Vienna - A young woman escaped to freedom Wednesday afternoon after eight years' captivity in Austria's most sensational post-war kidnapping case, said initial police reports.
The report said Natascha Kampusch, who disappeared without trace aged ten on March 2, 1998, had been held captive in a cellar within 30 kilometres of Vienna.
Natascha's disappearance happened at a time when Europe was preoccupied by the notorious Belgian Dutroux case of child abduction and murder.
In 1998 she vanished on her way to school in Vienna. A nationwide search was immediately launched. Hundreds of police scoured the whole of eastern Austria. Helicopters were brought in, and rivers dragged. No trace of her was ever found.
On Wednesday afternoon a young woman suddenly appeared at Deutsch Wagram in eastern Austria. First reports said she was thrown out, or had jumped out, of a car. Austrian ORF television reported she had been seen 'staggering around' in a garden.
The woman told police her name was Natascha Kampusch. Comparative DNA tests were immediately started. A nationwide search was launched for the driver of the car. Natascha's parents were called in to possibly identify their daughter.
Head of Vienna criminal police Herwig Haidinger said the Kampusch case could finally have come to 'a happy end.' But it was not yet 100 per cent certain whether the young woman was in fact Natascha. However, relatives had already identified her.
Haidinger said the suspect wanted for kidnapping was a 44-year-old man named as 'Wolfgang P.', resident in the village of Strasshof near Gaenserndorf, where Natascha had apparently been held for most or all of the time.
Police said the young woman had told them her captor had allowed her to listen to radio, but only occasionally TV. She had had access to newspapers, but had mostly been cut off from the outside world.
Investigators said the young woman gave an appearance of 'having been away from the light of day for a long time.' Her skin was pale. Otherwise she made a good impression. 'She expresses herself well, and can read and write,' said an investigator.
The Polish foreign ministry has sent a protest letter to Berlin in connection with the violation of Poland's territorial waters by the German navy.
The ministry press spokesman Andrzej Sados offered no comment until the matter is cleared up. He pointed out, however, that Poland was not informed about exercises organized by the German navy.
On August 16, German naval vessels involved interfered with the movements of passenger ships heading for the north-western Polish sea port of Swinoujscie.
ZURICH: Swiss prosecutors have charged a Pakistani man over the "honour killing" of his wife, according to legal documents published on Wednesday. Ajmal Butt Aziz, 24, is accused of murdering his 20-year-old wife Khudeja because she refused to follow Islamic tradition and wear a headscarf, according to the charge sheet published by the Corriere del Ticino newspaper.
Aziz's spouse died after he allegedly bludgeoned her to death with a hammer as she slept ... Aziz claimed he acted in self-defence after being attacked by his wife...
Aziz's spouse died in July 2005 after he allegedly bludgeoned her to death with a hammer as she slept at the couple's home in Bellinzona, in Switzerland's southern canton of Ticino. Born in Pakistan, Khudeja Aziz was brought up in Switzerland and was a citizen of the Alpine country. Aziz claimed he acted in self-defence after being attacked by his wife. Prosecutors, however, alleged that he acted because he was opposed to his wife's western lifestyle and her wish to find a job, and also that she was seeking a divorce. No date has yet been set for Aziz's trial.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
One by one, horrendous offense by horrendous offense, Muslims will numb this world to their eventual extermination.
#3
What in the damned hell is a Paki doing in Switzerland ?
And what the hell are Jews doing in the Middle East? Your slip bigotry is showing, SOP35/Rat. People have a right to live anywhere in the world they d@mn well choose. People DO NOT have a right to commit atrocious crimes no matter where they live.
#4
All this stuff of honour killings..... seemingly, from other countries other than USA.
Am I missing something? Do we have this going on in the USA.... and I just have missed the reports of it? Or, is it happening, and no reports make any of the news in my corner of the world? Or, is it just not happening?
I know we have our abuser types ( Throughout the years, three women enter into my memory of abuse happenings. Thankfully, I've always been the non-abuseeee.)
Honour killings? Is this a secret among us? One, that is about to be exploited?
Sorry to mention it, but where is NOW on this happening?
#5
Sorry to mention it, but where is NOW on this happening?
Sherry, you may be astonished to find out that dedicated feminists like Germain Greer have come out on the side of Islam, female circumcision genital mutilation and all. This sort of moral relativism is absolutely stupifying in the face of how repressive Islam is to all women. Nonetheless, somehow liberals are incapable of calling a spade a spade and instead rise to the defense of the indefensible. While I cannot quote chapter and verse on NOW's precise stance, much like Islam's protestation of terrorism, I find NOW's denouncement of Islam's institutionalized abuse of women to consist of nothing more than a thundering silence.
