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This is the generally attributed death date of Duke Erik and Duke Valdemar of Sweden — intentionally starved to death at the order of their royal brother, according to the 14th century Erikskrönikan. This is pretty borderline as an execution, to be sure, but brutal games of thrones ran in these men’s family. Their grandfather Birger Jarl was a powerful duke who got his young child elected king when the throne came open in 1250, possibly circumventing family of the preceding monarch. And no sooner did the old silverback shuffle off then said son was rudely usurped by his little...

CNN’s Piers Morgan on Thursday said he believes most “decent, civilized” Americans share his view on the need for stricter gun control laws. Morgan stopped by CBS “This Morning” to discuss his show’s recent focus on gun control, as well as the connected petition to deport him from the country. The CNN host said the interviews he’s had recently with people such as Alex Jones — the gun advocate and creator of the “Deport Piers Morgan” petition — help keep the issue from fading from the public eye as has happened after past incidents of gun violence in the United...

GOP candidates urged to accept climate change by scientistsBy Andrew Restuccia - 12/29/11 11:49 AM ET Fifty New Hampshire scientists Thursday called on the Republican presidential candidates to accept the “overwhelming” scientific evidence behind climate change. The scientists issued the joint statement just weeks before the Jan. 10 New Hampshire primary, a key early test for the GOP White House hopefuls. “We urge all candidates for public office at national, state, and local levels, and all New Hampshire citizens, to acknowledge the overwhelming balance of evidence for the underlying causes of climate change, to support appropriate responses to reduce the...

FIRST it was "bloody", then it was "hell" and now it's "beer" itself that's tripping up an Australian tourism advertising campaign. The recently launched and now controversial advertisement which concludes with the tagline "where the bloody hell are you?" has now run foul of the Canadian regulator. But it's not the tagline that's the trouble this time as much as the opener: "I've bought you a beer". Tourism Minister Fran Bailey said she had been told by Canadian authorities they could not accept that line. "We now have the Canadian authorities not wanting us to use the opening segment of...

Is the Bible Alone Sufficient for Spiritual Truth? According to Roman Catholicism, Sacred Tradition and the Bible together provide the foundation of spiritual truth. From this combination the Catholic church has produced many doctrines which it says are true and biblical. Protestantism, however, rejects Roman Catholic Sacred Tradition and holds fast to the call "Sola Scriptura," or, "Scripture Alone." Catholics then challenge, "Is Sola Scriptura biblical?" The Bible does not say "Do not use tradition" or "Scripture alone is sufficient." But the Bible does not say "The Trinity is three persons in one God," either, yet it is a fundamental...

Several pieces of evidence have popped up regarding the United States government creating H.I.V. The Irate Cinema Underground has put together a short film to introduce this topic to people and create a dialogue that will pressure the government to release documents requested under the Freedom of Information Act that relate to this theory. To view the film, visit www.iratecinemaug.tk

I like Americans in the main. Of course there's some I don't like, but on the whole as a people I've seen more good than bad. But in the famous words of Edmund Burke, "All that's necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing." This summer I was planning to bring my family over to Florida for a long holiday. Not now. I refuse to take my family to and spend my money in a place that murders one of its citizens and forces her mother & father watch....

A Plea to American Conservatives I write to you as a friend from the United Kingdom concerned that you may re-elect George W. Bush as President of your great country. I am not a condescending Guardian reader and I am exceedingly pro-American. It is for this reason that I ask you not to vote for Bush. Terrorism cannot be defeated by dropping bombs from B-52's or by invading sovereign nations that posed no threat to the security of the Western world. Bush started a war that violated the notion of sovereignty so important to the Conservative movement for a spurious...

So Jimmy Carter has won the Nobel Peace prize. This choice is surprising in itself; even more shocking is the Nobel committee's obvious bias against George W Bush. Yesterday, the chairman of the committee, Gunnar Berge, said publicly that the decision "must be seen as a criticism of the policy that the current US administration has adopted in relation to Iraq". Such a partisan display is unprecedented: this is supposed to be a peace prize, not a fractious protest. Anyway, if Mr Carter ever deserved to win the Peace prize, it was in 1978, for the Camp David accord, when...