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: Yomiuri (Japan)
Jan 9, 2010
A total of 331 broken pieces belonging to 81 ancient bronze mirrors have been unearthed from a stone chamber of the Sakurai Chausuyama burial mound in Sakurai, Nara Prefecture, according to an archaeological institute.
The pieces, which belonged to 13 different kinds of mirrors, were the largest number to be excavated as burial items from an ancient tomb in the nation. The tomb dates to between the late third century and early fourth century.
Some of the pieces had been
Source: BBC
Jan 9, 2010
Scientists claim to have the first persuasive evidence that Neanderthals wore "body paint" 50,000 years ago.
The team report in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) that shells containing pigment residues were Neanderthal make-up containers.
Scientists unearthed the shells at two archaeological sites in the Murcia province of southern Spain.
The team says its find buries "the view of Neanderthals as half-wits" and sho
Source: NPR
Jan 9, 2010
The students in front of Paula Holmes-Eber wear camouflage and have close-cropped hair. Most of them are Marine officers, and many of them have already been to war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
They're here to learn the consequences of their actions.
"Should we change another culture?" she asks the class. "The reality is, the second you land on the ground with 100,000 troops eating and using the materials of the area, you've changed the economy; you've changed
Source: New York Times
Jan 9, 2010
The Obama administration is lowering the volume in a long-running argument between Congress and the executive branch over when, if ever, a president has the power to bypass federal statutes he has signed into law.
Legal scholars said the administration’s new approach, which avoids repeating claims of executive power that the White House has previously voiced, could avoid setting off fights with lawmakers. But the approach will make it harder to keep track of which statutes the White
Source: AP
Jan 9, 2010
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani set off a tempest about terrorism Friday with his claim that this nation "had no domestic attacks" under President George W. Bush.
Giuliani somehow neglected to mention the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as he was contrasting President Barack Obama's handling of terrorism with that of Bush in light of the failed Christmas Day attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound flight. The Sept. 11 attacks toppled New York's World Trade Center, killed
Source: BBC
Jan 9, 2010
Osama Bin Laden died eight years ago during the battle for Tora Bora in Afghanistan, either from a US bomb or from a serious kidney disease.
Or so the conspiracy theory goes.
The theory that has developed on the web since 9/11 is that US intelligence services are manufacturing the Bin Laden statements to create an evil bogeyman, to justify the so-called war on terror in Afghanistan, Iraq and back at home. Bruce Riedel, who chaired Presi
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jan 9, 2010
The invasion of English words poses more of a "grave threat" to French national identity than the imposition of German under the Nazi occupation, according to a group of self-styled guardians of the French language.
Avenir de la langue française (Future of the French language) and eight other groups called on the government to put a stop to the Anglo-onslaught in a pair of opinion pieces in two national daily newspapers on Friday.
As France is embroiled in a
Source: Fox News
Jan 9, 2010
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said his country suffered after invasions during World War II and he will "stand to the end" to get full compensation, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Ahmadinejad said he'd write to U.N. secretary General Ban Ki-moon to ask for compensation for damages caused to Iran during the war, and for use of its territory and resources by allied powers, the Post reported.
Britain and the Soviet Union invaded Iran on August 26, 1941, to s
Source: Science News
Jan 8, 2010
Hand axes excavated on Crete suggest hominids made sea crossings to go 'out of Africa.'
Human ancestors that left Africa hundreds of thousands of years ago to see the rest of the world were no landlubbers. Stone hand axes unearthed on the Mediterranean island of Crete indicate that an ancient Homo species — perhaps Homo erectus — had used rafts or other seagoing vessels to cross from northern Africa to Europe via at least some of the larger islands in between, says archaeologist Tho
Source: Discovery News
Jan 8, 2010
Wear patterns on one of the most celebrated mosaics of antiquity have allowed researchers to reconstruct exactly how ancient Romans viewed the artwork.
Found during the 1831 excavations in the lava-buried town of Pompeii, the Alexander mosaic (now on display at the National Archaeological Museum in Naples) is the most famous example of an early tessellated mosaic.
