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
Apr 26, 2009
Thomas Richardson II was a wealthy 18th century Newport merchant and captain, a slave trader and member of the city's privileged elite who, researchers say, manufactured rum on his waterfront property and ventured to the Caribbean and Africa.
A team of excavators who have already spent two summers at the Richarson property, digging up everything from Chinese porcelain to animal bones, will return this summer to complete their work at the site.
The researchers are hoping
Source: Foxnews
Apr 26, 2009
For three months, President Obama has been on TV just about every day. He's held campaign-style rallies and press conferences whenever a critical piece of his agenda was on the line.
He's communicated regularly with his constituents via YouTube and the White House Web site, and he's traveled abroad to rebuild America's image.
Nearly 100 days into his administration, Obama has locked down his reputation as a skilled communicator and has even scheduled a press conferenc
Source: AFP
Apr 26, 2009
Sri Lanka's government may be close to declaring final victory over Tamil Tiger rebels, but the roots of the ethnic conflict run deeper than the bloody decades of armed struggle.
More than 70,000 people have been killed since the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) took up arms in 1972 to fight for their own homeland in the northeast of the Sinhalese-majority island.
The British colonial regime, which ended with independence in 1948, was marked by a policy of "
Source: WaPo
Apr 26, 2009
The Post asked former officials, strategists and others for their thoughts on the next phase of the Obama administration. Below are contributions from Allan J. Lichtman, Thomas A. Daschle, Alan S. Blinder, Meghan O'Sullivan, Martin Neil Baily, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Paul Wolfowitz, Kathleen Dalton, Elaine L. Chao, Robert Shrum, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Ed Rogers and Paula J. Dobriansky.
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ALLAN J. LICHTMAN
Author of "The Keys to the White House" and &
Source: Foxnews
Apr 26, 2009
Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and poet laureate Sam Cornish are dedicating a square near Boston Common in honor of master of the macabre Edgar Allan Poe.
Poe was born in Boston on Jan. 19, 1809. But the author of "The Raven" and "The Fall of the House of Usher" had an often bitter relationship with his hometown. He sometimes lied about his birthplace and voiced his distaste for its literary elite.
But Boston has tried recently to show more love for Poe.
Source: BBC
Apr 26, 2009
Rwanda has suspended BBC broadcasts in the local language Kinyarwanda because of what it says is bias in BBC reports concerning the 1994 genocide.
A statement announcing the temporary ban singled out a programme it said amounted to blatant denial of genocide against the Tutsi and moderate Hutu.
The editor of the BBC programme denied that there had been any bias.
He said that the programme had offered to include a government spokesman in the programme, bu
Source: Independent (UK)
Apr 26, 2009
A new witness is expected this week to undermine thoroughly the case against the only person to be convicted of the Lockerbie bombing. New testimony will call into question evidence linking the Libyan Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi to the bomb that blew up Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988, his lawyers claim.
Megrahi, who has terminal cancer, is serving 27 years in Greenock prison for the bombing.
Appeal hearings are due to begin on Tuesday, and Megrahi's lawyers insisted this wee
Source: Times (UK)
Apr 26, 2009
THE hunt for a nest of female suicide bombers in Chechnya led an elite group of Russian special forces commandos to a small village deep in the countryside. There they surrounded a modest house just before dawn to be sure of catching their quarry unawares.
When the order came to storm the single-storey property, dozens of heavily armed men in masks and camouflage uniforms - unmarked to conceal their identity - had no difficulty in overwhelming the three women inside. Their captives
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Apr 26, 2009
The country's spy chiefs were also warned that harsh techniques were likely to produce "unreliable information". But under pressure from the White House, the CIA brushed the concerns aside and approved a controversial interrogation programme for suspected al-Qaeda prisoners that included simulated drowning by waterboarding.
The military document described forms of extreme questioning as torture 13 times in two pages, just a month before government lawyers said the techniqu
Source: Science Daily
Apr 25, 2009
A fragment of a limestone plaque bearing several letters of ancient Hebrew script was discovered while sifting soil that was excavated in the vicinity of the Gihon Spring, within the precincts of the “Walls around Jerusalem National Park”.
