S.Korea " Two spies-killers arrested.. [ 1001 ]

2 North Korean spies arrested for assassination plot

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -(Mainichi Japan) April 21, 2010-

Authorities arrested two North Koreans for allegedly posing as defectors to South Korea and plotting to assassinate the top-ranked North Korean official ever to defect to Seoul, officials said Wednesday.

Hwang Jang Yop, a former senior member of the North's ruling Worker' Party who once mentored leader Kim Jong Il, defected to the South in 1997. He has written books and given lectures condemning Kim's regime as totalitarian and now lives under tight secrecy in South Korea.

On Tuesday, Seoul prosecutors arrested two North Korean army majors for entering South Korea by posing as ordinary defectors with an alleged mission to kill the 87-year-old Hwang, according to Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office.

The two, both 36, confessed to investigators that their military boss ordered them to report about Hwang's activities in South Korea and be ready to "slit the betrayer's throat," said a senior district prosecutor on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to media.

The men, named Kim Myong Ho and Dong Myong Kwan, entered South Korea in January and February via Thailand. Their plot was revealed while they underwent an intense investigation on their motive for defecting, the prosecutor said.

A spokesman at the National Intelligence Service confirmed the arrest of the men but didn't provide further details. He spoke on customary condition of anonymity, citing an office policy.

Hwang returned to Seoul earlier this week after a rare trip to the U.S., where he harshly criticized North Korea's authoritarian communist regime.

Hwang, speaking to journalists and academics in Washington late last month, said he decided to flee the North after Kim's policies led to mass starvation in the mid-1990s and has no regret about his decision.

"Everybody other than (leader) Kim Jong Il in North Korea are slaves, serfs," Hwang said through an interpreter at the time.

Hwang said that change in the North can come only through diplomacy and economic strategies, not military force. Instead of targeting Kim, Hwang said, the North Korean people should be told of their own country's human rights abuses and of the democratic freedoms they could enjoy under a different system.

It was his second trip to the U.S. South Korea's previous liberal governments restricted his overseas travel because of worries that his criticism of North Korea could complicate efforts to reconcile with Pyongyang, and he could become a target for assassination. South Korea's current conservative government lifted that ban, saying it amounted to a human rights violation.

Τι φανερώνει η βαλλιστική... [ 1000 ]

Σημαντικά χτυπήματα του Επαναστατικού Αγώνα δείχνουν τα όπλα της Κυψέλης

ΑΠΕ

Ένα καλάσνικοφ και το MP5 που βρέθηκαν στη γιάφκα της Κυψέλης

Αθήνα Τελευταία ενημέρωση 20/04/10 23:15

Δείτε το βίντεο... Στις επιθέσεις του Επαναστατικού Αγώνα εναντίον λεωφορείου που μετέφερε διμοιρία των ΜΑΤ στο Γουδί, στις 23 Δεκεμβρίου 2008· στην επίθεση εναντίον αστυνομικών των ΜΑΤ στα Εξάρχεια, στις 5 Ιανουαρίου 2009, κατά την οποία τραυματίστηκε ο νεαρός αστυφύλακας Διαμαντής Ματζούνης και στην επίθεση εναντίον του Αστυνομικού Τμήματος Νέας Ιωνίας στις 30 Απριλίου 2007 έχουν χρησιμοποιηθεί τα δύο καλάσνικοφ και το υποπολυβόλο MP5 που βρέθηκαν στη γιάφκα της Κυψέλης, σύμφωνα με τα πρώτα αποτελέσματα της βαλλιστικής εξέτασης των ευρημάτων. Ειδικότερα, στην επίθεση στο Γουδί χρησιμοποιήθηκαν τα δύο καλάσνικοφ και το ΜΡ5, στα Εξάρχεια το ένα καλάσνικοφ και το υποπολυβόλο, ενώ στην επίθεση στο ΑΤ Νέας Ιωνίας το MP5. Σύμφωνα με τις ανακοινώσεις της Αστυνομίας το υποπολυβόλο MP5 που βρέθηκε στην κεντρική γιάφκα του Επαναστατικού Αγώνα, αφαιρέθηκε από τον φρουρό υποκαταστήματος της Εθνικής Τράπεζας στην οδό Βασ. Όλγας, στη Θεσσαλονίκη κατά τη ληστεία που σημειώθηκε το πρωί της 25ης Απριλίου 2004. Οι δράστες, δύο ένοπλοι κουκουλοφόροι, απέσπασαν τότε λεία 18.400 ευρώ. Όπως ανακοίνωσε ο αρχηγός της ΕΛ.ΑΣ. Λευτέρης Οικονόμου, στο διαμέρισμα στη συμβολή των οδών Αιγίνης και Ύδρας, που ενοικιάστηκε με την πλαστή ταυτότητα στο όνομα Γριβοκωστόπουλος, βρέθηκε μεταξύ άλλων και η 13σέλη προκήρυξη της οργάνωσης, με την οποία αναλάμβανε την ευθύνη για τη βομβιστική επίθεση στο Χρηματιστήριο Αθηνών, στις 2 Σεπτεμβρίου 2009. Επίσης, βρέθηκαν: Ένας εκτοξευτήρας ρουκετών, τύπου RPG-7 Πέντε ρουκέτες Δύο πυροβόλα όπλα, τύπου KALASHNIKOV και τέσσερις γεμιστήρες ενωμένες μεταξύ τους σε αντίθετη φορά ανά ζεύγος, άνευ φυσιγγίων, εντός δυο σάκων ορειβατικού τύπου Τρία πιστόλια Τρεις χειροβομβίδες Φορέας αυτοσχέδιου εκρηκτικού μηχανισμού με πλήρες ηλεκτρικό κύκλωμα Εξήντα οχτώ μασούρια εκρηκτικού γαλακτώματος και ζελατοδυναμίτιδας Πέντε μασούρια αμμωνιοδυναμίτιδας Ποσότητα ηλεκτρικών πυροκροτητών Ένας γεμιστήρας υποπολυβόλου, κενός φυσιγγίων Ένα ξύλινο κοντάκι καφέ χρώματος Δεκατέσσερα φυσίγγια πυροβόλου όπλου των 9 χιλιοστών LUGER, εκ των οποίων τρία χρησιμοποιημένα Δύο χρησιμοποιημένα φυσίγγια πυροβόλου όπλου KALASHNIKOV Ένας εκτυπωτής Ένα σκάνερ Ένας καταστροφέας εγγράφων, εντός του οποίου υπήρχαν κατεστραμμένα χαρτιά Αντικείμενα για κατασκευή πλαστών δελτίων αστυνομικής ταυτότητας Ένα usb stick Newsroom ΔΟΛ

