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: The Times (UK)
November 18, 2009
British investigators are hopeful that a body recovered from the eastern Bekaa Valley could be the remains of Alec Collett, a British journalist who was kidnapped and executed by a Palestinian group in 1986 during Lebanon’s civil war, the Times of London reported.
A military and forensic team led by the British embassy in Beirut is excavating an area near the village of Aitta al-Fuqar in the southern Bekaa Valley. The site was the location in the 1980s of a base belonging to Fatah –
Source: AP
November 18, 2009
A 114-year-old woman believed to be the oldest native-born American and the third-oldest person in the world has died at a New York nursing home.
Olivia Patricia Thomas died Monday in the St. Francis Home of Williamsville, near Buffalo. She had lived there since 2004. She's being remembered as a dedicated gardener who loved to travel the world.
The Gerontology Research Group tracks supercentenarians and says Thomas was the oldest person born in the United States. She wa
Source: CNN
November 17, 2009
The Senate is about to embark on what could be the showdown of the year as top Democrats work to push through sweeping health care legislation.
The legislative chamber, however, is no stranger to history-changing debate. Lawmakers need to look no further than their predecessors to see how it's done.
In 1991, Congress voted for the use of military force towards Iraq after the Saddam Hussein-led country went to war with Kuwait.
The action was the first time C
Source: CNN
November 18, 2009
When Robert Byrd came to Congress from West Virginia, a postage stamp cost 3 cents and kids were clamoring for a new toy called Mr. Potato Head.
On Wednesday, almost 57 years later, Byrd became the longest-serving member of Congress in history.
Two days before he turns 92, the eloquent legislator known for his encyclopedic knowledge of Senate rules and history surpasses Carl T. Hayden, the Arizona Democrat who served a total of 20,773 days in the U.S. House and Senate.
Source: CNSNews
November 17, 2009
Beijing (AP) - Playing tourist on his first visit ever to China, President Barack Obama drew a chilly comparison between the Chinese capital and his Illinois hometown....
... Built in the 1400s, the Forbidden City once was home to 24 Chinese emperors who ruled the country for nearly 500 years, between 1420 and 1911. The former imperial palace is now known as the Palace Museum, and is open to Beijing's visitors.
"It's a testament to the greatness of Chinese history,
Source: The Washington Post
November 17, 2009
JERUSALEM -- It is one of the most watched pieces of real estate in the world, 35 acres where an under-the-breath prayer or a whiff of a rumor can rouse warnings of war.
In both Judaism and Islam, the area known respectively as the Temple Mount and the Noble Sanctuary is considered a formative location. Jews believe it to be the site of Solomon's Temple and key biblical events. Muslims regard it as the spot where Muhammad was brought by the angel Gabriel before embarking on a trip t
Source: Poynter Online
November 17, 2009
Over the years publications that target gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender audiences have come and gone -- witness today's tumult at Window Media LLC. A key newsweekly, The Washington Blade, may be no more after celebrating its 40th anniversary last month.
There's one very important angle that gets overlooked when minority media outlets go out of existence: archives. In today’s digital world, what happens to the online archives? Earlier this year the New York Blade shut down and all its onl
Source: BBC
November 17, 2009
Czechs and Slovaks are marking the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution - which brought down the Communist government of the then-Czechoslovakia.
Past and present students will re-enact a Prague march that started the events.
The Communist Party announced it would relinquish power after hundreds of thousands demonstrated for 12 days.
The dissident playwright Vaclav Havel, who led the revolution before becoming president, is to attend a Prague rock co
Source: Atlanta Journal
November 15, 2009
Jeff Gardner delicately scrapes away a century of red clay and scoops a child's bones into a casket.
The archaeologist has spent the past two months carefully sifting through dirt, trying to preserve the remains of generations of Clayton County families.
Gardner thought he was looking for 270 historic African American graves buried behind Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
He found more than 340 – and is still digging.
Gardner and his cr
Source: Politico
November 17, 2009
Thirty-three years ago this fall, a bitter, race-tinged fight over abortion matched Roman Catholic bishops and the House against the nation’s first popularly elected black senator, Republican Ed Brooke of Massachusetts.
