ROME — It had always been thought that Nero’s famous dining room, which actually revolved day and night, simulating the earth’s movement, coincided with the octagonal room situated on the Colle Oppio. However, in the course of reinforcing work carried out on the Palatine, the real coenatio rotunda emerged.
Excavations in the Vigna Barberini area resulted [...]

Hear the podcast here or on iTunes!
Blast’s news department is starting up a weekly world news podcast to augment our Terra blog.
Our own Sachin Seth will be narrating the episodes, so don’t miss out!

Supporters of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya defied roadblocks and a city-wide closure to surround the Brazilian embassy in which Zelaya has taken refuge in Tegucigalpa, Al-Jazeera reports.

An art expert travels to Cuba

In a recent letter FBI head Robert Mueller brutally attacked the Scottish government and Secretary of Justice Kenny MacAskill over the recent release of Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, the man widely known as the Lockerbie bomber.

As ballots are counted in Afghanistan, reports have surfaced, despite the media blackout, that at least 27 people, including nine civilians, have been killed across the country in a slew of attacks on voting day, according to Global Post.

A few weeks ago it seemed like Afghanistan’s main candidates for president, the incumbent Hamid Karzai and his former foreign minister Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, were locked in a dead heat, running side by side toward that coveted post; to govern a country rocked by economic troubles and war.

Here are some pictures of baby panthers, leopards and tigers just unveiled by a German zoo

This article was written and reported by Lauren McCombs, Jessica Elford, and Pasquale Augustine.
In a last minute change in posture, President Barack Obama recently decided to go to Russia to “reset” the generally confusing political relationship between Russia and the United States.
Outsiders could perceive that the U.S. State Department attitude has been that Russia can [...]

Imagine being detained by government authorities without charge, without access to a lawyer, your whereabouts hidden from all of society. Imagine now that so much is going on in the world that mainstream media don’t have the time to tell your story, or the story of your four companions, all of which are going through the exact same thing.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization — What are China and Russia Up To?

The body of Air France Flight 447’s chief pilot was identified among the 50 bodies that have thus far been recovered about 300 miles off the coast of Brazil’s Fernando de Noronha islands, Air France said Wednesday.

Some sources say a bomb went off outside a mosque and killed three or four people. Other say people were being shot dead in the streets. Some claim military tanks were deployed. Reports of helicopters landing at universities are coming through via Iranian twitter accounts. More twitter accounts claim Basiji may be entering homes and attacking civilians.

Blast will present its own exclusive coverage of the events in Iran, including an interview you’ll only see here.
For now, we wish to share these images with you, which were sent to us by Gooya News/Voice of America Persian News Network.

In the video, Ahmadinejad compares the rioting to misplaced passion by fans of the losing team after a soccer match. Degrading.

Iran’s young and more educated voting electorate is executing a peaceful mutiny aimed at overthrowing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad using the power of democracy.

NEW DELHI, India — Suicide bombers attacked a five-star hotel in Peshawar, Pakistan on Tuesday, in the most direct attack of a Western target since the Islamabad Marriott bombing last September.
Bombers rammed a small truck laden with explosives through the gates of the upscale Pearl Continental Hotel at around 10 p.m., killing at least 16 [...]

The emergency beacons attached to the flight’s data recorders will only transmit a signal for about 20 more days.

Amid all the controversy and speculation surrounding the Flight 447 crash, Air France has sent a memo to its pilots informing them that speed measurement instruments will be replaced on all medium- and long-haul Airbus planes, AP reports.

Forty-one bodies have been found in the Atlantic thus far, two on Saturday, 14 on Sunday, eight on Monday, and 17 on Tuesday, all confirmed to have been on Air France Flight 447, Brazilian officials said Wednesday.

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