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in October 2000.
The following January he was in China, met Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in September 2002 - and admitted that Pyongyang had abducted Japanese nationals to train its spies - and August 2003 saw the opening of six-way talks on halting North Korea's nuclear weapons programmes.
Then, suddenly, Kim disappeared, says Shigemura, and there was chaos in the upper echelons of the country's leadership. "I have been working on the book for four years," said Shigemura, a former journalist for the Mainichi newspaper who was posted to Seoul for six years from 1979 and then served for another five years in Washington D.C. A North Korean agent told him in 1995 that he had met one of Kim's doubles - there have been as many as four - and that he used them to stand in at outside ceremonies because he was fearful of a coup.
But a book by Japan's Professor Toshimitsu Shigemura at Japan's respected Waseda University says Kim died in the autumn of 2003 and a series of stand-ins have since taken his place at official state event.
Prof Shigemura says Kim was not seen in public for the 42 days after September 10, 2003, and in his book "The True Character of Kim Jong Il" claims the man that North Koreans refer to as the "Dear Leader" died of diabetes.
"In the years before he died, Kim took some really big decisions on North Korea's relationships with the outside world," says the professor, pointing to the historic June 2000 summit with South Korean President Kim Dae Jung, a visit from Russian leader Vladimir Putin the following month and then US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in October 2000.
The following January he was in China, met Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in September 2002 - and admitted that Pyongyang had abducted Japanese nationals to train its spies - and August 2003 saw the opening of six-way talks on halting North Korea's nuclear weapons programmes.
Then, suddenly, Kim disappeared, says Shigemura, and there was chaos in the upper echelons of the country's leadership. "I have been working on the book for four years," said Shigemura, a former journalist for the Mainichi newspaper who was posted to Seoul for six years from 1979 and then served for another five years in Washington D.C. A North Korean agent told him in 1995 that he had met one of Kim's doubles - there have been as many as four - and that he used them to stand in at outside ceremonies because he was fearful of a coup.
Related Links
North Korean Leader Is Very Ill, American Official Says
Tuesday, September 9, 2008 - 13:48
SOURCE: Telegraph (9-9-08)
Archaeologists have unearthed the mysterious remains of what first appears to be a couple buried together arm in arm more than 1,000 years ago.The amazing discovery shows the "couple" lying side by side in the grave with one's arm across the other.
But the discovery has left experts with a 1,000-year-old mystery.
They know that the body pictured on the right is that of a man, over 6ft tall but they believe that the body on the left is also that of a man as well.
First they thought the couple were a man and wife united in death. But now they believe they could be two men who were 'brothers in arms', possibly warriors, who died together and were buried in the one grave.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008 - 12:37
Name of source: WaPo
SOURCE: WaPo (9-10-08)
From the moment Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin declared that she had opposed the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere," critics, the news media and nonpartisan fact checkers have called it a fabrication or, at best, a half-truth. But yesterday in Lebanon, Ohio, and again in Lancaster, Pa., she crossed that bridge again.
"I told Congress: 'Thanks but no thanks for that Bridge to Nowhere up in Alaska,' " Palin told the crowds at the "McCain Street USA" rallies. "If we wanted a bridge, we'll build it ourselves."
Palin's position on the bridge that would have linked Ketchikan to Gravina Island is one example of a candidate staying on message even when that message has been publicly discredited. Palin has continued to say she opposed a project she once campaigned for -- then killed later, only after support for it had collapsed in Congress.
As the presidential campaign moves into a final, heated stretch, untrue accusations and rumors have started to swirl at a pace so quick that they become regarded as fact before they can be disproved. A number of fabrications about Palin's policies and personal life, for instance, have circulated on the Internet since she joined the Republican ticket.
"I told Congress: 'Thanks but no thanks for that Bridge to Nowhere up in Alaska,' " Palin told the crowds at the "McCain Street USA" rallies. "If we wanted a bridge, we'll build it ourselves."
