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: Google News
Oct 16, 2009
DARGAN, Md. — As many as 300 people are preparing for a cold, dark walk down a Maryland country road in commemorative event to kick off the Civil War sesquicentennial.
Friday marks the 150th anniversary of the night that abolitionist John Brown launched his ill-fated raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry from the Kennedy farmhouse near Dargan.
Harpers Ferry National Historical Park Chief Historian Dennis Frye says he aims to make the nearly five-mile hike a rever
Source: JuraForum
Oct 16, 2009
A faked telegram from a sick relative, knockout drops in a glass of beer or simply brute force - the methods used by the East German secret police, the "Stasi", were varied and imaginative when it came to kidnapping opponents and critics of the East German regime in West Germany and putting them on trial in the GDR. Historian Susanne Muhle (29) has found over 400 cases in the files of the Birthler Agency (named after Marianne Birthler, who heads the agency that oversees the archives ho
Source: Yahoo News
Oct 16, 2009
NEW ORLEANS – Louisiana's governor and a U.S. senator joined Friday in calling for the ouster of a local official who refused to marry an interracial couple, saying his actions clearly broke the law.
Keith Bardwell, a white justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish in the southeastern part of the state, refused to issue a marriage license earlier this month to Beth Humphrey, who is white, and Terence McKay, who is black. His refusal has prompted calls for an investigation or resigna
Source: BBC
Oct 16, 2009
The poll by the Levada-Centre showed that 57% of those questioned considered that Russia needed democracy - the lowest number since 2006.
It said 26% believed that democratic governing was not suitable for Russia.
Nearly 95% of respondents said they had little or no influence on what was happening in the country.
Source: NYT
Oct 16, 2009
The Obama administration said Friday that the federal budget deficit for the fiscal year that just ended was $1.4 trillion, nearly a trillion dollars greater than the year before and the largest shortfall relative to the size of the economy since 1945.
The number, while lower than forecast a few months ago, underscored the challenges ahead in shrinking the deficit even as the White House and Congress are considering more steps to stimulate an economy that is making a slow recovery.
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
Oct 16, 2009
The image of a drunk student urinating on a war memorial has provoked a furious backlash from relatives who had laid wreaths of poppies in tribute to their loved ones.
John Ievers, the grandson of a World War I soldier who died in 1917, branded student Philip Laing, 19, a 'drunken idiot' for desecrating the memorial in Baker's Pool, Sheffield.
The 49-year-old software sales consultant said: 'I am annoyed - he's a drunken idiot.
Source: Times Online
Oct 16, 2009
The Director General of MI5 has issued a powerful defence of Britain's co-operation with intelligence agencies in America and other countries accused of the abuse and torture of detainees, saying they had stopped "many attacks" in the aftermath of the September 11 strikes.
Speaking for the first time about charges of MI5 complicity in the abuse of suspects overseas, Jonathan Evans said Britain had had to get overseas help at the time as its own knowledge of al-Qaeda was in
Source: CNSNews.com
Oct 16, 2009
President Barack Obama, who has called on Americans to perform more community service, is joining former President George H.W. Bush in urging citizens to volunteer.
Bush on Friday was to host a forum on volunteering at Texas A&M University, to be attended by Obama, who initiated a "United We Serve" call to service in June that culminated in a national day of service on the eighth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The forum is affiliated with t
Source: BBC
Oct 16, 2009
Peter Brierley, whose son died in Iraq in 2003, was one of several relatives critical of ministers in a preliminary hearing of the Iraq war inquiry.
He said: "If someone has done something wrong they should pay."
At an Iraq memorial service last week he told Mr Blair he would not shake his hand "because it had blood on it".
Speaking at an inquiry session on Friday, Mr Brierley, 59, of Batley, West Yorkshire said: "Members of the
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Oct 16, 2009
David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, said the Government will appeal against the ruling, which came despite his warnings that publication would be a major threat to British national security.
Mr Miliband had told the court that publishing the secret intelligence could jeopardise British-US relations and lead to the American authorities to downgrade their intelligence-sharing with the UK.
