I'm pleased to announce that the May content of Keesing's Record of World Events is now live on the site.  The issue includes articles covering the Burmese cyclone disaster, and the landing of the Phoenix spacecraft on Mars. 

Also, we have recently published 'Breaking History' articles on the election victory of Fernando Lugo in Paraguay and Condoleezza Rice's visit to Lebanon.   

I am pleased to announce that the March and April issues of Keesing's Record of World Events are now live on the site.   Click on the March and April links to start reading news from around the world, including the contest for the Democratic presidential nomination and the Italian general election.

If you're not a subscriber, click here view a range of subscription offers. 

I am pleased to announce that a new “Breaking History” is now live on the site concerning the eastward expansion of NATO. 

Here at Keesing's we are committed to providing comprehensive information on all regions of the world, covering all major developments in all countries.  Our international section covers various international organizations, the environment, science and technology, and war crimes etc.  To read more international Breaking Histories, please click here. 

Here is a useful tip when searching the archive:  in general, stories that affect two or more countries are filed under the smaller country and not mentioned at the larger country. In some cases, for example when a story that involves another country is also bound up with an internal political scandal, it is mainly treated under the smaller country and cross-referred to from the larger country.

I am pleased to announce that a new Breaking History has just gone live - Zimbabwe: Tension over election results. 

Also, the February issue of Keesing's Record of World Events is now live on the site.  Here is a selection of February's content:

• Chad: rebel assault on Ndjamena
• United States: presidential nomination campaign
• Pakistan: legislative elections
• Serbia: declaration of independence by Kosovo
• Lebanon: assassination of senior Hezbollah commander
• Environment: identification of climate “tipping points”

I am pleased to announce that we've just published a new Breaking History concerning the decline of Antarctic minke whale numbers and the history of the International Whaling Commission (IWC).    

If you are a keen reader of Breaking Histories, remember that you can receive notifications whenever we publish a new BH article through RSS feeds. News feeds allow you to subscribe to Breaking History articles, read them in your own news reader, or syndicate them to your website.  You can even specify which feeds interest you by choosing a particular region.   If you would like to know more about using the RSS functionality of Keesing's, please click here. 

This week I have been in Torquay, as I attended the UK Serials Group (UKSG) conference and exhibition.  It was a pleasure meeting some of you who already subscribe to Keesing's, and I'm always excited about talking about the archive to new people.

One of the stand-out sessions that I attended was given by Robin Hastings and Bobbi Newman called "Implementing Library Learning 2.0 at your library".  Robin and Bobbi started a programme which encouraged their fellow staff at Missouri River Regional Library to “experiment and learn about the new and emerging technologies that are reshaping the context of information on the Internet today”.  By starting a blog, uploading photos, and trying different search engines, the staff at MRRL were able to keep up to date with the way their patrons were using the web. 

The talk was quite inspirational, and I recommend their blog to anyone who would like to improve their Web 2.0 skills.  Web 2.0 has become a common phrase, referring to websites which encourage creativity and collaboration; I hope that you continue to enjoy using Keesing's in a creative manner by tagging articles, using the MyNotes feature and reading this blog. 

Spring is in the air, and therefore we thought that it was time to “spring clean” the Keesing's website.  The observant amongst you may have noticed how the Keesing's homepage has been redesigned slightly – I hope that the fresh new design makes navigating around the Keesing's website a little easier.

Here in the UK office, we are about to enjoy our four-day national Easter holiday, but  before we begin our break, I would like to alert you to the fact that the January content of Keesing's Record of World Events is now live on the site. As well as the latest issue of KRWE going live, a new “Breaking History” has also been published today; click here to read about the collapse of Italy's ruling coalition. 

It is fitting to reflect on the life of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, as this Saturday – March 8 – is International Women's Day.  

Mother Teresa was born as Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje, then in Albania, she was said to have had at the age of 12, a vocation to serve the poor.  At the age of 18 she joined the Loreto nuns, who were doing missionary work in India.   

After being trained in Dublin and serving her novitiate in Darjeeling (India) she went to Calcutta, where she took her vows in 1928. 

From 1929 to 1948 she taught at St Mary's High School in Calcutta, but in the latter year she moved into the slums of Calcutta "to serve God among the poorest of the poor". In 1950 she founded the order of the Missionaries of Charity, which in 1952 opened a home for the destitute dying in Calcutta and which by 1977 had 81 schools, more than 300 medical dispensaries and some 65 relief centres and missions in more than 50 Indian cities and also in many other countries.