Measuring 19 feet by 10 feet, the piece was made around 100 B.C. out of roughly 4 million tesserae (small m
Source: Discovery News
Jan 8, 2010
Pigment-stained seashells, likely worn as necklaces by Neanderthals, suggest these early Europeans were not only stylish, but that they were also just as smart and crafty as humans in Africa were, according to a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The colorful mollusk shells, which date to 50,000 years ago, were recently found in Murcia Province, Spain. Since the shells were painted 10,000 years before modern humans are believed to have settled in Europe, t
Source: The Times of India
Jan 8, 2010
A rare 15th-century relic — a combination of veeragallu and mastigallu — was discovered at Kalkeri village in Hangal taluk of Haveri district recently.
In an official release, deputy director of archaeology and museums, S K Potnis, said that the stone was rare as it was a memorial to a brave soldier and his wife who laid down her life after a `Sati' (bride burning) ritual. The stone was erected during the reign of king Veera Harihara Rama of the Vijayanagara kingdom.
Laboure
Source: AFP
Jan 8, 2010
Iraqi archaeologists said on Friday they have discovered a 2,000-year-old Sumerian settlement in southern Iraq, yielding a bounty of historical artefacts.
The site, in the southern province of Dhi Qar, is in the desert near ancient Ur, the biblical birthplace of Abraham.
Hamdani said the artefacts, which included sickles and knives, largely dated back to around 2000 BC, during the rule of King Amarsin, the third king of the third Sumerian dynasty.
Source: BBC
Jan 8, 2010
A High Court judge has quashed decisions to demolish an historic Victorian building in Belfast city centre and replace it with apartments.
Planning chiefs must now reconsider an application to redevelop the 19th Century warehouse on Queen Street.
It was accepted a conservation area architect should have been consulted, and that a report did not include the costs for alternative schemes.
Heritage campaigners who mounted the challenge have welcomed the deci
Source: BBC
Jan 8, 2010
A previously unseen painting by Marc Chagall is to go on display after it was acquired by a small London gallery.
The Ben Uri London Jewish Museum of Art bought the work, titled Apocalypse in Lilac, Capriccio, for a bargain £26,000 at an auction in Paris last year.
The gallery bought the work in a secret operation designed to avoid alerting the world's big galleries to the existence of the painting.
It will be unveiled at the Osborne Samuel gallery, in Ma
Source: BBC
Jan 8, 2010
The heavy eye make-up favoured by ancient Egyptians such as Cleopatra may have had medical as well as aesthetic benefits, French research suggests.
The study, published in the journal Analytical Chemistry, suggests it helped to protect against eye disease.
The key appears to be lead salts contained in the make-up.
At very low levels, salts produce nitric oxide, which boosts the immune system to fight off bacteria which can cause eye infection.
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jan 8, 2010
The mystery surrounding Yuri Gagarin's death in an aircraft crash more than forty years ago may finally have been solved by a report which quashes decades of conspiracy theories.
Independent Russian investigators say they have uncovered crucial new evidence which finally reveals how the world's first man in space died aged just 34.
The study claims Gagarin's death during a routine training flight in 1968 was caused by his panicked reaction after realising an air vent
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jan 8, 2010
The Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten has reproduced the controversial Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
They were used to illustrate an article about Kurt Westergaard, the Danish cartoonist whose home was broken into by an Islamist armed with an axe a week ago.
It printed six out of the 12 drawings that infuriated Muslims around the world when the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten first published them in 2005.Several of the drawing
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jan 8, 2010
A US nickel dubbed the "Mona Lisa of rare coins" has sold at auction for £2.3 million.
Tens of millions of the Liberty Head coins were made between 1883 and 1912 but the design changed to depict an American Indian in 1913.
However, five nickels with the old design were secretly were made at the Philadelphia Mint that year and eventually sold to collectors.
The coin became famous when it was featured in an episode of Hawaii Five-O entitled The $
Source: AP
Jan 8, 2010
More than 1,000 unreleased recordings of lectures by L. Ron Hubbard and reams of corresponding writings have been unveiled in the culmination of a 25-year project to locate, restore and transcribe lost pieces of the Scientology founder's work.
Though sure to be derided by the church's many critics, its followers say the materials amount to an opportunity to deepen understanding of the religion and to release the last known unpublished Hubbard works dealing with Scientology and Diane
