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: Telegraph (UK)
Feb 23, 2010
Gay soldiers have threatened to take a US general to court over his claim that the presence of homosexual troops was responsible for the Dutch army's failure to prevent the Srebrenica massacre.
John Sheehan, a former US general and Nato commander, outraged the Netherlands last week when he alleged that openly gay Dutch soldiers had so damaged military morale that the country's army was powerless to prevent genocide in Bosnia.
Up to 8,000 Muslim men and boys were massa
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Feb 23, 2010
A set of 11 previously unseen pictures of Marilyn Monroe show the actress relaxing on the set of her classic comedy film Some Like It Hot.
The colour shots from 1959, three years before her death, include one of Marilyn chatting with co-star Tony Curtis.
Another shows Curtis dressed in drag about to apply his own lipstick.
The pictures come from a set of slides taken on location in Florida, USA, and which are about to go on sale at an auction of showbiz
Source: Guardian (UK)
Feb 23, 2010
A new biography of Anne Boleyn is set to claim that, far from being framed for adultery, Henry VIII's second queen may not have been innocent of the affairs for which she was sentenced to death.
The widely held view among contemporary historians is that the charges brought against Anne – that she committed adultery with five lovers, including her brother – are too preposterous to be true, and were either trumped up by one political faction to do down another, or invented by Henry as
Source: Live Science
Feb 23, 2010
A newfound horned crocodile may have been the largest predator encountered by our ancestors in Africa, researchers now suggest.
Scientists have even found bones from members of the human lineage bearing tooth marks from this reptile, whose scientific name, Crocodylus anthropophagus, means "man-eating crocodile."
This predator, which lived some 1.84 million years ago, possessed a deep snout that would have made it look more robust than modern crocodiles. It a
Source: AP
Feb 23, 2010
The search is finally over for Abel Madariaga, whose pregnant wife was kidnapped by Argentine security forces 33 years ago.
After decades of doubt and loneliness, of searching faces in the street in hopes they might be related, Madariaga has found his son.
The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo rights group believes about 400 children were stolen at birth from women who were kidnapped and killed as part of the 1976-1983 dictatorship's "dirty war" against politi
Source: Deadline Hollywood
Feb 23, 2010
In this tough marketplace, if you want to make another movie about a complex historical figure like Robert F Kennedy, you'd better bring to the table an actor with chops and bankability to excite a financier. Matt Damon does both those things. I've just heard that a deal closed at New Regency for an RFK film that has Damon attached, with Gary Ross directing and Steven Knight scripting. Damon will wait to see the script before we know whether or not the project will really happen. The film will b
Source: WSJ
Feb 23, 2010
The car bomb that exploded in the Northern Ireland city of Newry Monday night highlights the resurgence in activity of Irish Republican splinter groups determined to wreck the province's fragile peace process with an increasingly sophisticated use of explosives.
Monday's 225-pound bomb went off in a car near the front security gates of the courthouse of Newry, a town near the border with the Republic of Ireland. Warnings were received by authorities giving 30 minutes' notice of the
Source: AP
Feb 23, 2010
Fossils of a previously undiscovered species of dinosaur have been found in slabs of Utah sandstone that were so hard that explosives had to be used to free some of the remains, scientists said Tuesday. The bones found at Dinosaur National Monument belonged to a type of sauropod — long-necked plant-eaters that were said to be the largest animal ever to roam land.
The discovery included two complete skulls from other types of sauropods — an extremely rare find, scientists said.
Source: Bernama
Feb 23, 2010
Newly discovered archaeological sites in southern and northern India have revealed how people lived before and after the colossal Toba volcanic eruption 74,000 years ago, according to Press Trust of India (PTI) on Tuesday.
The international and multidisciplinary research team, led by Oxford University in collaboration with Indian institutions, has uncovered what it calls 'Pompeii-like excavations' beneath the Toba ash.
The seven-year project examines the environment tha
Source: BBC
Feb 23, 2010
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has signed a framework ceasefire deal with one of Darfur's main rebel groups, the Justice and Equality Movement (Jem).
The power-sharing agreement in Qatar is seen as an important step towards peace, though the other main rebel group has refused to enter talks.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) last year issued a warrant for Mr Bashir's arrest for war crimes in Darfur.
