Breaking News
Highlights
- 700-km-long Great Wall found in NW China
- Pennsylvania rep. John Murtha dies at 77
- Senate Holds, Filibusters, and the “Nuclear” Option
- Blix: Straw 'gave incorrect answers' to Iraq inquiry
- Iran cuts cultural links with British Museum over Cyrus Cylinder
- Ancient tribe becomes extinct as last member dies
- Lee Archer, Tuskegee Airman, dies at 90
- Budgets cuts for NARA, NHPRC, and NEH
- World History Looks Different When Seen Through Islamic Eyes
- Youngest World War II service casualty identified
WEEK OF FEBRUARY 8, 2010
Archaeological Findings Highlight Syria Role in Human Civilization
Falklands veteran Simon Weston: 'numbers of dead only similarity with Afghanistan'
Asian skeleton found in ruins suggests Roman Empire larger than thought
Teacher Claims He Was Fired After Complaining Muslim Pupils Called 9/11 Hijackers 'Heroes'
Khamenei: Iran Set to Deliver 'Punch' to Stun West on Anniversary
Fairfield’s Voices of Youth tells black history through music
Video shows plane with US missionaries shot down in CIA operation in Peru
Iran cuts cultural links with British Museum over Cyrus Cylinder
20 million pounds Stonehenge visitor centre criticised by Government design watchdog
WEEK OF FEBRUARY 1, 2010
Adolf Hitler took 'primitive Viagra' to have sex with Eva Braun, claims new book
How Obama's favorite theologian shaped his first year in office
College Makes Students More Liberal, but Not Smarter About Civics, Study Finds
Unemployment Insurance Borrowing Now Greater Than During 1980s Recession
50 years later, Greensboro Four get Smithsonian award for civil rights actions
World History Looks Different When Seen Through Islamic Eyes
Late night deal saves Northern Ireland power-sharing government
Pius XII feared outcry against atrocities would worsen situation
Stonehenge's secret: archaeologist uncovers evidence of encircling hedges
Terrorist Carlos the Jackal sues French channel over television drama
North Carolina Schools May Cut Chunk Out of U.S. History Lessons
African American Astronauts Seek to Add New Chapter to Black History
Howitzer’s new home: 26-ton WWII tank moved to Fort Missoula
Stanley Lucas: Europe’s oldest man celebrates 110th birthday
Gruesome murder-suicide revealed in National Portrait Gallery archive
Record £65m paid for Alberto Giacometti bronze sculpture at Sotheby's auction
U.S. Encyclopedia Apologizes for Mangling Irish Civil War History
Local folklore has it that overgrown N.C. hilltop is the real birthplace of Lincoln
Court to hear case on Walmart development at the Wilderness battlefield today
Bankruptcy Complicates National Archives Deal for Roosevelt Papers
DNA Testing on 2,000-Year-Old Bones in Italy Reveal East Asian Ancestry
Iraq inquiry: Tony Blair ‘lied’ and misled Parliament, claims Clare Short
Senators push legislation to pull funding for civilian 9/11 trial
Culpeper school officials reverse decision to stop teaching Anne Frank diary
First soldier from forgotten First World War battle laid to rest in cemetery in France
Anniversary of Islamic Revolution May Bring New Clashes in Iran
McConnell: Bush was mistaken to try terrorists in civilian court
Sit-in vet: 'Never request permission to start a revolution'
New study on Nanking fails to bridge Japan, China history divide
WEEK OF JANUARY 25, 2010
Egypt to announce results of DNA tests on King Tutankhamun on Feb. 13
Diana said she 'should never have married into a German family'
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Archaeological Findings Highlight Syria Role in Human Civilization
Source: Global Arab Network (1-30-10)
The archaeological discoveries of the excavation expeditions working at 17 archaeological sites in Aleppo city (north Syria) contribute to highlighting Aleppo's role in the human civilization during various eras.
Chairman of the Ruins Excavation Section in Aleppo Ruins and Museums Department Youssef Kanjo pointed out that the Syrian-Japanese joint expedition working in Didarieh Cave, northern Aleppo, unearthed lots of stony tools dating back to the Yabroudi civilization.
He added that excavation works included the part returned to the Musterian Civilization, as hundreds of flint and bony tools were used by the Neanderthal Man, to whom the Musterian Civilization belongs.
The Lebanese-Syrian expedition working in al-Nabi Huri, in Ephreen area, discovered the city's fence during the Byzantinean and Islamic eras. Kengo pointed out that the Syrian-Polish expedition working in Tel al-Qaramil, north Aleppo, discovered a circular bridge and number of circular adjoining houses and tombs dating back to the Bronze era.
Steak Dinners Go Back 2.5 Million Years
Source: Discovery News (2-9-10)
A new fossil skull of a bull confirms that beef has been "what's for dinner" since the dawn of humans.
The discovery of a new "missing link" species of bull dating to a million years ago in Eritrea pushes back the beef steak dinner to the very dawn of humans and cattle.
Although there is no evidence that early humans were actually herding early cattle 2.5 million years ago, the early humans and early cattle certainly shared the same landscape and beef was definitely on the menu all along, say researchers.
The telltale fossil is a skull with enormous horns that belongs to the cattle genus Bos. It has been reassembled from over a hundred shards found at a dig that also contains early human remains, said paleontologist Bienvenido Martinez-Navarro of the Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Tarragona, Spain. Martinez is the lead author of a paper reporting the discovery in the February issue of the journal Quaternary International.
7th Century village discovered near Persian Gulf
Source: http://medievalnews.blogspot.com/2010/02/7th-century-village-discovered-near.html (2-7-10)
A 7th century village has been unearthed in the eastern Saudi Arabia near the Persian Gulf, according to the country's Supreme Commission for Tourism and Antiquities.
Researchers say the village has been dated to the early Muslim era. “From the materials that we have discovered at the site, such as ceramic pottery and other artifacts, it is quite easy to ascertain the period to which they belong,” said Dr. Ali I. Al-Ghabban, deputy secretary-general for antiquities and museums.
He showed all the artifacts that have been recovered from the area so far. They include clay utensils, pottery with intricate inscriptions, a highly rusted and broken pair of scissors, seashells and iron bars.
The site is located behind the headquarters of the Eastern Province Chamber of Commerce and Industry on a parcel being developed as a contractor training center by Saudi Aramco, which holds title to the land.
Restored WWII motorboats on display at Portsmouth
Source: BBC (2-9-10)
Two boats that were used by the Allied forces in World War II have been saved from the scrapyard or sale abroad and will go on display in Portsmouth.
One of the vessels, a Royal Navy MGB81 motorboat, was used at the D-Day landings and is thought to be Britain's last surviving WWII gunboat.
The other one is an RAF rescue boat, high-speed launch 102.
Both have been restored by enthusiasts and bought with money from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and donors.
Falklands veteran Simon Weston: 'numbers of dead only similarity with Afghanistan'
Source: Telegraph (UK) (2-9-10)
Falklands veteran Simon Weston believes that the only similarity between the battle he was involved in 28 years ago and the one raging in Afghanistan today is the number of those who have now died in each.
Weston, who was left badly scarred by burns when the ship he was serving on was bombed by Argentine forces in 1982, said he and his comrades had at least faced a conventional enemy fighting the same way that they were.
By contrast, he said, those serving in Afghanistan deal with a war of attrition which sees an unseen enemy who is not afraid to die play a game of cat and mouse using deadly roadside bombs.
'War on Terror' to last as long as Cold War
Source: Telegraph (UK) (2-9-10)
The ''War on Terror'' is likely to last as long as the Cold War, a senior Government security official has warned.
Charles Farr, the head of the Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism, said that while the names of terror groups threatening the UK were likely to change, the threat itself would continue for decades.
Within ten years al-Qaeda could have been replaced by a different group with a similar ideology, he said.
His comments came in private evidence sessions with the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, extracts of which have been published
Clinton Hostage-Taker Now a Fugitive
Source: AP (2-9-10)
The man who took hostages at a Hillary Rodham Clinton presidential campaign office in 2007 cut off his electronic monitoring bracelet Tuesday, then fled, and he is considered dangerous, authorities said.
Leeland Eisenberg cut off his monitor just after 10 a.m., one day after being given a "last chance" at freedom by a judge who released him despite multiple probation violations, Strafford County Attorney Thomas Velardi said.
Velardi cautioned the public not to approach or attempt to apprehend Eisenberg if he is spotted.
Mystery Bush sign causes stir
Source: CNN (2-9-10)
A political mystery of sorts in Minnesota may have been solved.
A billboard popped up north of Minneapolis on I-35 featuring former President George W. Bush's image next to the words "Miss Me Yet?" last December. But until Tuesday it wasn't known who paid for it.
While the identities of the sign owners are still unclear, the general manager of the advertising company who owns the billboard space told Minnesota Public Radio it was financed by "a group of small business owners who feel like Washington is against them."
700-km-long Great Wall found in NW China
Source: China Daily (2-9-10)
More than 700 km of ancient Great Wall has been discovered in Gansu and Shaanxi provinces, as a result of the third national survey on cultural relics started in April, 2007 and will end in December, 2011.
"We found 15 sections with a total length of 26 km of ancient wall and three beacons built in Western Han Dynasty (206 BC - AD 24) in our county recently during the nationwide survey," said Liang Shilin, deputy director of the culture bureau and director of the Museum in Jinta county,Gansu province.
The ancient wall was built in the north part in the county and the newly discovery made the archaeologists clear the exact location and distribution of the ancient wall in the north part of the county, Liang said.
The wall was built since Warring States Period (475 - 221 BC) as a defensive way to prevent the invasion from the other states in Chinese history.
Japanese split on exposing secret Cold War pacts with U.S.
Source: NYT (2-8-10)
They were Tokyo’s worst-kept diplomatic secrets: clandestine cold war era agreements with Washington that obligated Japan to shoulder the costs of United States bases and allow nuclear-armed American ships to sail into Japanese ports.
For decades, Japanese leaders have gone to great lengths to deny the pacts’ existence, despite mounting proof to the contrary from the testimony of former diplomats and declassified documents in the United States. The most sensational instance came in 1972, when a reporter who unearthed evidence of one of the treaties was arrested on charges of obtaining state secrets, reportedly by means of an adulterous affair.
Now, the so-called secret treaties are causing problems again, this time in how Japan is handling its suddenly rocky relationship with the United States.
The new administration in Tokyo, whose election last summer ended a half-century of nearly unbroken control by the Liberal Democrats, wants to expose the treaties as a showcase of its determination to sweep aside the nation’s secretive, bureaucrat-dominated postwar order. Last fall, the foreign minister appointed a team of scholars to scour Japanese diplomatic archives for evidence of the treaties. Its findings are due this month....
Super Bowl XLIV beats out M*A*S*H finale in the ratings
Source: AP (2-8-10)
The New Orleans Saints' victory over Indianapolis in the Super Bowl was watched by more than 106 million people, surpassing the 1983 finale of "M-A-S-H" to become the most-watched program in U.S. television history, the Nielsen Co. said Monday.
Compelling story lines involving the city of New Orleans and its ongoing recovery from Hurricane Katrina and the attempt at a second Super Bowl ring for Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning propelled the viewership. Football ratings have been strong all season....
Nielsen estimated Monday that 106.5 million people watched Sunday's Super Bowl. The "M-A-S-H" record was 105.97 million.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Salvaging a Famous Rust Bucket
Source: New York Times (2-4-10)
WHAT is it about New Jersey and buried bodies? While it’s nothing new for mobster corpses to turn up in the Meadowlands, a far more curious set of remains has surfaced here, an hour west of New York City: a car buried in Oklahoma in 1957, dug up there in 2007 and then shipped to — where else? — New Jersey for cosmetic restoration.
The car, a 1957 Plymouth Belvedere, was buried in Tulsa as a vehicular time capsule to commemorate Oklahoma’s 50th birthday. The car was put into the earth with much fanfare. The city fathers, in news reports at the time, said they were proud of the care with which they buried the car, confident that it would be in good condition when disinterred 50 years later.
The Plymouth was the prize in a contest whose winner most closely guessed Tulsa’s population 50 years in the future.
Darfur rebel Abu Garda will not face ICC charges
Source: BBC (2-8-10)
The first Darfur war crimes suspect to face international judges has had the charges against him dropped.
Rebel leader Bahar Idriss Abu Garda, who gave himself up last year, had been accused of planning the killing of 12 African Union peacekeepers in 2007.
But International Criminal Court (ICC) judges ruled that there was not enough evidence to support a trial.
Last week, the ICC said charges of genocide against Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir could be resubmitted.
Asian skeleton found in ruins suggests Roman Empire larger than thought
Source: Telegraph (UK) (2-8-10)
Archeologists have discovered the 2,000-year-old skeleton of an Asian man in an ancient cemetery in Italy, suggesting that the Roman Empire's reach was far more extensive than previously thought.
Although the Romans are known to have traded for silk and exotic spices with China, it was thought that most of the commerce was conducted through intermediaries along the Silk Route and that no Chinese or other Asians entered the empire itself.
But that orthodoxy will now have to be re-examined after a team of Canadian archaeologists conducted DNA analysis on the man's bones and found that he came from East Asia.
The skeleton was excavated from a cemetery which formed part of an imperial Roman estate at Vagnari, in the province Puglia, which forms the heel of the Italian boot.
Hidden fire chokes last life from US ghost town
Source: Telegraph (UK) (2-8-10)
That is the bizarre fate of Centralia, where a vast, subterranean coal fire ignited in an accident almost 50 years ago, gradually turning the settlement, about two hours drive from Philadelphia, into a ghost town.
Of the original population of around 1,000, fewer than a dozen people remain, refusing to obey government orders to leave their homes.
Fading signs still mark Plum Street, or Apple, or Grape. There are telephone poles, street lamps, and graveyards - four of them.
But there are almost no homes. Bare grass lines the crumbling sidewalks. Sometimes a few steps ending in thin air betray where a house stood before being torn down.
Teacher Claims He Was Fired After Complaining Muslim Pupils Called 9/11 Hijackers 'Heroes'
Source: Fox News (2-8-10)
A British teacher was fired from his job after complaining that some of his Muslim students were celebrating the Sept. 11 hijackers as "heroes," the Daily Mail reported.
Nicholas Kafouris, 40, who taught at East London's Bigland Green Primary School for 12 years, is suing the school for racial discrimination after he was allegedly forced from his post because he would not tolerate the remarks of his students.
Kafouris claims members of his class, some as young as eight years old, openly praised Islamic extremists in his classroom, hailing the terrorists behind the attacks of Sept. 11 as "martyrs," the Daily Mail reported.
Khamenei: Iran Set to Deliver 'Punch' to Stun West on Anniversary
Source: Fox News (2-8-10)
Iran's Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday that Iran is set to deliver a "punch" that will stun world powers during this week's 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution, AFP reported.
The country's top cleric was marking the occasion when Iran's air force gave its support to revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a key event which led to the toppling of the U.S.-backed shah on February 11, 1979.
This year's anniversary is expected to become a flashpoint between security forces and supporters of opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who charge that the June re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was rigged.
World War II-era navigation system shutting down
Source: CNN (2-8-10)
In a series of small ceremonies, the U.S. Coast Guard on Monday afternoon will shut down Loran-C, a navigation and timing system that has guided mariners and aviators since World War II.
The death blow came last May when President Obama called the system obsolete, saying it is no longer needed in an age in which Global Positioning System devices are nearly ubiquitous in cars, planes and boats.
Killing Loran-C will save the government $190 million over five years, Obama said. But supporters of Loran -- including the man known as "the father of GPS" -- say the nation's increasing reliance on GPS paradoxically has increased the importance of maintaining Loran as a backup.
Treasure hunters: watching the detectors
Source: Telegraph (UK) (1-21-10)
It's a crisp, sunny day and retired church minister Peter Twinn is out with his metal detector unearthing evidence of Roman occupation beneath the bare fields of South Gloucestershire.
"Over there is the Roman temple and just beyond those trees is the villa," he says. "No one knew about this site before I came up here – it's all new discoveries."
As we walk he sweeps the detector back and forth in front of him as it chatters away in a series of clicks, whoops and whistles.
"It's a bit like being out with the Clangers," he adds, smiling. "You have to have the ear to know what it all means."
