Library of Congress acquires rare trove of Civil War images

Library of Congress acquires rare trove of Civil War images

washington

A Houston housewife who has quietly collected rare Civil War images for 50 years has sold more than 500 early photographs to the Library of Congress.

The library announced the acquisition Sunday and is placing the first 77 images online. On Friday, 87-year-old Robin Stanford delivered the historic stereograph images from her collection to the library.

Some scenes offer a rare glimpse of slave life in the South from images made by Confederate photographers. Most previous photos showed slaves who were recently freed in the North.

Other parts of Stanford’s collection show images of South Carolina at the start of the war. Another set depicts President Abraham Lincoln’s funeral procession in 1865.

Arab leaders vow to defeat rebels

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt

A two-day Arab summit ended Sunday with a vow to defeat Iranian-backed Shiite rebels in Yemen and the formal unveiling of plans to form a joint Arab intervention force, setting the stage for a potentially dangerous clash between U.S.-allied Arab states and Tehran over influence in the region.

A summit resolution said the newly unveiled joint Arab defense force would be deployed at the request of any Arab nation facing a national security threat and that it would also be used to combat terrorist groups.

The agreement came as U.S. and other Western diplomats were pushing to meet a Tuesday deadline to reach a deal with Iran that would restrict its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

IS beheads 8 Shiites

BEIRUT

A new video released by the Islamic State group on Sunday shows its fighters cutting off the heads of eight men said to be Shiite Muslims. The video posted on social media said the men were beheaded in the central Syrian province of Hama.

The video could not be immediately independently verified, but it appeared genuine and corresponded to other AP reporting of the events. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also said that the video was authentic.

Violence, glitches fail to stop Nigeria voting

abuja, nigeria

Boko Haram fighters attacked poll stations in northeast Nigeria and a governor demanded elections be canceled in an oil-rich southern state Sunday as the count started for a presidential election too close to call.

Two electoral workers were killed Saturday in Boko Haram’s campaign to disrupt the elections, chairman Attahiru Jega of the Independent National Electoral Commission said.

Voting continued in certain areas Sunday after technical glitches with new biometric card readers prevented some people from casting ballots Saturday.

Air Canada plane skids off runway

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia

An Air Canada plane made a hard landing in bad weather at the Halifax airport, skidding off a runway, shearing off its nose and crumpling an engine.

The airline said Sunday that 25 people were taken to hospitals for observation and treatment of minor injuries.

The airline said Flight AC624, an Airbus 320 that left Toronto late Saturday, had 133 passengers and five crew members. Air Canada said the aircraft landed in stormy conditions at 12:43 a.m. Sunday.

Associated Press