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: NYT
Apr 21, 2006
Queen Elizabeth II, Britain's monarch for 54 years, celebrated her 80th birthday today, feted variously in headlines such as "Elizabeth the Great" and "Our Great Mum" on an occasion that raised questions, too, about her succession.With a huge royal standard measuring 19 feet by 38 feet, wafting over the Round Tower at her Windsor Castle residence west of London, the queen's program for the day included a walk among her subjects in the town below and
Source: Scott Jaschik in Inside Higher Ed
Apr 21, 2006
Scholars who gathered Thursday to discuss the idea of reparations to African Americans are under no illusion that such payments are about to happen. Even those who were most sympathetic to the idea acknowledged that there was no political will in the United States to make such payments.But the reason members of the Organization of American Historians held an open forum on reparations as part of the group’s annual meeting is that many scholars consider this an iss
Source: Bucharest Daily Herald
Apr 21, 2006
In Romania, a presidential committee led by historian Vladimir Tismaneanu has been designated to develop a "scientific analysis of the abuses and crimes of the communist rule in Romania, from its beginning to the 1989 revolution." Last week, the president said he was willing to condemn communist crimes or the entire communist rule, but only based on a scientific analysis by a committee of historians and experts.Yesterday, the president said the report the committee
Source: MSNBC
Apr 21, 2006
Public television’s attempt to illuminate a dark period of European history is demonstrating that in the world of documentaries, few topics are black and white.“The Armenian Genocide” began airing this week on dozens of PBS stations, including nine in the nation’s top TV markets. Through tattered photos, letters and celebrity voiceovers, the documentary created by New York-based filmmaker Andrew Goldberg depicts a Turkish campaign of expulsion, rape, and murder that led to t
Source: New Zealand Herald
Apr 21, 2006
Theories abound as to the true identity of William Shakespeare, but a new book makes the most scandalous suggestion yet - that the creator of Hamlet and Macbeth was the illegitimate son of Queen Elizabeth I. In Oxford: Son of Queen Elizabeth I, Paul Streitz, an American writer, makes the sensational claim that Elizabeth I produced several children, overturning accepted notions of the Virgin Queen.
He further argues that the first child, secretly sired in 1548, w
Source: Deutsche Welle
Apr 21, 2006
The imposing Martin Luther Memorial Church in Mariendorf, south Berlin, looks like many others built in the 20th century, with its brick and stone Bauhaus-style exterior. But the last surviving Nazi-era church in Germany is also a place where pastors preached from pulpits adorned with Aryans, and babies were baptised in a font featuring carvings of a Nazi storm trooper.A protestant parish is trying to raise money to restore the Martin Luther Memorial Church in Berlin -- and its National Socialis
Source: National Geographic News
Apr 20, 2006
A lawyer charged with raising money to pay off the bankruptcy debts of an art and antiquities dealer offered a glimpse Wednesday of several small, brown bits of papyrus that may be part of the ancient Gospel of Judas. Potential historical and religious significance aside, R. Scott Haley's court-appointed task is to pay Ohio collector Bruce Ferrini's creditors. Whether the fragments that ended up in a bank vault in downtown Akron are genuine remains in question.
Source: BBC
Apr 19, 2006
Judges in India will no longer have to be addressed in court as "my lord" or "my lordship" - terms dating back to the days of British rule over India. The Bar Council of India said "your honour" or "honourable court" can be used in the courtroom instead.
Lawyers can also address the court as "sir" or its regional equivalent. Lawyers welcomed the move, with a top lawyer telling the BBC it was time to
Source: Boston Globe
Apr 19, 2006
MONTGOMERY, Ala. --The City Coucil has a message for late civil rights icon Rosa Parks and other blacks who were mistreated in Montgomery during the 1950s: We're sorry.
The majority-white council voted unanimously Tuesday to make a formal apology to Parks, who died in October, and four women who filed a federal lawsuit that resulted in court orders mandating the desegregation of city buses.The council's resolution also apologized to "all others
Source: People's Daily Online
Apr 19, 2006
Chinese archaeologists have unearthed some 30 beheaded skeletons dating back more than 2,000 years in central China's Henan Province, a cradle of the Chinese civilization.
