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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 (3-19-11)
Nearly a century ago, Britain was accused of masterminding a failed plot to kill Lenin and overthrow his fledgling Bolshevik regime. The British government dismissed the story as mere Soviet propaganda - but new evidence suggests it might be true.
For decades what became known as the "Lockhart plot" has been etched in the annals of the Soviet archives, taught in schools and even illustrated in films.
Determined to get the Russians back into the war on the Allied side, the British despatched a young man in his 30s to be London's representative in Moscow.
His name was Robert Bruce Lockhart.
At first, the well-read Lockhart seemed to be making progress on the issue but, in March that year, the Soviets signed the Brest-Litovsk peace treaty with Germany, so ending hope of them rejoining the war with the Allies.
Lockhart, it seems, had no intention of giving up.
Instead, the suggestion is, his attention was now turning to overthrowing the Bolshevik regime and replacing it with another government that would be willing to re-enter the war against Germany.
Documents show that, in June, Lockhart asked London for money to fund various anti-Bolshevik organisations in Moscow....
For decades what became known as the "Lockhart plot" has been etched in the annals of the Soviet archives, taught in schools and even illustrated in films.
Determined to get the Russians back into the war on the Allied side, the British despatched a young man in his 30s to be London's representative in Moscow.
His name was Robert Bruce Lockhart.
At first, the well-read Lockhart seemed to be making progress on the issue but, in March that year, the Soviets signed the Brest-Litovsk peace treaty with Germany, so ending hope of them rejoining the war with the Allies.
Lockhart, it seems, had no intention of giving up.
Instead, the suggestion is, his attention was now turning to overthrowing the Bolshevik regime and replacing it with another government that would be willing to re-enter the war against Germany.
Documents show that, in June, Lockhart asked London for money to fund various anti-Bolshevik organisations in Moscow....
Sunday, March 20, 2011 - 22:51
Comments
SOURCE: BBC (3-18-11)
A festival of silent films is being held at Scotland's oldest surviving cinema.
The restored Hippodrome cinema in Bo'ness, near Falkirk, will screen a series of "rare and classic films" over the three-day event.
Silent film A-listers such as Clara Bow, Laurel and Hardy, and Buster Keaton will all be making an appearance on screen, Falkirk Council said.
Audience members have been encouraged to come dressed in 20s style.
Festival director Alison Strauss said almost 1,000 tickets to the event, which runs from 18-20 March....
The restored Hippodrome cinema in Bo'ness, near Falkirk, will screen a series of "rare and classic films" over the three-day event.
Silent film A-listers such as Clara Bow, Laurel and Hardy, and Buster Keaton will all be making an appearance on screen, Falkirk Council said.
Audience members have been encouraged to come dressed in 20s style.
Festival director Alison Strauss said almost 1,000 tickets to the event, which runs from 18-20 March....
Friday, March 18, 2011 - 18:30
SOURCE: BBC (3-17-11)
Two rare, carved altar stones found in East Lothian could shed new light about the Roman period in Scotland, it has been claimed.
The Roman stones were found during the redevelopment of a cricket pavilion in Lewisvale Park, Musselburgh.
Experts said they may help re-write the history books on the Roman occupation of Inveresk.
Although they were found in March 2010, it has only now become safe to fully inspect them.
Archaeologists said the stones were of "exceptional quality".
The experts from East Lothian Council, Historic Scotland and AOC Archaeology Group have been carefully removing the stones for the past year....
The Roman stones were found during the redevelopment of a cricket pavilion in Lewisvale Park, Musselburgh.
Experts said they may help re-write the history books on the Roman occupation of Inveresk.
Although they were found in March 2010, it has only now become safe to fully inspect them.
Archaeologists said the stones were of "exceptional quality".
The experts from East Lothian Council, Historic Scotland and AOC Archaeology Group have been carefully removing the stones for the past year....
Thursday, March 17, 2011 - 11:56
SOURCE: BBC (3-17-11)
Rare manuscripts by the Nottinghamshire writer DH Lawrence are going up for auction.
They include two short stories plus a letter Lawrence wrote to a friend, Henry Savage, in which he expresses regret at not having had any children.
They are being sold by Oxfordshire collector Roy Davids, who hopes for more than £18,500 for the items.
Mr Davids, who is selling 500 other lots, said the stories were subtly different from published versions....
They include two short stories plus a letter Lawrence wrote to a friend, Henry Savage, in which he expresses regret at not having had any children.
They are being sold by Oxfordshire collector Roy Davids, who hopes for more than £18,500 for the items.
Mr Davids, who is selling 500 other lots, said the stories were subtly different from published versions....
Thursday, March 17, 2011 - 11:54
SOURCE: BBC (3-17-11)
The US government has stepped into a row over an ancient Egyptian death mask, ordering the St Louis Art Museum to hand over the artefact.
Egypt claims the 3200-year-old mask of 19th Dynasty noblewoman, Ka-Nefer-Nefer, was stolen.
The museum paid $500,000 (£310,000) for the mask in 1998.
It has already sued the US government to try and block seizure of the object, stating they do not have enough evidence that it was stolen.
However, the federal complaint says the government is "certain" the mask was stolen and has traced its path from its discovery by an Egyptian excavator in 1952.
The Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities began its attempt to recover the piece in 2006, after discovering it had been purchased by the St. Louis museum....
Egypt claims the 3200-year-old mask of 19th Dynasty noblewoman, Ka-Nefer-Nefer, was stolen.
The museum paid $500,000 (£310,000) for the mask in 1998.
It has already sued the US government to try and block seizure of the object, stating they do not have enough evidence that it was stolen.
However, the federal complaint says the government is "certain" the mask was stolen and has traced its path from its discovery by an Egyptian excavator in 1952.
The Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities began its attempt to recover the piece in 2006, after discovering it had been purchased by the St. Louis museum....
Thursday, March 17, 2011 - 11:52
SOURCE: BBC (3-16-11)
Archaeologists think they may have found evidence that Iron Age Britons were capable of building roads - before the Romans arrived.
Environmental consultants SLR examined a road, thought to be built in the 1st century BC, at Bayston Hill quarry, Shropshire.
Director Tim Malim said the age of the find suggested its construction was not a result of Roman influence....
Environmental consultants SLR examined a road, thought to be built in the 1st century BC, at Bayston Hill quarry, Shropshire.
Director Tim Malim said the age of the find suggested its construction was not a result of Roman influence....
Wednesday, March 16, 2011 - 15:42
SOURCE: BBC (3-15-11)
Three decades before the current nuclear crisis in Japan, the eyes of the world were on an unfolding disaster at America's Three Mile Island nuclear plant.
The event that became seared into America's collective memory began at 4am on Wednesday 28 March, 1979.
A relatively routine malfunction in a non-nuclear system at the Three Mile Island (TMI) plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in America's northeast, caused a relief valve to open, releasing coolant from the core.
They mistakenly diagnosed the issue as being too much coolant in the pressuriser and shut off the emergency core cooling system, the first in a series of missteps that escalated the crisis.
It wasn't until 1985, when sophisticated cameras were sent into the core, that authorities understood the enormous extent of the meltdown.
The TMI disaster took over 12 years to clean up, at a cost of about $973m (£605m).
Fortunately, little radiation was released, and multiple studies have shown no serious health impacts....
The event that became seared into America's collective memory began at 4am on Wednesday 28 March, 1979.
A relatively routine malfunction in a non-nuclear system at the Three Mile Island (TMI) plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in America's northeast, caused a relief valve to open, releasing coolant from the core.
They mistakenly diagnosed the issue as being too much coolant in the pressuriser and shut off the emergency core cooling system, the first in a series of missteps that escalated the crisis.
It wasn't until 1985, when sophisticated cameras were sent into the core, that authorities understood the enormous extent of the meltdown.
The TMI disaster took over 12 years to clean up, at a cost of about $973m (£605m).
Fortunately, little radiation was released, and multiple studies have shown no serious health impacts....
Wednesday, March 16, 2011 - 15:35
Name of source: Telegraph (UK)
SOURCE: Telegraph (UK) (3-20-11)
Six Picasso pieces are among a catalogue of hundreds of high value stolen art and previous objects published by Spanish police in the hope of reuniting them with their rightful owners.
The Picasso pieces from 1933 are part of a series called 'Cardinal Sins' and include 'Envy' and 'Avarice'. Each are in a silver frame. They feature alongside an Etruscan period bronze sculpture thought to be around 2,000 years old.
