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: Telegraph (UK)
Jan 30, 2008
Denmark's Royal Library is risking the wrath of Muslims with plans to display controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed that sparked violent protest throughout the Islamic world two years ago.
The 12 caricatures of Islam's founder were published in Danish newspapers in September 2005 triggering riots and violence which claimed the lives of over 50 people.
Copenhagen's Royal Library – founded by King Frederik III in 17th century – is courting a new controversy by cl
Source: Washington Times
Jan 30, 2008
The Army will not be allowed to replace the cracked monument at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery without first reporting to Congress on repair options and getting lawmakers' approval.
The requirement was included in an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act signed Monday by President Bush.
Sen. Daniel K. Akaka, Hawaii Democrat, introduced the amendment in September, after The Washington Times reported the Army was nearing a decision t
Source: NYT
Jan 30, 2008
This spring, Bostjan Troha and 50 of his friends from across the former Yugoslavia plan to celebrate the official 116th birthday of the former dictator Josip Broz Tito with a pilgrimage in boxy Yugoslav-era Fico cars to Tito’s Croatian birthplace and his marble tomb in Belgrade.
To mark the occasion, Mr. Troha has hired a Tito impersonator and dozens of child actors, who will wear Yugoslav partisan berets, wave Yugoslav flags and applaud enthusiastically after the impersonator’s add
Source: Australian
Jan 30, 2008
Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin today announced the apology would be the first item of business for the new parliament.
Ms Macklin today said the apology was the “first, necessary step to move forward from the past”.
“The apology will be made on behalf of the Australian Government and does not attribute guilt to the current generation of Australian people,” she said.
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jan 30, 2008
Germany is going through an unprecedented wave of self-recrimination as it marks the 75th anniversary of Adolf Hitler's rise to power.
Despite the rapidly decreasing number of people who were alive during the Nazi era, this week, Bernd Neumann, the German minister of culture, announced that building would start on two new memorials.
One will honour the gipsies deported to their deaths. The other, costing £400,000, will feature a video of gay men and lesbians kissing, in
Source: AHA Blog
Jan 29, 2008
Google search, love it or hate it, has become ubiquitous. And now, according to a post Monday on the Official Google blog, searching may be evolving. Google is experimenting with “alternate views for search results,” including timeline, map, and information views that should hopefully provide a better sense of context to the search results.
The timeline view allows users to filter search results by date, using either a timeline at the top of the page, or by typing in their own set o
Source: AFP
Jan 29, 2008
A team of US archaeologists has discovered the ruins of a city dating back to the period of the first farmers 7,000 years ago in Egypt's Fayyum oasis, the supreme council of antiquities said on Tuesday.
"An electromagnetic survey revealed the existence in the Karanis region of a network of walls and roads similar to those constructed during the Greco-Roman period," the council's chief Zahi Hawwas said.
The remnants of the city are "still buried beneath t
Source: http://www.wdef.com
Jan 29, 2008
Chattanooga's Medal of Honor Museum is getting a face-lift.
The museum's collection was severely damaged by water and mold in it's previous storage facility.
But, now those damaged items are being salvaged.
World War II veteran Roberta McDevitt says, "Handling these things brings back certain memories, some of them good, some of them bad."
Source: Chronicle of Higher Ed
Jan 29, 2008
A professor of politics and political theory at Gazi University, in Ankara, Turkey, was convicted on Monday of insulting the memory of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the modern Turkish Republic, and was given a 15-month suspended prison sentence.
The professor, Atilla Yayla, had been charged by the public prosecutor in the coastal city of Izmir, Turkey, following comments he made during a public panel discussion there in November 2006.
Speaking by telephone from
Source: NYT
Jan 29, 2008
Many historians have assumed that Europe’s deadliest plague, the Black Death of 1347 to 1351, killed indiscriminately, young and old, hardy and frail, healthy and sick alike. But two anthropologists were not so sure. They decided to take a closer look at the skeletons of people buried more than 650 years ago.
Their findings, published on Monday in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest that the plague selectively took the already ill, while many of the otherwis
Source: NYT
Jan 29, 2008
If Sputnik 1 was the beep-beep-beep heard round the world, Explorer 1 announced itself 50 years ago this week by the collective sigh of relief from an anxious American public.
