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 (UK)
September 18, 2008
A rare Saxon relic found by a metal detector enthusiast, who at first thought it was a milk bottle top, is expected to fetch between £10,000 and £15,000 at auction next month. The 9th-century gold pointer, known as the Yorkshire Aestel, was found by Tim Pearson, an amateur treasure hunter, at Aughton, South Yorkshire, in 2005. The hollow cast pointer would have been used by monks as an aid to reading manuscripts. According to the auctioneers Bonhams, King Alfred (871-99) commissioned several aes
Source: Telegraph (UK)
September 18, 2008
The whereabouts of The Nancy, which sank off the western shores of the Isles of Scilly in 1784, has long remained a mystery.
The loss of the ship was all the more tragic because on board was Ann Cargill, a famous 18th century opera singer who was returning from India with her illegitimate child.
Her body - still clutching the baby - was recovered and then buried, but the wreck of the The Nancy was never traced.
A total of 49 people were on board the London
Source: Telegraph (UK)
September 17, 2008
Using satellite imaging, the outlines of the ruins can be clearly seen about three feet below the earth in what is now open countryside.
The discovery of the extensive town was found at Altino, known in Roman times as Altinum, more than seven miles north of Venice, and close to Marco Polo airport.
The ruins include streets, palaces, temples, squares and theatres, as well as a large amphitheatre and canals, showing Altinum was once a wealthy and thriving city.
Source: San Jose Mercury News
September 16, 2008
An important federal agency that oversees historic preservation in the United States will hold a rare public meeting in Mountain View [Calif.] today, to hear from local residents about a battle to preserve Hangar One, the mammoth Moffett Field building that used to house Navy dirigibles...
The public meeting by the influential federal body is the latest development in the long-running battle to decide what to do with the hangar, which was closed in 2003 after tests revealed that the
Source: Voice of America
September 15, 2008
Home to what was once ancient Mesopotamia, Iraq has long been a target of looters and thieves intent
on stealing the country's treasure trove of antiquities. But a large cache of priceless artifacts
has been returned to Iraq's government, thanks to a multi-year initiative by U.S. customs
authorities to intercept items being smuggled into the United States. From Washington, VOA's Michael
Bowman reports.
Just how much of Iraq's wealth of antiquities has been stolen from archeological si
Source: http://wvgazette.com
September 16, 2008
The remains of more than 600 American Indians
unearthed in Putnam County nearly five decades ago have been returned to
West Virginia.
The remains, stored in about 150 boxes, were shipped from Ohio State
University to the Grave Creek Mound Archaeological Complex Research
Facility in Moundsville last week.
Now, the goal is to rebury the remains in Putnam County - out of what
advocates say is respect for the dead and Indian spirituality.
The skeletal remains were unearthed
Source: http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com
September 15, 2008
he State Historic Preservation Division failed to follow
state law regarding Native Hawaiian burials in a Kaua'i beachfront
houselot where 30 sets of human remains were found, Fifth Circuit Judge
Kathleen Watanabe ruled this afternoon.
The agency must now consult with the Kaua'i-Ni'ihau Island Burial Council,
any lineal descendants of the remains, interested Hawaiian organizations,
and the landowner about a revised burial treatment plan, Watanabe said.
Source: National Geographic News
September 15, 2008
Eighty skeletons and stockpiles of textiles found in caves near the
ancient Inca site of Machu Picchu may shed light on the role that the
so-called lost city of the Inca played as a regional center of trade and
power, scientists say.
Researchers found the artifacts and remains at two sites within the Machu
Picchu Archaeological Park in southeastern Peru, said Fernando Astete,
head of the park (see map of Peru).
The remains, most of which were found in May 2008 at a site called
Source: Tehran Times
September 17, 2008
Once again the restoration of southern Iran’s Portuguese castles was discussed during a meeting in Tehran on Sunday.
Based on the discussions between the Portuguese Ambassador to Tehran Jose Fernando Moreira da Cunha and Iran’s Fund for the Restoration and Utilization of Historical Sites Managing Director Ali-Asghar Parhizkar, the castles will be restored in a collaborative effort by Iran and Portugal.
Experts from Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Org
Source: Telegraph (UK)
September 16, 2008
Aldworth House was designed as an escape for Tennyson during the summer months, away from the "trippers" which surrounded his home on the Isle of Wight.
He loved the view from his 60 acre estate on Black Down, near Haslemere in Surrey, which looks out at the Sussex Weald and Downs and stretches to the English Channel, 40 miles away.
