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
March 11, 2009
Aziz had denied any role in the summary trials of the men accused in 1992 of profiteering during economic sanctions.
Two of Saddam Hussein's half-brothers were also found guilty and sentenced to death by a court in Baghdad.
Another top official, Ali Hassan al-Majid - commonly known as Chemical Ali - was jailed for 15 years.
Two other Iraqi officials were jailed for six and 15 years, while a former governor of the Iraqi central bank was acquitted, reports
Source: http://www.capemaycountyherald.com
March 8, 2009
As the nation prepares to celebrate Women’s History Month in March, New Jersey women past and present give visitors and residents plenty of reasons to explore the contributions of the Garden State’s fabulous females – while exploring New Jersey.
“From historically important women to pioneering female sports figures, New Jersey has a rich history of groundbreaking women residents,” notes New Jersey Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells. “Our state – and in fact, the nation – continu
Source: Boston Globe
March 8, 2009
In Boston, history is always just below the surface. And in Charlestown, underneath a row of genteel gardens, in the middle of a teeming city, is believed to be a mass grave containing the bones of possibly dozens of British soldiers killed in one of the most important battles in American history.
The site, part of the sprawling Bunker Hill battlefield, has been pinpointed by a curator from Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia and a Charlestown historian who are confident they know whe
Source: AP
March 1, 2009
When archaeologists on a dig in southern Portugal last year flipped over a heavy chunk of slate and saw writing not used for more than 2,500 years, they were elated.
The enigmatic pattern of inscribed symbols curled symmetrically around the upper part of the rough-edged, yellowish stone tablet and coiled into the middle in a decorative style typical of an extinct Iberian language called Southwest Script.
"We didn't break into applause, but almost," says Amilc
Source: http://www.israelnationalnews.com
March 11, 2009
How did humans living in the third millennium BCE manage to find sufficient quantities of meat in the arid desert regions? A new study of the "desert kites" that are spread across the expanses of Israel's Negev and Arava desert region, carried out by researchers from the University of Haifa, unearths the answer to this riddle.
Already in the early 20th century, British pilots flying over the Middle Eastern deserts identified strange forms spreading over hundreds of meters,
Source: Salt Lake Tribune
March 3, 2009
Tomorrow's commuter trains and a railside development could rob Utahns of a full understanding of their state's ancient past if the Legislature allows construction on the site of a buried village in Draper, archaeologists say.
It's a site where a preliminary dig in 2007 found tantalizing evidence that archaic American Indians up to 3,000 years ago were farming and cooking corn -- hundreds of years before modern scientists previously believed farming had reached the Great Basin."It could resh
Source: Columbus Dispatch
March 3, 2009
The idea that a comet blasted into eastern North America about 10,900 years ago has been receiving a lot of media attention lately.
The explosion, which is said to have been equivalent to a 100-million-megaton bomb, supposedly caused the extinction of the giant mammals of the ice age as well as the people who lived then.
R.B. Firestone of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and numerous co-authors presented the basic argument in an article in the Proceedings of th
Source: http://www.heritageaction.org
March 4, 2009
"LOUGH GUR, one of Europe's most important archaeological sites and located in Co Limerick, could soon be awarded world heritage status."
One of Ireland's most important archaeological sites, Lough Gur, has been put on the tentative list of World Heritage sites. The application was made by Limerick County Council. The Lough Gur site dates back to the Neolithic period and there are many megalithic remains beside the lake. It boasts the largest stone circle in Ireland at Gra
Source: Spiegel Online
March 9, 2009
Erika Steinbach is a hated figure in Poland. She has dedicated her career to documenting the suffering of Germans expelled from Eastern Europe following World War II. SPIEGEL ONLINE spoke to her about the most recent flare up in Berlin-Warsaw relations and about what Poles must still learn about history.
Source: Telegraph (UK)
March 10, 2009
A prostitute who campaigned for the rights of sex workers has been honoured with a burial plot in the same cemetery where Protestantism's John Calvin is buried, sparking criticism from women's rights activists.
Griselidis Real, who died in 2005, was buried on Monday at the Cemetery of the Kings, which is reserved for individuals that have profoundly marked Swiss or international history. Argentinian writer Jose Luis Borges and child psychologist Jean Piaget are among the luminaries
Source: WSJ
March 10, 2009
The Supreme Court narrowed the reach of the Voting Rights Act, ruling that a measure aimed at helping minorities elect their preferred candidates only applies in electoral districts where minorities number more than 50% of the voting-age population.
