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
Aug 13, 2010
A judge has awarded a US exhibition company $110m for salvaging artefacts from the wreck of the RMS Titanic.
The US federal judge ruled that RMS Titanic Inc, which displays the artefacts in museums across the world, is entitled to their full market value.
The court will decide whether to grant the company ownership of the objects or sell them and give it the proceeds....
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Aug 13, 2010
Charles Taylor, the former Liberian leader, told his country's senate that Naomi Campbell was "excited" to meet him and had promised to visit his country, it has emerged.
Mr Taylor, who is currently on trial in The Hague for war crimes, was so impressed by the "most delightful" evening spent in the company of the supermodel at a dinner held by Nelson Mandela, that he is thought to have framed the picture of them standing together and hung it prominently at his h
Source: AP
Aug 13, 2010
A crate of Scotch whisky that was trapped in Antarctic ice for a century was finally opened Friday — but the heritage dram won't be tasted by whisky lovers because it's being preserved for its historical significance.
The crate, recovered from the Antarctic hut of renowned explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton after it was found there in 2006, has been thawed very slowly in recent weeks at the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch on New Zealand's South Island.
Though the crate wa
Source: Oxford Mail
Aug 13, 2010
THE huge archive of material relating to the discovery of King Tutankhamun has been put online for the first time.
The comprehensive notes and photos recording the find by archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922, were donated to Oxford University’s first Professor of Egyptology, Frank Griffith, by the Carter family.
In turn, this archive became the Griffith Institute, attached to Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum, and it is the institute’s Keeper of the Archives Dr Jaromir Malek,
Source: BBC
Aug 13, 2010
Pakistan's president has directed that there should be no official celebrations of Independence Day on Saturday as the country tries to cope with devastating floods.
Asif Ali Zardari will instead spend the day touring affected regions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab provinces.
He has been heavily criticised at home for not taking a more direct role.
The region's worst flooding in 80 years has affected 14 million and killed 1,600, according to the UN....
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Aug 13, 2010
An architect’s 19th century drawings for features in Central Park are at the centre of a lawsuit after New York City took Christie’s auction house and the owner of the drawings to court.
Sam Buckley had placed 86 Jacob Wrey Mould drawings with Christie’s auction house for potential sale, while keeping at least 41 more himself, according to court papers.
Mr Buckley, a New Jersey real estate broker, says his dead father found them in the trash more than 50 years ago.
Source: BBC
Aug 13, 2010
Roman charioteers earned far more than even the best-paid footballers and international sports stars of today, according to academic research.
While golfer Tiger Woods was heralded last year as the first athlete to earn over $1 billion, the figure would apparently have been small beer for the fearless entertainers of the Circus Maximus.
One charioteer, named Gaius Appuleius Diocles, amassed a fortune 35,863,120 sesterces in prize money – the equivalent of $15 billion
Source: AP
Aug 13, 2010
The Simon Wiesenthal Center criticized Israeli President Shimon Peres on Friday for thanking Romania for saving Jews, saying he should have condemned the Romanian state for the tens of thousands of Jews who were killed there during World War II.
On Thursday, Peres publicly thanked Romania for helping 400,000 Romanian Jews emigrate to Israel during the communist regime that ended in 1989. Peres did that while making the first visit to Romania by an Israeli head of state since 1948 wh
Source: AP
Aug 13, 2010
A top leader in Southern Sudan warned Friday that the Sudanese government risks the collapse of a peace accord that ended a war that killed more than 2 million people if it stalls an independence referendum for the south scheduled for January.
Southern Sudan is eagerly awaiting the vote, which could turn the arid region into the world's newest nation and split Africa's largest country in two. A 2005 peace agreement that ended four decades of on-and-off war between Sudan's north and
Source: CNN
Aug 13, 2010
In a region already rich with archaeological artefacts, the excavation of a small alabaster box containing a few pieces of bone amid the ruins of a medieval monastery might easily have passed unnoticed.
But when Bulgarian archaeologists declared they had found relics of John the Baptist, one of the most significant early Christian saints, their discovery became the subject of rather more interest -- prompting angry exchanges in the local media and even calls for a government ministe
Source: AP
Aug 13, 2010
Police have raided a house used by people suspected of digging illegally for antiquities and discovered two tunnels leading to an underground tomb that housed an ancient marble coffin and frescoes, officials said Friday.
