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: Fox News
Aug 24, 2010
Just prior to his death in 2008, Larry "Bozo" Harmon penned the recently released memoir "The Man Behind the Nose,” about his adventures who was a professional clown, ran for President, bonded with dangerous cannibal tribes in New Guinea, and was saved from being swallowed whole by a murderous python in Thailand by his 83 AAA shoes.
But now Harmon’s second of four ex-wives, Sandra Harmon, the author of two relationship books and “Elvis & Me” with Priscilla Presley
Source: CNN
Aug 24, 2010
"This is a mass grave," Bill Watson said as he led the way through the thick Pennsylvania woods in a suburb about 30 miles from Philadelphia.
"Duffy's Cut," as it's now called, is a short walk from a suburban cul-de-sac in Malvern, an affluent town off the fabled Main Line. Twin brothers Bill and Frank Watson believe 57 Irish immigrants met violent deaths there after a cholera epidemic struck in 1832.
They suspect foul play.
"This is a mu
Source: BBC News
Aug 24, 2010
The police, the Catholic Church and the state conspired to cover up a priest's suspected role in one of the worst atrocities of the Northern Ireland Troubles, an investigation has found.
Nine people died in bombings in Claudy, County Londonderry on 31 July 1972.
The NI Police Ombudsman's probe found that high-level talks led to Fr James Chesney, a suspect in the attack, being moved to the Irish Republic.
No action was ever taken against Fr Chesney, who died
Source: BBC News
Aug 24, 2010
The estate of the acclaimed late photographer Ansel Adams is suing a man who has apparently been selling prints he claims are Adams's work.
The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust, which filed the legal case in the US, wants to stop Rick Norsigian selling images it does not endorse.
In July, Mr Norsigian's lawyer said experts concluded "beyond reasonable doubt" the prints were Adams's work.
The case has "no merit", Mr Norsigian's lawyer
Source: BBC News
Aug 24, 2010
Tuesday marks the 1,600th anniversary of one of the turning points of European history - the first sack of Imperial Rome by an army of Visigoths, northern European barbarian tribesmen, led by a general called Alaric.
It was the first time in 800 years that Rome had been successfully invaded. The event had reverberations around the Mediterranean.
Jerome, an early Christian Church Father, in a letter to a friend from Bethlehem - where he happened to be living - wrote that
Source: AP
Aug 23, 2010
The International Spy Museum in Washington has recruited an ex-spy as its new historian.
The museum said Monday that Mark Stout would become historian after spending 13 years in intelligence. He is the museum's first research chief with an intelligence background.
Stout worked at the CIA and the State Department in intelligence and at the Defense Department. He is earning a doctorate in history and holds degrees in political science, mathematics and public policy....
Source: BBC
Aug 23, 2010
The Egyptian government's head of fine arts has been remanded in custody pending an investigation into the theft of a Van Gogh painting at the weekend.
Muhsin Sha'lan, first under-secretary at the culture ministry, was accused of "negligence", according to the state news agency Mena.
Several other officials were believed to have been detained at the same time.
The theft of the $50m (£32m) painting from a Cairo museum on Saturday has been blamed on
Source: National Parks Traveler
Aug 23, 2010
A trio of Civil War battlefield parks will divvy up nearly $1 million to spend on land acquisition to protect their landscapes, according to National Park Service officials.
Richmond Battlefield in Kentucky, Franklin Battlefield in Tennessee, and Bentonville Battlefield in North Carolina will benefit from the appropriation from the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
“Americans have a duty to protect these scenes of combat. We must honor the memories of those who fought a
Source: WaPo
Aug 23, 2010
Veterans groups and members of Congress are questioning whether management of Arlington National Cemetery should be transferred from the Army to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The discussions come after investigators found dozens of unmarked or mislabeled graves, millions of dollars wasted on technology contracts and mismanagement that stretched from the cemetery's leadership to the upper echelons of Army leadership in the Pentagon.
"Let's let the experts take
Source: NYT
Aug 23, 2010
Two floors below the main level of Yale’s medical school library is a room full of brains. No, not the students. These brains, more than 500 of them, are in glass jars. They are part of an extraordinary collection that might never have come to light if not for a curious medical student and an encouraging and persistent doctor.