Palin's position on the bridge that would have linked Ketchikan to Gravina Island is one example of a candidate staying on message even when that message has been publicly discredited. Palin has continued to say she opposed a project she once campaigned for -- then killed later, only after support for it had collapsed in Congress.
As the presidential campaign moves into a final, heated stretch, untrue accusations and rumors have started to swirl at a pace so quick that they become regarded as fact before they can be disproved. A number of fabrications about Palin's policies and personal life, for instance, have circulated on the Internet since she joined the Republican ticket.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008 - 22:52
SOURCE: WaPo (9-8-08)
Months before the Bush administration ends, historians and open-government advocates are concerned that Vice President Cheney, who has long bristled at requirements to disclose his records, will destroy or withhold key documents that illustrate his role in forming U.S. policy for the past 7 1/2 years.
In a preemptive move, several of them have agreed to join the advocacy group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington in asking a federal judge to declare that Cheney's records are covered by the Presidential Records Act of 1978 and cannot be destroyed, taken or withheld without proper review.
The group expects to file the lawsuit today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. It will name Cheney, the executive offices of the president and vice president, and the National Archives and chief archivist Allen Weinstein as defendants.
In a preemptive move, several of them have agreed to join the advocacy group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington in asking a federal judge to declare that Cheney's records are covered by the Presidential Records Act of 1978 and cannot be destroyed, taken or withheld without proper review.
The group expects to file the lawsuit today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. It will name Cheney, the executive offices of the president and vice president, and the National Archives and chief archivist Allen Weinstein as defendants.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008 - 12:19
Name of source: Spiegel Online
SOURCE: Spiegel Online (9-9-08)
Experts with the United States military expend enormous resources to
search for the bodies of missing soldiers. A team is currently at work in
the northern Eifel Mountains region of western Germany, where tens of
thousands of Americans died during World War II.
"We can make French fries for lunch out of those," jokes archeologist Denise To, pointing to three rows of potato plants on the edge of a field. The leaves have shriveled and turned brown, and a few potatoes sticking out of the ground have already turned green -- high time for the potato harvest.
Nearby, in a field of wheat stubble, the driver of a small excavator is carefully digging a trench into the soil. It looks like a miniature version of a much larger machine visible in the distance as it eats its way through brown coal. The field, which borders the northern Eifel Mountains in western Germany, is where To and her team work. They believe that it harbors the gravesite of an American who crash-landed his burning P-38"Lightning" during the Battle of Hürtgen Forest.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008 - 22:47
Name of source: Guardian
SOURCE: Guardian (9-9-08)
Archaeologists are creating a permanent digital record of shipwrecks
around European coasts. By recording the precise 3D arrangement of timbers
and cargo from the wrecks the researchers aim to preserve the information
they contain about past civilisations even if the wrecks are damaged or
destroyed.
Scientists and members of the general public would in future be able to float over the wrecks in a virtual submarine from the comfort of their own desks. For researchers, this would allow them to explore the wreck and make decisions about future excavations without spending large amounts of money going out to sea.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008 - 22:38
SOURCE: Guardian (9-10-08)
The UN is threatening to put the Tower of London on its list of world heritage sites in danger after its experts accused the UK of damaging globally significant sites such as Stonehenge, the old town of Edinburgh and the Georgian centre of Bath, the Guardian has learned.
Unesco, the UN's cultural agency, has told ministers in London and Edinburgh that it wants urgent action to protect seven world heritage sites which it claims are in danger from building developments, and said in some cases the UK is ignoring its legal obligations to protect them.
Their complaints range from decisions to approve new tower blocks in central London, such as the 66-storey "shard of glass" at London Bridge, to the failure to relocate the A344 beside Stonehenge despite promising action for 22 years, to a proposed wind farm which threatens neolithic sites on Orkney.
Unesco, the UN's cultural agency, has told ministers in London and Edinburgh that it wants urgent action to protect seven world heritage sites which it claims are in danger from building developments, and said in some cases the UK is ignoring its legal obligations to protect them.