Twinn bought a second-hand metal detector when he was in his teens and says he's "never looked back". He is now one of thousands involved in the hobby nationwide – a number expected to grow sharply following the announcement last autumn that "detectorist" Terry Herbert had found a huge hoard of Anglo Saxon gold in Staffordshire valued at £3.285 million. Last week, the historian David Starkey launched a campaign to keep the "Staffordshire hoard" in Britain, further adding to the excitement.
All around us chunks of Roman masonry dot the field. Twinn believes that hidden in the soil below is an extensive Roman ritual and domestic site, still largely unknown and undug, which is why the precise location of our walk must remain top secret....
Pennsylvania rep. John Murtha dies at 77
Source: WaPo (2-8-10)
Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), 77, a Vietnam veteran who staunchly supported military spending and became a master of pork-barrel politics, died today at Virginia Hospital Center following gallbladder surgery last month.
Elected to Congress in 1974 from a southwestern Pennsylvania district that has been economically devastated by the decline of America's coal-mining and steel industries, the gruff and jowly Murtha was beloved by his constituents for tapping billions of dollars in federal funds to seed new industries there.
He was revered among Democrats -- and even some Republicans -- for his skill over 19 terms in using the power of the federal purse to make kings and deals. A right-hand man of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, he was considered one of the most influential lawmakers on Capitol Hill and credited with her ascension.
Critics dubbed Murtha, the chairman of the powerful subcommittee that controls Pentagon spending, the "King of Pork" for the volume of taxpayer money he could direct to the area around his home town of Johnstown. Most of the largesse came in defense and military research contracts he steered to companies based in his district or with small offices there....
Senate Holds, Filibusters, and the “Nuclear” Option
Source: Steven Aftergood at Secrecy News (2-8-10)
Last week, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) placed a "hold" on all of the Obama Administration nominations that are pending before the Senate, thereby preventing a vote on their confirmation. There are said to be at least 70 such nominations awaiting Senate action, including those of several senior defense and intelligence officials. Sen. Shelby, a man of flexible principles who has served as both a Democrat and a Republican, reportedly adopted the blanket holds in an attempt to compel the Administration to award certain defense contracts to his home state of Alabama.
Shelby's action is "outlandish," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) on the Senate floor last Thursday. But that was as far as he was prepared to go, or perhaps farther than he intended to go. Striking a tactical retreat, he immediately added: "I can't imagine this is the right thing to do."
The new obstructionism has the potential to cripple the U.S. government, warned Paul Krugman today in the New York Times, and to do so in a particularly pointless and humiliating way: "Instead of re-enacting the decline and fall of Rome, we’re re-enacting the dissolution of 18th-century Poland," he wrote.
Confronted with rampant irresponsibility and procedural abuse, the White House and the Majority party are not -- or should not be -- helpless to respond. In theory, their options include recess appointments to circumvent the Senate confirmation process, and the so-called "nuclear" option to alter existing Senate procedures. These alternatives, along with related background, have been usefully described in a series of reports from the Congressional Research Service
Fairfield’s Voices of Youth tells black history through music
Source: JournalNews (Hamilton, OH) (2-7-10)
The African American Voices of Youth will add a musical element to the discussion on black history.
The high school social service organization will present “History through Music: African American Creativity from Gospel to Hip-Hop” later in February, which is also Black History Month. Social studies teacher and organization adviser Damien Strecker said part of the group’s responsibility is to educate the community.
“Some students, at least in the classes I teach, question the purpose of Black History Month. But for me, personally, I always say 11 months out of the year you don’t always hear these stories that are part of the American experience,” Strecker said. “There’s absolutely no way to truly understand the American experience unless you do get these other narratives.”
The group — which normally presents a play for Black History Month — decided to tell black history with the music closely associated with the culture....
Video shows plane with US missionaries shot down in CIA operation in Peru
Source: Telegraph (UK) (2-8-10)
Veronica Bowers, 35, and her seven-month-old daughter, Charity, were killed when their Cessna was mistaken for a drug plane in 2001. Her husband, Jim Bowers and the couple's son, Cory, escaped serious injury.
Pilot Kevin Donaldson, who had serious leg wounds, crash-landed the plane on the Amazon River. A cockpit video tape obtained by ABC News shows how a CIA spotter plane sneaked up behind the Cessna and wrongly identified it as a drug plane. CIA operatives then called in the Peruvian Air Force....
The CIA said that after a nine year investigation, it had concluded that 16 of its employees should be disciplined.
Historic sites in California being looted for Iron
Source: Record Net (2-6-10)
Massive iron objects that have weathered the Mother Lode's fires and rains since the Gold Rush are now melting away in the face of more insidious forces: thievery and strong prices for scrap metal.
In the past two years, thefts of iron objects have been reported at four historic mine sites in Tuolumne and Calaveras counties, as well as from two historic buildings in downtown San Andreas.
In the most recent incident, an employee at the Calaveras Arts Council arrived at work Jan. 4 to discover two 10-foot-tall fire doors, each weighing about 300 pounds, were gone.
The Arts Council was lucky. Less than a week later, Calaveras County Sheriff's Department investigators found the doors at a home in San Andreas. Douglas Alameda of San Andreas was arrested on a charge of possessing stolen property, and the doors were returned.
But historians, historic property owners and public officials say the problem is much larger than Alameda.
"One person couldn't have ever handled that, and they've only arrested one," Penny West, executive director of the Arts Council, said of the door theft.
In Tuolumne County, authorities are prosecuting three men charged with using trucks, cutting torches and other heavy equipment to take metal from mine sites and sell for scrap in Stockton and Modesto.
Iran marks revolution anniversary amid ongoing dissent
Source: CNN (2-8-10)
Iran will this week celebrate the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution -- a day that marked the end of the country's western-backed monarchy and the start of an Islamic republic.
Some experts say the revolution was also a catalyst for the spread of Islamic fundamentalism throughout the Middle East and South Asia.
This key date in Iran's history comes amid protests by the opposition after last year's disputed presidential election won by incumbent, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The so-called Green Movement has been protesting for social justice, freedom and democracy in demonstrations throughout the country since the June polls -- using slogans that are often identical to those heard during the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Two leading Iranian opposition leaders have called on supporters to protest on Thursday, the day of the anniversary.
The march towards revolution
The Islamic Revolution of 1979 signified the end of Iran's western-backed monarchy under Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi and the beginning of an Islamic republic.
The dramatic change in power was the culmination of more than a year of demonstrations against what was seen as the Shah's oppressive regime.
Despite soaring oil profits during the 1970s, Iran was plagued by crippling inflation. The Shah, who liked to show off his lavish lifestyle, was criticized for ignoring the poor and middle class. Iranians also condemned the Shah for spurning Islamic traditions in favor of modernization and stronger ties to the West.
Blix: Straw 'gave incorrect answers' to Iraq inquiry
Source: BBC (2-8-10)
Mr Blix told the BBC he was "puzzled" by some of the evidence that Mr Straw gave to the panel.
He said that Mr Straw had been incorrect to suggest, in 2002, that UN weapons inspectors were not being allowed access to certain sites.
Mr Straw is due to be interviewed by the inquiry again later on Monday.
"I'm puzzled by some of the things Jack Straw said," Mr Blix told BBC World's Hardtalk programme.
Race is on to save site of Roman chariot track (UK)
Source: Independent (UK) (2-8-10)
There was considerable excitement among archaeologists when, in 2005, a firm of housing developers unearthed the only Roman chariot-racing track in Britain, on a site in Colchester, Essex.
Five years later, residents have less than a month to save the site. The racetrack is still hidden beneath local roads, gardens and old army buildings, but campaigners are hoping to buy a large Victorian garden which covers the key part of the circuit.
Buried beneath are eight stone enclosures, originally having been fitted with wooden double doors, like giant greyhound racing traps. The land is the garden of a listed but derelict sergeants' mess, which will become an exhibition if the campaign succeeds. If it fails, however, the building will become apartments, and the garden will be the apartment block's private land again.
For almost 2,000 years, the 350-metre outline of the track has remained intact. The site lay undiscovered until the Colchester Archaeological Trust (CAT) began excavating after the Ministry of Defence sold the barracks for housing in 2005. Archaeological digs suggest the racetrack was built in the early 2nd century, and lasted about 150 years before falling out of use, perhaps because a day at the races became prohibitively expensive for the local gentry – crowds received free admission and also expected to receive gifts.
Iran cuts cultural links with British Museum over Cyrus Cylinder
Source: Times (UK) (2-8-10)
Iran has severed all cultural ties with the British Museum over the institution’s failure to hand over an ancient Persian treasure.
At the centre of the diplomatic row is a 2,500-year-old cuneiform tablet, known as the Cyrus Cylinder, which most historians regard as the world’s first declaration of human rights.
Curators had been due to lend the artefact to Tehran last month, but announced that the handover would be delayed after the discovery of new tablets that they believe could help its research. The delay has provoked the anger of Iranian officials, who announced an end to dialogue yesterday in protest at a decision that they believe is politically motivated.
Hamid Baghaei, head of Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organisation, said that the move to keep the cylinder was unacceptable. “The Cultural Heritage Organisation has cut all its relations and co-operation with the British Museum,” he said.
20 million pounds Stonehenge visitor centre criticised by Government design watchdog
Source: Telegraph (UK) (2-8-10)
The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) believes the centre's "twee paths" are "more appropriate for an urban garden" and its "delicate roof" is unsuitable for the wind and rain that sweeps across the majestic Wiltshire plains where the stones stand.
Although the plans, by Australian architecture firm Denton Corker Marshall, have been approved by Wiltshire county council planners and are backed by local architects on the Wiltshire Design Forum, CABE said the "architectural approach" was wrong.
"We question whether, in this landscape of scale and huge horizons and with a very robust end point that has stood for centuries and centuries, this is the right design approach?" Diane Haigh, the watchdog's director of design review, told The Guardian.
"You need to feel you are approaching Stonehenge. You want the sense you are walking over Salisbury Plain towards the stones."
She said the intended location of the centre, at Airman's Corner, is appropriate and that CABE was pleased that "something was happening at last" to enhance the appeal of the 5,000-year-old World Heritage site.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Prehistoric human bones found in Asian cave
Source: AFP (2-8-10)
MALAYSIAN researchers believe they have discovered a new set of prehistoric human bones in a cave near the largest man-make lake in south east Asia, newspapers reported today.
The skeletal remains are of a youth who died 8,000 to 11,000 years ago, the Sunday Star quoted Nik Hasan Shuhaimi, deputy director of the Institute of the Malay World and Civilisation of the National University of Malaysia, as saying.
The bones were found in the Bewah Cave near Kenyir Lake in the northeastern state of Terengganu in November.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Rare pub clock sells at auction (Scotland)
Source: BBC (2-6-10)
A pub clock dating back to the introduction of a tax on timepieces more than 200 years ago has sold at auction for £8,800.
The George III Act of Parliament clock, decorated with hunting scenes, was made around 1797 and was once on the wall of a tavern.
It was discovered in a house in Aberdeenshire, where it had been in the possession of a family for decades.
It was sold at Shapes auction house in Edinburgh.
China dinosaur footprints found in Zhucheng
Source: BBC (2-6-10)
Scientists in China say they have discovered more than 3,000 dinosaur footprints, all facing the same way.
The footprints - thought to belong to at least six dinosaur types - were found in eastern Shandong province, state news agency Xinhua reports.
Experts believe the prints are more than 100 million years old and say they could represent a migration or a panicked attempt to escape predators.
Dinosaur fossils have been found at about 30 sites in the Zhucheng area.
Reagan Legacy Inspires New Generation of Politicians
Source: Fox News (2-6-10)
Five years after his death and 22 years after his presidency ended, President Reagan's leadership style and policies are still influencing the political debate in 2010.
President Obama echoed the iconic Republican, who wold have been 99 Saturday, in his State of the Union address last week.
Many tea party activists say Reagan and his mantra of cutting taxes are part of the inspiration behind the rallies that have gripped the country in the past year.
And many Republican candidates in this year's midterm elections are expected to rely on Reagan's name and image to help them win back seats this fall.
Thatcher and Carter: the not-so special relationship
Source: Telegraph (UK) (2-6-10)
Newly released documents from Margaret Thatcher's first year in office reveal her widespread distrust of the Establishment - especially the BBC - and her growing impatience with the Carter administration
"Would you accept the Republican nomination for President in 1980?" Margaret Thatcher was asked at a Foreign Policy Association lunch in New York on December 18, 1979.
The scribbled note, from an anonymous doting American, is just one of many documents released last week at the Churchill Archive Centre in Cambridge. It indicates how, even within the first few months of her election, Thatcher had established a reputation in the United States as a staunch Right-winger.
Lydia Csato Gasman, Picasso Scholar, Dies at 84
Source: New York Times (2-6-10)
Lydia Csato Gasman, an art historian known for her groundbreaking scholarship on the work of Picasso, died on Jan. 15 in Charlottesville, Va. She was 84 and lived in Charlottesville.
Her death was confirmed by Larry Goedde, chairman of the McIntire Department of Art at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, where she taught for two decades.
Fluent in several languages and equipped with a formidable memory, Dr. Gasman redefined Picasso studies. Most scholars had either analyzed Picasso’s art purely in terms of formal innovations and aesthetic progress or offered one-dimensional readings of his work in relation to his life story. Dr. Gasman found a middle way.
One of her more sensational achievements was to track down Marie-Thérèse Walter, the great love of Picasso’s life, in the south of France in 1972 and, over a period of several days, to conduct the frankest, most detailed interview about their life together.
Adolf Hitler took 'primitive Viagra' to have sex with Eva Braun, claims new book
Source: Telegraph (UK) (2-6-10)
Adolf Hitler took a primitive form of Viagra when he tried to have sex with Eva Braun, a new book on the Fuhrer’s fragile health has claimed.
Based on long-dormant medical archives and formerly classified military documents, it claimed the dictator was so afraid of pills that most of his medication was injected.
The authors of the book, titled Was Hitler Ill?, claimed he took 82 different sorts of medication during his rule of Nazi Germany including the primitive “Viagra”, which was a testosterone extract.
How Obama's favorite theologian shaped his first year in office
Source: CNN (2-5-10)
In a widely cited New York Times column, President Obama called Niebuhr his "favorite philosopher." But how precisely has Niebuhr's philosophy influenced Obama and his handling of everything from health care reform to fighting terrorists?
The answer may be seen by looking at Obama's first year in office, several scholars, and a relative of Niebuhr's, suggest.
At first, there seems to be little resemblance between the cool, cerebral Obama and the pugnacious Niebuhr.
Niebuhr was a blunt critic of morally complacent Christians. He thought the church was full of idealists who believed that progress was inevitable and that love alone would ultimately conquer injustice, some Niebuhr scholars say.
Living in a time warp: living history around the world
Source: CNN (2-5-10)
Social networking may be one of the biggest phenomenons of the 21st century, but for some denizens of the Web, it's a way to get in touch with the past.
Web sites like livinghistoryworldwide.com (with a membership of more than 5,700) and groups on Facebook allow people who enjoy past eras to connect with each other. But it goes beyond that: Some of them dress and live like they would decades, if not centuries, ago.
Step into Estelle Barada's living room in Providence, Rhode Island, and you might feel like you've traveled back to the 1890s.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Extinct Ethnic Group Vestiges Discovered in Chihuahua
Source: ArtDaily.org (2-5-10)
More than a dozen dwelling, ritual and funerary sites, some of them more than 1,000 years old, were located inside shallow caves at Barranca de la Sinforosa (Sinforosa Gully), Chihuahua. According to preliminary studies, vestiges could correspond to Tubar people, an indigenous group that isolated in Tarahumara Mountain Range during Colonial times to avoid evangelization, and extinguished in late 19th century.
Nine dwelling sites, 2 ceremonial and 2 of funerary character were found in Ohuivo, Chorogue, Zapuri and Güerachi localities of Guachochi municipality in Chihuahua.
Archaeologist Enrique Chacon, from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), declared that according to first explorations, 3 types of sites were identified, which, according to architecture, burial system and regional research references, are dated in 16th-17th centuries, while others could go back to 11th century of the Common Era.
Darwin descended from Cro-Magnon man: scientists
Source: AFP (2-5-10)
The father of evolution Charles Darwin was a direct descendant of the Cro-Magnon people, whose entry into Europe 30,000 years ago heralded the demise of Neanderthals, scientists revealed in Australia Thursday.
