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: International Herald Tribune
Dec 5, 2006
The empty niches that once held Bamiyan's colossal Buddhas now gape in the rock face - a silent cry at the terrible destruction wrought on this fabled valley and its 1,500-year-old treasures, once the largest standing Buddha statues in the world.
Archaeologists have been taking advantage of the greatly increased access that became possible, once the statues were gone, to make new discoveries - and to pursue ancient tales of a third giant Buddha, possibly buried between the two that were d
Source: NYT
Dec 5, 2006
ABOARD THE INTREPID IN THE HUDSON RIVER, Dec. 5 — The Intrepid is no longer stuck in the mud.
This morning, one month after the first attempt failed, a team of tugboats yanked the old, gray ship from its berth on the West Side of Manhattan, where it has served as a military museum for 24 years.
After three weeks of dredging provided by the United States Navy to clear the Intrepid’s four giant propellers from the river bottom for a second try, the lead tug, the Christine
Source: livescience.com
Dec 4, 2006
Neanderthals suffered periods of starvation and may have supplemented their diet through cannibalism, according to a study of remains from northwest Spain.
Paleobiologists studied samples from eight 43,000-year-old Neanderthal skeletons excavated from an underground cave in El Sidrón, Spain since 2000. The study sheds light on how Neanderthals lived before the arrival of modern humans in Europe.
Researchers found cut marks and evidence that bones had been torn apart, wh
Source: Yahoo
Dec 4, 2006
Two years ago, a rich and ancient trove of some of Afghanistan's most treasured archaeological artefacts was rediscovered after lying hidden and feared lost through years of war and instability.
Illustrating about 2,000 years of Afghan history, the items were believed stolen or destroyed as the turbulent country emerged from civil strife and the 2001 fall of the hardline Taliban regime.
Now, a collection of 220 of the objects, which include major ivory, bronze and glass
Source: AP
Dec 4, 2006
The parents of two students threatened with suspension for donning buttons depicting Hitler youth are suing, claiming the boys' free speech rights were violated.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court on Friday, seeks to bar the Bayonne school district from suspending or disciplining seventh-grader Anthony LaRocco and fifth-grader Michael DePinto if they wear the protest buttons.
The buttons, which were made to protest a mandatory uniform policy for grades K-8 adopted in
Source: Miami Herald
Dec 4, 2006
The rare, attention-grabbing stamp found on the envelope of a Broward County absentee ballot has officially been declared a fake.
Two independent stamp organizations examined the Inverted Jenny stamp in person today. Representatives from both the Pennsylvania-based American Philatelic Society and the California-based Professional Stamp Experts agreed the Broward stamp was a copy of the actual World War I-era stamp.
The forged stamp has several differences from a real In
Source: Media Matters
Dec 4, 2006
Summary: A December 4 Washington Post article pointed out that the newspaper's own reporting from October 2002 on the House's passage of the Iraq war resolution failed to quote a single Democrat expressing concerns about "postwar challenges," though many had done so. Media Matters found that contemporaneous articles from three other major print outlets also left out any mention of such warnings.
In a December 4 article, Washington Post staff writer Walter Pincus highlighte
Source: Reuters
Dec 4, 2006
Foreigners wanting to settle in the country will be tested on their knowledge of British history and customs from next year, the Home Office said on Monday,
From April, applicants will be expected to answer questions on subjects ranging from The Queen, to regional dialects and customs in the 45-minute "Life in the UK" test already taken by those applying to become British citizens.
The government says the test helps integrate migrants into society.
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Dec 4, 2006
As an antidote to over-fussy modern cuisine it could not be better, and as a source for sensible, healthy and economical recipes it could not be improved.
In the pinched austerity of 1944 The Daily Telegraph appealed to its readers to send in their answers to the problems posed by rationing for the contemporary cook.
The newspaper's "Home Cook", a reassuringly anonymous figure, wrote in the foreword to the appropriately lean volume - now being republished by T
Source: Reuters
Dec 4, 2006
- South Korea started a $30 million (15.2 million pound), three-year project on Monday to move the main gate of an ancient royal palace about 15 metres (50 feet) in order to right a wrong it sees as being caused by Japan's colonial occupation.
The gate burnt then down in the early stages of the 1950-1953 Korean War.
