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: World Politics Watch
Mar 19, 2007
YEREVAN, Armenia -- Inside the tomb-like confines of the Armenian genocide museum, a haunting narrative of images and words unfolds. A list is posted at tour's end of Western nations that have officially recognized the tragedy, minus one major endorsement: the United States.
U.S. lawmakers have recently introduced non-binding resolutions that would declare up to 1.5 million Armenians victims of genocide at the hands of Turkish forces almost a century ago. Support is reported to be s
Source: UPI
Mar 19, 2007
LONDON -- Four watercolors going on exhibit in London this week are all that remain of a gold and enamel ring that once graced the hand of Mary, Queen of Scots.
The paintings are part of a Society of Antiquaries exhibition at the British Antique Dealers' Association Fine Antiques and Fine Art Fair, The Independent said Monday. It is the first time the paintings are being display in London since they were presented to the society two centuries ago...
Mary Queen of Scots,
Source: AP
Mar 19, 2007
BANGKOK, Thailand -- From the creators of the $25,000 dinner, there's another pricey gourmet feast on the horizon.
Wealthy foodies can mark their calendars for Dec. 12, 2008, when top chefs from around the world will be flown to Egypt to cook a dinner in front of the ancient Pyramids of Giza, organizer Deepak Ohri said Monday...
Some 500 tickets will be sold for the dinner to be cooked by 30 3-star Michelin chefs...
A kitchen half a mile long will be set up
Source: AP
Mar 19, 2007
GLOUCESTER, Va. — The excavation of a hidden chamber at the former home of Thomas Jefferson's girlfriend has not turned up any love letters — yet.
''We still have about 2 feet further down to dig,'' said archaeologist Thane Harpole, who is leading the project along with fellow archaeologist David Brown.
Fairfield Plantation was the Gloucester County home of Rebecca Burwell, who was 16 when she met College of William and Mary student Thomas Jefferson. The house was built
Source: BBC
Mar 19, 2007
Conservators at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum are a step closer to solving a 250-year-old mystery.
They have been working on an 18th Century portrait to uncover a black servant who some experts believed was deliberately painted out.
The portrait of tobacco merchant John Glassford and his family was painted in the 1760s by Archibald McLauchlan.
The wealthy Glaswegian's black servant was included in the picture as an indicator of his wealth and status...
Source: Newsday
Mar 19, 2007
The museum's 138-million-page presidential archive could play an important role in determining how Hillary Rodham Clinton's controversial White House past will affect her attempt to reclaim 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
"I haven't received any documents or even a note indicating that they're searching the records," said Jeff Gerth, a former New York Times reporter who requested a wide range of the first lady's files for an unauthorized Clinton biography he's working on.
Source: Secrecy News, written by Steven Aftergood, is published by the Federation of American Scientists
Mar 19, 2007
A proposed "General Records Schedule" (GRS) that would authorize
the disposal and destruction of various CFO records is
"fundamentally flawed," wrote one Archives analyst last year."I really cannot say anything positive about this proposed
GRS," wrote another analyst, in internal comments. "It is
flawed, troubling, and misleading." It is "unimplementable"
and "will lead to the destruction of permanent records."
Source: Times (of London)
Mar 19, 2007
FERRARA, Italy -- The Hermitage in St Petersburg, struggling to display or even catalogue its vast collection of art treasures, is to establish a satellite branch in Italy as its “window on the West”.
The treasures will be housed in the 14th-century Castello Estense, the “jewel” at the heart of Ferrara. A palazzo and park will also be restored to provide a residential study centre for Italian and Russian art experts.
“The Hermitage has three million items and even the R
Source: Los Angeles Times
Mar 19, 2007
ATLANTA —- More than 140 years after slavery was abolished, Congress and a growing number of elected officials in states and cities are wrestling with whether to formally apologize.
The movement began in the former Confederate capital, Richmond, Va., with state legislators last month unanimously passing a resolution expressing "profound regret" over Virginia's role in slavery and the Jim Crow era.
Now, lawmakers in Georgia, Maryland, Delaware, New York, Missou
Source: Washington Post
Mar 19, 2007
The U.S. war in Iraq enters its fifth year today. That, and 3,197 U.S. military deaths reported by the Pentagon as of 10 a.m. Friday, are among the few numerical certainties in a conflict characterized from the start by confusion and misuse of key data.
In the fog of modern counterinsurgency warfare, statistics have replaced conquered territory as measures of success. Then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld once dismissed questions about the level of combat-ready Iraqi troops by s
Source: Times (of London)
Mar 19, 2007
PAILIN, Cambodia -- Ten minutes’ bumpy drive from the border with Thailand, past a strip of gaudy casinos and brothels in a landscape of denuded hillsides, is a place where travellers fear to stop.