The items were recovered between 2005 to 2010 and jewellery made of gold, diamonds and emeralds, as well as coins, medals and rare archaeological objects....
The Picasso pieces from 1933 are part of a series called 'Cardinal Sins' and include 'Envy' and 'Avarice'. Each are in a silver frame. They feature alongside an Etruscan period bronze sculpture thought to be around 2,000 years old.
The items were recovered between 2005 to 2010 and jewellery made of gold, diamonds and emeralds, as well as coins, medals and rare archaeological objects....
Sunday, March 20, 2011 - 22:42
SOURCE: Telegraph (UK) (3-18-11)
The famous Stalin-era park on the banks of the Moskva River in central Moscow has fallen into serious disrepair since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union and is in urgent need of a revamp.
People familiar with the matter said that the 44-year-old oligarch, who Forbes magazine rated as Russia's ninth richest person earlier this year, was likely to help bankroll its redevelopment and that talks were in progress.
A close associate of Mr Abramovich's, MP Sergey Kapkov, was named the park's general director a few days ago and the oligarch's girlfriend, Dasha Zhukova, has already confirmed that she is moving her trendy Garage Centre for Contemporary Culture into a building in the park....
People familiar with the matter said that the 44-year-old oligarch, who Forbes magazine rated as Russia's ninth richest person earlier this year, was likely to help bankroll its redevelopment and that talks were in progress.
A close associate of Mr Abramovich's, MP Sergey Kapkov, was named the park's general director a few days ago and the oligarch's girlfriend, Dasha Zhukova, has already confirmed that she is moving her trendy Garage Centre for Contemporary Culture into a building in the park....
Saturday, March 19, 2011 - 11:55
SOURCE: Telegraph (UK) (3-17-11)
Haiti's ex-president Jean-Bertrand Aristide was heading home on Thursday, ending his exile despite a warning from US President Barack Obama on his "destabilising" return ahead of a crucial election.
Mr Aristide was set to depart late Thursday from a small airport outside Johannesburg after living seven years in South Africa, ignoring intense US lobbying to prevent his return before Sunday's presidential run-off in the Caribbean nation.
Mr Obama personally called his South African counterpart Jacob Zuma on Tuesday, voicing "deep concerns that president Aristide's return to Haiti in the closing days of the election could be destabilising," National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said in Washington.
South Africa has publicly insisted that it has no control over Mr Aristide's departure, with minister for the presidency Colins Chabane telling reporters that Pretoria "can't hold him hostage if he wants to go".
South African foreign ministry spokesman Clayson Monyela said Mr Aristide would fly home on Thursday evening, and was expected to address media before his departure from Johannesburg.
Mr Aristide's spokeswoman in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince said he was expected to arrive on Friday morning, and his Fanmi Lavalas party has called for a rally at the airport to welcome him home....
Mr Aristide was set to depart late Thursday from a small airport outside Johannesburg after living seven years in South Africa, ignoring intense US lobbying to prevent his return before Sunday's presidential run-off in the Caribbean nation.
Mr Obama personally called his South African counterpart Jacob Zuma on Tuesday, voicing "deep concerns that president Aristide's return to Haiti in the closing days of the election could be destabilising," National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said in Washington.
South Africa has publicly insisted that it has no control over Mr Aristide's departure, with minister for the presidency Colins Chabane telling reporters that Pretoria "can't hold him hostage if he wants to go".
South African foreign ministry spokesman Clayson Monyela said Mr Aristide would fly home on Thursday evening, and was expected to address media before his departure from Johannesburg.
Mr Aristide's spokeswoman in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince said he was expected to arrive on Friday morning, and his Fanmi Lavalas party has called for a rally at the airport to welcome him home....
Friday, March 18, 2011 - 18:18
SOURCE: Telegraph (UK) (3-18-11)
Neil Tweedie meets Denis Avey and hears his astonishing tale of breaking into the Nazi's most feared concentration camp - for a dare.
The music came from an orchestra hidden just out of sight: Wagner, wafting across the blasted ground. Denis Avey was 25 and a prisoner of war for more than two years. It was 1943 and this was the latest in a long line of PoW camps since his capture in North Africa, a collection of huts in the shadow of an enormous industrial complex in southern Poland. The nearest town was called Oswiecim in Polish. To the Germans it was Auschwitz.
“I thought, what is an orchestra doing here?” remembers Mr Avey. The British soldier soon had his answer. The camp just out of sight was full of Jews, slave labourers imported from all corners of Occupied Europe to build a giant plant for the German industrial giant I G Farben. The synthetic rubber and methanol it was designed to produce were vital to the Nazi war effort. The labour camp, known as Monowitz or Auschwitz III, was part of that vast, sprawling killing machine that included Auschwitz I, a Polish army barracks turned concentration camp, and Auschwitz II, otherwise known as Birkenau, the extermination factory, home to the gas chambers and crematoria....
The music came from an orchestra hidden just out of sight: Wagner, wafting across the blasted ground. Denis Avey was 25 and a prisoner of war for more than two years. It was 1943 and this was the latest in a long line of PoW camps since his capture in North Africa, a collection of huts in the shadow of an enormous industrial complex in southern Poland. The nearest town was called Oswiecim in Polish. To the Germans it was Auschwitz.
“I thought, what is an orchestra doing here?” remembers Mr Avey. The British soldier soon had his answer. The camp just out of sight was full of Jews, slave labourers imported from all corners of Occupied Europe to build a giant plant for the German industrial giant I G Farben. The synthetic rubber and methanol it was designed to produce were vital to the Nazi war effort. The labour camp, known as Monowitz or Auschwitz III, was part of that vast, sprawling killing machine that included Auschwitz I, a Polish army barracks turned concentration camp, and Auschwitz II, otherwise known as Birkenau, the extermination factory, home to the gas chambers and crematoria....
Friday, March 18, 2011 - 10:22
SOURCE: Telegraph (UK) (3-12-11)
One of Britain’s most traditionalist churches is threatening to tear itself apart over the introduction of hymns during services for the first time in a century.
Unhappy worshippers at the Free Church of Scotland have started a campaign to overturn the decision, arguing that it amounts to “new gimmicks to fill church pews”.
The staunchly Presbyterian church, nicknamed the Wee Frees, has traditionally sung unaccompanied psalms as many members believe they are singing scripture rather than a composition by a human.
But the 100-year-old ban on hymns and musical instruments during their services was narrowly overturned last November in the hope of attracting new worshippers.
Six of the church’s former moderators have now placed a large advertisement in a newspaper that covers its Highlands and Western Isles stronghold titled: “The protection and preservation of historic Scottish Presbyterianism”....
Unhappy worshippers at the Free Church of Scotland have started a campaign to overturn the decision, arguing that it amounts to “new gimmicks to fill church pews”.
The staunchly Presbyterian church, nicknamed the Wee Frees, has traditionally sung unaccompanied psalms as many members believe they are singing scripture rather than a composition by a human.
But the 100-year-old ban on hymns and musical instruments during their services was narrowly overturned last November in the hope of attracting new worshippers.
Six of the church’s former moderators have now placed a large advertisement in a newspaper that covers its Highlands and Western Isles stronghold titled: “The protection and preservation of historic Scottish Presbyterianism”....
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 - 17:36
SOURCE: Telegraph (UK) (3-13-11)
Children’s understanding of the past is being undermined by poor history teaching and crowded timetables, Government inspectors warned today.
Ofsted said history suffered in many primary schools because of weak subject knowledge among staff and the use of “disconnected topics” in lessons.
At secondary level, growing numbers of pupils are now exposed to just two years of compulsory history classes instead of the recommended three.
In a damning conclusion, the watchdog warned that England was the only country in Europe where schoolchildren were allowed to stop studying history at the age of 13.
In all, more than 100 state schools also failed to enter a single candidate for the subject at GCSE, it was revealed, a 25 per cent increase in just 12 months.
The disclosures follow claims from the Coalition that children are growing up ignorant of British history, with lessons for many pupils consisting of little more than a “cursory run through” of Henry VIII and Hitler before most pupils abandoned it altogether....
Ofsted said history suffered in many primary schools because of weak subject knowledge among staff and the use of “disconnected topics” in lessons.
At secondary level, growing numbers of pupils are now exposed to just two years of compulsory history classes instead of the recommended three.
In a damning conclusion, the watchdog warned that England was the only country in Europe where schoolchildren were allowed to stop studying history at the age of 13.
In all, more than 100 state schools also failed to enter a single candidate for the subject at GCSE, it was revealed, a 25 per cent increase in just 12 months.
