When blind sculptor Felice Tagliaferri was forbidden to touch one of Italy's most famous statues, he decided revenge was best served not just cold but stone cold.

Tagliaferri, 41, spent much of two years creating his marble interpretation of "Cristo Velato," or "Veiled Christ," a 1753 masterpiece that he has neither seen nor touched.

Giuseppe Sanmartino's exquisitely detailed sculpture of the body of Christ lying wrapped in a fine shroud is one of the prime tourist attractions in Naples.

Sania Zaidi sits in the R. Premadasa stadium press box as the World Cup drama unfolds beneath her.

Nothing unusual about that except the 28-year-old Pakistani journalist has been blind since childhood and is on a mission to promote better relations between Pakistan and India.

"I want cricket to promote peace, courtesy and courage which we have been lacking in our wonderful world. I can't see it but I can sense it and am here at this World Cup to promote my mission," Sania told AFP.

He cannot see but has always wanted to reach out to people through his voice. Now Rishi, 21, is doing just that, thanks to Panjab University's community radio Jyotirgamaya that gave him a chance to host a radio show.

Enthusiastic and determined, Rishi, who goes by only one name, does not want his visual disability to come in the way of his dreams. 'I always listened to radio and fantasised to explore the world with the help of my voice,' a visibly excited Rishi told IANS here as his programme went on the air recently.

Satish Navale, the man behind the Braille Vani web radio for the visually-impaired, on Tuesday demonstrated how to plant saplings to visually impaired students in Nashik, Pune and Assam.

Braille Vani is the brainchild of Navale, a former visually impaired student of the University of Pune (UoP).

The 25-minute programme, which was aired from 107.4 FM of UoP through teleconferencing, was coordinated by public information officer of Rahuri Krushi Vidyapeeth, Sandeep Patil, and retired IAS officer from Assam, Mohini Mohan Budagoa. The programme was conducted in Hindi.

The band, Black, performed on Saturday at a charity event at Sri Satya Sai Nigamagamam. All 13 members of the band are visually impaired and while a few of them have learned music on their own, others have attended music school or are still music students.

Hailing from Mumbai, Black, has already recorded three devotional albums and have toured the US, Jordan, UK, Canada and other countries. They were here for a charity function organised by JCI, Hyderabad Deccan.