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: Times (of London)
December 18, 2008
Cigarette clamped between thumb and finger, a louche Barack Obama leans back with smouldering eyes and draws smoke deep into his lungs.
When he agreed to model for an aspiring photographer’s portfolio, the prospect of this image reemerging 28 years later as he prepared to enter the White House probably never crossed his mind.
Back then he was a student at Occidental College in Los Angeles struggling with his racial identity and, by his own admission, experimenting with
Source: Telegraph (UK)
December 18, 2008
A suspected war criminal may be brought to justice over the 1945 massacre
of more than 60 Jews in Austria because of detective work by a university
student.
State police in North Rhine-Westphalia are evaluating documents seized
from the residence of the man - identified only as Adolf S. - as part of
their investigation into his involvement in the massacre in the village of
Deutsch Schuetzen, southeast of Vienna.
The raid came after an Austrian university student researching Na
Source: BBC
December 18, 2008
Thirty years ago, China's leader Deng Xiaoping launched a series of
sweeping economic reforms. The BBC's Michael Bristow looks at how these
momentous changes have affected ordinary people.
For those who value fine dining, the Yuebin Restaurant, tucked away in a
Beijing back alley, might not be their first choice.
With its whitewashed walls and plain furniture, it is not much to look at.
The food, too, is simple Beijing home-style cooking.
But the restaurant is more impor
Source: Telegraph (UK)
December 18, 2008
A crane hoisted the bronze statue, depicting the military ruler astride a horse and waving a baton in his right hand, from its concrete base thereby eliminating a public symbol of decades of right wing dictatorship.
The statue, which stands at over 20 feet tall, will be stored in a warehouse until it can be displayed in a museum on the history of Spain that is planned for the coastal city.
During his 36 year dictatorship many such statues were erected in town squares ac
Source: History Today
December 18, 2008
Three ancient statues engraved with a little understood sub-Saharan language have recently been unearthed at the archaeological site of el-Hassa, approximately 120 miles north of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. For the past six years, since the beginning of the conflict in Darfur in February 2003, Sudan has tended to feature in the news primarily as an area of war and atrocities. The recent discoveries provide, however, an insight into the richness of the country’s past and cultural history.
Source: Times (UK)
December 18, 2008
Archaeologists have discovered the ruins of an ancient city that they hope might finally answer questions about the fate of the Moche culture — best known for the ceremonial sex acts and ritualistic human sacrifices depicted on its pottery.
The unearthed city is some 5km (three miles) long and has revealed what appears to be a gathering place for human sacrifices, a heap of human bones at the bottom of a cliff, ceramics, items of clothing and the well-preserved remains of a young w
Source: International Herald Tribune
December 18, 2008
U.N. court has convicted the organizer of the 1994 Rwandan genocide that claimed more than 500,000 lives and sentenced him to life in prison.
The court said that Theoneste Bagosora distributed weapons and directed Hutu soldiers and the notorious Interahamwe militia to kill Tutsis and moderate Hutus. Judge Erik Moses said Thursday that Bagosora was guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity.
The massacres took place in 1994 after the Rwandan president's plane was my
Source: History Today
December 16, 2008
Nineteenth century books containing the first detailed coloured images of the Holy Land ever to be published in the West, in 1842, have recently been found in the Yorkshire Museum Library. The books were found by volunteers whilst they were cataloguing the museum’s library. They consist of a complete version of The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt and Nubia by David Roberts. The volume contains hand-coloured lithographs of Bethlehem, Nazareth and Jerusalem, which he took during his visit
Source: AP
December 18, 2008
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA's soon-to-be-retired space shuttles are up for grabs.
The space agency said Wednesday it's looking for ideas on where and how best to display its space shuttles once they stop flying in a few years. It's put out a call to schools, science museums and "other appropriate organizations" that might be interested in showcasing one of the three remaining shuttles [Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour].
Beware: NASA estimates it will cost abo
Source: Chicago Tribune
December 17, 2008
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — At first, the purpose behind the midday raid at a human-rights group's office here was murky. Police, some clad in masks and camouflage, cut the electricity to Memorial's offices and demanded to know if any drugs or guns were kept on the premises.
