Over 70,700 children died of measles in 11 countries of WHO South-East Asia Region in 2011, constituting about 45 per cent of global measles deaths.

In a prescient sort of way, the world outside began warming to Narendra Modi just a little less than a year ago. And now that Narendra Modi has been anointed the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, it’s expected that more foreign governments will warm up to Mr Modi, seeking to end the pariah status many bestowed upon him post the 2002 Gujarat riots.

Reactions from political parties over the anointment of Gujarat strongman Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidate has been on predictable lines with the Congress denouncing him as a divisive leader and the BJP leaders and allies of the NDA endorsing their poster boy.

Narendra Modi, from being an RSS pracharak to BJP office-bearer to three time Gujarat chief minister and now BJP’s prime ministerial candidate. Despite called by many as a “polarising” and “divisive” figure after the post-2002 Godhra riots, Mr Modi continued to battle against all odds and opposition from within the party to emerge as the face of BJP for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Mr Modi will turn 63 on September 17.

Nearly 14 blackbucks have died in the Lucknow zoo in the past one week, mainly due to bronchopneumonia.
According to Dr Parag Nigam, an expert from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), bronchopneumonia is severe infection of the lungs. “The blackbucks, most of them sub-adult females with a weaker immune system, died of respiratory distress and had severely affected lungs,” he said.

Despite the deadline fixed by the Supreme Court, it’s unlikely that the coal ministry will be able to provide the CBI some crucial files sought by it to complete its probe into the coalgate scam as the ministry has reportedly not been able to locate certain required documents.

The most direct and open call within the BJP to party patriarch L.K. Advani asking him to make way for Narendra Modi’s projection as the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate came on Thursday from senior Bihar leader Sushil Kumar Modi, known for long for his pro-Advani leanings. In two back-to-back Twitter messages, the former Bihar deputy chief minister made an impassioned pitch for ending the current logjam in the BJP’s top echelons over a reportedly stubborn Advani blocking the Gujarat leader’s prime ministerial path.

In keeping with its two-decade old tradition, the Samajwadi Party, on Thursday, continued to blow hot and cold on the Mohd Azam Khan issue.

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said that very soon every village in Howrah district will have electricity. “Rural electrification has been a big success story. In Howrah, power has been taken to 99.94 per cent villages. We are confident that very soon we will achieve the 100 per cent figure,” she added.

A day after the tragic death of Class 5 student Oindrila Das, hundreds of irate parents went on a rampage at Dum Dum’s Christ Church Girls’ High School forcing principal Helen Sarkar to tender her resignation. Later, Ms Sarkar was arrested for negligence of duty on the basis of the FIR filed by the deceased student’s family.