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History of England starts at 1700, says university

Academics have attacked a decision by a top university to scrap research into English history before 1700. It was claimed that the move by Sussex University risked jeopardising the nation’s understanding of the subject and “entrenching the ignorance of the present”. Under plans, research and in-depth teaching into periods such as the Tudors, the Middle-Ages, Norman Britain, the Viking invasion and the Anglo-Saxons will be scrapped, along with the Civil Wars.

Bill Clinton Hospitalized With Heart Issue

Former President Bill Clinton had two stents inserted in one of his heart arteries after being hospitalized with chest pains, an adviser said Thursday. Clinton, 63, "is in good spirits and will continue to focus on the work of his foundation and Haiti's relief and long-term recovery efforts," said adviser Douglas Band. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton left Washington and headed to New York to be with her husband, who underwent the procedure at New York Presbyteria

Iranian opposition leaders attacked during anniversary rallies

Opposition leaders were attacked and security forces flooded the streets of Iran's major cities on Thursday as the authorities put down protests they feared would mar rallies to celebrate the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Republic. The three men who have become unofficial leaders of the "Green" opposition movement all faced off against police and plain-clothes government security forces as they tried to join government rallies. There were contradictory repor

New inquiry into Australia's aboriginal child care system

A day before Deborah Melville's death in July 2007, the 12-year-old was visited by a Northern Territory child-protection worker at her foster home outside of Darwin, Australia. The caseworker noted the girl's distress, who, according to the Australian media, was crying on the kitchen floor when she arrived. The social worker comforted Deborah, reassuring her that she would not be uprooted and moved to another home. Melville, an indigenous child placed in the care of her great-aunt a

The Nazis' Bid to Control Carnival

Germany's Carnival is an expression of anarchic fun and mockery of those in power. Yet the Nazis sought to harness the potential of the festivities for their own ends. Anti-Semitic floats and speeches attacking Germany's enemies were commonplace, and defiance was rare. It was Rose Monday in the German city of Cologne and the festivities for the 1934 Carnival were well underway. Of the many floats taking part in the traditional parade, one featured a group of men dressed up as orthod

BBC Paris bureau closes after 40 years of coverage

After more than 40 years, the BBC's Paris office is moving to new premises and Emma Jane Kirby, the last correspondent in residence, is finding it an emotional experience. There is something strangely prurient about wandering round an abandoned television studio. Spliced cables and cut wires splay inelegantly from walls and skirting boards and the carpet, no longer able to hide its modesty behind the heavy bookcases of the tape library, reveals dark stains and a thick d

Auschwitz sign theft: Swedish man arrested in Stockholm

A Swedish man has been arrested in Stockholm over the theft of the Arbeit Macht Frei sign from Auschwitz death camp, officials say. The arrest came after a Polish court last week issued a European arrest warrant for Anders Hogstrom. The metal sign was stolen in December from above the entrance to the notorious Nazi death camp. It was later recovered, cut into three pieces. Five Polish men have already been arrested over the theft. The sign, whi

Nelson Mandela's 1990 release marked in South Africa

Celebrations are being held to mark 20 years since the release from prison of Nelson Mandela, a key step towards ending apartheid in South Africa. In Cape Town, prominent figures took part in a commemorative walk at the prison where he spent the final months of his 27-year imprisonment. Mr Mandela, now a frail 91-year-old, is expected to make a rare public appearance on Thursday evening. He became the country's first black president in 1994. Mr

Lynching preachers: How black pastors resisted Jim Crow and white pastors incited racial violence

by Malcolm Brian Foley

Religion was no barrier for these white murderers, as I’ve discovered in my research on Christianity and lynch mobs in the Reconstruction-era South. White preachers incited racial violence, joined the Ku Klux Klan and lynched black people.

Did Alexander the Great Fight the Yeti?

