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: Times (of London)
Apr 25, 2007
LONDON -- A depiction of a goldfinch and luscious bunches of purple grapes painted 1,900 years ago for the home of a wealthy Roman have been discovered beneath an Italian restaurant in the City of London.
Experts have hailed the high-quality paintings, found beneath Lime Street in what was the most prestigious area of Roman London, as a sensational find and the most significant for two decades.
About a thousand fragments thought to date from around 120 AD have been reco
Source: AP
Apr 25, 2007
BEIJING -- A roast duck restaurant that has kept its ovens going continuously for more than 140 years plans to keep the fire burning through six months of renovations.
The Quanjude Qianamen off Tiananmen Square in Beijing has kept its wood-fired ovens operating continuously since it opened in 1864, Xinhua News Agency reported.
The renovations are part of a larger redevelopment of Qianmen Street.
The restaurant has had many famous guests including George
Source: Times (of London)
Apr 25, 2007
A senior gay Conservative claimed yesterday that Sir Edward Heath propositioned men for sex in the 1950s.
Brian Coleman, chairman of the London Assembly, claimed that the former Prime Minister curbed his behaviour after he was warned that it would harm his career.
Asked to substantiate his claims, Mr Coleman told The Times: “I have this on very good authority. There were many stories about Ted Heath. I did not know him well myself, but have been told this by people who
Source: Times (of London)
Apr 25, 2007
BEIJING -- China quietly removed its chief censor, who had provoked a furore on the internet this year with a ban on eight books, yesterday...
The ban on eight books that examined sensitive events in recent Chinese history resulted in a wave of anger on the internet, prompting the authorities to allow the books to remain on sale until stocks ran out.
New print runs, however, have been prohibited and the publishing houses punished. Zhang Yihe, one of the most prominent a
Source: Times (of London)
Apr 25, 2007
MADRID -- For Spanish football fans it has long been a source of shame: with their side on the pitch, they are unable to sing the national anthem.
The problem is that the piece, known as the Royal March, has no official words. One set of lyrics was used during the reign of King Alfonso XIII, which ended in 1931. Schoolchildren then sang another during the four-decade dictatorship of General Franco.
When he died in 1975, his lyrics went with him, and no one has since bee
Source: Lee White at National Coalition for History (NCH) website
Apr 24, 2007
On April 24, 2007, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties held a hearing on H.R. 1995, the “Tulsa-Greenwood Riot and Accountability Act of 2007.” The bill extends the statute of limitation to allow survivors to seek damages for losses incurred by the hundreds of families who lost homes and businesses in the Tulsa Race Riots of 1921.During the race riots, which occurred in Tulsa, Oklahoma from May 30—June 1, 1921, nearly 300 Afr
Source: Aiken (S.C.) Standard
Apr 24, 2007
The principle burial ground for African-Americans in the City of Aiken was recently placed on the National Historic Register as Aiken Colored Cemetery...
The official name is now Pine Lawn Cemetery located on Florence Street and serves as the resting ground of slaves, prominent leaders, educators, doctors and ministers...
The cemetery was founded in 1852 with originally four acres of land that the City of Aiken purchased and later gave to five colored churches in the ar
Source: CBC News
Apr 24, 2007
A 10-metre section of a shipwreck, possibly from the 19th century, has washed up on the North Shore of Prince Edward Island.
A portion of a ship's timber hull washed up on a beach near Cavendish last week. Jean Ronahan, who lives in nearby French River, suspects it may have broken loose following erosion near a breakwater in Cavendish...
"Right along our whole coastline here there was a lot of shipwrecks; there was the Marco Polo and there was another from t
Source: BBC News
Apr 24, 2007
Archaeologists are uncovering a huge prehistoric "lost country" hidden below the North Sea.
This lost landscape, where hunter-gatherer communities once lived, was swallowed by rising water levels at the end of the last ice age.
University of Birmingham researchers are heralding "stunning" findings as they map the "best-preserved prehistoric landscape in Europe"...
The Birmingham researchers have been using oil exploration techn
Source: Independent (UK)
Apr 24, 2007
Picasso's Guernica, the painting that epitomises the horrors of modern warfare, has sparked a new battle after a request to return it to its spiritual home was denied by Spain's capital.
