Queen Elizabeth II will visit Ground Zero for the first time and make her first address to the UN General Assembly in over half a century when she arrives in New York on Tuesday. The 84-year-old monarch, accompanied by her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, will lay a wreath at the former site of the World Trade Centre to pay tribute to victims of the 2001 terrorist attacks.
She will also open the British Garden of Remembrance in nearby Hanover Square to honour the 67 British citizens killed on 9/11. Royal aides say she was personally concerned about the tragedy, but had not had an opportunity to go to New York herself.
In 2002, on the first anniversary of the attacks, she sought to console the grieving British community living there by sending them a personal message, expressing her sympathy and thanking New Yorkers for their support for grieving Britons.
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Lebanon’s top Shia cleric Fadlallah dies
Beirut : Lebanon’s Grand Ayatollah Moha-mmed Hussein Fadlallah, one of Shia Islam’s main religious figures who had a strong following world over, died on Sunday after a long illness. He was 75.
Fadlallah, known for his staunch anti-American stance, helped in the rise of Lebanon’s Shia community in the past decades. He was one of the founders of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s governing Dawa Party and was believed to be its religious guide until the last days of his life. He was described in the 1980s as a spiritual leader of the Lebanese militant Hezbollah, a claim both he and the group denied. He was born in Iraq in 1935 and lived in Najaf. —AP
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Iran unveils human-like walking robot
Tehran, July 4: Iran has developed a new human-like walking robot to be used in “sensitive jobs,” a government newspaper Iran reported on Sunday.
Soorena-2, named after an ancient Persian warrior, was unveiled by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. It is 1.45 metres tall and weighs 45 kilograms, the report said. “Walking slowly like human beings with regular arm and leg movements are among its characteristics,” it said. “Such robots are designed and developed to be used in sensitive and difficult jobs on behalf of a person or as help.” The report did not elaborate on the robot’s capabilities. Iran has pursued a number of scientific projects such as cloning, stem cell research and sa-tellite technology. —AFP