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: Sky News
May 2, 2009
The picture, sent to a teenage girl suffering from terminal leukaemia in the 1960s, went under the hammer in Aylsham, Norfolk.
Andrew Bullock, of auctioneers Keys, said it was thought Harrison had copied the signatures of his fellow band members - Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and John Lennon.
"We've sent it to a handwriting expert and it's just about 100% certain that they were done by George," he said.
Source: BBC
May 1, 2009
Finland has charged a former preacher at a Baptist church in Rwanda with genocide for his alleged role in the killings in the African nation in 1994.
Francois Bazaramba has been held in detention in Finland for more than two years after seeking asylum in 2003.
On Monday, Finland's prosecutor-general said a pre-trial investigation had found evidence that Mr Bazaramba, a Hutu, had "committed a crime of genocide in the municipality of Nyakizu in April and May 1994 wi
Source: NYT
May 1, 2009
The current Supreme Court, made up entirely of former federal appeals court judges, is in some ways the most insulated and homogenous in American history.
None of the justices have held elective office. All but one attended law school at Harvard or Yale. And the only three justices in American history who never worked in private practice are on the current court....
The current court is the first to be made up entirely of former federal appeals court judges. And only a
Source: http://www.archaeology.org
May 1, 2009
An international team of scientists has studied the DNA of modern American Indian groups and has found genetic evidence that they are all descended from a single ancestral population. In addition, that population was isolated from the rest of Asia for thousands of years before moving into the New World. “While earlier studies have already supported this conclusion, what’s different about our work is that it provides the first solid data that simply cannot be reconciled with multiple ancestral po
Source: Newsbusters (conservative media watchdog)
May 1, 2009
On Thursday, Comedy Central's Jon Stewart apologized for earlier in the week calling former President Harry Truman a war criminal.
As NewsBusters previously reported, Stewart during Tuesday's interview with Foundation for the Defense of Democracies' Clifford May said that Truman should have done an offshore warning of the atomic bomb in 1945 before dropping it on Hiroshima, and that not doing so was criminal.
Apparently, Stewart has rethought his position, and said the following on
Source: Telegraph (UK)
May 1, 2009
A children's colouring book that depicts the burning towers of the 9/11 terror attacks and the devastation of Hurricane Katrina has been removed from a US government website over concerns that its contents could prove upsetting.
The 25-page book, called A Scary Thing Happened, was approved by the Bush administration.
Makers said it was prepared by a crisis response team to help children "cope with disasters".
However, it has since been removed fr
Source: Independent (UK)
May 1, 2009
It was a setting for one of the most famous love stories in English history. The great scented garden that Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester, created at Kenilworth Castle, his home in Warwickshire, especially to woo Elizabeth I has been re-created by English Heritage and opens to the public tomorrow.
Dudley was one of Tudor England's most powerful – and most glamorous – courtiers. He and Elizabeth had known each other since childhood. They had both been imprisoned in the Tower of
Source: Telegraph (UK)
May 1, 2009
Campaigners and opposition MPs said a public investigation into the legitimacy of the invasion and the subsequent failures in nation building could not be delayed any longer.
They spoke out after a final memorial parade in Basra in which the names of each of the 179 servicemen and women killed during the conflict were read out before control of southern Iraq was handed over to an American commander.
David Cameron, the Tory leader, called for an immediate inquiry similar
Source: Telegraph (UK)
May 1, 2009
New evidence suggests an "isolated community" escaped annihilation and lived on a rocky, desert plateau in North America.
Until now, palaeontologists widely believed the creatures were wiped out 65 million years ago when an asteroid collided with Earth.
But now experts say a "pocket" of dinosaurs survived and roamed a remote area of what is now New Mexico and Colorado.
Carbon dating of newly-discovered bones in the San Juan Basin prov
Source: Telegraph (UK)
May 1, 2009
The 25-page book, called A Scary Thing Happened, was approved by the Bush administration.
Its cover shows a childlike drawing of one of the Twin Towers in flames, with a hijacked plane looming close to the second tower.
The image is repeated three times on page 12, where readers can colour in the flames.
The book also features a scene reminiscent of the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.
Makers said it was prepared by a crisis r
Source: Spiegel Online
May 1, 2009
Anyone who didn't know better would think they are in a typical Polish hamlet, where clean washing flutters in the wind, farmers on old tractors rumble by and lumbermen lug tree trunks. But Stara Kolonia Sobibór is not typical, nor will it ever be.
