John Blanchard stood up from the bench, straightened his Army uniform, and studied the crowd of people making their way through Grand Central Station. He looked for the girl whose heart he knew, but whose face he didn’t, the girl with the rose. His interest in her had begun thirteen months before in a Florida library. Taking a book off the shelf he found himself intrigued, not with the words of the book, but with the notes penciled in the margin. The soft handwriting reflected a thoughtful soul and insightful mind.

In front of the book, he discovered the previous owner’s name, Miss Hollis Maynell. With time and effort he located her address. She lived in New York City. He wrote her a letter introducing himself and inviting her to correspond. The next day he was shipped overseas for service in World War II

During the next year and one-month the two grew to know each other through the mail. Each letter was a seed falling on a fertile heart. A Romance was budding. Blanchard requested a photograph, but she refused. She felt that if he really cared, it wouldn’t matter what she looked like.

When the day finally came for him to return from Europe, they scheduled their first meeting – 7:00 pm at Grand Central Station in New York.

“You’ll recognize me, ” she wrote, “by the red rose I’ll be wearing on my lapel.” So at 7:00 he was in the station looking for a girl whose heart he loved, but whose face he’d never seen.

I’ll let Mr. Blanchard tell you what happened: A young women was coming toward me, her figure long and slim. Her blonde hair lay back in curls from her delicate ears; her eyes were blue as flowers. Her lips and chin had a gentle firmness, and in her pale green suit she was like springtime come alive. I started toward her, entirely forgetting to notice that she was not wearing a rose. As I moved, a small, provocative smile curved her lips. “Going my way, sailor?” she murmured. Almost uncontrollably I made one step closer to her, and then I saw Hollis Maynell. She was standing almost directly behind the girl. A women well past 40, she had graying hair tucked under a worn hat. She was more than plump, her thick-ankled feet thrust into low-heeled shoes. The girl in the green suit was walking quickly away. I felt as though I split in two, so keen was my desire to follow her, and yet so deep was my longing for the women whose spirit had truly companioned me and upheld my own.

And there she stood. Her pale, plump face was gentle and sensible, her gray eyes had a warm and kindly twinkle. I did not hesitate. My fingers gripped the small worn blue leather copy of the book that was something precious, something perhaps even better than love, a friendship for which I had been and must ever be grateful.

I squared my shoulders and saluted and held out the book to the women, even though while I spoke I felt choked by the bitterness of my disappointment. “I’m Lieutenant John Blanchard, and you must be Miss Maynell. I am so glad you could meet me; may I take you to dinner?”

The women’s face broadened into a tolerant smile. “I don’t know what this is about, son,” she answered, “but the young lady in the green suit who just went by, she begged me to wear this rose on my coat. And she said if you were to ask me out to dinner, I should go and tell you that she is waiting for you in the big restaurant across the street. She said it was some kind of test!”

It’s not difficult to understand and admire Miss Maynell’s wisdom. The true nature of a heart is seen in it’s response to the unattractive. “Tell me whom you love,” Houssaye wrote, “And I will tell you who you are.”

ISLAMABAD, April 17 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan and Afghanistan have found a new path in their warm up bilateral relations, particularly with the formation of a high level joint peace and reconciliation commission to push the peace process in the war- shattered country.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani Saturday agreed to establish the two-tier Afghanistan-Pakistan Joint Commission for facilitating and promoting reconciliation and peace.

The first tier of commission will include the chief executives, foreign ministers along with chiefs of the military and intelligence services of the two countries while the second tier will comprise senior officials of foreign ministries, military and intelligence services.

Chairman of Afghanistan's High Peace Council, Professor Burhanuddin Rabbani, welcomed the establishment of the Afghanistan- Pakistan Joint Commission for facilitating and promoting reconciliation and peace. Rabbani, an ethnic Tajik and former Afghan President, who had always been critical of Pakistan's role but his visit to Pakistan in January highlighted Pakistan's key role in the Afghan reconciliation process.

The commission reflects a positive change in bilateral relations as now Afghan leadership recognized Islamabad's role in the reconciliation process when the American troops are set to begin withdrawal of its forces in July and Afghan forces will gradually take over the security responsibility, analysts said.

Pakistan's role is considered as a key to Afghan reconciliation as the country still has influence on the Afghan Taliban. Islamabad had announced in February last year that it has reached the Afghan Taliban, the declaration was welcomed by certain quarters as Pakistan is thought to be the only country to convince the Taliban to come to the negotiation table.

Prime Minister Gilani's visit to Afghanistan, the second in four months, was unique as for the first time the top military leadership joined the PM entourage to tell the world community that the political and military leadership are united.

