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DEC 1: Qatar Airways will increase the number of flights to India by 50 per cent, offering more services to major destinations in the country such as Mumbai, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram. During this period, the airline will offer two daily flights between Doha and Mumbai, 10 weekly flights between Doha and New Delhi, seven weekly flights to Hyderabad and Cochin and higher seat capacity on the Doha-Trivandrum route. All these flights will be non-stop to and from Doha.

The extra capacity to Mumbai is applicable until the end of the winter season on March 25. The additional flights to Hyderabad and Cochin would remain operational until January 31 and Trivandrum until March 25.

India successfully test-fires BrahMos

BHUBANESWAR, Nov 30 - India on Wednesday successfully test-fired an army version of its supersonic BrahMos cruise missile that was jointly developed with Russia.

The missile was tested from India's Chandipur-on-sea site, 200 kilometers northeast of Bhubaneswar.

The missile has a range of 290 kilometers and can carry a 300-kilogram (660 pounds) conventional warhead and can be launched from land, ships, submarines and aircraft.

The eight-meter (26-foot) missile weighs about three metric tons.

Indo-Pak peace march in Dec

JAIPUR � The Indo-Pak peace activists plan to take out a peace march along the Rajasthan-Sindh border in December.

Speaking to newsmen in Jaipur on Monday, India filmmaker Tapan Bose and Pakistani journalist Shahid Faiz of the Indo-Pak People's Forum for Peace and Democracy, said a peace march would be taken out from Jodhpur on December 17 and would end in Munabao on December 23, culminating into a peace fair to be held at the zero line on the Rajasthan-Sindh border.

Faiz said that a similar peace march from Hyderabad (Sindh) would also reach Munabao on the Pakistani side of the border on the same day.

Faiz said these peace marches were taken out to put pressure on both Indian and Pakistani governments to open Rajasthan-Sindh border at more points.

Bose said during the peace march they would stop at various villages to hold cultural programs and debates to foster better Indo-Pak relations.

Faiz said opening of the Rajasthan-Sindh border would not only help in developing close ties between the people of the two countries but also help generate more employment opportunities for the people of both sides.

Another peace activist Munawar Rahi said a peace park would be developed in the border district of Barmer.

He informed that the Ramsar village body has allotted land for the proposed 'Bageecha-e-Aman' (Garden of Peace). (Source: Khaleej Times)

Temple receives body parts from devotees
A Temple

NOV 30 � A Kali temple near small town in UP, about 100km from north of Lucknow, is in the news as devotees offer parts of their bodies to please the female deity, reports PTI.

"As many as eight people have so far offered their tongues at the temple since I assumed the role of its caretaker," the temple priest Siyaram Mali told PTI.

People from remote corners of Uttar Pradesh as well as neighboring Madhya Pradesh flock here to witness what he termed as a "religious ceremony".

Mali had all the details about the devotees, who had offered their tongues at the temple and displayed the list on being asked.

It included one Rajesh Singh, a carpenter by profession from Datia in Madhya Pradesh and also Ram Prakash, Pappu, Suman Gupta and Sushil, all of whom hailed from Maholia Sivpar village, where the temple is located.

Besides the list also had names of persons who belonged to Hardoi town, Mali said.

Claiming that the devotees performed the act without any coercion, the priest said it was just to please the deity.

Mali said the doors of the temple are closed by the priests whenever a devotee offers his tongue at the "feet of the Kali".

"A piece of red cloth is tied around the walls of the temple and the kith and kin of the devotee offering his tongue are not allowed to meet him," he said. If one were to believe the devotees and the priest, the deity herself appears before them within 24 hours of such an offering.

'Pawar-play' ends Dalmiya's reign in Indian cricket

KOLKATA, India, Nov 29 - Political heavyweight Sharad Pawar wrested control of India's cricket board on Tuesday, ending Jagmohan Dalmiya's more than 25-year stranglehold on the country's richest sporting body.

Federal agriculture minister Pawar defeated Dalmiya's incumbent nominee, Ranbir Singh Mahendra, 20-11 in the election for the president of the BCCI in Kolkata.

