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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: BBC
SOURCE: BBC (10-16-09)
The Court of Bosnia and Hercegovina has sentenced a former Bosnian Serb army officer to 30 years in prison for his part in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.
Milorad Trbic had taken part in a plan to capture, detain, execute and bury all able-bodied Muslim men in the town with "genocidal intent", judges ruled.
In all, as many as 8,000 men and boys were killed by Serb forces towards the end of the three-year war in Bosnia.
The court has already jailed several others for their role in the massacre.
Milorad Trbic had taken part in a plan to capture, detain, execute and bury all able-bodied Muslim men in the town with "genocidal intent", judges ruled.
In all, as many as 8,000 men and boys were killed by Serb forces towards the end of the three-year war in Bosnia.
The court has already jailed several others for their role in the massacre.
Friday, October 16, 2009 - 16:02
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SOURCE: BBC (10-15-09)
Infamously ugly and unfinished, the shell of the Ryugyong Hotel dominates North Korea's capital, Pyongyang. But work on the skyscraper began again last summer after a 16-year hiatus and, as the company behind it tells the BBC's Matthew Davis, an end may finally be in sight.
A three-sided pyramid with walls that jag upwards at 75 degrees, capped by a series of concentric rings, the Ryugyong Hotel was described by one magazine simply as "the worst building in the history of mankind".
Other names that have stuck down the years include The Hotel of Doom and The Phantom Hotel - references to the fact that for the best part of two decades, all work on the 105-storey skyscraper was halted as North Korea's economy nosedived.
Conceived as a grandiose projection of emerging wealth, the hotel instead became a symbol of North Korea's hubris and of the state's failing financial system.
Friday, October 16, 2009 - 12:33
SOURCE: BBC (10-15-09)
Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic will go on trial at The Hague on Monday 26 October, the court says.
It is the second time in a week that the trial - originally due to start on 19 October - has been put back.
But Mr Karadzic's attempts to have the start delayed by 10 months have been rejected by the court.
Mr Karadzic is charged with 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide, dating back to the Bosnian war.
They include charges related to the 1995 massacre of about 8,000 men and boys at Srebrenica.
It is the second time in a week that the trial - originally due to start on 19 October - has been put back.
But Mr Karadzic's attempts to have the start delayed by 10 months have been rejected by the court.
Mr Karadzic is charged with 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide, dating back to the Bosnian war.
They include charges related to the 1995 massacre of about 8,000 men and boys at Srebrenica.
Friday, October 16, 2009 - 12:31
SOURCE: BBC (10-15-09)
Archaeologists believe they have traced a mass grave of soldiers who fought in a 17th Century battle in Germany under a modern-day supermarket.
Scots - many of them Highlanders - were among the ranks of Protestant soldiers fighting Catholic forces at Lutzen, a key clash during the 30 Years War.
Culloden expert Dr Tony Pollard has been involved in an international team's investigations at Lutzen.
He said another mass grave on another part of the battlefield may be probed.
Scots - many of them Highlanders - were among the ranks of Protestant soldiers fighting Catholic forces at Lutzen, a key clash during the 30 Years War.
Culloden expert Dr Tony Pollard has been involved in an international team's investigations at Lutzen.
He said another mass grave on another part of the battlefield may be probed.
Thursday, October 15, 2009 - 11:29
SOURCE: BBC (10-15-09)
A new exhibition marking the 400th anniversary of Galileo's work is set to open in the Vatican.
The Catholic Church once labelled Galileo, now regarded as modern astronomy's founding father, a heretic.
Now a selection of Galileo's instruments - along with those of other key figures in astronomy - are being put on display in the Vatican.
There will also be some of Galileo's original documents in which he excitedly recorded his first discoveries.
The exhibition runs until January.
The Catholic Church once labelled Galileo, now regarded as modern astronomy's founding father, a heretic.
Now a selection of Galileo's instruments - along with those of other key figures in astronomy - are being put on display in the Vatican.
There will also be some of Galileo's original documents in which he excitedly recorded his first discoveries.
The exhibition runs until January.
Thursday, October 15, 2009 - 11:26
SOURCE: BBC (10-15-09)
The black leather daybed had deteriorated badly and conservators at the Leather Conservation Centre (LCC) took 65 hours to carry out the work.
It will now go on display at the Royal Naval Museum in Portsmouth.
The piece of furniture was handed down by generations of Nelson's family and given to the museum last year.
It will now go on display at the Royal Naval Museum in Portsmouth.
The piece of furniture was handed down by generations of Nelson's family and given to the museum last year.
Thursday, October 15, 2009 - 08:41
SOURCE: BBC (10-9-09)
A late Roman period body unearthed in Gloucester has stunned experts after tests suggested it was a Goth warrior from eastern Europe.
The man, aged 25 to 30, who was dug up north of Kingsholm Square in 1972, had always baffled archaeologists.
His elaborate silver belt fittings, shoe buckles and inlaid knife were believed to be from an area between the Balkans and Southern Russia.
Chemical tests now prove he was from east of the River Danube.
This has led historians to suggest he was a Goth mercenary in the Roman Army.
The man, aged 25 to 30, who was dug up north of Kingsholm Square in 1972, had always baffled archaeologists.
His elaborate silver belt fittings, shoe buckles and inlaid knife were believed to be from an area between the Balkans and Southern Russia.
Chemical tests now prove he was from east of the River Danube.
This has led historians to suggest he was a Goth mercenary in the Roman Army.
Thursday, October 15, 2009 - 01:03
Name of source: Telegraph (UK)
SOURCE: Telegraph (UK) (9-16-09)
A New York exhibition has stripped back the concrete jungle that makes up the Big Apple to reveal the literal jungle that was the city 400 years ago.
Entitled the Mannahatta Project, these images show what Manhattan Island must have looked like in 1609, when the English explorer Henry Hudson first sailed up the river that now bears his name.
Using CGI technology, the team behind the Mannahatta natural history project can now pin point any area of Manhattan's 22 square miles to show what it might have looked like four centuries ago.
Imagining Central Park as a blueberry bog with wolves roaming around what is now the Empire State Building, the computer images display how fast the city that never sleeps has grown up.
Entitled the Mannahatta Project, these images show what Manhattan Island must have looked like in 1609, when the English explorer Henry Hudson first sailed up the river that now bears his name.
Using CGI technology, the team behind the Mannahatta natural history project can now pin point any area of Manhattan's 22 square miles to show what it might have looked like four centuries ago.
Imagining Central Park as a blueberry bog with wolves roaming around what is now the Empire State Building, the computer images display how fast the city that never sleeps has grown up.
Friday, October 16, 2009 - 15:59
SOURCE: Telegraph (UK) (10-15-09)
Files released this week revealed the jokes were collected from letters steamed open by agents, from spies on the ground and wiretapped phone calls.
The gags were scrupulously collected and filed and dispatched to Bonn, much to the delight of civil servants.
"It was our biggest hit among our superiors," said one unnamed BND spy. "The Chancellery and the ministries couldn't wait for the file to have a laugh at those on the other side."
BND officials said the jokes gave valuable insights into the way East Germans were thinking about their government.
Joke reports prepared for the BND leadership and its political masters always contained analysis of the situation behind the Iron Curtain.
One report read: "The GDR leadership believes the population is resilient and ready to make sacrifices but it is prepared to take tough action if necessary to prevent 'Polish conditions'."
Telling jokes was a risky business for the citizens of East Germany.
The Stasi secret police turned one third of the country's 17 million citizens into informers for the state.
The gags were scrupulously collected and filed and dispatched to Bonn, much to the delight of civil servants.
"It was our biggest hit among our superiors," said one unnamed BND spy. "The Chancellery and the ministries couldn't wait for the file to have a laugh at those on the other side."
BND officials said the jokes gave valuable insights into the way East Germans were thinking about their government.
Joke reports prepared for the BND leadership and its political masters always contained analysis of the situation behind the Iron Curtain.
One report read: "The GDR leadership believes the population is resilient and ready to make sacrifices but it is prepared to take tough action if necessary to prevent 'Polish conditions'."
Telling jokes was a risky business for the citizens of East Germany.
The Stasi secret police turned one third of the country's 17 million citizens into informers for the state.
Friday, October 16, 2009 - 14:29
SOURCE: Telegraph (UK) (10-14-09)
A prescription for a sleeping drug given to Adolf Hitler's Nazi deputy Rudolph Hess when he was a prisoner in the Tower of London is to be sold at auction.
