Express Daily briefing: Sujith Wilson dies in borewell; Baghdadi’s likely successor killed in US airstrike; and more 

Two-year-old Sujith Wilson in Tamil Nadu borewell dies 

Three days after he fell into an abandoned borewell in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruchirapalli district, two-year-old Sujith Wilson Monday passed away. The Tamil Nadu Commissioner of Revenue Administration said his body was “dismembered” and in a “highly decomposed” state. His body was recovered today, and the final rites were performed.

Day after Baghdadi death, his likely successor killed in US airstrike 

A day after an American raid killed Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, a separate attack killed the man who was considered his likely successor, reported The New York Times. The leader, known by his nom de guerre Abu Hassan al-Muhajir, was being smuggled across northern Syria in the back of an oil tanker truck when it was hit by what witnesses said they believed to be a US airstrike.

Opinion: Prince and the PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman this week. Bolstered by Saudi’s economic and cultural transformation envisaged by the Crown Prince, the meeting opens new opportunities for India’s economic cooperation with the kingdom that has been limited for far too long to the import of oil and export of manpower, C Raja Mohan writes.

Stephen Cohen got strategic elite in DC and Delhi to understand each other

Professor Stephen Philip Cohen passed away Sunday at age 83. For Steve and a whole generation of American scholars of India, the idea that Delhi and Washington could be friends, let alone partners, was an incredible one. What is taken for granted today was an impossible proposition less than two decades ago.

In Andhra, shortage of sand stalls construction, 3 suicides in a month

The delayed rollout of a new sand-mining policy by the YSRCP government has created a crisis of mass unemployment in the construction industry over the last 4-5 months. The issue was brought into sharp focus Monday when a video surfaced of a plumber, moments before he committed suicide. This is the third suicide this month that the victims’ families are blaming on loss of livelihood due to sand shortage.

India may eliminate shortage of doctors ‘in less than 7 years’

India may eliminate its shortage of doctors in less than seven years, as per estimates drawn up by the Union Health Ministry. As the country rolls out Ayushman Bharat and includes 50 crore people in the medical net, it is imperative that the shortage — of approximately four lakh doctors — is reduced and fast.

On display at Chautala clan get-together, Ajay-Abhay bonhomie

In a video that has been widely shared on social media, Ajay and Abhay Chautala are seen sharing drinks from the same glass and feeding each other from the same plate at a family function on Monday. The meeting triggered a hope among workers that the family feud may end soon.

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