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: Independent (UK)
June 5, 2008
The embalmed body of the Russian revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin should be moved from its mausoleum in Red Square and given a standard burial, the former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev said yesterday.
Lenin's body has been on public display in a glass case since his death in 1924. His continuing presence in the symbolic heart of Moscow has been a source of controversy since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Lenin led the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution to found the first C
Source: Telegraph (UK)
June 4, 2008
An American tank that formed part of the 1944 D-Day invasion force was discovered buried under a street in northern France.
French bomb disposal experts were brought in to ensure the military vehicle posed no danger before it was dug out from its muddy grave in near perfect condition.
Council workers came across the M5 tank as they carried out routine repairs to the road in Chartres, 55 miles south-west of Paris.
Source: Romenesko
June 4, 2008
Matt Pressman did some measuring and found out that on May 6, 2008, there were 2,524 square inches of column space devoted to news in the New York Times, and 3,359 inches of ad space. A decade earlier, there were 5,549 square inches of ads, but only 2,188 square inches of news. "So criticize The New York Times for its bogus trend stories, questionable judgment, or occasional acts of plagiarism," he writes. "But please don't accuse it of skimping on the news."
Source: Fox News
June 4, 2008
A Cape Cod lighthouse thought to be destroyed more than 80 years ago has reappeared — in California.
Local historians for decades believed the 30-foot-tall lighthouse that once overlooked Wellfleet Harbor had been demolished in 1925.
But researchers learned the fate of the cast iron tower last year. Colleen MacNeney, whose parents have snapped pictures of every lighthouse in the country, reported the find in this month's edition of Lighthouse Digest.
MacNen
Source: AP
June 4, 2008
Madame Tussauds defended a decision to include a wax likeness of Hitler in its new museum, scheduled to open in Berlin in July. Mayor Klaus Wowereit of Berlin had urged the museum to consider carefully whether to include Hitler and, if it did, to make sure that he not be depicted as a cult figure. The museum argued that it would not make sense to ignore Hitler’s role in German history. His rule “stands for an important, though also appalling, turning point in the development of modern Europe,” t
Source: AP
June 4, 2008
To understand how Barack Obama won the
presidential primary, you have to look at what he
learned when he lost.
Obama defeated Hillary Rodham Clinton solidly in the
Iowa caucuses in January, but five days later she beat
him, painfully and unexpectedly, in New Hampshire.
That loss showed him that toppling the royal family of
Democratic politics would not come easily.
"I think this was meant to be," Obama said privately
Source: BBC
June 2, 2008
Thousands of commuters faced severe delays on the London Underground after an unexploded World War II bomb was found near a Tube station.
The bomb was found in a river at Sugar House Lane, near Bromley-by-Bow station, at about 1151 BST on Monday.
Parts of the District Line were suspended from 1640 BST to 1720 BST while the Army investigated the device.
The Hammersmith and City Line was also suspended for a short time between Barking and Whitechapel.
Source: NYT
June 3, 2008
The 2008 Democratic primary battle between Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, which concludes Tuesday with contests in Montana and South Dakota, has developed such a reliable story line that pundits can recite it in their sleep.
The first black and first woman with solid chances to win the White House have nearly split the Democratic Party, with his coalition of young voters, affluent liberals and blacks against her coalition of women, older voters, Hispanics and work
Source: Reuters
June 3, 2008
As many as one in four Britons may have ancestors who moved to Australia -- of their own free will -- in the 19th and early 20th centuries, online records show.
Despite the much-publicised transportation of criminals to Australia, most Britons who went there in the 1800s did so voluntarily, according to the records.
The names of almost nine million people who travelled to, and within, the country over almost 100 years are revealed in a database billed as one of the most
Source: AP
June 3, 2008
The searchers dug for days, ignoring blisters and sore muscles to look for remains of Japanese soldiers buried in mass graves on the Aleutian island of Attu following one of the bloodiest battles of World War II.
But old bullets and bits of barbed wire were all that emerged from beneath the grassy tundra _ until the end of the two-week mission by U.S. and Japanese representatives who traveled to the remote resting place of nearly 2,500 soldiers.
Source: Telegraph (UK)
June 3, 2008
Neolithic age men fought over women too, according to a study that provides the most ancient evidence of the lengths men will go to in the hunt for partners.