While reading the Anabasis Alexandri (Robson translation) at the Ancient History Sourcebook at Fordham, I came upon a curious passage. It reads as though Alexander's men, in the course of the invasion of India, fought a pitched battle with a tribe of Yeti! Very strange but it is indeed in the account from antiquity. Here is the passage that suggests Yeti's, "Those captured were hairy, not only their heads but the rest of their bodies; their nails were rather like beasts' claws; they used th

Saudi Arabia announces a new archeological finding

Saudi Arabia has announced the discovery of a 7th century village, which has been unearthed in the Raaka district, Dammam, near the shores of the Arabian Gulf. The site contains a compound village, which contains more than 20 houses, containing rooms and accommodation units, in which coins, fractures of pottery, limestone (steatite), and glass pieces dating back to the 1st and 2nd centuries AH (7th & 8th century AD) were found. This valuable finding was a residential settlement

Faulkner Link to Plantation Diary Discovered

The climactic moment in William Faulkner’s 1942 novel “Go Down, Moses” comes when Isaac McCaslin finally decides to open his grandfather’s leather farm ledgers with their “scarred and cracked backs” and “yellowed pages scrawled in fading ink” — proof of his family’s slave-owning past. Now, what appears to be the document on which Faulkner modeled that ledger as well as the source for myriad names, incidents and details that populate his fictionalized Yoknapatawpha County has been discovered.

The Nazi board game that taught the Hitler Youth how defeat the enemy

British children of the time were playing marbles and hidding in air raid shelters. But for youngsters under the Third Reich, this board game was invented to teach them the tactics of warfare - against a British foe. The war time amusement, Adlers Luftverteidigungs spiel, which translates as the Eagle Air Defence Game, involves two or more players attacking enemy positions on a geographically illustrated board while defending friendly territory. Specificall

Newly released 9/11 photos show World Trade Center from above

Newly released photographs show what a damaged World Trade Center tower and its collapse looked like from a New York Police Department helicopter as it flew nearby on September 11, 2001, in New York. The aerial photos were obtained by ABC News after it filed a Freedom of Information Act request last year with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which had collected the images for its investigation into the towers' collapse. A couple of the images show one

Work to restore 17th century palace begins

The Archaeological Survey of India has taken up preliminary work to restore an intact 17th century palace in south Tamil Nadu, the Thirumalai Naicker Palace, in this temple town. The ASI has also recommended that the palace be included in the tentative list of UNESCO’s world heritage sites. The Srivilliputhur palace was declared a protected monument in 1921, but since the local district courts were functioning in the palace, it could not be reclaimed till the courts vacated the prem

Rebuilt DNA Could Lead to Cloned Neanderthals

As scientists come closer to completing a draft sequence of the Neanderthal genome, creating a living person from an ancient DNA sequence is becoming a real possibility, according to Archaeology Magazine. In 2005, 454 Life Sciences began a project with the Max Planck Institute to sequence the genetic code of a 30,000 year old Neanderthal woman. Now nearly complete, the sequence will let scientists look at the genetic blueprint of humankind's nearest relative, understand its biology

Mary Rose crew man's recreated face goes on display

The reconstructed face of a crew member from the Mary Rose is going on display at the ship's museum in Portsmouth. The face of the man, thought to have been of a rank known as Bosun, was created by forensic artists from a skull recovered from the wreck. It was given to the Mary Rose Trust to be displayed along with other objects found on board the fated warship. The Mary Rose sank on 19 July 1545 with the loss of more than 400 lives, after 34 years of ser

Reagan Brothers Feud Over Father's Response to Tea Party Movement

Ronald Reagan's sons -- who share virtually nothing about their political persuasions -- are in a feud over what the late president would have to say about the Tea Party Movement and Sarah Palin. Spurred by his younger brother Ron's recent appearance on Joy Behar's Headline News show, Michael Reagan, a Republican strategist, issued a written statement Wednesday saying his father would've supported the movement. "I believe he would embrace the Tea Party Movement, if

White House concert honors music of civil rights era

Civil rights songs were the soundtrack of the movement that helped bring President Obama to the White House. On Tuesday, Obama welcomed an array of artists to celebrate those songs. An all-star lineup including Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Natalie Cole, Smokey Robinson, the Blind Boys of Alabama, John Mellencamp, gospel singer Yolanda Adams and others performed some of the best-known numbers from what Obama called the "soundtrack" of the civil rights movement. The co

Main road of Jerusalem from the Byzantine era exposed

Archaeological excavation in the heart of the Old City confirms the description on the Madaba Map and reveals Jerusalem's main road from the Byzantine period for the first time. The Madaba Map – an ancient mosaic map in a church in Jordan from the sixth-seventh century CE, which depicted the Land of Israel in the Byzantine period, explicitly showed: the entrance to Jerusalem from the west was via a very large gate that led to a single, central thoroughfare on that side of the city