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: AP
Oct 11, 2010
Abandoned mines in Romania leach waters contaminated by heavy metals into rivers. A Hungarian chemical plant produces more than 100,000 tons of toxic substances a year. Soil in eastern Slovakia is contaminated with cancer-producing PCBs.
The flood of toxic sludge in Hungary is but one of the ecological horrors that lurk in Eastern Europe 20 years after the collapse of the Iron Curtain, serving as a reminder that the region is dotted with disasters waiting to happen.
Muc
Source: Fox News
Oct 11, 2010
An award-winning cartoonist is seeing red after editors at The Washington Post and other newspapers pulled a "very tame" cartoon that alluded to the Prophet Muhammad.
The cartoon, which was originally submitted in August and had been scheduled to appear in newspapers nationwide on Oct. 3, depicts a lively, seek-and-find-esque park scene complete with a giraffe, a skateboarder, a cyclist, frolicking children and a large hippopotamus. An accompanying caption reads: "Pic
Source: CNN
Oct 11, 2010
After nearly 40 years without any major upkeep, the World War I Memorial on the National Mall is finally getting some attention, with renovations financed by federal economic stimulus money.
It has become a race to complete the project because of the failing health of Frank Buckles, the 109-year-old former U.S. Army corporal who is the last surviving American veteran of World War I.
The monument is temporarily closed to the public as work begins, but through a safety fe
Source: AP
Oct 11, 2010
Former President Bill Clinton is busy on the campaign trail, helping candidates in races from Florida to Washington state. His successor, George W. Bush? Holed up in Texas.
Bush left office deeply unpopular and sour on domestic politics. After leaving Washington and returning to Texas, he has kept a low profile, working on his memoir and appearing only occasionally at paid speeches. Aides say he has no plans to be a figure in this year's elections, which could see major gains for th
Source: Guardian (UK)
Oct 11, 2010
The battle between President Nicolas Sarkozy and the French unions over pension reforms enters a crucial phase today with a new wave of strikes and protests across the country.
Workers and students are expected to take to the streets in an escalation of industrial action against government plans to raise the official retirement age to 62, with walkouts bringing disruption to France's transport network, schools and oil refineries.
For the first time, several unions have
Source: NYT
Oct 11, 2010
Two years ago, a team of linguists plunged into the remote hill country of northeastern India to study little-known languages, many of them unwritten and in danger of falling out of use.
On average, every two weeks one of the world’s recorded 7,000 languages becomes extinct, and the expedition was seeking to document and help preserve the endangered ones in these isolated villages.
At a rushing mountain river, the linguists crossed on a bamboo raft and entered the tiny
Source: Newsweek
Oct 11, 2010
After 36 years and more than 40,000 deaths, one of the world’s bloodiest and longest-running insurgencies—the separatist struggle of Turkey’s Kurds—could soon be over. Last week Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan hinted that his government was finally negotiating with Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, imprisoned since 1999. Not long ago, such talks would have been political suicide. But Erdogan is riding high after a victory last month in which voters
Source: The Conversation
Oct 10, 2010
by Malinda Maynor Lowery
The growing recognition and celebration of Indigenous Peoples’ Day actually represents the fruits of a concerted, decadeslong effort to recognize the role of indigenous people in the nation’s history.
Source: BBC News
Oct 10, 2010
The Dutch Caribbean dependency the Netherlands Antilles has ceased to exist with a change of the five islands' constitutional status.
Curacao and St Maarten have become autonomous countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, joining Aruba, which gained the status in 1986.
Bonaire, St Eustatius and Saba are now autonomous special municipalities of the kingdom.
The Netherlands retains responsibility for defence and foreign policy.
The Dutch g
Source: Guardian (UK)
Oct 10, 2010
Severe restrictions on scientists' freedom to study bones and skulls from ancient graves are putting archaeological research in Britain at risk, according to experts.
The growing dispute relates to controversial legislation introduced by the Ministry of Justice in 2008, which decreed that all human remains found during digs in Britain must be reburied within two years.
The decision means that scientists have insufficient time to carry out proper studies of any pieces of
Source: Guardian (Waltham Forest UK)
Oct 10, 2010
THE Olympic Delivery Authority has insisted that its Stratford stadium is safe, amid claims that there could be an unexploded bomb lying beneath it.
