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: AOL News
Jul 27, 2010
A California man who bought a collection of glass negatives at a garage sale says they have been authenticated as lost works of Ansel Adams, but the famed photographer's grandson isn't so sure.
After six months of study, experts concluded the 65 negatives were early works by Ansel Adams -- and worth at least $200 million, according to an attorney for Rick Norsigian, a Fresno man who bought them at a garage sale for $45.
The black-and-white images of Yosemite National P
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jul 27, 2010
German language experts have launched a campaign against the hybrid "Denglish" which they claim is polluting culture through its growing use in advertising and television.
The advocacy groups are intensifying their fight against the use of a hybrid of the two languages, which has begun to encroach on everyday parlance.
As part of the campaign, the German Language Foundation called on Germans to find an alternative for the English term "fast food". T
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jul 27, 2010
US Senators have postponed a hearing to investigate BP’s alleged role in the release of the Lockerbie bomber after the oil giant and British officials “stonewalled” requests for information.
The US Senate was forced to abandon this Thursday’s hearing after former ministers and senior BP executives refused to appear.
Those shunning invitations included Jack Straw, the former Justice Secretary, and Tony Hayward, the outgoing chief executive of BP.
The Brit
Source: Fox News
Jul 27, 2010
President Obama will make history as the first sitting president on a daytime talk show when he visits with the ladies of "The View." But he'll be missing out on another historic occasion -- the Boy Scouts' Jamboree marking the group's 100th anniversary, right in the president's backyard.
The Jamboree kicked off this week at Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia, where organizers had invited the president to speak to the 45,000 scouts in attendance. All three of Obama's predecessors
Source: AP
Jul 27, 2010
It seemed too good to be true: The discovery of a new painting by Caravaggio during the celebrations marking the 400th anniversary of his death. It turns out, it probably was.
Scholars unveiling the painting Tuesday concurred that the "Martyrdom of St. Lawrence" did not look like a Caravaggio, but rather like the work of one or more of his followers. This week, the Vatican newspaper, which first suggested the canvas could be the work of Caravaggio, shot down its own report
Source: CNN
Jul 27, 2010
Former Bosnian leader Ejup Ganic will not be extradited to Serbia, a British court ruled Tuesday, setting him free.
Ganic called the extradition request "a textbook example of abuse," accusing the Serbian government of trying to "undermine the judiciary in this country."
The extradition request was politically motivated, Justice Timothy Workman found in throwing it out....
Source: CNN
Jul 27, 2010
Cuba's Fidel Castro on Tuesday said he would publish a new book in August on the fighting more than 50 years ago between his ragtag rebels and the 10,000-strong army under former dictator Fulgencio Batista.
In an essay published Tuesday on the state-run website, www.cubadebate.cu, Castro said the book will be called "The Strategic Victory."
Castro said the 25 chapters contain photos, maps and illustrations of the weapons
Source: NYT
Jul 27, 2010
Seth Mydans' dispatches from Cambodia on Monday (“A Verdict Is Due in the First Trial of a Major Khmer Rouge Figure”) and Tuesday (“Prison Term for Khmer Rouge Jailer Leaves many Dissatisfied") relayed the surprisingly lenient verdict in Cambodia of the Khmer Rouge jailer and killer known as “Duch.” They were unsparing and graphic, but strangely incomplete....
Source: Fox News
Jul 27, 2010
A team of scientists will launch an expedition to the Titanic next month to assess the deteriorating condition of the world's most famous shipwreck and create a detailed three-dimensional map that will "virtually raise the Titanic" for the public.
The expedition to the site 2 miles 1/2 miles (four kilometers) beneath the North Atlantic is billed as the most advanced scientific mission to the Titanic wreck since its discovery 25 years ago.
The 20-day expedition
Source: CNN
Jul 27, 2010
Rick Norsigian's hobby of picking through piles of unwanted items at garage sales in search of antiques has paid off for the Fresno, California, painter.
Two small boxes he bought 10 years ago for $45 -- negotiated down from $70 -- are now estimated to be worth at least $200 million, according to a Beverly Hills art appraiser.
