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: Vancouver Sun
Feb 26, 2010
Two U.S. scientists have published a radical new theory about when, where and how humans migrated to the New World, arguing that the peopling of the Americas may have begun via Canada's High Arctic islands and the Northwest Passage -- much farther north and at least 10,000 years earlier than generally believed.
The hypothesis -- described as "speculative" but "plausible" by the researchers themselves -- appears in the latest issue of the journal Current Biology,
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Feb 26, 2010
[This online supplement is produced and published by Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russia), which takes sole responsibility for the content.]
Something has changed in Russia. Twenty years after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the values on which Soviet society was based – and after two decades of hard times – the search is on for a firm footing in values and ideology. Attention has focused on the Second World War, especially the question of what we were fighting for.
It seem
Source: CNN
Feb 26, 2010
The United Nations' General Assembly on Friday passed an Arab League-backed resolution calling on Israeli and Palestinian leaders to further investigate alleged war crimes during the Israel-Gaza war.
The non-binding resolution calls for "credible and impartial" investigations, with results expected in five months.
Though the resolution cited the Goldstone report, which alleged war crimes on both sides, Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian observer at the United Nati
Source: BBC
Feb 26, 2010
A Bosnian Serb former general, Zdravko Tolimir, has gone on trial in The Hague accused of genocide and other crimes committed during the Bosnian war.
A prosecutor at the UN war crimes tribunal said Mr Tolimir had "assisted, supervised and authorised" killings of Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims).
Genocide is among the charges he faces for his alleged role in the massacre of up to 8,000 men and boys at Srebrenica.
He was a top aide to commander Ratko Ml
Source: NYT
Feb 26, 2010
The box that arrived in Philadelphia that day was the plain-looking sort typically used to transport dry goods. Just over 3 feet long, it was 2 feet 8 inches deep and not quite 2 feet wide. Written on the side were the words “this side up with care.’’
Safe to say, the recipient of the box was not fully prepared for what was inside: a 200-pound man named Henry Brown.
As an African-American living in the South, Mr. Brown was a slave when he left Virginia on March 23, 1849
Source: BBC
Feb 26, 2010
Many in the UK have never heard of SS Mendi, yet in South Africa's Easten Cape Province she is as famous as RMS Titanic.
In February 1917, she was lost off the south coast of the Isle of Wight with, 600 troops on board.
Diver Martin Woodward was the first person to find and identify the wreck of SS Mendi in 1974.
It was not until later he discovered the tragic story behind the artefacts that he brought to the surface. Dr Andrew Fitzpa
Source: AP
Feb 26, 2010
China and Kenya plan to search for ancient Chinese ships wrecked almost 600 years ago off Africa's east coast.
An agreement was signed for a three-year project funded by China's Commerce Ministry to explore waters near the popular tourist towns of Malindi and Lamu, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Friday.
Exploration work will be conducted for up to three months each year, with the first group of Chinese archaeologists due to arrive as early as July, Xinhua said
Source: Discovery News
Feb 26, 2010
The remains of what might have been the residence of the Etruscan prince Sextus Tarquinius, son of the last legendary king of Rome Tarquinius Superbus (Tarquin the Proud), have been found on the slopes of an extinct volcanic crater about 12 miles from Rome, Italian archaeologists have announced.
The palace was discovered on the site of the ancient acropolis of Gabii, where, according to legend, Rome's mythical founders, Romulus and Remus, were educated. The building dates to the six
Source: BBC
Feb 26, 2010
The United States Military Attache had written to the Ministry of Defence seeking details about the infrastructure of Northern Ireland's capital for US intelligence staff for "defence planning purposes".
The information requested ranged from a list of sewerage treatment plants and the output capacity of the city's gasworks to how much refuse was collected and how many taxis there were in the city.
The details are contained in a series of memos recently relea
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Feb 26, 2010
Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet leader famed for thumping his shoe on the podium during an angry speech at the United Nations, stars in a new photo exhibition.
Nikita Khrushchev and His Time, which opened last week in Moscow's Manezh exhibition hall, is one of the largest exhibitions on the colourful Communist leader to be mounted in Russia since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union.
