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: WaPo
October 27, 2011
WARSAW, Poland — Polish authorities have reopened an investigation into World War II crimes committed at Auschwitz and its satellite camps that was closed in the 1980s because of the country’s isolation behind the Iron Curtain.One aim of the new probe is to track down any living Nazi perpetrators, according to an announcement Thursday by the Institute of National Remembrance, a state body that investigates Nazi and communist-era crimes.Nazi Germany opened Auschwitz in 1940, months after it invaded and occupied Poland. Over the next five years of war, German and Austrian Nazis murdered up to 1.5 million people there at the expanded Auschwitz-Birkenau camp complex, most of them Jews from across Europe, but also Poles, Roma, gays and others.The investigation was opened by a branch of the remembrance institute in Krakow, which is located near Auschwitz. Germany also operated other death camps across Poland — like Chelmno, Treblinka and Belzec — and it was not immediately clear if new investigations into them are also planned....
Source: Jewish Daily Forward
October 27, 2011
Although Nobel Prize-winning author Samuel Beckett is known for his tragicomically inert characters, he himself was an anti-Nazi activist during World War II. Unlike the ever-absent Godot, the bedridden vagrant protagonist of his novel “Molloy” or the despairing characters in his play “Endgame” who lack legs and the ability to stand, Beckett — though painfully shy and prone to melancholy — was a dynamic member of the French Résistance. His surprising wartime actions are detailed, if not fully explained, in the 2004 biography from Grove Press, “Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett” by James Knowlson.Like his mentor, James Joyce, Beckett was unusually philo-Semitic among European modernist writers, and he joined the Résistance, Knowlson notes, soon after Joyce’s Jewish friend and amanuensis, Paul Léon, was arrested in Paris (Léon would later be murdered in Auschwitz). A fuller understanding of Beckett’s motivation for his pro-Jewish and anti-Nazi activism had to wait until two new books appeared.
Source: Science Magazine
October 26, 2011
Ancient affliction. A high-resolution CT scan of the lumbar spine region of a 2150-year-old Egyptian mummy has just revealed small, round lesions—the oldest case of metastatic prostate cancer in ancient Egyptians.Some 2250 years ago in Egypt, a man known today only as M1 struggled with a long, painful, progressive illness. A dull pain throbbed in his lower back, then spread to other parts of his body, making most movements a misery. When M1 finally succumbed to the mysterious ailment between the ages of 51 and 60, his family paid for him to be mummified so that he could be reborn and relish the pleasures of the afterworld.
Source: Discovery News
October 27, 2011
A three-ton stone from Jerusalem's Western Wall, hundreds of biblical era artifacts, and a collection of 20 Dead Sea Scrolls will make their debut tomorrow in New York's Discovery Times Square Exposition.The largest collection of biblical artifacts ever displayed outside Israel, the exhibition "Dead Sea Scrolls: Life and Faith in Biblical Times," aims to take visitors on a "fascinating archaeological journey through the Holy Land."The show's centerpiece is 20 Dead Sea Scrolls, containing sections from the biblical books of Genesis, Psalms, Exodus, Isaiah, and others. The scrolls include four pieces which have never been available for public viewing.Considered one of the greatest archeological discoveries of the 20th century, the parchment and papyrus scrolls were discovered between 1947 and 1956 in 11 caves around the ruins of the ancient settlement of Qumran on the Dead Sea....
Source: Spiegel Online
October 27, 2011
Archaeologists in France recently discovered the remains of 21 German soldiers from World War I in an underground shelter that hasn't been touched since the day it was destroyed by French shells 93 years ago. Pocket books and prayer beads tell stories of life in the trenches -- but Germany doesn't want to hear them.Archaeologists in northern France have unearthed the bodies of 21 German soldiers from World War One in an elaborate underground shelter that was destroyed in a French attack in March 1918, and hasn't been opened since.Individual war casualties are still frequently found during construction work on the former Western front battlefields of France and Belgium, but the discovery of so many soldiers in one location is rare.The tomb, poignant and grisly, sheds light on the lives of the soldiers who died in explosions from heavy shells that penetrated the tunnel."It's a bit like Pompeii," Michaël Landolt, the French archaeologist leading the dig, told SPIEGEL ONLINE. "Everything collapsed in seconds and is just the way it was at the time. This is an extraordinary find."...