The prescription was made by pharmacist H A Rowe who dispensed the potassium bromide and choral hydrate draught ''with flavouring'' to Hess in 1941.
It refers to 'Herr Rudolph Hess, Deputy Fuhrer, Luftwaffe' who had flown to Britain in an unauthorised attempt to negotiate a peace treaty in the Second World War.
He was captured in Scotland and imprisoned in the Tower for three days and nights in May 1941.
The prescription is from the estate of Mr Rowe and also includes a prescription for a sedative for the last person to be executed in the Tower - German spy Josef Jakobs.
Jakobs' prescription for a sedative, in the name of 'A English Esq', was filled out by H A Rowe the day before the historic execution.
The historic prescriptions will go under the hammer on October 20 at Elreds Auctioneers in Plymouth, Devon,
The prescription was made by pharmacist H A Rowe who dispensed the potassium bromide and choral hydrate draught ''with flavouring'' to Hess in 1941.
It refers to 'Herr Rudolph Hess, Deputy Fuhrer, Luftwaffe' who had flown to Britain in an unauthorised attempt to negotiate a peace treaty in the Second World War.
He was captured in Scotland and imprisoned in the Tower for three days and nights in May 1941.
The prescription is from the estate of Mr Rowe and also includes a prescription for a sedative for the last person to be executed in the Tower - German spy Josef Jakobs.
Jakobs' prescription for a sedative, in the name of 'A English Esq', was filled out by H A Rowe the day before the historic execution.
The historic prescriptions will go under the hammer on October 20 at Elreds Auctioneers in Plymouth, Devon,
Friday, October 16, 2009 - 12:39
SOURCE: Telegraph (UK) (10-15-09)
Michael Broadbent, the former director of Christie's wine department, accepted a public apology on Thursday over claims that he behaved unprofessionally in the auction a bottle of Lafite said to have belonged to Thomas Jefferson, the American president.
The 1787 bottle sold at Christie's in London 24 years ago for £105,000, which remains a record sum. The dusty - and likely undrinkable - bottle of wine derives its value from the etched initials "Th.J" on its side, which suggested, it was claimed, that it had belonged to the man who later became America's third president.
The authenticity of the bottle, and others from the same batch, has been hotly debated over the past few decades, with many suggesting that they are fake - challenging the expertise of oenophiles who testified to their authenticity, and leaving collectors angry.
The 1787 bottle sold at Christie's in London 24 years ago for £105,000, which remains a record sum. The dusty - and likely undrinkable - bottle of wine derives its value from the etched initials "Th.J" on its side, which suggested, it was claimed, that it had belonged to the man who later became America's third president.
The authenticity of the bottle, and others from the same batch, has been hotly debated over the past few decades, with many suggesting that they are fake - challenging the expertise of oenophiles who testified to their authenticity, and leaving collectors angry.
This week Mr Broadbent, who authenticated the Lafite and presided over its auction, won an apology and damages following libel proceedings at London's High Court against Random House, publisher of The Billionaire's Vinegar. The book, which explores the provenance of a number of bottles said to have been owned by Jefferson, contained a number of untrue allegations, Mr Broadbent's solicitor, Sarah Webb, told Mr Justice Eady.
These were that Mr Broadbent had behaved in an unprofessional manner in the way he auctioned some of the bottles, and that his relationship and dealings with Hardy Rodenstock, the German dealer who discovered them, was suspected of being improper.
Thursday, October 15, 2009 - 11:20
SOURCE: Telegraph (UK) (10-14-09)
The controversial works are part of a wider exhibition of 60 pieces that are being shown for two weeks from Wednesday at the former Holy Trinity Church, now known as One Marylebone, in central London.
The exhibition featuring 16 artists, called The Age of Marvellous, coincides with the Frieze Art Fair in nearby Regent's Park.
Organisers say the exhibition is designed to “integrate areas of human knowledge that exist outside the boundaries of traditional art making”.
The exhibition featuring 16 artists, called The Age of Marvellous, coincides with the Frieze Art Fair in nearby Regent's Park.
Organisers say the exhibition is designed to “integrate areas of human knowledge that exist outside the boundaries of traditional art making”.
Thursday, October 15, 2009 - 08:36
SOURCE: Telegraph (UK) (10-14-09)
Italy, France, Portugal and even Scotland are among those who have claimed Christopher Columbus as their own over the years, citing a range of spurious links.
But American researchers say the mystery over the explorer's true origins has finally been solved after a thorough investigation of his writings.
A study of the language used in the official records and letters of the Great Navigator apparently proves he hailed from the Kingdom of Aragon in northeastern Spain and his mother tongue was Catalan.
But American researchers say the mystery over the explorer's true origins has finally been solved after a thorough investigation of his writings.
A study of the language used in the official records and letters of the Great Navigator apparently proves he hailed from the Kingdom of Aragon in northeastern Spain and his mother tongue was Catalan.
Since his death in 1506 debate has raged over the true nationality of the man credited with discovering the Americas.
It was widely believed that he was the son of a weaver born in the Italian port of Genoa, but over the centuries he has been claimed as a native son of Greece, Catalonia, Portugal, Corsica, France and even Poland.
Thursday, October 15, 2009 - 01:06
Name of source: NYT
SOURCE: NYT (10-16-09)
WASHINGTON — Is the Central Intelligence Agency covering up some dark secret about the assassination of John F. Kennedy?
Probably not. But you would not know it from the C.I.A.’s behavior.
For six years, the agency has fought in federal court to keep secret hundreds of documents from 1963, when an anti-Castro Cuban group it paid clashed publicly with the soon-to-be assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. The C.I.A. says it is only protecting legitimate secrets. But because of the agency’s history of stonewalling assassination inquiries, even researchers with no use for conspiracy thinking question its stance.
The files in question, some released under direction of the court and hundreds more that are still secret, involve the curious career of George E. Joannides, the case officer who oversaw the dissident Cubans in 1963. In 1978, the agency made Mr. Joannides the liaison to the House Select Committee on Assassinations — but never told the committee of his earlier role.
Probably not. But you would not know it from the C.I.A.’s behavior.
For six years, the agency has fought in federal court to keep secret hundreds of documents from 1963, when an anti-Castro Cuban group it paid clashed publicly with the soon-to-be assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. The C.I.A. says it is only protecting legitimate secrets. But because of the agency’s history of stonewalling assassination inquiries, even researchers with no use for conspiracy thinking question its stance.
The files in question, some released under direction of the court and hundreds more that are still secret, involve the curious career of George E. Joannides, the case officer who oversaw the dissident Cubans in 1963. In 1978, the agency made Mr. Joannides the liaison to the House Select Committee on Assassinations — but never told the committee of his earlier role.
Friday, October 16, 2009 - 15:58
SOURCE: NYT (10-14-09)
Soldiers have often returned to old battlefields, to honor fallen comrades and to exorcise persistent demons. British soldiers go back to the Falklands. Normandy cemeteries are on many V.F.W. and American Legion itineraries. Vietnam veterans can even get package tours now to the places where they were stationed.
Now, Americans wounded in the Iraq war are being ferried back to the scenes where they were maimed to help achieve psychological closure, the first time such visits have been tried while a war is still in progress.
The seven-day program, called Operation Proper Exit, has been kept quiet previously, partly because returning to a combat zone is considered a delicate experiment. For the eight wounded men who returned to Iraq this week, including five amputees and one blinded soldier, the hope is that returning to places many of them left while unconscious or in agony might reassure them that their losses have been worth it.
Now, Americans wounded in the Iraq war are being ferried back to the scenes where they were maimed to help achieve psychological closure, the first time such visits have been tried while a war is still in progress.
The seven-day program, called Operation Proper Exit, has been kept quiet previously, partly because returning to a combat zone is considered a delicate experiment. For the eight wounded men who returned to Iraq this week, including five amputees and one blinded soldier, the hope is that returning to places many of them left while unconscious or in agony might reassure them that their losses have been worth it.
Friday, October 16, 2009 - 12:32
SOURCE: NYT (10-13-09)
The National Park Service found the original deed from 1695 for the homestead in Virginia where George Washington was born and copies of John Peter Zenger’s New-York Weekly Journal from 1735 reporting on his landmark trial affirming freedom of the press. The Center for Jewish History discovered the 1944 document in which Raphael Lemkin coined the term genocide. The Morgan Library turned up a 1913 letter from the sister of Virginia Woolf saying that “Virginia was very much depressed yesterday” and attempted suicide — three decades before she would kill herself.
