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: LA Times
January 24, 2010
Reporting from Athens - For advocates of the repatriation of marble sculptures removed from the Parthenon in the early 19th century and long housed at the British Museum in London, the new Acropolis Museum is proof -- at last -- that Greece has a safe place to display the hotly contested artworks.
For Athenians who live and work near the Acropolis, the looming modern structure at the southeastern base of the hill is a mixed blessing. The $200-million, 226,000-square-foot museum has
Source: Washington Post
January 25, 2010
Army veteran Tom Hewitt hovered over the stained and brittle page, itching to get closer but afraid to touch. Crowded into the upstairs office at American Legion Post 24 in Old Town Alexandria, he couldn't believe what his wife was saying.
Not an hour before, Hewitt, 39, and his friends were drinking beer and talking about updating the walls with historic photos. His wife, Candice Bennett, dropped by, and the couple went upstairs to poke through the drawers and file cabinets in the
Source: Telegraph (UK)
January 25, 2010
Stone Age medicine was far more advanced than previously thought, scientists discovered, after unearthing the 7,000-year-old skeleton of a man with an amputated arm.
Early Neolithic surgeons used a sharpened flint stone and rudimentary anaesthetics to amputate the elderly man’s left forearm, and treated the wound in sterile conditions, experts believe.
Evidence of the early surgery was unearthed by Cécile Buquet-Marcon and Anaick Samzun, both archaeologists, and Philip
Source: Fox News
January 25, 2010
One year into his administration, President Obama might want to consider dropping the "blame Bush" page from his playbook.
Whether it's the economy, national security or America's reputation abroad, the president and his top advisers have been pinning the blame on the prior administration, directly or obliquely, ever since Obama's inauguration a full year ago. They've done so, in fact, at least seven times since last Tuesday's stunning upset in the Massachusetts Senate el
Source: CNN
January 24, 2010
The Pablo Picasso painting "The Actor" will undergo repair work, after a woman visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art fell onto the painting and tore the canvas, according to the museum.
The museum said the Picasso work was damaged Friday when a visitor lost her balance and fell onto the unusually large 6-foot, 4-inch work.
The six-inch tear is on the lower right-hand corner of the painting, the museum said in a news release Sunday.
Source: Ynet News (Israel)
January 24, 2010
Recently, it seems that for many this is indeed true. Nine months ago, right-wing groups around the world celebrated Hitler's 120th anniversary. These celebrations were accompanied by all sorts of sickening sales. It's hard to make a buck from suffering and atrocities, so organizers turned to the Fuhrer's other handiwork: Hitler's paintings were sold for prices of about $350,000.
However, turning murder into consumer items is not a new industry: Stalin and Mao Zedong have already ha
Source: Telegraph (UK)
January 25, 2010
Scientists hope to exhume the remains of Leonardo da Vinci so they can reconstruct his face to discover whether the Mona Lisa is a disguised self-portrait.
Experts believe the Mona Lisa is a da Vinci self-portrait
Scientists and historians from Italy’s National Committee for Cultural Heritage have sought permission to open the artist’s tomb at Amboise Castle in the Loire valley.
While the identity of the Mona Lisa has been debated for centuries, some scholars hav
Source: BBC
January 25, 2010
Police in Cyprus have broken up a smuggling ring that was trying to sell stolen antiquities worth more than 11m euros (£9.6m), officials say.
Artefacts for sale include urns, silver coins and figurines, some of which are thought to be 4,000 years old.
Police are investigating whether an international network was involved.
Ten people have been detained and five others are being sought in what analysts say could be the largest such ring ever discovered in t
Source: BBC
January 25, 2010
Majid, an enforcer in Saddam Hussein's regime and his cousin, had earlier been sentenced to death four times for a range of crimes against humanity.
In January, he was sentenced to death for ordering the gas attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja in 1988.
It is believed that about 5,000 people died in the attack.
Majid was sentenced to hang in June 2007 for his role in a military campaign against ethnic Kurds, codenamed Anfal, that lasted from February to
Source: BBC
January 25, 2010
Dated 1804, Jean Armour writes about the death of two of her children and how she remains in the home she shared with the poet before his death in 1796.
The page was discovered in a New York junk shop last year.
It is thought the letter was intended for Maria Riddell, a woman from a local landed family, who lived in Dumfries.
