The ENT department of Apollo Hospital conducted a total of 18 cochlear operations on stone deaf children on Friday. The operations which were funded by the Rajiv Arogyasri programme of the government, was done successfully on children between the age group 2 to 9 years who for the first time ever will be able to hear and talk.

After 3,988 cases and 49 deaths because of dengue being reported across the nation except few states, it is now the State of Punjab which is falling under the grip of it. Number of hospitals are getting cases from across the state who are now finding it difficult to manage the inflow of patients.

The difficulty is all the more aggravated as the government hospitals are not properly equipped with the facilities required and the patients are now being sent to PGI in Chandigarh or private medical college hospitals in Ludhiana. It has been reported that more than 50,000 cases approximately has come up.

The infamous Aarushi murder case which happened in Noida on May 16 took another turn when the important records were reported missing from the Noida district government hospital. The files in which the pathology tests of the deceased were kept, held the cue as to whether the girl was sexually assaulted by the suspects or not were vanished.

The central government is thinking to raise import duty on edible oil. It was, earlier, cut significantly in the beginning of the year. The union agriculture ministry is of the view to bring it back to the original level. The union commerce department is also backing the proposal of increasing import duty. Oil prices are very unstable from last few weeks following world financial crisis. The Cabinet committee on pricing will discuss the matter in its proposed meeting on November 3.

The issue of the country’s financial turmoil appears to be benefiting Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama in a fairly steady manner, with November 4 election just round the corner.

Though Obama’s 11-point lead over his rival Republican John McCain, according to Sunday’s Washington Post-ABC News tracking poll, is his lowest of the month over the economy issue, it nevertheless is a gap that McCain has to think about.

Five days after the brouhaha over financial disclosure forms from the Republican National Committee revealing a spending of $150,000 on clothing of Sarah Palin and her family, the vice presidential candidate tossed the blame back to the RNC.

Opening her remarks in Tampa, Palin, who had offered no comments till now, revived the unpleasant topic for the McCain campaign, saying that the whole wardrobe talk was very “ridiculous.”