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: Civil War Interactive
Nov 22, 2010
Legislation authorizing the expansion of the Vicksburg National Military Park in Claiborne and Hinds counties has been introduced by U.S. Senator Thad Cochran, with U.S. Senator Roger Wicker as a primary cosponsor.
The Champion Hill, Port Gibson and Raymond Battlefield Addition Act (S.3952) would authorize the National Park Service (NPS) to acquire—through voluntary sale, donation or exchange—approximately 10,000 acres of property determined to be significant to the preservation of
Source: NYT
Nov 22, 2010
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has played up Cathleen P. Black’s record of business success in nominating her to be the next schools chancellor. He has, perhaps wisely, omitted one asset Ms. Black brings to the job: a drool-inducing collection of homes in which to hold killer end-of-school-year parties. Ms. Black owns a Park Avenue penthouse with a gourmet kitchen, a five-bedroom Connecticut colonial and a Southampton weekend getaway.
It was not that long ago that the chancellor’s title
Source: BBC
Nov 22, 2010
A rare Chinese calligraphy scroll has fetched 308m yuan (£29m; $46m) - the second-highest amount paid for an artwork at auction in China, the state-run Xinhua news agency says.
The scroll on silk with four lines of characters is a copy of ancient Chinese calligrapher Wang Xizhi's work.
Officials at the China Guardian auction in Beijing did not reveal any details of the buyer.
In June, another calligraphy scroll was purchased for 437m yuan.
Th
Source: BBC
Nov 22, 2010
Parts of handheld guns have been found at a North Yorkshire battlefield which saw one of the bloodiest conflicts of the War of the Roses.
A metal detectorist unearthed the fragments of the guns, thought to date back to the 15th Century, at the site in Towton, near Tadcaster.
The find contradicts the idea that guns were only used in that period of history to attack castles.
Experts say it sheds light on the use of guns by troops in medieval battles....
Source: BBC
Nov 22, 2010
The Court of Appeal's decision to deny ex-servicemen compensation for the injuries they say they suffered during Cold War nuclear tests more than 50 years ago, is a setback for the thousands who were watching the test cases anxiously.
More than 1,000 ex-servicemen say their lives were destroyed after the UK carried out a series of nuclear weapons tests in mainland Australia, the Montebello islands off the west Australian coast and on Christmas Island, in the South Pacific, between 1
Source: BBC
Nov 22, 2010
The war crimes trial of Congolese former rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba has begun at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.
The former vice-president of DR Congo denies murder, rape and pillage in the Central African Republic (CAR).
The ICC chief prosecutor says the trial will show that commanders are responsible for their troops' actions.
Mr Bemba - the most high-profile figure to be tried by the ICC since it began its work in 2002 - denies t
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Nov 22, 2010
One of the world's most-wanted Nazi suspects, Samuel Kunz, who was charged earlier this year with helping to kill 430,000 Jews in the Holocaust, has died, a Bonn court said on Monday.
Kunz, 89, who was charged in July with assisting in the murder of Jews at Belzec death camp near the Polish city of Lublin between 1942 and 1943, died on Nov 18, the court in the city of Bonn said.
Kunz, who was also accused of shooting dead 10 Jews, had been number three on the Simon Wi
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Nov 22, 2010
Benedict XVI has said he could become the first Pope to voluntarily resign in more than 700 years should he become physically or mentally incapacitated.
In a book of interviews, the 83-year Pontiff challenged centuries of Catholic Church tradition by saying that he would not hesitate to relinquish his post if no longer felt "physically, psychologically and spiritually" up to the job.
The papacy has traditionally been seen as a job for life, with pontiffs expe
Source: CNN
Nov 22, 2010
Israeli archaeologists have discovered an ancient Roman bathhouse that was probably used by the soldiers who destroyed the Second Temple in Jerusalem, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Monday.
The surprise discovery includes the mark of Rome's Tenth Legion -- as well as the paw print of a dog.
The animal probably belonged to one of the soldiers, excavation director Ofer Sion said....
Source: NYT
Nov 22, 2010
Lee Lorch follows the financial travails of Stuyvesant Town from his apartment on the brick-lined streets of Toronto’s distillery district.
And though he did not attend a recent meeting of 1,200 tenants, such a session was a familiar occasion for Dr. Lorch, who was instrumental in another tenant-led effort, 60 years ago, to desegregate Stuyvesant Town, the vast apartment complex on the East Side of Manhattan that was recently taken over by its lenders.
