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
April 27, 2011
FLORENCE, Italy — It has seen the rise of the Grand Tour and the package tour, the romance of E. M. Forster’s
“Room With a View” and the tensions of two world wars. And now, after
five centuries, the British Consulate in Florence is closing its doors,
a victim of budget cuts and the currents of history.
Source: AP
April 25, 2011
FAIRFAX, Va. – A years-long dispute between the Episcopal Church and
several breakaway congregations over homosexuality and important tenets
of Christian doctrine was back in a Virginia courtroom on Monday, where
the fight will likely be decided on mundane aspects of real estate and
contract law.
Source: BBC
April 26, 2011
The Foods Standards Agency is reviewing how it monitors 330 hill farms in Wales, 25 years after the world's worst nuclear accident at Chernobyl.
Rain carried radioactive material to north Wales after the explosion at the Ukranian plant in 1986.
Sheep from affected areas are still scanned before entering the food chain.
Source: BBC
April 26, 2011
A US federal court has ordered a new sentencing hearing for an ex-Black Panther activist on death row for the 1981 killing of a white policeman.
A Philadelphia appeals court said Mumia Abu-Jamal, 57, must have a hearing within six months.
He has been on death row since 1983 after his conviction in the killing of Philadelphia Officer Daniel Faulkner.
He has maintained his innocence, and death penalty opponents across the world have rallied around his case.
On Tuesday, the Third District Court of Appeals upheld its 2008 r
Source: AP
April 26, 2011
After spotting the mummy at the University of Vermont's Robert Hull Fleming Museum in Burlington, Dr. Jason Johnson, a radiology resident, arranged to have it put through his hospital's state-of-the-art CT scanner.
Source: Telegraph (UK)
April 26, 2011
Dmitry Medvedev became the first Kremlin leader to visit the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in more than two decades on Tuesday, issuing a call for new tougher global rules on nuclear safety.
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Telegraph (UK)
Archaeologists have discovered a giant statue of Egypt's famous pharaoh Amenhotep III at his mortuary temple in the southern city of Luxor, the antiquities authority said on Tuesday.
The 13-metre-tall (43-foot) statue was found buried in seven pieces at the mortuary temple of Amenhotep III at Kom al-Hitan.
It was one of two statues placed at the northern entrance of the temple, and was probably destroyed during an earthquake in 27BC, the antiquities authority statement said....
Source: Telegraph (UK)
April 26, 2011
An era of clattering keys and inky ribbons is coming to an end, as the world's last mechanical typewriter manufacturer has revealed it has only 500 left in stock.
Godrej and Boyce, of India, ceased production in 2009 and has now almost cleared its remaining inventory, according to the Business Standard.
Source: AP
April 26, 2011
Blood taken from Pope John Paul II during his final hospitalization will be used as the official relic for veneration after he is beatified.
Source: AP
April 26, 2011
Classified military files obtained by the WikiLeaks website reveal a range of potential Al Qaeda plots against the United States, including post-9/11 aircraft attacks on the West Coast, The New York Times reported Monday.
Source: BBC News
April 26, 2011
A US federal court has
ordered a new sentencing hearing for an ex-Black Panther activist on
death row for the 1981 killing of a white policeman.
A Philadelphia appeals court said Mumia Abu-Jamal, 57, must have a hearing within six months.
He has been on death row since 1983 after his conviction in the killing of Philadelphia Officer Daniel Faulkner.
He has maintained his innocence, and death penalty opponents across the world have rallied around his case.
Source: BBC News
April 26, 2011
The demolition of a huge
Turkish statue devoted to reconciliation with Armenia has begun, months
after the prime minister described it as a "freak".
The 30m-high statue - depicting two human figures facing each
other - was erected on a mountain in the Turkish city of Kars, near the
Armenian border.
Local authorities commissioned it several years ago to symbolise an end to decades of enmity and suspicion.
Artists had tried to save the statue, which could take 10 days to dismantle.
Source: BBC News
April 26, 2011
Next month, Barack Obama
will visit an Irish village where his great-great-great-great
grandfather made shoes. He is thought to be the 22nd US president to
have or claim Irish family, and most recent presidents have visited the
Republic or Northern Ireland. Why?
A small village of fewer than 300 residents in County Offaly is about to welcome its most famous son.
Source: BBC News
April 26, 2011
Punk singer Poly Styrene, former singer with the X-Ray Spex, has died at the age of 53 after suffering from cancer.
She was one of the first female punk icons, whose unorthodox yet infectious style was highly influential.
Real name Marianne Elliot-Said, she had cancer of the spine and breast.
A statement on her official Twitter feed said: "We can
confirm that the beautiful Poly Styrene, who has been a true fighter,
won her battle on Monday evening to go to higher places."
Source: 4-20-11
April 20, 2011
A possible Neanderthal burial ground suggests that they practiced funeral rituals and possessed symbolic thought before modern humans.
Evidence for a likely 50,000-year-old Neanderthal burial ground that includes the remains of at least three individuals has been unearthed in Spain, according to a Quaternary International paper.
The deceased appear to have been intentionally buried, with each Neanderthal's arms folded such that the hands were close to the head.
Source: BBC
April 21, 2011
Archaeologists working on a ruined Tameside castle have concluded it was built to prevent parts of England coming under Scottish rule.
Buckton Castle in Stalybridge by the Earl of Chester was built in the 1100s.
It was occupied for less than 100 years during a time when the King of Scotland lay claim to Lancashire and Cumberland.
The University of Salford's Brian Grimsditch said, due to the unrest, "local rulers like the Earl had to protect their lands".
The university's Centre for Applied Archaeology conducted a three-
Source: Telegraph (UK)
April 25, 2011
A Chinese property billionaire who is accused breaking the hearts of a British couple by failing to pay for a £53 million Qing-dynasty vase that was found in the house of a deceased relative had "absolutely nothing" to do with the 'sale', his connections said on Monday.
Wang Jianlin, the chairman of the Dalian Wanda Group, has been named by several publications, including the Antiques Trade Gazette, as the man behind the record-breaking bid for the vase which fetched more than 65 times its £800,000 estimate.
Source: BBC
April 25, 2011
Ukraine is marking the 25th anniversary of the world's worst nuclear accident - at the Chernobyl power plant.
An explosion at one of the plant's reactors sent a plume of radiation across Europe and killed at least 30 people in its immediate aftermath.
A donors conference in Kiev, Ukraine, last week raised 550m euros (£486m; $798m) of the 740m euros needed to build a new shelter and a storage facility for spent fuel.
A donors conference in Kiev, Ukraine, last week raised 550m euros (£486m; $798m) of the 740m euros needed to buil
Source: BBC
April 25, 2011
Australians and New Zealanders are marking Anzac Day to remember those who died fighting for their country.
The Anzacs were the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps who suffered huge losses at Gallipoli in Turkey in a failed allied assault in 1915.
New Zealand PM John Key has made an address in the UK, while his Australian counterpart, Julia Gillard, is taking part in a ceremony in South Korea.
Anzac Day has become one of the most revered occasions in both countries.....
Source: BBC
April 25, 2011
A hand grenade from World War II which was found on a beach in North Yorkshire has been removed.
The device was found on Filey Beach near Royal Parade at about 1100 BST by a member of the public who was using a metal detector.
North Yorkshire Police said the south side of the beach was evacuated until about 1430 BST.
The Army Bomb Disposal Team attended the incident but said the device did not need to be detonated....