Five hours later, after police had opened every computer and walked out with 11 hard drives, the reason for their visit became clear to Memorial Director Irina Flige.
On the hard drives, a trove of sca
Source: BBC
December 17, 2008
Turkey's prime minister has criticised a Turkish internet petition which
apologises for the"great catastrophe" of 1915 when Armenians were
massacred.
The petition was launched by more than 200 Turkish academics and newspaper
columnists earlier this week.
Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan said:"I find it unreasonable to apologise
when there is no reason".
Source: CNN
December 17, 2008
The Army is making sure it impresses its next commander-in-chief when he
is sworn in next month. It is planning to honor President-elect Barack
Obama with the biggest fife and drum corps that the Army has ever put
together.
The Army's Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps marches with surgical precision,
and its bass drums boom loud enough to set off car alarms 10 yards away.
On January 20, it will march near the start of the procession from the
Capitol to the White House.
The corps
Source: Politico.com
December 17, 2008
Barack Obama's path to the presidency included beating what had been one
of the nation's most powerful families. But, in an unusual twist, his
election last month is helping accelerate the trend toward dynasty
politics.
His secretary of state will be Hillary Clinton, the wife of the former
president. The Senate seat she’ll vacate is being pursued by Caroline
Kennedy, the daughter of a president and the niece of two senators. Joe
Biden’s Senate seat may go to his son Beau. Colorado S
Source: FoxNews.com
December 17, 2008
Archaeologists are revealing some of their finds from a historic Richmond
site that once was the center of Virginia's slave-trading past.
The discoveries announced Wednesday include the remains of a brick
foundation at what was once known as Lumpkin's Slave Jail. A cobblestone
courtyard and the remnants of a kitchen were also found.
Lumpkin's Jail was named after Robert Lumpkin, who was known as a"bully
trader" for his rough handling of enslaved men, women and children.
Source: Chicago Tribune
December 17, 2008
People have long tossed objects at the high and mighty; Zeidi's flying footwear—a serious insult in the Arab world—is just one variation.
In biblical times, David made his point with Goliath by flinging a rock. Thirty years ago, Steve Dahl's anti-disco crusade had fans throwing marshmallows at the Village People.
Remember when members of the anti-fur community used to throw paint on women wearing fur coats? We don't hear much of that these days. But last month in Paris,
Source: Politico.com
December 17, 2008
Presidents past, present and future will dine together at the White House shortly after New Year's.
The White House announced Wednesday evening that President Bush will host a lunch for President-elect Barack Obama and former Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush on Jan. 7.
Obama's family is likely to be living in a Washington hotel at the time.
Source: NYT
December 16, 2008
It’s official. The old Clinton gang really is back together again. Answering the phones these days for the co-chairman of President-elect Barack Obama’s transition, John D. Podesta, is none other than Betty Currie.
Emerging from retirement in southern Maryland to volunteer at Obama headquarters, Ms. Currie was the personal secretary to President Bill Clinton, who became caught up in an independent counsel investigation into his trysts with the White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Si
Source: AP
December 17, 2008
A supermarket is defending itself for refusing to a write out 3-year-old Adolf Hitler Campbell's name on his birthday cake. Deborah Campbell, 25, of nearby Hunterdon County, N.J., said she phoned in her order last week to the Greenwich ShopRite. When she told the bakery department she wanted her son's name spelled out, she was told to talk to a supervisor, who denied the request.
Karen Meleta, a ShopRite spokeswoman, said the store denied similar requests from the Campbells the last
Source: New Yorker
December 15, 2008
The single, blinding release of pure energy over Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945, marked a startling and permanent break with our prior understandings of the visible world. Yet for more than sixty years the technology behind the explosion has remained a state secret. The United States government has never divulged the engineering specifications of the first atomic bombs, not even after other countries have produced generations of ever more powerful nuclear weapons. In the decades since the S
Source: BBC
December 17, 2008
The ruins of an entire city have been discovered in northern Peru,
researchers say.
Archaeologists say the find could provide the missing link between the
ancient cultures of the Wari people and the earlier Moche civilisation.
The site, near the Pacific coastal city of Chiclayo, probably dates to the
Wari culture which ruled the Andes of modern Peru between the 7th and 12th
Century.
