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
September 6, 2010
For months, Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin has done nothing to dampen speculation that he is seriously considering a bid to return to the presidency in the 2012 election. On Monday night, he offered another hint at his plans by referring to the political career of a former president of a different country: Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Mr. Putin, asked whether he would damage Russia’s political system if he chose to run again, noted that Roosevelt was elected four times in the United St
Source: NYT
September 7, 2010
...As if the summer’s brutal heat, forest fires and drought were not enough, this country is now suffering through one final bit of weather-related misery, a scarcity of a beloved staple that is causing a kind of national time warp. Russians like Ms. Galina Litvyak, 72, a retired bookkeeper, are falling back on scrounging habits honed under Communism. And not liking it....
Buckwheat is not as central to the Russian diet as wheat, but it is considered more of a distinctly Russian foo
Source: BBC
September 6, 2010
A previously unknown Bronze Age monument has been found in countryside near Cottingham.
The find was one of many made by English Heritage, who used an aircraft to survey East Yorkshire over the summer.
Archaeologist Dave MacLeod made dozens of flights over the region when the prolonged dry weather meant hidden underground features became visible.
Many of the discoveries were homesteads; small farming settlements, some dating back 3,000 years.
Source: AP
September 6, 2010
...Shinya Yamanaka's prize is one of four — two for sciences, two in humanities — awarded this year by the foundation, with the goal of highlighting new or emerging areas of research and to sustain fields of study that may have been overlooked elsewhere.
The humanities prizes go to Italian historian Carlo Ginzburg, the father of microhistory, the study of the past based on a focus on the small scale, for his contributions to the study of ordinary people in Europe, and to German Manf
Source: BBC
September 6, 2010
Climate change is not responsible for civil wars in Africa, a study suggests.
It challenges previous assumptions that environmental disasters, such as drought and prolonged heat waves, had played a part in triggering unrest.
Instead, it says, traditional factors - such as poverty and social tensions - were often the main factors behind the outbreak of conflicts.
The findings have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) i
Source: BBC
September 6, 2010
A former journalist, commando, writer and poet has died at his home near Porthmadog in Gwynedd at the age of 97.
Michael Burn, who worked for The Times, lived in Wales for 60 years where he wrote numerous books and novels.
A commando during World War II, he was caught after a raid at St Nazaire in France and later sent to the infamous Colditz.
He wrote a book about his experiences which is being turned into a film....
Source: Telegraph (UK)
September 6, 2010
Condoleezza Rice ordered George Bush not to return to Washington after the 9/11 attacks before hanging up the phone, the former national security advisor revealed in a documentary interview.
In a heated exchange, Ms Rice had to argue with the US President in Florida not to return to the White House because it was a potential terrorist target.
Ms Rice also revealed that the bunker beneath the White House, where she was sheltering with Vice President Dick Cheney, began
Source: Telegraph (UK)
September 6, 2010
The mayor of the German city of Dresden has flown into London under pressure from fellow politicians to try to get a planned memorial to Second World War bomber crews scrapped.
Helma Orosz, 57, is officially in Britain to open an exhibition on the bombing of London, her city and that of its twin, Coventry, during the war.
She is under pressure however to get the memorial, which is to recognise the courage of RAF bomber crews, scrapped.
Planners at Westmin
Source: AP
September 6, 2010
Rare color footage of the bomb damage inflicted on London during World War II has surfaced on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the Blitz.
The dramatic footage shows the destruction of several London landmarks, including the flagship John Lewis store on Oxford Street.
The film was found in the attic by the family of an air raid warden who shot it on the home movie equipment in use in the 1940s....
Source: AP
September 5, 2010
Eleven culture officials from Egypt's government have been formally charged in last month's theft of a Vincent van Gogh painting from a Cairo museum that had no functioning security alarms.
The public prosecutor says he has referred the eleven Culture Ministry officials to trial on charges of negligence and harming state property. Among them is a deputy minister who says he appealed to his boss for funds to make security upgrades before the Aug. 21 theft but received little assista
Source: CNN
September 6, 2010
Jefferson Thomas, one of the so-called "Little Rock Nine," the nine students who integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957, has died, according to Carlotta Walls LaNier, president of the group's foundation. He was 67.
