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: BBC
Jan 12, 2011
A French chateau that once belonged to African dictator Jean-Bedel Bokassa has sold for 915,000 euros (£760,000).
The dilapidated 'Chateau d'Hardricourt' was bought by an anonymous bidder at an auction in Versailles.
Bokassa spent several years living in the mansion in the western Paris suburb of Hardricourt after he was overthrown as leader of the Central African Republic (CAR) in 1979.
It has since fallen into disrepair and needs major refurbishment....
Source: BBC News
Jan 12, 2011
An artist behind an iconic image of Barack Obama and the Associated Press news agency have agreed to settle copyright infringement claims.
As part of the deal, New York artist Shepard Fairey has agreed not to use another AP photo in his work without first obtaining a licence.
The two sides have also reached a financial settlement, the terms of which have not been disclosed.
The case relates to a picture of the US president taken in 2006.
Street
Source: Spiegel Online
Jan 12, 2011
A year after an earthquake devastated Haiti, the country is still in disastrous shape. Billions in aid seem to have only made the country a long-term patient of international donors and reconstruction has yet to begin in earnest. Much hope is riding on the coming election.
The sidewalks of Pétionville used to be Officer Jean Calas' pride and joy -- a last bit of order in a life that was drowning in chaos even then. The rules for the sidewalks were clear, he says: They were for pedes
Source: Haaretz
Jan 12, 2011
United States Jewish leaders condemned Wednesday Sarah Palin's statement comparing the accusations against her in the wake of the shooting attack on Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords to blood libel, a centuries-old claim that Jews use the blood of Christian children in religious rites.
The National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) President and CEO David A. Harris said in a statement. "Perhaps Sarah Palin honestly does not know what a blood libel is, or does not know
Source: WaPo
Jan 12, 2011
Arlington school officials decided Wednesday to pull a textbook in which historians have found dozens of errors.
"Based upon the recent information about the number and scope of errors identified in the Grade 4 Social Studies textbook, Our Virginia: Past and Present, Arlington Public Schools (APS) officials announced today their decision to remove all print copies of the textbooks from circulation and use in Grade 4 classrooms," officials wrote in an email to parents....
Source: NYT
Jan 12, 2011
MOSCOW — As Capt. Arkadiusz Protasiuk peered down at a dense fog over the Russian city of Smolensk last April, weighing whether to land an aircraft carrying Poland’s president and dozens of other government officials, no one told him what to do.
But no one had to, according to a Russian-led investigation of the subsequent crash, which killed everyone on board.
Captain Protasiuk had been in an eerily similar position in 2008, according to the report on the inquiry, whic
Source: NYT
Jan 12, 2011
ATLANTA — Stanley Nelson writes for a small weekly newspaper in the Louisiana delta. For the past four years, he has been obsessed with one story: who threw gasoline into a rural shoe repair and dry goods shop in 1964 and started a fire that killed Frank Morris?
No one disputes that the death of Mr. Morris, a well-liked businessman who served both black and white customers, was connected to the Ku Klux Klan. The case is on a list of unsolved civil rights murders the F.B.I. released
Source: Yahoo News
Jan 12, 2011
ROME – Forget her smile. An Italian researcher says the key to solving the enigmas of "Mona Lisa'" lies in her eyes.
Silvano Vinceti claims he has found the letter "S" in the woman's left eye, the letter "L" in her right eye, and the number "72" under the arched bridge in the backdrop of Leonardo da Vinci's famous painting. According to the researcher, the symbols open up new leads to identifying the model, dating the painting, and attesting t
Source: Huffington Post
Jan 12, 2011
In trying to bat away criticism for violent rhetoric, Sarah Palin accused critics of "blood libel," and with it, referenced a legacy of hate -- a reference used by Adolf Hitler.
Palin released a statement and gave extended remarks about the weekend shooting in Arizona, first sending her condolences to the families of the victims and then fiercely responding to those blaming her campaign map -- which contained a bullseye over Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' congressional district
Source: Salon
Jan 12, 2011
Sarah Palin's use of "blood libel" today, as is already clear to most people, is divorced from the historical origins of the term. But it's worth taking a moment to revisit the original meaning of the phrase and the violent context from which it emerged.
