New Delhi, Sep 1 : The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has ordered an extra 10, 000 metric tonnes of kerosene for flood victims in Bihar besides sanctioning rupees 50 million rupees as part of its flood aid effort.

Announcing this at a news conference in New Delhi on Monday, Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Murli Deora said that the Government was trying to meet the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) needs of the flood victims free of cost.

New Delhi - An Indian Air Force (IAF) MiG-29 fighter jet crashed
in the western state of Gujarat on Monday but the pilot managed to
eject safely, officials said.

"The aircraft had taken off from the Jamnagar airbase for a
training sortie but the pilot lost control and it crashed," IAF
spokesman Mahesh Upasani told reporters in New Delhi.

"The pilot, managed to eject safely," he added. The Jamnagar base is located 280 kilometres west of state capital Gandhinagar.

There were no reports of any casualties or damage to property on
the ground at the crash site, about 50 kilometres away from the
airbase. The pilot was moved to an Air Force hospital for treatment.

New Delhi  - Indian authorities, aided by the military, intensified their efforts Monday to rescue more than a half-million people marooned by floods in the eastern state of Bihar.

Medical teams were rushed in to prevent outbreaks of diseases in the affected areas.

An estimated 3.5 million people were affected or displaced when the monsoon-driven Kosi River changed its course after almost two centuries after a breach in a dam upstream in Nepal.

Nearly 80 people were killed in Bihar's 16 districts. Saharsa, Supaul, Araria, Purnea and Madhepura districts were among the hardest hit.

Authorities said 1.1 million people were marooned as two weeks of flooding continued in 1,600 villages in the region.

New Delhi, Sep. 1 : Experts have said that China is concerned, if not annoyed with India’s plans to have a fleet of aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines in the next decade and recently tested nuclear-capable missiles that put China''s major cities well within range.

New Delhi’s decision to reopen air force bases near the Chinese border has also invited negative reactions from officials in Beijing, they claim.

New Delhi - The Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, was Monday discharged from a hospital in India's western city of Mumbai, four days after he was admitted with "abdominal discomfort."

The 73-year-old Nobel peace laureate smiled and waved at crowds of his followers and onlookers as he left the Lilavati Hospital, his aides said.

"His Holiness left the hospital on Monday morning and is now resting at a hotel," senior aide Chimme R Chhoekyapa said by telephone from Mumbai.

"The Dalai Lama is in good health. Doctors said he has no physical problems but have advised him rest," he said.

New Delhi - At least four workers died and two others fell ill after inhaling poisonous gas which leaked from a steel plant in India's eastern state of Orissa, news reports said Monday.

The incident occurred at a private steel plant in Sambhalpur district, 350 kilometres north-west of the state capital Bhubaneshwar, on Sunday night, the IANS news agency reported.

"Four people died and I saw their bodies. They had no injuries," Sambhalpur police chief Sanjay Kumar told IANS.

"They have died after inhaling some poisonous gas," he said, adding that police was investigating the incident although the company had not informed them about it.