Daily Bulletin: Arun Jaitley put on life support at AIIMS, several BJP, Congress leaders visit; dozens killed in suicide bomb attack in Kabul; day's top stories

Arun Jaitley put on life support at AIIMS Former finance minister Arun Jaitley has been put on the life support system at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and several leaders including Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and Union minister Piyush Goyal visited the hospital on Saturday. Reportedly, the 66-year-old BJP leader, who was admitted to the hospital on 9 August, has been put on life support and a multidisciplinary team of doctors is monitoring his condition. However, AIIMS has not issued any bulletin on Jaitley’s health condition since 10 August. Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, BJP’s Satish Upadhyay, Congress’ Abhishek Singhvi and Jyotiraditya Scindia, and Air Force chief Air Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa also visited the hospital. BSP chief and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati also visited the hospital. [caption id=“attachment_7180441” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] AIIMS, Delhi. PTI[/caption] Jaitley, a lawyer by profession, was an important part in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Cabinet in the BJP government’s first term. He held the finance and defence portfolios, and often acted as the chief troubleshooter of the government. Jaitley did not contest the 2019 Lok Sabha election because of his ill-health. Delhi police probe cause of fire at Delhi’s AIIMS The cooling operations at Delhi’s AIIMS were concluded on Sunday morning after a massive fire broke out in the premier medical institute on Saturday. CNN-News18 reported that the police have launched an investigation into the cause of the fire. Services were disrupted and several patients had to scramble for treatment due to the fire. The fire broke out at the teaching block of the hospital forcing evacuation and affecting the emergency department, though no one was injured in the incident. India and Bhutan sign 10 MoUs on Narendra Modi’s visit to Thimphu Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bhutanese counterpart Lotay Tshering held wide-ranging talks on Saturday during which they discussed steps to further expand the bilateral partnership across several sectors as the two countries inked 10 MoUs to infuse new energy in their ties. “We had a comprehensive meeting, where we deliberated on the relations between India and Bhutan. There is great scope to further improve economic and cultural ties between our nations,” Modi said. Modi, who is on his second visit to Bhutan and the first since his re-election in May this year, inaugurated 740 MW Mangdechhu hydroelectric power plant and also launched stamps to commemorate five decades of India-Bhutan Hydropower cooperation. “I am very happy to come to Bhutan at the beginning of my second term,” Modi said in a joint press statement after delegation-level talks with his Bhutanese counterpart at the historic Simtokha Dzong. The two countries signed 10 Memorandum of Understandings in the field of space research, aviation, IT, power and education. SIT files chargesheet in MM Kalburgi murder Ganesh Miskin, the hitman allegedly involved in the killing of journalist Gauri Lankesh, had also shot writer and researcher Dr MM Kalburgi dead in August 2015, according to the special investigation team (SIT). The other accused in the case were Amol Kale, Praveen Prakash Chatur, Vasudev Bhagavan Suryavamshi, Sharad Kalaskar and Amith Ramchandra Baddi, the SIT said in a press release, quoted by PTI. The gang was allegedly inspired by a book ‘Kshatra Dharma Sadhana’ brought out by the Sanatan Sanstha, a Hindu extremist group, the SIT said. The reason behind killing Kalburgi, according to the SIT, was a keynote address he delivered during a discussion on 9 June, 2014 on the topic ‘Towards a superstition-free society’. “They all jointly hatched a conspiracy to murder Kalburgi in furtherance of the achievement of their goals and executed it,” the SIT reportedly said. Dozens dead in suicide bomb attack in Kabul A suicide-bomb blast ripped through a wedding party on a busy Saturday night in Afghanistan’s capital and dozens of people were killed or wounded, AP reported. More than 1,000 people had been invited, one witness said, as fears grew that it could be the deadliest attack in Kabul this year. Interior Ministry spokesman Nusrat Rahimi told The Associated Press the attacker set off explosives among the wedding participants. Both the Taliban and a local affiliate of the Islamic State group carry out bloody attacks in the capital. The blast occurred near the stage where musicians were and “all the youths, children and all the people who were there were killed,” witness Gul Mohammad said. Officials were not expected to release a toll until daytime Sunday. The blast at the Dubai City wedding hall in western Kabul, a part of the city that many in the minority Shiite Hazara community call home, shattered a period of relative calm. On 7 August, a Taliban car bomb aimed at Afghan security forces detonated on the same road, killing 14 people and wounding 145 — most of them women, children, and other civilians. Premier League: Manchester City, Tottenham play out controversial draw; Liverpool, Arsenal clinch wins Manchester City were held to a 2-2 draw against Tottenham Hotspur at the Etihad Stadium and the match was anything but short of drama. Gabriel Jesus’ late winner was overruled after VAR replays showed that Aymeric Laporte manhandled the ball, which eventually left Pep Guardiola fuming. In the day’s other games involving top six clubs, Liverpool and Arsenal clinched narrow 2-1 wins over Southampton and Burnley respectively. Sobhita Dhulipala ’s Moothon to be premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival Sobhita Dhulipala, who was last seen in Made In Heaven, will be next seen in the bilingual drama – Moothon. Also starring Malayalam actor Nivin Paul, the film is all set to have its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). “The film is part of the special section at TIFF. When I first read the script many years ago, I was blown by it. Now, I am glad that it is getting its due. I am looking forward to showing this film to people at the festival, interacting with the international press and movie aficionados,” says the actor of the Geetu Mohandas-directed venture, that revolves around a young child in search of his elder brother. The bilingual drama (Hindi and Malayalam) has also been selected as the opening film of Mumbai Film Festival (MAMI) 2019. Stating that the movie beautifully flits from being a crime thriller to a surreal fantasy, Dhulipala says, “The script is a winner at the Sundance Screenwriters Lab, so the story is credible. These movies deserve a variety of audience and not just a remote release in Kerala.”