#7
I use another tactic: I ask why is he doing so much flush about the Palestinians instead of about the hundred times more victims in Soudan. Because a Black's life is worth no more than a flea's life to the liberal? Then I ask what has he ever said Christian Arabs victims of Islamists, about Copts, about Kurds, about Berbers, about Arabs victims of their dictatorships, about Cypriots displaced by the Turks.
And then I ask why is he only interested on the cause of those who have publically said they want to EXTERMINATE the Jews and drink their blood.
Then I conclude he is a NAZI but one who is too coward to say it publically. I refuse to use the word antisemite on the liberal because that would pollute a number of (mainly Polish) antisemites who, despite not liking Jews and wanting them out of Poland, risked their lives to save them. I don't want to soil their memories by using the same term for them and for our chic leftists who support the Paleostinians.
#9
"#1 One by one, horrendous offense by horrendous offense, Muslims will numb this world to their eventual extermination.
Posted by Zenster"
Are you saying all Muslims, including Sufis? Also, will their "extermination" be self-inflicted, ala auto-genocide like in Cambodia, 1975-1978 or Rwanda?
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, who relaunched his campaign as an independent after losing the Democratic primary, has enough valid voter signatures to secure a spot on the November ballot, the secretary of the state announced Wednesday.
Lieberman far exceeded the 7,500 signatures necessary to be certified as a third-party candidate, Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz said. His name will appear on the general election ballot under his newly created party, Connecticut for Lieberman. By creating the party, Lieberman secured a position higher on the ballot than he would have had as an independent.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/24/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
"Democratic" court challenge to begin in 9,8,7...
#2
It's already started, CS 7547. Last night on Fox the leader of the Dems in Connecticut filled a lawsuit yesterday. Says Lieberman running as an Independant was contrary to what the voters wanted and he should be stopped. He knows his Party endorsed candidate will likely lose and he doesn't want that to happen. And he's for "Democracy". Limiting the Candidates people can vote for is not the Democratic way. Bugwit.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/24/2006 10:14 Comments ||
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#3
It won't work and Joe will win in November. It'll be interesting to see backstabbing Dodd and Kerry have to 'welcome' back their 'independent friend' to the Senate floor in January.
#5
Last week, Lieberman said he is and was always a loyal democrap. Well, that may work until election day, then, Joe, turn ugly on them. Be a real man and kick their traitorous ass. Vote with the republicans. Make a deal for a committee chair. We need the inside truth about the party of corruption. America first, eh Joe ?
#6
Never happen. Before we go all lovey-dovey on this guy, remember he's always been liberal in every policy except defense, and I expect he'll continue. He has stated on numerous occasions that he derives his positions on issues from a deep personal, religious and moral conviction. While I couldn't disagree more with most of his conclusions, I'll take him at his word. He's a dem through and through. And when dems oppose him, therein lies the irony.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - The defeat of Republican Gov. Frank Murkowski in Alaska's GOP primary may have resulted from missteps throughout his first term - but vulnerable incumbents should take heed, political observers said Wednesday.
Murkowski was trounced in his own party's primary Tuesday, finishing last in the three-way race. Sarah Palin, a former Wasilla mayor, won with more than 50 percent of the vote and will face former Democratic Gov. Tony Knowles in November. Murkowski took just 19 percent of the vote, which is ``literally almost unprecedented for someone who is not indicted,'' said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics.
Popular opinion turned on Murkowski after missteps that constantly thrust him into battle with his political opponents and his own Republican-led Legislature, including: appointing his daughter to his U.S. Senate seat, unpopular budget cuts his first year and a highly publicized fight to buy a state jet.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/24/2006 00:00 ||
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#2
As an Alaskan and a conservative...Frank should have never left Washington. He was an arrogant, self-centered, egotistical (but at least marginally effective) jerk. However, nobody knew wat a jerk he was because he was never "home" to piss people off.
He did a lot of heavy lifting, and damage control from (D) Tony Knowles's 8 years as governor. However, he never figured out until it was too late that you can't constantly demonstrate what an arrogant, self-centered, egotistical jerk you are and be an effective governor.
It's too bad because Sarah Palin has no real experience...which will open the door for another 4 years of Phony Tony.
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.
ZURICH: Swiss prosecutors have charged a Pakistani man over the "honour killing" of his wife, according to legal documents published on Wednesday. Ajmal Butt Aziz, 24, is accused of murdering his 20-year-old wife Khudeja because she refused to follow Islamic tradition and wear a headscarf, according to the charge sheet published by the Corriere del Ticino newspaper. 
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, who relaunched his campaign as an independent after losing the Democratic primary, has enough valid voter signatures to secure a spot on the November ballot, the secretary of the state announced Wednesday.
