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: The Daily Telegraph (Australia)
April 11, 2006
The first bodies of the Knights Templar, the mysterious religious order at the heart of The Da Vinci Code, have been found by archaeologists near the River Jordan in northern Israel.British historian Tom Asbridge yesterday hailed the find as the first provable example of actual Knights Templar.
The remains were found beneath the ruined walls of Jacob's Ford, an overthrown castle dating back to the Crusades, which had been lost for centuries.
They ca
Source: Deutsche Presse-Agentur
April 11, 2006
International controversy has erupted over a request by Poland to officially specify that the death camp Auschwitz was built and run during the Second World War by Nazi Germany. The most notorious of Nazi death camps which claimed the lives of as many as 1.5 million people, most of them European Jews, is currently officially called the "Auschwitz Concentration Camp."
The Polish government's request to UNESCO for the name of the World Heritage Site to b
Source: Press Release -- Archivist of the United States Statement on Declassification of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Between the National Archives and Records Administration and the United States Air Force
April 10, 2006
Today the redacted “Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the National Archives and Records Administration and the United States Air Force” was released. Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein said, “I applaud the release of this document. It is an important first step in finding the balance between continuing to protect national security and protecting the right to know by the American public. This release underlines the cooperation of our Federal partn
Source: The Advertiser (Australia)
April 11, 2006
A NEW Zealand war hero broke international rules of combat by killing German soldiers in World War II while disguised as a Nazi, according to a newspaper report about a new book.
Alfred Clive Hulme was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest British and New Zealand bravery award, for his actions in the 1941 Battle of Crete, where he killed 33 German snipers and other soldiers while dressed in a German paratrooper's smock, historian Glyn Harper writes in his book, In the Face of the
December 31, 2069
The Organization of American Historians has decided to stop funding Talking History at the end of June. The decision apparently will kill the eight year old show that featured interviews with historians. The OAH is dealing with a large deficit as a result of last year's decision to switch its annual convention to San Jose after a hotel labor dispute in San Francisco. The show's host, Bryan LeBeau, has recently been the subject of unfavorable headlines after he was charged with plagiarism. La
Source: LAT
April 11, 2006
As the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace readies itself for a shift into federal hands, the National Archives announced Monday that it had selected a Cold War historian and expert on presidential recordings as the library's first federal director.
Timothy Naftali will oversee the controversial library's metamorphosis into a federal institution, which is expected to house a vast archive of material from the Nixon White House that the federal government has for years refused to t
Source: The Daily Telegraph
April 11, 2006
THE prune's contribution to Allied victory over Nazi Germany has hitherto been passed over by historians, but all that is set to change. An extraordinary collection of materials used to help prisoners of war and French Resistance fighters in occupied Europe is to go under the hammer later this month. It includes two prunes of the original thousands used by the Special Operations Executive, Churchill's secret army of undercover agents, to smuggle miniature documents into PoW camps.
T
Source: Slate & frontpagemag.com
April 11, 2006
In the late 1980s, the Iraqi representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency—Iraq's senior public envoy for nuclear matters, in effect—was a man named Wissam al-Zahawie. After the Kuwait war in 1991, when Rolf Ekeus arrived in Baghdad to begin the inspection and disarmament work of UNSCOM, he was greeted by Zahawie, who told him in a bitter manner that "now that you have come to take away our assets," the two men could no longer be friends. (They had known each other in earlie
Source: Science Now
April 10, 2006
Italian researchers in Iraq claim to have stumbled upon an important cache of ancient clay tablets in one of the world's oldest cities. But others dispute the claim, and Iraqi authorities say the scientists have been acting illegally.No archaeologist has been given permission to do excavations since the U.S. invasion in March 2003 toppled Saddam Hussein. But last month, Italy's National Research Council announced that it had discovered some 500 rare tablets on the surface of
Source: History Today
April 11, 2006
Scientists have begun work on a new restoration programme of the Great Sphinx at Giza, Egypt. The work will focus on the head and the chest of the statue, which have suffered extensive damage through sand erosion and desert winds. The Supreme Council of Antiquities, who is carrying out the work, said that this programme will repair damage caused by earlier renovations, which used cement to reconstruct the statue. “When you put cement on its body, it stops the breathing of th
Source: Cultural Heritage News Agency
April 10, 2006
Archeological excavations in area no. 73 of Bolaghi Gorge historical site with the aim of finding cultural evidence from the fourth millennium BC led to the discovery of the remains of a big construction belonging to the Achaemenid era.
