Replies

http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/s04090145.htm

ASSIST News Service (ANS) - PO Box 2126, Garden Grove, CA 92842-2126 USA
E-mail: danjuma1@aol.com, Web Site: www.assistnews.net

Sunday, September 26, 2004

NINE MISSIONARIES INJURED IN INDIA VIOLENCE
Left wing parties condemn attacks

By: Stefan J. Bos
Special Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

The nuns were delivering food to one of India"s most poorest groups.

Source: AFP/BBC

KOZHIKODE, INDIA (ANS) -- Left wing parties of India's southern state of Kerala have condemned anti Christian attacks which injured a team of nuns and priests of the Mssionaries of Charity, saying the government has "failed" to protect minorities, The Times of India newspaper reported Sunday, September 26.

They made the announcement after Kerala's police reportedly detained 15 people following two attacks on at least three priests and six nuns of the organization, raising fears of escalating violence against India's minority Christians.

The national governor of the Bangalore-based Global Council for Indian Christians Sajan K George said members of the right-wing Hindu parties Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were behind the violence on Saturday, September 25.

One Hindu official demanded "a comprehensive probe into the incident" but also demanded the arrest of a missionary team member from Kenya, identified as brother Bernard, on charges of "religious propaganda after coming to India on a tourist visa," and "insulting remarks against (Hindu) Gods", The Times of India said.

NUNS ATTACKED

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) said the attacks on nuns in Kerala began Saturday morning when two of them isited a slum on the outskirts of Kozhikode town where they had carried food for slum people, mostly Dalits, who live in extreme poverty.

They were allegedly pulled out of the jeep and the crosses they wore around their necks were said to have been broken. The nuns managed to escape and took refuge in a police station after slum people intervened, the BBC reported.

An hour later, another jeep belonging to Missionaries of Charity carrying Mother Superior Kusumam and six others, including the Kenyan missionary, arrived at the slum to help their colleagues, but were reportedly surrounded and attacked by 40 people carrying iron rods. Nine missionaries were admitted to a local hospital with head injuries, the BBC said, adding that the assailants managed to escape. Government officials have pledged to take hard actions against those behind the attacks.

Read more on these and other news stories on news agency BosNewsLife at website http://www.bosnewslife.com

Award winning Journalist Stefan J. Bos was born on the 19th of September 1967 in a small home in downtown Amsterdam, in the Netherlands not far from the typewriter of his father, who was (and still is) a Reporter and ghostwriter. Already at a very young age Bos decided to become journalist and finally arrived in Hungary, the same country where his parents had smuggled Bibles during Communism.

Bos has traveled extensively to cover wars and revolutions throughout the region and received the Annual Press Award of Merit from the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for his coverage about foreign policy affairs including Hungary's relationship with NATO and the European Union. Stefan J. Bos can be reached at: stefan@bosnewslife.com.

** You may republish this story with proper attribution.
Send this story to a friend.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1228191/posts

"Man With Bomb Materials Arrested Near Bridge" (New York)
WINS News ^ | 9/27/04

Posted on 09/27/2004 7:39:05 AM PDT by areafiftyone

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "A Queens man was arrested after police found substances used in the manufacturing of explosives in his van near the Atlantic Beach Bridge on Long Island.

Nassau County Police say an officer on the way to another assignment saw a van parked near some high reeds off Route 878 in Lawrence at about 6:30 Friday night. 56-year-old Hippocrates Koutosoupakis of Astoria was found nearby.

Police say the potentially dangerous substances were inside Koutosoupakis's van and that it "was his intention to cause an explosion."

Authorities say Koutosopakis was wearing military-style suspenders with pockets containing tools and a propane torch. He also allegedly had a stun gun.

The Daily News reports this morning, Koutosopakis also had with him rappelling gear and a map of nearby Kennedy airport. Also, a search of his home turned up several improvised explosives."