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: AP
September 27, 2010
Britain's surprise new Labour Party leader Ed Miliband on Monday pledged to bury the era of Tony Blair, promising to guide to power a generation of lawmakers untainted by divisive decisions over the Iraq war and the global financial crisis.
The 40-year-old Ed Miliband, his party's youngest postwar leader, has vowed to radically overhaul Blair's pro-business and Washington-friendly platform, but dismissed critics who call him "Red Ed," and have warned he will shift the cent
Source: CNN
September 27, 2010
Many Democrats have been using former President George W. Bush as a foil in the midterm elections. But one Democratic congressman in a tough re-election bid is using Bush in a new TV ad in a positive way.
Rep. Earl Pomeroy is facing a difficult race as the only congressman in red state North Dakota.
His new commercial starts with a shot of Bush signing a bill, with the announcer saying, "When George Bush proposed a Medicare prescription drug plan, Earl Pomeroy vote
Source: CNN
September 27, 2010
Former Serbian leader Radovan Karadzic appeared in court Monday to defend himself on charges of war crimes and genocide, resuming a trial which he has fought for years to delay.
He spoke firmly and fluently as he defended himself, occasionally looking irritated or dismissive, but not appearing to obstruct the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
The trial was most recently suspended earlier this month to give the defense time to review documents...
Source: AOL News
September 24, 2010
In England, researchers are using some unusual tools to learn how to adapt to change: pressed flowers collected during the Victorian era. Flowers bloom largely based on spring temperatures, Anthony Davy, a professor of the University of East Anglia who co-authored a study on pressed flowers, explained to Reuters. If researchers know the exact day that flowers were picked, they can use that to put together a picture about global temperatures long before accurate recording existed.
By
Source: Yahoo News
September 24, 2010
When Cherie Rosenstein penned her essay about being a 5-year-old orphan fleeing war-torn Europe for a new life in America, she probably couldn't have imagined that the story would reunite her with the woman whose passport secured her entry into the United States 62 years ago. But that's exactly what happened.
In 2007, Rosenstein, whose parents both perished in a Nazi concentration camp, wrote about her childhood experiences for the Dayton Jewish Observer. Her name as a child was Ma
Source: AFP
September 24, 2010
BAGHDAD (AFP) – It was one of the most impressive collections of historical artefacts in the world. But in the seven years since Saddam Hussein was ousted, Baghdad's National Museum has struggled to recover not just its pillaged treasures, but also its lost lustre.
Officially reopened with great fanfare in February 2009, a cloud now hangs over the imposing brick structure in the centre of the Iraqi capital, once again closed to the public, this time for renovation.
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Source: USA Today
September 21, 2010
Volcanoes wiped out the Neanderthals some 40,000 years ago, suggest archeologists, setting the stage for modern humans in Europe.
Stumpy but strong, the Neanderthals disappear from the European fossil record by about 30,000 years ago, replaced about that time by modern-looking humans. In the upcoming October Current Anthropology journal, researchers led by Liubov Golovanova of Russia's ANO Laboratory of Prehistory in St. Petersburg report that volcanic dust deposits in a cave in the
Source: Sydney Morning Herald
September 23, 2010
Russia has handed to Poland 20 volumes of documents on the World War II Katyn massacre of Polish officers in an official ceremony in Moscow, Russian news agencies said.
Saak Karapetyan, the head of the international legal cooperation at the Russian State Prosecutor's office, handed the volumes to Piotr Marciniak, a minister counsellor at the Polish Embassy in Moscow, on Thursday.
The materials included documents on Polish soldiers sent to prison camps, transcripts of in
Source: AP
September 26, 2010
One of the world's most important caches of Greek manuscripts is going online, part of a growing number of ancient documents to hit the Web in recent years.
The British Library said Monday that it was making more than a quarter of its 1,000 volume-strong collection of handwritten Greek texts available online free of charge, something curators there hope will be a boon to historians, biblical scholars and students of classical Greece alike.
Although the manuscripts — hig
Source: Daily Express (UK)
September 25, 2010
SEVENTY years ago famed aviator Charles Lindbergh, America’s most popular man, urged his country to back the Fuhrer’s evil regime – and he almost achieved his twisted goal.
THE voice coming out of radios across America during that autumn 70 years ago was calm and unhurried.
Millions, from farmers in the wheat-swaying Mid West to slick operators in New York, tuned in to listen – for the speaker was the nation’s golden boy.
