Laura - Ling 'Thrilled Beyond Words' By Sister's Release: PHOTO
Revered U.S. newswoman Lisa Ling is "thrilled beyond words" following the release of her journalist sister Laura from a detention facility in North Korea. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton persuaded North Korean leader Kim Jong Il to grant Ling and her colleague Euna Lee a special pardon during a trip to North Korea on Tuesday (04Aug09). Ling and Lee spent five months in captivity after reportedly illegally crossing the Chinese border with North Korea, where they were preparing a report about...

Freed journalists home in US after NKorea pardon: PHOTO
Two American journalists jubilantly reunited with family and friends early Wednesday upon returning to the United States with former President Bill Clinton , whose diplomatic trip to North Korea secured their release nearly five months after their arrests. The jet carrying Euna Lee and Laura Ling , reporters for Al Gore 's San Francisco -based Current TV, and Clinton arrived at Burbank 's Bob Hope Airport at dawn. Clinton met with communist leader Kim Jong Il on Tuesday to secure the women's...

BILL CLINTON TO BRING IMPRISONED JOURNALISTS HOME FROM NORTH KOREA
Former President Bill Clinton has won the release of Current TV journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who have been jailed in North Korea since March on charges of entering the country illegally. The state-run Korean Central News Agency announced that the two women had been pardoned by North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and would be allowed to leave the country with Clinton. No mention of Clinton's visit to the country was made by either the North Korean or U.S. governments until the former...

Kim Jong Platform Shoes (Photo!)
Kim Jong Platform Shoes - Now that Bill Clinton has met with North Korean ruler Kim Jong Il, successfully convincing him to release US reporters Laura Ling and Euna Lee, we can all talk about Kim Jong's platform shoes. Kim Jong Il, an insecure leader who feels the need to puff his hair up in order to appear taller and less unintimidating, wears platform shoes. In case you didn't know it already (We've known this for a while, folks), Kim Jong is insecure and needs to wear shoes that add up to 6...

The Wall Street Journal On Clinton's Successful Trip To North Korea: PHOTO
In the wake of Bill Clinton's successful trip to North Korea to secure the release of jailed journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee, some Republicans couldn't wait to express their hearty congratulations on a job well done: You get the idea. And perhaps realizing that their rightwing brethren were sounding a little harsh about the safe return of two American citizens who had been imprisoned by a branch of the "Axis of Evil," the Wall Street Journal editorial page decided to be a little more...

Bill Clinton and Freed Journalists Leave Korea: PHOTO
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton and formerly imprisoned journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling have left North Korea and are bound for Los Angeles.

Stephen Bing & Elizabeth Hurley: Bing fathered Hurley's son (photos)
Stephen Bing is a billionaire and Hollywood producer. Bing has been a staunch supporter of Bill Clinton, the Democratic Party and the Clinton Foundation. Bing supplied his private jet for Clinton to fly to North Korea. Clinton helped to bring home the jailed journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee. Stephen Bing was named by Elizabeth Hurley as the father of her son, Damian Charles. Hurley was pregnant with Damian in 2001. A DNA test has proven beyond doubt that Bing is the father of Damien Charles....

North Korean Detainees Released!!!: PHOTO
Hooray!!! Laura Ling and Euna Lee , the American journalists detained in North Korean, have finally been pardoned by leader Kim Jong Il. The release was announced during a visit by Bill Clinton , who traveled to Pyongyang hoping to secure the freedom of both reporters. The journalists were sentenced in June to 12 years of hard labor for illegal entry into North Korea and engaging in "hostile acts." Lee has a 4-year-old daughter and husband at home whereas Ling is also married and sister to...

White House OK'd Clinton mission only with caution - Yahoo! News
WASHINGTON – The White House approved Bill Clinton 's high-stakes rescue mission only with caution, intent that North Korea not benefit on the world stage. Yet officials now suggest it could mark a fresh start with the volatile regime. The freeing of two Americans on the former president's trip came with no strings attached, the Obama administration insisted Wednesday, and any move to break a stalemate over the reclusive dictatorship's nuclear weapons will have to come from Pyongyang....

Lisa Ling on Sister Laura: Shes 'Really Anxious' to Eat Fresh Food: PHOTO
TV journalist Lisa Ling , along with the husband of her newly freed sister Laura Ling , spoke candidly Wednesday about the condition of the journalists on their first day back home from North Korea. Lisa Ling described her sister as being "exhausted," revealing what she's looking forward to: "She said she's really, really anxious to eat fresh fruit and fresh food. She was telling us how there were rocks in her rice…she's just anxious to eat fresh food. I know that there will be a sushi...

US journalists return home from North Korea with Bill Clinton
Euna Lee and Laura Ling, the two US journalists freed after 140 days in captivity in North Korea, have returned home with Bill Clinton to a tearful reunion with their families in Los Angeles.

Freed Journalists Return Home - Pictures: PHOTO
Here is the moving moment when Laura Ling and Euna Lee were reunited with their families at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, CA. Euna Lee and Laura Ling walked off the plane to an emotional reunion with their family members. A crying Lee hugged her 4-year-old daughter and husband as Ling shared an embrace with her husband, parents and sister Lisa Ling. The two journalists had been held prisoner in North Korea since March after reporting from the border of North Korea and China, in June they were...

