India

A new set of economic data put out by a sub-committee of the National Statistical Commission has shown that the UPA government under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh clocked a double-digit growth rate of 10.08 per cent in 2006-07.

Eighteen years ago, human rights activist Agnivesh had tied a saffron turban on then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and urged him not to yield to pressure, during US President Bill Clinton's imminent visit, to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

He had not been as roundly remembered in a decade as he was this day; he had become a mostly forgotten, if not also often forsaken elder, bundled into reclusion imposed by time and its tough taxations - a lapsed entity, there somewhere, and yet not.

The Congress response to Atal Bihari Vajpayee's death has gone beyond formalities, coming as a pleasant surprise amid the current atmosphere of political rancour.

Thirteen of Kerala's 14 districts continued to be in the grip of calamity on Friday although the rain began to relent.

Rains were relentless for days. Fear of rising water entering our home had snatched away sleep. The thought of rushing out of the house in the middle of the night was frightening.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah walked 5km in the scorching sun behind Atal Bihari Vajpayee's hearse, accompanied by BJP leaders, seeking to pay an "extraordinary tribute" and make a point.

Representatives from India's immediate neighbourhood, including Pakistan, turned up at Rashtriya Smriti Sthal on Friday afternoon to bid farewell to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee as his mortal remains were consigned to flames with full state honours.

A councillor was allegedly assaulted inside the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation in Maharashtra and expelled on Friday by a group of BJP representatives after he opposed an attempt to move a motion condoling the death of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

A wildlife research organisation has claimed that a television commercial for Renault's KWID car featuring a herd of wild elephants may encourage people to indulge in irresponsible behaviour in the wilderness and put themselves in danger.