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: Telegraph (UK)
Jun 30, 2009
A woman who inherited a collection of Chinese carved jade from her father has scored the first $1 million (£600,000) appraisal from experts on the US television programme "Antiques Roadshow," the producers said on Monday.
In a record for the show, four pieces of Chinese carved jade and celadon from the Qianlong era (1736-1795), including a large bowl made for the Emperor, were given a conservative auction estimate of up to $1.07 million.
The previous highest
Source: AP
Jun 30, 2009
Some 19th century checks and old rusty tools were left months ago at a bus stop in Longmont, and police say no one has come forward to claim them.
The Regional Transportation District turned over the unusual items to police in March after a rider said she found them at a bus stop in Longmont.
The items include handwritten checks from 1884 mounted on mat boards, as if they'd been on display.
Source: NYT
Jun 30, 2009
The book proposal from a man who was one of former Sen. John Edwards' closest aides claims that Edwards promised him to "take care of you for life" in return for falsely claiming he was the father of the baby carried by Edwards' mistress, Rielle Hunter.
The aide, Andrew Young, sold his book proposal to St. Martin's Press for an undisclosed price late last week. In his proposal, Young quotes Edwards, a Democrat who was his party's vice-presidential nominee in 2004 and ran f
Source: Foxnews (Click here to see a picture.)
Jun 30, 2009
Meet the "wonder weapon" that could have won the war for Hitler.
Called the Horten 229, the radical "flying wing" fighter-bomber looked and acted a lot like the U.S. Air Force's current B-2 — right down to the "stealth" radar-evading characteristics.
Fortunately for the world, the Ho 229 wasn't put into mass production before Nazi Germany surrendered in May 1945.
But American researchers boxed up and shipped home the prototypes
Source: NYT
Jun 29, 2009
Judge Sotomayor, famously, was one of three judges on an appellate panel who applied their federal circuit’s settled precedent to rule in New Haven’s favor. Like that decision or hate it, cheer Monday’s ruling or deplore it, one thing that is clear from reading the Supreme Court’s 89 pages of opinions in the case is that Judge Sotomayor and her colleagues played by the old rules, and the court changed them. Although “Sotomayor Reversed” was a frequent headline on the posts that spread quickly ac
Source: NYT
Jun 29, 2009
On Avenue of the Americas, there is a block where the first cellphone call was completed in 1973; on West 125th Street, where the old Blumstein’s department store stood, nothing marks the place where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was stabbed in 1958.
Then there is the spot on Fifth Avenue where Winston Churchill, crossing against the light, was struck by a car in 1931 and nearly killed....
Andrew Carroll, 39, an amateur historian, is embarking this week on a 50-st
Source: Jerusalem Post
Jun 29, 2009
As the fourth annual week devoted to the cooperation of the IDF and the Israel Antiquities Authority in preserving the country's environment and antiquities gets into full gear, archeologists and IDF officials are hailing the progress made on the issue over the past few years.
This year's program, which began on Sunday and will end on Thursday, July 2, includes a series of lectures - attended by all the commanders involved in the joint effort - with the last day to focus primarily
Source: Reuters
Jun 29, 2009
Madrid's city hall Monday stripped former Spanish dictator Francisco Franco of his title as honorary mayor and adopted son of the capital, 33 years after his death began the transition to democracy.
Councilors of all political colors unanimously voted to remove the titles, as well as medals Madrid conferred on the right-wing general, a spokesman for the council said.
"The capital of Spain is now clean of support for dictators," left-wing Councilor Milagros He
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jun 29, 2009
French archaeologists said they had been forced to stand in front of earthmovers to prevent Korean contractors building a road through a historic gorge.
Excavations show people have lived at Cheshm-e-Shafa since at least the fourth century BC, when the area was ruled by a Persian dynasty eventually swept away by the Greek invaders.
The French Archaeological Delegation in Afghanistan (DAFA), said it had been told engineers would use dynamite to put the road through the g
Source: Stone Pages Archaeo News
Jun 29, 2009
Pagans and partygoers drummed, danced or gyrated in hula hoops to stay awake through the night, around 36,500 people greeted the summer solstice at the ancient stone circle of Stonehenge (Wiltshire, England). Despite fears of trouble because of the record-sized crowd, police said the annual party at the mysterious monument was mostly peaceful.