He was Charles Lindbergh, the count
Source: Digital Journal
September 23, 2010
Golancz - Archaeologists in northern Poland have uncovered a mass grave that they believe dates back to the 17th century and a battle to save Golancz Castle.
On the 3rd of May 1656 the Swedish army attacked Golancz Castle. In an attempt to defend the castle Polish gentry, clergy and peasants rose against the army but they failed and now archaeologists believe that there could be up to 80 of their bodies buried in this mass grave.
Artur Rozanski, from the Adam Mickiewic
Source: WalesOnline (UK)
September 24, 2010
A RARE Norman site is being irreparably damaged and is in danger of being destroyed, according to a respected archaeologist.
Stephen Clarke, the head of a professional archaeological unit and chairman of Monmouth Archaeological Society, insisted the remains of a defensive ditch which once lined the ancient town of Clawdd Du in Monmouthshire could soon be lost forever.
Mr Clarke, who was made an MBE for services to archaeology, claims Monmouthshire council had “ignorantl
Source: Gettysburg Times
September 22, 2010
Careless driving has resulted in monument damage at Gettysburg National Military Park, leading Superintendent Bob Kirby to announce that memorial relocation is being considered.
Kirby also reported that new signage and traffic control devices, such as bumper strips, are planned along battlefield roadways, to deter further collisions between vehicles and monuments.
“It’s a sad and continuing saga,” Kirby said regarding the distracted driving. “There are people out there
Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch
September 24, 2010
The University of Richmond is crafting a digital map tracing the landscape of emancipation during the Civil War.
The project, which has been awarded a $48,155 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, will create a computerized illustration of data documenting where, when and how slaves became free.
One goal is to show how the institution of slavery changed during the course of the Civil War, said Scott Nesbit, associate director of UR's Digital Scholarship
Source: Newsweek
September 26, 2010
During a few tumultuous months in 1989, Soviet tanks pulled out of Eastern Europe, communist governments there collapsed, the Berlin Wall fell—and the Cold War ended without a shot fired. Figuring out why it happened so fast and so peacefully will occupy historians forever, and a new 700-page collection of documents will be essential to their understanding. Masterpieces of History: The Peaceful End of the Cold War in Europe, 1989 is a treasure trove of the most secret discussions by leaders of t
Source: Telegraph (UK)
September 26, 2010
A 250-year-old antique pistol taken from an Italian museum as a souvenir from the Second World War by a British solider has finally been returned, fulfilling the last request he made on his deathbed.
Stanley Parry, who died last year, had served with the Eighth Army and had been involved in the Allied push up through Italy having also seen combat in North Africa.
At the end of the Second World War while on his way back to Britain across the English Channel he noticed
Source: Telegraph (UK)
September 26, 2010
Russia is mining the remains of its long extinct woolly mammoths to meet a growing demand for ethical ivory.
Taking advantage of a global ban on the trade in elephant ivory, Russia is gambling that ivory lovers around the world will pay a premium for ethically friendly mammoth ivory instead.
Michelle Obama, the US First Lady, has been spotted wearing jewellery crafted from the mammoth ivory.
It is exporting 60 tons of mammoth ivory to China, the world's
Source: AP
September 26, 2010
One of the world's most important caches of Greek manuscripts is going online, part of a growing number of ancient documents to hit the Web in recent years.
The British Library said Monday that it was making more than a quarter of its 1,000 volume-strong collection of handwritten Greek texts available online free of charge, something curators there hope will be a boon to historians, biblical scholars and students of classical Greece alike.
Although the manuscripts — hig
Source: AP
September 26, 2010
White descendants of the nation's first professionally trained African-American doctor gathered in a cemetery on Sunday to dedicate a tombstone at the unmarked grave where he was buried in 1865.
Smith, born in New York City in 1813, wanted to be a doctor but was denied entry to medical schools in the United States. He earned a degree from the University of Glasgow in Scotland, then returned to New York to practice. Besides being a doctor, he was celebrated in his lifetime as a write
Source: NYT
September 25, 2010
...Despite President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s celebrated World War II record, voters didn’t “like Ike” enough to keep his fellow Republicans from losing 48 House seats amid the 1958 recession. For all his talents, Mr. Clinton watched his party lose control of both the House and Senate in the 1994 midterm election, in which economic weakness was one of many factors. “We have a controlled experiment,” observed Stan Greenberg, one of Mr. Clinton’s pollsters, downplaying the significance of Mr. Obama’
