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: NYT
Mar 8, 2008
When the news emerged this week that Margaret Seltzer had fabricated her gang memoir, “Love and Consequences,” under the pseudonym Margaret B. Jones, many in the publishing industry and beyond thought: Here we go again.
The most immediate examples that came to mind were, of course, James Frey, the author of the best-selling “Million Little Pieces,” in which he embellished details of his experiences as a drug addict, and J T LeRoy, the novelist thought to be a young West Virginia mal
Source: BBC
Mar 7, 2008
About 3,000 skeletons are to be reburied in an Anglo-Saxon ceremony at a North Lincolnshire church where they were discovered almost 30 years ago.
The ancient language will be used by the Reverend David Rowett at St Peters Church in Barton-upon-Humber to mark the return of the historic bones.
Unearthed between 1978 and 1984, the bones have been used by English Heritage to research diseases.
Source: BBC
Mar 7, 2008
Archaeologists have found what they describe as a remarkable Iron Age waterhole on the site of an extension to York University. The waterhole complete with a preserved wickerwork lining was revealed during excavations in Heslington village.
Source: AP
Mar 7, 2008
Researchers at the former Nazi Sachsenhausen concentration camp have finished compiling a list of nearly 12,000 Germans who died there during its use as an internment camp by the Soviets after World War II.
On Thursday, memorial officials released the 260-page document, saying they aimed in part to provide a measure of closure to the families of those who died.
"The book of names will serve as a monument to the dead," said Horst Seferens, a spokesman for the S
Source: BBC
Mar 7, 2008
The man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing has failed in his latest attempt to persuade judges that secret documents should be handed over.
Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi claims the documents could assist his appeal over the 1988 massacre.
The documents were issued by a foreign government to prosecutors before Megrahi's trial but have never been seen by the defence.
Further attempts are likely to be made for the documents to be released.
Appe
Source: LAT
Mar 7, 2008
Given the fascinating twists and turns of the current election season just in the last year, only a foreign exchange student just off the plane would hazard a prediction about this Nov. 4's presidential balloting.
But one thing is certain -- well, more than likely: This will be the first-ever presidential election in the nation's history pitting two sitting U.S. senators against each other.
Americans haven't been very receptive to legislators from that body becoming the
Source: Lee White at the website of the National Coalition for History (NCH)
Mar 7, 2008
In a legal brief filed in federal court this week, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) stated that by the end of March it would be releasing approximately 10,000 pages of Senator Hillary Clinton’s (D-NY) daily schedule records from her time as first lady. However, the Archives told the court it would be one to two years before it could begin processing the approximately 20,00
Source: Reuters
Mar 7, 2008
Poland's painful memories of Soviet and Nazi occupation in World War 2 has made it wary of rushing into a deal to host a US missile shield site, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said.
Tusk meets President George W Bush on Monday to talk about the shield, which the United States says will protect it and its allies from ballistic missiles that could be fired by Iran or other "rogue" states.
US diplomats had hoped a preliminary agreement on the European miss
Source: http://www.independent.ie
Mar 7, 2008
A significant number of former soldiers who were based along the border during the Northern "Troubles" later suffered from stress-related problems, according to a report published yesterday.
And harassment by local civilians was blamed as the most common cause of stress among the military.
The study, commissioned by Onet, the organisation for ex-servicemen and women, found that many of them had been prescribed medication as a result of nervous disorders.
Source: BBC
Mar 7, 2008
A notorious wall mural in Belfast - showing a loyalist paramilitary - is to be replaced by a portrait of King William of Orange.
The mural is nicknamed "The Grim Reaper".
It was painted 10 years ago on a gable wall in Tavanagh Street in the mainly Protestant Village area of the city.
Its £18,000 replacement is part of a £3m community "reimaging" scheme.
Negotiations on the repainting began five years ago with the loyalist paramili
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Mar 7, 2008
The German government was yesterday forced to scrap plans to re-introduce the Iron Cross, after opponents said the military medal still carried the "burden" of association with Nazi atrocities.
The medal, the equivalent of the Victoria Cross in Britain, was established during the Napoleonic Wars to reward bravery and valour of officers and enlisted men alike.