Darwin, who hypothesised that all humans evolved from common ancestors in his seminal 1859 work "On the Origin of Species", came from Haplogroup R1b, one of the most common European male lineages, said genealogist Spencer Wells.
Director of the Genographic Project, an international study mapping the migratory history of the human species, Wells said they took a DNA sample from Darwin's great-great grandson Chris Darwin, 48, who lives on the outskirts of Sydney.
Belfast Robert Burns collection goes on show
Source: BBC (2-5-10)
He is Scotland's national poet, but his popularity extends beyond the shores of Ayrshire.
Few places have more of an ear for Burns than Northern Ireland, which has one of the largest collections of his works outside of Scotland in a Belfast library.
The Linenhall Library's Burns Collection was amassed by Andrew Gibson in the last decades of the 19th century. From Ayrshire himself, he was a governor of the library and it bought his collection in 1901 with £1,000 raised by public subscription.
Burns's great-granddaughter Mrs Eliza Everitt later donated a number of items to the library, which are on display at the library until March.
Rwanda genocide-row politician attacked
Source: BBC (2-5-10)
A Rwandan politician who stirred up controversy with comments on the genocide recently has been attacked by a group of men at a government office.
About 10 men set upon Victoire Ingabire and her driver as they waited for papers to register their party for next year's election.
She escaped unharmed but her driver was said to have serious injuries.
Ms Ingabire, a Hutu, was criticised last month for highlighting crimes against Hutus during the 1994 genocide.
Memo 'shows Blair Iraq war deal with Bush'
Source: BBC (2-5-10)
The leader of Plaid Cymru's MPs has said he has a memo showing Tony Blair and George Bush struck a secret deal to invade Iraq a year before the 2003 war.
Elfyn Llwyd told the BBC's Straight Talk he had written to Iraq Inquiry chair Sir John Chilcot to say he would be prepared to hand the document over.
He said the memo, which is marked "Top Secret and Confidential" contradicted statements made by Mr Blair.
Mr Blair previously told the inquiry he made no "covert" deal with Mr Bush.
Nelson Mandela dinner celebrates 20 years of freedom
Source: BBC (2-5-10)
Nelson Mandela has celebrated the 20th anniversary of his release from prison with a special dinner, inviting ex-wife Winnie and one of his former jailers.
Mr Mandela, who became South Africa's first black president, was freed from Robben Island jail on 11 February 1990 after a prison sentence of 27 years.
Mr Mandela has said he developed a friendship with warder Christo Brand that cemented his views of humanity.
New online Shakespeare game becomes internet hit
Source: Telegraph (UK) (2-5-10)
An online Shakespeare game based on Romeo and Juliet has become an internet hit, drawing in 22 million players worldwide.
"Romeo wherefore art thou" sees web users take on the role of one of Shakespeare's most famous characters, as he collects flowers for Juliet.
Initially commissioned by Shakespeare Country tourist site, the game has become a surprise hit with a third of the amount of the UK's population said to have played it.
The aim is to collect enough roses for your sweetheart Juliet, and with Valentines Day drawing closer, is proving a fitting game for wannabe Romeo's.
Holder, Rahm Reportedly Battle Over 9/11 Trials
Source: Fox News (2-5-10)
Republicans aren't the only ones opposed to a civilian trial for Sept. 11 conspirator Khalid Sheik Mohammed and his alleged four accomplices.
Attorney General Eric Holder's decision not to use a military commission to bring them to justice has driven a wedge between him and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, whose opposition is grounded in politics, according to the New Yorker.
Emanuel feared that a fight over Khalid Sheikh Mohammed could alienate key Republicans whom he argued the administration needed to help close the military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.
Latvian Ghost Town Auctioned Off for $3.1 Million
Source: AP (2-5-10)
Latvia sold a deserted town built around a Soviet-era radar station to a Russian investor who bid $3.1 million at an unusual auction Friday, officials said.
The town formerly known as Skrunda-1 housed about 5,000 people during the Cold War but was abandoned over a decade ago after the Russian military withdrew from Latvia following the Soviet collapse.
A representative of a Russian investor won the bidding contest in Latvia's capital, Riga, with an offer of $3.1 million, said Anete Fridensteina-Bridina, a spokeswoman for the Baltic country's privatization agency. She said the buyer was Aleksejevskoje-Serviss, a Russia-based firm, though she could not provide details.
Zoroastrian holiday celebrated in Iran
Source: AP (1-31-10)
...Saturday's celebration was the first in which the dwindling remnants of Iran's once plentiful Zoroastrian religious minority were joined by thousands of Muslims, reflecting a growing interest in the strict Islamic society for the country's ancient traditions.
The festival, known as Sadeh, celebrates the discovery of fire and its ability to banish the cold and dark, and it is held in the frigid depths of winter.
Sadeh was the national festival of ancient Persia when Zoroastrianism was the dominant religion, before the conquest of Islam in the 7th century. Now it is mostly celebrated just in the homes and temples of Iran's 60,000 remaining Zoroastrians.
Recently, however, there has been an upsurge of interest among Iranian Muslims — more than 90 percent of the population — in their ancient heritage, when vast Persian empires held sway over much of central Asia and fought Greek warriors and Roman legions....
College Makes Students More Liberal, but Not Smarter About Civics, Study Finds
Source: Chronicle of Higher Education (2-5-10)
While many graduates of American colleges cannot answer basic civics questions, a higher education does make their opinions more liberal on controversial social issues, according to a new report issued on Friday by an academic think tank....
"The Shaping of the American Mind," the fourth report from the institute on civic literacy, will be formally released on Wednesday.
Richard A. Brake, a co-author of the report, said he and his colleagues had sought to see what civic or social lessons students were learning in college....
The institute found that people who had attained at least a bachelor's degree were more likely than Americans whose formal education ended with a high-school diploma to take a liberal stance on certain controversial social issues. For example, 39 percent of people whose highest level of education was a bachelor's degree supported same-sex marriage, compared with 25 percent with a high-school diploma. The trend continued with advanced degrees: About 46 percent of people with master's degrees supported same-sex marriage, as did 43 percent of people with Ph.D.'s....
"College graduates, whether it be current or graduated in the past, seem to have difficulty knowing basic things about our government and our history," Mr. Brake said. "Does college share all the blame? Of course not — this is a systemic problem, from K through 12 and all the way up. But universities train our teachers and train our leaders, so they play a role."
Skepticism over claims of Demjanjuk witness
Source: AP (2-4-10)
A top German investigator said Thursday he is skeptical about a new claim by a Sobibor survivor who says he remembers John Demjanjuk as a guard at the Nazi death camp.
Thomas Walther, who led the investigation that prompted Germany to prosecute Demjanjuk, said if survivor Alexej Weizen did remember Demjanjuk, it almost certainly would have come up before in the roughly 30 years the retired U.S. autoworker has faced investigations of his past.
Weizen had given statements previously to Soviet investigators and Demjanjuk had a high-profile trial in Israel in the 1980s.
"When now there is a trial and he suddenly says 'I know him' I'm very skeptical," Walther told The Associated Press. "Why did he not remember him when there was the trial in Israel, or when it was all over the press in the U.S.?"...
Unemployment Insurance Borrowing Now Greater Than During 1980s Recession
Source: ProPublica.org (2-5-10)
...It’s official, recession hounds: The 26 states with insolvent unemployment insurance trust funds have now borrowed more than was borrowed during 1981 and 1982, the last time there was a severe recession in the U.S., and oft-used benchmark for when things are Officially Really Bad.
According to this long-buried CBO document (PDF) [2], in March 1983, total outstanding state loans were 13.7 billion, a figure that includes borrowing during 1981 and 1982 and the first quarter of 1983 plus carried-over borrowing from 1975 to 1980.
In 2009 dollars, that’s $29.5 billion. Current state borrowing is now just over $30 billion....
In 1983, states’ borrowing was equal to about 3 percent of total taxable wages. Today, that borrowing is equal to about 2.4 percent. But never fear – states only have to borrow $6.5 billion more to make up the difference, and California alone is projected to borrow $11 billion more before the recession is over.
Ancient tribe becomes extinct as last member dies
Source: CNN (2-5-10)
The last member of an ancient tribe that has inhabited an Indian island chain for around 65,000 years has died, a group that campaigns for the protection of indigenous peoples has said.
Boa Sr, who was around 85 years of age, died last week in the Andaman islands, about 750 miles off India's eastern coast, Survival International said in a statement.
The London-based group, which works to protect indigenous peoples, said she was the last member of one of ten distinct Great Andamanese tribes, the Bo.
"The Bo are thought to have lived in the Andaman islands for as long as 65,000 years, making them the descendants of one of the oldest human cultures on earth," it noted....
There were believed to be 5,000 of them when the British colonized the archipelago in 1858. Most of those tribal communities were subsequently killed or died of diseases, says Survival International....
"Boa's loss is a bleak reminder that we must not allow this to happen to the other tribes of the Andaman islands," Survival director Stephen Corry said in the statement. Andaman and Nicobar Islands authorities put at least five tribes in their list of vulnerable indigenous communities....
Among the tribes are the Sentinelese, who inhabit a 60-square-kilometer island.
Officials believe the group is probably the world's only surviving Paleolithic people without contact with any other community. They said the Sentinelese are very hostile and never leave their Island. Very little is known about them....
Lee Archer, Tuskegee Airman, dies at 90
Source: Telegraph (UK) (1-29-10)
Lieutenant-Colonel Lee Archer, who died on January 27 aged 90, was a member of America's segregated "Tuskegee" air corps and recognised as the only black fighter "ace" during the Second World War; subjected to racial discrimination and prejudice, both within and outside the Army, he and his comrades none the less served their country with great distinction.
Strict racial segregation existed when Archer volunteered to be a pilot. He and like-minded African-Americans were at first rejected because many people thought black men lacked intelligence, skill, courage and patriotism. Eventually, in June 1941, a series of legislative moves by the US Congress forced the Army Air Corps to form an all-black combat unit, despite the War Department's reluctance. The pilots trained at a segregated Army Air Corps unit at Tuskegee Army Airfield, Alabama, and for ever more became known as the "Tuskegee Airmen".
Lee A Archer was born on September 6 1919 in Yonkers and raised in New York's Harlem district. He left New York University to enlist in the air corps in 1941 but, after rejection, trained in the infantry and then as a signaller. In December 1942 he was accepted for pilot training and left for Tuskegee. He graduated in July 1943, first in the order of merit, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant....
Archer lived long enough to see the service of Tuskegee airmen fully, if belatedly, acknowledged. In March 2007, about 350 airmen and widows received the Congressional Gold Medal of Honour from President George W Bush at a ceremony in the US Capitol. The present-day 99th Flying Training Squadron's aircraft are adorned with red tails in honour of the black airmen. Many streets and parklands bear their name, and in August 2008 the city of Atlanta officially renamed a portion of the state's Route 6 in their honour....
Honoured by the American Fighter Pilots' Association, Archer was described by a colleague as "extremely competent, sometimes stubborn but with a heart of gold. He treated people with respect and demanded respect by the way he carried himself."...
Budgets cuts for NARA, NHPRC, and NEH
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History (2-2-10)
[For a full report of individual agencies and departments, go to the historycoalition.org.
On February 1, President Obama asked Congress for $161.3 million to fund the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) for FY 2011, a $6.2 million cut from the FY 10 appropriated level of $167.5 million.
The President’s request includes $80,250,000 to enable the Endowment to fund grants in the study, preservation, public programming, and teaching of the humanities, including $2.5 million for a special initiative—Bridging Cultures—to enhance Americans’ understanding of their own cultural heritage as well as the cultural complexity of an increasingly interdependent world. An additional $14,050,000 is requested for matching grants, which leverage non-federal support for the humanities....
...President Obama [also] sent to Congress a proposed Fiscal Year 2011 budget request of $460.2 million for the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The requested amount for NARA is a two percent decrease of $9.6 million from the FY 2010 appropriated funding levels of $469.8 million. The National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) would receive $10 million in grant funding, a $3 million cut from FY 2010.
Bavaria Vows to Keep Hitler Out of Print
Source: NYT (2-5-10)
Experts at the respected Institute of Contemporary History in Munich say they want to prepare a critical, annotated version of the book for release when the copyright expires 70 years after Hitler’s suicide in his Berlin bunker.
“We hope to prevent neo-Nazi publications by putting out a commented, scholarly edition before that,” said Edith Raim, a historian at the institute. “‘Mein Kampf’ is one of the central texts if you want to explain National Socialism, and it hasn’t been available in a commented edition at all in Germany.”
But the Bavarian government opposed the idea, citing respect for victims of the Holocaust. In a statement Thursday, the Bavarian Finance Ministry said that permits for reprints would not be issued, at home or abroad. “This also applies to a new annotated edition,” said the statement, adding that the state would use “all means at its disposal to proceed against any violations.”...
50 years later, Greensboro Four get Smithsonian award for civil rights actions
Source: WaPo (2-5-10)
For 50 years now, the faces of the students have been etched in our memories, four young men at a lunch counter, nattily dressed, clean-shaven, looking over their shoulders, serious about their actions, perhaps a little uncertain about its results....
On Wednesday night on a plain stage at the National Museum of American History, a floor below where an eight-foot-long portion of that same lunch counter is on exhibit, stood living history. Now only three remain, Jibreel Khazan (formerly Ezell Blair Jr.), Franklin E. McCain and Joseph A. McNeil; together they heard, over and over again, but respectfully, how they had sat down so others could stand up....
After the ceremony, McCain, whose home is in Charlotte, sat by the old counter, posing for pictures and signing slips of paper. "The whole concept of honoring the 50th anniversary is humbling. It causes some introspection. People have made some conclusions, and I have to ask, 'Did I measure up?' " said McCain, a chemist who is now chairman of the North Carolina A&T State University board of trustees....
World History Looks Different When Seen Through Islamic Eyes
Source: Voice of America (2-5-10)
Afghan-American writer, lecturer, and teacher Tamim Ansary is man ideally placed to help Westerners see the history of our world through another set of eyes. Growing up in Afghanistan as a young history buff, Ansary had an opportunity to read and learn about the world from dual perspectives. A decade ago, when he was working as a textbook editor, a publisher in Texas hired him to develop a new world history textbook for high school students....
Ansary begins with two lists of the pivotal periods in human history – as seen both through Western eyes and through Islamic eyes. For both, it is the year 3500 BC (before Christ in the Western calendar) – or 3500 BCE (before the Common Era, as it’s known in both Muslim and Jewish traditions). “The first traces of what you might call ‘civilization’ emerged along the Tigris and Euphrates River and a little later in Egypt,” Ansary said. “Writing is part of it; cities are part of it; irrigation systems and inventions like the wheel.”...
In terms of cultural identity, the most critical historical period for Muslims is the birth of Islam – specifically the Hijra, the flight of the Prophet Mohammed from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE. “About 610," Ansary recounts, “the Prophet went to a cave and meditated. And he felt he had been visited by the angel Gabriel, who told him he was the messenger of Allah. That message was that there is only one God. You shouldn’t worship idols. This one God has given humanity freedom of choice, but will hold them responsible for their choices. Time will end and there will be a day of judgment, and people will be sorted into those who have done good, who will go to heaven, and those who have done evil, who will go to hell – for eternity.”
Atomic bomb piano takes centre stage at peace concert
Source: Telegraph (UK) (2-5-10)
A piano that survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945 is to take centre stage in a peace concert in New York.
A group of Japanese musicians have been loaned the piano from its owner Yoko Matsuba, an 84-year-old survivor of the nuclear bombing.
The piano will be used in a concert taking place in the autumn at the United Nations headquarters in New York in order to promote global peace and the abolition of nuclear weapons.
The instrument was in the Hiroshima home of Matsuba when United States aircraft dropped the first atomic bomb over the city on 6 August, 1945.
Around 140,000 people were estimated to have been killed and 60 per cent of buildings in the city were destroyed, but both the piano and its owner managed to survive.
The piano, bought by Matsuba's mother in 1933, and sustained only slight damage after being toppled over by the explosion, despite its location only 1.3 km from ground zero.
Matsuba, who now lives in Sendai, north Japan, agreed to rent the piano to the group for one year, describing such a use as an "honour", according to Kyodo News.
Late night deal saves Northern Ireland power-sharing government
Source: Belfast Telegraph (UK) (2-5-10)
The Democratic Unionist Party members last night voted to back a deal with Sinn Fein to save Northern Ireland's power-sharing government.
