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: AFP
Feb 14, 2007
CAIRO -- Dutch archaeologists have discovered a tomb in the Saqqara necropolis from the time of Egypt's monotheistic pharaoh Akhenaton some 3,300 years ago, the Supreme Council of Antiquities has said.
The discovery shows that notables contemporary with Akhenaton continued to be buried in Saqqara, just outside the modern day capital of Cairo, indicating the enduring importance of old religious orthodoxy under "the heretic pharaoh"...
The tomb, which bears the
Source: AP
Feb 14, 2007
NEW YORK -- Anne Frank's father tried to arrange U.S. visas for his family before they went into hiding, but his efforts were hampered when Allied and Axis countries tightened immigration policies, according to papers released Wednesday.
Otto Frank also sent desperate letters to friends and family in the U.S. pleading for help with immigration costs as the family tried to escape the Nazi-occupied Netherlands.
"I would not ask if conditions here would not force me t
Source: BBC News
Feb 14, 2007
Antony and Cleopatra, one of history's most romantic couples, were not the great beauties that Hollywood would have us believe, academics have said.
A study of a 2,000-year-old silver coin found the Egyptian queen, famously portrayed by Elizabeth Taylor, had a pointed chin, thin lips and sharp nose. Her Roman lover, played by Richard Burton, had bulging eyes, thick neck and a hook nose.
The tiny coin was studied by experts at Newcastle University. [See BBC webpage for
Source: AP
Feb 14, 2007
VERSAILLES -- At last, the Hall of Mirrors is once again fit for a king.
Workers at the Chateau of Versailles are putting the finishing touches on a 3-year, $15.6 million renovation of the gilded gallery of 357 mirrors where King Louis XIV entertained — and intimidated — diplomats and courtiers.
The hall's grand reopening will likely come sometime in June.
...The vaulted ceiling is especially astonishing.
Before the renovation, Charles Le Brun's ove
Source: ABC-Radio Australia
Feb 14, 2007
The Australian Government says it is commited to repatriating Aboriginal remains held in overseas collections.
The Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre has obtained a court injunction in Britain, preventing that country's Natural History Museum from carrying out scientific tests on the remains of 17 Aborigines, before they are returned to Australia.
The centre wants the federal government to help fund its continuing legal challenge.
The attorney-general Philip Ruddo
Source: Reuters
Feb 13, 2007
ADDIS ABABA -- The countdown has started on a flickering billboard high above a roundabout in Ethiopia's capital, blinking out recently in red and gold letters: only 209 days, 15 hours, 22 minutes and 22 seconds to the Millennium...
A variation on the archaic Julian calendar -- which started disappearing from the West in the 16th century -- means Ethiopia will not enter the year 2000 until September 12 this year.
"When everyone else celebrated their millennium, the
Source: Live Science
Feb 13, 2007
Chemists have solved a 20-year mystery surrounding the date of a Madonna and Child painting, the "de Brecy Tondo," painted by an as-yet unidentified artist...
Howell Edwards, a specialist in Raman spectroscopy at the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom, used laser-based technology to detect yellow pigments and glue typical of the Renaissance period, which dates the painting between the 14th and 16th centuries...
During the past 24 years, 8 laboratorie
Source: Guardian
Feb 13, 2007
A furious row was raging across the Adriatic today over the Second World War after the presidents of Croatia and Italy traded accusations of racism and barbarism.
Italian diplomats called off visits to Zagreb and summoned the Croatian ambassador in Rome for a stiff talking-to; and the Italian prime minister, Romano Prodi, attacked Croatia after its president, Stipe Mesic, accused his Italian counterpart of racism and trying to rewrite history.
Croatia and Slovenia were
Source: International Herald Tribune
Feb 13, 2007
by Michael Johnson
BORDEAUX -- On daily walks through one of the big Bordeaux parks, le Jardin public, I kept noticing a large, isolated statue of a man in a frock coat grasping a top hat and frowning. One day I took a closer look and discovered that the bronze statue with the pained expression was of the aging, tormented painter Francisco Goya, the "Spanish Rembrandt" and a genius Bordeaux likes to claim as its own.
Now, at the request of Goya's admirers, the
Source: Press Release -- Helise Flickstein
Feb 13, 2007
Freddie Mac Bank has donated the childhood home of Susan B. Anthony to New York State Parks Department for $1. Helise Flickstein, mother of five children, is the sole person who convinced the bank to donate the house has plans to make it into a museum. She had also gotten the house on the New York State & National Historic Register! She has the knowledge of five years of research behind her in regards to the Anthonys & the Stantons. Coline Jenkins, the great great grand daughter of E
Source: AP
Feb 13, 2007
BUENOS AIRES -- Argentina said Tuesday it has sent Spain an extradition request for former President Isabel Peron, who is wanted for questioning about a disappearance that occurred when death squads terrorized the country during her rule.
