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: Daily Mail (UK)
Jun 2, 2009
Prince Charles will attend the 65th anniversary of D-Day celebrations this Saturday after Barack Obama intervened in the row.
In a hastily-arranged move that will embarrass the Prime Minister, the Prince of Wales is being lined up to represent Britain at the Normandy commemoration.
Clarence House has confirmed that he will now attend and had been invited by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Source: BBC
Jun 2, 2009
She told Vanity Fair magazine: "At night time, if I wake up, I think Ronnie is there, and I start to talk to him... And I see him."
Mrs Reagan, 87, also spoke about how much she still missed her husband, who died in 2004.
And she mentioned that the present First Lady, Michelle Obama, called for advice on running the White House.
Source: BBC
Jun 2, 2009
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said: "We are working with those involved to see that it happens."
Mr Obama and Prime Minister Gordon Brown will mark the 65th anniversary of the Normandy landings alongside the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy.
Buckingham Palace said the Queen will not attend as she has not been invited.
Source: BBC
Jun 2, 2009
Federal judge Thomas Hogan has given the US Justice Department until 29 July to release the documents or specify what information it wants kept secret.
Department officials said they did not intend the documents to remain sealed forever, and asked for an extension to remove sensitive material.
Human rights groups have welcomed the court order.
Source: Thinkprogress (liberal website)
Jun 1, 2009
Writing in Sunday’s Washington Post, Richard Clarke, the former counterterrorism chief under Presidents Clinton and Bush, slammed Dick Cheney and Condoleezza Rice for invoking what he called “the White House 9/11 trauma defense” — namely, the shock of 9/11 was so great as to justify all and any actions taken in the name of national defense. Clarke called the decisions on interroga
Source: AFP
Jun 1, 2009
Egyptian researchers are using DNA tests to discover the lineage of pharaoh king Tutankhamun, whose ancestry remains a mystery to Egyptologists, antiquities chief Zahi Hawass said on Monday.
The young king, whose mummy was found in a gold and turquoise sarcophagus by English archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922, ruled Egypt between 1333 and 1324 BC.
His ancestry has been as much a source of speculation as his abrupt end.
Source: CNN
Jun 1, 2009
Former Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday that he does not believe Saddam Hussein was involved in the planning or execution of the September 11, 2001, attacks.
He strongly defended the Bush administration's decision to invade Iraq, however, arguing that Hussein's previous support for known terrorists was a serious danger after 9/11.
Cheney, in an appearance at the National Press Club, also said he is intent on speaking out in defense of the Bush administration's na
Source: AP
Jun 1, 2009
Some key events in General Motors' history:
Sept. 16, 1908 — General Motors Co. founded by William C. Durant, incorporating Buick Motor Co. Oldsmobile joins GM in November.
1909 — GM sells 25,000 cars and trucks. Acquires Cadillac for $5.5 million. Also purchases GMC, AC Spark Plug....
Source: BBC
Jun 1, 2009
Examples of pottery found in a cave at Yuchanyan in China's Hunan province may be the oldest known to science.
By determining the fraction of a type, or isotope, of carbon in bone fragments and charcoal, the specimens were found to be 17,500 to 18,300 years old.
The authors say that the ages are more precise than previous efforts because a series of more than 40 radiocarbon-dated samples support the estimate.
The work is reported in the Proceedings of the N
Source: http://www.irrawaddy.org
Jun 1, 2009
Danok Pagoda, an ancient temple thought to contain two Buddha relics, collapsed on Saturday killing at least 20 people and injuring about 150, according to local residents.
It is believed that the casualties were all construction workers and naval personnel who were working to restore the pagoda when it suddenly collapsed.
The incident is immediately shrouded in mystery and superstition with locals and surviving workers telling tales of strange weather, bright red light
Source: http://www.coastalcourier.com
Jun 1, 2009
In the early 1980s American Museum of Natural History archeologist David Hurst-Thomas found the ruins of the Spanish mission, Santa Catalina de Guale, on the western side of St. Catherines Island.
