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: Reuters
December 6, 2006
As Christmas nears, Austrian children hoping
for gifts from Santa Claus will also be watching warily for"Krampus", his
horned and hairy sidekick.
In folklore, Krampus was a devil-like figure who drove away evil spirits
during the Christian holiday season.
Traditionally, he appeared alongside Santa around December 6, the feast of
St. Nicholas, and the two are still part of festivities in many parts of
central Europe.
But these traditions came under the spotlight in Austria
Source: Reuters
December 6, 2006
Fighting serious illnesses in their old age,
Cold War icons Fidel Castro of Cuba and Augusto Pinochet of Chile are
united in stubborn adherence to their opposing and now largely
unfashionable ideologies.
In Havana 80-year-old Castro, leader of Cuba for more than four decades,
handed power to his brother on July 31 after an operation and has not
reappeared in public. Despite official denials, many Cubans believe he is
terminally ill.
Pinochet, 91, military leader of Chile from 1
Source: NYT
December 5, 2006
A new explanation for the demise of the Neanderthals, the stockily built human species that occupied Europe until the arrival of modern humans 45,000 years ago, has been proposed by two anthropologists at the University of Arizona.
Unlike modern humans, who had developed a versatile division of labor between men and women, the entire Neanderthal population seems to have been engaged in a single main occupation, the hunting of large game, the scientists, Steven L. Kuhn and Mary C. St
Source: NY Times
December 6, 2006
As in many of the other former concentration camps dotted across Europe, there is little left to indicate the horror that took place here. Green fields and avenues of trees have grown up where barracks and workshops used to stand; poplars sway gracefully next to the languid Sava River, which skirts the camp.But Jasenovac has a doubly haunted history. Not only were thousands of people savagely killed here, but for decades their deaths were exploited for political purposes.
Source: HNN Staff
December 3, 2006
The Washington Post asked four historians to rank President Bush. Eric Foner says flat out that Bush is"the worst ever."
David Greenberg says that Nixon is still the worst but Bush's record is certainly comparable.
Source: Boston Globe
December 3, 2006
In July 1987, then-Rep. Dick Cheney, the top Republican on the committee investigating the Iran-Contra scandal, turned on his hearing room microphone and delivered, in his characteristically measured tone, a revolutionary claim.
President Ronald Reagan and his top aides, he asserted, were free to ignore a 1982 law at the center of the scandal. Known as the Boland Amendment, it banned U.S. assistance to anti-Marxist militants in Nicaragua.
"I personally do not belie
Source: http://www.dunndailyrecord.com
November 24, 2006
A son whose father was a Pearl Harbor survivor is making sure the attack will not only live in infamy, but live in the minds of the many who are too young to remember World War II.
Brad Williams, whose father was born and raised in Coats, has organized the commemorative event "Pearl Harbor Attack - The Day Of Infamy Remembered" to be held Saturday at the state capitol building in Raleigh. The event is free and begins at 10 a.m.
Mr. Williams' mission is to keep
Source: http://www.newsobserver.com
December 3, 2006
Zenji Abe plans to make one last trip to Hawaii to remember Pearl Harbor this Dec. 7.
But there is a major difference between him and the other Pearl Harbor survivors gathering in Honolulu for what may be their final reunion.
Abe was on the other side.
A longtime Tokyo resident, Abe is one of the very last of the Japanese survivors from the Dec. 7, 1941, raid on the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. Only a handful of the 751 aviators remain.
For pe
Source: BBC
December 5, 2006
The man who later became Pope John XXIII tried in vain to challenge the Vatican's perceived indifference to the Nazi Holocaust, a new study has found.
Papers and diaries show then Archbishop Giuseppe Roncalli posted an urgent telegram in 1944 to Pope Pius XII on the atrocities at Auschwitz.
The telegram's date contradicts the Vatican's official version of when it received a report.
The new insight comes from the papers of a Jewish emissary, Haim Barlas.
Source: Yahoo
December 3, 2006
Famed paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey is giving no quarter to powerful evangelical church leaders who are pressing Kenya's national museum to relegate to a back room its world-famous collection of hominid fossils showing the evolution of humans' early ancestors.
Leakey called the churches' plans"the most outrageous comments I have ever heard."