It was late in the evening, Jan. 31, 1958, almost four months after the Soviet Union stunned the world on Oct. 4 with the launching of Sputnik, the first artificial Earth satellite. A second, larger Sputnik soon followed, carrying a canine passenger.
The first American attempt, with the modest Van
Source: Secrecy News, written by Steven Aftergood, is published by the Federation of American Scientists
Jan 29, 2008
At a House Judiciary Subcommittee hearing today, witnesses discussed
the feasibility and advisability of legislating reforms to the state
secrets privilege.
The state secrets privilege has been used by the executive branch to
block discovery in civil litigation when the government believes that
there is an unacceptable risk of disclosure of sensitive national
security secrets. But on several occasions, the mere assertion of the
privilege has led to termination of the lawsuit. It ha
Source: NYT
Jan 29, 2008
In its latest effort to right itself, the Smithsonian Institution has accepted a finding that its business unit is plagued by poor internal communication, diffuse organization and inadequate oversight.
A 70-page report released Monday by a task force charged with looking into the Smithsonian’s revenue-generating activities paints “a picture of an institution unnecessarily divided against itself, a division that persists despite recently improved communication efforts,” said Marshall
Source: NYT
Jan 29, 2008
Making his seventh and final State of the Union address, President Bush proposed a short list of initiatives Monday that more than anything else underscored the White House’s growing realization that his biggest political opponents now are time and an electorate already looking beyond him.
This address lacked the soaring ambitions of Mr. Bush’s previous speeches, though it had its rhetorical flourishes. He invoked the “miracle of America” but for the most part flatly recited familia
Source: NYT
Jan 29, 2008
Most countries celebrate the best in their pasts. Germany unrelentingly promotes its worst.
The enormous Holocaust memorial that dominates a chunk of central Berlin was completed only after years of debate. But the building of monuments to the Nazi disgrace continues unabated.
On Monday, Germany’s minister of culture, Bernd Neumann, announced that construction could begin in Berlin on two monuments: one near the Reichstag, to the murdered Gypsies, known here as the Sint
Source: Spiegel Online
Jan 28, 2008
Hiitler's military courts were notorious for their liberal use of the death penalty. Now, a courthouse in Berlin where Nazi judges sentenced hundreds of Third Reich dissidents to die has been converted to an apartment building. Not everyone is happy about the switch.
The view from the loft apartments in the newly renovated apartment building is as idyllic as it gets in Berlin: a lovely lake with ducks and swans paddling about, all surrounded by vibrant green parkland. It's the kind
Source: Sacramento Bee
Jan 28, 2008
A statue of "Chief Lemee," who was actually an Indian park employee who danced in Miwok and Plains Indian regalia for visitors, occupies a place at the Yosemite park museum, as does a photo showing the ceremony. Members of the Paiute tribe contend the display, as well as others, are historically inaccurate.
Source: http://europe.courrierinternational.com
Jan 28, 2008
Poland's ministry of education will join with the educational ministries of the German states to introduce a joint German-Polish history book. Wojciech Rogacin explains: "In Polish history books, the typical German is a barbaric aggressor, someone who for thousands of years only thought about how best to snatch our territory and keep the Polish people down. There is not a word about the rich German culture found also in Polish areas or German science or industry. And it's the same in German
Source: http://www.ananova.com/news
Jan 28, 2008
A new study says that 1812 was the worst year ever for Britain.
We had been at war with France for nearly 20 years which pushed taxes to record levels, while a series of disastrous harvests meant the cost of living had never been so high.
Prime Minister Spencer Perceval was shot dead in the House of Commons and America declared war on us in a dispute over trade with France.
King George III was mad and his unpopular son George, later to be George IV, ruled a
Source: http://europe.courrierinternational.com
Jan 28, 2008
Poland's ministry of education will join with the educational ministries of the German states to introduce a joint German-Polish history book. Wojciech Rogacin explains: "In Polish history books, the typical German is a barbaric aggressor, someone who for thousands of years only thought about how best to snatch our territory and keep the Polish people down. There is not a word about the rich German culture found also in Polish areas or German science or industry. And it's the same in German
