BERLIN (Reuters) - Philipp Freiherr von Boeselager, believed to be the last surviving member of an unsuccessful 1944 plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, has died at the age of 90.
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The German Defense Ministry issued a statement on Friday saying Boeselager had died on Thursday night. No cause of death was given.
Boeselager was just 25 when he and a group of other officers, led by Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, attempted to kill Hitler with a briefcase bomb at his “Wolf’s Lair” headquarters in eastern Prussia on July 20, 1944.
The bomb went off, killing four men, but the Fuehrer was shielded from the blast by a heavy oak table and only slightly injured. Stauffenberg and most of his co-conspirators were executed within days.
But despite brutal torturing by the Nazis, none of them revealed the role of Boeselager, who had provided the explosives used in the assassination attempt, and his participation in the plot remained secret until after the war.
He carried cyanide on him every single day until the war ended, convinced the Nazis would eventually find him out.
The plot to kill Hitler has become a famous symbol for German resistance to the Nazi regime, discussed in school lessons and honored in museums. A movie about the plot called “Valkyrie,” and starring Tom Cruise as Stauffenberg, is due out later this year.
In a 2004 interview with Reuters, Boeselager said his sleep remained troubled, 60 years later, by dreams of the failed plot and visions of his fellow conspirators.
“If you are the only one among some 100 who is still alive, that makes you think. I feel they are watching me and I have a certain responsibility towards them,” he said.
After the war, Boeselager studied economics and became a forestry expert. He urged young people to get politically involved and feel responsible for their country.
(Writing by Noah Barkin; editing by Sami Aboudi)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A New York company is voluntarily recalling about 286,000 pounds (129,700 kg) of fresh and frozen meat and poultry products that may be contaminated with bacteria, U.S. agriculture officials said on Saturday.
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The products produced by Gourmet Boutique LLC of Jamaica, New York, were sent to food service and retail establishments nationwide, a U.S. Department of Agriculture statement said.
The meat may be contaminated with Listeria monocyotogenes bacteria, which can cause a rare but potentially fatal disease known as listeriosis, the USDA said. Infants, the elderly, people with HIV and patients undergoing chemotherapy are among those at risk for the disease.
Listeriosis also can cause miscarriages and stillbirths.
The USDA said it had received no reports of illnesses linked to the products that were being recalled.
More information about the recall can be found at http://www.fsis.usda.gov/PDF/Recall_013-2008_Release.pdf.
(Editing by Eric Walsh)
by Sonny Shipp, Scout.com
Ryan Perrilloux came to LSU as Scout.com’s Player of the Year for the Class of 2005 and was one of LSU’s most heralded high school players to ever come out of Louisiana.
He enjoyed a stellar prep career at East St. John where he accounted for 118 overall touchdowns in his last two years alone. He ended his career with 12,705 total yards, which still ranks second all-time in Louisiana behind Brock Berlin.
The problems began early on for Perrilloux before the ink on his national letter-of-intent was even dry as he proclaimed on National Signing Day that he would win numerous Heisman Trophies for the Tigers and paid very little respect to LSU’s young quarterback tandem of JaMarcus Russell and Matt Flynn.
From there the circus hit the road and it took Perrilloux through a federal counterfeiting investigation and then a casino fiasco where the talented, but troubled, quarterback got caught trying to enter with a fake I.D.
LSU coach Les Miles suspended Perrilloux after the casino ordeal and he missed all of the summer workouts as a result of the disciplinary action.
Once the players reported to fall camp for the 2007 season, Perrilloux was reinstated and served as Matt Flynn’s backup for the Mississippi State and Virginia Tech contests.
LSU fans got their first glimpse of what Perrilloux could do when he got his first start against Middle Tennessee State.
The competition may not have been up to SEC standards but Perrilloux dazzled the Tiger Stadium crowd with his rocket of an arm and his knack for making big plays with his feet. He finished the night with 298 yards and three scores through the air and ran for 52 yards before lost yardage from sacks brought his total down to 37.
All in all, the talented signal caller completed 80 percent of his passes on the evening, but more importantly, he gave Tiger fans some hope that if Matt Flynn did not recover from the high ankle sprain he suffered against Virginia Tech then the national championship dream would still be alive.
Flynn returned to action against South Carolina and led the Tigers to victory but he did so with help from Perrilloux, who gained 59 yards on the ground on only eight rushes.
Speculation surfaced that Perrilloux missed some team meetings the week after South Carolina and although no statement was ever released it was very odd that for the first time all year he saw very little action when it was painfully obvious that Flynn was not close to being 100 percent against Tulane.
Many would have thought that the Tulane game would have served as a wake-up call but four weeks later Mr. Perrilloux was in the news again for a fight that happened at a local nightclub during the bye week preceding one of the biggest games of the year at Alabama.
Perrilloux was not charged by police for the incident at the Varsity nightclub but he was disciplined internally and did not play in the narrow win over the Crimson Tide.
Miles played Perrilloux sparingly the in the two weeks leading up to the home finale against Arkansas, when talk of him breaking team rules began to surface again.
