A second-person has died from a new-coronavirus that has caused an outbreak of pneumonia in central China, health authorities said. A 69-year-old man surnamed Xiong fell ill with the respiratory condition on Dec.-31, according to a statement late Thursday from the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission. He died Wednesday. The Chinese government is keen to avoid a repeat of SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome.

Reacting to the controversy that broke out on the official Twitter handle of the Kerala Tourism after it promoted a beef recipe, State Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran said this is nothing but a needless controversy taken forward by communal fanatics. Surendran while speaking to the media here on Friday dismissed the controversy as a needless one.

A Railways spokesperson predicts the meagre-daily-earnings of a 15-km Odisha-line, revealed by an RTI reply to be just Rs.20, will increase when work on other projects is completed. RTI activist Hemanta Kumar Panda said he was shocked to see the daily revenue and passenger footfall-figures just two-people on average for the Balangir-Bichhupali-line, built at an-estimated-cost of Rs.115-crore and inaugurated last January by PM Modi.