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: Daily Mail (UK)
Nov 1, 2010
A scathing assessment of Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson has been unearthed in a letter from a crew member on their yacht during the abdication crisis.
The King is dismissed as a student who has not grown up while his lover is described as having a big mouth and a ‘metallic American voice’.
The author of the 16-page letter, thought to be a steward called Jim Richardson, wrote to his mother after a summer cruise in the Mediterranean in 1936 on board the Nahlin. He warned
Source: Front Page Mag
Nov 1, 2010
Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Alexenia Dimitrova, a writer with a 25 year-long career in journalism. She has worked for one of Bulgaria’s biggest dailies, 24 Hours Daily, for the last 15 years. She is the author of 4 documentary books based on her intensive research in the Bulgarian and American secret service archives from the Cold War era. Since 2002 she has her own column in 24 Hours Daily about finding and reuniting long-lost family members and relatives all over the World. For this s
Source: Journal-Sentinel (WI)
Nov 1, 2010
At the Ramat Rachel dig near Jerusalem, archeologists have uncovered an ancient royal garden nourished by an intricate irrigation system.
Researchers from Tel Aviv University and Heidelberg University in Germany have been working at Ramat Rachel, which is said to have been built by the Judeans. The newly discovered gardens date back to the 7th century B.C.
Features of the gardens include stone carved gutters, open channels, closed tunnels and the framework for waterfall
Source: National Parks Traveler
Nov 1, 2010
There is in a secluded setting behind historic Ellwood Manor at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park in Virginia a low stone monument that marks the spot where Confederate General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson's left arm is supposedly buried. But is it really there? Was it ever there?
Stonewall Jackson was a military genius for the Confederate Arm, but how great he might have been, or how his tactical expertise might have altered the outcome of the war, was
Source: BBC News
Nov 1, 2010
Dmitry Medvedev has paid the first visit by a Russian president to the disputed Kuril Islands, sparking a diplomatic row with Japan.
Mr Medvedev met local residents in Kunashir, the second-largest of the four islands, and pledged more investment for the region.
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan called Mr Medvedev's visit regrettable, and Russia's envoy was summoned.
Russia called Japan's reaction to the visit "unacceptable".
Russia to
Source: CNN
Nov 1, 2010
Prosecutors called Gary Condit to the witness stand Monday as the murder trial resumed for the man charged in the death of Chandra Levy, Ingmar Guandique.
Before he could begin his testimony, however, the court took a break.
The 2001 disappearance of the Washington intern drew national attention after her parents discovered a connection with Condit, who was then a sitting congressman.
Condit was never a suspect in the case, but was questioned intensively for deta
Source: NYT
Nov 1, 2010
The ancestors of humans and other primates like apes and monkeys may have originated in Asia, not Africa, a new study in the journal Nature reports.
There has long been debate about the matter, but a recent discovery of anthropoid fossils including two previously unidentified species and one known species provides new clues....
Source: New York Times
Oct 31, 2010
The great waves of plague that twice devastated Europe and changed the course of history had their origins in China, a team of medical geneticists reported Sunday, as did a third plague outbreak that struck less harmfully in the 19th century.
And in separate research, a team of biologists reported conclusively this month that the causative agent of the most deadly plague, the Black Death, was the bacterium known as Yersinia pestis. This agent had always been the favored cause, but
Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Oct 31, 2010
HARRISBURG -- More than 1,800 historic artifacts, including a Civil War-era rifle and an eight-century-old Turkish gold ring, are missing from the state's collection, according to an audit released today.
State Auditor General Jack Wagner attributed the losses to lax oversight and an antiquated inventory system used to track the state's 4.5 million artifacts.
Other items were found to be damaged, including some that had been suspended from overhead pipes or stored in hu
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
Oct 31, 2010
I came upon it by accident. I was searching through shelves looking for something else when it caught my eye. But there it was, a huge, thick, hard-backed, red book – with a metal swastika on the front.
At the time I was accompanied by a photographer from the Discovery Channel and we were carrying out research for a documentary.
As the Press officer for the Royal British Legion, my job is to protect the reputation of the organisation. But at that moment I was torn. Shou
Source: BBC News
Oct 31, 2010
Archaeologists on Orkney are investigating what is thought to be a 5,000-year-old tomb complex.
