In brief: Ex-president known as father of Indian missile program dies

GAUHATI, India – Former Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, known as the father of the country’s military missile program, died Monday after collapsing while delivering a lecture, a top state official said. He was 83.

The president from 2002 until 2007, he was a scientist and science administrator for four decades before that, mainly at the state-run Defense Research and Development Organization and the Indian Space Research Organization. He played a key organizational and technical role in India’s nuclear program. He also served as a scientific adviser to the prime minister.

Kalam fell sick Monday while addressing the students of the Indian Institute of Management in the Meghalaya state capital, Shillong, said P.B. Warjri, chief secretary of the state. He was rushed to the hospital, but was declared dead after doctors could not revive him, Warjri said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said “his death is a great loss to the scientific community. He took India to great heights. He showed the way.”

Foam trees fueled Vegas blaze

LAS VEGAS — Fake palm trees and high winds fueled a poolside fire on a rooftop at The Cosmopolitan hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip over the weekend, fire officials said Monday.

The blaze on Saturday sent plumes of black smoke billowing from the scene.

Clark County Battalion Chief Leo Durkin said the trees were made from foam that has become a common building material on the Strip and elsewhere for facades and decorations.

It can take some effort to ignite, but once the foam catches fire, it burns fast and with a lot of heat, Durkin said.

“We are not surprised when we see these products and the way they react to fire,” he said.

String lights were hung from the trees, but Durkin says it’s unclear if the cause of the fire might have been electrical.