Ricardo Montalban, the Mexican-born actor who became a star in splashy MGM musicals and later as the wish-fulfilling Mr. Roarke in TV's Fantasy Island, died Wednesday morning at his home, a city councilman said. He was 88.
Montalban's death was announced at a meeting of city council by president Eric Garcetti, who represents the district where the actor lived. Garcetti did not give a cause of death.
"The Ricardo Montalban Theatre in my Council District -- where the next generations of performers participate in plays, musicals, and concerts -- stands as a fitting tribute to this consummate performer," Garcetti said later in a written statement.
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Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2009 00:00 ||
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I wonder if his casket is upholstered in fine Corinthian leather.
#2
"I've done more than kill you. I've hurt you. And I wish to go on...hurting you. I shall leave you as you left me. As you left her. Marooned for all eternity in the center of a dead planet. Buried alive... Buried alive... Buried alive..."
Posted by: john frum ||
01/15/2009 4:57 Comments ||
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...I had the pleasure of meeting him in the early 90s in Akron, OH, of all places - a gentleman in the finest sense of the word.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/15/2009 5:29 Comments ||
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I love what they've done with my Cordoba. Fine Corinthian leather and cardboardium dash.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
01/15/2009 7:44 Comments ||
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#6
Ricardo also played a vital role in 2 POTA movies - he was the circus owner Armando, and sheltered the world's first talking chimp baby...MAMA! MAMA!
#9
Many, many moons ago, I read a letter (in Reader's Digest?) that he had written to his son. The basic theme was "I'm not your friend, I am your father. This is more important and a great responsibility." I was impressed. Definitely not your basic Film Actors Guild member.
Ugandan rebels have killed at least 537 people and kidnapped 408 others during raids on villages in northeast Democratic Republic of Congo since September, the UN has said.
The rebel group, which is calling itself the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), is fleeing a multinational military offensive led by Uganda.
Ron Redmond, the spokesman of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said on Tuesday: "We are increasingly concerned about the humanitarian situation and continuing attacks by the LRA on the civilian population in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Orientale province.
"At least 104,000 people have also been forced to flee the violence which broke out last September in the region neighbouring southern Sudan and Uganda," Redmond said.
"Many of these internally displaced people are still hiding in the bush, particularly in areas around the town of Faradje which was heavily hit during the Christmas period."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2009 00:00 ||
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LRA on the rampage and the elites fret about GAZA.
These guys are evil...
Saudi Arabia's senior-most cleric said girls as young as 10 years old can be married, local media reported on Wednesday.
The powerful Grand Mufti Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh said in a speech late on Monday that Islamic Sharia law allows the practice of pre-teen girls getting married, and that critics of the practice were doing the girls "an injustice", reports said.
"We hear often in the media about the marriage of minors. We must know that Sharia law is not unjust for women," the cleric is quoted as saying.
"If it is said that a woman below 15 cannot be married, that is wrong. If a girl exceeds 10 or 12 then she is eligible for marriage, and whoever thinks she is too young, then he or she is wrong and has done her an injustice."
His comment came in the wake of several well-publicised cases of young girls being married to men sometimes old enough to be their great-grandfathers.
On Monday a court in Taif allowed an 11-year-old girl to separate from her 75-year-old husband after the girl's mother petitioned the court, according to a report in Okaz newspaper. The girl's father had arranged the marriage in exchange for a dowry, it said.
In December a Saudi court at Unayzah, 220km north of Riyadh, rejected a plea to divorce an eight-year-old girl married off by her father to a man who is 58, saying the case should wait until the girl reaches puberty.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2009 00:00 ||
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and 6 year olds can drive tractors.
BUT IT NOT A GOOD IDEA!
#2
It may help these guys' MEDIA CORRECTNESS iff, as per local Culture, they say "ARRANGED MARRIAGE", wid same not ever allowed to be legal or sexually consumated before age 18.
ITS CALLED THE 21ST CENTURY, POST-MODERN, AND THE NATIONAL ["Global/World-"] ORGANIZATION OF WOMEN, ETC????
WE MISSED OUR MEDIA MARKETING CLASSES THAT YEAR, DIDN'T WE???
Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) arrested two people yesterday from Barobagh area of Mirpur in the city on charge of preserving and selling blood illegally to different city clinics and hospitals. The arrestees are Mijanur Rahman Milon, owner of a blood bank and his brother-in-law and partner of his illegal business, Mohammad Sujan. "Doctor Bob! Doctor Bob! We're running out of blood!"
"Here's a twenty! Run down to Mijanur Rahman Milon's and pick up another bucket! And make sure it's fresh!"
Acting on a tip off, a team of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab)-1 jointly led by Maj Saiful Islam Chowdhury and Executive Magistrate AHM Anwar Pasha of Rab conducted a drive at the blood bank Sandhan Blood Bank and Pathology at around 11.00am.
Rab seized four bags of blood from their possessions and slapped a fine of Tk 2 lakh for each and in default of which they will have to serve three months in jail. They were sent to jail as they failed to pay the amount of fine, Rab sources said.
Maj Saiful Islam Chowdhury told The Daily Star, Milon would collect blood for Tk 80 per bag from professional blood sellers especially from drug addicts without proper diagnostic tests and sold per bag at Tk 800. He also said neither they had any legal documents essential to run such blood bank nor any proper arrangement to preserve the blood as they kept them in the refrigerators of the nearby departmental stores.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2009 00:00 ||
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Have they figured out what causes AIDS over there yet?
3 months in jail doesn't seem like a very long time for two guys who have probably infected a great many people with HIV.
#4
I used to give blood at least once every three months. Age, two or three diseases, and more medication than any human being should have to take to function, and I can't give blood any more. Did learn some interesting things about blood when I was doing it, though. I wouldn't want one of these guys coming within ten feet of me, and not just because of AIDS or other transmittable diseases.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/15/2009 17:57 Comments ||
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Bangladesh will get the bribe money of former prime minister Khaleda Zia's younger son Arafat Rahman Koko, stashed in bank accounts in Singapore, only if the verdict in the case filed by the US justice department goes in its favour.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2009 00:00 ||
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How's that crow sandwich taste, Hoogo? Probably about the same as the sandwich the Western oil companies are taking a bite out of right now as they consider your bids.
President Hugo Chavez, buffeted by falling oil prices that threaten to damage his efforts to establish a Socialist-inspired state, is quietly courting Western oil companies once again.
Until recently, Chavez had pushed foreign oil companies here into a corner by nationalizing their oil fields, raiding their offices with tax authorities and imposing a series of royalties increases.
But faced with the plunge in prices and a decline in domestic production, senior officials here have begun soliciting bids from some of the largest Western oil companies in recent weeks -- including Chevron, Royal Dutch/Shell and Total of France -- promising them access to some of the world's largest petroleum reserves, according to energy executives and industry consultants here.
Their willingness to even consider investing in Venezuela reflects the scarcity of projects open to foreign companies in other top oil nations, particularly in the Middle East.
But the shift also shows how the global financial crisis is hampering Chavez's ideological agenda and demanding his pragmatic side. At stake are no less than Venezuela's economic stability and the sustainability of his rule. With oil prices so low, the longstanding problems plaguing PetrĂłleos de Venezuela, the national oil company that helps keep the country afloat, have become much harder to ignore.
#1
Under the current bidding rules, the onus for financing the new projects lies with the foreign companies, even though PetrĂłleos de Venezuela would maintain control.
Not bad work if you can get it. I think he's dreaming though. What kind of retard would fall for the same gag twice? Only an oil company apparently. He picked the wrong time to go broke.
#3
Venezuelan crude is among the thickest and fullest of impurities of any of the major producers. In a situation of oil surplus, which country would you cut back on first?
Have fun Hugo!
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
01/15/2009 11:18 Comments ||
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It's hard to believe that anyone would trust Chavez enough to commit large amounts of capital, particularly in tough times. However, it would be smart for oil companies to participate in evaluating prospects and laying a foundation for participating in a post-Chavez Venezuela.
Intelligence sources in Seoul today suggested that – very much against the expectations of South Korean analysis – Mr Kim, 66, has chosen this youngest and favourite son, Jong Un, to take over the all-pervasive family personality cult that controls the country.