Steve Bing Flew Bill Clinton To N. Korea
So the former prez could negotiate the release of those two detained U.S. journalists. According to AP, Clinton flew to North Korea on movie producer/director Bing's private jet. Since it's currently illegal for American planes to fly to North Korea, Bing had to iron out details with the U.S. government over several days.

Bill Clinton Used Vast Web of Business Contacts to Secure Journalists' Release
Former president Bill Clinton's central role in the return of two journalists detained by North Korea has once again cast a spotlight on his vast web of financial and political contacts, a network that troubled senators who weighed whether to confirm his wife as secretary of state.

Wealthy Hollywood producer paid for Clinton's North Korea flight
WASHINGTON) — A wealthy Hollywood producer paid for the flight that carried former President Bill Clinton and two American journalists home from North Korea, a California businessman confirmed today. Stephen Bing, a close Clinton friend and longtime Democratic fundraiser, is the plane's owner, said Marc Foulkrod of Burbank, Calif., chairman of Avjet Corp., the company that manages the aircraft. Foulkrod said the Federal Aviation Administration "at the highest levels" cleared the flight...

ESPN to Staff Tweeters: Back Away from the Keyboard
ESPN throws a flag on staff Tweeters. August 05 Newspaper Rolls Out After Town Waits 166 Years An Alabama town gets a newspaper after waiting 166 years August 05 (3) At Current TV: Joy, and More Attention The mood was overjoyed Tuesday at the headquarters of Current TV, an upstart cable channel that was thrust into the news this year by the detainment of two of its journalists in North Korea. The two journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, were pardoned by the North Korean government Tuesday after...

How Bill's Trip Came About
It is hard to imagine a stronger signal of Bill Clinton's celebrity status than North Korea's explicit demand that they would release the two jailed American journalists provided he come visit. Back-door dealings for their release began sometime in the spring, when the U.S. started pressing the North Koreans via the Swedish ambassador. Eventually, the prisoners' families were allowed to regularly speak with them on the phone. During a conversation in mid-July, the North Koreans conveyed their...

Bill Clinton leaves North Korea as journalists are released
Two US reporters held in North Korea's notorious labour camps are to be released following the intervention of former president Bill Clinton.

White House OK'd Clinton mission only with caution
WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House approved Bill Clinton's high-stakes rescue mission only with caution, intent that North Korea not benefit on the world stage. Yet officials now suggest it could mark a fresh start with the volatile regime. The freeing of two Americans on the former president's trip came with no strings attached, the Obama administration insisted Wednesday, and any move to break a stalemate over the reclusive dictatorship's nuclear weapons will have to come from Pyongyang....

North Korean Captured Journalists Return Home: PHOTO
We won't lie, we teared up at the sight of this. The two American journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling , who were imprisoned in North Korea, are now back in the US! The women were greeted by their families and members of the media capturing the emotional moments of their reunion. At the press conference this morning, Laura Ling explained that she and Euna were told 30 hours earlier by North Korean officials that they were going to a meeting. When they arrived at the meeting to find former...

Steve Bing Paid For NKorea Flight: PHOTO
WASHINGTON - A businessman says a wealthy Hollywood producer paid for the flight that carried former President Bill Clinton and two American journalists home from North Korea. Marc Foulkrod, chairman of Avjet Corp., the company that manages the plane, said the aircraft is owned by Stephen Bing, a longtime Democratic donor and fundraiser. Bing raised at least $100,000 for Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign, in addition to giving the personal maximum $2,300. The Clinton...

Bolton Decries Release Of Euna Lee And Laura Ling
Euna Lee and Laura Ling are safe at home and in the warm embrace of loved ones and it's hard to feel bad about this. But, since Bill Clinton has a hand in their release, someone's got to step up and naysay the effort, and predictably, that task has fallen to former UN ambassador and noted rage-walrus John Bolton , who says the "Clinton trip is a significant propaganda victory for North Korea, whether or not he carried an official message from President Obama." Of course, holding Lee and Ling as...

North Korea Pardons Imprisoned Journalists
Good news from North Korea: Imprisoned journalist Euna Lee and Laura Ling have been pardoned by North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. That means that

Lisa Ling on Sister Laura: She's 'Really Anxious' to Eat Fresh Food: PHOTO
TV journalist Lisa Ling, along with the husband of her newly freed sister Laura Ling, spoke candidly Wednesday about the condition of the journalists on their first day back home from North Korea.

Euna Lee & Laura Ling Exhausted But in Good Health, Says Family: PHOTO
A few hours after landing on American soil , Euna Lee and Laura Ling were back home resting – and looking forward to a home-cooked meal. "[Laura] seems like she's in pretty good physical health so we're very happy about that," Ling's husband, Iain Clayton, told reporters outside their home in Studio City, Calif. "At the moment now she's going to relax and take it easy." "My sister is absolutely exhausted and just resting," added Ling's sister, Lisa. "She could barely speak she's...