DUP leader Peter Robinson said his party's elected representatives at the Stormont Assembly had backed a deal with Sinn Fein and can now move forward on devolution of policing and justice.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown and taoiseach Brian Cowen are expected to travel to Belfast this morning to put their seal on the deal.
The deal on policing, justice and parades comes after nearly two weeks of round-the-clock talks at Hillsborough Castle, Co Down....
Holocaust Victim Has 3,000 Facebook Friends
Source: AP (2-5-10)
Henio Zytomirski's Facebook profile picture stands out from most. The grinning 6-year-old is captured in black and white and poses in an old-fashioned buttoned-up shirt and shorts.
The photograph, shot in 1939, is probably the last taken of him before he was murdered in the Holocaust.
A group in the boy's hometown of Lublin is using the social networking site to breathe virtual life into Henio's stolen childhood and give people around the world the chance to get to know him -- as well as mourn the millions of others killed by Nazi Germany.
With nearly 3,000 friends, Henio's page is one of the most striking examples of a new phenomenon in which people are setting up Facebook memorials for the victims of the past century's greatest tragedies. Another project in Belgium attempts to create Facebook pages for each of the 27,594 Allied soldiers who were killed in Belgium during WWII, and Anne Frank and the Auschwitz memorial site are also on Facebook.
Facebook and MySpace users have long been creating memorial pages for friends and family, but these new projects aim to rekindle lives of the more distant dead who might otherwise be forgotten.
"Henio was an eyewitness and a victim to the Nazis' actions. Because he was murdered, he could never provide his testimony," his page says in a post written by Neta Zytomirski Avidar, a cousin of Henio's who lives in Israel and has helped build the site. "We try to guess what might have been his testimony."
Youngest World War II service casualty identified
Source: BBC News (2-5-10)
A 14-year-old boy has been confirmed as the UK's youngest known service member to have been killed in WWII.
Reginald Earnshaw was aged 14 years and 152 days when he died under enemy fire on the SS North Devon on 6 July 1941.
The merchant navy cabin boy had lied about his age, claiming he was 15, so he could join the war effort.
His sister Pauline Harvey, 77, will mark his birthday on Friday by laying flowers at his grave in Comely Bank Cemetery, Edinburgh.
Official confirmation of Mr Earnshaw's age by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) was made after his sister responded to their nationwide appeal for his relatives to come forward.
During the graveside visit, Mrs Harvey and her great-niece Jenny will also meet relatives of Douglas Crichton and Reg Mitchell, who were also killed in the attack off the Norfolk coast.
Mrs Harvey, a retired teacher from Epworth in North Lincolnshire, was nine when her brother was killed.
She said: "Reggie's death at such a young age and after just a few months at sea came as a great shock to the whole family.
"I am immensely grateful to so many people who helped research my brother's forgotten story, and to the War Graves Commission for providing his grave with a headstone."
Mr Earnshaw's story came to light after a shipmate conducted research to find out what happened to his friend.
Former machine gunner Alf Tubb was 18 when their merchant ship was bombed by German planes on its way to Tyneside in July 1941.
He returned fire before rushing to the engine room to find Mr Earnshaw, but was beaten back by steam. Five other people died in the attack.
Famous Paintings hang on Super Bowl wager
Source: BBC News (2-4-10)
Two art galleries have staked the loan of a painting on the outcome of the US Super Bowl between the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts.
John Bullard and Maxwell Anderson, directors of museums in New Orleans and Indianapolis, waged the online betting match on Twitter.
The pair agreed to loan paintings - by JMW Turner and Claude Lorrain - to the other, if their team loses on Sunday.
The Super Bowl painting exchange will last for three months.
Winning city
A Colts win would bring Ideal View of Tivoli, by French painter Claude Lorrain, to the Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA).
Conversely, the IMA will lend The Fifth Plague of Egypt, by the 19th Century English landscape artist Turner, to the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) if the Saints are victorious.
The tragedy of dying languages
Source: BBC News (2-5-10)
The death of the last speaker of an ancient language in India's Andaman Islands highlights the fact that half of the world's 7,000 languages are in danger of disappearing. Linguist K David Harrison argues that we still have much to learn from vanishing languages.
My journey as a scientist exploring the world's vanishing languages has taken me from the Siberian forests to the Bolivian Altiplano, from a McDonald's in Michigan to a trailer park in Utah. In all these places I've listened to last speakers - dignified elders - who hold in their minds a significant portion of humanity's intellectual wealth.
Though it belongs solely to them and has inestimable value to their people, they do not hoard it. In fact they are often eager to share it. What can we learn from these languages before they go extinct? And why should we lift a finger to help rescue them?
As the last speakers converse, they spin individual strands in a vast web of knowledge, a noosphere of possibilities. They tell how their ancestors calculated accurately the passing of seasons without clocks or calendars. How humans adapted to hostile environments, from the Arctic to Amazonia.
We imagine eureka moments taking place in modern laboratories or classical civilizations. But key insights of biology, pharmacology, genetics, and navigation arose and persisted solely by word of mouth, in small, unwritten tongues. Finally, this web of knowledge contains feats of human ingenuity -epics, myths, rituals - that celebrate and interpret our existence.
Pundits argue that linguistic differences are little more than random drift, minor variations in meaning and pronunciation that emerge over time (the British say 'lorry', Americans 'truck'; Tuesday is CHEWS-day, for Brits, TOOZ-day for Americans).
Shackleton's whisky recovered from South Pole ice
Source: BBC News (2-5-10)
Five crates of Scotch whisky and brandy belonging to the polar explorer Ernest Shackleton have been recovered after more than 100 years in the ice. They were buried beneath Shackleton's Antarctic hut, built in 1908 for a failed expedition to the South Pole. Some of the crates have cracked and ice has formed inside, which means experts will face a delicate task in trying to extract the contents. The ice-bound crates were first discovered three years ago. The master blender at whisky company Whyte and Mackay said the find was a "gift from the heavens" for whisky lovers. Richard Paterson, whose firm supplied the Mackinlay's whisky for Shackleton, said: "If the contents can be confirmed, safely extracted and analysed, the original blend may be able to be replicated.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Chinese and Russian human rights activists, jailed Illinois governor, and the Internet among the nominees for 2010 Peace Prize
Source: AP (2-2-10)
Candidates for the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize include a Russian human rights group, a Chinese dissident and an inanimate object: the Internet, people who made the nominations said Tuesday....
Erna Solberg, the head of Norway's Conservative Party, put forth Russian human rights activist Svetlana Gannushkina and Memorial, a prominent rights group she works with.
Kwame Anthony Appiah, president of the PEN American Center and a Princeton philosophy professor, said in a statement that he had nominated Liu Xiaobo, a recently jailed Chinese dissident, for his "distinguished and principled leadership in the area of human and political rights and freedom of expression." The Chinese government urged the jury to disregard the submission....
Former Illinois Governor George Ryan — now imprisoned after being convicted of federal corruption charges — was nominated by Francis A. Boyle, a law professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, for his campaign to abolish the death penalty.
The Internet was proposed by the Italian version of Wired magazine, which cited its use as a tool to advance "dialogue, debate and consensus through communication" and to promote democracy. Organizers said signatories to its petition backing the nomination include 2003 peace laureate and exiled Iranian activist Shirin Ebadi — which would make it a legitimate entry.
Bishop Williamson Unrepentent in Holocaust Denial
Source: Der Spiegel (2-1-10)
Controversial Bishop Richard Williamson continues in his denial of the Holocaust, embarrassing both the Society of St. Pius to which he belongs and the Vatican. But the SSPX is becoming increasingly powerful despite the controversy and is attracting more and more supporters....
The world has become a smaller place for the notorious bishop. Since he denied the existence of the Holocaust on television more than a year ago, causing serious problems for Pope Benedict XVI and almost triggering a revolt against Rome by the Catholic faithful, the ultra-conservative SSPX has kept him in virtual quarantine at its Wimbledon headquarters. Bishop Bernard Fellay, the superior general of the SSPX, likens Williamson to uranium: "It's dangerous when you have it," he says, but you can't "simply leave it by the side of the road."
Fellay knows what he is talking about. Williamson has no intention of revising his views on the gas chambers. When Nazi hunter Beate Klarsfeld sent him a book about the history of the Holocaust last year, he set it aside, unread. "The fact is that the 6 million people who were supposedly gassed represent a huge lie," he wrote recently to his fellow members of the SSPX, noting that "a completely new world order was built" on this "fact." The Jews, he added, "became ersatz saviors thanks to the concentration camps."...
Williamson, after refusing to pay a fine of €12,000 ($16,800), faces charges of inciting racial hatred in a trial in the southern German city of Regensburg set to begin on April 16. Although it is unclear whether he will appear at the trial in person, the bishop has already assembled a legal team that includes German lawyer Matthias Lossmann and the British attorney who once represented former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in his fight against extradition....
The bishop has a reputation for being unpredictable. Sometimes he gives the staff instructions to tell visitors that he is not home, but on one occasion he sat down next to a Christmas tree for an interview with a video blogger. An interview with SPIEGEL, which had been scheduled for some time, happened to fall on a bad day. Williamson was only willing to appear on a stair landing, and even then, all that was visible of him were one of his arms and his hand wearing his bishop's ring. His voice was easy to recognize, but he refused to speak directly with his interviewers, leaving Lindström to run up and down the stairs, delivering the questions and answers.
Later, Williamson decided to continue the interview with SPIEGEL by e-mail -- even though he was only in the next room. The visit had made him very angry. "We are at war," he raged, "and you are on the wrong side." German liberal intellectuals are as distasteful to him as short skirts on the tennis court. "These men are, at least objectively, rats," he wrote in a reference to SPIEGEL journalists....
Pius XII feared outcry against atrocities would worsen situation
Source: CNS News (2-2-10)
Pope Pius XII wanted to speak out against Nazi atrocities, but was advised not to for fear of worsening the wartime situation, said the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano.
"If the pope was silent, it was not out of fright or self-interest, but concern for worsening the situation of those oppressed" by the Nazi regime, it said.
With continuing criticism of Pope Pius' wartime activities, especially given the advancement of his sainthood cause, the newspaper Feb. 2 republished an article that had first appeared in a special June 28, 1964, edition of the Vatican's weekly periodical, L'Osservatore della Domenica....
Last Mitford girl bemoans demise of the stiff upper lip
Source: Telegraph (UK) (2-4-10)
As the last of the Mitford sisters, Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire has known her fair share of tragedy and upheaval.
Yet the redoubtable duchess has hit out at the "sloppy-sentimental" culture of "self-pity and self-esteem" which has overtaken modern society, and lamented the demise of Britain's traditional stiff upper lip.
The duchess, who will celebrate her 90th birthday in March, said she did not see the point of dwelling on misfortune. The wartime generation just got on things. "Grief - it is part of life. The disaster of someone dying was talked about for a bit and the person was mourned, but you didn't go on about it and take pills and have to be counselled.
"Money and illness and sex were not talked about in those days and they are the only things people talk about these days, aren't they?
"Self-pity and self-esteem, which are now the key things in schools, were not allowed. Self-esteem? Nanny used to say, 'Who's going to look at you?"
The Mitford sisters famously wrote hundreds of letters to one another, with a lightness of touch which sometimes seemed at odds with the events they discussed.
King, Sultan, pope crack down on smoking
Source: CNN.com (2-2-10)
...[O]pposition to smoking has been around almost as long as smoking itself, and some of the historical measures to curb lighting up might surprise you.
1. The Pope cracks down on smoke
Pope Urban VII's papacy began on September 15, 1590. It ended with his death from malaria less than two weeks later.
Although he didn't spend much time as the head of the Catholic Church, Urban VII was around long enough to make his feelings on tobacco known. He banned all tobacco "in the porchway of or inside a church, whether it be by chewing it, smoking it with a pipe or sniffing it in powdered form through the nose....
2. King James' ideal version of England is smoke-free
King James I of England was no fan of tobacco, but instead of whining about it, he picked up his pen. In 1604, James wrote the treatise "A Counterblaste to Tobacco", and true to form for early 17th century pamphlets, the king didn't pull any punches, writing, "What honour or policie can move us to imitate the barbarous and beastly maners of the wilde, godlesse, and slavish Indians, especially in so vile and stinking a custom?"...
3. The Sultan puts out smokers
When Sultan Murad IV took over the Ottoman Empire in 1623, he inherited a land filled with corruption and decadence. He took care of it quickly, though, and by 1633 Murad had banned all tobacco, alcohol, and coffee from his empire. Murad IV made Pope Urban VII look like a pushover, too; his punishment for breaking the ban was death....
U.S. pondered military use in Georgia
Source: Politico (2-3-10)
President George W. Bush and his senior aides considered — and rejected — a military response to Russia’s 2008 invasion of Georgia, according to a new history of the conflict and interviews with former officials in the Bush administration.
With desperate Georgians begging for American help in closing down the key route through which Russian soldiers were pouring into the country, Bush’s national security aides outlined possible responses, including “the bombardment and sealing of the Roki Tunnel” and other “surgical strikes,” according to a new history of the conflict and independent interviews with former senior officials.
“In that moment of desperation these issues came onto the table, and came to the principals committee” consisting of Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and top Cabinet members, said Ron Asmus, a Clinton administration State Department official whose book, out this week, is called “The Little War That Shook the World.”...
That the question arose at all is a mark of the scale of the crisis that appeared to burst out of nowhere in the summer of 2008 and of the continuing risks posed by a region of the world that draws little American public attention....
Tycho Brahe to be exhumed
Source: Copenhagen Post (Denmark) (2-4-10)
Body of Denmark’s most famous astronomer will be dug up in Prague to determine true cause of death
The riddle of the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe's death in 1601 may now have a good chance of being solved
Prague's cultural department has finally given researchers permission to open the tomb of Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, which lies in the city’s Tyn Cathedral.
A group of Danish and Czech experts will therefore soon be able to carry out detailed analyses of the astronomer’s bone, hair and clothing remains to find the answer to a centuries-old mystery as to whether he was murdered.
Although historians have generally attributed his death to either bladder problems or kidney stones, some believed he may have been poisoned. Many researchers now believe he probably died of mercury poisoning – either accidentally or deliberately by another’s hand.
The issue was revived in recent years, after a Swedish professor discovered a diary in which Tycho Brahe's distant relative, Erik Brahe, claimed that the astronomer was poisoned.
Researchers had been trying for years to get the go-ahead from Prague’s city council for the exhumation.
Ancient Mongolian Tomb Holds Skeleton of Western Man
Source: Discovery News (2-3-10)
The remains of a 2,000-year-old skeleton found in eastern Mongolia reveal a man of multi-ethnic heritage.
Consider an older gentleman whose skeleton lay in one of more than 200 tombs recently excavated at a 2,000-year-old cemetery in eastern Mongolia, near China's northern border. DNA extracted from this man's bones pegs him as a descendant of Europeans or western Asians. Yet he still assumed a prominent position in ancient Mongolia's Xiongnu Empire, say geneticist Kyung-Yong Kim of Chung-Ang University in Seoul, South Korea, and his colleagues.
On the basis of previous excavations and descriptions in ancient Chinese texts, researchers suspect that the Xiongnu Empire -- which ruled a vast territory in and around Mongolia from 209 B.C. to A.D. 93 -- included ethnically and linguistically diverse nomadic tribes. The Xiongnu Empire once ruled the major trading route known as the Asian Silk Road, opening it to both Western and Chinese influences.
Egypt Unveils Renovations At Oldest Monastery
Source: CBS News (2-4-10)
Egypt's antiquities chief on Thursday unveiled the completion of an 8-year, $14.5 million restoration of the world's oldest Christian monastery, touting it as a sign of Christian-Muslim coexistence.
The announcement at the 1,600-year-old St. Anthony's Monastery came a month after Egypt's worst incident of sectarian violence in over a decade, when a shooting on a church on Orthodox Christmas Eve killed seven people.
The attack raised heavy criticism of the Egyptian government abroad and at home, by critics who say it has not done enough to address tensions between the country's Muslim majority and its Christian population, estimated at 10 percent of the 79 million population.