The gate, which stands at the end of a main thoroughfare in the capital, was rebuilt by South Korea in 1968, using materials such as concrete, in a spot rem
Source: Website of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW)
Dec 4, 2006
CREW has been trying to obtain access visitor records to the White House for months now. Those records had been under the control of the Secret Service, which made them subject to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. The White House is now claiming visitor records are under their control -- and, therefore, not subject to FOIAs because the White House is exempt. We believe that the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has been in a dispute with the White House about those re
Source: Reuters
Dec 4, 2006
Seventy years after he was shot during the
Spanish civil war, 90-year-old Leandro Saun turns red with anger when
talking about a conflict that still divides Spain."We're only partially over it," he says during a debate in Marca, a small
village near the Ebro river, site of one of the bloodiest battles of the
1936-1939 war.
Saun fought with the Republican forces against General Francisco Franco's
men, and spent 12 years in prison, four of them under a death sentence.
He has be
Source: MSNBC
Dec 4, 2006
It's "The Long Goodbye"—Pentagon style. Donald Rumsfeld's successor as Defense secretary, Robert Gates, is due to have his confirmation hearing in early December—a process Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada predicted would be swift. "We want the change to take place very quickly," Reid said.
Not so quickly, after all. A White House spokesperson confirms that Gates will be sworn in as the new Defense secretary "in the new year," a good two wee
Source: Boston Globe
Dec 3, 2006
In July 1987, then-Rep. Dick Cheney, the top Republican on the committee investigating the Iran-Contra scandal, turned on his hearing room microphone and delivered, in his characteristically measured tone, a revolutionary claim.
President Ronald Reagan and his top aides, he asserted, were free to ignore a 1982 law at the center of the scandal. Known as the Boland Amendment, it banned U.S. assistance to anti-Marxist militants in Nicaragua.
"I personally do not belie
Source: http://www.newsobserver.com
Dec 3, 2006
Zenji Abe plans to make one last trip to Hawaii to remember Pearl Harbor this Dec. 7.
But there is a major difference between him and the other Pearl Harbor survivors gathering in Honolulu for what may be their final reunion.
Abe was on the other side.
A longtime Tokyo resident, Abe is one of the very last of the Japanese survivors from the Dec. 7, 1941, raid on the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. Only a handful of the 751 aviators remain.
For pe
Source: Yahoo
Dec 3, 2006
Famed paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey is giving no quarter to powerful evangelical church leaders who are pressing Kenya's national museum to relegate to a back room its world-famous collection of hominid fossils showing the evolution of humans' early ancestors.
Leakey called the churches' plans"the most outrageous comments I have ever heard."
He told The Daily Telegraph (London):"The National Museums of Kenya should be extremely strong in presenting a very forceful case for the
Source: Observer
Dec 3, 2006
Vivacious, flirtatious and yet serious-minded, Mary Hamilton first created waves in the court of George III when she was appointed to help look after his six daughters in the royal nursery.
A niece of Emma, Lady Hamilton, the famous mistress of Lord Nelson, her alluring looks quickly drew her to the attention of the teenage Prince Regent, later to become King George IV. In spite of the fact that Mary Hamilton was six years his senior, the infatuated youth sent her 78 passionate let
Source: AP
Dec 3, 2006
Archaeologists have unearthed what they say are
the only existing imperial insignia belonging to
Emperor Maxentius ˜ precious objects that were buried
to preserve them and keep them from enemies when he
was defeated by his rival Constantine.
Excavation under Rome's Palatine Hill near the
Colosseum turned up items including three lances and
four javelins that experts said are striking for their
completeness ˜ digs usually turn up only
Source: NYT
Dec 3, 2006
AT ages 84 and 83, Wang Zaiban and Wu Xiuzhen are old women, and their feet are historical artifacts. They are among the dwindling number of women in China from the era when bound feet were considered a prerequisite for landing a husband.
No available man, custom held, could resist the picture of vulnerability presented by a young girl tottering atop tiny, pointed feet. But Mrs. Wang and Mrs. Wu have tottered past vulnerability. They have outlived their husbands and also outlived ci
Source: HNN Staff
Dec 3, 2006
The Washington Post asked four historians to rank President Bush. Eric Foner says flat out that Bush is"the worst ever."
David Greenberg says that Nixon is still the worst but Bush's record is certainly comparable.