Those boxes contained 65 glass negatives created by famed nature photographer Ansel Adams in the early period of his career. Experts believed the
Source: WaPo
Jul 27, 2010
Art officials on Tuesday unveiled the painting at the center of the latest Caravaggio mystery, after the Vatican newspaper first suggested and then denied that the canvas was the work of the Italian master.
The "Martyrdom of St. Lawrence" will now be subjected to X-rays and other analyses to ascertain its attribution. But art officials and scholars attending the unveiling agreed the painting did not look like a Caravaggio - but rather like the work of one or more of his fo
Source: WaPo
Jul 27, 2010
A voluminous cache of secret documents is leaked, shedding new light on official statements and drawing into question some of the rationale for America's involvement in a murky, distant and long-running war.
That would accurately describe the publication in 1971 of the Pentagon Papers, the Defense Department's secret history of the Vietnam War that revealed a "credibility gap" between the Johnson administration's public statements and its private actions.
It
Source: Bloomberg News
Jul 26, 2010
Archaeologists have uncovered for the first time in Israel fragments of a law code that resemble portions of the famous Code of Hammurabi.
The code was found on two fragments of a clay tablet, and is between 3,700 and 3,800 years old, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem said today in an e-mailed statement.
The discovery opens an interesting avenue for investigation of a connection between Biblical law and the Code of Hammurabi, according to Wayne Horowitz of the Hebrew
Source: Guardian (UK)
Jul 26, 2010
It's another chapter in the now familiar story of China's economic embrace of Africa. Except that this one begins nearly 600 years ago.
A team of 11 Chinese archaeologists will arrive in Kenya tomorrow to begin the search for an ancient shipwreck and other evidence of commerce with China dating back to the early 15th century. The three-year, £2m joint project will centre around the tourist towns of Lamu and Malindi and should shed light on a largely unknown part of both countries' h
Source: WaPo
Jul 26, 2010
Cyclists, tourists and the occasional jogger stood out in the sea of Boy Scout troops wearing tan shirts, green shorts and thick green-and-red socks -- some rolled hastily down to their ankles. Spectators lined the sizzling sidewalks along Constitution Avenue in clusters wherever they could find shade.
The troops and accompanying bands were all smiles and appeared to be unaffected by the heat as they marched to celebrate the group's 100th anniversary.
The Grand Centenn
Source: Fox News
Jul 26, 2010
A strip of land on Africa's southern coast became a last refuge for the band of early humans who survived an ice age that wiped out the species elsewhere, scientists maintained Sunday.
The land, referred to by researchers as "the garden of Eden," may have been the only part of Africa to remain continuously habitable during the ice age that began about 195,000 years ago.
Scientists' excavations showed how a combination of rich vegetation on land and nutrient-la
Source: AP
Jul 26, 2010
The Vatican's top art historian on Monday shot down a report in its own newspaper that suggested a recently discovered painting was a Caravaggio.
The head of the Vatican Museums, Antonio Paolucci, wrote in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano that the work was most likely a copy of an original by a Caravaggio-influence artist.
It was L'Osservatore itself that set the art world aflutter last week with a front-page article headlined "A New Caravaggio," det
Source: Huffington Post
Jul 26, 2010
Oliver Stone says that Hitler caused more damage to the Russian people than to Jewish people, but that the American focus on the Holocaust stems from the "Jewish domination of the media."Update, Stone apology belowThe director made the controversial claim in an interview with London's Sunday Times (behind a paywall)."Hitler was a Frankenstein
Source: CNN
Jul 26, 2010
Rachel Sussman is a time traveler. For the last few years, the American photographer has journeyed across the globe on a mission to bring back images of the world's oldest living organisms.
In her ongoing project, Sussman has traveled to the primal landscapes of southern Greenland, the timeless high-altitude Andean deserts of South America and even under the ocean.
"[The project] is a celebration and record of our past, a call to action now, and also a barometer of
Source: NYT
Jul 26, 2010
Raúl Castro is known among Cubans as a pragmatist, not an orator. But the Cuban president surprised even those accustomed to his reticence on Monday, when he chose not to address an expectant crowd gathered to celebrate Revolution Day in this university town.
Related
Instead, he delegated the task to the 79-year old vice president, José Ramón Machado Ventura, who appealed for discipline and patience as Cuba tackles economic reforms and condemned the United States for its econ