Those are among the nearly two dozen institutions that have received grants from the Leon Levy Foundation since 2007 to identify, preserve and digitize their archival collections and to make them available online to scholars and to the public.
The foundation’s archives and catalogs program has awarded more than $10.3 million, including two grants this week: $3.5 million to the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., to collect and conserve the papers of its present and former scholars, including George F. Kennan, J. Robert Oppenheimer and Albert Einstein; and $2.4 million to the New York Philharmonic, where archivists will digitize 1.3 million pages, including a 1909 Mahler score for his First Symphony originally marked up by the composer and further annotated 50 years later by Leonard Bernstein.
In some cases, institutions like the Roundabout Theater Company and Federal Hall in Lower Manhattan barely realized they held potentially valuable archives. In others, historic documents and artifacts were stored in vaguely labeled boxes but never cataloged. Still others, like the Philharmonic, lacked the resources to make their collections more widely available through digitization, which also preserves them by reducing handling...
Those are among the nearly two dozen institutions that have received grants from the Leon Levy Foundation since 2007 to identify, preserve and digitize their archival collections and to make them available online to scholars and to the public.
The foundation’s archives and catalogs program has awarded more than $10.3 million, including two grants this week: $3.5 million to the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., to collect and conserve the papers of its present and former scholars, including George F. Kennan, J. Robert Oppenheimer and Albert Einstein; and $2.4 million to the New York Philharmonic, where archivists will digitize 1.3 million pages, including a 1909 Mahler score for his First Symphony originally marked up by the composer and further annotated 50 years later by Leonard Bernstein.
In some cases, institutions like the Roundabout Theater Company and Federal Hall in Lower Manhattan barely realized they held potentially valuable archives. In others, historic documents and artifacts were stored in vaguely labeled boxes but never cataloged. Still others, like the Philharmonic, lacked the resources to make their collections more widely available through digitization, which also preserves them by reducing handling...
Thursday, October 15, 2009 - 01:29
SOURCE: NYT (10-13-09)
A few weeks ago, a hearse left Tom Amorosi’s brownstone in Park Slope with the remains of 36 people who died in the 1840s and 1850s. The remains were on the final miles of a dizzying journey out of history. Mr. Amorosi, a forensic anthropologist, had been hired by the state to study them.
The old bones spoke, but did not give direct answers. “I’d look at some of them, and think, ‘How the heck did you get up in the morning?’ ” Mr. Amorosi said, tracing the ravages mapped in the bones by poverty, illness and birth defects. In the bones, recovered during the construction of a courthouse on Staten Island, we get a glimpse of the story of immigration long before Ellis Island.
From the late 18th century on, people arriving in the United States were examined by doctors while their ships were anchored in New York Harbor. Those suspected of having an infectious disease were sent to a quarantine station at Marine Hospital in St. George, Staten Island. Some recovered and left. Others did not, and were buried in a rude graveyard on the grounds.
When the hospital was built in 1799, St. George was distant, rural countryside. By the late 1850s, however, prosperity had arrived. Summer homes were built by wealthy families from Manhattan. A community had grown.
The walled compound of the Marine Hospital, crammed with diseased and dying immigrants, was not the ideal real estate amenity. In 1858, the neighbors decided to shut it down. The sick immigrants were put into a number of New York City homes until Ellis Island opened. “You had very respectable people — church leaders, local politicians, business owners — who battered the gates, emptied any people in the hospital buildings, and then burned each building down,” said Sara Mascia of Historical Perspectives Inc., a firm that studied the site for the state...
The old bones spoke, but did not give direct answers. “I’d look at some of them, and think, ‘How the heck did you get up in the morning?’ ” Mr. Amorosi said, tracing the ravages mapped in the bones by poverty, illness and birth defects. In the bones, recovered during the construction of a courthouse on Staten Island, we get a glimpse of the story of immigration long before Ellis Island.
From the late 18th century on, people arriving in the United States were examined by doctors while their ships were anchored in New York Harbor. Those suspected of having an infectious disease were sent to a quarantine station at Marine Hospital in St. George, Staten Island. Some recovered and left. Others did not, and were buried in a rude graveyard on the grounds.
When the hospital was built in 1799, St. George was distant, rural countryside. By the late 1850s, however, prosperity had arrived. Summer homes were built by wealthy families from Manhattan. A community had grown.
The walled compound of the Marine Hospital, crammed with diseased and dying immigrants, was not the ideal real estate amenity. In 1858, the neighbors decided to shut it down. The sick immigrants were put into a number of New York City homes until Ellis Island opened. “You had very respectable people — church leaders, local politicians, business owners — who battered the gates, emptied any people in the hospital buildings, and then burned each building down,” said Sara Mascia of Historical Perspectives Inc., a firm that studied the site for the state...
Thursday, October 15, 2009 - 00:51
Name of source: CNN
SOURCE: CNN (2-16-09)
The world may soon know for sure where Spanish poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca rests after fascists executed him in 1936 during Spain's Civil War.
Officials in southern Spain Friday cleared the last legal hurdle to permit exhuming a mass grave site in a village near Granada where Lorca and some other Civil War victims are thought to be buried, CNN partner station CNN+ reported.
The area has been fenced off for weeks as scientists conducted preparatory work. Next Monday (October 19) they are due to erect a large tent over the site so that exhumation can be conducted confidentially, said Andalusia regional government justice councilor Begona Alvarez, CNN+ reported from Granada.
The potential exhumation of Lorca is part of a broader effort in Spain that already has resulted in various mass graves being dug up and could lead to thousands of other Spaniards still thought to be in mass graves.
Officials in southern Spain Friday cleared the last legal hurdle to permit exhuming a mass grave site in a village near Granada where Lorca and some other Civil War victims are thought to be buried, CNN partner station CNN+ reported.
The area has been fenced off for weeks as scientists conducted preparatory work. Next Monday (October 19) they are due to erect a large tent over the site so that exhumation can be conducted confidentially, said Andalusia regional government justice councilor Begona Alvarez, CNN+ reported from Granada.
The potential exhumation of Lorca is part of a broader effort in Spain that already has resulted in various mass graves being dug up and could lead to thousands of other Spaniards still thought to be in mass graves.
Friday, October 16, 2009 - 15:52
SOURCE: CNN (10-16-09)
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Friday that President Bush's administration was "unrealistic" in its dealings with the war in Afghanistan.
Clinton told CNN the Bush administration was unrealistic both in terms of the number of U.S. soldiers it committed to the conflict and in its relationship with certain Afghan political leaders.
The war was "under resourced" since its start in 2001, she said, and she indicated the Bush administration's attention was improperly shifted to Iraq.
Clinton told CNN the Bush administration was unrealistic both in terms of the number of U.S. soldiers it committed to the conflict and in its relationship with certain Afghan political leaders.
The war was "under resourced" since its start in 2001, she said, and she indicated the Bush administration's attention was improperly shifted to Iraq.
Friday, October 16, 2009 - 15:49
Name of source: Azzaman.com
SOURCE: Azzaman.com (10-14-09)
Iraqi diplomats in Germany have stopped the sale of 28 Mesopotamian artifacts believed to have been smuggled from the country in the years since the 2003-U.S. invasion.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has asked the Iraqi embassy in Germany to appoint a lawyer and launch a lawsuit to have the artifacts returned to Iraq.
Under an Iraqi law issued in 2007, Iraqi envoys in foreign countries are required to report on the exhibition of Mesopotamian artifacts or their auctioning.
Information on the Iraqi items is passed to experts who determine whether they were part of tens of thousands of items that have been looted or illegally dug in the past few years.
The items whose sale has been blocked in Germany dated to the ancient civilizations that flourished in southern Iraq, particularly the Sumerians.
Iraqi scientists say Germany is not doing enough to have the smuggled items on its territory returned to the country.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has asked the Iraqi embassy in Germany to appoint a lawyer and launch a lawsuit to have the artifacts returned to Iraq.
Under an Iraqi law issued in 2007, Iraqi envoys in foreign countries are required to report on the exhibition of Mesopotamian artifacts or their auctioning.
Information on the Iraqi items is passed to experts who determine whether they were part of tens of thousands of items that have been looted or illegally dug in the past few years.
