Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi today announced Rs. 5 lakh each for the patients who tested HIV-positive after receiving blood from a state-run hospital. He also said the government would bear the medical expenses for the treatment of the victims.
Four persons tested positive for HIV after receiving blood at a state-run hospital in Assam’s Darrang district. They had received blood from the hospital’s blood bank over the past few months, triggering protests on World Blood Donor Day today.
A major fire broke out in two mother plants of the public sector Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL) in upper Assam's Golaghat district this morning.
Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi today said he was concerned over the Maoist activities in the state and a strict vigil is being kept on their activities in nine districts.

Abdul Rahim has sought euthanasia or mercy killing for three of his sons suffering from thalassemia, a blood disease. Reason: he has spent his resources and lost his will to carry on after fighting for 16 years.
The home ministry has asked the Supreme Court to set aside an Andhra Pradesh High Court judgment making it mandatory for a criminal case to be filed against the police every time they kill an alleged terrorist or a Maoist guerrilla in a gunfight.
The Assam assembly is set to elect Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday for his fifth straight term in the Rajya Sabha. He has been representing the Upper House from Assam since 1991.
For seven years, police in London were looking for Bangladeshi national Abdul Shakoor alias Moibul Haque for a double murder. Last week, Shakoor was arrested from Cachar in south Assam's Barak Valley.
Rahul Karmakar reports.
BadlandsA man arrested on charges of running a betting racket for the domestic T20 league died in judicial custody in Assam on Sunday, the day the cash-rich tournament ended.
A CRPF personnel on Friday allegedly dragged an Assam MLA by the hair in eastern Assam’s Mariani town after he and his supporters protested the abduction of and assault on two tea growers by miscreants from adjoining Nagaland.
BJP legislators in Assam will not vote on May 30 for the two Rajya Sabha seats, from the state, party state president Sabananda Sonowal said on Friday.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and two others are in the contest for two Rajya Sabha seats from Assam, officials said here Thursday.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Congress Rajya Sabha candidate from Assam, has filed a fresh affidavit correcting his age to 80 prior to scrutiny of the nominations today.

Controversies seem to make people age but a goof-up could have made Prime Minister Manmohan Singh older than he actually is. His affidavit signed May 10, 2013 mentions his age as 82 years.
HT reports.
An alert has been sounded across Assam as cyclone Mahasen is likely to hit the north-eastern states tonight, officials said today.