Their complaints range from decisions to approve new tower blocks in central London, such as the 66-storey "shard of glass" at London Bridge, to the failure to relocate the A344 beside Stonehenge despite promising action for 22 years, to a proposed wind farm which threatens neolithic sites on Orkney.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008 - 17:09
Name of source: http://www.thenational.ae
SOURCE: http://www.thenational.ae (8-14-08)
On January 31 1949, when the People’s Liberation Army came marching into Beijing – heralding the imminent demise of Chiang Kai-shek’s Guomindang regime in mainland China – Sidney Shapiro, a bespectacled 33-year-old lawyer from Brooklyn, New York, rode his bicycle up to Xizhimen, the city’s north-west gate, to take a look at the soldiers.
There, he remembered years later, he saw a parade of “clean, smartly stepping, smiling young men” being welcomed by cheering crowds, and a line of American-made vehicles that the Communists had captured from Guomindang forces. Shapiro, who had spent the last year and a half in China but had been in Beijing for only a couple of months, was enchanted. “Parents held their kids higher on their shoulders for a better view,” he later wrote. “The streets were gay with flags and bunting.” The Mao era had arrived.
Almost six decades later, Shapiro is still here – a robust 92-year-old Chinese citizen with white hair, a strong handshake, and an exceptionally well-preserved Brooklyn accent. Part of a wave of westerners who settled in Beijing in the early Mao years to sign up for the “socialist experiment,” Shapiro is one of a tiny few who lasted long enough to experience the entire, ongoing era of Communist rule – and to see China stage an Olympic opening ceremony last Friday night that gave almost no acknowledgement to Mao’s legacy.
There, he remembered years later, he saw a parade of “clean, smartly stepping, smiling young men” being welcomed by cheering crowds, and a line of American-made vehicles that the Communists had captured from Guomindang forces. Shapiro, who had spent the last year and a half in China but had been in Beijing for only a couple of months, was enchanted. “Parents held their kids higher on their shoulders for a better view,” he later wrote. “The streets were gay with flags and bunting.” The Mao era had arrived.
Almost six decades later, Shapiro is still here – a robust 92-year-old Chinese citizen with white hair, a strong handshake, and an exceptionally well-preserved Brooklyn accent. Part of a wave of westerners who settled in Beijing in the early Mao years to sign up for the “socialist experiment,” Shapiro is one of a tiny few who lasted long enough to experience the entire, ongoing era of Communist rule – and to see China stage an Olympic opening ceremony last Friday night that gave almost no acknowledgement to Mao’s legacy.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008 - 22:33
Name of source: Secrecy News, written by Steven Aftergood, is published by the Federation of American Scientists
SOURCE: Secrecy News, written by Steven Aftergood, is published by the Federation of American Scientists (9-10-08)
The House of Representatives yesterday passed the Overclassification
Reduction Act, a bill that is intended to help reduce inappropriate
classification of information in government.
The bill would require the National Archivist to develop regulations to help combat overclassification. The bill would mandate increased accountability for classification actions, with incentives for challenging improper classification and penalties for abuse of classification authority. Importantly, it would require agency inspectors general to perform periodic audits of classification activity to ensure compliance with classification standards.
While the bill represents a welcome expression of congressional interest in overclassification, its proposed solution does not seem carefully adapted to the problem.
"The problem of overclassification is government-wide and it demands a government-wide solution," said Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), who introduced the bill along with Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA).
But that is unlikely to be true, because it presumes that overclassification is a uniform phenomenon across the government, which is not the case. Overclassification at the CIA is not the same as overclassification at the Pentagon or the State Department. Not only do these agencies have different institutional cultures, their classification policies revolve around different sets of security concerns, and they are implemented through distinct sets of procedures.
A government-wide regulation like the 2003 implementing directive issued by the Information Security Oversight Office can set important parameters for classification duration, classifier training, document marking, and so forth. But that directive has not been an effective vehicle for reversing or combating overclassification.
