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: BBC
November 2, 2010
In France, for centuries, the idea of sharing military resources with perfidious Albion would have been unthinkable.
But the two countries have buried ancient enmities, and the prevailing view in France is that the relationship should nowadays be pragmatic and based firmly on realpolitik.
Of course, the relationship between the French and the British has always been a curious mix of mutual suspicion and admiration.
And the defence relationship has also been
Source: BBC
November 2, 2010
World War I saw the first widespread use of aerial reconnaisance in combat including one unfortunate group of German soldiers, who were discovered because they maintained flower beds outside their barracks.
In the catacombs of the Imperial War Museum, there is a collection of about 150,000 images taken from the air during World War I, documenting the tales of devastation that ripped through Europe between 1914 and 1918.
Air travel in aeroplanes was barely a decade old
Source: Telegraph (UK)
November 2, 2010
The Dutch authorities have urgently recalled "Nazi" number plates issued to drivers after a computer error.
Over 100 car owners received licence plates with the letters "NSB" on them, a Dutch equivalent of the word Nazi.
NSB is the notorious abbreviation for the Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging, the Dutch fascist party which collaborated with the Nazis during the Second World War. Number plates displaying the offending letters were recalled by the
Source: AP
November 1, 2010
British tea planter Gyles Mackrell organized one of the most remarkable rescue missions during World War II — by using elephants when nothing else would do.
Now researchers have released new information that tells, for the first time, the full story of Mackrell's successful effort to use the animals to evacuate hundreds of desperate Burmese refugees stranded by a rain-swollen river. On Monday, Britain's Cambridge University put online a video shot by Mackrell, which together with hi
Source: Telegraph (UK)
November 2, 2010
A skeleton dug up from a cemetery in Sicily is shorter than the legendary bandit king who is supposed to have been buried there, lending weight to suspicions that he faked his own death.
The remains were exhumed in order to ascertain, once and for all, whether Salvatore Giuliano had a lookalike buried in his place and then escaped Italy for a new life in the United States. If still alive, he would be 88.
Surviving relatives of Italy's most famous bandit chieftain insi
Source: CNN.com
November 1, 2010
Washington (CNN) -- The government has started distributing additional benefits for Agent Orange exposure to Vietnam War veterans who qualify under liberalized rules, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced Monday.
Up to 200,000 Vietnam veterans could be eligible for the disability compensation for diseases now associated with Agent Orange, including hairy cell leukemia, Parkinson's disease and ischemic heart disease, the department said in a news release....
Source: Virginia Gazette
October 29, 2010
WILLIAMSBURG –- Colonial Williamsburg has acquired a large amount of cash, but it's not the kind the foundation can spend.
The collection of colonial paper currency was issued by North Carolina prior to the American Revolution.
Comprised of more than 6,600 notes in varying denominations issued between 1748 and 1771, the stash of cash was worth about 7,176 pounds sterling in 1775. If legal tender today, the currency would have purchasing power of more than $750,000.
Source: Mobile Advertiser-Tribune
November 2, 2010
The following is the latest installment of Mayor Jim Boroff's monthly updates on city issues.
Civil War Museum. Renovation has been started at the Cornerstone Building for the American Civil War Museum of Ohio. About two years ago, Mark Young, president of the Civil War Museum Board, expressed an interest in purchasing the Cornerstone Building at Main and South Washington streets to house the museum's exhibits.
To make the museum a reality, the city, in partnership with
Source: The State (SC)
November 2, 2010
Joe McGill can’t get enough exposure to South Carolina’s black history, which is why he occasionally spends nights in slave cabins and re-enacts in a Civil War uniform.
And with the 150th anniversary of the war approaching, he’s ready to promote those stories whenever he can.
“We’ve just got to press on and tell the story as we know it,” said McGill, who is black and works for the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
But with the state’s Civil War reme
Source: GoUpstate.com
November 1, 2010
CHARLESTON — A black South Carolina lawmaker hopes the NAACP will end its tourism boycott of the state as the 150th anniversary of the Civil War approaches.
The Post and Courier of Charleston reported Sen. Robert Ford says it's time for the 11-year boycott to end....