The items whose sale has been blocked in Germany dated to the ancient civilizations that flourished in southern Iraq, particularly the Sumerians.
Iraqi scientists say Germany is not doing enough to have the smuggled items on its territory returned to the country.
Friday, October 16, 2009 - 14:14
Name of source: Toledo Blade
SOURCE: Toledo Blade (10-14-09)
MONROE - A former industrial site near East Elm Avenue and North Dixie Highway has produced hard evidence about fighting that occurred in 1813 at the Battle of the River Raisin.
Musket balls, metal buttons from military uniforms, and other artifacts have been unearthed in archaeological digs on the War of 1812 battlefield, which has been identified for development into a national park.
Not much research has been done south of the Raisin River in Monroe, where U.S. troops fled after intense fighting with British soldiers and their Native American allies.
That could change as archaeologists and historians are set to begin a survey of the unexplored area where retreating militia and Indians fought after the battle on the north side of the river.
A four-day archaeological investigation under the direction of Heidelberg University Professor G. Michael Pratt will begin Oct. 16 in selected areas south of the river in the city.
Mr. Pratt, associate vice president of anthropology and director for the Center for Historic and Military Archaeology at Heidelberg University, has been involved in studies of the River Raisin battle since the late 1990s.
Musket balls, metal buttons from military uniforms, and other artifacts have been unearthed in archaeological digs on the War of 1812 battlefield, which has been identified for development into a national park.
Not much research has been done south of the Raisin River in Monroe, where U.S. troops fled after intense fighting with British soldiers and their Native American allies.
That could change as archaeologists and historians are set to begin a survey of the unexplored area where retreating militia and Indians fought after the battle on the north side of the river.
A four-day archaeological investigation under the direction of Heidelberg University Professor G. Michael Pratt will begin Oct. 16 in selected areas south of the river in the city.
Mr. Pratt, associate vice president of anthropology and director for the Center for Historic and Military Archaeology at Heidelberg University, has been involved in studies of the River Raisin battle since the late 1990s.
Friday, October 16, 2009 - 13:16
Name of source: Secrecy News
SOURCE: Secrecy News (10-15-09)
A 1957 scientific paper on astrophysics by the late Alistair G.W. Cameron has the unusual quality of being both historically significant and very hard to obtain. A scanned copy of the paper has recently been posted online. Known to specialists as CRL-41 (for Chalk River Laboratory paper number 41), the proper title is "Stellar Evolution, Nuclear Astrophysics and Nucleogenesis" (large pdf).
The paper is a milestone in the field of nuclear astrophysics, explained Daid Kahl, a Ph.D. student at the University of Tokyo."This work independently arrived at the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis in the same year as a much more widely cited paper by Burbidge, Burbidge, Fowler, and Hoyle."
While it is still cited with some frequency (including a 2007 reference in Science magazine), hardly anybody seems to have a copy. Only around 30 libraries around the world are known to possess the document, Mr. Kahl said, based on a WorldCat search.
"Many people know about the publication, but people also cite it without ever having seen or read it," he said."There was a large conference two years ago at CalTech commemorating 50 years since these works were published. Even at this conference, older professors were asking if anyone had a copy of CRL-41."
Now, with the expiration of the copyright on the document 50 years after publication, it has become possible to scan and post the document for anyone who may be interested. Thanks to Mr. Kahl for sharing his copy.
The paper is a milestone in the field of nuclear astrophysics, explained Daid Kahl, a Ph.D. student at the University of Tokyo."This work independently arrived at the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis in the same year as a much more widely cited paper by Burbidge, Burbidge, Fowler, and Hoyle."
While it is still cited with some frequency (including a 2007 reference in Science magazine), hardly anybody seems to have a copy. Only around 30 libraries around the world are known to possess the document, Mr. Kahl said, based on a WorldCat search.
"Many people know about the publication, but people also cite it without ever having seen or read it," he said."There was a large conference two years ago at CalTech commemorating 50 years since these works were published. Even at this conference, older professors were asking if anyone had a copy of CRL-41."
Now, with the expiration of the copyright on the document 50 years after publication, it has become possible to scan and post the document for anyone who may be interested. Thanks to Mr. Kahl for sharing his copy.
Friday, October 16, 2009 - 13:04
Name of source: Philadelphia Inquirer
SOURCE: Philadelphia Inquirer (10-13-09)
Patrick McGovern had just emerged from the ancient burial chamber in one of the most extensively excavated archaeological sites in China when a local scientist presented him with what he calls "the real treasure."
It was a sealed bronze drinking vessel that resembled a teapot from 1200 B.C.
With liquid still inside.
"I just about dropped over - a liquid sample from 3,000 years ago," said McGovern, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania.
He whisked a sample back to his lab in the basement of Penn's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. An analysis confirmed what he had suspected: a yellowish wine.
It was another eureka moment for McGovern, 64, who has spent the last two decades traversing the globe, from ancient capitals to remote villages, in a quest to uncover the secrets of ancient wine- and beer-making.
He has become internationally recognized as an authority on ancient potables. When he and other museum researchers were on the budget chopping block earlier this year, nearly 4,000 supporters signed a petition, among them archaeologists, curators, and government officials from countries around the world. Egypt's director of antiquities was one of them.
It was a sealed bronze drinking vessel that resembled a teapot from 1200 B.C.
With liquid still inside.
"I just about dropped over - a liquid sample from 3,000 years ago," said McGovern, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania.
He whisked a sample back to his lab in the basement of Penn's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. An analysis confirmed what he had suspected: a yellowish wine.
It was another eureka moment for McGovern, 64, who has spent the last two decades traversing the globe, from ancient capitals to remote villages, in a quest to uncover the secrets of ancient wine- and beer-making.
He has become internationally recognized as an authority on ancient potables. When he and other museum researchers were on the budget chopping block earlier this year, nearly 4,000 supporters signed a petition, among them archaeologists, curators, and government officials from countries around the world. Egypt's director of antiquities was one of them.
Friday, October 16, 2009 - 12:50
Name of source: Yahoo News
SOURCE: Yahoo News (10-15-09)
CAIRO (Reuters) – Archaeologists have unearthed the site of a pharaonic-era sacred lake in a temple to the Egyptian goddess Mut in the ruins of ancient Tanis, the Culture Ministry said on Thursday.
The ministry said the lake, found 12 meters below ground at the San al-Hagar archaeological site in Egypt's eastern Nile Delta, was 15 meters long and 12 meters wide and built out of limestone blocks. It was in a good condition.
The ministry said the lake, found 12 meters below ground at the San al-Hagar archaeological site in Egypt's eastern Nile Delta, was 15 meters long and 12 meters wide and built out of limestone blocks. It was in a good condition.
Friday, October 16, 2009 - 12:47
SOURCE: Yahoo News (10-14-09)
PRESCOTT, Ariz. – Willard Varnell Oliver, a member of the Navajo Code Talkers who confounded the Japanese during World War II by transmitting messages in their native language, died Wednesday. He was 88.
Lawrence Oliver said his father died at the Northern Arizona Veterans Administration Health Care System Hospital in Prescott, Ariz. He had been declining health for the past two years.
Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. ordered flags on the Navajo Nation to be flown at half-staff from Oct. 15-19 in honor of Oliver, who is at least the fifth Code Talker to die since May.
Oliver was part of an elite group of Navajo Marines who confused the Japanese during World War II by transmitting messages in Navajo.
Lawrence Oliver said his father died at the Northern Arizona Veterans Administration Health Care System Hospital in Prescott, Ariz. He had been declining health for the past two years.
Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. ordered flags on the Navajo Nation to be flown at half-staff from Oct. 15-19 in honor of Oliver, who is at least the fifth Code Talker to die since May.
Oliver was part of an elite group of Navajo Marines who confused the Japanese during World War II by transmitting messages in Navajo.
Friday, October 16, 2009 - 11:05
SOURCE: Yahoo News (10-12-09)
LONDON (AFP) – Up to 100,000 pilgrims are expected to flock to the mother church of Roman Catholics in England for the culmination of a tour of the relics of a 19th century French nun which arrived in London Monday.
The heavy jacaranda wood casket containing the relics of St Therese of Lisieux was to be on show in Westminster Cathedral until Thursday, the high point of a month-long tour of England and Wales.
The relics, made up of portions of her thigh and foot bones, have attracted crowds in Catholic cathedrals, convents and even Wormwood Scrubs prison in London.
