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: San Francisco Chronicle
September 22, 2008
SAN FRANCISCO -- The M.H. de Young Memorial Museum's matchless collection of art from Papua New Guinea appears to be safe from the auction block for at least three months, regardless of a family's inheritance fight that threatens to have artwork seized and sold.
John Friede, the de Young Museum trustee who pledged his 4,000-piece collection to the museum in a series of deals from 2003 to 2007, said today that he has no intention of turning the artwork over to his brothers, despite a
Source: AP
September 22, 2008
Next year, the penny will be getting not just one new look but four of them, the first changes to the 1-cent coin in 50 years.
The U.S. Mint unveiled the new designs during a ceremony Monday at the Lincoln Memorial. The coin changes are part of the government's commemoration next year of the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth.
Lincoln's profile will reman on one side of the coin but the Lincoln Memorial will be replaced on the other side by the new images, with a diff
Source: Tehran Times
September 23, 2008
Ibrahim Gamard, an American psychologist along with Professor Rawan Farhadi, the former representative of Afghanistan to the UN completed the task after 22 years of work, Turkish daily Today’s Zaman reported on Monday.
Gamard in his recent visit to Konya said that he brought “The Quatrains of Rumi” to Konya to show his loyalty to Rumi and regarded this visit as an occasion to thank the 13th century Sufi poet.
The California-based Gamard indicated he was first introduc
Source: BBC
September 22, 2008
An extinct Galapagos tortoise species could walk again, scientists believe.
Writing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers report finding relatives of Geochelone elephantopus alive and well.
Cross-breeding these living tortoises might re-create the extinct species - though it could take a century.
The distribution of related tortoises between the islands was one of the pieces of evidence Charles Darwin used in formulating his the
Source: Times (UK)
September 23, 2008
They are the kind of observations that have occurred to thousands of visitors to London as they dash off a few words to the folks back home: London is a city of soaring costs, endless rain, poor food and weekend rowdiness.
Yet Luisa de Carvajal's description of life in the capital has come to light more than 400 years after she jotted down her thoughts for friends and relatives in Spain and Flanders.
Having lain in a Madrid convent, the notes have been translated into
Source: Telegraph (UK)
September 22, 2008
Andrzej Telka, a specialist in flood protection, said that the camp, which is now a museum and memorial to the millions who perished there during the Holocaust, faces the growing risk of flooding from the nearby River Vistula.
"If the unusual weather patterns we have seen continue a tragedy is going to happen," he said.
Mr Telka, who is also a former mayor of Oswiecim, the Polish town closest to camp, added that at particular risk is the section of Auschwitz-B
Source: Guardian (UK)
September 22, 2008
The last of the Neanderthals feasted on warmed mussels, baby seals and washed-up dolphins, according to fossil hunters working in ancient seaside caves in Gibraltar.
Excavations in the giant Gorham's and Vanguard caves on the Rock's eastern flank unearthed flint stone tools and remnants of seafood meals alongside the long-dead embers of hearths, which have been carbon-dated to around 28,000 years ago.
The findings suggest that Neanderthals who lived in the caves exploit
Source: Telegraph (UK)
September 22, 2008
A Spanish judge probing atrocities carried out by fascist forces during the Spanish Civil War has been handed a list of 130,000 people who disappeared during the conflict and ensuing dictatorship.
The names, contained in a dozen files each the thickness of a telephone directory, were presented to Judge Balthasar Garzon on Monday afternoon in the first step towards determining whether a full blown criminal investigation can be launched.
Last month he ordered state bureau
Source: International Herald Tribune
September 21, 2008
For most Vietnamese, though, McCain's story is an obscure artifact of a receding history. In a week of interviews around Hanoi, neither his imprisonment nor his presidential candidacy seemed to arouse much excitement.
Vietnam's relations with the United States are on an even keel, and Vietnam has little at stake in the election.
While McCain wins points among some Vietnamese for having supported the normalization of relations with the United States in 1995, his story, f
Source: CNN
September 22, 2008
WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (CNN) -- To pick up the morning paper and see the word "recount" in a headline stirs an ominous case of déjà vu.
At issue in recent days in Palm Beach County is a local judicial race that is hardly of national note. But problems with administering the local election, and statements from county officials that some critics call confusing, if not contradictory, have some worried about the coming presidential election.