Many archaeologists have argued that women have long motivated cycles of violence and blood feuds throughout history but there has really been no solid archaeological evidence to support this view.
Now a relatively new method has been used to work out the origins of the victims tossed into a mass grave of skeletons
Source: http://www.mcclatchydc.com
June 2, 2008
On the northwest tip of Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan's Nuristan province, the inaccessible Chitral district has long been thought to be a possible refuge for Osama bin Laden. With the high peaks of the Hindu Kush range and its narrow valleys, it's easy to dodge through secret mountain routes between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Chitral is also the home of the Kalasha, a unique pagan civilization that's lived in the area for 2,000 years or more, now boxed in by an increasingly milita
Source: Todd Purdum in Vanity Fair
July 1, 2008
Old friends and longtime aides are wringing their hands over Bill Clinton’s post–White House escapades, from the dubious (and secretive) business associations to the media blowups that have bruised his wife’s campaign, to the private-jetting around with a skirt-chasing, scandal-tinged posse. Some point to Clinton’s medical traumas; others blame sheer selfishness, and the absence of anyone who can say “no.” Exploring Clintonworld, the author asks if the former president will be consumed by his ow
Source: Lincoln Caplan in the WaPo
June 1, 2008
[Lincoln Caplan, the author of "The Tenth Justice: The Solicitor General and the Rule of Law" and other books, is managing partner of SeaChange Capital Partners.]
... The Strong Man, by James Rosen, a Fox News Washington correspondent and a contributing editor to Playboy, displays wide-ranging and obsessive reporting, especially about the Watergate story. The book seeks to accomplish what a Mitchell memoir could not. It may seem strange to say that Rosen aims to vindicate
Source: AP
June 2, 2008
President Bush broke his promise to the country by refusing to fire aide Karl Rove for leaking a CIA agent's identity, said Scott McClellan, the president's chief spokesman for almost three years.
"I think the president should have stood by his word and that meant Karl should have left," McClellan said Sunday in a broadcast interview about his new tell-all book, a scathing rebuke of the White House under Bush's leadership.
McClellan now acknowledges he
Source: Independent (UK)
June 2, 2008
When Peruvian locals led Hiram Bingham to Machu Picchu in 1911, it was a discovery which would make the Yale professor famous, highly respected and richer.
Bingham went on to become a governor of Connecticut and member of the US senate, and his book on Machu Picchu became a bestseller. Such was his prominence in early 20th century archaeology, that some have speculated that Bingham was the inspiration for the character of Indiana Jones.
But Bingham's claim to be the fir
Source: NYT
June 2, 2008
To some Czechs, it was the greatest escape of the cold war. But here in central Europe, where history is often rewritten, there are many others who view the five young Czechs as reckless murderers, even though they dodged 24,000 Soviet soldiers and the East German police for 28 days through snow-covered forests to reach the freedom of West Berlin in 1953.
In October of that year, the five men battled their way across the Iron Curtain heading for the American sector of a divided Be
Source: Japan Focus
May 25, 2008
While much of Japan was enjoying the extended holiday of Golden Week this year, supporters of Article 9, the war-renouncing clause of Japan’s constitution, were hard at work. The first Global Article 9 Conference to Abolish War drew 15,000 people to its plenary session and concert outside of Tokyo on May 4th, while 7,000 gathered on May 5th to participate in a day of symposiums and workshops. The crowds far surpassed the expectations of the organizers, who hastily staged an ad hoc rally in a nea
Source: International Herald Tribune
May 28, 2008
WELLINGTON, New Zealand: The New Zealand government made a formal apology to the nation's Vietnam War veterans Wednesday for mistreatment and neglect — 36 years after they withdrew from the conflict.
Nearly 3,900 New Zealand troops were sent to fight in Vietnam — 37 were killed and 187 wounded. Since the war ended, hundreds more have suffered from or died of illnesses, particularly cancers increasingly linked to the use of the defoliant Agent Orange.
The government &quo
Source: The Anchorage Daily News
June 1, 2008
The searchers dug for days, ignoring blisters and sore muscles, to look for remains of some of the more than 2,000 Japanese soldiers buried in mass graves on the Aleutian island of Attu after a bloody World War II battle.
But old bullets and bits of barbed wire were all that emerged from beneath the grassy tundra -- until the end of the two-week mission by U.S. and Japanese representatives who traveled to the remote resting place of nearly 2,500 soldiers. On May 23, searchers struck
