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: Chronicle of Higher Education
Mar 24, 2010
After more than three years of being denied entry to the United States for political reasons, the South African scholar and political commentator Adam Habib seemed delighted on Tuesday to be able to plant his feet on sacred ground for America's civil libertarians: the campus of Thomas Jefferson's University of Virginia.
In an interview with The Chronicle, Mr. Habib, who is in the United States on a 19-day tour that will take him to several college campuses, expressed gratitude for S
Source: BBC News
Mar 24, 2010
An Irish tricolour believed to have flown from the General Post Office in Dublin during the 1916 Rising has failed to make its reserve price at auction.
The flag was up for sale at Bloomsbury Auctions, New York. It was expected to fetch up to $700,000, but did not make the reserve price of $500,000.
A spokeswoman for the auctions said there had been no bids in the room.
She could not confirm if there had been any telephone bids for the flag.
It
Source: BBC News
Mar 24, 2010
Sister Luz Isabel Cueva vividly remembers the moment Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero was murdered as he celebrated Mass on 24 March 1980.
"When he finished his sermon, he walked to the middle of the altar; at that moment, the shot rang out," says Sister Luz Isabel, who was among the congregation at a private chapel in El Salvador's capital, San Salvador.
"It sounded like a bomb explosion. Monsignor Romero held on to the cloth on the altar for a moment and
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Mar 24, 2010
The Turin Shroud could finally be dated accurately thanks to new technique that determines the age of ancient artefacts without damaging them, claim scientists.
The researchers said the new method was so safe it could allow scientific analysis of hundreds of artefacts that until now were off limits because museums and private collectors did not want the objects damaged.
"This technique stands to revolutionise radiocarbon dating," said Dr Marvin Rowe, who led the res
Source: Independent (UK)
Mar 23, 2010
A rare collection of Second World War propaganda posters sold for almost £15,000 when they went under the hammer today.
The 110 prints, bearing morale-boosting slogans such as Keep Calm And Carry On, were sold in 11 lots at Wallis and Wallis Auction Galleries in Lewes, East Sussex.
Bidding clerk Lyn Hayward said the total of £14,590 that was fetched was "well in excess of what was expected".
The posters, described as being in mint condition, were
Source: BBC News
Mar 23, 2010
There is thought to have been a hill fort on this site dating from the late or post-Roman period, but the location's importance goes back to the Bronze Age.
Today, the medieval castle ruins are a focal point of a hilly walk from the community of Caergwrle, off the A541 Wrexham-Mold road, and it's managed by Caergwrle Community Council.
From the ruins there are far-reaching views over Cheshire and, therefore, England, as it was a border fortification built by Welsh noble
Source: BBC
Mar 23, 2010
One of the top leaders of a radical left-wing uprising in India called the Naxalbari rebellion has committed suicide, police say.
Kanu Sanyal, 81, was found hanging in his bedroom in Naxalbari village in the state of West Bengal.
He led a peasant uprising in 1967 in Naxalbari, in which 11 farmers were killed in police firing .
The rebellion took its name from the village as Mr Sanyal and his close friend Charu Majumder broke away from the Communist Party
Source: Reuters
Mar 23, 2010
Energy firms taking part in a North Sea boom for offshore wind farms will have to watch out for remains of Stone Age villages submerged for thousands of years, an expert said on Tuesday.
A region dubbed "Doggerland" connected Britain to mainland Europe across what is now the southern North Sea until about 8,000 years ago, when seas rose after the last Ice Age.
It is now the site of a planned vast expansion of offshore wind power by 2020 to help combat climate
Source: AHA Blog
Mar 23, 2010
On April 14, 1865, just five days after the close of the Civil War, Elizabeth Keckly, a former slave and confidante of Mary Todd Lincoln, retold the story from the night of Lincoln’s assassination, remembering how the First Lady’s cloak was wet with blood.
“The story of Lincoln’s assassination fascinated an American public steeped in the sensationalism and sentimentalism of the Civil War era,” and that fascination continues today. One of the Chicago Historical Society’s prize artifa
Source: NYT
Mar 23, 2010
Mangjul Ilrang has one of the rarest surnames in South Korea, one that might even be considered hazardous in this country, where anti-Japanese sentiment still runs deep. Only nine other South Koreans share it: his own four children and five grandchildren.