The decision could make it harder for some minority candidates to win election and for Southern Democrats, in particular, to draw friendly electoral boundaries after the 2010 Census.
Source: NYT
March 9, 2009
The five detainees at Guantánamo Bay charged with planning the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks have filed a document with the military commission at the United States naval base there expressing pride at their accomplishment and accepting full responsibility for the killing of nearly 3,000 people.
Source: AP
March 10, 2009
Paramilitary police and soldiers swarmed cities and villages in Tibet and restive western China on Tuesday, on the alert for possible unrest on the 50th anniversary of the failed uprising that sent the Dalai Lama into exile.
China sought to head off trouble on the anniversary of the 1959 abortive Tibetan revolt against Beijing's rule and a peaceful commemoration last year that spiraled into violent demonstrations by Tibetans. Troops have poured into Tibet and Tibetan communities in surrou
Source: AP
March 10, 2009
WASHINGTON -– A collector believes a photograph from a private album of Civil War Gen. Ulysses S. Grant shows President Abraham Lincoln in front of the White House and could be the last image taken of him before he was assassinated in 1865.
If it is indeed Lincoln, it would be the only known photo of the 16th president in front of the executive mansion and a rare find, as only about 130 photos of him are known to exist. A copy of the image was provided to The Associated Press.
Source: BBC News
March 9, 2009
Archaeologists believe they have unearthed the remains of Shakespeare's first theatre, the BBC has learned.
A team from the Museum of London found the remains of the theatre in Shoreditch last summer.
Built in 1576, it is thought the Bard acted there and that it also hosted the premiere of Romeo and Juliet...
Taryn Nixon, from the Museum of London, said her team had found part of the original curved wall of the playhouse, which was believed to be polygonal
Source: AP
March 9, 2009
LONDON — The Bard, or not the Bard? That is the question posed by Monday's unveiling of a centuries-old portrait of a dark-eyed, handsome man in Elizabethan finery.
Experts say it is the only portrait of William Shakespeare painted during his lifetime — in effect, the sole source of our knowledge of what the great man looked like.
But they can't be certain. In the shifting sands of Shakespeare scholarship, where even the authorship of the plays is sometimes disputed, no
Source: AP
March 10, 2009
WASHINGTON –- For nearly 150 years, a story has circulated about a hidden Civil War message engraved inside Abraham Lincoln's pocket watch. On Tuesday, museum curators confirmed it was true. A watchmaker used tiny tools to carefully pry open the antique watch at the National Museum of American History, and a descendant of the engraver read aloud the message from a metal plate underneath the watch face.
"April 13 - 1861," the first line reads, "Fort Sumpter (sic) was a
Source: AFP
February 27, 2009
Irish archaeologists excavating a prehistoric tomb north of Dublin
have discovered that ancient 'vandals' left graffiti on the stonework,
Environment Minister John Gormley said. Scientists have been working
for almost 40 years to unlock the secrets of the megalithic tomb of
Knowth in County Meath, believed to date back to about 3 000 BCE.
Gormley said that the names of 15 or 16 early 'vandals' who had
carved their names into the stones had been translated using ancient
Source: Newsweek
March 9, 2009
In 1930, few people thought political turmoil in Germany was the most significant event in the world—not with a global Depression underway. Only the year before, in the German national elections of 1929, Adolf Hitler had still been regarded as "something of a joke, a minor figure from a fringe far-right group" whose Nazi Party managed to win just 2.6 percent of the vote and 12 seats in the Reichstag, Liaquat Ahamed writes in his magisterial new history, "Lords of Finance." Bu
Source: The Times-Picayune (New Orleans)
March 9, 2009
Nearly 200 years ago, a ship sank in the Gulf of Mexico, about 35 miles off Louisiana's coast. It stayed, undiscovered, on the seabed, about 4,000 feet below the surface, until 2002, when a crew happened upon the wreckage while checking out a pipeline.
An expedition led by Texas A&M University found no skeletal remains and nothing to indicate the vessel's name, where it came from or how it sank. But underwater sleuths discovered plenty of artifacts, including a telescope, potte
