[An Nahar] A man who claimed in a widely publicized documentary to be an American soldier, missing since his helicopter was shot down during the Vietnam War, is actually Vietnamese, the U.S. said Thursday.
"Unclaimed", directed by Michael Jorgensen, which has generated an explosion of interest since its premiere this week, purports to have discovered U.S. serviceman John H. Robertson -- alive, well and living in the communist nation.
But a United States Defense Department statement said the man -- who appeared on film in an emotional "reunion" with Robertson's sister -- has been DNA tested and found to be a citizen of the Southeast Asian country.
"All claims and alleged live sighting reports related to Robertson have been investigated and found to be false," according to a release from the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office on Thursday, provided to Agence France Presse by the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi.
A tightly edited trailer for the movie, posted on production company Myth Merchant Films' website, does not show any clear full-face images of the Vietnamese man, known by the name Dang Ngoc Than.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/04/2013 00:00 ||
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A tightly edited trailer for the movie, posted on production company Myth Merchant Films' website
shocked. shocked. Isn't this the same company that did John F'n Kerry's reenactments of his purple heart incidents?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/04/2013 12:00 Comments ||
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So glad it isn't true after all. Because there really are people still being held in North Korea, and no doubt elsewhere in the former Communist world.
A limited cabinet reshuffle will see six ministers replaced in Egypt, state newspaper Al Ahram said on Thursday, citing government sources. The new ministers, who could swear oath on Tuesday, are expected to be those of justice, legal and prosecution affairs, culture, agriculture, planning and international cooperation, and one of the economic portfolio ministries, Al Ahram said, without naming the candidates.
The reshuffle is seen as an attempt by President Mohamed Mursi, who hailed from the Muslim Brotherhood group, to ease tensions with opponents.
Prime Minister Hisham Kandil, widely criticised as colourless and ineffectual, will keep his job in the limited reshuffle, a presidential spokesman said last week.
He's just the man for the job, too...
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/04/2013 00:00 ||
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Making the deck chairs on the Titanic look desirable...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/04/2013 10:17 Comments ||
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[An Nahar] Politicians have reached an agreement on a future political system in Tunisia, ending a months-old stalemate that had blocked progress on drafting the new constitution, the head of the ruling Islamist party said on Friday.
"We have overcome the impasse, we are heading towards a mixed regime where neither the head of state nor the head of the government will have supreme control over the executive power," Rached Ghannouchi told Tunisian radio.
Ghannouchi did not go into detail on the question of the division of powers, saying only that the president and the prime minister would each have their respective prerogatives.
Ghannouchi's Ennahda party, which heads the coalition government after scooping the largest share of seats in the national assembly in Tunisia's first post-revolution polls, has until now been demanding a purely parliamentary regime.
But most political parties, including Ennahda's allies in the coalition, want key prerogatives to remain in the hands of the presidency, which is currently held by Moncef Marzouki of the secular, center-left Congress for the Republic.
Work on drafting a new constitution has been heavily delayed by this lack of consensus, with the main political parties having originally agreed that the text would be completed in October in 2012.
The latest draft, published late last month, was strongly criticized by lawyers and the opposition for being too vague on certain highly sensitive issues, notably religion, human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. and gender equality.
A national dialogue held under the auspices of the presidency is currently taking place in a bid to resolve these problems.
Prime Minister Ali Larayedh, appointed in March in the wake of a political crisis sparked by the liquidation of an opposition leader, has vowed to have the constitution adopted and legislative and presidential elections held by the end of 2013.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/04/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Spanish police announced Friday they have seized a massive 32 tonnes of hashish hidden in a truck transporting melons from Morocco, one of the largest hauls on record in Spain.
There's got to be a really profound metaphor in here somewhere.
Police found the hashish, with an estimated street value of 50 million euros ($65 million), when they searched a refrigerated truck carrying melons from the Moroccan port of Tangiers.
On its arrival in the southern Spanish port of Algeciras on April 27, police searched the Moroccan-registered truck.
"On opening it, they found melons were being carried in the first two pallets, as the driver stated," said a joint statement by the police and Spain's interior ministry.
"Then as the agents checked the rest of the cargo they discovered wooden boxes, which were open at the top, containing packs of hashish wrapped in sacking."
A total of 24 boxes were discovered containing 32.38 tonnes of hashish and the driver was jugged Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! on suspicion of committing a crime against public health, police said.
The record for Spain dates to 1996 when 36 tonnes of hashish were seized in a boat in the country's southeast, leading to the arrest of 23 people.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/04/2013 00:00 ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... Chairman, Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who who convinced himself that playing cricket qualified him to lead a nuclear-armed nation with severe personality problems... said on Friday that his party after coming into power will maintain zero tolerance against corruption, favoritism and injustice in the society by introducing massive reforms.
He said he would bring in reforms in Police, Local Government and Revenue Departments for solving day to day problems of a common man.
He was addressing a mammoth gathering held here Friday at Govt Post Graduate College Ground in Abbottabad ... A pleasant city located only 30 convenient miles from Islamabad. The city is noted for its nice weather and good schools. It is the site of Pakistain's military academy, which was within comfortable walking distance of the residence of the late Osama bin Laden.... , prior to addressing other meetings in Haripur, Mansehra ...a city and an eponymous district in eastern Khyber-Pakthunwa, nestled snug up against Pak Kashmir, with Kohistan and Diamir to the north and Abbottabad to the south... and Battagram districts the same day.
Imran vowed that PTI after coming into power would leave no stone unturned to restore honour and respect of Paks across the globe and rather he would to make Pakistain a progressive democratic Mohammedan welfare state where people could get all their basic amenities of life at their doorsteps and will not go abroad for jobs.
He said PTI would transfer power to grass root level and for this purpose would conduct Local Bodies election within 90 days after formation of Govt.By this, he said, people would decide by themselves about developmental projects and others necessities of life at their villages and Union Council level.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/04/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Maybe the Koch Brothers should think of buying WaPo instead of the LAT. At this rate they'll get a bargain-bin deal.
Posted by: Charles ||
05/04/2013 19:26 Comments ||
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they don't even have to actually buy them. Just add that "they're looking" and price escalates as libs backfill to tey and profit, then hold off... The price continues to drop. Libs lose. The asshole leftist reporters are shown as hypocrites and agenda whores or quit if they eventually buy.... all along - the price falls once they decline publicly : win-win-win-win
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/04/2013 20:31 Comments ||
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S'what happens when better venues for classified ads and advertising in general are found.
And yes - alienating a significant portion of your potential reader base doesn't help.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A limited cabinet reshuffle will see six ministers replaced in Egypt, state newspaper Al Ahram said on Thursday, citing government sources. The new ministers, who could swear oath on Tuesday, are expected to be those of justice, legal and prosecution affairs, culture, agriculture, planning and international cooperation, and one of the economic portfolio ministries, Al Ahram said, without naming the candidates.
a city and an eponymous district in eastern Khyber-Pakthunwa, nestled snug up against Pak Kashmir, with Kohistan and Diamir to the north and Abbottabad to the south...