Flynn suffered a shoulder injury against the Razorbacks but he finished the game and Perrilloux did not see the field.
Despite the regular-season ending loss to Arkansas, LSU made it to Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game and had a sliver of hope that it could make it to the BCS Championship Game.
Tennessee was standing between the Tigers and any chance of making it to a BCS bowl, let alone the game for all of the marbles that was in LSU’s backyard.
To make matters worse, LSU had to face a Tennessee squad without Flynn and had to rely on a field general that had been very unreliable all year long.
Perrilloux stepped up and delivered a sterling performance against the Volunteers and was selected the game’s most outstanding player on the offensive side of the ball.
Once again, the standout quarterback showed what he could do on the field but there never was any question about his skills between the lines. It was his decision-making off the field that Tiger fans and the LSU coaches were concerned with.
LSU went on to win the BCS Championship and a lot of credit must go to Perrilloux because he played a big role in the Tigers’ storybook season.
Once the season ended, though, the problems began to arise again as Perrilloux was suspended for spring practice.
He was expected to return to the practice fields several times throughout the spring but he did not complete the requirements that were set forth by Miles, which included work in the classroom and some extra running and conditioning work. As a result, he missed all of spring practice and did not play in the spring game.
Miles actually reinstated Perrilloux with full privileges the week before the spring game and when the Tigers left to go to Washington D.C. to meet the President of the United States he was right there with everyone else.
There was talk that President Bush took a little time to speak to Perrilloux and if that did in fact happen then it had little effect.
Exactly what the final straw was that made Miles dismiss his projected starting quarterback for the Tigers’ upcoming title defense is still unclear.
What is clear, though, is the fact that Miles gave Perrilloux every opportunity to turn his life around and no one can fault the Tigers’ head man for that.
“Ryan was given every opportunity to be a part of this football team,” Miles said. “In the end, he didn’t fulfill his obligation as an LSU student-athlete. We hope that a new beginning will benefit him.
“I wish Ryan and his family nothing but the best in any of his future endeavors.”
You will hear plenty of rumors of what the straw was that broke Miles’ back but rumors and innuendo do not do a kid that has some serious issues he needs to sort out any justice.
Three suspensions and more drama surrounding an LSU player than I can ever recall, the Ryan Perrilloux book is finally closed but there are many missing chapters.
A book that could have been filled with dreams that turned into reality will now be overflowing with stories of what could have been.
There are going to be plenty of comparisons made of Perilloux and talk about what he could have done on the Tiger Stadium turf over the coming days, months, and even years.
The biggest comparison will probably be made to former LSU running back Cecil Collins, who had all of the talent in the world and the ability to get paid millions of dollars to play the game of football.
Yes, Perrilloux has that same type of talent and ability.
But, for the young man’s sake, let’s hope he gets his life on track and doesn’t take the same road that Collins traveled.
Get all the latest LSU football and basketball info at Scout.com.
BEIJING (AFP) - China Thursday inaugurated one of the world’s longest bridges, which will provide an important new route into Shanghai, state press said.
Presented as the “world’s longest sea bridge”, the 36-kilometre (22-mile) structure connects Jiaxing city near Shanghai to the port city of Ningbo in the eastern province of Zhejiang.
It is slightly shorter than the 38.4-kilometre Lake Pontchartrain Causeway Bridge in the southern United States, which is often billed as the world’s longest.
The 11.8 billion yuan (1.7 billion dollars) bridge cuts the length of the road trip from Shanghai to Ningbo by 120 kilometres, the official Xinhua news agency said.
Construction of the six-lane bridge started in November 2003 in an effort to reduce traffic congestion in the booming area, Xinhua said.
Hundreds of people attended an opening ceremony on Thursday afternoon, it said.
The bridge was opened to traffic on a trial basis at 11.58 pm (1658 GMT), Xinhua said. However, officials did not know how long the trial would last, it added.
NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Got a passion for buying sneakers? It could be a good sign, with a poll finding that people who buy three pairs of sneakers or more a year are far more likely to be a leadership type than other people.
Mindset Media, a media company that examines personality traits of different consumers, found that people who buy more than three pairs of sneakers a year are 61 percent more likely to have the qualities of a modern leader.
These qualities were defined as having ideas and vision, and a style with others that is both inclusive and decisive.
The survey of 7,500 people, using market research group Nielsen’s online panel, found multi-sneaker buyers were 50 percent more likely to be very assertive and 47 percent more likely to be spontaneous.
Lauren Arvonio, a spokeswoman for Mindset Media, said sneaker buyers were more likely to fly by the seat of their pants.
“It is often said you can tell a lot about a person by the shoes they wear, and now we have some hard data to back that up,” Arvonio told Reuters.
“What is interesting is that these personality traits held true across the board, regardless of age, income, or gender.”
Previous Mindset Media surveys found that people who pay their credit card bills off each month were more likely to be “highly deliberate,” thinking through their actions, but also less modest than others, likely to brag about their habits.
Hybrid car owners were found to be 78 percent more likely to be highly creative than other people and less dogmatic.
(Writing by Belinda Goldsmith, Editing by Patricia Reaney)
