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: Discovery News
Jan 12, 2009
Recently at Discovery News I told you about Neanderthal-made shell jewelry that suggests these hominids were as smart and creative as modern humans were at the time the jewelry was made, 50,000 years ago.
University of Bristol archaeologist Joao Zilhao, who led the project, told me about some other interesting discoveries he and his team made about Neanderthals. One concerns how they harvested shellfish for consumption.
By packaging the harvested shellfish in water-so
Source: National Geographic News
Jan 12, 2009
It’s long been thought that so-called modern human behavior first arose during the middle Stone Age, in “modern” humans—Homo sapiens.
But a new study suggests modern living may have originated roughly 500,000 years earlier—courtesy of one of our hairy, heavy-browed ancestor species.
At the prehistoric Gesher Benot Ya'aqov site in northern Israel, researchers have found the earliest known evidence of social organization, communication, and divided living and working spac
Source: BBC
Jan 12, 2009
An inquiry into the Netherlands' support for the invasion of Iraq says it was not justified by UN resolutions.
The Dutch Committee of Inquiry on Iraq said UN Security Council resolutions did not "constitute a mandate for... intervention in 2003".
The inquiry was launched after foreign ministry memos were leaked that cast doubt on the legal basis for the war.
The Netherlands gave political support to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, but had no military
Source: BBC
Jan 12, 2009
Tony Blair's ex-spokesman Alastair Campbell has said he "defends every single word" of the 2002 dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
He told the UK's Iraq war inquiry that parts could have been "clearer" but it did not "misrepresent" Iraq's threat.
The UK should be "proud" of its role "in changing Iraq from what it was to what it is now becoming", he argued.
But he said Mr Blair told President Bu
Source: AFP
Jan 12, 2009
The Hamas-run ministry of tourism and antiquities in Gaza on Monday announced the discovery of ancient artifacts near the Egyptian border town of Rafah.
They also discovered a "mysterious" underground compartment with a blocked entrance that appeared to be a tomb, Agha said.
The Palestinian Authority has been carrying out archaeological excavations since the 1990s, but this was the first major find to be announced by the Hamas-run government.
Source: Fox News
Jan 12, 2009
Just when you thought every stone had been unturned in the 2008 presidential race, a late-bloomer of a book comes along that dishes on just about everybody.
The book is written with confidence, describing the drama-packed scenes that filled the race with fly-on-the-wall precision -- though many of the sources are never identified and the bulk of the book is written with no attribution. According to the authors, the accounts were based on more than 300 interviews with more than 200
Source: BBC
Jan 12, 2009
MPs are due to question the first minister and the justice secretary over the decision to free the Lockerbie bomber.
Alex Salmond and Kenny MacAskill are to give evidence to the Scottish affairs committee at Westminster.
The Scottish Affairs Committee will question Mr Salmond and Mr MacAskill on Tuesday as part of an investigation into co-operation and communication between the Scottish and UK governments.
In particular MPs are looking at how this worked i
Source: Sydney Morning Herald
Jan 12, 2009
DID American whalers discover the east coast of Australia before Captain Cook?
That is the intriguing question a crack team of maritime archaeologists, divers and marine scientists hope to answer when they sail tomorrow for a remote reef 450 kilometres off the coast of Queensland.
The expedition leader, Kieran Hosty, describes the 200-year-old mystery of Wreck Reef as one of the great untold sagas of our maritime history.
The story began in 1803, after Mat
Source: The Press (UK)
Jan 12, 2009
HISTORIANS and metal detector enthusiasts believe they have found York’s first metal recycling centre – dating back to 1066.
A ten-year project aimed at discovering the site of the battle of Fulford, which preceded the better known battles of Stamford Bridge and Hastings, has uncovered more than 1,000 pieces of iron.
Historian Chas Jones, who led the research, said the items included arrowheads and axe heads, but there was also strong evidence of metal working indicatin
Source: MTI
Jan 12, 2009
Archaeologists have discovered rare gold objects from the time Hungarian tribes first arrived in the Carpathian basin, near Szeged, the head of the excavation told MTI on Monday.
Tibor Paluch, archaeologist of Szeged's Ferenc Mora Museum, said that the relics - thin gold sheets to cover the eyes and mouth of a dead person - had been found in one of eight early graves.
