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: WSJ
November 5, 2009
An Italian court convicted 23 U.S. intelligence operatives on charges of kidnapping an Egyptian imam on a Milan street, prosecutors and lawyers said. The decision is a landmark ruling on the controversial U.S. practice of abducting suspected terrorists and flying them to other countries for interrogation.
Robert Seldon Lady, a former Central Intelligence Agency station chief in Milan, was sentenced Wednesday in absentia to eight years in prison, according to his court-appointed lawy
Source: Secrecy News
November 4, 2009
During the course of World War I, tens of thousands of
photographs were withheld from publication by the U.S. military.
These included images that might have revealed troop movements or military
capabilities, pictures that were liable to be used in enemy propaganda, or
those that could adversely affect military or public morale.The
development of military controls on publication of photographs during WWI
was described in
Source: Jerusalem post (Israel)
November 3, 2009
In an excavation conducted in late October about 100 meters north of the Old City wall of Acre, a unique find was discovered from the Crusader period in the 13th Century: a hoard of 350 marble items that were collected from destroyed buildings.
According to Dr. Edna Stern, excavation director of the Israel Antiquities Authority, the hoard was found in an archaeological excavation conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority before the Acre Municipality began building a new structur
Source: Telegraph (UK)
November 4, 2009
A chain of cosmetic stores has banned its staff from wearing Remembrance Day poppies.
Catherine Barr, an assistant with Bodycare UK for seven years, was astonished when she was ordered to remove the poppy she had worn to work.
“I turned up for work wearing my poppy and was told by management that I couldn’t. I was quite upset and really annoyed, so refused to remove it.”...
... Because of her refusal an area manager called at the store to inform her it was
Source: The Local (Sweden)
November 2, 2009
Five hundred Viking era silver artifacts have been plundered from a site of archaeological interest on the Baltic island of Gotland.
Two archaeologists employed by Gotland county were dismayed to discover the valuables had vanished when they arrived at a field in Alva in Gotland to follow up on a recent find.
"It's just as saddening every time it happens because it's our heritage that disappears," said Majvor Östergren at the Gotland County Administrative Board.
Source: Sofia News Agency (Bulgaria)
November 3, 2009
A team of Bulgarian archaeologists have discovered a new tomb of an aristocrat from Ancient Thrace near the southern town of Nova Zagora.
The team led by archaeologist Veselin Ignatov found a burial tomb of 12 square meters date back to the end of 1st century and beginning of 2nd century AD. It is located outside of the village of Karanovo.
The burial site of the Thracian aristocrat contains a number of interesting items including a silver treasure of vessels and artifa
Source: Google News
November 3, 2009
TIRANA, Albania — Pieces of a British destroyer that was badly damaged by Albanian mines in 1946, straining relations between the two countries for decades, appear to have been discovered in a waterway near Greece, U.S. and Albanian researchers said Monday.
The wreckage was found 50 yards (meters) under water in the Corfu Channel between the Albanian mainland and the Greek island of Corfu. It is believed to be a section of the bow of the British destroyer HMS Volage, the researchers
Source: Standart
November 3, 2009
The biggest gold treasure in Bulgaria has been locked for 40 years. For several decades already the state authorities have been trying to discover the missing coins from the hoard, which was once a part of the treasury of Alexander the Great (336-323). The 80-kilogram weighing hoard is kept in a safe for lack of exhibition equipment. Two farmers, father and daughter discovered the fabulous riches of gold in 1968 near the Breznik village of Rezhantsi. One night, the two of them had been ploughing
Source: Thanh Nien News (Vietnam)
November 3, 2009
An ancient grave has been unearthed in the northern port city of Hai Phong.
Do Xuan Trung, an archeologist at the Hai Phong City Museum, on October 27 estimated that the grave is about 1,800 years old.
The grave was discovered at depth of more than five meters underground while a construction crew dug on the side of the Thanh Den Mountain to enlarge the Tan Phu Xuan Cement Factory...
