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: Telegraph (UK)
Nov 25, 2006
Stonehenge was the Lourdes of its day, to which diseased and injured ancient Britons flocked seeking cures for their ailments, according to a new theory.
For most of the 20th century archaeologists have debated what motivated primitive humans to go to the immense effort of transporting giant stones 240 miles from south Wales to erect Britain's most significant prehistoric monument.
Druids gather at Stonehenge for sunrise on the summer solstice. A new book suggests th
Source: NYT
Nov 25, 2006
The Great Wall of China was up there, above the treetops, hidden from view as our small group followed our guide, Yan Xinqiang, up a narrow, rutted trail toward a remote section of the wall known as Jiankou. At 61, Yan is old enough to be a grandfather but he practically skipped with excitement as we approached this relatively remote section - part of what is known as the Wild Wall.
We had driven almost three hours north of Beijing, parked in a small farming village and walked uphil
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Nov 25, 2006
The Queen's refusal to grieve publicly for Diana, Princess of Wales led to her being lampooned, vilified and even sparked calls for her abdication. Her Majesty's attitude, however, may have been more in keeping with public opinion than previously thought, writes Chris Hastings.
Confidential BBC documents show that nearly half the population (44 per cent) felt alienated by the blanket media coverage of the Princess's death and funeral, which they thought was excessive and over-emotio
Source: BBC
Nov 25, 2006
Chile's former military ruler Augusto Pinochet has said he takes political responsibility for everything that happened during his 18 years in power.
In the statement read by Gen Pinochet's wife on his 91st birthday, he defended his bloody 1973 coup, saying he had acted in Chile's best interests.
More than 3,000 people were killed or "disappeared" while Gen Pinochet was in power from 1973 to 1990.
He is facing indictments in two cases of human rights abu
Source: Reuters
Nov 25, 2006
Senior Hutu commanders backed by France shot down the plane carrying Rwanda's president in 1994, killing him and touching off a genocide, Rwandan President Paul Kagame told Reuters on Saturday.
Kagame also said in an exclusive interview that France harboured former government officials who masterminded the slaughter of 800,000 minority Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus during the 100 days of bloodshed which followed Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana's death in the plane cras
Source: AP
Nov 25, 2006
The war in Iraq has now lasted longer than the U.S. involvement in the war that President Bush's father fought in, World War II.
As of Sunday, the conflict in Iraq has raged for three years and just over eight months.
Only the Vietnam War (eight years, five months), the Revolutionary War (six years, nine months), and the Civil War (four years) have engaged America longer.
Fighting in Afghanistan, which may or may not be a full-fledged war depending on who i
Source: http://www.dunndailyrecord.com
Nov 24, 2006
A son whose father was a Pearl Harbor survivor is making sure the attack will not only live in infamy, but live in the minds of the many who are too young to remember World War II.
Brad Williams, whose father was born and raised in Coats, has organized the commemorative event "Pearl Harbor Attack - The Day Of Infamy Remembered" to be held Saturday at the state capitol building in Raleigh. The event is free and begins at 10 a.m.
Mr. Williams' mission is to keep
Source: Dissident Voice
Nov 24, 2006
"The history of the criminal case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, which is by now almost 25 years old, has been characterized by bias right from the start: against a black man whom the court denied a jury of his peers, against a member of the economic underclass who did not have a real claim to a qualified defense, and against a radical, whose allegedly dangerous militancy obliged the state to eliminate him from the ranks of society."
So writes German author Michael Schiffmann in his
Source: CNN
Nov 24, 2006
Hardly an hour goes by without Thomas Serafin or one of his cyber-sleuths checking what eBay has to offer.
They're not hunting for bargains and never place a bid. Their interest is bone shards, bits of wizened flesh and a contemporary twist on the sacred and the profane: How the ancient trade in the most coveted religious relics has moved into the global flea market of online bidding.
"You can find bone fragments supposedly from St. Augustine being hawked on the In
Source: http://www.the-tidings.com
Nov 24, 2006
As chief counsel and staff director to the U.S. House Select Committee on Assassinations from 1977 to 1979, G. Robert Blakey --- who had worked in the Justice Department in the JFK White House years --- led the later investigation into JFK's death.
