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: AP
April 14, 2010
The head of the World Bank says it is time to stop using the term "Third World" to refer to developing countries and recognize they are an essential part of a new, fast evolving international economy.
Robert Zoellick said the global economic crisis of 2009 showed that the categorizations of First and Third Worlds, donor and supplicant, leader and led, no longer fit.
He said Wednesday that big international issues cannot be solved without the involvement of dev
Source: CNN
April 15, 2010
Benjamin L. Hooks, a civil rights leader who led the NAACP from 1977 to 1992, has died, said the vice president for communication at the NAACP.
The cause of death was not immediately known, the NAACP's Leila McDowell said Thursday.
Hooks was "a vocal campaigner for civil rights in the United States," said the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1925, Hooks grew up in the segregated South.
Source: Chicago Breaking News Center
April 13, 2010
In a tale celebrating the romance of movies, a contractor cleaning out an old New Hampshire barn destined for demolition found seven reels of nitrate film inside, including the only known copy of a 1913 silent film about Abraham Lincoln.
"When Lincoln Paid," a 30-minute film about the mother of a dead Union solider asking Lincoln to pardon a Confederate soldier whom she had initially turned in, stars the brother of John Ford, director of "The Grapes of Wrath," ''
Source: Telegraph (UK)
April 14, 2010
A doctor who is accused of organising the mass murder of at least 1,200 tops an updated list of the ten most wanted war criminal suspects wanted by an international Nazi hunting group.
"Operation Last Chance" was launched eight years ago by the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, the international Jewish rights group, to put pressure on governments to bring remaining suspected Nazi war criminals to justice before they die.
As the world marked the annual Holocaust memoria
Source: Telegraph (UK)
April 13, 2010
A sheet from the flight plan of the Apollo 11 Moon landing signed by astronaut Neil Armstrong and inscribed with the words "One small step for a man... one giant leap for mankind" sold for $152,000 (£99,000) at auction Tuesday.
The emergency check list from Apollo 13 and a flight emblem worn by Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins which sold for $85,400
The page, sold at Bonhams auction house, is inscribed with the words Armstrong says he uttered after he becam
Source: CNN
April 14, 2010
A Roman-era mummy was recently unearthed in a Bahariya Oasis cemetery, about 190 miles southwest of Cairo.
The 3-foot-tall female mummy was discovered by Egyptian archaeologists. The figure was found covered with plaster decorated to resemble Roman dress and jewelry, said Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities in a press release Monday.
In addition to the female mummy, the Supreme Council of Antiquities said archaeologists found clay and glass vessels, coins, anthropoi
Source: CNN.com
April 9, 2010
Virginia's proclamation of Confederate History Month without any reference to slavery was unacceptable, President Obama said in an interview broadcast Friday.
"Well, you know, I'm a big history buff. And I think that understanding the history of the Confederacy and understanding the history of the Civil War is something that every American and every young American should be a part of," he told ABC in an interview taped Thursday.
"Now, I don't think you ca
Source: Boston Globe
April 10, 2010
The wreck of the British warship that Paul Revere slipped by on his legendary journey to Lexington in 1775 has resurfaced in the shifting sands of Cape Cod, and federal park officials are seizing the moment by having the wreck "digitally preserved," using three-dimensional imaging technology.
"We know the wreck is going to disappear again under the sand, and it may not resurface again in our lifetimes," said William P. Burke, the historian at the Cape Cod Nationa
Source: AP
April 11, 2010
The leader of Poland's government in exile while the nation was under Soviet-backed rule. The shipyard worker whose firing helped ignite the labor uprising that ultimately toppled communism here. A banking head who helped keep the country stable while the rest of the European Union plunged into recession.
When Poland lost its president and top military brass Saturday in a plane crash that killed 96, it also lost much of its living history and other elite members of society.
Source: CS Monitor
April 8, 2010
What caused the great recession?
Theories abound. Some argue that poorly designed government policies and artificially low interest rates created a bubble, while others blame Wall Street's reckless lending practices.
Almost all, however, look to current or recent developments, not long-term historical trends. Yet the real story of the massive meltdown of 2008 starts not in the late 20th century but in the early 17th.