The skeletons were obviously warriors, the tallest of whom was at least 1.85 meters, said Sun Xinmin, head of the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archeology. The human remains were found scattered in a pit in the city of Xinzheng, adjacent to a major battlefiel
Source: Institute for War and Peace Reporting
Apr 19, 2006
Armenians have said that the famous medieval Christian cemetery of Jugha in Azerbaijan has been razed, comparing its destruction to the demolition of two giant Buddha figures by the Taleban in Afghanistan. Azerbaijan has hit back by accusing Armenia of scaremongering, and of destroying Azerbaijani monuments on its own territory. It has become one of the most bitterly divisive issues in the Caucasus – but up until now no one has been able to clear up the mystery surrounding the medieval cemetery'
Source: NYT
Apr 19, 2006
With bells, sirens and a moment of silence, San Franciscans turned out before dawn Tuesday, mixing a mournful tone with a colorful, costumed carnival spirit to commemorate the centennial of the earthquake that devastated this city.The early-morning ceremony, attended by a clutch of the earthquake's survivors among a crowd estimated at 8,000 to 10,000, culminated at 5:12 a.m., the time that the quake of April 18, 1906 — a 7.8 or 7.9 on modern scales — tore along the San
Source: NYT
Apr 19, 2006
WASHINGTON, April 18 — Germany agreed Tuesday to allow access to a vast trove of information on what happened to more than 17 million people who were executed, forced to labor for the Nazi war machine or otherwise brutalized during the Holocaust.
The German government announced at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum here that it was dropping its decades-long resistance to opening the archives kept in the town of Bad Arolsen. The files, which make up one of the largest Holoca
Source: NYT
Apr 19, 2006
Early in her reign, Queen Elizabeth II made Britons an offer they could scarcely refuse.
"I cannot lead you into battle, I do not give you laws or administer justice, but I can do something else," she said. "I can give you my heart."
It was a smart arrangement.On Friday, April 21, the queen will turn 80, the head of a sometimes quarrelsome, often criticized dynasty that has etched its record in tales of divorce and untime
Source: Groong/Armenian News Network
Apr 18, 2006
A memorial in southeast France honoring those killed in what Armenians call a genocide by Ottoman Turks was vandalized just a week before it was to be unveiled, Armenian organizations said.The memorial in Lyon was scrawled with graffiti reading, "There was no genocide," according to the Committee for the Defense of the Armenian Cause, and the Council of Armenian Organizations in France.
The groups expressed indignation at the incident, whic
Source: MSNBC
Apr 18, 2006
The Alabama Legislature gave final approval to a bill that sets up a process to pardon civil rights icon Rosa Parks and hundreds of others arrested for violating segregation-era laws.
The sponsor of the bill, Democratic Rep. Thad McClammy, said the legislation could lead to pardons for Parks, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and hundreds of others convicted of violating laws aimed at keeping the races separate. McClammy said the arrests date back as far as the early 1900s.
Source: NYT
Apr 18, 2006
SAN FRANCISCO, April 17 — When she was 14 months old, Della Vattuone-Bacchini survived the Great Quake of 1906, which ruptured the San Andreas fault, twisted rail lines into pretzels and sparked a three-day inferno that burned much of this city to the ground.
But whether she makes it through this year's centennial, she said, is an entirely different question"It's been a mad rush," said Ms. Vattuone-Bacchini, 101, of the anniversary celebrations. "
Source: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Apr 18, 2006
A group of more than 214 filmmakers, historians and students have objected to the Washington, D.C.-based Smithsonian Institution's deal with Showtime Networks. In a letter sent Monday to the well-respected public institution, they asked the Smithsonian to reverse a policy included in the deal that could limit access to the Smithsonian's archives and experts.The Smithsonian announced a deal with Showtime last month requiring any commercial documentaries that rely heavily on S
Source: CNN
Apr 18, 2006
Germany said Tuesday it would help clear the way for opening records on 17 million Jews and other victims of the Nazis, a major step toward ending a long battle over access to a vast and detailed look into the Holocaust.German Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries said her country would work with the United States to assure the opening of the archives, which are held in the German town of Bad Arolsen, and allow historians and survivors access to some 30 million to 50 million doc
Source: KWTX Waco Texas
Apr 18, 2006
Police and fire sirens wailed early Tuesday morning as San Francisco commemorated the 100th anniversary of the 1906 earthquake. The sirens were turned on after a moment of silence honoring those who died in the quake. As many as six thousand people died, although most estimates place the death toll from the quake and the ensuing fires at 3,000.
Other memorials, a parade and an earthquake conference were among events scheduled during the day.
San Fra