To learn more about Mother Teresa, click on the links that follow.  Also, when researching other remarkable women, remember to consult the "People" list of topics when you search the archive; this list of the individuals mentioned in our articles enables you to quickly identify the people who have shaped history.     

October 2003 – Pope John Paul II beatifies Mother Teresa.

Sept. 5, 1997 – Mother Teresa dies in Calcutta aged 87.

October 1979 – Mother Teresa is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. 

Today is the anniversary of the French authorities' decision to undertake nuclear disarmament.  On January 29, 1996, French President Jacques Chirac announced that he had decided “permanently to end French nuclear tests”, after a series of tests in the Pacific had provoked widespread international concern.

Nuclear disarmament and rearmament continues to shape the global political landscape; French Presidnet Sarkozy announced on Nov. 7, 2007 that a nuclear-armed Iran was “unacceptable”.   If you wish to keep track of developments concerning armament, please remember that it is one of the "topics" through which you can filter your search results.

Below are three free "Breaking Histories" articles concerning nuclear armament:

• Poland: Poland-US relations (pub. Jan. 16, 2007)

• Iran: US intelligence report of reduced nuclear threat (updated Dec. 12, 2007)

•  North Korea: Nuclear Programme (updated March 8, 2007)

Welcome to the first blog entry of 2008! 

To herald the New Year, I'm pleased to announce that new content is now live on the site, including the November issue of KRWE.   November's issue includes the imposition of a state of emergency in Pakistan; the appointment of Nur Hassan Hussein as the new prime minister of Somalia and a report on the Annapolis Middle East peace conference.  Please click here to browse the issue.

Also, the first two Breaking Histories of 2008 are now live on the site.  Click here to read about the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, or click here to read about Polish-US relations regarding the US-proposed missile defence system to be built in eastern Europe. 

In 1932 a British tradition began when King George V broadcast a Christmas message to his subjects.  This first Christmas message was broadcast from the King's Sandringham residence, and the tradition of the message is now continued by Queen Elizabeth II.  King George commissioned Rudyard Kipling, author of the Jungle Book, to write the speech, in which the King stated that he was speaking “from my home and from my heart to you all”.   In the speech, the King marvels at the “wireless” technology which enables him speak to the people of his empire,to those “cut off by the snows, the desert, or the sea”. 

To read the entire Christmas message, please click here. 

With today being Christmas Eve, I would like to take this opportunity to wish our users a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year on behalf of everyone here at Keesing's. 

I am pleased to announce that the content of the October issue of Keesing's Record of World Events is now live on the site.  Click here to access the new content. 

Also, a new "Breaking History" is now live.  Click here to read about the Venezuelan public's rejection of President Hugo Chávez Frías's proposal to reform the constitution. 

On Dec. 4, 2000, the UN General Assembly declared that Dec. 18 would be International Migrants Day. The UN's decision to adopt an International Migrants Day is indicative of the increasing number of migrants (who now compose three per cent of the global population) and the need to address the complex socio-political issues surrounding mass migration.  The UN hopes that the day will encourage the international community to protect the human rights of all migrant.

Here are a collection of migration related links:

•June 2005 – The International Organisation for Migration's (IOM) World Migration Report 2005 refutes the belief that migration imposes a burden on the welfare systems of receiving countries is unfounded.  The report states that most migrants contribute much more in taxes than they receive in benefits.

•June 2002 – The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) produces a report warning that the global preoccupation with security in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the USA threatens to undermine economic globalisation and could damage long-term economic growth.  The report predicts a crackdown on illegal migrant workers in developed countries, which would reduce the remittances sent back to home countries.

•January 1952 - The International Refugee Organization (IRO) concludes its operations. A total of 1,619,008 persons had received some form of assistance from the Organization.

•December 1951 - The Naples Conference on Migration is attended by delegates from 27 countries.

•October 1945 - An estimated 13,000,000 Germans are forced to evacuate Poland, Czechoslovakia, Silesia and East Prussia.  The New York Herald-Tribune describes the movement as: "one of the greatest mass migrations in history…flowing like a gigantic tidal wave into the Russian-occupied zone". 

