This page features brief excerpts of stories published by the mainstream
media and, less frequently, blogs, alternative media, and even obviously
biased sources. The excerpts are taken directly from the websites cited in
each source note. Quotation marks are not used.
Source: Telegraph (UK)
February 27, 2010
The family of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the only man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, hopes he will beat cancer six months after he was released from jail on compassionate grounds.
His elderly father, Ali, keeps a vigil at his son’s side at the family’s home in Tripoli as Megrahi, 57, battles a serious prostate cancer. The father hopes a “miracle” could happen.
Mr Megrahi Snr said that his son was working on his autobiography and remains determined to prove
Source: New York Times
February 25, 2010
So in 1991, when during construction of a General Services Administration office building in Lower Manhattan, graves were discovered 24 feet below ground, and when those remains led to the discovery of hundreds of other bodies in the same area, and when it was determined that these were black New Yorkers interred in what a 1755 map calls the “Negros Burial Ground,” the earth seemed to shake from more than just machinery. The evidence created a conceptual quake, transforming how New York history
Source: AP
February 26, 2010
China and Kenya plan to search for ancient Chinese ships wrecked almost 600 years ago off Africa's east coast.
An agreement was signed for a three-year project funded by China's Commerce Ministry to explore waters near the popular tourist towns of Malindi and Lamu, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Friday.
Exploration work will be conducted for up to three months each year, with the first group of Chinese archaeologists due to arrive as early as July, Xinhua said
Source: Discovery News
February 26, 2010
The remains of what might have been the residence of the Etruscan prince Sextus Tarquinius, son of the last legendary king of Rome Tarquinius Superbus (Tarquin the Proud), have been found on the slopes of an extinct volcanic crater about 12 miles from Rome, Italian archaeologists have announced.
The palace was discovered on the site of the ancient acropolis of Gabii, where, according to legend, Rome's mythical founders, Romulus and Remus, were educated. The building dates to the six
Source: BBC
February 26, 2010
The United States Military Attache had written to the Ministry of Defence seeking details about the infrastructure of Northern Ireland's capital for US intelligence staff for "defence planning purposes".
The information requested ranged from a list of sewerage treatment plants and the output capacity of the city's gasworks to how much refuse was collected and how many taxis there were in the city.
The details are contained in a series of memos recently relea
Source: Telegraph (UK)
February 26, 2010
Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet leader famed for thumping his shoe on the podium during an angry speech at the United Nations, stars in a new photo exhibition.
Nikita Khrushchev and His Time, which opened last week in Moscow's Manezh exhibition hall, is one of the largest exhibitions on the colourful Communist leader to be mounted in Russia since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union.
Bald, stocky and famed for his peasant earthiness, Khrushchev is pictured in diverse setti
Source: Telegraph (UK)
February 26, 2010
A Danish newspaper on Friday became the first in the country to apologise for offending Muslims by printing a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed with a bomb-shaped turban, rekindling a heated debate about free speech.
Politiken said its apology was part of a settlement with a Saudi lawyer representing eight Muslim groups in the Middle East and Australia.
The daily drew strong criticism from Danish media, which previously had stood united in rejecting calls to apologise fo
Source: AP
February 26, 2010
Two parts of an ancient biblical manuscript separated across centuries and continents were reunited for the first time in a joint display Friday, thanks to an accidental discovery that is helping illuminate a dark period in the history of the Hebrew Bible.
The 1,300-year-old fragments, which are among only a handful of Hebrew biblical manuscripts known to have survived the era in which they were written, existed separately and with their relationship unknown, until a news photograph
Source: CNN
February 26, 2010
Days ahead of national elections, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has announced plans to rehire 20,000 former Iraqi army officers who served under former leader Saddam Hussein.
The officers will be reinstated into the new Iraqi army, said an official with the ministry of defense.
The move garnered criticism as being a political ploy and was surprising in some circles after al-Maliki's campaign rhetoric against Hussein's Baath Party.
Several candidates w
Source: CNN
February 26, 2010
The man known for one of the most partisan practices in American politics eventually quit government for a time over partisanship.
Elbridge Gerry was once an accomplished statesman devoted to his country, but nearly 200 years after his death, his legacy is overshadowed by the tactic that bears his name.
It's called "gerrymandering," and it means redrawing congressional districts, often in odd shapes, for the sake of political gain.