Pawar, 64, won the election on his second attempt after losing out to Mahendra last year. At that time, it was Dalmiya's casting vote that decided the secret ballot which was tied 15-15 with one vote disqualified.

Pawar, a former chief minister of the western state of Maharashtra, currently heads the Mumbai Cricket Association. (AFP)

Big B discharged

NOV 29: Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, was today discharged from the Escorts hospital here where he was admitted in the morning after he complained of abdominal pain.

Bachchan, wearing a red monkey cap and covered in a cream-color shawl, came out of the hospital shortly after 6:30 pm and got into a car with the help of his actor-son Abhishek Bachchan.

The 63-year-old legendary actor, who underwent a series of tests during the day, was looking very weak. Escorts Director and leading cardiologist Naresh Trehan, said the actor was feeling better than before. "It was just a stomach ache," he added.
Asked whether he was suffering from food poison, Trehan said "something like that.", reports PTI.

Monica�s defense: I was don�s captive

Hyderabad, Nov. 29: �Monica Bedi was in mafia don Abu Salem�s captivity all these years. He used her as a puppet,� her new lawyer Sudhir Batra told the special court for CBI cases on Monday. The court was hearing her bail petition.

Special court judge C.V. Subrahmanyam reserved his ruling on the petition for December 1 after hearing arguments of Mr Batra and CBI�s additional legal adviser Jacob Daniel. Monica had already stated in court that she is single and not married to Abu Salem. Her defence team, appointed by her uncle Purushottam Lal Bedi, is now trying to delink charges against Monica from those against Abu Salem. The tussle between the two teams of lawyers continues.

Mr Batra told the court, �Monica was a young girl when this happened. She was in the captivity of Abu Salem. She was given a passport by Abu Salem. She is innocent. For the same offence, she was in jail in Portugal for three years.� Opposing the bail, Mr Daniel said, �Monica has links with the mafia and she can threaten witnesses if released on bail. She can flee the country as it will be very easy for her to get a fake passport as she already possesses three of them.�

He added, �Even earlier she was not willing to cooperate with the investigation. During extradition she filed a petition in Portugal that she is not willing to go to India. She was extradited on the clause that she shall be tried on the charge of conspiracy and procuring forged passport.

On the issue of her being jailed in Lisbon, Mr Daniel said, �In Portugal she was imprisoned for traveling on a fake passport. Our case is that she had procured a fake passport in Kurnool for which she was not tried.� (Source: Deccan Chronicle)

No place for Lalu�s 200 cows at �10 Janpath�
Laloo's cows

PATNA, Nov 29 � Divested of their sprawling official residence, Lalu Prasad Yadav and his wife and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi have been allotted 10 Janpath here � the same address as that of Congress president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi. But there is a problem: it cannot accommodate their 200 cows.

The palatial bungalow on Circular Road, popularly known as 10 Janpath, was allotted to them yesterday, four days after Rabri Devi was served a notice to vacate 1 Anne Marg, which the couple occupied as chief ministers since 1990.

Rabri Devi has been asked to make way for Nitish Kumar, the new chief minister of Bihar who ended the 15-year reign of the Rashtriya Janata Dal this week.

But though huge, 10 Janpath is less than half the size of the chief minister's official residence spread over five acres.

The couple is now confronted with a problem. How to accommodate the 200 cows, two horses and other pets that live with them at 1 Anne Marg?

The cattle and pets had specially constructed sheds at the chief minister's bungalow, which the state's most famous couple occupied for 15 long years.

Lalu Prasad had moved into 1 Anne Marg along with his wife and nine children on March 10, 1990 when he first became the chief minister of the state.

Though 1 Anne Marg was never notified as the official residence of the chief minister, located in high security area, it was considered the most apt for the person occupying the post.
Three other chief ministers, Bindeshwari Dube, Chandrasekhar Singh and Bhagwat Jha Azad � had lived in the bungalow earlier. (Source: Khaleej Times)