The U.S. and Afghan authorities had been critical of the role of Pakistan on Afghan issues in the past. And they even accused elements in Pakistan's military establishment of supporting Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan. A White House report accused Pakistan of avoiding "direct conflict" with al-Qaeda and Afghan Taliban in North Waziristan tribal region.

Gilani's stand that Islamabad will back the Afghan-led reconciliation process may be welcomed in Afghanistan as Afghans are very sensitive about any foreign intervention in its internal affairs. The announcement may also help in removing the mistrust among the Afghans about Pakistan's policies.

There is another logic behind the fast growing high level interaction between Pakistan and Afghanistan to counter what Islamabad has described as a new "great game" in Afghanistan. Pakistani leaders have not publicly defined the great game but political analysts are of the opinion that it is the U.S. intentions for future to use Afghan soil against Iran and other countries.

The U.S. quest for permanent bases in Afghanistan has also raised many questions as to why Washington is looking for permanent bases if President Obama has announced a phased withdrawal. People in Pakistan and Afghanistan still remember the U.S. regional role in the past that it had turned back to the region after the withdrawal of former Soviet forces in 1989.

The economic aspect of Gilani's day-long visit to Afghanistan was also very important when he gave reference to several important mega projects, including trans-regional projects, such as the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India Gas Pipeline, building of electricity transmission lines, enhancing physical connectivity by building or upgrading requisite infrastructure, as well as expediting the implementation mechanisms for the Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement, that need to be fast- tracked.

Source-Xinhua

David Cameron has claimed that "virtually every country around the world" wants Colonel Gaddafi to step down as leader of Libya.

Dismissing suggestions that the anti-Gaddafi coalition had changed its war aims, the prime minister said that when he joined the presidents of the US and France in publishing a joint article saying that Gaddafi would have to go, the three leaders were merely expressing world opinion.

"If you stop and think about it, the idea that at the end of all this somehow you could keep in place Colonel Gaddafi, who is even as we speak right now murdering his own civilians in Misrata – the idea that he's got a part to play in the future of Libya must be wrong," Cameron said.

The publication of the joint article on Friday prompted calls for the recall of parliament, on the grounds that it implied regime change was now the main goal of the coalition. In an interview with Sky News on Sunday, Cameron rejected this analysis.

"We can only fulfil what is in the UN security council resolutions, but that doesn't stop us together as we have done, President Obama, President Sarkozy and I – but also virtually every prime minister in every country around the world – saying that Libya should be able to have a free and democratic future determined by themselves; it's hard to believe they'd choose one with Colonel Gaddafi still around," Cameron said.

Cameron said that there was "no question of an invasion or an occupation" under the terms of the UN resolution and that this was making fighting the conflict "more difficult in many ways" for the coalition. But the coalition was supplying the rebels with non-lethal material, such as body armour and communications equipment, he said.

"There's no doubt in my mind that Colonel Gaddafi is still intent on murdering people in Misrata and taking control of that large city and also pushing towards Benghazi, where I'm sure, if he ever got there, there would be a bloodbath," Cameron said.

"We should be taking all the necessary steps to stop that from happening and to save civilian life."

Source-guardian.co.uk

CAIRO, April 17 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian former President Hosni Mubarak is still in Sharm El-Sheikh Hospital along with his wife Suzanne, Egypt's state news agency MENA quoted an official source as saying on Sunday.

On the contrary, Egypt's al-Ahram newspaper reported on its website Saturday that Mubarak has been transferred by a military helicopter to the International Medical Center, some 42 km east of the capital Cairo, and he will stay there until the end of his interrogation on charges of corruption and ordering the killing of protestors.

Mubarak was sent to the Sharm El-Sheikh hospital on Tuesday after suffering heart problems while being interrogated by prosecutors.

Egyptian Prosecutor General Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud on Wednesday ordered a 15-day detention for Mubarak on charges including the ordering the killing of protesters, embezzlement of public funds and abuse of power.

The prosecutor general issued on Friday a decision to move Mubarak to a military hospital.

Mubarak's two sons, Alaa and Gamal, were sent to the Tora prison in Cairo on Wednesday awaiting investigations.

Source-Xinhua

It was the first time that Tokyo Electric Power company (Tepco) has given a clear timeline for repairing the damage at the plant, and came after repeated complaints at the lack of clear information about the situation.

A phased plan will first target a “cold shutdown” of the plant’s reactor cores, when temperatures are brought down under 100 degrees C.

In the second step, 60,000 tons of radioactive water that currently flood the plant will be “decreased” and decontaminated. Meanwhile the entire building will be covered with a special structure to stop radioactive material escaping.

