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: Independent (UK)
May 23, 2010
Exactly a century after rumours of his death turned out to be entirely accurate, one of Mark Twain's dying wishes is at last coming true: an extensive, outspoken and revelatory autobiography which he devoted the last decade of his life to writing is finally going to be published.
The creator of Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn and some of the most frequently misquoted catchphrases in the English language left behind 5,000 unedited pages of memoirs when he died in 1910, together with han
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer
May 23, 2010
The old warship has been part of Philadelphia's waterfront for 50 years and left lasting impressions on thousands of visitors who heard gripping stories of its role in the Spanish-American War.
Now the Olympia - the last surviving vessel from that 1898 conflict - could face an ignoble end as an artificial reef off Cape May if a new benefactor cannot be found.
The Independence Seaport Museum and the Navy have already checked with officials of New Jersey's Artificial Reef
Source: Discovery
May 23, 2010
The rapid decline of mammoths and other megafauna after humans spread across the New World may explain a bone-chilling plunge in global temperatures some 12,800 years ago, researchers reported Sunday.
The 100-odd species of grass-eating giants that once crowded the North American landscape released huge quantities of methane -- from both ends of their digestive tracks.
As a heat-trapping greenhouse gas, methane is 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide (CO2).
Source: NYT
May 23, 2010
It was an extraordinary week for rare coins and stamps, with two of the world’s most valuable specimens being sold within days of each other.
If anyone doubts the enduring appeal of American currency, a sale completed Thursday of a sparkling 1794 silver dollar should put that to rest. The coin, believed by some experts to be the first United States dollar ever minted, was sold to a nonprofit educational group for $7.85 million, a world record for any coin.
“This is a na
Source: SF Bay View
May 23, 2010
The ad hoc organizing committee of the Second International Criminal Defense Conference being held in Brussels on May 21-23 thanked Rwandan Chief Prosecutor Martin Ngoga and Kigali’s New Times for publicizing their efforts.
This week, as the conference dates approached, The New Times published several articles condemning it and quoting Ngoga saying, “For a few years now, some defense lawyers at the ICTR have badly deviated from their professional duties and turned into activists and
Source: AP
May 23, 2010
Her children are 21 and 16 years old, but they still cry through the night, tossing and turning in pain, sucking their thumbs for comfort.
Tran Thi Gai, who rarely gets any sleep herself, sings them a mournful lullaby. "Can you feel my love for you? Can you feel my sorrow for you? Please don't cry."
Gai's children — both with twisted limbs and confined to wheelchairs — were born in a village that was drenched with Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. She belie
Source: Sky News
May 23, 2010
The remains of one of the oldest members of the English royal family are thought to have been found in a cathedral in Germany.
They belong to Eadgyth, grand-daughter of Alfred the Great, who was born in 910 and died in 946 at the age of 36.
Eadgyth was also the sister of King Athelstan and therefore an important pawn in the politics games of the time.
She was married off strategically to Otto I, the Holy Roman Emperor in 929 with whom she lived in Saxony an
Source: BBC
May 23, 2010
A Scottish businessman has donated £1m to help fund the refurbishment of the National Museum of Scotland.
Former nuclear physicist Dr Walter Scott's donation to the museum Edinburgh's Chambers Street brings the total funds raised to more than £44m.
Another £2m is needed for the revamp, which will see the creation of 16 new galleries and education facilities.
Dr Scott's donation will fund the Discoveries gallery, which will be at the heart of the refurbis
Source: Telegraph (UK)
May 23, 2010
The Swedish 'Treskilling Yellow' retained its title as the world's most expensive stamp when it change hands a private sale in Geneva.
The one-of-a-kind 1855 misprint was sold to a group of buyers who asked that their identities and the winning bid be kept confidential, said auctioneer David Feldman.
He declined to disclose whether the sale matched the record it previously set in 1996 of £1.59 million, but admitted it was "still worth more than any other single sta
Source: Fox News
May 23, 2010
Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul is feeling what it is like to be Sarah Palin, the former Republican vice presidential candidate said Sunday, comparing the media's preoccupation with Paul's recent statements about the 1964 Civil Rights Act to her own treatment in the press.
