Videos show young couple who disappeared in Afghanistan appealing to US for help ADVERTISING Videos show young couple who disappeared in Afghanistan appealing to US for help WASHINGTON — The family of a pregnant American woman who went missing in
Videos show young couple who disappeared in Afghanistan appealing to US for help
WASHINGTON — The family of a pregnant American woman who went missing in Afghanistan in late 2012 with her Canadian husband received two videos last year in which the couple asked the U.S. government to help free them and their child from Taliban captors, The Associated Press has learned.
The videos offer the first and only clues about what happened to Caitlan Coleman and Joshua Boyle after they lost touch with their families 20 months ago while traveling in a mountainous region near the capital, Kabul. U.S. law enforcement officials investigating the couple’s disappearance consider the videos authentic but say they hold limited investigative value since it’s not clear when or where they were made.
The video files, which were provided to the AP, were emailed to Coleman’s father last July and September by an Afghan man who identified himself as having ties to the Taliban but who has been out of contact for several months. In one, a subdued Coleman — dressed in a conservative black garment that covers all but her face— appeals to “my president, Barack Obama” for help.
“I would ask that my family and my government do everything that they can to bring my husband, child and I to safety and freedom,” the 28-year-old says in the other recording, talking into a wobbly camera while seated beside her husband, whose beard is long and untrimmed.
Though Coleman mentions a child, no baby is shown in the videos. The families say they have no information about the name or gender of the child, who would be about 18 months old.
Massive dirt pile may have led to bridge closure, official says part of it on state land
DOVER, Del. — A contractor dumped a mountain of dirt about two stories high and 100 yards long next to an interstate bridge over several years, so much that it may have moved the ground and caused the bridge to tilt, state officials said Wednesday.
The Interstate 495 bridge, a major East Coast thoroughfare traveled by 90,000 vehicles daily, was closed Monday when engineers determined that bridge support columns were leaning.
The contractor said he was working with state officials to remove the dirt from the site, which he was allowed to use under an arrangement with a company that leases land. However, state officials said some of the dirt appeared to be on state land and a fence cordoning off the government’s property was gone.
Officials aren’t sure when the bridge will reopen to traffic, which has been detoured to Interstate 95. No major problems have been reported.
Senators push for deal to let veterans with lengthy waits
go outside VA for health care
WASHINGTON — A half dozen key lawmakers were struggling Wednesday to quickly craft a compromise bill to help veterans facing long appointment waits at veterans hospitals and make it easier to fire administrators who covered up the delays.
The goal is to address an uproar over veterans’ health care following allegations that veterans have died while waiting to see a Veterans Affairs doctor. Senators hope to pass the bill before Friday’s 70th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Europe in World War II. Up to a dozen senators are expected to attend the ceremonies in France.
Leading the negotiations were Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the Republican presidential candidate in 2008, and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and the only self-described socialist in Congress. They met face to face early Wednesday and again later in the day.
Also involved were Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.; North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr, the senior Republican on the Veterans Affairs Committee; and Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee.
Bill allowing force-feeding of hunger-striking inmates pits Israeli government vs. doctors
JERUSALEM — Proposed legislation to permit the force-feeding of Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike is pitting Israel’s government against much of the country’s medical community, including the main doctors’ association which contends the practice amounts to torture.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly asked to fast-track the bill as a hunger strike by dozens of Palestinian detainees entered its sixth week.
At least 65 of 290 participating detainees have been hospitalized since the first group began a hunger strike April 24. Many are administrative detainees, held for months or years without charges.
By wire sources