The disclosures follow claims from the Coalition that children are growing up ignorant of British history, with lessons for many pupils consisting of little more than a “cursory run through” of Henry VIII and Hitler before most pupils abandoned it altogether....
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 - 17:35
Name of source: NYT
SOURCE: NYT (3-18-11)
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Get people talking about civil rights-era buses and it’s all Rosa Parks all the time.
Museums are dedicated to her role in the boycott in the mid-1950s that forced Montgomery to stop banishing African-Americans to the back of city buses. Schools and stamps bear her name. There is a Rosa Parks cookie jar and a Rosa Parks app.
But no one talks much about Worcy Crawford, who died in July at age 90, leaving a graveyard of decaying buses behind his house on the outskirts of Birmingham.
His private coaches, all of them tended by Mr. Crawford almost until the day he died, do not have the panache of the city buses that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. refused to ride. But they have significance nonetheless.
With their cracked windows and rusting engines thick with brambles, they are remnants of something that was quite rare in the South: a bus company owned by an African-American.
Mr. Crawford’s work was simple. He kept a segregated population moving. Any Birmingham child who needed a ride to school, a football game or a Girl Scout outing during the Jim Crow era and beyond most likely rode one.
Museums are dedicated to her role in the boycott in the mid-1950s that forced Montgomery to stop banishing African-Americans to the back of city buses. Schools and stamps bear her name. There is a Rosa Parks cookie jar and a Rosa Parks app.
But no one talks much about Worcy Crawford, who died in July at age 90, leaving a graveyard of decaying buses behind his house on the outskirts of Birmingham.
His private coaches, all of them tended by Mr. Crawford almost until the day he died, do not have the panache of the city buses that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. refused to ride. But they have significance nonetheless.
With their cracked windows and rusting engines thick with brambles, they are remnants of something that was quite rare in the South: a bus company owned by an African-American.
Mr. Crawford’s work was simple. He kept a segregated population moving. Any Birmingham child who needed a ride to school, a football game or a Girl Scout outing during the Jim Crow era and beyond most likely rode one.
Saturday, March 19, 2011 - 14:45
SOURCE: NYT (3-18-11)
In 1973, vexed by an Arab oil embargo and soaring fuel prices, President Richard M. Nixon championed a long-term solution: to have 1,000 nuclear reactors in place in America by the year 2000 as part of a national energy independence plan.
That never came to pass: 104 nuclear reactors operate today, compared with 40 then. The last permit for construction of what became a fully operational nuclear plant was issued in 1978.
The main obstacles to the industry’s growth were huge cost overruns linked to regulatory changes, and shifts in demand for electricity, although the Three Mile Island accident of 1979, litigation and the 1970s and ’80s antinuclear movement also played a big role.
Today, activists who figured prominently in the movement’s teach-ins and protest rallies are hoping that Japan’s nuclear crisis will rekindle a protest movement in the United States. Their aim, they say, is not just to block the Obama administration’s push for new nuclear construction, but to convince Americans that existing plants pose dangers.
That never came to pass: 104 nuclear reactors operate today, compared with 40 then. The last permit for construction of what became a fully operational nuclear plant was issued in 1978.
The main obstacles to the industry’s growth were huge cost overruns linked to regulatory changes, and shifts in demand for electricity, although the Three Mile Island accident of 1979, litigation and the 1970s and ’80s antinuclear movement also played a big role.
Today, activists who figured prominently in the movement’s teach-ins and protest rallies are hoping that Japan’s nuclear crisis will rekindle a protest movement in the United States. Their aim, they say, is not just to block the Obama administration’s push for new nuclear construction, but to convince Americans that existing plants pose dangers.
Saturday, March 19, 2011 - 14:43
SOURCE: NYT (3-19-11)
Warren M. Christopher, the secretary of state in President Bill Clinton’s first term and the chief negotiator for the 1981 release of American hostages in Iran, died Friday night in Los Angeles. He was 85.
A spokeswoman for O’Melveny & Myers, the law firm where Mr. Christopher was a senior partner, confirmed his death, according to The Associated Press. He had been ill with kidney and bladder cancer.
Methodical and self-effacing, Mr. Christopher alternated for nearly five decades between top echelons of both the federal government and legal and political life in California. Among other things, he served as administration point man with Congress in winning ratification of Panama Canal treaties, presided over normalization of diplomatic relations with China and conducted repeated negotiations involving the Middle East and the Balkans.
A spokeswoman for O’Melveny & Myers, the law firm where Mr. Christopher was a senior partner, confirmed his death, according to The Associated Press. He had been ill with kidney and bladder cancer.
Methodical and self-effacing, Mr. Christopher alternated for nearly five decades between top echelons of both the federal government and legal and political life in California. Among other things, he served as administration point man with Congress in winning ratification of Panama Canal treaties, presided over normalization of diplomatic relations with China and conducted repeated negotiations involving the Middle East and the Balkans.
Saturday, March 19, 2011 - 14:42
Name of source: CNN
SOURCE: CNN (3-18-11)
The cities flattened by last week's earthquake look eerily similar to the decimated buildings Shigeko Sasamori saw after an atomic bomb was dropped on her hometown in 1945.
The floodwaters from the tsunami -- the waves of debris and bodies -- remind her of the rivers in Hiroshima, Japan, swamped with corpses.
And the struggle to contain radioactive emissions at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant makes Sasamori, 78, wonder if the crisis there will plague a new generation in Japan.
Sasamori is a hibakusha, or heat radiation survivor -- a name given to those who lived through the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States at the end of World War II.
For them, radiation is an invisible enemy that has haunted them, claimed their loved ones, altered their bodies and threatened their lives....
The floodwaters from the tsunami -- the waves of debris and bodies -- remind her of the rivers in Hiroshima, Japan, swamped with corpses.
And the struggle to contain radioactive emissions at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant makes Sasamori, 78, wonder if the crisis there will plague a new generation in Japan.
Sasamori is a hibakusha, or heat radiation survivor -- a name given to those who lived through the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States at the end of World War II.
For them, radiation is an invisible enemy that has haunted them, claimed their loved ones, altered their bodies and threatened their lives....
Saturday, March 19, 2011 - 11:51
SOURCE: CNN (3-19-11)
Former Secretary of State Warren Christopher died Friday from complications of kidney and bladder cancer, his family said. He was 85.
As America's chief diplomat for four years during President Bill Clinton's administration, Christopher "eschewed confrontation in favor of negotiation with friend and foe alike," according to a profile posted on the State Department website.
In 1981, Christopher received the Medal of Freedom -- the nation's highest civilian award -- for his role in negotiating the release of 52 American hostages in Iran while serving as deputy secretary of state for President Jimmy Carter.
Christopher -- known as "Chris" to his friends -- also oversaw the negotiation of the 1995 Dayton Agreement that ended the Bosnian war....
As America's chief diplomat for four years during President Bill Clinton's administration, Christopher "eschewed confrontation in favor of negotiation with friend and foe alike," according to a profile posted on the State Department website.
In 1981, Christopher received the Medal of Freedom -- the nation's highest civilian award -- for his role in negotiating the release of 52 American hostages in Iran while serving as deputy secretary of state for President Jimmy Carter.
Christopher -- known as "Chris" to his friends -- also oversaw the negotiation of the 1995 Dayton Agreement that ended the Bosnian war....
Saturday, March 19, 2011 - 11:48
SOURCE: CNN (3-16-11)
Dutch researchers found the wreck of a World War I German submarine in 2009 but kept the discovery secret until this week, Radio Netherlands Worldwide reported.
The crew of the research ship HNLMS Snellius hoped they'd found a Dutch submarine that disappeared in 1940, but the vessel turned out to be much older. A brass plate indicated the sub was the German U-106, which sank during World War I, the radio report said.
The announcement of the discovery was delayed while German officials confirmed the sub's identity and sought out relatives of crew members, according to the radio report....
The crew of the research ship HNLMS Snellius hoped they'd found a Dutch submarine that disappeared in 1940, but the vessel turned out to be much older. A brass plate indicated the sub was the German U-106, which sank during World War I, the radio report said.
The announcement of the discovery was delayed while German officials confirmed the sub's identity and sought out relatives of crew members, according to the radio report....
Wednesday, March 16, 2011 - 10:33
SOURCE: CNN (3-12-11)
She is one of the best-known crime writers of all time but few know the extent of Agatha Christie's archaeological pedigree.
Married in 1930 to eminent archaeologist Max Mallowan, Christie spent two decades living on excavation sites in the Middle East, writing her crime novels and helping out with her husband's work.
