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
May 29, 2007
Japan’s agriculture minister, Toshikatsu Matsuoka, killed himself on Monday, just hours before he was to face parliamentary questioning about a political finance scandal, government officials said.
Toshikatsu Matsuoka was about to be questioned by Parliament.
Suicides have a long and often romanticized history in Japan, where they have been seen as a face-saving escape from public humiliation. But analysts said Mr. Matsuoka’s suicide could deal a fresh blow to Prime Minister
Source: AP
May 29, 2007
At least a dozen window panes are missing and other repair work is needed to fully rehabilitate the former Durham's Chapel school – also known as a "Rosenwald School" for Sears Roebuck and Co. president Julius Rosenwald, who funded it and nearly 5,000 others for black children in the South in the early 1900s.
Historians don't know how many schools are left standing, and several states are conducting surveys to try to identify how many have survived and if these crumbling r
Source: http://www.newswatch50.com (New York State)
May 28, 2007
Part of long-forgotten War of 1812 fortifications have been rediscovered in Sackets Harbor.
Local archaeologist Dr. Timothy Abel says he has uncovered remains of a palisaded breastwork in the village.
Sackets Harbor was a major Navy base and shipbuilding site during the War of 1812. It saw heavy fighting during a brief British invasion in 1813.
Source: Japan Focus
May 28, 2007
One year after media reports that Aso Mining used 300 Allied prisoners of war for forced labor in 1945, Foreign Minister Aso Taro is refusing to confirm that POWs dug coal for his family’s company—and even challenging reporters to produce evidence.
That is not hard to do. Records produced by both Aso Mining and the Japanese government clearly show that POWs toiled at the Aso Yoshikuma mine in Fukuoka Prefecture.
Source: LAT
May 28, 2007
Memorial Day traditionally honors military veterans who died in America's many wars, but amid all the ritualistic remembering, some "veterans" are mostly forgotten, namely, the cannons and war wagons that accompanied flesh-and-blood vets in training and battle.
Beneath tall, swaying evergreens and palm trees, more than a hundred such antiquities rest in splendid obsolescence in a dusty dirt lot in South El Monte. Retrograde tanks and personnel carriers, outdated anti-aircr
Source: Guardian
May 28, 2007
As the 10th anniversary of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, approaches, the Diana memorial industry is creaking into action once more. The website that sells David and Elizabeth Emanuel's tome, A Dress for Diana, is taking orders for a special "limited edition" volume that includes a swatch of silk from the offcuts of her bridal gown. A thousand copies of the book are for sale, and the bargain price of this self-proclaimed "piece of history" is 1,000 pounds.
Source: Telegraph (UK)
May 28, 2007
THE fabric of French village life is in danger of destruction as mayors consider demolishing 19th century churches, conservationists and historians have warned.
A wave of threatened demolitions in the Anjou area has sparked fears of a wider phenomenon as mayors struggle to pay for the upkeep of the buildings, a responsibility they have held since secularisation laws passed in 1905.
No exhaustive list of the nation's rural churches exists.
However, of its 1
Source: AP
May 28, 2007
A group of Incline Village residents led by the son of late ‘‘Bonanza'' star Lorne Greene is trying to preserve the history of the north Lake Tahoe community.
Chuck Greene and other history buffs have discussed plans to create a local historical society and to open a museum.
‘‘Our near-term goal is preserving documents and memorabilia from the history of the community and doing oral histories with as many early residents as we can,'' Greene told the North Lake Tahoe Bon
Source: AP
May 28, 2007
The Veterans History Project wants families to spend some time on Memorial Day recording their veteran's story.
The project's director, retired Army Colonel Bob Patrick, says there are already some 50,000 stories in the archives, but more are needed. Patrick notes that World War Two veterans are dying at a rate of about a thousand a day. He says, "we're losing this collected memory of the most cataclysmic event in world history."
The memoirs of some of those
Source: NBC
May 28, 2007
Born on his father's farm in Missouri in 1901 during the presidency of William McKinley, young Frank [Buckles] had a thirst for history. He was particularly interested in the exploits of Gen. John Joseph Pershing and tales from the Spanish-American War. When the war in Europe broke out, Buckles scoured the newspapers, trying to follow the action thousands of miles away. Lying about his age, he enlisted in the U.S. Army at 15. "If anybody asked how old I was, I told them it wasn't any of the
Source: NYT
May 28, 2007
Often the writing and photography that win Pulitzer Prizes require heroic efforts on the part of journalists. For one recipient this year, the process of receiving the award also took an enormous effort.
