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: Telegraph (UK)
Jun 29, 2010
China and Taiwan signed a landmark tariff-slashing trade deal on Tuesday, boosting economic ties and easing political tensions six decades after the rivals split amid civil war.
The Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) cuts tariffs on 800 products and opens up service industries, giving a major boost to around $100 billion (£66.5 billion) in annual two-way trade.
But it covers only the easiest of potentially thousands of items targeted for tariff cuts in yea
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jun 29, 2010
An ancient Indian tribe with just 350 surviving members is at risk of becoming extinct after a rise in alcohol consumption and tourism to their Andaman Islands home have threatened to wipe them out.
The United Nations is leading a campaign to save the last surviving members of the Jarawa tribe amid growing calls for them to be integrated into mainstream society.
The tribe on India's tropical Andaman Islands, believed to be descendants of migrants who left Africa 65,000
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jun 29, 2010
Cleopatra did not die from a snake bite but a lethal drug cocktail that included opium and hemlock, according to German scientists.
The Queen of the Nile ended her life in 30BC and it has always been held that it was the bite of an asp – now called the Egyptian cobra – which caused her demise.
Now Christoph Schaefer, German historian and professor at the University of Trier, is presenting evidence that aims to prove drugs and not the reptile were the cause of death.
Source: CNN
Jun 29, 2010
Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan said Tuesday she continues to oppose the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy that bans openly gay and lesbian soldiers from military service.
In the first heated exchange of her confirmation hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee, Kagan sparred with Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama over her role as dean of Harvard Law School in barring military recruiters from the university's Office of Career Services.
Severa
Source: CNN
Jun 29, 2010
Considered one of modern Africa's founding fathers, Zambia's first President Kenneth Kaunda has spent much of his life fighting some of Africa's toughest battles.
From his struggles against the racism and oppression of colonial rule in the 1950s to the fight against AIDS today, it's been an eventful life for Zambia's former leader.
But his fight for independence was not without consequence and in 1959 Kaunda was arrested and jailed for ten months.
After his
Source: CNN
Jun 29, 2010
A bronze statue was unveiled in Seoul on June 22, honoring a young American hero who fell in the battlefield in September 1950. A doctorate candidate of honor at Harvard University, William Hamilton Shaw did not hesitate to answer the call to defend Korea and protect freedom and peace.
The Navy lieutenant fought courageously, being proud to be among the U.N. troops led by Commander-in-Chief Douglas MacArthur in the blitz Incheon landing against the North Korean Army. His dream of b
Source: BBC News
Jun 29, 2010
Democratic Republic of Congo gained independence from Belgium 50 years ago amid high hopes but the country remains mired in war, corruption and poverty. Here is a selection of the 50 Congolese photographed by Stephan Vanfleteren to mark the anniversary.
Source: Politico
Jun 29, 2010
A student of history, Robert Byrd became a chapter onto himself: a half-century in the Senate and remarkable life that was its own Pilgrim’s Progress from Wolf Creek Hollow through American politics....
“He was very much a man of the Senate,” recalls former Republican leader Howard Baker of Tennessee. Sam Nunn, the former Democratic senator from Georgia, still finds himself reciting Byrd lines — the Senate as the “anchor of the republic” — or hearing his old teacher say “senator” al
Source: AP
Jun 29, 2010
China and Taiwan signed a tariff-slashing trade pact Tuesday that boosts economic ties and further eases political tensions six decades after the rivals split amid civil war....
The deal was signed in the southern Chinese city of Chongqing -- a venue with an evocative history. Communist leader Mao Zedong and Nationalist President Chiang Kai-shek tried to negotiate a truce there after World War II -- but failed. The two sides then resumed the civil war that ultimately saw Chiang's go
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
Jun 28, 2010
On June 17, 2010, the Information Policy, Census and National Archives Subcommittee of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a hearing to review the status of the management of electronic records at federal agencies, and explored ways to improve the scheduling and preservation of el
Source: Lee White at the National Coaliton for History
Jun 28, 2010
On June 21, the Advisory Committee on the Records of Congress (ACRC) met at the U.S Capitol Visitors Center. The Advisory Committee is comprised of the officials in Congress responsible for its records (Clerk of the House, Secretary of the Senate, Senate Historian, and House Historian) and the Archivist of the United States, who is responsible for the administration of the archived records of Congress.
