This page features brief excerpts of 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.
Source: BBC
May 4, 2010
A large private collection of Sir Winston Churchill memorabilia is expected to raise about £1m when the first part of it is sold next month.
Auction house Christie's said the material, which includes diary entries, letters and an unsmoked cigar, provided a "fascinating insight" into his life.
The former prime minister's belongings were amassed by Malcolm S Forbes Jr over more than 30 years.
The collection will be sold in three parts, the first i
Source: BBC
May 4, 2010
The former Argentine military leader, Jorge Rafael Videla, has been charged with an additional 49 cases of kidnapping, torture and murder.
Videla, who ruled from 1976 to 1981, is already serving a life sentence for human rights abuses committed during Argentina's so-called Dirty War.
The case against him was widened after new forensic evidence came to light.
He is also scheduled to face trial in September for stealing 33 babies of political opponents.
Source: BBC
May 4, 2010
Students in the United States caught up in the campus protests against the Vietnam War are going to re-stage graduation ceremonies cancelled in 1970.
Fearing violence on campuses, some US universities shut early that summer and cancelled leaving ceremonies.
Forty years later, students who missed out are now returning to hold the events that were cancelled. Many universities shut down, cancelling the end of term speeches, photographs and the
Source: Voice of America
May 4, 2010
As the Thai government and opposition protesters move toward a reconciliation agreement, attention will shift to plans for elections. The protesters, dressed in red, say democracy was stolen from them. But just a few years ago, yellow-dressed protesters were trying to remove red-supported leaders they said had corrupted democratic institutions. Political analysts say despite the rhetoric, both groups fall short of democratic ideals.
Thailand has a patchy history with democracy.
Source: CS Monitor
May 4, 2010
Two members of the search team that claims to have found Noah’s Ark on Mount Ararat in Turkey responded to skepticism by saying that there is no plausible explanation for what they found other than it is the fabled biblical boat that weathered a storm that raged 40 days and 40 nights and flooded the entire Earth.
Noah's Ark Ministries International (NAMI) held a press conference April 25 in Hong Kong to present their findings and say they were “99.9 percent sure” that a wooden struc
Source: CS Monitor
May 4, 2010
In the centuries-old debate over the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin, Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday diverged from his predecessor and weighed in favor of those who believe that the burial robe once cloaked Jesus Christ.
Pope Benedict described the shroud, which allegedly bears blood stains and the facial imprint of a long-haired, bearded man, as an icon that once “wrapped the remains of a crucified man in full correspondence with what the Gospels tell us of Jesus.”
Wh
Source: Telegraph (UK)
May 4, 2010
A sapper described as the bravest soldier of the First World War – and who gave his life on the Western Front – is to be honoured with a memorial in France after campaigners raised £24,000.
Sapper William Hackett was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross by George V but for 94 years his body has laid unmarked in No Mens Land.
Now a memorial is to be built in Givenchy in Northern France on the spot where Sapper Hackett died after a campaign led by a number of promine
Source: State Department
May 4, 2010
The Department of State released today Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume XIX, Part 1, Korea, 1969–1972. (Part 2 of the volume on U.S. bilateral relations with Japan, 1969–1972 will be published at a later date.) During the first Nixon administration, Washington confronted an array of difficult foreign policy questions concerning the Korean peninsula. The preponderance of documents published in this volume concern security issues. As in earlier years, U.S. policymakers con
Source: The Gettysburg Times
April 29, 2010
With millions of new visitors expected to visit the area for the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War, the National Park Service in Gettysburg is prepping for the celebration.
The park is planning renovations to the historic Patterson, Klingel, Cobean, Sndyer, and Warfield properties, as well as the Eisenhower Farm, in anticipation of the 2011-2015 event. Overall, the multi-million dollar effort is being funded with federal stimulus dollars, as well as NPS money.
Source: The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press
May 4, 2010
“Socialism” is a negative for most Americans, but certainly not all Americans. “Capitalism” is regarded positively by a majority of the public, though it is a thin majority. There are certain segments of the public – notably, young people and Democrats – where both “isms” are rated about equally. And while most Americans have a negative reaction to the word “militia,” the term is viewed more positively by Republican men than most other groups.
