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: NYT (subscribers only)
June 22, 2007
THE White House visit today by President Nguyen Minh Triet of Vietnam will take place just a few miles from the resting place of some of his countrymen. When American G.I.’s returned from the Vietnam War, some tried to smuggle home the skulls of Vietcong and North Vietnamese soldiers. The graffiti-covered skulls served as ashtrays, candle holders and trophies. Six skulls were seized by the Customs Service. They remain in limbo, relegated to a drawer on the campus of the Walter Reed Army Medical
Source: NYT
June 22, 2007
For four years, Vice President Dick Cheney has resisted routine oversight of his office’s handling of classified information, and when the National Archives unit that monitors classification in the executive branch objected, the vice president’s office suggested abolishing the oversight unit, according to documents released yesterday by a Democratic congressman.
The Information Security Oversight Office, a unit of the National Archives, appealed the issue to the Justice Department,
Source: CNN
June 19, 2007
Three-century-old manuscripts by Isaac Newton calculating the exact date of the apocalypse, detailing the precise dimensions of the ancient temple in Jerusalem and interpreting passages of the Bible -- exhibited this week for the first time -- lay bare the little-known religious intensity of a man many consider history's greatest scientist.
Newton, who died 280 years ago, is known for laying much of the groundwork for modern physics, astronomy, math and optics. But in a new Jerusale
Source: United Press International
June 19, 2007
The Pentagon is distributing new playing cards to troops, but this time they don't depict Iraq's most wanted.
The playing cards show pictures of Iraq and Afghanistan's cultural and archaeological sites, along with tips and entreaties to American troops on protecting the sites. The five of clubs, for instance, suggests they drive around rather than over archeological sites; the two of hearts shows the ancient ruins of Samara with the inscription: "99 percent of mankind's history
Source: NYT
June 21, 2007
The Central Intelligence Agency will make public next week a collection of long-secret documents compiled in 1974 that detail domestic spying, assassination plots and other C.I.A. misdeeds in the 1960s and early 1970s, the agency’s director, Gen. Michael V. Hayden, said yesterday.
In an address to a group of historians who have long pressed for greater disclosure of C.I.A. archives, General Hayden described the documents, known as the “family jewels,” as “a glimpse of a very differe
Source: CBS News Philadelphia
June 21, 2007
The archaeological dig at Independence Mall has uncovered another historical treasure. Archaeologists have been working furiously in Old City for the past couple months, revealing the foundation of George Washington’s former office.
“We could never have expected to find a find like this. Things that have such cultural value,” said Ed Lawler of the Independence Mall Association. A foundation fragment from the first president’s office can now be seen protruding from the ground.
Source: Birmingham News
June 21, 2007
Jack Bergstresser looked at a handful of small artifacts spread out on a table Wednesday at Tannehill Ironworks and Historical State Park. "It's not a lot of stuff, but every piece has a really profound story," he said. "These were not people who had a lot of possessions."
The artifacts were found in a dig at what archaeologists are convinced is a former slave quarters at the park. Bergstresser, resident archaeologist and director of Tannehill's Iron and Steel M
Source: Al-Ahram Weekly
June 21, 2007
Archaeologists from the Katholicke Universiteit Leuven working at the Middle-Kingdom (2066-1650 BC) tomb of Uky, a top government official, have discovered an intact tomb chamber, complete with funerary goods.
While removing the debris out of a rock-cut shaft found inside the chamber of Uky's tomb, the archaeologists came across a huge limestone block indicating that a major find was imminent, in line with the ancient Egyptian custom of blocking their burial chambers with such a bar
Source: Charleston Post and Courier
June 21, 2007
Anyone visiting the two sites where the Civil War began couldn't find the contrast more jarring. Fort Sumter — on which the Confederacy opened fire on federal troops on April 12, 1861 — is a national historic monument, maintained by the federal government with the goal of interpreting the Civil War.
But Fort Johnson, from which those shots were fired, is another story. Today, most of that property is owned by the S.C. Department of Natural Resources, which isn't in the history busin
Source: International Herald Tribune
June 21, 2007
Photos of fresh-faced privates, wizened U.S. generals and the largest amphibious military operation in history. Dented army canteens that once dotted killing fields in France. The booming sounds of gunships echoing over the waves in Normandy — this time, on video.
The Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, best known for its sober rows of white grave markers honoring fallen U.S. troops in World War II, has at last gotten a visitor's center.