An alternate approach to the problem will be described in Secrecy News next week.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008 - 17:07
Name of source: Politico.com
SOURCE: Politico.com (9-9-08)
The candidate is new, a different face on the national scene, with roots outside the continental United States and sudden, massive popularity.
With good reason, Sarah Palin has been touted as the right’s answer to Barack Obama. And in one especially important way, her abrupt rise from obscurity has given her something else in common with the Democratic nominee: she has catalyzed a fevered subculture of forwarded e-mails and viral conspiracy theories.
Now the race is on, as it was with Obama, for Palin to define herself against an onslaught of negative portrayals.
Obama’s campaign has made some attempts to challenge the Republican portrayal of her as a “living breathing replica of the middle class” (as a former White House official put it). But that narrative is being challenged online by a flood of rumor, half-truth, lies, and speculation defining her as an American exotic, a countrified stranger with mysterious but strong religious beliefs, a confusing personal story, and extreme politics.
“Information abhors a vacuum, and like Barack Obama was at first, Sarah Palin was an unknown quanity,” said the internet folklorist David Emery. “When you have all that pressure and very little information – that’s when the rumors start flying.”
Emery has been frantically sorting Palin fact from fiction on his Urban Legends website for the last week – “It’s been crazy,” he said — as has David Mikkelson, the co-creator of the urban legend clearinghouse Snopes.com.
With good reason, Sarah Palin has been touted as the right’s answer to Barack Obama. And in one especially important way, her abrupt rise from obscurity has given her something else in common with the Democratic nominee: she has catalyzed a fevered subculture of forwarded e-mails and viral conspiracy theories.
Now the race is on, as it was with Obama, for Palin to define herself against an onslaught of negative portrayals.
Obama’s campaign has made some attempts to challenge the Republican portrayal of her as a “living breathing replica of the middle class” (as a former White House official put it). But that narrative is being challenged online by a flood of rumor, half-truth, lies, and speculation defining her as an American exotic, a countrified stranger with mysterious but strong religious beliefs, a confusing personal story, and extreme politics.
“Information abhors a vacuum, and like Barack Obama was at first, Sarah Palin was an unknown quanity,” said the internet folklorist David Emery. “When you have all that pressure and very little information – that’s when the rumors start flying.”
Emery has been frantically sorting Palin fact from fiction on his Urban Legends website for the last week – “It’s been crazy,” he said — as has David Mikkelson, the co-creator of the urban legend clearinghouse Snopes.com.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008 - 17:01
SOURCE: Politico.com (9-7-08)
It’s a tough gig, running for president. The modern media is brutally unforgiving with its microphones and video cameras: Any word, any image, at any moment can haunt a candidate for a lifetime.
This campaign is certainly no exception. Here is Politico’s list of the top eight gaffes that are virtually certain to haunt John McCain and Barack Obama until Election Day: ...
This campaign is certainly no exception. Here is Politico’s list of the top eight gaffes that are virtually certain to haunt John McCain and Barack Obama until Election Day: ...
Tuesday, September 9, 2008 - 12:46
Name of source: http://www.wapt.com
SOURCE: http://www.wapt.com (9-9-08)
JACKSON, Miss. -- Attorneys for reputed Ku Klux Klansman James Ford Seale said on Wednesday that they are filing a motion to have him released from federal prison. On Tuesday, a federal appeals court overturned the 73-year-old's June 2007 conviction for his role in the kidnapping and deaths of two black teenagers in 1964. He was given three life sentences.A three judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeal ruled, in short, that the statute of limitations had run out on that kidnapping case that happened 44 years ago.
They're ruling stated "...Seale claims that his prosecution was barred by the statute of limitations establishing a 5-year window from the commission of that crime."For the reasons stated herein, the panel ruled, "we agree."16 WAPT news spoke to U.S. Attorney Dunn Lampton by phone late Tuesday night about the ruling."I'm not completely surprised. We knew that could be a possibility, but I'm disappointed," said Lampton. "I thought we had argued that and we were going to prevail, that was going what we viewed as their best, their best point."