Palin said that Paul is seeing firsthand how "gotcha" politics work after the libertarian-leaning Republican spent days on defense spelling out his support for the Civil Rights Act and the government
Source: AP
May 23, 2010
Archeologists have unearthed 57 ancient Egyptian tombs, most of which hold an ornately painted wooden sarcophagus with a mummy inside, Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities said Sunday.
The oldest tombs date back to around 2750 B.C. during the period of Egypt's first and second dynasties, the council said in a statement. Twelve of the tombs belong the 18th dynasty which ruled Egypt during the second millennium B.C.
The discovery throws new light on Egypt's ancient reli
Source: KITV.com (HI)
May 22, 2010
The military kept the West Loch disaster of 1944 top secret for 16 years. For the first time Friday, the military publicly honored the scores of servicemen who were killed in the explosions.
Historians said servicemen were loading ships with munitions and supplies, preparing for an invasion on the Japanese-controlled Mariana Islands. Then the unthinkable happened.
“An explosion ripped through one of the ships. The explosions obliterated the vessel and encapsulated the r
Source: The Root
May 21, 2010
"National Guard troops patrolled the streets of Chicago's Negro West Side last night and early today. For the first time in four nights there was no major violence in the riot-torn ghetto area."
That was the first paragraph of a New York Times article that ran on Saturday, July 16, 1966.
If Illinois state representatives John Fritchey (D-District 11) and LaShawn Ford (D-District 8) have their way, the scene could soon be ripped from today's headlines, of cours
Source: BBC
May 21, 2010
A group of squatters has finally been moved out of Nelson Mandela's old law office in the heart of Johannesburg. The "breakthrough" is being celebrated by the former president's lawyer, George Bizos, and others who have fought for years to restore the historic building and turn it into a resources centre for young lawyers.
But there's still one big hurdle ahead. The Essa family who own Chancellor House are reported to be asking for more than the current worth of the proper
Source: Lynchburg News & Advance
May 21, 2010
The Museum of the Confederacy has raised $6 million of a needed $7.5 million in funding for a satellite location in Appomattox.
“We’re getting really close,” said Sam Craghead, a public relations specialist for the museum. “The groundbreaking is in the foreseeable future.”
Most of the funding has come from private individuals and grants. Craghead said that after a public fundraising effort begins soon, construction could start this year.
The museum’s expect
Source: CNN
May 21, 2010
Funny and flip. Confident at times, nervous at others. An earnest student and a meticulous lawyer. Newly released documents of Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan's not-so-distant past reveal a determined, often blunt-speaking woman with an occasionally silly side.
The examination of thousands of pages of documents from Kagan's years in college and from her various professional posts in academia and government are part of a ritual every high court nominee endures, as every aspect of t
Source: The Independent
May 21, 2010
A team of archaeologists who uncovered a 1,400 year old pyramid in Peru say that the finding is particularly unusual. The flat-topped pyramid, which was built by the Moche culture, was used for the living rather than just for the dead, and contains a wealth of artefacts, murals and human remains.
The pyramid was discovered at Huaca Colorada, which translates as ‘coloured hill’. Excavation leader Professor Edward Swenson, of the University of Toronto, describes how he suspected that
Source: BBC
May 21, 2010
A skeleton discovered at Stirling Castle may have been an English knight who died in the 14th Century.
Sir John de Stricheley died in 1341, when the English held the castle.
An investigation into the skeleton by forensic anthropologist Professor Sue Black and her team from the University of Dundee was featured on BBC Two's History Cold Case series on Thursday.
The battle-scared knight probably died from an arrow wound inflicted by the Scots.
Source: BBC
May 21, 2010
A cartoonist whose work inspired an internet campaign inviting people to draw images of the Prophet Muhammad has apologised for her role in the row.
Writing on her blog, Molly Norris said her satirical cartoon was "hijacked" and that the campaign was "offensive to Muslims".
Other people set up a page on the social networking site Facebook backing an Everybody Draw Muhammad Day.
It sparked outrage in Pakistan, where a court ordered Fac
Source: BBC
May 21, 2010
French police are hunting the burglar or burglars who made off with paintings by Picasso, Matisse and other great artists from a Paris museum.
Officials have admitted the Museum of Modern Art's alarm system had not been fully functioning for several weeks.
One masked intruder was spotted by security cameras, climbing into the museum through a broken side window, having cut through a gate padlock.
The paintings are estimated to be worth just under 100m eu
