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Why can't this gentle giant rest in peace? The undignified fight over the skeleton of a 8ft 4in colossus exhibited as a freak in his lifetime

He was so tall that he could light his pipe from a street lamp. He was said to be more than 8ft 4in (although his skeleton suggests he was actually nearer 8ft). His voice sounded ‘like thunder’, his hands and feet were immense and he had a gentle manner — when he was sober.Charles Byrne, known as the Irish Giant, was the toast of Georgian London after arriving to seek his fortune at the age of 21 and being put on show as a freak.People flocked to see him. Newspapers printed breathless reports of his astonishing size. The King and Queen received him, and the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire — the leading lights of fashionable society — took their friends to see Byrne.But after a brief period of fame, the Irish Giant died.A devout Catholic, mindful of the after-life, he left strict instructions that his body should be buried at sea in a lead-lined coffin: he was desperate that his remains escape the attentions of surgeons and scientists who were eager to dissect it and place it on public display....

DNA links 1991 killing to Colonial-era family

(CNN) -- DNA may help Seattle-area sheriff's deputies find a suspect in a 20-year-old killing after a comparison with genealogy records connected a crime-scene sample to a 17th-century Massachusetts family.The DNA sample was taken in the death of 16-year-old Sarah Yarborough, who was killed on her high school campus in Federal Way, Washington, in December 1991. The King County Sheriff's Office has circulated two composite sketches of a possible suspect -- a man in his 20s at the time with shoulder-length blonde or light brown hair -- but had been unable to put a name to the sketch....

Wind farm to be built at site of decisive English Civil War battle

A wind farm is to be built at the site of one of the most important battles ever fought on English soil, despite officials admitting that the scheme will “harm the setting” of the historic location. They say that the damage the project will cause is outweighed by the need to meet renewable energy targets, and that despite their adverse impact the turbines can go ahead because they would only last for 25 years. Proposals for an array of 415ft turbines overlooking the site of the Battle of Naseby, the decisive clash of the English Civil War, have been opposed by heritage groups and nearby residents as well as the area’s MP and the local council, which refused permission for the project....

2,000 Year-Old Cave Paintings Found in Guanajuato, Mexico

Mexican archaeologists found some 3,000 cave paintings, some almost 2,000 years old, in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato, the National Anthropology and History Institute, or INAH, said.Sources at the institute told Efe that the discoveries were made between August and October 2011, but were not announced until specialists confirmed their antiquity and completed their analyses.The relics came to light through the Rupestral Art Project of the Victoria River Basin - which includes semi-desert regions in the states of Queretaro and Guanajuato - developed by INAH experts and directed by archaeologist Carlos Viramontes.INAH said in a communique Friday that the pictographs were found at 40 rock sites in an arid northeastern area of Guanajuato....

Iraq police say sorry for Saddam era

Iraq's police, completely reformed after the 2003 US-led invasion, on Sunday apologised for acts committed during the rule of the dictator Saddam Hussein, on the eve of the force's 90th anniversary.The statement came as Iraq grapples with a festering political row that has pitted the Shiite-led government against the main Sunni-backed bloc, raising sectarian tensions as minority groups have warned of the politicisation of the security forces."Security forces in the interior ministry apologise for the practices that took place during the former regime," the ministry said in a statement."They were forced to carry out practices that were not their duties."...

IG report says naval history ‘in jeopardy’

The Navy’s historical command, a chronically underfunded institution tasked with the safekeeping of the Navy’s innumerable treasures, is beset with preservation problems and internal strife, a recent report by the naval inspector general has found.The problems are impairing the Navy’s efforts to record and share its history with the fleet and the public, the report found; it calls for a “blue ribbon panel of eminent historians” to address the issues.One of the most pressing findings is that historic collections of photographs, paintings and artifacts are endangered because of poor facilities, namely broken or nonexistent temperature and humidity controls in the three sprawling repositories controlled by Naval History and Heritage Command, based at the Washington Navy Yard, D.C.Nearly all of the history command’s 230,000 square feet of storage area is unsuitable for these artifacts, the IG report found. This has prompted the command to relocate its sensitive items, such as parts of its photo collection, although it isn’t clear where they will be moved.The command’s “storage and preservation activities require temperature and humidity controls that are uniquely demanding and almost entirely unmet,” according to the report. “Consequently, the history and heritage of the United States Navy is in jeopardy.”...

The 1812 overture: Making the most of a forgotten war

CANADA and the United States started the new year by firing cannons at each other across the Niagara river, which separates the province of Ontario from the state of New York, leaving a whiff of gunpowder and politicking in the air. The guns at Fort George on the Canadian side and Old Fort Niagara on the American shore were replicas of those from the 1812 war between the two countries, and were loaded with blanks.They fired the first salvo in what Canada’s government plans as a noisy 200th anniversary celebration of a largely forgotten war in which British redcoats, colonial militia and Indian allies stopped an American invasion (which Thomas Jefferson mistakenly predicted was “a mere matter of marching”) of what was then a sparsely populated string of colonies. “The heroic efforts of those who fought for our country in the War of 1812 tell the story of the Canada we know today: an independent and free country with a constitutional monarchy and its own distinct parliamentary system,” says James Moore, the minister of Canadian Heritage....