During the trial, prosecutors said that Seale and others beat the two men in the Homochitto National Forest and then drowned them in the Mississippi River.Seale's conviction was touted as a major effort to resolve a cold case from the state's civil rights past.Lampton said he would try the case again.
They're ruling stated "...Seale claims that his prosecution was barred by the statute of limitations establishing a 5-year window from the commission of that crime."For the reasons stated herein, the panel ruled, "we agree."16 WAPT news spoke to U.S. Attorney Dunn Lampton by phone late Tuesday night about the ruling."I'm not completely surprised. We knew that could be a possibility, but I'm disappointed," said Lampton. "I thought we had argued that and we were going to prevail, that was going what we viewed as their best, their best point."
During the trial, prosecutors said that Seale and others beat the two men in the Homochitto National Forest and then drowned them in the Mississippi River.Seale's conviction was touted as a major effort to resolve a cold case from the state's civil rights past.Lampton said he would try the case again.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008 - 16:29
Name of source: Times
SOURCE: Times (9-10-08)
A 215-year-old Jewish manuscript stolen in Israel a decade ago will be returned by the German library where it resurfaced. The Book of the Levite’s Worship, left, a 1793 treatise by a Berlin rabbi, was found to be missing from the Rambam Library in Tel Aviv in 1998. One year later it appeared at auction in New York at Sotheby’s but went unsold. It was bought later by an unidentified dealer and lost again. In 2005 it was found in the German National Library in Berlin, which has agreed to return it. The identity of the thief and the dealers who bought and sold the manuscript are unknown.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008 - 09:35
Name of source: CNN
SOURCE: CNN (9-9-08)
At 107, Frank Buckles must know that there is not much time for him to honor the memory of his comrades who served the United States during the first World War. He's the last surviving U.S. veteran of what then was called the Great War.
The old soldier comes to Washington on Tuesday hoping to turn a run-down local memorial on the National Mall into something in keeping with other, permanent monuments to Americans who've sacrificed in other wars.
Buckles, who left the Army as a corporal, first visited the site in March.
"I think it was a very nice idea," he said from his wheelchair after he and an aide had toured the gazebo-style structure.
Buckles noted that the memorial is not national but was built primarily to honor about 500 veterans from the District of Columbia.
"I can read here that it was started to include the names of those who were local," Buckles said.
He has since joined a crusade to establish the site as a national memorial, which includes a legislative push from Texas Republican congressman Ted Poe. He and Buckles plan to announce details of their mission at a 2 p.m. news conference at the D.C. memorial site.
The old soldier comes to Washington on Tuesday hoping to turn a run-down local memorial on the National Mall into something in keeping with other, permanent monuments to Americans who've sacrificed in other wars.
Buckles, who left the Army as a corporal, first visited the site in March.
"I think it was a very nice idea," he said from his wheelchair after he and an aide had toured the gazebo-style structure.
Buckles noted that the memorial is not national but was built primarily to honor about 500 veterans from the District of Columbia.
"I can read here that it was started to include the names of those who were local," Buckles said.
He has since joined a crusade to establish the site as a national memorial, which includes a legislative push from Texas Republican congressman Ted Poe. He and Buckles plan to announce details of their mission at a 2 p.m. news conference at the D.C. memorial site.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008 - 23:41
SOURCE: CNN (9-9-08)
Flanked by officials from the NAACP and the Southern Poverty Law Center, FBI Director Robert Mueller last year announced with considerable fanfare a new partnership between his agency and civil rights organizations.
The goal: To bring justice in long-ignored murders from the civil rights era.
The outcome: Not one case has been prosecuted under the FBI's Cold Case Initiative, which actually began two years ago with no fanfare at all.
The goal: To bring justice in long-ignored murders from the civil rights era.