The potential heir, who is thought to be no more than 24 years old, was educated in Switzerland and is the offspring of Kim’s third marriage and supposedly favourite wife – a woman who died five years ago.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
01/15/2009 13:39 ||
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I just heard his name and I already have adoring love and heartfelt devotion to him.
The rise of Kim Jong-chol as possible successor comes against the decline of other possible contenders, namely his brother and half-brother.
Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of Jong-chol, was widely assumed to be the heir until 2001, when he embarrassed his father with his highly publicized arrest in Japan while en route to Tokyo Disneyland. He was carrying a large sum of cash and traveling on a fake Dominican Republic passport. Recent reports that tie Jong-nam to the counterfeiting of US dollars through Macau - which prompted swift US action against Pyongyang to curtail the activities - have diminished his standing even further. A South Korean intelligence analyst said in February that Jong-nam has been rendered even more unsuitable for leadership in "his father's mind due to the Macau bank problem".
Kim Jong-un, the youngest son, is considered too callow for political work, though South Korean intelligence analysts have carefully considered him as a successor despite his age. In 2003, Kim Jong-il's former chef published a book under the pseudonym Kenji Fujimoto that suggested Jong-chol was unfit for leadership - making Jong-un the default successor (see Cook and tell: Another chef spills the beans, July 2, 2003).
The youngest son is said to be 175 centimeters tall and weigh about 90kg due to a lack of exercise. He reportedly already has high blood pressure and diabetes. Unlike his brothers, no images of him have been captured by foreign media.
#6
The youngest son is said to be 175 centimeters tall and weigh about 90kg due to a lack of exercise. He reportedly already has high blood pressure and diabetes. Unlike his brothers, no images of him have been captured by foreign media
#7
"High blood pressure and diabetes" > IOW, the Son may barely survive the Father, as before or after, and NOT live that long???
Reminds me of certain ancient American and Asian indigenous cultures, where those whom were to be sacrificed to the Gods were highly publicly celebrated and given the best of everything - food, clothes, gifts, etc. even women for sex and companionship. Depending on time of year for execution, it was even possible for the condemned Men to get married and have babies, as long as everyone knew Hubby = Baby Daddy was a goner at the proper time.
Chinese manufacturers have engaged in active discussions with South Africa in hopes of acquiring TV video cameras and second-generation thermal imaging cameras used in Denel's Seeker II unmanned air vehicle surveillance system.
The top military technology that China aspires to acquire from South Africa is without doubt the unmanned air vehicle. China's New Era Group Corp. had several rounds of negotiations with Denel on the possibility of producing in China two types of Denel unmanned aerial vehicles that were on display at the 2006 Zhuhai Air Show, called the Golden Eagle and the Seeker II.
China hopes to obtain the technologies to assemble these two UAVs domestically. However, according to a source from the Denel Group, negotiations on the UAV deals have come to a halt and the company has decided that unless substantial progress is made on these negotiations, the company no longer wants to spend time dealing with the Chinese.
Denel had a similar experience in trying to negotiate a deal with Chinese company Norinco for its Mokopa anti-tank missiles. The Chinese company expressed an interest in importing Denel's technologies, but once again the negotiations ended with no result.
Since 2007, Norinco has attempted to contact the Denel Group again, saying it wants to import the company's G5 155mm howitzer ammunition handling system. But Denel is not eager to enter into an agreement with China on this project; Chinese-made 155mm howitzers already have appeared in quite a number of countries in Northern Africa, including Algeria, Sudan and Egypt.
An official at Denel, speaking on condition of anonymity, told United Press International the company has successfully completed a deal with China for its 35mm multirole machine gun. This technology, in fact, was exported to China 10 years ago. China seems to have upgraded this 35mm gun to an air-defense machine gun.
China's New Era Group Corp. also has been negotiating with Denel for the transfer of African Eagle UAV technologies. The Chinese introductory brochure of the cooperation program claims the African Eagle UAV is capable of taking a payload of 500 kilograms, which could be six Mokopa anti-tank missiles or two Umbani MK81 precision-guided bombs. The theoretical combat radius of the African Eagle is 750 kilometers.
China also hopes to obtain the South African Angel high-altitude and high-speed UAV attacker system. This attacker UAV is capable of carrying precision-guided weapons and attacking targets 1,400 kilometers away. The UAV is also capable of carrying A-Darter AAMs to launch unmanned aerial attacks.
