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: The Hindu
Sep 14, 2009
KOCHI: Archaeological findings dating back about 3,000 years discovered in the Kalady area are in peril. The Neolithic relics have ended up in private custody, prompting the State Archaeology Department to initiate a move to recover them. An archaeology enthusiast K.A. Ali had recovered 43 stone axes (Neolithic Celts) and a grinding stone from a tributary of the Periyar.
Two teachers of a private college in the region reportedly took possession of the major portion of the finds, whi
Source: Rasmussen Reports
Sep 14, 2009
One year after the collapse of global financial firm Lehman Brothers, most voters (56%) continue to blame the nation’s current economic problems on the recession that started under George W. Bush, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
That’s up one point over the past month, but down six points from mid-May.
Source: Echo
Sep 14, 2009
A 2,000-YEAR-OLD Roman salthouse has been discovered during archaeological excavations at the planned £1.5billion port at Coryton.
Archaeologists who made the find on the 34-acre site are set to unveil the full extent of the discovery on Tuesday, September 15.
The site where the mine was found is due to become a wildlife area, protecting a range of birds, animals and plants to offset any disruption caused during the construction of the port.
Source: ThaiIndia News
Sep 14, 2009
Edinburgh, September 14 (ANI): A 500 year old ancient drain in Scotland, which lay undisturbed until its discovery in 1990, is turning out to be a goldmine for archaeologists from the Glasgow University.
According to a report in Herald Scotland, the team of archaeologists, backed by volunteers from Renfrewshire Local History Forum, is carrying out a 12-day excavation of the drain.
An initial excavation revealed an arched corridor almost 6ft high, and uncovered pottery f
Source: Newswise
Sep 14, 2009
An ancient treasure comprising three figurines of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, which was buried underground for over 1,500 years, was uncovered during the tenth season of excavations that are carried out by researchers of the Zinman Institute of Archaeology at the University of Haifa, headed by Prof. Arthur Segal and Dr. Michael Eisenberg. "It is possible that during the fourth century A.D., when Christianity was gradually becoming the governing religion in the Roman Empire, there were s
Source: guardian.uk.co
Sep 14, 2009
Sitting in his front room at home in Moscow, surrounded by shelves of books on 20th-century history, Leonid Zhura recounts how life was better under Stalin. "It was a heroic epoch. It was the first time in human history that a society was founded on fair principles," he says, adding that Stalin did not commit any crimes.
Zhura's views are not greatly unusual in today's Russia. What distinguishes the amateur historian from other Stalin fans is that he is going to court to p
Source: Science Fair
Sep 14, 2009
Federal investigators Monday returned dinosaurs eggs, saber-toothed cat and other fossils stolen from China. Customs official had seized the fossils, taken without permission from China, and asked researchers at Chicago's Field Museum and the Virginia Museum of Natural History to evaluate them.
"These pre-historic fossils are an invaluable part of the history of the People’s Republic of China and they will undoubtedly contribute to the scientific exploration of that nation’s p
Source: Las Vegas Sun
Sep 14, 2009
The basilica where Francisco Franco is buried has canceled the politically charged tradition of holding a memorial Mass to mark the anniversary of the Spanish dictator's death, a monk said Monday.
The Mass at the Valley of the Fallen outside Madrid was usually held around Nov. 20, the anniversary of Franco's death in 1975, and drew gatherings of far rightists nostalgic for Franco's nearly four-decade rule.
A law passed in December 2007 specifically outlaws political ral
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Sep 14, 2009
A giant man-eating bird that appears in ancient Maori legends did actually exist, according to new research.
The Te Hokioi was described as a huge black-and-white predator with a red crest and yellow-green tinged wingtips, in an account given to Sir George Gray, an early governor of New Zealand.
Scientists now think the stories handed down by word of mouth and depicted in rock drawings refer to Haast's eagle, a raptor that became extinct just 500 years ago.
Source: NYT
Sep 14, 2009
A leading human rights group has suspended its senior military analyst following revelations that he is an avid collector of Nazi memorabilia.
The group, Human Rights Watch, had initially thrown its full support behind the analyst, Marc Garlasco, when the news of his hobby came out last week. On Monday night, the group shifted course and suspended him with pay, “pending an investigation,” said Carroll Bogert, the group’s associate director.
