Blog Heap of Links for the day 6 June 2009

Suspicions that Syria was trying to build a nuclear weapon have gained momentum with the discovery of uranium at a second site in the country, analysts say.

...They were based together in England and they flew countless sorties together, including the invasion of Normandy, the failed invasion of the Netherlands, the resupply of troops at Bastogne and finally into Germany. When the war ended in 1945, they parted company and didn't keep in touch.... four years ago that Neblett and Hewitt discovered that they both lived in Tulsa.... hardly recognized each other at first. But then they started talking....

The economic recession should have meant easy votes for Europe's left-wing movements, longtime critics of unchecked capitalism. Yet as Europe goes to the polls, left-leaning parties across the continent are looking likely to falter. That's true both for those in government, such as in the U.K. and Spain, and in the opposition -- such as France, Germany and Italy.

Brazilian Air Force: Bodies of Air France Flight 447 Passengers Found, Bodies of passengers of the doomed Air France flight that plummeted into the ocean have been found, Brazil's Air Force said Saturday.

A former U.S. State Department official and his wife have been arrested for spying for the Cuban government for nearly 30 years, the Justice Department said on Friday.... A Justice Department official said they were motivated by a desire to help the Cuban government, not money....

Her grandmother bought Danskin shoes for her at the Owasso Wal-Mart. She says the shoes had a strange odor, so she washed them and when Tylie wore them again, her instep and toes looked burned.... shoes have made in China tags....

There he was flying high over Vietnam, riding a burning F-100 streaking toward the Gulf of Tonkin. It was then that Dick Rutan decided he had had his fill of air combat. Now, after having flown 325 successful combat missions — 105 of which he flew as "MISTY 40," a member of the high-risk classified "MISTY" operation — his plane had just been struck by enemy ground fire and now he was thinking of home.

A fire killed 35 children in a day care center in northern Mexico despite desperate attempts of firefighters and a father who crashed his pickup truck through the wall to rescue babies, toddlers and others trapped inside.

BARTLESVILLE — A man who was missing for almost seven years after abandoning his family in 2002 will be allowed to reclaim personal property, including a quilt made by his mother, according to court papers filed Friday in Washington County.

Bernard Leon Barker... one of five men who broke into the Watergate building

Police say officers died during attempt to rescue 38 police hostages being held by indigenous protesters at remote Amazon oil facility... of 38 police held hostage, 22 were rescued, nine were killed and seven are missing.

Immelt Orders Nielsen Media Iced Over GE-NBCU-Obama Story: NBCU's Zucker Follows Orders And Freezes Out The Hollywood Reporter For Past 6 Weeks... It's a very dangerous situation when any huge multinational corporation wages war against media companies. Especially when that huge multinational corporation is General Electric, which itself owns a media company, NBC Universal, and it's using all its power and influence and money to try to harm another media company, Nielsen, and Nielsen Business Media, and its trade publication The Hollywood Reporter. This certainly sounds like a situation which the FCC, and the FTC, and the U.S. Justice Department should be investigating. Just one problem: the controversy stems from GE/NBCU's coverage of President Obama.