Book: Wallenberg also helped armed resistance

STOCKHOLM (AP) ? Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who saved thousands of Jews from Nazi-occupied Hungary, may also have had a secret military mission during World War II, a new book claims.

Citing documents from Hungarian archives, Swedish-Hungarian writer Gellert Kovacs says Wallenberg, whose fate remains shrouded in mystery, had closer links with Hungary's non-Communist resistance movement than previously thought.

That, Kovacs said, could shed new light on why the Soviets arrested Wallenberg in Budapest in 1945 and why supposedly neutral Sweden remained so passive following his disappearance.

"For me it is very clear that it was also Wallenberg's mission to act as some kind of coordinator between the resistance forces and the Allies," Kovacs told The Associated Press.

Other researchers investigating Wallenberg's fate called the information significant, but said it wasn't enough to conclude that Wallenberg gave military support to Hungarian resistance fighters.

It's well known that Wallenberg's work as Sweden's envoy in Budapest was a cover for a humanitarian mission as secret emissary of the U.S. War Refugee Board, created in an attempt to stem the annihilation of Europe's Jews. He saved at least 20,000 Jews in Budapest by giving them Swedish travel documents or moving them to safe houses.

In his book, whose Swedish title could be translated as "Dark skies over Budapest," Kovacs says documents he found in Hungary's military history archives show how a member of the resistance movement communicated the position of Nazi Germany's ships in the Danube river to the allies via radio equipment in the Swedish embassy. British planes based on Malta then bombed the ships.

While there is no documentation that links those activities directly to Wallenberg, Kovacs says his research shows Wallenberg had frequent contacts with leaders of the non-communist resistance movement including Kalman Zsabka and Zoltan Miko. Swedish assistance to the Hungarian resistance movement in military operations with the allies would have run counter to Sweden's neutrality.

Previous research has also shown Wallenberg was in contact with high-ranking resistance leader Geza Soos.

Part of Kovcac's work is based on research by Hungarian historian Jozsef Gazsi during the Cold War. Gazsi interviewed several former members of the resistance movement who said they had met Wallenberg. One of them, Ferenc Kalmanffy, even said that Wallenberg had given them "hand-grenades, pistols and some machine guns," according to Hungarian documents that Kovacs cites in his book.

Susanne Berger, a long-time Wallenberg researcher, called that information significant.

"This is clearly a military political activity and that really stirs up a whole new hornet's nest," she told AP.

"The sources and contents Gellert cites obviously have to be critically evaluated, but I see nothing in this material that would indicate that the alleged actions could not be true," she added.

Swedish author Ingrid Carlberg, who published a biography of Wallenberg last year, said Kovac's book "paints an entirely new and very interesting picture" of the resistance movement's use of radio equipment in the Swedish embassy.

However, she said those activities were probably set in motion by the first secretary at the Swedish legation, Per Anger, who she said worked closely with the leader of the resistance group that used the radio equipment.

Wallenberg vanished after being arrested by the Red Army. The Soviets initially denied he was in their custody, but then said in 1957 that he died of a heart attack in prison on July 17, 1947.

If Wallenberg's activities in Hungary extended beyond humanitarian work, that would make it easier to understand why the Soviets kept him in custody, Kovacs said.

"From their point of view it's entirely rational," he said. "They probably believed he had important information and saw him as a threat."

The information also provides a broader context to Sweden's passive reaction to Wallenberg's disappearance, Kovacs said.

Sweden has been widely criticized for prioritizing its relations with the Soviet Union over finding out what happened to Wallenberg.

"He breached all existing diplomatic conventions. If he had made it back I think he would have been scolded by the Foreign Ministry and he would never have gotten another job there," Kovacs said about Wallenberg. "I think this is the biggest reason why the foreign ministry was so feeble in the first years. They felt Wallenberg put the embassy at risk."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/book-wallenberg-helped-armed-resistance-100118900.html

madden 13 cover dalai lama tamera mowry slow jam the news madden cover obama slow jams the news metta world peace

Some immigrants excluded from health care overhaul

PHOENIX (AP) ? President Barack Obama has championed two sweeping policy changes that could transform how people live in the United States: affordable health care for all and a path to citizenship for the 11 million immigrants illegally in the country.

But many immigrants will have to wait more than a decade to qualify for health care benefits under the proposed immigration overhaul being debated by Congress, ensuring a huge swath of people will remain uninsured as the centerpiece of Obama's health care law launches next year.

Lawmakers pushing the immigration bill said adding more recipients to an already costly benefit would make it unaffordable.