Residents of Guernica are furious that they cannot borrow the masterpiece that depicts the destruction of their town during the Spanish Civil War.Related Links
Guernica remembered: Picasso's l
Source: Chronicle of Higher Education
Apr 24, 2007
The University of Virginia’s governing board passed a resolution this month in which it expressed “particular regret” for using slaves during the first half-century of its existence, until the end of the Civil War. The resolution, which passed unanimously, notes that “mostly anonymous laborers,” both slave and free, helped build the university. In the document, the board also “recommits itself to the principles of equal opportunity.” A news release accompanying the resolution states that it “is
Source: Daily Star (Beirut)
Apr 24, 2007
BEIRUT -- Downtown Baalbek is getting a contemporary facelift, and unearthing some ancient treasures along the way, as part of a [World Bank] project aimed at increasing the social economy of the historic city. [Baalbek -- Heliopolis in ancient times -- is known for its Roman temple ruins.]
[The project] focuses on restoring 200- to 300-year-old buildings around downtown Baalbek and...includes a third, smaller, contract committed to the restoration of mud brick houses. There are cur
Source: University of Leicester in Science Daily
Apr 24, 2007
There is a common perception that life in the once-thriving Roman city of Pompeii is well-known from the wealth of artefacts that have been uncovered since its accidental discovery in 1748, but this is far from the case, according to findings of University of Leicester archaeologist Dr. Penelope M. Allison.
Until recently archaeologists working on Pompeian artefacts have tended to concentrate on examples of art, some of it erotic, from the town that was suddenly destroyed by the eru
Source: Guardian
Apr 24, 2007
The former US presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush senior will be among a host of world leaders expected to attend the funeral in Moscow tomorrow of Boris Yeltsin, the Kremlin announced this morning.
Mr Clinton and several other "prominent political figures" will pay their respects to Yeltsin, Russia's first democratically elected president, who died yesterday of heart failure at the age of 76, the Kremlin said.
Members of the public will also be able to pa
Source: Sabah (Turkey)
Apr 24, 2007
In the 92nd anniversary of the so-called Armenian genocide, Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs have given full page adds on the biggest newspapers of the U.S.
The full page add which said 'Let's reveal together what really happened back in 1915' was published on New York Times, Herald Tribune and Los Angeles Times and Washington Times as well.
The challenging proposal was first made by the Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan in 2005 to Armenian government.
Source: CNN
Apr 24, 2007
WASHINGTON -- Former Pfc. Jessica Lynch and the brother of Army Ranger Pat Tillman told a House panel Tuesday that the U.S. military lied about Tillman's death and Lynch's capture...
Lynch testified that after her vehicle was attacked in Iraq in March 2003, she suffered a mangled spinal column, broken arm, crushed foot, shattered femur and even a sexual assault.
But it only added insult to injury, literally, when she returned to her parents' home in West Virginia, which
Source: IHT
Apr 24, 2007
Facing calls to compensate the aging victims of its wartime sexual slavery, Japan set up the Asian Women's Fund in 1995. It was a significant concession from Japan, which has always asserted that postwar treaties absolved it of all individual claims from World War II. But the fund only fueled anger in the very countries with which Japan had sought reconciliation. By the time it closed as scheduled last month, only a fraction of the former sex slaves had accepted money from the fund.
Source: New York Times
Apr 24, 2007
WASHINGTON -— When the Bush administration has sought to explain its strategy for fighting terrorism, it has often said the United States is involved in a “long war” against Islamic extremists.
The phrase was coined by Gen. John P. Abizaid before he retired as head of the Central Command. It was intended to signal to the American public that the country was involved in a lengthy struggle that went well beyond the war in Iraq and was political as well as military...
Afte
Source: China Daily (Beijing)
Apr 24, 2007
Foreign smugglers and antiques raiders are using sophisticated salvage equipment to steal China's underwater treasures, an investigation by the Cultural Heritage Administration has found.
In China's territorial sea, there are thousands of sunken ships carrying ancient treasures, mostly priceless porcelain.
Shan Jixiang, director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, told China Daily that the illegal foreign salvage ships were often equipped with the most adv
Source: Press Association
Apr 24, 2007
BERWICK-UPON-TWEED, England -- A metal-detecting beginner has spoken of his shock at uncovering a hoard of Bronze Age artefacts.
Among the objects is a Bronze Age razor -- the first to be found in the county -- which suggests men living in the area between about 1000 and 800BC were clean-shaven. Also found were gold lock rings, believed to have been hair decorations, as well as bracelets, rings, pins and axe heads.
John Minns...uncovered the historic find while on holid
