Anne Frank guardian reaches 100

The last surviving member of the small group who helped hide the Dutch Jewish girl Anne Frank and her family from the Nazis has turned 100 years old.

Miep Gies will celebrate her birthday on Sunday quietly with relatives and friends, she said this week.

She said she was not deserving of the attention, and that others had done far more to protect the Netherlands' Jews.

She paid tribute to "unnamed heroes", picking out her husband Jan for his courageous defiance of the Nazis.

"He was a resistance man who said nothing but did a lot. During the war he refused to say anything about his work, only that he might not come back one night. People like him existed in thousands but were never heard," Miep Gies said in an email to the Associated Press this week.

Accolades

Mrs Gies was an employee of Anne Frank's father, Otto, who kept them and six others supplied during their two years in hiding in an attic in Amsterdam from 1942 to 1944.

But the family were found by the authorities, and deported.

Anne Frank died of typhus in the German concentration camp of Bergen-Belsen later.

It was Mrs Gies who collected up Anne Frank's papers, and locked them away, hoping that one day she would be able to give them back to the girl.

In the event, she returned them to Otto Frank, and helped him compile them into a diary that was published in 1947.

It went on to sell tens of millions of copies in dozens of languages.

She became a kind of ambassador for the diary, travelling to talk about Anne Frank and her experiences, campaigning against Holocaust-denial and refuting allegations that the diary was a forgery.

For her efforts to protect the Franks and to preserve their memory, Mrs Gies won many accolades.

"This is very unfair," she told the Associated Press.

"So many others have done the same or even far more dangerous work."

US army 'wants more immigrants'

The United States army is to accept immigrants with temporary US visas, for the first time since the Vietnam war, according to the New York Times.

Until now immigrants have had to have permanent residency - a "green card" - in order to qualify for the services.

But those with temporary visas will be offered accelerated citizenship if they enrol, the Times says.

The Pentagon hopes the scheme will cover shortages in areas like medical care and language interpretation.

Many temporary immigrants will have been granted visas on the basis of their education or skills, so the defence department expects the new recruits to be more qualified than applicants who are US citizens - and in particular to have languages useful in combat zones like Afghanistan and Iraq.

"The American army finds itself in a lot of different countries where cultural awareness is critical," said Lt-Gen Benjamin C Freakley, the top recruitment officer for the army.

"There will be some very talented folks in this group," he told the New York Times.

"The army will gain in its strength in human capital, and the immigrants will gain their citizenship and get on a ramp to the American dream."

Opposition from veterans

The Times said the scheme could cut the time a temporary resident had to wait for a green card from up to 10 years to as little as six months.

The programme will be limited to 1,000 enlistees in its first year, but if successful could be spread to other services and expanded. It could eventually provide the army with one in six of its recruits, the Times said.

Army recruiters say their job has become easier in recent months as unemployment has risen in the US. But even so, they regret having had to turn away many immigrants because they had only temporary residency.

However, the Times said there appeared to be some opposition from officers and veterans, who expressed concern that some foreigners might have divided loyalties or be terrorists seeking to infiltrate the US armed services.

Burris: Blagojevich's brother asked me to help raise funds

CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) -- Democratic former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's brother asked Roland Burris to contribute or help raise up to $10,000 in campaign cash before Burris was named a U.S. senator on December 30, according to a Burris spokesman.

Roland Burris told reporters in January that his appointment has nothing to do with money.

Also, in an affidavit written by Burris and obtained by CNN, Burris said Blagojevich's brother Rob called him after the November elections to ask him to raise funds. The affidavit did not specify a dollar amount.

Burris said he refused to contribute to Blagojevich or to assist in fundraising for him.

Blagojevich's appointment of Burris was hotly disputed, as Blagojevich is facing corruption charges.

Prosecutors accuse him of attempting to sell the Senate seat, vacated by President Obama upon his election, to the highest bidder. He was ousted from office last month by Illinois lawmakers.

Attempts by CNN to contact Rob Blagojveich and representatives of the former governor regarding the allegation, first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times, were not immediately successful Saturday. A woman answering the telephone at Rob Blagojevich's home told CNN he was not available and hung up.

Rob Blagojevich's attorney, Michael Ettinger, told the Sun-Times that Blagojevich had spoken with Burris about a fundraiser but "didn't know [Burris] was in the running for the U.S. Senate seat."

In his January 8 testimony before an Illinois House impeachment panel, Burris, the former Illinois attorney general, said he had no conversations with Blagojevich before the then-governor's arrest about his desire to be appointed to the seat.

Burris said in a written affidavit given to the panel that he had only one limited exchange with the governor regarding the seat, at the initiation of a Blagojevich attorney.

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Burris also said that he was not aware of any "quid pro quo" with the former governor. "I can for this committee state that there was no legal, personal or political exchange for my seat," he said.

But in a statement released Friday to the Sun-Times along with the affidavit filed February 5, Burris said, "There were several facts that I was not given the opportunity to make during my testimony to the impeachment committee, so, upon receiving the transcripts, I voluntarily submitted an affidavit so everything was transparent."

In the affidavit, Burris said he recalled that Rob Blagojevich called him three times -- in October and then twice shortly after the November elections -- to "seek my assistance in fundraising for Gov. Blagojevich."

Burris said that in one of the conversations, he believes the last one, "I mentioned the Senate seat in the context of saying that I could not contribute to Gov. Blagojevich because it could be viewed as an attempt to curry favor with him regarding his decision to appoint a successor to President Obama."

The affidavit does not directly state that Rob Blagojevich solicited funds or give a dollar amount. However, Burris spokesman Jason Erkes sasid Saturday that the governor's brother asked Burris to contribute or help raise up to $10,000 for Blagojevich.

"I was asked to raise money by the governor's brother and made it unequivocally clear to him that it would be inappropriate and pose a major conflict because I was interested in the Senate vacancy," the statement said.

"I did not donate or help raise a single dollar for the governor from those conversations and would never consider making a donation through a third party."

Burris said in the affidavit that he did not raise or donate any funds for the governor after a June fundraiser.

Asked by the impeachment panel whom he had talked to about the Senate seat, Burris said he had spoken with Blagojevich's former chief of staff, Lon Monk, but did not get a chance to mention anyone else.

"I wish to supplement my answer with other events that I have been able to recall to make certain the record is complete," he said in the affidavit

He mentions conversations with three other people regarding the seat: John Harris, Doug Scofield and John Wyma. The three are identified as "Blagojevich insiders" by the Sun-Times.

Burris said, however, that his conversations with Rob Blagojevich came after talks with those people.

Burris told the Sun-Times that he sent the new statement to Illinois House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie.

Currie initially told the newspaper that she was unfamiliar with the contents of Burris' letter. After being read his account of the Rob Blagojevich phone calls, Currie, a Democrat, told the Sun-Times, "Very odd. I don't know there is anything actionable here, but I would like to check the record."

Illinois Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno, however, told the newspaper that Burris' new account contains detail that he should have disclosed to the impeachment panel, as well as to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, before he was seated.

"If it turns out this was some sort of attempt to avoid this coming out as part of the appointment process, then he doesn't deserve to be senator," Radogno, a Republican, told the Sun-Times. "I think the whole thing stinks to high heaven."

Burris was sworn in January 15 after an extended political battle regarding his seat.

The Senate initially refused to seat him, citing a 125-year-old Senate rule requiring the secretary of state's signature to certify an appointment.

Illinois Secretary of State Jessie White had refused to sign the appointment certificate because of the controversy surrounding Blagojevich. But the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that White's signature was not necessary for the appointment to be valid.