Westminster Cathedral said it had ordered 100,000 candles and 50,000 pink roses to meet demand from the 2,000 pilgrims expected to venerate the relics every hour.
The nun, known in the Catholic world as the "Little Flower of Jesus", entered the sisterhood aged just 15, but died aged 24 in 1897 from tuberculosis.
The heavy jacaranda wood casket containing the relics of St Therese of Lisieux was to be on show in Westminster Cathedral until Thursday, the high point of a month-long tour of England and Wales.
The relics, made up of portions of her thigh and foot bones, have attracted crowds in Catholic cathedrals, convents and even Wormwood Scrubs prison in London.
Westminster Cathedral said it had ordered 100,000 candles and 50,000 pink roses to meet demand from the 2,000 pilgrims expected to venerate the relics every hour.
The nun, known in the Catholic world as the "Little Flower of Jesus", entered the sisterhood aged just 15, but died aged 24 in 1897 from tuberculosis.
Thursday, October 15, 2009 - 01:05
SOURCE: Yahoo News (10-9-09)
The volcanic explosion that obliterated much of the island that might have inspired the legend of Atlantis apparently triggered a tsunami that traveled hundreds of miles to reach as far as present-day Israel, scientists now suggest.
The new findings about this past tsunami could shed light on the destructive potential of future disasters, researchers added.
The islands that make up the small circular archipelago of Santorini, roughly 120 miles (200 km) southeast of Greece, are what remain of what once was a single island, before one of the largest volcanic eruptions in human antiquity shattered it in the Bronze Age some time between 1630 B.C. to 1550 B.C.
The new findings about this past tsunami could shed light on the destructive potential of future disasters, researchers added.
The islands that make up the small circular archipelago of Santorini, roughly 120 miles (200 km) southeast of Greece, are what remain of what once was a single island, before one of the largest volcanic eruptions in human antiquity shattered it in the Bronze Age some time between 1630 B.C. to 1550 B.C.
Thursday, October 15, 2009 - 00:31
Name of source: Edmonton Journal (Canada)
SOURCE: Edmonton Journal (Canada) (10-15-09)
An archeologist has discovered an intact 2,000-year-old campsite in Rossdale flats, with enough detail to even guess at the recipe the ancient people used in their soup.
The black circle of ash, scattered bison bone fragments and chipped rock doesn't count as a major scientific discovery, said Gareth Spicer, principal archeologist with Calgary-based Turtle Island Cultural Resource Management. But the site has enough diverse elements to tell a story about the lives of a small group of people who camped by the river for several days.
"You don't get that very often," Spicer said. "All the pieces fell together here. It was purely by luck we didn't backhoe out the entire hearth."
The five-day dig happened last May, a provincial requirement before the area around Epcor's decommissioned power plants can be redeveloped...
... The campsite was found in an open field just across Rossdale Road from Telus Field, about 200 metres northeast of the monument created on a fur-trade era burial ground.
The black circle of ash, scattered bison bone fragments and chipped rock doesn't count as a major scientific discovery, said Gareth Spicer, principal archeologist with Calgary-based Turtle Island Cultural Resource Management. But the site has enough diverse elements to tell a story about the lives of a small group of people who camped by the river for several days.
"You don't get that very often," Spicer said. "All the pieces fell together here. It was purely by luck we didn't backhoe out the entire hearth."
The five-day dig happened last May, a provincial requirement before the area around Epcor's decommissioned power plants can be redeveloped...
... The campsite was found in an open field just across Rossdale Road from Telus Field, about 200 metres northeast of the monument created on a fur-trade era burial ground.
Friday, October 16, 2009 - 12:37
Name of source: LA Times
SOURCE: LA Times (10-15-09)
The Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History plans to open a hall next year dedicated to the story of human evolution over 6 million years, officials announced Wednesday.
The nearly $21-million Hall of Human Origins will follow milestones in history -- when humans started walking upright and started speaking, for example -- as well as the effect of climate change and extinction of ancient species. It's scheduled to open on March 17, 2010, marking the museum's 100th anniversary on the National Mall.
This will be the Smithsonian's first permanent exhibit focused solely on human evolution. It will include hundreds of fossils, reconstructed faces of early humans and 75 cast reproductions of skulls. Interactives will show the human family tree and current research around the world.
The nearly $21-million Hall of Human Origins will follow milestones in history -- when humans started walking upright and started speaking, for example -- as well as the effect of climate change and extinction of ancient species. It's scheduled to open on March 17, 2010, marking the museum's 100th anniversary on the National Mall.
This will be the Smithsonian's first permanent exhibit focused solely on human evolution. It will include hundreds of fossils, reconstructed faces of early humans and 75 cast reproductions of skulls. Interactives will show the human family tree and current research around the world.
Friday, October 16, 2009 - 12:19
SOURCE: LA Times (10-15-09)
The paintings are big, bold and unsigned -- each one newly hung on the walls of the recently opened courthouse as a testament to Orange County's history and promise.
The largest is a mural depicting Westminster vs. Mendez, the 1947 ruling originating in Orange County that put an end to segregated schools for Mexican children. It was painted by students from Otto A. Fischer School, which serves residents of juvenile hall.
The collaborative art at the new 4th District Court of Appeal building in Santa Ana was shown this week at a ceremony honoring those who helped bring to fruition the project involving students and courthouse officials...
... The works are the product of a prolonged effort by appellate Justice Eileen Moore, who three years ago was charged with acquiring art for the courthouse -- without a budget.
She tried getting donated art but was stymied by possible conflicts of interest with high-profile donors.
Later, she tried a court-sponsored art contest that yielded just three entries.
Then Moore approached the Orange County Department of Education. Working together, she and education officials developed a program that would have students create art based on issues raised and resolved in Orange County courts over the years.
The largest is a mural depicting Westminster vs. Mendez, the 1947 ruling originating in Orange County that put an end to segregated schools for Mexican children. It was painted by students from Otto A. Fischer School, which serves residents of juvenile hall.
The collaborative art at the new 4th District Court of Appeal building in Santa Ana was shown this week at a ceremony honoring those who helped bring to fruition the project involving students and courthouse officials...
... The works are the product of a prolonged effort by appellate Justice Eileen Moore, who three years ago was charged with acquiring art for the courthouse -- without a budget.
She tried getting donated art but was stymied by possible conflicts of interest with high-profile donors.
Later, she tried a court-sponsored art contest that yielded just three entries.
Then Moore approached the Orange County Department of Education. Working together, she and education officials developed a program that would have students create art based on issues raised and resolved in Orange County courts over the years.
Friday, October 16, 2009 - 12:18
Name of source: Politico
SOURCE: Politico (10-14-09)
For Republicans looking forward to the first Bush-free election in a decade, the book publishing schedule is the bearer of bad news: Between New Year’s Day and next November, as many as five Bush administration officials — including the former president himself — will rehash history in hardback.
The literary luge ride down memory lane shoves off with a return to the economic collapse via former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson’s “On the Brink: Inside the Race to Stop the Collapse of the Global Financial System,” due out from Business Plus in January.
Former first lady Laura Bush’s White House memoir tees up next, expected from Scribner in the spring.
Former President George W. Bush’s own book, tentatively titled “Decision Points,” will follow in the fall from Random House’s Crown Publishing and will recount a dozen pivotal choices Bush faced and how he made them — a trip back to the days of “the decider” that’s bound to spark talk of what it omits as much as what it contains...
The literary luge ride down memory lane shoves off with a return to the economic collapse via former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson’s “On the Brink: Inside the Race to Stop the Collapse of the Global Financial System,” due out from Business Plus in January.
Former first lady Laura Bush’s White House memoir tees up next, expected from Scribner in the spring.
Former President George W. Bush’s own book, tentatively titled “Decision Points,” will follow in the fall from Random House’s Crown Publishing and will recount a dozen pivotal choices Bush faced and how he made them — a trip back to the days of “the decider” that’s bound to spark talk of what it omits as much as what it contains...
Friday, October 16, 2009 - 11:09
Name of source: McClatchy
SOURCE: McClatchy (10-14-09)
WASHINGTON -- One evening near Christmas in 1955, Harry Truman walked into his Independence, Mo., home to find his wife tossing stacks of old letters into the blazing hearth.
He looked stricken.
A chronicle of the 33rd president's courtship, marriage and daily life in the first half of the 20th century was going up in smoke.
