December 28th News

Posting is likely to continue to be irregular until the New Year. At any rate, things seem to be quite quiet today.

New stories as of 9:39 AM:

Campaign To Save Cave From Damage
BBC News
An ancient cave in Herts - thought to have been used by the Knights Templar during their quest for the Holy Grail - is under threat, according to an MP...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/beds/bucks/herts/7162571.stm

Bob Hecht: Fragments Of An Antiquities Conspiracy
Scoop
Hugh Eakin’s recent "Treasure Hunt" story in The New Yorker profiling Marion True, the former Getty curator on trial in Rome for conspiracy to traffic in ancient art, devotes a column to True’s 1991 paper on the destruction of ancient cultural sites, giving the impression that the Italian government is to blame for looting half of that country’s Greek and Roman history...
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0712/S00321.htm
This is obviously only one side of a two (or more) sided debate.

The Children's Crusade
Bits of News
In Chartres, amidst the calls for knights and noblemen to go to Spain to fight against Islam, a group of shepherds led by Stephen of Cloyes one of their number, got up and started marching to deliver a letter from Christ to the King of France...
http://www.bitsofnews.com/content/view/6632/