These are among the findings of a nati
Source: Discovery News
April 28, 2010
A treasure trove of ancient weapons has emerged from melting ice patches in the Canadian Arctic, revealing hunting strategies thousands of years old.
The weapons, which include a 2,400-year-old spear throwing tools, a 1,000-year-old ground squirrel snare, and bows and arrows dating back 850 years, have been found high in the remote Mackenzie Mountains, a region where Mountain Boreal caribou abound in the summer months.
Dotted with ice patches resulting from accumulation
Source: ANTARA News
April 26, 2010
A Mesolithic cave was discovered by the residents in Talang Kubangan Hamlet, South Dempo sub-district, North Sumatra.
The three-storey cave located on a hilly and deep a forest has two entrances and seven rooms and also showed some human footprints.
Due to natural causes of rock sedimentations, the cave`s rooms are narrowing and covering some of the cave`s ancient hand palm murals.
The local residents actually have acknowledged this cave for a long time kno
Source: The State
April 24, 2010
People bivouacked at Fort Jackson before the U.S. Army took over the property.
Long before.
The most extensive archaeological dig ever at the fort has uncovered evidence of human camps up to 9,000 years old.
The dig site and some of the more impressive artifacts uncovered will be on display to the public today.
The findings aren't stunning - artifacts from that period are common throughout the state. But until recent years, archaeologists beli
Source: The Examiner
May 1, 2010
Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Historic Village, a National Historic Landmark located in Avella, Pa., Washington County, reopens Saturday, May 1.
Meadowcroft features a 16,000-year-old Rockshelter, the oldest site of human habitation in North America, that provides ancient evidence of how the first Americans lived. Photo at left provided by Senator John Heinz History Center.
The new enclosure at Meadowcroft Rockshelter provides visitors with a unique, never-before-seen pe
Source: USA Today
May 4, 2010
Forty springs ago, on the day the Vietnam War came home as it never had before, Mary Ann Vecchio was there. She's the girl in the haunting photo — crying, kneeling over the student's body.
That was Kent State University, May 4, 1970, a few days after Richard Nixon, who'd campaigned for president on an implicit promise to end the war, widened it by invading Cambodia.
Across the nation, students protested. At Kent State, where two days earlier the ROTC building was burned
Source: KCBD 11 (Lubbock, TX)
May 3, 2010
From Lubbock to Amarillo in length and from the Hub City to the New Mexico border in width – that's how much oil is covering the Gulf Coast. One local environmental expert believes this could be the worst and most devastating oil spill in our nation's history.
Texas Tech University's Environmental and Human Health Director Ronald Kendall was at the Exxon-Valdez oil spill. He said even after 20 years has passed and $3 billion spent to clean it up, the oil is still there.
Source: NYT
May 3, 2010
The prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, met on Monday with Egypt’s president, Hosni Mubarak, in the Sinai resort of Sharm el Sheik, and the Obama administration’s envoy arrived in the region amid final preparations for the start of indirect Israeli-Palestinian peace talks....
Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, told Army Radio that Israel must refrain from unilateral steps over the next four months, like building new settlements or evicting Palestinians.
Source: The Examiner
May 1, 2010
They call themselves the Diné
With over 300,000 persons claiming Diné heritage, they are the second largest Native American tribe in the United States. Dené is the name they call themselves. It means “the people.” Their Hopi neighbors called them the Navajo, which means “many farmers.” The Spanish started using this name, and so like many other Native American tribes, they became known by the name others called them.
It might surprise many non-Diné to learn that the an
Source: NY Blueprint
April 26, 2010
Many times, we feel helpless and unsure of what to do to honor the memory of the Jews that perished in the Holocaust. So here is an opportunity that should be taken seriously – to help Israel find the rightful owners of over 55,000 unclaimed assets that were purchased by Jews before and during the Holocaust.
Over 80 years ago, after World War I, European Jews began investing in the dream of a Jewish homeland. They started buying real estate, opening bank accounts, buying stocks, an
Source: Telegraph (UK)
May 4, 2010
Britain is not doing enough to mark the 65th anniversary of V-E Day, according to Second World War veterans' groups.
The anniversary falls this Saturday and with many veterans now in their late eighties or nineties, veterans suggested that a special effort should have been made for what may be the last major anniversary for many.
The government was, however, unable to say on Monday whether it would be organising anything more than the usual events to mark the date carri