During World War II this was the site of the German extermination camp Sobibor, where 170,000 Jews, more than 34,000 of them Dutch, were systematically murdered. It is a difficult place to reach, deep in the forests of Poland's eastern b
Source: BBC
May 1, 2009
The ruling allows for the 89-year-old Ohio resident to be deported - although the appeals process is not exhausted.
A stay of deportation was granted earlier in April after federal agents briefly removed him from his home.
His family said he was too ill to be moved but the government has filed video showing him walking unassisted.
Mr Demjanjuk denies charges of being a guard at the Sobibor death camp in World War II.
Source: NYT
May 1, 2009
LONDON — The writer Carol Ann Duffy was appointed Britain’s poet laureate on Friday, becoming the first woman to take a 341-year-old job that has been held by, among others, Dryden, Tennyson, Wordsworth, Cecil Day-Lewis and Ted Hughes.
Ms. Duffy, 53, is known for using a deceptively simple style to produce accessible, often mischievous poems dealing with the darkest turmoil and the lightest minutiae of everyday life...
Announcing the decision, the culture secretary, And
Source: Press Release--confederateheritagemonth.com
May 1, 2009
On Wednesday, April 29, 2009, Governor Sonny Perdue signed Georgia Senate Bill No. 27 designating ‘April’ permanently--Confederate History and Heritage Month by Georgia state law. Georgia is the first state in the Union to pass such legislation.
Supporters of the bill say that this would increase tourism at War Between the States battlefield sites.
This bill is timely as plans are underway throughout the nation to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the War Between the S
Source: NYT
Apr 30, 2009
For 30 years, Republicans have held as an article of faith that tax cuts spur the economy and generate more revenue. “Deficits don’t matter,” as former Vice President Dick Cheney said. Now President Obama is adapting Republican arguments to his own agenda — only substituting spending for tax cuts.
Call it the Democratic version of Reaganomics, the supply-side theory that replaced Republicans’ longtime belief in balanced budgets. As popularized by President Ronald Reagan, the theory
Source: Military.com
Apr 30, 2009
MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. — Relic hunters are defined as those who search for something that is cherished for its age or historic interest. Therefore it’s no surprise that Quantico, a place full of history, has seen its fair share of treasure seekers.
There are Civil War-era campsites located on mainside and in the Officer Candidate School area, said John Haynes, an archaeologist here. “These sites have been identified as historically significant.”
Although there
Source: Bloomberg News
Apr 30, 2009
Egyptian authorities have recovered 454 ancient Egyptian artifacts, including pharaonic pottery and bronze coins, from the U.K.’s Myers Museum. They had been removed from the country more than 30 years ago.
The pieces have been returned to Egypt, the Cairo-based Culture Ministry said in a statement today, citing the country’s chief archaeologist Zahi Hawass. The Myers Museum is part of Eton College, in Windsor, west of London. No one at the museum was immediately available for comm
Source: Deutsche Welle
Apr 30, 2009
In a letter to the leaders of 39 nations, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has called on other countries to support the newly established Auschwitz-Birkenau foundation. The foundation is attempting to raise 120 million Euros ($160 million) to ensure long term maintenance funding for buildings and ruins at the former Nazi death camp.
Although the foundation has only been officially in existence for a week, the international response to the request for funds has been positive.
Source: Patricia Cohen in the NYT
Apr 30, 2009
Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s legacy has been slid back under the microscope recently as his efforts to pull the country out of the Great Depression are scrutinized. Now a piece of his foreign policy is also being re-evaluated in a soon-to-be published book that upends a widely held view that he was indifferent to the fate of Europe’s Jews, and asserts that new evidence shows that the president pushed for an ambitious secret rescue plan before the war began.
The book, an edited collec
Source: AP
Apr 30, 2009
One of the Palestinians who hijacked the Achille Lauro cruise ship and killed an American passenger in 1985 has been released after more than 23 years in jail, officials said Thursday.
Youssef Magied al-Molqui left prison in Palermo, Sicily, on Wednesday and was transferred to a holding center for immigrants in nearby Trapani while officials work to expel him, police in the Sicilian capital said.
Al-Molqui, a member of the four-man team that hijacked the Achille Lauro