I called Ronnie Hsia, a history professor at Penn State who has written extensively on blood libel and early modern Europe. He explained that the term generally refers to the medieval "fantasy in Christian belief that
Source: Talking Points Memo
Jan 12, 2011
A school board member in Greeley, Colo., has started bringing his gun to school board meetings after, he says, he received threats over his regular radio broadcasts attacking the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
He describes it as a letter he received from a listener three years ago. It can also be found on a web site, martinlutherking.org, which is run by the white supremacist group Stormfront....
For what it's worth, the Tribune spoke to Clayborne Carson, the founding dire
Source: Bloomberg News
Jan 12, 2011
Greece’s government said it will be represented at the International Court of Justice at The Hague in relation to a claim for German war reparations by relatives of victims of a massacre in a Greek village during World War II.
“I have taken the decision that Greece intervene at the International Court of Justice at the Hague on this specific case,” Prime Minister George Papandreou told his ministers in Athens today, according to an e-mailed statement of his comments. “We are faithf
Source: WaPo
Jan 12, 2011
JERUSALEM -- A new report by a prominent Nazi-hunting group gives more than a dozen countries, including Hungary, Ukraine and Canada, low grades for bringing suspected Holocaust-era war criminals to justice.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center gave top marks to Germany - the first time any country besides the U.S. has been given an "A" grade for prosecuting suspected Nazi war criminals.
The Associated Press on Wednesday received an advance copy of the center's report,
Source: USA Today
Jan 12, 2011
The nation's first gay history museum opens today in San Francisco, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Items on display include the kitchen table and pink-framed sunglasses that belonged to Harvey Milk, the first elected openly gay politician in California. The exhibit also features manuscripts and sex toys....
Source: Latin American Herald Tribune
Jan 12, 2011
A more-than-2,000-year-old skull from Peru turned up after being missing for more than 80 years after it was exhibited at the 1929 Ibero-American Exposition in this southern Spanish city.
Eight decades after being brought to Spain, the skull, which apparently is that of a male around age 30, arrived at the University of Seville thanks to “a chain of lucky chances,” forensic medicine professor Leandro Picabea told Efe.
The report coming from the investigation of the skul
Source: Londonderry Sentinel (Ireland)
Jan 12, 2011
HUMAN remains dating to the time of the Siege of Derry, as well as remnants of pipes and crockery typical of the period, have been discovered beneath First Derry Presbyterian Church.
It is also believed that the car park between the church and the rear of the Apprentice Boys Memorial Hall could be the site of a mass grave or graveyard, possibly containing human remains from those who perished inside Derry's Walls during the 105-day stand off between the Williamite supporters and the
Source: CNN
Jan 12, 2011
Early on the morning of December 10, 1964, Frank Morris ran out of his shoe store, his clothes and skin on fire.
People who saw him in the hospital afterward said the African-American businessman was so badly burned they didn't recognize him.
"Only the bottom of his feet weren't burned. He was horrible to look at," said the Rev. Robert Lee Jr., now 96.
Morris survived for four days before dying -- long enough to tell the FBI that two men had broken into his s
Source: BBC News
Jan 12, 2011
A museum dedicated to some of Salvador Dali's most famous paintings has re-opened in the US.
The Dali museum, which cost $36m (£23m), has been officially declared open in St Petersburg, Florida.
The new building, believed to house the world's most comprehensive collection of his work, was designed to reflect the Spanish artist's surreal style.
Princess Cristina of Spain, one of the dignitaries present, said the museum was "state of the art".
Source: BBC News
Jan 12, 2011
Haitians are preparing to mark the anniversary of the earthquake that devastated their country and left some 250,000 of their fellow citizens dead.
Church services are due to be held around the nation, including at the ruined cathedral in Port-au-Prince.
There will also be a minute's silence at 4.53pm (2153 GMT) - the exact moment when the 7.0 magnitude quake hit.
One year on, some 800,000 people are still living in temporary shelters.
As well
Source: BBC News
Jan 12, 2011
Russia has blamed the Smolensk air crash which killed the Polish president and nearly 100 other people in April on Polish pilot error.
The Polish crew failed to heed bad weather warnings because they were afraid of displeasing President Lech Kaczynski, Russian investigators said.
The presence of Poland's air force commander in the cockpit drove them to take "unjustified risk", they found.
Poland's prime minister has cut short a holiday in response
