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: Malloy website
May 13, 2008
HNN Editor: A few weeks ago Sean Malloy, an assistant professor at the School of Social Sciences at the University of California Merced, posted pictures purportedly never seen before of the effects of the Hiroshima bombing. He has now withdrawn those photographs after questions were raised about their provenance.
The Robert L. Capp collection at the Hoover Institution Archives at Stanford University contains ten photographs p
Source: Times (UK)
May 14, 2008
Is there anybody out there? The Ministry of Defence, it seems, is taking no chances. Files containing hundreds of previously classified reports are being released today in the hope of persuading ufologists that there has been no cover-up regarding the existence of visitors from outer space.
Yet the files do show that the MoD conducted a rigorous investigation of every alleged sighting of a UFO until well into the 1980s. In a briefing note in 1979 the MoD wrote: “Her Majesty’s Govern
Source: AP
May 14, 2008
Divers trained in archaeology discovered a marble bust of an aging Julius Caesar in the Rhone River that France's Culture Ministry said Tuesday could be the oldest known.
The life-sized bust showing the Roman ruler with wrinkles and hollows in his face is tentatively dated to 46 B.C. Divers uncovered the Caesar bust and a collection of other finds in the Rhone near the town of Arles -- founded by Caesar.
Among other items in the treasure trove of ancient objects is a 1
Source: http://www.gulfnews.com
May 14, 2008
Finally, Canada will formally apologise to the Indians here for the Komagata Maru tragedy of 1914 and acknowledge the hurt caused to the community.
The Komagata Maru ship brought 376 Indians to Canada in 1914 in violation of the racist immigration laws of that time. But it was not allowed to anchor here and forcibly sent back to India after two months. On return to India, many passengers were shot dead by British Indian police in Calcutta, now Kolkata.
Making this commi
Source: Telegraph (UK)
May 14, 2008
An ornate china dinner service used by Adolf Hitler’s elite bodyguard is expected to fetch £1,000 at auction.
Nazi guards would eat their meals served on the 30-piece set as they travelled incognito on the Hamburg-American shipping line, protecting Hitler against communist attack.
All the plates and dishes carry the symbol of the “Leibstandarte-SS Adolf Hitler” (LAH), the name of the elite guard, in elaborate gold lettering. They would only be used in the guard’s privat
Source: National Security Archive
May 14, 2008
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is overwhelmed and behind the curve, facing huge increases in both electronic records and classified records, according to Congressional testimony today by National Security Archive director Tom Blanton.
The U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security, chaired by Sen. Thomas Carper (D-DE),
Source: Azzaman
May 13, 2008
Senior Iraqi officials are involved in the smuggling of archaeological items during their trips abroad, according to a British
Museum expert specialized in Mesopotamian antiquities.
Farouq al-Rawi, Professor of ancient Mesopotamian languages, said most of the antiquities these officials carry with them abroad
end up in the private collections of royals and wealthy families particularly in the oil-rich Gulf states.
Source: AP
May 14, 2008
The wife of former British Prime Minister
Tony Blair said she and her husband watched in
distress as George Bush won the U.S. presidential
election in 2000, according to extracts of her
autobiography published Wednesday.
"I think it's fair to say that our hearts sank when
the result was finally ratified," Cherie Blair wrote
in "Speaking For Myself," which is being serialized in
The Times of London newspaper.
Source: AP
May 14, 2008
Long before Andy Warhol predicted that everyone would be famous for 15 minutes, Sojourner Truth played a bit part in controlling her image and launching the current appetite for photos of celebrities.
"Fame and photography really take root in the 19th Century," said Jane Aspinwall, assistant curator of photography at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. "People in the 19th Century were just as interested in celebrities and collecting celebrity portraiture as we are today.
Source: DANIEL SCHWAMMENTHAL in the WSJ
May 14, 2008
Opinion polls in the U.S. consistently show that a majority of Americans are sympathetic to Israel. But the situation is the reverse on the other side of the Atlantic. It's particularly bad in Germany. In a British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) survey last month, for example, Germans were among the Europeans with the least favorable views of Israel, second only to Spain. Even the respondents in the United Arab Emirates had a more positive perception of the Jewish state than Germans did.
