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: The Independent (UK)
Jan 4, 2011
An isolated community near the Black Sea coast in a remote part of north-eastern Turkey has been found to speak a Greek dialect that is remarkably close to the extinct language of ancient Greece.
As few as 5,000 people speak the dialect but linguists believe that it is the closest, living language to ancient Greek and could provide an unprecedented insight into the language of Socrates and Plato and how it evolved.
The community lives in a cluster of villages near the
Source: National Parks Traveler
Jan 4, 2011
This year the U.S. Postal Service will issue stamps commemorating the 150th anniversary of two important Civil War events, the beginning of the war and the first great land battle. National parks preserve the sites of both of these events.
The Confederacy was launched soon after South Carolina seceded from the Union in December 1860, and the Civil War got underway four month later. At 4:30 a.m. on April 12, 1861, Confederate batteries opened fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor,
Source: BBC News
Jan 4, 2011
Officials in western Austria say exhumations are to take place at a psychiatric hospital thought to contain the remains of Nazi victims.
The remains of 220 people are buried at a cemetery in Hall in Tyrol province and the hospital believes many died as part of the Nazi euthanasia programme.
A planned construction project has been halted to allow a full investigation.
Thousands of people with physical or mental disabilities were killed by the Nazis who saw t
Source: Hurriyet (Turkey)
Jan 3, 2011
Germany authorities on Friday hit back at Turkish Culture Minister Ertuğrul Günay after he demanded the return of an ancient sphinx uncovered from a German archeological dig nearly a century ago.
In an interview with Thursday's Tagesspiegel, Günay gave Germany until June to hand back the priceless artifact, thought to date from around 1400 BC, else Ankara would revoke permits for other German excavations.
But in a statement issued Friday, the president of the P
Source: CHarlotte Observer
Jan 3, 2011
She left France 65 years ago, a war bride with a baby boy.
Speaking no English, with little money and only the clothes on her back, she found bad news waiting in the U.S.: Her GI husband wanted her to go home and leave the infant behind.
Even though the soldier offered to pay for the trip, Josette Laney, then 23, knew there would be more opportunity in America.
In Gaston County, where her husband was from, she built a new life as a single parent. She worked
Source: National Parks Traveler
Jan 3, 2011
Ken Wild knew that somewhere in Virgin Islands National Park's tangle of mango, lime, and tamarind trees, intertwined with various palm species and thick, cloaking pockets of Sansevieria, was an ancient carving in rock. An old roll of film confirmed as much.
But where?
The images, taken from the roll that had itself gotten overlooked for an unknown period of time -- in the park's archives, not within its lush tropical forests -- included some of the well-known Taino car
Source: NOLA.com
Jan 3, 2011
More than a century before the first modern-day civil rights march, there was Charles Deslondes and his make-do army of more than 200 enslaved men battling with hoes, axes and cane knives for that most basic human right: freedom.
They spoke different languages, came from various parts of the United States, Africa and Haiti, and lived miles apart on plantations along the German Coast of Louisiana. Yet after years of planning at clandestine meetings under the constant threat of immed
Source: Haaretz
Jan 3, 2011
A few decades ago, the appearance of animals such as wild oryx, fallow deer and roe deer on Israeli pathways, after they became extinct in this region, would have seemed like the fantasy of some romantic naturalists. Yet data released recently by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority indicate that this image has turned into a practical plan that has been successfully implemented in some places; such animals have returned to areas such as the Galilee and Negev. They are even playing important rol
Source: UPI
Jan 3, 2011
Six archaeological tombs and antique finds dating back to the Byzantine and Roman eras were unearthed by scientific excavations in Syria, scientists said.
Hussein Zen-Eddein, head of the excavations in the city of Sweida, said the tombs and finds, including clay lanterns and bronze bracelets and earrings, belonged to a family cemetery, SANA news agency reported Sunday.
Earlier excavations at the site had uncovered a basalt pillar on which Nabatean words dedicated to a N
Source: Hampton Roads Pilot
Jan 3, 2011
Just about every corner of Virginia has historic significance - whether it's a site of a famous battle or the former residence of a groundbreaking musician.
So it shouldn't come as a surprise that 12 new state historic highway markers have been approved, including ones in Norfolk and Virginia Beach, by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.