Travel by boat and on the Orient Express to far-flung places such as Cairo, Damascus and Baghdad inspired some of Christie's best-known works of detective fiction, including "Murder on the Orient Express," "Death on the Nile," and "Murder in Mesopotamia."
Now, 3,000-year-old ivory artifacts recovered by Mallowan between 1949 and 1963 from the ancient city of Nimrud, in what is now Iraq, and likely cleaned by his famous wife using cotton wool buds and face cream, go on display Monday at the British Museum in London....
Married in 1930 to eminent archaeologist Max Mallowan, Christie spent two decades living on excavation sites in the Middle East, writing her crime novels and helping out with her husband's work.
Travel by boat and on the Orient Express to far-flung places such as Cairo, Damascus and Baghdad inspired some of Christie's best-known works of detective fiction, including "Murder on the Orient Express," "Death on the Nile," and "Murder in Mesopotamia."
Now, 3,000-year-old ivory artifacts recovered by Mallowan between 1949 and 1963 from the ancient city of Nimrud, in what is now Iraq, and likely cleaned by his famous wife using cotton wool buds and face cream, go on display Monday at the British Museum in London....
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 - 11:55
Name of source: Live Science
SOURCE: Live Science (3-16-11)
In 1845, two ill-fated British ships headed for the Canadian Arctic in the hope of discovering the Northwest Passage to the Pacific Ocean. More than two decades later, the nearly complete skeleton of one of the explorers was recovered from a shallow, stone-covered grave on King William Island in the Canadian Arctic.
The remains were then identified as those of Henry Le Vesconte, a lieutenant aboard one of the ships, the HMS Erebus. However, a modern analysis points to another identity for the man.
Whoever he was, this man appears to have died early and so escaped the worst.
The grave, then believed to be Le Vesconte's, was first discovered by native Inuits who later led an American adventurer to it. The body was returned to England, analyzed and buried beneath the Franklin Memorial in Greenwich. (Sir John Franklin led the expedition.) In 2009, renovations to the monument required that the body be exhumed, creating the opportunity to apply modern forensic techniques.
This wasn't the first time. In the 1980s, a team led by Canadian researcher Owen Beattie studied the remains of three men who also died early during that expedition and were buried in the permafrost on Beechey Island. Lead levels in these men's tissues were high, as they were among the scattered remains found there, leading to speculation that lead poisoning, possibly from poorly canned foods, had contributed to their deaths.
Mays and colleagues re-examined the bones thought to belong to Le Vesconte to estimate the man's age, ancestry and body shape. They concluded he was likely 30 to 40 years old, European and rather tall and slender. A gold filling in a tooth indicated a certain social status. Such filings are rare in 19th-century English burial grounds, except high-status church burial vaults, the researchers write in an online version of the journal article published on Feb. 27....
The remains were then identified as those of Henry Le Vesconte, a lieutenant aboard one of the ships, the HMS Erebus. However, a modern analysis points to another identity for the man.
Whoever he was, this man appears to have died early and so escaped the worst.
The grave, then believed to be Le Vesconte's, was first discovered by native Inuits who later led an American adventurer to it. The body was returned to England, analyzed and buried beneath the Franklin Memorial in Greenwich. (Sir John Franklin led the expedition.) In 2009, renovations to the monument required that the body be exhumed, creating the opportunity to apply modern forensic techniques.
This wasn't the first time. In the 1980s, a team led by Canadian researcher Owen Beattie studied the remains of three men who also died early during that expedition and were buried in the permafrost on Beechey Island. Lead levels in these men's tissues were high, as they were among the scattered remains found there, leading to speculation that lead poisoning, possibly from poorly canned foods, had contributed to their deaths.
Mays and colleagues re-examined the bones thought to belong to Le Vesconte to estimate the man's age, ancestry and body shape. They concluded he was likely 30 to 40 years old, European and rather tall and slender. A gold filling in a tooth indicated a certain social status. Such filings are rare in 19th-century English burial grounds, except high-status church burial vaults, the researchers write in an online version of the journal article published on Feb. 27....
Friday, March 18, 2011 - 18:40
Name of source: Discovery News
SOURCE: Discovery News (3-17-11)
Italy never saw so many national flags waving in the air as on March 17, 2011.
Posted across windows and balconies all over the country, thousands of green, white and red flags celebrated the 150th anniversary of the country’s unification.
As a nation-state, Italy is younger than the United States. The home of the ancient Roman empire became a nation as a whole just 150 years ago, on March 17, 1861.
On that day, Victor Emmanuel II became the first king of a unified Italy. It was the culmination of the Risorgimento, the movement for independence that for years struggled to free the country from foreign rule and unite several micro-states....
Posted across windows and balconies all over the country, thousands of green, white and red flags celebrated the 150th anniversary of the country’s unification.
As a nation-state, Italy is younger than the United States. The home of the ancient Roman empire became a nation as a whole just 150 years ago, on March 17, 1861.
On that day, Victor Emmanuel II became the first king of a unified Italy. It was the culmination of the Risorgimento, the movement for independence that for years struggled to free the country from foreign rule and unite several micro-states....
Friday, March 18, 2011 - 18:36
SOURCE: Discovery News (3-18-11)
God's wife, Asherah, was a powerful fertility goddess, according to a theologian.
God had a wife, Asherah, whom the Book of Kings suggests was worshiped alongside Yahweh in his temple in Israel, according to an Oxford scholar.
In 1967, Raphael Patai was the first historian to mention that the ancient Israelites worshiped both Yahweh and Asherah. The theory has gained new prominence due to the research of Francesca Stavrakopoulou, who began her work at Oxford and is now a senior lecturer in the department of Theology and Religion at the University of Exeter.
Information presented in Stavrakopoulou's books, lectures and journal papers has become the basis of a three-part documentary series, now airing in Europe, where she discusses the Yahweh-Asherah connection.
Stavrakopoulou bases her theory on ancient texts, amulets and figurines unearthed primarily in the ancient Canaanite coastal city called Ugarit, now modern-day Syria. All of these artifacts reveal that Asherah was a powerful fertility goddess.
Asherah's connection to Yahweh, according to Stavrakopoulou, is spelled out in both the Bible and an 8th century B.C. inscription on pottery found in the Sinai desert at a site called Kuntillet Ajrud....
God had a wife, Asherah, whom the Book of Kings suggests was worshiped alongside Yahweh in his temple in Israel, according to an Oxford scholar.
In 1967, Raphael Patai was the first historian to mention that the ancient Israelites worshiped both Yahweh and Asherah. The theory has gained new prominence due to the research of Francesca Stavrakopoulou, who began her work at Oxford and is now a senior lecturer in the department of Theology and Religion at the University of Exeter.
Information presented in Stavrakopoulou's books, lectures and journal papers has become the basis of a three-part documentary series, now airing in Europe, where she discusses the Yahweh-Asherah connection.
Stavrakopoulou bases her theory on ancient texts, amulets and figurines unearthed primarily in the ancient Canaanite coastal city called Ugarit, now modern-day Syria. All of these artifacts reveal that Asherah was a powerful fertility goddess.
Asherah's connection to Yahweh, according to Stavrakopoulou, is spelled out in both the Bible and an 8th century B.C. inscription on pottery found in the Sinai desert at a site called Kuntillet Ajrud....
Friday, March 18, 2011 - 18:34
SOURCE: Discovery News (3-15-11)
A new internet platform has been launched today to rescue cultural heritage sites on the verge of being irremediably lost, said Global Heritage Fund, a California-based nonprofit organization that focuses on historical preservation.
Called Global Heritage Network (GHN), the platform is the first early warning and threat monitoring system for saving endangered sites in developing countries, where financial resources and expertise are limited.
Combining Google Earth, scientific mapping from Esri, satellite imagery from DigitalGlobe, and social networking, the platform aims to serve as an early warning system for site conservation leaders, archaeologists, local communities, government officials, and volunteers.
Indeed, the GHN database shows a collection of about 500 heritage sites in the developing world....
Called Global Heritage Network (GHN), the platform is the first early warning and threat monitoring system for saving endangered sites in developing countries, where financial resources and expertise are limited.
Combining Google Earth, scientific mapping from Esri, satellite imagery from DigitalGlobe, and social networking, the platform aims to serve as an early warning system for site conservation leaders, archaeologists, local communities, government officials, and volunteers.
Indeed, the GHN database shows a collection of about 500 heritage sites in the developing world....
