Lahore, Nov 5: Setting up tandoors on roadsides is a lucrative business in Lahore these days, especially after the launch of the “Sasti Roti” scheme by the Punjab government. Under the scheme, those running tandoors or road-side dhabas would get a 20-kg bag of flour at Rs 250.

After the launch of the scheme, the number of registered tandoors and hotels in Lahore has reached almost 3300, against around 1450 till one and-a-half months back.

Paris - French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday sent a letter to US President-elect Barack Obama congratulating him on what he called a "brilliant victory."

After extending the "warmest congratulations" on his behalf and that of the French people, Sarkozy wrote that Obama's election triumph "crowns an exceptional campaign ... (that) has shown the vitality of American democracy to the entire world."

Sarkozy added, "In choosing you, the American people have chosen change, openness and optimism."

Moscow - Russia said Wednesday it anticipated a "fresh approach" to leave behind the "stereotypes" in relations with the United States after Barack Obama's victory in the presidential elections.

"The US election result testifies to the fact that everyone correctly counted on a fresh US approach to all the major problems," Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin told news agency Interfax on Wednesday.

"We believe that the US president will himself shape the tone of relations with Russia. As to the president's advisors, they will also have the possibility to look in a new way at the old approaches and maybe to review the stereotypes that earlier were intrinsic to them," Karasin said.

Dr. Muhammad Siddiq, head of the Islamic Medical Association, has been suspended for 12-months over the ‘offensive and homophobic’ letter sent by him to Pulse, a magazine published for general practitioners.

In his letter, Dr. Siddiq claims gays ‘were the root cause of many sexually transmitted diseases’ and required the ‘stick of law to put them on the right path’.  Such comments, according to Andrew Popat, Chairman of the General Medical Council panel are not in the best interests of his patients, tend to undermine public confidence in the medical profession and bring it into disrepute.

Washington, November 5: Kids who study a musical instrument for at least three years outperform children with no instrumental training, according to a study.

Harvard researchers Gottfried Schlaug and Ellen Winner say that their findings apply not only to tests of auditory discrimination and finger dexterity, but also to tests measuring verbal ability and visual pattern completion.

During the study published online in PLoS ONE, the researchers compared 41 eight- to eleven-year-olds who had studied either piano or a string instrument for a minimum of three years to 18 children who had no instrumental training.

Hanover, Germany - As investigators continued the slow work of identifying 20 dead from Germany's worst bus disaster in 15 years, police said Wednesday the fire began in the toilet of the bus.

Passengers said they saw smoke come from the closed toilet, and when the door opened, flames roared out and spread through the moving vehicle's interior Tuesday evening.

There was speculation a passenger may have surreptitiously smoked in the toilet. In Germany it is illegal to smoke on public transport. Police said the bus had no technical defects.