He told The Daily Telegraph (London):"The National Museums of Kenya should be extremely strong in presenting a very forceful case for the
Source: WaPo
December 5, 2006
MONTREAL -- "Oh, tabernacle!" The man swore in French as a car splashed through a puddle, sending water onto his pants. He could never be quoted in the papers here. It is too profane.
So are other angry oaths that sound innocuous in English: chalice, host, baptism. In French-speaking Quebec, swearing sounds like an inventory being taken at a church.
English-speaking Canadians use profanities that would be well understood in the United States, many of them scat
Source: livescience.com
December 4, 2006
Neanderthals suffered periods of starvation and may have supplemented their diet through cannibalism, according to a study of remains from northwest Spain.
Paleobiologists studied samples from eight 43,000-year-old Neanderthal skeletons excavated from an underground cave in El Sidrón, Spain since 2000. The study sheds light on how Neanderthals lived before the arrival of modern humans in Europe.
Researchers found cut marks and evidence that bones had been torn apart, wh
Source: Yahoo
December 4, 2006
Two years ago, a rich and ancient trove of some of Afghanistan's most treasured archaeological artefacts was rediscovered after lying hidden and feared lost through years of war and instability.
Illustrating about 2,000 years of Afghan history, the items were believed stolen or destroyed as the turbulent country emerged from civil strife and the 2001 fall of the hardline Taliban regime.
Now, a collection of 220 of the objects, which include major ivory, bronze and glass
Source: AP
December 4, 2006
The parents of two students threatened with suspension for donning buttons depicting Hitler youth are suing, claiming the boys' free speech rights were violated.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court on Friday, seeks to bar the Bayonne school district from suspending or disciplining seventh-grader Anthony LaRocco and fifth-grader Michael DePinto if they wear the protest buttons.
The buttons, which were made to protest a mandatory uniform policy for grades K-8 adopted in
Source: BBC
December 5, 2006
A witness says his testimony was distorted by a French inquiry which accused Rwandan President Paul Kagame of killing his predecessor.
Former Rwandan soldier Emmanuel Ruzigana denies admitting to being part of a group that assassinated the president, reports a French newspaper.
Earlier, Mr Kagame accused France of "bullying" his country after a judge issued arrest warrants for his aides.
Rwanda has cut off diplomatic relations with France ov
Source: Observer
December 3, 2006
Vivacious, flirtatious and yet serious-minded, Mary Hamilton first created waves in the court of George III when she was appointed to help look after his six daughters in the royal nursery.
A niece of Emma, Lady Hamilton, the famous mistress of Lord Nelson, her alluring looks quickly drew her to the attention of the teenage Prince Regent, later to become King George IV. In spite of the fact that Mary Hamilton was six years his senior, the infatuated youth sent her 78 passionate let
Source: AP
December 5, 2006
The Pulitzer Prize board will consider changing its records to recognize a photographer who is now credited with taking a Pulitzer-winning picture of a 1979 Iranian execution, the administrator said Monday.
Sig Gissler said the board had the matter under review, following a Wall Street Journal story on Saturday that identified the photographer as Jahangir Razmi.
The "evidence in the story appears clear and convincing," Gissler said.
The photo
Source: Miami Herald
December 4, 2006
The rare, attention-grabbing stamp found on the envelope of a Broward County absentee ballot has officially been declared a fake.
Two independent stamp organizations examined the Inverted Jenny stamp in person today. Representatives from both the Pennsylvania-based American Philatelic Society and the California-based Professional Stamp Experts agreed the Broward stamp was a copy of the actual World War I-era stamp.
The forged stamp has several differences from a real In
Source: Reuters
December 5, 2006
A Chinese company that had sought to build a highway
through the Great Wall paid a fine for damaging the structure Sunday, days
after new penalties were enacted to protect China's most famous tourist
attraction, state media reported.
Hongji Landbridge Investment Development Inc. paid 500,000 yuan ($63,800)
in penalties for deliberately damaging a section of the Great Wall in
Inner Mongolia as part of an unauthorized road project, the official
Xinhua news agency reported.
The co
Source: History Today (subscription only)
December 1, 2006
Google Earth (http://earth.google.com) is a fantastic free tool which allows you to explore the globe from your home computer. Download the software onto your computer and within seconds you can find yourself touring the planet at high altitude, zooming in and out of countries, towns and even streets; examining the terrain, adding your own overlay maps and constructing virtual ‘flyover’ tours of selected locations. This software has obvious applications in