December 1 was World AIDS day and the UN chose ‘leadership’ as the day's theme.  The focus on 'leadership' in fighting the war against AIDS also builds upon last year's theme of 'accountability'.   With 'leadership' in mind, here is a selection of articles which chart the global response to the disease. 

•April 2007  - World Health Organisation (WHO) - HIV/AIDS developments.

•March 2007 -  South Africa, new AIDS plan.

•August 2006 - The 16th biennial International AIDS Conference (Toronto, Canada).

•September 1998.  The Washington Post reports that French researchers have discovered a new strain of the HIV virus which had hitherto escaped detection by standard blood tests.

•July 1994 -  WHO report on the sharp rise in AIDS cases.

•November 1992. - Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific.

•August 1987 - International AIDS issues.

•April 1985 - First International AIDS Conference is held in Atlanta, United States.  

I am pleased to announce that the content of the September issue of Keesing's Record of World Events is now live on the site. 

September's top stories include:

•  Zimbabwe: freeze on wages

•  United States: debate over Iraq war strategy

•  Burma: suppression of uprising

•  Russia: new prime minister and cabinet

•  Iraq: visit by US president

•  Space: launch of Japanese lunar orbiter

I would also like to draw your attention to a new category which has been created in KRWE - since the August edition we now have an 'Arctic' section to cover the territorial claims countries are making over the region. 

In this month's edition you can read how the European Space Agency (ESA) declared the Northwest Passage as “fully navigable” for the first time since monitoring began in 1978.  The opening of the passage creates the most direct potential shipping route from Europe to Asia. Our Arctic section will enable you to follow the development of any territorial disputes which may arise from the Northwest Passagebecoming viable for commercial shipping.  Analysts have speculated that the development could reignite a diplomatic dispute between Canada, which claimed jurisdiction over the waters of the Northwest Passage, and the USA, which regarded the route as an international strait.

If you would like instant access to any of the above articles, please click here to sign up for a Keesing's account - you can view unlimited content from just $7.95 for 24 hours' access. 

This weekend marks the anniversary of an event in history which the Washington Post called “the most stunning step since World War II towards ending the East-West division of Europe”. 

Eighteen years ago today, on Nov. 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall "fell" when East Germans were allowed to enter West Germany.  Egon Krenz , East Germany's new leader, announced that East Germans could in future travel freely abroad, simply using an exit visa stamped in their identity cards.

Over the weekend of Nov. 10–11 around 2,000,000 East Germans flooded through breaches in the Berlin Wall, which had divided the city since 1961. 

Enjoy your weekend, and if you wish to learn more about the fall of the Berlin Wall, please click here.

One of my favourite features on the archive is my portfolio.  I must confess that I am not a tidy person. My desk is always covered in numerous scraps of paper with pieces of information on: phone numbers, “To Do” list, and messages to give to people. Until recently, I was perpetually scribbling down page references when I was researching a topic on the archive, this was until I started to utilise the Portfolio feature.

In your personal portfolio you can select and store articles so that when you return to Keesing's you can find them again quickly, without having to conduct the search again.  The portfolio is a simple feature, but it makes a big difference when conducting research - try using it the next time you know you will want to return to an article.  To learn more about how to use the feature, please click here.

Today, the Pakistan government confirmed that Pakistan's upcoming presidential elections would not be affected by yesterday's twin bomb attack on the city of Karachi.  The attack targeted the homecoming procession of Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister of Pakistan.  Bhutto was returning to Pakistan after eight years in self-imposed exile.  Over 130 people were killed in the blasts. 

Benazir Bhutto links:

August 2007.  Representatives of President Pervaiz Musharraf continue negotiations in London with self-exiled former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and senior officials of her Pakistan People's Party (PPP) in an attempt to reach a power-sharing agreement that would allow her to return to Pakistan.

Nov. 5, 1996.  President Farooq Ahmed Leghari dismisses the Bhutto's government and dissolves the National Assembly.

Oct,  6, 1993.  Bhutto returns to the position of prime minister of Pakistan.  The national turnout for the election is low, at around 41 per cent, with voter apathy particularly marked in Sind province, the PPP's home base.

Aug. 6, 1990.  After 20 months in office, Bhutto is dismissed as prime minister by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan.  Khan accuses Bhutto 's government of corruption, abuse of power and of other acts "in contravention of the Constitution and the law".

Nov. 16, 1988. Bhutto becomes Pakistan's first female Prime Minister.

