Short News

Love story without happy end

It is just like the well-known sappy story from Arabian Nights: a truck driver's son falls in love with a princess. They get married. However, the potential love story is missing the happy ending.

Princess Meriam Al-Khalifa (24) from Bahrain was still glowing when she received the desired green card in the spring. She had married US Marine Jason Johnson (27). Two years after Johnson had smuggled his wife to the US, she returned to Bahrain. There, the tear-jerking "Romeo and Juliet in the Gulf War" story had begun in 1999. At this time Johnson had been in the capital Manama with a US cousin of Bahrain's head-of-state. The two met in secret, behind her family's back. When Johnson's service abroad was nearing its end, he came up with an adventurous plan. At the airport he found out that his girlfriend, but not he himself as a US Marine, would have to present a passport. So he got fake military papers for his princess and dressed her up like a US soldier. The ploy, however - how could it be any different - was discovered upon landing in Chicago, when the INS officers who had already been informed welcomed the young couple at the airport.

However, the famous refugee had that kind of luck that many others do not have - her arguments that she would be facing the death penalty should she return to her home country were convincing. Finally, she was allowed to stay and the beautiful story continued. Quite fittingly, the wedding took place in Las Vegas.

Which is why the left husband is even more confused today, he cannot understand why his wife returned home. Johnson: "I love her, and despite some small problems in our marriage she never complained." However, she seems to prefer the feared homeland to a marriage with him anyway.

Anniversary: 125 years Heinz Ketchup

You simply need ketchup for fries, burgers, etc. More than 97% of American households can't do without it. This year, the cult product turns 125 - reason enough to look back. ‘Ketsiap," that's what the Chinese called their cold, spicy fish sauce that resourceful seamen brought to American via Europe in the 18th century. But it was the ambitious young businessman Henry John Heinz who changed the recipe in 1876, and developed Heinz Tomato Ketchup with fresh, aromatic tomatoes and many different spices. The recipe hasn't been changed to this day.

Later, as the owner of the H.J. Heinz Company, Henry proved to be an excellent marketing strategist. He realized early on how important a good logo is to make people recognize a product. In 1880 already the company logo could be seen on cars, posters, advertisements, even hills were bought and the logo planted on them. Something really spectacular was the first neon sign in New York, over six stories and lit with 1,200 light bulbs. Ketchup's success story could not be stopped. Today, ketchup can be found in two out of three German households, yearly consumption is up to 80,000 tons. That makes Germany the largest ketchup market in Europe. Around the world the H.J. Heinz Company processes approx. 2 million tons of tomatoes a year, every third bottle of ketchup is Heinz Ketchup.

Woman from Berlin arrested in the US

Three more weeks does Cornelia R. have to spend in custody to wait for her trial to continue. She is imprisoned in the US state of Virginia for a fake bomb threat. Cornelia R. has a café in the department for foreign affairs in Berlin. On October 10 she had made a joke during a security check at the airport of Alexandria, and apparently she was taken seriously. After her carry-on luggage, which held only underwear, had been searched three times, she'd had enough. She told the officials that there was a bomb in her bag and was arrested. The hearing of her case has been delayed until November 12 now.

Naturalizations

In Tampa, Florida, foreigners have recently been naturalized again for the first time since the attacks of September 11. These are usually mass events. This time, 47 people received an American passport. As always, they too had the opportunity of having their names changed with naturalization. While some took American names such as "Billy" and "James," one chose "Leonardo de Vinci" and is thus only one letter away from the famous Italian painter. No one really thinks this is strange in the US.