According to Government records, a German bomb dropped in a tip on the exact site of the stadium just south of Leyton during the Blitz.
Records of bombings during the war state that a large hole was left in a rubbish shoot at the refuse site after an air-raid, but despite several searches throughout the 1940s, no bomb was
Source: Duluth News-Tribune
Oct 10, 2010
HIBBING — Item No. 8 on the official Bob Dylan Walk tour is a white building with four golden stained-glass windows and a three-color circle with the Star of David at the south peak.
What was once Agudath Achim Synagogue, at 2320 W. Second St., was the site of 13-year-old Bobby Zimmerman’s bar mitzvah. Bobby Zimmerman grew up to be Bob Dylan, and current owners Brenda Shafer-Pellinen and her husband, Eric, are hoping this bit of history piques the interest of one of Dylan’s hardcore
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Oct 10, 2010
The Palestinian Authority has denounced a potentially explosive Israeli plan to build a gate in the Ottoman walls of Jerusalem's storied Old City as a provocative move that could undermine peace talks.
Jewish municipal officials last week unveiled a proposal to breach the Old City's walls for the first time in 112 years, a project that threatens to jeopardise the delicate status quo in one of the world's most sensitive and disputed religious sites.
The row comes when t
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Oct 10, 2010
Nelson Mandela's new memoirs explore his anguish over the toll political activism took on his family, according to excerpts that appeared in Sunday newspapers around the world.
The excerpts offer readers a sneak peak of Conversations with Myself, which goes on sale Tuesday and is based on decades of the anti-apartheid icon's notes, letters and conversations.
The Sunday Times quotes a letter sent in 1969 to his daughters Zenani and Zindzi, then nine and 10, after his th
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Oct 10, 2010
A Republican candidate from Ohio is battling to save the credibility of his midterm election campaign after it was revealed that he had dressed up in a German SS uniform to participate in Nazi re-enactments.
Rich Lott, a favourite of the conservative Tea Party movement, said in a statement that he meant no disrespect to anyone who had served in the military.
But his actions drew sharp criticism from Holocaust survivors and from Democrats, who were keen to portray his h
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Oct 10, 2010
Landowners have been warned the discovery of a valuable Roman helmet could trigger a flood of treasure hunters.
The find is the latest in a series of high profile artifacts unearthed by amateurs armed with metal detectors.
However the Country Land and Business Association is warning that property owners can become embroiled in costly legal disputes if they fail to agree contracts with anyone searching on their land.
There are an estimated 30,000 metal de
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Oct 10, 2010
For visitors to Pompeii, they are a guaranteed crowd pleaser: erotic frescoes, including one of Priapus, the god of fertility, adorning the walls of a 2,000 year old Roman villa.
Or rather they were until two years ago, when the House of the Vettii closed for a restoration project which was supposed to last a year but which still grinds on, the villa encased in scaffolding and a sign outside offering no indication of when it might reopen.
Pompeii may be the best prese
Source: AP
Oct 10, 2010
Nelson Mandela's new memoirs explore his anguish over the toll political activism took on his family, according to excerpts that appeared in Sunday newspapers around the world.
The excerpts offer readers a sneak peak of "Conversations with Myself," which goes on sale Tuesday and is based on decades of the anti-apartheid icon's notes, letters and conversations.
The Sunday Times of London quotes a letter sent in 1969 to his daughters Zenani and Zindzi, then 9 an
Source: AP
Oct 10, 2010
Visitors to ancient Jericho got a rare glimpse Sunday of a massive 1,200-year-old carpet mosaic measuring nearly 900 square meters (9,700 square feet), making it one of the largest in the Middle East.
The small red, blue and ochre square stones laid out in sweeping geometric and floral patterns cover the floor of the main bath house of an Islamic palace that was destroyed by an earthquake in the eighth century. Since being excavated in the 1930s and 1940s, the mosaic has largely rem
Source: AP
Oct 10, 2010
Clapping, waving and even cracking a smile, the youngest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il joined his father Sunday at a massive military parade in his most public appearance since being unveiled as the nation's next leader.
Kim Jong Un, dressed in a dark blue civilian suit, sat next to his father on an observation platform at Kim Il Sung Plaza as armored trucks with rocket launchers and tanks rolled by as part of celebrations marking the 65th anniversary of the reclusive state