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
Jun 28, 2010
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) recently announced $20 million in grant awards and offers for 120 humanities projects. New funding supports a wide variety of projects nationwide, including traveling exhibitions, collaborative research, scholarly editions, advanced scholarly training in digital humanities, digitization of historic newspapers, programming offered by state humanities councils, and preservation of cultural heritage collection
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
Jun 28, 2010
Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero recently announced the retirement of Martha Morphy, Assistant Archivist for Information Services and the agency’s Chief Information Officer (CIO), effective July 2, 2010. Charles Piercy, Deputy CIO, will be Acting Assistant Archivist for Information Services and Acting CIO, until a permanent replacement is named.
From 1998 until her appointment as Assistant Archivist for Information Services in 2006, Ms. Morphy was a senior member of
Source: Austin American-Statesman
Jun 28, 2010
Would renaming the Simkins Residence Hall heal the wounds caused by racism or whitewash bigotry from the University of Texas' past?
Those were among the questions raised in a public forum Monday that drew about 45 attendees. The public discussion was the second of two public forums to gather input on whether UT should rename Simkins. The advisory committee that will make a recommendation on the matter held its last meeting, which was closed to the public, afterward.
The
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
Jun 28, 2010
On June 28, 2010, Senator Robert C. Byrd (D-WV), the longest-serving Member of Congress, passed away. Senator Byrd was 92 years old. Senator Byrd was considered the “father” of the Teaching American History Grants program at the U.S. Department of Education. Since its inception in fiscal year 2001, nearly $1 billion in federal dollars have been spent to raise student achi
Source: Medieval News
Jun 28, 2010
An unusal project in Leicestershire, England, is hunting down gargoyles in order to help understand the region's gothic art. Project Gargoyle has been set up to create a brand new resource capturing Leicestershire's wealth of medieval sculpture.
The first of its kind in the country, a 50-strong team of volunteers is now in place and busy taking photographs of figurative church carvings such as gargoyles. Around 300 churches locally feature stylised or caricatured human heads and wei
Source: Fox News
Jun 28, 2010
A group of retired Marines is asking Connecticut's attorney general to allow the "Don't Tread on Me" Gadsden flag to fly over the state Capitol on July 4 after Capitol Police refused the request saying it doesn’t fall within the state’s flag flying parameters.
The group says the yellow banner, which sports a coiled rattlesnake and its trademark motto, is the original flag of the U.S. Marine Corps and clearly fits into the section of the policy which states that the Connect
Source: Science Daily
Jun 28, 2010
The hidden secrets of some of the world's most famous paintings have been revealed thanks to a partnership between EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) and the National Gallery.
Culminating in the first major exhibition of its kind in summer 2010, scientists at the Gallery have been using the latest equipment to shed new light on the history behind some of the Gallery's priceless works of art.
A state-of-the-art, EPSRC-funded gas-chromatography-mas
Source: Mnchester
Jun 28, 2010
A science historian at The University of Manchester has cracked “The Plato Code” – the long disputed secret messages hidden in the great philosopher’s writings.
Plato was the Einstein of Greece’s Golden Age and his work founded Western culture and science. Dr Jay Kennedy’s findings are set to revolutionise the history of the origins of Western thought.
Dr Kennedy, whose findings are published in the leading US journal Apeiron, reveals that Plato used a regular pattern o
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Jun 28, 2010
Two Canadian teachers who wanted a memento of their trip to Auschwitz have been arrested by Polish police for stealing pins from the camp's railway track, according to reports.
The two male teachers were caught in possession of retaining pins used to hold down the rails which once transported hundreds of thousands to their death.
RMF FM, a Polish radio station, reported that the Canadians, who, allegedly admitted to stealing the pins, took them because they wanted a m