Throughout Cambodia the border town of Pailin is known —- apart from its gemstones —- as the last bastion of the Khmer Rouge, from where its remnants fought the Government until 1998.
The reputation is enough to send most travellers rushing through to the capital, Phnom Penh,
Source: Guardian
Mar 19, 2007
A film is to be made about a woman whom Italy's fascist dictator, Benito Mussolini, tried to airbrush out of history.
Ida Dalser and her son by Mussolini both died in mental institutions after she tried unsuccessfully to force the dictator to recognise their marriage and his son, also named Benito. "Not Even Nero or Caligula would have done what you have done," she once wrote to him.
The story has considerable current relevance because of efforts by the Italia
Source: Washington Post
Mar 19, 2007
Internal Smithsonian documents offer a glimpse into what one senator called the "Dom Perignon" lifestyle of the taxpayer-supported institution's chief official, who turned in a $15,000 receipt for the replacement of French doors at his home and spent $48,000 for two chairs, a conference table and upholstery for his office suite.
Smithsonian Secretary Lawrence M. Small's spending has been the subject of intense public scrutiny after The Washington Post published details las
Source: http://www.haaretz.com
Mar 18, 2007
More than a quarter of Israel's Arab citizens believe the Holocaust never happened, and nearly two thirds of Israeli Jews avoid entering Arab towns, a poll by a University of Haifa sociologist showed Sunday.
The poll, conducted by Sami Smoocha, a prominent sociologist at the University of Haifa, showed a wide gap of mistrust, anger and fear between Israel's majority Jews and its Arab citizens, who make up a fifth of Israel's citizens.
In its most dramatic finding, the p
Source: NYT
Mar 18, 2007
BUTLER, Ga. -- The cool, busy lobby of the Taylor County courthouse features a bulletin board, a Dr Pepper vending machine and two framed rosters honoring local veterans of World War II. It is easy to spot the slight difference in wording that justifies displaying two plaques instead of one.
This list says “Whites,” and that list says “Colored.”
County officials explain that the segregated plaques continue to hang because state law says no publicly owned memorial dedica
Source: http://www.dw-world.de
Mar 18, 2007
A unique kind museum opened in Vienna this week. Everything inside revolves around contraception and abortions, and the museum attempts to go beyond any other collection in any other nation.
The initiator of this museum is Christian Fiala, a doctor who has directed a clinic for abortions and family planning in Vienna for the past 10 years. Fiala is seen as a missionary for women’s health and is the chairman of the International Association of Abortion and Contraception Specialists.
Source: AFP
Mar 18, 2007
Sudan's archaeology is finally stepping out of Egypt's shadow as teams work against the clock to rescue an entire swathe of Nile Valley heritage from the rising waters of a Chinese-built dam.
"The paradox is that, yes, an entire area is being wiped off the map but thanks to the rescue project, Sudanese archaeology is being put on the map," said Sudan's antiquities chief Salah Ahmed.
The Merowe dam is a controversial hydro-electric project -- one of the largest
Source: ABC News
Mar 18, 2007
Four thousand feet below the canyon rim, the Colorado River continues to slowly eat away at rock formations that created this vast and awe-inspiring canyon.
But this is not the Grand Canyon tourists have come to know and love. This is Grand Canyon West, 90 miles downstream from Grand Canyon National Park, on land owned by the Hualapai Indian Tribe.Now, the Hualapai are about to do something no one has ever dreamed of before.
Later this m
Source: International Herald Tribune
Mar 18, 2007
IWO JIMA, Japan -- A breeze carried the scent of salt off sun-speckled waves, and a pod of whales spouted playfully near shore, but it was a prayer of mourning that Yoshitaka Shindo directed toward the sand and surf that stretched before him.
This was Invasion Beach, where 62 years ago 61,000 American marines poured onto this remote volcanic island in the Pacific Ocean, in one of the bloodiest and final campaigns of World War II. It was Shindo's grandfather, Lieutenant General Tadam
Source: Reuters
Mar 18, 2007
LAHORE, Pakistan -- Many Pakistani archaeological sites from its thousands of years of rich history are crumbling away as officials tussle over who should look after them.
A cradle of ancient civilizations and crossroads of Greek, Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim cultures, Pakistan has a treasure-trove of ruins but many are being built over, pilfered by art thieves and villagers or succumbing to the elements.
The federal government's archaeology department has control over mo