Finally, the radiation that has spread across the 20km (12 mile) evacuation zone will be reduced and tens of thousands of residents allowed to return. The chairman of Tepco admitted that he did not know when that might happen, but Banri Kaieda, Japan’s trade minister, said some could return home within six to nine months.

"We sincerely apologize for causing troubles," said Tsunehisa Katsumata, Tepco’s chairman. "We are doing our utmost to prevent the crisis from further worsening."

There has been mounting criticism of Tepco and the Japanese government at the lack of transparency over the plant and over the nuclear industry in general.

Tepco has already been repeatedly accused of falsifying safety data even before last month’s earthquake. At the same time, the Japanese government was reported to have withheld data showing that radiation exceeded safe levels more than 18 miles from the plant, beyond the established safety zone.

In Fukushima, locals complained that the government’s decision to suddenly and inexplicably raise the alert level at the plant two notches to seven, the same level of seriousness as the Chernobyl disaster, has created a maelstrom of rumours.

As a result, there have been reports of people from Fukushima being turned away from hotels in other parts of Japan, and of the total collapse of the region’s farming industry. “The rumours are so harmful that it is not just farming and fishing that has been affected, some people are saying that even machines are contaminated!” said Shimoyamada Matsuto, a spokesman for Iwaki city’s disaster management team.

“The radiation problem is not as serious as the spread of fear,” said Midori Aoki, a 21-year-old student from Iwaki, which lies 30 miles from the nuclear plant. “People do not know what to believe and what to trust,” she added.

About 630,000 terabecquerels of radiation are estimated to have been leaked at the plant. More than five million terabecquerels were released by Chernobyl.

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of State, arrived in Tokyo on Sunday on a trip designed to show solidarity with the US’ most important ally in Asia. “We pledge our steadfast support for you and your future recovery. We are very confident that Japan will demonstrate the resilience that we have seen during this crisis in the months ahead,” she said, after meeting Takeaki Matsumoto, the Foreign minister.

Source-telegraph.co.uk

IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd said on Saturday it had secured a road project worth Rs 3,600 crore (USD 813 million) which would be built in three years under the terms of the contract in Gujarat.

With the new project, the company's order book has now risen to Rs 12,000 crore, its Chairman Virendra D Mhaiskar said in a statement.

The construction and engineering firm is the first to bag the ultra mega project from the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).

In a filing with the BSE, the company said that it was the preferred bidder for the six-laning of the Ahmedabad to Vadodara section of National Highway-8 on Design Build Finance Operate Transfer (DBFOT) Toll basis.

IRB Infrastructure Developers also said the project involves building over 102 km of the highway and improving another over 93 km stretch of the existing Ahmedabad Vadodara Expressway under Phase-V.

IRB would get tolling rights on Ahmedabad Vadodara expressway from the appointed date and has a concession period of 25 years. The premium offered to NHAI in the first year is Rs 309.60 crore which will increase by 5% YoY, it added.

Source-moneycontrol.com

Business house Tata Group is looking at pumping in money into the domestic market by investing up to Rs 1.2 lakh crore in the next 5 years reports IBNLive.com. The major Tata group entities include Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Power, Tata Chemicals, Tata Global Beverages, Indian Hotels and Tata Communications.

"We have become a significant player globally in each of the sectors that we are present in. In the next 5 years, the pace of growth of the group will continue," said Tata Industries managing director Kishor A Chaukar.
The group which has over 90 companies is planning investments in sectors ranging from power to steel and automobiles.

"Rs 12,000 crore will be invested by Tata Motors and Rs 8,000 crore-Rs 10,000 crore will be in the telecommunications division," he added.

Chaukar said the Mumbai-based conglomerate has already invested about Rs 70,000 crore in the last three years and Rs 1.2 lakh crore would be in addition to this.

The group has expanded to nearly USD 68 billion from about USD 8 billion 10 years ago and it will maintain such growth, he said. “The funding for this investment initiative will be through a mix of internal accruals and debt.”

"We are generating a considerable amount of internal accruals and at the same time also reducing current debt, which will enable us to raise debt. For this investment, the debt and equity ratio will be around 2:1," Chaukar said.

Asked whether Tata Group is looking for further acquisition, Chaukar said as and when opportunities arise, they would look at it. The group has operations in over 80 countries across six continents and its companies export products and services to 85 countries.

The group, which employs around 3.95 lakh people across the world, is present in seven sectors -- communications and information technology, engineering, materials, services, energy, consumer products and chemicals.

Source-moneycontrol.com