Disillusioned US servicemen hides in Sweden for 28 years

From Sweden over the weekend, the man once known as David Hemler came clean with something he hid from the world for almost 30 years: he’s been living under a fake identity for nearly three decades after going AWOL from the US Air Force in 1984.

Just after 28 years of being on the run, Hemler, 49, [photo above ; An age progressed image of David Hemler (Reuters / Handout)] revealed to the world over the weekend that he is alive and well — he’s just being living under an assumed name in Sweden ever since he deserted the US military and never moved back.

“I never planned on it being this long,” Hemler tells the New York Times from the Swedish town of Uppsala. “Days went and weeks, and I started to realize that maybe the military police weren’t coming. I just felt so good. I had a delayed teenage rebellion, you could say.”

"I know I was wrong leaving the base, but I had asked for a discharge and was refused. I think I was recruited at too early of an age also. I didn't really know what I wanted to do then,” he tells CBS News.

That rebellion, Hemler says, was sparked by a revelation he had in the early 80s. While serving overseas with the US Air Force, Hemler tells Reuters that he became disillusioned with the policies of then-US President Ronald Reagan and decided to ditch his job with Uncle Sam in exchange for a new life in a new world. For 28 years, he hid his true identity from everyone — even his family.

“I never planned on not telling the truth in the beginning. I intended to come to Sweden until I felt better,” he adds to the Dagens Nyheter newspaper. Days became weeks, however, and then years. Now he has revealed his identity to the world to ease his conscious, but it’s a move that could make life miserable once more for the vet—he is still wanted by the US military for going AWOL nearly three decades earlier.

"My dream scenario is that the responsible authorities realize I have already been punished quite severely for my actions … I have been living 28 years in lies," Hemler tells Dagens Nyheter.

The Air Force might not be so understanding, though.

“Once you run from the military and you desert that’s something that follows you for the rest of your life,” Air Force Office of Special Investigations spokesman James Dillard tells The Times.

Hemler hopes the opposite is true, though. "I hope that the authorities can say that I've already been punished enough and my hope is to be able to return to see my parents in the United States,” he tells CBS News. “I may be safe, but my parents may never able to see me if I cannot come home,” he adds to the Times. “I think I have been punished. I’ve been worrying my parents to death for 28 years.”

Since coming to Sweden in the mid-1980s, Hemler has married a Thai woman and fathered three children. Only recently has his youngest daughter turned 2 years old, he says, and he feels that his wife could take care of her on her own if necessary.

“I didn’t want to leave my daughter, and with a dishonorable discharge I would never find a job, get no retirement and no medical benefits,” he says.


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Original report RT  | 18 June, 2012

Nobel cuts prize money after years of overspending.

(Reuters) - The prize money given to Nobel laureates is to be cut by a fifth, the foundation behind the prestigious awards said on Monday, after a decade of overspending that has stretched its finances.

The Nobel Foundation said the money for the awards, given for excellence in the fields of science, literature and peace, would fall to 8 million Swedish crowns ($1.12 million).

The capital that forms the base for the awards was donated in the will of dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel and is managed by the foundation, which was set up in 1900.

The foundation said in a statement that costs had exceeded returns from interest and investments on the capital over the past decade, making it necessary to lower the prize money from the previous 10 million crowns.

"It is the Nobel Foundation that is responsible for the prize money remaining at a high level over the long run," said Chief Executive Lars Heikensten.

"We have made the assessment that it is important to take necessary measures in good time."

The foundation said it had also begun work to cut costs in administration and expenses related to the Nobel Prize celebrations, which take place every December in Stockholm and Oslo. This year's laureates will receive the reduced prize money. ($1 = 7.1626 Swedish crowns)
STOCKHOLM | Mon Jun 11, 2012  -original post 

'Forbes Israel' ranks Israel's richest rabbis

Published on Jun 11, 2012 by infolivetvenglish ; According to Forbes Israel's ranking of Israel's 10 richest rabbis,Rabbi Pinchas Abuhatzeira, the great-grandson of the Baba Sali, is Israel's richest rabbi, with an estimated fortune of NIS 1.3 billion.According to the magazine, the value of a rabbi can have little significance for the personal wealth of an individual rabbi, but it includes their charitable activities and their properties.

a 17million dollars smile?

