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: Artdaily.org
Jan 7, 2010
A suburban Chicago man pleaded guilty Tuesday to swindling at least 250 people out of more than $1 million through the sale of counterfeit prints advertised as the work of Pablo Picasso and other major contemporary artists.
Michael Zabrin of Northbrook admitted sometimes paying between $1,000 and $1,500 for counterfeit limited edition fine art prints produced in Spain and Italy and reselling them on eBay for many times that amount.
In his signed plea agreement with pr
Source: Times (UK)
Jan 7, 2010
From the earliest days of the new Labour Government, commentators have called its principals “Machiavellian” to suggest a manipulative administration hooked on power rather than one driven by idealism.
Now that charge is to be tested by one of the men who was closest to the heart of power during the Tony Blair years — his former chief of staff Jonathan Powell. Mr Powell has signed up to write The New Machiavelli: How to Wield Power in Modern Britain for The Bodley Head, an imprint
Source: Times (UK)
Jan 7, 2010
Britain negotiated a ceasefire with insurgent militants in Basra before pulling troops out of the city, the Iraq inquiry was told yesterday.
A senior Ministry of Defence civil servant said that officials held talks with leaders of the al-Mahdi Army militia about a truce from spring 2007.
The al-Mahdi Army, also known as Jaish al-Mahdi (JAM), a Shia militia loyal to the radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, was heavily involved in the insurgency that erupted after the 2003 i
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jan 6, 2010
Alexandre Jardin, a top French novelist, has blamed his grandfather for the biggest wartime round up of French Jews, igniting a literary and family row as historians and critics trade blows over whether he has re-written history to suit the story.
Until now, Mr Jardin has been known for a string of fluffy, feel-good bestsellers in which he often makes light of his family.
But in his latest book, Very Nice People, out next week, he launches a scathing attack on his gra
Source: AP
Jan 6, 2010
The Mexican government says it has notified Starbucks Corp. that Mexico is owed intellectual property rights for a line of coffee mugs showing pre-Hispanic images.
Starbucks says it is working with Mexico to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. It says the mugs have been removed from its shop shelves pending the discussions.
The mugs show images of the Aztec calendar stone and the Pyramid of the Moon from the pre-Aztec ruins of Teotihuacan, near Mexico City.
Source: Washington Post
Jan 6, 2010
In World War II, members of the Ukrainian underground fought to make their vision of an independent nation real. They battled Hitler and Stalin. Ultimately they lost, and the Soviets took control of most of Eastern Europe after the war.
The Ukrainians finally achieved independence when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. Now many in this fledgling nation would like to formally recognize those earlier nationalists -- the "brave defenders of the Motherland," as President Vik
Source: AFP
Jan 6, 2010
Humans carry in their genome the relics of an animal virus that infected their forerunners at least 40 million years ago, according to research published Wednesday by the British science journal Nature.
The invader is called bornavirus, a brain-infecting pathogen that was first identified in 1970s.
The disease owes its name to the German town of Borna, where a regiment of cavalry horses was wiped out in 1885 by a mysterious "heated head" disease.
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
Jan 6, 2010
A little faded with time, but still clearly legible; this is a tiny snapshot of British history.
The clues to which particular piece it belongs are all there – the date, destination and passenger name.
They were September 29, 1938, Munich and the Rt Hon Neville Chamberlain – and this is a plane ticket that has been tucked away for safe-keeping for nearly three-quarters of a century.
The memorabilia, which was used by the then prime minister on his notorious
Source: Deutsche Welle
Jan 6, 2010
Major-General Andrew Mackay, who led British troops in southern Afghanistan in 2007 and 2008 and who resigned his post in September, said earlier this week that the armed forces engaged in the fight for Afghanistan had failed to understand the culture and motivations of the Afghan people and had failed to adapt to modern conflict.
Mackay, writing in an article coauthored by Royal Navy Commander Steve Tatham and published by the British Ministry of Defense’s (MoD) Defense Academy, c
Source: Deutsche Welle
Jan 6, 2010
The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) is the largest and last loyalist paramilitary group to lay down its arms after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which largely put an end to three decades of violence in the region.
"Today the leadership of the Ulster Defence Association can confirm that all weaponry under its control has been put verifiably beyond use," said UDA political representative Frankie Gallagher.