"Bess!" said Truman, who saved every scrap of paper, including 1,300 letters that he had written her. "God! What are you doing? Think of history!"
"Oh, I have," she calmly replied, continuing to feed the flames.
Bess Truman guarded her privacy. But not every letter to her husband wafted up the chimney of 219 N. Delaware St. that night.
She missed 180 others, found after her death in 1982, lost behind desk drawers and peeking out of books.
The Harry S. Truman Library & Museum has had them ever since and plans a public display in four years. But on Wednesday, the National Archives and Clifton Truman Daniel, the Trumans' grandson, offered the media an early glimpse.
He looked stricken.
A chronicle of the 33rd president's courtship, marriage and daily life in the first half of the 20th century was going up in smoke.
"Bess!" said Truman, who saved every scrap of paper, including 1,300 letters that he had written her. "God! What are you doing? Think of history!"
"Oh, I have," she calmly replied, continuing to feed the flames.
Bess Truman guarded her privacy. But not every letter to her husband wafted up the chimney of 219 N. Delaware St. that night.
She missed 180 others, found after her death in 1982, lost behind desk drawers and peeking out of books.
The Harry S. Truman Library & Museum has had them ever since and plans a public display in four years. But on Wednesday, the National Archives and Clifton Truman Daniel, the Trumans' grandson, offered the media an early glimpse.
Friday, October 16, 2009 - 11:04
Name of source: Medieval News
SOURCE: Medieval News (10-15-09)
Archaeologists have discovered two Crusader-era murals depicting heaven and hell in a medieval church near Syria's coast — a rare find that could reveal new information about the Christian knights who battled Muslims for control of the Holy Land hundreds of years ago.
Experts are now renovating the 12th century paintings, which were discovered last year by a joint Syrian-Hungarian team excavating an old Crusader fortress on a hilltop near the Mediterranean Sea in the western province of Tartous.
The discovery was announced Saturday by Bassem Jamous, Syria's director general of antiquities and museums, who told the state-run Al-Thawra newspaper that the paintings could provide information about the traditions and beliefs of the Crusaders.
The murals, which measure about 8 feet (2.5 meters) high and 11.5 feet (3.5 meters) wide, were hanging on either side of the altar of a 12th century chapel inside the al-Marqab Citadel and had accumulated thick layers of dust and dirt, archaeologists said.
Experts are now renovating the 12th century paintings, which were discovered last year by a joint Syrian-Hungarian team excavating an old Crusader fortress on a hilltop near the Mediterranean Sea in the western province of Tartous.
The discovery was announced Saturday by Bassem Jamous, Syria's director general of antiquities and museums, who told the state-run Al-Thawra newspaper that the paintings could provide information about the traditions and beliefs of the Crusaders.
The murals, which measure about 8 feet (2.5 meters) high and 11.5 feet (3.5 meters) wide, were hanging on either side of the altar of a 12th century chapel inside the al-Marqab Citadel and had accumulated thick layers of dust and dirt, archaeologists said.
Friday, October 16, 2009 - 00:44
Name of source: China View
SOURCE: China View (10-13-09)
The friendship between the Chinese and Jewish peoples, which boasts a history of more than 1,000 years, would be reflected in an exhibition of photos depicting relations between China and Israel, a leading Chinese historian told Xinhua Tuesday.
Pan Guang, head of the Center for Jewish Studies Shanghai, said the "Experience China in Israel" event in Tel Aviv, which ends on Oct. 25, would remind both Chinese and Jewish people of their shared experiences.
The research center was responsible for selecting photos for an exhibition focusing on friendly relationship between China and Israel, as part of the largest cultural exchange campaign China has held in Israel.
"Though the Chinese have been deeply influenced by Confucianism, and Jewish people believe in Judaism, the two share many similarities in terms of culture and values," Pan said...
... Jewish people arrived in China via the Silk Road in the Sixth Century. Some established a community in Kaifeng, in the central Henan Province.
The Kaifeng Jews have been assimilated into Chinese culture over more than 1,000 years and had always enjoyed the same rights as other ethnic and religious groups in the city, said Pan, who is also a member of the High-level Group of Alliance of Civilizations under the United Nations.
Shanghai accomodated about 30,000 Jewish refugees from the Nazi holocaust in World War Two, and thousands fled to other countries via Shanghai. The Japanese occupiers at the time restricted their residences to the Hongkou District, in northeastern Shanghai...
Pan Guang, head of the Center for Jewish Studies Shanghai, said the "Experience China in Israel" event in Tel Aviv, which ends on Oct. 25, would remind both Chinese and Jewish people of their shared experiences.
The research center was responsible for selecting photos for an exhibition focusing on friendly relationship between China and Israel, as part of the largest cultural exchange campaign China has held in Israel.
"Though the Chinese have been deeply influenced by Confucianism, and Jewish people believe in Judaism, the two share many similarities in terms of culture and values," Pan said...
... Jewish people arrived in China via the Silk Road in the Sixth Century. Some established a community in Kaifeng, in the central Henan Province.
The Kaifeng Jews have been assimilated into Chinese culture over more than 1,000 years and had always enjoyed the same rights as other ethnic and religious groups in the city, said Pan, who is also a member of the High-level Group of Alliance of Civilizations under the United Nations.
Shanghai accomodated about 30,000 Jewish refugees from the Nazi holocaust in World War Two, and thousands fled to other countries via Shanghai. The Japanese occupiers at the time restricted their residences to the Hongkou District, in northeastern Shanghai...
Thursday, October 15, 2009 - 23:53
Name of source: Digital Journal
SOURCE: Digital Journal (10-13-09)
The Hungarian historian who was reported to have ‘discovered’ a house belonging to the real “Dracula,” says the claims were inaccurate. Dr Tamás Fedeles says the cellar can indeed be linked to Wallachian Duke Vlad III, but not with any certainty.
Dr. Fedeles, of the Medieval and Early Modern Department at Pécs University’s Historical Studies Institute, said in an interview with Digital Journal that there was no definite proof that Duke Vlad III ”Tepes” (The Impaler) of Wallachia owned the recently discovered cellar.
Writing in an e-mail, Fedeles said what was certain was that a historically significant, late Medieval house had come to light, but its ownership could not be stated with certainty, as there were no ownership registers in the 15th Century.
Referring to a document from September 1489, which referred to a large house as ”Drakulyaház”, or ”Dracula House”, Fedeles said Duke Vlad’s widow, Justina de Szilágyi, owned the house for a while and that the document showed it was a corner house. The historian said:
Dr. Fedeles, of the Medieval and Early Modern Department at Pécs University’s Historical Studies Institute, said in an interview with Digital Journal that there was no definite proof that Duke Vlad III ”Tepes” (The Impaler) of Wallachia owned the recently discovered cellar.
Writing in an e-mail, Fedeles said what was certain was that a historically significant, late Medieval house had come to light, but its ownership could not be stated with certainty, as there were no ownership registers in the 15th Century.
Referring to a document from September 1489, which referred to a large house as ”Drakulyaház”, or ”Dracula House”, Fedeles said Duke Vlad’s widow, Justina de Szilágyi, owned the house for a while and that the document showed it was a corner house. The historian said:
Based on these data, we can merely say, that ”Dracula” did have something to do with the house, likely he co-owned it with his wife, although even that isn’t certain. The house stood in the centre of the town (and that) it was a significant object.
Fedeles, referring to various sensationalized media reports, added:
What is out of the question is that: (King) Mátyás (of Hungary) exiled Dracula to Pécs. That Voivode (Duke) Dracula lived in Pécs, although he might have visited, and might well have obtained property in the town, after all, he spent 10 years in Hungary.
Thursday, October 15, 2009 - 23:51
SOURCE: Digital Journal (10-2-09)
Archaeologists have found a cellar in the university town of Pécs in southern Hungary, which they believe to have belonged to Wallachian Duke Vlad III, more commonly known as "Dracula."
Tamás Fedeles, tutor of medieval and early modern history at Pécs University said his research showed that Vlad III Tepes alias ”Dracula,” lived in a two-story town house on what is now the city’s central square.
Fedeles says the Duke of Wallachia (modern-day southern Rumania) owned the house in the 1460s and this is confirmed by a 1489 document that refers to it as "Drakulya House." The document contains a detailed description of the house and from this, Fedeles says the cellar most likely belonged to "Drakulya".