He was a leader a
Source: Inside Higher Ed
Nov 22, 2010
Alan Garcia, president of Peru, announced on Friday that Yale University has committed to return a collection of artifacts from Machu Picchu in early 2011 -- possibly ending years of negotiations and legal threats over the pieces, which were taken by a Yale team that excavated the area a century ago. Peru has long disputed Yale's assertions that the artifacts were taken legally. While some of Peru's past statements about Yale have criticized the university, Friday's announcement contained some p
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Nov 21, 2010
One of Italy's most controversial wartime tragedies, involving the sinking of a British ship carrying hundreds of internees across the North Atlantic, has been turned into a play.
The Arandora Star sailed from Liverpool on 30 June 1940, bound for Canada with hundreds of German and Italian "enemy aliens" on board, but it was sunk by a German U-boat off the Irish coast within days of starting out.
Of the 1,600 men on board, around 800 lost their lives, includin
Source: The Atlantic
Nov 21, 2010
People of a certain age remember exactly where they were on November 22, 1963, when they heard that President John F. Kennedy had been shot. James Tague remembers the day better than most. At the moment of the shooting, Tague was standing in Dallas's Dealey Plaza, and was struck on the right cheek by fragments from a ricocheting bullet meant for Kennedy. Tague suffered only a superficial wound that day, but in a way, the injury is still fresh, 47 years later.
"I can't forget N
Source: NYT
Nov 21, 2010
Stephen C. Quinn has spent 34 years as a wildlife artist and curator for the American Museum of Natural History, and has led field expeditions to places as wild and varied as The Galapagos Islands, Antarctica, Egypt and the Bering Sea. But Mr. Quinn believes his greatest adventure lies ahead of him in the footsteps of another noted naturalist.
On Sunday, Mr. Quinn is to depart on a three-week journey that will take him to the Virunga Mountains, a volcanic range straddling the border
Source: NYT
Nov 21, 2010
If United Nations peacekeepers from Nepal are going to be blamed for bringing cholera to Haiti, it’s important to remember that the blame game for pandemics eventually involves everyone.
For example, cholera has laid waste to New York City several times. The first time, in 1832, New Yorkers blamed Canada, since it had worked its way slowly down from Montreal. The last time, in 1866, they blamed the Irish, some of whom were sneaking ashore from quarantined ships.
In thi
Source: NYT
Nov 21, 2010
LONDON — A girl meets a prince. The prince needs a wife. The glass slipper fits: she is young, dewy, inexperienced, eager — swept up and blinded by the romance of it all. He proposes within months. Their wedding is watched by 750 million people worldwide and features at least five clergymen, 3,500 guests and one spectacularly frothy pearl-encrusted wedding dress whose 25-foot train has to be stuffed into the bridal carriage, where it threatens to suffocate the bride.
That was 30 yea
Source: NYT
Nov 21, 2010
WASHINGTON — To Walter B. Slocombe, there was something hauntingly familiar about the political sinkhole President Obama found himself in last week.
As a Pentagon official in the 1970s, Mr. Slocombe was part of President Jimmy Carter’s team pushing the Senate to ratify an arms control treaty with Moscow. Skeptical of the Kremlin, worried about the impact on American security and sensing weakness in the White House, Republicans blocked the treaty.
More than 30 years lat
Source: Guardian (UK)
Nov 20, 2010
In true Dickensian style, a magnificent gift has arrived at the doorstep of Charles Dickens's only surviving London home, just as volunteers were decking the walls with holly and ivy.
The tall, narrow house in Doughty Street, Clerkenwell, where Dickens lived for three years from 1837, has been awarded a £2m grant by the Heritage Lottery Fund, in time for a comprehensive renovation before the bicentenary of the author's birth in 2012.
The house is full of treasures, but
Source: Haaretz
Nov 20, 2010
"I am not even horrified anymore when I see swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans such as 'Hitler didn't finish the job' on walls near my synagogue," says a former Israeli who lives in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela.
"This is an influence that trickles down from the top – from the government – against the Jews. I know that Chavez is exerting efforts not to appear anti-Semitic to the outside world, and that he welcomed the leaders of the Jewish community, but I haven't
Source: Cliopatria (blog)
Nov 20, 2010
The Cliopatria Awards recognize the best history writing in the blogosphere. There will be awards in six categories: Best Group BlogBest Individual BlogBest New BlogBest Po
