Natalee Holloway Is Dead, Judge Decides

Natalee Holloway Is Dead, Judge Decides.Missing teenager Natalee Holloway was declared officially dead today in a gloomy court in Alabama, according to a lawyer representing the girl's father.

Judge Alan King signed the statement after a hearing attended by both parents in Brimingham Holloway, according to Mark White, attorney for Holloway's father. The statement will then go to the Civil Registry Office, which will produce a death certificate, said White.

Beth Holloway sat quietly in the back of the courtroom for the procedure, according to his lawyer John P. Rey. She had opposed the idea of ​​declaring her dead daughter, he was unwilling to give up the slight hope that Natalee could be alive somewhere, said King.

Holloway's request to be declared dead came from his father David Holloway said in court documents that because no evidence of Natalee is alive, it's time to declare his legally dead.

The father had previously told ABC News that his request was prompt in part by their desire to use $ 2,000 of Natalee college fund to help his younger brother.

His lawyer, Mark White, said his client would receive the close of the proceedings and allowed to present the death certificate as proof, in case you need it, that her daughter is gone. White noted that dealing with insurance and other "paperwork" can be difficult without the statement.
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Natalee's mother agreed.

"Beth's position is that she has no proof or indication that Natalee is still alive, but in the absence of any evidence or indication that she is dead, she always wants to be in that bright light of hope," said Beth Holloway's attorney, John P. Kelly. "No mother likes, without evidence, that his daughter was pronounced dead. She wants to carry around everywhere in your heart."

Kelly said that since no one had any evidence that Natalee may still be alive, was a foregone conclusion that the request be granted.

Beth Holloway, when asked about the request of her husband in September, said that the actions of Dave "inexplicable" and said he was taken by surprise that he had presented.

Natalee Holloway said today killed

The hearing came a day after a judicial process in Peru, where the main suspect in the disappearance of Holloway, Joran van der Sloot, pleaded guilty to killing a different woman. Van der Sloot pleaded guilty Wednesday and is expected to be sentenced by the Peruvian court. Who has admitted killing 21-year-old Stephany Flores, a business woman from Peru, May 30, 2010, the fifth anniversary of the disappearance of Natalee is.

Van der Sloot, a Dutch citizen, was never indicted for the death of Holloway in Aruba, but was arrested and detained for questioning in the matter twice.

Beth Holloway has been relentless in their efforts to find out what happened to her daughter, even fall in a Peruvian jail for dealing with van der Sloot.

At one point, she agreed to a sting, apparently fulfilling the Van Der Sloot demand for cash in exchange for information about where the body of his daughter. The operation was supervised by the authorities in Aruba, but van der Sloot left the island before the FBI filed charges of extortion.

Natalee Holloway was the last day of a trip to Aruba with her graduating senior class at Mountain Brook High School in New York when she returned to her hotel. She was last seen in a car with several people, including Van der Sloot.

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Video Inflames A Delicate Moment For U.S. In Afghanistan

Video Inflames A Delicate Moment For U.S. In Afghanistan.KABUL, Afghanistan - A video showing four U.S. Marines urinate on three Taliban fighters dead angered and sentencing Thursday in Afghanistan and around the world, raising fears in Washington that the images could incite anti-American sentiment at a particularly delicate in the decade-old war in Afghanistan.
The Obama administration is struggling to keep Afghan President Hamid Karzai, on his side as he carefully tries to open talks with the Taliban. However, the video showing such a desecration - a war crime - is likely to weaken the U.S. position with both. The Taliban and Karzai stressed each images as evidence of American brutality, a message with broad appeal in Afghanistan, where the word of the video was slowly spreading Thursday.

Senior military officials in Kabul and the Pentagon confirmed that the video was authentic and had identified the Marines as a member of the Third Battalion, Second Marines, who completed a tour of Afghanistan in the fall before return to its base in Camp Lejeune, NC Officials did not release the names of the Marines, but said one was wearing the uniform of a corporal.

Pentagon officials said the video was made between March and September 2011, when the battalion of Marines was stationed in Helmand province, the heart of the Taliban and a strategic center of the poppy trade. Officials said they did not know the exact location shown in the video but that was likely made in the northern part of the province, where the battalion was operating. Seven of the approximately 1000 Marines in the battalion were killed during the seven-month deployment.

Pentagon officials said that since they knew the four Marines were still on active duty.

Even before the authenticity of the video had been confirmed, the expressions of indignation and contrition defense secretary, Leon Panetta, E., Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other senior officials left no doubt that they regarded as real.

Aware of the potential inflammatory Mr. Panetta called Mr. Karzai to assure him that an investigation was underway and that those responsible would be punished. Mr. Panetta told the Afghan leader that "the behavior depicted in the film is utterly deplorable, and it does not reflect the standards or values ​​U.S. troops are sworn to uphold," said George little, is Speaker of the Pentagon.

The video shows the four Marines, in their distinctive sand-colored camouflage, urinating in the three instances - one covered in blood. A sailor said, "Have a nice day, buddy."

The Taliban initially indicated that the video would not undermine the push of the talks, saying they had seen evidence that simply more of what they said was the brutality and American arrogance.

But by Thursday, in an official statement, the Taliban has dropped references to the talks and stressed the message brutality. "We strongly condemn the inhuman act of savage American soldiers, as usual, and consider that act in contradiction with all the human and ethical standards," the statement said.

Karzai said he was deeply troubled and had asked the Americans to severely punish the culprits. "This act by U.S. soldiers is simply inhuman and condemnable in the strongest terms," ​​he said.

U.S. officials reacted remorse all day on Thursday in their fight against stress damage. The American-led coalition in Afghanistan and the U.S. embassy in Kabul offered separate convictions. Leaders of the coalition in a statement that the behavior displayed in the video "dishonors the sacrifices and the core values ​​of each service member representing the 50 nations of the coalition."

Clinton expressed what she called its "utter dismay."

"It is absolutely incompatible with American values ​​and standards we expect of our military personnel," she said in Washington, adding that everyone involved "must be held fully accountable."

Mr. Panetta said in Washington that he had ordered the Marines and General John R. Allen, a Marine Corps officer commanding the coalition forces in Afghanistan to investigate immediately.

The video, posted on public Web sites for sharing videos, including YouTube and Live Leak, began ricocheting around international websites News Wednesday.

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