I am pleased to announce that the content of the July and August issues of Keesing's Record of World Events has now been added to the online archive.  Below are just some of the 249 new articles that are now live on the site.  Click on a headline to go straight to the article, or click here to sign up for a Keesing's account today. 

July

•       Sudan: agreement on UN-AU operation for Darfur

•         United States: calls for new strategy over war in Iraq

•         Pakistan: siege of Red Mosque

•         Turkey: general election

•         Palestine: Israeli support for Abbas administration

•         UN: Global Compact summit

August

•         Sierra Leone: presidential and legislative elections

•         United States: resignations of key Bush allies

•         India: nuclear agreement with USA

•         Russia: resumption of long-range bomber patrols

•         Iraq: civilian deaths in truck bombing

•         Arctic: claims of territorial rights

A new Breaking History is now live on the site: “USA: Credit Crisis”  The repercussions of the crisis are continuing to emerge, as EU finance ministers are set to meet tomorrow to review whether economic strategy needs to be altered to avoid repeating the economic problems the global markets have witnessed this summer.  The dynamics of international finance are obviously complex, but the article and timeline provide a concise overview of the history behind the current economic situation. 

To move away from new content and the complexities of global market forces for a moment, I would also like to direct you towards another article, as today is the 40th anniversary of the death of Ernesto Guevara de la Serna – “Che” Guevara.  Click here to read the contemporary Keesing's account of the life of the Argentinean-born, Cuban revolutionary.  

Back in June we profiled Aung San Suu Kyi in a Keesing's Breaking History.  Over the weekend, Suu Kyi's detention has again been a focus of the news, as Rangoon, the largest city in Burma, has experienced mass demonstrations against the country's military junta. The Burmese police reportedly barred protesters from approaching the house of Suu Kyi (who won the Nobel peace prize in 1991), but Suu Kyi came to the gates of her home in an act of unity with the protesters. 

If you are interested in this weekend's protests in Burma, I would recommend reading the Suu Kyi Breaking History.  Suu Kyi’s life and current situation are vital to understanding the political situation in Burma. 

If you are interested in other political protests, click here to read about the “Tiananmen Square” student protests of 1989, or here to read about the 1963 “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom”, at which Martin Luther King Jr delivered his famous "I had a dream" speech.

I have previously mentioned how much I enjoy browsing the archive, but Keesing's really comes into its own when you want a specific piece of information.  There is nothing more frustrating than not being able to find what you are looking for, so here are a few tips which I hope will assist you in getting results:

Date range – The archive goes all the way back to 1931, but if you know a date connected to what you are looking for, try narrowing the date range. You can also choose to sort results either by newest (most recently published) articles first, or by oldest articles first.

Click on a cluster - Clusters allow you to organise your search results.   When you search for a topic, look at the bottom of the left hand side bar and click on a cluster to filter your search.  There are “country” clusters and “person” clusters and you can also tag articles and create your own clusters. 

Select a topic - You can refine searches by selecting a topic.  All Keesing's articles are given keywords which help to identify their content.  The list of topics can be found on the left hand side bar. Simply click on it to refine your search. 

The Keesing's topics are: appointments; constitution and governance;  disarmament and rearmament; economy; elections; environment; foreign relations; human rights; international organisations; legal issues; legislation; political parties; science and technology; social issues; terrorism and war. 

Keep things simple – sometimes being too specific can yield few results, so try a simpler search with fewer words.  For example, instead of searching for "February 2007 Sri Lanka government changes", search for "government changes", narrow the date range to February 2007, and use the nations cluster to find Sri Lanka.

I hope these tips will help you when using the site. 

For further information visit out “help” page which contains lots of useful advice on how to get the most out of the archive.  Happy searching!  

Whilst monitoring the news today, I have read numerous reports concerning the EU's decision to abandon its plans to turn the UK metric.  Many articles have humorously reflected on the British victory of retaining the right to drink a 'pint' and other articles have used the decision as a way of examining the relationship between the EU and the UK.

However, it was only when I searched the Keesing's archive that I managed to escape a Eurocentric view of metrication.  Within a few minutes I'd learnt how India had begun to introduce the metric system in 1958 and in the same year Japan had made the metric system compulsory in all shops and businesses. 

I could continue listing facts about metrication, but my point is that my search stands as testament to the Keesing's editorial principal of internationalism.  Whatever you choose to research today, I hope you'll also be impressed by the breadth of our coverage.  Click here to enter the archive and start exploring over 75 years of news from around the world.