Wednesday, March 16, 2011 - 15:52
Name of source: AP
SOURCE: AP (3-18-11)
The arrest of a Croatian woman in small-town Kentucky for alleged war crimes two decades ago in the former Yugoslavia "brings her long run from justice to an end," a U.S. marshal said.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert E. Wier appointed Azra Basic, 52, a lawyer Thursday and ordered her held without bond pending an April 1 status hearing. Prosecutors argued that no bail amount would guarantee Basic's presence in court.
This week, acquaintances were shocked to hear the secret that Bosnian war crimes investigators said Basic has been hiding for two decades. As a soldier in the Croatian army, she killed a prisoner and tortured others by forcing them to drink human blood and gasoline, authorities said....
U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert E. Wier appointed Azra Basic, 52, a lawyer Thursday and ordered her held without bond pending an April 1 status hearing. Prosecutors argued that no bail amount would guarantee Basic's presence in court.
This week, acquaintances were shocked to hear the secret that Bosnian war crimes investigators said Basic has been hiding for two decades. As a soldier in the Croatian army, she killed a prisoner and tortured others by forcing them to drink human blood and gasoline, authorities said....
Friday, March 18, 2011 - 18:15
SOURCE: AP (3-16-11)
Scientists say they have discovered the first fossil of a dinosaur in Angola, and that it's a new creature, heralding a research renaissance in a country slowly emerging from decades of war.
A paper published Wednesday in the Annals of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences describes a long-necked, plant-eating sauropod, among the largest creatures ever to have walked the earth. The international team that found and identified the fossilized forelimb bone say it is from a previously unknown dinosaur, citing unique skeletal characteristics.
The fossil was found along with fish and shark teeth in what would have been a sea bed 90 million years ago, leading its discoverers to believe the dinosaur might have been washed into the sea and torn apart by ancient sharks....
A paper published Wednesday in the Annals of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences describes a long-necked, plant-eating sauropod, among the largest creatures ever to have walked the earth. The international team that found and identified the fossilized forelimb bone say it is from a previously unknown dinosaur, citing unique skeletal characteristics.
The fossil was found along with fish and shark teeth in what would have been a sea bed 90 million years ago, leading its discoverers to believe the dinosaur might have been washed into the sea and torn apart by ancient sharks....
Wednesday, March 16, 2011 - 15:24
Name of source: The Northwestern (WI)
SOURCE: The Northwestern (WI) (3-17-11)
It's called the "Flying Fortress" and there's good reason for the nickname.
The rock solid B-17 bomber — an airplane that in many cases could take a hit and keep on going — played an integral role in World War II in helping defeat Nazi Germany and its Axis partners. The famed bomber is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year.
Retired Col. Harold "Hal" Weekley, who flew the B-17 as a pilot in the U.S. Army Air Forces, said its durability helped make the renowned bomber plane special.
"It's a fine plane and could sustain a lot of damage. At the time, it was the biggest airplane in the world. It played a big part in us winning the war," said Weekley, 89, who lives in a suburb of Atlanta, Ga.
The B-17, although a ruggedly built plane, did take its losses in World War II. Weekley said about 4,560 B-17s were lost in the war. More than 12,000 of the bombers were built....
The rock solid B-17 bomber — an airplane that in many cases could take a hit and keep on going — played an integral role in World War II in helping defeat Nazi Germany and its Axis partners. The famed bomber is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year.
Retired Col. Harold "Hal" Weekley, who flew the B-17 as a pilot in the U.S. Army Air Forces, said its durability helped make the renowned bomber plane special.
"It's a fine plane and could sustain a lot of damage. At the time, it was the biggest airplane in the world. It played a big part in us winning the war," said Weekley, 89, who lives in a suburb of Atlanta, Ga.
The B-17, although a ruggedly built plane, did take its losses in World War II. Weekley said about 4,560 B-17s were lost in the war. More than 12,000 of the bombers were built....
Friday, March 18, 2011 - 10:29
Name of source: Ynet News (Israel)
SOURCE: Ynet News (Israel) (3-17-11)
The Israeli Tax Authority arrested a 41-year-old man from the northern town of Hatzor Haglilit on Thursday on suspicion he imported Nazi souvenirs, which is illegal in Israel.
The man is also accused of not paying taxes for other memorabilia he received dating back to WWI and WWII. Police suspected the man sold the items to collectors around the world, including a top soccer player in Britain.
A package sent from Germany arrived at Haifa's customs offices a few days ago. During a routine check the inspectors were shocked to discover medallions decorated with silver crucifixes and a silver goblet with a swastika imprinted on it. Some of the symbols were concealed using small stickers to make them harder to identify.
"The package was sent to a resident of Hatzor Haglilit and we brought it over to his house, as if it was a regular delivery, so we could see who he was," explained Head of Enforcement for Haifa Customs Doron Samara....
The man is also accused of not paying taxes for other memorabilia he received dating back to WWI and WWII. Police suspected the man sold the items to collectors around the world, including a top soccer player in Britain.
A package sent from Germany arrived at Haifa's customs offices a few days ago. During a routine check the inspectors were shocked to discover medallions decorated with silver crucifixes and a silver goblet with a swastika imprinted on it. Some of the symbols were concealed using small stickers to make them harder to identify.
"The package was sent to a resident of Hatzor Haglilit and we brought it over to his house, as if it was a regular delivery, so we could see who he was," explained Head of Enforcement for Haifa Customs Doron Samara....
Friday, March 18, 2011 - 10:27
Name of source: Korea Herald
SOURCE: Korea Herald (3-17-11)
Almost 300 royal books from the Joseon Dynasty, looted during the 19th century French invasion of Korea, will make their official return to Seoul on a permanent lease starting March 28, the National Museum of Korea said Wednesday.
Officials of the National Museum signed an official pact on the return of 297 royal book with the National Library of France in Paris, where they are currently located.
The French library agreed to return the books in four installments from March 28 to May 31 this year.
The royal books, called “Uigwe” in Korean, recorded both text and hand-drawn illustrations of significant royal rites and ceremonies of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910).
In 1866, the French invaded Korea’s western island of Ganghwa and set fire to a royal library on the island, Oegyujanggak ― an annex of Gyujanggak library in Seoul ― after taking 297 Uigwe volumes and other royal artifacts....
Officials of the National Museum signed an official pact on the return of 297 royal book with the National Library of France in Paris, where they are currently located.
The French library agreed to return the books in four installments from March 28 to May 31 this year.
The royal books, called “Uigwe” in Korean, recorded both text and hand-drawn illustrations of significant royal rites and ceremonies of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910).
In 1866, the French invaded Korea’s western island of Ganghwa and set fire to a royal library on the island, Oegyujanggak ― an annex of Gyujanggak library in Seoul ― after taking 297 Uigwe volumes and other royal artifacts....
Friday, March 18, 2011 - 10:26
Name of source: Ahram Online (Egypt)
SOURCE: Ahram Online (Egypt) (3-17-11)
Sixteen of 54 missing artefacts from the Egyptian Museum were found yesterday, with arrests made.
With the help of Egypt’s military forces, the antiquities police succeeded in catching three of the thieves who broke into the Egyptian Museum on 29 January, finding with them 12 of the museum’s missing pieces.
Museum Director Tarek El-Awadi told Ahram Online that the recovered objects include seven statues, five made of bronze, the sixth of limestone. Five collars made of gold, faience and colourful glass are also among the items retrieved. The objects will be restored and returned to their original displays....
With the help of Egypt’s military forces, the antiquities police succeeded in catching three of the thieves who broke into the Egyptian Museum on 29 January, finding with them 12 of the museum’s missing pieces.
Museum Director Tarek El-Awadi told Ahram Online that the recovered objects include seven statues, five made of bronze, the sixth of limestone. Five collars made of gold, faience and colourful glass are also among the items retrieved. The objects will be restored and returned to their original displays....
Friday, March 18, 2011 - 10:25
Name of source: Reuters
SOURCE: Reuters (3-16-11)
A fight between the U.S. government and the St. Louis Art Museum over a death mask from ancient Egypt intensified on Wednesday as the government formally demanded the museum hand over the disputed object.
The 3,200-year-old mask of Ka-Nefer-Nefer, a 19th Dynasty noblewoman, sits on display in the basement of the museum.
The federal complaint contends the mask was stolen from Egypt before the museum obtained it for $500,000 in 1998.
The complaint, which included a request for a restraining order preventing the museum from disposing of the mask during the legal proceedings, came a month after the museum sued the government to try to block the seizure of the mask.
