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)
April 20, 2010
The Mainichi newspaper printed a photo of a round-faced and well-dressed man accompanying North Korea's "Dear Leader" on a visit to a steel mill in North Hamgyong Province in March.
Kim Jong-un is being groomed to take over from his father, whom some experts believe to be suffering from the after-effects of a stroke that has been worsened by long-standing diabetes as well as kidney and heart disease.
Little is known of his third son and the last photos confi
Source: Telegraph (UK)
April 20, 2010
The head of the largest Catholic archdiocese in the United States has accused the state of Arizona of pursuing an anti-immigration policy that encourages "German Nazi and Russian Communist techniques."
Cardinal Roger Mahony of the Los Angeles archdiocese made the comments as Arizona passed a bill which would require police to question people about their immigration status if there is reason to suspect they are in the country illegally.
The Los Angeles archdio
Source: Telegraph (UK)
April 20, 2010
The photographs form part of an exhibition of the work of the photographer Marcus Adams, which opens at Windsor Castle on Saturday.
The 56 images on display include pictures of the then Princess Elizabeth which were taken to be sent to her mother and father, the future King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, while they were on a six-month tour of Australia and New Zealand.
Among the collection is a poignant letter from the Princess’s nanny, Clara Knight, which reflects ho
Source: AP
April 20, 2010
The Associated Press has obtained documents showing that James von Brunn, who died before he could stand trial in the shooting death of a Holocaust museum security guard, first came to the FBI's attention 47 years ago, when he was accused of making a death threat over a business dispute.
The FBI released documents about the 1963 incident in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from the AP.
Von Brunn denied making the threat, and authorities declined to prose
Source: Fox News
April 20, 2010
A revised arrest warrant recently posted by Interpol may finally lead to the capture and extradition of Saddam Hussein’s eldest daughter, who is charged with supporting terrorist activities in Iraq.
Raghad Hussein, who lives in Amman, Jordan, under the protection of King Abdullah II, was charged in November 2006 with supporting the Iraqi insurgency. But in the murky world of Middle East politics, neither the warrant nor the charges against her created much of a stir. She was, after
Source: AP
April 20, 2010
Argentina's last dictator was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison Tuesday for torture and kidnappings committed during the nation's 1976-1983 military regime.
Reynaldo Bignone, 82, was convicted along with five other former military officers for 56 cases involving torture, illegal detentions and other crimes in one of Argentina's largest torture centers, the Campo de Mayo military base.
Human rights groups say that of the 4,000 dissidents taken to the base, ab
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
April 16, 2010
On April 7, federal agencies released “Open Government Plans” detailing how they will make their operations and data more transparent and expand opportunities for citizen participation, collaboration and oversight. In addition, each agency identified at least one “flagship initiative” – a signature open government innovation in the agency. The plans were mandated by
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
April 16, 2010
On April 14, Twitter announced it is donating its digital archive of public tweets to the Library of Congress. Twitter is a social networking service that enables users to send and receive tweets, which consist of web messages of up to 140 characters. Twitter processes more than 50 million tweets per day from people around the world. The Library will receive all public tweets-which number in the billions-from the 2006
Source: Steve Aftergood at Secrecy News
April 20, 2010
The Senate Intelligence Committee has posted a collection of its biennial public reports on the Committee’s activities, from the first report in 1976 to the latest in 2009, providing a retrospective survey of intelligence controversies past and present.“The committee has unintentionally produced a profoundly biased political document,” complained the late Sen. Daniel P. Moynihan in a statement appende
Source: Steve Aftergood at Secrecy News
April 15, 2010
The national security classification system hit some new highs as well as some new lows over the last year, the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) disclosed in its latest annual report to the President (pdf).The total number of reported national security classification actions skyrocketed to a record 54.8 million classifications last year, a startling 135 percent increase over
Source: Lee White at the National Coaliton for History
April 16, 2010
The Public Interest Declassification Board (PIDB) will meet on April 22 in room 1310 of the Longworth House Office Building from 10 am to 12:30 pm, here in Washington. Presentations will be made by Acting National Declassification Center Director Michael Kurtz and by Wayne Leathers of the Defense Change Management Organization.