Keesing's strives to accurately record the world’s most significant political, social, and economic events.  Much of Keesing's content concerns political developments, but in every issue we also document natural disasters, environmental issues, and scientific discoveries.  With Hurricane Felix approaching the coasts of Nicaragua and Honduras, I wanted to look back though the archive to see how Central America and the nearby Caribbean islands have previously been affected by hurricanes.

Hurricane Mitch, 1998.  The November 1998 issue of Keesing's records how Hurricane Mitch devastated Central America from Oct. 27 to Nov. 1, 1998, claiming more than 10,000 lives, destroying tens of thousands of homes, wiping out water, road, and electrical systems, and ruining crops.  As many as 2 million people were left homeless.  [For the full article see 'Nov 1998-Hurricane Mitch' p. 42608.]

Hurricane Hugo, 1989.  The September 1989 issue reports of the destruction caused by Hurricane Hugo.  The hurricane formed in the Atlantic Ocean, with winds of up to 140 mph, and first crossed land on Sept. 17 over the islands of Guadeloupe and its dependencies in the Leeward Islands, where six people were reported killed and 10,000 people made homeless.  The hurricane went on to cause widespread devastation in the north-eastern Caribbean and the south-eastern United States.  An estimated 25 people were killed on Puerto Rico and 100,000 left homeless.  [For the full article see 'Sep 1989 -Hurricane Hugo' p. 36891.]

Hurricane Allen, 1980.  In the August 1980 edition of Keesing's you can read a report on the devastation caused by Hurricane Allen.  The hurricane struck St Lucia on Aug. 4, devastating banana plantations and killing 17 people.  In the following days, the worst effects of the hurricane were felt in southern Haiti, where at least 67 people died and official estimates put the economic damage at over $400,000,000 (equivalent to about two-fifths of the country's GDP); in northern Jamaica, where there were at least six deaths and 4,000 people were made homeless; and in Cuba, where four deaths were reported and extensive economic damage was caused.  [For the full article see 'St. Lucia-Hurricane disaster' p. 30482.]

Puerto Rico, September 1932.  The archive started in 1931 and the earliest record of a hurricane comes from September 1932, when “a Hurricane devastated the islands of Porto Rico”.  The Red Cross reported from San Juan (the capital) that 197 persons had been killed and 1,800 injured.  Nearly 9,000 homes were destroyed and 75,000 people rendered temporarily homeless.  [For the full article see 'September 1932 Hurricane' p. 487.]

The Keesing's Archive has reports on natural disasters from 1931 to the present day.  If you are interested in researching the history of hurricanes, 'disaster' is one of the key topics by which you can orgainse your archive search results.  To read the full articles on the hurricanes, please click here to join Keesing's today.

Despite it being ill mannered, I find it difficult to resist the urge to read a newspaper over someone's shoulder on a bus or a train. Similarly, a headline or a person's name will catch my eye when I am browsing through the archive and I cannot resist quickly reading the article.  I have therefore decided to start posting articles on here which have this 'must read' effect on me - I hope you will enjoy them too. 

Today, a statue of former South African President Nelson Mandela was unveiled in Parliament Square, London. At the unveiling Prime Minister Gordon Brown referred to Mandela as the "greatest and most courageous leader of our generation" and such a statement immediately made me want to read about Mandela's life.

The Keesing's World News Archive search engine makes researching individuals easy, and our articles are rich in hyperlinked cross references.  An article from the February 1990 issue of Keesing's Record of World Events reports President De Klerk's opening of Parliament speech in which the impending release of Nelson Mandela is announced and also the abolishment of the ban on the ANC, the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC–the ANC's smaller rival) and the South African Communist Party (SACP).  To read the full article, click here to sign up for a Keesing's account today.

In my last post I alerted you to the Breaking Histories that have been produced recently, but this is not the only new content on the web site.  I am pleased to announce that the May and June 2007 issues of Keesing's Record of World Events are now online.

Here in the Cambridge editorial office, we are currently working on our summer double issue. Having worked here for nearly a month now, it is fascinating to follow the impressively rapid evolution of a news story.  A story will break, be researched and authenticated, before a series of articles are written which create our monthly issue.  However, the process does not stop there: the content then appears live on the Keesing's web site, becoming part of the archive.