Queen's celebrations make Britain smile again | Posted on 7 June 2012 

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LONDON (June 6, 2012): The enthusiasm which greeted Queen Elizabeth II's diamond jubilee celebrations highlights the irreplaceable role that the monarchy plays in uniting British society, the country's press said Wednesday.

Millions of patriotic Britons attended various events during the four-day festivities, providing the country with a much-needed boost as economic storm clouds linger, newspapers said.

Wednesday's papers ran with front-page headlines quoting the 86-year-old monarch's special television message, in which she said the jubilee had been a "humbling experience" that had left her with "memories to treasure forever."

However, the centre-right Daily Telegraph insisted it was the British people who should be humble.

"The queen has sacrificed herself for this nation, uncomplainingly, for year upon year," said its editorial.

"It is only fitting that she should know how much that has meant to her people, and that we have had the chance to offer her our thanks -- and our love," it added.

"Four days that made us feel great about Britain," ran popular tabloid The Sun as one of its headlines.

In its editorial, the publication said the celebrations had left the country "a brighter, happier, more confident place."

"Would we really want to scrap such history and heritage for a head-of-state who is an ex-politician or civil-servant? Maybe when it's pigs -- not Spitfires -- flying over Buckingham Palace."

The Times' leading article argued that critics who said the country should not be indulging a non-elected leader were missing the point.

"With the help of the monarchy we have kept a strong, tangible sense of our history," it said. "It is true that we did not vote for her. It is also true that she represents the whole country in a way she never could if we had.

"It is easy to assemble a purely rational argument against an hereditary monarchy.

"It would be far harder to replace it with anything that answered so successfully our yearning to belong, while impinging so little on our need to be heard," it concluded.

Of the mainstream titles, the left-leaning Guardian has been the most critical of the weekend's extravagances and carried low-key coverage in Wednesday's edition, with no editorial comment on the event.

But columnist Simon Jenkins, who previously wrote for the centre-right Times, commented that it had been a "jubilee of bread and circuses... but the country needed it.

"All peoples have their national days... all crave their collective rituals," added Jenkins.

"The ceremonies were a good news relief from horror, tragedy and recession. The enjoyment is real. From time to time, there is no harm in sensing communion with one's country."

The monarch on Tuesday brought the official public celebrations to a close when she greeted 1.5 million cheering subjects from the balcony of Buckingham Palace.

The Daily Mail, Telegraph and Times all noted the significance of the scaled-down balcony appearance, with only Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and Prince Harry sharing the limelight.

"The message from the palace balcony: Here is the future..." said the Daily Mail. – AFP

Obama flies his personal barber from Chicago to Washington every two weeks

Barack Obama (AFP Photo / Jewel Samad)

TAGS: Obama, USA

No one likes a bad hair day, but who's willing to spend tens of thousands of dollars to avoid ever having one? According to one new report, that’s the kind of pampering fit only for a king — or perhaps the president of the United States of America.

German Public Radio is reporting that US President Barack Obama is so insistent on looking good that he flies his hometown barber, a Chicago, Illinois hairstylist identified only as Zariff, from the Windy City down to the White House every 10 to 14 days. The network says that Zariff has been Obama’s go-to hairstylist going back nearly two decades, dating to even before the current commander-in-chief was an Illinois State Senator.

“We make sure that he looks his best at all time,” Zariff tells the UK’s Daily Mail in a recent interview.

Full report 

SEXY, WEALTHY & SINGLE: The World's Most Eligible Royals.

Getty: Princess Madeleine and her brother, 
Prince Carl Philip of Sweden.

It's been just over a year since Prince William wed Kate Middleton in a lavish and internationally televised ceremony. Even with the most eligible bachelor of the past decade off the market, girls all over the world are still dreaming of their own fairytale weddings. (Grace Kelly, anyone?)

This week is the Queen's Diamond Jubilee–an event celebrating the Queen's 60 years as monarch–where family, friends, and other royals will all gather to honor Queen Elizabeth II.

Prince Harry, Princess Eugenie, and Princess Beatrice will all be there (you can watch them in an exclusive interview by ABC's Katie Couric).

But they don't have to be English. Here are the world's hottest and most eligible royals, ranging from Great Britain all the way to Thailand.

See the most eligible royals in the world >


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