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: Observer (UK)
Jan 21, 2007
The ministry of Defence and Buckingham Palace have confirmed they are not sending a minister or senior representative to the Falkland Islands to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the war against Argentina.
This has infuriated forces veterans, who view the move as a failure to acknowledge a campaign in which 255 British troops died, almost a third more than the casualties sustained in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.
The MoD said the archipelago's 'unpleasant' and 'chil
Source: Observer (UK)
Jan 21, 2007
As the train pulls into the central station of Buenos Aires, Jose is still walking down the aisle hawking a clutch of goods. An olive-green jacket, a patch with an Argentinian flag on his right arm, and a silhouette of the Malvinas Islands signal he is one of the many veterans of the Falklands war supplementing their meagre pensions. What he sells is patriotism - small calendars and stickers bearing the slogan: 'The Malvinas were, are and always will be Argentinian.'
But he tells a
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jan 21, 2007
BERLIN -- The grandson of a man hanged by the Nazis for his part in an attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler is battling for the return of priceless artworks confiscated from his family in retribution.
But Carl-Friedrich Wentzel has accused today's German authorities of "stonewalling" after museums refused to allow him access to their vaults and archives, where he believes some of the 200 paintings, sculptures and antique furniture that belonged to his grand-father may be st
Source: NYT
Jan 21, 2007
THE time has come, Senator Barack Obama says, for the baby boomers to get over themselves.
In taking the first steps toward a presidential candidacy last week, Mr. Obama, who was born in 1961 and considers himself a member of the post-boomer generation, said Americans hungered for “a different kind of politics,” one that moved beyond the tired ideological battles of the 1960s.
To make his point, Mr. Obama, a Democrat from Illinois in his first term in the Senate, announ
Source: BBC
Jan 20, 2007
A freelance archaeologist has uncovered what is thought to be the only known Anglo-Saxon royal burial site in the north of England.
Spectacular gold jewellery, weapons and clothing were found at the 109-grave cemetery, believed to date from the middle of the 7th Century.
Excavations were carried out after Steve Sherlock studied an aerial photo of the land near Redcar, Teesside.
Source: UPI
Jan 20, 2007
Brandeis University has denied director Jonathan Demme access to a speech by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, which Demme wanted to shoot for a film.
The university will not allow Demme to film Carter's upcoming speech, which the Oscar-winning filmmaker said he intended to use in a documentary about Carter, the Boston Globe reported.
The school's decision angered Demme and added another wrinkle to Carter's controversial visit to the university.
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Source: http://www.onlineathens.com
Jan 20, 2007
... Six presidential and Carter scholars [at a conference at the Carter Center] decided that Carter probably was a better president than conventional wisdom suggests, and will continue to be viewed more positively in the future.
"I don't think the Carter administration was a failure," Vanderbilt University political scientist Erwin Hargrove said. "I don't think it was a successful administration, either."
Panelists called Carter a transitional figure
Source: Australian
Jan 19, 2007
FARMERS have sold hundreds of gold artefacts stolen from skeletal corpses unearthed at a newly-found ancient burial complex in Indonesia, media reported today.
Skeletons wearing chains of gold rings around their necks, heads, hands and feet were found in the tombs in a rice field at Kendal Jaya village, about 60km east of Jakarta, the Seputar Indonesia daily said.
They were buried with other accessories made of precious stones or gold as well as axes and other pottery article
Source: San Antonio Express-News
Jan 19, 2007
Congress is exploring the possibility of building a national museum in the capital that highlights the historical contributions of Latinos in American society.
Legislation has been filed in the House and Senate that would create a commission to study the viability of a Latino museum, and create a public-private partnership to raise funds to build a museum.
"Although American Latinos have made and continue to make significant contributions to the culture and histo
Source: Guardian
Jan 19, 2007
The new head of the Church of Ireland has described the ban on any monarch becoming or marrying a Catholic as antiquated.
The primate elect's plea for the repeal of the 1701 Act of Settlement and the disestablishment of the Church of England revives a thorny constitutional controversy and sets him at odds with his Anglican colleagues over the water.
Source: AP
Jan 19, 2007
In a statement to be published next week, more than 100 Iranian activists outside that country have condemned its recent conference questioning the Holocaust.
