Hayley Burns (international)( week of: 3-7 March 2008)

Belgian Writer Admits Best-Selling Holocaust 'Memoir' a Hoax

Summary:
A Belgian writer has admitted that she made up her best-selling "memoir" depicting how, as a Jewish child, she lived with a pack of wolves in the woods during the Holocaust, her lawyers said Friday. Misha Defonseca's book, "Misha: A Memoire of the Holocaust Years," was translated into 18 languages and made into a feature film in France Her two Brussels-based lawyers, siblings Nathalie and Marc Uyttendaele, said the author acknowledged her story was not autobiographical and that she did not trek 1,900 miles as a child across Europe with a pack of wolves in search of her deported parents during World War II. "I ask forgiveness to all who felt betrayed," Defonseca said, according to a written statement the lawyers gave to The Associated Press. Defonseca, 71, now lives in Dudley, Mass. Her husband, Maurice, told The Boston Globe on Thursday that she would not comment.

OPINION:
I think it’s terrible that she lead people to believe this huge long story. I also think it’s sort of foolish of the believers. I mean seriously! 1900 miles as a child, with wolves! Dumb. I wouldn’t have believed it even if it was label as a true story. I think the reporters, who are presenting this story, need to look up the transcripts from all her interviews to make sure she said what they are claiming.


British Millionaire Faces Life in Jail for Trying to Kill Unborn Baby With Abortion Pills

Summary:
A British millionaire with a pathological fear of becoming a father tried to kill his unborn baby by secretly feeding his wife abortion pills he bought online, The Daily Mail reported. Now 36-year-old Gil Magira could get life behind bars for trying to terminate Anat Abraham's 11-week pregnancy. He was set to be sentenced on Friday. The wealthy businessman last February ground up the pills and slipped them into a sandwich and yogurt he fed his wife for breakfast, according to The Mail. Abraham became sick and was taken to the hospital, but she and the child — a boy named Matan — survived the ordeal. The baby was born June 20. Magira admitted giving Abraham poison to trigger a miscarriage. He was the first person in 40 years to be charged with such a crime. "When I found out Gil had poisoned me I was in shock," his 38-year-old wife said in a tearful statement she read in court. "I would never have thought he had such capability. I had lived with a person for 10 years who I didn't really know."

OPINION:
This is really sad. I think that crazy people like this need to be dealt with. I also feel bad for the mother, because she lived with him for so long and had to endure though the weirdness, there is no telling what else he did to her. Also for the child who will have to live his entire life knowing that his father tried to kill him, what a terrible way to grow up.