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: Tehran Times
Jan 16, 2010
Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization (CHTHO) director, who is also a vice president, said on Thursday that Iran would cut cultural ties with Britain if they cannot come to an agreement with the British Museum concerning the Cyrus Cylinder loan.
“We are currently talking to them about the issue and if the discussions produce the outcome that Britain doesn’t want to fulfill the previous agreement, undoubtedly, we will cut cultural ties with Britain due to ou
Source: BBC
Jan 16, 2010
When US President Barack Obama announced that one of the biggest relief efforts in US history would be heading for Haiti, he highlighted the close ties between the two nations.
"With just a few hundred miles of ocean between us and a long history that binds us together, Haitians are our neighbours in the Americas and here at home," he said....
Both countries were born out of a struggle against European colonisers.
The US declared independence from
Source: Fox News
Jan 16, 2010
He lost his friend at war almost half a century ago. Or at least, that's what veteran Rick Valenzuela, from Oregon, thought, MyFoxOrlando.com reported. Valenzuela served with friend and fellow U.S. Marine Gary Benson during Vietnam.
Both men were in the Fox Company in the U.S. Marine Corps. In 1969, Valenzuela believed that Benson died in a rocket attack, the site reported.
This turned out to be a very fortunate mistake.
Source: BBC
Jan 16, 2010
Archaeologists have made what they described as a "chance discovery" of a stone arrowhead in the garden of a ruined schoolhouse in Sutherland.
Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division (Guard) said it may have been dropped by a hunter.
It added that it may have arrived from elsewhere and then been lost by a local collector or a teacher at the former parish school in Durness.
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jan 16, 2010
The self-proclaimed heir to Russia’s imperial throne has demanded the reopening of the investigation into the murder of Tsar Nicholas II and his family by Bolsheviks in 1918.
The Russian Prosecutor-General has formally closed a criminal investigation into the shooting because too much time had elapsed since the crime and because those responsible had died.
But monarchists said a resumption of the criminal case was essential if Russia as finally to come to terms with it
Source: WSJ
Jan 16, 2010
The Obama administration says it doesn't seek a return of a long-term American presence in Haiti, the poor Caribbean nation the U.S. colonized from 1914 to 1934.
But as the nation's death toll and governance challenges mount in the wake of Tuesday's earthquake, many Latin America specialists and leaders said the lone superpower across the sea will have little choice but to play an extended administrative role in Port-au-Prince.
Already, U.S. naval and air power are prov
Source: AP
Jan 16, 2010
A piece of shrapnel sliced Jerry Maroney's right leg. A bullet pierced Peter Holt's neck. Les Newell took a shot in the rump.
These old American soldiers recovered from the physical scars of combat long ago. But last week, they visited a place where people still have fresh wounds from the Vietnam War, which ended nearly 35 years ago.
They came to Quang Tri Province, which is still littered with landmines and unexploded ordinance that routinely kill and maim people tryi
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jan 16, 2010
Florence Green served with the Women’s RAF (WRAF) in 1918 and although she did not see front-line action, the charity Veteran’s Aid said she qualifies as a veteran of the war.
Mrs Green, who turns 109 next month and is a great-grandmother-of-seven, worked as a waitress in the officers' mess during the war at RAF Marham and Narborough Airfield, both in Norfolk....
Before the discovery of Mrs Green's service history, it was believed that British-born Gladys Powers, who di
Source: Deutsche Welle
Jan 16, 2010
An accomplice of Heinrich Boere, the former Nazi SS member on trial for murdering Dutch civilians during World War II, has testified that the SS were afraid of what would happen if they didn't follow orders.
Dutchman Jacobus Petrus Besteman testified on Friday by video link from the Netherlands.
"All those who participated were afraid of not following orders. It was very dangerous," he told the state court in the western German border city of Aachen.
Source: BBC
Jan 15, 2010
A rare folio of Shakespeare's work is being displayed at Durham University.
The 1623 first edition of the bard's work was stolen from the university in 1998. Its bindings and some pages were removed to try to disguise its origins.
Visitors to the exhibition at the new Wolfson Gallery at the university can view it in its current condition.