Tamás Fedeles, tutor of medieval and early modern history at Pécs University said his research showed that Vlad III Tepes alias ”Dracula,” lived in a two-story town house on what is now the city’s central square.
Fedeles says the Duke of Wallachia (modern-day southern Rumania) owned the house in the 1460s and this is confirmed by a 1489 document that refers to it as "Drakulya House." The document contains a detailed description of the house and from this, Fedeles says the cellar most likely belonged to "Drakulya".
Thursday, October 15, 2009 - 00:33
Name of source: AP
SOURCE: AP (10-14-09)
The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at President George W. Bush said Wednesday he has no regrets and would carry out his brazen protest again, even if it cost him his life.
Muntadhar al-Zeidi told Swiss television station Leman Bleu that, after being mistreated in Iraqi custody for two days following his outburst last Dec. 14, a judge asked him whether he regretted the gesture.
After his release last month he obtained a tourist visa for Switzerland with the help of a Geneva lawyer. He arrived in the country Tuesday to seek medical treatment and to promote a new human rights group for Iraqi civilians.
Muntadhar al-Zeidi told Swiss television station Leman Bleu that, after being mistreated in Iraqi custody for two days following his outburst last Dec. 14, a judge asked him whether he regretted the gesture.
After his release last month he obtained a tourist visa for Switzerland with the help of a Geneva lawyer. He arrived in the country Tuesday to seek medical treatment and to promote a new human rights group for Iraqi civilians.
Thursday, October 15, 2009 - 11:14
Name of source: Times (UK)
SOURCE: Times (UK) (10-15-09)
The Queen attended an unpublicised special service at Westminster Abbey yesterday to celebrate the centenary of MI5 and MI6.
The heads of the security and intelligence services were present for the unique ceremony in the cloisters of the Abbey.
The Queen unveiled a plaque which acknowledged the service of the staff of MI5, MI6 and GCHQ, the signals intelligence centre, in the defence of the realm.
The heads of the security and intelligence services were present for the unique ceremony in the cloisters of the Abbey.
The Queen unveiled a plaque which acknowledged the service of the staff of MI5, MI6 and GCHQ, the signals intelligence centre, in the defence of the realm.
Thursday, October 15, 2009 - 08:42
SOURCE: Times (UK) (10-15-09)
The former Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic is to go on trial in The Hague later this month for his alleged role in directing war crimes during the Bosnian war.
Dr Karadzic, who was captured in Belgrade last year after more than a decade on the run, faces 11 charges including two counts of genocide for allegedly masterminding Serb atrocities throughout the conflict from 1992 to 1995.
The trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia begins on Monday October 26, and will be the court's most important since the abortive trial of the Serb nationalist leader Slobodan Milosevic.
Dr Karadzic, 64, is charged with orchestrating atrocities including the siege of Sarajevo and the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, in which more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were rounded up and slaughtered by Serb forces.
Dr Karadzic, who was captured in Belgrade last year after more than a decade on the run, faces 11 charges including two counts of genocide for allegedly masterminding Serb atrocities throughout the conflict from 1992 to 1995.
The trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia begins on Monday October 26, and will be the court's most important since the abortive trial of the Serb nationalist leader Slobodan Milosevic.
Dr Karadzic, 64, is charged with orchestrating atrocities including the siege of Sarajevo and the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, in which more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were rounded up and slaughtered by Serb forces.
Thursday, October 15, 2009 - 08:31
Name of source: Asia News
SOURCE: Asia News (10-13-09)
Kirkuk (AsiaNews) - For 1600 years, Iraq has been "a country of martyrs", which finds in the “Holy Spirit and the Eucharist" the strength to bear witness to the faith “despite persecution”. So says Mgr. Louis Sako, archbishop of Kirkuk, on the eve of a week of celebrations to mark 1600 years since the massacre of Iraqi martyrs. A long series of past and present violence, but one which has not stopped "the sacred history of the Christians ... and their journey."
In 409 AD hundreds of Christians were beheaded for their faith. "Among them - said Msgr. Sako - a widow named Scirin-Miskenta, with two children, and general Tahmazgerd, who carried out the decree of the king, who ordered the massacre. "Seeing their faith, serenity and the trust of the widow - continued the prelate - Tahmzgerd converted to Christianity" and as a result was "beheaded later." Around 470, to commemorate the massacre of Christians, the bishop of Kirkuk Maruta "built a sanctuary” on the hill where "the martyrs were buried”. The "Red Church", as it is called, junits Christians and Muslims and is now "the graveyard of the Chaldeans"; the relics of martyrs, custodied on the main altar, have always been a destination for the processions of the faithful.
To celebrate the anniversary of the martyrdom, the diocese has organized a series of events...
In 409 AD hundreds of Christians were beheaded for their faith. "Among them - said Msgr. Sako - a widow named Scirin-Miskenta, with two children, and general Tahmazgerd, who carried out the decree of the king, who ordered the massacre. "Seeing their faith, serenity and the trust of the widow - continued the prelate - Tahmzgerd converted to Christianity" and as a result was "beheaded later." Around 470, to commemorate the massacre of Christians, the bishop of Kirkuk Maruta "built a sanctuary” on the hill where "the martyrs were buried”. The "Red Church", as it is called, junits Christians and Muslims and is now "the graveyard of the Chaldeans"; the relics of martyrs, custodied on the main altar, have always been a destination for the processions of the faithful.
To celebrate the anniversary of the martyrdom, the diocese has organized a series of events...
Thursday, October 15, 2009 - 01:14
Name of source: Arkansas Business
SOURCE: Arkansas Business (10-13-09)
RICHMOND, Va. - Orange County officials asked a judge Tuesday to dismiss an attempt to block Wal-Mart Stores Inc. from building a Supercenter near an endangered Civil War battlefield.
The filing by the Board of Supervisors contends preservationists and residents who filed the legal challenge have no standing in the issue and defended the county's Aug. 25 vote approving the store near the Wilderness Battlefield.
The filing by the Board of Supervisors contends preservationists and residents who filed the legal challenge have no standing in the issue and defended the county's Aug. 25 vote approving the store near the Wilderness Battlefield.
Thursday, October 15, 2009 - 01:12
Name of source: National Geographic
SOURCE: National Geographic (10-1-09)
The big news from the journal Science today is the discovery of the oldest human skeleton—a small-brained, 110-pound (50-kilogram) female of the species Ardipithecus ramidus, nicknamed "Ardi." She lived in what is now Ethiopia 4.4 million years ago, which makes her over a million years older than the famous Lucy fossil, found in the same region 35 years ago.
Buried among the slew of papers about the new find is one about the creature's sex life. It makes fascinating reading, especially if you like learning why human females don't know when they are ovulating, and men lack the clacker-sized testicles and bristly penises sported by chimpanzees.
One of the defining attributes of Lucy and all other hominids—members of our evolutionary lineage, including ourselves—is that they walk upright on two legs. While Ardi also walked on two legs on the ground, the species also clambered about on four legs in the trees. Ardi thus offers a fascinating glimpse of an ape caught in the act of becoming human.
The problem is it is doing it in the wrong place at the wrong time—at least according to conventional wisdom, which says our kind first stood up on two legs when they moved out of the forest and onto open savanna grasslands. At the time Ardi lived, her environment was a woodland, much cooler and wetter than the desert there today.
So why did her species become bipedal while it was still living partly in the trees, especially since walking on two legs is a much less efficient way of getting about?
According to Owen Lovejoy of Kent State University, it all comes down to food, and sex.
Buried among the slew of papers about the new find is one about the creature's sex life. It makes fascinating reading, especially if you like learning why human females don't know when they are ovulating, and men lack the clacker-sized testicles and bristly penises sported by chimpanzees.
One of the defining attributes of Lucy and all other hominids—members of our evolutionary lineage, including ourselves—is that they walk upright on two legs. While Ardi also walked on two legs on the ground, the species also clambered about on four legs in the trees. Ardi thus offers a fascinating glimpse of an ape caught in the act of becoming human.
The problem is it is doing it in the wrong place at the wrong time—at least according to conventional wisdom, which says our kind first stood up on two legs when they moved out of the forest and onto open savanna grasslands. At the time Ardi lived, her environment was a woodland, much cooler and wetter than the desert there today.
So why did her species become bipedal while it was still living partly in the trees, especially since walking on two legs is a much less efficient way of getting about?
According to Owen Lovejoy of Kent State University, it all comes down to food, and sex.
