Newsgate

The phone-hacking scandal of News Corp has already engulfed Britain and has every chance of spreading across the Atlantic. Accusations of phone-tapping into victims of 9/11 have surfaced, and the FBI is investigating these allegations as well as corruption charges. 

In honor of Independence Day

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Little House

There once was a small house. Surrounded by long-limbed cypresses, the house stood in idyllic seclusion. It was a little house, in soft pastel and delicately painted colors.

That house is empty now. But once, long ago, there were people. People who laughed and lived and loved. They are all gone now. But sometimes, you can still hear them.

Cleopatra

Coin depicting a likeness of Cleopatra.

One of the most enduring and least understood figures in Western history, Cleopatra VII is most remembered for her tumultuous personal life- mainly her affairs with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. But she is so much more than that. Cleopatra's death meant the end of the Hellenistic era and the beginning of the Roman Empire.

Shangguan Wan'er

One of the most fascinating figures in Chinese history, Shangguan Wan'er (664-710) was a noted literary figure and politician of the Tang Dynasty, associated with powerful women such as Wu Zetian.