Health care analysts and immigration proponents argue that denying coverage will saddle local governments with the burden of uninsured immigrants. They also fear a crisis down the road as immigrants become eligible for coverage, but are older, sicker and require more expensive care. Those placed on provisional status would become the nation's second-largest population of uninsured, or about 25 percent, according to a 2012 study by the Urban Institute.

"All health research shows that the older you get, the sicker you become, so these people will be sicker and will be more expensive on the system," said Matthew O'Brien, who runs a health clinic for immigrants in Philadelphia and researches health trends at Temple University.

The Affordable Care Act will make health insurance accessible for millions of uninsured people starting in January through taxpayer-subsidized private policies for middle-class families and expanded access to Medicaid, the program for low-income people funded by federal and state dollars. The proposed immigration overhaul explicitly states immigrants cannot receive Medicaid or receive the health subsidies for more than a decade after they qualify for legal status, and only after certain financial and security requirements have been met.

Immigrants with provisional status may obtain insurance through employers, but many are unskilled and undereducated, and tend to work low-wage jobs at small businesses that don't have to provide the benefit under the health care law. Immigrants illegally in the country also can access community health centers, but the officials who run those clinics said they are overwhelmed by the demand.

"We can't help everybody," said Bethy Mathis, executive director of Wesley Community Center in Phoenix. The clinic serves 7,000 patients a year who seek everything from vaccinations and relief from minor medical problems to care for long-term health conditions such as diabetes.

Debate over whether immigrants illegally in the country should be eligible for federal benefits nearly sank Obama's health care reform before it was passed by Congress in 2010. For lawmakers pushing immigration reform, there was no question that immigrants would continue to be excluded.

"That's one of the privileges of citizenship," said Republican Sen. John McCain, one of the so-called Gang of Eight pushing the immigration bill, during a conference call with reporters. "That's just what it is. I don't know why we would want to provide Obamacare to someone who is not a citizen of this country."

The issue has received more attention in recent weeks. Some House Republicans have threatened to kill the immigration bill unless immigrants are required to pay for all their health care costs even after they gain legal status. Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, meanwhile, said she wants the government to distribute at least $250 million to state and local governments because they are the ones who will feel the financial pain of immigrants being left out of the health care law.

Pregnant women, children, seniors and the disabled are eligible for emergency Medicaid services regardless of their immigration status.

The politics behind the bill offer little solace to immigrant families struggling with growing medical bills.

Isabel Castillo came to the U.S. illegally with her parents when she was a child. She's now 28 and has not gone for an annual physical exam since 2007. Every pain triggers debate over whether it's worth a medical visit or not.

"You are like, 'God, should I go, should I wait? The bill is going to be so high,'" Castillo said. "You just wait until you can't tolerate the pain anymore and then you go to the emergency room."

Immigrants who are U.S. citizens are also affected by the limits on health care access if they provide for family members here illegally.

High school student Jacqueline Garcia of Phoenix works two jobs to support her 13-year-old brother and 52-year-old grandmother, who has severe diabetes. The woman's mobility is limited, her vision and memory are fading and she sometimes suffers from seizures. The children were born in the United States and are being raised by the grandmother, who does not have lawful status and as a result does not qualify for Medicaid.

"Every time she gets sick, I have to take her to the doctor. It's really expensive," Garcia said. "What if my grandmother doesn't make it for the 10 years? I mean, I am always going to be struggling. That's too long."

Opponents said they understand the concerns of immigrants not getting health care, but it becomes an issue of the added expense.

"We aren't saying people shouldn't get health care. The question is who is going to pay for it?" said Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a national group that opposes the immigration overhaul. "They would all be on Medicaid or heavily subsidized in some other way."

Critics of the decision said immigrants are eager to pay for affordable health care insurance and already support federal benefits by paying sales and income taxes. They note that adults unable to overcome health emergencies are less likely to contribute to the workforce and society.

"The risk of them being uninsured if they are in the country illegally is the same risk of anyone else in the country not being insured," said Stephen Zuckerman, a health economist for the Urban Institute. "It's always more expensive to treat people at a more advanced stage of disease."

In North Carolina, Jessica Sanchez-Rodriguez said she has undergone a series of surgeries and medicines to treat her spina bifida, a developmental congenital disorder, and an ailment that leads to brain swelling. Her parents brought her illegally from Mexico when she was 11 months old. As a minor, she received subsidized medical care, but she was cut off when she turned 18 in February.

Her family is trying to raise money for a $55,000 surgery to connect a catheter to her bladder.

