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: Telegraph (UK)
May 2, 2010
A form of ''anti-freeze blood'' may have helped woolly mammoths survive life in the Arctic, research suggests.
Ancestors of both the extinct mammoth and modern elephants originated in equatorial Africa, scientists believe. But mammoths migrated north between 1.2 and two million years ago just as climate change caused temperatures to plunge.
The move is surprising since elephants are not adapted to the cold. Scientists investigated whether ch
Source: The Examiner
May 1, 2010
Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Historic Village, a National Historic Landmark located in Avella, Pa., Washington County, reopens Saturday, May 1.
Meadowcroft features a 16,000-year-old Rockshelter, the oldest site of human habitation in North America, that provides ancient evidence of how the first Americans lived. Photo at left provided by Senator John Heinz History Center.
The new enclosure at Meadowcroft Rockshelter provides visitors with a unique, never-before-seen pe
Source: The Examiner
May 1, 2010
They call themselves the Diné
With over 300,000 persons claiming Diné heritage, they are the second largest Native American tribe in the United States. Dené is the name they call themselves. It means “the people.” Their Hopi neighbors called them the Navajo, which means “many farmers.” The Spanish started using this name, and so like many other Native American tribes, they became known by the name others called them.
It might surprise many non-Diné to learn that the an
Source: AP
May 1, 2010
Shock and outrage over the May 4 National Guard slayings of four Kent State University students, on the other end of Ohio from his University of Cincinnati campus. Then fear and confusion as schools across the state and much of the country saw the demonstrations against the expansion of the Vietnam War into Cambodia swell into angry, combative confrontations.
For some graduating seniors of the Class of 1970, there would be no joyful mortarboard tosses, posing for photos with proud p
Source: Jon Wiener, writing in The Nation
May 1, 2010
[Jon Wiener started writing for The Nation in 1984. He's also professor of history at the University of California, Irvine, and a Los Angeles radio host.]
The Arizona legislature has passed a bill that will end ethnic studies classes in the state, according to the state's top education official.
The bill bans classes that "promote resentment toward a race or class of people," "are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group," or "
Source: BBC
May 1, 2010
An exhibition charting the life and career of Peter Pan's creator has opened at the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh.
The JM Barrie exhibition, which is open throughout May, celebrates the 150th anniversary of his birth.
It features rare letters, first-edition books, plays and theatre programmes.
Fan mail from children, including a marriage proposal from a six-year-old boy to Peter Pan's companion Wendy, is also on display.
Amongst the
Source: BBC
May 1, 2010
Rwandan President Paul Kagame has travelled to the US, ignoring a lawsuit filed there over the deaths of two African presidents in 1994.
Mr Kagame spoke at a ceremony honouring Rwandan graduates in Oklahoma City.
The widows of the then leaders of Burundi and Rwanda, whose deaths sparked the 1994 genocide, say Mr Kagame ordered their plane shot down.
Mr Kagame denies this. The lawyers who filed the lawsuit were unable to serve the legal papers during his vis
Source: BBC
May 1, 2010
The people who went missing during Lebanon's civil war in the 1970s and 80s are in danger of being forgotten as their parents and siblings grow older. One mother I knew died without ever discovering what happened to her children.
Some 17,000 people vanished during the bloody conflict, most - it is thought - abducted and killed by militias. But some believe a few hundred may still be alive in Syrian jails.
Shortly after the war ended, the Lebanese government passed an am
Source: Telegraph (UK)
May 1, 2010
They were known as the 'Ghost Army', an eclectic group of actors, make-up artists and sound experts who together engineered one of the greatest deceptions in military history.
Using hundreds of inflatable tanks and artillery, deploying the latest sound technology and posing as drunken military officers in order to spread disinformation, the Ghost Army is credited with helping the Allies win the war in Europe and saving thousands of British and American lives.
Over the c
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
Apr 30, 2010
Exactly 65 years after Adolf Hitler perished in his Berlin bunker, the man who Moscow claims destroyed his bones today refused to reveal the exact spot in Germany where he 'cremated' the Fuhrer.
Vladimir Gumenyuk, a 73 year old retired KGB officer, vowed to take his secret to his grave so that the location in the countryside around Magdeburg would not become the focus of pilgrimages by neo-Nazis.
