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: Guardian (UK)
Dec 22, 2008
The streets of south London and a famous corner of Berkshire may hold little interest for treasure-hunters of the fedora-wearing, whip-cracking school, but they are starting to attract a new breed of archaeologists who enjoy plunging their trowels into the very recent past.
Homegrown excavators have started to chronicle modern protest structures while they are still warm, from eco-warriors' treehouses to crisp packets buried at the Greenham Common peace camp.
"The
Source: BBC
Dec 22, 2008
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is set to lead tributes to the Amazon rubber-tapper Chico Mendes on the 20th anniversary of his murder.
Mr Mendes is seen as a pioneer of the environmental movement who mobilised local forest communities to stop the advance of loggers and ranchers.
He was shot dead outside his home in the state of Acre on 22 December 1988.
His legacy was the creation of a network of reserves where people can make a living fro
Source: BBC
Dec 22, 2008
In 1965 Japan asked the US to be ready to launch a nuclear attack on China if war broke out between the Asian rivals, documents from the time indicate.
The documents, declassified by Japan's foreign ministry, summarise talks held during a visit to Washington by Japan's then prime minister, Eisaku Sato.
Mr Sato won the Nobel peace prize in 1974 for his rejection of nuclear weapons.
Japan is committed to pacifism under the terms of its post-war constitutio
Source: ABC News (Australia)
Dec 22, 2008
Relatives of the 270 people killed in the Lockerbie bombing have marked the 20th anniversary of the tragedy.
Pan Am Flight 103 was en route from London to New York when it was blown up by a bomb in the luggage hold over the Scottish town of Lockerbie on December 21, 1988.
Everyone on the plane, and 11 local residents on the ground, were killed...
Services and vigils are being held on both sides of the Atlantic to mark the anniversary and to remember the vic
Source: National Security Archive
Dec 21, 2008
A document from the Archive of Terror in Paraguay revealed today confirms that the Chief of the Secret Police tried to cover up the disappearance of Amilcar Oviedo, Carlos Mancuello, Benjamin Ramirez Villalba and Rodolfo Ramirez Villalba on September 21, 1976. Posted today for the first time on the Web site of the National Security Archive, a note from Commissary Eliodoro Sánchez reported that "THERE IS NO NEWS WORTH MENTIONING," emphatically contradicting the Chief of Investigations (
Source: FoxNews.com
Dec 21, 2008
In one of his last interviews before leaving Washington, D.C., Vice President Cheney, a 40-year veteran of Washington politics, tried to straighten out a few misconceptions about his tenure and the way the executive and legislative branches are supposed to work.
Vice President Cheney mocked Vice President-elect Joe Biden's grasp of the Constitution, defended former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and said President Bush "doesn't have to check with anybody" before launchi
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Dec 21, 2008
A growing chorus of voices is calling for the centuries-old link between Church and state to be broken after the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, ignited the issue last week by saying that it was “by no means the end of the world if the Establishment disappears”.
Three former ministers openly backed the idea of a separation, with one claiming that the majority of backbenchers would vote to end the special position the Church has enjoyed since the Reformation.
Source: Independent (UK)
Dec 21, 2008
A British woman who sacrificed her life by refusing to leave Jewish orphans in her care is being hailed as one of the forgotten heroes of the Holocaust.
Jane Haining's story of personal sacrifice and bravery is emerging only now, nearly 65 years after her death. She is among a list of British people whose selfless heroism during the Second World War should be recognised posthumously in the honours list, campaigners say.
A Presbyterian missionary, Miss Haining is one of
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Dec 21, 2008
A cookbook containing recipes created by Charles Darwin's wife has been published, offering a fascinating insight into the food that fuelled the mind of the great naturalist.
The book, which contains guides to making such Victorian favourites as broiled mushrooms and Penally Pudding, is being marketed as the perfect resource for those planning a "credit crunch Christmas".
Traditionally festive recipes include baked apple pudding, cranberry sauce and compote of
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Dec 21, 2008
Pope Benedict XVI celebrated the 400th anniversary of Galileo's use of a
telescope yesterday.
The Catholic Church condemned Galileo in the 17th century for supporting
Nicholas Copernicus' discovery that the Earth revolved around the sun;
church teaching at the time placed Earth at the centre of the universe
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Dec 21, 2008
The Archbishop of Canterbury warns today that Britain must learn the
lessons of Nazi Germany in dealing with the effects of the recession.
