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: Reuters
March 7, 2008
Poland's painful memories of Soviet and Nazi occupation in World War 2 has made it wary of rushing into a deal to host a US missile shield site, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said.
Tusk meets President George W Bush on Monday to talk about the shield, which the United States says will protect it and its allies from ballistic missiles that could be fired by Iran or other "rogue" states.
US diplomats had hoped a preliminary agreement on the European miss
Source: http://www.independent.ie
March 7, 2008
A significant number of former soldiers who were based along the border during the Northern "Troubles" later suffered from stress-related problems, according to a report published yesterday.
And harassment by local civilians was blamed as the most common cause of stress among the military.
The study, commissioned by Onet, the organisation for ex-servicemen and women, found that many of them had been prescribed medication as a result of nervous disorders.
Source: AP
March 5, 2008
The FBI is investigating 26 unsolved civil-rights era cases out of nearly 100 referred to the bureau over the last year, according to Director Robert Mueller.
Mueller, who was set to testify Wednesday at an FBI oversight hearing before the Senate, also described the protection of civil liberties as one of his top priorities. Lawmakers were expected to press him about whether his agents violated the civil rights of U.S. citizens whose personal information was obtained secretly in ter
Source: http://www.eveningsun.com
March 5, 2008
The ghost-hunting summit that was expected to attract more than 500 paranormal investigators to Gettysburg in June has been canceled.
The Gettysburg National Military Park's policy against organized paranormal investigations on the battlefield is the main reason for the cancellation of the G4 Summit, organizer Kerry Eble-Keller said.
"It was just not what it could be," Eble-Keller said Tuesday.
Had things gone as planned, it would have been the fi
Source: http://www.mainelincolncountynews.com
March 5, 2008
The 19th Judicial Circuit Court of Virginia has ruled the holder of a 1776 Salem Massachusetts Bay broadside copy of the Declaration of Independence found in a Wiscasset home in 1995 can retain quiet title of the historic document.
The Feb. 22 decision ends an extensive search and subsequent legal battle the state of Maine initiated in 2004 on behalf of Wiscasset and its predecessor, Pownalborough, based on its claim that the document is an official town record of Wiscasset and shou
Source: BBC
March 7, 2008
A notorious wall mural in Belfast - showing a loyalist paramilitary - is to be replaced by a portrait of King William of Orange.
The mural is nicknamed "The Grim Reaper".
It was painted 10 years ago on a gable wall in Tavanagh Street in the mainly Protestant Village area of the city.
Its £18,000 replacement is part of a £3m community "reimaging" scheme.
Negotiations on the repainting began five years ago with the loyalist paramili
Source: USA Today
March 1, 2008
Across the street from the yawning void left when the World Trade Center collapsed on Sept. 11, 2001, sits a center imbued with the memory of the 2,750 people who died there.
The completion of a permanent memorial is at least two years away, and the Tribute Center is the sole space near Ground Zero where a visitor can hear the anxious radio transmissions of a firefighter inside the south tower; see a twisted steel beam from the Trade Center's core; study the ID card of a husband who
Source: Telegraph (UK)
March 7, 2008
The German government was yesterday forced to scrap plans to re-introduce the Iron Cross, after opponents said the military medal still carried the "burden" of association with Nazi atrocities.
The medal, the equivalent of the Victoria Cross in Britain, was established during the Napoleonic Wars to reward bravery and valour of officers and enlisted men alike.
But its reputation was tarnished by the Nazis, who added a swastika to the design, linking it to atroc
Source: Telegraph (UK)
March 7, 2008
With armour-plated walls rising defiantly from the sea, No Man's Land Fort has held out against invaders since it was built to repel Napoleon III 150 years ago.
Now, however, the Solent fortress is under siege for the first time and could be facing its most determined enemy yet - estate agents. The fort, which has been converted into a hotel, has been put on the market by administrators.
However, Harmesh Pooni, 42, who claims he is the rightful owner of the Grade II-lis
Source: Reuters
March 6, 2008
With an old soldier of 107 looking on, the Pentagon on Thursday unveiled portraits of World War One veterans and the photographer behind them voiced hope they would remind officials their decisions affect real lives.
The large, striking photographs of nine veterans, taken when they were aged 105 or older, will hang on the walls of the Pentagon as reminders of a war Defense Secretary Robert Gates said was not well understood or remembered in America.