Source: BBC
October 26, 2011
The classic novel that coined the term describing impossible situations is celebrating its 50th birthday. So how close does Catch-22 come to accurately portraying today's military?Most people will have uttered a remark about being caught between a rock and a hard place, in a Catch-22 situation. A no-win dilemma where you're damned if you do and damned if you don't.But fewer people will have read the 1961 novel of the same name that propelled the phrase into the English language.Catch-22 was published 50 years ago. Written by Joseph Heller, it describes the wartime experiences of B-25 bombardier, Captain John Yossarian. Heller himself had served as a US Air Force bombardier in World War II....
Source: AP
October 28, 2011
LONDON — First came love, then came marriage. But what if — someday — it's a girl in Kate Middleton's baby carriage?If she's the royal couple's eldest child, new rules could push the princess to a prime place in history: the first girl to accede to the throne and beat out any younger brothers.The Commonwealth countries agreed Friday to change centuries-old rules of succession that put male heirs on the throne ahead of any older sisters, following nations such as Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands and Norway that have scrapped male primogeniture.The move is a baby step — the changes must still be approved by the legislatures of the 16 nations where she is head of state before they could take effect — but is seen as a triumph over outdated, sexist practices....
Source: Inside Higher Ed
October 28, 2011
David Barnard, president of the University of Manitoba, on Thursday became the first Canadian university president to formally apologize for the residential schools that were formerly used in the country to educate many Native Canadians, with the goal of assimilating them into the dominant white culture....
Source: AP
October 27, 2011
BALTIMORE — A presidential historian’s assistant pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiring to steal valuable documents from archives throughout the Northeast.Jason Savedoff, 24, entered the plea in U.S. District Court in Baltimore.Savedoff and historian Barry Landau were charged in July with stealing historical documents from the Maryland Historical Society and conspiring to steal documents from other archives. Both initially pleaded not guilty.Prosecutors alleged that Landau and Savedoff had about 80 documents when they were arrested at the historical society in Baltimore in July. About 60 belonged to the society, including papers signed by President Abraham Lincoln worth $300,000 and presidential inaugural ball invitations and programs worth $500,000....
Source: Telegraph (UK)
October 27, 2011
Historians believe the camp, once home to an estimated 1,000 legionaries and located on the River Lippe near the town of Olfen, may well have been served as a key base for the Roman General Drusus, who waged a long and bloody war against the tribes that once inhabited what is now western Germany.The find comes 100 years after the discovery of a bronze Roman helmet near Olfen indicated the presence of ancient remains but it took a century of searching to finally discover the exact location of the camp."It's a sensational discovery for Roman research in Westphalia," Wolfgang Kirsch, one of the archaeologists involved in the discovery, said in a statement, adding that the camp was the "last missing link" in the chain of Roman defences in western Germany.Researchers dug up Roman coins, fragments of pottery and the remains of old defences, while aerial photography revealed the course of mote that once protected the camp from German tribes eager to drive the invaders out of their land....
Source: Dorset Echo
October 27, 2011
HISTORIANS have been thrilled by the discovery of a historic room-dividing screen decorated by author Charles Dickens.And now a conservationist at Dorset History Centre in Dorchester is so intent on preserving the original piece and taking off 160 years of grime and dirt that she is using her own saliva to remove the dirt.The reason for this is that it contains dirt-fighting enzymes should not damage the artwork.It is thought that in 1850 Dickens spent hours gluing more than 800 images, etchings and prints on to the 7ft tall divider in the home of his actor friend William Macready....
Source: Yahoo News
October 27, 2011
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Archaeologists at Cambodia's famous Angkor Wat temple complex say they have unearthed the largest Buddhist statues there in eight decades....
Source: AP
October 26, 2011
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Gov. Rick Perry said Wednesday he opposes his state allowing specialty license plates featuring the Confederate flag — despite his past defense of the historical value of Confederacy symbols.The Republican presidential hopeful was in Florida for a fundraiser and told Bay News 9’s “Political Connections” and the St. Petersburg Times that, “we don’t need to be opening old wounds.”The plates have been requested by the Sons of Confederate Veterans, a nonprofit Perry has supported over the years. They show the group’s logo, which is derived from the Confederate battle flag....
