Sister Florence turns 100, Queen Elizabeth II to send greetings

KOLKATA, June 28 : Sister Florence Bell, who shares her name with ‘The Lady with the Lamp’, turned 100 today with the warm glow her kindness touching the heart of her majesty, the Queen Elizabeth II.

Sister Bell would be greeted today evening with a telegram from the first lady of Windsor to be delivered by British Deputy High Commissioner to Eastern India Paul Walsh at her birthday party with the children of Oxford Mission and some well wishers at Barisha here.

Sister Florence had earlier received the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother’s Award for her long and outstanding service to the society.

Sister Bell’s humble reply to the greetings of love was, I am grateful. I am honoured that the Queen remembers such an insignificant person like me.

Paying rich tributes to sister Florence, Mr Walsh said she epitomised affection and compassion.

For more than five decades sister Florence has been working unstintingly for the oppressed and the under-privileged sections of the society, he said, adding her work with leprosy patients and under-privileged children was well known around the globe and even in this grand old age she is actively helping the children at the Oxford mission to learn music .

Among the other greetings was a bespectacled doll dressed in the black gown of a nun, chocolates, cards and prayers for her health from thousands of orphans and destitute children she loved so dearly.

Oldage has silently put a curb on her movements, limiting her to her room in the Mission. But it has not been able to take away the spark in her eyes that comes instantly when one talks of the death of Rajnish Patel or the infant deaths in Murshidabad and B C Roy Memorial Children’s Hospital. Service to the humanity is at her heart and the constant refrain in her sentences is God bless all of you.

Sister Florence, who took to the profession of nursing in 1926 and became the sister-in charge of the casualty ward of the London County Council Housing Estate Hospital’ during the Second World War, came to Kolkata via Mumbai in 1946 to join the Oxford Mission here. Since then, she had devoted herself for the upliftment of the poorest of the poor like Mother Teresa.

In the meantime, she has also received a welcome letter from a 101 year old Englishman inviting her to the ‘Centurian club’. (UNI)

1 US soldier killed, 4 hurt in Baghdad attack

BAGHDAD, June 28 : one US soldier was killed and four others wounded in an attack in Baghdad overnight, raising to 22 the number of Americans killed by hostile fire in Iraq since the end of the war, officials said today.

Attacks on the occupation forces have continued unabated in recent days.

An interpreter working with the US army was also wounded in last night’s attack on a regiment of the first armoured division in a district in the north of Baghdad that until recently was known as saddam city, a military spokeswoman said.

One military officer said a US convoy came under a grenade attack around 1900 GMT just when a US-imposed curfew takes effect.

Earlier yesterday another US soldier was shot in the head and critically wounded while shopping in Baghdad.

American officials in Iraq have called the attacks "militarily insignificant" because they do not reduce the capacity of the 156,000 American troops in the country, of which 53,000 are in Baghdad alone.

They also blame the resistance on Diehard loyalists of Saddam, whose Government was toppled with the April 9 fall of Baghdad to the US-led forces.

Back then US officials expressed some surprise at how the Iraqi army resistance disappeared when the invading forces closed in on the capital. At the time they worried that Saddam loyalists may simply have fled to fight another day.

The resistance could also be coming from militias of the former ruling Baath Party. Grenade launchers and AK-47 assault rifles are a fairly common accessory in some Iraqi homes.

Six British troops were shot dead on Tuesday in southern Iraq, but townspeople told it was a relatively spontaneous retaliation for what they considered an intrusive and culturally offensive weapons search by the British troops.

US President George W Bush declared major combat over in Iraq on May 1. (AGENCIES)

US charges 11 men for planning Jihad with Lashkar-e-Toiba

WASHINGTON, June 28: A US grand jury has charged 11 Muslims, mostly Americans, for conspiring with Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorist outfit to engage in ‘Jihad’ in Kashmir, Chechnya, the Philippines and other countries friendly to the US.

The indictment of the grand jury in Alexandria (Virginia) said the suspects had "an intent to serve in armed hostility against the United States" and that one of the men, Masoud Ahmad Khan, had a photograph downloaded from the internet of the FBI headquarters building in Washington. Officials, however, did not elaborate on the allegations.

Six of the men were arrested yesterday morning in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Two others were already in custody while three suspects, believed to be in Saudi Arabia, are being sought, official sources said.

US Attorney Paul Mcnulty said "right here, in this community, 10 miles from the capitol hill, in the streets of northern Virginia, American citizens allegedly met and plotted and recruited for violent Jihad."

The indictments alleged that the men were preparing to take part in military activities against a nation friendly to the US. They purchased, transported and received firearms to be used in a Felony, used and attempted to use false and altered passports and provided false statements to law enforcement investigators, Mcnulty said.