The activists signed the statement blasting the Iranian government and paying homage to victims of the Nazi regime. The activists expressed frustration over the relative silence on the subject from the Iranian diaspora.
The statement, which began circulating last month, is to be printed next week in The New York
Source: AP
Jan 19, 2007
Julie Winnifred Bertrand, the world's oldest woman at 115, died in her sleep in a Montreal nursing home, according to Canadian media reports Friday.
Bertrand, born Sept. 16, 1891, in the Quebec town of Coaticook, passed away in her sleep early Thursday at the nursing home where she has lived for the last 35 years, her nephew told The Gazette in Montreal.
"She just stopped breathing," said Andre Bertrand, 73. "That's a nice way to go."
Source: AFP at Yahoo News
Jan 19, 2007
An expert on the "Mona Lisa" says he has ascertained with certainty that the symbol of feminine mystique died on July 15, 1542, and was buried at the convent in central Florence where she spent her final days.
Giuseppe Pallanti found a death notice in the archives of a church in Florence that referred to "the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, deceased July 15, 1542, and buried at Sant'Orsola," the Italian press reported Friday.
Born Lisa Gherardini in
Source: AP
Jan 19, 2007
Only one-fifth of the property that was stolen from Europe's Jews by the Nazis and their collaborators has ever been returned, leaving at least $115 billion in assets still missing, according to a new study obtained Friday by The Associated Press.
Many Western European governments paid restitution for only a fraction of the stolen real estate, investments, businesses and household items, while Eastern European countries under Soviet control paid almost nothing at all, according to t
Source: Star-Telegram
Jan 19, 2007
The Civil War ended more than 140 years ago, but on the eve of Confederate Heroes Day, new battles erupted over the meaning of the Old South, statues honoring its defenders and even a stage act at Gov. Rick Perry's inaugural ball.
The ongoing flash points this week highlight the raw emotions conjured up by the mere mention of the Confederacy or the iconic red, white and blue battle flag.
For many descendants of Confederate war veterans, including Texas Land Commissioner
Source: NYT
Jan 19, 2007
The only architectural vestige of the World Trade Center complex still standing aboveground, the “survivors’ stairway,” would be largely demolished under a proposal by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation.
Six to nine granite stair treads would be left in their original location near Vesey Street. Other elements of the staircase might be embedded in the trade center memorial plaza and displayed in the memorial museum.
The 21-foot-high staircase, which led to the
Source: WSJ Opinion Page
Jan 19, 2007
Higher education has failed democracy and impoverished the souls of today's students," declared Allan Bloom in "The Closing of the American Mind," a book that chastised a generation of academics and students with its biting, furious analysis about the decline of American liberal education. Twenty years ago, at the time of the book's publication, things looked bleak for those who shared Bloom's qualms about the effects of relativism on the academy.
Recently, Bloom's he
Source: Chronicle of Higher Education
Jan 19, 2007
Charles Carroll Jr. — spendthrift, drunkard, ne'er-do-well — would be long forgotten but for a single notable accomplishment: He built an exceedingly handsome house.
Begun in 1801 with money from his wealthy father — Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the only Roman Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence — the Federal-style home has near-perfect proportions and airy rooms. It boasts exquisite plasterwork, faux-marble baseboards, and, above its doorways, spectacular fan windo
Source: David Jacobs in the newsletter of the American Revolution Roundtable
Jan 19, 2007
Someone thus far unknown, described by the NY Post as a "brazen and unholy vandal" knocked the head off the statue of George Washington inside the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on Amsterdam Avenue. To add insult to the injury, the desecrator stuffed a dollar bill in the headless neck. The figure on the bill also had its head removed. The three foot statue is part of a collection that represents 20 centuries of history since the birth of Jesus Christ. Washington stood for the 18th Ce
Source: BBC
Jan 19, 2007
The development of sanitation has been the greatest medical advance in the last 166 years, according to a vote of more than 11,000 people worldwide.
Sanitation received 15.8% of the votes, beating other advances including the discovery of antibiotics and the development of vaccines.
Inadequate sanitation remains a problem in the developing world, contributing to millions of deaths.
The contest was run by the British Medical Journal.