It will be conserved to protect it from damage after the exhibition. It is one of the earliest examples of a gathering
Source: Hawaii News Now
Jan 15, 2010
The war plane sits on the ocean floor south of Maui in water less than 100 feet deep. Even covered by coral and rust it's an amazing site.
"Right now all the indications are it leans to a plane that was lost in 1945," Brad Varney said.
The Maui scuba tour operator found the wreckage Wednesday, acting on a tip.
"A local fisherman happened to come into the shop and mention that he was trying to catch some fish under the wings of a plane. I'm li
Source: The Daily Beast
Jan 15, 2010
In an exclusive email to The Daily Beast, Jean-Claude Duvalier, who fled Haiti for France in 1986, offered quake victims comfort and an $8 million pledge of support.
Reclusive former Haitian ruler Jean-Claude Duvalier has lived in France since he fled his homeland nearly a quarter-century ago. But Duvalier, famously known as “Baby Doc,” emerged from the shadows via email late Friday night. In an exclusive email to The Daily Beast’s Eric Pape, Duvalier offered comforting words in the
Source: Spiegel Online (Germany)
Jan 15, 2010
Howard Carter, the British explorer who opened the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922, will forever be associated with the greatest trove of artifacts from ancient Egypt. But was he also a thief?
Dawn was breaking as Howard Carter took up a crowbar to pry open the sealed tomb door in Egypt's Valley of the Kings. With shaking hands, he held a candle to the fissure, now wafting out 3,300-year-old air. What did he see, those behind him wanted to know. The archaeologist could do no more than s
Source: Dallas Morning News
Jan 15, 2010
[Texas] State Board of Education members Friday narrowly approved a change in proposed U.S. history standards that calls on students to be taught about leading conservative groups from the 1980s and 1990s - with no similar requirement for liberal groups. Pushed by board member Don McLeroy, R-College Station, the provision says students should learn about "key organizations and individuals of the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s" including Eagle Forum founder Phyllis Schla
Source: BBC
Jan 15, 2010
Late medieval walls and the foundations of what appears to be a military spur, which formed part of the outer defences at Edinburgh Castle, have been found.
The defences, which date from at least the 16th Century, were discovered by archaeologists during foundation works for new Military Tattoo stands.
Service trenches were opened which revealed two structures about 2m beneath the esplanade.
Archaeologists will record the remains before they are reburied.
Source: BBC
Jan 15, 2010
Conservation experts have uncovered historic hidden text inscribed on the wall of Salisbury Cathedral.
The text in gothic lettering, thought to be more than 350 years old, was found behind the Henry Hyde monument.
The discovery was made when the conservators moved the Henry Hyde monument from the south aisle wall to repair and clean it.
Source: Clarion Ledger
Jan 15, 2010
U.S. Sen. John Kerry plans to introduce legislation next week that would pave the way for the release of thousands of FBI documents on the life and death of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Kerry said the bill, which failed in 2006, can pass this year in honor of King. "I want the world to know what he stood for," Kerry said. "And I want his personal history preserved and examined by releasing all of his records."
The bill calls for creating a Martin
Source: AP
Jan 15, 2010
As Kansas City’s Liberty Memorial has gained acclaim with its World War I museum, the flow of donated artifacts has also greatly increased.
But officials are reeling from the immensity of a recent gift from the widow of a lifelong collector. A semi-trailer truck was needed to haul in the roughly 1,700 items, most of them related to the ferocious machine guns of that era.
“It was like getting a whole other museum,” said Eli Paul, vice president of museum programs at Libe
Source: AP
Jan 15, 2010
It should have been a death knell: "Brace for impact."
But a year after 155 people lived through the water landing of the incapacitated US Airways Flight 1549 in the middle of the frigid Hudson River, many of them are gathering to celebrate the anniversary of their unlikely survival.
On Friday, Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger is expected to join other crew and passengers to revisit the site where he deftly set down his Airbus A320 on Jan. 15, 2009
Source: Kyiv Post (Ukraine)
Jan 15, 2010
Two members of Russia's State Duma, in interviews with Interfax, sneered at an initiative by Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko to set up an international tribunal to investigate alleged crimes by the Soviet regime and said he himself deserved being put on trial for "crimes against his own people."
Since I am convinced that it was the Americans who brought Yuschenko to power in order to ruin Russian-Ukrainian relations as much as possible, I see his initiative to set up