Source: US News & World Report
May 14, 2008
A white college valedictorian is nothing much to blog about, unless he went to Morehouse, the only all-male, historically black college in the country. Joshua Packwood (4.0 GPA) made history as the first white valedictorian in the 141-year history of Morehouse.
Packwood certainly wasn't the school's first white student, but he eventually became an "unlikely ambassador for the school." He was voted dorm president as a freshman and was a Rhodes scholar finalist. He was popul
Source: AP
May 13, 2008
One of the most important Dead Sea scrolls is going on display in Jerusalem this week — more than four decades after it was last seen by the public. The 24-foot scroll with the text of the Bible's Book of Isaiah had been in a dark, temperature-controlled room at the Israel Museum since 1967. It went on display two years earlier, but curators replaced it with a facsimile after noticing new cracks in the calfskin parchment.
The museum decided to put the scroll back on show for three m
Source: National Geographic News
May 12, 2008
Inca surgeons in ancient Peru commonly and successfully removed small portions of patients' skulls to treat head injuries, according to a new study.
The surgical procedure—known as trepanation—was most often performed on adult men, likely to treat injuries suffered during combat, researchers say.
A similar procedure is performed today to relieve pressure caused by fluid buildup following severe head trauma.
Source: http://www.newbernsj.com
May 11, 2008
With roots that date to a period of religious intolerance in Colonial North Carolina, worshippers at New Bern's First Baptist Church gave thanks Sunday for religious freedom, beginning a year-long 200th anniversary celebration.
Since the church was founded in the home of Elijah Clark at Middle and Craven streets in May 1809, its influence has gone beyond the boundaries of the city, with pastors who were instrumental in the formation of the state Baptist organization and its educatio
Source: Australian
May 1, 2008
THE man who led Australian troops in the Battle of Long Tan more than 40 years ago should be awarded one of the country's top gallantry decorations, a federal review has recommended.
The review by a panel of retired senior army officers was ordered by the Howard government on the eve of the election in October to investigate why the nominated awards for the heroes of the best-known battle involving Australian troops in the Vietnam War were downgraded or ignored.
Senior
Source: AFP
April 27, 2008
NAM NEUN, Laos (AFP) — A man shapes a ball of C4 plastic explosive like a child with playdough, carefully inserts it into a hole at the side of the road, attaches an electric detonator, and walks away.
It's all in the name of saving lives.
He's not a soldier -- the war here in Laos ended more than 30 years ago -- but an explosives disposal expert trying to rid his country of the conflict's deadly legacy, which still kills and maims.
During the Vietnam war,
Source: Canadian Press
May 9, 2008
Ukrainian Canadians closed a painful chapter in their community's history Friday as the federal government announced a $10 million grant to recognize the internment of Eastern European immigrants in Canadian work camps during the First World War.
The money is going into an endowment fund that will allow the community to better educate Canadians about the forced labour camps.
"After more than two decades of community pressure and a string of broken political promise
Source: Telegraph (UK)
May 13, 2008
Albert Einstein regarded religions as "childish" and "primitive legends", a private letter he wrote a year before his death has revealed.
The great scientist's views on religion have long been debated, with many seizing upon phrases such as "He [God] does not throw dice" as evidence that he believed in a creator.
But the newly-unveiled letter, a response to the philosopher Eric Gutkind, has cast doubt on the theory that Einstein had any bel
Source: WaPo
May 13, 2008
Danielle Ross was alone in an empty room at the Obama campaign headquarters in Kokomo, Ind., a cellphone in one hand, a voter call list in the other. She was stretched out on the carpeted floor wearing laceless sky-blue Converses, stories from the trail on her mind. It was the day before Indiana's primary, and she had just been chased by dogs while canvassing in a Kokomo suburb. But that was not the worst thing to occur since she postponed her sophomore year at Middle Tennessee State University,
Source: Washington Times
May 12, 2008
Hillary Rodham Clinton's Rose Law Firm billing records, found in the White House residence in January 1996 two years after they had been subpoenaed by government regulators, disappeared shortly after the first lady was warned that the firm's billing problems were "very serious" and the then-ongoing Whitewater investigation could result in criminal charges, newly obtained records show.
More than 1,100 pages of grand jury testimony, investigative reports, memos, charging doc