Now, with health care reform on the line, the same male-dominated church hierarchy is dictating to the first woman speaker of the House, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, a Catholic herself and past ally for the bishops on everything from human rights in China to tax credits fo
Source: BBC
November 17, 2009
German prosecutors have charged a 90-year-old alleged former Nazi SS member with the deaths of 58 Jewish forced labourers, officials say.
The man is accused of murdering the workers in Deutsch Schuetzen, an Austrian village, at the end of World War II.
The court has identified the suspect only as a "retiree from Duisburg".
The victims' remains were found in a mass grave in 1995 by the Austrian Jewish association.
Source: Inside Higher Ed
November 17, 2009
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour on Monday proposed combining the state's three public black colleges into one of the institutions, Jackson State University. While Barbour said that campuses would continue to exist at what are now Alcorn State University and Mississippi Valley State University, the proposal marks the most dramatic state challenge in recent years to the continuation of some public black colleges -- and the move comes in the state whose higher education system was the subject of the
Source: NYT
November 16, 2009
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide whether it is too late for an Alabama man to argue that the murder that sent him to death row was not a capital crime when he committed it.
The inmate, Billy Joe Magwood, shot and killed Sheriff Neil Grantham in 1979 in front of the Coffee County jail. At the time, Alabama law imposed two requirements before the state’s judges could sentence defendants to death: the commission of one of 14 listed offenses and the existence of ce
Source: NYT
November 16, 2009
SAN FRANCISCO — They don’t know it, but people who use Google’s online maps may be getting directions from Richard Hintz...
... Mr. Hintz is a foot soldier in an army of volunteer cartographers who are logging every detail of neighborhoods near and far into online atlases. From Petaluma to Peshawar, these amateurs are arming themselves with GPS devices and easy-to-use software to create digital maps where none were available before, or fixing mistakes and adding information to exist
Source: Google News
November 16, 2009
WASHINGTON — Rose Percy has a long history with the American Red Cross. Complete with an extensive wardrobe and her own Tiffany jewelry, this 23-inch wax doll was first sold for $1,200 back in 1864 to benefit the U.S. Sanitary Commission — the precursor to one of best-known U.S. charities.
Now, Rose Percy, is on the auction block again.
On Tuesday, Percy will be sold in one of the first rounds of an extensive sale of treasures the American Red Cross has amassed over the
Source: UPI
November 16, 2009
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told sailors in Singapore Monday that perceived attempts to rewrite the history of World War II should be rejected.
Medvedev told the crew of the Russian cruiser Varyag that historians will always debate the past; however, there was no doubt that the eventual outcome of the war had been agreed upon by the allied powers at the time.
"We should keep an eye on such things -- not fighting different points of view, but protecting our in
Source: NYT
November 16, 2009
Senator Robert C. Byrd, Democrat of West Virginia, who is already the longest-serving senator in United States history, is set to cross yet another milestone of longevity in the legislative branch. On Wednesday, he’ll surpass Carl Hayden as the longest-serving member of Congress in history, combining terms in both the House and Senate.
Mr. Hayden, an Arizona Democrat, served in the House from 1912 to 1927 and in the Senate from 1927 to 1969 for a total of 56 years 319
Source: WSJ
November 17, 2009
Federal prosecutors trying Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, could get a big boost from evidence that helped to acquit another alleged conspirator.
In statements submitted to a military commission last year, Mr. Mohammed said Salim Hamdan was a barely literate functionary with no involvement in the Sept. 11 conspiracy or other al Qaeda plots, contrary to prosecutors' allegations. Mr. Mohammed explained that his role as an al Qae
Source: Slate
November 17, 2009
Ever since President Obama moved into the White House, "the background players in his family drama—half-brothers, stepgrandmothers—are experiencing a disorienting measure of reflective fame," writes New York magazine. "They're doing their best to handle it, with varying degrees of grace." George Obama, the president's youngest half-brother, will be publishing a memoir and traveling to the United States for a publicity tour. But despite the reported six-figure advance, George
Source: Google News
November 16, 2009
NEW YORK — CBS News is planning an ambitious turn-of-decade look at America's position in the world that's also designed as an opening competitive shot at Diane Sawyer.
Called "CBS Reports: Where America Stands," the series will look at issues such as health care, the military, the economy and crime. Reporters will show what was happening 10 years ago and compare it to now, with predictions about how things will be like at the start of the 2020s.
The "CBS
