| Triple jeopardy: the Nazi plan to kill WWII leaders in Tehran
The first tip-off about the planned attempt came from Soviet intelligence agent Nikolai Kuznetsov, aka Wermacht Oberleutnant Paul Siebert, from Nazi-occupied Ukraine. Kuznetsov, a famed Soviet spy, got an SS man named Ulrich von Ortel to spill the secret over a bottle of good brandy. Von Ortel not only told his "friend" Paul about the operation, but invited him to accompany him on a trip to Tehran to buy cheap Persian rugs. "Light cavalry" had no mercy for the Germans In the autumn of 1943, fate thrust 19-year-old Gevork Vartanian into the center of the operation. Vartanian was an intelligence agent as well as the son of a Soviet intelligence agent who worked in Iran under the cover of a wealthy merchant. He received his first assignment and the cover name Amir from the resident in 1940.
Overcrowding plagues NFL pregame shows
If you keep the number at four, you'll always have enough people to make it interesting and everybody has a chance to shine. Let's take a trip down Memory Lane. When I was growing up, Brent Musberger, Phyllis George/Jayne Kennedy, Irv Cross and Jimmy The Greek made up CBS's groundbreaking "NFL Today," the first "modern" pregame show that worked because Brent was so good and CBS was smart enough to keep it to four people. The non-Brent talent was sorely lacking. Phyllis and Jayne were cute enough, but they didn't know much about football and admitted as much. Irv smiled a lot and never said anything even interesting -- in fact, he's the first broadcaster I ever made fun of on a regular basis. And Jimmy had the TV persona of a drunken uncle who crashed your Thanksgiving family dinner, then made long-distance bets on your phone, complained about an itchy colon and yelled at you for accidentally changing the TV.
Real asked to end backing for radical fans
They went on to say they would be passing on comments from Real president Ramon Calderon where he praised the Ultra Sur fans, to the Spanish Football Federation. Calderon said in an interview with radio station Onda Madrid last week that that he could not say a bad word against the Ultra Sur. Your views on this story? Email newsdesk@soccernet.comJoin the discussion on our Message Boards .
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