The PIDB advises the President and other executive branch officials on the declassification of historical federal records related to national security.
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
April 16, 2010
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has launched a new initiative called Bridging Cultures, which encourages projects that explore the ways in which cultures from around the globe, as well as the subcultures within America’s borders, have influenced American society. NEH is seeking proposals to plan and implement a program consisting of a forum and a workshop on one of two humanities theme
Source: Telegraph (UK)
April 10, 2010
History books first published in the 1930s have been revived in a bid to tackle schoolchildren's ignorance of Britain's past.
The series, called A History of Britain, was first published in 1937 and was widely used in schools for decades.
It has now been updated and relaunched for a modern audience amid growing concerns that schools are failing to give children a good grasp of history.
It comes as a group of leading history experts called for reform to th
Source: Medieval News
April 18, 2010
The Great Northern Medieval Fayre will be hosting its first annual Trebuchet Competition on Saturday, June 5th and is inviting people and groups to take part. Contestants will get to fling three pound cabbages at distances over 150 feet with the winners receiving trophies and prizes.
Members of the Ontario Section of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers will be overseeing the competition as its judges. The competition is open to children of all ages, as well as adults and gr
Source: Medieval News
April 18, 2010
Chicago's Newberry Library and the University of Notre Dame recently jointly acquired an unusual early fourteenth-century codex originating in southern France that contains a collection of 38 scholastic texts, only two of which have been edited in modern critical editions and the rest of which have never been printed. All those that have been identified to date are Franciscan. The most noteworthy author included is Peter John Olivi, represented by two elements of his Principia in sacram scriptur
Source: Medieval News
April 18, 2010
A team of top archaeologists have been drafted in to explore a number of secret tunnels that have been found underneath a medieval building in the West Midlands borough of Sandwell in England.
The tunnels have been found at the 13th century West Bromwich Manor House.
As part of Sandwell Council's on going programme of restoration of this important historic building, an entrance and exit to a series of tunnels were found when the moat was drained earlier this year.
Source: Medieval News
April 20, 2010
A recent study has shown that a series of floods that struck the Yellow River in China between the years 1048 and 1128 caused massive and long term damage to northern regions of the country. In the article "Changing with the Yellow River: An Environmental History of Hebei, 1048-1128", Ling Zhang explores how the destruction caused by the floods, and how the Song Dynasty responded to the situation.
The first major flood hit the Hebei region, in the lower reaches of the Yell
Source: Medieval News
April 20, 2010
Westminster Abbey has commissioned conservation work on the Coronation Chair in which nearly every British monarch has been crowned since 1308.
Only three sovereigns were not crowned seated in the large oak chair - Edward V, Edward VIII and Mary II. But wear and tear has taken its toll since the royal seat, housed at Westminster Abbey, was commissioned by Edward I in 1300.
Much of its rich paintings, ornate gold gilt and glasswork has been lost over the centuries and th
Source: NYT
April 20, 2010
Every year, Israelis approach the joy of their Independence Day right after immersing themselves in a 24-hour period of grief for fallen soldiers. Before the fireworks burst across the skies Monday night to celebrate the country’s 62nd birthday, the airwaves filled with anguished stories of servicemen and -women killed, the Kaddish prayer of mourning and speeches placing the deeply personal losses of a small country into the sweep of Jewish history.
So there is nothing new or unusua
Source: US News
April 19, 2010
Dwight Eisenhower might have been a modern-day George Washington, but you've probably never seen an "Ike Slept Here" sign on any boarding house. Fact is he was a perfectly boring fit for the 1950s and interest in his presidency following his success winning World War II has never been high.
But something's up. First, plans were unveiled last month for a rare presidential memorial on Washington's National Mall to Ike, designed by famed Architect Frank Gehry. It will be nea