To prepare for their missions in Kashmir, Chechnya and other places, the men trained in firearm ranges in northern Virginia operated by the US military and private parties, the indictment said. The group of organizers and recruits allegedly met in secret in private homes in the northern Virginia suburbs and in an Islamic centre in falls Church, Virginia, "to hear, lecture and review tapes of Mujahideen engaged in violent Jihad," he said.

The indictment said some of the training allegedly occurred at the Quantico Marine Corps base in Prince William county.

The men are also accused of gathering at a Mosque in falls Church "to hear lectures on the righteousness of violent Jihad in Kashmir, Chechnya and other places around the world and to watch videotape of Mujahideen engaged in Jihad in such locations."

The home of a Muslim scholar who in the past has lectured at the falls Church Mosque, Ali Timimi, was searched as part of the investigation, according to Court records, but he is not charged in the indictment.

The men are charged with violating the Neutrality Act, a federal law that bans people from leaving the United States to go and attack other countries the US is at peace with. They also face a variety of weapons charges.

Yesterday’s arrests, said the post, "culminate a federal probe in which agents armed with search warrants have previously raided the homes of about a dozen people in the district of Columbia suburbs and have seized rifles, other weapons, scopes, ammunition, terrorist literature and other documents."

US officials have made informal requests to the Saudi Government for access to Ahmed Abu-Ali of falls Church, who has been taken into custody by Saudi authorities investigating the May 12 terror bombing in Riyadh, but have not yet received any response. (PTI)

Palestinians ready first step toward ending conflict

JERUSALEM, June 28: Israel and the Palestinians today prepared to take the first concrete steps towards ending 33 months of deadly violence.

The Israeli army will withdraw Monday from parts of the Gaza Strip under a deal reached with the Palestinian authority, both public and army radio announced.

Citing "senior officials," the reports said Israeli forces will also pull out of the West Bank town of Bethlehem, but did not say when.

The moves will come as part of a deal reached yesterday under which Israel will leave certain autonomous areas re-occupied after the Palestinian uprising broke out 33 months ago, with the Palestinian authority agreeing to police those areas and guarantee that no anti-Israeli attacks are carried out from them.

The reports said Israeli officers would meet their Palestinian counterparts tomorrow to discuss the details of the withdrawal from parts of the Northern Gaza Strip.

Public radio added that "if the Palestinians do not honour their commitments and stop anti-Israeli attacks being organized from the sectors evacuated, the Israeli army will feel free to act against terrorist organizations."

The deal was reached at a meeting in Tel Aviv yesterday between Palestinian Security Chief Mohammed Dahlan and General Amos Gilad, coordinator for Israeli operations in the occupied Palestinian territories. The meeting was attended by US envoy John Wolf.

And moves towards the implementation of the "roadmap" for peace were set for a further boost during the day as Condoleezza Rice, US President George Bush’s National Security Adviser, was set to fly in for talks with both sides. (APF)

Explosion near US convoy in Gaza, no injuries

GAZA, June 28: An explosive device went off as a convoy with US diplomats drove through the northern Gaza Strip today, damaging at least one vehicle but causing no injuries, Israeli military sources said.

They said the device exploded as the convoy of two cars passed. It was not clear what set off the explosion. There was no immediate comment from American officials.

Israel radio said the incident occurred in an area south of Beit Lahia on a road that crosses the Gaza Strip and that the US officials were inspecting the area ahead of an expected withdrawal of Israeli forces from the area.

The military source said Israeli forces were not in the area but were informed by the Americans when they left the Gaza Strip. He said US officials have recently been driving in that area every day. (AGENCIES)

Parliament throws out no-confidence vote against Speaker

ISLAMABAD, June 28: The political crisis over the legality of President Pervez Musharraf’s constitutional amendments continued today with the Parliament rejecting a no-confidence motion against the Speaker after both opposition and Government lawmakers refused to vote but an unrelenting opposition decided to move yet another motion.

Deputy Speaker Muhammad Yacub threw out the opposition-sponsored no-confidence motion against Speaker Amir Hussain for his ruling declaring as legal the President’s constitutional amendments.

As the opposition mustered only 143 signatures of the members of the Assembly against the required 172 votes in 342 member house, it changed tack in the middle of the proceedings and did not take part in the voting on its own motion.

Instead it got into a procedural wrangle over the Speaker’s refusal to permit all 143 members to speak.

Yacub, who presided over the house after Hussain stepped down to pave the way for debate over the motion against him, said he would permit only 11 members who actually signed the no confidence motion to speak.

The opposition rejected his ruling saying that it was partisan. After a lengthy procedural wrangle, he put the motion to vote in which no one voted.

The ruling PML-Q and its allies, who had a strength of 190 abstained from the debate in order to deprive the opposition for pressing for a vote on secret ballot.

The move was also reportedly aimed at preventing some of the disgruntled ruling party members from voting in favour of the motion in a secret ballot.