NASA Inquiry Stops Apollo 13 Notebook Sale

Fame did not come easily for Jim Lovell and his two crewmates on NASA's aborted Apollo 13 moon mission. The astronauts nearly died after an explosion tore apart part of their spaceship on April 13, 1970, but ingenuity, endurance and sheer luck prevailed and the trio made it home safely.Now apparently fortune is taking a likewise star-crossed path. Lovell sold a notebook that was used during the mission at auction in November for $388,375. The check, however, is not in the mail.Heritage Auctions on Thursday said the sale of the 70-page binder, which includes handwritten calculations by Lovell, is being suspended after NASA launched an investigation into whether it was the astronaut’s property to sell."In an email to Heritage, NASA Deputy Chief Counsel Donna M. Shafer said there appeared to be 'nothing to indicate' that the agency had ever transferred ownership of the checklist to Lovell," The Associated Press reports....

France Celebrates Joan of Arc's (Fake) Birthday

Celebrations abounded in France today to mark the 600th birthday of Joan of Arc, the fifteenth-century peasant girl who led the French army to victory against the English, was burned at the stake for heresy and witchcraft, and five centuries later was declared a saint.Looking for a patriotic boost in the presidential election campaign, French President Nicolas Sarkozy delivered a 19 minute praise of the medieval heroine as he visited her native village of Domremy-La-Pucelle.Although it might prove effective from a political perspective, Sarkozy's commemoration was likely made on the wrong day."January 6 was almost certainly not the day of Joan's birth," Nancy Goldstone, the author of the forthcoming book The Maid and the Queen: The Secret History of Joan of Arc, told Discovery News.Indeed, there is no record of Joan's date of birth nor her baptism -- after all, individual birthdays were not celebrated in the 15th century....

Plans to restore crumbling Colosseum cause rumblings in Rome

London (CNN) -- It sits in the ancient heart of Rome and is an emblem of the city's imperial history as well as an icon of Italy.But plans to restore Rome's nearly 2,000-year-old Colosseum are causing rumblings among heritage workers and restorers, compounded by reports in December that small amounts of powdery rock had fallen off the monument.The current $33 million (25 million euro) restoration plans to restore the Flavian amphitheater, which once hosted spectacular shows and gruesome gladiatorial battles, are being sponsored by Diego della Valle, of luxury Italian brand Tod's, in exchange for advertising rights.Restoration of the monument, which attracts up to two million visitors a year, is due to go ahead in March and will involve cleaning of the travertine exterior, the restoration of underground chambers, new gating, the moving of visitor service stations to an area outside of the building itself and increased video security.But members of the Restorers Association of Italy are unhappy about the plans, which they believe has sidelined them in favor of non-specialist restorers and which "run the risk of causing irreparable damage to the monument," according to the group's President, Carla Tomasi.....

Proposed Defense Cuts Run Risk of Repeating History, Officials Warn

President Obama, in outlining proposed defense cuts at the Pentagon on Thursday, urged officials to remember the "lessons of history" and to make sure the country does not repeat the mistakes of the past by leaving the military "ill-prepared" for the future."As Commander in Chief, I will not let that happen again," he said.But some officials are worried that the planned cuts could do just that, as few programs are expected to be left unscathed by the defense cuts and new military strategy outlined this week.Hardest hit will be the Army and Marines, which are slated to lose about 100,000 troops. After every war since World War II, military historians explain, presidents have cut the Army hoping for quick savings and the ability to rely on superior air power, which often leads to the next ground war....

A Historical Cycle Bodes Ill for the Markets

AT the turn of the last century, it was widely accepted that American stocks were virtually certain to be good long-term investments. Now, far fewer people are confident of that.A major reason for the earlier confidence was that in the 15 years from the end of 1984 through the end of 1999, the total return of the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index was more than 740 percent, even after adjusting for inflation. That amounted to a compound annual real return of more than 15 percent.At the end of 2011, by contrast, the 15-year return — from the end of 1996 — was just 3 percent. And most of those gains came in the first three years of the period. Since the end of 1999, the stock market has not come close to keeping up with inflation....

Ancient Pornographic Artifact Discovered by the Thames

A bronze disk recently discovered in the mud near the Putney Bridge in London seemed innocent enough, but on close inspection it has turned out to be one of the oldest pieces of British pornographic art, according to the Guardian....