Ancient East Asian Found in Roman Empire
Source: Scientific American (2-4-10)
In a report in the Journal of Roman Archaeology, researchers announce the discovery of a body of an east Asian man, buried in Italy two millennia ago. Christopher Intagliata reports
Researchers found his body on an imperial Roman estate and took dental samples. Why examine teeth? Well, the water you drink at birth leaves a distinct signature in your teeth. That water signature is in the form of oxygen isotopes, atoms of oxygen with different numbers of neutrons. Isotopes say something about the latitude and elevation of your birthplace—which in the case of our mystery man definitely wasn’t southern Italy.
Then the researchers tested his mitochondrial DNA, which is passed down through your maternal lineage. And this fellow had east Asian genes. The finding appears in the Journal of Roman Archaeology.
Stonehenge's secret: archaeologist uncovers evidence of encircling hedges
Source: Guardian (UK) (2-4-10)
Survey of landscape suggests prehistoric monument was surrounded by two circular hedges.
The Monty Python knights who craved a shrubbery were not so far off the historical mark: archaeologists have uncovered startling evidence of The Great Stonehenge Hedge.
Inevitably dubbed Stonehedge, the evidence from a new survey of the Stonehenge landscape suggests that 4,000 years ago the world's most famous prehistoric monument was surrounded by two circular hedges, planted on low concentric
banks.
The best guess of the archaeologists from English Heritage, who carried out the first detailed survey of the landscape of the monument since the Ordnance Survey maps of 1919, is that the hedges could have served as screens keeping even more secret from the crowd the ceremonies carried out by the elite allowed inside the stone circle.
Last speaker of ancient language of Bo dies in India
Source: BBC (2-4-10)
The last speaker of an ancient language in India's Andaman Islands has died at the age of about 85, a leading linguist has told the BBC.
Professor Anvita Abbi said that the death of Boa Sr was highly significant because one of the world's oldest languages - Bo - had come to an end.
She said that India had lost an irreplaceable part of its heritage.
Languages in the Andamans are thought to originate from Africa. Some may be 70,000 years old.
Terrorist Carlos the Jackal sues French channel over television drama
Source: Telegraph (UK) (2-4-10)
Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, for years the world's most wanted terrorist, is suing a Parisian production company over a three-part television drama he claims could violate his "biographical image".
With the help of his wife, a French lawyer whom he married in prison, Sánchez has demanded that the producers hand over the master copy of the footage for her to check for errors and potentially make changes before it is broadcast on the French Canal+ channel, the Guardian reports.
Better known as Carlos the Jackal, Sánchez once claimed, in front of the television cameras, to have killed more than 1,500 people in the pursuit of Palestinian liberation.
But the Venezuelan revolutionary, serving life imprisonment for the murder of two French intelligence officials and their informant in 1975, recently seems to have decided to shun the media.
Nazi death camp survivor recognises John Demjanjuk
Source: Telegraph (UK) (2-4-10)
A Russian survivor of the Nazi death camp Sobibor has said that a man on trial for working at the death camp, John Demjanjuk, was definitely one of the guards.
John Demjanjuk is accused of being a guard at Sobibor camp in occupied Poland and aiding the murder of 27,900 Dutch Jews who were gassed during his alleged time there.
Mr Vaitsen, a Jewish veteran paratrooper who is seriously ill after several heart attacks, was shown a photograph of John Demjanjuk by a reporter.
Mr Vaitsen is the first living witness to positively identify Demjanjuk, who is on trial in Munich in what is likely to be the last major case dealing with war crimes by the Nazi regime.
Adolf Hitler's 'Mein Kampf' to be republished in Germany
Source: Telegraph (UK) (2-4-10)
Adolf Hitler's autobiography "Mein Kampf" is to be republished in Germany in 2015 for the first time since being banned under the country's constitution at the end of the Second World War.
Under the post-1945 German constitution, the dissemination of Nazi philosophy has been a crime punishable by fines and imprisonment.
But the copyright, held by the state of Bavaria where the Nazi movement began life in the 1920s, expires in 2015, 70 years after the death of its author in his Berlin bunker.
Prosecutors Ask to Close Holocaust Museum Shooting Case
Source: AP (2-4-10)
Prosecutors have asked a court to officially close the case of a man accused of fatally shooting a guard at the U.S. Holocaust Museum.
James Wenneker Von Brunn, a white supremacist, died in January; a court filing Wednesday asks that the federal case against him be closed.
The filing says that a medical examiner provided Von Brunn's certificate of death and that he died naturally but as a result of a variety of medical conditions.
North Carolina Schools May Cut Chunk Out of U.S. History Lessons
Source: FOX News (2-3-10)
He may be the president who governed during the Civil War, freeing the slaves, but under a new curriculum proposal for North Carolina high schools, U.S. history would begin years after President Lincoln, with the presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes in 1877....
Under the proposed change, the ninth-graders would take a course called global studies, focusing in part on issues such as the environment. The 10th grade still would study civics and economics, but 11th-graders would take U.S. history only from 1877 onward....
"The answer isn't to throw out fundamental portions of U.S. history," said Mike Belter, a U.S. history teacher and social studies director. "This is not preparing our kids to have a deep historical perspective that can be used to analyze modern events for themselves."...
African American Astronauts Seek to Add New Chapter to Black History
Source: Voice of America (2-4-10)
February is Black History Month in the United States and Canada, a national observance that pays tribute to people and events that shaped the history of African-Americans and Canadians. It's also a time to educate people about the accomplishments of black people and their contributions to society. Last November, two African American astronauts soared into space while reaching new heights in the U.S. Space program.
Six astronauts rocketed toward orbit and the international space station. The mission had special meaning for Dr. Robert (Bobby) Satcher and Leland Melvin. They became the first African-American men to fly together on a shuttle mission.
Astronaut Bobby Satcher became the second African-American to space walk. He also made NASA history, becoming the first orthopedic surgeon in space, conducting a number of medical experiments. He says the future is bright for black astronauts.
"There is still a lot of firsts for us [black astronauts] to do and hopefully we will run out of those firsts pretty quickly because it is certainly my desire that one of the legacies that I would certainly like to leave behind is bringing in more African-American astronauts," said Bobby Satcher....
Since 1983 there have been 20 black astronauts in the U.S. space program. Both Melvin and Satcher say they hope there will be many more African-American space explorers inspired by what they've accomplished, not only in outer space but on Earth.
Howitzer’s new home: 26-ton WWII tank moved to Fort Missoula
Source: Missoulian (2-2-10)
After nearly 40 years serving as silent sentinel at the Montana National Guard Armory on Reserve Street in Missoula, the World War II vintage M7 howitzer is finally able to stand down.
But moving the 26-ton artillery piece to its new home at Fort Missoula was no easy task.
Scott Wolff, owner of Iron Horse Towing and Repair in Missoula, tried to move the tank with a 50-ton tow truck, but couldn't muster the needed traction to budge the monster. Plan B was to bring in another 30-ton tow truck, using both wreckers to lift the M7 high enough off the ground to drive a flatbed under it.
Plan B worked. Thanks to Wolff, who donated his time and equipment, the tank now rests in front of the Rocky Mountain Museum of Military History at Fort Missoula.
"I bet I shot $5,000 worth of ammunition through that howitzer," said Jerry Kurzenbaum, who dropped by the armory Tuesday morning to watch the move. Kurzenbaum was a forward observer with the 443rd Field Artillery Unit and remembers issuing firing orders to the M7's crew on training missions back in the 1950s.
"It's powered by a 3,600-horsepower radial aircraft engine," Kurzenbaum said. "The transmission takes 52 quarts of oil."
The British purchased more than 5,000 M7s during WWII and soon nicknamed it the "Priest," after its pulpit-shaped machine-gun turret.
Vladimir Putin marks 70th anniversary of Polish massacre
Source: BBC News (2-4-10)
Russian PM Vladimir Putin has invited his Polish counterpart, Donald Tusk, to a ceremony to mark the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre.
It is the first Russian ceremony to mark the murdering by Soviet secret police of more than 20,000 Polish prisoners of war in April 1940.
The invitation is being hailed in Poland as a breakthrough that could lead to improved bilateral ties.
Mr Putin said he understood the significance of the massacre to Poles.
He told Mr Tusk in a telephone call that their joint appearance at the ceremony in April would be an important symbolic gesture, said a Polish government spokesman.
A former Polish foreign minister, Adam Rotfeld, who now heads a committee tackling difficult issues between the two countries, hailed Mr Putin's invitation as an important event in the normalisation of Polish-Russian relations.
The mass execution of Polish army and police officers in the forests of Katyn and other sites has long been one of the most difficult issues between the two countries.
For half a century the Soviet Union blamed the killings on the Nazis.
In 1990, Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev finally admitted Soviet responsibility.
More recently, Moscow's refusal to declassify the archives, and a Russian court ruling that the massacre did not warrant the term genocide, has angered many in Poland.
Swiss court awards Haiti funds to Baby Doc Duvalier (Haiti)
Source: BBC News (2-4-10)
At least $4.6m (£2.9m) in Swiss bank accounts must be returned to the family of Haiti's former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier, a Swiss court has ruled.
A lower court had previously awarded charities the money - but that decision was overturned on 12 January and the ruling released on 3 February.
However, the Swiss government has blocked the release of the money until a law is passed to return it to Haiti.
The exile, known as Baby Doc, allegedly looted millions. He denies wrong-doing.
The court decision was made hours before the Haiti earthquake killed at least 150,000 people and left 1.5 million homeless.
The three-week delay before the ruling had been released was a common feature of Swiss courts, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
The Federal Supreme Court reversed the lower court's ruling that the money should go to aid groups in Haiti because the statute of limitations on any crimes committed by the Duvalier clan expired in 2001.
Close encounters with Japan's 'living fossil'
Source: BBC News (2-4-10)
It soon becomes clear that the giant salamander has hit Claude Gascon's enthusiasm button smack on the nose.
"This is a dinosaur, this is amazing," he enthuses.
"We're talking about salamanders that usually fit in the palm of your hand. This one will chop your hand off."
As a leader of Conservation International's (CI) scientific programmes, and co-chair of the Amphibian Specialist Group with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Dr Gascon has seen a fair few frogs and salamanders in his life; but little, he says, to compare with this.
Fortunately for all of our digits, this particular giant salamander is in no position to chop off anything, trapped in a tank in the visitors' centre in Maniwa City, about 800km west of Tokyo.
But impressive it certainly is: about 1.7m (5ft 6in) long, covered in a leathery skin that speaks of many decades passed, with a massive gnarled head covered in tubercles whose presumed sensitivity to motion probably helped it catch fish by the thousand over its lifetime.
If local legend is to be believed, though, this specimen is a mere tadpole compared with the biggest ever seen around Maniwa.
A 17th Century tale, related to us by cultural heritage officer Takashi Sakata, tells of a salamander (or hanzaki, in local parlance) 10m long that marauded its way across the countryside chomping cows and horses in its tracks.
A local hero was found, one Mitsui Hikoshiro, who allowed the hanzaki to swallow him whole along with his trusty sword - which implement he then used, in the best heroic tradition, to rend the beast from stem to stern.
Chinese antiquities move to center stage
Source: NYT (2-3-10)
Some four decades after the Cultural Revolution, when many of the country’s centuries-old treasures were defaced or destroyed as a result of Mao’s command to eradicate “the four olds” — old ideas, old culture, old customs and old habits — China has reversed its attitude toward antiques. Ming dynasty porcelain vases, 19th-century hardwood furniture and even early 20th-century calligraphy ink pots have become popular status symbols for an emerging middle class eager to display its new wealth and cultural knowledge. The antiques market has become so hot, in fact, that it has given rise to a new category of must-see TV here.
In recent years, “Collection World” and a dozen other similar shows — with names like “Treasure Appraisal” and “Art Collector” — have been luring both serious collectors and armchair enthusiasts, offering information on collecting trends and appraisal techniques, and encouraging a new wave of treasure hunting.
While some in the antiques world laud these programs for turning antiquing into a national pastime, others are skeptical of their educational value. As Yan Zhentang, the president of the Chinese Collectors’ Association, noted, “These shows certainly help get ordinary people interested in antiques, but the bottom line is they are just entertainment, and they make mistakes.”...
Nevertheless, the shows have attracted a devoted following. Zhou Yajun, a long-distance truck driver and collector from Hebei Province, near Beijing, said he watched “Collection World” and other antiques shows every week, testing his appraisal skills against those of the judges in the hope that he could learn to outwit the counterfeiters who prey on the country’s amateur antiquarians....
Perhaps wisely, Mr. Zhou has come up with his own way of evaluating authenticity: “After I buy something, I put it in my home for two days,” he said. “If I start to like it, it’s real. If not, it’s counterfeit.”...
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Adolf Hitler, the Irish folk music fan
Source: Irish Central (1-28-10)
Newly released historical photographs reveal that famous Irish musician Sean Dempsey played for Adolf Hitler in 1936, and the Nazi dictator loved his music.
Dempsey, an uileann piper, was invited to play for Hitler and propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels during a visit to Berlin in 1936 after being told that Hitler was an Irish folk music fan....
The bizarre scene was revealed for the first time in a new exhibition of Irish photographs from that era called 'Ceol na Cathra.' The exhibition opened in Dublin and was collected by legendary fiddle player Mick O’Connor.
Children of dead CIA officers try to learn about their work
Source: The Washington Post (3-2-10)
When CIA employees are slain in action, as happened in Afghanistan in December, when a suicide bomber killed seven officers and contractors, relatives who live in the dark about their loved one's work often fall into confusion and a passion to know more. Now, as the agency's earliest generation of Cold Warriors fades away from old age or disease, grown children who might have known only that their parents were in the CIA are stumbling upon letters and other records that fill holes in their family's narrative.
As children, even if they grew up envisioning clandestine heroics, they knew not to ask many questions. As adults, they often didn't want to intrude. Now, they are learning that after a loved one's death, decades of unslaked curiosity can be only partially satisfied.
The first generation of employees of the secretive agency and its forerunner, the Office of Strategic Services (established in 1942), is dying off. In the past two years, more than 130 obituaries of retired or former CIA or OSS staff members have appeared in The Washington Post describing the employees as officer, spy or something blander yet tantalizing -- project director or analyst.
Excavation and restoration on the Avenue of Sphinxes
Source: Indepedent (UK) (3-2-10)
Egypt’s Minister of Culture, Farouk Hosni, and Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), along with the governor of Luxor, Samir Farag, will embark today on an inspection tour along the Avenue of Sphinxes that connects the Luxor and Karnak temples.
Built by the 30th Dynasty king Nectanebo I (380-362 BC), the avenue is 2,700 meters long and 76 meters wide, and lined with a number of statues in the shape of sphinxes. Queen Hatshepsut recorded on her red chapel in Karnak temple that she built six chapels dedicated to the god Amun-Re on the route of this avenue during her reign, emphasising that it was long a place of religious significance.
The Avenue of Sphinxes is one of the most important archaeological and religious paths in Luxor, as it was the location of important religious ceremonies in ancient times, most notably the Beautiful Feast of Opet.
Aviation archaeologists' Londonderry Spitfire search
Source: BBC (2-3-10)
Two aviation archaeologists are to come to Northern Ireland to search for a lost WWII Spitfire.
Gareth Jones and Steve Vizard have been keen to unravel the mystery of the missing aircraft.
They believe it's buried underground on the site of City of Derry Airport, the former RAF Eglinton air base.
In 1941 the air base was established to defend Londonderry from German attack.
With Scott to the Pole
Source: BBC (2-3-10)
New documents detailing Edward Wilson's doomed march to the South Pole with Scott of the Antarctic have gone on show in his home town of Cheltenham.
Ninety-eight years ago, three men lay dying inside a lonely tent battered by howling winds on the frozen wastes of Antarctica.
Robert Falcon Scott, "Birdie" Bowers and Dr Edward Wilson were the last remaining members of the five-man party that lost the race to the South Pole. They arrived five weeks after their rivals, led by Roald Amundsen had planted the Norwegian flag there.
Two other Britons - Lawrence "Titus" Oates and Edgar Evans, had already died on Scott's return journey and hunger, exhaustion and frostbite would eventually claim the lives of Scott and his two remaining companions.
Mussolini iPhone application is withdrawn
Source: BBC (2-3-10)
An iPhone application that allows users to download speeches by the former Italian dictator Benito Mussolini has been withdrawn.
Its developer says he is removing it after legal threats.
But the application has also faced protests from Jewish groups and Holocaust survivors who described it as offensive.
