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: Today's Zaman (Turkey)
Jun 24, 2010
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has urged the Turkish government to preserve critical archeological sites located in two cities, İzmir and İstanbul, saying cultural heritage should not be sacrificed for large-scale economic development projects.
In a report released by PACE during their summer session, the Council of Europe cited dam construction projects in Allianoi, near Bergama in İzmir province, that would risk flooding what
Source: BBC News
Jun 24, 2010
A US appeals court has been told to look again at the convictions of Conrad Black - the newspaper tycoon currently serving a prison sentence for fraud.
The US Supreme Court has set aside an earlier ruling upholding Black's convictions, saying that the government had not used the law correctly.
Conrad Black was convicted of defrauding shareholders in Hollinger International in 2007.
He is serving a six-and-a-half-year sentence.
Source: Asahi (Japan)
Jun 23, 2010
Sadamitsu Ushijima was told his paternal grandfather was a gentle man. How, then, could his grandfather have ordered his troops to fight to the last man during the Battle of Okinawa in 1945?
Hoping to find an answer to that question, Ushijima, 56, an elementary school teacher in Tokyo, has repeatedly visited the southern island prefecture since 1994.
His grandfather was Lt. Gen. Mitsuru Ushijima, the Japanese Imperial Army commander of forces on Okinawa, the site of the
Source: National Security Archive at GWU
Jun 23, 2010
- Four decades ago, in response to North Korean military provocations, the U.S. developed contingency plans that included selected use of tactical nuclear weapons against Pyongyang’s military facilities and the possibility of full-scale war, according to recently declassified documents. Astonishingly, casualty estimates ranged from a low of 100 or so civilian deaths, up to “several thousand.”
Newly-elected President Richard Nixon and his key advisors, National Security Advisor Henry
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jun 23, 2010
The subterranean passageways of the Colosseum in which gladiators waited to do battle and terrified wild animals were caged are to be opened to the public for the first time this summer.
An ingenious system of pulleys, ropes and platforms enabled lions, tigers, bears and other wild beasts to be winched up into the sand-covered arena, to the cheers and jeers of 50,000 baying spectators.
The opening of the 2,000-year-old underground tunnels and galleries will enable tour
Source: Eurek Alert
Jun 23, 2010
The separation of Neardenthal and Homo sapiens might have occurred at least one million years ago, more than 500.000 years earlier than previously believed after DNA-based analyses. A doctoral thesis conducted at the National Center for Research on Human Evolution (Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana) -associated with the University of Granada-, analysed the teeth of almost all species of hominids that have existed during the past 4 million years. Quantitative methods were
Source: Discovery News
Jun 23, 2010
A dwarf-ed, human-like skeleton was discovered in 2004 deep inside Liang Bua cave on the Indonesian island of Flores. Was it a diseased human? A child?
Further examination of the bones revealed that they were not recent, nor human exactly. Archaeologists famously declared the skeleton a new human ancestor, Homo floresiensis, whose striking similarities to Frodo Baggins earned it the nickname the "hobbit."
But researchers continue to disagree over where exact
Source: Discovery News
Jun 23, 2010
The new finding challenges past assertions that the famous pharaoh died of malaria.
Legendary pharaoh Tutankhamun was probably killed by the genetic blood disorder sickle cell disease, German scientists said Wednesday, rejecting earlier research that suggested he died of malaria.
The team at the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in the northern city of Hamburg questioned the conclusions of a major Egyptian study released in February on the enigmatic boy-kin
Source: Discovery News
Jun 23, 2010
Gen. McChrystal was not the first general to be dismissed by a president and due to the U.S. military and political systems, he won't be the last.
McChrystal's dismissal came after Rolling Stone magazine quoted the general and his staff making disparaging and insulting comments about Obama and the president's security team. The article described McChrystal as a man who, albeit brilliant, "speaks his mind with a candor rare for a high-ranking official"-- even when he disagr
Source: BBC
Jun 23, 2010
Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan has apologised to people in Okinawa for "the burden" of US bases on the island.
Mr Kan was on his official first visit to Okinawa to mark 65 years since the end of a bloody World War II battle.
His predecessor Yukio Hatoyama resigned earlier this month over the poor handling of a row over the relocation of the Futenma airbase.