Yacub later declared that the motion was rejected.

The opposition, which has successfully blocked the National Assembly for the past six months, barring a brief debate on the budget this month, said it would move another no confidence motion.

Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali said the ruling Muslim League (Q) group and its allied parties have decided not to cast their votes during the consideration of no-trust move against the Speaker of the National Assembly.

"It is the responsibility of those who had moved the no-confidence motion to prove their majority. The opposition through the no-confidence motion against the Speaker wants to destabilise the system but would not succeed," he said.

Saying that the Government was ready for unconditional talks with the opposition, he, however, said that "the opposition should play its due role in the Parliament".

To another question, Jamali said the Government would be ready for talks with the opposition to amend the constitution provided the opposition accepted the LFO. "After the Speaker’s ruling, LFO cannot be challenged".

Earlier, defending his position Hussain said the motion of no-trust was ill-conceived, as he gave a ruling on the LFO on the insistence of the opposition and that too in accordance with the Constitution.

Saying that the opposition had spared no effort to degrade the position of the Speaker and lower the prestige of the house, he regretted that the opposition went to that extent that they gheraoed the Speaker and threw books at him.

Pointing that as speaker, he was empowered to knock out the motion on technical grounds, hussain said he did not do it and allowed the house to discuss it. (PTI)

Monitors clear Lankan Navy, blame tigers over sinking

COLOMBO, June 28: Sri Lanka’s independent truce monitors today cleared the navy of violating the ceasefire by their sinking of a Tamil Tiger merchant vessel and said the LTTE rebels disregarded a un convention by not flying an appropriate flag.

The Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission (SLMM), comprising Scandinavians, said the Navy had acted within international law and had the right to intercept the vessel entering its waters as it was "without nationality".

"The SLMM concludes that LTTE violated the United Nations convention on the law of the sea of 10th Dec 1982 by not flying an appropriate flag and official, visible identification," the SLMM said in a four-page statement.

"The Sri Lankan Navy (SLN) had the right to inspect the LTTE tanker. Hence, the SLMM does not consider that SLN violated the ceasefire agreement by intercepting the LTTE tanker."

The SLMM also rejected LTTE allegations that the Sri Lankan Navy had arrested 12 Crewmen aboard the vessel which the navy said was sunk two weeks ago within Sri Lankan waters, but the tigers maintained was in international waters.

It said the fate of the vessels’s crew was unknown and that no evidence was there that they had been captured by the Sri Lankan Navy.

The SLMM, however, blamed both parties for not informing it on time to prevent an escalation of the incident which came as the peace talks between the Government and the LTTE remained deadlocked. (PTI)

Pak ready for bilateral or multilateral talks with India

ISLAMABAD, June 28: Expressing readiness to hold bilateral or multilateral talks with India, Pakistan today said though no "roadmap" existed for resumption of composite talks with New Delhi, dialogue could begin on the basis of the path crafted at Foreign Secretary-level meetings between the two countries on earlier occasions.

Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri said that though there was no external "road map" for resumption of a composite dialogue, the path to such a dialogue had already been crafted with great skill by Foreign Secretaries of the two countries on at least ten occasions in their meetings in 1994, 1996, 1997 and at Agra. Reacting to External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha’s statement that India does not welcome any third party mediation or facilitation but was prepared to discuss the issue with Pakistan on a bilateral basis, Kasuri told reporters Pakistan was ready for both. He said Pakistan was very serious about initiating a dialogue with India and it was for this reason that Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali had offered a package of wide-ranging confidence building measures after Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s peace initiative. Since the Agra summit, President Pervez Musharraf has repeatedly stressed the need for the resumption of a composite dialogue with India which will address all outstanding issues of concern to both countries including the issue of Jammu and Kashmir, Kasuri said.

Expressing surprise at Sinha’s statement, Kasuri claimed that India had itself "rightly" accepted the use of facilitation on many occasion in the

Pointing out that Advani during his recent visit to Washington had discussed issues relating to Pakistan and Kashmir with the US administration, Kasuri said "we must get out of any complexes and hangovers and express our gratitude to the international community for being concerned about the fate of 1.3 billion people of South Asia".

He said both Pakistan and India were large countries and couldn’t be pressurised by any country but at the same Islamabad regarded it as useful the role played by the US last year to prevent a conflict between Pakistan and India.

Saying that he did not find anything wrong in the efforts of US, UN, China and many other countries to try to reduce tension in South Asia, he said "all such efforts and initiative should be looked at in a positive light as expression of concern for the people of South Asia rather than seeing it as unwanted intervention".

The Foreign Minister also welcomed recent remarks made by US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice that President Bush is committed to using America’s influence to resolve "destructive regional conflicts" including Mideast and Kashmir. (PTI)

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