The cancerous brains were collected by Dr. Harvey Cushing, who was one of America’s first neurosurgeons. They were donated to Yale on his death in 1939 — alon
Source: BBC News
Aug 23, 2010
The Egyptian government's head of fine arts has been remanded in custody pending an investigation into the theft of a Van Gogh painting at the weekend.
Muhsin Sha'lan, first under-secretary at the culture ministry, was accused of "negligence", according to the state news agency Mena.
Several other officials were believed to have been detained at the same time.
The theft of the $50m (£32m) painting from a Cairo museum on Saturday has been blamed on
Source: BBC News
Aug 23, 2010
Nearly 60 years ago, a French town was hit by a sudden outbreak of hallucinations, which left five people dead and many seriously ill. For years it was blamed on bread contaminated with a psychedelic fungus - but that theory is now being challenged.
On 16 August 1951, postman Leon Armunier was doing his rounds in the southern French town of Pont-Saint-Esprit when he was suddenly overwhelmed by nausea and wild hallucinations.
"It was terrible. I had the sensation of
Source: BBC
Aug 23, 2010
Canadian workers have unearthed large dinosaur bones while digging a sewer tunnel in the city of Edmonton.
A tooth and limb bone, which experts believe belong to the Albertosaurus and the Edmontosaurus species, were found by drainage crews in the Quesnell Heights neighbourhood.
The Royal Tyrrell Museum is helping city officials to identify the fossils.
Museum officials said workers will continue to dig out bones still stuck inside the walls of the tunnel.
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Aug 23, 2010
The Lockerbie bomber is "in good condition" given his fatal cancer but depressed at critical coverage of his release from prison, according to senior officials.
Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi spent the anniversary of his return to Libya from a Scottish jail at home, where he was visited by friends and regime figures to mark the occasion.
He reached the milestone despite being given three months to live when released on compassionate grounds eight years into his se
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Aug 23, 2010
A 12-year battle over the possession of a painting that was stolen from a Jewish Austrian by the Nazis came to a close today when the work by Austrian expressionist Egon Schiele was displayed at a Vienna museum.
The oil painting was returned over the weekend after the Leopold Museum agreed to pay $19 million (15 million euros) as part of the settlement to the estate of art dealer Lea Bondi Jaray, the original owner.
US authorities had refused to return the painting to
Source: AP
Aug 23, 2010
Greek officials say the Acropolis in Athens will open on the night of the August full moon Tuesday after a pay dispute with security guards has been resolved.
The culture and tourism ministry says the citadel will be among more than 90 sites and museums to open by moonlight on the one night a year the public can enter monuments after sundown.
Initially, the ministry had left the Acropolis off the list, for the first time in years, citing the dispute over guards' pay for
Source: AP
Aug 23, 2010
Egypt's state news agency reports the country's top prosecutor has ordered a four-day detention of the deputy culture minister over the theft of a Vincent van Gogh painting.
Thieves made off with the canvas, known by the titles of "Poppy Flowers" and "Vase with Flowers," on Saturday from the Mahmoud Khalil Museum in Cairo. None of the museum's alarms and only seven of 43 surveillance cameras were working at the time of the robbery.
On Monday, General
Source: AP
Aug 23, 2010
The wrecks of three British warships sunk after World War I off the coast of a Baltic Sea island have been found, Estonia's military announced Monday.
Using state-of-the-art sonar equipment, an Estonian naval vessel last week located the wrecks of HMS Cassandra, HMS Gentian and HMS Myrtle near the Estonian island of Saaremaa, about 90 miles (140 kilometers) southwest of the capital, Tallinn.
He said that the last coordinates of the vessels — reported by then British squ
Source: CNN
Aug 23, 2010
First lady Michelle Obama will join former first lady Laura Bush on September 11 at the Flight 93 National Memorial outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania, according to a statement from the National Park Foundation.
Obama and Bush will be joined by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell.
Fundraising is now under way for a memorial slated for dedication on September 11, 2011, the statement noted....
Source: CNN
Aug 23, 2010
A chestnut tree beloved by Holocaust victim Anne Frank as she wrote her diary in hiding in the Netherlands fell down Monday, the Anne Frank House museum told CNN. The tree, which was more than 150 years old, had been diseased since 2005 and had a support structure to help keep it upright.
Since the tree was found to be diseased, hundreds of saplings grown from its chestnuts have been donated to schools and parks around the world, the Anne Frank Museum said.
Frank died o