But its reputation was tarnished by the Nazis, who added a swastika to the design, linking it to atroc
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Mar 7, 2008
With armour-plated walls rising defiantly from the sea, No Man's Land Fort has held out against invaders since it was built to repel Napoleon III 150 years ago.
Now, however, the Solent fortress is under siege for the first time and could be facing its most determined enemy yet - estate agents. The fort, which has been converted into a hotel, has been put on the market by administrators.
However, Harmesh Pooni, 42, who claims he is the rightful owner of the Grade II-lis
Source: Chronicle of Higher Ed
Mar 7, 2008
For millennia, great and not-so-great leaders have celebrated themselves in monuments. The ziggurats of Mesopotamia, the pyramids, the Forbidden City, the Louvre, and Monticello all convey their builders' legacies, as did the many lavish palaces of Saddam Hussein.
Modern U.S. presidents have only their presidential libraries. Now that the George W. Bush era is almost over, the world needs a place to archive the legacy of the 43rd president. That place will be Southern Methodist Univ
Source: NYT
Mar 6, 2008
Stories about Downing’s [Oyster House] — and many other locales and people significant to black history in New York City — have rarely been classroom staples for schoolchildren. But these sagas, presented in text, historical images and interactive maps, are the focus of a new Web site officially unveiled on Wednesday with an acronym, MAAP, that stands for “Mapping the African American Past.”
The Web site, presented by Columbia University at htt
Source: Daily Mail
Mar 6, 2008
The Pope is planning to rehabilitate Martin Luther - whose actions instigated the Protestant Reformation – by arguing that he did not intend to split Christianity but only to purge the Church of corrupt practices.
Benedict XVI will issue his findings on the 16th-century German theologian after discussing him at the papal summer residence, Castelgandolfo, during his annual seminar of 40 fellow theologians, the Ratzinger Schülerkreis.
Luther was and condemned for heresy a
Source: Reuters
Mar 6, 2008
With an old soldier of 107 looking on, the Pentagon on Thursday unveiled portraits of World War One veterans and the photographer behind them voiced hope they would remind officials their decisions affect real lives.
The large, striking photographs of nine veterans, taken when they were aged 105 or older, will hang on the walls of the Pentagon as reminders of a war Defense Secretary Robert Gates said was not well understood or remembered in America.
"There is no bi
Source: AP
Mar 6, 2008
One of the most significant collections of Abraham Lincoln letters to be auctioned in decades includes his heartfelt reply to a group of youngsters who asked him to free America's "little slave children."
The 1864 letter is expected to fetch the highest price ever for a Lincoln manuscript.
"Please tell these little people I am very glad their young hearts are so full of just and generous sympathy," the president wrote in the letter to a woman who had
Source: Art Newspaper
Mar 6, 2008
Five years ago Coalition forces invaded Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein. The main attack began on 20 March 2003, although it was not until three weeks later that US troops entered the capital. In the chaos that followed, the Baghdad Museum was looted extensively, from 10 to 12 April. This provoked an international outcry because the Americans had failed to protect the museum, one of the most important in the Middle East. Roughly 16,000 antiquities were stolen, of which, about half were eventual
Source: AP
Mar 6, 2008
Calling it a high honor, President Bush on Thursday warmly greeted 107-year-old Frank Woodruff Buckles, described by the White House as the last known surviving American-born veteran of World War I.
"Mr. Buckles' mind is sharp, his memory is crisp and he's been sharing with me some interesting anecdotes," Bush said in the Oval Office. Buckles, in a wheelchair to Bush's right, sat quietly with his hands clasped as the president spoke during a short photo opportunity.
Source: BBC
Mar 6, 2008
A Hindu temple has been named the landmark of which residents are most proud, in a national poll.
More than 2,300 residents voted for the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Neasden, north London, to win the inaugural Pride of Place award.
It is one of the biggest traditional Hindu temples to be built in Europe.
Firepower Museum in Greenwich and Barking Abbey in Barking also made it to the national top 10 list. More than 36,800 people cast their vote online.