Nearly a million
Source: Montreal Gazette
June 21, 2007
Two of Canada's oldest archival treasures will join the Gutenberg Bible, France's famed Bayeux Tapestry and more than 150 other globally significant cultural artifacts as part of a United Nations listing of the world's most precious documentary "monuments." A 340-year-old collection of records detailing the operation of the Hudson's Bay Company - spearhead of British claims in the future Canada - and the even older archive of New France's earliest Catholic seminary are the first Canadi
Source: Telegraph
June 21, 2007
With Lord Nelson's relationship with his mistress threatening his popularity in early 19th century England, it would have been wise to keep his wife financially happy.
A previously unseen copy of a bank statement suggests that is what he did. The document shows Lord Nelson wanted to maintain his wife in reasonable style, possibly to keep her quiet.The two-page statement sent by the bankers Messers Marsh and Creed in the last quarter of 1802, shows th
Source: CBS3 Philadelphia
June 20, 2007
The archaeological dig at Independence Mall has uncovered another historical treasure. Archaeologists have been working furiously in Old City for the past couple months, revealing the foundation of George Washington’s former office.The uncovered office is where Washington met with his Cabinet, and generals discussed military strategy.
“Now we have the artifact of the office of the president. We have the underground passage that was used by the servants, in
Source: Telegraph
June 20, 2007
An archaeologist has sparked a Da Vinci Code-style hunt for the Holy Grail after claiming ancient records show it is buried under a 6th century church in Rome.
The cup - said to have been used by Christ at the Last Supper - is the focus of countless legends and has been sought for centuries.
Alfredo Barbagallo, an Italian archaeologist, claims that it is buried in a chapel-like room underneath the Basilica of San Lorenzo Fuori le Mura, one of the seven churches which
Source: BBC News
June 20, 2007
Three men have been convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity during Sierra Leone's decade-long war. These were the first verdicts of Sierra Leone's UN-backed war crimes tribunal.
Alex Tamba Brima, Brima Kamara and Santigie Borbor Kanu were senior members of an armed faction that toppled the government in 1997. They were found guilty of 11 of the 14 charges, but acquitted of alleged sexual slavery and other inhuman acts. The men will be se
Source: International Herald Tribune
June 20, 2007
Because "war museum" and "mausoleum" can sound alike, especially if a pedicab driver speaks no English and his passenger no Vietnamese, a recent visitor to Hanoi found himself in a long line waiting to view the embalmed corpse of Ho Chi Minh, "He Who Enlightens."
The change in plans was acceptable. Although he had not been one of those Americans who chanted "Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh" during war protests in the turbulent 1960s - still less "Hey
Source: Sci-Tech Today
June 20, 2007
Deep-sea explorers said Friday they have mined what could be the richest shipwreck treasure in history, bringing home 17 tons of colonial-era silver and gold coins from an undisclosed site in the Atlantic Ocean. Estimated value: $500 million.
A jet chartered by Tampa-based Odyssey Marine Exploration landed in the United States recently with hundreds of plastic containers brimming with coins raised from the ocean floor, Odyssey co-chairman Greg Stemm said. The more than 500,000 piec
Source: Secrecy News
June 20, 2007
Each U.S. military service now has "combat camera" (COMCAM) units that provide a unique visual record of military operations, according to a new manual on COMCAM tactics and procedures (pdf).
The photographic and motion imagery produced by military photographers "enhances the commander's situational awareness and establishes a historical operations record."
If and when such imagery is eventually released, it has the potential to add a new dimension t
Source: IHT
June 19, 2007
Fifty years ago, when Saadi Yacef was blowing up French men, women and children in the name of Algerian independence, he never imagined Algerians would do the same to each other some day.
Yacef's ultimately successful fight against colonial France was immortalized in the 1965 film "The Battle of Algiers." He played a character based on himself in the movie, which has become a celluloid primer for revolutionaries.
The mystique attached to terrorism across the M
Source: NYT
June 20, 2007
The former president of Peru, Alberto K. Fujimori, who is fighting extradition to Peru on human rights and corruption charges, may run for a seat in Japan’s legislative elections, his spokesman said. Mr. Fujimori, who has Japanese citizenship, has been approached by a small opposition party to compete in the upper house election next month, but critics called the move a ploy to avoid extradition to Peru from neighboring Chile, where he is under house arrest. Mr. Fujimori, 68, was arrested in Chi
