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: Truthout
September 2, 2009
The CIA said in court papers late Monday that it intends to withhold hundreds of pages of documents related to the Bush administration's torture and detention policies on grounds that disclosing the information will threaten national security.
In a 33-page declaration, Wendy M. Hilton, the associate information officer of the CIA's National Clandestine Service, said the documents the agency is withholding are "primarily" those "from closed investigations conducted
Source: CNN
September 2, 2009
SANTIAGO, Chile (CNN) -- Arrest warrants for more than 120 former soldiers and agents of Chile's National Intelligence Directorate were issued Tuesday for alleged human rights violations during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, CNN Chile reported.
The scale of the order by Judge Victor Montiglio makes this the largest human rights prosecution case in Chile's history.
The Pinochet dictatorship ruled from 1973-1990, after which Chile returned to civilian rule under a
Source: The Times Online
September 1, 2009
A facsimile of an historic document from the Vatican Secret Archives in which English peers appeal to Pope Clement VII to annul Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon is to be given to the Queen tomorrow.
The 95 x 46cm (37 x 18in) parchment, which dates from 1530 and bears 81 red wax seals, is a key document of events leading to the schism between Rome and the Church in England.
Scrinium, a Venice-based publisher that promotes the historic and cultural wealth of
Source: The Independent
September 2, 2009
Libyan officials were secretly told that Gordon Brown wanted the Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi to return home rather than have him die on British soil.
The message was conveyed by a former Foreign Office minister Bill Rammell after the Libyans had warned that Megrahi's death in a Scottish prison would have a "catastrophic" impact on relations between the two countries.
The revelation was contained in a pile of documents released yesterday by the
Source: Jerusalem Post
September 1, 2009
Although Egyptian-Israeli relations have been frosty in recent years, ties between the two lands were vibrant around 3,000 BCE during the Early Bronze Age - at least according to Tel Aviv University and University College London archeologists who discovered a rare, four-centimeter-long stone fragment at the point where the Jordan River exits Lake Kinneret.
The piece, part of a carved stone plaque bearing archaic Egyptian signs, was the highlight of the second season of excavations
Source: CNN
September 1, 2009
WESTERPLATTE, Poland--On a sand swept stretch of Afghanistan, a high-ranking Polish general put his country's mission there into perspective.
He explained to a NATO delegation that Polish troops remind Afghan locals of two things about the mission: They are not Soviets and they know how difficult it is to live under foreign occupation.
It is hard to ignore the incomparable price Poland paid during World War II. It was attacked by Germany, invaded by the Soviets, and bec
Source: NYT
September 1, 2009
MOSCOW — Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin, in Poland to mark the 70th anniversary of the start of World War II, praised Polish soldiers and citizens on Tuesday for their wartime bravery, even as the Russian government unveiled what it said were previously classified documents showing prewar Polish cooperation with Nazi Germany.
Mr. Putin’s remarks appeared aimed at dampening a row between Russia and Poland over each country’s role in the war, a dispute that grew heated in the weeks
Source: Amazon
September 2, 2009
For the more than fifty years that Democrats controlled the U.S. House of Representatives, leadership was divided between Massachusetts and Texas. When the Speaker was from Texas (or nearby Oklahoma), the Majority Leader was from the Boston area, and when the Speaker was from Boston, the Majority Leader was from Texas.
The Austin-Boston Connection analyzes the importance of the friendships (especially mentor-protégé relationships) and enmities within congressional delegations, regi
Source: NYT
September 2, 2009
In a memoir being published posthumously, Senator Edward M. Kennedy talks remorsefully about the car accident that claimed the life of Mary Jo Kopechne – a turn of events many consider a chief reason that he was never able to mount a successful bid for the presidency.
Writing in his book “True Compass,” which is scheduled to be published on Sept. 14, Mr. Kennedy, who died a week ago, described his actions in the 1969 accident as “inexcusable” and said that at the time he was afraid,
Source: Independent (UK)
September 2, 2009
A British-based academic has uncovered a fragment of the world's oldest Bible hiding underneath the binding of an 18th-century book.
Nikolas Sarris spotted a previously unseen section of the Codex Sinaiticus, which dates from about AD350, as he was trawling through photographs of manuscripts in the library of St Catherine's Monastery in Egypt.
