-The United Nations Global and national efforts to end preventable deaths of children under-five years of age saved some 90 million lives in the past two decades, but at the current rate, a universal promise to reduce child mortality by two-thirds by 2015 will not be reached, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported today. "Yes, we should celebrate the progress," said Anthony Lake, UNICEF Executive Director. "But how can we celebrate...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The seventh AIIMS-like institute will come up at Rae Bareilly - Congress president Sonia Gandhi's parliamentary constituency - soon. Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad announced this on Thursday while addressing the convocation ceremony at AIIMS, Delhi. Azad said that land for the new AIIMS project has been acquired already. "We have acquired land for building AIIMS in Rae Bareilley and tendering process for construction is...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The government plans to bring in a regulatory framework to rein in play schools, creches and day care centres' charging exorbitant fees without providing standardized curriculum and learning aids. The policy, which includes implementation and monitoring of early child care and education for children below six years, is likely to be discussed in the Union Cabinet on Thursday. The women and child development (WCD) ministry...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Foreign corporations have created over 247,000 jobs through research and development (R&D) investments in India over the past decade, but most of the activities appear relatively unimportant with little long-term gains , researchers have said. The study, described as the first comprehensive assessment of foreign direct investment (FDI) in R&D, has challenged suggestions by Indian science policy makers and foreign corporations a decade ago that turning India into...

-The Hindu Sundarpahari (Jharkhand): In Santhali villages in Godda, along Jharkhand's border with Bihar, many slanting stone megaliths that mark the community graves are those of young women who died in childbirth in recent years. Tribal families in the hamlets scattered in Sundarpahari and Poreyhat - many of whom speak only Santahli - recount desperate struggles for medical help when young women in their families in advanced stages of pregnancy experienced...