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: Daily Mail (UK)
December 20, 2008
Her sinking with the loss of almost 1,200 lives caused such outrage that it propelled the U.S. into the First World War.
But now divers have revealed a dark secret about the cargo carried by the Lusitania on its final journey in May 1915.
Munitions they found in the hold suggest that the Germans had been right all along in claiming the ship was carrying war materials and was a legitimate military target.
The Cunard vessel, steaming from New York to Liverp
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
December 21, 2008
Fresh evidence has cast doubt on the conviction of a Libyan for the Lockerbie bombing 20 years ago that killed 270 people.
New forensic analysis on a fragment of the timing device alleged to have triggered the bomb that brought down Pan Am jet 103 on December 21, 1988, is said to have found no trace of explosive residue.
Lawyers acting for Abdelbasset Al Megrahi, the 56-year-old Libyan jailed for life for the bombing in 2001, will present the evidence at a forthcoming a
Source: Deutsche Welle
December 18, 2008
A symbolic spot was chosen to sign the deal: the European House at the Brandenburg Gate. Until the end of 1989, the Berlin Wall stood just a few meters away.
For Marianne Birthler, the head of the Federal Commission for the Records of the State Security Service of the former East Germany, it was the fulfillment of a long-held dream: to deal with Cold War secret police issues on an international basis.
Systematic cooperation
There has been contact between t
Source: BBC
December 21, 2008
Pan Am Flight 103 was blown up over the town on 21 December 1988, claiming the lives of everyone on the plane and 11 local residents on the ground.
A number of "low key" ceremonies are taking place in the town in accordance with the wishes of the community.
A tribute is also planned in the US at the Lockerbie memorial in the Arlington National Cemetery in Washington DC.
Special "places to remember" are being opened in Lockerbie, with
Source: Telegraph (UK)
December 20, 2008
The monks who tend the grotto under the Byzantine basilica of the Church
of the Nativity in Bethlehem should enjoy lives of quiet, meditative
service to the lofty ideals of their faith.
When they wash the grotto's marbled altar and guard its silver lamps, they
are watching over the cradle of the Christian world: the exact spot where
Jesus Christ is believed to have been born.
Yet despite this sacred trust, a ten-year row between the different sects
that manage the church has f
Source: Telegraph (UK)
December 20, 2008
Neanderthals may have died out because their bodies overheated as the
Earth grew warmer, according to new research.
Analysis of DNA obtained from Neanderthal remains has revealed key
differences from modern humans that suggest their bodies produced excess
heat.
While in the cold climate of an ice age this would have provided the
species with an advantage, as the earth warmed they would have been less
able to cope. Ultimately this would have caused their extinction around
24,0
Source: Telegraph (UK)
December 20, 2008
Most Britons do not believe the Biblical story of the birth of Jesus, a
study has found.
Young people were particularly doubtful about the nativity, with 78 per
cent of 16-24-year-olds saying they were not convinced of its historical
reliability.
Overall, 70 per cent were sceptical of the baby's birth in a manger to a
virgin mother, according to the poll of 1,000 people by the British
Marketing Research Bureau.
Almost a quarter of those questioned who described themselv
Source: Telegraph (UK)
December 19, 2008
Amanda Roberts Jones, a slave's daughter who lived to be 110 and voted for
the first African-American US president, Barack Obama, has died, her
family said.
Jones, who died on Thursday, earned attention across the United States
after she mailed in her ballot for President-Elect Barack Obama in late
October. When word of her vote spread, Jones was profiled on National
Public Radio and ABC News.
Her granddaughter, Brenda Baker, said Jones had recently been admitted to
hospital,
Source: Telegraph (UK)
December 19, 2008
Gladiators are to return to Rome 2,000 years after they clashed on the
blood-soaked sands of the Colosseum.
Umberto Broccoli, the archaeologist in charge of the Colosseum, said that
he is planning to bring the gladiatorial clashes of ancient Rome to the
modern Italian capital as part of a"serious project" to revive interest
in its monuments and museums.
Whereas the gladiators who entertained ancient Roman crowds in the huge
amphitheatre often battled to the death, today's figh
Source: International Herald Tribune
December 19, 2008
Christian Klar, one of the last members of the terrorist far-left Red Army
Faction to remain in prison, was released Friday after serving 26 years of
a life sentence, according to the Justice Ministry in the German state of
Baden-Württemberg.
