Word: roland
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...While Roland Emmerich’s “2012” was not spectacular as a cinematic effort, its premise wasn’t entirely wrong—the end of history is almost here. It’s slightly more than two years away, though, according to the academic Francis Fukuyama. In “The End of History and the Last Man,” Professor Fukuyama famously argued that liberal democracy will become the last form of government, the final product of the evolutionary mechanism that is history. But both the director of this would...
...alleged ringleader of the group, who has been identified as Roland K, a 74-year-old former developer, testified in a Bavarian court this week that they didn't intend to kidnap the victim, identified as James A. He said he and his friend and fellow investor, 60-year-old Wilhelm D, met with the investment specialist in the town of Speyer in June 2009 for a "final chat" about getting their money back. But when they realized that their savings were gone for good, he said they became enraged. (See the top 10 crime stories...
...dispute at the heart of the case is about what happened next. According to prosecutors, Roland and Wilhelm tied James up with Scotch tape, locked him in a box and bundled him into the trunk of their car, before driving 300 miles (about 485 km) to Roland's house near the lakeside resort of Chiemsee in southern Germany. At one point during the trip, James tried to escape at a rest stop, but Roland and Wilhelm forced him back into the car, breaking two of his ribs. When they arrived at the house, the defendants' wives, Sieglinde...
...Roland and the rest of the Pensioner Gang tell a slightly different story. In court on Feb. 8, Roland said he simply wanted to "invite" the financial adviser for "a few days' holiday in Upper Bavaria." He said he told his wife Sieglinde that "we're going to invite him round for several days - he's our guest." He added that James went into the house of his own accord and stayed in an "emergency guest room" (which presumably means it was hastily made...
...Roland didn't deny being angry at James, calling him a "liar and a crook" in court. He said that the retirees met James while on vacation years ago in Florida and that he persuaded them to invest their money in the U.S. housing market, promising the group a profit margin of 18%. Following the subprime-market collapse in the U.S., Roland now claims that James "tricked us and took us for a ride...