Source: NYT
October 26, 2011
GALWAY, Ireland — On an autumn evening beside the storied beauty of Galway Bay, with a chilly gust blowing off the Atlantic, Martin McGuinness breezed into a popular tourist hotel that looks out across the bay with the air of a man who has found a measure of peace after a lifetime gripped by Ireland’s troubled past.And so, in effect, he has. He was an Irish Republican Army gunman at the age of 18, and by 21 an I.R.A. commander on Bloody Sunday, the grim day in 1972 when British troops killed 14 protesters in his native Derry, in Northern Ireland. Now 61 and deputy first minister in the power-sharing government in Belfast, Mr. McGuinness has set his sights on a new job — a goal that has him disavowing the violence of the past, and refuting accusations that he was responsible for ordering murders in his I.R.A. days.
Source: LA Times
October 26, 2011
Among those closely watching the Occupy Wall Street protests: the Smithsonian.The National Museum of American History has dispatched representatives to collect materials, such as protest signs, from the demonstrations.It is in pursuit of the museum's mission to "document the spirit of American democracy and the American political process, including how people express their points of view through political rallies, demonstrations and protests," the institution said in a statement....
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
October 27, 2011
A metal detecting enthusiast unearthed 'the find of a lifetime' when he discovered a Viking treasure hoard including 200 pieces of silver jewellery.Darren Webster dug up a 1,000-year-old casket that also held coins, hacksilver and ingots while scouring at an undisclosed location on the border between Cumbria and North Lancashire.Experts at the British Museum in London say the find is of 'national significance'.'It's a find of a lifetime,' said Mr Webster, from Carnforth, Cumbria....
Source: USA Today
October 26, 2011
For all the political hubbub over Mormonism, you might have thought Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman are the first Mormons to run for president.In fact, 11 Latter-day Saints have campaigned for the White House, including the faith's founder, Joseph Smith.A barrage of bullets cut short Smiths campaign in 1844. He was the first presidential candidate to be assassinated, according to historian Newell G. Bringhurst....
Source: BBC News
October 27, 2011
Former Argentine naval officer Alfredo Astiz has been jailed for life for crimes against humanity during military rule in 1976-83.Astiz - known as the "Blond Angel of Death" - was found guilty of torture, murder and forced disappearance.Among his victims were two French nuns and the founders of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo human rights group.Eleven other former military and police officers were also given life sentences for crimes against humanity.Four others were jailed for between 18 and 25 years.All worked at the Naval Mechanical School in Buenos Aires - known as Esma - which was the biggest secret torture and killing centre set up by the military during what became known as the "Dirty War"....
Source: BBC News
October 26, 2011
At the end of the Korean War, thousands of prisoners from both sides faced a choice - whether to return home or remain with their captors. David Hawkins was one of a handful of American GIs who chose to go to China."I don't think it ever occurred to the US or the army that there would be GIs that would choose to go somewhere other than their own country," Mr Hawkins says, more than six decades after he fought communist Korean and Chinese soldiers in the frozen mud along the 38th Parallel.When the war ended in 1953, tens of thousands of Korean and Chinese prisoners of war chose life in the US over their own homelands.But America, in the grip of anti-communist fervour, was shocked when 20 of its own young soldiers defected to China....
Source: ABC News
October 27, 2011
A 2,000-pound cannon pulled from the waters near Beaufort Wednesday will give archeologists and historians more ammunition for separating fact from legend surrounding the infamous pirate Blackbeard.The Queen Anne's Revenge Project brought the massive gun ashore and displayed it to the public before taking to a laboratory at East Carolina University. Onlookers cheered as the 8-foot-long gun was raised above the water's surface."The last people who saw this were pirates," QAR project director Mark Wilde-Ramsing told more than 100 spectators who later gathered in front of Beaufort's Maritime Museum for a closer look at the 18th century weapon.Dozens of local residents turned out, while some Blackbeard enthusiasts drove in from other parts of the state....