U.S. Attorney Richard Callahan said the dispute was "unfortunate" and would be "resolved by the courts."
The museum was not available for comment....
The 3,200-year-old mask of Ka-Nefer-Nefer, a 19th Dynasty noblewoman, sits on display in the basement of the museum.
The federal complaint contends the mask was stolen from Egypt before the museum obtained it for $500,000 in 1998.
The complaint, which included a request for a restraining order preventing the museum from disposing of the mask during the legal proceedings, came a month after the museum sued the government to try to block the seizure of the mask.
U.S. Attorney Richard Callahan said the dispute was "unfortunate" and would be "resolved by the courts."
The museum was not available for comment....
Friday, March 18, 2011 - 10:24
Name of source: BBC News
SOURCE: BBC News (3-17-11)
Haiti's former leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide has left South Africa to return to his home country after seven years in exile, officials say.
He is expected in Port-au-Prince early on Friday, two days before Haiti's presidential run-off vote.
The US is deeply concerned that his return could destabilise the country.
But Mr Aristide, a populist left-winger who was forced to flee in 2004 amid a rebellion, has said he will not seek an active role in politics.
His return has been rumoured for weeks.
Mr Aristide was given back his diplomatic passport last month, and his lawyer has said he wanted to return quickly in case the winner of Sunday's election reversed the decision to allow him back....
He is expected in Port-au-Prince early on Friday, two days before Haiti's presidential run-off vote.
The US is deeply concerned that his return could destabilise the country.
But Mr Aristide, a populist left-winger who was forced to flee in 2004 amid a rebellion, has said he will not seek an active role in politics.
His return has been rumoured for weeks.
Mr Aristide was given back his diplomatic passport last month, and his lawyer has said he wanted to return quickly in case the winner of Sunday's election reversed the decision to allow him back....
Friday, March 18, 2011 - 09:59
SOURCE: BBC News (3-15-11)
Books about the Third Reich throng the British bestseller lists, but is it a matter of genuine historical interest or odd fetish, asks Clive Anderson.
The late Alan Coren famously published a collection of humorous pieces in book form, called Golfing for Cats. And he put a swastika on the front cover. He had noticed the most popular titles in Britain in those days were about cats, golf and Nazis.
That was in 1975. Thirty-six years on - and now more than 60 years since the end of World War II - Nazi books are going stronger than ever. A staggering 850 books about the Third Reich were published in 2010, up from 350 in the year 2000.
And they mostly still have a swastika on the front cover.
The phenomenal and continuing success of books about the Nazis includes fiction, non-fiction and science fiction....
The late Alan Coren famously published a collection of humorous pieces in book form, called Golfing for Cats. And he put a swastika on the front cover. He had noticed the most popular titles in Britain in those days were about cats, golf and Nazis.
That was in 1975. Thirty-six years on - and now more than 60 years since the end of World War II - Nazi books are going stronger than ever. A staggering 850 books about the Third Reich were published in 2010, up from 350 in the year 2000.
And they mostly still have a swastika on the front cover.
The phenomenal and continuing success of books about the Nazis includes fiction, non-fiction and science fiction....
Thursday, March 17, 2011 - 11:01
SOURCE: BBC News (3-15-11)
An effort is being made to reunite 19 people who watched The Beatles play in a town hall before the band had their first hit.
Billy Shanks is helping to lead the search for the audience members of the 1963 gig in Dingwall, Ross-shire.
He said others who went to see The Beatles thought their music was rubbish and left to join an audience of 1,200 watching a local band in Strathpeffer.
A reunion event has been planned for 8 April this year.
Members of the original audience will also unveil a plaque on the town hall recalling The Beatles gig.
Mr Shanks, of Dingwall Business Association, said eight of the 19 had been traced so far.
He told the BBC Good Morning Scotland programme a performance by local band, the Melotones, in nearby Strathpeffer had been a bigger attraction on the night....
Billy Shanks is helping to lead the search for the audience members of the 1963 gig in Dingwall, Ross-shire.
He said others who went to see The Beatles thought their music was rubbish and left to join an audience of 1,200 watching a local band in Strathpeffer.
A reunion event has been planned for 8 April this year.
Members of the original audience will also unveil a plaque on the town hall recalling The Beatles gig.
Mr Shanks, of Dingwall Business Association, said eight of the 19 had been traced so far.
He told the BBC Good Morning Scotland programme a performance by local band, the Melotones, in nearby Strathpeffer had been a bigger attraction on the night....
Wednesday, March 16, 2011 - 10:31
SOURCE: BBC News (3-14-11)
The US has urged Haiti's former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide to delay his return from exile until after presidential elections on 20 March.
A State Department spokesman said it was up to Haiti to decide whether the former leader should be allowed home.
But he said a return before the election could be "destabilising".
A spokesman for Mr Aristide said last Friday that he would return from South Africa "in a few days" but insisted the move was not related to the vote.
Election
US state department spokesman Mark Toner said that for Mr Aristide to return this week "could only be seen as a conscious choice to impact Haiti's elections"....
A State Department spokesman said it was up to Haiti to decide whether the former leader should be allowed home.
But he said a return before the election could be "destabilising".
A spokesman for Mr Aristide said last Friday that he would return from South Africa "in a few days" but insisted the move was not related to the vote.
Election
US state department spokesman Mark Toner said that for Mr Aristide to return this week "could only be seen as a conscious choice to impact Haiti's elections"....
Wednesday, March 16, 2011 - 10:27
SOURCE: BBC News (3-15-11)
A film charting the rise of Bob Marley and The Wailers to international stardom - made from footage shot in the early 1970s and lost for 30 years - is set to get its first public viewing.
It was New York, late 1972, and Esther Anderson was attending an event hosted by Island Records, when Bob Marley walked in.
"He didn't smile but he was very handsome with strong features, he reminded me of Jimi Hendrix," she remembers.
Bob Marley was a guest of record producer Chris Blackwell, who had recently signed his group The Wailers to Island Records. The band was on a promotional tour for The Wailers' first album, Catch a Fire, although at that point sales were low.
Ms Anderson had just finished co-starring in A Warm December with Sidney Poitier. Due to the success of that movie, Bob Marley told her he knew about her and had been following her progress in the newspaper The Gleaner back in Jamaica....
It was New York, late 1972, and Esther Anderson was attending an event hosted by Island Records, when Bob Marley walked in.
"He didn't smile but he was very handsome with strong features, he reminded me of Jimi Hendrix," she remembers.
Bob Marley was a guest of record producer Chris Blackwell, who had recently signed his group The Wailers to Island Records. The band was on a promotional tour for The Wailers' first album, Catch a Fire, although at that point sales were low.
Ms Anderson had just finished co-starring in A Warm December with Sidney Poitier. Due to the success of that movie, Bob Marley told her he knew about her and had been following her progress in the newspaper The Gleaner back in Jamaica....
Wednesday, March 16, 2011 - 10:26
SOURCE: BBC News (3-16-11)
The disappearance of Rome's Ninth Legion has long baffled historians, but could a brutal ambush have been the event that forged the England-Scotland border, asks archaeologist Dr Miles Russell, of Bournemouth University.
One of the most enduring legends of Roman Britain concerns the disappearance of the Ninth Legion.
The theory that 5,000 of Rome's finest soldiers were lost in the swirling mists of Caledonia, as they marched north to put down a rebellion, forms the basis of a new film, The Eagle, but how much of it is true?
It is easy to understand the appeal of stories surrounding the loss of the Roman Ninth Legion - a disadvantaged band of British warriors inflicting a humiliating defeat upon a well-trained, heavily-armoured professional army.
It's the ultimate triumph of the underdog - an unlikely tale of victory against the odds. Recently, however, the story has seeped further into the national consciousness of both England and Scotland....
One of the most enduring legends of Roman Britain concerns the disappearance of the Ninth Legion.
The theory that 5,000 of Rome's finest soldiers were lost in the swirling mists of Caledonia, as they marched north to put down a rebellion, forms the basis of a new film, The Eagle, but how much of it is true?
It is easy to understand the appeal of stories surrounding the loss of the Roman Ninth Legion - a disadvantaged band of British warriors inflicting a humiliating defeat upon a well-trained, heavily-armoured professional army.
It's the ultimate triumph of the underdog - an unlikely tale of victory against the odds. Recently, however, the story has seeped further into the national consciousness of both England and Scotland....
Wednesday, March 16, 2011 - 10:19
SOURCE: BBC News (3-16-11)
Scientists have dusted off X-ray equipment dating from shortly after the discovery of the rays in 1895, in order to put it through its paces.