The archive is an invaluable tool for placing stories in both an immediate and historical context. Our Breaking Histories section gives you this context, but it is easy to explore the background to any story by following cross references or clicking on key words.  Having recently finished my degree (and having previous experience as a librarian), I understand the importance of accurate research and I look forward to announcing more content as it goes live.

I would like to introduce myself, in this, my first blog entry.  My name is Lorna, and after a fortnight working here at Keesing’s, I am settling into my role as the new online editor.

My work here at Keesing’s is proving busy and varied.  Tracking news stories, proofing texts, getting articles ready to go online – I find myself on a steep learning curve.  One of the most exciting and rewarding aspects of my job is in knowing that I am now part of a team that contributes to keeping the archive alive.

Sat at my desk, I can see every edition of the journal dating back to 1931, and at my fingertips I have the online version of this rich archive.  It is an incredible resource, and I hope you get as much enjoyment from exploring the archive as I do.

As I get to grips with my new job, I want to use this blog to chart my exploration of the functionality of the website, as well as announcing content as it goes live.   As ever, our breaking history section gives you the historical context of the biggest news stories from around the world.  This month, you can even go into space and read about the discovery of the new Saturian moon  (pub 30 Jul 2007).

Lorna

Our Breaking History section continues to bring you comprehensive background and analysis on the issues making today's headlines. This month we have new features on militant activity in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger delta; on Aung San Suu Kyi's continuing detention in Burma; and on political tension and terrorism in Turkey. Keep watching the site for more.

The contents of the April 2007 issue of Keesing's Record of World Events are now live on the site.

You'll find regional leading stories on presidential and legislative elections in Nigeria, approval in the United States of an Iraq withdrawal timetable, China-Japan relations, former president Yeltsin's death in Russia, Iraq's refugee crisis, and the UN Security Council debate on climate change.

Click here to start your research.

Staff from our UK and US offices have been attending the Special Library Association's annual conference, held this year in Denver, Colorado. It was a great chance for the team to meet many of you, and pick up useful leads and feedback on the site. We're listening to all your ideas and working with our developers to help bring them to life.

Visitors from the show might want to read a little more about us, check out our archive content, or send feedback. We appreciate all your input - watch this space for details of how we're working to implement your suggestions.

Keesing's Record of World Events for March 2007 - our latest published content - is live today on the site. Visit the database to start reading the latest world news - 152 articles on news from around the globe. Not a subscriber? You can try out all the site's features and view all the content you want from US$7.95 for 24 hours' access.

Visit the Breaking History feature section for background on the latest stories making the news. This week we have coverage on women's rights and dress codes in Iran; Paul Wolfowitz's resignation at the World Bank; and the release of Luis Posada Carriles in Cuba.

Want to see more? Each Breaking History story includes a full timeline, with links to contemporary Keesing's coverage of background developments, so you can follow events through the century in our online archive. Subscriber access is available from US$7.95 for 24 hours.

Our Breaking History section, home to comprehensive articles with the background on today's headlines, features three new stories for early May: Haiti's groundbreaking elections; the beheading of hostages in the Philippines; and the death of Talibaan leader Mullah Dadullah in Afghanistan. Check out the articles for thorough, concise coverage of the history behind the headlines.

We're pleased to announce that the content from the January and February 2007 issues of Keesing's Record of World Events is now live on the site. This means the site now has the very latest Keesing's content, all fully searchable and augmented with features to support your research. The March 2007 issue is in processing now; look out for the content on the site in mid-May.

Over on our Breaking History section you can also find a brand new feature on the World Bank, amid calls for Paul Wolfowitz's resignation. Find out the history behind the Bank's anti-corruption policies, and background on Wolfowitz's own four-decade career.

Like the new content? Think we're missing something? Let us know.

Our Breaking History articles were getting to be so comprehensive, they ran long - so we've launched a new format, effective from the latest article, to make them easier to read. Check out our newest Breaking History feature, on opposition to the Zimbabwean government, and you'll see that the article text and timelines each now have their own pages, so they're easier to view and more browser-friendly.

We'll be switching older content over to the new format in due course; meanwhile, bring yourself up to date on the latest stories, and let us know what you think. 

Check out the home page - we've launched a brighter, sharper new design, featuring a little more information about the site and a set of links to take you straight to the material you want. We're also showcasing a quote from one of our first reviews, from Angela Natividad at CMSWire - you can read the full review here.

