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
March 2, 2011
The regime of the Libyan leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, has been badly undermined, but he retains enough support among critical tribes and institutions, including parts of the army and the air force, that he might be able to retain power in the capital, Tripoli, for some time to come, say experts on Libya and its military.
They caution that the situation on the ground is both fluid and confusing. But they emphasize that tribal loyalties remain an important indicator, and that the
Source: NYT
March 6, 2011
DHAKA, Bangladesh — In the last days of the bloody war that created this nation out of the eastern half of Pakistan in 1971, a gang of men abducted Dr. Alim Chowdhury, an eye surgeon and independence activist, from his home. Three days later, his battered body was found in a mass grave, his eyes gouged from his head.
His killers, members of a pro-Pakistan militia, were never punished. Moulana Abdul Mannan, the man who confessed to orchestrating the killing, according to a governmen
Source: BBC
March 3, 2011
The British man believed to be the last surviving combat veteran of World War I is celebrating his 110th birthday.
He emigrated to Australia before World War II, and now lives in a nursing home in Perth.
Raised by his father, young Claude wanted to be a bugler in the Army and tried to lie about his age so that he could be recruited.
When he failed, his father got him onto a Royal Navy training ship instead and he joined up in 1916 at the age of 14.
Source: BBC
March 4, 2011
The widower of a woman whose diploma from a Dundee college went missing in the post 40 years ago has said he is looking forward to receiving it.
The certificate was sent to Dorothy Sanderson in Arbroath, Angus, in 1970, but never reached her.
She died in 1995, but her widowed husband Dr Andrew Scott was traced after a relative contacted the BBC.
Dundee College received the diploma in the post on Thursday, marked "not at this address".
Source: BBC
March 5, 2011
A Spitfire has been flown over Southampton in celebration of the 75th anniversary of the first test flight of the world famous aircraft in the city.
Carolyn Grace, 58, thought to be the world's only female Spitfire pilot, gave the public a view of her plane over Southampton Water earlier.
Later, she flew the Spitfire around a lap of Southampton International Airport to recreate the test flight.
The airport, then Eastleigh airfield, was the setting for the
Source: Telegrapg (UK)
March 4, 2011
Rodney King, the man whose beating triggered the 1991 Los Angeles riots, was pulled over by police the day before the 20th anniversary of the original attack, and fined for having an expired licence.
He was stopped close to Interstate 210 north of Los Angeles, the same freeway on which officers pursued him at high speed before assaulting him two decades ago.
On this occasion King, 45, was stopped for running a red light in a green Mitsubishi.
His fiancée C
Source: Telegraph (UK)
March 4, 2011
Michelangelo’s statue of David is at risk of being toppled by the construction of a high-speed railway line beneath Florence because of his flimsy ankles.
The statue is riddled with tiny cracks, particularly in the ankles of the boy warrior, and could collapse as a result of vibrations from the 1.4 billion euro project, which is due to start in the summer.
The threat of serious damage being done to one of the world’s most famous statues has prompted calls for it to be
Source: CNN
March 5, 2011
Democratic Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown is apologizing for invoking Hitler and Stalin on the Senate floor.
The statement came a day after Brown said dictators Hitler and Stalin didn’t want unions while railing against legislative measures proposed in Ohio and Wisconsin that would limit collective bargaining rights for state workers.....
Source: NYT
March 4, 2011
Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s chief antiquities official for almost a decade and a cabinet minister since January, said Thursday that he would not stay on in a newly formed government.
Egypt’s prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq, resigned Thursday, and the army asked his replacement, Essam Sharaf, to form a caretaker cabinet.
“If the government will ask me again, I will not accept this job,” Mr. Hawass said in a telephone interview.
He also posted on his blog a list of som
Source: MoreIntelligentLife.com
March 3, 2011
The little monkey had a happy life in Africa—eating bananas, swinging on vines. When he was captured, by a man in a yellow hat, his distress was written on his face. He gaped at his body, clearly shocked to find it trapped in a brown sack, winched at the neck. But the little monkey quickly recovered his equanimity. By the time he boarded the rowboat, he was sad to be leaving Africa, but a little curious, too.
Thus began the adventures of Curious George, one of the most popular and e
Source: WaPo
March 3, 2011
The National Gallery of Art has acquired a key landscape of the untamed American West, its third painting by the celebrated 19th century artist Thomas Moran.
