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: Discovery News
Apr 20, 2010
Illiterate Maya people recorded their history by burying their domestic universe under their floors, according to excavations of modest Maya homes in central Belize.
Analysis of objects and human remains embedded beneath these ordinary Maya houses from the Classic period (250-900 A.D.) revealed that farmers and servants cached objects and buried relatives within their residences.
Occupied from about 450 to 1150 A.D., the two homes revealed about a dozen human remains of
Source: BBC
Apr 20, 2010
A Bronze Age earth ditch has been found in Hereford which archaeologists say may have been used to mark the city's old tax boundary.
It is 5m (16ft) deep in places and was found using aerial, laser scanning equipment to map the land's contours.
The ditch has been filled in with earth over the years and now resembles only a slight depression at ground level.
It runs from Aubrey Street to the River Wye via King Street and may have marked the limit of the ki
Source: BBC
Apr 20, 2010
Four men have set sail in the South Pacific in their bid to recreate the epic 7,000 km (4,350 mile) voyage of Captain William Bligh.
Captain Bligh was cast adrift after the famous mutiny on the Bounty in 1789.
The crew is sailing in a 25ft (7.6m) open-deck boat with two small sails. They are hoping to sail from Tonga to West Timor in seven weeks.
The expedition has tried hard to recreate the conditions which confronted the Royal Navy captain.
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Apr 20, 2010
The Mainichi newspaper printed a photo of a round-faced and well-dressed man accompanying North Korea's "Dear Leader" on a visit to a steel mill in North Hamgyong Province in March.
Kim Jong-un is being groomed to take over from his father, whom some experts believe to be suffering from the after-effects of a stroke that has been worsened by long-standing diabetes as well as kidney and heart disease.
Little is known of his third son and the last photos confi
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Apr 20, 2010
The head of the largest Catholic archdiocese in the United States has accused the state of Arizona of pursuing an anti-immigration policy that encourages "German Nazi and Russian Communist techniques."
Cardinal Roger Mahony of the Los Angeles archdiocese made the comments as Arizona passed a bill which would require police to question people about their immigration status if there is reason to suspect they are in the country illegally.
The Los Angeles archdio
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Apr 20, 2010
The photographs form part of an exhibition of the work of the photographer Marcus Adams, which opens at Windsor Castle on Saturday.
The 56 images on display include pictures of the then Princess Elizabeth which were taken to be sent to her mother and father, the future King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, while they were on a six-month tour of Australia and New Zealand.
Among the collection is a poignant letter from the Princess’s nanny, Clara Knight, which reflects ho
Source: AP
Apr 20, 2010
The Associated Press has obtained documents showing that James von Brunn, who died before he could stand trial in the shooting death of a Holocaust museum security guard, first came to the FBI's attention 47 years ago, when he was accused of making a death threat over a business dispute.
The FBI released documents about the 1963 incident in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from the AP.
Von Brunn denied making the threat, and authorities declined to prose
Source: Fox News
Apr 20, 2010
A revised arrest warrant recently posted by Interpol may finally lead to the capture and extradition of Saddam Hussein’s eldest daughter, who is charged with supporting terrorist activities in Iraq.
Raghad Hussein, who lives in Amman, Jordan, under the protection of King Abdullah II, was charged in November 2006 with supporting the Iraqi insurgency. But in the murky world of Middle East politics, neither the warrant nor the charges against her created much of a stir. She was, after
Source: AP
Apr 20, 2010
Argentina's last dictator was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison Tuesday for torture and kidnappings committed during the nation's 1976-1983 military regime.
Reynaldo Bignone, 82, was convicted along with five other former military officers for 56 cases involving torture, illegal detentions and other crimes in one of Argentina's largest torture centers, the Campo de Mayo military base.
Human rights groups say that of the 4,000 dissidents taken to the base, ab
Source: Steve Aftergood at Secrecy News
Apr 20, 2010
The Senate Intelligence Committee has posted a collection of its biennial public reports on the Committee’s activities, from the first report in 1976 to the latest in 2009, providing a retrospective survey of intelligence controversies past and present.“The committee has unintentionally produced a profoundly biased political document,” complained the late Sen. Daniel P. Moynihan in a statement appende
Source: Medieval News
Apr 20, 2010
A recent study has shown that a series of floods that struck the Yellow River in China between the years 1048 and 1128 caused massive and long term damage to northern regions of the country. In the article "Changing with the Yellow River: An Environmental History of Hebei, 1048-1128", Ling Zhang explores how the destruction caused by the floods, and how the Song Dynasty responded to the situation.