IMussolini, as the application is known, has become the most popular iPhone download in Italy.
Ugandans sue Britain over colonial era 'crimes'
Source: Telegraph (UK) (2-2-10)
Ten Ugandans are suing the British government for £300 billion in damages for crimes committed by colonial officers in the late 1800s.
The group are seeking damages for crimes committed during the 1893-1899 war in the northwestern Bunyoro region.
Their lawyer Crispus Ayena Odongo said: "Before this war the population of Bunyoro was stated to be 2.5 million. But by the end of the war there were only 150,000 Bunyoro that could be accounted for.
Stanley Lucas: Europe’s oldest man celebrates 110th birthday
Source: Telegraph (UK) (2-3-10)
Europe's oldest man, Stanley Lucas, has celebrated his 110th birthday in his home town in Cornwall and attributed his long life to fresh air and good country food.
Mr Lucas, who is also believed to be the world’s third oldest man, said he had never smoked, enjoys only the odd glass of sherry, and had never travelled far.
He has received seven cards from the Queen, the first when he was aged 100, and one every year from 105 to 110.
Mr Lucas, who was born on Jan 15, 1900, played bowls for Cornwall in the 1970s, and continued the sport until he was over 100.
Sudanese president may face genocide charges
Source: Telegraph (UK) (2-3-10)
Sudan's president faces being charged with genocide over the seven-year conflict in Darfur after a war crimes court ruling.
An appeals chamber ordered that evidence which could support a genocide indictment must be looked at again after it was discarded during earlier hearings.
The International Criminal Court charged Mr Bashir with seven counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes in March last year.
But prosecutors' requests that three counts of genocide be added to that charge sheet were denied by the Court's judges.
Gruesome murder-suicide revealed in National Portrait Gallery archive
Source: Telegraph (UK) (2-3-10)
The director of the National Portrait Gallery seemed preoccupied with the cleanliness of his parquet flooring after a gruesome murder-suicide there in 1909, according to archive papers being put online.
Returning from lunch, James Milner was told that an elderly man had "shot himself and a woman in the East Wing," he wrote in a typed report dated 26 February 1909.
The tale is from the gallery's archive, dating back to its founding in 1856, which have until now only been available to view by appointment.
It is being catalogued to be put online thanks to an £18,000 public grant. A third of the archive has been catalogued so far and work continues on the rest.
Record £65m paid for Alberto Giacometti bronze sculpture at Sotheby's auction
Source: Telegraph (UK) (2-3-10)
An Alberto Giacometti bronze sculpture has become the most expensive piece of art to sell at auction after it was sold in London for more than £65million.
The sculpture, considered to be one of the most important by the 20th century Swiss artist, was estimated to sell for between £12 million and £18 million.
The previous record was a Picasso painting, Boy with a Pipe, which was his haunting Rose Period portrait of a youngster called "Little Louis", who used to hang around his studio in Paris, which was sold for $104million (£58.5m) in 2004.
It eclipsed the previous record of $82.5 million paid for Van Gogh's Portrait of Dr Gachet in 1990 and also became the first $100million painting
U.S. Encyclopedia Apologizes for Mangling Irish Civil War History
Source: AP (2-3-10)
[Note: The original headline on FOX News read "British Encyclopedia Apologizes for Mangling Irish Civil War History." Encyclopaedia Britannica has been an American publication since 1901.]
Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc. apologized Wednesday for mangling the history of the Irish Civil War, a longtime screw-up detected only this year when an Internet version of the reference book was supplied to Ireland's 4,000 schools.
A concise version of the Britannica first published seven years ago and used initially on hand-held devices has falsely described Ireland's 1922-23 civil war as a fight between the Catholic south and Protestant north.
In reality, the civil war took place entirely south of the border, between two groups of Irish Catholic nationalists. The opposing sides were the fledgling army of the newly formed Irish Free State, which supported the Anglo-Irish treaty that created the state, and rebels who rejected it for failing to deliver full-fledged independence. The Irish Free State evolved over decades into today's Republic of Ireland.
Illness Suspends 89-Year-Old Suspected Nazi Guard's Trial
Source: AP (2-3-10)
John Demjanjuk's trial in Germany was postponed Wednesday after doctors reported that the 89-year-old defendant was experiencing medical problems.
Presiding Judge Ralph Alt said the doctors at the prison hospital where Demjanjuk is being held reported he was suffering from dangerously low hemoglobin levels and needed treatment.
However, doctors thought the proceedings would be able to resume Thursday as scheduled, Alt said.
Iraq Suspends Ban on Candidates With Suspected Saddam Ties
Source: AP (2-3-10)
An Iraqi appeals court Wednesday suspended a ban imposed on hundreds of candidates for suspected ties to Saddam Hussein's regime, allowing them to run in next month's election, an official said.
The move could temporarily defuse a major source of tension ahead of key March elections, but leaves the ultimate issue of a political blacklist unresolved.
The list — which has more than 450 names — was widely criticized by Sunni political leaders who claimed it was being used as a political tool to marginalize them by the Shiite-led government.
Town of George Washington's HQ could be 9/11 trial site
Source: CNN (2-3-10)
Newburgh, New York, was a main military headquarters for George Washington during the American Revolution. More recently, authorities say, it was the birthplace of a foiled terrorist plot.
If Mayor Nick Valentine gets his way, the town of 30,000 will host the terror trial of accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four alleged accomplices.
About 60 miles up the Hudson River from New York City, Newburgh struggles with poverty, unemployment and crime. In 2004, the town was dubbed the third worst metropolitan area in the country.
Early draft of the Constitution found in Philadelphia
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer (2-2-10)
Researcher Lorianne Updike Toler was intrigued by the centuries-old document at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
On the back of a treasured draft of the U.S. Constitution was a truncated version of the same document, starting with the familiar words: "We The People. . . ."
They had been scribbled upside down by one of the Constitution's framers, James Wilson, in the summer of 1787. The cursive continued, then abruptly stopped, as if pages were missing.
A mystery, Toler thought, until she examined other Wilson papers from the Historical Society's vault in Philadelphia and found what appeared to be the rest of the draft, titled "The Continuation of the Scheme."...
"This was national scripture, a piece of our Constitution's history," she said of her find in November. "It was difficult to keep my hands from trembling."...
"The Continuation of the Scheme" and countless other documents had been evaluated by scholars decades ago before being carefully filed away at the Historical Society at 13th and Locust Streets.
"Perhaps this one should have been placed with the other drafts," said Lee Arnold, senior director of the library and collections at the Historical Society. "We may do that, but no decision has been made....
Seeing the framers' drafts and thought processes leading up to that point was especially thrilling to Toler, who is studying at Oxford University, where she is seeking a doctorate in U.S. history and specializing in constitutional legal history.
"The Constitution may be the most important document written in modern history," said Toler. "It is the longest-standing written constitution and the basis for most of the constitutions in the world."
After finding the draft, "I felt like an actor in the movie National Treasure, but [actor] Nicolas Cage was nowhere to be found," Toler added.
"However, what I found was a national treasure - the real national treasure."...
Local folklore has it that overgrown N.C. hilltop is the real birthplace of Lincoln
Source: Charlotte Observer (2-3-10)
BOSTIC, N.C. -- Note to aspiring saints and office-holders: You'll know you've achieved "legendary" status when whispered tales are attached to your life story with question marks. The higher you rise, the more there are.
Consider Abraham Lincoln. There are tales about him in Washington, where the 16th president saved the Union and was assassinated. Likewise in Springfield, Ill., the closest to a normal "home" the self-made Lincoln had.
Likewise in this Rutherford County crossroads where some say he was born atop Lincoln Hill, just east of larger and more rugged Cherry Mountain.
The world at large believes he was born Feb. 12, 1809, in a cabin near Hodgenville, Ky. At least once, Lincoln himself put this in writing. It's where the National Park Service oversees the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park.
The Bostic Lincoln Center holds otherwise. According to its research, what remains of his birthplace is about an hour west of Charlotte, a ruined foundation in a thicket of trees above a creek. It's on private land to which the center has access. Call in advance, and Keith Price or another member will walk you up there on a short run of trails that vanishes in a maze of chestnut oak and pine saplings.
Court to hear case on Walmart development at the Wilderness battlefield today
Source: Culpeper Star-Exponent (VA) (2-3-10)
An Orange County Circuit Court judge will hear preliminary arguments today from national groups and local residents who oppose the planned 240,000-square-foot commercial development featuring a new Walmart on the Wilderness Battlefield in Orange....
The proposal is for a 140,000-square-foot Walmart and an additional 100,000-square-feet for commercial development. The site proposals are adjacent to the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, established by Congress in 1927.
The Battle of the Wilderness, where 26,000 men were killed or wounded, was fought on the historic battleground in May 1864 during the Civil War.
It was the first time generals Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant met in combat. The supervisors voted to approve the special use permit in August.
Planned restoration of Loew's Kings Theatre in Brooklyn
Source: NYT (2-2-10)
The building bears little resemblance to the extravagantly sumptuous “wonder theater” that wowed audiences in 1929.
The rusting, dirt-caked marquee that hangs outside the Loew’s Kings Theater over a bustling commercial stretch of Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn last promoted a film in 1977. Years of neglect have left the interior rotted by time, stripped by thieves and desecrated by vandals and pigeons.
New York City, which seized the building decades ago in lieu of back taxes, has long teased the neighborhood with proposals to restore the lost luster of a local landmark. But this time, the city says, it is for real.
A developer has signed an agreement, made a down payment on a $70 million renovation and plans to turn the building back into a functioning entertainment venue, this time presenting live performances, city officials said Tuesday.
“We’re on our way to making that dream come true,” said Marty Markowitz, the Brooklyn borough president, who is to formally announce the restoration in his State of the Borough address Wednesday.
After a four-year process — and many false starts — the city has selected a company based in Houston, ACE Theatrical Group, to renovate and operate the theater. It would be, once again, the biggest indoor theater in Brooklyn, presenting 250 concerts, theatrical performances and community events annually, officials said.
Egypt tightens penalties for relics robbers, smugglers
Source: AFP (2-1-10)
Parliament amended Egypt's antiquities law on Monday to bring in stiffer punishments for the theft and smuggling of relics while granting patent rights to the country's antiquities council.
The amendment requires Egyptians who have antiquities to report their possessions to the Supreme Council of Antiquities, headed by Zahi Hawass, in six months. The sale of antiquities is still banned.
"Parliament agreed on article eight that forbids trade in antiquities but allows possession of antiquities with some individuals, on condition that they cannot use them to benefit others, or to damage and neglect them," Hawass said.
These relics, he said, can in future only be given as a gift with the council's authorisation. They may also be passed on as part of an inheritance.
The antiquities legal counsel, Ashraf el-Ishmawi, who helped in the drafting of the amendments, clarified that the law precluded antiques and heirlooms.
He said the new law increased prison sentences for smuggling artifacts out of Egypt to 15 years and a one-million-pound (182,815-dollar) fine. The penalty for stealing artifacts has been doubled to 10 years.
"The goal of the new law is to protect Egyptian antiquities."
It also increases the punishment for tampering with antiquity sites to five years in jail, while a new provision gives patent rights to the antiquities council on precise replicas of antiquities that are certified by the council.
Sunken WWII submarine found
Source: Honolulu advertiser (2-1-10)
The Navy said today that a sunken vessel found in the Philippines' Balabac Strait has been identified as the World War II submarine USS Flier.
The Flier, which departed Pearl Harbor in January 1944 for its first war patrol, had seen extensive action by the time it struck a mine and sank on Aug. 13, 1944.
Seventy-eight crewmen were lost when the submarine went down.
Fourteen crewmen escaped, but only eight survived the long swim to reach shore. After making their way by raft to Palawan and being protected for several weeks by local people and a guerrilla unit, the sailors were evacuated by the submarine USS Redfin.
The last surviving crewmember, Ens. Al Jacobson, devoted much of his life to finding the Flier. After his death in 2008, his family continued the search.
Using Jacobson's notes and research, YAP Films last year was able to locate wreckage of a submarine in the area where the Flier was lost.
YAP Films provided video footage to the Naval History and Heritage Command and it was confirmed that the wreckage was that of the Flier.
Bankruptcy Complicates National Archives Deal for Roosevelt Papers
Source: NYT (2-2-10)
When President Obama signed a law on Monday to clear the way for the largest privately held archive of papers relating to President Franklin D. Roosevelt to be donated to Roosevelt’s presidential library, it was to be the culmination of a five-year effort to finally make the documents available to the public....
The documents, which belonged to Roosevelt’s last personal secretary, Grace Tully, have been in legal limbo for years because of an ownership dispute involving the National Archives, which runs the library, and Hollinger International, a now-bankrupt company formerly controlled by the Canadian press baron Conrad M. Black, who is serving a federal prison sentence in Florida on fraud charges.
In an odd twist, the new law removes the government claim on the condition that the collection is donated to the government. But the bankruptcy has thrown this carefully negotiated settlement into doubt.
For officials of the National Archives, which had worked with Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, to get hold of the papers since Hollinger tried to sell them at Sotheby’s in 2005, the prospect of the papers’ being held hostage, or even sold off, as a result of bankruptcy proceedings has prompted dismay.
“I’m absolutely worried,” said Cynthia M. Koch, director of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park, N.Y. “We’ve worked with Senator Schumer for years on this. To be working so hard on something and then suddenly realize the possibility that there’s yet another hurdle has been distressing.”
The papers, including official correspondence, handwritten notes and photographs, were in the estate of Ms. Tully, who began working for Roosevelt in 1929, when he was governor of New York. She was his personal secretary from 1941 until his death in 1945, and died in 1984, at 83....
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Study captures Benedict, MD history
Source: SoMdNews.com (1-27-10)
From a British invasion to a recruitment camp for African-American Civil War troops, the sleepy little hamlet that is present-day Benedict has seen its share of action.
The county's cultural resource study of Benedict highlights the importance it played in both local and national history and recommends ways to ensure that the town receives recognition during the state's 200th anniversary celebration of the War of 1812.
Completed in the fall, the 234-page study will be used as Charles County's resource guide when preparing for Benedict's role in the bicentennial anniversary of the war, said Cathy Thompson, the county's community planning program manager. The study outlines historic events that occurred in the Colonial port town during the last 300 years, including the British land invasion in 1814 and the establishment of Camp Stanton, a Civil War recruitment camp for African-Americans.
The document — prepared by local historians Ralph E. Eshelman, Donald G. Shomette and G. Howard Post — also describes archaeological sites, architecture and landscapes that harbor evidence of Benedict's history, Thompson said, adding that the report contains several recommendations on how to preserve and promote the town's heritage. The recommendations will serve as the county's guide on how to develop plans for the anniversary of the war that will kick off in 2012 and offers suggestions on how to plan for future development in the town, she said....
Urban explorers are more historian than spelunker
Source: Coventry Telegraph (UK) (2-2-10)
I’m standing in the middle of a derelict wasteland that was once the place where hundreds of Coventry folk flocked to work.
Armed with just a torch I jump over fences, dodge barbed wire and wade through mud just to observe a part of the city’s heritage that will soon be levelled by developers.
I’m joined by a young man, probably in his early 20s, who I know very little about.
There’s a reason for that. This man – known to some by his online name “Dweeb” – is a leading member of a group of people known as urban explorers....
We walk through the site as Dweeb, obviously an incredibly passionate individual, tells me about the history.
And even though it’s half demolished, Torrington, a firm who used to make needles for the hosiery industry, is fascinating. We walk around the site which still shows signs of its bustling heritage....
"...I’ve never broken into a site in my life.”
I believe him. Dweeb, and his explorers, are more guerilla historians than criminals....
For all the death-defying reports posted online from cranes and empty tower blocks that are carried out, quite clearly, for the thrill, there are people out there like Dweeb who do it to highlight the death of industry in the UK and the death of the buildings that housed the industry.
These remarkable structures could be turned into apartments or offices and our heritage could be preserved.
But, more often than not, they get demolished and the places where our parents and grandparents toiled disappear.
And the only record of these buildings can be found online – posted by people filled with passion and a healthy dose of enthusiasm.
DNA Testing on 2,000-Year-Old Bones in Italy Reveal East Asian Ancestry
Source: Science Daily (2-2-10)
Researchers excavating an ancient Roman cemetery made a surprising discovery when they extracted ancient mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from one of the skeletons buried at the site: the 2,000-year-old bones revealed a maternal East Asian ancestry.