It was found by American scholar Dr Nancy Groce who by coincidence had recently produced a symposium on Robert Burns at the Librar
Source: Times (UK)
January 25, 2010
The new American-led surge in Afghanistan will take longer to fight the insurgency than a similar injection of force in Iraq three years ago when violence fell sharply within months, the top US general in the region told The Times.
General David Petraeus, the head of Central Command, also warned that the fight in Helmand province, Afghanistan, where British and US forces are based, as well other areas, would become even tougher before the situation improved.
Frontline
Source: Times (UK)
January 25, 2010
Sir Michael Wood, the former top legal adviser at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, has been given permission from the Attorney-General to break with protocol and disclose advice given to ministers in the build-up to the Iraq war.
The move by Baroness Scotland effectively allows Sir Michael to give unrestricted evidence to the Chilcot inquiry when he appears tomorrow morning. His comments will form part of what is expected to be an explosive week of testimonies from officials, t
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
January 24, 2010
A French mayor has insulted the memory of hundreds of British soldiers who died liberating his village by displaying a portrait of a notorious Nazi collaborator.
Bernard Hoye, civic leader of Gonneville-sur-Mer, in Normandy, insists on honouring Philippe Petain, the Vichy leader who brought shame on his country during the Second World War.
This is despite the fact that British commandoes including the Royal Marines and SAS spent days fighting off the town's German ga
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
January 25, 2010
The dark details of their family histories are to be revealed to thousands of Australians this week following the release of details of the convicts Britain sent to the new colony more than 200 years ago.
The British government has released the details to coincide with Australia Day on Tuesday, allowing individuals to search through an online data base to check if they are descended from criminals.
If they do find they have convict ancestors, most Australians are unlike
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
January 25, 2010
Vital evidence which could solve the mystery of the death of Government weapons inspector Dr David Kelly will be kept under wraps for up to 70 years.
In a draconian – and highly unusual – order, Lord Hutton, the peer who chaired the controversial inquiry into the Dr Kelly scandal, has secretly barred the release of all medical records, including the results of the post mortem, and unpublished evidence.
The move, which will stoke fresh speculation about the true circums
Source: Telegraph (UK)
January 24, 2010
President Barack Obama is seeking inspiration from Bill Clinton, the last Democratic incumbent of the White House, in an effort to fight back from the lowest point of his year-old administration.
Despite their bitter fall-out during the bitter primary campaign with his wife Hillary Clinton, Mr Obama is this weekend looking at how Mr Clinton put his presidency back on track after the Democrats suffered disastrous mid-term congressional results in 1994, two years after he came to pow
Source: Telegraph (UK)
January 24, 2010
Military veterans who served in the Second World War are to be given priority healthcare on the NHS for the rest of their lives.
Under government plans announced over the weekend all veterans, also including those who fought in Northern Ireland, the Falklands, Iraq and Afghanistan, will be allowed to jump to the top of the waiting list.
Mike O'Brien, the health minister, said that meetings with those wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan convinced him veterans needed specia
Source: CNN
January 24, 2010
A new audio tape allegedly from al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden claims responsibility for an attempt to blow up a plane en route to Michigan on Christmas Day and warns the United States of more attacks.
CNN could not independently confirm the authenticity of the message, but the CIA has in the past confirmed Al-Jazeera reports on tapes from the al Qaeda leader.
Bin Laden had six messages in 2009. The last was on September 25 and was "to the European people."
Source: Green Bay Press-Gazette
January 24, 2010
While most teenagers are bragging about their cell phones, MP3 players and other gadgets, 16-year-old Courtney Van Goethem of Kewaunee [Wisconsin] is most proud of a letter she received from a 100-year-old Dutch woman.
The letter, written by Miep Gies, came in April and was in response to Van Goethem's own handwritten inquiry. Gies helped hide Anne Frank's family, as well as another family and a dentist, for two years during World War II. After the Franks were captured by the Nazis,
Source: Telegraph (UK)
January 23, 2010
A nun who fought for women's rights in the seventeenth century and was imprisoned for being a heretic was honoured by Britain's most senior religious leaders.
Almost 400 years after her death, Mary Ward is now recognised as a highly significant figure in the Catholic Church and is on the way to becoming the UK's first new female saint for 40 years.
She was imprisoned by Pope Urban VIII who believed that she was dangerous, but Pope Benedict XVI has declared her to be '
