West Bengal

Clouds of chlorine gas swept through a congested street in the eastern port city of Calcutta on Friday, killing four people and sickening more than 200 others. Authorities said the gas leaked out in the pre-dawn hours from a 25-gallon metal cylinder at a small paint factory located in the Kalighat area of the eastern West Bengal state capital of Calcutta, 810 miles southeast of New Delhi.

The second deadly cyclone in two weeks hit India's densely populated east coast Friday, knocking down thousands of homes, trees, power poles and telephone lines with its 155-mph winds. Two people were killed when a wall collapsed in Orissa state. At least 30 people were injured in West Bengal state when their homes collapsed, Press Trust of India news agency said. Many more were feared dead or injured, but little was known about many areas since most telephone lines were down.

Poisoned cooking oil has paralyzed more than 400 people and made thousands ill in this eastern Indian city, officials said Tuesday. They said 11 people have so far been arrested in connection with the mass poisoning, and police are still investigating. The oil, contaminated with insecticide, was distributed through government-controlled food stores, officials said.

At least eight people were killed and 130 injured today as three of India's 24 states went to the polls in elections considered Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's toughest popularity test yet, the Press Trust of India reported. PTI said all the killings took place in the southern state of Kerala in clashes between supporters of the ruling coalition led by Gandhi's Congress (I) Party and a Communist-led front.

A school in eastern India built with money raised in the auction of Audrey Hepburn's iconic black dress was inaugurated by French author and philanthropist Dominique Lapierre. About 200 children will attend the school in Bishnupur, a village 30 miles south of Kolkata. The school is one of 15 to be built in West Bengal state with $807,000 paid by high bidder Givenchy, now a division of LVMH, at an auction in December at Christie's in London.

One of the world's largest tiger census operations, in the Sunderbans reserve in eastern India, ended with officials saying the number of big cats has not fallen since the last count in 1999. Two years ago, there were 254 tigers at the Sunderbans and 30 in adjoining areas. "We have collected 700 pugmarks [footprints], including 25 of cubs, in the Sunderbans Tiger Reserve during the census," Atanu Kumar Raha, West Bengal's chief conservator of forests, told reporters.

Gurkha militants, campaigning for autonomy in the foothills of the Himalayas, bombed police posts, set fire to government buildings and damaged a bridge Saturday, United News of India reported. The agency said the violence broke out during a general strike called by the militants. At least 12 government buildings were set afire in Darjeeling district, home of 650,000 Gurkhas in the East Indian state of West Bengal, the news agency said. No injuries or deaths were reported.

Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee, injured in a car crash, was flown to New Delhi today for further medical treatment, but doctors and officials said his injuries were not serious. Mukherjee, 71, the No. 2 figure in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Cabinet, suffered a head injury that required stitches when his car was hit head-on by a truck that blew a tire. He was returning to the eastern city of Kolkata in West Bengal state from a neighboring district.

Former French Prime Minister Michel Rocard was in stable condition and will stay in a Calcutta hospital for at least two more days after suffering a brain hemorrhage and having emergency surgery, a hospital official said today. Rocard was in Calcutta to take part in a session of the West Bengal Federation of United Nations Assns. The session was canceled after he became ill. Rocard was prime minister of France from 1988 to 1991 under Socialist President Francois Mitterrand.