“I tell my children to tell people that it’s a Japanese name and be proud of it,” Mr. Mangjul, 67, said in an interview at his home.
How Mr. Mangjul ended up with his unusual name is a story of how he made peace with
Source: FOX News
Mar 23, 2010
President Obama enacted historic health care legislation Tuesday in a ceremony that looked more like a birthday party than a bill signing. Democrats celebrated the culmination of a year-long debate on insurance reform that Mr. Obama made a focal point of his first year in office.
On Saturday Mr. Obama made an eleventh-hour plea to House Democrats ahead of their landmark vote. As he has often done through his young presidency and as a presidential candidate, Mr. Obama turned to Abr
Source: Deutsche Welle (Germany)
Mar 23, 2010
Their mothers were French, their fathers were German soldiers in Nazi-occupied France. Some 200,000 children endured scorn and often hid their father's identity. Now some have begun applying for German citizenship.
More than 200,000 children fathered by German soldiers were raised by their French mothers after the Nazi occupation of France during World War II, according to Paris historian Fabrice Vergili. The author of the book "Naitre ennemi" (Born an Enemy) also estimate
Source: Thanhnien News
Mar 23, 2010
Vietnamese mummies did not have their organs removed and their bodies were supple and fragrant when unearthed
The body of Pham Thi Dang, second wife of Dang Dinh Tuong – a high-ranking official under the Le Dynasty (1428-1788) was found 42 years ago in Van Cat Hamlet, in the northern province of Nam Ha (now Nam Dinh).
Decades after studying mummies discovered across the country – from the bodies of royalty and senior officials to the common man, archeologists Do Van Ni
Source: The Japan Times
Mar 23, 2010
Japanese and South Korean historians have again failed to reach a consensus view on Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula, notably its recruitment of Korean laborers and women, as well as the drafting of Koreans into the Japanese military.
The two countries' second joint history study group issued a 2,200-page report Tuesday nearly three years after discussions got under way in June 2007. A report by the first study group was released in June 2005.
The
Source: Los Angeles Times
Mar 23, 2010
Among significant milestones recorded by White, a retired Air Force major general and decorated war veteran, was taking a rocket-powered X-15 plane almost 60 miles into space and then landing it.
Robert M. White was a 38-year-old U.S. Air Force major and record-setting test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base in 1962 when he joined the elite ranks of America's four astronauts.
But Mercury astronauts Alan Shepard, Virgil Grissom, John Glenn and Scott Carpenter went into spac
Source: BBC
Mar 23, 2010
The first stamp featuring Mary Queen of Scots has been unveiled by Royal Mail.
It is one of a series showing the seven Stewart kings and queens who ruled Scotland from 1406 until the Union of the Crowns with England in 1603.
TV historian Neil Oliver launched the stamp series at Stirling Castle, the historical home of the Stewarts.
Source: BBC
Mar 23, 2010
A 12th century music manuscript used by monastic orders during Holy Week has been unearthed in the Borders.
The discovery was made by Archive Manager Rachel Hosker and her staff at the Heart of Hawick cultural centre.
It was contained in papers relating to the Rutherford family of Knowesouth, near Jedburgh.
The document will now go on public display and some excerpts from the manuscript will be performed for the first time since its discovery.
Source: BBC
Mar 23, 2010
The Staffordshire Hoard is to remain in the West Midlands after the £3.3m purchase price was met.
The Anglo Saxon treasure was found in a field in Staffordshire by a metal-detecting enthusiast last July.
A National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) grant of £1.285m has been added to money raised by a campaign involving Stoke and Birmingham councils.
The Memorial Fund grant stops the collection from being divided up and sold to private col
Source: BBC News
Mar 23, 2010
A search engine is being created to help historians find useful sources.
The Connected History project will link up currently separate databases of source materials.
Once complete, it will give academics or members of the public a single site that lets them search all the collections.
Once completed the search engine will index digitised books, newspapers, manuscripts, genealogical records, maps and images that date from 1500-1900.
"There
Source: BBC News
Mar 23, 2010
A call for a memorial to the government army that fought at Culloden has been opposed by members of a society which recalls the Jacobite cause.
Historian Trevor Royle has said the soldiers should be "dignified by a memorial" on the battlefield.
But members of A Circle of Gentlemen said a monument was a "step too far".
They were opposed because of atrocities committed by the Duke of Cumberland's government troops in the aftermath of the b