The outcome: Not one case has been prosecuted under the FBI's Cold Case Initiative, which actually began two years ago with no fanfare at all.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008 - 23:40
Name of source: Fox News
SOURCE: Fox News (9-9-08)
A 215-year-old Jewish manuscript discovered missing a decade ago will be returned by the German library where it surfaced, an Israeli official said Tuesday.
Israeli Embassy officials are currently arranging the manuscript's transfer from the German National Library in Berlin back to Israel, said Avigdor Levin, the top cultural official at the Tel Aviv municipality.
A 1998 inventory check at the city's Rambam Library revealed that the one-of-a-kind manuscript was missing. Titled "The Book of the Levite's Worship," it was a treatise on Jewish law written by a Berlin rabbi in 1793.
The police had no leads on the possible thief and closed the case, Levin said.
Israeli Embassy officials are currently arranging the manuscript's transfer from the German National Library in Berlin back to Israel, said Avigdor Levin, the top cultural official at the Tel Aviv municipality.
A 1998 inventory check at the city's Rambam Library revealed that the one-of-a-kind manuscript was missing. Titled "The Book of the Levite's Worship," it was a treatise on Jewish law written by a Berlin rabbi in 1793.
The police had no leads on the possible thief and closed the case, Levin said.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008 - 23:39
SOURCE: Fox News (9-7-08)
Is Kim Jong Il for real? The question has baffled foreign intelligence agencies for years, but a veteran Japanese expert on North Korea says the “dear leader” is actually dead — and his role is played by a double.
The expert says Kim died of diabetes in 2003 and world leaders, including Vladimir Putin of Russia and Hu Jintao of China, have been negotiating with an imposter.
He believes that Kim, fearing assassination, had groomed up to four look-alikes to act as substitutes at public events. One underwent plastic surgery to make his appearance more convincing. Now, the expert claims, the actors are brought on stage whenever required to persuade the masses that Kim is alive.
The author has been derided by rival analysts of the hermetic communist state. Yet so few facts are known about North Korea’s ruling dynasty that some of the strange things reported in Professor Toshimitsu Shigemura’s bestselling book cannot be readily explained.
The expert says Kim died of diabetes in 2003 and world leaders, including Vladimir Putin of Russia and Hu Jintao of China, have been negotiating with an imposter.
He believes that Kim, fearing assassination, had groomed up to four look-alikes to act as substitutes at public events. One underwent plastic surgery to make his appearance more convincing. Now, the expert claims, the actors are brought on stage whenever required to persuade the masses that Kim is alive.
The author has been derided by rival analysts of the hermetic communist state. Yet so few facts are known about North Korea’s ruling dynasty that some of the strange things reported in Professor Toshimitsu Shigemura’s bestselling book cannot be readily explained.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008 - 12:29
Name of source: McClatchy
SOURCE: McClatchy (9-7-08)
John McCain made a quick stop at the Capitol one day last spring to sit in on Senate negotiations on the big immigration bill, and John Cornyn was not pleased.
Cornyn, a mild-mannered Texas Republican, saw a loophole in the bill that he thought would allow felons to pursue a path to citizenship.
McCain called Cornyn's claim "chicken-s---," according to people familiar with the meeting, and charged that the Texan was looking for an excuse to scuttle the bill. Cornyn grimly told McCain he had a lot of nerve to suddenly show up and inject himself into the sensitive negotiations.
"F--- you," McCain told Cornyn, in front of about 40 witnesses.
It was another instance of the Republican presidential candidate losing his temper, another instance in which, as POW-MIA activist Carol Hrdlicka put it, "It's his way or no way."
Cornyn, a mild-mannered Texas Republican, saw a loophole in the bill that he thought would allow felons to pursue a path to citizenship.
McCain called Cornyn's claim "chicken-s---," according to people familiar with the meeting, and charged that the Texan was looking for an excuse to scuttle the bill. Cornyn grimly told McCain he had a lot of nerve to suddenly show up and inject himself into the sensitive negotiations.