The first major flood hit the Hebei region, in the lower reaches of the Yell
Source: Medieval News
Apr 20, 2010
Westminster Abbey has commissioned conservation work on the Coronation Chair in which nearly every British monarch has been crowned since 1308.
Only three sovereigns were not crowned seated in the large oak chair - Edward V, Edward VIII and Mary II. But wear and tear has taken its toll since the royal seat, housed at Westminster Abbey, was commissioned by Edward I in 1300.
Much of its rich paintings, ornate gold gilt and glasswork has been lost over the centuries and th
Source: NYT
Apr 20, 2010
Every year, Israelis approach the joy of their Independence Day right after immersing themselves in a 24-hour period of grief for fallen soldiers. Before the fireworks burst across the skies Monday night to celebrate the country’s 62nd birthday, the airwaves filled with anguished stories of servicemen and -women killed, the Kaddish prayer of mourning and speeches placing the deeply personal losses of a small country into the sweep of Jewish history.
So there is nothing new or unusua
Source: WaPo
Apr 20, 2010
Dorothy I. Height, 98, a founding matriarch of the American civil rights movement whose crusade for racial justice and gender equality spanned more than six decades, died early Tuesday morning of natural causes, a spokesperson for the National Council of Negro Women said.
Ms. Height was among the coalition of African American leaders who pushed civil rights to the center of the American political stage after World War II, and she was a key figure in the struggles for school desegre
Source: WaPo
Apr 20, 2010
During her elementary school years in this rural Mississippi town, Addreal Harness, a competitive teenager with plans to be a doctor, said her classes had about the same numbers of white and black students. It was a fact she took little note of until the white kids began leaving.
Some left in seventh grade, even more in eighth, and by the time Harness, who is African American, reached Tylertown High School, she became aware of talk that has slowly seeped into her 16-year-old psyche
Source: Discovery News
Apr 19, 2010
Hominids may have evolved opposable thumbs long before they figured out how to make tools.
A tiny fossil thumb bone provides a gripping look at the early evolution of human hands, according to a study presented April 16 at the annual meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists.
An upright gait and a relatively sophisticated ability to manipulate objects apparently evolved in tandem among the earliest hominids at least 6 million years ago, said Sergio
Source: Charleston Post & Courier
Apr 19, 2010
North Charleston's offer to allow a monument to the signers of South Carolina's 1860 Ordinance of Secession at Riverfront Park has been withdrawn.
Instead, Mayor Keith Summey said the memorial should go to the H.L. Hunley lab, or to the North Charleston site where the sub's museum will eventually be built.
A week after offering the S.C. Sons of Confederate Veterans space at Riverfront Park, Summey on Monday squashed the deal, saying it had become too polar
Source: Biloxi Sun-Herald
Apr 19, 2010
A statue of Jefferson Davis that seemed as orphaned as one of the little boys whose hand he holds in the bronze sculpture has found a permanent home at Beauvoir, the estate where Davis retired.
The life-sized casting of Davis, his 5-year-old son Joe Davis and the other boy of the same age, Jim Limber, will be dedicated Saturday morning during Beauvoir’s Confederate Memorial Day observance. An old-fashion picnic will be followed by a service at the Tomb of the Unknown Confederate.
Source: US News
Apr 19, 2010
Dwight Eisenhower might have been a modern-day George Washington, but you've probably never seen an "Ike Slept Here" sign on any boarding house. Fact is he was a perfectly boring fit for the 1950s and interest in his presidency following his success winning World War II has never been high.
But something's up. First, plans were unveiled last month for a rare presidential memorial on Washington's National Mall to Ike, designed by famed Architect Frank Gehry. It will be nea
Source: BBC News
Apr 19, 2010
Celebrations have been taking place in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, to mark the country's bicentenary.
A large parade included the military and different groups from across Venezuelan society.
Attending the celebrations were allies of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, such as President Raul Castro from Cuba and President Evo Morales from Bolivia.
Mr Chavez said his socialist policies were part of the same battle as that of independence hero Simon Bolivar
