Headlines

 Learning History: A century since Compiègne the guns fell silent

Nov. 9.– Shortly after 2am on November 11th 1918 a train came to a halt in a wood in Compiègne, near Paris. A second train pulled up on a nearby track. After four years of fighting, delegates of the German government sought an armistice from Ferdinand Foch, the commander of the French forces. Rare photos of the scene, hazy as a memory, show engine smoke twisting between the twiggy trees, makeshift boardwalks across the leaf-strewn ground and clusters of soldiers by the rails. At 5.15am the Germans signed the peace in the light of brass lamps in a teak-lined dining car. At 11am the guns fell silent along the 400km (250 mile) front, their thunder replaced by the pealing of church bells.

This peace ended a collective nightmare of hitherto unrivalled intensity and volume. The first world war was not just a grand tragedy. For the 67m who fought, it was a sordid hellscape. Few of the 10m killed in combat died from a “bullet, straight to the heart”, as pro forma telegrams to relatives put it.

Prague, Nov. 1 (Reuters).– Prime Minister Andrej Babis said on Thursday he wanted to pull the Czech Republic out of a United Nations migration agreement and would discuss this with his governing coalition partner.

Babis expressed his dislike of the pact a day after Austria said it would follow the United States and Hungary in backing out of the U.N. pact over concerns that it would blur the line between legal and illegal migration.

The legacy of the life and death of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

The history of Libya is the history of the foreign powers who ruled Libya."  

Oct.18.– Libya has been broken apart.

Torn asunder by competing local, regional and international forces, its survival as a singular nation-state is under threat.

Once Africa's wealthiest country with the continent's largest oil reserves and highest standard of living, Libya, liberated from a dictator's grip, is mired in a violent, internecine conflict that has left many of its people struggling for food, fuel and security.

President Trump asks FBI to reopen investigation into Brett Kavanaugh's background

Washington DC, Sept.28.– It was another dramatic day on Capitol Hill as Brett Kavanaugh advanced one step closer to taking a seat on the Supreme Court.

During a nail biting hearing Friday, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11-10 to advance Kavanaugh’s nomination to a full floor vote. 

It all came down to Arizona Senator Jeff Flake, who said he would vote ‘YES’ if the full floor vote could be delayed for a week pending an investigation.