Islanders have been angered by incidents involving US troops based there, including th
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jun 23, 2010
Jesus may not have died nailed to the cross because there is no evidence that the Romans crucified prisoners two thousand years ago, a scholar has claimed.
The legend of his execution is based on the traditions of the Christian church and artistic illustrations rather than antique texts, according to theologian Gunnar Samuelsson.
He claims the Bible has been misinterpreted as there are no explicit references the use of nails or to crucifixion - only that Jesus bore a
Source: The Independent (UK)
Jun 23, 2010
A 4,600-year-old burial has been discovered in a remote corner of northern Canada – and could hold the key to how ancient Canadians lived. The remarkable find has been made at the mouth of the Bug River, near Big Trout Lake, Ontario. Today the region is home to the Kitchenuhmaykoosik Inninuwug First Nation, an indigenous tribe numbering around 1,200.
The discovery was made by First Nation fishermen as water levels fell at the lake, exposing the burial. The site is currently being ha
Source: Der Spiegel (Germany)
Jun 23, 2010
New historical documents show that Adolf Hitler wanted for nothing during his short incarceration at Landsberg Prison in 1924. He was able to hold court and maintain his political contacts -- all with the consent of the prison management.
A personnel manager couldn't have been more well-meaning in his description. "He was always reasonable, frugal, modest and polite to everyone, especially the officials at the facility," prison warden Otto Leybold wrote about the inmate on
Source: Fox News
Jun 23, 2010
A ground-breaking ceremony for the Korean War National Museum in Springfield, Ill., will no longer be taking place this summer – because the museum doesn’t have enough money even to start construction.
According to the museum website, the museum is “well short of financial and operational goals to break ground” due to “the recent economic downturn,” as well as leaders it says were “too optimistic” about their ability to raise funds.
Organizers are now desperately trying
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jun 23, 2010
Adolf Hitler wrote a begging letter to a Mercedes dealership asking for a loan for a limousine until his royalties for Mein Kampf came through.
The letter, was written in 1924 from his jail cell at Landsberg Fortress prison where he was imprisoned that year for his role in the "Bierkeller Putsch" when his nascent Nazi party tried, and failed, to seize power in Munich.
In jail he wrote Mein Kampf, the blueprint for power that would make him rich. However, when
Source: AP
Jun 23, 2010
Army Gens. Stanley McChrystal and Douglas MacArthur met the same fate -- sacked by their commander in chief. In 1951, President Harry Truman stripped MacArthur of his command after disagreements over Korean War strategy. On Wednesday, President Barack Obama fired McChrystal after his disparaging comments about the president and several members of the administration.
Here is what the presidents said:
------
Obama: "Today I accepted Gen. Stanley McChryst
Source: AP
Jun 23, 2010
An auction of a trove of author John Steinbeck's letters, manuscripts and photographs from his New York City apartment produced lackluster bidding on Wednesday, with half of the items failing to sell or fetching prices below their pre-sale estimates.
The "Grapes of Wrath" author's archive brought a total of $73,950 at Bloomsbury Auction. The auctioneer had predicted that the material would bring $200,000 to $250,000.
Among the highlights that did not sell was
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
Jun 23, 2010
Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini hid a set of secret diaries in an Italian hillside and ordered them not to be opened until 2025, the son of the man who buried them has revealed.
Mussolini, who ruled Italy from 1922 until he was executed by partisans in 1945, has long been rumoured to have kept diaries which could detail the extent of his relationship with wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
There is even a theory among some Italian historians that he was execute
Source: BBC News
Jun 23, 2010
A 91-year-old who said she was the nurse photographed being kissed in Times Square in New York at the end of World War II has died.
Edith Shain said she was grabbed and kissed by an unknown American soldier on 14 August 1945.
The picture by Alfred Eisenstaedt was taken as people celebrated Japan's surrender, and it became an iconic image.
The identity of the sailor remains disputed.
Ms Shain died at her home in Los Angeles on Sunday, her family
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jun 23, 2010
New York City officials say a renewed search this year of debris in and around the World Trade Center site has recovered 72 human remains.
The sifting of more than 800 cubic yards (612 cubic meters) of debris recovered from ground zero and underneath roads around the lower Manhattan site began in April and ended Friday.
The greatest number of remains – 37 – were found from material underneath West Street, a highway on the west side of ground zero. The new debris was unc