In his poem Prologue, To General Hamley, Tennyson wrote: "You came, and looked and loved the view, Long-known and loved by m
Source: BBC
September 16, 2008
It is obvious he is a symbol of fertility. The Cerne Abbas Giant usually stands proud on a Dorset hillside overlooking the village from which he takes his name. But over the past 12 months he's been fading. So has it affected his legendary powers?
It's all down to the wet weather encouraging algae, lichen and grass to grow in the chalk trenches of his outline.
But couples wanting to test the fertility legends need not worry - a team of National Trust volunteers is at
Source: AP
September 15, 2008
he Yugoslav war crimes tribunal convicted a former commander of the Bosnian Muslim army Monday of cruelty toward Bosnian Serb prisoners, who were forced to kiss the severed head of a fellow prisoner. But the court acquitted him of murder.
General Rasim Delic was sentenced to three years in prison for responsibility for Islamic volunteers under his command who abused captured Bosnian Serbs in the summer of 1995.
Source: BBC
September 16, 2008
The body of an aristocrat who died nearly 90 years ago has been exhumed in
the hope that it will help scientists combat a future flu pandemic.
Yorkshire landowner Sir Mark Sykes died in France in 1919 from Spanish flu.
Sir Mark was buried in a lead coffin which scientists hope may have helped
preserve the virus.
They believe his remains will help piece together the DNA of Spanish flu,
which could have a similar genetic structure to modern bird flu.
Source: Telegraph (UK)
September 16, 2008
Sgt Eddie Egan died aged 19 on Sept 17, 1940, when his Hurricane was sent nose-diving into a wood on the Kentish Weald, exploding in flames.
Such was the speed of the crash that it buried both plane and pilot 20 feet beneath the leafy carpet covering the floor of Daniel's Wood, near Maidstone.
The wreckage and remains would have lain where they fell, hidden in dense forest for ever, before a desperate plea from his mother Grace led a team to find the missing hero's bo
Source: Politifact.com (St. Petersburg Times)
September 11, 2008
In her first major news interview since being named the vice presidential nominee of the Republican Party, Sarah Palin answered questions about comments she had made about "God's plan" and Iraq.
The questioner was ABC News' Charles Gibson. Gibson asked her, "You said recently in your old church, 'Our national leaders are sending U.S. soldiers on a task that is from God.' Are we fighting a Holy War?"
Palin: "That's a repeat of Abraham Lincoln's w
Source: Press Release--David S. Wyman Foundation
September 15, 2008
One hundred and thirty leading Holocaust scholars from around the world have signed a petition urging the International Criminal Court to proceed with the prosecution of Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir for his role in the Darfur genocide.
The ICC’s chief prosecutor recently announced plans to seek al-Bashir’s arrest, but the Arab League, African Union, China, and Russia are trying to prevent action against al-Bashir.“Prosecuting al-Bashir will help
Source: WaPo
September 14, 2008
This is the first of two stories adapted from [WaPo reporter Barton Gellman's]"Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency," to be published Tuesday by Penguin Press. Original source notes are denoted in [brackets] throughout.
A burst of ferocity stunned the room into silence. No other word for it: The vice president's attorney was shouting."The president doesn't want this! [1] You are not going to see the opinions. You are out . . . of . . . your . . . lane!"
Five government lawy
Source: WaPo
September 14, 2008
Palin says her time as mayor taught her how to be a leader and grounded her in the real needs of voters, and her tenure revealed some of the qualities she would later display as governor: a striving ambition, a willingness to cut loose those perceived as disloyal and a populist brand of social and pro-growth conservatism.
But a visit to this former mining supply post 40 miles north of Anchorage shows the extent to which Palin's mayoralty was also defined by what it did not include.
Source: NYT
September 13, 2008
WASILLA, Alaska — Gov. Sarah Palin lives by the maxim that all politics is local, not to mention personal.
So when there was a vacancy at the top of the State Division of Agriculture, she appointed a high school classmate, Franci Havemeister, to the $95,000-a-year directorship. A former real estate agent, Ms. Havemeister cited her childhood love of cows as a qualification for running the roughly $2 million agency.
Ms. Havemeister was one of at least five schoolmates Ms.
Source: AP
September 12, 2008
The storm came without a name — without warning — and it shaped
the future of weather forecasting.
It's known simply as The Great Storm of 1900, and it was the worst natural
disaster ever to hit the United States.
At least 6,000 people on the 30-mile-long by 3-mile wide strip of sand
along the southeast Texas coastline were killed — one-sixth of the city's
population. Another 10,000 were left homeless. More than 3,600 buildings
were destroyed by a 16-foot storm surge fueled b