Unearthing the mission provided evidence the Spaniards had made it to the New World centuries before the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock. It also provided a glimpse of the Guale Indian tribe believed to be among the first settlers on the coastal island since it formed roughly 5,000 years
Source: CNN
Jun 1, 2009
When Gregg Wenzel died six years ago in Ethiopia, the obituaries said
he was a U.S. Foreign Service officer killed by a drunken driver on
the streets of Addis Ababa.
Monday the public learned the State Department job was a cover for his
real occupation: CIA spy.
At a ceremony commemorating those who died in the line of duty, CIA
Director Leon Panetta revealed Wenzel's affiliation with the agency
and noted Wenzel was a member of the first clandestine service class
to graduate
Source: Sky News
Jun 1, 2009
Notorious murderer Dr Crippen could soon be exhumed from his prison grave as lawyers seek to prove his innocence with DNA evidence.
Efforts to dig up his remains have moved a step closer after prison authorities gave his family the green light for re-burial.
But they have been told they must first get permission from the relatives of three other killers whose bodies lie in unconsecrated graves next to his at Pentonville jail in London.
Now the Crippen lawyer Giov
Source: Secrecy News, written by Steven Aftergood, is published by the Federation of American Scientists
Jun 1, 2009
Following sharp increases in the first several years after 9/11, the total estimated costs of implementing the national security classification system seem to have leveled off at around $10 billion annually, according to a new report to the President (pdf) from the Information Security Oversight Office. The total cost of protecting classified information in government and industry last year was $9.85 billion, down slightly from $9.9 billion the year before, ISOO director William J. Bosanko repo
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jun 1, 2009
Japanese archaeologists believe they have identified the final resting place of the legendary Queen Himiko, who ruled the Yamatai kingdom in the third century, but are unlikely to ever have conclusive proof as the palace has forbidden further excavation of the site.
Researchers from the National Museum of Japanese History presented a paper to the 75th annual meeting of the Japanese Archaeological Association on Sunday, claiming that evidence points to a burial mound in the town of S
Source: NYT
Jun 1, 2009
Once a symbol of American innovation, General Motors is now bankrupt.
Source: BBC
Jun 1, 2009
Vandals have splashed red and green paint onto the back wall of the controversial modern museum, the Ara Pacis, in Rome.
They also left a toilet outside and several rolls of toilet paper.
The museum, designed by the American architect Richard Meier, was opened in 2006 to house a 2,000-year-old carved marble altar of the Emperor Augustus.
Many criticised the building, in Rome's historic centre, as too modern, too large, and out of character.
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jun 1, 2009
A couple who love the 1940s have turned their home into a Second World War replica even cultivating their own vegetables in a Dig For Victory-style plot.
Ad Hickley and his partner Pam McMillan have decorated Rushmere Cottage in totally authentic wartime style - as they grow their own veg and rear farm animals.
Their unique home has everything as it would have been more than 60 years ago.
The rural property, near Attleborough, had scarcely changed over the
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jun 1, 2009
The remains of a Loch Ness-style creature that lived in the English Channel 200 million years ago have been found on a beach.
Archaeologists have spent months piecing together dozens of old bones found encased in limestone on Britain's Jurassic Coast by a fossil hunter.
After nearly completing the jigsaw-like puzzle they have disclosed that the skeleton, which is 70 per cent complete, is that of a 12ft long plesiosaur.
Plesiosaurs existed during the Jurass
Source: NYT
May 31, 2009
Google appears to be throwing down the gauntlet in the e-book market.
In discussions with publishers at the annual BookExpo convention in New York over the weekend, Google signaled its intent to introduce a program by that would enable publishers to sell digital versions of their newest books direct to consumers through Google. The move would pit Google against Amazon.com, which is seeking to control the e-book market with the versions it sells for its Kindle reading device.