Source: Stone Pages Archaeo News
Jun 29, 2009
The ruins of the oldest human settlement in the Aegean found so far have been unearthed in archaeological excavations by a team of Greek, Italian and American archaeologists on the island of Limnos (Greece), headed by Thessaloniki Aristotle University (AUTH) professor of Prehistoric Archaeology Nikos Efstratiou.
The excavation began in early June and the finds brought to light so far, mainly stone tools of a high quality, are from the Epipaleolithic Period approximately 14,000
Source: Deutsche Welle
Jun 29, 2009
The human remains in an ancient Roman tomb may belong to Saint Paul, Pope Benedict XVI revealed in a surprise announcement. Now the Vatican wants to open the sarcophagus and conduct further tests.
The marble coffin in Rome's St. Paul's Basilica has never been opened, but, according to tests conducted thus far, the tomb contains pieces of human bone that have been dated to the time of Saint Paul.
Pope Benedict shared the findings Sunday at a service outside the church ma
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jun 29, 2009
The party of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel has declared that its
countrymen expelled by Poland after the Second World War have a ‘right
to a homeland’ and said the deportations should be condemned under
international law.
Wartime animosity between Poland and Germany could resurface after a
new election manifesto published by the Christian Democratic Union
(CDU) pledged to promote the cause of those expelled.
In 1945 millions of ethnic Germans were forced from their homes
Source: NYT
Jun 29, 2009
The crisis in Honduras, where members of the country’s military abruptly awakened President Manuel Zelaya on Sunday and forced him out of the country in his bedclothes, is pitting Mr. Obama against the ghosts of past American foreign policy in Latin America.
The United States has a history of backing rival political factions and instigating coups in the region, and administration officials have found themselves on the defensive in recent days, dismissing repeated allegations by Pres
Source: BBC
Jun 29, 2009
Ukraine is opening up part of its old KGB archive, declassifying hundreds of thousands of documents spanning the entire Soviet period.
But the move to expose Soviet-era abuses is dividing Ukrainians, the BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse reports from Kiev.
Mr Viatrovych and his team are helping people to find out what happened to relatives and loved ones, often decades after they disappeared.
But the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), now in charge of the files, is d
Source: BBC
Jun 29, 2009
First it was Oprah Winfrey's wistful reach for the continent, now other prominent African Americans are finding their roots.
Since then thousands of other African Americans have followed suit, many of them household names in the US.
Comedian Chris Rock discovered that he was descended from the Udeme people of northern Cameroon.
DNA testing has also resulted in some African Americans being bestowed with honorary African titles.
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jun 29, 2009
Spanish dictator General Franco enjoyed lavish three course meals despite severe food shortages in the months after the country's civil war.
As Spaniards struggled to survive on daily rations of potatoes and beans in the months following the 1936-1939 conflict, he dined on stuffed hake and medallions of veal.
The collection of menus were discovered among papers belonging to a former Civil Guard officer, Carlos Palacios Miguel, who in the autumn of 1936 when Franco led
Source: Foxnews
Jun 29, 2009
Former Vice President Dick Cheney tells The Washington Times' America's Morning News radio show that he supports Gen. Ray Odierno, top commander in Iraq, but that insurgents could be waiting in the wings to launch more attacks.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney said he hopes the U.S. military's sacrifice in Iraq does not go to "waste" as a deadline to withdraw all U.S. forces from Iraqi cities looms.
About 130,000 U.S. troops still remain in Iraq, but Odier
Source: AP
Jun 29, 2009
More than two years since leaving her prison cell, the woman who became the grinning face of the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal spends most of her days confined to the four walls of her home.
Former Army reservist Lynndie England hasn't landed a job in numerous tries: When one restaurant manager considered hiring her, other employees threatened to quit.
England hopes a biography released this month and a book tour starting in July will help rehabilitate an image inde
Source: Foxnews
Jun 29, 2009
A lawsuit against Saudi Arabia filed by survivors and families members of those killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has ended as the Supreme Court announced Monday it will not hear additional arguments from the victims who were trying to revive their case.
The case against Saudi Arabia and five of its princes was already tossed out by two lower courts. More than 6,000 people joined the suit, claiming the Saudis were directly responsible for allowing the flow of money to Usama b