"F--- you," McCain told Cornyn, in front of about 40 witnesses.
It was another instance of the Republican presidential candidate losing his temper, another instance in which, as POW-MIA activist Carol Hrdlicka put it, "It's his way or no way."
Tuesday, September 9, 2008 - 16:36
Name of source: LiveScience
SOURCE: LiveScience (9-8-08)
A new study has found that Neanderthal brains grew at much the same rate
as modern human brains do, knocking down the idea that they grew faster in
a style considered more primitive.
The recent discoveries of two very young Neanderthal skeletons, as well analysis of a little-studied infant Neanderthal skeleton, allowed the researchers to trace how quickly the species' skulls grew.
The results showed a greater similarity than expected between modern humans and Neanderthals, a hominid species that lived in Europe and Asia between 130,000 and 30,000 years ago.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008 - 15:39
Name of source: Chicago Tribune
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (9-8-08)
Though the two women had never met, they soon were trading names, each taking stock of whom the other knew in Chicago's Jewish community.
Before long, they learned their paths had almost crossed once before—six decades ago in the Jewish ghetto of Shanghai. It turns out they were neighbors, one at 83 Wayside Rd., the other at 91, and they had some mutual friends too....
Both women were among the Jews who found a haven in Shanghai during World War II. Sephardic Jews had lived as entrepreneurs in Shanghai since the 1800s, but in the late 1930s large numbers arrived from Germany, Austria, Poland and Lithuania, refugees of the Holocaust.
Before long, they learned their paths had almost crossed once before—six decades ago in the Jewish ghetto of Shanghai. It turns out they were neighbors, one at 83 Wayside Rd., the other at 91, and they had some mutual friends too....
Both women were among the Jews who found a haven in Shanghai during World War II. Sephardic Jews had lived as entrepreneurs in Shanghai since the 1800s, but in the late 1930s large numbers arrived from Germany, Austria, Poland and Lithuania, refugees of the Holocaust.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008 - 15:04
Name of source: WSJ
SOURCE: WSJ (9-9-08)
WASILLA, Alaska -- Sarah Palin and John Bitney go way back. They were in the same junior-high band class. Mr. Bitney was a key aide in Gov. Palin's 2006 gubernatorial campaign. When she took office, she gave Mr. Bitney a job as her legislative director, and a few months later stood beside him at a news conference and praised his work.
"Whatever you did, you did it right," she told Mr. Bitney and his team.
Seven weeks later she fired Mr. Bitney for what her spokeswoman now describes as "poor job performance."
What happened in between? According to Mr. Bitney, Gov. Palin got a call from another old friend, Scott Richter, informing her that his wife, Debbie Richter, and Mr. Bitney were having an affair. Mr. Bitney had kept that secret from the governor, even as he told her of his divorce, he said.
Allies of Republican presidential nominee John McCain like to point out that his running mate is the governor of the largest state in the union. But at times, Alaska seems more like a small town, run by folks with overlapping professional, political and personal ties that can be difficult to untangle.
"Whatever you did, you did it right," she told Mr. Bitney and his team.
Seven weeks later she fired Mr. Bitney for what her spokeswoman now describes as "poor job performance."
What happened in between? According to Mr. Bitney, Gov. Palin got a call from another old friend, Scott Richter, informing her that his wife, Debbie Richter, and Mr. Bitney were having an affair. Mr. Bitney had kept that secret from the governor, even as he told her of his divorce, he said.
Allies of Republican presidential nominee John McCain like to point out that his running mate is the governor of the largest state in the union. But at times, Alaska seems more like a small town, run by folks with overlapping professional, political and personal ties that can be difficult to untangle.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008 - 14:18
Name of source: NYT
SOURCE: NYT (9-8-08)
CAIRO — Seven years later, it remains conventional wisdom here that Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda could not have been solely responsible for the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and that the United States and Israel had to have been involved in their planning, if not their execution, too.