"There is no bi
Source: AP
March 6, 2008
One of the most significant collections of Abraham Lincoln letters to be auctioned in decades includes his heartfelt reply to a group of youngsters who asked him to free America's "little slave children."
The 1864 letter is expected to fetch the highest price ever for a Lincoln manuscript.
"Please tell these little people I am very glad their young hearts are so full of just and generous sympathy," the president wrote in the letter to a woman who had
Source: Art Newspaper
March 6, 2008
Five years ago Coalition forces invaded Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein. The main attack began on 20 March 2003, although it was not until three weeks later that US troops entered the capital. In the chaos that followed, the Baghdad Museum was looted extensively, from 10 to 12 April. This provoked an international outcry because the Americans had failed to protect the museum, one of the most important in the Middle East. Roughly 16,000 antiquities were stolen, of which, about half were eventual
Source: Krissy Clark on Weekend America -- American Public Media (APM)
March 1, 2008
It's the first weekend of March. February's over, and Black History Month is over too. That's not so important for the Reverend Amos Brown, head of the San Francisco NAACP. He presides over one of the city's oldest African-American churches founded in the gold rush.
Last Sunday, Brown did note the final days of February in his sermon. But it really came to life, not when he talked about the end of Black History Month. His sermon came to life when he talked about the end of something
Source: AP
March 6, 2008
Calling it a high honor, President Bush on Thursday warmly greeted 107-year-old Frank Woodruff Buckles, described by the White House as the last known surviving American-born veteran of World War I.
"Mr. Buckles' mind is sharp, his memory is crisp and he's been sharing with me some interesting anecdotes," Bush said in the Oval Office. Buckles, in a wheelchair to Bush's right, sat quietly with his hands clasped as the president spoke during a short photo opportunity.
Source: http://www.ekathimerini.com
March 4, 2008
Exciting new finds at the archaeological site of Pella have opened a new chapter in Macedonian history. Beneath the ruins of the ancient capital of the Macedonian kingdom is a large prehistoric burial ground that has yielded the first evidence of organized life in Pella during the third millennium BC.
It was while they were engaged in conservation, repairs and other work to highlight the site that the excavation team from Aristotle University came across more than 100 Early Bronze A
Source: AP
March 5, 2008
Road construction on the western Greek island of Lefkada has uncovered and partially destroyed an important tomb with artifacts dating back more than 3,000 years, officials said on Wednesday.
The find is a miniature version of the large, opulent tombs built by the rulers of Greece during the Mycenaean era, which ended around 1100 B.C. Although dozens have been found in the mainland and on Crete, the underground, beehive-shaped monuments are very rare in the western Ionian Sea island
Source: BBC
March 6, 2008
A Hindu temple has been named the landmark of which residents are most proud, in a national poll.
More than 2,300 residents voted for the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Neasden, north London, to win the inaugural Pride of Place award.
It is one of the biggest traditional Hindu temples to be built in Europe.
Firepower Museum in Greenwich and Barking Abbey in Barking also made it to the national top 10 list. More than 36,800 people cast their vote online.
Source: BBC
March 5, 2008
The Renaissance genius Galileo Galilei is once again at the centre of a row between Church and science more than 360 years after his death.
Italian researchers want to exhume his body for DNA tests to find the cause of the blindness that afflicted him.
They also want to confirm whether the body that shares his grave is that of Galileo's beloved daughter.
Galileo fell foul of the religious authorities of the day when he argued that the Earth revolved around
Source: BBC
March 5, 2008
Community groups in Lockerbie are planning a "low key" approach to the 20th anniversary of its air disaster.
A total of 270 people were killed when Pan Am flight 103 blew up above the Dumfries and Galloway town on 21 December 1988.
Local organisations said they hoped events would "remember the past" but also be "focused on the future".
Source: BBC
March 5, 2008
Children are growing up too fast, says a leading author. But hasn't society always worried that young people are experiencing adulthood too soon?
Fat, spoilt, feral and stupid. Who would be a child or teenager today? They even miss-time their coming-of-age, apparently.
"I think children act like adults at an alarmingly early age," said Dame Jacqueline Wilson, who has sold more than 30 million books. Her remarks came as a poll by her publisher suggested that more tha