Source: Time
November 4, 2009
Not too long ago, Ricardo Herrero was one of Miami's Cuban-American hard-liners, an ardent supporter of the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba as well as the ban on U.S. travel to the communist island. But a half-dozen trips to Cuba during this decade have changed his mind about the latter. "There are no better ambassadors of American culture and American democracy than Americans themselves," says Herrero, 31. Many fellow Cuban Americans who've traveled there, he adds, have come to the sa
Source: Time
November 4, 2009
For decades, the French considered it taboo to question whether immigration and foreign influences were diluting France's social and cultural character. Indeed, the topic was considered so toxic that no one in France besides extreme-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen would even take it up in public. But times have changed. Twenty years after Le Pen's National Front Party (FN) became a political force in France, its view that immigration is threatening the French national identity is starting to gain
Source: Lee P Ruddin
November 4, 2009
Plans for a new Civil War heritage trail were endorsed by the city’s Lord Mayor last night.
“It is great news that the Lord Mayor will be helping to ensure Liverpool’s roles in the Sesquicentennial are successful,” Tom Sebrell said shortly after his meeting with Mike Storey.
American born and London-based historian Tom, who is about to receive his PhD, is currently writing the material for walks and bus (possibly even ferry) tours in 2011 and beyond.
To
Source: m.knoxnews.com
November 3, 2009
COKER CREEK, Tenn. - It has been more than 170 years since the dark days of the Cherokees' forced removal from their lands in Tennessee, Georgia and the Carolinas.
Twenty-nine forts were used by the U.S. government to gather and temporarily house the migrating Cherokee, along with their families and slaves.
Cities with names like Hayesville and Murphy in North Carolina, Calhoun in Georgia, Charleston in Tennessee, and Fort Payne in Alabama have been built over most of t
Source: Guardian (UK)
November 4, 2009
A threat that a rich personal archive of Siegfried Sassoon's journals, poems and letters would be broken up or sold to the US appears to have been lifted, it will be announced today.
The National Heritage Memorial Fund will say it is awarding £550,000 to Cambridge University's campaign to buy the war poet's literary archive. That means the university is just £110,000 short of the £1.25m needed to secure it from the Sassoon estate.
The news, due to be announced at the Ho
Source: Telegraph (UK)
November 4, 2009
The astonishing photo shows Nazi supporters saluting a procession through the heart of London, as Hitler's troops carry a coffin draped in the swastika flag.
Taken in 1936, the scene shows the funeral procession of German ambassador Leopold von Hoesch who was carried through Whitehall, in sight of Buckingham Palace, before being transferred to a gun carriage and transported down The Mall.
The black and white picture, seemingly Britain's worst nightmare, was shot three y
Source: The Independent
November 3, 2009
Workers uncovered a young Irishman's grave in New York's Greenwich Village more than 200 years after he died.
Now authorities are determined to solve the mystery of the life and death of the Co Kildare man.
New York City Dept of Parks and Recreation workers expected to find unidentified bones when they dug below the city's Washington Square Park -- more than 20,000 people are believed to be buried in the former graveyard. But they discovered the 210-year-old 3ft-high sa
Source: BBC
November 4, 2009
An Iron Age treasure hoard unearthed by a metal-detecting amateur has been unveiled.
The four gold Iron Age neck ornaments, or torcs, date from between the 1st and 3rd Century BC and are said to be worth an estimated £1m.
They were discovered in September by "first-time" metal-detector enthusiast David Booth in a field in Stirlingshire.
The find is the most important hoard of Iron Age gold in Scotland to date.
Source: Yahoo News
November 4, 2009
GUANGZHOU, China – President Barack Obama's half brother has broken his media silence to discuss his new novel — the semi-autobiographical story of an abusive parent patterned on their late father, the mostly absent figure Obama wrote about in his own memoir.
In his first interview, Mark Ndesandjo told The Associated Press that he wrote "Nairobi to Shenzhen" in part to raise awareness of domestic violence.
"My father beat my mother and my father beat me,
Source: BBC
November 2, 2009
An epic movie about Islam's Prophet Muhammad is in the pipeline, backed by a producer of the Lord of the Rings.
American Barrie Osborne, who also produced The Matrix, told Reuters the film would be an "international epic" aimed at "bridging cultures".
In accordance with Islamic rules, the Prophet cannot be depicted on screen. Images of the Prophet are considered blasphemous by Muslims.
Source: BBC
November 4, 2009
The international war crimes tribunal's chief prosecutor is due to visit Serbia to gauge the country's progress hunting for its two remaining war fugitives.
Serge Brammertz will spend two days in Belgrade before submitting a report to the UN Security Council.
His comments on how Serbia is co-operating with the tribunal will be key to its ambitions for EU membership.