The Angel attacker and reconnaissance UAV is equipped with aperture radar and is capable of conducting tactical reconnaissance missions. It also can be fitted with Mokopa active laser-guided anti-tank missiles to attack armored combat groups.
Nonetheless, the official from Denel told United Press International that no substantial progress has been made on this project, indicating it may end up as one more failed deal.
It remains to be seen whether China's latest explorations with the company will yield technological information it can convert to its own purposes.
#1
Since 2007, Norinco has attempted to contact the Denel Group again, saying it wants to import the company's G5 155mm howitzer ammunition handling system. But Denel is not eager to enter into an agreement with China on this project; Chinese-made 155mm howitzers already have appeared in quite a number of countries in Northern Africa, including Algeria, Sudan and Egypt...and they don't want it coming back to bite their butts.
WASHINGTON, Jan 14 (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama is expected to consider all options for pressuring China to raise the value of its currency, including through the World Trade Organization, a senior Democrat said on Wednesday.
"I don't think just jawboning will be the approach of this administration," said Rep. Sander Levin, a Democrat who chairs a key trade subcommittee in the House of Representatives. Asked if he thought the Obama administration, which takes over next Tuesday, could bring a WTO case, he said, "I think it will look at all options, including that, including working through the IMF, including looking at present legislation."
"I think they will be much more determined to see things change" than the Bush administration has been, the Michigan lawmaker told reporters. He chairs the trade subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee.
U.S. lawmakers and manufacturers have complained for years that China is deliberately undervaluing its currency to gain an unfair advantage in international trade although U.S. consumers have benefited from an influx of cheap Chinese goods.
The Bush administration established a high-level economic dialogue to press Beijing on that and other economic concerns, but stopped short of stronger action.
Like what? A trade war? Just what we need in a global recession. Sanctions? Ditto. More talk to sound tough while doing nothing? Ah-hah ...
Bush's Treasury Department also routinely irked lawmakers by failing to formally label China as a currency manipulator in a semi-annual report on the currency practices of major U.S. trading partners.
Levin said he would press the Obama administration to do so when it issues the next report, which is due in April. "We have to address the currency issue. I think the financial crisis makes clear how important this issue is," he said.
During last year's election campaign, Obama said China's "manipulation of its currency's value" was a big reason for the huge U.S. trade deficit with China, which reached a record $256.3 billion in 2007.
That has raised expectations that he will take a tougher line on currency than outgoing President George W. Bush.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told former U.S. President Jimmy Carter earlier this week that the global financial crisis made it critical the two countries work together. "We must strengthen mutual trust and cooperation and pass through the difficulties together," Wen said, according to a report on the Chinese Foreign Ministry website.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/15/2009 00:00 ||
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And the Chinese are likely to be excruciatingly polite in their response.
#2
...and then politely say their future purchase of illiquid US Treasury Bonds will grossly decline. Then point out they have no problem in shooting those who revolt within their jurisdiction to keep power, what is Obama going to do with those in America?
#3
Issue a command, your Highness. When they snicker and call you foul, reprehensible names, go to option II. Kiss their ass up one side and down the other. Learn your place. At the bottom of the ladder.
Iraq has rethought its plan to buy lots of U.S. M-1 tanks and came up with a better idea; buy 2,000 T-72 tanks and refurbish them.
While M-1 tanks cost about $5 million each, 2,000 Cold War surplus T-72s can be obtained from Eastern European states for very little (maybe $100 million, or less, for the lot). The real expense is in rebuilding, which is what Iraq has hired an American firm (Defense Solutions, in Pennsylvania). Iraq will pay Defense Solutions $3 million for each rebuilt T-72.
The rebuild rips out existing equipment, and includes a new engine, armor (ERA, or explosive reactive armor plates added to the exterior) and new electronics (thermal sight and computerized fire control, laser range finder and detector, radios, intercom and so on).
Defense Solutions has already rebuilt and delivered 77 T-72s for Iraq (the tanks were gifts from Hungary). So Iraq knows what it is getting. It is calling the rebuilt T-72s the T-91. If the price of oil bounces back, as many expect, Iraqi could afford the $6 billion bill for creating the 2,000 T-91s.