Rejecting that argument, the court said there was "overwhelming" publ
Source: Times (UK)
Oct 16, 2009
Two Libyan officials could be charged with involvement in the shooting dead of WPC Yvonne Fletcher, according to a legal assessment of evidence which has been seen by police and prosecutors.
The 150-page review names the men, who were attached to the Libyan People’s Bureau in London in 1984 at the time WPC Fletcher was killed in a burst of automatic gunfire from inside the building.
They did not have diplomatic immunity when the shooting happened at the Libyan Embassy
Source: Times (UK)
Oct 16, 2009
Strong, regal, confident (but not obviously amused): a self-portrait by Queen Victoria never shown in public before reveals how one of history’s more misunderstood monarchs really saw herself.
The sketch, which is to be exhibited next year, is from her personal sketchbook and shows the young Queen in her gown before a costume ball at Buckingham Palace in 1845.
Rather than the dowdy widow of popular recollection, it shows a woman who was fond of music, art and dancing,
Source: Reuters
Oct 16, 2009
During his presidency, Bill Clinton met prize-winning historian Taylor Branch 79 times in the White House to record a secret diary of his time in office.
The result is "The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with the President", a new book that presents a fresh view of key events such as Clinton's handling of the economy and deficit, the rise of al Qaeda and the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
Since the Watergate scandal brought down Richard Nixon presidents have been
Source: BBC
Oct 16, 2009
Vandals have caused damage running to thousands of pounds at the new Highland Archive and Registration Centre in Inverness.
The 10.5m pound building which will house and preserve historical documents is due to open a week on Monday.
Police said windows at the centre at the Bught were broken sometime between Wednesday and Thursday.
Historical documents from Highland presbyteries and Kirk sessions are also to transfer from Edinburgh to the centre, along wit
Source: BBC
Oct 16, 2009
The earliest human figure to be found in Scotland is to go on temporary display at Edinburgh Castle.
The Orkney Venus, which was discovered a few weeks ago, is a 5,000-year-old female carving which has the UK's first known depiction of a person's face.
It will be exhibited for a fortnight from Monday.
Historic Scotland said children would be given free entry to the castle during the exhibition, which ends on Sunday 1 November.
Source: BBC
Oct 16, 2009
A 13-foot statue of William Wallace that infuriated historians because of its likeness to actor Mel Gibson, has been returned to its creator.
The 12-tonne gold sandstone piece had stood at the Wallace Monument in Stirling for more than 10 years.
However, it was removed last year to make way for a new visitor centre.
Source: BBC
Oct 16, 2009
A Russian academic investigating the fate of ethnic Germans deported by Stalin during World War II has had his research seized by security services.
History professor Mikhail Suprun was briefly arrested in the far north of Russia last month, but the incident has only now come to light.
Prof Suprun told the BBC he has been ordered not to comment on the case. Prof Suprun had managed to track down the files of 5,000 deportees and had inter
Source: BBC
Oct 16, 2009
The reunion programme began in the year 2000, but since then, only a fraction of the tens of thousands of Koreans on the waiting list have so far been allowed to take part.
Last month, after a two-year gap, the latest meeting of relatives from opposite sides of the border was held in the North Korean tourist resort at Mount Kumgang.
Just 200 families, 100 from each side, were given the chance to see their long-lost loved ones for the first time in more than half a cen
Source: BBC
Oct 16, 2009
The Court of Bosnia and Hercegovina has sentenced a former Bosnian Serb army officer to 30 years in prison for his part in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.
Milorad Trbic had taken part in a plan to capture, detain, execute and bury all able-bodied Muslim men in the town with "genocidal intent", judges ruled.
In all, as many as 8,000 men and boys were killed by Serb forces towards the end of the three-year war in Bosnia.
The court has already jailed
Source: NYT
Oct 16, 2009
WASHINGTON — Is the Central Intelligence Agency covering up some dark secret about the assassination of John F. Kennedy?
Probably not. But you would not know it from the C.I.A.’s behavior.
For six years, the agency has fought in federal court to keep secret hundreds of documents from 1963, when an anti-Castro Cuban group it paid clashed publicly with the soon-to-be assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. The C.I.A. says it is only protecting legitimate secrets. But because of the
