FEATURES
By Michael Sragow and Michael Sragow,SUN MOVIE CRITIC | October 11, 2002
The 1937 French thriller Pepe Le Moko, which was little seen in the United States because Hollywood swiftly remade it as Algiers, features Jean Gabin in his robust glory as a master thief with a telltale heart. He lords it over the Casbah - the perilous demimonde of Algiers - while yearning, fatally, for a knockout Parisienne (Mireille Balin) and the City of Light itself. The movie is director Julien Duvivier's masterpiece, blending electric documentary images with bravura sequences in a style akin to operatic verismo.
NEWS
By Kim Barker and Kim Barker,CHICAGO TRIBUNE | September 26, 2006
KABUL, Afghanistan -- The provincial head of the Afghan Ministry of Women's Affairs in Kandahar was fatally shot in front of her house yesterday as she was leaving for work, officials said. Safia Ama Jan, who was about 65, is the first female official killed by Taliban-led insurgents since the fall of the regime in late 2001. Gunmen riding motorcycles shot her four times, including once in the head, said Mohammad Nader, the head nurse at Kandahar's main hospital. "The enemies of Afghanistan did this, the ones who do not want peace in Afghanistan," said Zemeri Bashary, an Interior Ministry spokesman.
NEWS
By NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE | May 26, 2006
KABUL, Afghanistan --President Hamid Karzai made a surprise visit yesterday to Kandahar, his hometown in the south, to meet with civilians wounded Sunday in a U.S. bombing nearby. Thousands of villagers have fled their homes and sought refuge in Kandahar because of the airstrikes and some of the most intense fighting since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. The president's visit was fleeting, and security was heavy. Karzai narrowly survived an assassination attempt there in 2002. Speaking to a gathering of Pashtun tribal elders, he vowed to bring security to the region.
NEWS
By KNIGHT RIDDER/TRIBUNE | December 17, 2003
SOUTH OF DURANI, Afghanistan - Afghanistan opened a new highway between Kandahar and Kabul yesterday, one of the first significant signs of progress in the enormous task of rebuilding the country. On smooth new asphalt, the 300-mile trip between the cities takes five hours. It took as much as 30 hours on the old road, which had been ground nearly to dust by Soviet military vehicles and tanks during the 1979-1989 Soviet-Afghan war. But the new road is still dangerous because of the threat from bandits and the resurgent Taliban militia.
NEWS
By NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE | February 1, 2003
KABUL, Afghanistan - At least 16 people, including women and children, were killed when their bus exploded on a bridge outside the southern city of Kandahar, in an attack that the local police attributed to the Taliban or other rebel forces. The explosion, probably from an anti-tank mine, gouged a large crater in the road and hurled the bus and bodies around an area of 30 yards. The driver and a 12-year-old boy survived, according to local reporters. Another man died in the hospital, they said.
NEWS
By Chris Kraul and Chris Kraul,SPECIAL TO THE SUN | March 30, 2003
KABUL, Afghanistan - Two U.S. servicemen were killed in an ambush in lawless southwest Afghanistan yesterday, as a rise in violence continued to sweep the country and put the lives of U.S. and other outside military forces at risk. A U.S. Special Operations soldier and a U.S. airman were killed when their four-vehicle reconnaissance patrol was ambushed near the town of Gereshk, about 60 miles west of the city of Kandahar. Kandahar was the last stronghold of the Taliban regime, which a U.S.-led coalition ousted in late 2001.