"Markers are a great way to bring people together and make them more aware of the history in their community," de
Source: UPI
Jan 3, 2011
Archaeologists in Iraq have begun working to protect and restore parts of ancient Babylon for the first time since the 2003 U.S. invasion, officials said.
The World Monuments Fund, working with Iraq's State Board of Antiquities and Heritage, has created a conservation proposal to halt any further deterioration of Babylon's mud-brick ruins, The New York Times reported.
In November, the U.S. State Department announced a $2 million grant to start efforts to preserve the s
Source: The Times-Picayune
Jan 3, 2011
More than a century before the first modern-day civil rights march, there was Charles Deslondes and his make-do army of more than 200 enslaved men battling with hoes, axes and cane knives for that most basic human right: freedom.
They spoke different languages, came from various parts of the United States, Africa and Haiti, and lived miles apart on plantations along the German Coast of Louisiana. Yet after years of planning at clandestine meetings under the constant threat of immed
Source: BBC
Jan 3, 2011
Humankind's oldest known ancestor probably lived in fear of several large sabretooth cats that roamed the same ancient lakeside habitat in Africa.
Palaeontologists have identified two new sabretooth species among fossils unearthed at Toros Menalla in Chad.
In 2001, a team unearthed remains of a seven million-year-old human-like creature - or hominid - known as "Toumai" at the central African site.
Its discoverers argue that Toumai is the oldest ho
Source: Entertainment Weekly
Jan 3, 2011
What is a word worth? According to Publishers Weekly, NewSouth Books’ upcoming edition of Mark Twain’s seminal novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn will remove all instances of the “n” word—I’ll give you a hint, it’s not nonesuch—present in the text and replace it with slave. The new book will also remove usage of the word Injun. The effort is spearheaded by Twain expert Alan Gribben, who says his PC-ified version is not an attempt to neuter the classic but rather to update it. “Race matters in
Source: Huffington Post
Jan 3, 2011
WASHINGTON -- The equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution does not protect against discrimination on the basis of gender or sexual orientation, according to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.In a newly published interview in the legal magazine California Lawyer, Scalia said that while the Constitution does not disallow the passage of legislation outlawing
Source: Discovery News
Jan 3, 2011
The tomb of King Tut’s wife, a buried pyramid, the Great Pyramid’s secret doors, and the final resting place of Cleopatra and Mark Anthony: these discoveries could await us in 2011, according to Dr. Zahi Hawass, chief of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities.
Hawass, one of the world's leading Egyptologists, gave an exclusive interview to Discovery News at an exhibition of images from ancient Egypt taken by photographer Sandro Vannini. Hawass’ many-years-long effort to solve the my
Source: Anatolian News Agency
Jan 3, 2011
Burial chambers of Urartian King Argishti and his family in the western wing of the ancient castle in the eastern province of Van was opened for the first time.
The Anatolia news agency took photographs and video of the burial chambers which were closed to visitors.
Centered around the Lake Van in the eastern Turkey, the Urartian Kingdom ruled from the mid 9th century BC till its defeat by Media in the early 6th century BC. The most splendid monuments of the Urart
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
Jan 3, 2011
The eldest son of Hitler‘s deputy Martin Bormann has been accused of sexually abusing a young boy when he was a priest 50 years ago.
Martin Bormann Jr., 80, who has struggled to come to terms with the murderous past of his father all his life, is said to be 'destroyed' by the allegations.
A 63-year-old man said his mistreatment at the hands of Bormann took place in the early 60s when he was a Catholic priest teaching at the Hearts of Jesus monastery in the Austrian city
Source: Spiegel Online
Jan 3, 2011
Hitler salutes in the street and firing practice in the forest: Neo-Nazis have taken over an entire village in Germany, and authorities appear to have given up efforts to combat the problem. The place has come to symbolize the far right's growing influence in parts of the former communist east.
Horst and Birgit Lohmeyer have been working on their life's dream for six years, renovating a house in the woods near Jamel, a tiny village near Wismar in the far northeastern German state of
Source: Guardian (UK)
Jan 3, 2011
For centuries Spain's senior aristocrats, the grandees, ruled in feudal glory but a recent split in their governing body reveals they can no longer run even themselves.
A faction of grandees and nobles have walked out of the Deputation of the Grandees, the body that has represented them for the past two centuries, as tempers fray over changes to the rules governing the way titles are handed down.
"There is a split. Some of the oldest families are involved," sa
