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: Cronaca
Oct 9, 2008
Enrollment in Latin classes here in this Westchester County suburb has increased by nearly one-third since 2006, to 187 of the district's 10,500 students
Alas, still a tiny number in total.
The resurgence of a language once rejected as outdated and irrelevant is reflected across the country as Latin is embraced by a new generation of students . . .
The number of students in the United States taking the National Latin Exam has risen steadily to more than 134,000 student
Source: Globe & Mail
Oct 9, 2008
Snobs in the French chattering classes have always made great sport out of mocking the unrefined accent of their Québécois cousins. Scholars have gone so far as to suggest that the language spoken by early Quebeckers was a patois scarcely related to French.
But an eminent Quebec linguist now contends that the roots of that relaxed accent, with its loose consonants, many contractions and pervasive “ay” sounds, can be found in the 17th-century court of Louis XIV.
“The Qué
Source: International Herald Tribune
Oct 9, 2008
Pope Benedict XVI said Thursday that he hoped his predecessor Pius XII, whom some Jews have accused of turning a blind eye to the Holocaust, could proceed on the road to Roman Catholic sainthood.
In a homily at a Mass commemorating the 50th anniversary of his death in 1958, Benedict defended Pius, saying he worked "secretly and silently" in World War II to "avoid the worst and save the greatest number of Jews possible."
Some Jews assert that Pius di
Source: International Herald Tribune
Oct 9, 2008
Five hundred years on, it still takes a canoe to reach the fields that fed this city when it ruled a great empire.
On the map, Xochimilco's gardens are a tiny wedge of green in the southern reach of the Mexican capital's expanding urban sprawl. Along the area's maze of canals, the raised farming beds are the last living vestige of the city's Aztec past.
Anastasio Santana still farms here, growing herbs and vegetables on two hectares, or five acres, surrounded by water.
Source: AP
Oct 9, 2008
Libya has started making payments into a nearly $2 billion fund to compensate the families of American victims of Libyan-linked terror attacks in the 1980s, another step in the full normalization of long-strained ties between Washington and Tripoli, the State Department said Thursday.
The "substantial amount" deposited overnight into a U.S. government account is not the full amount needed to fulfill a compensation agreement reached earlier this year, but officials said it
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Oct 9, 2008
Stonehenge was used as a cremation cemetry throughout its history, according to new evidence that divides archaeologists over whether England's most famous ancient monument was about celebrating life or death.
The origins and purposes of Stonehenge have eluded academics and historians for centuries and been the subject of much debate.
The circle of standing stones was originally through to have been erected in 2,600 BC, to replace an earlier wood and earth structure whe
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Oct 9, 2008
Competition between the economies of Britain and Iceland led to diplomatic clashes, shots being fired and ships being holed during the three "Cod Wars" of the 20th century.
Iceland's repeated expansion of its fishing grounds and its aggressive means of protecting its territory led to Royal Navy warships being deployed and the intervention of Nato, while the loss of the final war cost more than 1,000 British trawlermen and thousands more onshore their jobs.
The
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
Oct 9, 2008
Crammed together in their unwieldy aircraft and utterly dependant on one another, the bomber crews of the Second World War forged friendships that often only death could break.
Which is why Pilot Officer Reg Wilson never forgot the night more than 60 years ago when he lost two friends in the night skies over Germany.
As he entered his old age - the memories of his youth perhaps more powerful than ever - Mr Wilson began a quest to find their remains.
Source: Deutsche Welle
Oct 9, 2008
In his 1895 last will and testament, Alfred Nobel, the Swedish industrialist and philanthropist who invented dynamite, decreed that part of his vast fortune be used to create the awards that now carry his name, including the Nobel Peace Prize.
The Peace Prize, the only one awarded by a Norwegian committee, was to be presented each year to "the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies a
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Oct 9, 2008
The only surviving terrorist from the Iranian embassy siege in 1980 will be freed from jail within days and allowed to remain in Britain to protect his human rights.
Fowzi Badavi Nejad, 50, has been granted parole after serving 28 years in prison following the London attack.
But he will not be deported to Iran because of fears he would be tortured or executed in his home country, it has emerged.
Nejad will also receive food vouchers from the Government,
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Oct 9, 2008
In the end it was the North Yorkshire restorers, in the Great Hall, with the lead piping.
