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: NYT
September 5, 2009
BAULER, Germany — At the start of the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944, an American bomber was shot down by German fighter planes and sent into a fiery, nose-first crash in a cow pasture here. The pilot’s body was never found.
Almost 65 years later, on a recent late summer day, a 10-member Defense Department team was in the same pasture, searching through mounds of excavated mud for a trace of the airman. The group had already unearthed shreds of a parachute and part of a leathe
Source: USA Today
September 3, 2009
Archaeologists have long been puzzled by a 1-million-year pause between when early humans started making sophisticated hand axes with two-faced blades in Africa 1.5 million years ago and when the technology finally got to Europe.
But new research is showing that advanced Stone Age tools got to Europe close to the time they reached other sites outside of Africa.
In a letter published today in Nature, two archaeologists have shown that axes from southeastern Spain are fro
Source: Scotsman
September 3, 2009
THE archaeological dig that resulted in the discovery of the earliest representation of a human face and body ever found in Scotland is to be extended in the hope of unearthing more significant treasures.
Last month, archaeologists working on excavations at the Links of Noltland – one of Orkney's richest ancient sites – found a tiny sandstone figurine buried in the mud. The face and its lozenge-shaped body, measuring just 3.5 x 3cm, had been carved on Westray between 4,500 and 5,000
Source: BBC
September 6, 2009
The last letter ever written by Mary Queen of Scots is to go on display for the first time in 30 years.
The 422-year-old manuscript - written six hours before her execution - will go on show at the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh on 15 September.
The letter, which will be displayed for seven days, was written on 8 February, 1587 to the King of France, Henri III.
The Catholic Queen told her brother-in-law she would die a religious martyr and not
Source: BBC
September 6, 2009
Gordon Brown has confirmed the UK will support compensation claims being made against Libya by IRA victims' families.
The government has been criticised for its closer ties with Libya by victims of the IRA, which was supplied with explosives by Tripoli.
Mr Brown insisted his government's priority had been to ensure Libya renounced terror and nuclear weapons.
Opposition MPs said the prime minister's "U-turn" undermined his authority and made Brit
Source: Telegraph (UK)
September 6, 2009
The distributors of a film that refers to Benito Mussolini's granddaughter as a "bitch who wants to kill all the Romanians" have agreed to cancel screenings pending a court decision on her complaint.
Francesca, about a Romanian who dreams of moving to Italy to open a kindergarten, screened twice at the Venice film festival and was to have been shown in public cinemas in the area on Sunday and Monday.
Alessandra Mussolini, 45, lodged a complaint last week over
Source: Foxnews
September 5, 2009
Trade and oil considerations played a big part in the decision to include the Lockerbie bomber in a prisoner transfer agreement between Britain and Libya, a senior British official said in an interview published Saturday.
Justice Secretary Jack Straw said trade, particularly a deal for oil company BP PLC, was "a very big part" of the 2007 negotiations that led to the prisoner deal. The agreement was part of a wider warming of relations between London and Tripoli.
Source: NYT
September 4, 2009
The Brooklyn Navy Yard, a historical gem on Flushing Avenue known for its shipbuilding, offers a glimpse of life and work in our nation during times of conflict.
On Thursday afternoon about 30 people gathered in Fort Greene for a bus tour of the Navy Yard, going past its gates and back in time to learn its place in American history — and hear plans for its future.
Sponsored by the Fort Greene Park Conservancy, the expedition was a two-part event: a tour of the Navy Yard
Source: NYT
September 4, 2009
The victim: John Colman.
Not much is known about him, much less about his murder. His body was hastily buried and has never been found. A weapon was recovered, but it vanished. The only account of the crime is secondhand, pieced together from a few witnesses, some of whom might have harbored a grudge. The chief suspects were singled out because of racial profiling but were never questioned. No one was ever prosecuted.
It was on Sept. 6, 1609 — 400 years ago Sunday — whe
Source: Drudge Report
September 5, 2009
A new public safety commercial for a German AIDS charity depicts a woman having sex with a man who turns out to be Adolf Hitler. "AIDS is a mass murderer," the tagline reads. "Protect yourself!"
Related article...Adolf Hitler sex video condemned by Aids charities
Source: MailOnline (Daily Mail UK)
September 4, 2009
Take a stroll along the bank of the Thames by the City of London at low tide and, chances are, you'll see a man prodding around in the mud with an old garden fork and a spade.