Researchers from the same Dutch town where the system was originally built used it to produce striking images that belie its simplicity and age.
The team said the images required a radiation dose to the subject some 1,500 times higher than a modern X-ray.
Details of the research were published reported in the journal Radiology.
The original system was developed by high school director H J Hoffmans and local hospital director Lambertus Theodorus van Kleef from Maastricht in the Netherlands....
Researchers from the same Dutch town where the system was originally built used it to produce striking images that belie its simplicity and age.
The team said the images required a radiation dose to the subject some 1,500 times higher than a modern X-ray.
Details of the research were published reported in the journal Radiology.
The original system was developed by high school director H J Hoffmans and local hospital director Lambertus Theodorus van Kleef from Maastricht in the Netherlands....
Wednesday, March 16, 2011 - 10:18
SOURCE: BBC News (3-15-11)
Disney Studios has scrapped plans for a 3D remake of The Beatles' 1968 film Yellow Submarine, according to industry paper Hollywood Reporter.
The new film was being developed by director Robert Zemekis incorporating the 16 Beatles songs and recordings from the original animated film.
Budget issues and a cancelled meeting with surviving Beatles' members were cited as reasons for the film's demise.
However, Zemekis is still free to try and sell the project to another studio.
The Oscar-winning Forrest Gump director first announced the project in August 2009.
It was later revealed that Cary Elwes, Dean Lennox Kelly, Peter Serafinowicz and Adam Campbell had been cast to voice the Fab Four....
The new film was being developed by director Robert Zemekis incorporating the 16 Beatles songs and recordings from the original animated film.
Budget issues and a cancelled meeting with surviving Beatles' members were cited as reasons for the film's demise.
However, Zemekis is still free to try and sell the project to another studio.
The Oscar-winning Forrest Gump director first announced the project in August 2009.
It was later revealed that Cary Elwes, Dean Lennox Kelly, Peter Serafinowicz and Adam Campbell had been cast to voice the Fab Four....
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 - 18:26
SOURCE: BBC News (3-15-11)
Guatemalans who were deliberately infected with syphilis or gonorrhoea in medical tests in the 1940s are suing the US government for compensation.
Hundreds of Guatemalan prisoners, psychiatric patients and orphans were infected without their consent in a programme to study penicillin.
A class action lawsuit was filed by lawyers for the Guatemalans and their relatives.
The US apologised last year for the "reprehensible" experiments.
But lawyers said the Obama administration had not responded to a request for an out-of-court compensation settlement.
The tests were kept secret for decades, until a medical historian uncovered hidden records and made them public last year....
Hundreds of Guatemalan prisoners, psychiatric patients and orphans were infected without their consent in a programme to study penicillin.
A class action lawsuit was filed by lawyers for the Guatemalans and their relatives.
The US apologised last year for the "reprehensible" experiments.
But lawyers said the Obama administration had not responded to a request for an out-of-court compensation settlement.
The tests were kept secret for decades, until a medical historian uncovered hidden records and made them public last year....
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 - 18:19
Name of source: The Local (Germany)
SOURCE: The Local (Germany) (3-16-11)
Hundreds of people met in the Latvian capital of Riga on Wednesday to remember World War II veterans who fought with Nazi Germany in the Waffen SS, after a court overturned a ban on the controversial annual gathering.
On Tuesday, a Riga court removed the city council’s ban on the “Legion Day,” allowing the veterans and their supporters to march through the city centre the next day.
They plan to commemorate the some 140,000 Latvian men who fought against the Russians with the German military.
Latvia was occupied by the Red Army in 1940, and many residents saw the Germans as liberators when they marched in one year later. A number of men subsequently volunteered or were conscripted into the Latvian Legion, an offshoot of the Waffen SS.
While the group, nationalist veterans’ organisation Daugavas Vanagi, says the march is simply a remembrance of those forced to wear the Nazi uniform, critics allege that it actually exalts the fascist forces.
“A brave Latvian leader must say to his people: These should not be heroes to a democratic member of the European Union,” director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center Efraim Zuroff told German news agency DPA.
...
On Tuesday, a Riga court removed the city council’s ban on the “Legion Day,” allowing the veterans and their supporters to march through the city centre the next day.
They plan to commemorate the some 140,000 Latvian men who fought against the Russians with the German military.
Latvia was occupied by the Red Army in 1940, and many residents saw the Germans as liberators when they marched in one year later. A number of men subsequently volunteered or were conscripted into the Latvian Legion, an offshoot of the Waffen SS.
While the group, nationalist veterans’ organisation Daugavas Vanagi, says the march is simply a remembrance of those forced to wear the Nazi uniform, critics allege that it actually exalts the fascist forces.
“A brave Latvian leader must say to his people: These should not be heroes to a democratic member of the European Union,” director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center Efraim Zuroff told German news agency DPA.
...
Thursday, March 17, 2011 - 11:29
Name of source: WaPo
SOURCE: WaPo (3-15-11)
A lowly corporal of long ago was buried Tuesday at Arlington National Cemetery, ushered to his grave with all the Army’s Old Guard solemn pomp.
In a late-day chill, after hundreds of strangers had paid their respects in public viewings since the weekend, soldiers carried the former doughboy’s flag-draped coffin partway up a knoll and set it on polished rails above his plot, a stone’s toss from the grave of his old supreme commander, Gen. John J. “Blackjack” Pershing.
A chaplain commended his soul to God; rifle volleys cracked; a bugler sounded taps below the gentle rise. With flags at half-staff throughout the U.S. military and government, it was a fine send-off for the country’s last known veteran of World War I, who died peacefully Feb. 27 in his West Virginia farmhouse.
Yet the hallowed ritual at grave No. 34-581 was not a farewell to one man alone. A reverent crowd of the powerful and the ordinary — President Obama and Vice President Biden, laborers and store clerks, heads bowed — came to salute Buckles’s deceased generation, the vanished millions of soldiers and sailors he came to symbolize in the end....
In a late-day chill, after hundreds of strangers had paid their respects in public viewings since the weekend, soldiers carried the former doughboy’s flag-draped coffin partway up a knoll and set it on polished rails above his plot, a stone’s toss from the grave of his old supreme commander, Gen. John J. “Blackjack” Pershing.
A chaplain commended his soul to God; rifle volleys cracked; a bugler sounded taps below the gentle rise. With flags at half-staff throughout the U.S. military and government, it was a fine send-off for the country’s last known veteran of World War I, who died peacefully Feb. 27 in his West Virginia farmhouse.
Yet the hallowed ritual at grave No. 34-581 was not a farewell to one man alone. A reverent crowd of the powerful and the ordinary — President Obama and Vice President Biden, laborers and store clerks, heads bowed — came to salute Buckles’s deceased generation, the vanished millions of soldiers and sailors he came to symbolize in the end....
Wednesday, March 16, 2011 - 18:09
Name of source: AOL News
SOURCE: AOL News (3-13-11)
Crime solvers follow the money, but experts searching for the lost city of Atlantis? In archaeology, "you should follow the stones," Richard Freund said.
Freund, a University of Hartford professor, believes he and his research team have found the legendary island-city described by Plato in about 360 B.C. as having "in a single day and night ... disappeared into the depths of the sea."
Using satellite photography, ground-penetrating radar, underwater technology and some old-fashioned reasoning, Freund said his team pinpointed the city in a vast marsh in southern Spain that dries out one month a year. Their findings are featured in a National Geographic special premiering tonight, "Finding Atlantis."
His team's search began in 2008 with a space satellite photograph showing what looked to be a submerged city in Spain's Dona Ana Park. In 2009 and 2010, Freund's researchers worked with Spanish archaeologists and geologists to explore beneath the mud flats using radar and imaging.
The discovery was clinched, Freund said, with the later find of "standing stones" and a series of memorial cities in central Spain built in the image of Atlantis...
Freund, a University of Hartford professor, believes he and his research team have found the legendary island-city described by Plato in about 360 B.C. as having "in a single day and night ... disappeared into the depths of the sea."
Using satellite photography, ground-penetrating radar, underwater technology and some old-fashioned reasoning, Freund said his team pinpointed the city in a vast marsh in southern Spain that dries out one month a year. Their findings are featured in a National Geographic special premiering tonight, "Finding Atlantis."
His team's search began in 2008 with a space satellite photograph showing what looked to be a submerged city in Spain's Dona Ana Park. In 2009 and 2010, Freund's researchers worked with Spanish archaeologists and geologists to explore beneath the mud flats using radar and imaging.