Dr Rowan Williams risks causing a new controversy by inviting a comparison
between Gordon Brown's response to the economic downturn and the Third
Reich.
In an article for The Daily Telegraph, he claims Germany in the 1930s
pursued a"principle" that worked consistently but only on the basis that"quite a lot of people that you might have thoug
Source: International Herald Tribune
Dec 21, 2008
About 1,000 Serbian veterans of the Kosovo war clashed Sunday with special
police who prevented them from marching to the boundary with the breakaway
region.
Source: BBC
Dec 21, 2008
Events get under way later in Lockerbie to mark the 20th anniversary of
the tragedy which killed 270 people.
Pan Am Flight 103 was blown up over the town on 21 December 1988, claiming
the lives of everyone on the plane and 11 local residents on the ground.
A number of"low key" ceremonies are taking place in the town in
accordance with the wishes of the community.
A tribute is also planned in the US at the Lockerbie memorial in the
Arlington National Cemetery in Washingto
Source: AP
Dec 21, 2008
VATICAN CITY –- Pope Benedict XVI is marking the 400th anniversary of Galileo's use of a telescope.
Benedict said Sunday he wanted to salute all who are marking the 2009 anniversary and UNESCO's World Year of Astronomy.
Speaking on the winter solstice, Benedict said understanding the laws of nature can stimulate understanding and appreciation of the Lord's works.
The Catholic Church condemned Galileo in the 17th century for supporting Nicholas Copernicus' d
Source: The New Yorker [issue of 1-5-09]
Dec 21, 2008
Memoirs by First Ladies are often more hotly anticipated than those by their husbands. Once the Presidential wife is liberated from the White House and has access to a skilled ghostwriter, it is hoped, she will finally have her say. The results can be broken down by genre. There is the campaign-platform memoir—Hillary Clinton’s “Living History”; the score-settling version—Nancy Reagan’s “My Turn”; and the memoir of ambitious co-Presidency—Rosalynn Carter’s “First Lady from Plains.” And then ther
Source: Washington Post
Dec 21, 2008
Vice President Cheney offered an unabashed defense of the Bush administration's claims of broad executive powers today, mocking criticism from Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. and saying the president "doesn't have to check with anybody" before launching a nuclear attack.
In an interview with Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday," Cheney fired back at Biden's contention that he was probably "the most dangerous vice president" in U.S. history. He al
Source: AP
Dec 21, 2008
The centuries-old right of way between Philadelphia and Washington is marked by shimmering waterways and industrial sprawl, well-kept suburbs and urban blight.
President-elect Barack Obama won't be sharing a ride with thousands of long-distance commuters when he travels on a private charter train from Philadelphia's 30th Street Station to Washington's Union Station on Jan. 17, three days before he takes the oath of office. But his route will be exactly the same.
In fact
Source: Independent
Dec 21, 2008
BERLIN -- At 105, Johannes Heesters would like to be known as the world's oldest performing singer. He is appearing in the operetta The White Horse Inn, and sang recently on Dutch TV. But an outing he made 67 years ago has come back to haunt him, ensuring that he will always be remembered mainly as a favourite of Adolf Hitler and a friend of Germany's Nazi regime.
Last week a German judge threw out a libel suit Heesters brought against Volker Kuehn, a German documentary maker and au
Source: Washington Post
Dec 21, 2008
The required transfer in four weeks of all of the Bush White House's electronic mail messages and documents to the National Archives has been imperiled by a combination of technical glitches, lawsuits and lagging computer forensic work, according to government officials, historians and lawyers.
Federal law requires outgoing White House officials to provide the Archives copies of their records, a cache estimated at more than 300 million messages and 25,000 boxes of documents depictin
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
Dec 21, 2008
Fresh evidence has cast doubt on the conviction of a Libyan for the Lockerbie bombing 20 years ago that killed 270 people.
New forensic analysis on a fragment of the timing device alleged to have triggered the bomb that brought down Pan Am jet 103 on December 21, 1988, is said to have found no trace of explosive residue.
Lawyers acting for Abdelbasset Al Megrahi, the 56-year-old Libyan jailed for life for the bombing in 2001, will present the evidence at a forthcoming a