The Codex, handwritten in Greek on animal skin, is the earliest known version of the Bible. Leaves from the priceless tome are
Source: BBC
September 2, 2009
A dwindling number of veterans now represent Scottish servicemen and women's involvement in key areas of conflict during World War II.
The Russian Convoy Club Scotland and Italy Star Association North of Scotland Branch have fewer than 30 veteran members each.
The Normandy Veterans Association will hold what is expected to be its last gathering of veterans on 13 September, ahead of an AGM in London where branches will consider the organisation's future.
L
Source: BBC
September 2, 2009
A former Serb paramilitary leader wanted in Croatia for war crimes has won an appeal against his extradition.
Australia's federal court said he faced a "substantial or real chance of prejudice" if he was sent to Croatia.
Dragan Vasiljkovic was arrested in Perth in 2006 after Zagreb requested his extradition for atrocities during its 1991-1995 war of independence.
The Croatian government accuses Mr Vasiljkovic of ordering subordinates to kill Cro
Source: BBC
September 2, 2009
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said there was "no conspiracy" leading to the release of the Lockerbie bomber.
He added there had also been "no cover-up" over the UK's dealings with the Scottish or Libyan governments.
And in a further development, a lawyer who represents the families of Lockerbie victims in the US is planning legal action to force the US government to publish details of its correspondence with London and Edinburgh in the run-up to M
Source: Telegraph (UK)
September 2, 2009
Russia has released classified intelligence files it claims proves Poland was secretly conspiring with Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union prior to the Second World War.
The files, which Moscow says it extracted from its SVR foreign intelligence service archive, purport to prove that Poland was pursuing an aggressive anti-Soviet foreign policy throughout the 1930s, while ingratiating itself with the Nazis.
Their release coincides with the seventieth anniversary of th
Source: Telegraph (UK)
September 2, 2009
Rare and unseen manuscripts from the First World War poet Edmund Blunden are being put online by Oxford University.
They include 17 poems that Blunden, a friend of Siegfried Sassoon, Robert Graves and Wilfred Owen, wrote during his three years of service.
Also available to see online will be extracts from his trench diary and his 'Minute Book', which he started to assemble after 1918 to record and illustrate his experiences.
Source: Foxnews
September 2, 2009
Family members say the only man convicted in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing has been taken to intensive care after his condition worsened.
Abdel Baset al-Megrahi has terminal prostate cancer and Libyan officials have said his health has swiftly deteriorated since his release from a Scottish prison less than two weeks ago.
The family members, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said they have not been allowed to visit him. There was
Source: CNN
September 2, 2009
The Democratic National Committee is taking aim at Dick Cheney over his string of high-profile media appearances during which the former vice president has been highly critical of President Obama's national security policies.
In a new 30-second television ad set for national cable and local cable in Washington, the DNC asserts many of Cheney's statements have been incorrect — particularly those in which he has argued enhance interrogation techniques conclusively yielded intelligence
Source: CNN
September 2, 2009
The man charged with murder in the shooting death of a guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum was denied bail Wednesday and will undergo psychiatric testing against his will.
James von Brunn ignored the advice of the judge and his defense attorney and addressed the court during a hearing to fight any delays as prosecutors press their case.
Von Brunn, a self-avowed white supremacist, will remain in custody after the judge said there were no conditions for release th
Source: Independent (UK)
September 2, 2009
Watching a steam train full of waving passengers pull out of Prague station yesterday, the Meisl brothers recalled the wartime journey that had changed their lives forever.
Peter Meisl was evacuated from Czechoslovakia by a British stockbroker, Nicholas Winton, on the eve of the Second World War along with 668 other children, 22 of whom were on board the commemorative train yesterday as it left Prague in a cloud of steam to begin its four-day trip to London.
Czechoslova
Source: Fox News
August 31, 2009
Federal authorities have stripped an American of his citizenship and are now trying to deport him for allegedly helping Nazis in his native country.
The Justice Department initiated removal proceedings against John Kalymon of Troy, Mich., based on his participation in violent acts of persecution while serving as an armed member of the Nazi-sponsored Ukrainian police during World War II, a Justice Department press release said.
Specifically, the Justice Department filed
