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: AP
Jul 16, 2009
The Watergate Hotel made famous by a presidential scandal is expected to be on the auction block next week.
Alex Cooper Auctioneers is announcing that it will take bids Tuesday on the Washington landmark.
A 30-day foreclosure notice expires Thursday. It was sent to hotel owner Monument Realty last month after the company defaulted on its loan and lists an outstanding $40 million balance.
Source: Salon
Jul 16, 2009
An elegant white sign at Arlington National Cemetery informs visitors they are inside "our nation's most sacred shrine." Run under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Army, Arlington is the final resting place of John and Robert Kennedy, Supreme Court justices Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. and Earl Warren, and the nation's military royalty from the Civil War to the Iraq war. More than 4 million people visit Arlington every year to tour the legendary grave sites, which include those of "Malte
Source: Economic Times
Jul 16, 2009
Every week Roger Launius, chief historian at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, devotes his time to debunking one of history's favourite such theories: That astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin never landed on the moon.
The entire July 20, 1969, landing and the spacewalk several hours later was just a show, all lies, filmed in a Hollywood studio or in a desert, the sceptics say.
At one time, up to 10 percent of Americans may have believe
Source: http://lootingmatters.blogspot.com
Jul 15, 2009
Images of the looted archaeological museum in Baghdad in the wake of the second Gulf War alerted the initial community to the issue of archaeological material passing into the market. There were swift moves to protect cultural property; these included the UN Security Council Resolution 1483 to Protect Iraq's Heritage.
Professional bodies such as the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) have kept a close watch on developments (see Earthwatch for Iraq). Professor Brian Rose, pres
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jul 15, 2009
Neil Armstrong's historic moon landing will be shown in new light on Thursday when Nasa releases a new film of the first manned lunar excursion.
It has been restored and digitally enhanced using state-of-the-art technology and will be much clearer and less grainy than previously released footage of the 1969 landing.
It features 15 key moments from the historic lunar walk, and is part of Nasa's comprehensive Apollo 11 restoration project which is expected to be complet
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jul 15, 2009
Two ancient miniature "cheat sheets", designed to aid students sitting Imperial examinations, have been discovered in China.
The tiny booklets, printed on silk, date from the middle of the Qing Dynasty (1644 to 1911) and may have been used by students to jog their memories of Confucius' Analects and other works of literature required for the Imperial civil service examinations.
One of the texts, discovered in Qingdao, is thought to be the smallest book ever
Source: BBC
Jul 15, 2009
Signs are to be erected at Culloden Battlefield asking visitors to respect the site as a war grave following a complaint about picnickers.
A member of A Circle of Gentlemen, a society which recalls the Jacobite cause, said he was furious at the behaviour of some tourists.
Alasdair MacNeill said he saw a family picnicking on top of one of the grave mounds.
Culloden, near Inverness, saw the defeat of the Jacobites in April 1746.
Source: Foxnews
Jul 15, 2009
President Obama has promised relatives of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack victims that they would be part of the process of closing the Guantanamo Bay prison but some have been frustrated by the administration's effort.
Obama has promised relatives of the victims that they would be part of the process of closing the prison. In February, he met with roughly 40 family members of the victims and said he wanted what they do: justice for their loved ones.
The Defense and Just
Source: BBC
Jul 15, 2009
Archaeologists from Berkshire say they have discovered evidence of an Iron Age town underneath the remains of a Roman settlement in north Hampshire.
The University of Reading's Archaeology Department has been excavating at the Silchester Roman site, Calleva Atrebatum, since 1997.
Now the team believe they have found evidence of one of Britain's earliest Iron Age towns with a planned layout
Source: Globe and Mail
Jul 15, 2009
A marine archeologist from landlocked Alberta has set his sights on finding two of the world's most coveted shipwrecks: the long-lost Royal Navy vessels from the doomed 19th-century Franklin expedition.
Rob Rondeau and his small team plan to travel to the central Arctic archipelago later this summer to launch a privately funded underwater search.
The race to find the fabled shipwrecks has been continuing for more than 160 years, but Mr. Rondeau is confident his group's
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jul 15, 2009
Sixty-four years after he survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake has broken his silence on his memories of that day to invite President Barack Obama to attend this year's memorial event.