Dubai Gym Owner Apologizes After Backlash Over Holocaust-Themed Fitness Campaign

A gym advertisement with a explicit Holocaust connection? What could possibly go wrong?We thought Newt Gingrich's comparison of failing to be on the Virginia Republican primary ballot to Pearl Harbor was bad. Now a gym owner in Dubai thought a picture of the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp would be a great advertisement poster for his gym.He thought wrong.Phil Parkinson, 32, posted a picture to the Circuit Factory's Facebook page of the railroad tracks leading to Auschwitz with the caption "Where your calories go to die." Great slogan by itself? Sure. But not when attached to an image like that. The Nazis slaughtered 1.3 million people at Auschwitz....

Chile accused of airbrushing Augusto Pinochet history

Chile's centre right government has been accused of airbrushing history after it emerged that school textbooks will now refer to the brutal rule of Gen Augusto Pinochet as a "regime" instead of a dictatorship.Left wing opposition have accused the government of President Sebastián Piñera, elected in 2010 as Chile's first conservative leader since the dictatorship, of attempting to "whitewash history".The political row erupted when it emerged this week that the National Education Council had formally taken a decision to change the terminology taught to children about the darkest period of Chile's recent history.More than 3,000 people were murdered or disappeared for political reasons under Pinochet during his rule between 1973-1990, according to figures recently reviewed by an official commission, and the legacy of the period is still bitterly disputed.The decision to refer to the period as a "regime" rather than a "dictatorship" was qualified by the government as simply the use of "a more general term" and the new education minister denied that it was politically motivated....

Estonia denies plan to honour Nazi veterans

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Estonia rejects accusations that it plans to honour Estonians who collaborated with the Nazis during World War II as "freedom fighters", as reported by various European media, EurActiv has learned.“Estonian government can guarantee, that nobody would be honoured in Estonia for fighting in nazi uniform or belonging to Waffen-SS”, a government spokesperson told Euractiv.Last December, the Delfi news website in Estonia reported that the Defence Ministry wants Parliament to consider a bill that would recognise World War II fighters against Soviet troops as Estonian freedom fighters. Attempts to pass such legislation failed in 2006 and in 2010....

Lawmaker Urges Dutch to Apologize for WWII Jewish Deportations

Outspoken Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders called on the government Wednesday to apologize for the country's "passive" response to the mass deportations of Jews by Nazi occupiers during World War II.The move is likely to re-ignite debate about Dutch attitudes to the wartime persecution of the country's Jewish population.Of the 140,000 Jews who lived in the Netherlands before the war, more than 100,000 were deported and murdered. About 30,000 Jews live here now, out of a total population of nearly 17 million.Wilders is best known for his strident criticism of Islam and also is a strong supporter of Israel....

National Geographic embraces Bill O'Reilly history book

National Geographic Channel’s new film Killing Lincoln explores a key part of the 16th president’s story that Steven Spielberg’s big screen hit largely passed over.Based on Fox News host Bill O’Reilly’s bestselling book, Killing Lincoln chronicles the final days of President Lincoln (Billy Campbell) and the plot by his assassin John Wilkes Booth (Jesse Johnson). Below is the first trailer for the movie, which debuts next month.Killing Lincoln spends time portraying both men as it builds toward, as narrator Tom Hanks puts it, “the most resonant crime in the history of the nation,” and then chronicles the extensive manhunt to bring Booth to justice. The show’s auspices are quite impressive. In addition to Hanks, Killing Lincoln is produced by Ridley and Tony Scott (the latter having joined the production before his death last year) and is directed by Adrian Moat (Gettysburg). “This is really the Lincoln story you’ve never seen before,” Ridley Scott says.

Gun battery that guarded San Francisco restored

GOLDEN GATE NATIONAL RECREATION AREA, Calif. — A historic World War II-era gun battery that once guarded San Francisco Bay has been restored as an exhibit that showcases the region's military past as the country's first line of defense against a West Coast invasion.The Army built Battery Townsley into a Marin County hillside more than 70 years ago to house weapons that could lob 2-ton shells 25 miles. The series of underground tunnels and concrete gun emplacements became an underground party spot for teenagers and fell into disrepair after the Army left Marin in the 1980s.Mia Monroe, a National Park Service ranger with the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, told the San Francisco Chronicle that the crumbling structure had become infested with rodents and covered with graffiti....

A Cuomo Microscope on Capitol Renovation

ALBANY — No one would accuse Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of lacking attention to detail. But in recent months, his passion for the restoration of the Capitol has amazed even his closest aides, as the state’s chief executive has seemed at times more like its chief historian — or, at other moments, its chief architect, interior decorator and custodian.At one point, arguing that the sheen of the salmon-colored walls was just not quite right, he insisted that the glossy paint be replaced with a matte finish, for greater historical accuracy.Bothered by chemical stains that he noticed had accumulated along the base of the building’s walls from decades of floor wax, Mr. Cuomo tracked down the worker who oversees the buffing of the floors in the Capitol....