Thursday, October 15, 2009 - 01:11
Name of source: Google News
SOURCE: Google News (10-13-09)
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon's personnel chief said Tuesday the military has completed its best recruiting year since 1973, meeting all its goals and bringing in a better educated group of young people.
The Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps met goals for active duty and reserve recruiting during the budget year ended Sept. 30 — the first time that has happened since the all-volunteer force was established, said Defense Department head of personnel Bill Carr...
... He said studies show that those born between 1978 and 1996 "are more inclined toward service to society. That's a good thing, because that means we start off stronger with a given group of young people."
There also are factors that limit the pool from which the military must draw roughly 300,000 recruits each year. Some 70 percent of American high school students go on to college now, compared with only half in the 1980s. And one in four in the prime recruiting age of 17 to 24 are obese, raising fitness questions, compared with one in 20 in the 1980s, Carr said.
The Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps met goals for active duty and reserve recruiting during the budget year ended Sept. 30 — the first time that has happened since the all-volunteer force was established, said Defense Department head of personnel Bill Carr...
... He said studies show that those born between 1978 and 1996 "are more inclined toward service to society. That's a good thing, because that means we start off stronger with a given group of young people."
There also are factors that limit the pool from which the military must draw roughly 300,000 recruits each year. Some 70 percent of American high school students go on to college now, compared with only half in the 1980s. And one in four in the prime recruiting age of 17 to 24 are obese, raising fitness questions, compared with one in 20 in the 1980s, Carr said.
Thursday, October 15, 2009 - 01:04
Name of source: Los Angeles Daily News
SOURCE: Los Angeles Daily News (10-12-09)
On the grounds of the old Ambassador Hotel where Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1968, officials on Saturday dedicated a site of national tragedy that had turned into one of potential local triumph.
Two of Kennedy's grandchildren were among those who witnessed ribbon-cutting ceremonies for a new elementary education facility featuring two pilot schools.
"This is sacred ground," labor leader and Kennedy friend Dolores Huerta told about 500 people who attended the dedication.
The ceremony marked the culmination of a long political battle to raze the famed hotel and convert the 24-acre grounds into an urban school site.
Two of Kennedy's grandchildren were among those who witnessed ribbon-cutting ceremonies for a new elementary education facility featuring two pilot schools.
"This is sacred ground," labor leader and Kennedy friend Dolores Huerta told about 500 people who attended the dedication.
The ceremony marked the culmination of a long political battle to raze the famed hotel and convert the 24-acre grounds into an urban school site.
Thursday, October 15, 2009 - 00:54
Name of source: Fox News
SOURCE: Fox News (10-13-09)
SOUTHEAST, NY — An archaeologist has found ancient tool fragments and other artifacts at the site of a suburban New York sewer construction project...
... It's believed the artifacts are about 1,000 years old. They're being donated to the Southeast Museum in Brewster. The dig was required by state and federal historic preservation acts.
... It's believed the artifacts are about 1,000 years old. They're being donated to the Southeast Museum in Brewster. The dig was required by state and federal historic preservation acts.
Thursday, October 15, 2009 - 00:52
Name of source: Irish Central
SOURCE: Irish Central (9-2-09)
A mystery revolving around President Barack Obama’s Irish roots was solved when a tomb containing the remains of Obama’s Irish ancestor was discovered in the Irish medieval city of Kilkenny.
After a painstaking search, film maker Gabriel Murray, who is in the process of making a documentary on Obama's Irish roots, finally found “Obama’s Lost Tomb” inside the 13th century St. Canice’s Cathedral.
Murray, along with Cathedral assistant Frances Moore, used a centuries-old map to identify a hidden vault under the floor of St. Canice’s. They deciphered the Latin on the hundreds of tombs inside the vault, when they came across Bishop John Kearney’s resting place, number 19 on the map, just 20 yards from the main entrance.
After a painstaking search, film maker Gabriel Murray, who is in the process of making a documentary on Obama's Irish roots, finally found “Obama’s Lost Tomb” inside the 13th century St. Canice’s Cathedral.
Murray, along with Cathedral assistant Frances Moore, used a centuries-old map to identify a hidden vault under the floor of St. Canice’s. They deciphered the Latin on the hundreds of tombs inside the vault, when they came across Bishop John Kearney’s resting place, number 19 on the map, just 20 yards from the main entrance.
Thursday, October 15, 2009 - 00:50
Name of source: Science Daily
SOURCE: Science Daily (10-15-09)
Contestants on TV shows like Top Chef and Hell's Kitchen know that their meat-cutting skills will be scrutinized by a panel of unforgiving judges. Now, new archaeological evidence is getting the same scrutiny by scientists at Tel Aviv University and the University of Arizona.
Their research is providing new clues about how, where and when our communal habits of butchering meat developed, and they're changing the way anthropologists, zoologists and archaeologists think about our evolutionary development, economics and social behaviors through the millennia.
Presented in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, new finds unearthed at Qesem Cave in Israel suggest that during the late Lower Paleolithic period (between 400,000 and 200,000 years ago), people hunted and shared meat differently than they did in later times. Instead of a prey's carcass being prepared by just one or two persons resulting in clear and repeated cutting marks — the forefathers of the modern butcher — cut marks on ancient animal bones suggest something else.
Their research is providing new clues about how, where and when our communal habits of butchering meat developed, and they're changing the way anthropologists, zoologists and archaeologists think about our evolutionary development, economics and social behaviors through the millennia.
Presented in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, new finds unearthed at Qesem Cave in Israel suggest that during the late Lower Paleolithic period (between 400,000 and 200,000 years ago), people hunted and shared meat differently than they did in later times. Instead of a prey's carcass being prepared by just one or two persons resulting in clear and repeated cutting marks — the forefathers of the modern butcher — cut marks on ancient animal bones suggest something else.
Thursday, October 15, 2009 - 00:45
Name of source: Daily Press
SOURCE: Daily Press (10-10-09)
RICHMOND, Va. - With a milestone approaching, U.S. Sen. Jim Webb is seeking more federal dollars for Civil War battlefield preservation.
The Virginia Democrat has asked the chairman of four Senate committees to match the $9 million funding proposal of their counterparts in the House...
... The American Battlefield Preservation Program has helped set aside more than 15,300 acres on Civil War battlefields in 14 states.
The Virginia Democrat has asked the chairman of four Senate committees to match the $9 million funding proposal of their counterparts in the House...
... The American Battlefield Preservation Program has helped set aside more than 15,300 acres on Civil War battlefields in 14 states.
Thursday, October 15, 2009 - 00:30
Name of source: Nature News
SOURCE: Nature News (10-12-09)
An independent study has cast more doubt on a controversial theory that a comet exploded over icy North America nearly 13,000 years ago, wiping out the Clovis people and many of the continent's large animals.
Archaeologists have examined sediments at seven Clovis-age sites across the United States, and did not find enough magnetic cosmic debris to confirm that an extraterrestrial impact happened at that time, says the report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)1. It is the latest of several studies unable to support aspects of the impact hypothesis.
Archaeologists have examined sediments at seven Clovis-age sites across the United States, and did not find enough magnetic cosmic debris to confirm that an extraterrestrial impact happened at that time, says the report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)1. It is the latest of several studies unable to support aspects of the impact hypothesis.
Thursday, October 15, 2009 - 00:14
Name of source: MSN Money
SOURCE: MSN Money (10-12-09)
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) - An Indian tribe says plans to build a commercial wind farm in western Ohio pose a threat to an ancient burial mound and the state should put a barrier around it to keep it from being disturbed.
The Piqua Shawnee Tribe asked that the mound be protected in a motion it filed with the Ohio Power Siting Board regarding EverPower Wind Holdings Inc.'s proposal to build the 70-turbine farm near Urbana.
Gene Park, an elder of the Alabama-based Shawnees and an agent for the tribe in Ohio, said Monday there are six Indian mounds in the Urbana area that were constructed thousands of years ago by the Shawnee's ancestors.
The Piqua Shawnee Tribe asked that the mound be protected in a motion it filed with the Ohio Power Siting Board regarding EverPower Wind Holdings Inc.'s proposal to build the 70-turbine farm near Urbana.
Gene Park, an elder of the Alabama-based Shawnees and an agent for the tribe in Ohio, said Monday there are six Indian mounds in the Urbana area that were constructed thousands of years ago by the Shawnee's ancestors.
Thursday, October 15, 2009 - 00:12