"It's terrible," Sanchez-Rodriguez said. "I have to go to school with these pains."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/immigrants-excluded-health-care-overhaul-083920285.html

millennial media nit championship transcendentalism bells palsy channel 5 news uc berkeley harrison barnes

France's Dailymotion Finds Stateside Tech Partner In Video Editing Service Givit

In other video news this week, the video editing app Givit has announced its integration with Dailymotion, the second largest social video site globally after YouTube. It is the first U.S. app to be built into the France-based Dailymotion?s API.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/fc9OVr20xfY/

nfl playoff picture nfl playoff picture Larry King Suzy Favor Hamilton mayan calendar end of the world end of the world

Fujifilm's X-M1 interchangeable camera leaks out, doesn't mess with retro success

Fujifilm's about to extend its line of mirrorless shooters packing manual dials and vintage looks, if a leak from Digicame Info is to be believed. The Japanese rumor site has flaunted pictures of a purported X-M1 model, which bears a strong resemblance to X-E1 we saw last year, minus the electronic viewfinder and shutter-speed selector dial. In place of the latter is a general mode selector, along with a tiltable LCD screen and WiFi, judging by the pictures above and after the break. While all that points to a cheaper model aimed at more casual shooters, there's no word from the company about specs, pricing or a release date, obviously. As soon as we hear, of course, you'll be the first to know.

Filed under: Cameras

Comments

Source: Digicame Info (translated)

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/Dq8qrPSSios/

dale george will obama birth certificate nick cannon lindsay lohan saturday night live snl lindsay lohan valley fever

A leaked Samsung user manual seems to suggest that there's a Galaxy S4 variant on the horizon which

A leaked Samsung user manual seems to suggest that there's a Galaxy S4 variant on the horizon which will pack the new Snapdragon 800 chip. Speedy.

Source: http://gizmodo.com/a-leaked-samsung-user-manual-seems-to-suggest-that-ther-514715426

moses tulsa shooting doug fister the perfect storm mickelson how to tie a tie sweet potato recipes

Researchers Have Found a Way To Cram 1,000 Terabytes Onto a Single DVD

Now that its bigger brother Blu-ray has stolen the spotlight, paltry 4.7 GB DVDs have slowly started to fade into obscurity. But could they be poised for a comeback? A trio of Chinese scientists have discovered a breakthrough process that could, at least in theory, allow a DVD to store a whopping 1,000 TB?or a full petabyte?of data. Suck on that, Blu-ray.

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/aCs5MnXZWt0/researchers-have-found-a-way-to-cram-1-000-terabytes-on-531549229

the lake house petrino arkansas roy williams divine mercy chaplet matt lauer albert pujols the shining

Despite HP's "preferred" status, Maine schools stick with Apple

Despite HP's status as the "preferred" vendor for the state of Maine's massive Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI), the program is largely sticking with Apple for now, according to an Electronista report.

A statement from the MLTI offices reveals that of more than 69,000 machines, only 5,474 will be the preferred Windows laptops. More than 92 percent of state schools are staying with Apple, the majority of which are turning to iPads. 39,457 students and educators in the MLTI are using iPads for the first time. What's more, teachers in schools that chose the iPad also get a MacBook Air to use over the four-year contract. 24,128 students and teachers will remain with the MacBook Air exclusively.

The MLTI has broken ground as one of the first major modern initiatives to get computers in classrooms. Since 2002 MLTI has put iBooks, then later MacBooks and MacBook Airs into the hands of Maine schoolkids. Apple has written about Maine's effort.

Apple's dominion over Maine schools looked like it would change in April when the Maine Governor's office announced that the MLTI's new preferred vendor was Hewlett-Packard - specifically, the HP ProBook 4440 running Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system. HP offered the state the ProBook for $286 per year per seat, compared to Apple's MacBook Air, which costs Maine schools $319 per year per seat.

The state stopped short of making the HP ProBook a mandate, however, indicating that they'd reimburse middle schools for computers up to the price of the ProBook, leaving it up to them to choose from one of five vendors, including Apple. Middle schools are currently the only place that Maine requires students to use computers, though teachers from grades 7-12 also have to have them. High schools can leverage the state's buying power to outfit their students with computers, and many do.

iPads have been popular in education, with almost 10 million of them used in classrooms, according to Apple's count. And they're a good bottom line value for the state of Maine, too: iPads cost the state $266 per seat per year, beating even HP's bargain-basement laptop.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/oxmx861DTAs/story01.htm

Electoral College chuck pagano A Gay Lesbian daylight savings time 2012 Where To Vote james harden breeders cup