The excavation is being carried out on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, under the direction of Professor Ronny Reich of the University of Haifa and Eli Shukron of the IAA, and is sponsored by the ‘Ir David Foundation.
The s
Source: The Daily Star (Bangladesh)
Apr 25, 2009
Terracotta artefacts at the Paharpur Buddhist Monastery, a world heritage site, are on the verge of ruination due to sheer negligence of the Department of Archaeology.
The Monastery, one of the most important archeological sites in South Asia, was declared as a protected site dates back to 1919 during the British colonial rule.
Custodian of the ancient site Abdul Latif Pramanik said lack of proper maintenance, shortage of manpower, fund constraint, soil salinity and hea
Source: AFP
Apr 25, 2009
Ukraine paid homage to victims of the Chernobyl catastrophe 23 years after the worst nuclear accident in history.
"Today we remember with profound sadness those heroes who fought against the nuclear storm and sacrificed themselves for us and our children," President Viktor Yushchenko said in an address published by his press service.
Some 100 Ukrainians, including Yushchenko and other top officials, laid wreaths overnight before the monument to Chernobyl's vic
Source: NYT
Apr 25, 2009
A battle is raging over the Astor fortune.
The main beneficiary is accused of scheming with others to drain the estate. The deceased, it is alleged, did not have the mental capacity to execute the will. Document experts have been asked to examine the authenticity of the will, the credibility of the witnesses to its signing has been questioned and the court fight has been a headline-grabbing sensation.
Sound familiar?
It might. But this probably is not the c
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Apr 25, 2009
President Barack Obama is to release up to 2,000 photographs of alleged abuse at American prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan in a move which will reignite the scandal surrounding Abu Ghraib prison in 2004.
The decision to make public the images sought in a legal action by the American Civil Liberties Union comes amid a political firestorm over alleged torture of detainees under President George W. Bush.
Some of the photographs, which will be released before May 28, are s
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Apr 25, 2009
Meet the Second World War veterans who felt compelled to fight against their homeland.
There is that wonderful line in Kubrick's Dr Strangelove when the American president admonishes the Soviet ambassador and one of his Air Force generals for wrestling over a spy camera: "Gentlemen! You can't fight in here – this is the War Room."
It was Ken Adam who came up with the design for that simple but unforgettable set: a dark, oppressive, cavernous chamber dominated
Source: Reuters
Apr 25, 2009
The police expelled David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan leader, from the Czech Republic on Saturday, his lawyer said.
Mr. Duke was detained Friday on suspicion of denying the Holocaust, an offense punishable by up to three years in prison if a violator is convicted under Czech law.
Source: NYT
Apr 25, 2009
For three months, five presidential historians have been writing online columns comparing Barack Obama's initial 100 days in office with those of some of his modern predecessors. These are their final installments. The full series, along with an interactive timeline of presidential history can be found in the 100 Days blog.
In Reagan’s Debt
By LOU CANNON
Obama, too, is misunderstood by critics as an ideologue.
Think Big, Even in Defeat
By ROBERT DAL
Source: NYT
Apr 25, 2009
Every boom time is remembered for its symbols of overindulgence. Here are some nominees for the first decade of this century.
Source: NYT
Apr 25, 2009
Given Mr. Obama’s particular fondness for Lincolnesque oratory, it’s surprising that he hasn’t adopted one of Lincoln’s favorite habits: quoting Shakespeare.
Lincoln was a lifelong Bardolater and serial Shakespeare-quoter, as Mr. Obama noted in remarks at the recent reopening of Ford’s Theater. Lincoln regarded Shakespeare, whose 445th birthday was last week, as many things: an oracle to be consulted for wisdom; a pastor with whom to share confidences and from whom to seek comfort,
Source: NYT
Apr 25, 2009
Dick Cheney became a one-of-a-kind vice president for two reasons: he cared deeply about governance, and not a bit about his future political standing.
Those same factors, for better or worse, have turned him into a one-of-a-kind former vice president. In a sharp break with long-standing practice, Mr. Cheney has emerged as the highest-profile critic of the new administration....
His role appears all the more striking because it defies normal tidal rhythms of presidenti