“Prior to this discovery, the remains of an Achaemenid architectural style was found by Iranian-Italian joint team in area no. 73 of Bolaghi Gorge, but the discovery of the remains of clay ovens belonging to the fourth millennium BC headed us to thi
Source: scotsman.com
April 10, 2006
"CRUDE, boorish and slow- witted" - even dictionaries give Neanderthals a hard time. But our prehistoric cousins were in reality just as smart as we are and did not die out as a result of a lack of brain power, according to a new archaeological study.
Until now, the leading theory of why the Neanderthals disappeared has been that a lack of intelligence meant they were less efficient hunters. But a team of US archaeologists believe they met their
Source: BBC
April 10, 2006
Four-hundred years old this week, the union jack is one of the world's oldest national flags... if you overlook the fact it's only meant to be flown at sea, the proportions are wrong and no one can agree on its name.
Its striking red, white and blue design harks back to a time when Britannia ruled the waves, but the history of the union jack is as tangled as all the mothballed bunting it decorates.
It is a story about custom over clarity, assumption over assertion, an
Source: BBC
April 11, 2006
A female secret service agent has been honoured by the Royal Air Force - 63 years after first complaining at the "injustice" of not getting her "wings".
Pearl Cornioley, formerly Witherington, became the leader of 1,500 French freedom fighters during World War II.
She was recommended for the Military Cross but, as a woman, was not allowed to receive it. She turned down an MBE, saying it was a "civil decoration".
Source: Albuquerque Journal,
April 9, 2006
Years before the vice president accidentally shot a lawyer on a Texas quail hunt, Cheney himself was on the receiving end of an errant shotgun blast during a quail outing in New Mexico, a prominent Carlsbad Republican says.
Carlsbad Mayor Bob Forrest told the Journal he doesn't know for sure who fired the shot that accidentally peppered Cheney with shotgun pellets during the late-1990s hunt that included himself, his twin brother, and Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M.
But the senator
Source: NYT
April 10, 2006
The Boeing Co. and the Smithsonian Institution announced this morning that the aviation giant is giving $15 million to the National Air and Space Museum.
The gift, the largest corporate gift in Smithsonian history, will go to the planned expansion of the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, the Virginia annex of the main museum on the National Mall. The center, which opened in December 2003, cost $311 million--including the cost of the expansion. With the Boeing money, the museum still has
Source: NYT
April 11, 2006
One hundred years ago next Tuesday, the San Andreas fault off San Francisco broke, setting off the earthquake that made clear the seismic perils facing West Coast cities.
The scientific repercussions continue, as researchers still look to data from the 1906 earthquake — which released 30 times as much energy as the 1989 Loma Prieta quake — to prepare for the next great one. Last month, results of two years of computer simulations recreating the groun
Source: NYT
April 8, 2006
When Robert Halmi Sr. began developing a new version of the 1956 movie classic "The Ten Commandments" as a mini-series for the ABC network, there was just one source of disagreement. Unfortunately, it concerned the production's pivotal scene: the parting of the Red Sea.
Mr. Halmi, the executive producer, initially considered dropping the sea split altogether. He never cared for the tidy swath Cecil B. DeMille's Moses carved through the water, which he likened to a "pa
Source: NYT
April 10, 2006
Mr. Hussein's first trial, in which he has now admitted ordering the execution of 148 men and boys from the Shiite village of Dujail to punish an assassination attempt, is now moving toward its final stage. If he is convicted and draws the expected death sentence, the genocide trial may never take place. That would be perverse.
The Dujail trial has been far too flawed to stand as Mr. Hussein's ultimate reckoning with the law. And the Kurds have had to wait far too long for the full
Source: NYT
April 10, 2006
For Jacob G. Zuma, a charismatic figure of South Africa's liberation struggle, the last year has been a series of shocks: fired as deputy president, ousted as the front-runner to succeed President Thabo Mbeki, indicted on bribery charges, and, most recently, put on trial on charges of raping the daughter of a family friend.
Now Mr. Zuma has begun to fight back. And it is his critics' turn to be shocked.Taking the stand for the first time