In an opinion article in The New York Times entitled A Flash of Memory, 71-year-old Miyake said he had not previously discussed his experiences on August 6, 1945, because he did not "want to be labelled 'the designer who survived the bomb'".
Source: http://www.balkantravellers.com
Jul 15, 2009
Albanian police are on the hunt for a group of tomb raiders who attempted to open a series of graves in the ancient city of Apollonia on Sunday.
The raiders, who remained unidentified and are suspected of being part of regional ring that smuggles artifacts, aimed to plunder a group of 2000-year-old graves, local broadcaster Top-Channel TV reported.
The archaeological park of the ancient city of Apollonia is located only eight kilometres outside the city of Fier, and has
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jul 15, 2009
Sixty-four years after he survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake has broken his silence on his memories of that day to invite President Barack Obama to attend this year's memorial event.
In an opinion article in The New York Times entitled A Flash of Memory, 71-year-old Miyake said he had not previously discussed his experiences on August 6, 1945, because he did not "want to be labelled 'the designer who survived the bomb'".
Source: AP
Jul 15, 2009
Several officials say ex-CIA Director George Tenet ended the program in 2004 because the agency could not work out the practical details to put it into use during its first three-year incarnation.
Former intelligence officials say ex-CIA Director George Tenet terminated a secret program to develop special hit teams to take out al-Qaida leaders in 2004 but the plan was later resurrected by Tenet's successor, Porter Goss.
Current CIA chief Leon Panetta told the congressio
Source: http://www.wildernesswalmart.com/
Jul 15, 2009
In a bipartisan letter to the Orange County Board of Supervisors, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine (D) and House of Delegates Speaker William Howell (R) jointly urged the county to reconsider plans to locate a Walmart supercenter on the Wilderness Battlefield.
The letter, addressed to Orange County Board Chairman Lee Frame and dated July 13, 2009, emphasizes the Commonwealth’s commitment to historic preservation and the need to bring all interests together to resolve the controversy.
Source: Guardian (UK)
Jul 15, 2009
The world's most famous moonwalker - no, not that one - is to skip a major Nasa event next week commemorating the 40th anniversary of the moon landing. The notoriously shy Neil Armstrong, the first of only a dozen men ever to set foot on the earth's nearest neighbour, is counting on his garrulous Apollo 11 shipmate Buzz Aldrin to relive his "one small step" for a worldwide audience of journalists and space enthusiasts Monday.
Armstrong is said to be deeply suspicious of fa
Source: Times (UK)
Jul 15, 2009
A lack of trained interrogators caused concern at the Ministry of Defence ahead of the Iraq war because of fears that it would increase the risk of detainee abuse, an inquiry into the death of an Iraqi man in military custody heard today.
There were no soldiers qualified in tactical questioning in the regiment at the centre of allegations of mistreatment of ten detainees, including Baha Mousa, who died after suffering 93 separate injuries, the public inquiry was told.
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
Jul 15, 2009
A group of Israeli soldiers who took part in the January invasion of the Gaza Strip have claimed widespread abuses against civilians were committed under 'permissive' rules of engagement.
Breaking the Silence, a campaign group made up of Israeli soldiers, gathered testimonies from 26 unidentified troops, who said they were urged by commanders to shoot first - and worry about civilians later.
"If you're not sure, kill. Fire power was insane. We went in and the boo
Source: BBC
Jul 15, 2009
He told judges in The Hague he joined the government in 1980, but his anti-corruption stance made him unpopular.
He overthrew Samuel Doe's government in a bloody conflict in the late 1980s and is accused of directing rebels in the civil war in Sierra Leone in the 1990s.
He denies 11 charges including murder, terrorism, rape and torture.
Source: BBC
Jul 15, 2009
In January, US President Barack Obama signed an order halting the controversial military trials process for terrorist suspects.
But he now says he will press ahead with the military commissions after introducing a number of safeguards.
The five men accused of plotting the 9/11 attacks are among detainees due to appear in court this week.
Many thought President Obama had sounded the death knell for military commissions at Guantanamo Bay.