New features: You asked for a more highly-visible log-in button, so we've added that at the top of the page; we've also provided a link straight to our Advanced Search page so you can get going as soon as you hit the site. We're always eager to hear further suggestions on how to improve the site, so please get in touch (editor@keesings.co.uk) with any thoughts.

Coming soon on the site, we're planning a 'Take the Tour' feature to walk you through the bells and whistles of Keesings.com; we're also adding more content all the time to Breaking History, where we break down today's headline-making stories in the light of historical context. New articles this week cover the latest developments in the Middle East peace process, George Bush's Latin America tour, and the continuing violence in Sri Lanka. Read them today to brief yourself on the history behind the headlines.

A couple of exciting new developments on the site today. Firstly, we've added the articles from the December 2006 issue of Keesing's Record of World Events. You can find this latest content in the database through the search engine.

We've also added a new feature to the Breaking History feature section: RSS feeds. Now you can read Keesing's in your favourite feed reader, or receive updates whenever we add new content to Breaking History. Please let us know how you like the new features, especially if you're interested in syndicating our content - we love to hear about how you use us.

Just back from the International Studies Association's 48th annual convention, held this year in Chicago, Illinois, where we officially launched the site. It was a most successful show, where we met hundreds of interested researchers and heard some invaluable commentary on the site and how it could grow. We also received our first reviews: from CMSWire; from Information Today; and from WebSearchGuide's Internet News. It's a pleasure to see users really appreciating the site's scope and possibilities, and picking up on the value of clusters, tags, and notes - the same features we're most excited about. As always, we would value commentary from anyone using the site.

We're working on some key ideas now, particularly on adding RSS feeds to the Breaking History section. You'll find a new article there on women in politics, with an update on North Korea's nuclear programme scheduled for later today too.

Lastly, our blog icon came in for some attention from reviewers, who wanted to know why a manual typewriter would inspire thoughts of blogs. This is a fine question. (Similarly, why should the standard RSS icon inspire thoughts of syndication? It appears to represent a piece of smoked salmon.) In this case, the blog typewriter represents the Keesing's marriage of old  - what CMSWire called 'anal-retentive' editorial practices, that value rigour, comprehensiveness, precision, and objectivity - and new, in the form of Web 2.0 clustering and tagging functions and state-of-the-art search facilities. It's also just prettier to look at than the text editing software in which the blog is actually composed...

Welcome: today we have officially moved to our new, permanent location - Keesings.com - and we're now live. The site has been over a year in the making, and it is immensely exciting to cut the red tape at last and declare it open. Thanks are due to our developers Squiz.

Sign-ups are now live using the secure Click-and-Buy system, so you're just clicks away from trying full access to our 76-year archive. You can sign up for a day, a month, or a year at a time. Why not try a free search of the database to see how much coverage we have on your topics of interest? Registering allows you full access to our articles, plus a host of research tools: a portfolio in which to save articles of interest; the capacity to write and store annotations with articles; and our groundbreaking tags and clusters systems, which allow you to filter search results by the names of persons or countries that interest you.

If you want a feel for the tone and scope of our coverage, visit the Breaking History section, where we have updated features on Iran's nuclear programme and on avian flu. These features are compiled by an expert Keesing's writer, and sample the full breadth of our archive in light of today's headlines.

We're delighted to be live, and to have the site ready to serve your research. Tell us what you think of us, tell us how we can be better, and tell us how you use us. We'll keep bringing you history as it happens.

This is another busy week on the site, as our developers put the finishing touches on some core features. One is the account creation facility, which will let users sign up to access the site. We're just days away from finishing this - then you'll be able to start researching, read articles, save them to your own portfolio, create and save your own notes and tags, and enjoy the full power of the Keesing's database. We're excited about this: watch this space.

Another nearly complete feature enhances the Clusters facility. Clusters are key to the research possibilities of Keesing's online. They identify and group together references to the content researchers find most useful - the names of people and places. Want to filter your search results to view any articles that mention a particular individual, or refer to a country of interest? Clusters let you do so at a single mouse-click. They also give you an overview of the most important persons related to a given topic, and the countries that are referenced most often in relation to your search term. You can read more about clusters here, and keep watching the blog for details of the feature's full launch.

The developers are also working to enhance your power to search within a single article, while we add extra articles to the database and improve the help files. If there's anything you'd like to see in those files, or elsewhere on the site, please do let us know.