NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was to be sworn in for a second term Friday, following the resounding election victory of his Congress-led alliance.The 76-year-old, soft-spoken economist and his 60-strong cabinet were scheduled to take their oath of office from Indian president Pratibha Patil at the presidential palace in New Delhi on Friday evening. Singh is the first prime minister since the country's post-independence leader Jawaharlal Nehru to be returned to office after completing a full term. His coalition won 262 seats in the 543-member national parliament, just 10 short of the 272 needed for a working majority. The alliance quickly garnered pledges of support from independents and others to take its voting strength to 322.
Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in...
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