"Green River Cliffs,Wyoming," painted in 1881 and one of the artist's most famous paintings, has been added to the collection, the gallery announced.
The painting, a dramatic sweeping view of the West's natural wonders, was installed late Thursday outside the American galleries on the main floor o
Source: National Journal
March 3, 2011
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, wants to honor Frank Buckles -- the last surviving World War I veteran until his death on Sunday at age 110 –- in a special ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, but not in the Capitol, as suggested by some other lawmakers.
Boehner's office said the speaker had no plans to allow Buckles’ body to lie in honor in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, as some lawmakers from Buckles’ home state of West Virginia have proposed.
“The speaker intends
Source: NYT
March 3, 2011
No institution is more scrupulously attentive to baseball’s history and traditions than the Hall of Fame. For baseball fans, a trip to the Cooperstown, N.Y., shrine is like a pilgrimage to a holy place — Lourdes, say, for Roman Catholics or Ditka’s downtown restaurant for aspiring Chicago tough guys.
No one doubts the Hall’s good intentions as a guardian of the game, and yet it rarely makes a move (or declines to make one) that doesn’t ignite controversy.
Somehow, Buck
Source: NYT
March 4, 2011
LONDON — The year was 1977. Above the tiny island nation of Grenada, big things were happening in the sky. Sir Eric Gairy, the country’s prime minister, was convinced that the objects he thought he was seeing were hostile alien aircraft from outer space.
The British government did not share Sir Eric’s conviction that, as he put it, “persons from outer space are studying us, or perhaps living among us as earthlings.” A “ridiculous proposal that will only bring the United Nations int
Source: AP
March 2, 2011
One of the last two known veterans of World War I celebrated his 110th birthday Thursday with at least three generations of family and a contingent of navy officers in dress uniform. His daughter said he didn't want a fuss.
Claude "Chuckles" Choules, who sneaked into the British navy in 1915 aged just 14, has lived quietly in Australia for more than 80 years, though his longevity has brought him closer to history with the passing of each comrade who fought the war that was
Source: BBC
March 2, 2011
More than 300,000 people a day pass through Milan's main railway station - the Stazione Centrale. Few are here for the history.
In the past, poor Italians arrived from the south, immigrants in their own land searching for a better life in the dank northern city. Today's arrivals are more likely to be tourists looking for a taste of Italian fashion and culture, or commuters from Milan's hinterland.
The current station was completed in 1931 during the heyday of Italian
Source: BBC News
March 2, 2011
The man who assassinated US Democratic senator and presidential hopeful Robert Kennedy has been denied parole.
Sirhan Sirhan says he does not remember shooting Kennedy at a Los Angeles hotel in 1968 on the day he won the California Democratic presidential primary.
Sirhan, a Palestinian Christian, was convicted in 1969 of murder.
The California parole board said it was his 13th effort to win release; he will be considered again in five years.
Ea
Source: Researchsea.org
February 18, 2011
The discovery of evidence in Bukit Bunuh has made it one of the most important Palaeolithic sites in the world because it has revealed a 4 km square Palaeolithic complex dating back more than 1.83 million years; 40,000; and 30,000 years.
This has made Bukit Bunuh the oldest site in the world outside Africa and which has been chronometrically dated. With this discovery in Bukit Bunuh, the evidence of prehistoric presence in Lembah Lenggong (Lenggong Valley)has been strengthened,
Source: Archaeo News
February 21, 2011
A rock-cut tomb dating back to the Indian Megalithic period (Early Iron Age) has been found at Kodiyeri, Kerala, India. The tomb, cut in laterite - a local argillaceous red sandstone - has a dome ceiling and was unearthed accidentally at a private plot of land while soil was being removed, Kannur University Anthropology Department head S. Gregory said. The tomb was discovered at one-metre depth, Dr. Gregory added. A polished 75-centimetre-tall laterite pillar was at the centre of the semi-spher
Source: Republica
February 26, 2011
KATHMANDU, Feb 26: Arduous archaeological research in upper Mustang has uncovered astonishing facts about a previously unknown Himalayan cave culture, said the Department of Archaeology (DOA).
The research involving highly skilled archaeologists and other experts who rummaged through remote cave complexes for five years has come up with the remains of an ancient cave people, their arts and manuscripts, providing a new look into ancient Himalayan civilization.
According