Culture Minister Ertugrul Gunay described the discovery near the town of Milas, in western Turkey, as an "important archaeological find" and ordered digs in surrounding areas, Haber Turk newspaper reported.
Looting of ancient artifacts is common in
Source: National Parks Traveler
Aug 13, 2010
A recent visit to Isle Royale National Park by the Niagara, a historically accurate reconstruction of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry's victorious 1813 flagship, included an unwelcome surprise. Despite efforts to prevent such problems, the ship was harboring some dangerous stowaways.
The ship is owned by the State of Pennsylvania’s Erie Historic Maritime Museum, "a nonprofit educational association striving to preserve and further the education of historic sailing techniques, env
Source: Xinhua
Aug 13, 2010
For Gao Fengqin, the worst horror of the Second World War happened in the closing days.
"I still remember the day my mother took me to a small restaurant to meet my new Chinese mother," says Gao Fengqin, now 70.
"I had noodles and when I finished, she stood up to leave. I gripped her leg, crying for her not to go."
It was 65 years ago that Gao's Japanese mother, Kobayasi, gave her away to the Chinese couple who raised her into adulthood.
Source: BBC News
Aug 13, 2010
A full size replica of a Second World War spitfire could raise over £50,000 for the Royal British Legion when it goes up for auction in September.
The aluminium replica of a MKVb Supermarine Spitfire was built in 2008 by members of the Ripon branch of the Royal British Legion.
Since it was built, the aircraft has been used at a variety of events including the 70th birthday of RAF Leeming events.
The auction takes place on September 17.
The spitfire t
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Aug 13, 2010
A series of mountain crags called "Swastika" and "Himmler" have caused outrage in Sweden after a climber publicised the Nazi-inspired names given to the popular climbing area.
Following accepted climbing practice, the first person to tackle a route has the right to name it.
However, concerns have been raised after it was revealed that routes in the popular Järfälla climbing area outside Stockholm had been given names inspired by the Third Reich.
Source: NYT
Aug 13, 2010
After nine years of fighting in the deserts and mountains of the Middle East, the military has concluded that the traditional, hard-earned combat skills that allowed generations of “muddy boots” commanders to protect American interests around the world simply are not enough to assure victory in today’s wars — or career advancement through the top ranks of the armed forces....
In an acknowledgment that the top jobs have become ever more intellectually challenging, physically exhausti
Source: The Times of India
Aug 13, 2010
Using remote sensing imagery in a unique way, a scientist at the Maharashtra Remote Sensing and Applications Centre (MRSAC) has located two burial sites of about 3000-3500 years back. One of these megaliths (large stones), Junapani, found near just 9 km from the city on Katol road, is now part of the acquired area of the proposed Gorewada Zoo project. Though the site is known to the archeologists, it has last been mentioned in the Nagpur Gazetteer in 1930. There is no mention of the settlement a
Source: NBC Washington
Aug 12, 2010
In 1939, the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to let Marian Anderson perform before an integrated audience at Constitution Hall. The Board of Education of the then-segregated District also refused to let her perform in the auditorium of a white public high school. So Anderson turned to a symbol of freedom: the Lincoln Memorial....
Two months ago, at the same memorial, a group of students were confronted by a security guard for singing the national anthem. The students, m
Source: Public Opinion Online
Aug 12, 2010
The U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has approved a resolution that would revise the boundaries of the Gettysburg National Military Park.
New boundaries would include the Gettysburg Train Station and land along Plum Run in Cumberland Township.
The Department of Interior is to acquire publicly owned property within the area by buying from willing sellers only, if efforts to acquire that property without cost have been exhausted. The government cannot ex
Source: BBC
Aug 12, 2010
The lawyer of Liberian ex-leader Charles Taylor was temporarily banned from speaking at his war crimes trial after a row with a prosecutor.
The judge sanctioned Courtenay Griffiths after he lost his temper in an argument and referred to one prosecution lawyer as a boy.
Mr Griffiths later apologised and was allowed to resume speaking....