Competition was stiff: runners-up included a bedroom rehung with 18th-century Chinese wallpaper and refurnished with Chinese Chippendale near Harrogate, and a rejuvenated 1820s kitchen with roasting range and baking oven in Scotland. But this week the first annual restoration award sponsored by Sotheby's and the Historic Houses Association (HHA) goes to Markenfield Hall, near Ripon, for work o
Source: http://www.commercialappeal.com
Oct 8, 2008
A marriage and family therapist from Olive Branch who considers the Confederate battle flag "a venerated object" says he was illegally fired for refusing to remove his special Mississippi license tag bearing the flag logo of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
His former employer, Compass Intervention Center on Lowrance near Hacks Cross Road, says it only asked Adrian Paul McLaren, not to park in a way that would make another Confederate flag on his front bumper visible to g
Source: http://www.gburgtimes.com
Oct 8, 2008
A branch of the Ku Klux Klan intends to return to the Gettysburg Battlefield next month and stage a rally on the lawn of the old Cyclorama complex in Ziegler’s Grove.
The World Knights of the KKK, based in Sharpsburg, Md., plan to visit the area Saturday, Nov. 15, from 2-4 p.m.
“We’re going to protest the presidential election, black on white crime, gay marriages and inter-racial relationships — anything you can think of that’s bringing down our country,” said Gordon Yo
Source: LAT
Oct 8, 2008
Frail and elderly, they speak at L.A.'s Museum of Tolerance. 'It's so critical to tell our story,' says one of them, an 81-year-old woman.
Every Tuesday at 2 p.m., Bella Friedman steps onto the dais at the Museum of Tolerance, sits down on the straight-backed chair, folds her hands in her lap and looks out at the audience that has gathered to hear about life, death and the Holocaust.
She is 82, neatly coiffed, with tailored pantsuits that hide the tattoo on her left for
Source: USA Today
Oct 8, 2008
WILMINGTON, Del. — The pungent aroma of spices, beans and rice fills the matchbox-size Dominican Cafe on West Fourth Street. The lunch counter is packed when community activist Carlos Dipres enters and chats with diners about el censo. He's met by blank stares.
A block away at Juan's Auto Repair, owner Juan Vargas says he doesn't know much about the U.S. Census but is pretty sure he'll respond to the government survey when it's sent out in 2010. "As long as it's in Spanish," he
Source: Independent (UK)
Oct 8, 2008
A British artist who risked his life to draw intricate sketches of enemy front lines during the First World War was finally unmasked yesterday more than 30 years after his death.
Len Smith, a sapper and espionage expert with the Royal Engineers Special Branch, would hide in no man's land for days on end, sketching enemy positions with remarkable accuracy. Now a book of Sapper Smith's drawings has been released to the public. Armed with little more than a set of coloured pencils Mr S
Source: Chicago Tribune
Oct 8, 2008
When a state of emergency was declared this summer at the ancient grounds of Pompeii, the move by Italy's government touched off an eruption of media accounts about how the ruins near Mt. Vesuvius were, well, in ruins.
Now authorities responsible for a yearlong evaluation no longer want the lost city of Pompeii to be viewed as being in dire need of repair. Rather, the top administrator in this emergency year said the expansive trove of mosaics and villas is in search of a marketing
Source: http://www.business24-7.ae
Oct 8, 2008
The authorities call it a Greek tragedy, but the graffiti artists who have increasingly left their mark on this ancient city and its monuments say they are simply responding to a different sort of muse.
Churches and archaeological sites in Greece used to enjoy a certain immunity from graffiti and the stylised signatures known as tagging, but are now increasingly part of the action as the phenomenon takes off in Athens.
"There is an inability to distinguish what is
Source: CNN
Oct 8, 2008
A genealogy Web site says it has found the king of America -- or rather, the descendant of George Washington's family who would have most likely held the title had the nation's first president been its first monarch instead.
Long live Paul Emerson Washington, 82, of San Antonio, a retired regional manager for a building supply company.
Paul Washington is the one among 8,000 possible Washington descendants that the chief family historian at Ancestry.com believes would cu
Source: KWTX
Oct 8, 2008
The City of Waco is suing American Archaeological Group for a mistake it says has cost the city more than a million dollars.
The city says the costs are due to construction fees after delays to the renovation at the Texas Ranger Museum. The project ran into trouble when construction uncovered human bones during May of last year.
The graves were part of an old cemetery the city says it thought had been excavated more than 40 years ago.
The city points a fing
