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: Times (UK)
Aug 30, 2009
Gordon Brown was dragged into the centre of the row over the early release of the Lockerbie bomber last night after it emerged that a key decision that could have paved the way for the terrorist to serve his sentence in Libya was approved by Downing Street.
A source close to Jack Straw told The Times that the move to include Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi in a prisoner transfer agreement in 2007 was a government decision and was not made at the sole discretion of the Justice Secretary.
Source: Aljazeera.net
Aug 30, 2009
An Iraqi journalist jailed after hurling his shoes at George Bush, the former US president, will be released in September.
Muntadhar al-Zaidi's sentence was reduced for good behaviour, his lawyer said on Saturday.
Karim al-Shujairi, a defence attorney, said al-Zeidi will now be released on September 14, three months early.
Al-Zaidi was initially sentenced to three years after pleading not guilty to assaulting a foreign leader, then the court reduced it to o
Source: Yahoo News
Aug 30, 2009
MOSCOW – Russia's president defended Moscow's role in World War II before the 70th anniversary of its outbreak, saying in an interview broadcast Sunday that anyone who lays equal blame on the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany is telling a "cynical lie."
Dmitry Medvedev's remarks were the latest salvo in Russia's bitter dispute with its neighbors over the war and its aftermath. The Kremlin has launched a campaign for universal acceptance of its portrayal of the Soviet Union as
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Aug 30, 2009
WASHINGTON -- Former Vice President Dick Cheney hinted that, in the waning days of the Bush administration, he had pushed for a military strike to destroy Iran's nuclear-weapons program.
In an interview on Fox News Sunday, Mr. Cheney described himself as being isolated among advisers to then-President George W. Bush, who ultimately decided against direct military action.
"I was probably a bigger advocate of military action than any of my colleagues," Mr. Chene
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Aug 30, 2009
Senator Edward M. Kennedy was buried at Arlington National Cemetery as darkness fell Saturday evening, steps away from the graves of his brothers Robert F. Kennedy and John F. Kennedy.
"There's something befitting about having a burial at the dying of the day," said Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the archbishop emeritus of Washington and a friend of the senator's, who presided over a small ceremony attended only by the senator's immediate family and Vice President Joe Biden
Source: NYT
Aug 30, 2009
WASHINGTON — In the spring of 2003, long before Abu Ghraib or secret prisons became part of the American vocabulary, a pair of recently hired lawyers at the American Civil Liberties Union noticed a handful of news reports about allegations of abuse of prisoners in American custody.
The lawyers, Jameel Jaffer and Amrit Singh, wondered: Was there a broader pattern of abuse, and could a Freedom of Information Act request uncover it? Some of their colleagues, more experienced with the f
Source: New York Daily News
Aug 30, 2009
The stately Jamaica manor of Rufus King, who helped frame the U.S. Constitution and voiced fiery, ahead-of-his-time appeals against slavery, ranks far down the list of the city's favored tourist sites.
His role in shaping the fledgling nation likely fell into obscurity because he never ascended to the presidency - and few historians explored his accomplishments in crucial yet unsung roles as senator and ambassador to Great Britain.
But a researcher who is combing throu
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Aug 30, 2009
She was on her first Telegraph assignment and only 26 when she spotted German tanks invading Poland. Now 97, Clare Hollingworth talks to Malcolm Moore.
Seventy years ago, a sleek limousine crossed the border of Poland and Germany and sped along the autobahn between Beuthen and Gleiwitz. Inside was a 26-year-old reporter on her first assignment for The Daily Telegraph, who was about to break the scoop of the century.
Once past Gleiwitz, the road began to climb a hill.
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Aug 30, 2009
Secondary pupils will have to learn about five landmark events that shaped Scotland if they want to pass a new exam being unveiled by ministers.
A compulsory Scottish Higher history paper is to be introduced next month to answer criticism that youngsters have little knowledge of the country's past.
The exam will cover the 13th-Century Wars of Independence, in which William Wallace and Robert the Bruce played a major part.
It will also cover the 16th-Cent
Source: CNN
Aug 30, 2009
Former Vice President Dick Cheney said in an interview broadcast Sunday that the Justice Department's decision to review waterboarding and other enhanced interrogation techniques is politically motivated.
Cheney said he opposes the decision by Attorney General Eric Holder to ask a former prosecutor to review CIA interrogations of high-profile terrorism suspects.
