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: BBC News
Aug 8, 2010
In the Brazilian Amazon, long-forgotten workers drafted in to help the Allies in World War II are dreaming of a home they left when they were still in their teens.
Now in their mid-80s, they are awaiting the outcome of legal moves that may finally bring them the recognition and compensation they were promised 67 years ago.
In 1943, while the US, Britain and their allies were fighting on the battlefields of Europe, North Africa and the Far East, thousands of impoverished
Source: NYT
Aug 8, 2010
Most New York City mayors are typically booed at ballgames, but fortunately only one, William J. Gaynor, was wounded in an attempted assassination. It happened a century ago on Monday.
The bullet, fired by a disgruntled former municipal employee, remained lodged in Gaynor’s neck. Three years later, suffering from the lingering effects of the wound, he succumbed to a heart attack — the only mayor of modern New York to die in office.
Although nominated by the Tammany mach
Source: NYT
Aug 8, 2010
...India’s ability, or inability, in coming decades to improve the lives of the poor will very likely determine if it becomes a global economic power, and a regional rival to China, or if it continues to be compared with Africa in poverty surveys.
India vanquished food shortages during the 1960s with the Green Revolution, which introduced high-yield grains and fertilizers and expanded irrigation, and the country has had one of the world’s fastest-growing economies during the past de
Source: BBC
Aug 8, 2010
Evidence of ruthless land clearance by Norman knights has been found in Lincoln.
Archaeologists working in the castle grounds have discovered remains of Anglo-Saxon houses.
When William the Conqueror decided to build a castle inside the old Roman fort, he swept away 166 homes - more than 10% of the existing town.
Now the first of a series of digs has uncovered a fireplace, pottery and the marks of structural timbers.
Lincoln was one of the fir
Source: BBC
Aug 8, 2010
The British historian and intellectual Tony Judt has died aged 62.
The London-born author and academic died from complications associated with motor neurone disease at his home in New York.
As Professor of European studies at New York University he courted controversy with his views on Israel and the conflict with the Palestinians.
He suggested Israel should accept Arabs as equal citizens in a secular state....
Source: BBC
Aug 8, 2010
Testimony given by model Naomi Campbell to Charles Taylor's war crimes trial will come under scrutiny on Monday.
Her ex-agent Carole White and actress Mia Farrow are due to give evidence as the prosecution seeks to link Mr Taylor to so-called "blood diamonds".
But she said she was given a pouch containing the stones by two unidentified men who appeared at her door later that evening, and she had no knowledge of who was the ultimate donor....
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Aug 8, 2010
As Rwandans prepare to vote in their presidential elections, many are questioning the rule of incumbent President Paul Kagame.
The former manager of the Hotel des Milles Collines, he famously sheltered more than 1,200 Tutsi refugees during the 1994 genocide, persuading local militiamen to turn a blind eye by plying them with best Burgundy.
But 16 years after the slaughter that killed 800,000 people, the man whose quiet tact inspired the Oscar-nominated film Hotel Rwan
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Aug 8, 2010
Fidel Castro returned to address Cuba's parliament for the first time in four years, taking the opportunity to issue a dire warning of a nuclear "holocaust".
Castro, 83, looked much fitter and more energetic than in previous appearances as he rose to the podium of the National Assembly Saturday to expand on his favourite theme of recent days – alleged US preparations for a nuclear war in the Middle East.
In a series of internet articles and public comments,
Source: AP
Aug 8, 2010
A Khmer Rouge prison chief who oversaw crimes of savagery a generation ago is told he will spend the next 19 years in jail: That's the same sentence that many low-level drug dealers, women who shoot their husbands after a lifetime of abuse and political scapegoats receive.
Far from providing closure from the trauma of the "killing fields" regime that scarred a generation of Cambodians, the sentence given to Kaing Guek Eav, or Duch, seen by many as too lenient, has become a
Source: AP
Aug 8, 2010
U.S. military officers were flying in Sunday to serve as jurors in war-crimes proceedings as the Guantanamo tribunal system geared up for one of its busiest weeks under President Barack Obama.