This week --- 43 years after the assassination --- the professor and O'Neill Chair in Law at the University of Notre Dame Law School, and author of "Fatal Hour: The Assassination of President Kennedy by Organized Crime," gave a
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
Nov 24, 2006
Herodion, West Bank -- At least two nights a week, Abu Moussa, the Bedouin leader of Herodion, takes his sleeping bag, tools and a small group of men and heads into the mountains to practice the trade he learned from his father and grandfather before him -- robbing the treasures of ancient tombs.
It's a tradition that goes back centuries, and these days it is considered illegal by both Israeli and Palestinian police. But as the Palestinian economy crumbles in the face of Israeli sec
Source: Chronicle of Higher Education
Nov 24, 2006
The study's findings were irresistibly damning, even if they did sound vaguely familiar: American colleges, supposedly the nation's hothouses for enlightened citizenship, in fact produce civic nincompoops.
That was the word in late September from the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, a Delaware think tank, when it released its study, "The Coming Crisis in Citizenship: Higher Education's Failure to Teach America's History and Institutions."
The think tank had
Source: Telegraph
Nov 23, 2006
New computer software that can read lips at almost any angle has helped make sense of one of the Second World War's lingering mysteries —Hitler's home movies.
The technology allows the dialogue to be dubbed on to the silent films, many of them made by Eva Braun at Hitler's mountain retreat, the Berghof. With the new soundtrack, Hitler can be heard encouraging young children towards a life in the military, criticising even his closest henchmen and flirting with Braun.
Th
Source: VOA News
Nov 23, 2006
A French judge has issued international arrest warrants for nine Rwandans suspected of plotting the 1994 killing of a former president, which led to genocide in Rwanda.
Judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere issued the warrants in Paris this week. The nine named suspects include Rwandan armed forces chief James Kabarebe and Army Chief of Staff Charles Kayonga, as well as two men, Franck Nziza and Eric Hakiziman, suspected of firing the missile that downed then-President Juvenal Habyarimana's ai
Source: NYT
Nov 23, 2006
Speaker J. Dennis Hastert made history this year when he became the longest-serving Republican in that post. Now he is about to go into the books again as one of the few House speakers, and the first in almost 50 years, to rejoin the rank and file.
Defying expectations that he would immediately retire if the Republicans lost their majority, Mr. Hastert is preparing to remain in the House for at least the early months of the 110th Congress while he helps orchestrate a line of succes
Source: NYT
Nov 23, 2006
[Brazilians took part in their country’s drive to produce rubber for the Allies in World War. Now they want to be reimbursed for their services.]
The program originated in an agreement between the United States and Brazil. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor had cut the United States off from its main source of rubber, in Malaya, and President Roosevelt persuaded Brazil’s dictator, Getúlio Vargas, to fill that strategic gap in return for millions of dollars in loans, credits and equ
Source: Fox News
Nov 22, 2006
Archaeologists said Tuesday they have unearthed 22 graves in northern Peru containing a trove of pre-Inca artifacts, including the first "tumi" ceremonial knives ever discovered by archaeologists rather than looted by thieves.
The find, which prominent archaeologist Walter Alva called "overwhelmingly important," means that scientists can study the tumi — Peru's national symbol — in its original setting to learn about the context in which it was used.
Source: http://www.sanluisobispo.com
Nov 22, 2006
As San Luis Obispo officials work with developers on plans to dig up and preserve the historical Chinatown district to make way for new building, there is a living, breathing artifact from that era who loves telling its story.
Howard "Toby" Louis — at age 98 the last living child of Chinatown pioneer Ah Louis — remembers working as a youngster in the Ah Louis Store. It still stands at Chorro and Palm streets as a landmark reminder of the time.
Howard Louis rem
Source: CBC (Canada)
Nov 22, 2006
An archeological dig in the central Yukon has unearthed the original Fort Selkirk built in 1848 by Hudson Bay trader and explorer Robert Campbell.
Remains of the fort were found on the Pelly River last summer by a group led by University of Alberta PhD archeology student Victoria Castillo.
Campbell and his workers built the small fort and lived within its walls until 1851, when they decided to move the buildings across the Yukon River to the current site of Fort Selkirk
Source: Reuters
Nov 22, 2006
Criminal gangs in Iraq and the Middle East
are selling forged art works on auction Web site eBay and in antique markets
in Britain to help fund terrorism, British police said on Wednesday.
The extent of the scam was not clear but the items, purportedly Iraqi or
heirlooms from the region, could each sell for up to a couple of thousand
pounds (dollars), according to London police's Arts and Antiques Unit.
"Archaeological stuff is being exported by the ton-load from Middle Eastern
co