The disarmament was verified by two independent witn
Source: Times (UK)
Jan 6, 2010
The Prince of Wales faced demands today to give evidence to the official inquiry into the Iraq war as reports emerged that he had lobbied against the invasion after seeing secret evidence used to justify the overthrow Saddam Hussein.
Confidential correspondence between the Prince and Tony Blair about the decision to go to war should also be handed over to the Chilcot inquiry, campaigners said.
The calls follow a report that the Prince privately lobbied against the inv
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jan 6, 2010
Czech Cardinal Miloslav Vlk, the Archbishop of Prague, said Muslims were well placed to fill the spiritual void "created as Europeans systematically empty the Christian content of their lives".
"Europe will pay dear for having left its spiritual foundations and that this is the last period that will not continue for decades when it may still have a chance to do something about it," he said.
"The Muslims definitely have many reasons to be heading
Source: BBC
Jan 6, 2010
Part of a rare library of historic travel books including ones owned by Captain Cook is being sold off to try to protect the rest of the collection.
The Northern Lighthouse Heritage Trust owns documents of voyages by 18th and 19th Century explorers such as Captain Cook and Matthew Flinders.
The trust says the money raised will help safeguard the treasures which remain in its collection.
The collection is estimated to sell for £200,000 in Edinburgh next We
Source: BBC
Jan 6, 2010
For centuries, art historians have been troubled by Mona Lisa's enigmatic smile - but, according to one doctor, her cholesterol levels were more worrying.
For Dr Vito Franco, from Palermo University, she shows clear signs of a build-up of fatty acids under the skin, caused by too much cholesterol.
He also suggests there seems to be a lipoma, or benign fatty-tissue tumour, in her right eye.
Dr Franco says his medical examinations reveal more than artistic
Source: BBC
Jan 6, 2010
An investigation by BBC's Newsnight has cast doubts on the key piece of evidence which convicted the Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi.
Tests aimed at reproducing the blast appear to undermine the case's central forensic link, based on a tiny fragment identified as part of a bomb timer.
The tests suggest the fragment, which linked the attack to Megrahi, would not have survived the mid-air explosion. Newsnight has been reviewin
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jan 6, 2010
Two Swedes masterminded the theft last month of the "Arbeit macht frei" sign at the entrance to the Auschwitz concentration camp, Polish police have said.
Polish police arrested five local men in December just days after the theft of the sign, which means "work sets you free" and is a symbol of the Holocaust committed by Nazi Germany during the Second World War. Police also recovered the sign, which had been cut into three pieces to fit into the thieves' getaway
Source: CNN
Jan 6, 2010
James von Brunn, who was accused of killing a security guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in June, died Wednesday morning at a hospital in North Carolina, his attorney said.
Von Brunn, 89, a self-avowed white supremacist, was a known Holocaust denier who created an anti-Semitic Web site called "The Holy Western Empire."
Kramer said officials from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons transferred von Brunn to an undisclosed hospital, apparently realizing his cond
Source: New York Times
Jan 6, 2010
Tsutomu Yamaguchi , the only official survivor of both atomic blasts to hit Japan in World War II , died Monday in Nagasaki, Japan.
The cause was stomach cancer, his daughter said on Wednesday. He was 93.
Mr. Yamaguchi, as a 29-year-old engineer for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, was on a business trip in Hiroshima when the United States dropped the first atomic bomb on the morning of Aug. 6, 1945. He was getting off a streetcar when the “Little Boy” device detonated abov
Source: NY Daily News
Jan 5, 2010
The bad guys seem only stronger than ever, no doubt ready to plan around any new counterterrorism measures, surely with New York still the bull's-eye.
Monday was the eighth anniversary of the first American combat death in Afghanistan - and there's no end in sight.
Eight long years since Army Special Forces Sgt. 1st Class Nathan Chapman became the first solider to die going after those responsible for 9/11.
"How important is it? Do you want to go?"
Source: AP
Jan 5, 2010
It's not exactly the Alamo, but Davy Crockett is at the center of a battle here.
Officials in Tennessee want a Hillsborough County judge to enforce a Tennessee order that 90-year-old Margaret V. Smith turn over Crockett's original marriage license application, which the Tampa woman says she inherited.
Lura Hinchey, archive director for Jefferson County, Tenn., said the county has repeatedly asked Smith for the license application of Crockett and Margaret Elder. Official