A local man stumbled on the site while using a mechanical digger for landscaping.
It appears to contain a central passageway and multiple chambers excavated from rock.
There is a large neolithic burial complex nearby called The Tomb of the Eagles where over 300 bodies were found.
"Potentially these skeletons could tell us so much about Neolithic
Source: AP
Oct 31, 2010
They are believed to be the last two survivors of the most chillingly efficient killing machine of the Nazi Holocaust: the Treblinka extermination camp in occupied Poland.
Samuel Willenberg and Kalman Taigman, 87-year-old Israelis, are devoting their final years to trying to preserve the memory of the 875,000 people systematically murdered in a one-year killing spree at the height of World War II. Almost all of them were Jews.
Only 67 people are known to have survived t
Source: BBC News
Oct 31, 2010
Pontiac - one of the US car industry's most iconic brands - has finally gone out of business.
It happened a year after its parent company General Motors announced its shutdown in a major restructuring.
Set-up in 1926, Pontiac came to embody the image of the American muscle-car, with hugely popular models like the Bonneville, GTO and Firebird TransAm.
The cars featured in Hollywood movies in the 1960s-70s. But sales had been in decline since the 1980s.
Source: AP
Oct 31, 2010
The man charged in the abduction of Elizabeth Smart is finally headed to trial, after years of delays caused by questions about his mental health and a jump from state to federal court.
Brian David Mitchell, 57, faces federal charges of kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor across state lines -- for allegedly taking Smart to San Diego in the 2002 abduction. If convicted, he could spend the rest of his life in a federal prison.
Jury selection is scheduled to
Source: BBC News
Oct 31, 2010
A record number of people have taken part in the Athens marathon to mark the 2,500th anniversary of the run which inspired the modern event.
In 490BC, the Athenian army defeated the Persians at the Battle of Marathon. According to legend, a messenger called Pheidippides ran the 42km (26 miles) to Athens to announce the victory.
More than 12,500 people ran the same route as Pheidippides on Sunday.
Despite the Greek financial crisis, the budget for the race h
Source: BBC News
Oct 31, 2010
Dutch writer Harry Mulisch, author of The Assault (De Aanslag) and The Discovery of Heaven (De ontdekking van de Hemel), has died at the age of 83.
Mulisch, considered by many a candidate for the Nobel Prize for Literature, died of cancer at his Amsterdam home.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte called his death "a loss for Dutch literature and the Netherlands".
Mulisch wrote more than 30 works, several with a World War II theme.
The Discovery
Source: NYT
Oct 31, 2010
WHAT do you say to a guy who just crushed you in 49 states? Not much, apparently.
“I didn’t do a phone call, I just sent him a telegram,” said George McGovern, the 1972 Democratic nominee who was recalling the election night bloodletting President Richard M. Nixon inflicted on him 38 Novembers ago. His place in the pantheon of political losers assured, Mr. McGovern could not bring himself to make the customary call to congratulate the freshly re-elected (and about-to-be disgraced)
Source: NYT
Oct 31, 2010
The great waves of plague that twice devastated Europe and changed the course of history had their origins in China, a team of medical geneticists reported Sunday, as did a third plague outbreak that struck less harmfully in the 19th century.
And in separate research, a team of biologists reported conclusively this month that the causative agent of the most deadly plague, the Black Death, was the bacterium known as Yersinia pestis. This agent had always been the favored cause, but a
Source: BBC News
Oct 31, 2010
A delegation from the British Legion met Adolf Hitler in July 1935, recently uncovered photographs show.
The 148 images were in a swastika-embossed album found by an employee.
They show British veterans of World War I being saluted by Germans, and delegation leader Maj Francis Fetherston-Godley shaking hands with Hitler's deputy Rudolph Hess.
A concentration camp visit was not photographed, but details were included in the Legion's archive.
Leg
Source: BBC News
Oct 31, 2010
Archaeologists have unearthed a collection of Bronze Age axe heads, spear tips and other 3,000-year-old metal objects buried in an Essex field.
The items include an intact pottery container with heavy contents which has been removed undisturbed.
The materials are now at a local museum where archaeologists hope to uncover new insights into Bronze Age Britain.
"This is a really exciting find," said local archaeologist Laura McLean.
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