The archaeologist said that the purpose of applying the covers was to protect the soul of the dead. He
Source: The Local (Germany)
Jan 12, 2009
Just after the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, pieces of the Bornholmer Straße border crossing between East and West Berlin go up for sale Tuesday on internet auction site eBay.
As of December 1, anyone who wants a real piece of Germany’s communist past can place their bid, property management company Marienburg Grundstücksverwaltung announced on Monday.
The original Bornholmer Straße border crossing between Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg and Wedding district
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jan 12, 2009
A sale of lost treasures that belonged to the Russian royal family has broken auction records at Sotheby's in London.
The trove, which belonged to the Romanov family, sold for £7 million, more than seven times the pre-sale estimate.
The sale included a 25th Wedding Anniversary Fabergé Imperial jewelled cigarette case, made as a present for Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, the sister-in-law of Emperor Alexander III.
It sold for £612,250 – 12 times the pre-sale
Source: http://www.laobserved.com
Jan 12, 2009
Former president Richard Nixon began his memoir with the line "I was born in the house my father built." Well, in 1959 his mother told the Los Angeles Times he was born in a hospital.
Source: NYT
Jan 12, 2009
President Bush held what he called “the ultimate exit interview” on Monday, using the final news conference of his presidency to dispute the idea that the nation’s “moral standing has been damaged” by his actions and to warn President-elect Barack Obama that, despite the turbulence in the economy, his most urgent priority must be fighting “an enemy that would like to attack America and Americans again.”
Looking back over the long arc of his turbulent presidency, Mr. Bush was by turn
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jan 12, 2009
A father and son are both serving as priests in the Roman Catholic church for what is thought to be the first time for almost 900 years.
Fr Dominic Cosslett, who has begun work as a curate at St George's Church in Worcester, joins his father Ron Cosslett, 70, in the ministry.
Although the tradition of sons following their fathers into the ministry is well established in protestant denominations, the Catholic requirement for priests to be celibate rendered it impossible
Source: Deutsche Welle
Jan 12, 2009
The year 2009 marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and in 2010 Germany celebrates 20 years since the reunification of East and West. DW-WORLD recalls the key events in Germany's history, portrays the protagonists of the peaceful revolution in the former GDR, gives contemporary witnesses a voice and reports on the winners and losers on the path to German unity.
Source: Politico.com
Jan 12, 2009
After eight stressful years on the job, President Bush will deliver a farewell address to the nation on network television at 8 p.m. on Thursday, the White House announced.
The address will be 10 to 15 minutes long, from the East Room of the White House.
White House press secretary Dana Perino e-mailed reporters: "Continuing a ritual that dates back to George Washington, President Bush will deliver a farewell message to the American people Thursday night. He will
Source: Secrecy News, written by Steven Aftergood, is published by the Federation of American Scientists
Jan 12, 2009
"In May 1974, the U.S. government received its first serious nuclear threat," recalls author Jeffrey T. Richelson. "A letter demanding that $200,00 be left at a particular location arrived at the FBI. Failure to comply, it claimed, would result in the [detonation] of a nuclear bomb somewhere in Boston."
The threat was soon exposed as a hoax, but it prompted the creation of a then-secret organization originally known as the Nuclear Emergency Search (later: Source
Source: Secrecy News, written by Steven Aftergood, is published by the Federation of American Scientists
Jan 12, 2009
Most U.S. Government spending on nuclear weapons-related programs is unclassified. But it is functionally secret since such spending is widely dispersed across many programs in several agencies and it is not formally tracked or reported.
A new study prepared for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace estimated that the cost of U.S. nuclear weapons and weapons-related programs exceeded $52 billion last year.
"That's a floor, not a ceiling," said Stephe
Source: Los Angeles Times
Jan 12, 2009
National Portrait Gallery director Martin E. Sullivan replied today to a letter sent Jan. 7 by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who was concerned about an inaccuracy in a museum wall label next to the newly acquired official portrait of President Bush. The National Portrait Gallery is a branch of the Smithsonian Institution.
The original label said "the attacks on September 11, 2001… led to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq." Sanders objected to the link between 9/11 and the Iraq i