The results will be presented at the Roman Archeology Conference at Oxford, England, in March, and published in the Journal of Roman Archaeology.
According to Tracy Prowse, assistant professor of Anthropology, and the lead author on the study, the isotopic evidence indicates that about 20% of the sample analyzed to-date was not born in the area around Vagnari. The mtDNA is another line of evidence that indicates at least one individual was of East Asian descent.
Sarcophagus could provide clues to Mayan decline
Source: AFP (1-29-10)
A thousand-year-old stone sarcophagus discovered in southern Mexico could provide clues to the reason for decline of Mayan culture, the archaeologist responsible for the find has said.
The tomb was discovered in November by specialists from the National Institute of Archaeology and History, known as INAH, in the Mayan city of Tonina in Chiapas state on the border with Guatemala.
The stone sarcophagus and the gravestone accompanying it dates to a period from 840 to 900 AD, when the Mayan civilization's decline began, Juan Yadeum told a news conference on Thursday.
Iraq inquiry: Tony Blair ‘lied’ and misled Parliament, claims Clare Short
Source: Telegraph (UK) (2-2-10)
Tony Blair 'lied' to his Cabinet and misled Parliament over the war in Iraq, Clare Short, the former international development secretary has said.
Giving evidence before the Chilcot Committee into the war, she repeatedly accused the former prime minister of personally “misleading” and “conning” her, and of being “deceitful” with Cabinet, Parliament, and the public.
Miss Short claimed that Mr Blair broke the ministerial code by misleading Parliament, and accused Lord Goldsmith, the former attorney general who gave the “green light” to war, of failing to tell the Cabinet the truth of his reservations about the legality of an invasion.
When she tried to ask questions in Cabinet, Miss Short was “jeered” at, and Mr Blair told her to “be quiet”.
Unseen Picasso masterpiece sells for £8m
Source: Telegraph (UK) (2-2-10)
A Picasso masterpiece unseen in public for 43 years fetched more than twice its expected price at auction when it sold for £8.1 million.
Tete de Femme (Jacqueline), a 1963 portrait of the artist's second wife, had not been seen in public since 1967 and was expected to fetch £3 million to £4 million, Christie's said.
The portrait had never been offered at auction and had remained in the same collection since 1981.
It was the the most talked-about lot of a string of masterpieces by Picasso, Renoir and Matisse which went on sale on Tuesday.
Senators push legislation to pull funding for civilian 9/11 trial
Source: CNN (2-2-10)
Several senators announced legislation Tuesday that would cut off funding for the federal trial of alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four accused accomplices, saying the five should be tried in a military court.
The bill would withhold funding from the Department of Justice to prosecute the five in civilian court, a plan that has recently been criticized.
President Obama believes the trial should take place in a criminal court instead of before a military commission, which is planned for some terrorism suspects, David Axelrod, senior adviser to Obama, and White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said earlier this week.
Moussavi: Shah's 'tyranny' continues in Iran
Source: CNN (2-2-10)
Mir Hossein Moussavi, the Iranian opposition leader and symbol of anti-government fervor, lashed out against Iran's Islamic Republic Tuesday, saying remnants of the "tyranny" and "dictatorship" that prevailed under the toppled Shah of Iran's regime persist today.
The regime is marking the anniversary of the shah's overthrow with a series of events that began this week and culminate on February 11. Moussavi and Mehdi Karrubi, another Iranian opposition leader, have urged supporters to demonstrate.
Those celebrations coincide with Iranian trials and executions of street protesters who demonstrate against the June 12 presidential election victory of incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In the final results Ahmadinejad was declared the winner over Moussavi, a result seen by many Iranians as questionable or rigged.
Medieval bridges preserved with sugar
Source: Medieval News (2-2-10)
Scientists have used 70 tons of liquid sugar to preserve the remains of three Medieval bridges found near Leicester. Experts from the University of Leicester immersed the 11th century bridges – whose ruins were so heavy they had to be carried in sections by eight-man teams – in tanks of sugar solution....
The venture is the second time sugar has come to the rescue of curators, echoing a method known as sucrose impregnation which was used by the Waterfront Museum in Dorset to conserve an Iron Age boat found in Poole in 1985....
The bridge sections are thought to have been part of The King's Highway, a major national route linking London and the South with Derby and the North. They have gone on show at local science hub the Snibston Discovery Museum, where they had been kept in drying chambers for three years in the final part of the project....
U.N. Leader Seeks Elusive Unity Deal in Cyprus
Source: NYT (2-1-10)
After decades of ethnic strife, political wrangling and fruitless diplomacy, leaders of Cyprus’s divided communities began meetings Monday with the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, months before elections that could further complicate the quest for a settlement.
Mr. Ban arrived Sunday for his first visit to Cyprus, which has been split in two since Turkish troops invaded in 1974 after a coup attempt by Greek Cypriots seeking union with mainland Greece. Since then, untold hours of negotiations have failed to bridge deep resentments and suspicions rooted in faith, conflict and history.
Turkey still maintains some 35,000 troops on the island, and a United Nations force patrols the so-called Green Line — the division between the Turkish Cypriot north, which has declared itself to be a republic and is recognized only by Turkey, and the Greek Cypriot south, whose leaders represent the island in the European Union and internationally....
In October, Demetris Christofias, the Greek Cypriot leader and president of Cyprus, gave a gloomy assessment of the prospects for ending the partition of the island and warned the European Union against appeasing Turkey in the way Germany was treated before World War II.
Nazi doctor Josef Mengele's diary up for sale
Source: Telegraph (UK) (2-1-10)
Nazi memorabilia collectors are expected to push the price for the diary and letters of the "Angel of Death" responsible for thousands of murders at Auschwitz to at least £40,000.
Infamous as Hitler's "Angel of Death", Mengele experimented on prisoners at the death camp without anaesthetic and became obsessed with twins, hoping to be able to clone perfect specimens of the Aryan race.
His diary's eclectic and often mundane contents include praise for British rule in India and his love of Boris Pasternak's novel Dr Zhivago. But he also makes chilling references to his wartime atoricities. Unless the world adopts the breeding programmes of the kind he pursued in Auschwitz, he wrote, "mankind is doomed".
"Inferior mornons," he wrote when describing "lesser races" he believed should be exterminated. He then moved seamlessly on to how pleased he is with himself for freeing a cow trapped in mud...
Tourists fly out as Machu Picchu begins isolation
Source: AP (1-29-10)
The last young backpackers flew away from Machu Picchu as clouds closed in again Friday, leaving Peru to grapple with flood damage that will close its top tourist site for weeks, or even months.
Torrential rains caused mudslides and swelled the Urubamba River on Sunday, stripping away long sections of the railway that is the only transportation in and out of the area around the Inca citadel. The road to the ruins from this village at the end of the train line also washed away.
Thousands of tourists were stranded, hotels overflowed and travelers grew frustrated as weather hampered evacuation helicopters, shopkeepers jumped prices and food and water ran short. Many visitors had to eat from communal pots and bed down in train cars, outdoors or wherever they could find space.
After a helicopter flew out the final group at 5:15 p.m., the streets of this village of 4,000 people were empty and forlorn. Gone were football games, and restaurant owners were turning down stragglers who sought to buy food.
Most villagers were packing up to head back to the nearby city of Cuzco, faced with a shutdown of Machu Picchu that some Peruvian officials said could stretch to two months — a big blow for a local economy dependent on tourism.
"There are no travelers here now and we have nothing to do. Everyone is leaving because there's no work. Without tourism there's no reason to be here," said Jadira Mendez, 29, a maid who had just been laid off at the Pirwa Hostel.
"Mythical" Temple Found in Peru
Source: National Geographic (1-28-10)
A thousand-year-old temple complex (including a tomb with human sacrifice victims, shown in a digital illustration) has been found under the windswept dunes of northwestern Peru, archaeologists say.
The discovery of the complex, excavated near the city of Chiclayo (map) between 2006 and late 2009, has injected a dose of reality into the legend of Naylamp, the god who supposedly founded the pre-Inca Lambayeque civilization in the eighth century A.D., following the collapse of the Moche civilization.
That's because evidence at the Chotuna-Chornancap archaeological site indicates the temple complex may have belonged to people claiming to have descended from Naylamp—suggesting for the first time that these supposed descendants existed in the flesh.
The sophisticated Lambayeque culture, also known as the Sicán, were best known as skilled irrigation engineers until being conquered in A.D. 1375 by the Chimú, a civilization also based along Peru's arid northern coast.
Archaeologists have been "trying to decode the legend's mystery" for a century, said dig leader Carlos Wester La Torre, director of the Brüning National Archaeological Museum in Lambayeque. "The goal was to understand the possible relations between the oral legend and archaeological evidence."
Gates to unveil plan to abandon 'don't ask, don't tell'
Source: CNN (2-2-10)
Defense Secretary Robert Gates is expected to unveil the Pentagon's plan for rolling back the controversial "don't ask, don't tell" policy regarding gay and lesbian service members on Tuesday.
During last week's State of the Union address, President Obama made clear he wanted a change.
"This year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are," he said, to a healthy round of partisan applause.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff sat stone-faced as the president made the announcement and have been quiet on the matter since the State of the Union speech.
A senior Pentagon official told CNN the military leaders are expected to support the president, but also will tell him to what extent they think allowing gays to openly serve will hurt the morale and readiness of the force.
"All they want is a little bit of time" to come up with ideas on how to implement a change in the policy, if it's approved by Congress, the official said of the Joint Chiefs.
The policy, implemented by President Clinton in 1993, bars openly gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals from serving in the U.S. military, and prevents the military from asking them about it.
Poland seeks Swede over Auschwitz sign theft
Source: BBC News (2-2-10)
A Polish court has issued a European arrest warrant for a Swede alleged to be behind the theft of the Arbeit Macht Frei sign from Auschwitz.
A court official in the southern city of Krakow said the warrant had been issued for Anders Hogstrom.
The metal sign was stolen in December from above the entrance to the notorious Nazi death camp. It was later recovered, cut into three pieces.
Five Polish men have already been arrested over the theft.
The European arrest warrant obliges any of the 27 EU member states to arrest Mr Hogstrom if he is found and hand him over to Polish police.
The sign, which weighs 40kg (90lb), was half-unscrewed, half-torn from above the death camp's gate.
The 5m (16ft) wrought iron sign - the words on which translate as "Work sets you free" - symbolises for many the atrocities of Nazi Germany.
The theft caused outrage in Israel, Poland and around the world. More than a million people - 90% of them Jews - were murdered by the Nazis at Auschwitz in occupied Poland during World War II.
France 2000 Concorde crash trial begins outside Paris
Source: BBC News (2-2-10)
US airline Continental and five individuals have gone on trial in France over the crash of an Air France Concorde nearly 10 years ago.
The jet took off in flames from Paris Charles de Gaulle airport and crashed minutes later, killing 113 people.
The presiding judge began the proceedings by reading out the names of all those who died.
An official report said Concorde had hit a metal strip from a Continental plane that had taken off earlier.
But Continental's lawyers say they can prove the supersonic jet caught fire before it struck the titanium strip.
"I am here to prove that Continental Airlines is not responsible," the airline's lawyer Olivier Metzner said as he arrived at the courtroom in Pontoise, west of Paris.
The stricken Concorde flight 4590 crashed in the town of Gonesse in July 2000, hitting a hotel and killing four people there as well as all 109 on board.
Most of the passengers were German tourists heading to New York to join a luxury cruise to the Caribbean. Nine French crew members also died.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Culpeper school officials reverse decision to stop teaching Anne Frank diary
Source: Washington Post (2-1-10)
Culpeper County public school officials have reversed an earlier decision to stop teaching a version of Anne Frank's diary that contains passages one parent found inappropriate.
School administrators said they would convene a committee this spring to review the book, in accordance with the school's policy of handling complaints about instructional materials. The earlier decision to exclude the book from classroom lessons had not followed the school system's policy.
"The Diary of a Young Girl: the Definitive Edition," which was published on the 50th anniversary of Frank's death in a concentration camp, includes passages previously excluded from the widely read original edition, first published in Dutch in 1947. The diary describes the daily life of a Jewish girl who lived in hiding with her family in Amsterdam during World War II. Some passages in the newer version detail Frank's emerging sexual desires; others include unflattering descriptions of her mother and other people living together.
Native Americans tamed turkeys in 800 B.C.
Source: MSNBC (2-1-10)
More than 1,500 years before Christopher Columbus and his crew sailed to the New World, Native Americans had already domesticated turkeys twice: first in south-central Mexico at around 800 B.C. and again in what is now the southwestern U.S. at about 200 B.C., according to a new study.
The two instances of domestication appear to have been separate, based on DNA analysis of ancient turkey remains. However, the different Native American groups could have been in contact with each other, sharing turkey-raising tips.
While turkeys today conjure up thoughts of bountiful roast meat meals and deli sandwiches, Native Americans were not driven by their dinner needs, according to the study, published in the latest Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Tourists fly out as Machu Picchu begins isolation
Source: AP (1-29-10)
The last young backpackers flew away from Machu Picchu as clouds closed in again Friday, leaving Peru to grapple with flood damage that will close its top tourist site for weeks, or even months.
Torrential rains caused mudslides and swelled the Urubamba River on Sunday, stripping away long sections of the railway that is the only transportation in and out of the area around the Inca citadel. The road to the ruins from this village at the end of the train line also washed away.
Juan Garcia, director of the regional National Culture Institute, which administers the Machu Picchu park, told the AP that the site will stay closed until train service resumes. But he added that officials will consider opening the park to travelers who hike in after the first rail section is repaired in three weeks.
Polish scientists say 3 Neanderthal teeth found
Source: AP (2-1-10)
A team of Polish scientists said Monday they have discovered three Neanderthal teeth in a cave,a find they hope may shed light on how similar to modern humans our ancestors were.
Neanderthal artifacts have been unearthed in Poland before. But the teeth are the first bodily Neanderthal remains found in the country, according to Mikolaj Urbanowski, an archaeologist with Szczecin University and the project's lead researcher.
Urbanowski said the teeth were unearthed in the Stajna Cave, north of the Carpathian Mountains, along with flint tools and the bones of the woolly mammoth and the woolly rhinoceros, both extinct Ice Age species.
Hawass To Announce King Tut DNA Results
Source: Discovery News (2-1-10)
One of history's greatest mysteries -- the family lineage of the boy pharaoh King Tut -- may soon be solved.
Zahi Hawass, chief of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, has announced on Sunday he would hold a press conference on Feb. 17 to reveal the results of DNA tests on the world's most famous pharaoh.
The long awaited announcement will be "about the secrets of the family and the affiliation of Tutankhamun, based on the results of the scientific examination of the Tutankhamun mummy following DNA analysis," Hawass said in a statement.
King Tut's DNA results will be most likely compared to those made of King Amenhotep III, who may have been Tutankamen's grandfather.
Ministers told of Iraq kit risk - armed forces chief
Source: BBC (2-1-10)
Ministers were warned of a "serious risk" the military would not have all the equipment it needed to invade Iraq, the inquiry into the war has heard.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, the head of the armed forces, said defence chiefs "simply didn't have enough time" to source everything they wanted.
It would have made a "significant difference" if the military had been given six months, rather than four.
A shortage of body armour was blamed for one of the first UK deaths in Iraq.
Putting names to the lost soldiers of Fromelles
Source: BBC (1-29-10)
The first of the remains of 250 World War I soldiers found in France are being reburied with military honours after painstaking efforts to identify them. How do you put the right name on a headstone after so long?
Boots, purses, toothbrushes and other personal artefacts lay amongst the twisted skeletons at Pheasant Wood, offering partial clues about the men's identities.
But it is the unique genetic codes within these remains that offer the best chance of putting names to each unknown soldier.
Secrets, spies and supercomputers
Source: BBC (2-1-10)
This week, BBC News is running a series of articles about pioneering British computers and British computer pioneers. The series begins with a look at research into computers developed at GCHQ after the Second World War.
The influence of the 1939-45 war on the development of computers is well known. That conflict spurred the creation of pioneering machines such as Colossus at Bletchley Park and Eniac in the US.
Also, many of the engineers who contributed to wartime inventions such as radar went on to develop other influential machines at Cambridge and Manchester, and at companies such as Elliott and Ferranti.