Iraq is apparently going through with the purchase of 140 M-1 tanks and 400 M-2 infantry fighting vehicles. These would equip an elite division that, if well trained and led, could take on any of the neighbors, for a while, at least, as well as internal terrorism (the M-1 has been largely immune to any terrorist weapon, while the T-72/91 is not.)
But a larger war, say with Iran, would require a lot more tanks. That's where the upgraded T-72s come in. The T-91s are superior to anything Iran has, not to mention Kuwait or Saudi Arabia. The Turks don't count. Based on long and bloody experience, Arabs do not go to war with Turkey, ever, under any circumstances.
#2
Now the only questions that remain are AAA and combat aircraft capability. With only one hint, I suspect that we have been training the heck out of Iraqi pilots and command staff in the US.
An in one, bright, sun-shiny day, a fully operational combat air force just materializes out of thin air, and Iran about poops itself.
Controversial filmmaker Michael Moore may wind up in court with a prize-winning journalist who claims the mountain-size moviemaker ripped off his most famous photo to use in a George W. Bush-bashing rant.
Last year, to illustrate one of his anti-administration bombasts, the portly polemicist posted on his michaelmoore.com Web site a heartbreaking photo from Iraq of an American soldier carrying the blood-spattered body of a child.
The picture was snapped by acclaimed independent war correspondent Michael Yon, who has been very careful about how his images are distributed and goes out of his way to make sure they aren't used for demagogic diatribes.
Yon - a Special Forces vet posts regular dispatches from the front at michaelyon-online.com, which are featured on FOXNews.com. To many, he is considered as the "Ernie Pyle of our time."
Yon has tried to contact Moore for seven months to discuss his unauthorized use of the poignant snap, but hasn't heard a word back from the director of "Fahrenheit 9/11."
Now, the fed-up photojournalist has told his lawyer to ready a lawsuit against Moore for copyright infringement.
Oil prices have restarted their upward trend for the second day in New York after big oil producers said they may cut output further.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) wants to shrink crude output again to "preserve my skin the price of oil," Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Tuesday.
Crude oil for February delivery rose as much as USD 1.58 - or 4.2 percent - to USD 39.36 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, recovering from a five-day fall.
Crude oil for February delivery rose as much as USD 1.58 - or 4.2 percent - to USD 39.36 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, recovering from a five-day fall.
Oil prices have plummeted 59 percent over the past year as fuel demand decreased due to a global recession stemmed from the United States.
"We're willing to cut 2 million more, 4 million more barrels to preserve the price of oil," Chavez said in a speech to the National Assembly in Caracas.
Meanwhile, Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Nuaimi said yesterday that the kingdom's February oil supply will be "lower than the target" decided at the group's December meeting in Oran, Algeria. "We will do what it takes to bring the market in balance," al-Nuaimi said Tuesday in New Delhi where he was expected to attend a conference.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2009 00:00 ||
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Like they have kept to production limits in the past... yawn.
#5
As an aside, in Dec they agreed to cut 2.2 million barrels, and I believe Iraq output is approaching 2.4 million barrels. Where is the Iraqi oil going to ?
Posted by: Tom- Pa ||
01/15/2009 9:14 Comments ||
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Spot price on WTI right now is $33.94, and Brent's down $2 to $45.47. Either this is a week-old article, or they're hallucinating solutions into existence in the Iranian media.
And by the way? a $11-plus gap between European and American oil is pretty damned impressive. I'm not quite sold on it all being an artifact of a temporary glut in American private reserve supplies.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
01/15/2009 13:13 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Ricardo Montalban, the Mexican-born actor who became a star in splashy MGM musicals and later as the wish-fulfilling Mr. Roarke in TV's Fantasy Island, died Wednesday morning at his home, a city councilman said. He was 88.
Ugandan rebels have killed at least 537 people and kidnapped 408 others during raids on villages in northeast Democratic Republic of Congo since September, the UN has said.
Saudi Arabia's senior-most cleric said girls as young as 10 years old can be married, local media reported on Wednesday. 
Controversial filmmaker Michael Moore may wind up in court with a prize-winning journalist who claims the mountain-size moviemaker ripped off his most famous photo to use in a George W. Bush-bashing rant.