The veteran is said to be the last man alive from a team of three who were
Source: AP
Apr 30, 2010
German police said a couple of hungry pigs digging for food came nose-to-nose with a long-buried World War II anti-tank weapon. Police said Friday the two pigs found the single-shot "panzerfaust" on private land southwest of Dresden. The pigs' owner secured the animals in their stall then called police who were able to remove the weapon and destroy it.
The inexpensive and easy-to-operate panzerfaust was used extensively during the defense of Germany and through the rest of
Source: Spiegel Online
Apr 30, 2010
For years, from his senior position in Estonia's Defense Ministry, Herman Simm leaked highly sensitive NATO intelligence and the names of Western spies to Russia's foreign intelligence service. In a classified damage analysis, NATO concludes that the former KGB colonel was one of the "most damaging" spies in the history of the alliance.
Everyone thought Hermann Simm deserved to be honored. It was Monday, Feb. 6, 2006, and he was dressed in his best suit to attend the day's
Source: WaPo
Apr 30, 2010
You won't find gleaming china, boldly patterned wallpaper, fine artwork or stately furniture inside the renovated buildings at the Brentsville Courthouse Historic Centre in Bristow.
In fact, you might be hard-pressed to find overt similarities between the five historic Brentsville buildings and such better-known historic landmarks as George Washington's Mount Vernon south of Alexandria, Thomas Jefferson's Monticello just outside Charlottesville or even the former Arlington residence
Source: FOX News
Apr 30, 2010
After making national headlines for a new law on illegal immigrants, the Arizona Legislature passed a bill Thursday that would ban ethnic studies programs in the state that critics say currently advocate separatism and racial preferences.
The bill, which passed 32-26 in the state House, had been approved by the Senate a day earlier. It now goes to Gov. Jan Brewer for her signature.
The new bill would make it illegal for a school district to teach any courses that promo
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Apr 30, 2010
The Pope will bow before the Turin Shroud on Sunday as more than two million people are expected to see the so-called burial cloth of Christ as it goes on display.
The Pontiff, 83, beset in recent months by the paedophile priest scandals that have rocked the Roman Catholic Church across the world, is likely to attract hundreds of thousands of pilgrims to Turin for a glimpse of both him and the cloth said to bear an image of Christ's body and face.
The last papal viewin
Source: McClatchy
Apr 30, 2010
Is George W. Bush about to start a political comeback?
Written off as one of the worst presidents in U.S. history when he left office, the 63-year-old Bush has been keeping a low profile, fading from view as the country turned its attention to his successor, President Barack Obama .
Now, some events might be turning in Bush's favor just as he and his family emerge to tell their side of the story, first with the release this week of Laura Bush's memoir, "Spoken From
Source: CBC News
Apr 30, 2010
Soldiers roped off George Clooney's Lake Como property in Italy on Thursday while a team of experts removed a cache of unexploded Second World War-era weapons that were found in the lake.
A fisherman discovered the explosives, which were submerged in the lake just metres away from the actor's Italian villa, the Daily Mail reported. The fisherman called Italian authorities, who sent a team to remove the weapons.
More than 200 kilograms of unexploded bombs, hand grenades
Source: BBC
Apr 30, 2010
An apparent attempt to remove a replica Stone of Destiny from Scone Palace in Perthshire has been unsuccessful.
Tayside Police said the stone was taken and replaced with another sometime between Wednesday and Thursday.
The replica stone was later found dumped in the grounds of the palace although its brass plaque was missing.
The real stone, on which Scottish monarchs were crowned, was removed by Edward I in 1296 and fitted into a wooden chair at Westmins
Source: BBC
Apr 30, 2010
To many people, thoughts of maps conjure up images of dusty classrooms and geography teachers.
But a new exhibition at the British Library, Magnificent Maps, aims to put the art back into how we view, and use, these often beautiful examples.
More than simply a topological survey of a country or continent, the maps on display are as diverse as their decorative features - from hunting dogs to sea monsters and cherubs blowing the winds across the ocean.
Source: BBC
Apr 30, 2010
It's 65 years since Hitler drafted his will before committing suicide. The men who translated it were renegade Germans who fled to Britain to take up arms against their own country. Two new memoirs shed light on this little-known group.
The outbreak of World War II saw thousands of people across Europe volunteer for military service, in a bid to do their duty for their respective countries.
But among those who stepped forward for Britain were 10,000 German and Austrian
