Remains of soldier missing in Korean War discovered

Remains of soldier missing in Korean War discovered

WAHPETON, N.D. — More than a half-century after Pvt. Joseph Meyer Jr. disappeared while fighting in the Korean War, the Army has told his family his remains will be coming home.

Meyer was 17 when he left Wahpeton to enlist in the Army. He was declared missing in action in 1950, with few clues offered to his family.

About 10 years ago, two of his sisters submitted DNA samples to the Army.

“I didn’t think it would do any good,” said one of the sisters, Alice Pausch. “At that point, I had lost hope already.”

Pausch, 79, and her husband received a phone message at their farm home southwest of Wahpeton last week saying the Army had information for them. They learned Meyer’s remains were found with no identification in a mass grave in North Korea.

“That’s unreal. That’s just amazing,” Pausch said. “It’s a positive match. He had no dog tags or nothing. If we hadn’t given the blood sample, we would have never known.”

Simpson trial delayed

LAS VEGAS — A judge agreed Friday to delay the armed robbery and kidnapping trial for O.J. Simpson and two co-defendants until September to give the defense more time to prepare.

Clark County District Judge Jackie Glass also refused to separate the former football star’s trial from co-defendants Charles Ehrlich and Clarence “C.J.” Stewart. She also refused to throw out the charges against Simpson.

The men are accused of kidnapping and robbing two dealers peddling Simpson memorabilia at a Las Vegas hotel-casino in September 2007.

In her ruling to push the trial to Sept. 8, Glass acknowledged it took longer than expected for prosecutors to analyze and enhance tape recordings, transcripts and fingerprints and turn them over to the defense to prepare for trial, which had been set initially for April 7.

Thatcher hospitalized

LONDON — Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was hospitalized in stable condition in central London today and was undergoing medical checks, authorities said.

St. Thomas’ Hospital said the former leader, 82, was expected to spend the night in the hospital for observation.

“We can confirm that Baroness Thatcher has been admitted to St. Thomas’ Hospital and is expected to remain in hospital overnight for observation,” the hospital said in a statement. “Her condition is stable and she is speaking to the medical staff who are caring for her.”

Thatcher, who rarely speaks in public, has often appeared at private functions in recent years.

Earlier this month, she urged members of her Conservatives Party to “hold firm to their beliefs” as she was honored with a statue at the party’s headquarters.

Leaders adopt declaration on ending border crisis

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — A Latin American summit on calming a border crisis erupted into an angry showdown Friday, with finger-jabbing lectures and passionate speeches before a plea for good will prompted stiff handshakes between the leaders of Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela.

The three presidents later joined other leaders in approving a declaration designed to end a confrontation that was triggered by Colombia’s military attack on a leftist Colombian rebel camp in Ecuador.

The dramatic high point came when Dominican President Leonel Fernandez tried to calm things down by urging Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to shake hands with his antagonists. Uribe then marched around the table and shared stiff handshakes with Ecuador’s Rafael Correa and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez.

Israeli warplanes fly over Lebanese capital

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Israeli warplanes flew over Beirut on Friday, the Lebanese army said, a day after a Palestinian gunman killed eight Jewish seminary students in Jerusalem.

“Two enemy Israeli warplanes” flew over the southern city of Tyre, Beirut and the port town of Jounieh, north of the capital, before heading back to the “occupied territories,” the army said in a statement. The Israeli army said it knew of no activity in Beirut.

Hezbollah’s Al-Manar satellite TV station said a previously unknown group called the Martyrs of Imad Mughniyeh and Gaza was responsible for the attack on the Jewish seminary — a claim that could not be verified.

Associated Press