The balloon boy hoax ... [ 999 ]

Balloon boy parents to pay $36'000 in restitution

Associated Press, 20-4-2010

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — The parents who pleaded guilty in the balloon boy hoax have agreed to pay about $36,000 in restitution to authorities who responded to the incident.
Richard Heene was sentenced to 90 days in jail for falsely influencing authorities. Mayumi Heene was sentenced to 20 days for filing a false report.

Larimer County Chief Judge Stephen Schapanski accepted the agreement that prosecutors reached with Richard and Mayumi Heene, who weren't at Tuesday's hearing.

The Larimer County sheriff's office and other agencies had sought $48,000 for responding to the Oct. 15 incident. The Heenes reported their 6-year-old son had floated away in a homemade UFO-shaped helium balloon, touching off a scramble of dozens of emergency responders and two Colorado National Guard helicopters.

The boy wasn't on the balloon and was later found at his home in Fort Collins, about 60 miles north of Denver. Authorities accused the Heenes of staging a hoax to get publicity for reality TV shows they were trying to pitch.

The Heenes' attorneys had argued the couple should pay only a small amount in compensation. Richard Heene's attorney, David Lane, said in January that it appeared authorities wanted to make money on the episode.

The Heenes' attorneys didn't immediately return calls after business hours Tuesday.

Prosecutors reduced the amount sought, agreeing to drop the sheriff's request for investigative costs. Damage to a farmer's wheat crop where the balloon landed hasn't been calculated.

Richard Heene was sentenced to 90 days in jail for falsely influencing authorities. Mayumi Heene was sentenced to 20 days for filing a false report.

Russia Against Napoleon....[ 998 ]

Napoleon's Russian defeat, reexamined

How a well-prepared army -- and not the legendary winter -- turned the tide on the French emperor

Editor: Laura Miller

Tuesday, Apr 20, 2010 17:20 EDT Updated: Today

By Meredith Hindley, Barnes & Noble Review

"Russia Against Napoleon"

"Brave descendents of courageous Slavs! You always smashed the teeth of the lions and tigers who sought to attack you. Let everyone unite: with the Cross in your hearts and weapons in your hands no human force will defeat you."

With these words, Tsar Alexander I appealed to the Russian people to join the fight against Napoleon's Grande Armée, which began pouring into Russia at the end of June 1812.

Much has been written about how and why Napoleon came to lose more than a half-million men in the Russian invasion. Hitler and his generals even studied the ill-fated campaign hoping to avoid making similar mistakes. But missing from Western scholarship on the Napoleonic Wars is a full-fledged account of how Russia came to smash Napoleon. With "Russia Against Napoleon: The True Story of the Campaigns of War and Peace," Dominic Lieven, one of the preeminent scholars of 19th-century Russia, aims to fill the void, tackling not only the French invasion of 1812, but also the battles of 1813-1814. What sets Lieven's book apart from the handful of other accounts is his prolific use of Russian sources, particularly regimental histories available to Western researchers only since 1991.

After Napoleon destroyed the Russian army at Austerlitz in 1805 and drove the Russians out of Poland, it was only a matter of time before another showdown occurred between the two powers. Russia was unhappy about losing Poland and being compelled to adhere to the Continental System, which circumscribed Russia's ability to trade, to the detriment of its economy. Faced with economic collapse, Tsar Alexander I decided to ignore France's blockade against Britain. Napoleon, who abhorred disloyalty, vowed to make Russia see the error of its ways.

A pefect football match [ 997 ]

Inter Milan 3 - 1 Barcelona

Champions League semi-final first leg between Inter Milan and Bareclona

By Jonathan Liew 20 Apr 2010

Strong arm tactics: Maicon cannot contain his delight after scoring Inter's second goal against Barca Photo: EPA

21.36 There's a magnificent din at the San Siro as Inter claim one of the most famous victories in their history. It was billed as Mourinho as Guardiola, and it was the Spaniard who got his nose bloodied, suffering his biggest defeat as Barcelona manager. But's let's not make it all about Mourinho: it was a lion-hearted performance by Inter's players in the hottest cauldron imaginable.

FULL TIME: Inter 3-1 Barcelona