Bald, stocky and famed for his peasant earthiness, Khrushchev is pictured in diverse setti
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Feb 26, 2010
A Danish newspaper on Friday became the first in the country to apologise for offending Muslims by printing a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed with a bomb-shaped turban, rekindling a heated debate about free speech.
Politiken said its apology was part of a settlement with a Saudi lawyer representing eight Muslim groups in the Middle East and Australia.
The daily drew strong criticism from Danish media, which previously had stood united in rejecting calls to apologise fo
Source: AP
Feb 26, 2010
Two parts of an ancient biblical manuscript separated across centuries and continents were reunited for the first time in a joint display Friday, thanks to an accidental discovery that is helping illuminate a dark period in the history of the Hebrew Bible.
The 1,300-year-old fragments, which are among only a handful of Hebrew biblical manuscripts known to have survived the era in which they were written, existed separately and with their relationship unknown, until a news photograph
Source: CNN
Feb 26, 2010
Days ahead of national elections, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has announced plans to rehire 20,000 former Iraqi army officers who served under former leader Saddam Hussein.
The officers will be reinstated into the new Iraqi army, said an official with the ministry of defense.
The move garnered criticism as being a political ploy and was surprising in some circles after al-Maliki's campaign rhetoric against Hussein's Baath Party.
Several candidates w
Source: CNN
Feb 26, 2010
The man known for one of the most partisan practices in American politics eventually quit government for a time over partisanship.
Elbridge Gerry was once an accomplished statesman devoted to his country, but nearly 200 years after his death, his legacy is overshadowed by the tactic that bears his name.
It's called "gerrymandering," and it means redrawing congressional districts, often in odd shapes, for the sake of political gain.
The term was co
Source: http://www.wlox.com/Global/story.asp?S=12046909
Feb 26, 2010
Two cannon balls, believed to be from the Civil War era, were turned over to Biloxi Police Thursday afternoon. A man brought the two cannon balls to the Public Safety Center on Porter Avenue.
The Biloxi Police Bomb Squad carefully removed the arms from the back of a pick-up truck and transferred them to a Bomb Squad vehicle. Officers then transported them to the firing range in Woolmarket to be safely detonated.
Source: BBC News
Feb 26, 2010
Archaeologists have revealed the remains of what they say was a "high status" woman of African origin who lived in York during Roman times.
Academics say the discovery goes against the common assumption that all Africans in Roman Britain were low status male slaves.
Remains of the Ivory Bangle Lady, as she has been named, were studied in Reading using forensic techniques.
She was first discovered in the Bootham area of York in August 1901....
Source: AP
Feb 26, 2010
China and Kenya plan to search for ancient Chinese ships wrecked almost 600 years ago off Africa's east coast.
An agreement was signed for a three-year project funded by China's Commerce Ministry to explore waters near the popular tourist towns of Malindi and Lamu, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Friday.
Exploration work will be conducted for up to three months each year, with the first group of Chinese archaeologists due to arrive as early as July, Xinhua said
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
Feb 26, 2010
A DNA test on a man in Austria has proved that he is one of the last living relatives of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
The 46-year-old farmer, thought to be a cousin of the former German dictator, was horrified to learn the blood of the ‘greatest criminal’ is in his veins.
But the man, tracked down by Belgian journalist Jean-Paul Mulders, is not alone.
Mr Mulders, who persuaded the man to take a mouth swab test, says there are as many as 39 others living in the
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Feb 26, 2010
The two previously unseen pictures turned up in Europe and are expected to raise £20,000 between them.
Hitler drew them in the early 1900s when he was based in Vienna and was practising various styles so that he might win a place at art college.
The picture of the elderly woman's face is similar to photographs of his mother and shows a lined and world-weary visage.
It was drawn in 1908 - the year after she died from cancer. The closed eyes might signify her
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Feb 26, 2010
Self-restraint has long been part of our cultural DNA, but as the therapy culture gathers pace are we in danger of becoming a nation prone to tears and tantrums at the slightest opportunity?
The Duchess of Devonshire has shocked us to the core. In an interview in the March issue of Tatler, the last Mitford sister, now nearly 90, says the British stiff upper lip is quivering like blancmange. No one used to be sloppy and sentimental, she says. "It was all rather skated over. It w