Thomas died of pancreatic cancer on Sunday, the Little Rock Nine Foundation said in a statement. He was living in Columbus, Ohio.
As a 15-year-old, Thomas was one of the nine African-American students who braved segregation
Source: AP
September 6, 2010
The USS Olympia, a one-of-a-kind steel cruiser that returned home to a hero's welcome after a history-changing victory in the Spanish-American War, is a proud veteran fighting what may be its final battle.
Time and tides are conspiring to condemn the weathered old warrior to a fate two wars failed to inflict. Without a major refurbishment to its aging steel skin, the Olympia either will sink at its moorings on the Delaware River, be sold for scrap, or be scuttled for an artificial r
Source: N YT
September 4, 2010
...Forty years ago, Dock Ellis of the Pittsburgh Pirates raised the degree of difficulty to new, well, heights. He threw a no-hitter with Richard M. Nixon calling balls and strikes and Jimi Hendrix, wielding a Fender Stratocaster instead of a Louisville Slugger, digging in at home plate.
Or at least that is what he thought while pitching under the influence of LSD.
Ellis walked eight and hit a batter but beat the Padres, 2-0, before 9,303 fans who turned up at San Diego
Source: The Boston Globe
September 5, 2010
An extraordinary collection of items belonging to Worcester native Andrew Haswell Green — a visionary who helped remake New York City in the 19th century — will be sold this week in an unprecedented four-day auction at the DCU Center in Worcester. Among the thousands of documents, artworks, china, clothing, and toys being sold are handwritten correspondence to and from four presidents and a rare, printed copy of George Washington’s will.
From Green’s death in 1903 until 2009, virtua
Source: BBC
September 5, 2010
A prehistoric woman's skeleton which went back to her north Wales roots for the first time in more than 100 years will return to a Lancashire museum.
The remains, nicknamed Blodwen, went on display in July at Llandudno Museum in Conwy county, close to the Little Orme, where they were found in 1891.
Organisers hoped they would be allowed to stay, but they say that is unlikely.
Blodwen is in Llandudno until 1 October, before going back to Bacup Museum....
Source: BBC
September 5, 2010
A newly-restored memorial marking the bravery of the engineers who died when the ill-fated RMS Titanic sank 98 years ago has been unveiled in Southampton.
Almost 550 people from the city lost their lives when the ship, which set sail on 10 April 1912 en route to New York, hit an iceberg.
The Titanic Engineer's Memorial in Andrews Park was unveiled in 1914.
Restoration work on the bronze monument began last month and the new memorial was revealed earlier....
Source: Telegraph (UK)
September 5, 2010
Three ancient icons, one of which contained relics of Russia's most venerated saint, have been stolen from a church in Moscow.
Clerics at the St Trinity church in a Moscow suburb discovered the theft after a service on Saturday, according to Russian news agency RIA Novosti.
One of the icons contained relics of St Sergiy of Radonezh, a 14th century Orthodox monk who became Moscow's patron saint....
Source: AP
September 5, 2010
The man who once served as the international face of Saddam Hussein's regime predicted Sunday that he will die in an Iraqi jail, citing his old age and lengthy prison sentence.
During a brief interview with The Associated Press on Sunday, Tariq Aziz said that considering he is 74 and faces more than two decades in prison for crimes related to his role in the former regime, he expects to die behind bars.
Aziz served for years as Saddam Hussein's foreign minister, establi
Source: AP
September 5, 2010
...In recent weeks, as debate has raged over the placement of a planned Islamic cultural center and mosque a couple of blocks from the construction, Americans have been reminded of just how many people lay claim to this place, the focal point for all those who have a stake in the legacy of Sept. 11.
There were battles over the land — over the prolonged search for victims' remains that kept turning up more tiny body parts in the soil five years later. The developer and insurance comp
Source: CNN
September 4, 2010
Detectives are investigating the discovery of two "mummified" babies found wrapped in 1930s newspaper in the basement of a Los Angeles apartment building.
Police said this week they have identified the owner of the steamer trunk in which the babies were found and have contacted her family.
The coroner is still trying to figure out how and when the babies -- whose remains were found in two doctor's bags -- died....