The Red Army Faction, which was also known as the Baader-Meinhof gang,
carried out a series of assassinations of leading German figures during
the late 1970s and early 1980s, killing 34 people. It disbanded in 1998,
several years after renounci
Source: BBC
December 19, 2008
Pakistan is to issue a commemorative coin to mark the first anniversary of
the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
The State Bank of Pakistan will issue about 300,000 special 10-rupee (16
US cents) coins.
The coin will read in Urdu,"Daughter of the East, Benazir Bhutto".
Source: NYT
December 20, 2008
When Alaska’s two senators take their seats in the new Congress next month, there may be something familiar about the pair to longtime followers of politics in that state.
Senator Lisa Murkowski and her soon-to-be colleague, Mayor Mark Begich of Anchorage, are the daughter and son of two Alaskans who squared off in the 1970 race for the state’s sole House seat. Nick Begich ended up beating Frank H. Murkowski 38 years ago.
“It just kind of speaks to the small-town politi
Source: Wall Street Journal
December 20, 2008
MAKASSAR, Indonesia -- In January, Stanford University is conducting a $60,000-a-head journey around the world by private jet to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species." Taking in the Galapagos Islands and other sites of Mr. Darwin's research, the trip is one of several big events planned world-wide to honor him as the father of evolutionary theory.
But a vocal group of revisionists -- including a British cockroac
Source: AP
December 18, 2008
A new law encourages schools to focus world history courses on at least one of 10 advanced African kingdoms, not just the primitive Africans often highlighted in history books.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed the bill into law Thursday. Sponsor and Republican state Rep. Mike Nofs of Battle Creek says it will make up for Africa's "vibrant culture and complex civilizations" being ignored for too long.
The bill received unanimous support in both the House and Senat
Source: AP
December 17, 2008
Carlisle, Pa. -- President George W. Bush, ever focused on his legacy, said Wednesday "there can be no debate" about his record of preventing another terrorist attack. Evoking harrowing memories of Sept. 11, 2001, Bush said virtually no one could have predicted back then that the country would not be hit again for the rest of his presidency.
"It's not a matter of luck," Bush said, defending his security policies.
Addressing a supportive military audi
Source: NYT
December 18, 2008
President Bush shared some bittersweet reflections on Thursday as he looked back fondly on his White House days but regretted his inability to win passage of immigration legislation and to change the tone of debate in the capital.
“Reflections by a guy who’s headed out of town,” Mr. Bush called his musings in a question-and-answer session at the American Enterprise Institute. “An old sage at 62 ... headed to retirement.”
The president, who has described himself as unco
Source: NYT
December 18, 2008
“Tonight, I propose a new tax cut for homeownership that says to every middle-income working family in this country, if you sell your home, you will not have to pay a capital gains tax on it ever — not ever.”--— President Bill Clinton, at the 1996 Democratic National Convention
Ryan J. Wampler had never made much money selling his own homes.
Starting in 1999, however, he began to do very well. Three times in eight years, Mr. Wampler — himself a home builder and develope
Source: Telegraph (UK)
December 18, 2008
[The Archbishop of Canterbury] spoke candidly this week about disestablishment of the Church, for the first time in years, and in so doing reignited the debate about what place it should have in a society in which followers of other faiths and none are more numerous and prominent than ever before. The Church of England, as the established church of the country, is recognised as the official religion by law and the Government, and its Supreme Governor is the monarch.
Dr Williams sai
Source: BBC
December 19, 2008
Argentine judicial authorities have suspended a decision by a court on
Thursday to release one of the most notorious figures of the Dirty War.
The criminal appeals court ordered the release of Alfredo Astiz and 13
others after finding he had been held for more than two years without a
conviction.
The former Naval captain, known as the"Blond Angel of Death", is accused
of the disappearance of dozens of people.
Source: BBC
December 19, 2008
Work has begun in the German capital, Berlin, on a memorial to the
hundreds of thousands of Roma, or Gypsies, killed by the Nazis in World
War II.
It will feature a square well brimming with water and bearing an
inscription of a poem about the Holocaust.
The leader of Germany's Roma community, Romani Rose, praised the
government for"recognising its historical responsibility" to those
persecuted.