Polls showing a dead
Source: CNN
September 22, 2008
Sudan officials plan a behind-the-scenes lobbying effort at the United Nations this week to avert the prosecution of the country's longtime president on charges of genocide in Darfur.
But prospects seemed dim at a time when Sudan has shown little willingness to compromise and launched an expansive military offensive against rebels in the western Darfur region. Efforts by African countries, the tiny Gulf state of Qatar, and France to solve the crisis also have not yielded tangi
Source: http://www.womensenews.org
September 21, 2008
After Marsha and David King finished law school in Georgia in 1976 and 1977 respectively and established themselves on a solid financial footing, they started the family that they wanted.
Today, every available surface of their living room is jammed with family photos.
"When we did have children, it was incredible; it was wonderful. We were two dedicated parents; we needed every asset we had," said Marsha King, whose two daughters are now grown.
K
Source: Secrecy News, written by Steven Aftergood, is published by the Federation of American Scientists
September 22, 2008
In 1997, acting on intelligence that a Hizballah cell was preparing to
blow up the American embassy in Asuncion, Paraguay, a U.S. special forces
team reportedly flew to the scene in several giant transport planes where
it arrested the conspirators and prevented the attack.
If that episode happened as described (and it cannot readily be
confirmed), it left no traces on the public record. It"is only one of
many hidden battles" between Iran and the West, writes Israeli journalist
Rone
Source: International Herald Tribune
September 22, 2008
In a state known for bustling, exciting tourist destinations such as Waikiki and the Kilauea volcano, Kalaupapa is sacred ground, with a history of disease, suffering and isolation.
Some 8,000 people have died on this remote peninsula since the Hawaiian Kingdom started exiling leprosy patients here in 1866. Many were torn from their families and left to scrounge for shelter, clothes and food. The vast majority were buried in unmarked graves.
Today, visitor interest in
Source: BBC
September 21, 2008
Archaeologists have pinpointed the construction of Stonehenge to 2300BC - a key step to discovering how and why the mysterious edifice was built.
The radiocarbon date is said to be the most accurate yet and means the ring's original bluestones were put up 300 years later than previously thought.
The dating is the major finding from an excavation inside the henge by Profs Tim Darvill and Geoff Wainwright.
The duo found evidence suggesting Stonehenge was a ce
Source: Boston Globe
September 22, 2008
There comes a point with historic figures where everything important has been published. But the rising wave of new books about Abraham Lincoln makes clear that that point hasn't arrived yet with the 16th president.
At least 50 titles about Lincoln are due out between next month and early 2010, not counting those recently published. The number is probably unprecedented for so short a period, and the range of angles is wide. There are three complete biographies; books of essays and p
Source: http://www.fredericksburg.com
September 21, 2008
May 21, 1864: An election loomed, and America was embroiled in a war that was becoming unpopular, as it dragged on and casualties mounted.
Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant needed a victory. He had just lost 35,000 men in two weeks of intense fighting near Spotsylvania Courthouse. President Abraham Lincoln wanted to be re-elected, but as the war continued with few victories for the Union, that re-election was in jeopardy.
And the American public knew more about the horrors of
Source: Bloomberg News
September 16, 2008
The 7000-year-old mound of Pardis in the Qarchak region (Iran) is
currently being bulldozed by a factory for brick production. The
mound is located in an area owned by individuals using the earth from
the mound for producing bricks in their nearby factory. The upper
strata of the ancient site have been devastatingly damaged and ruins
of artefacts are visible nearby, said an anonymous source, who has
recently visited the site located near the city of Varamin in southern
Tehr
Source: Telegraph (UK)
September 20, 2008
The Catholic Church has been accused by a leading heritage group of failing to look after its buildings.
Dr Ian Dungavell, director of the Victorian Society, said there was widespread dismay at the Church's "intransigent" policy of closing churches, many of which have thriving congregations.
St Marie's Church in Widnes, an Italian Gothic church designed by Edward Welby Pugin, is on a list of the ten most endangered Victorian buildings in Britain, to be publish
Source: Telegraph (UK)
September 21, 2008
Taxpayers will have to foot a £1.6 million bill to buy the 0.22 acre plot from a firm of property speculators, even though its true value is just £15,000.
A judge who reluctantly ordered the council to pay the extortionate fee described the law as "utterly deplorable" .
There are now fears of a rash of similar cases in London and other cities which were bombed by the Luftwaffe.
The wrangle centres on a scrap of land measuring roughly 20 yards b