The Pentagon is holding military commission sessions this week for two detainees: a young Canadian going on trial for the slaying of a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan and an aide to Osama bin Laden who is to be sentenced after pleading guilty in a deal with prosecutors.
The tribunal s
Source: AP
Aug 8, 2010
Muslims trying to build houses of worship in the nation's heartland, far from the heated fight in New York over plans for a mosque near ground zero, are running into opponents even more hostile and aggressive.
Foes of proposed mosques have deployed dogs to intimidate Muslims holding prayer services and spray painted "Not Welcome" on a construction sign, then later ripped it apart.
In the Nashville suburb of Murfreesboro, opponents of a new Islamic center say t
Source: AP
Aug 8, 2010
Beatrice Munyenyezi brought her three daughters to the United States from war-ravaged Rwanda in 1998 and focused on the American Dream: private schooling for her girls, a home with a swimming pool, a sport utility vehicle.
Before long, she had a $13-an-hour job at Manchester's Housing Authority in New Hampshire, her children were enrolled in Catholic school, and she was on her way to financing a comfortable American lifestyle through mortgages, loans and credit cards.
N
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
Aug 7, 2010
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today announced the award of $115.3 million to 124 school districts to improve the quality of teaching American history in our nation’s schools. For a list of grantees, click here.The Teaching American History grant program aims to enhance teachers’ understanding of American history th
Source: Cincinnati.com
Aug 7, 2010
Just after lunch on a sunny, September Sunday, two guys stood on a rooftop in Newport and took eight snapshots of Cincinnati's skyline.
For 162 years, no one knew exactly what time of day Charles Fontayne and William Porter took their photos.
Now, they do. Solving that mystery was an added bonus from a recent $40,000 examination, restoration and stabilization of one of the most famous set of photos from the 1840s.
The images Fontayne and Porter captured fro
Source: Saipan Tribune
Aug 7, 2010
Participants in the two-day Manhattan Project Symposium held at the Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino were joined by island residents yesterday at the atomic bomb assembly pits in North Field Tinian to memorialize the 65th anniversary of the dropping of the first A-bomb used in combat over Hiroshima.
In a brief ceremony littered with moments of high drama, a stunning moment of reverence was occasioned when “taps” was sounded in an ambience where only the sound of the wildlife in the s
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
Aug 6, 2010
The National Archives recently announced the launch of its first public wiki called “Our Archives” on Wikispaces located at: http://www.ourarchives.wikispaces.net. “Our Archives” provides a collaborative space for members of the public, researchers, and staff to share knowledge about National Archives records, resources and research.The wiki is an opportunity for researchers, historians, archivists, an
Source: Lee White at the National Coaliton for History
Aug 6, 2010
The National Park Service recently awarded $1.2 million for 25 grants that will be used to help preserve and protect America’s significant battlefield lands. The funding from the National Park Service’s American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP) will support projects at more than 100 battlefields nationwide. A list of the projects is available online at http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/abpp.The grants
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
Aug 6, 2010
On July 28, the National Archives released a group of papers from the “Grace Tully Archive” that was recently donated to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library. The Grace Tully Archive is a collection of documents and memorabilia pertaining to President Franklin Roosevelt that is comprised of items that were gathered by his personal secretary throu
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
Aug 6, 2010
The National Archives National Declassification Center (NDC) recently issued its first status report, covering the reporting period of January 1- June 30, 2010. During this time, nearly 8 million pages of material were processed and made available to the public.The creation of the NDC is specified in the
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
Aug 6, 2010
On July 30, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s scheduled mark up of legislation (H.R. 5616), to reauthorize the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) at a $20 million level from fiscal year 2011 to fiscal year 2015, was postponed indefinitely.Although no official reason was given as to why the bill was