“We have questions about whe
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Sep 14, 2009
An Iraqi who was jailed for throwing shoes at President George W Bush is to be released from jail on Tuesday and stands to garner a windfall of gifts from well wishers.
Fans of Muntazer al-Zaidi plan to give the television reporter a riotous reception on his release from Baghdad's central jail.
He has been offered cars, money, a penthouse apartment by the television station for which he worked, and presents ranging from the eccentric, such as a statue of a golden horse
Source: CNN
Sep 14, 2009
When Rep. Joe Wilson interrupted President Obama's speech to a joint session of Congress by yelling "You lie!" a livid House Speaker Nancy Pelosi looked as if she was about to jump out of her seat and give her colleague a five-minute "time out" for misbehavior.
But is this actually the worst of times in congressional politics? Not really. When the going gets tough, congressional politics has often gotten ugly. Throughout much of the 19th century, legislators disl
Source: CNN
Sep 14, 2009
The FBI has seized a two-page, handwritten letter of condolence sent by Jacqueline Kennedy to the widow of Robert F. Kennedy shortly after he was assassinated in 1968. The family contends the letter was stolen.
The letter's path from the Virginia home of Robert Kennedy's widow, Ethel Kennedy, to a locked evidence vault in the Dallas field office of the FBI is described in a six-page affidavit filed last month in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Texas by Special Agent
Source: BBC
Sep 14, 2009
The money was used to arm the troops who moved with their equipment from the western border to the east based on the perceived threats, he said.
The US gave $10bn dollars to Pakistan to fight the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
In 2007, Pakistan rejected a report which said it had used $5bn on weapons systems designed to fight India.
Pakistan's military had described the New York Times report as "nonsense".
Source: Euro Topics
Sep 14, 2009
The Dutch right-wing populist politician Geert Wilders has criticised Barack Obama's attempts to establish dialogue with the Islamic world. He compares the US president's tactics with the appeasement policy of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain towards the Nazis in 1938. An absurd comparison, the tabloid De Telegraaf complains: "The dangers of fundamentalist Islam are real. But they are not to be compared with the threat of a heavily armed fascist country like Nazi Germany in the 19
Source: Politico
Sep 14, 2009
TED KENNEDY, IN HIS OWN WORDS -- Excerpts provided to POLITICO from 'True Compass: A Memoir,' by Edward M. Kennedy (532 pages, $35), published today by TWELVE:
ON HIS CORE RELIGIOUS BELIEF: 'My own center of belief, as I matured and grew curious about these things, moved toward the great Gospel of Matthew, chapter 25 especially, in which he calls us to care for the least of these among us, and feed the hungry, clothe the naked, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, visit
Source: AP
Sep 14, 2009
The expected release on Monday of the Iraqi television reporter jailed for throwing his shoes at former President George W. Bush was postponed, two of his brother said, citing delays in processing his paperwork.
Muntadhar al-Zeidi's family had gathered shortly after dawn outside an Iraqi army base in central Baghdad where he was expected to be released from prison.
After waiting more than five hours, his brother Dargham said he had received a phone call from al-Zeidi te
Source: Fox News
Sep 14, 2009
Al Qaeda leader Usama bin Laden described President Barack Obama as "powerless" to stop the war in Afghanistan, and Americans' inability to grasp why the Sept. 11 attacks occurred has "cost you a lot without any result whatsoever."
The remarks by the terrorist leader were released two days after the eighth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that he ordered. Bin Laden typically addresses the American people in a message timed around the Sept. 11 anniversar
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
Sep 14, 2009
She famously declared that the bombing of Buckingham Palace meant she could 'look the East End in the face'.
Yet it is only now that the Queen Mother's immediate reaction to the 'horrible' bombing of the Royal Family's home in London can be revealed in full.
In a letter written to her mother-in-law Queen Mary 69 years ago, but released to the public only yesterday, she gives an astonishing account of how she heard a German bomber overhead, felt blasts when it struck,
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
Sep 14, 2009
History in schools is under threat as thousands of children drop the subject at the age of 13.
Three out of ten schools no longer teach history as a stand-alone subject for Key Stage 3, despite it being a compulsory part of the curriculum.
One school admitted that it taught the whole of the three-year course in just 38 hours - about one hour a week for one school year.
The 'national scandal' was highlighted yesterday by a survey that found just 30 per ce