It was in the 1630s that the Puritan mig
Source: Telegraph (UK)
April 9, 2010
For building a family tree combines the need to retain the sharp mind of a personal investigator with a love of the past.
But now academics are warning that many people who take up genealogy might uncover more than they bargained for.
Delving into one's ancestry can open up "a Pandora's box" of secrets that can lead to serious family rows, according to sociologists who have studied the popular passtime.
It can reopen old wounds and shatter illusio
Source: Telegraph (UK)
April 6, 2010
Experts have begun excavating the ruins of New Place, Shakespeare’s former home in Stratford-upon-Avon, which was demolished 250 years ago.
Although little remains of the property, the team, led by Birmingham Archaeology, believes it has identified a rubbish tip or cesspit used by the 16th century poet.
Fragments of pottery and broken clay pipe have already been retrieved from a muddy hole on the site, which they claim could yield some of the most significant discoveri
Source: Spiegel Online
April 6, 2010
Rapprochement between Turkey and Armenia is still far from sight. In an interview with SPIEGEL, Armenian President Serge Sarkisian explains why the recognition of genocide against his people is so important -- and why he is little surprised by hostilities from Turkish politicians.
SPIEGEL: Mr. President, in 2008, you attended a football match between your two countries together with your Turkish counterpart. It was a sensation at the time. Do you regret having invited the president
Source: CNN
April 13, 2010
Newt Gingrich called President Obama "the most radical president in American history" at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference last week.
The leader of the 1994 Republican Revolution is a smart man and a historian, so he must know better. But he's also exploring a run for president, an action that frequently suspends good judgment in pursuit of sound bites. Perspective is the first thing abandoned in hyper-partisan attacks.
So here is a look at five pr
Source: LA Times
April 13, 2010
Colorado researchers have discovered and partially mapped a major urban center once occupied by the Purépecha of Mexico, a little-known people who fought the Aztecs to a standstill and who controlled much of western Mexico until diseases brought by the Spanish decimated them.
The "proto-urban center," which researchers have not yet named, sat on volcanic rock on the shores of Lake Pátzcuaro in the central Mexican state of Michoacan, now a tourist destination. It supported
Source: BBC
April 13, 2010
A former Bosnian president facing extradition over war crime allegations has accused the British government of volunteering to "rewrite history".
Speaking outside an extradition hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court, Ejup Ganic said he was "not happy" with his treatment by the UK authorities.
Mr Ganic was detained at Heathrow on 1 March at the request of Serbia.
A Home Office spokeswoman said the "legal process" was valid
Source: Telegraph (UK)
April 12, 2010
Legal advice that enabled the Prince of Wales to marry the Duchess of Cornwall must remain secret until after the heir to the throne’s death under a ruling by Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary.
Mr Straw has refused a Freedom of Information request to reveal the advice given to the then Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer, who gave the 2005 royal wedding the go-ahead.
Doubts about the legality of the marriage persist because of the Marriage Act of 1836, which prohibited Roy
December 31, 2069
The body of Poland's first lady was greeted with tears and tulips after being flown home Tuesday from Russia, and officials announced that she and her husband will be buried Sunday in a state funeral at Krakow's Wawel Cathedral.
President Lech Kaczynski and his wife, Maria Kaczynska, were among 96 people killed Saturday in a plane crash in western Russia. Investigators are pointing at human error as the cause.
Stanislaw Kracik, Krakow province governor, said the preside
Source: Fox News
April 13, 2010
A school superintendent in New Jersey says a "misunderstanding" led an elementary school teacher to mandate that all students -- including young boys -- dress as women in a now-canceled fashion show to honor Women's History Month.
Maple Shade Township School Superintendent Michael Livengood said the show, which had been scheduled for Friday at Maude Wilkins Elementary School, has been canceled.
In a 16-page packet sent home with students, teacher Tonya Uibel
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
April 13, 2010
The Vatican has forgiven The Beatles on the 40th anniversary of their break-up - as sex scandals continue to rock the Catholic Church.
Absolving the British group of their excesses involving 'drugs and blasphemy', the Vatican's newspaper L'Osservatore Romano hailed them as a 'precious jewel'.
In a front-page article, it said: 'It's true they took drugs, lived life to excess because of their success, even said they were bigger than Jesus and put out mysterious messages,