Research by computer historian Simon Lavington has shown that efforts to produce special purpose code-cracking machines, such as Colossus, did not stop when hostilities were over.
First soldier from forgotten First World War battle laid to rest in cemetery in France
Source: Telegraph (UK) (1-30-10)
No one may ever know how valiantly he fought. Nor how fearfully he faced his death on the battlefield.
But on a snow-capped hillside in northern France, a soldier who died in the carnage that was the Western Front during the First World War was finally laid to rest with full military honours.
His body, as yet unidentified, was the first of the 250 remains of soldiers that were found in mass graves at the site of the Battle of Fromelles, one of the most fiercely fought of the war. In all some 500 soldiers from the British 61st Division, along with 1,700 Australians, were mown down in a disastrous attack on a German-held salient just north of Fromelles village almost a century ago.
White House: No decision yet on moving 9/11 trial
Source: CNN (1-31-10)
No decision has been made on whether to change the current plan to hold the September 11 terrorist attack trial in a civilian court in lower Manhattan, White House officials said Sunday.
Last week, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other politicians expressed concern over the costs and disruption of holding the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four accomplices at a New York City courthouse.
David Axelrod, the senior adviser to President Obama, and White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Sunday that Obama believes the trial should take place in a criminal court instead of before a military commission, as permitted for some terrorism suspects.
Anniversary of Islamic Revolution May Bring New Clashes in Iran
Source: CNS News (2-1-10)
Next week’s anniversary of Iran’s Islamic revolution is shaping up to be a key indicator of the opposition’s resilience. The regime, in a continuing clampdown, last week executed two of 11 protestors who recently were sentenced to death.
On Saturday another 16 Iranians went on trial. They were arrested during the last round of protests, in late December, when hundreds of people were arrested and at least eight killed.
The semi-official Press TV news channel said that the 16 were working in the interests of the United States and other countries “seeking regime change.” The ISNA news service said five of the accused face charges of “mohareb,” a capital offense translated as “enmity with Allah.”...
The executed men were accused of plotting to topple the Islamic regime. Iran’s judiciary chief, Ayatollah Sadiq Amoli Larijani, said on Sunday they were “moharebs” and had been fairly judged on the basis of shari’a.
Tehran is responding to the challenge both by stepping up intimidatory warnings and, evidently, by trying to divert attention away by planning a major announcement on the anniversary....
Pro-government lawmakers also weighed in Sunday, urging “prominent figures” –opposition leaders – to use the anniversary as an opportunity to renew their allegiance to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“We advise the prominent figures who fanned the flames of dispute to make good on their mistakes and remain committed to rule of law,” and to take a stand against the conspiracies of the “enemies,” said a statement signed by more than 200 of the 290 members of parliament.
McConnell: Bush was mistaken to try terrorists in civilian court
Source: CNN (2-1-10)
The leading Republican in the Senate said Sunday that the previous Republican administration had been mistaken in ever trying alleged terrorists in civilian federal courts.
Instead of giving alleged terrorists civilian trials in federal court, McConnell said the administration should use the system of military commissions set up by Congress “for the specific purpose of trying foreigners captured on the battlefield.”
Asked whether he was ready to deny the White House the funding necessary to close the Guantanamo Bay facility and move detainees held there to a location somewhere in the United States, McConnell responded, “Absolutely.” He predicted that there would be bipartisan support in Congress for withholding the funding.
Sit-in vet: 'Never request permission to start a revolution'
Source: CNN (2-1-10)
Fifty years ago Monday, McCain and three other freshmen at North Carolina A&T University took a stand by sitting at the lunch counter in the national chain's Greensboro, North Carolina, store.
The store had no qualms selling toothpaste or light bulbs to blacks, but a cup of coffee at the lunch counter? Out of the question. The Greensboro Four, as they came to be known, were fed up.
McCain, Joseph McNeil, Ezell Blair Jr. and David Richmond were refused service February 1, 1960, but they sat their ground.
The Greensboro Four's act of civil defiance will be commemorated Monday with the grand opening of the International Civil Rights Center and Museum in Greensboro. Three members of the Greensboro Four will attend the ceremony without their companion Richmond, who died in 1990 at age 49.
Last U.S. veteran of World War I turns 109
Source: CNN (2-1-10)
The last surviving U.S. veteran of World War I, former Cpl. Frank Buckles, turns 109 on Monday and is still hoping for a national memorial in Washington for his comrades.
Buckles is expected to deliver remarks during a quiet celebration Monday afternoon at his home in Charles Town, West Virginia.
But the old "Doughboy" -- as World War I American infantry troops were called -- has already been outspoken in recent years, urging congressional lawmakers to give federal recognition and a facelift to a run-down District of Columbia memorial in an overgrown, wooded area along the National Mall....
Volcanoes 'destroyed ancient ocean life'
Source: Telegraph (UK) (2-1-10)
Volcanic activity may have led to nearly a third of marine life being wiped out around 100 million years ago, research suggests.
It is thought that sulphur produced by volcanoes erupting led to oxygen disappearing from large areas of the oceans.
This caused up to 27 per cent of ocean life being destroyed, according to a report published in the journal Nature Geoscience.
It is feared that a similar effect is being witnessed today as rising sea temperatures and fertilisers washing into the oceans cause oxygen levels to fall.
Scientists believe that during the Cretaceous period, a spate of volcanic activity caused plant life to bloom on the surface of the oceans.
As that plankton sank, it fed a secondary boom among the bacteria below, consuming much of the oxygen in deeper waters.
With dwindling oxygen levels, marine animals were unable to survive, wiping out large chunks of their population.
Previously, it has been held that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was the cause of the ocean being fertilised, as rising levels brought climatic changes, washing more nutrients into the sea.
Hitler bunker carpet fragment found in forgotten archives
Source: The Northern Echo (UK) (2-1-10)
NEW light is being shed on Adolf Hitler’s taste in interior design by a chance discovery in the archives of one of the region’s museums.
A fragment of the carpet from Hitler’s bunker has been found in the archives of the Green Howards Regimental Museum, in Richmond, North Yorkshire. As part of the regular cycle of refurbishment at the museum, the rooms where the archives are stored have been emptied.
And one of the items to turn up as staff moved cabinets and boxes was an envelope containing a small piece cut from the bunker carpet.
While Hollywood usually portrays the bunker as an austere military-style building, with thick grey walls and minimum comfort, the fragment proves the interior was anything but drab.
It showed that even Hitler liked his home comforts – the carpet carries a floral pattern with yellow flowers and blue leaves on a fawn background.
Museum director Lynda Powell said: “This was one of the unexpected finds as we moved items for the redecoration in the archive.
“We don’t know exactly which Green Howard ‘liberated’ it from Berlin in 1945, but it is likely to have been a member of the 1st Battalion, which was in the city in 1945.”
School system in Va. won't teach version of Anne Frank book
Source: Washington Post (1-29-10)
Culpeper County public school officials have decided to stop assigning a version of Anne Frank's diary, one of the most enduring symbols of the atrocities of the Nazi regime, after a parent complained that the book includes sexually explicit material and homosexual themes.
"The Diary of a Young Girl: the Definitive Edition," which was published on the 50th anniversary of Frank's death in a concentration camp, will not be used in the future, said James Allen, director of instruction for the 7,600-student system. The school system did not follow its own policy for handling complaints about instructional materials, Allen said.
The diary documents the daily life of a Jewish girl in Amsterdam during World War II. Frank started writing on her 13th birthday, shortly before her family went into hiding in an annex of an office building. The version of the diary in question includes passages previously excluded from the widely read original edition, first published in Dutch in 1947. That book was arranged by her father, the only survivor in her immediate family. Some of the extra passages detail her emerging sexual desires; others include unflattering descriptions of her mother and other people living together.
Allen said that the more recent version will remain in the school library and that the earlier version will be used in classes. The 1955 play based on Frank's experiences also has been a part of the eighth-grade curriculum for many years. The diary's "universal theme, that there is good in everyone, resonates with these kids," Allen said.
New study on Nanking fails to bridge Japan, China history divide
Source: AFP (1-31-10)
Japanese and Chinese scholars published the results of a three-year joint study Sunday which showed they could not resolve differences on controversial modern events including the 1937 Nanjing Massacre.
In a government-backed project aimed at soothing strained ties, 10 historians from each country have reviewed the history of China-Japan relations over 2,000 years.
The 549-page report showed both sides agreed that the 1937-1945 Sino-Japanese War was an "act of aggression" waged by Japan.
But it noted differing views on the number of Chinese killed by the imperial Japanese army after it seized Nanjing, then China's capital and known as Nanking.
The Chinese side, citing a ruling of the 1947 Nanjing war crimes tribunal, said more than 300,000 were massacred in the atrocity when Japanese troops embarked on an orgy of destruction, pillage, rape and murder.
The Japanese side pointed to "various estimates" such as 20,000 and 40,000 and up to 200,000.
The study was launched in 2006, when then prime minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Hu Jintao tried to mend ties that worsened under Abe's predecessor Junichiro Koizumi whose visits to a Tokyo war shrine angered China....
Not black history; America's history
Source: Daily Democrat (Woodland, CA) (2-1-10)
Bill Petty's father fought for voting rights in North Carolina the 30s, and Petty fought to buy a house in Woodland after fighting in World War II.
For Petty, black history is an integral part of his life, and he's lived to tell about some of it.
"It's not Black History Month; it's American history that was left out of the history books," Petty likes to say....
Petty helped write Yolo County's Affirmative Action Plan when the Conciolo brought a discrimination complaint against the county for not hiring enough Latino
teachers.
Petty's father also fought for equality, he filed a discrimination case in North Carolina when he was refused voting rights in 1936, and won the case.
These and many other stories of great accomplishments by blacks and other minorities are why Petty believes the Black History Month is important.
"Our black children don't know a darn thing about the accomplishments that the black race has made," Petty said.
A History of Guernsey told through Maurice's pipe
Source: BBC (2-1-10)
"He was just in a green uniform with 25 others - he was there for half a minute, and then gone."
This is all Maurice Sangan remembers of the German prisoner who traded him a hand-carved wooden pipe for tobacco.
He got in touch with BBC Guernsey when he heard the A History of the World project was looking for your objects....
Maurice still has the pipe to this day - having only smoked it once.
"Well I didn't want to damage it - didn't want to wear it out, because its quite a fragile thing... I thought it was a lovely thing."
Maurice said the pipe had travelled all over the world with him wherever he lived, or was stationed in the Royal Air Force.
For the young Maurice, who collected pipes at the time, the object was a welcome acquisition.
He said he had never seen anything like it since.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
A history of Super Bowl hype
Source: NYT (1-30-10)
Before there was a Super Bowl, there was Super Bowl hype.
The A.F.L.-N.F.L. championship game was a hard sell in 1967, when the leagues were separate and unequal. N.F.L. Commissioner Pete Rozelle needed a prestigious championship game to legitimize a newly minted merger with the less-established American Football League. So Rozelle, a former public-relations specialist, used his marketing expertise to surround the game with hype, or hoopla or ballyhoo, as it was called at the time.
Rozelle adopted the grandiose Super Bowl name — coined by the Kansas City Chiefs’ owner, Lamar Hunt — and he commissioned Tiffany to create the Titletown Trophy (later renamed for Vince Lombardi). He persuaded NBC and CBS to simulcast the game for $1 million each, and he raised Los Angeles Coliseum ticket prices to $12 from $6, to increase revenue and, more important, to give the game prestige.
Archaeology in Jerusalem: Digging Up Trouble
Source: Time (1-31-10)
The Jerusalem syndrome is a psychological disorder in which a visit to the holy city triggers delusional and obsessive religious fantasies. In its extreme variety, people wander the lanes of the Old City believing they are biblical characters; John the Baptist, say, or a brawny Samson, sprung back to life.
Archaeologists in the Holy Land like to joke that their profession is vulnerable to a milder form of the syndrome. When scientists find a cracked, oversize skull in the Valley of Elah, it can be hard to resist the thought that it might have belonged to Goliath, or to imagine, while excavating the cellars of a Byzantine church, that the discovery of a few wooden splinters might be part of the cross on which Christ died. This milder malady is nothing new. In the mid-19th century, British explorers who came to Jerusalem with a shovel in one hand and a Bible in the other used the holy book as a sort of treasure map in the search for proof of Christianity's origins.
Now an extreme case of the willful jumbling of science and faith is threatening Jerusalem's precarious spiritual balance. It could not come at a worse time: Israeli-Arab peace talks have stalled; Israel has a hawkish government disinclined to compromise; and radical Islamist group Hamas remains powerful among Palestinians. Any tilt in Jerusalem's religious equilibrium could create a wave of unrest spreading far beyond the city's ramparts. Eric Meyers, who teaches Jewish studies and archaeology at Duke University, says: "Right now, Jerusalem is a tinderbox. "
Egypt to announce results of DNA tests on King Tutankhamun on Feb. 13
Source: The Canadian Press (1-31-10)
Egypt will soon reveal the results of DNA tests made on the world's most famous ancient king, the young Pharaoh Tutankhamun, to answer lingering mysteries over his lineage, the antiquities department said Sunday.
Speaking at a conference, archaeology chief Zahi Hawass said he would announce the results of the DNA tests and the CAT scans on Feb. 17. The results will be compared to those made of King Amenhotep III, who may have been Tutankamun's grandfather.
The effort is part of a wider program to check the DNA of hundreds of mummies to determine their identities and family relations. The program could help determine Tutankhamun's family lineage, which has long been a source of mystery.
Exhibition to celebrate Royal passion for art
Source: Telegraph (UK) (1-30-10)
A portrait of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, part of the Royal Collection, has been moved in preparation for an exhibition showcasing the Royal couple's love for art.
The exhibition, including more than 400 items from the Royal Collection, aims to challenge the image of Victoria as a melancholy widow, revealing her as a passionate young woman.
The exhibition will celebrate ''one of history's great love stories'' and reflect the royal couple's mutual delight in collecting and showing off artworks.
Around a third of the objects in the exhibition were exchanged as gifts between the pair. They were regular visitors to the annual Royal Academy exhibition and frequently made purchases.
Diana said she 'should never have married into a German family'
Source: Telegraph (UK) (1-31-10)
Diana, Princess of Wales, told her divorce lawyer that she should never have married into a “German family”, he has claimed in a new book.
Anthony Julius, who represented the Princess in legal proceedings against the Prince of Wales, said she was trying to empathise with him as Jew.
Mr Julius’s book, Trials of the Diaspora, examines the history of anti-Semitism in England
Ex-Edwards' aide tells of politician's affair
Source: CNN (1-30-10)
A new book about former Sen. John Edwards paints him as a cold, calculating and reckless politician willing to deny fathering a daughter, risking his marriage and putting the Democratic Party in potential political jeopardy -- all in the name of trying to win the presidency.
In "The Politician," former Edwards' aide Andrew Young details his efforts to conceal an ongoing extra-marital affair and the birth of a child out-of-wedlock.
On Friday, John Edwards' lawyers released a statement saying that early reports about the book indicate there are problems with Young's account.
Unknown WWI soldier buried as mass graves give up secrets
Source: CNN (1-30-10)
An unknown World War I soldier was buried in Fromelles, France, on Saturday, the first of some 250 bodies recovered from a string of mass graves dating back to a bloody -- and largely pointless -- battle that claimed thousands of lives in a single night.
The soldier buried Saturday has not been identified, but DNA samples have been recovered from many of the bodies, often from the teeth, said Peter Jones, the DNA consultant on the project.
Some 800 people from Britain and Australia who think they may have a relative buried at Fromelles have provided DNA to try to help identify the bodies, he said.
Quake's toll on Haitian art, heritage and income
Source: CNN (1-29-10)
It's now apparent that among the earthquake's widespread destruction were museums, galleries and other places that contained Haiti's artistic treasures, including Exil's work.
The earthquake's blow to Haitian art is staggering: The Centre d'Art, which launched the Haitian arts movement in the 1940s, is severely damaged.
The Musee d'Art Nader, which housed more than 12,000 pieces from the largest private collection in Haiti, collapsed. Murals in the Trinity Cathedral, assembled by some of Haiti's best-known artists, came crashing down.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Fisk singers nominated for Grammy
Source: CBS News (video) (1-20-10)
As some musicians prepare for the upcoming Grammy awards, it took one nominated group about 140 years to get there. Randall Pinkston has the story of one college gospel choir's journey to the Grammys.
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