This is not the conclusion of a scientific survey, but it is what routinely comes up in conversations around the region — in a shopping mall in Dubai, in a park in Algiers, in a cafe in Riyadh and all over Cairo.
“Look, I don’t believe what your governments and press say. It just can’t be true,” said Ahmed Issab, 26, a Syrian engineer who lives and works in the United Arab Emirates. “Why would they tell the truth? I think the U.S. organized this so that they had an excuse to invade Iraq for the oil.”
This is not the conclusion of a scientific survey, but it is what routinely comes up in conversations around the region — in a shopping mall in Dubai, in a park in Algiers, in a cafe in Riyadh and all over Cairo.
“Look, I don’t believe what your governments and press say. It just can’t be true,” said Ahmed Issab, 26, a Syrian engineer who lives and works in the United Arab Emirates. “Why would they tell the truth? I think the U.S. organized this so that they had an excuse to invade Iraq for the oil.”
Tuesday, September 9, 2008 - 13:50
Name of source: WaPo excerpt from Woodward's new book
SOURCE: WaPo excerpt from Woodward's new book (9-7-08)
During the summer of 2006, from her office adjacent to the White House, deputy national security adviser Meghan O'Sullivan sent President Bush a daily top secret report cataloging the escalating bloodshed and chaos in Iraq. "Violence has acquired a momentum of its own and is now self-sustaining," she wrote July 20, quoting from an intelligence assessment.
Her dire evaluation contradicted the upbeat assurances that President Bush was hearing from Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the U.S. commander in Iraq. Casey and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld were pushing to draw down American forces and speed the transfer of responsibility to the Iraqis. Despite months of skyrocketing violence, Casey insisted that within a year, Iraq would be mostly stable, with the bulk of American combat troops headed home.
Publicly, the president claimed the United States was winning the war, and he expressed unwavering faith in Casey, saying, "It's his judgment that I rely upon." Privately, he was losing confidence in the drawdown strategy. He questioned O'Sullivan that summer with increasing urgency: "What are you hearing from people in Baghdad? What are people's daily lives like?"
"It's hell, Mr. President," she answered, determined not to mislead or lie to him.
Her dire evaluation contradicted the upbeat assurances that President Bush was hearing from Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the U.S. commander in Iraq. Casey and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld were pushing to draw down American forces and speed the transfer of responsibility to the Iraqis. Despite months of skyrocketing violence, Casey insisted that within a year, Iraq would be mostly stable, with the bulk of American combat troops headed home.
Publicly, the president claimed the United States was winning the war, and he expressed unwavering faith in Casey, saying, "It's his judgment that I rely upon." Privately, he was losing confidence in the drawdown strategy. He questioned O'Sullivan that summer with increasing urgency: "What are you hearing from people in Baghdad? What are people's daily lives like?"
"It's hell, Mr. President," she answered, determined not to mislead or lie to him.
Related Links
Politico.com: Woodward: Bush tried locking in strategy
Tuesday, September 9, 2008 - 12:44
Name of source: http://canadafreepress.com
SOURCE: http://canadafreepress.com (9-7-08)
Stalin acted ‘entirely rationally’ in executing and imprisoning millions of people in the Gulags, a controversial new Russian teaching manual claims.
Fifty-five years after the Soviet dictator died, the latest guide for teachers to promote patriotism among the Russian young said he did what he did to ensure the country’s modernisation.
The manual, titled A History of Russia, 1900-1945, will form the basis of a new state-approved text book for use in schools next year.
It seems to follow an attempt backed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to re-evaluate Stalin’s record in a more positive light.
Fifty-five years after the Soviet dictator died, the latest guide for teachers to promote patriotism among the Russian young said he did what he did to ensure the country’s modernisation.
The manual, titled A History of Russia, 1900-1945, will form the basis of a new state-approved text book for use in schools next year.
It seems to follow an attempt backed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to re-evaluate Stalin’s record in a more positive light.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008 - 12:39