But Qatar has not signed the ICC charter, which
Source: BBC
Feb 23, 2010
London's Abbey Road studios, where The Beatles recorded many albums, has been made a listed building, protecting it from plans to radically alter it.
The venue has been given Grade II status - the second-highest category - for its role in shaping British music.
Culture Minister Margaret Hodge listed the studios on the advice of English Heritage saying it had "produced some of the very best music in the world".
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Feb 23, 2010
The Conservatives will today revive one of the most devastating election slogans of recent history by echoing Ronald Reagan’s question to voters: “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?”
George Osborne will seize on data which shows Britons are worse off than when they last went to the polls as part of what he hopes will be a clinching argument with floating voters.
It comes in a speech in which the shadow chancellor will promise to put the record debt b
Source: CNN
Feb 23, 2010
Former Vice President Dick Cheney suffered a mild heart attack Monday when he complained of chest pains and was hospitalized, his office said Tuesday.
During the catheterization, which took place at George Washington University Hospital, doctors examined blood flow to the heart and tested how well the heart was pumping.
In the procedure, a doctor inserts a catheter, a thin plastic tube, into an artery or vein in the arm or leg and threads it into the chambers of the hea
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Feb 23, 2010
The world’s most expensive military cemetery, a £22.6 billion centre dubbed “The Boneyard”, has been pictured in a spectacular series of new high-resolution Google Earth satellite images.
The 2,600 acre facility, officially known Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, is home to thousands of outdated aeroplanes and helicopters mothballed by the United States Air Force and other allied forces.
The 60 year-old facility, the size of 1,300 football pitches and sprawled across the de
Source: Medieval News
Feb 23, 2010
The British Museum is hosting temporary exhibition of medieval artefacts from the collection of the Yorkshire Museum in York.
The Yorkshire Museum is closed for a £2m refurbishment. The exhibition marks the first time a regional museum has been invited to show its collections at the British Museum.
Jonathan Williams of the British Museum says, "It’s mutually beneficial. It’s a great opportunity to show things we don’t have and show to an international audience.”
Source: Independent (UK)
Feb 23, 2010
Furious Palestinians have clashed with Israeli soldiers and accused Israel of "cultural genocide" after the country's government claimed a sacred tomb in the occupied West Bank as a national heritage site.
The burial site of the biblical patriarch Abraham, which is sacred to both Jews and Muslims, is located in Hebron, which was yesterday shut down by a general strike in protest at the move as Israeli troops clashed with local youths. One soldier was reported lightly wou
Source: Guardian (UK)
Feb 23, 2010
Abbey Road, the London recording studios immortalised by the Beatles album, has become part of the nation's treasury of listed buildings, included at Grade II today by the government on the advice of English Heritage.
The news was announced by Simon Thurley, chief executive of English Heritage, who said: "Some of the most defining sounds of the 20th century were created within the walls of the Abbey Road studios. English Heritage has long recognised the cultural importance of A
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Feb 23, 2010
In a statement in the House of Commons on Wednesday, the Prime Minister will say sorry to the estimated 150,000 children aged between three and 14 who were sent overseas, mainly to Australia and Canada, in a programme that began in the 1920s and did not stop until 1967.
Many were abused in foster homes, state-run orphanages and religious institutions.
Mr Brown announced he would apologise in November, saying the "time is now right".
Source: Live Science
Feb 22, 2010
The answer to why we dance - and even why some people are better dancers than others - can be found in evolution. A study published in the Public Library of Science's genetics journal in 2006 suggested that long ago the ability to dance was actually connected to the ability to survive.
According to the study, dancing was a way for our prehistoric ancestors to bond and communicate, particularly during tough times. As a result, scientists believe that early humans who were coordinate
Source: New York Times
Feb 22, 2010
The most immediate threat to preserving the ruins of Babylon, the site of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, is water soaking the ground and undermining what is left in present-day Iraq of a great city from the time of King Nebuchadnezzar II.
It is also one of the oldest threats. The king himself faced water problems 2,600 years ago. Neglect, reckless reconstruction and wartime looting have also taken their toll in recent times, but archaeologists and experts in the pre