Cheney made clear he believes President Obama directed Holder to launch the review because the president is f
Source: Baltimore Sun
Aug 29, 2009
Edward Kennedy was buried Saturday, but his impact will surely linger in the words contained in his memoir, "True Compass." The book, which will be released Sept. 14, already has become Amazon's best-selling biography. "Last Lion: The Fall and Rise of Ted Kennedy" by Peter S. Canellos was also in the Top 10 in that category.
Jonathan Karp, editor-in-chief of Twelve, which is publishing the book, said in an open letter that "Kennedy has been keeping a persona
Source: Haaretz.com
Aug 29, 2009
"The lesson that Israel must learn from the Holocaust is that it can never get security through fences, walls and guns," Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu of South Africa told Haaretz Thursday.
Commenting on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's statement in Germany Thursday that the lesson of the Holocaust is that Israel should always defend itself, Tutu noted that "in South Africa, they tried to get security from the barrel of a gun. They never got it. They got securit
Source: NYT
Aug 29, 2009
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — The smiling couple barreling ahead on the cover of Liberty magazine in 1926 knew exactly where to go. “Florida or Bust,” said the white paint on the car doors. “Four wheels, no brakes.”
So it has been for a century, as Florida welcomed thousands of newcomers every week, year after year, becoming the nation’s fourth-most-populous state with about 16 million people in 2000.
Imagine the shock, then, to discover that traffic is now heading the other way. T
Source: The Daily Beast
Aug 29, 2009
Leaked ministerial documents show the British government had decided it was "in the overwhelming interests of the United Kingdom" to release the Lockerbie bomber, the Times of London reports. The letters were sent two years ago by Jack Straw, the justice secretary, to Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish justice secretary, and show that Straw initially wanted to exclude the Lockerbie bomber, Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, from a prisoner-transfer agreement arranged with Libya. But Straw changed
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Aug 29, 2009
The lawyer acting for the freed Lockerbie bomber is flying to Libya to prepare for the release of a dossier of evidence "proving" his client's innocence.
Tony Kelly, a Scottish solicitor, said that Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, 57, who returned to his homeland ten days ago after being released from prison on compassionate grounds, remains determined to show his guilty verdict was unjust.
The lawyer said he had been unable to discuss this issue with Megra
Source: The Daily Beast
Aug 29, 2009
Four years ago today, Hurricane Katrina ripped through New Orleans, causing unprecedented devastation. In his weekly radio and Internet address, President Barack Obama marked the anniversary, vowing that the federal government will continue to assist with the city's recovery and that it has learned from the disaster. “As we remember all that was lost, we must take stock of the work being done on recovery, while preparing for future disasters,” Obama said. "None of us can forget how we felt
Source: Boston.com (Boston Globe)
Aug 29, 2009
The procession of Ted Kennedy's body through Boston was a history lesson for millions of Americans watching at home. From the North End to Faneuil Hall to Dorchester, the sites of the Revolutionary era co-mingled with the sites of special importance to the Kennedy family — including Ted’s grandfather, John ‘‘Honey Fitz’’ Fitzgerald, the North End kid who became the first American-born Irish mayor of Boston in 1906. Today, Mission Hill, awash with Colonial, Irish, Jewish, and African-American his
Source: chron.com (Houston Chronicle)
Aug 29, 2009
Their story is rarely told, but Albanian Muslims took in fleeing Jews during World War II, saving thousands of lives.
When no other European country dared to withstand the wrath of Nazi Germany, it was the Muslims of Albania who saved a large number of Jewish people from extermination.
Albania, a Muslim majority country in Europe, opened its borders during World War II and took in thousands of Jews fleeing from different countries. They were treated like honored guests,
Source: BBC
Aug 29, 2009
President Barack Obama has paid tribute to his "friend and mentor", Edward Kennedy, at the senator's funeral Mass in Boston.
Mr Obama said Senator Kennedy was the "greatest legislator of our time" and a "champion for those who had none".
The president pointed to some of the tragedies that had befallen the Kennedy family, saying: "It is a string of events that would have broken a lesser man... but that was not Ted Kennedy."
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Aug 29, 2009
Abdel Baset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber, has backed calls for a public inquiry into the atrocity.
Megrahi, 57, said it was "unfair" to the victims' families not to have an inquiry into the bombing.
But he is determined to clear his name and was scathing of the Scottish legal system.