The Foreign Ministry said extradition papers were sent at the request of Federal Judge Raul Acosta in Mendoza, who last month ordered Isabel Peron detained for questioning about the February 1976 disappearance of leftist Hector Aldo Fagetti Gallego
Source: AP
Feb 13, 2007
OSLO -- A German submarine that was sunk off Norway at the end of World War II will be buried in special sand to protect the coastline from its cargo of toxic mercury, the government announced Tuesday.
The U-864 submarine, which was found by the Royal Norwegian Navy in March 2003, is believed to have about 70 tons of mercury on board.
Despite demands from local villagers to remove the mercury, Minister of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs Dag Terje Andersen said the governm
Source: Guardian/Mortar Board (blog)
Feb 13, 2007
First modern foreign languages, now history. Just as ministers are about to embark on a shake-up of the school curriculum to place more emphasis on "Britishness" in history lessons, more bad news comes their way.
Seven out of 10 schoolchildren have given up studying history by the time they are 14, according to Paul Armitage, history adviser for the education standards watchdog Ofsted, who spoke at a conference yesterday.
Mr Armitage gave the example of seven
Source: AP
Feb 13, 2007
BRUSSELS -- A government-backed report released Tuesday blamed Belgian authorities and the ruling elite for collaborating with the Nazi persecution of Jews during World War II.
Although Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt has already recognized the level of collaboration, the report was the first time it had been presented in such detail.
"The Belgian authorities cooperated with the racial anti-Jewish policies during the occupation," and acted in a way "unwort
Source: AP
Feb 13, 2007
BERLIN -- A German court threw out a bid Monday to prevent the closure of the capital's historic Tempelhof Airport, clearing the way for the one-time base of the Berlin airlift to close to passengers next year.
Thirteen companies that use the inner-city airport had sought to block its closure as part of plans to build a new airport hub on the edge of the capital...
Tempelhof opened in 1923 and was expanded under the Nazis into a huge horseshoe-shaped complex. Its massiv
Source: KVUE-TV (Austin, Tex.)
Feb 13, 2007
It appears efforts to move a giant historic live oak tree [in downtown Austin] over the weekend were successful.
The tree is estimated to weigh about 400,000 pounds and could be between 200 and 300 years old.
The tree used to sit on a hill at the corner of 9th Street and Neches. It was moved across the street to the property of the First Baptist Church...to make way for a new 10-story condominium project being built by a company called Noble Development Group.
Source: Denver Post
Feb 13, 2007
The National Archives and Records Administration has proposed that the depositions of the parents of the Columbine High School killers be kept at its Denver regional center and ideally be made public after 20 years.
The agency, weighing in on a legal debate over what to do with statements given by the parents in connection with various now-settled lawsuits, said that any materials from Columbine given to it would be considered to be of significant historical value and would be perma
Source: UPI
Feb 13, 2007
EDINBURGH -- Contractors renovating a building in Edinburgh, Scotland, were surprised to find a mummified cat believed about 180 years old under basement floorboards.
In fact, none of the workers would even touch the cat, which has distinct features and its paw resting on its face, The Scotsman reported Tuesday.
DX Network Services Manager Angus Philip said...he is donating his ancient -- and rather dead -- pet to the National Museum of Scotland.
The museum
Source: Public Radio International/The World
Feb 13, 2007
[Transcript + audio] Jeb Sharp: The memorial at Murambi sits on a hilltop near the town of Gikongoro in the southwest. The site was supposed to be a technical college. The campus was still under construction when the genocide began. Thousands of Tutsis sought refuge in the empty buildings. They were slaughtered there. The bodies were dumped into mass graves.
The day I visit with my translator, the place is deserted. There are two guides who work at the memorial. They catch a ride u
Source: Reuters
Feb 13, 2007
DUBLIN -- Britain removed the last of its armoured watch towers in Northern Ireland on Tuesday in a significant symbolic step towards erasing the visible reminders of the province's 30-year conflict.
Improved security conditions following the 1997 cease-fire by the IRA have seen Britain drastically reduce its military presence in Northern Ireland.
It began dismantling the watch posts that dotted the countryside and towered over small towns and villages in 2000 and has p