Source: BBC News
October 29, 2010
As fresh details emerge about the extraordinary bravery of wartime spy Eileen Nearne, the BBC has unearthed an interview conducted with her for a television documentary in 1997.
Miss Nearne died of a heart attack in Torquay in September 2010, at the age of 89.
Following her death, previously classified files about her work were released by the National Archives.
Miss Nearne worked undercover in the Paris region in 1944.
But she was caught by the Gest
Source: Telegraph (UK)
November 1, 2010
As the US Federal Reserve meets today to decide whether its next blast of quantitative easing should be $1 trillion or a more cautious $500bn, it does so knowing that China and the emerging world view the policy as an attempt to drive down the dollar.
The Fed's "QE2" risks accelerating the demise of the dollar-based currency system, perhaps leading to an unstable tripod with the euro and yuan, or a hybrid gold standard, or a multi-metal "bancor" along lines propo
Source: CS Monitor
November 2, 2010
Why are U.S. elections held on Tuesday?
We’re not asking why the US holds elections in the first place. We’re asking why everybody goes to the polls on that particular day of the week. Did the Founding Fathers think Tuesday was lonely and needed the attention? Is it a secret Masonic thing – if we voted on Thursdays, would the pillars of the National Archives crumble, revealing the awful truth behind Nicolas Cage’s film career?
Nope. It turns out that elections are held
Source: BBC News
November 2, 2010
David Cameron has said new treaties on defence and nuclear co-operation with France marked a "new chapter" in a long history of defence co-operation.
Speaking alongside French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the UK PM said it would make both countries' citizens safer and would save money.
A centre will be set up in the UK to develop nuclear testing technology and another in France to carry it out.
The leaders also confirmed plans for a joint army exped
Source: NYT
November 2, 2010
LOS ANGELES — Late last week, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was still coming to terms with that most deeply confounding of European filmmakers, Jean-Luc Godard.
No one had yet signed on to present an honorary Oscar to Mr. Godard, who has said he will not be on hand anyway at the academy’s awards banquet in Hollywood a week from Saturday. But there was also the touchy question of how to deal with newly highlighted claims that Mr. Godard, a master of modern film, has
Source: NYT
November 1, 2010
No matter how it turns out, at least one message from the midterm election is clear: this is not a moment of harmonic convergence....
Still, people tend to exaggerate their differences with opponents to begin with, research suggests, especially in the company of fellow partisans. In small groups organized around a cause, for instance, members are prone to one-up one another; the most extreme tend to rise the most quickly, making the group look more radical than it is....
Source: NYT
November 1, 2010
Babies born during the brief but intense Biafra famine in Nigeria 40 years ago have grown up to be more susceptible to obesity and its attendant maladies than those born on either side of it, scientists have found....
Biafra, the homeland of the Ibo tribe, tried to secede from Nigeria in 1967, in a dispute with other tribes and the military-led government over language, religion and oil reserves. The Nigerian Army, buoyed by support from Britain, the Soviet Union and the United Stat
Source: BBC News
November 1, 2010
Opening statements have begun in the money laundering trial of former US House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who prosecutors say channelled money into Texas legislative races in 2002.
Mr DeLay, is accused of illegally funnelling corporate money into races to build his political influence.
The 63-year-old Republican, who was nicknamed "the Hammer" for his forceful style in Congress, denies wrongdoing.
Mr DeLay's attorneys say he is guilty only of bein
Source: BBC News
November 2, 2010
Serbian police are searching three locations for the war-crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic, official sources say.
They are searching two locations in the capital Belgrade as well as a tourism centre in Arandjelova, a village in central Serbia.
Gen Mladic is accused by international prosecutors of genocide while leading Bosnian Serb forces in 1992-95.
Serbia is under pressure to bring Gen Mladic to justice as part of its efforts to enter the European Union.
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
October 31, 2010
I came upon it by accident. I was searching through shelves looking for something else when it caught my eye. But there it was, a huge, thick, hard-backed, red book – with a metal swastika on the front.
At the time I was accompanied by a photographer from the Discovery Channel and we were carrying out research for a documentary.
As the Press officer for the Royal British Legion, my job is to protect the reputation of the organisation. But at that moment I was torn. Shou