In 1979, a photographer stood nearby as executioners shot Kurdish prisoners in Sanandaj, Iran. A picture he took for an Iranian newspaper was picked up by United Press International and published worldwide. To protect the photographer, his name was not printed.
But the
Source: NYT
May 28, 2007
For a manuscript written 1,200 years ago and revered as a wonder of the Western world practically ever since, little is known about the Book of Kells and its splendidly illustrated Gospels in Latin. But the book may be about to surrender a few of its many secrets.
Experts at Trinity College in Dublin, where the Book of Kells has resided for the past 346 years, are allowing a two-year laser analysis of the treasure, which is one of Ireland’s great tourist draws.
The 21
Source: NYT
May 28, 2007
Conrad Joachim, a German immigrant, marched off to war from his home on Greenwich Street in Manhattan on May 13, 1862, enlisting as an assistant surgeon in the 15th New York Heavy Artillery. Charles Joachim, whom historians believe to be his son, had already joined the same unit.
Four months later, Conrad was dead; and in another year, so was Charles, at about the age of 20. They were buried in the same grave at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, beneath a marble headstone that is an
Source: AP
May 27, 2007
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Tour guides will show you this historic city on foot, trolley or double-decker bus, in a horse-drawn carriage, while riding a Segway or even as you blow a kazoo on a boat with wheels.
But can you believe what they say?
That's a concern of some Philadelphia hospitality officials, who worry the city's most valuable asset — its history — is being tarnished by unreliable tour guides who mix up dates and spice up biographies of famous founders like Benjam
Source: AP
May 27, 2007
ROSKILDE, Denmark - On the skipper's command, deckhands haul in tarred ropes to lower the flax sail. Oars splash into the water. The crew, grimacing with strain, pull with steady strokes sending the sleek Viking longship gliding through the fjord.
A thousand years ago, the curved-prow warship might have spewed out hordes of bloodthirsty Norsemen ready to pillage and burn.
This time, the spoils are adventure rather than plunder.
The Sea Stallion of Glendalou
Source: WaPo
May 27, 2007
As Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) campaigned across Iowa this weekend, she was asked about the war in Iraq, illegal immigration and even whether her husband, former president Bill Clinton, might serve as secretary of state if she makes it to the White House.
But at no time during events in Algona, Mason City, Charles City or Emmetsburg was she asked for her reaction to a pair of soon-to-be-released books that portray her and her husband in an unflattering light and that recoun
Source: WaPo
May 27, 2007
On May 15, acting on a request from council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8), the D.C. Council voted to delete $500,000 in fiscal 2008 funding sought by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) to support the programs of the Historical Society of Washington, D.C. This unexpected and unfortunate action raises the question: Does D.C. history matter?For the answer, look no further than the response to the devastating fires at Eastern Market and the Georgetown public library. The peo
Source: WaPo
May 27, 2007
The single-engine Cessna aircraft, flying just 10 yards off the ground, buzzed Red Square three times as the pilot looked for a place to land. But too many people were on the square that May evening. So the plane pulled up and circled the Kremlin walls before setting down on the nearby Moskvoretsky Bridge and taxiing to St. Basil's Cathedral to park.
Twenty years ago, Mathias Rust, a 19-year-old dreamer from West Germany, pierced the Soviet Union's air defenses on what seemed like a
Source: http://www.taipeitimes.com
May 27, 2007
`The Island of Seven Cities,' written by the Toronto architect, has sparked a heated debate on whether the Chinese were the first foreigners to settle in Canada.
This book follows in the wake of Gavin Menzies' 1421 [reviewed in Taipei Times Jan. 19, 2003]. Whereas Menzies, together with many other claims, speculated that a Chinese fleet reached North America in that year, Paul Chiasson points to an actual Canadian site that, he believes, contains the remains of a Chinese settlement.
Source: Telegraph (UK)
May 27, 2007
A battle of the bells has broken out in Italy as churches face a wave of complaints from locals fed up with endless ringing.
The chimes that for centuries have marked the hours, half-hours and quarter-hours of Italian life are under threat from "noise pollution" orders now being enforced in several towns.
The complaints have alarmed officials at the powerful Italian Bishops Conference, who oversee the running of the nation's churches. They have hired lawyers t
