Time is short in the last Nazi hunter's quest for justice

From the Indy

"For someone who enjoys the awesome reputation as the world's last Nazi hunter, Efraim Zuroff is disarmingly candid about how he started in the business of tracking down the perpetrators of genocide. Born in 1948, he had neither direct experience of the Holocaust nor any burning teenage ambition to bring mass murderers to justice. In fact he was more interested in basketball."

'Cutty Sark' goes up in the world

From the Indy

"One of Britain's best-preserved maritime treasures has been hoisted more than 10 feet into the air.

The Cutty Sark, the world's only surviving tea clipper, was lifted about 11ft 6in above the bottom of its dry berth in Greenwich, south east London."

Libya 1911: How an Italian pilot began the air war era

From the BBC

"Italy recently said it was ready to join in Nato's air attacks on targets in Libya - and with the announcement came a sense of history repeating itself.

It was in Libya, almost exactly a century ago, that a young Italian pilot carried out the first ever air raid."

Mysterious Maine earthquakes caused by Ice Age rebound

From Wired

"On the last day of April and first five days of May, dozens of tiny earthquakes caused Maine’s eastern coast to tremble. What could have shaken this geologically quiet region, located in the middle of a tectonic plate, far from any active faults?"

5 May 1821: The first words published in the Manchester Guardian

From the Guardian (see link for image of first page)

"Napoleon had died that very day, but there was no mention of his death for weeks. Instead, the Guardian immortalised a lost labrador on a front page made up entirely of advertisements. News did not replace ads on page one until 1952."

Last WWI combat veteran Claude Choules dies aged 110

From the BBC

"The world's last known combat veteran of World War I, Claude Choules, has died in Australia aged 110.

Known to his comrades as Chuckles, British-born Mr Choules joined the Royal Navy at 15 and went on to serve on HMS Revenge."

The number of people with living memory of the war must be dwindling too, it will slip from living memory within 10-15 years i suspect as the 19th century recently did though of course WW1 is an event which remains vivid in our collective memory thanks to the advent of 20th century media technologies.

Giant ants spread in warm climes

From the BBC

"A giant ant growing over 5cm (2in) long crossed the Arctic during hot periods in the Earth's history, scientists say, using land bridges between continents.

The ant, named Titanomyrma lubei, lived about 50 million years ago and is one of the largest ant species ever found."

The concept of land bridges across the Arctic during very warm periods is very interesting.