The discovery was clinched, Freund said, with the later find of "standing stones" and a series of memorial cities in central Spain built in the image of Atlantis...
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 - 18:26
Name of source: Worcester News
SOURCE: Worcester News (3-14-11)
COUNTY archaeologists have provided conclusive proof that the plague which wiped out about 60 per cent of the European population in the 14th century was caused by fleas.
Human skeletons excavated from pits near Hereford Cathedral helped scholars at Worcestershire Historic Environment and Archaeology Service definitively confirm the plague’s origins.
The team were working as part of an international science project in partnership with the University of Mainz in Germany.
Their findings, published in an online journal, provide final proof that the plague spread via the transmission of the bacteria Yersinia pestis, which was passed on through bites from fleas carried by black rats.
This effectively rules out other common theories, including that the Black Death was actually a fever, and resolves a long-standing debate about the cause of the devastating disease....
Human skeletons excavated from pits near Hereford Cathedral helped scholars at Worcestershire Historic Environment and Archaeology Service definitively confirm the plague’s origins.
The team were working as part of an international science project in partnership with the University of Mainz in Germany.
Their findings, published in an online journal, provide final proof that the plague spread via the transmission of the bacteria Yersinia pestis, which was passed on through bites from fleas carried by black rats.
This effectively rules out other common theories, including that the Black Death was actually a fever, and resolves a long-standing debate about the cause of the devastating disease....
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 - 18:24
Name of source: Chicago Tribune
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (3-13-11)
Descend beyond the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe's concrete slabs and you'll find informative, harrowing exhibits.
We were on our way to see the Brandenburg Gate when they came unexpectedly into view across the street — rows of muted gray concrete slabs of varying heights, their rise and fall taking up an entire city block.
The sight stopped us in our tracks.
"That must be the Holocaust Memorial," I said.
"It can't possibly be anything else," said Jon, my husband.
As a Jew, I always have mixed feelings when visiting such places. I am repelled by the horror they represent yet drawn to them for the recognition they offer. What the Germans refer to as a "culture of remembrance" — which acknowledges the crimes of the Nazis and commemorates their victims in more than 100 sites throughout the country — is one reason I've come to Berlin.
Overall tourism to Berlin is up 10% this year, with 8 million tourists; visits by Israelis are up even more, by 32%....
We were on our way to see the Brandenburg Gate when they came unexpectedly into view across the street — rows of muted gray concrete slabs of varying heights, their rise and fall taking up an entire city block.
The sight stopped us in our tracks.
"That must be the Holocaust Memorial," I said.
"It can't possibly be anything else," said Jon, my husband.
As a Jew, I always have mixed feelings when visiting such places. I am repelled by the horror they represent yet drawn to them for the recognition they offer. What the Germans refer to as a "culture of remembrance" — which acknowledges the crimes of the Nazis and commemorates their victims in more than 100 sites throughout the country — is one reason I've come to Berlin.
Overall tourism to Berlin is up 10% this year, with 8 million tourists; visits by Israelis are up even more, by 32%....
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 - 18:22
Name of source: National Parks Traveler
SOURCE: National Parks Traveler (3-12-11)
Ribbon cutting ceremonies for new buildings are commonplace, but the dedication of a new visitor center for Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine in Baltimore on March 3, 2011, included plenty of unique touches. Among them was a customized bakery creation that proved you can have your cake and shoot it too.
Given the history of the fort, it's appropriate that the event included deep drum rolls and cannon fire that could be heard a mile away, and when organizers decided to include music by a local choir, the choice of a song seemed pretty obvious. This performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” by the City College Choir occurred on the 80th anniversary of the formal adoption of the composition as country's official national anthem.
The most unique element of the event was a huge cake, created by Charm City Cakes, famous for the television program “Ace of Cakes.” Shaped like an artillery piece, this was more than just a fancy snack....
Given the history of the fort, it's appropriate that the event included deep drum rolls and cannon fire that could be heard a mile away, and when organizers decided to include music by a local choir, the choice of a song seemed pretty obvious. This performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” by the City College Choir occurred on the 80th anniversary of the formal adoption of the composition as country's official national anthem.
The most unique element of the event was a huge cake, created by Charm City Cakes, famous for the television program “Ace of Cakes.” Shaped like an artillery piece, this was more than just a fancy snack....
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 - 17:31
Name of source: News.az
SOURCE: News.az (3-15-11)
Archaeologists found a medieval settlement in 2 km north of Uzuntepe village of Jalilabad.
According to the news service for the National Academy of Science of Azerbaijan, archaeologists called the settlement Goshatepe, since it is divided in two parts by hills....
According to the news service for the National Academy of Science of Azerbaijan, archaeologists called the settlement Goshatepe, since it is divided in two parts by hills....
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 - 17:30
Name of source: Irish Times
SOURCE: Irish Times (3-15-11)
REMNANTS of what appears to have been a medieval mill, including “very well-preserved” timber beams, pottery and leather shoes, have been found underneath Meeting House Square in Temple Bar, Dublin.
The discovery by archaeologists came as part of the mandatory archaeological survey, as work got under way on the construction of a retractable rain-cover over the square. The building works have now been halted.
Temple Bar Cultural Trust is describing the discovery as “very exciting”.
A delay of up to 12 weeks in building works will mean events planned in the square to mark the 20th anniversary of Temple Bar, scheduled for July, will now have to be staged elsewhere. Dermot McLaughlin, chief executive of the trust, is not disappointed, however.
“It’s fine. We’ll find other outdoor spaces and hold a separate event in the square in September. This find is very exciting. We’re really buzzing about it.”...
The discovery by archaeologists came as part of the mandatory archaeological survey, as work got under way on the construction of a retractable rain-cover over the square. The building works have now been halted.
Temple Bar Cultural Trust is describing the discovery as “very exciting”.
A delay of up to 12 weeks in building works will mean events planned in the square to mark the 20th anniversary of Temple Bar, scheduled for July, will now have to be staged elsewhere. Dermot McLaughlin, chief executive of the trust, is not disappointed, however.
“It’s fine. We’ll find other outdoor spaces and hold a separate event in the square in September. This find is very exciting. We’re really buzzing about it.”...
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 - 17:29
Name of source: CNN.com
SOURCE: CNN.com (3-15-11)
(CNN) -- The explosion Tuesday at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has elevated the situation there to a "serious accident" on a level just below Chernobyl, a French nuclear official said, referring to an international scale that rates the severity of such incidents.
The International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale -- or INES -- goes from Level 1, which indicates very little danger to the general population, to Level 7, a "major accident" in which there's been a large release of radioactive material and there will be widespread health and environmental effects.
"It's clear we are at Level 6, that's to say we're at a level in between what happened at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl," Andre-Claude Lacoste, president of France's nuclear safety authority, told reporters Tuesday.
Japanese nuclear authorities initially rated the incident at Level 4, according to Greg Webb of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Level 4 is characterized as a minor release of radioactive material that necessitates only measures to control food due to contamination. But in the latest information about the explosion, Japanese authorities did not give it a rating, Webb said, and the IAEA is not putting a number on it either....
The International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale -- or INES -- goes from Level 1, which indicates very little danger to the general population, to Level 7, a "major accident" in which there's been a large release of radioactive material and there will be widespread health and environmental effects.
"It's clear we are at Level 6, that's to say we're at a level in between what happened at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl," Andre-Claude Lacoste, president of France's nuclear safety authority, told reporters Tuesday.
Japanese nuclear authorities initially rated the incident at Level 4, according to Greg Webb of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Level 4 is characterized as a minor release of radioactive material that necessitates only measures to control food due to contamination. But in the latest information about the explosion, Japanese authorities did not give it a rating, Webb said, and the IAEA is not putting a number on it either....
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 - 15:53
Name of source: The Atlantic
SOURCE: The Atlantic (3-15-11)
With the massive quake and tsunami that struck Japan last week, the specter of another devastating event has returned: The 1923 Kanto earthquake, which shook the region around Tokyo, was the country's last"big one." The 7.9-magnitude quake reduced much of Tokyo to rubble, and as refugees tried to leave, firestorms swept through the city. More than 100,000 people died during the Kanto quake and its aftermath. These archival images, drawn from the U.S. Geological Survey, AP, and Brown University's Dana and Vera Reynolds Collection, show the horrifying wreckage. They're a reminder that Japan has faced brutally difficult rebuilding efforts before, and succeeded in building back better. (Alexis Madrigal and Alan Taylor) [24 photos]
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 - 14:47