The term was co
Source: http://www.wlox.com/Global/story.asp?S=12046909
February 26, 2010
Two cannon balls, believed to be from the Civil War era, were turned over to Biloxi Police Thursday afternoon. A man brought the two cannon balls to the Public Safety Center on Porter Avenue.
The Biloxi Police Bomb Squad carefully removed the arms from the back of a pick-up truck and transferred them to a Bomb Squad vehicle. Officers then transported them to the firing range in Woolmarket to be safely detonated.
Source: BBC News
February 26, 2010
Archaeologists have revealed the remains of what they say was a "high status" woman of African origin who lived in York during Roman times.
Academics say the discovery goes against the common assumption that all Africans in Roman Britain were low status male slaves.
Remains of the Ivory Bangle Lady, as she has been named, were studied in Reading using forensic techniques.
She was first discovered in the Bootham area of York in August 1901....
Source: Devon Star (UK)
February 25, 2010
AN URN discovered excavation of a large Roman site in Cullompton used to contain human remains for burial.
The 2,000-year-old vessel, which is whole and unbroken, was dug up during construction work on the Millwood Homes site in the centre of the town.
It was x-rayed at Exeter Airport because it was too large for the machines at the city’s Royal Albert Memorial Museum.
Pictures showed it contains soil, dense material thought to be ash from the cremation an
Source: AP
February 26, 2010
China and Kenya plan to search for ancient Chinese ships wrecked almost 600 years ago off Africa's east coast.
An agreement was signed for a three-year project funded by China's Commerce Ministry to explore waters near the popular tourist towns of Malindi and Lamu, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Friday.
Exploration work will be conducted for up to three months each year, with the first group of Chinese archaeologists due to arrive as early as July, Xinhua said
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
February 26, 2010
A DNA test on a man in Austria has proved that he is one of the last living relatives of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
The 46-year-old farmer, thought to be a cousin of the former German dictator, was horrified to learn the blood of the ‘greatest criminal’ is in his veins.
But the man, tracked down by Belgian journalist Jean-Paul Mulders, is not alone.
Mr Mulders, who persuaded the man to take a mouth swab test, says there are as many as 39 others living in the
Source: Telegraph (UK)
February 26, 2010
The two previously unseen pictures turned up in Europe and are expected to raise £20,000 between them.
Hitler drew them in the early 1900s when he was based in Vienna and was practising various styles so that he might win a place at art college.
The picture of the elderly woman's face is similar to photographs of his mother and shows a lined and world-weary visage.
It was drawn in 1908 - the year after she died from cancer. The closed eyes might signify her
Source: Telegraph (UK)
February 26, 2010
Self-restraint has long been part of our cultural DNA, but as the therapy culture gathers pace are we in danger of becoming a nation prone to tears and tantrums at the slightest opportunity?
The Duchess of Devonshire has shocked us to the core. In an interview in the March issue of Tatler, the last Mitford sister, now nearly 90, says the British stiff upper lip is quivering like blancmange. No one used to be sloppy and sentimental, she says. "It was all rather skated over. It w
Source: Telegraph (UK)
February 26, 2010
Six pieces ranging from an ancient Sumerian stone tablet to an AK-47 rifle bearing Saddam's image were handed over to Iraq at an embassy ceremony on Thursday.
"As Iraqis, we remain steadfast in our effort to return each and every one of these cultural treasures to their rightful home," Ambassador Samir Sumaida'ie said at the ceremony.
Baghdad's envoy said that the Iraqi National Museum lost around 15,000 items due to looting after Saddam's regime collapsed.
Source: AM New York
February 24, 2010
The goat bones and oyster shells tell us what our colonial forefathers ate. Stone jugs from Germany show where they traded, and stylish brass buckles and pointy leather shoes are a reminder that New Yorkers have always been fashion savvy.
These are among 65,000 historic artifacts that have turned up during construction at the South Ferry subway station, and offer a rare glimpse into colonial New York. Next month, a new exhibit will provide the public with a window into this vanished
Source: The Australian
February 24, 2010
THE remains of nearly half the 250 Commonwealth soldiers recovered from recently discovered mass graves in northern France have been reburied at a new military cemetery near the site of the World War I battle of Fromelles.
Soldiers from the Australian and British armies laid the first soldier to rest last month, in an individual grave, with full military honours, thanks to the work of 30 British and Australian specialists who recovered all 250 sets of remains from burial pits in ne