Occasionally, you'll see him scoop out a gunge-covered scrap and gently lay it in his bucket.
Harmless eccentric, you might think, but you'd be wrong. Sometimes, the Thames reveals some extraordinary oddities.
Most recently, it was a 17th century prisoner's ball and chain, discovered
Source: MSNBC
September 4, 2009
LONDON - A vintage train carrying Holocaust survivors pulled into London on Friday, ending a three-day trip across Europe that marked the 70th anniversary of their extraordinary rescue by a young British stockbroker.
Waiting to greet them at London's Liverpool Street Station was Sir Nicholas Winton, 100, who organized the rail"kindertransports" that carried hundreds of mostly Jewish children from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia to safety in 1939.
The steam train carried 17
Source: Politico
September 3, 2009
Pat Buchanan has received a lot of criticism recently for his column marking the 70th anniversary of the Nazi invasion of Poland, where the conservative pundit questions whether Hitler has gotten a bum rap.
By extension, MSNBC, where Buchanan is a commentator, has taken heat for promoting the column on its website. In the revisionist piece -- "Did Hitler Want War?" -- Buchanan argues that other countries, such as Poland, should be held responsible for the invasion, and lat
Source: NYT
September 4, 2009
In a demonstration of the complex layer cake that is the body politic of California, one of the most contentious pieces of legislation before Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger would set aside a day of recognition for Harvey Milk, the openly gay San Francisco politician assassinated in 1978.
The bill, which would designate Milk’s birthday, May 22, a day of “special significance,” was passed by both houses of the Democratic-controlled Legislature this week and immediately drew a news confere
Source: BBC
September 4, 2009
A train carrying evacuees who escaped the Holocaust has been met in the UK by the man who arranged their rescue ahead of the outbreak of World War II.
Sir Nicholas Winton, 100, was at London's Liverpool Street station to welcome passengers at the end of their steam train journey from Prague.
It marks the 70th anniversary of trains organised by Sir Nicholas that carried 669 mostly Jewish children to the UK.
Twenty-two of the original evacuees took part in
Source: Spiegel Online
September 4, 2009
Many of the tens of thousands of valuable artworks stolen by the Nazis are still missing today. Police are now investigating one painting that recently surfaced on Germany's version of "The Antiques Roadshow," but the show is refusing to identify the painting's owner.
It is the moment that anyone who has ever watched "Antiques Roadshow," or one of it's many imitators around the world, has dreamed of. The moment you present the old painting you found behind some s
Source: The Wall Street Journal
September 5, 2009
LONDON -- British oil giant BP PLC lobbied the U.K. in late 2007 over a controversial prisoner transfer agreement with Libya, and oil-rich Qatar lobbied Scotland on the case in June. Revelations of the efforts Friday fed speculation by opposition politicians and victims' families that the recent release of the convicted Lockerbie bomber is entangled with oil interests.
U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said the U.K. didn't pressure Scotland to free Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the Lib
Source: Sofia News Agency
September 3, 2009
The team of Bulgarian archaeologist, Professor Nikolay Ovcharov, has discovered relics of a medieval saint at the fortress of Perperikon in the Rhodoppe Mountains.
The remains of human bones were found inside one of two bronze crosses as the archaeologists were excavating two churches.
One of the crosses is larger and has an life-like image of the crucified Jesus Christ on its front, and an image of Virgin Mary praying on its back. It is dated back to 10-11th century.
Source: Time
September 4, 2009
As ancient as Herodotus' Histories, the fast-flowing waters of the Aras river today trace the Turkish-Armenian border, a messy 20th century creation of broken bridges and shuttered rail tracks. In the shadow of snow-topped Mount Ararat, the river splits and narrows until it divides the verdant villages of Halikisla, on the Turkish side, and Bagaran, in Armenia. Once one, the villages are now separated by a stretch of water little wider than a double bed. Residents never meet, except to cast for
Source: CNN
September 4, 2009
An archaeological dig in Jerusalem has turned up a 3,700-year-old wall that is the largest and oldest of its kind found in the region, experts say.
Standing 8 meters (26 feet) high, the wall of huge cut stones is a marvel to archaeologists.
It was found inside the City of David, an archaeological excavation site outside the Old City of East Jerusalem on a slope of the Silwan Valley.
The wall is believed to have been built by the Canaanites, an ancient pagan
